...what are you watching...

D. Grayman 7! did a pretty half-hearted job at squeezing sympathy out for little Allen Walker. *spoilers* So Allen's adoptive father, Mana, dies, little Allen meets the Earl, his father becomes an Akuma and Allen's arm saves him. It seems a little odd that the Earl didn't try to kill Allen when he had the chance. The Earl doesn't really do anything but laugh like an old pervert. Any real agenda with him? Also, there was no real elaboration on Allen's relationship with Mana. Does Mana say 'keep walking' because he is a 'Walker'...haha, lame. And do we ever get to why the show is called 'D. Grayman'? Moving on, Lenalee's boots are pretty cool if not the only reason to throw in panty-shots, but the actual action was pretty low-quality. This is a so-so anime that I keep comparing to Hagaren. If the gore level was upped a little and the visual detail was more defined, at least the eye-candy part of the entertainment would be satisfying. I think I may knock it off my list pretty soon.

sucker for classical music...
Nodame Cantabile 1! is surprisingly good. A small, CUTE boy, Chiaki, meets a great maestro in Europe and learns from him. Because of his parents' divorce, he has to move back to Japan. On the return trip, the plane has a bad landing scarring the boy for life so that he grows up not able to fly back to his beloved maestro. Noda is a girl who cannot read music well, but can play the piano by ear. She picks up a drunken Chiaki one night and falls in love with him.

+ There's a funny, funny flashback scene where you see the toy airplane on a string crashing.
+ Eto-sensei played by Toyohara Kosuke is attractive and humorous. He also played the humorous, bad guy in Densha Otoko.
+ The writers took the seemingly serious parts and made it so dramatic & kooky that it is very entertaining.
+ There are pretty settings and fun classical background music.
+ Ah♥ They played the same piano duet by Mozart that was featured in Ouran. (It's Mozart's Sonata in D K.448...for those who want to try it out)
+ Great acting and weird personalities make this more fun to watch than the Corda anime.
- This makes me a little curious about the manga.



sucker for food...
Teppan Shoujo Akane 1! Horikita Maki (from Nobuto wo Produce) plays Akane who is looking for her father who is a Teppan chef. She is also a Teppan chef. She gets to make and eat lotsa yummy-looking food! Maki can surprisingly act like a normal, dorky girl.

+ Yummy food.
- I feel fat watching her make the Akane Special.
+ This is another drama which features fun & outlandish personalities.
+ There's even dorky posing and special effects. (reminding me of Yakitate Japan).

almost a sucker for fashion...
Tatta Hitosu no Koi 1! This is Kame's new drama about a poor boy who works at a boatyard and a rich girl who goes to an elite school. Boy and his friends went illegal fishing one day. Girl runs into bucket o' fish. Boy and Girl detest each other. Boy and friends go to a rich people party. Boy meets girl again. Looooove. Overall, it's very boring, but the rich people have cute clothing. Kame isn't particularly handsome. He has that bump on his nose that Tom Cruise has...which I guess, must be an attractive feature. This drama isn't too interesting, so I'm not going to watch anymore...lala.

sucker for anime...as always,
D. Grayman 3! Allen and Kanda are paired up for a mission. The concept of the Finders is explained. Is it my screen or is the action parts of the anime too dark to see details? Maybe its a new way of keeping the budget low. The first half of the anime was fun. The second half pretty dull. A few more and then I think I may drop this.

First, Glay's guitarist, Takuro, will write Nana's song for the second live-action movie. Ai Yazawa will write the lyrics and Mika Nakashima will again perform. Sounds like another hit to me...even though that online poll voted for Laruku/Hyde to write it again...weep

and on to the new anime~ I do hope the fansubbers use the higher quality raws...cause these initial files from the regular sources kinda suck. I doubt that there are any spoilers in these first episodes, but I tend to write whatever comes to mind.


Death Note 1!

+ Miyano Mamoru does a great job at making you forget he voiced Tamaki.
+ Very good production and animation. Madhouse and its staff are able to move through a lengthy dialogue without making it too dull.
+ Light's red eyes are a nice touch.
+ Excellent color palette used in the whole anime. It gives it the proper setting and mood to this psychological thriller.
- The chants in the background also set the mood, but unneccessarily make me cringe. (reminds me of Tsubasa music at times...but not as horrid).
+ The opening and ending by Nightmare aren't great songs, but the visuals are definitely eye-catching.

Quick impression~ Light makes you like him as he uses the Death Note to kill criminals. Ryuuku makes you like her as she munches on apples. It's all so wrong.


D.Grayman 1! I admit I find the manga very nicely-drawn, but a little boring. The anime seems promising.

+ Allen and his "snitch", Timcampi, have established their cuteness in the first episode.
+ It has decent animation, music & production, but
- there are moments of cheap animation.
+ TMRevolution's group, Abingdon School Boys, sings the opening which is energetic and might be a likable song.
- Nirgilis's ending song is forgettable.

Quick impression~ Allen is some sort of exorcist and has a possessed arm which causes him angst(?) In the first episode, Allen saves a girl and releases her brother from an Akuma. We get a glimpse of the Millennium Earl. The action sequences weren't too special and this first episode didn't present anything too unique, but judging from the opening, there are many more interesting characters on the way with better storylines.


Yamato Nadesico Shichihenge 1! (wonders if there is a shortened name...) Nobuta wo Produce the jdrama reminded me of this series. That and the manga are about a homely-looking girl who gets transformed by some good-looking guys. The manga is quite funny mainly due to the main character and her love of the morbid. The anime...

--- Cheap animation plagues this anime.
- Odd-looking lipsticked mouths are a part of the character design
- which is the least of their problems since the guys don't look cute at all.
- The opening and ending are very lame.
+ The SD moments are a little cute,
- but not funny.

Quick impression~ Four bishonen make a deal with their landlord to transform her ugly niece into an elegant woman in exchange for free rent. I am not watching anymore since the animation is terrible. Actually, the comedic moments with the SD people remind me of Sweet Valerian which may be it's only saving grace.