Wolf Hurricane’s summer impressions are a bit late, but here are my opinions on the shows I’ve seen so far. Yeah, the summer lineup isn’t as strong as the spring and fall seasons. I think there are still a couple gems that shouldn’t be overlooked though.

Birdy the Mighty Decode (Tetsuwan Birdy Decode)
The best show of the season. This is a very solid action show with an interesting premise. At first glance I thought the show would try to sell itself on fanservice due to Birdy’s skimpy costume, but there’s really no fanservice to speak of except for the aforementioned costume. Even if you don’t like sci-fi, this should be a top priority for summer viewing. Birdy will make you a believer.

Blade of the Immortal
Very weird show. It has decent production values. The music is a highlight and the opening and ending are stylishly cool. Unfortunately the action scenes in the first episode were really mediocre. Since the sword fights are supposed to be Blade’s bread and butter, I can’t recommend this unless you’re a diehard fan of the manga and simply must watch the anime. I like Bee Train and all, but action shows are not their forte.

Haruka Nogizaka’s Secret (Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu)
Not quite the Haruhi Suzumiya killer I thought it would be but still pretty enjoyable. So basically it’s a love-comedy based on a series of light novels that focuses on the titular closet otaku, Haruka Nogizaka. Enjoyable enough if you like this genre. This is my pick as the third best show of the season.

Koihime Musou
Gender swap the entire main cast of the epic Three Kingdoms novels into moe archetypes and you get Koihime Musou in a nutshell. This show is ridiculous. Guan Yu has watermelon sized breasts and Zhang Fei is a loli that wields a spear twice her height. Even though the entire cast is gender swapped, at least Koihime Musou sort of takes place in the proper era. Despite being subpar, I actually kind of like it. Koihime doesn’t take itself too seriously and is pretty mild in the fanservice department, so girl otaku shouldn’t necessarily cross this off their list.

Natsume’s Book of Friends (Natsume Yuujin-chou)
Natsume is kind of hard to explain adequately in a short summary, but I’ll give it a shot. Takashi Natsume has the ability to see spirits and has come into the possession of the ‘Book of Friends’, a journal containing the names of several spirits. Essentially the spirits whose names are written in the journal were trapped by Takashi’s grandmother, Reiko, in her youth. When their names are written in the book, the spirits become subservient to the book holder. Takashi, not liking the idea of having such a powerful relic fall into the wrong hands, takes it upon himself to free the spirits. With each spirit he encounters, Takashi learns about their story and his mysterious grandmother.

This is an absolutely beautiful show in both visuals and story. Lush, vibrant, crisp animation. I couldn’t help but be reminded of Mushishi when I watched this. Everything about this show is great. Check this out pronto. Natsume thoroughly impressed me and is my pick for the summer’s second best show.

Sekirei
Boobs, boobs, boobs. Some of these ridiculous bust sizes give Eiken a run for its money. May be good for a quick action and fanservice fix but not much else. Not worth watching unless you have an unhealthy fixation with enormous breasts.

Someday’s Dreamers ~ Summer Skies (Natsu no Sora)
This is the show that initially got me excited for this season. Maybe my expectations were set way too high because Summer Skies fell short. Way short. I’m not saying it’s a bad show, but it could have been much better. The animation is wonky and inconsistent and wildly fluctuates in quality. Give it a shot if you wish. I would recommend the manga though.

Strike Witches
My guilty pleasure of the summer. This looks like Gonzo’s answer to Sky Girls, except with one more detail… None of the girls are wearing any pants. It’s a weird design choice but hey, I’m not complaining. Gonzo knows what we want. Once the ‘no pants’ novelty wears off, this is a decent show at best. Let’s be serious here. You’re not watching Strike Witches for the story.

World Destruction
Nice character designs and slick visuals as expected from Production I.G. Needs less furries and more of the advertised world destruction though. A high budget doesn’t guarantee a great anime, but World Destruction is all right. Not mind blowing but not bad either. I must mention the super fighting teddy bear too. I guess I’ll stick with this for a few more episodes and see if the story goes anywhere. Also because Morte is hot.

PS: I know quite a few shows have been left off. If/when I get around to the other shows, I’ll append this write-up later.

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 17th, 2008 at 10:51 pm and is filed under Anime.You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.