Looking back…

And now for the Slowpoke news: we’re in the winter season.

I’m still stuck in the past, not because of any traumatic accidents which have permanently scarred me and/or my memory, but because the fall season is arguably a much more robust season than the winter ones, at least in terms of new shows.

Especially for a visual novel slash romance slash restricted rock-paper-scissors fan like me, there were a lot of shows that were very appealing; many of them, despite being in tried and tired genres, brought a lot of fresh concepts to the table.

And what’s interesting about this, is that unlike in the summer season, a lot of the most promising shows didn’t close out at twelve episodes. Those that did, were strong shows, no doubt, but many more than that have been promised at least 20-odd episodes, double the goodness if they can keep the pace up.

As such, the winter watchlist is turning out to be strangely familiar. There are plenty of carryover shows on the list, and those that are new shows to 2008 are mostly sequels in some way or form (Zoku SZS, Minami Okawari). Not to leave a bad impression of the winter season - but there aren’t any names of new shows that really stand out from it.

This doesn’t equate with ‘no good shows’, per se - some of my favorite fall shows have been ones that have been completely off the radar - but going off the blog reactions so far, there hasn’t been a standout show that absolutely blows people away, that came out of nowhere and delivered the awesome. Undoubtedly there probably will be, but for now I’m content with surviving off both fresh old shows, and some true classics that are burning a hole in my DVD collection. Today, I’ll take a look at what we have to expect from some of the shows coming into their second cour in 2008.
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Having read the light novel a few months ago, the manga a few days ago, and with the second season just getting underway, Shakugan no Shana fever is in full fury.

Perhaps curiosity is a better descriptor, since as much as two manga volumes and one light novel can teach you, one can imagine a gaping hole in the plotline, a huge amount of something missing, that can only be found in sinking large amounts of time and, since we are relatively moralistic around here, money into watching the entire first season of Shana.

There’s no doubt that a show like this can be easily picked up upon in the first few episodes of the sequel, being what seems to be of the general type ‘boy meets supernatural girl, action romance ensues’, but naturally there are a few nuances that are missed here and there, some twists, character development, and in the case of the Shana series, confusing jargon.

Now turning to an hour-and-a-half movie may not be the best way to cover what I presume is a large part of the 12-hour, 24-episode series, but as the cliches go, 1) any port in a storm, and 2) watch first, ask questions later.

What follows is an impression of the Shana movie from a relative newbie to the series; it seems to reprise much of the storyline from the first light novel, so I can’t claim that it’s totally new content, but there certainly will be a lack of comparisons to how the anime handled the same content.

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There are many reasons to adopt a new series. Perhaps it’s a widely popular one, and you’re curious to see what all the fuss is about. Maybe a favorite voice actor, artist, director, writer worked on this series as well. Maybe you read the manga, or played the visual novel, or just read about the series in a press blurb or something and was intrigued. A figurative dart thrown at a wall?

Sometimes, it’s like that, where you walk into a bookstore, and the first thing that catches your eye is that one thing Mikoto keeps raving about.

And so I sat down with the English release of manga and light novel for an hour.

Yeah, English light novel. Is that a first? Not too familiar with even the Japanese scene for that, but I follow the Haruhi light novels religiously and are kind of jealous that another series gets their novels translated. Oh well, there’s always Baka-Tsuki!

Impressions on Shana after the jump.
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