The first episode follow an ordinary student by the name of Banagher Links in the space colony of Industrial 7, where he rescued a girl when he sees her falling through the sky. Actually he may possess some sort of Newtype capability where he could sense things happening in the distance. The girl named Audrey Burne a princess from the Neo Zeon sneaked into the colony hoping to prevent a war from happening. The main plot revolves around something called the Laplace Box which holds the secret to the creation of the Universal Century.

I really enjoyed the first episode though I love to see some more action from the Unicorn Gundam. The OVA is 6 episodes all together and so far it looks very promising. Of course we are left off with very little development of the characters and plot, there’s so much you can put in the first 50 minute episode. We have yet to see the appearance of the main protagonist who resembles Chars Aznable.

The mechanical designs looks fantastic unlike the most recent Gundam designs which almost look identical, the main Gundam RX-0 has a very refreshing design. The production and animation is immaculate, I think it’s the best of any Gundam series, OVA or movies so far. Unfortunately I watched this in very low quality and it doesn’t do the visuals any justice.

Gundam Unicorn official website

Still very cool though, I wonder who’s the girl. I guess most people would think a live action Macross can turn out truly fantastic or total disaster. I know that Hollywood is planning a live action Robotech, Robotech being the butchered version of the original Macross series for the Americans. So I have little hopes for that, though it might turn out to be surprisingly good. However seeing a proper live action Macross will be a dream come true, preferably a Japanese or Asian production.

But here’s something to look forward to for real; the feature length movie to Macross Frontier series!!! Macross Frontier The Movie: The False Diva‎:

The release date is 21st of November, but unfortunately for most of us outside Japan we’ll probably won’t see it any time soon.

I came across 11eyes by accident before I knew what it was, though at the time I did think it would make a nice anime. The anime is based off an adult Visual novel and yes there includes a few panty shots, but nothing too sexually suggestive at the moment (and I like it that way). But don’t be deceived by the cutesy character designs, the plot of the anime is surprisingly dark and that’s what piqued my interest for this series.

The story tells of two high school students Satsuki Kakeru and Minase Yuka who were childhood friends. Kakeru is notable for wearing an eye patch on his right eye.  One day when of them decide to go to the mall the were suddenly transcended to alternative world where everything is the the same as current world they’re living in except it is engulfed in a red coloured sky thus the name ‘Red Night’. Not only that they couldn’t find any people at all. From then on they’re also encountered some hideous monsters and as they get surrounded the couple returned to the normal world again. Both of them were in shock after the incident has happened and did not understand what’s going on. Kakeru vows to protect Yuka if samething is to happen again.

Later on in the episode both of them find themselves back in the world of Red Night. They were surrounded and were about to be attacked by those same monsters, which lead us on to the next episode. Then just in time a mysterious girl with a sword comes to the rescue slaying all the monsters using some extraordinary powers. From a distant two dark figures stood there and watched as it happen. They decided to go to the crystal tower where it’s supposedly the centre of all the happenings, trying to find an explanation and escape from the place.  Whilst on the run they got attacked by one of the Dark Nights which they then managed to escape from. Kakaru starts getting pain on his right eye half way through.

They came to a place where a girl by the name of Lissette is trapped in a large crystal. Then suddenly the mysterious Black Knights appeared, to Kakeru and Yuka’s despair the girl with the sword happens to lose her power. Just as they’re about to get attacked like before, they suddenly revert back to the normal world again. After that we learned that the swords girl Misuzu comes from the same school as Kakeru and Yuka. She also explained there are two girls and another guy who are involved in this. I think there are some pretty obviously clues of who they might be from some of the characters who have already appeared. Through out the episodes Kakeru and Yuka had sightings of Kakeru’s sister who have supposedly committed suicide, which brings us to another mystery with the connection of her death and the Red Night.

There are still a lot of things that has yet to be explained but so far the intriguing plot and action are something that will keep my hopes high for in this series. There has been anime which have been adapted from visual novels or Eroge which I really enjoyed like Air and Clannad, despite I had very little knowledge of the original games. As an anime fan I think I’ll be the last person to succumb to the moe mania or fan service but some of these series just happened to be some of my favourite anime. Maybe 11eyes could turn out to be one of them.

The Black Nights actually reminds me of the Cenobites from the Hellraiser films. I think they look pretty cool and contrasting to the other characters.

The official website to the series:

http://www.mmv.co.jp/special/11eyes/

Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cwabs/3987171320/

More pictures at Danny Choo.

I just came across this from Youtube:

I don’t know, but freakishly the robot reminds me of Jpop singer Ayumi Hamasaki.

Both look just as plastic. What do you think?

*This entry will contain spoilers for those who haven’t seen the series yet, but if you haven’t seen it I would highly recommend it.*

Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 is definitely a gem, the series thrived on good story telling and strong character development without all the flashy or ‘moe’ elements like other anime. The last episode finally shows Mirai being reunited with her parents but sadly Yuuki has passed away. When Mirai’s dreamt of Yuuki’s death it was in fact real. In the past few episodes Mirai thought he was still alive, only appearing either as a ghost or Mirai’s hallucination. It wasn’t until episode 10 that Yuuki’s death was made obvious.

