Seirei no Moribito

This is the second anime I’ve watched this season involving an older woman and the boy-ward she protects. The first is of course Claymore. There are some similarities, but on the whole the two series feel completely different.

The setting for this series is (I believe) some kind of Pseudo-Korea. I personally wouldn’t have been able to discern this, but that’s what I’ve read elsewhere so I’ll trust it for right now. The series is based off a series of novels Nahoko Uehashi. Scholastic has the rights to release the novels over here (let’s hope they get it done!). Like Juunikoki (The Twelve Kingdoms), only the first storyline focuses on Balsa and Chagum. However, like Youko’s story, it’s that segment that this anime has decided to focus on.

I did enjoy the first episode quite a bit, and will be continuing. I liked it more than the pilot episode of Claymore as well. However, the Claymore manga does start out a bit slow, and I knew that already. Not being outstandingly thrilled from episode one was something I expected. Because I’ve read far in the manga, and trust Madhouse’s ability to animate the series, I believe Claymore will get extremely good later on. Because of that, I’m not going to say this series is better because the pilot is better. The fact that this series is based on a novel, and is only twenty-six episodes, makes me think that the possibility of redundancy is less. Let’s hope I’m right.

This was on my definites list for sheer virtue of the solid looking animation and overall pretty. I knew very little about the premise going into it, outside of the fact that it was about a female bodyguard given the task of protecting a boy who holds a sacred power within him. After the first episode, we still know very little. However, I did do a cut and dry quick summary of the plot as of so far.

Click ‘read more’ for summaries, images, etc.

First Episode Summary:

Balsa is a female bodyguard warrior who ‘for certain reasons’ killed eight people who were dear to her (I imagine we’ll get the obligatory tragic past later on). To repent, she has taken up this job so she can protect and save the souls of the amount of people whose lives she took. In a chance encounter, she saves the Prince of the Kingdom she’s traveled to after his Oxcart falls into a raging river. When they are underwater, a ‘barrier’ of some sort, seemingly coming from the boy- manifests around them. Balsa takes the prince to shore and after actually being scolded by some royal guards for being near him (despite the fact that she saved him, nice) and a commoner, leaves. Later on she is approached by a group of men who tell her the Second Empress would like to meet with her. Balsa agrees and is taken to the palace. After receiving a small reward for saving the Prince, she plans to leave. However, she is advised to stay the night. Agreeing to do so Balsa falls asleep (on the biggest futon known to man), and is woken up in the middle of the night by the Second Empress and her son, Chagum, the Prince she saved.

The Second Empress has a proposition. She would like to have Balsa take the job of protecting the Prince from an assination plot by the Emperor. Supposedly the oxcart incident from earlier was one of many attempts to kill him. The reason behind the Emperor’s desire for his death is that Chagum began having dreams a few months before in which he would mutter incomprehensible things (yeah of course this is going to be connected to that barrier from earlier). The Divine Star Seeker (I think that’s his title), revealed to them that he believed Chagum was possessed. Seeing this as a weakness in the royal family, the Emperor wanted the Prince dead.

The Second Empress wants Balsa to run away with him and become his permanent bodyguard, and after much discussion and reluctance- Balsa agrees (and tells her to have the soldiers trusted by the Empress set fire to Chagum’s room to distract the others). She tells the Empress that Chagum will be the eighth life she’s saved- and she runs off with him. Episode ends.

Characters so far:

Balsa- This female warrior will turn thirty the year the series begins, which is practically ancient for an anime heroine. Balsa is a warrior who, as stated above, is working to repent for the deaths of eight people who were dear to her. Balsa is calm and collected, but not completely lacking emotion. We see her smile at more than one point in the episode, and she seems fairly personable. However, it’s obvious she has her own unique ideals and likely prefers to work alone. It’s fairly obvious that she’s extremely intelligent and clever as well, with the true instincts of a warrior.

