From Fantasy and Magic to Boobies, Giant Axes and Milk Bukkakes: The Story of Queen's Blade

Today, I came across a series of games known as Queen's Blade. We'll get to why it caught my attention in just a bit. I'd never heard of Queen's Blade before, but apparently, it's part of the "visual combat book" genre. Even being a fan of visual novels, I'll admit I'd never heard of this particular genre that Japan has apparently been enjoying for a few years now. A quick look at this site, however, gave me some info on Queen's Blade:

Queen's Blade is called "Visual Book for Duel." It is based on the Lost Worlds Combat Picture Books, the classic game book for duel.


In this game, each player uses one beautiful fighter (for one book) to duel with another player. The combination of each player's choice of offenses and defenses then leads to the character being in a state of, for example, falling down, being wounded, having armor broken, etc (each state has an artistic page in the character book), and the repetition of these decides a winner, by accumulated wounds.

Books? Status effects? Rules? This was all very vague. It sounded a little like Dungeons & Dragons...some sort of table-top RPG. Surely, it couldn't be Japanese by origin?


Unsatisfied, I decided to do some further research. What I came across was Lost Worlds, a series of "game books" created by a person named Alfred Leonardi.


Here's what I found out: a gamebook is somewhat like an RPG rule book which features a "character" meant for combat. Play using these gamebooks requires at least two players and a gamebook for each, ie; a character for each.


Play requires two players and at least two "visual combat books", with each player choosing a character (i.e., a book) from those available. Both players pull their "character sheet" out of their gamebook and hand their respective book to their opponent. Each book lists the moves and abilities for that character in tabular form, so what you're seeing during play is your opponent's character, not yourself.



Quoting Wikipedia, "During each turn or combat phase, players secretly select an action from those shown on their card, possibly influenced by the results of previous turns. Players then simultaneously reveal their intended action, by number, to each other. Using the character sheet to cross-reference their action with that of their opponent, players then turn to a specific entry in the book they are holding in order to determine the results. These effects may include hit point loss (i.e., a wound), as well as any restrictions on the opponent's next move (which is read aloud to them). The first character to reduce their opponent to zero hit points wins."


Funny story: I thought up the exact same game back in Grade 6. My friends and I would play it every free class we had until we finally tired of it in Grade 8.


Coming back to the origins of Queen's Blade, though, the "game book" concept was capitalized on in 2005 by Hobby Japan, the same publisher that translated the third and fourth editions of Dungeons & Dragons for Japan. HJ may as well have stuck with the abbreviated title thing from D&D and named their new series based on the gamebook concept "T&A" for reasons that will become obvious soon enough.



T&A...er, I mean, Queen's Blade...was for the most part a re-skinning of pre-existing character matrices from Lost Worlds. And what a re-skinning it was! Gone were the days of mages and skeletons and trolls and gnomes. Who needed that when you could have the usual harem of scantily clad beauties with torn clothes? Hobby Japan also went and added a variety of pre-existing characters from Japanese media, including Mai Shiranui from King of Fighters and eventually, even added entirely new characters to the mix.

The series grew into a successful franchise, spawning anime spin-offs, dozens of gamebooks and action figures. The only thing it seemed to be missing was a series of videogames.

Of course, that particular issue didn't last very long.


Enter Queen's Blade: Spiral Chaos published by Namco Bandai for the PSP...a crossover of sorts featuring Queen's Blade characters. It is described as a "simulation RPG about the battle of beautiful warriors." With the RPG equivalent of moneyshots in the form of tearing clothes and ecchi pictures...very ecchi pictures...Spiral Chaos features super-deformed female fighters controlled as units in realtime like a strategy RPG. By maneouvering these characters, you can get into one-on-one battles with opponents.

