Now that Blue Box (Ao no Hako) has aired its first episode, we have a great look at the beautifully done opening credits.
The song, "Same Blue" by Official HIGE DANdism, is a very pleasing song to the ears, and it fits the genre of anime. Great voice, very nice music, and it just has a feel good feeling to it. I'm sure it'll grow on me as the series progresses.
The artwork is excellent. It's very detailed, especially the backgrounds. The characters look great, the animation is very good, and it all looks very crisp. We get to see the main characters with a lot of sports action and some that give hints to possible romance. Very well done.
On episode 17 of Sousou no Frieren, the opening theme changed. The new one is called "Haru" or "Sunny" by Yorushika. This song has a very different feel from the first opening, and definitely not like YOASOBI's style.
Musically, this song is a happy sounding one. It's a feel good song that gets you in the mood for the episode, and it really suits the series. This series is a fairly happy and positive story, and the song reflects it well. Yorushika has a great voice. "Yuusha" tends to stand out a lot more, though. While "Haru" is a good song and works well as an opening, I feel like it's in the shadow of "Yuusha".
The animation is done quite well, and we get to see a good number of characters that have not been introduced yet, and are definitely from the second half of the season (at the time of writing this, a second season has been announced). There are some action scenes, but it mostly focused on characters. It's as colourful as the first opening, so I guess it is sunny.
Here, you can watch the opening credits:
What do you think of the second opening of Sousou no Frieren?
Ranma 1/2, the 2024 remake is here! Released on Netflix, I got to watch episode 1, and there will be spoilers!
To start off, I want to say that the story of episode 1 is nearly identical to episode 1 of the original 1989 series. The dialogue, the action, the situations, all the same. What's different? The character designs have been updated, and the girls are cuter. Kasumi looks too young, to be honest. The animation is nice and clean, having the advantage of more modern technology. The colour is brighter. It's more colourful than before.
So, Saotome Ranma (voiced by Yamaguchi Kappei/Hayashibara Megumi) and his father Genma (voiced by Cho) have returned from China, and Ranma is going to be the fiance of one of the Tendou girls. Akane (voiced by Hidaka Noriko) is 16, Nabiki (Takayama Minami) is 17, and Kasumi (Inoue Kikuko) is 19. Their father, Soun (Ootsuka Akio) has arranged with Genma for one of the girls to marry Ranma. Of course, when they arrive, Ranma is a girl and Genma is a panda. Very odd situation! Akane tries to be friends with Ranma until it's discovered after a bath that Genma is not a panda and Ranma is in fact a boy. Of course, Akane discovers this by walking in on Ranma, and they see each other naked. This is a big issue for Akane, but not so much for Ranma, as he's seen himself naked. Akane does not like this one bit. As Akane doesn't like boys, her sisters agree that she should be Ranma's fiancee. And so the story begins.
What's interesting about this episode is what has been changed. While most of the cast are the same, Soun and Genma's voice actors are different. The others sound a bit different than before, as they have aged 35 years since the original. However, Inoue Kikuko sounds exactly the same and Hayashibara Megumi has managed to sound nearly the same. I feel that Takayama Minami and Hidaka Noriko are a bit different. Yamaguchi Kappei sounds just the same as before. Another change is the addition of manga style text throughout the episode.
The opening theme is fun. It has a nostalgic Ranma feel to it, and "Iinazukkyun" by ano recaptures the Chinese-style theme song of the original. The ending theme, "Anta Nante." by riria is a more modern song that doesn't really match with the anime, I think. The song itself is fine, though. I will cover the theme songs in separate posts. Enjoy the opening theme here, though.
Going forward, I will be focusing more on the episodes themselves, rather than a comparison with the original. I want this to stand on its own, and I will judge it for itself.
With all that said, what do I think of it? Ranma 1/2 is a classic. I was so happy to see it get a remake, and I did enjoy watching episode 1. We don't yet know how long season 1 will be, nor do we know how long the entire series will be. That remains to be seen. Overall, recommended and fun.
The ending theme of Sousou no Frieren is "Anytime Anywhere" by milet. But there are two versions. The first version is for episode 1 through 16, while the second version starts at episode 17. They are from the same song, but as far as I understand, they are different parts of the song.
The song itself gives a feeling of melancholy. The singer, milet, has a very distinct voice that's easy to recognise. She has good range, and her voice gets quite high towards the end. I enjoy this song, as it is very calming, and matches the series very well.
The animation is interesting, as it appears to be stop motion, though that may just be the effect. It's like paper dolls. The background imagery looks like paintings, and is quite beautiful to look at. I find it matches the music.