The Second Empress- Although we know little about her, I don’t know how major a role she’ll play so I’ll go ahead and profile her. The Empress appears to love her son very dearly, but at the same time hold some respect for the Emperor despite his actions. She tells her son ‘not to hate his father, as he believes he’s doing what’s best for the kingdom.’ However, she has enough of a spine to seek out a way to save him because she disagrees with his actions, and that’s where Balsa comes in. The Empress is perhaps a bit sheltered, and Balsa calls her naive.

Chagum- The Prince that Balsa is given the duty of protecting. He has some kind of supernatural power that manifested a barrier underwater even when he was unconscious. Chagum began muttering things in his sleep, and was diagnosed as being possessed. His mother told him that the minute the Emperor decided to assassinate him, he was no longer a prince. Chagum doesn’t show much of a personality in this first episode, as he spends most of it sleeping. However, he does get very angry when he feels someone may have insulted his mother, and is upset over having to leave her behind. He appears to be the secondary lead after Balsa.

Opening/Ending:

The opening song is quite memorable. It’s a L’Arc en Ciel (Ready Steady Go from FMA, Heart of Sword from Kenshin) song called Shine and as is usual with their stuff, is catchy and well done. The footage is nearly completely void of battle, and instead focuses almost entirely on the relationship (platonic, I’d hope) between Balsa an Chagum. Probably my second favorite opening of the season behind RxJ’s Inori~ You Raise Me Up.

The ending is a nice song, but not too impressive. It’s called Itoshii Hito E, by Sachi Tainaka. This season isn’t really wielding anything noteworthy as far as endings (then again last spring gave us the unmatchable Hare Hare Yukai, from Haruhi Suzumiya). The entire ending focuses on Chagum, which I found unusual. However, a minute of him slowly opening his eyes is a bit boring.

Animation/Voice Work:

This anime is clearly operating on a substantial budget, being Production IG’s big show this season. The character designs are beautiful, and yes, do look kind of like Blood +. The animation is solid and lushly detailed, and technically is probably better than that of Romeo x Juliet’s (although I still prefer RxJ’s overall look).

Both Balsa and Chagum are effectively voiced by relative newcomers, neither having had a major role before this. Chagum’s seiyuu is only fourteen, which is neat. It’s rare they actually use a male child to play one in anime.

Conclusion/Caps:

I’m surprised that most of my choices have panned out as well as they have. Yeah it’s only the first episodes, but even that’s an accomplishment. I’ve legitimately enjoyed all I’ve watched so far, and Seirei no Moribito can be added to that list.

As usual, here are some caps. There are nineteen. As with before, please don’t post them as your own. If you use them, a link back to this blog would be great so more people can discover its existence.

SEREI NO MORIBITO EPISODE ONE CAPS x 19

Thank you so much for reading.

-Haro

Good news!

Calophi was kind enough to set up a livejournal feed for this blog. You can add it, and my posts will show up on your friends list. Check it out HERE. You can go directly here to add it to your friends list. No I won’t be able to see any locked posts if you do it. ^^

Well here’s a series that I had in my ‘maybe’ section, but was pleasantly surprised. I was genuinely leaning towards ’suck’ on this one, but watched it and found myself quite entertained. Heroic Age is not the deepest title in the world, nor does it pretend to be. Like any mecha show (even some of the good ones), I found myself giggling a few times during serious scenes and overall had trouble taking it 100% seriously. However, like any good mecha show, it’s also a lot of fun to watch. Let’s hope it stays that way!

I know I’ve posted it here in the spring preview, but here is ann’s summary of it anyway:

Answering the call of the “Gold Race”, all the sentient races launch into space. The human race is the last to launch, and are thus known as the “Iron Race”. Much time has passed since then, and humanity is threatened with extinction at the hands of the more dominant “Silver Race”. In order to save her people, Queen Deianeira sets out on a journey to a galaxy far away, following the prophecies of the Gold Race handed down by the royal family. Then, she meets a boy named Age. Their encounter will change the fate of the universe…

Click ‘read more’ for thoughts and images.

