Spring ’09 Anime Impressions – Alchemists on horsecycles, carrying guitars and fighting tanks.

Welp. Looks like I haven’t updated this in weeks.

Anyhow, a month has passed from the Spring ’09 anime season – and after 4 episodes or so of each series, I thought it might be suitable enough to toss in my 2 cents for the series I’ve been following so far. This 1st post will cover Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Sengoku Basara, K-ON and Valkryia Chronicles.

• Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood is pretty much another retelling of the popular manga series; though compared to the last time around, this is apparently more inclined with the manga events more than anything, with the exception of the excellently done 1st episode. For me, the 1st series remains one of my most favorite shounen series that I’ve watched in animated form, despite some of the hardcore manga fans’ disdain at the plot that was altered compared to the original halfway through – though you can’t blame BONES for doing so, seeing as to how they caught up to the manga rather quickly. So hearing of this 2nd series revitalized my interest – and for the 4 episodes shown so far, it hasn’t lost any of its charm whatsoever. Some events may have been condensed (Lior) and some have been removed (Yoki and the train incident), but the more important plot points have been covered and with even more emotional impact than it was presented in the 1st season; a good example of this is the flashback events in episode 2 explaining the Elric brothers’ deal with alchemy. Despite the mostly apparent changes of the voice cast, everyone seems fine, though Mustang may still get some time to used to with that tone of his. Regardless, it can only get better from there.

• Sengoku Basara is the 1st of the game adaptations this entry will cover; and as you’ve come to expect – it retains the complete insanity which made the hack-and-slash game series shine. As evident of the title; it warps a number of Japanese historical characters and events into a more modern or even futuristic outlook – a good example of this is Honda Tadakatsu being a massive hulking mech of destruction, while protagonist Masamune Date, speaks in Engrish and essentially has a “Horsecycle” – which is basically a horse with a motorcycle exhaust. For those of you who haven’t played the game and are freaked out by this – don’t worry, there’s a lot more where that came from. The anime seems to cover the events of the games rather well, alongside the character’s apparent personality traits that players have come to know and love; even comedic related happenings such as Yukimura and Shingen’s violent and hot-blooded violent punch arguing has been dealt with several times. The only issue with the series so far is that the animation isn’t up to par with Production I.G’s other works, which could use a bit improvement here or there.

• K-ON is the latest slice-of-life series covered by Kyoto Animation, which again gives us the focus on 4 friends and their lives – this time in regards to their school’s light music club. Mostly it manages to develop the quartet and their interaction with each other – while we haven’t got to get much into their improvement in their musical skills, the episodes so far give us a good idea on how varied their personalities are. Though, I could say that Tsumugi might’ve gotten the short end of the stick, but it’s still a bit early to decide that. A few people have been giving rather telling remarks in regards to Yui’s mentality from the attitude and thoughts that she’s been exhibiting, but in regards to that – it may either be an purposeful exaggeration or there may be a possibility of improvement, outside of the surprising display of guitar skills in episode 4, in terms of her character. It’s a fun and charming series to watch, in general.

• The 2nd of the video game to anime adaptations come in the form of Valkryia Chronicles; based on the action/military strategy game developed by Sega on the PS3. While I may not have enough background information about the game compared to Basara, as a standalone series, I’m enjoying it quite a bit. It seems to be slowly setting the story into place – alongside developing the characters and their faction, Unit #7, while trying to set up the possible relationship between main characters Alicia and Welkin. The story and military events/occurrences may seem a bit contrived (but it’s nothing compared to the sheer bizarreness of Library War, as good as that series may be) but it’s nothing to be seriously alarmed or critical about. I’m sure we’ll get into the good stuff in the later episodes and when it covers more of the game’s critical plot points, if they could in their targeted span of 13 episodes.

Coming next: Eden of the East, Guin Saga, Chi’s New Address and Ristorante Paradiso.

Plus, a couple of summary posts for both Hayate the Combat Butler!!/2nd Season and Hetalia.