Everyone has different tastes in their entertainment. I understand that, and so should everyone else. Not everyone does understand, though. And some people may not understand why I have no desire to watch the follow anime series.
One Piece
I really don't care for the style at all. The faces are ugly to me. I like watching anime that at least has reasonably attractive (or more normal) character designs. This is just far too cartoonish for me. Maybe it's good. Maybe someone will convince me to watch it. But I have so many anime series I want to watch before this one.
Death Note
This is extremely popular, but for some reason, the theme just doesn't appeal to me. I have actually watched a couple episodes as they were airing in Japan, but it didn't hook me. Someday maybe, but now, I don't really want to watch it.
My Hero Academia
This is another one where some of the designs are over the top. I haven't watched any of it, but that really turns me off of the series.
Fairy Tail
Yet again, there are some designs in this series that just don't appeal to me. Maybe this is one that I can be convinced to watch, though.
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure
I feel like I'm repeating myself with this. This series has some of the strangest and ugliest character designs I've seen. I just don't see myself watching it.
There are some that I have felt kind of on the fence about, but mostly because of the length of the series, such as Naruto, Bleach, and Gintama, but I actually have them on my to watch list. I have full intentions of watching all of Ranma 1/2, Urusei Yatsura, and Dragon Ball in all their incarnations.
I'm curious which popular series you're not interested in watching.
Premiering on Netflix today, this is the first time I'm watching a series as it airs since I lived in Japan. Ao no Hako, or Blue Box in English, is a sports romance anime that stars Inomata Taiki, a 3rd year junior high school student who plays badminton, and Kano Chinatsu, a 1st year high school student who is a star basketball player. They are in a completely different class from each other, as she's a star, and he's just practicing with the senior high team. But of course, this wouldn't be a romance without these two being a possible future couple, right? Well, it's very early, and Taiki has a major crush on Chinatsu. Now, before I continue, there are spoilers ahead.
To put this as briefly as possible, Taiki is very enthusiastic about trying to have a relationship with Chinatsu, but he's very awkward about it. She probably has no idea yet. They are the first two at school in the morning to practice their respective sport, and after some awkward moments, they do start to talk. Taiki's friends Hina (rhythmic gymnastics) and Kyo (badminton) are also introduced, and they know about his crush on Chinatsu. Did I mention that this school, Eimei Private School is known for its sports program? Well, Taiki's mother was a basketball player at this very school, and was a teammate of Chinatsu's mother. They have a connection! Unfortunately, Chinatsu's family is being transferred overseas in two months. And this is where things get interesting. Chinatsu says she's not going, but is staying with an acquaintance. It's Sunday morning now, and Taiki wakes up, only to find Chinatsu in the kitchen! That acquaintance? It's Taiki's family. They're going to live together.
I can see the direction this may be going, and this is going to probably result in some awkward moments, but also quite humourous. So far, this show has been funny, heartwarming, and just put a smile on my face. The quality of the animation and art is outstanding. It's beautiful to watch. The opening theme, "Same Blue" by Official HIGE DANdism and the ending theme, "Teenage Blue" by Eve have a very similar feeling to each other. Other than having the word "blue" in the title, along with the series title, they are fairly calm and catchy songs. I'll be reviewing them separately soon.
So, is this episode 1 a win? Absolutely! I can't wait to see what happens next.
Starting this week, I'll be watching Ranma 1/2 and Ao no Hako as the episodes come out on Netflix. This will bring me to 12 concurrent series being watched. Is that a lot? Probably. But this is the beginning of what I'd like to do, have two current series and ten older series going at once.
With Ranma 1/2, I'll be watching both the classic and the new series at the same time. This will be an interesting experience, I think. I'm a big fan of the original, so I really want to see how this one turns out. The great thing about it is that most of the original cast is back, including the amazing Hayashibara Megumi, Hidaka Noriko, and Inoue Kikuko, among others. I've already seen the opening theme, and it has that classic Ranma 1/2 vibe to it. I can't wait to watch it.
As for Ao no Hako, this one stood out to me amongst all the others, as I rarely ever watch a sports anime, and this one is more of a romance. I don't know a lot about it, and that's how I like to keep it. I don't like spoilers, so I didn't look up much information about it. However, the concept attracted me to this series.
In the future, I'll likely start more new series as they come out. It really depends on if they stand out from the other series, and where I am with other current series. We have no information about how long either of these series are. However, Ranma 1/2 is a very long manga series, so who knows how much we'll see? Maybe we'll actually get a conclusion to the story, like we did with the manga.
What series are you most interested in watching this fall?
