Your views on a few titles please

[desert_skunk]

Hi, I've noticed that most of you guys with your moden day technology are watching or have seen some of the new shows that have or are airing in Japan. I was hoping you could you give me your views on any of the following series if poss? Story, Character Design/Animation, music etc, good or bad

Noein
Himawari!
Ray the Animation
Black Cat
Amaenaideyo! and it's sequel Katsu!!
School Rumble
Kimi ga Nozomu Eien aka Rumbling Hearts
Nana
Yami to Boushi to Hon no Tabibito
Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni

Thanks for any help DS

 

[McIcy]

Ok I've only seen:
Himawari! - I like it only got up to ep. 5 though at the moment, nice story about a ninja student with no talent. Her teacher is also a ninja but he doesn't know it although he does have some killer skills with darts.

Black Cat - is Amazing, I loved this series, a hitman who gives up his role to become a bounty hunter. He joins a nano-engineered girl who can turn any part of herself into a weapon and a broke bounty hunter. The story is really well put together and grows into a huge climactic battle.

Amaenaideyo! and it's sequel Katsu!! - harem about priests and nuns, the main character is a teenage boy who has the spirit of a powerful (yet perverted) priest locked inside him. Cue flashing girls (to release the priest) and a lot of physical damage to the main character.

 

[Ramadahl]

I've only seen parts of two...

Nana - long (52 eps?) shoujo / josei / slice-of-life series. The story seems fairly normal one, but is entertaining enough if you're into those genres. The artwork is done quite well, and I thought the character designs were interesting.

Higurashi no Naku Koro ni - very different series, this is a horror anime that's actually mildly creepy (IMO). I've described it before as a cross between Groundhog Day and Perfect Blue, if that gives you any idea of what it's like. The story is - very confusing, but answers are at least promised by the end (in the "answer" arcs, oddly enough ). The character designs and artwork in general are bad tending towards awful, but the story is intriguing enough to keep me watching. The music too is good, and very appropriate. Be warned though - there are some fairly gruesome scenes... "This is a device for tearing out your fingernails." :?

 

[Miaka-chan]

Higurashi no Naku Koro ni (I believe it means Cry of the Cicada or something) is not scary, or creepy or anything like that!
It is a very interesting premise, but does get stale after a while.
You're supposed to believe this one town is under a curse of some ancient god (of torture it seems!). One or other of the 5 main characters suddenly goes mad, the belief that they are possessed is not very convincing. So they each take it in turns to lose it and kill someone and it's all blamed on this gods curse.
There are a number of factors that are solely lacking in this anime: decent atmospheric music. Now we know that music alone can make something creepy and spine-chilling, but it's so quiet you can barely hear it, especially when those damned cicada are singing! The second thing it's missing is decent animation! Imagine a character losing their marbles and then transforming into ugly little monkeys, well that's exactly what they look like. I didn't feel anything except the need to laugh!
Third none of it is convincing. You are supposed to believe that someone is willing to kill because they're worried about a friend they only just met - don't think so!
The last thing I thought ruined the 2nd answer section was the lack of blood. If you're hacking someone to pieces, you should get splattered with blood, so should the floor and so should the person being hacked. It didn't happen. You can't have a horror without the horror :lol:

It's worth watching for a laugh, but unless you scare easily, it's a bit disappointing.

Amaenaideyo! is one of the lamest harem anime I've seen. The fan service is weird (this guys power only works if one particular girls strips off!). I could only stomach 4 episodes, so I don't know if it got better, but praying for the ghosts of juvenile delinquents is not what I look for in a good anime :wink:

 

[chaos-unleashed]

Black Cat is a very very cool Anime and School Rumble is Godly

 

[Lupus]

Black Cat is a terrible adaption compared to the manga, though the animation is nice.

 

[Sy]

While School Rumble is very funny it does use a lot of word play and can be annoying to keep going back and reading the explanation of it because the joke went over your head. It loses some of it's humour because of that but is still an entertaining show. I'm just a little worried that the outcome is going to be too predictable and probably for that reason I haven't really looked into the second season yet.

 

[Laughing Manji]

Noein

Apparently the best show of the winter season last year.

Himawari!

Naruto with girls. Its animated very well, but it didn't totally appeal to me. Fansubbing is very slow too.

Ray the Animation

I liked the manga, but its pretty clear that this show is not touching any of the main story, and is focusing on some of hte weaker/episodic elements from the manga. The manga was almost like a tribute series to blackjack, but it had its own identity. The manga comes across as almost 100% derivative. Disappointing.

Black Cat

Don't know. Theres almost zero fandom around this title, which makes me think that nobody is into it and that its no good. Even for very niche shows that have some quality, there is normally some fandom. But the sound of Black Cat fandom is .... silence.

Amaenaideyo! and it's sequel Katsu!!

A year, year and a half ago, this show made everyones **** list, without anybody having seen it. Its harem anime of the least subtle variety, and those shows get singled out for a beating 'just because'. In reality its at least as good as the average, and probably better than many harem shows that are considered better than it.

School Rumble

Fan favourite.

Kimi ga Nozomu Eien aka Rumbling Hearts

A bit of an emotional rollercoaster, but one of the best erogame adaptions out there. You can get a bit cynical about it, having a front row seat to all these characters destroying their lives. Sometimes you watch NASCAR for the crashes too.

Theres also more anime planned (Akane Maniax did nothign for me, but I think there are 2 new series planned - the chibi AyuMayu theatre and another more mainstream production).

Nana

For all the hype over the show pre-april, there are not many people online raving about it. Its apparetnly good, and well produced, but its taking its time to get through the show (Its a full year show - 50-52 eps). Hasn't really picked up yet.

Yami to Boushi to Hon no Tabibito

Meh. Its just barmy. Had some nice ideas, but I couldn't really stick with it beyond a couple of episodes.

Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni

Creepy, really creepy. THis has a lot of fans, but fansubbing has been very slow unless you are following the unproven group. Its past its hype factor now and some negative comments are surfacing. But I have only seen the first ep.

 

[Ryo Chan]

wow once again i seem to be the only person in the world who liked Amaenaideyo! and Katsu!!

 

[desert_skunk]

Thanks for all the views everyone, I'm going to go for pre-ordering Noien, Black Cat and Rumbling Hearts when they are released later in the year on R1. I think School Rumble is licensed for next year? Black Cat seems to have most people devided on the net but I'll give it a try as it looks like the sort of title I'll enjoy, likewise Noien and Hearts, I'd also give both Amaenaideyo's! a go if they ever get picked up for DVD as I like to fit in some easy going harem in between other genres.