Hana Yori Dango / Random Musings

Random Musings – Hana Yori Dango Returns Edition

There’s not much going on today (Happy New Years!) so I’d thought I’d write up a quick reminder that Hana Yori Dango 2 is premiering this Friday, January 5th, at 9PM JST with a two hour special. TBS is doing tons of promotional stuff in preparation for this second series, meaning that Matsumoto Jun, Inoue Mao, and the others have been appearing everywhere on TV. Many of the commercials and promos show that Tsukushi and Rui are going to New York where Tsukasa is, and they even did a live broadcast to TBS’s Ping Pong program while they were filming there earlier last month. Anyway, Hana Yori Dango 2 is set to be 15 episodes long and the theme song (heard in all of the commercials) is Arashi’s Love So Sweet. I am tentatively planning to blog it, but that all depends on how my own schedule works out.

Season Preview / Series Introduction

Winter 2007 Preview!

Though there may not be much going on this and next week as we celebrate the new year, things will get busy again once the Winter 2007 season kicks off. Before we get started on all the upcoming shows, a few notes. I am once again not specifically saying what I am and am not going to watch. As usual, I’ll watch the first episode of almost every show within certain parameters (in other words, probably not the kiddie shows like Pokémon or Pretty Cure). What I will say is what the odds are of me blogging a show. However, even if chances are good that I’ll blog the first episode of a series, that doesn’t mean I’ll stick with it for more than that. Certain days of the week – Thursdays and Saturdays – have always had too many interesting shows, and I have to ultimately make a decision on what to follow and what not to. Because I have so many shows that are continuing from the fall, there can only be so many new series that I can afford the time to pick up.

By no means does this list reflect all of the anime that are going to be aired, though I did try to be as comprehensive as I could. Check out MOON PHASE for an entire listing, syoboi’s calendar for specific air-times, and AndrewLB’s Winter 2006/2007 Wiki for who’s tentatively subbing what.

Kyoushirou to Towa no Sora
http://www.kyoshiro-sora.net/
Premieres January 5th, 2007
Airtime in Japan (JST, GMT+9): Fridays at 13:30
Airtime in U.S. (EST, GMT-5): Thursdays at 23:30
Information Links: ANN Encyclopedia, AnimeNfo
You may remember me talking about it earlier this month and the Kannazuki no Miko connections that it has. That alone is enough to get me to watch it, but Megami magazine spreads like this or this don’t hurt either. The story is about a girl named Shiratori Ku who has a dream about a prince and then actually meets that prince in real life. Somewhere along the line they’ll likely work in plenty of fanservice/semi-yuri and mecha action. I’m honestly trying to keep my expectations low so that I don’t disappoint myself in case this doesn’t live up to KnM’s legacy. It’s just a shame that KOTOKO isn’t doing the OP or ED, which are apparently being handled by CooRie and Ceui, respectively.
Odds I’ll Blog This: Guaranteed
Venus Versus Virus
http://www.tbs.co.jp/anime/vvv/
Premieres January 11th, 2007
Airtime in Japan (JST, GMT+9): Thursdays at 25:55
Airtime in U.S. (EST, GMT-5): Thursdays at 11:55
Information Links: ANN Encyclopedia, AnimeNfo
This show is about two girls who fight demons called Viruses. The girl with the eyepatch Lucia runs an antique shop called Venus Vanguard, hence the show is named Venus Versus Virus. The commercial for it – the one from the end of Rozen Maiden Overture – shows some pretty good looking animation courtesy of Studio Hibari, and it gave me Karin and Black Cat vibes for whatever reason. For what it’s worth though, VVV has some of the same staff as Tsuyokiss – director Kimura Shinichiro, character designer Agata Yoshimi, and Yamada Yasutomo in charge of series composition. Under different circumstances (ie. Thursdays without CODE GEASS, Kanon, and potentially Nodame Cantabile), this would get pretty high odds at getting blogged, but since this is airing on Thursdays, I can only say it’s got a decent chance.
Odds I’ll Blog This: Decent

Note: This is a rather long and fairly comprehensive list of the shows coming in January and February. Much much more after the jump.

CODE GEASS / Gundam / Random Musings

Random Musings – CODE GEASS Rumors and New OP/ED Preview

Plenty of stuff to chew on in the past couple of days about CODE GEASS:

  • The official GEASS site/BIGLOBE streaming site is offering previews of the new OP and the new ED. They don’t show the actual animation sequence – only images from past episodes – but you do get to hear the new songs. The clip of Jinn’s new song didn’t really appeal to me, though SunSet Swish’s song was pretty good – reminds me a lot of CHEMISTRY’s singing. Note: You must be using Internet Explorer 6.0 or higher to view the streaming video.
    If you’re not able to see it for technical reasons, someone has uploaded the ED one onto DivX’s Stage6.
  • MOON PHASE’s diary has a rumor from a certain television station saying that GEASS will air for two cours (each cours = one 13-week period), take two cours off, and then come back for two more cours. If you’re confused, this means that it would air the two seasons that it is currently going through (Fall 2006 and Winter 2007), take two seasons break (Spring 2007 and Summer 2007), then come back for two more seasons starting Fall 2007 for a total of four. That entry also points out that with the rumor of a new Gundam series to be directed by Mizushima Seiji (who also directed Fullmetal Alchemist), the question is if the two Sunrise series will be going up against each other.
  • For anyone curious, the image at right (notice the position of Lelouch’s hand…) is from HobbyJAPAN. Click the image for the full spread that includes Suzaku and the Lancelot too.
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