It’s the time of the year again! The first impressions are long overdue as I bring you my opinions of the shows I’m watching currently for the Summer Season. Originally I was going to put Uta no Prince-Sama together with the former two, but I decided to replace it with No. 6 at the last minute. Compared to last year’s summer line-up (which I review Shiki) I see much improvement in quality and better storytelling in this year’s line-up. You pretty much know what happened in the show, I’m just going straight to my thoughts of the series I’ve watched so far. Please note that the reviews of the three shows are only my opinions and are not impressions that judge the series as a whole.
Seeing eye-to-eye for the first time. Romance is in the air~
Ikoku Meiro no Croisee: I visited various sites like Star Crossed Anime Blog and Random Curiosity and many visitors of the sites commented on this series’ similarities with Aria. Well, obviously it’s made by the same director who previously worked onAria despite never having to watch a single episode of it before. The animators pretty much capture the landscape of Paris in the 1880s/1890s. (More on the 1890s judging by the designs of the ironworks and the clothes the Paris people wore.) The interactions between Claude and Yune was interesting to watch, seemingly that their own cultures and customs clash with each other. Seriously though, I thought thirteen year old Yune was eight, with that big eyes of hers and small body. Lolicon: Absolute no-no for me.
One more thing. Yune = MMMOOOOOEEEEE!!!!! (Hugs Yune like a plush doll)
First thing that popped to my head. Madame Butterfly: Paris-style, minus the tragedy.
Really did not see that coming.
Blood-C:Took me a long time to find a high quality sub for this series. Fortunately, there is. Sure, the first episode may seem simple, happy and borderline cliche, but this is CLAMP we’re talking about. I have a hunch that CLAMP would want us to lower our guard and let us think Blood-C, as a whole will be a cakewalk, but rest assure; by the next episode or so onwards, symbolism, angst and mind screws abound. For someone who has never watched Blood+ that aired a couple of years ago, it’s refreshing to see CLAMP collaborating with Production I.G. while working on Gate 7 (their latest series) after the bloodfest that is Tsubasa. And nice to see a change of the portrayal of vampires. (Thank Twilight and the countless vampire romances and sensual books that are hanging on the shelves.) Also, some of the characters in Blood-C looked like characters from previous CLAMP works. (For starters, Tokizane looks a lot like Touya Kishimoto, Sakura’s bro from CCS for those who are still clueless.) Otherwise, the fight between Saya and the monster drew me to the series (meaning that I’ll stick around and watch the remaining 11 episodes.)
Production I.G. Executives: Okay, everyone. Next on our list: Blood-C stage musical.
Sci-fi action, stepford society, yaoi, the S-M type…wait, wrong channel. But nice try Nezumi, your plan backfired horribly. Wait, you guys are a bunch of twelve year olds…
No. 6: I sort of watched this solely the reason this is made by BONES. Yeah, call me biased or anything, but I like it. Otherwise, I’m pretty much a sucker when it comes to sci-fi, especially the hard ones. The CGI is the only criticism for No. 6, sticking out like a sore thumb when putting a character at the foreground. Also, the OP needs some time to get used too if you are not used to this sort of music. Yeah, there’s a presence of yaoi vibes in here (particularly around 17-18 minutes into the show) and though I was expecting it, but never at a rate like this. Judging by the ED (which is quite good), Shion and Nezumi will be growing up in the later episodes.
Let the rage of the angry yaoi fangirls begin. Sigh.
I’ll be back with Usagi Drop and Mawaru Penguin Drum in the next summer line-up First Impressions. So tell me what you think, and what other series have you watched for the summer line-up?
15 Comments
Regarding Ikoku Meiro no Croisee, romance had better NOT be in the air. Yune is like 8 years old.
Erm, no. I said Yune is thirteen, she looked eight by everyone else, even the audience.
You’re seriously missing out if you haven’t had a look at Nyanpire yet. It is an absolute masterpiece.
Blood-C, No.6(I look for PLOT not YAOI…. >_>), Usagi drop (1st episode really touching) looks promising
and looking forward for your next usagi drop post
I just got done with the first episode of Mawaru Penguin Drum. Man, does it leave one HELL of a first impression.
I did also watch Sacred Seven, which has Code Geass vibes out the ass (especially the main character’s design). Not sure if that’s a good thing but I’m keeping watch on it.
Kamisama Dolls is worth a look in if you haven’t already. Other than that, my list consists of Natsume Yuujinchou San, Blood-C and Usagi Drop.
Loved NO. 6! Of course it was rather slow moving and I kind of wished they had shortened the segments with the girl. I wonder if they decided to pander to people who might be frightened of the later BL vibes instead of establishing the story better. (which would probably be more interesting to the kind of viewer who would be into this)
Still a great first episode. I love the characters, the art and the setting, and I know I will like the story.
I saw a few minutes of Blood-C and wasn’t quite sure what to make of it. Is it reminiscent of Blood+? I’ll finish the episode at some point but I’m still up in the air about it.
It’s actually CLAMP’s version/interpretation of the Blood series. The Saya in Blood+ is different from the Saya in Blood-C, except for their names and the fact that they fight vampire creatures. Well, we are only given subtle hints of vampire appearances in Blood-C but only time will tell.
I mean is there anything worth it this summer?
Blood-C was only good on the last 5 minutes. Clamp has run out of ideas. The classmates looked like Yukito, Touya and Maru and Moro grown up. I’m really hoping Clow Reed or Yuko don’t show up here >_>. Probably watching it if Saya stops being kawaii uguu desu.
Somehow the two guys from N°6 remind me of Allen and Kanda from DGM but the story reminded too much of Fractale. And I only liked Nessa from there. I’ll probably be watching this for the BL. And I hope they do the timeskip already. Shotas with deep voices are just weird.
I liked Ikouku Meiro no Croisée and the interaction between Claude and Yune. And, as somebody who is studying French right now I’m a little curious to see if they do “Furenchi”. Just hoping it doesn’t turn into Yune doing cute hings for the sake of it, it’s enough having her look like a 8-year old.
And seriously you guys need to check Nyanpire. The ending song needs to be killed with fire but the rest was really cute. Yeah, I liked Chii’s Sweet Home so I’m probably super biased there.
No. 6: I kind of agree with you with Shion and Nezumi looking like Allen and Kanda respectively in the promo arts.
I sort of looking forward to the next two or three episodes of Blood-C to see if I should drop it or not. The fight redeemed itself to let me continue watching. For now it’s decent, but when you know CLAMP is behind it, you never know.
Will have to watch No 6! A bit more before dropping it I just hope we dont have toooo much BL going on hahaha then again us guys have plenty of ecchi themed shows so I guess it’s only fair xD
Blood C- Good stuff too! Random singing was some wtf stuff for me but I assume this is pre vampire killer Saya, she has to train and learn things, but looks good will give it two more episodes.
What? You liked Blood-C? I’m going to call you ‘waterskiing-bald-buddha-statue-lover-san’ from now on.
If Croisée became Madame Butterfly… well… if she’s so short…
*sunglasses*
…HOW DOES SHE KNOW WHERE HER STOMACH IS?!
yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
As far as Ikoku Meiro no Croisee, if the intent is to show the proverbial fish out of water, or person living in a foreign culture it will be interesting to see if they make any attempts at showing the difficulties that arise purely from language. It is difficult to tell when they are supposedly speaking French and when they are supposedly speaking Japanese. They should have done something else to clarify which language is which, instead of having everyone speak Japanese, and leaving it to the viewer to try and figure out what languages they are speaking. Since the language barrier is the largest one when adapting to a foreign culture, it should be the most prominent one in a show about culture clashes.
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