The above summary gives a pretty solid idea as to what the story is about. For clarification, the ‘Silver Race’ are bug-like entities or something of the sort, the ‘golden race’ are very shiny looking people, the heroic race are mecha like creatures, and the bronze race seems to be some sort of mechanical creature we only got one glimpse of. The iron race is of course, humankind. I think that the only prominent races in the series may be golden, silver, and iron.

As is probably obvious, many themes of the story are rooted in Greek myth. The different races are named after the ‘ages’ found in Hesiod’s The Theogony, the root of many Greek myths we are familiar with. In addition to the uses of the races, some characters, as well as the spaceships, have mythological names.

The animation is very solid, and the backgrounds are often quite nice. I don’t think the stylistics in this series are anywhere near Romeo x Juliet, but I do think that it looks a bit better than most mecha series.

Hisashi Hirai’s character designs look good as always. I could see complaining about the fact that his characters all look very similar, but it doesn’t bug me. This might be because I think he designs amongst the prettiest girls out there, and because overall I like his crisp clean look. As far as the mecha designs? Well to be honest we see very little as far as mecha go in the first episode so it is hard to judge. The ‘main mecha’ (or what I’d assume is) appears at the end of the episode and it is quite foreboding, but nothing to write home about. With the teeth and all (which you can’t see in the image), it does remind me of an EVA. However, truthfully mecha designs, with the exception of some Gundams, don’t interest me much. As such, I may not be the best judge here.

CHARACTERS:

There were several other characters introduced in this episode, but to be honest I felt like I only found out enough about two to profile them.

Deianeira- This is the lead female. In fact, the ending theme is dedicated entirely to her. Her name hails from myth, a wife of Hercules. Deianeira is a Princess on a mission to find a man with the ability to save their race. She has the ability to teleport her essence in the form of a ghostly version of herself. Truth be told, she does remind me a lot of Lacus Clyne, a lead female (and my favorite character) from the Gundam Seed franchise, another Hirashi Hirai series. In appearance they’re almost identical, but with Deianeira sporting blonde hair instead of pink. In personality, they seem to share the same commanding but compassionate attitude. I see her as more of a Lacus-clone than the often associated Euphemia of Code Geass.

Age- The lead male. He’s a young man of mysterious origins, with a mullet and a loincloth. XD He lives on a desecrated planet that seemingly holds no other people. He seems completely unaware of the world outside his desert home (where he plants trees and fights Tentacruel wannabes for food) Oh yeah, he also resides in a broken down ship that crash landed on the planet one hundred years ago. He calls the computer system in the ship his mother, despite the fact that it answers most of his comments with ‘invalid question’ or ‘invalid command.’ Age is either able to turn into a giant mecha due to a connection with the heroic race, or he can manifest one from himself. We’re not sure. That’s where the episode ended. He is surprisingly upbeat and not too feral, and of course, very mysterious.

OPENING/ENDING:

The first episode did not have an opening before it, as some anime don’t to smush more into the pilot. The ending theme is Azurite by Tae Urakabe. It is pretty but unmemorable.

CONSENSUS:

I will definitely be continuing with this series. It’s true that it could easily jump the shark, but I have more faith in it than Code Geass, the mecha show I followed (and dropped) last season. I think that while this doesn’t start out as strong as Code Geass did, the plot will probably remain more linear and focused just by the first episode. I can’t see them pulling the same kind of weird shock factor plot twists here. I feel safer with this series. Plus, it’s nice to look at.

FOURTEEN EPISODE ONE CAPS LOCATED HERE.

Including larger ones of the caps used in this post. As with the RxJ caps, I don’t mind if you use them. However, don’t post them on your website as your own. It is not required, but if you do use them- I would love a link back. That way I can spread the word about this blog.

