Kita ze Inbou! - キタぜ陰謀!

I’m sorry, don’t you mean five stars? False labeling aside, I couldn’t help but wonder what this was when I stumbled upon it. Checking it out over at CD Japan, I learned that this was a CD containing tracks from the NARUTO series (plus Shippuuden) and there are five of the cast performing a theme. We’re granted access to hear Takeuchi Junko (Naruto), Sugiyama Noriaki (Sasuke), Nakamura Chie (Sakura), Inoue Kazuhiko (Kakashi), and Morikubo Shoutarou (Shikamaru) with each one performing two songs for a total of 10 (what, only ten?) tracks. Okay, that’s decent, but don’t you think more could’ve been added? Well, let’s take a look at what we actually got first. BTW, all track names are labeled with “(NARUTO ALL STARS VERSION)” next to the title. Read more

Series Information
ANN Encyclopedia | AniDB | AnimeNfo
OP: “Aoi Kakera (青いかけら)” by Chara
ED: “Polaris no Namida (ポラリスの涙)” by onso9line
Production: TMS Entertainment

[ Episode 1: Ran, Telepathy! ]

Here’s what I find to be one of the more decent shows for the summer season this year. Frankly speaking, the amount of new shows this summer were really huge and so were the expectations. However, just like E3 2008, it left most of us displeased with the results… Read more

Series Information
ANN Encyclopedia | AniDB | AnimeNfo
OP: “Sora” by Hearts Grow
ED: “Let’s go together” by Afromania
Production: A-1 Pictures Inc.

[ Episode 1: One Plus One ]

And here’s the second show I plan on blogging this season: Birdy the Mighty Decode. This is one of my most anticipated shows of the 2008 summer season and, almost needless to say, I really loved the premiere!

The introduction of Birdy is instantaneous and we get to see just how much ass she can kick and just how much monstrous power she possesses. I love her design and her attitude/personality gets an infinite amount of approval stars from me. She’s just the kind of female lead I love to watch and I’ll enjoy seeing her every episode. Her seiyuu, Chiba Saeko, fits Birdy perfectly in my opinion which really comes as no surprise seeing that she has done the voices of Natsuki (Mai HiME) and Akira (Reideen 2007). Both of which I feel are two of her strongest roles. I’m not sold on Senkawa yet but I suppose he’s an okay guy. Though, it’ll be interesting to see how he develops though since he’s pretty much dead and only able to live because of Birdy. The OP theme indicates that a lot more characters are going to be introduced so I’m sure things are going to get more interesting and diverse from now on.

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Series Information
ANN Encyclopedia | AniDB | AnimeNfo
OP: “Plenty of Grit” by Hayashibara Megumi
ED: “Revolution” by Hayashibara Megumi
Production: J.C. Staff

[ Episode 1: AMAZING The Surprising Dragon Slave!? ]

I know that I haven’t been updating the blog regularly and I apologize to the KZI readers. I mentioned before that I started a new job some time ago and that it sapped away a lot of my free time and I could barely manage to reallocate the time I usually had for blogging. Thankfully I’ve managed to work out an appropriate schedule so do bear with me until I settle into it (meaning I’m hoping to get my entries/thoughts out a day or less after an episode is released raw or subbed). That said, I think I’m going to discontinue blogging a few of the shows with the exception of Code Geass R2 and one or two others I haven’t decided on yet (this doesn’t include the usual shounen stuff). This is so that I can start off my new schedule on a clean slate. So if you don’t see an update for a certain show in the next few weeks then I probably dropped it (blogging-wise). With that out of the way, on with my first new show of the season: Slayers REVOLUTION!

This is my very first Slayers show. I’ve actually planned to watch the others long ago and after seeing this first episode I think I’m going to move them way up my watch-queue. At first I was worried about not knowing of past events and such slightly hesitated on picking this up until I watched at least one or two of the older series.

Luckily for me, Revolution’s presentation suggests that prior knowledge or viewing of the past series isn’t necessary to enjoy it. I’d agree 100% as I found myself laughing and wowing at all thing things Lina and her friends got themselves into. The comedy feels so natural which is a welcome change to recent shows that try to force their laughs. I particularly cracked up during Lina’s beating of the pirates and the ending scenes in the city. Don’t get me started on the being wanted for being Lina Inverse bit. I thought I was going to die there!

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