Senna here! I’ve been back from my semester in Japan for nearly two weeks now, and I’m *finally* back to writing articles for A2M. Who can resist writing a bit about the new season, after all?

Special A – (episodes seen: 4) Ah, Special A, your fluffiness is like that of Lucky Charms’ marshmallows – sweet, but usually drowned out in the utter mediocrity of those grayish cereal pieces. In other words, Special A has a whole lot of boring and cliché, and is somewhat light on the sweet and fluffy. Still, in four episodes this story of a girl who is always number 2 (Hikari) and the number 1 boy who has a crush on her (Kei) has managed to make me smile and even giggle a few times, so I’m probably being unnecessarily harsh. Kei and Hikari are pretty cute together, even if neither of them are particularly good at singing (see: opening and ending songs). I don’t have very high hopes for Special A at this point, but it has a chance of being at least cute enough for me to continue watching it.

Itazura na Kiss – (episodes seen: 4) Now this is more like it. Itazura na Kiss is my shoujo pick for the season. Certainly, it too is full of things seen many times in shoujo before – a spunky but kind of dumb heroine (Kotoko), a seemingly cold-hearted pretty boy love interest (Naoki), wacky best friends, and a plot device (this time an earthquake!) that gets the two main characters living in the same house. It’s hard to put my finger on exactly why I like Itazura so much. Is it the slightly retro art style? (If you think you can’t handle it, then by all means, take a look at the manga’s art and see how the anime has changed things for the better.) Is it Naoki’s crazy matchmaking mother? Is it the way Kotoko still seems to come out on top despite Naoki’s icy ways? I don’t know, but as long as Itazura continues to be this enjoyable, I’ll keep watching.

Vampire Knight – (episodes seen: 2) With the Vampire Knight manga’s popularity ever on the rise, it was no surprise to see an anime adaptation of this shoujo manga. Vampires! Bishounen! Angst! Love triangles! What’s not to love, for a fangirl? Well, I have to be honest, Hino Matsuri (the manga-ka) has beautiful art, but for me her past storytelling has left something to be desired. I’ll reserve judgment for now, though – I didn’t read very far in the VK manga, and the anime is just beginning. And hey, I’m a fangirl too, so I’ll go for the pretty vampire boys; a taste of angst can be good too, in moderation. I’m not buying the love triangle though, because it’s pretty obvious to me that Zero is the type – a hot-headed, angsty past-bearing tsundere boy – who always gets the girl. (Too bad, I still like Kaname better ^_^)

Macross Frontier – (episodes seen: 4) I have a weird relationship with mecha series. I don’t care for the giant robots themselves, but there are quite a few mecha shows that I really love (Escaflowne being foremost, but I enjoyed series like RahXephon and Eureka 7 as well – heck, even Gankutsuou has mecha in it!). When I sat down to watch the deculture edition of episode 1 of Macross Frontier, released a few months back, the gorgeous animation and beautiful music (thank you again, Yoko Kanno!) impressed me. Macross F is still one of my most anticipated watches each week – who can resist a show whose main characters include a pretty boy pilot (who had to become a trap to do Kabuki for his family!), a bitchy pop idol (who has shiny hair!), and a cute young girl (who wants to become a singer!)? OK, don’t answer that. Suffice to say I’m in love with the characters, who seem poised to develop into fascinating people. Besides that, Macross F has an epic feel. Maybe it’s the gorgeous music, maybe it’s the battles conjoined with the sparkling lights of Sheryl’s concerts, or maybe it’s the building love triangle between the three leads (an EPIC love triangle, I might add). Anyway, even if the show itself crashes and burns, there’ll always be the soundtrack; I’ve had both the opening and ending songs on constant repeat ^_~

Soul Eater – (episodes seen: 3) I’m certainly not the first to praise Soul Eater, but with its stylish designs and animation courtesy of Bones, it should be no surprise that it’s gained a lot of fans. (Anyway, Soul x Maka FTW!) For me personally, it doesn’t hurt that, despite being a popular shounen series, Soul Eater has a set number of episodes. Hopefully, this will keep the story from dragging – so far it’s been a lot of fun ^^

Nabari no Ou – (episodes seen: 3) lol ninjas. <<- My need to say this every time I talk about this show aside, Nabari no Ou is the second shounen I’m watching this season, and I’m feeling pretty lukewarm about it. I guess it just shows my biases that I can take earthquakes forcing classmates to move in together and virtual reality devices actually transporting one to a different world, but when a secret world of ninjas that only ninjas know about is mentioned, I suddenly turn @_@ eyed. (Wait, what kind of bias is that anyway?) Nabari no Ou’s protagonist Miharu is cute (and cuter because he knows it and uses it to his advantage) but other than a great opening song (“Crawl” by Veltpunch), Nabari no Ou feels kind of bland. I’ll probably hang around for a few more episodes, though, just in case.

Amatsuki – (episodes seen: 3) My main worry after watching episode 1 of Amatsuki was that its bishounen-filled cast would mean that it would become a generic, fluffy fantasy (boy gets transported to world like ancient Japan but with demons, hijinks ensue). Episodes 2 and 3 have proved that it will be otherwise. In addition to the characters making themselves interesting quickly, episode 3’s end left me hungering for the next episode. If this continues, Amatsuki might turn out to be a really great fantasy series. (And so long as the plot’s good, the bishounen don’t hurt at all ^_~)

Code Geass R2 – (episodes seen: 4) Not much to say on this one – if you enjoyed the drama and crack that was CG season one, you’ll be as excited about season two as I am. If you hated it, then I doubt R2 will change your mind.

Himitsu – (episodes seen: 1) I don’t have much to say yet since I’ve only seen one episode thus far, but Himitsu presents the interesting concept of being able to see into the brain of a murder victim as an aid to solving crimes. I was mostly interested in Himitsu because its manga-ka, Reiko Shimizu, has drawn and written some amazing if strange stuff (I’m still trying to hunt down more of the Moon Child manga …). The first episode was fairly level with my expectations, so I’ll keep my eyes on this one.

So far, my feelings about this season are pretty good; if I can manage to follow more than three series, that will already be better than the fall season (of which I managed to complete Ghost Hound, Gundam 00, and Night Wizard). My top 3 at the moment (excluding sequels like R2) are Itazura na Kiss, Macross Frontier, and Amatsuki.

Still to watch:
Kurenai
Toshokan Sensou
Allison to Lillia
If anyone has other suggestions for anime to watch (or heck, questions about my semester studying in Japan), let me know ^^

Tags: Amatsuki, Code Geass R2, Himitsu, Itazura na Kiss, Macross Frontier, Nabari no Ou, Soul Eater, special A, spring season 2008, Vampire Knight

Category: Episode Synopsis

Senna is a college student majoring in English and minoring in Japanese. Her favorite anime and manga include Escaflowne, Please Save My Earth, Scrapped Princess, Nana, and Boogiepop Phantom.