-Haro

This was my most anticipated title of the season, but I have to admit that I felt a small amount of hesitation despite the superb background of the staff and the quality of the trailer. It did not let me down. My fears were unwarranted. This was a great first episode, and I foresee it getting better. Of course there’s the small chance the quality level will drop drastically, but for now I’m extremely excited. I haven’t enjoyed the first episode of a ‘new’ (as in I’m watching it as it’s being released) title this much in quite some time, if ever. (It seems a lot of my favorites, I don’t end up seeing until their run is over.)

The story starts out fourteen years in the past. Juliet’s family, the Capulets, are taken out by Montague asassins. Juliet is saved and goes into hiding. Of course, already the story has deviated from Shakespeare heavily. I do not mind this. The story of ’star-crossed lovers’ found in Romeo and Juliet is so old and there are so many variations- one in almost every culture, that it would be difficult to fault a new version for changing it. Besides, at twenty-six episodes, complete loyalty to a two hour play is impossible.

Click ‘read more’ for thoughts and caps.

Like Gankutsuou, the series takes place in a surreal and quasi-futuristic environment. Also, like Gankutsuou, the clothes, architecture, and customs remain archaic. It makes for an intriguing almost ‘dream world’ as the setting. For this series, that setting is Neo Verona. It’s an island in the sky. I am sure the mechanics of this will not be explained (it snows there in the introduction, so they somehow have weather), but it’s not really relevant.

There are several new characters not found in Shakespeare’s canon, appearing in this series so far. The main ones are:

Cordelia- A young woman slightly older than Juliet. She seems to be the fill in for Juliet’s ‘nurse.’ Seemingly named after Cordelia from King Lear.

Hermione- A suitor for Romeo. Romeo finds her attractive but feels nothing towards her. Seemingly named after Queen Hermione from A Winter’s Tale.

William- Seen her with ‘Odin,’ Juliet’s male alterego. William is, you guessed it, a playwright who resides over a theater/troupe of actors.

The Red Whirlwind- Juliet spends most of her time masquerading as a boy by the named of Odin. However, she has another identity as well. ‘Odin’ masquerades as a Zoro like character by the name of ‘The Red Whirlwind.’ This is probably the only adaptation of RxJ where you’ll see Juliet kicking ass and taking names.

Emilia- An actress in William’s group. She’s coquettish and fun loving, and a bit of a drama queen. It’s because of Emilia, who insists upon it, that Juliet ends up attending the Rose Ball at which she meets Romeo.

Other Aspects:

The execution of the first episode left little to be desired. Romeo and Juliet (especially Juliet, as she has more focus than Romeo in the first ep), establish themselves easily as endearing and likable leads.

The music is outstanding and the animation is top notch. Gonzo has a history of off/on animation, but I imagine the budget is a bit higher for this series than most so it probably won’t be as much of an issue. The voice cast is quite good (Junichi Sato of Princess Tutu is directing that part), and features seiyuu who are almost complete newcomers for the leads.

The ‘cinematography‘ is one of the most impressive aspects though. This is recognizable very early on, in the beautifully rendered scene in which young Juliet is flown from the Capulet home through an intense blizzard on a flying horse (oh yeah, they have those). After that, special attention is played to the two scenes in which Romeo and Juliet meet, especially the scene at the end of the episode when they see each other for the first time at the ball. Although the action scenes were somewhat sparse in this episode, they were very well done. Another memorable scene due to the angles/animation was when Juliet is preparing for the ball and takes a few moments to express her inner ‘girl.’ One gets the impression that as Odin, she obviously does not get many chances to do this. The backgrounds and settings are far from skimped on as well.

Opening/Ending

For those not in the know, the opening song is You Raise Me Up, performed by Korean singer Lena Park. No it’s not in English. Most recently made popular by Josh Groban, the song is a beautiful ballad and serves its purpose well here. The footage is quite sweeping, but the shots are sparse and there’s not a lot going on until the second half- and even then the action isn’t super fast and only lasts through the crescendo of the song. This is not a bad thing. The busy openings found in most anime would have been illfitting of both the song, and the series. Except for one pan shot, some shots during the battle sequence, and one shot of Romeo’s villanous father, the opening is dedicated entirely to the two leads. It’s very lovely.

