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ファイト／ステイナイト 
OP Theme: 「メグメル～cuckool mix 2007」(Megumeru cuckool mix 2007) by Eufonius - AVI format (26.6MB) | PSP format (15.6MB)
I can't believe that I almost forgot about the new anime season. Thanks to those of you who emailed me about it. Thankfully there's nothing that really attracts my interest thus far except for Clannad and Genshiken so I don't think I miss out much. As for this series, this is a pretty good start. I actually think the plot moves at a faster pace than the first episode of Kanon. The characters are pretty interesting especially Nagisa's family. I'm not really digging the OP Theme though and the animation that comes with it feels dated. On the other hand, the ED was a rare find. It's offbeat and cute, something which I clearly didn't expect to see from a series like this. On that note, what is it with Key's female character and Japanese bread involving sweet bean paste? First it was the Taiyaki and now An-pan.
* A guy gives narration about how he hates his town and the way he has to go to school, eat with his friends, and go home to a home when he doesn't want to. He wonders if there'd be a day when things will change.
* While walking inside a park, this guy met a girl who suddenly yells "An-pan" then asks him if he likes this school. She claims that she loves it but wonders if the other person can like a place where it's impossible for fun and happy things to not change. Tomoya assumes that the girl is probably talking to herself but he tells her that if that's the case then she should find the next fun and happy things. He then invites her to go with him, as they 'climb towards the long hillroad'.
* The guy, whose name turns out to be Okazaki Tomoya, sees his friend, Sunohara Youhei being used as Rugby ball by a bunch of Rugby players. The torture only ends when the Rugby players are being chased out by the resident manager.
* Later on, Tomoya decides to tease Youhei by screaming badmouthing the Ruby players outloud from inside Youhei's room and generally making a ruckus. On reflection, Tomoya claims that he lacks objective and passion.
* A boy narrates about a world that has ended. Nothing flourish nor die in this place. It's a world without passing time. If he's looking for a place where he was born, he can't choose this place. He wonders if the people who used to be here can see him since he wasn't born here. There is a girl who lives alone in a world that has ended. The boy wonders why the girl's words are on his mind.
* The next day, Tomoya goes to school but before he enters his class, he hears a couple of his classmates badmouthing him and Youhei because they tend to be late. The class rep (Iinchou), Fujibayashi Ryou, tries to tell him not to be late but only end up being teased by Tomoya the cad. His classmates immediately warn him not to make her cry else her sister will flip out.
* Tomoya just gives up and tells her that he'll try to do better tomorrow. In response, Ryou tries to give Tomoya a fortune-telling reading. Of course she drops the cards like the clumsy girl that she is. Despite this, she still can predict that Tomoya will be late tomorrow. Apparently it's because he'll meet a nice girl on his way to school. Oooh, now that's a reason to be late.
* All of a sudden a large book flies towards Tomoya's face although he manages to evade it. Apparently Ryou's sister, Kyou, is not happy that Tomoya is bullying her sister even though Tomoya claims that they're just talking. I'll bet she wants a piece of him too. They always do. True enough, when she finds out about the 'meeting a nice girl' fortune-telling, she smirks before laughing like a witch.
* As Tomoya is on his way to have lunch, he hears a bunch of classmates talking about a female ghost. He then stops over a window when he notices the girl whom he met yesterday morning. Of course like any other player, he decides to approach her, telling her it'll be better if she eats in the class with her friends.
* When she doesn't answer, he wonders if he hears her. Oh, she hears him fine all right but like any lady, she doesn't speak while she eats. Oh, did I mention she eats An-pan? Ugh. Well, at least Tomoya has better taste, Yakisoba-pan. Yay for double carbohydrate!
* After the girl finished her An-pan, Tomoya asks her why she eats alone but instead of answer him, she asks him if he likes this school. She loves this school but right now...apparently last year she was absent from school so now she has to repeat class.
