Well, the Anime season for spring 2011 is about to wrap up humans. For those unaware, it’s the season which anime airs in japan, and simultaneously airs subbed in English on some online services.(sometimes the underground rebel groups known as fansubbers) But enough of your human ignorance!
Most shows are around one or two episodes from finishing up their season.(one or two shy from me reviewing the entire show itself. Damn you incompleteness!) There are four shows I have been currently following that deserve some views. It’s always up to us citizens of Planet Fanboy to show you easily confused humans the way.
Nichijou
First off is the anime Nichijou.(or regular life in translation) This show follows the lives of many characters and their bizarre lives.(some interconnect and others don’t) Among them are an 8 year old scientist who performs odd modifications to her robot, a high school student who pulls weapons out of nowhere, and one who’s hair naturally grows in the shape of a mohawk.
Nichijou manages to be a slice of life anime and surrealistic at the same time. Indeed this is as random as humor gets.(random to the 20th degree) Humor that manages to do this while being relatively cleaner compared to other current anime. So if you want laughter to erupt from your internal funny volcano then watch Nichijou.
Steins;Gate
Second up is Steins;Gate. A sci-fi series where a group of friends performs experiments that allows their microwave to send text messages to the past. Which in turn causes them to be pursued by the organization SERN.(who themselves have been experimenting with time travel)
Now I gotta say, Steins;Gate is heavy on the science talk. So your human brains might have a lot to take in while following the show. Although this far from an animated science theory show. The characters are quite the interesting people, and their interactions and clashing really add to the anime. Check out Steins:Gate for a good unique take on time travel with some drama, thrills, and comedy sprinkled in.
Deadman Wonderland
Third on the list is Deadman Wonderland. Taking place in everybody’s favorite place(death row ), the inmates of the prison/amusement park known as Deadman Wonderland must compete in deadly games in order to survive and win prizes to increase their chances for later survival. The teenage Ganta is framed for the murder of his whole class and thrown into Deadman Wonderland, and he must find the true killer and learn how to use his newly discovered powers using his blood.
This series at heart is Ganta trying to find out the many mysteries around him while attempting not to die. Added in are the quite gruesome games prisoners are put through. Even within the limits of Japanese tv censors, it does a good job of showing it. Very good if you want you an unfolding mystery while watching prisoners dies for the amusement of a park audience. (I know I have my ticket)This is also going to be one of those “spoiler warning!” shows.
Hen Zemi
And Last we have Hen Zemi.(also known as Abnormal Physiology Seminar) As the title spells out, the anime follows the students enrolled in a class that studies abnormal behavior.(I miss that class since I was attending extraordinary behavior class)
You get a wide variety of bizarre behaviors examined in this show. They range from hiding in places in order to take panty shots, spontaneously getting naked, and growing baby flies in one’s ear. The students themselves greatly contrast due to two of them being very normal, and living in almost of horror of the other classmates who have bizarre fetishes. This is indeed a very unique anime that will sometimes make your human mind say “what’s up with these people?”. Hen Zemi also happen to be only fifteen minutes long each episode. So plenty more chances for bathroom breaks.
So there it is. Four anime series to definitely keep an eye out for. Lots of hours spent looking at them.(I’ll expect complete thank yous in the form of Carl JR. gift certificates) Look for further reviews of these shows once their seasons are completely up. And once the summer season of anime starts up, look for my midway update on those shows as well.