Each character's damage stats are linked to five parts: head, chest, waist, arms and legs. By focusing on a particular part, you can damage it faster and cause the armour or weapon associated with that part to break. Doing this will result in the aforementioned ecchi pictures/cutscenes. For example:













And now you know why Queen's Blade caught my attention. Here are some nice shots of the gameplay to make it look like I wasn't just interested in the pantsu:









Images courtesy of Namco Bandai. Thanks to Laura Hou for translation help. Also, this post is filed under "Hentai" because I didn't know where else to put it.

[ADVANCE]

Impressions: Dragon Ball Z Burst Limit

Dragon Ball Z can be summed up pretty well in a couple lines. Bad guy shows up, he kicks everyone's ass, and then they kick his ass. This formula just works for the series.

However, the topic of discussion here is DBZ Burst Limit. If you like DBZ, you'll love this game. I play my fair share of fighters (primarily Soul Calibur), DBZ games tend to almost always disappoint, regardless of my love for the series. Burst Limit, on the other hand, has a lot going for it.

I played through the single player mode, to unlock all the characters and I had a blast doing it. Throughout the story mode, you get to play as all the humans, Saiyajin, Freeza, and a tonne of other characters. The story focuses on some of the movies -- like Brolly's movie and Bardock's movie -- however; unfortunately, there is no Buu saga, and that's slightly disappointing if you're a fan of the franchise.

To read the full story on what Burst Limit has to offer, hit the jump.



This game has broken the mold of recent anime fighting games. It has no shop, and thank friggin' God for that. The most annoying thing ever in a game, is to unlock something, and then have to have to buy what you just unlocked, especially if you don't have the money to buy said item.

That said, the sheer amount of unlockeable content really stood out here. I got a "Z" rating on my first fight, and unlocked at least 6 different things. This made me feel like i was actually accomplishing something.

Now, most of these unlocks are Drama scenes -- which well get into later -- but there's also the unlock of the character you just played/defeated and also the unlock of the next chapter in the story. Another thing I liked was how easy the controls were to pick up. I brought a friend over and after about 20 minutes, he was dodging and giving me a pretty hard time.

The controls are easy to learn, hard to master, and that's just how I like my fighters.

Access to a moves list really helps; however, it's a good idea to play through the tutorials to get a good understanding of how some of the more complicated moves work. All in all, DBZ Burst Limit has a lot going for it.

Nonetheless, there are a few things that made me cringe. I hate this part, but onto the lesser points of the game.

Drama Scenes: These occur during every fight. They are very cool at first; however, after fighting a friend for the 20th time, and using the same characters, they can get a bit annoying. As far as I could tell, there wasn't a way to turn them off or skip them, as they are an important component of the gameplay.

The other thing that I found annoying was the camera. If you're pushed against a wall, it likes to randomly flip, disorienting you for a bit, which is enough to cost you the match when you're playing the story mode on a harder setting.

Other than those two things, there really wasn't much to nitpick at, this game is a great addition to any collection.By our new "rating" system, the "ratings" are: Pass; Rent; and Buy.

DBZ Burst Limit definitely gets a BUY. This game is one of the best anime fighters in a long time. DBZ fans would do well to consider a purchase.

[ADVANCE]

Jak's Personal Ten Best Anime of 2007

Everybody loves a good list, right? I will list the ten best anime I've watched this year. Now, the views expressed hereafter are not exactly the same as the rest of the writers. These are my personal favorites; one's I enjoyed the most.

So, let's get started.

10. Lovely Complex

Why?:

Okay so, I really only had about eight shows I thoroughly enjoyed this year. I was thinking of some others to make a complete ten, so I chose Lovely Complex. If you've ever read anything written by me, you would know I am pretty biased towards romantic comedies. But LoveCom was extremely over the top in it's expression of emotions and dialogue. If anything, I watched it just to hear the characters yell at each other with a Kansai dialect. I did get really annoyed at the show many times, and even stopped watching it about two-thirds of the way through. But when I finished it I was somewhat surprised that I did enjoyed the series as a whole.

