Hinagiku Katsura from Hayate no Gotoku. My favorite character of the season…if you haven’t guessed already.
I’m finally in Maryland, after getting my parents and a bunch of friends from work to help me move my stuff to my top floor apartment, only thing bad about it is no elevators!
I’m pretty excited about this new apartment and job, it’s a new and exciting time for me and while on the subject of new starts I decided to take a look at some new starts this week with Hayate no Gotoku, Genshiken 2, Gundam 00, and a few Gundam projects in Maryland.
Hayate no Gotoku 27
Hina and Hayate after being easily defeated earlier on by the school superintendent and her lustful-lackey Shion from Hayate no Gotoku 28.
With the start of the 2nd half of the season we get a new opening and ending with a few new characters to boot. Among the new characters are the Superintendent of the school who seeks to find a new student “toy” for her amusment by holding a Butler Battle Tournament.
Hina, as the school class president, seeks to stop the Superintendent’s plan by competing as a temporary butler while Hayate seeks to please Nagi by winning the tournament.
As with a growing number of people on Hayate no Gotoku forums, I’ve become a Hina fan. She really doesn’t appear that much in the anime series but she steals every scene she’s in, that’s reason enough for me to like the episode. Add to that the new characters introduced, new op & ed, and Gundam references (Char’s Counterattack) and it’s another great episode of my favorite anime of the year.
One of many of Hina’s attempt to stop the Superintendent from plunging the school (and the Earth) in another one of her schemes to liven up the campus. Char’s SAZABI appears to be a part of the Superintendents pawns.
From Left to Right: Hina, The school superintendent, and Shion in space.
Hayate at the Butler Battle Tournament.
Hina’s introduction at the Butler Battle Tournament.
Nagi is the only character that appears in the new ED, but I really like the song and the animation sequence.
Genshiken Season 2 - Episode 1
From Genshiken Season 2 episode 1, From L to R: Ogiue, Sasahara, & Madarame planning for the Genshiken’s 1st Doujinshi comic at Comi-fes.
The new season of Genshiken starts with Sasahara receiving a notice that the Genshiken club has been accepted to participate at Comi-fes, a dream that Sasahara’s had since the end of season 1. The episode is basically about the preparations and obstacles Sasahara and the gang run into before they even start work on their comic.
The animation and the way that the story is done is significantly different than that of the previous season and the OVA that came out a few months ago. It’s more mature. The animation is much smoother and is lighter and the story is more at ease and relies a bit less on the comedic aspect of the previous releases. The whole episode seems laid back which is a good route and nicely executed way of doing this particular story of the manga.
Having read most of the Genshiken manga releases I’m very excited to see where they go with the material, they did insert some nice surprises though with some Gundam parodies…always a good thing in my book.
Ohno-san in the 1st episode of Genshiken 2. The series uses a softer pallete of colors but still with a sharper contrast than before. Ohno looks much better in this series than she’s ever had before.
Sasahara prepares the Genshiken to start work on their Doujinshi. For me, this is one of the strongest and funniest arcs of the manga, second only to Kasukabe’s acceptance of the Genshiken/Otaku ways.
The Gundam Seed and Code Geass parody poster inside the Manga club. I really like the color’s on that Strike Freedom! I used to like Clamp but with Code Geass I couldn’t watch past the 1st episode.
Success or failure at Comi-fes, it’ll be funny and entertaining to see!
Gundam 00 Episode 1 - 5 points
The Gundam Exia engaging in aerial attacks, from the 1st episode. I love this mecha!
Gundam 00 is the new incarnation of the Gundam franchise with four pilots piloting different Gundams working for an organization called Celestial Being. Their goal is to eradicate war from Earth completely.
Initially, I had some reservations about this one after I had seen the early design of the Exia, pictured above, but after watching the first episode I was pretty satisfied with the start of Gundam 00. Here’s 5 points I like and dislike about the series.
1. Kick Ass Gundam 00 Opening! Watch the Exia’s Aerial attack.
The opening song, Daybreak’s Bell by L’arc En Ciel, is a dramatic song that fits quite well with the opening sequence of the show. The drummer kicks butt on this song. I really liked all the short shots of the Gundams in action, especially the Exia’s aerial spin and attack at 1:04.
2. Deja vu Prologue? Beware possible spoilers.
The prologue of the episode was great with the children in the streets fighting against the Mecha forces and of course the appearance of the unknown Gundam flying down. With it’s wings I was getting this Evangelion vibe from the sequence which isn’t bad at all. (SPOILERS=I wonder if the appearance of the unknown Gundam will play at all with the announcement that the voice actor for Amuro from the 1st Gundam series will also be the narrarator for Gundam 00)
3. EXIA! EXIA! EXIA!!!
I freaking love the look of the Exia, from the design of it to the way it moves. It’s weapon that’s both a mecha blade and blaster is pretty cool as well. Where’s the MG for this already Bandai?
4. Interesting character designs. Is that Schmidt from Hayate no Gotoku?!
One aspect of the series I was worried about was the character designs for the series especially after hearing that some of the designs were being made slightly towards a shojo audience, don’t get me wrong there’s some of that but it’s not like the show is inundated with it.
The characters that were clearly in that category didn’t really bother me as much, perhaps it’s because I’ve been watching Lovely Complex. Nevertheless instead of the character designs being a distraction it adds to the show.
5. What the heck is this?! Gundam 00 Ending….really?
If I had to pick one bad thing about the show it’s definitely the ending song and sequence. I just can’t get into it. The song is a punk tune but it doesn’t really mix with the stagnant animation sequence. It’s…bad. I guess they spent all that energy for that great opening that they didn’t really have much to pull together an ending.
Well, so far so good and I can’t wait to see where the story goes with so many characters already introduced and of course to see more Gundams in action especially the Exia, speaking of which….
Future Gundam Purchases
The HCM pro Exia from Amiami.com
I went ahead and ordered the HCM Pro Exia last week, hopefully sometime next weekend I’ll be taking pics of it. If the articulation is anything like the recent HCM Pro’s that’ve come out recently it’ll be another worthwhile purchase and again I just freakin’ like the design of the Exia!
I’ll also try to get the MG Destiny Special Edition this month, which I’m a bit worried about since I haven’t seen it for pre-order online yet, and the MG Unicorn.
The MG Destiny Special Edition pic from Figure.fm
A lot has been said about the effects for the special edition MG Destiny, in particular the butterfly like extension wings but I like it. I can’t wait to see what kind of decals it comes with, but it looks great as is.
A nearby Ocean City pic from mdnightlife.com. Ocean City’s less than a half hour away and is my new location for Gundam pics. I’ve been there a few times already and I’m just waiting for the Gundams to arrive.
The Unicorn Gundam from Dannychoo.com One concern I have is that the some parts may be loose since it’s a transformable Gundam. But then again I would probably leave it in it’s Gundam form.
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