[Impressions] Pandora Hearts Episode 01

To be honest, I’ve never touched Pandora Hearts‘ manga until I heard that it’s going to become an anime. I’m usually an anime person when it comes to such genre (shounen, seinen, psycho, etc.) so I usually watch the anime first then read the manga or sometimes, not read it at all. My first impression with Pandora Hearts is that it reminds me of Kuroshitsuji (not that they’re the same o.o). I guess it’s because of the dark, shadowy backdrop, the main character, and the premise of evil and sorcery. Anyway, enough of my guessing game with Pandora Hearts. This is my unadulterated impression of the first episode.

Shin Tennis no Oujisama: First Chapter Released!

As announced last December 2008, a sequel to the Prince of Tennis manga has started in Shueisha’s Jump Square magazine this March 04, 2009. Lucky people who got the magazine earlier than those who will hit the stores tomorrow have shared previews of the long first chapter (a whopping 59 pages including the ads). Three colored ads with a shot of the little Hyoutei boys (flashback) with the announcement that it will be an OVA soon, ten colored pages into the chapter and the rest a peek at some players from Seigaku and other schools, this chapter is a promising win for me. From here on, I’ll try my best to share my thoughts, or shall I say spazz, about the new chapter. Please note that I don’t understand a thread of the dialogue, since they’re in Chinese o.o.

The next part will contain spoilers for the previous series, too.

Hetalia’s Pilot Episode — Moving Crack

Hetalia‘s first episode was finally made available for viewing and loyal fans did not waste any time streaming it off animate.tv and seeing for themselves how good Hetalia would be if it’s moving. I’m pretty sure everyone has heard of Hetalia and the troubles it met after the announcement of its airing, but to those who are new to the whole Hetalia affairs (a rather steamy affair, indeed!), here is a little primer.

Axis Powers Hetalia started as a webcomic published in Himaruya Hidekaz’s blog. It’s immense popularity allowed it to be published as a manga and it earned even more followers. The series is set in World War timeline where the countries involved are represented by human characters. Each person!country’s personality is loosely based on the stereotype characteristics the original country has during WWII, according to Himaruya’s view. The word Hetalia itself is a play on words “hetare” (useless) and “Italia” to make a pun regarding Italy’s attitude during World War II.

Some readers regard the webcomic as cracky and almost satirical. Some, though, discover lesser known facts regarding WWII and some countries by reading between the lines and looking beyond the comedy. Because of certain issues, like the characterization of the countries and other historical facts, this series earned a lot of criticism. Some of the complaints and issues caused the upcoming anime to be pulled out of being aired in local television channels and was instead brought to the public through mobile download and streaming.

Anyway, back to my initial topic. The first episode of Hetalia has been streamed and it’s supposed to follow the published manga form (the main historical arc, if I’m not mistaken). There are over 40 countries mentioned in Hetalia, but only the few are recurring, most of them were those who took part in WWII.  Since I’ve been waiting for this to be available for viewing even more than I’ve been waiting for Gundam OO episode 16, here are some highlights of the five-minute pilot episode, including the cast of characters that were initially mention. I’m also thankful that there’s a Chibitalia insert! Really, an episode wouldn’t be complete without that adorable little boy…girl…boy…

Warning: IMAGE HEAVY, but crappy screencaps.

Impressions: Skip Beat

This is my most awaited release this fall, exceeding my excitement for Special A last time. Since I was a bit disappointed by Special A’s changes in plot and not-so-great art, I had been praying hard that they don’t murder Skip Beat, one of the best and crackiest shoujo manga I’ve ever read. I’m glad that at episode 1, I am very impressed and totally wanting more.

Impressions: Hakushaku to Yousei

Hakushaku to Yousei is not scheduled to start until October 7, when it will be broadcasted first on Chiba TV and TV Saitama. However, a special episode was released on AT-X to give an overview of the anime.

As I said in my Fall 2008 Anime Preview post, this series is based on light novels about Lydia, a girl who can see and is obsessed about fairies, and how she ends up helping an earl (Edgar) to find an acient legendary sword. While the special opening episode doesn’t give any hints about this or even about Lydia’s and the Earl’s background, there are some promising stuff.