9. Shigurui

Why?:

Shigurui is truly a unique show. I've yet to see anything else like it. It's also a show I'd never recommend to a typical anime fan. The show is very - no - extremely slow paced. Watching one episode seems as if it takes an hour to watch, but it is not as if it was boring. The show has the most dramatic contrast, both in style and in content. The color is almost all black and white; dark and bright. Slow moving shots of the characters, and then in an instant, a fight breaks out and is over quickly. I'm not sure how historically accurate this show is, but if samurai could truly do some of the things portrayed in Shigurui then I find that absolutely astounding, both the actually technique and the torturous training it takes to perfect it. This show also definitely not for the faint of heart. It is extremely gory.

8. Minami-ke

Why?:

Minami-ke was a show I was really surprised I enjoyed. What exactly did I like about it? I'm still not quite sure. The complete randomness mostly. You never knew what to expect and more often than not, the outcome was hilarious. The personalities of the individual characters as well. From the tenderly and loving Haruka, to the mischievous Kana, and the critical, unamused, yes still very naive Chiaki. One truly became accustomed to these characters and continued watching to see how they would conflict next.

7. Claymore

Why?:

I'll be honest, the first third of this show was immensely boring. I don't know why I forced myself to watch it, but I'm glad I did. It started off really slow and typical. Then is slowly started to build momentum all the way up to a certain point, and then it slammed on the gas and never faltered the rest of the show. The ending was pretty disappointing which can easily be cured by a sequel. Some say Claymore will have a sequel, others say they won't. My favorite aspect of the show was how the Claymores had to use restraint when fighting, other wise they would lose their humanity. Each fighter had to use a immense amount of self control when conducting themselves, even when it seemed logical to let it all loose.

6. Baccano

Why?:

Baccano is the best show of 2007 that no one watched. It's also the most confusing. The show has a huge cast of characters that is hard to follow. I think I was familiar with them only half way through the whole show. And then we have the confusing story and time line. Baccano's greatest strength is it's story and how many events from long ago to just a few years ago are affecting the current events happening in the the show's present time. It hops between 1930-1933 so much one has no clue what's happening a majority of the time. And then we have Isaac and Miria. Two vigilante bank robber's determined to put the mafia out of business. They are hands down the best comedy duo I've seen in a long time. They were a major reason why I watched the show and why you should too.

And the ending is absolutely classic.

5. Ghost Hound

Why?:

I'm only half way through with Ghost Hound. If I had seen the whole thing, I'm certain it would be higher, but things didn't turn out like that. I've said it before, I love the audio aspect of the show. The style is somewhat simplistic in certain places, and thoroughly complex in others. I find it interesting how everything looks so pastel when the characters are inside and at school and when outside, they look bold and colorful. The supernatural aspect is finally starting to show itself in true form and the discovery of abilities and their full potential is piquing my interest immensely.

I'm sorry for using such extravagant words to describe something so simple and insignificant.

4. Toki wo no Kakeru Shoujo (The Girl Who Leapt Through Time)

Why?:

This isn't a series, it's a movie. And it is one of the best movies I've ever seen in my life. That includes animated movies and one's with human actors. It's a movie about high school life and a subtle romance with a sci-fi twist. It's also a bit tragic, but not something that leaves you depressed. I recommend this movie to everyone I come across. It's going to be in stores in North America soon, so I'd recommend everyone that can to buy it. I am confident you will not be disappointed. The style, the music, the animation, the feeling, it is all truly amazing.

3. Seirei no Moribito (Guardian of the Sacred Spirit)

Why?:

I am biased towards this show because of Production I.G. This was a show I was begging for more action to happen in. What few fights that did occur, were nothing short of spectacular. I hate characters with pacifist attitudes when they are an amazing fighter, but I love Balsa. She's more noble then most men and could beat any of them in a fight. The art in the show is probably the best I've seen in any anime. The music was eerie and truly reflected the feel the creators want to portray. It also has an interesting fantasy twist towards the second half that sort of threw you for a loop. Towards the end , I was wondering if I had been watching the same show this entire time. The plot does move pretty slow (similar to Ghost Hound, another series by Production I.G.) so if you are patient, I recommend you give this a try.

