New season!

A couple of new series have begun this fall and I'll be giving a run down on some of them...

First, let's start with Gundam 00

Ok, so after Gundam Seed ended, most of us felt like we wanted more, even though GS Destiny was not that good when compared to the original series. So now comes the new Gundam along with a whole new story. Its set in the same calendar we use only 300 years in the future. The Earth is divided in 3 factions and since fossil energy resources have been depleted, the world has organised itself around three giant pillars that serve as a means to solve the energy crisis by obtaining solar energy from space and bringing it down to Earth. Though I appreaciate the fact they added the use of solar energy into a Gundam series, its still kinda unrealistic that they had to make giant pillars to be able to bring enough energy when there are already houses that are solar powered in the 21st century... Anyways that's really minor and the concept of power through control of the pillars is a good idea. The first episode leaves you in awe since the series boasts amazing quality. To top it, the series is being broadcasted in HD so good luck playing it in a not so new PC and also enjoy if you can ^^;. I'll be honest, though I liked a lot of things about it, the story has been moving slow, and I mean SLOW. The first episode was really... toned down (with the exception of the 1st scene) and the following episodes 2 and 3 followed the same pace, even though there was a little action. But in episode 4 and 5 you finally see the story going somewhere as they start to present the classic mysteries you'll be trying to solve till the very end. The character design is nice and the mecha design is something I liked a lot, especially the FLAGS which are used by the A.E.U. . The main character's gundam, Exxia looks a bit too ordinary for me and the other ones seem to shadow him in a lot of ways, still all the gundams have really nice designs. If you haven't started the series already, I suggest you do it now so you can watch 5 episodes in a row instead of the first slow ones only.

Now for a crappy series: Myself Yourself

It follows the same line as any clichéd 'japanimation' (word used intentionally) that follows the formula waaay too closely, presenting stereotype characters that you usually don't mind but it here it seems SO forced that its annoying. Unless you're a weeaboo or wapanese... The story is about this group of kids who were childhood friends and how one of them had to move from his hometown. He comes back a couple of years later but while he was away, he didn't contact any of his old friends... Like always there's the bait for the lolikons with your avarage childhood friend/next door neighboor who grew up but looks just the same, only taller and with big breasts but with the squeeky voice. Now I'm generally not too severe with these clichés, I've seen a lot of series that all share similar elements but here its done too much and really bad. So point no.1, the series has really bad voice acting. In fact, perhaps if it were dub I could at least laugh a bit but the jpn voices are just too bad. Then there's this other gy who was his childhood friend who looks like a 16 year old but has the voice of a 28 year old man, really creepy. Then him having a twin sister makes it even creepier. Point no.2, bad quality and pretty much bad storyboarding. And finally there's this hinted fated love theme as the main character didn't recognize or remember the girl he liked when he was little, and naturally, she got mad and slapped him. By the beginning of the second episode I couldn't stand it and stopped, deleting the episodes shortly afterwards.

Another good one: Ghost Hound

Ah! Finally, I've been waiting for a series that would give me the same feeling Serial Experiments Lain did, and its here. If you see the opening theme alone, you'd think its something a bit kiddy and aimed for kids. Wrong... this series is quite creepy, and eerie... It has nice quality and above anything, a nice concept. The main character seems to be experiencing weird out of body phenomenon after the death of his younger sister a couple of years ago. They were both kidnapped and apparently, only he survived. Every once in a while when he falls asleep, he is able to exit his body and travel different places. Though these 'trips' he goes on ressemble more dreams than anything and its too early to try to decipher them. The series reminds me a lot of Zettai shounen, only not even close is creepiness. It probably reminded me of it because its set in the countryside. ^^; Anyways I really recommend.

So there you go, I'll be adding more previews afterwards, that is, if finals don't ruin it haha.