* Tomoya suggests that she joins club. The girl admits that she wants to join the theatre club but because her health is weak, she can't always participate in the activity. He tries to suggest that she makes friends with other by waving her hands at some random girls. They, of course, didn't see her. Their chat is then interrupted when there's a commotion nearby.
* As it turns out, a bunch of biker gang has infiltrated the soccer field. You can guess the rest, there's this tough girl called Sakagami Tomoyo, who easily beats them all to submission. Later on, Tomoya (not to be confused with Tomoyo the girl) has a chance to introduce himself to the first girl and finds out that her name is Furuka Nagisa. She's so going to be Ayu-Ayu to his Yuuichi.
* Inside the class, Youhei invites Tomoya to meet the tough girl Tomoyo. Youhei tries to prove his prowess by fighting a girl and ends up getting the beating that he deserves.
* Later on, Tomoya wonders if Nagisa can muster up the courage to join the theatre club and finds her mouthing off something in front of the club. Something like "Hambaguu" (which is basically the meat portion of a hamburger served with chips/veggies). When Nagisa opens the door, however, she finds out that the club is deserted. It turns out the club has been disbanded. Because of this, Tomoya suggests that Nagisa re-establish the club again. He promises to even help her.
* Nagisa wonders why Tomoya keeps helping her but he doesn't know the answer. He wants to stick it in? That night, Tomoya sees a bread shop and remembers how Nagisa mentioned that her house is also a bread shop so he decides to step into the shop.
* Upon entering, he sees a bread called "Osenbei-pan". There's no guessing what kind of pan it is (it's a Pan filled with crackers). Despite this, that fool Tomoya agrees to taste the bread when the owner, a moe MILF, asks him to give it a try. He's guessing she's either Nagisa's sister or mother. Tomoya, however, proceeds to insult the bread the minute he taste it so the MILF cries out of the shop in tears.
* Tomoya is one unlucky bastard because her husband shows up with a baseball bat either to bash Tomoya or...to bash Tomoya with it. What? Is there any other options? The husband, however, calms down when he finds out that Tomoya is Nagisa's school friend. Nagisa's father is unhappy again though when he realises that Tomoya is actually a boy. Well, duh! So he proceeds to ask Tomoya to leave and Tomoya being the jerk that he is tries to walk away.
* Nagisa's father, however, was just joking around but he thinks Tomoya's name is lame so he decides to rename him into Okazaki Ginga (Galaxy) or better, Daiuchuu Ginga (Macro-cosmo Galaxy). What is he, a giant robot freak? The mom is even worse, she suggests, Okazaki Tomoya Eternal.......
* At any rate, Nagisa's rate is clearly well-adjusted and very different in contrast to Tomoya's family, which consisted only of his seemingly drunk father. It appears that Tomoya's mom has died in an accident.
* Upset with his family situation, Tomoya runs into the street and meet Nagisa, who now looks angelic. The episode ends with Nagisa asking him if it's okay, would he like to be accompanied by her to the place where the wish of this town is fulfilled.
Short impression:
In general, this is pretty similar to Kanon right down to the personality/type of characters as well as storyline. I do like the slice-of-life nature of the story although I'm not sure if I'll have the patience to type up all of the story like I did with Kanon. This along with episode 24 of Darker than Black do revive my interest in anime though so that's a plus. I think I'll watch and see how the reaction to this series are from other people before deciding to watch some more. I get the impression that this is a rather popular title but this is actually the first tiem I know about it. But then again I don't usually venture into date-sim type of series. Kanon was an exception because it was done by Kyoto Animation and the same can be said with this one.