2. Tengen Toppen Gurren Lagann

Why?:

This show was almost my favorite of the year. Personal bias kept it from that spot. While I loved every aspect of the show, the stereotypical anime fan service and their typical scenario's sort of irked me. That aside, the sheer epic-ness of Gurren Lagann easily eclipses any flaws it has. If you like action, this show is definitely for you, if not perfect. If you like relationships, both that of romance, and of friends and mentors, this show might be for you as well, but be prepared for the worst. Gurren Lagann evokes emotions, both positive and negative. I can not ever recall me hating a fictional character the way I hated Rossieu, or ever felt down because of a certain characters death. Gurren Lagann only had one lowpoint, which was intentional. The protagonist rose above it. Gurren Lagann will give you goosebumps. Unless you are completely insane and hate anime, watch it as soon as possible. Tell all your friends about it and make your (male) children watch it so they'll know how to behave like a real humans.

1. Darker Than Black

Why?:

Here is where the bias comes in to play. Before I saw one episode of this show, I already was in love with it. BONES is my favorite studio. Yoko Kanno is my favorite composer. Watching this show felt like watching a movie because the production value was so high. If any anime could ever get me to buy a high definition media player, Darker Than Black would be it. Not many shows do this, but Darker Than Black has two episode arcs. So in reality, you are watching one forty minute episode. I like long episodes like that. I've seen a few OVA's and short movies that follow this timing format and enjoyed them. It really shows talent in the writing because sometimes it's hard to fill up the allotted time required for even a normal twenty two minute episode.

The show has an unusual cast of an ex-special agent with the power of electricity, an emotionless blind girl who can give intel to her team just by touching water, a black cat who has a human soul trapped in him, and an alcoholic. The show has a serene sense of humor combined with quick and fast paced action where the ones involved have unusual powers. And then the whole process of regenerating that power after the fights is intriguing, and sometimes funny. The first half of the show is confusing since each set of episodes introduces a new set of characters. Towards the end, it all comes together smoothly. The true ending did leave more to be desired. But like Claymore, we'll just assume it's because a sequel will be in the works. BONES does like to make their shows fifty or so episodes.

Conclusion:

And that's the end. If you know me personally, you should be surprised. At anything in this list. I won't recommend a lot of these shows to other people simply because some are just shows you either like, or you could care less about - if that makes any sense.

If you disagree with anything I've said, just chill out and remember it's just one person's perspective. These are the shows I enjoyed personally for various reasons - some which I've listed. If you do watch any of these shows based on my word, that would really make me happy. It's not to be expected however.

[ADVANCE]

First Impressions: Rosario + Vampire

I knew it! From the moment an anime adaption was announced for Rosario + Vampire, I knew it was going to go downhill. Was I right? Absolutely.

First and foremost, I think I should say this: I'm a fan on the manga. So should you expect this impressions article to compare the anime to the manga, and not on it's own merits? Yes, you should. I'll not go into an in-depth comparison, but some of the things that are, and are not, in the anime really irked me.


Plot:

The story is about Tsukune Aono, a normal human teenager. Tsukune isn't exactly the a greatest student so he was really happy when he was finally accepted by a high school. The only catch is the high school is for monsters only. That's right, monsters. As in fairy tale type monsters. I am somewhat familiar with the ensuing plot, and monsters from legends of all cultures make their way into this series. I've never exactly studied such things in depth, but I was accustomed to some of the ones later on, so I'm sure you will be too if it's not exactly your forte.



