First Impressions / Super Robot Wars OG

Super Robot Wars OG: The Inspector – 23

「堕天使の心」 (Datenshi no Kokoro)
“Heart of a Fallen Angel”

With the Neo DC and School subplots coming to a close, the attention shifts to the Einst and Kyousuke/Excellen. It comes with a complete change of scenery as the war takes the Earth Federation to space, which is always a welcome development in the games so that your non-flying units aren’t hampered by terrain. Those ground units… always wasting valuable turns! (I always played SRW with minimum turns in mind.)

Season Preview / Series Introduction

Spring 2011 Preview!

In light of the earthquake and tsunami that Japan is still recovering from, most shows were postponed for a week. As a result, the premiere dates listed in this preview are likely to get pushed out by at least a week. Some series’ homepages have already reported new start dates, which I’ve highlighted below by writing the date in red. You can expect more dates to be updated in the upcoming weeks.

…

Please read: The start of the spring 2011 season marks the one-year anniversary of my tenure heading Random Curiosity. Looking back, it’s been a rather ambitious year that was never short of sleepless nights, so I’d like to believe that I’ve taken things in a positive direction after the site was about to shut down. It definitely hasn’t come without a cost though, as I haven’t taken a proper day off and have even used my vacation days to work on season previews and year-end posts. As such, I’m contemplating taking the entire season off to unwind and recharge. The idea is to take one season off and then ease my way back into things in summer.

Unfortunately, it comes at somewhat of a bad time given how busy this season is, but the other writers will still be covering a handful of shows on a regular basis while I’d be shifting to a more administrative role. I know some people are going to see this as an opportunity to help, so I want to make it clear that I’m not looking for any more writers since I’m happy with the reliable ones I currently have. I’d only make an exception if you’re an avid anime fan with a lot of dedication, good writing skills, insightful input, and fairly fluent Japanese so that you can cover raws on my behalf. If this sounds like you and you’d like to help contribute, please e-mail me.

At the moment, I’m just heavily considering taking a break or risking overworking myself, hence why nothing is marked as a guaranteed blog. If you feel opinionated about it either way, feel free to share your input in the comments. As always, I’ll be reading.

* This preview will be kept at the top for the next while, so be sure to scroll past it or check the Recent Entries on your right for new posts.

First Impressions / Nichijou / OVA/Movie / Series Introduction

Nichijou – 00

「日常」 (Nichijō)
“Everyday”

Slice of life is basically split into two parts, comedy-based and ..not comedy-based. I’m not a huge fan of “not comedy-based” types. People argue that there aren’t “points” to slice of life. I disagree. A good slice of life always has a point somewhere. Nichijou however, is a comedy-based slice of life, so this discussion is moot.

Miscellaneous / Random Musings

Quick Update on Broadcast Schedules

Japan clearly has much more pressing concerns in the wake of the horrific earthquake and tsunami that it suffered, but I just want to provide a quick overview on what’s happening with each of the shows broadcast-wise. As you can probably imagine, most shows are being postponed for a week, some of which go back to last Friday. For most stations, the tentative plan is to resume broadcasts the next week, but don’t be surprised if some are delayed longer. It’s very likely the April 1st start of the new season will get pushed out as a result (and understandably so).

* Information is care of syoboi and official websites.

…more after the break.

First Impressions / K-ON! / OVA/Movie

K-ON!! – 27 (Extra)

「番外編 計画！」 (Bangai-hen Keikaku!)
“Extra Chapter – Plans!”

Included with the ninth and final volume of the K-ON Blu-ray/DVD releases was a third bonus episode. Much like the two that aired during the televised broadcast, this latest one takes place prior to the girls’ graduate when they’re planning for an overseas trip. What that actually translates to is our lovable light music band being unable to agree on a destination and realizing they need to get passports first.

First Impressions / Gundam Unicorn / OVA/Movie

Gundam Unicorn – 03

「ラプラスの亡霊」 (Rapurasu no Bourei)
“The Ghost of Laplace”

I love Universal Century. As much as I enjoyed Gundam 00, Gundam Unicorn reminds me of everything that I loved in the older series and presents it in glorious high definition. The somewhat older yet more realistically proportioned character designs, the upgraded versions of the original mobile suits from the Jegans to the Delta Plus (i.e transformable Hyaku Shiki), and a storyline that expands on everything that’s happened before.

Miscellaneous

Massive 9.0 Magnitude Earthquake Hits Japan

[flv:Japan_Tsunami_Aftermath.mp4 550 310] News footage from NHK and CNN

As most of you are already aware, Japan suffered a major earthquake last Friday (3/11), last reported to be 9.0 magnitude, making it the largest ever recorded in the country’s history. The epicenter struck off the coast of Sendai in the Miyagi prefecture and caused a catastrophic tsunami which hit the eastern coastline. The quake and its aftershocks caused heavy damage, but was incomparable to the destruction of the waves. Sendai was hit by a massive 10-meter tsunami traveling at jet speeds and many other cities such as Tokyo suffered 4-meter high waves as well. Everything in the tsunami’s path was swept away, including entire towns, and many people were stranded by the water.

…more after the break.

First Impressions / Tegami Bachi

Tegami Bachi REVERSE – 23

Triple shindan action! “Aoitoge! Akabari! Shikkoku!”

「アカツキにて」 (Akatsuki nite)
“At Akatsuki”

As much as I like Lag and his unwavering beliefs, there are times when someone should tell him things don’t always work that way in the adult world. You know, smack him around with the reality bat a little bit. One would think that common sense says not to protect someone who’s been just trying to kill you just moments ago, but away Lag goes, jumping in front of Caribs and Hazel when they’re staring down the barrel of Noir’s gun.