What're You Watching?

[Virulain]

I've tuned back in to Crunchyroll out of boredom.

Lately, I've watched:

Chi's Sweet Home (Season 2): Suuuper cute! Five minute or less episodes about the adventures of a kitten named "Chi."

Occult Academy: A new release in the supernatural/paranormal genre with a side of gag. As in gag anime, not vomit. Episodes 1 & 2 were amusing, and I'm looking forward to watching #3 when it's released to us cheapskates on Tuesday. The setting is a high school (of course), but moving on from there, it seems like an atypical title with a very strong female lead.

Natsume Yujincho: A slice of life/supernatural show with 2 seasons. It follows the adventures of a high school boy who can see spirits. If you're familiar with xxxHolic and kind of liked that show, you'll likely love this one. It's a sweet, sentimental series that doesn't descend into the muck of schmoop and has some action to boot.

UraBoku: Unless you're a hardcore shounen-ai fan to whom originality doesn't matter, don't bother. While the quality of animation is nice, neither substance nor style bring anything new to the table.

Salt: Now for something completely different. At 90 minutes, it's one of the shortest box office offerings this summer and worth the $8 ticket if you love spy games, Angelina Jolie, or high action-chase scenes. Check it out, you won't regret it.

[Yuuhi]

I've been watching "The Chinese Paladin 3" for the past... half week. XD!!! I just finished the entire show about 20 minutes earlier. It's a mix of Chinese mythology and martial arts series, a prequel to the original series. It's very good, and I've enjoyed it much.

What other series can I rent now... hmm...

[Virulain]

Lately, I've been watching Level E and Gosick.

Level E is probably one of the stranger shows I've watched; it has a great deal of genre awareness and is written by a guy who must have psychically tapped TwoP and TVtropes. It's both traumatizing and hilarious. The story--or stories, as each arc consists of at most 3 episodes--is set on modern-day Earth, for the most part. The world is occupied by thousands, if not millions, of aliens, and the only ones who don't know it are the humans. The intended audience is people in their 20s and the show's comedy is very "aware." So is its horror. If you like shows with a good dose of references, but not so many that it's like watching a blooper reel of other anime, then you'll probably enjoy Level E.

Gosick is set in the period between the first and second world wars, in a fictional nation called "Saubere" in Europe. The main character is the third son of an imperial Japanese soldier who is attending a boarding school in Saubere. He has a difficult time fitting into the school and is somewhat isolated (excepting a very strange female teacher) until he meets "the golden fairy" who lives at the top of the library tower. From there, he is embroiled in a number of mysteries. If you enjoy a school age (yet surprisingly mature) whodunit show, you'll enjoy Gosick. The production values are high and the scripts are well-written; there's just enough romance and humor to keep the (often dark) crimes from making the show oppressive.

I have also been watching Moribito, which is set in a fantastic middle ages China-esque setting. The show is based off of a series of light novels for children, though the series apparently has a devoted adult following--and I can see why. The quality of the storytelling is amazing, and despite being roughly 10 years old, the animated series still looks very fresh. The art is crisp and beautiful, and the writing is outstanding. This series obviously hasn't suffered from adaptation. The story in a nutshell is about a female bodyguard who takes on one last mission--to guard the youngest son of the Emperor, who believes his son to be possessed by a demon who will curse the entire nation with a disastrous drought. This legendary bodyguard has sworn an oath to save a number of souls equal to a number of men she killed in the past. If I rated shows, I'd give Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit a 10/10.

We also recently finished Occult Academy--definitely awesome. If you ever have spare time on your hands, watch it and Time of Eve, which is a short (1 season) show based on the premise that intelligent androids who appear human have been developed and are a fairly standard feature of society. The show isn't a thriller; it's a slow paced, thoughtful slice-of-life show thinking on what it means to be human and what the ramifications of non-human intelligence are.

[webslinger9]

Recently I saw

Summer Wars: An awesome movie, cute characters, lots of action, and a dash of rom-com. Highly recommended.

Dragonball: The first season. There is much nudity, much more then I remembered, but then again, it is the uncut version, so .... There are still very humorous parts, but I mostly have it on as back ground noise while doing art or playing games.

Set to watch Buffy tVS. I got all 7 seasons cheap! I want to watch it, but haven't had the free time to really watch it.

[Virulain]

Finished Level E a couple weeks ago. Highly recommend watching this on Crunchy Roll. Treat yourself. It's 13 episodes long.