Cyclone by 12012 serves as the ending theme. The ending theme is not as great as the opening, but there’s little to gripe about with it. It’s a rock ending, which reflects the battle aspect of the series instead of the romance. The footage is not amazing, featuring mostly decorative elements with a few ‘pencil-sketched’ fight shots in the middle.

Overall, I’m thrilled for this series. I have thirty-nine caps from the first episode uploaded onto my photobucket. They are 1024×576 and come from an HQ raw. They do include HQ caps of the ones used in this post.

YOU MAY CHECK THEM OUT HERE.

I don’t mind what is done with these, but please don’t post them on a website as if they are your own. If you do use them, I’d love a link back. This is not required, but it would help me spread the word that this blog is here.

-Haro

I’m looking at the Spring anime season and deciding what to watch right now/blog about. If you know me, you know I drop ninety percent of what I start. I’m overly picky and have the attention span of a goldfish.

Fall season I started seven series and I’m not consistently watching any of them. I dropped a few completely (Code Geass due to lack of direction and crazy writing, D Gray Man due to the onslaught of filler early on and just overall lack of interest, Perfect Girl Evolution because I’ve read the manga but the anime was not keeping my attention, and Red Garden because it was slow for me), and have yet to catch up on (although I plan to, probably in a marathon once they’re over) Death Note, Pumpkin Scissors, and Jigoku Shoujo Futakomori.

Last spring I started only four series and finished one (Haruhi Suzumiya), dropped one (Ouran High Host Club), and have yet to finish a third (Higurashi no Naku Koro ni and Saiunkoku Monogatari). On both of those, I definitely plan on finishing them ASAP. However I like to be able to watch the full arcs all in one sitting, so need to find the time.

I still think this season looks kind of dry, but it’s better than the fall season which had little to nothing I was interested in (I kind of forced myself to be interested in and try a lot of stuff) and even less that turned out well. These are listed in no particular order outside being separated by ‘definites’ and ‘maybes.’ And if there’s anything I absolutely MUST WATCH in your opinion, let me know. I’m not watching Darker than Black (Studio Bones doesn’t get my time anymore), Idolm@ster XENOGLOSSIA (not interested), or anything particularly loli-con looking.

Most summaries are ganked from the ever trusty ANN. Click ‘read more’ to see it all.

Definites:

Romeo x Juliet
This is a story of a young and tragic love, set in the aerial city of Neo Verona. Tyranny rules this island in the sky after the Montague family took control 14 years prior. The disparity among the wealthy and poor is apparent in the present state, the earth dries and water stagnates. The sky itself is wrapped in a deep dense fog. Both Romeo and Juliet’s lineages are of present and past ruling families of Neo Verona. Romeo is the son of the current Montague dictator, Juliet (a beautiful woman) masquerades as a man (Odin), she’s the last descendent of Capulet the previous rulers who were killed by an assasin’s dagger 14 years ago. Her true background is not to be revealed to her until her 16th birthday while being raised by her sister. The cruel hands of fate introduces two people who will become “Star Crossed Lovers”.

See top of post for image. I’m sure we all know what this story is about. Haha. There’s been so much buzz about this, but I’m really excited. Gankutsuou and Princess Tutu are two of my favorite anime ever, so wonderful thoughts to involvement of staff from them. It’s got some new characters, which threw me a bit. However, thinking about it- they’re extending a two hour play into twenty-six episodes so I guess that’s inevitable. I do like the original play, but maybe if it’s a longer series the relationship will develop slower and more genuinely. Not that I don’t expect them to both die of course. The opening theme is aso playing on the site. It’s You Raise Me Up, not in English though. No Josh Groban in this version. Aww. I am so psyched for this series. I haven’t been this excited for a new anime in at least a couple years. It looks like it is going to be spectacular. Here’s the promo trailer, which has been online for quite some time. And also, a more recently released commercial spot.

