Anime release for Summer 2007

[ai-chan]

Origin: Spirits of the Past is set 300 years in the future, showing Earth in what many would call a state of decline after a horrible scientific experiment went awry, destroying much of the moon and causing the collapse of civilization. The tragedy allowed enhanced plant life to limit the spread of mankind to small tribes that rely on the generosity of the ruling elite of the vegetative nation to supply them with life giving water as technology has largely fallen by the wayside over generations. The story follows a young man named Agito who defies the odds in order to maintain the balance, gaining great powers but at a great cost as well. If you're looking for eye candy, this is the pick.

[ai-chan]

TOKKO is set in contemporary times in Japan. The hero of the story is a new detective by the name of Ranmaru Shindo, a young man who got into law enforcement in part because of the wholesale slaughter of his parents and neighbors in a huge, bloody massacre five years prior at his apartment complex. The official version of what happened is that a gang killed 300 people and tortured them to death, leaving almost no survivors in the process. Ranmaru knows differently of course but no one believed him and his desire to protect his sister from a similar fate keeps him from going off on the handle about it. Five years after the massacre, he works as a member of the elite Mobile Investigation Force, tracking down criminals using his head and his aggressive style of policing, coming across a series of murders that look far too bloody to be considered routine.

[ai-chan]

Kurau Phantom Memory is a story of a young girl gets endowed with special abilities thanks to a tragic accident in a super secret laboratory on the moon. She uses her powers to take care of society's dirty work as a special agent/mercenary, until the government decides she is too dangerous to the established order. Her status switching from hunter to hunter, Kurau tries to figure out what is going on and why her powers are starting to cause her grief in this futuristic tribute to the heroine on the run theme we've seen many times before but never quite so well put together.

[ai-chan]

Le Chevalier D'Eon Agent Provocateur follows the life and times of an infamous cross dresser from hundreds of years ago, D'Eon de Beaumont; an aristocratic fellow that served as a spy and secret agent for King Louis XV. After his sister is murdered, he sets out to find her killer and fight for justice in the king's name, channeling the spirit of his sister when called upon to find the ghastly horde of supernatural demons that try to stop him. This was another excellent title to enjoy for fans of historical fiction that doesn't sink to all the anime cliches so many find childish.

[tac]

Gurren Lagann, the latest from the stables of Gainax, which has given us classics like Evangelion, Kare Kano (I haven't see Kare Kano, but I've heard it's real good), and Furi Kuri (Madness!). The series is almost as insane as Furi Kuri (just a bit more coherent though). Plus, it has fan service (for guys and girls). It's been called t**s and drills XD.

It's about a couple of digger blokes who're living in an underground village. They want to break out and reach the heavens (reach ground). They're attacked by a weird mech, and in the ensuing chaos, they reach ground. They're joined by a hot scantily clad chick called Yoko who's a real mean shot. They find that the people on the ground are engaged in a war with 'beastmen' who attack in mechs. What will happen next?

Three eps have been released so far, I'm waiting for the next one to be out. The protagonist Simon is Shinji-ish - Only, he has a father figure to help him with his troubles and to stop him from running away. Interesting times up ahead.

[ai-chan]

iDOLM@STER: XENOGLOSSIA

Haruka Amami receives the chance of a lifetime when she passes an audition for the Idolmaster Project, guaranteeing her the opportunity to become Japan's next big singing star. Nervous about moving to Tokyo, her nerves are calmed when she meets another girl who's also joining the program. Things go awry when they reach Tokyo and manage to get horribly lost. Along the way, they catch a glimpse of a mecha. Called an iDOL, its job is to obliterate any comets that are in danger of colliding with Earth. Unsurprisingly, it seems to have a special connection with the members of the Idolmaster Project. Haruka's life is in for another surprise when she and her friend are ambushed by two women. Before she even realizes it, she comes into contact with a mecha called Prometheus, a mysteriously self-activating robot that seems to have some sort of special bond with her.

[ai-chan]

Moonlight Mile

Gorou Saruwatari is a 27-year-old with a taste for adventure. His latest endeavor: climbing Mt. Everest, which is about as extreme as it gets. Yet as he scales the peak with his American buddy "Lostman" Woodbridge, Gorou wonders just how far he can really go. Up on the world's tallest peak, Gorou and Lostman can only think of one place higher: space. Luckily for them, 16 nations have banded to form the International Space Agency (ISA), with plans to put a power plant on the moon and make the next big jump in space exploration. Lostman may be just a fighter pilot right now, and Gorou is in an even more humble position as a construction worker, but they've got the physical skills—and determination—to make it as real astronauts.

[ai-chan]

Lucky Star

Kona is a normal high-school girl who is good at sports, has a small group of friends and an overriding obsession with video games and anime of all sorts. Why isn't she on a sports team? 'Cuz it would interfere with watching all of the new anime shows of course! Her social network is dominated by warriors, sorcerers, and heroes dead-set on saving the world from evil. Just too bad none of them are real. She has a slightly unhealthy interest in girls with "moe" characteristics, and a suspiciously in-depth knowledge of pornographic video games, but manages to live a fairly normal life with her three friends: sisters Tsukasa and Kagami, who are obviously related because they have the same color hair, and class brain Miyuki, whose glasses and clumsiness make her the target of the moe-loving Kona's envy.

