CLANNAD and Shakugan no Shana Second: First Impressions

Finally my internet has decided to go at its regular speed so I've been able to finish downloading the first episodes of CLANNAD and Shakugan no Shana Second. I'll start off with Shakugan no Shana Second (which I'll abbreviate to SnS2 from now on), then CLANNAD.

To be honest, I was never that excited about a second season of SnS. The first season was rather boring. I felt lacked any creativity. You could say it was an anime of cliches. Anyway, this episode revolves around a dream that Yuji is having where all the events are things that have happened in his past. For quite some time he doesn't realise he's in a dream until he manages to figure out how to break the spell that's been cast upon him. When he wakes up, we find that he's in the middle of a battle with Shana against a Tomogara. I could go on about how embarassed Shana gets when Yuji asks what Shana what she said at the end of the last episode of the first season. Obviously, she said "I love you", but since Yuji is an idiot, he believes her when she tells him that she said that she had gained more respect for him. I just find it cute when tsunderes get embarassed like that and I don't really care about the guy. Basically, it looks like it'll be more of the same.

CLANNAD, however, had a good first episode. As expected, the animation and music were top notch. However just like Kanon, KyoAni are only finding their feet at the start, so the animation will improve as the series progresses. Okizaki and Nagisa meet on the way to school and meet up at various points in the episode. Okizaki seems to be a kind but cool loner, and Nagisa seems to be a quirky and mysterious girl. Sound familiar? Sure does to me. However, I'm sure I'll get a better idea of their personalities as time goes on. This episode seemed to be rather comical at points, and it's probably the hardest I've laughed in a while. While Kanon and Air benefited from a good main cast, I think CLANNAD will heavily rely on its support cast because they seemed to steal the limelight. Nagisa's parents were the highlight of the episode. At the end they slip in just a hint of tragedy just to round things off by showing Okizaki's father waking up from a drunken stupor. Even though Okizaki narrates that his father is an alcoholic, we can tell just by looking. At the very end we see Nagisa invite Okizaki somewhere, while being surrounded by a mysterious light. All in all, a good episode. Not quite up to the same standard as Kanon and Air, but I'm sure it'll still turn out great.

Aaaannnnnnd...They're Off!

The Autumn 2007 anime season has started. Typically, I can't watch the first fansubs yet because of work. Now I have another reason to hate my job. Anyway, if you happen to see anything I didn't mention in the last post, I'd be grateful if you could recommend me stuff, or tell me your thoughts on the stuff I did mention.

It looks like Static Subs have got some of the biggest ones. They're currently halfway through Hayate no Gotoku and have started Shakugan no Shana Second. Seems they'll be the "go to" fansub group for quite some time.

Autumn 2007

Autumn 2007 Anime list

So there you have it. Every T.V show, OVA and movie that's going to start airing/be released during autumn. There's not much to say about it since nothing there has been fansubbed yet. I'm sure in a few days time there will be a huge flood of fansubs though. Anyway, hopefully I'm going to watch:

Code Geass 2
Da Capo II
Prism Ark
Night Wizard
Haruhi Suzumiya 2
Shakugan no Shana: Second
CLANNAD

As you may have heard, Geneon USA may be going into liquidation. People seem to be getting a bit too panicky. It's not as if it's official, and worst case scenario, other licensors will pick up the series they had already licensed, regardless of having started production and whatnot.