Claymore
In a world where monsters called Yoma prey on humans and live among them in disguise, humanity’s only hope is a new breed of warrior known as Claymores–silver-eyed girls who have willingly become half monster to destroy the predators. But the more the Claymores call on their supernatural strength, the closer they come to losing their human sides forever.

Being animated by Madhouse, who brought us the very solid Death Note and Monster, amongst others. Okay everyone seems to be brushing this off as a ‘typical shounen’ in ther previews. I don’t pretend the manga is the most riveting and original thing ever (it’s not), but I really can’t understand even from people who have seen just one picture, how it’s being seen as Standard Jump Fare (tm). The cast is 90% female for one. Anyway, I have read the first seven volumes of this manga and I think it will translate well to an animated format. I look forward to it. Please do check this series out! If the anime is anything like the manga, it’s a great piece of action.

Victorian Romance Emma- Second Act
In late 19th century London, William Jones, a member of the gentry, meets and falls in love with Emma, and she with him. This chance meeting overturns both their lives – for Emma is a maid, and the barriers of class and wealth stand between them.

I haven’t seen the first series, but I have read the manga up to where that series leaves off. Since the manga is still early in it’s release here in the U.S. (and I haven’t hunted it down online), I look forward to discovering the rest of the story through this Emma is slice of life series, whch generally kind of doesn’t interest me. However, the art is so gorgeous, the setting so rich, and the character’s charming enough that I find it very addictive. If you do like slice of life, watch/read this. If you don’t, do so so anyway. Check out this lovely promo trailer for it. It’s subtitled.

Saiunkoku Monogotari- Season Two
Saiunkoku is a world of eight provinces or houses, each named after a different colour. The new Emperor, Shi Ryuuki, has gained for a reputation for being uninterested in courtly matters and for flaunting his love for men. Shuurei, although born of the important Kou family, has difficulty making ends meet. She easily accepts an invitation to be the Emperor’s concubine in order to turn him into a good ruler. The mysterious Seiran, a young man who was adopted by her father, goes with her as Ryuuki’s bodyguard. Entering the imperial palace revives Shuurei’s dream of being a court official, and, together with the many companions she meets along the way, continues moving bravely forward while trying to fend off the Emperor’s advances.

Actually the only thing barring me from watching this is finishing season one. If I still like it a lot after I’m done with that one, you bet I’ll be watching this. SM is a good series. Not near as formulaic as the promo art and the opening theme would lead you to believe. It is not a Fushigi Yuugi ripoff, despite how it may look. It’s funny, sweet, and genuinely interesting. Shuurei is an extremely charismatic lead, and a breath of fresh air in the fantasy/historic shoujo genre. It’s rather beautifully animated as well.

Seirei no Moribito

I honestly don’t have a summary for this, as I couldn’t find one. I know it’s about woman assigned to guard a boy, and they’re protecting some kind of Earth Spirit Jewel or… something. This is a Production IG project, and while I’m not their biggest fan I think it looks gorgeous and I simply can’t resist. Watch a trailer here. And watch the impressive opening theme here.

Maybes:

Depending on further thought, I may not even watch the first episode of any of these. However, they’ve at least mildly piqued my interest for the moment. We’ll see! No preview images, but I link to the official sites.

Heroic Age
Answering the call of the “Gold Race”, all the sentient races launch into space. The human race is the last to launch, and are thus known as the “Iron Race”. Much time has passed since then, and humanity is threatened with extinction at the hands of the more dominant “Silver Race”. In order to save her people, Queen Deianeira sets out on a journey to a galaxy far away, following the prophecies of the Gold Race handed down by the royal family. Then, she meets a boy named Age. Their encounter will change the fate of the universe…

This series could either be cool or really lame. Character designs are by Hisashi Hirai of Gundam SEED fame, so it looks nice. However, I’m wary of most mech shows because they so often are subpar. I’m more interested in this one because it seems to be rooted in Greek mythology, which is a possibly neat concept. All the ‘races’ of course, are named after ‘ages.’ The gold age, the silver age, the iron age and the title for the age of Heroes. The small text on the main page also talks about Twelve Labors, and Deianeira is a wife of Hercules. I’m keeping my fingers crossed, hesitantly. See a trailer here.