Yuuki’s death was rather sad as he’d been very strong and high spirited all the way through the disaster. He was so close to seeing his parents again. Mirai also came out as a more mature person and as well as developing a caring relationship with her brother and family.  The ungrateful little girl that we saw in the first few episodes became someone who we have grown to sympathize with. Watching Mirai getting over Yuuki’s death and the reuniting with Mari was certainly heart wrenching. There are some tearjerker moments though not in a forceful kind of way.

Tokyo magnitude 8.0 is a thoughtful series even but I’m undecided to whether to consider it as one of my favourites. However it’s definately one of the best series I’ve seen this year. There’s not many anime out there that tries to deal with the sense of realism the series portray and this what makes it great. It’s more than just an anime about people are coping with natural disaster and loss but also about human relationships and how people change due to it. Sometimes it’s great to see an anime like Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 that is meaningful and not generic.

However that isn’t the end to the giant robot madness, in October they’ll be another life size robot of Tetsujin 28. The statue will be placed in Kobe and unlike the Gundam one it will stay there permanently. Looks like there are plenty of opportunity for future Japan travelers to see this. here’s a video:

But I still prefer to see a Gundam. Refer to previous post.

The series has been very strong so far and as simple the plot maybe there’s plenty of captivating moments as we follow Mirai, Yuki and Mari making their way home. Whilst meeting some tragedy on the way, getting into sickness and avoiding getting crush by falling buildings during tremors (i.e. Tokyo Tower).

This episode has been slightly laid back. We are introduced to Kento who is an enthusiasts in robots and made friend with Yuki is also interested in it. Mirai’s unpleasant attitude resurfaces again obviously doesn’t really like him and calling him a ‘robot nerd’. But in the end she learns to respect him little bit more after she rescues him from falling whilst he was helping a robot that got it’s leg stuck.

However I feel it doesn’t really add much vitality to the plot. I’m not to sure whether he’ll appear in later episodes but I really hope the series to focus more on the main characters reaching their destinations without side tracking. Episode 7 has been OK though wasn’t as good compared to the previous episodes, I guess the danger has been died down since it’s a few days after the main earthquake. But I think it’s doing a good job in keeping the pace going without being too bogged down.

Anyway here’s an artist that I am really into recently Junji Okubo. Although I have been seeing some of his works I never knew who the artist was until I saw the Japanese magazine called Animation Note in which his work was featured.

His most famous works were for the game Steel Battalion:

Here’s some other designs which I’m not sure what they are used for. The realistic details of his mechanical designs are just amazing, it look as though these machines can be fully operated in the real world.

This is one of the pictures depicting Okubo’s workflow.

I apologies for the terrible quality of some of the pictures, unfortunately my mobile phone is the only best tool I’ve got at the moment to take the photos. I’ll re upload some better quality pictures when I have a chance to get hold of a decent camera or preferably a scanner.

This is Okubo’s official homepage for more of his works, but it’s in Japanese only:
http://www.izmojuki.com/

All images are copyright of Junji Okubo. IZMOJUKI. All Rights Reserved. Except the ones taken by camera which are from Anime Notes.

There isn’t much to the first episode, just showing Mirai finishing school for the summer break. Whilst her friends have exciting plans Mirai’s doesn’t have any plan nor which direction she’s going in her life. Mirai is a typical angsty teenager who gets irritated by most things and have little affection for anyone, even her family. Mirai took her brother to Odaiba to see a robot exhibition, despite her reluctance. I feel sorry for Yuuki who had to put up with her attitude. Towards the end when they are about to leave Yuuki went to the toilet whilst Mirai waited outside the venue, just as she wishes ‘the world should break’ the the earthquake hits. The building that Yuuki is in has collapsed and Mirai is crying over her brother.

It looks like the series will go into the scope of how young people will cope and change during a traumatic event, whilst giving us a realistic glimpse of would happen if such an event take place. Of course Japan is no stranger to such disaster. Looking at the way it build up the main character it seems like the earthquake is something that will teach her a lesson. Although the episode itself didn’t leave me excited I’ll be definitely looking forward to the next one.

Also I think the opening is very good:

The series got off with a really positive start however in overall it was a disappointing series. The social commentary on politics, conspiracy theories, technologies and social issues are thought provoking but the show itself falls short of being able to present these subjects in an intelligent way. I think because the series tried to dabble with various genres, it started to lose its focus a bit.

Though the plot starts to pick up towards the end of the last few episodes, at least we get to know who Mr. Outside is, even though he never appears in the series. Also I find Akira’s reason for erasing his memory a rather let down compare to what I’ve expected. It’s a bit of an anti-climax really.

The romance part of the series was not very interesting and rather weak. The other characters are bland in a sense there isn’t much that makes us cares about them; a bit more development on those characters would be ideal. But the exceptions would be Itazu (Panties) and Micchon.

Despite flaws though there were some great moments that kept me watching. The last scene with the naked NEETS on the rooftop messaging the best ideas to stop the missile attacks was unusual but fun. I though the part where Panties’ was trying to extract information from another Selecao’s cellphone was intriguing.

Eden of the East is a mediocre series that contains some nice elements and concepts that made up for it, which made it enjoyable to watch. I didn’t feel the ending was too satisfying, but it was quite surprising. The way that the series have ended has still left many possibilities open and some questions unanswered; of course the Selecaos has yet to complete the game. Two movies will follow at the end of this year which hopefully won’t be let down.