Our hero Tsukune, gets run over by a girl on a bicycle. How convenient for him, because she's somewhat attractive and we all know attractive girly girls flock to injured boys like flies flock to strawberries covered in honey and Aunt Jemima's Butter Rich Maple Syrup. This girl happens to be a vampire named Moka Akashiya.

Ahem! Sound familiar? Well it should. It's not, word for word, exactly like something else, but you can guess where this is going, no? Do I sound irritated enough? I'm trying my best.

Other monsters are jealous that Tsukune, this seemingly ordinary guy, gets to hang around said beautiful girl. They are monsters. Instinct and emotions are more prevalent than common sense and rationality. Even though it is against the rules, these monsters change from their human form to their true form. Tsukune has no supernatural powers (yet) so he can't fight. He'll have to rely on Moka to protect him since she seems to be much stronger than any of your typical run-of-the-mill monsters. Not only that, she looks down on them and she's an elitist. And I'm going to leave it at that.

Rant:

I'll try to make this as fast with the smallest possible amount of whining. First, the anime has 95% more fan-service than the manga. I find it absolutely appalling. It's pointless, irrelevant, distracting. It adds absolutely nothing to the show, therefore it retracts.

Tsukune is a wimp. He's supposed to be right? Nothing is really wrong with that, but this time around Tsukune is a wimp that is completely obnoxious. I used to find him quite amusing freaking out over the littlest things. Now, not so much. He's completely void of emotion. Why should I care if he gets hurt or is about to die?

The anime has 100% less of the shonen feel the manga had. A fight happens in every chapter/episode. It was the part I most looked forward too. Moka might be pretty, but once you take off the rosary, she turns into her true from and decimates any foes standing before her (for now). The fight in the anime probably lasted two seconds. She just kicks him. We see it from far away. It was absolutely nothing spectacular.

That is one thing they did do right - the portrayal of vampire Moka. A bit less of the psycho-crazy look in her eyes, but still pretty sweet.

I could go on and on. But I have a feeling this is as best as the show is going to get. More and more female characters will enter the story so I can only assume the horrendous fan-service will only multiply. Will this show be a true harem romo-com? Or will it be about a group of friends fighting together and trying to live normal lives as human high-school students, like it's supposed to be? Which one will attract the most money/popularity? Ecchi, fan-service laden, harem comedies are much more popular than shonen series', right?



Bottom line:

Move along people. Nothing to see here. Nothing you haven't already seen, sans the monster twist. If you want a good romo-com, this isn't it, because it's not supposed to be. I recommend the manga through and through. I feel like I'm judging the anime way too much, too early. If it turns out for the better I'll write an apology or something of the sort. From what I've seen so far, it doesn't look like it will turn out that way.

[ADVANCE]

Nijū-Mensō no Musume To Get The Anime Treatment

Nijū-Mensō no Musume by Shinji Ohara will be one of the shows to look forward to this spring anime season. Anime News Network reports. The manga and soon to be anime is about a female thief named "Chiko". This series appears to be related to series of novels written by Ranpo Edogawa. CLAMP's manga Man of Many Faces also seems to have been inspired by these novels.

Do I sound like I know what I'm talking about? In all honesty, I know absolutely nothing about this series, and information on it seems to be scarce even though it's said to have been in serialization for about five years and even garnered a sequel. If it's any good, we'll find out this spring when it's planned to air. I cannot remember the last crime-themed anime I watched. Whatever it was, it must have not been very good.


[Source: Anime News Network]

[ADVANCE]

Fall Season Wrap-Up

The fall season is wrapping up and the winter is upon us. Thankfully, many of our favorite shows are only half way over.

I didn't watch all of the fall shows, so I can't account for the ones that I didn't watch if they turned out to be good.


Ghost Hound:

Only half way over, so far it's been a trip. The show keeps drifting from the psychological to the supernatural. It's hard to say what is the true cause of all the strange happenings that occur. All things seem to stem from a traumatic event that had happened in each of the three main characters life. And, of course, my favorite aspect of the show is the audio. I've never been so impressed with that aspect of a show before. I feel so ridiculously geeky when I bust out my good pair of head phones just to watch the show.


