Random Musings – New Years 2008 Edition

  • Happy New Years! Now that I’ve gotten a chance to sit down and reflect, I realized 2007 really went by quickly. It seems like just yesterday I was writing about Shuffle Memories and Manabi Straight.
  • I’m hearing a lot of disappointment over the anime offerings for this upcoming winter season, and I somewhat share that sentiment since there’s only a few shows that I really care to see (Wolf and Spices, maybe Gunslinger Girl S2). With that in mind, I looked ahead further at the Spring 2008 and found it a lot easier to get excited about with the likes of Macross Frontier, the hilarious Kamen no Maid Guy, and the next CODE GEASS. There’s also a series called Special A (S.A for short), starring the talented Fukuyama Jun (Lelouch of GEASS) and Gotou Yuuko (Mikuru of Suzumiya Haruhi). The story of S.A – about a girl who has a middle-class upbringing who attends a rich school – is one that I find similar to Ouran in many ways, including how much it makes me laugh and how fun the manga is to read, so I’m really looking forward to seeing the anime adaptation. If you get a chance, I’d recommend checking out the manga.
  • Oh and speaking of CODE GEASS, there was news out a few days ago that it is not in fact taking over Gundam 00’s Saturday 6PM timeslot (as was widely expected) but is instead taking a new Sunday 5PM one come April of this year. I find that rather worrisome in terms of the direction the series will take with its more mature themes because it’s roughly in that same timeframe that more kid-friendly shows like Kirarin Revolution, Ultraman Mebius, and Chibi Maruko-chan air. That’s not to say that they’re going to dumb down the show or completely cleanse it, but I wouldn’t be surprised if there were major thematic differences – and I doubt things like Viletta or Kallen’s nipple slips, or Nina’s masturbation scene would make the final cut.