This Week In Anime (Redux)

Hmm, this post I made the other week, with the same title, seems to have gotten stuck as "draft". I hear Blogger has been a bit touchy this month, so I went and un-stuck it. And, essentially, follow-on with a bit more...

".hack//Roots" episode 11 -- We seem to be confounding the situation even further, and that seems to be taking its toll on the characters. Everything's starting to fragment. But I guess there are bigger surprises in store. I can't say I'm on the edge of my seat, but I'm still looking foward to it nonetheless.

"Spider Riders"... first off, I watched the dubs of episodes 1 & 2 that premiered on Kid's WB on Saturday. It just worked out that I was settling down to a late breakfast at that exact time, so I said "what the hell?" and gave it a try. I've mentioned my impressions over on Bee Train Fan, so I don't have much to add beyond that. I might keep recording it just to see the episodes with Aqune (a.k.a the dark and brooding Spider Rider babe) with translations so I know what her deal is. Heh. Plus it might just contribute to the ratings someday...

Oh, and the raw for episode 11 mixed between some rather amusing bits (in an otherwise predictable battle tourney) with an interesting, nearly dark continuation of the underlying storyline. It's starting to get to the point that I wish I had a smidgen of translation for these bits as well. Ah well. I can wait, I guess.

"Noein" episode 23 -- okay, that one wasn't the last episode. Good stuff and all, but I want it to be over already. *sigh*

"Tsubasa Chronicle" ep, uh, 32 -- this one seemed to be delayed for a while or something. I was a bit apprehensive, because it involved the appearance of "Chii" from the dreaded, soul-sucking "Chobits" universe. (Did I mention that I want that half-hour of my life back? I did? Okay then.)

That said, it was another Mashimo-directed episode, so I hunkered down and committed to it. And Mashimo definitely kicked up the melodrama to "11" on this one. One major thread was the exposition of Fay's backstory -- well, at least to some extent. There was more told in his expressiveness and mood than in the actual narrative, and that was quite cool. The other thread that entagles with is the Chii-character's lonliness, her desire to run away. Complete with caged-bird symbolism and everything! *ahem*. Still, it was an episode that was primarily painted in emotions, and it worked quite well, despite the inane side-spurs for the explainations of the kingdom and Chii's existence.

I've got ep 33 downloaded, and I figure I'll watch it Sunday, along with ep 20 of "Popolocrois Story".

Finally, disc 2 of "Planetes" finally arrived. It's been quite a while since I saw the first disc, and my impressions are pretty much the same. Simple, reasonable storytelling. Maybe a little bit sillier with these episodes, but also a little more overwrought on the melodrama. It will continue on in my "rent" column.

This weekend I have disc 2 of "Fantastic Children" (cool!) and disc 6 of "Read Or Die" (is it over yet? No? Oh well...). With the sun setting at nearly 9pm, it'll take me the whole weekend to get through them, I'm sure.