Minami-ke:

This is a slice-of-life comedy about random events in the lives of three school-age sisters living alone by themselves. Plot-wise, well, a plot doesn't really exist. Relationships aren't developed even though they try. It's a show you have to watch. You either like it, or you don't. I personally found the show to be hilarious with it's non-stop tongue-in-cheek humour. And of course, it has the best in-show TV drama ever: Sensei and Ninomiya-kun.

The show is over, but another studio is continuing the show. The animation looks a bit different, but it uses the same voice actors at least. I hope is still as funny.


Bamboo Blade:

Who doesn't love a good competition/sports show? Bamboo Blade isn't entirely about competing, but thankfully, it doesn't deviate too far from that. Each of the girls has a different and interesting personality which keeps the show entertaining. It's only half way over. The plot seems to be stuck for a few episodes. I would like it to move faster, but I also want to see where it's going at the current rate.


Jyuushin Enbu - Hero Tales:

I haven't seen much of this show, but over all I enjoyed it. It has some resemblance to Full Metal Alchemist since I do believe some people from that team worked on this show (don't quote me on that). More or less, has the same feel as FMA . The main character and his sibling remind me of Ed and Al, only this time, the younger sibling actually is a girl (Ohhhh snap!). The primary villain also looks like King Bradley and Major Armstrong fused into one.

All in all, it's my obligatory shounen show. Bleach isn't being aired anymore. That's my excuse. You aren't missing anything if you don't watch it.


Clannad:

A show I didn't think I would like. This is definitely one of those shows you can't judge by it's cover. I still...somewhat...completely and utterly despise the character design, but I've learned to deal with it. It's done by Visual Key, as you may already know, so it also try's to be an emotional show at certain points. It can be somewhat eerie at times with events that are influenced ulterior clockwork behind everything, and that's probably why I like the show. Also, Sunohara cracks me up.

Did I ever tell you about my idea for a Clannad fighting game? No? Maybe some other time then.


Kimikiss:

An innocent, non-harem, high school romo-com. It focuses and a handful of individuals and their relationships with one another. It's somewhat enjoyable and I liked the style and animation. I feel like recently the the plot is running around in circles. It's only half way over, so we'll see if it turns out good or not.




And that about wraps it up. Earlier this fall, I said I'd be watching some other shows, but I turned out to not me interested in them. I also started watching a few J-dramas, so I got behind and had to cut some that just didn't catch my interest.

My first impressions for some of the shows earlier this season were way too long and overdone. I got burned out and pretty much dropped all the others I was working on. When winter starts, I hope to do a few but not so over the top. I apologize if you were looking forward to more. Yeah, right!

[ADVANCE]

First Impressions: Dragonaut -The Resonance-

It's time to churn out some impressions of a new show that's a little more action-oriented. I wasn't particularly expecting much from Dragonaut; it was just one of those shows I had kept my eye on just in case it turned out to be really good. After watching the first episode, I am disappointed to say I'm still unsure about whether this show will be a hit or what it's even about for that matter. The story is somewhat disorienting. The style and animation seems to drop off at certain points in terms of quality. Some of the fighting was cool though.

Read on for more.




Story:

Our protagonist's name is Jin Kamishina. Jin is eighteen years old. Jin is very emotional and lonely because two years ago, he lost his parents and younger sister in a space shuttle accident. The story of Dragonaut seems to take place around our own current time period, perhaps slightly more into the future where ordinary citizens can take a commercial flight into space like we do today with airplanes. The shuttle that was carrying the Kamishina family was almost into orbit but then suddenly it was stuck by one of three foreign objects from outer space. It exploded high in the sky leaving the people in the space port that saw them off in shock. Jin was aboard this shuttle and somehow managed to survive the impact and the long fall into what I assume was the ocean. The first episode doesn't show us how Jin survives. Perhaps this will be used later on in the series as a part of Dragonaut's seemingly complex storyline.

