Denno Coil 2

Of the new anime this season, Denno Coil is my pick as the most quirky. So far it has set itself up as something in a genre similar to that of the .hack series. Now, before you run away crying, give this baby a chance. Denno Coil is set in a variant of the modern world where a type of goggles give the wearer access to a digital world that they can manipulate. One distinguishing characteristic of Denno Coil is that the main characters (and the target audience) are middle schoolish girls, whereas science fiction shows usually appeal to the male crowd. As a result, where .hack focused on fighting and unsatisfying mysteries, Denno Coil focuses more on flights of fancy and fun, which is reflected in the crazy digital creations flying around.



He's Satchii!

Overall the first two episodes provided an enjoyable introduction to the world of Denno Coil. Up to this point the plot forces the main character, Yūko Amasawa, into an adventure involving an "illegal", a piece of rogue software, which infected her dog. Various police units, including our friend Satchii, try to ruthlessly eliminate the illegal and the dog . Luckily the girls escape (again, the policy can't enter churches or in this case shrines).



They probably would just crack...

Anyways, the series looks good so far, so I'll continue watching.

Grade: A

Bleach 129

This episode proves how bad produces make shonen filler. As good as they've structured the current arc, engaging villains, room for growth from the main characters, hopeful involvement of Ichigo's father, the filler is as uninteresting as ever.


What's he running from? Nobody cares.

The gist of the episode is that a bunch of arrancar (a new breed of bad guy) is in town causing havoc. Since Ichigo and the rest of the main characters are busy training, its up to the Soul Society members (mostly lieutenants) to clear up the mess. As always this is accompanied with the traditional tear jerker family story (although ironically irrelevant given all those affected are already dead) of guilt amid loss.


Inspired dialogue

As always good achieves a victory, however illusory. The key trait of any filler episode is that it must never really affect the plot (although Bleach takes some liberties with this, which is why those sock puppets are still around). Maybe, if we're all nice, the story will resume next week, although the episode preview didn't look promising.

Grade: C+

The Wonderful World of Bleach

In the best tradition of shonen anime, Bleach emerged about 2 years as the newest face of a show that everyone knew would continue effectively forever. As Naruto demonstrated, the shonen genre is no stranger to commercial success.


One element Bleach shares with almost all shonen series, is that arcs that seem amazing while your watching them appear awful after a second viewing. Just try watching the original Saiyan arc in Dragonball Z. Oh man was Snake Road awful... Similarly, the first Bleach arc is painful to watch over.


This is supposed to be Chad's lifeforce...

In Bleach's case this failing may come from the much higher quality of the second, "Soul Society" arc. Where the first arc muddles through without any clear storyline, the soul society arc quickly engrosses fans with memorable characters and a suspenseful plot. Of course, this doesn't prevent the show from exhibiting its over-the-top antics and otherwise unintentionally humor us shots.



Chad kindof looks like an angel in this shot

Episodes 37 - 39 form one of the hearts of the soul society arc. The battle between Ichigo and Kenpachi provides the intensive, beautifully animated sequence that fans expect. While it is perhaps overshadowed by a later battle with Byakuya, Kenpachi's personality makes it my favorite. There is no pretense of honor, nor do the combatants waste much time talking about their overwhelming power (Byakuya comes off sounding like a super villan in some of his monologues), just unbridled combat.


Hmm this block always use to work

Unfortunately Bleach took a turn for the worse after the Soul Society arc. The Bounto arc seemed like its mediocrity would never end (much worse imho than naruto filler). The newest arc seems to hold some promise, but its currently caught up in a training montage. I hope new, quality stuff is to come, until then I will hunker down with my old favorites.

And now for the pervert

It seems that no anime is complete without the requisite old pervert. From Master Roshi on down, the pervert/old-master position never fails to liven up an otherwise dull training montage.



In this case the pervert is also a master conductor, who happens to hate Chiaki's former teacher.



Difficult choices for Nodame ensue.

While I like Nodame Cantabile, I'm worried at its direction. Apart from Chiaki's desire to become a conductor, the show lacks any overarching plot. I had also hoped (from descriptions of the show) that Nodame's lack of focus would clash more with Chiaki's perfectionist drive. Instead most of the conflict revolves around Nodame's efforts to win Chiaki's heart, while he pretends not to care. So far the episodes remain interesting, but this series really needs to go somewhere in the next couple of "lessons" if I'm going to continue watching.

Nodame Cantabile 1

Nodame brings the familiar boy-meets-girl show to a music conservatory setting. Shinichi Chiaki the perfectionist pianist all the girls lust over sees something special in the musical styling of Megumi Noda (aka Nodame). Nodame is messy and unrefined, but the free nature of her style attracts Chiaki who tries to direct her (in line with his dream of becoming a world-class director).

Nodame provides a novel setting for an otherwise well-represented genre. The insecurities of both Nodame and Chiaki keep the show from becoming a one-sided love affair. Although I'm not crazy about drama anime, I'll keep watching this if it stays amusing and doesn't turn into His and Her Circumstances style craziness.




The object of Nodame's affections



A Con student living in Harkness?

Grade: A-

Mizu No Kotoba

A quirky 10-minute "short film", with character styles reminiscent of the gorillaz, this is a tasty treat. What it lacks in story (not surprising given its length) it makes up for in its unique look which mixes in a healthy dose of computer animation. Of course I can't knock anything that manages to incorporate an Asimov reference.



This guy looks straight out of Gorillaz



The cgi for this is the most obvious I've seen since Noein



Our protagonist: a little mopey but he gets the job done


Grade: B+