Work’s been busting my ass for the past few weeks, but I’ve still managed to squeeze in a bit of anime time. All I can offer now are some Random Thoughts!!!
1. I’m halfway ashamed to admit I watched the first episode of Soul Link. It’s so …lacking… in just about every aspect. The character designs are decent but generic, the animation is rough, there’s cheesy CG, and everything just feels very hollow. Almost as if..[gasp]…there was no soul!!! Perhaps it’s an H-game conversion-there’s certainly enough silly fanservice. Yet, in spite of all these shortcomings, I feel compelled to watch more, simply because I need my space fix. It’s like the writers were stalking me and KNEW that I cannot resist any show that has space academies and potential insurgents. Stellvia x Ryvius FTW? Somehow I doubt Soul Link will rise above mediocrity, but it’s been too long since anyone has made a stab at this sub-genre. One tiny positive note: Norio Wakamoto, aka Onsokumaru/Chiyochichi etc. voices a cheesy wannabe French butler in this show!!! His voice is just too awesome.
2. Yay, more School Rumble! The new OP and ED threw me for a loop though; the producers aimed for an jarringly out-of-place sentimental style instead of nonsensical antics. Whoever made that decision should be beated with a sack of potatoes.
3. Watched that old OVA series, Goldenboy. Although it was exceedingly ecchi and silly, it was also surprisingly funny and heartwarming! Not to mention there was more animation in one episode than in an entire season of GSD. Ah, they don’t make ‘em like they used to. Almost makes me want to ditch my job and wander the world, oddjobbing my way through life.
4. I never really thought about it before, but OP sequences that inject blaring sound effects to match the animation really bug me. Take Gundam Wing‘s OP for instance. Just Communication is a great song. Just Communication riddled with old-school laser whines and gunfire is not great.
5. On a non-anime related note, I was watching this random documentary thing about Shaolin Kung Fu, and one of the training routines looked particularly brutal. This guy had to pull a giant roller thing using a rope tied to his testicles. Apparently this is called the “Iron Egg” skill…
So there you have it, some random thoughts.
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Ender – who has written 219 posts on Sea Slugs! Anime Blog.
One of the original founders, and the first to attempt a coups d'état.
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
Sorta agree with point 1. Stellvia was also one of the first things that came to mind when I watched the first episode of Soul Link, and I think that thought crippled my enjoyment of the show. The link to Shuffle! was the main reason why I decided to give this series a try, but if it does not impress me by the fourth episode, I am going to have no choice but to drop it.
If it was up to me to title the episode, it would be “Cliches Galore”.
Goldenboy is one of the most entertaining OVA ever produced, so says I! Although, two years after the fact, I still don’t know what to make of Bimo-chan.
Soul Link was so horrible, I immediately deleted it and wrote it off in my mind. The awful cliches, and the bad art, arggggh! You know it will only get uglier, and yet you still watch!
#5 reminds me of Monday morning.
norio wakamoto voicing the butler was the only positive thing I found in soul link too:D (altho I remember him more from planetes)…
the main character seemed to have some sort of zone around him that made girls around him act like idiots O_o
the only amusing thing was how they had to have the chick that basically walked around in underwear(And that was just funny because they actual did it -_-”) …
altho I’m probably going to get sucked into it if the story gets serious (And it probably will…big b00b chick looks like she’s plotting 3vil)
and some OPs are the better for blaring sound effects…take 2X2=shinobuden for an example…it was so much funneir and cuter as in the OP than without all the blurbs from onsakamaru and shinobu
Soul Link was average, but there was something that made me want to watch more of it, i blame the lack of apparence of a Stelvia S2
Ha! Soul Link needs more Tetris.
Goldenboy was aired on MTV Germany about two years in a row…every six weeks from the first episode. Damn, I love that show. There was no way to avoid, after some time everybody had seen it at least once and I have to agree, although i’ts ecchi it’s about happieness and being kind to each other *handing over a flower to everybody who reads this*