Sunday News Bites: July 1st

Before we get started on news from the anime world, there’s some Azure Flame-specific news to announce- after Romeo X Juliet, no new parody series will be picked up for the foreseeable future. The reason for this is that I have been writing parodies for nearly a year now, and both I and the parody scene needs a break to refresh and recharge. There are still some series on the cards to be tackled in the future (to be detailed below), but for now I’ll be keeping up with the current list of ongoing series and leaving it at that.

Getting back to the wider news world, this week we are joined in the newsroom by Final Fantasy VII’s Red XIII.

Preamble: The possible future of parody

• Gankutsuou: A shoe-in for its high HARD GAY content; will most likely be the first series to be tackled when the second era opens this autumn/winter.
• Madlax: A representative of HARD YURI, will probably replace El-Cazador when that series finishes.
• Claymore: Some good parody moments, but having read ahead in the manga I’m not sure if full parody will be sustainable.
• Deltora Quest: Hilariously bad, but perhaps too much of a generic fantasy tale to bother with. Unlikely to ever appear.
• Seirei no Moribito: Abandoned for now, some parody potential in episodes 8-9 but so far too much sitting and talking for a full revival.

Sisters of Wellber second season
Anyway, onto the real news, and first up is the revelation that Sisters of Wellber, having just come to the end of its first season, will be rewarded with a second. Although psgels seemed to enjoy it, the three episodes I’ve seen so far haven’t really endeared to me the series, and so only time will tell if I like all of season one enough to try more of the same. Let’s just hope that the new episodes have a budget of more than three beans, so we can have innovations like a proper OP and ED sequence, and less CG horse.

Red XIII says: I know people criticise the journey I made with Cloud and the others, but wasn’t it more interesting than a group that inexplicably includes a talking tank?

Move over Magic Eight Ball, Handy Magi System is here
Remember how you could ask the magic eight ball a question and get one of a number of yes/no answers? Admit it, who hasn’t messed around with the virtual version on IRC? Anyway, forget that, because all you rabid Eva merchandise buyers can throw out the old eight ball and purchase the “Handy Magi System”, a toy that responds to questions with either “Passed/Supported” or “Rejected”. Base your entire life around the teachings of the Handy Magi System, and who knows how far you can go?

Red XIII says: It might be good for predicting the outcomes of the Chocobo Racing, but even a bargain 1029 yen is money better spent elsewhere.

ADV throw some more new titles at us
Thanks to Anime Expo and the week leading up to it, we know that ADV has acquired more titles, including Project Blue, Tokyo Majin, Guren Lagann, Kyoshiro to Towa no Sora and newly airing series Devil May Cry. Having ultimately decided to check out none of these series, this won’t be any drain on my bank balance, which is just as well as ADV are already taking my money for Chevalier and Pani Poni Dash.

Red XIII says: So these are all A titles, are they? Whatever the case, I’ll save my money for some new materia instead.

Geneon confirms what we all knew
Geneon have also confirmed a few grey areas by formally announcing licensing of Nanoha seasons 1-2 and the Shana OVA, as well as hinting that Seirei no Moribito might be on the shelves sooner than we thought. Also added to the licensing roster was Deltora Quest, an incredibly generic fantasy series whose low animation and story budget were plainly apparent right from the start. With Nanoha hold little replay value, and the Shana OVA being entirely throwaway, only Seirei has a chance of holding my interest, and that’s only if the series can regain the quality it lost in its slow phase with a promised action scene in episode thirteen.

Red XIII says: I usually count on Geneon to entice me with some titles of quality, but once again there is little here to pique my interest.

Why have Kodomo no Jikan when you can have HARD YURI?
Also announcing new licenses are Seven Seas, who seem to have put together a line up of one yaoi title and numerous yuri ones- Strawberry Panic included. Unfortunately, whilst their Boogiepop novels will be getting back on track, other light novel series such as Shinigami no Ballad seem to have been delayed.

Red XIII says: I’m wary of the writing style of light novels being too simplistic for my tastes, but I’m also intrigued enough to want to give them a try. It can be hard reading novels when you only have paws, though, which is why I prefer eBooks.