Winter ’10 CR Simulcasts

Over the past few months I was too busy to watch anything new. Now I have the time to actually get some use out of the Crunchyroll subscription I’ve been paying for. Though I’ve not used it in six months, I kept on with the subscription. I knew I’d want to use it later on, so kept supporting it. Anyway, later on is now and this is a good set of shows.

Cobra the Animation

This is great. The original material and designs come from the 80′s and looked so out of place among the others it called me. Cobra is so 80′s. Cobra don’t flee from his manhood like today’s man.

He’s KO’ed in the hospital and his stogy is still sticking out of his mouth. Cobra is so much of a man that the doctors don’t pull it out or hand him an ashtray. Cobra cuts to the chase. First episode is the Christmas episode. There’s no Christmas cake. What’s even better, Cobra sings. Sings Jingle Bells like he’s singing for the Parker family on Christmas day at the Chop Suey Palace.

The deal sealer is of course the white suit, blue shirt, and the red tie. He also doesn’t need a parachute when he jumps out planes. I bet he drinks Dos Equis. His weapon is the “Psycho Gun,” which apparently drains his mental energy. I bet he’s used it a lot.

There are other Cobra series and movies, but it so doesn’t matter. Awesome cheese. My second favorite show of the bunch.

Chu-Bra

I like fan service shows. I’m a dirtbag, I admit. The intro scene before the OP had me wondering if I’d watch it, because of the whole tripping thing in front of everybody. But, I found the show after the OP humorous, particularly when they’re on the staircase and the short-chick is trying to gather data with her cell phone camera.

It’s so “wrong” and “wrong” in the right hands is funny. Verdict is still out on Chu-Bra and the funny. Episode two awaits.

So Ra No Wo To

The character designs made it visually obvious that staff from K-ON! are involved here. This doesn’t bother me, since I’ve not seen K-ON! beyond some of the promotional artwork, but I really don’t mind that or how each character’s appearance accurately describes a character’s demeanor. It’s always like this in any medium. So while it doesn’t help, sorta doesn’t hurt to me.

What would have been great? If the writers startled expectations a little. If at the end of the first episode, Private Kanata sounded Reveille with grace, that would have been way more effective toward endearing herself to me, because it would feel like I learned something new about her. Who didn’t expect her to suck? This was already known before she put the bugle to her lips.

Now, what lures me to the show is the environment. I just love early 20th century military uniforms. The generic euro-setting reminds of simpler times, which is easy to feel romantic for. As far as the premise for an all-girl unit goes, the premise in So Ra No Wo To does its job — they can’t all be as good as Simoun in this regard.

In all, I look forward to more.

Omamori Himori

A show that seems to stick to the standards of its genre. It didn’t feel like I’d get anything out of it, so stopped after the eyecatch. Looks amusing enough, but I’ve had my fill of this type of show.

Hanamaru Kindergarten

I fully expected to hate this since the magic of kids is usually lost on me. It also opened with my #1 pet peeve, the “I’M LATE!” opening gambit. If it weren’t Gainax, I would have left.

Pleasantly surprised. I thought this would be too kiddy for me to stand or I’d want to throw somebody in jail by the end. Neither was the case, though the mom is a little creepy in an animated comedy from Japan sort of way, which is to say, awesome in a cartoon.

Durarara!

From the word go, the tale is a flashback filled with interesting candy. I love that the first episode is called “Exit 1.” Anyway, it’s a show to piece together by sort of just taking it in as it comes. The first episode drew me in. Durarara’s first episode is funny in a way. You have this noob Mikado all scared about all the things he’s heard about the big city and his friend who’s been living there, Masaomi laughs at him for believing the nonsense his bumpkin friend picked up from TV and manga. Then they start walking around and he discovers it’s crazier than he ever imagined, which he realizes is kind of cool as he stands on the side of the street having just seen something amazing speed by as the world slows down for him.

Durarara reminds me a little of Boogiepop Phantom and there’s a few things in the first episode that made me think of it, like how rumors are flying about an angel of death, the Headless Rider on a motorbike. Plus, there was the sentiment of anything can happen in this town.

A lot has been revealed, just, I have no idea what it means. I have the feeling that as soon as the final episode ends, I’m going to want to watch the first episode all over again and see how it changes for me.