Toward the Terra
In the far future, humanity has left behind an environmentally destroyed Terra and began colonization in order to reproduce their home. Humanity, now ruled by a super computer that controls the birth of children, sees the emergence of a new race called the “Mu”. The Mu, now hidden from the rest of humanity, have one dream, to return home, to Terra…

Based on a movie from the early eighties, this series looks like it could be pseudo old school fun. They did NOT update the character designs much, and I like that. They still look way retro. You can watch a promo here.

Lovely Complex
Risa and Otani are always being laughed at as the comedy duo. Risa, a girl, is taller than the average girl, and Otani, a boy, is shorter than the average boy. The two are always bickering and even their teacher sees them as a comedy act. But as their friendship develops, so does Risa’s feelings toward Otani.

I honestly do not know if this is my kind of thing, but it’s the shoujo that trusted sources have recced to me so I may as well give it a try. I did try Ouran last year, but lost interest extremely early on. It bored me hard and fast. I like the character designs though.

–Haro

Welcome to my anime/manga blog. I’ll try to get a more thorough welcome post up when I get the chance, but for now enjoy what I have here.

In addition to reviewing titles I’m reading/watching now, I’ll likely do posts reflecting on some favorites. Also, although I follow many new anime via fansubs/licensed release, I frequently watch/read older series. So if you want a taste of something old, or a taste of something new- I’ll probably have it here.

–Haro

I’m a big fan of Maison Ikkoku, Takahashi Rumiko’s 1980’s manga about life and romance in a run down Japanese boarding house.In 1986, a live action movie of the manga was released called Maison Ikkoku- Apartment Fantasy. Bad acting, cheesy dialogue, and even a musical number performed by the cast made for an infamously awful film. So you can understand why people were reluctant when a live action tv series was announced for Broadcast almost twenty years later.

However, the Maison Ikkoku live-action television show, set to air this spring, seems to be taking care to present an accurate universe to Takahashi’s manga. Misaki Ito (Gokusen, Densha Otoko), has been cast in the role of Kyoko. Godai will be played by an unknown by the name of Taiki Nakabayashi. He was selected through a rigorous audition process that allowed only college students with no previous film or tv experience, presumably to capture the ‘every man’ feel of Godai’s character.

My current excitement is over finally getting to see an image of the main cast outside of Kyoko and Godai. The other tenants staying in the Ikkoku boarding house range from crazy to… crazier and they, not Kyoko and Godai, are my primary concerns as far as casting.

I believe by the clothing chosen that they are keeping the series set in the 1980s, and that pleases me greatly. I hope that is the case. Akemi, who wears only a see-through neglige for a great majority of the series, is understandably more clad here. However, I do like the look of her actress. The hair-style is even correct. Yotsuya is a bizarre character who occupation is not ever revealed. He’s shown as almost a secret agent here, or something. I think it fits though. I always swore he was actually some kind of undercover agent for the government or another job equally out there. Yotsuya is such a unique character that I hope they got a bonafide comic actor to portray him. I can’t imagine it working otherwise. Godai looks great. Kyoko does as well and her clothing is an exact match. However I must say she is very tall. Mrs. Ichinose is a very overweight character in the manga, and here she’s quite thin. I found that odd, but I think she just doesn’t look too enthusiastic, something Ichinose has plenty of. It could just be the photo though.

I do love Soichiro though, Kyoko’s big dog. He is just too adorable.

I sincerely hope this series gets picked up by fansubbers or licensed. If not I’ll at least be seeking out the raws and probably blogging them. I’m quite excited for it and hope it lives up, or comes close to living up to, the manga.

-Haro