Summer 2009 Anime Short List

The Summer line up. Lots of really interesting titles and I'm genuinely interesting in following through most of them.


Tokyo Magnitude 8.0
OFFICIAL | ANN | Wikipedia

This is obviously a disaster drama, obviously about an earthquake in, surprise, surprise, Tokyo. According to Wikipedia, it will follow siblings Mirai and Yutaka, who were visiting a robot exhibition in Odaiba during the summer holidays when the earthquake occurs. In the aftermath of the disaster, the siblings will struggle to reach their mother in Setsagaya and along the way, they encounter a female motorcycle deliverer, Mari, who will help them.

COMMENTS:

I don't know if this is any good. The premise seems kind of meh but this animated by BONES so I don't know, it might be good. I'm not a huge fan of disaster movies actually but I loved Grave of the Fireflies (that one was more of a war movie than a disaster movie) and the fact that this series is about two siblings, a boy and a girl, kind of reminds me of the former. Maybe this is going to be good drama. Plus, I've seen the PV and the animation, as usual with BONES, looks superb.

Bakemonogatari
OFFICIAL | ANN | Wikipedia

This is an adaptation of NisiOisin's light novels of the same title. The two volumes of Bakemonogatari deal with a high school boy named Koyomi Araragi and strange students he encounters. ("Bakemonogatari" is a wordplay on the Japanese term bakemono for supernatural creatures and the term monogatari for stories.)

COMMENTS:

This seems like a comedy series. Again I'm not too sure with this one. It looks like this will be animated by SHAFT and directed by Shinbo, the same guy who's responsible for Maria+Holic and Natsu no Arashi! This might be a nice change of pace from the seriousness of other series.

Canaan
OFFICIAL | ANN | Wikipedia

Originally a visual novel, Canaan tells a present-day story about a detective, a young man, a virus researcher, a freelance writer, and a cat mascot character who are brought together by bizarre events with worldwide implications in the Tokyo neighborhood of Shibuya.

COMMENTS:

I have to say I got attracted to this because of the set of lead characters. The variety is interesting and I hope the character dynamics is going to play out well. This series, by the way, is developed by TYPE-MOON of Tsukihime and Kara no Kyoukai fame. Could be interesting, could be utterly confusing. I stopped watching the Kara no Kyoukai movies because the non-linear storyline did not work for me and it took me so long to see the other five movies that by the time I would have gotten to them, I would have needed to watch the previous other two. IMHO, too much work for a movie I'm only mildly interested in. But going back to the topic, I think this one is more interesting.

ElementHunters
OFFICIAL | NHK | ANN

I really have no idea what this is about but I found this site which posted an English translation of the official website, and anyway, this looks like another post-apocalyptic anime with a twist.

COMMENTS:

Like I said, post-apocalyptic anime. Did I mention that I like post-apocalyptic themes? And this one is specifically for NHK broadcast. Remember that long ago children's anime called Dennou Coil that caused such a ruckus in the anime world? This might be another one and good or not, I sure want to be among the first to jump in the bandwagon.

Spice and Wolf II
OFFICIAL | ANN | Wikipedia

This is the second installment for the unusual light novel adaptation of a traveling merchant and his spicy friend, who happens to be a wolf deity with an attitude.

COMMENTS:

Yay for ways to multiply your income. They wisely chose this time to air this series. Brains Base, responsible for Baccano! and Natsume Yuujin-chou, is animating the series.

Musashi: The Dream of the Last Samurai
OFFICIAL | ANN

The movie follows the legendary samurai, Miyamoto Musashi, who founded the Niten-ryu swordsmanship. His story is the stuff of legends, but this movie aims to look at the truth and the man behind the legend.

COMMENTS:

Production I.G. Mamoru Oshii. What more can I ask for? I loved The Sky Crawlers. It was a lot of atmospheric nonsense but that's precisely why it's a beautiful film. And this looks like an original concept by Mamoru Oshii. Or at least, he will take the traditional story of Musashi and give it a fresh twist. Perhaps more on internal monologues since this looks like a character-driven story and a lot of unspoken emotions. In short, all the stuff that I love about Mamoru Oshii works.

Summer Wars
OFFICIAL | ANN

The light-hearted "action entertainment" story revolves around a modern-day family on a midsummer adventure. Bizarre occurrences spring up around the world, due to the intersections between reality and another world named Oz. At the behest of their 90-year-old grandmother, the family members must work together to save mankind.

COMMENTS:

A movie by Madhouse, aptly titled too. But the best part about this is that it's directed by the same guy who brought us The Girl Who Leapt Through Time. Now, I don't know if you've already seen that movie -- if you haven't, GO WATCH IT NOW -- but that one was a masterpiece. And now here comes another one. It isn't about time travel this time but more about another world disrupting reality, which is just perfect because I'm an escapist by heart and one can only dream about such things or watch animes about them.