Finally finally finally FINALLY FINALLY FINALLY… after dicking around with filler arcs and side stories for what seemed like an eternity, they finally get around to the good part of the story. And thank goodness, because it is good indeed. I’ve been waiting to see this scene animated for a long, long time.

The last few episodes have been following the novels very closely, so it seems that they’ve decided to really get back on track. Man, it’s been a while since I watched an anime episode that made me giddy like this one did. Honestly, instead of wasting the first 7 episodes on filler stuff, they should have just jumped right back into the canon storyline and used the extra money on animating the fight scenes. Especially considering the speed at which they’re moving through the events in the novels; I mean, they basically covered almost half of one novel just in this episode. Read the rest of this entry »

While variety is the spice and wolf of life, and while we like always mixing things up here, it’s also good to know what kind of content you guys enjoy most.

In our contest last month I asked, among other things, what you wanted to see more of here at Epic Win. Between that and our recent poll, I think I’ve gotten a pretty good idea of what our core audience is looking for. Read the rest of this entry »

Shigofumi is one of those series that has an intriguing and quirky setting that can either become amazingly brilliant or turn into absolute rubbish, depending on the execution of the story. Speaking of which, using the phrase “execution of the story” when talking about J.C. Staff and light novel adaptations conjures an entirely different mental image from what that phrase usually means (Zero no Tsukaima or Shakugan no Shana, anyone?), and will almost certainly bring bad luck to the production, so I’m going to refrain from saying that ever again.

Shigofumi (死後文) basically means a “letter from beyond death”, and refers to a letter which a recently deceased person writes to someone still living. These letters are delivered by Fumika (pictured above), along with her talking staff sidekick, Kanaka. The series seems to be more or less episodic, with the duo delivering a different letter to a different person each time. Read the rest of this entry »

Despite being a recent fan of the light novels this show is based on, I had a lot of reservations about the series going into it. After watching the first episode, however, I’ve been solidly convinced - this show is going to be epic. So sit back, cut yourself a slice of sunshine pie*, and I’ll tell you why.

* For those who haven’t seen the episode, I’ll explain that line in a bit.

First a quick story synopsis. The only thing I hate more than writing episode summaries is reading them, so I’ll keep this brief. Read the rest of this entry »

Meh is indeed my overwhelming reaction to the new season of Gunslinger Girl.

It’s not terrible, certainly, but I expected much better than mediocre from both Gunslinger Girl and from Artland. The art style is noticeably similar to Mushishi (which Artland also animated), particularly the shading style and the way they favor simple, clean lines for the characters. Now, that I don’t necessarily have a problem with, since the GSG manga also uses this style… but WTF happened to the budget for this project??

I know Artland is capable of much, much better, because the consistency and attention to detail in Mushishi was fantastic (episode 20 “Sea of Brushes”, for example). The animation in this first episode of Gunslinger Girl -Il Teatrino- was just terrible, though. Where to start? Read the rest of this entry »

Dekkai ureshii desu~! Oh man, where would we be without Aria?

Well, I suppose we’d probably be in very much the same place, just a lot crankier and more stressed, and our embarrassing remarks would not be prohibited.

While other people have complained that anime prospects for the winter season look pretty grim, for me any season that has Aria is already epic win. Read the rest of this entry »

Steven Den Beste made an interesting comment last week in response to our choice of Lucky Star for OP of the Year in our Best of 2007 Anime Awards, and it really set me thinking. I know which OPs I like and don’t like, of course, but I had never really stopped to consider what criteria I use to judge that.

Steven’s comment help illustrate that while we hold most of the same criteria on what makes a good OP, we disagree on how important each of those criteria are. From his comment:

“I suspect a lot of the difference of opinion is in what we view the purpose of an OP to be.

For a lot of people, it should be an AMV. That’s what the Lucky Star OP is. Myself, I think it should be an advertisement for the series. It needs to be fun to watch, and to have catchy music, but more important than those things is that it needs to introduce me to most of the major characters and give me some idea of what they’re like, and what their relationships are like. (But it shouldn’t give away spoilers, of course.)”

…

The Potemayo OP does show us those kinds of things, too. For instance, it shows Mikan trying to get close to Sunao and being chased away by Potemayo. It shows Guchuko bouncing on top of Potemayo, and Potemayo getting mad. We get to see Guchuko’s laser beams. Lots of relevant stuff packed into there.

The Lucky Star OP doesn’t do any of that. You can’t tell from it that Konata is an otaku, that Tsukasa is a wimp, and Kagami is strong and sane.

(Emphasis mine)

Read the rest of this entry »

As a huge fan of the original Gunslinger Girl anime, as well as the ongoing manga, I’m definitely very excited about seeing how this new season will turn out. The change of studio and cast obviously means the second season will be different from the first, but for the most part I remain pretty optimistic about it. Let me take a moment to examine a few of the different factors involved. Read the rest of this entry »

This year I decided to forego the usual western customs in favor of following a more Japanese approach to celebrating the New Year. Fortunately for me, the Japanese community in Los Angeles puts on quite a celebration on the first few days of the year, with traditional food, music, and dancing.

After enjoying the first sunrise of the year (hatsuhinode), I headed down to Little Tokyo to catch the festivities (and buy some manga, of course). They had stages set up for various performances at both Weller Court in front of the Kinokuniya bookstore, as well in the Japanese Village Plaza, pictured below. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s the Year of the Dango, doncha know

Well, at long last we’ve come to the end of our little farcical award show. Much like “Whose Line Is It Anyway?”, the awards are made up and the prizes don’t matter, but it’s been a lot of fun to write nevertheless. Now finally, we are ready to unveil our favorite series of the entire year!

We’ve had quite the enjoyable time reminiscing about all the great moments of ‘07; hopefully its been a fun experience for you as well. As we crown our “Anime of the Year”, we also look ahead to the new year with high hopes and great anticipation. Read the rest of this entry »