Blog Archives
Otaku in Review Podcast – K-ON! Special
This week we invited Jake and Kyonkun from Jake’s Anime Blog to come on and discuss the phenomenon that has taken Japan by storm… K-ON! We discuss the anime, the recently announced movie, the newly released PSP game, and the huge fandom surrounding them.
We also discuss Occult Academy and give our final impressions (it’s at the end, with a spoiler warning, so don’t worry). In the news… Angel Beats! gets another epilogue – yay or nay? Touhou Project FINALLY gets an anime (what the hell took so long?). Visual novel company minori has partnered with the fan-translation group No Name Losers and MangaGamer to bring their titles overseas. Finally, did you get your Toradora! and Persona Trinity Soul replacement discs yet? If not, fill out the form!
Anime Review: The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya – Second Season
In 2006, the anime adaptation of Nagaru Tanigawa’s Haruhi Suzumiya light novel series took the anime scene by storm. By mixing a wide variety of different genres into an original story, the series offered an exciting experience unlike any other at the time. Being only 14 episodes long, it’s needless to say that fans wanted more. In late 2007, a second season was finally announced. And then… we didn’t hear anything about it for a while. It wasn’t until 2009 that we finally started to hear news pop up again about the much anticipated second season of Haruhi.
But fans got their hopes up too soon. Instead of airing the alleged second season, Kyoto Animation (“KyoAni”) later confirmed that they would simply re-air the first season of Haruhi. Fans had been teased, and they weren’t happy. But KyoAni had a surprise up their sleeves. That surprise was called “Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody” and it was a brand new episode that was aired during the re-airing of Haruhi‘s first season. This was the first of what makes up the so-called “second season” of Haruhi (commonly referred to as Haruhi S2 or Haruhi 2009), all of which aired during the re-airing of the first season. A pleasant surprise, indeed. But was all the anticipation and putting up with KyoAni’s teasing worth it? Well, that depends…
In writing this review, I’m going to assume you’re already familiar with the Haruhi series. If you aren’t, then be warned: this review may contain spoilers from the first season.
Haruhi 2009 takes place during the events of the first season, and is divided into three arcs: Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody, Endless Eight, and The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya. The arcs are shown out of chronological order, though the episodes within each arc are in order. Two of the three arcs, Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody and The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya, focus on giving some backstory and explaining some of the mysteries that were left open. Endless Eight, however, takes a completely different direction, and is by far the most controversial part of the Haruhi anime series.
K-ON! Has Been Licensed, All's Right With the World
Seriously, who could hate something so adorable?
The day has finally arrived. After years of wondering “When’s K-ON! gonna get licensed?”, “Who would license it?”, and “Will it ever get licensed?”, Bandai has finally saved our minds from perpetually pondering these questions. At Anime Expo, they announced that they have licensed K-ON!, and there was much rejoicing (and hating too, of course).
Is this a good move for Bandai? Many are skeptical that this show won’t sell since it appeals to the “otaku” crowd, many of which have already seen the show fansubbed and have no intention of buying it.
I think the key is in the marketing. If Bandai pulls off a decent viral marketing stunt, I have a feeling that will move more sales. At least it seemed to work with Haruhi and Kannagi (which sold fairly well, so I’m told). The extras (assuming there are extras) will also be key. Haruhi had some excellent extras – pencil boards, CDs, and tons of other free stuff. On the other hand, Lucky Star‘s extras, which consisted of shirts with pictures of sailor uniforms printed on them (to this date I still wonder whose brilliant idea that was), didn’t do so hot.
Will K-ON! help Bandai get back on their feet? Or will this be a repeat of Lucky Star, thus dooming Bandai into the fiery pits of US anime company hell? Only time will tell, but post your thoughts if you have ‘em.
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