ED Theme: 「だんご大家族」(Dango Dai-kazoku) by Chata - AVI format (15.7MB) | PSP format (8MB)
You love dango, I love dango, everyone loves dango. Hmm, for some reason I'm craving for a Tsukimi burger from Japan McD now. That beats An-pan anytime of the day. What does got to do with dango? Well, see there's this belief in Japan that dango/mochi is made by two rabbits who live in the moon....or something to that extent. Yeah, I'm aware how that sounds. Anyway, since the round yellow part looks like the moon, the Japanese call this way of making eggs "Tsukimi" - which also means "moon watching". And my point was...the burger comes with an moon-shaped egg and cheese with the texture of mochi.
ugh - generic character designs (esp. the males)
ugh - generic character personalities
ugh - generic setting designs
ugh - generic food references
ugh - generic slanted eyes that are made from glass
ugh - why do almost all of these girls have two groups of hair in front of their ears? They look so retarded... (and that protagonist with two strands of hair in midair... my eyes bleed when I see them)
ugh - why is harem still so popular?
I can say that I found this to be a better mix for an anime than Kanon was. Each charcter does have a meaning to the final real story.
I would say this will be just as good as Kanon if not better. It has much better pacing than Kanon had.
And why is the tard above my post still alive >.>
I agree. The first episode is definitely better than Kanon's first episode. I just think there are too many similarities with Kanon though. I wonder if Key ever made a thriller or murder mystery story, you know, something that is different from their usual dating sims.
@ Kastingel
In fact they actually did, not under the name of KEY tho, it was the same project group b4 they established KEY. however. Check out "Moon" under Tactics.
How is it that the father of the female character looks like he could be the older brother of the male character?
My gosh, the quality looks absolutely fantastic. Nice to see Kyo Ani go a notch higher yet again. Hope the quality stays around this level throughout :)
alynd:
Yes - the characters do remind you of previous shows
Yes - Harem is still popular
Yes - you have a right to hate it, so don't watch it
Yes - the rest of us who like solid stories and superior animation quality will keep watching it
"There's nothing like morning gang-bang"
ROTFLMAO. Your rollover is still hilarious as usual. I hope you'll keep it up.
@ Kastingel
You might want to check out Planetarian, too. It's more of a SF short story than a visual novel or dating sim.
When this show is telecasted by ground wave, both sides of the screen are trimmed.
Boradbanding in October 25, we will be able to watch complete version that isn't cutted.
Sorry my poor Einglish.
^What the dude above is saying is that TBS is being a wanker and airing Clannad in SD. BS-i will air Clannad in widescreen but they're having a 2 week delay with that. (I don't know if it'll be in HD but I sure hope so.)
The episode feels completely different from Kanon and Air. I counted about 4 George Lucas transitions. Anime physics seem to be taken in favor of normal Kyo Ani real world physics. So many one second ago flash backs. The animation seems to have downgraded - the lighting effects seems to have taken a big toll, especially compared to Kanon. But you know what, that's probably just my bad RAW.
To alynd: Don't be so stupid. Anime is the most derivitative media known to man. If that's all you're complaining about, then it should be considered a good thing.
I can't believe you forgot about new anime season (~_~)/ Last time, I just couldn't resist and I played Kanon before I watched anime. I didn't make the same mistake this time! I really liked the first episode. By the way, you should try Sketchbook ~full Color and Bamboo Blade if you haven't already.
Holy crap!!! It's Misuzu Kamio's cameo!!!
http://img131.imageshack.us/img131/7240/snapshot20071005213455sc8.jpg
Go get the original ED song titled 小さなてのひら by Lia
小さなてのひら is available from www.esnips.com i think.
http://www.esnips.com/doc/cd4f979e-c23e-4f94-8e61-cbbbb84505ac/小さなてのひら
First off, Okazaki Tomoya >> Yuuichi, straight away, having a personal story which so far seems completely independent of the girls'. This raises the interest in his character quite a lot, whereas Yuuichi was more or less a narrative mechanism to bring out the girls' stories.
As for the girls', Ishihara Tatsuya's visual innovations are the only things adding interests to them. As for Nagisa herself, despite the mysteries, seems quite a realistic character, compared to the girls from Kanon and AIR.
BIG shame about the screen format...TBS can go to hell...i doubt if the subbers will bother 2 do the wide-screen version now that it's going 2 b 2weeks late...(shud hav learnt Japanese=.=)
TO alynd:
This is a comments board thus people should be able to say what they like as long as it's relevant, and you are at least trying to make a point. But to vent your anger for harem onto Clannad is just the wrong thing 2 do, since Clannad/Kanon/AIR differs significantly from normal harem, almost a genre to itself.
