Cruel Angel Theses

Spice and Wolf has what is possibly one of the most vivid and breathtaking OPs, with gorgeous animation not seen since Byousoku 5cm, although for all purposes, this high-quality YouTube can only come so close to capturing the enrapturing experience on a full-screen.

It would be sheer folly to skip this on the poseur notion of what seems to be fanservice, of course. Once you get past the whole “goddess with wolf ears and tail” matter and how she’s without clothes for a significant part of the episode, it all falls into place as having the makings of a winner. It’s short, for one (12 episodes, with an OVA scheduled sometime later), and given the more or less successful streak that light novel adaptations have had (Haruhi, Shana, Zero no Tsukaima) as of late, this seems like a no-brainer.

The first episode won’t win awards any time soon, even if it got the job done. At a glance, it appears to bear a close resemblance to Kino’s Journey, from what I can make of it; only instead of a talking motorcycle, you have Lawrence, whose aural resemblance to Lelouch due to his seiyuu can be heard at times, and is nothing short of amusing when you realise how close he is from affecting a Zero-sque air and proclaiming Britannia’s downfall all over again.

I’ll probably need to watch another episode or two to get a feel of where this journey is headed, and till that happens, the eclectic mix of economics, religion (those much maligned sword-waving zealot “Christians” and the Church with a capital “C”, anyone?), and slice of life doesn’t look like a particularly bad idea, especially when it’s served alongside a seiyuu pedigree so fine you’d think Code Geass’ second season came early.

of noteworthy mention too is the ED, a quirky little Engrish piece that captures the playful side of Horo, and the series’ light-hearted territory perfectly

Macross Frontier stands to air in April, but I’m reviewing it here anyway to save time later on. Like Gundam 00, this marks the first time I’m stepping into Macross territory, if you don’t count the time I saw Robotech when I was about 3-4 years old. I would be lying if I said I remembered anything at all about the series — aside from faint and misty memories of a huge robot interspersed with images of a long-haired blonde lady, I remember nothing. Of course, some fans don’t really consider Robotech to be real Macross, and I was witness to much invective while asking certain hardcore fans about this, but I digress.

Yoko Kanno seems to be at an all-time high, and as a long-time Kanno fanboy, I have no issues whatsoever with what I found in this episode. While some of it sounds like she’s traded her usually unique brand of music for that of the generic orchestra sound employed in movies, her previous post-rock works in DtB seem to have done her good, as the rock parts in the episode were, well, rocking.

The CG’s something to behold. We’ve come a long way from Vandread-era designs, to be sure, and while they weren’t too shabby for their time, MF’s taken the ante and placed it ridiculously high — the impressive eye candy, when coupled with Kanno’s knack for a good tune, left me with a sense of wonder akin to that of the high-speed chases in the first three Star Wars episodes. We’ve come a long way, and while first episodes are never the be-all and end-all of a series, I’m hooked on this in a way that Gundam 00 could never come close to doing. Spring is going to be epic.

Overheard at a brainstorming session: “So, what archetypes haven’t been done to death yet?” “The pretty boy?” “Gundam 00 gave us four reasons not to.” “The natural-born talent?” “Ditto Shounen Jump protagonists.” “I know, let’s make him a pretty boy with natural-born ability!” “DEAL!”

Finally, Persona -trinity soul- made a solid start with none other than its music, which seemed to be Taku Iwasaki screaming “HEY GUYS, I CAN STILL MAKE GOOD MUSIC AFTER GURREN LAGANN! I SWEAR!”, no thanks to the inclusion of six or seven tracks being featured in the first episode. Granted, some of them were from the game, and I’m not a fan with a raging boner for it so I’m about as inclined to pick up which tracks weren’t Iwasaki’s as a blind man is to perform a cartwheel.

I swear I could hear strains of “Omae no XXX de Ten wo Tsuke!!” in one of the orchestral pieces, but I’m writing it off as mere delusion. Although the concept of a nod-wink to fans in a soundtrack isn’t particularly impossible to accomplish, it could very well be the effect of listening to TTGL’s soundtrack one too many times, and I’ll save the apparently similarities with Persona’s soundtrack till later. Of noteworthy mention was the rap (nu-metal?) piece midway through the episode that was cut off by the eyecatch; I’m keeping my fingers crossed for what could potentially be the second “Libera me” From Hell.

What I can make of the plot isn’t terribly impressive at this point in time. Having no idea what made the series, Persona 3 in particular so successful, I’m heading into this with a blank slate like I will be Macross, and am with Gundam. It’s nice to be a tabula rasa and feel all haughty about it, for it’s always a plus: between the mindless horde of raving fans who insist on having adaptations done their own way, adaptation purists who burn with self-righteous fire, and the retro-elitist parrots who love to harp on the past, being a newcomer to an existing franchise has never looked so good. Bring on Winter already.