Whatever....

Okay so I'm a giant loser who can't even keep up with my own dang challenge for myself.

I'm about over it.

From now on I'll watch as much anime as I can manage (but probably not something new everyday) and I'll write up how I feel about it when I watch it.

Maybe if I get in the regular habit of it I can make a daily thing out of it.

Or maybe not. Who knows?

Anyways, onwards and upwards I guess!

#30: Saint Seiya Omega

I never watched Saint Seiya when I was younger and it was on American television under the name Knights of the Zodiac.

I think I can vaguely remember seeing snippets of it a time or too, but I might be confusing it with Macross or Robotech or even Voltron.

My first memory of Saint Seiya is seeing this amazing tattoo my little sister got based on some of the manga artwork. After pushing down the insane amounts of tattoo related jealousy I had (which is stupid really because my Ghost in the Shell tattoo is way more awesome) I looked up the anime series itself.

The original series is old with synthesized 80's music, flashy effects, terrible costume colors, and rather sub-par dubbing.

I love it.

And I've always kind of wished that someone would update the series with some flash new school animation.

Apparently the anime gods have been listening to this fangirl's wishes, cause Saint Seiya Omega is exactly that. A new look at an old series, full of modern effects and colors and character designs.

And believe me, this show is flashy. If you are one of those that get convulsions from watching crazy flashy anime you might want to skip this show. The battles are kind of just flashy chaos.

I thinks this series might also pick up from where the last one left off. Or something. Cause it certainly doesn't seem to start at the very beginning where the original Saint Seiya did. And I have never seen all of the original story as it wasn't available in the US and I don't actually know if it ever made it all the way from manga to anime.

But it is all good. The basic premise is the same. There are these warriors known as Saints who explode their internal energy - or "cosmos" - to battle each other and bad guys. Each symbol of the zodiac has a Saint (hence why it was called Knights of the Zodiac in the US) and there are several levels of power as well as several awesome costume changes.

There is also lots of fighting. Lots and lots of it. It is just that kind of show.

And there's other stuff too, of course, but if you haven't seen any of the series it won't make a whole lot of sense.

Point is I liked this new addition to the Saint Seiya series. So far it looks good, sounds good, and is fun to watch. I'm curious to see what happens next in the story. 

Yep yep, starting this challenge over yet again!

It has been an epically long time (at least if you count time in fly lifetimes) since I watched anime, and this makes me a very sad panda.

But once again I am determined to make the most of this challenge. Of course I meant to restart yesterday since it was the first day of the month. But I didn't get around to it because I am me and that tends to happen.

I'm okay with this trait in myself. At least at this moment.

Because I am still going to make the most of this challenge. I'm just starting today instead of yesterday.

So here I go. An anime a day every day for a year.

I'm pretty excited to see what is out there. Aren't you?

#29: Ouran High School Host Club

This show makes me happy.

It is bright and funny and complex and well drawn. The animation style reminds me a bit of Revolutionary Girl Utena, one of my fave anime series. The voices are actually well chosen and dubbed in English, though of course the Japanese is even better.

I could sit and watch this show all day. Even the more dramatic episodes are highly enjoyable.

They make me happy.

There are elements that are too sweet. There are elements that are too girly. There are elements that are too loud and silly.

But they mesh together well, so that the whole is wonderfully, surprisingly, amazingly better than the individual elements.

This is one of the only anime that I prefer above the manga it is based off of. I got kinda bored reading the manga, but I have never gotten bored watching the show. Weird but true.

The story is, at its most basic level, about a scholarship student who goes to an ultra-rich school and ends up indebted to the Host Club after breaking an expensive vase. Though she is a girl and has a girl's name, they mistake her for a boy and hijinks, of course, ensue. It sounds kinda silly, and it is, but it is a good kind of silly.

Trust me. I never lie about anime.

The fact is that this show surpasses its silly premise and manages to have a rich storyline and multi-faceted characters. The mischievous and (slightly) pervy twins - Kaoru and Hikaru - especially are interesting to watch. It is a near perfect example of why I love anime so much. It doesn't pretend that just because it is animated it should be any less dramatic or involved or well written.

And all critical acclaim aside, the most important thing about it (to me anyway) is that it makes me happy. I can't think of praise greater than that.