Posts Tagged ‘nomad’

Ore-tachi ni Tsubasa wa Nai
We, Without Wings
Studio: Nomad
Premiere Date: 4/4
Simulcast Premiere: 4/8
Genre: Romance
Available via Crunchyroll

First Impression: The moe is strong with this one.

In the first episode of OreTsuba, three stories are introduced. In the first story, the hero is a high school boy who belongs in another world. He knows that he must return to that world but he’s tied to Earth thanks to his cousin, girlfriend and the various other girls who want a piece of him. In the second story, a café owner is headed for marriage and wants one last night to end his bachelorhood with no regrets. With the help of a friend, a mixer is arranged with a couple of the waitresses and the ‘way too cool and sullen’ character. Finally, a man wanders around Tokyo doing odd jobs for whomever needs one done. He calls himself a handyman but even his friends scoff at that. What he doesn’t realize is that the big break he’s been looking for will finally be appearing soon.

Good and the Bad

Within this first episode, three stories are introduced. Just to make sure everyone is on the same page here we’ll take them in order. So first off, there’s the harem story (a not entirely impressive harem but 5 members isn’t bad). The boy who wants to leave it all behind but is tied by his emotions to those he would have to leave behind. Following that, there is the story of a bartender who can’t keep it in his pants and needs to avoid his impending reality for a night. Then finally there is the handyman, the jaded guy who is just trying to get by from day to day.

All of the stories here are introduced as their own separate stories. None of them have overlapping characters, beyond the similar art style, there’s nothing to really tie these stories together so far. Treating each story like its own series, the problem with this debut lies in the pacing. Every story has its own unique setting and characters and all of them have to be introduced within only a matter of minutes. Treating every character as though they were important, every one gets their own name card introduction and unless you’re taking notes, it becomes quite the confusing mess by the time the second story moves around.

The pacing also shows a really poor effect on the writing of the series as well. No matter how serious the story or fantastic the theme, the one thing that all of these stories have in common are that they love to rely on their panty jokes and quick gags. This creates a pace that goes a mile a minute and makes it even harder to keep up with everything that is happening in each story. With the crew attempting to cram in so much story within such a limited time, it’s almost as though you can see a little scale on the screen marking how far away from their story goal they are compared to the time left.

No matter how busy OreTsuba is with its story however, there will always be time for panty shots. 4 of them to be exact (they are quite obviously glorified shots so it’s hard to miss them) with nice slow motion captures. Why exactly these needed to be in the series isn’t clear but with the amount of screen time they receive, it would seem that they are quite important.

Based on a visual novel, the characters and art design are steeped in moe tropes which might be a turn off to some viewers. Every character has a pretty clear character archetype attached to them with no one standing out as particularly unique or different. However, the moe factor in these characters already feel pretty high with Asuka in story 1 and both waitresses of story 2 standing out early as moe idol choices of the season. With that in mind, there is no getting away from the fan service the series occasionally needs to interject and once viewers get into the category of loli pantsu flashing that’s going to be a big red flag.

Music

What I liked about this series however is that even though the music was placed for filler, there was some extra care taken in putting it together. Throughout the episode, there is a serious sense of playing towards ambiance and the music composed here is very good at this. A great example of this is the soft jazz theme that plays throughout the restaurant scene. It’s just a perfect piece that melts into the background and sounds like something that belongs in the setting.

Overall

The storytelling felt a little disjointed but I’m in for a couple of more episodes. What makes this such a difficult series to penetrate right now is that none of the stories have enough time to really introduce their concepts. I’m hoping that once a couple of more episodes have passed, it will have found a rhythm. If you’re looking for a new moe romantic drama, this is feeling like a pretty take or leave it entry to that category.

Generally when I get a press release from Section 23 I expect to see a new license, perhaps two. But three? Was not expecting that. To start the new year off (gods, are we already almost at another new year? That’s depressing.), Sentai Filmworks have picked up three new licenses: Romance of the Three Kingdoms eroge adaptation Koihime Musou, another eroge adaptation 11 Eyes and the gender swap action comedy Kampfer. Ghost Sweeper Mikami Set 2 closes out the month.

Luckily I’m at least vaguely familiar with all of these series so here’s the rundown:

Koihime Musou: Based off the eroge by Base Son, the anime was produced by Dogakobo in 2008. In this one, the audience follows Kan’u Uncho (more commonly known as Aisha) through a feudal time as she battles bandits and villains (while picking up a sidekick along the way). Imagine Romance of the Three Kingdoms with mostly females and you’ve got a pretty rough idea. Crunchyroll has been streaming the entire series and its sequels for awhile now so check this one out and decide for yourself. The complete first season will be out January 4th.

11 Eyes: The second eroge adaptation produced by Dogakobo to be picked up is based off the game created by Lass in 2008. In this much darker story, the lead is a high school student with a mysterious eye and no memory of his past. Soon he and his friends find themselves in a world with a red moon fighting for their lives to get back to reality. The complete series will be released on January 11th.

Kampfer: The last new title listed for the month, this one is based off the light novel series and was produced by Nomad in 2009. The not always clever comedy is around a shy boy named Natsuru who just wants to get closer to his crush. Instead he finds himself chosen to fight in a secret tournament as a Kampfer. He finds out afterwards that he has no choice in the matter and in order to fight he has to be a female. This one will be released as full series set as well on January 18th.

So do any of these look good for you? I’ve been meaning to give 11 Eyes another chance so that has my 11 eyes piqued (see what I did there?). Looks like 2011 is going to get off to a fun start.

Full press release below the cut

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Kampfer
けんぷファー
Studio: Nomad
Premiere Date: 10/1
Genre: Action

Natsuro Senou was living a normal life in high school. He was going to school every day while crushing on the girl next door Sakura and things were easy. Then one night he is given a bracelet by the moderators of a war. With the bracelet he is officially chosen as a Kampfer and must fight against other Kampfers for an unknown reason. He can’t back out and he has to be a she when he fights. Insert transformation sequence, amazing acrobatics, guns, magic and a talking stuffed animal there to act as a guide and you have something that mostly resembles a story.  

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The summer season of 2009 is interesting on the surface in quite a few different ways. Only a little less than 40 titles will be released from June to August. That number includes specials, OVAs and movies being released which contrasts against at least 30 TV premieres last summer alone.

In terms of content, this is a summer of dreams for fans of manga based stories with up to eight series being adapted from a manga, though that number goes past a dozen when you factor in light, visual and traditional novels as well. Only two series are based off eroge this season but sequels and continuations are alive and well taking up 10 titles of their own.

In terms of studio activity, Madhouse and Studio DEEN are easily the most active of the season with three releases each. On the Madhouse queue are a TV series, a special and a movie while Studio DEEN will be releasing two television series and a series of web shorts. JC Staff and SHAFT aren’t far behind them though with two releases each and a wealth of others filling out the crowd with one each. One studio will even be making their debut their season with GoHands taking a shot at the eroge adaptation ‘Princess Lover‘.

So enough with the introductions, (with apologies to Gia of AnimeVice for adapting her preview style a bit) listed below the cut are as many of the releases that I could find information for. I have tried to make this listing as complete as possible with my resources but I’m not perfect. If you see any missing titles, feel free to drop me a line in the comments and I’ll make sure to get them added.

Titles are listed by premiere dates and will be continuously edited throughout June. Keep checking back for updates as new premiere dates are listed, previews are written and finally to read all the latest reviews as the new series premiere!

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