Bunches more

Here's a bunch of quickies about the other stuff I watched recently:

"Nadia of the Blue Water" disc 2 -- I had left this one kind of low in my GreenCine queue for quite a while since I saw disc 1, but it was pretty easy to get back in to it (they re-cap quite a bit at the start of each episode). Still a light, entertaining show, a good adventure series, with characters that are lively and interesting to watch. I can't say I'm all that compelled by any of the mysteries behind who's who in their world, but it's fun to follow along anyhow. And there's nothing here to make me want to buy it, but I'll keep renting.

"Twelve Kingdoms" disc 2 -- Also a series from the depths of my queue that I have a big gap for. This one took a wee bit longer to re-orient myself and remember what happened previously, but I got the gist of it pretty quickly. It is a unique and interesting universe they created, and the story, while simple overall, is compelling enough to keep me watching. Also, in a small way, it kind of reminds me of an ex-girlfriend... she liked to proclaim that she really didn't belong to this world either, and this sort of story would have been right up her alley. I know that if I had seen it 20 years ago, it would have blown my mind. Now, it's just clever and interesting.

(and the DVD quality still sucks. Oh well.)

"Saber Marionette" -- I've been watching bits of this at a time at the urging of MartAnimE, and it's light and entertaining and maybe mildly annoying with the whole "jealous harem of robot chicks" thing, so I've put it into my "Saturday morning breakfast" timeslot, which is my traditional time for vegging out to cartoons, of which there aren't really any on TV that I watch any more. So this is filling the gap pretty well.

"Futakoi Alternative" -- okay, on Maromi's suggestion, I've seen the first 2 of these, and... I dunno. I can see that it's a campy, loony, over-the-top romp with cutie twins and all, but in a lot of ways, the "cutie twins" aspect of the show crosses the "pervy" line for me -- they're just to young. I guess I'm just not comfortable with that, and there isn't much else to the show to at least rate it as a "guilty pleasure", so I probably won't bother continuing.

"Trinity Blood" -- Lainthro wanted me to consider helping to fansub this one, but I really wasn't that interested in elaborately-costumed vampires-in-the-future stories; at least not enough to spend a couple of hours a week hunched over SSA to stick dialogue on it. Still, out of curiousity, I decided to at least try watching it. It's kind of like a cross between "Last Exile" and "Hellsing" -- well, on the surface, at least. It starts off with the Earth blowing up in an apocalypse (as all anime sci-fi should!), and sets the story up that there are alien vampires vying for control over the remains of the planet against the remaining, technologically-challenged-and-baroquely-costumed Terrans under the control of the Vatican. Led by a child pope being manipulated by his advisors, no less. The main character comes across as an affable-if-dorky priest, but is really a vampire-eating vampire. Ooh, didn't see that one coming! And a lot of dirigibles and trains as primary transport.

Overall an interesting atmosphere to it, and the main characters, as well as the side characters that come and go, are actually kind of lively and a bit compelling to watch. I'm not entirely attached to it, but I'll keep it on my "try to keep up with it" list to see where it goes.

That's about it. I've fallen way behind with "Monster", and I've had the 1st "Gunslinger Girls" DVD still wrapped up on my shelf for days. Oddly enough, I started both of those around the same time last summer, so maybe I'll watch them both together. Hmm.