[ai-chan]

ROMEO X JULIET

A long time ago, in a land forgotten to memory, there existed the floating continent of Neo Verona. The Capulet rulers are overthrown by the upstart Montagues, who kill all of the Capulet family they can find. Toddler Juliet, the Capulet heir, is rescued by one of the loyal Capulet retainers, who secrets her away. Fourteen years later, Juliet spends much of her time masquerading as the boy Odin (and the masked hero Red Whirlwind) and hiding out at a playhouse since the Montague forces still seek her out. A chance encounter with the young nobleman Romeo, who rescues “Odin” from a tight spot, stirs questions about love in both. Juliet does not know that Romeo is the son of the Montague leader, nor is Romeo aware that Odin/Juliet is the long-missing Capulet heir, but when their paths cross again at a grand masque held by the Montagues fate is sure to intervene.

[ai-chan]

Darker than BLACK

A man stands at the lip of a rooftop, poised to jump. As police rush towards him, he begins to glow mysteriously, and flies off into the sky. Unfortunately, despite his cop-dodging abilities, his landing is rudely interrupted when a masked being ends his life. Apparently, a decade before the start of the series, an ominous wall appeared in Tokyo. Called Hell's Gate, it ushered in the appearance of Contractors, emotionless people who have superpowers but no emotions, and Dolls, spirit mediums created in someone's likeness. The episode pauses there to introduce Li Shunseng, a Chinese student who has just moved to Tokyo for school. Of course, he's not really who he claims to be, and he seems to have a knack for running into trouble, but at the very least, he seems to be able to hold his own against Contractors.

[ai-chan]

Bokurano

During a field trip at the beach, several middle-school students stumble upon a mysterious cave. What they find in there is an entire underground office: computers, desks, chairs, and other equipment. Who could be living down here? It doesn't take too long for the cave's occupant to show up—a self-proclaimed video game designer who calls himself Kokopelli. He invites the kids to try out his new game, and it certainly sounds interesting enough: pilot a robot and destroy fifteen enemies sent from another world. But when an actual giant robot shows up at the seaside that night, and the children find themselves in the cockpit with Kokopelli for the first mission, they begin to realize that this could be far more serious than just a game.

[ai-chan]

Hitohira

Mugi is a girl afflicted with stage fright so acute that it renders her mute under the pressure. As such, she seems the last person to be of any use to a drama club, but (naturally) upon entering her new arts-focused high school, her voice catches the attention of Nono, the beautiful, self-possessed president of the school's "drama research club. " Later Mugi espies a spectacular dress in a storage room and utters the words "goddess of spring" which just so happens to be the sub-title for a play that the drama club (not the drama research club, mind you) is putting on, and a phrase that Nono seems particularly attached to. Meanwhile Mugi's classmate Nishida is being pursued by his older sister, a member of the drama research club who wants to force him to join. Her dogged pursuit leads to a series of encounters between Mugi and the drama research club, particularly Nono, whose developing interest in the shy underclassman leads her to convince (i.e. force) Mugi to join the club.

[ai-chan]

Hayate the Combat Butler

High school-aged Hayate is an industrious young man who's always had to work because his parents are unemployed wasteful good-for-nothings. His years of work have conditioned him to be inhumanly fast and tough, but that doesn't keep his parents from taking his last paycheck, squandering it, and leaving him on Christmas Eve with an enormous debt to some shady individuals. Desperate to find money when they come to collect, Hayate ultimately decides to kidnap for ransom a girl he meets in the park, but due to his kind nature he winds up rescuing her (twice!) instead and saying things that the girl NAGI grossly misinterprets as a confession of love. Drafted to be the extremely rich girl's new butler, it seems that Hayate's life is bound for a major change.

[ai-chan]

Seirei no Moribito

The story focuses on Balsa, a wandering warrior who is a bodyguard for hire. While traveling through a village she witnesses a carriage breaking and a young boy slipping into the river below. She is quick to save the boy, brushing it off as no big deal… until she is called on by the Empress of the Imperial Family, who just so happens to be the boy's mother. Before Balsa can get a grip on what's going on she finds herself being hired as a bodyguard for the young prince, whose very own father wants him dead.

[ai-chan]

Claymore

In a far-off feudal land, common folk live in constant fear of Yoma—demons that hide among humans and feast on them. Only one thing can defeat the Yoma: the legendary female warriors known as Claymores. Because of their half-human, half-Yoma nature, Claymores must live as outcasts of society while roaming the land and disposing of demons. In one village, a young boy named Raki loses his entire family to a Yoma, and when a visiting Claymore saves Raki's life, the village elders throw Raki out because it's too risky to keep him around. With nowhere else to go, Raki goes in search of the Claymore who saved him, hoping that she will take him along on her quests.