April. It's that time of the year again, when a slew of new anime shows start. I haven't time to get through even just a handful of them (heck, I only just finished NOIR less than 2 weeks ago, and I had it since it came out in 2001!), but I'll post my thoughts on what I've seen so far and follow up with more posts later.

First off, the ones I'm looking forward to the most are Code Geass R2 and Macross Frontier. Those are sure bets so I'll just grab them and wait till I have time to watch them, which, judging from past history, will be a good couple months away, if not longer...

The other ones that I'm not familiar with but will probably receive the same treatment are Toshokan Sensou (図書館戦争) and Soul Eater. The former seems very interesting and I like the clean feel of the artwork. The latter is based on a manga which I've seen but never read. I'm guessing it might be similar to Shaman King or Bleach in terms of background setting. Should be fun.

Now let's start on what I have seen so far for the new shows.

紅 (Kurenai) Ep.1-2
The OP is pretty hip and cute, and it's of a completely different tone than the anime itself. The pace is okay and the overall mood feels a little dispirited, mainly due to the relatively depressing protagonist. He's not like Shinji type of depress, though, just a bit too accepting. I rather enjoy the interaction between him and Murasaki. This is when he acts like a responsible big brother. There's still too much enigma about the whole setting and character background. I haven't decided what to think about the anime yet, but I'll continue to watch it. We'll see how it turns out.

イタズラなKiss (Itazura no Kiss) Ep.1
I watched the 1st episode purely because of Mizuki Nana, and she was indeed the only highlight for the show and not enough to save it for me. Well, Park Romi also plays the little brother, but she simply doesn't get enough screen time at all to be a factor! The art is outdated and the plot and the characters feel flat. I tried reading the original manga a long time ago and forced myself through two volumes before deciding not to torture myself anymore. My brother got hooked by the Taiwanese drama based on it and even bought the DVD box set and the soundtrack CD. I sampled bits and pieces walking by the living room while he was watching it. The Taiwanese drama version is altered enough to actually be watch-worthy, but I can't stand the way the heroine is acted out. If it's Mizuki Nana's Makoto in the drama, I'd probably watch it. But for the manga and the anime version, I don't really see any way to save them. A drama CD with a different cast (but leave Nana and Romi-nee in there!) might interest me, but I'm dropping this anime.

隠の王 (Nabari no Ou) Ep.1
I read the manga quite some time ago and found it fine. Okay, I can't remember a thing from the manga except that the different ninja tribes are trying to get the thing (whatever it's called) from Miharu and fighting his little group of comrades. Watching the 1st episode refreshed my memory and at the same time brought a fresh look for this series. The art is good, and the fighting sequences are awesome and way beyond Naruto's level. I was unsure about having Kugimiya Rie as the protagonist, but she pulled it off very nicely, not to mention when Miharu went into intentional teretere mode. Interesting story, good characters and cast, great fighting scenes. You can bet I'll be keeping this one.

BLASSREITER Ep.1
This one feels like Devil May Cry to me, only that now there's an official group fighting the demonica(?) beside those with special powers. The 2D art is good, but I have trouble swallowing all the 3D ones. The cast is pretty good, and having Itou Shizuka and Miyake Kenta in the same team reminds me of Pumpkin Scissors (which I'd really like to see a sequel of for the anime version). It's intriguing that the main guy hasn't really entered the scene and keeps watching from a distance. I'm guessing Matsukaze Masaya's voicing him 'cause I heard him in the episode preview at the end. A truly exceptional thing about this series is that it's actually available on YouTube, with pretty decent English subtitle. I have to hand it to GONZO for this bold and brilliant move. This is most encouraging and hopefully it will open the door for many other studio to promote their works this way. Like I said before, with the ridiculous price per anime DVD disc here, there's no way I'm buying anything unless I've watched it and liked it. And I know a great percentage of the anime watching population in NA feels the same way. Again, props for GONZO!

Monochrome Factor Ep.1
I can't believe I watched this. Is this suppose to be BL? The title rings a bell so I think I might had read a chapter or two of the manga before, and I don't do BL... It's got a pretty good cast, which is the only thing keeping me at the moment. The art is okay, but Shirogane's character and the infamous kiss scene are really pushing it for me. I actually looked around online to check if this is BL. It's not, thankfully. So I guess I'll stick around for a few more episodes.

I think this is long enough for a single post. More to come later.