Two years after this horrible tragedy, we see Jin living his current life with some relatives. As I stated before, he seems to be very lonely and not at all content with the company of his current household. Since he survived the shuttle accident, Jin seems to be well known. I say this because we see a reporter or investigator tracking him trying asking him questions regarding the event. Jin tries to lose him and succeeds.



So what happens to Jin next? I'm not sure to be honest. We are then taken to other scenes involving unknown characters. We are also introduced to some organization or group called the "International Solarsystem Development Agency" or "ISDA" for short. We see various members of the ISDA are taking amongst themselves, and we hear that something called "Resonance" will be initiated that night.

If you are confused at this point, don't worry, I was as well. A monster is loose in the city and we see him attack and devour a woman walking home at night. It's dark and many mysterious noises are generated piquing Jin's curiosity, whom was also walking home nearby. He investigates but then realizes that something is very wrong and backs away. As he does that, his foot strikes a tin can on the ground and that catches the monster's attention. He then proceeds to attack Jin who tries to run away. We begin realize that Jin isn't exactly your typical macho man who's willing to fight anyone and anything, but then we see he's not some sissy either. He does what every man should do when being pursued by large monster and fights back. Our hero happens to find a steel pole laying on the ground. He picks it up and swings straight at the monsters head. Too bad it had absolutely no effect on the monster. He didn't even flinch. It was a nice try though, Jin.

This part of the show was pretty dark so it's rather difficult to tell what exactly is happening. The monster pursues Jin a bit longer. Jin escapes but the monster comes through the floor. Somehow they end up on top of a tall building and the monster attack Jin with his gigantic arms. He misses and does a lot of damage to the building and then Jin is now free falling straight towards the concrete streets below. Throughout the entire episode, a mysterious girl has been following Jin. And that's good for Jin because she jumps from a rooftop and catches him in midair and then lands on the roof of another building and jumps away with Jin still in her arms.

Of course their pursuer was not far behind them. He catches up to them on a highway and an awesome fight occurs. Don't judge the girl by her size. She gives their opponent some very hard kicks. It doesn't last very long. A gas tanker is driving down the highway and hits the monster head on causing a large explosion. The monster walks out of the flames and by that time the girl and had fled the scene with Jin.

Jin then wakes up. He falls asleep or loses consciousness somewhere amidst all the action. He quickly remembers that a monster had attacked him and was angry about it. Then he sees the girl who rescued him standing a few feet away from him with a pleasant smile on her face. She introduces herself as "Toa" to Jin. They grasp each other's hand and that's the end.

The Bottom Line:

Once again, for the third time in a row, I'm giving a sort of mediocre impression for the title anime. Dragonaut was alright, but it's nothing to get excited over. At least not yet anyways. A lot of characters were thrown at you and not many of them properly introduced or their roles explained. I even believe on the official website for Dragonaut, a chart is available that details all the characters and their relationship with each other. I believe that Dragonaut will have a very deep and somewhat complicated storyline so it definitely has the potential to become a very solid show later on down the line. But as for me, I just wasn't excited about it. I will keep my eye on Dragonaut though.















Opening:


Ending:

[ADVANCE]

First Impressions: Blue Drop

Blue Drop! One of the few shows that really caught my eye when the fall schedule was made public. Sad to say, I'm not as optimistic about it as I was before watching the first episode. What optimism I had before was merely blind. I'm not saying this to discredit the show, It's just that we'll need to see more of it to decide whether it's going to be good or not.

The design and animation were satisfactory, as was the music. The story is where things get shaky. For starters, this is a drama. All serious, no comedy! But that's not to say you won't ever laugh. Before watching Blue Drop, I was really expecting some mecha action as that is supposedly one of the genres attributed to this show. It wasn't absent, but we need to go deeper into the story for us to see really how fleshed-out that aspect of the show is.

Story:

The protagonist is Mari Wakatake, a young girl, presumably in her early teens. It seems up until the point of time Blue Drop starts, Mari has lived a rather sheltered life with her grandmother. I'll go ahead and state that Mari has somewhat of a "bratty" attitude. Her grandmother appears to be wealthy, and yet some circumstance has come due to which she begins to worry about Mari and sends her off to a rather prestigious school for girls. This school is for students that come from wealthy families and students that are very intelligent. Of course, Mari, being naïve decides that her grandmother is tired of her and is trying to get rid of her.


On her way to this school, Mari sees a girl standing on some rocks jutting out from the ocean. As they are driving down the road a flock of, what I assume to be seagulls comes out of no where and surrounds this young girl -- much to Mari's amazement.

They arrive to an eerily vacant, but beautiful and elegant school administration building. In a meeting with the two head directors of the school, we learn that it is a holiday and everyone is away until the evening. The directors also learn that their newest pupil has a very sour and disrespectful attitude. One would assume that could be easily overlooked, but we are at a high-class educational establishment after all. After the meeting, Mari's escort quickly drives off and she is then left all alone and looking as if abandoned.

Michiko Kōzuki, a girl donning glasses and a sun hat and one of the few people on the campus, is then asked by the director of the school to give Wakatake a tour of the campus. Mari has other plans. She didn't like this school to begin with and quickly decides she doesn't plan on making her stay at the school very long. She doesn't have to run very far before she realizes that she doesn't exactly have a place to run away to, which Michiko points out.

Mari is then escorted to her dorm. She meets another girl, the girl she saw in the ocean on the way school. Hagino Senkōji is her name, and she warmly extends her hand to Mari to greet her. As soon as she touches Mari's hand, something strange happens: her eyes turn blue and Hagino seems to lose control of herself and attempts to choke Mari. In the middle of the attack, she regains control of herself and lets Mari free. I'm not a female so I don't really understand why Mari, who is frightened and angry, grabs flowers sitting in a vase on the desk by the bed and throws them at Hagino. (The reasoning of women is something that has always intrigued me, and scares me even more, especially when it comes to young women.)

Michiko who returns from having left earlier accompanied by a rather plumb girl whom is introduced as the head of the dormitory, comes back to an awkward scene with two girls standing in the middle of the room with flowers scattered across the floor. Mari then spends the rest of the day talking with Michiko outside.

That evening, Mari is then introduced to the rest of the dormitory at dinner. We then learn that Hagino is a second in command of the dormitory and she attempts to greet Mari again. The following events that happen are most likely due to the entire room consisting of teenage females. The estrogen pretty much explodes across the entire room. Mari slaps Hagino's extended hand and then picks up a cup of water and throws it in Hagino's face, drenching her. Three girls then jump from their tables and attack Mari in defense of Hagino. A brawl breaks out and a counselor quickly puts an end to it and punishes the girl.

That night, a hungry Mari notices someone sneaking out of the dormitory. She follows. It's Hagino. Her eyes are blue and something ominous arises from the ocean. We are then left with a shot of Mari whom is very confused and very afraid.

The Bottom Line:

I won't blame you if you skipped down to the conclusion of this impression. The bottom line is Blue Drop is a bit too dramatic for my tastes. I do have faith things will shape out in future episodes. If that isn't the case, I will find myself very irritated. This could be the start of a deep and well developed story as much as it could be the start of a boring soap-box drama. I will say I'm not very enthused about watching the next episode. I suppose I 'm being a typical male, wondering where the action is. I was expecting it and I even demanded it at one point. Maybe it will come, maybe not. As things stand, I really don't see myself being motivated enough to finish this series, even if it's only thirteen episodes. I will keep my eye on Blue Drop, just in case.











Ending:

[ADVANCE]