Also, if you are going to rant, let's not make it the First post of the First Episode shall we? Garten is decent enough not to delete any of his reviews, so let's not tread on that decency, OK?
To me, what makes Clannad different than Kanon is that it's not only about love or passion. It's more about the story of a family of many generations. True, the first half is more like the normal harem-type game, but the second half isn't at all. Even in the first half you have an ending describing sibling love (normal one), or friendship, or the relation between an old teacher with his students (again, normal).
I'll hate Kyoani if they turn Clannad into a harem-type show. (But well, I did see the child in the OP, so they are probably on the right track.)
hi garten! nice to know you're taking up CLANNAD. it looks interesting but only time will tell. i'm with you in the sense that i'm watching because i'm biased towards kyoani. LOL.
yeah what's up with the anpan/taiyaki thingy? is 小豆 supposed to be aphrodisiac or something? moe insulin?
btw garten aren't you going to take up キミキス as well? i heard that the director is the one who had his hands on はちくろ and のだめカンタビル so i have my hopes up. but from the website it looks kinda harem-ish as well... hmmm...
this is off topic but i'm watching ef - a tale of memories on tv right now and i have to say that shaft's cinematic approach for the anime is... kinda interesting. i mean... it looks very artsy and very surreal. for anyone who knows about ef: is this anime supposed to be ARTSY?
oh well... back to watching the show now... and i'm seriously confused... でも、ちょっと面白い見たい。
@alynd
ugh- you havent seen good looking anime guys have u??
ugh- how many more personalities do u know???
ugh- You claim to know the story from Episode 01
ugh- another retarded flamer trying to look cool in the net by taking on a popular show
ugh- why do they watch and flame if they dont like this sort of show
ugh- why am i wastin my time on another flamer
As for the series, I think the background story is different. the characters might be the basic personalities..but each has their charm. If people dont like harem, please dont watch it. The thread is better off without flamers
ooooo... 月見バーガー
i haven't try that yet!
i'd like to get my hands on the new えびバーガー
come to think of it... i'd like to get my hands on ebi-chan as well... i mean... who doesn't? i'm straight (and married) and i still think she's sooooo HAWT.
Garten you have gotten completely obscene with your picture comments....and I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!! haha
I can't believe you forgot about new anime season
I can't help it. I'm close to the end of my holiday in Japan so I really want to take opportunity to go sightseeing as much as possible. For some reason whenever I'm in Japan, anime watching goes sideways, which is the reverse of what I thought it would be.
btw garten aren't you going to take up キミキス as well?
Hmm, not sure. If this series is more like Hachikuro maybe but just looking at the title, I get the impression that it won't be. Character design looks kind of cute though.
ooooo... 月見バーガー
i haven't try that yet!
I recommend the one without the cheese. Even without it, the calorie is already high enough to last the whole day.
Garten you have gotten completely obscene with your picture comments....and I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!! haha
Heee. This episode was fantastic in that the caps were practically begging for naughty captions. It doesn't always happen this way though.
LOL at the Yaoi comments. X)
I like this characters a lot more from the ones in Kanon, somehow, so I guess I'll like this more.
Nice to know you are blogging Clannad. =)
Will try the burger! I tried the new ebi burger this morning and the CM's a lie I tell you! The sauce is smaller than 500yen. Sucks!
Btw garten how long will you be in Japan? Are you still in Tokyo? Hope you have a blast.
I still can't grasp the fact that I'll be in Japan for good now... Hahaha before I moved I thought that I'd be all over the place but I haven't even set foot in Akiba yet. (T_T)
Did you get yourself the new psp by any chance? (Sorry off-topic) (^_^) hehe~
This reminded me more of AIR then of Kanon, actually. Especially the opening, it's done in the exact same style. I'm curious where this series will lead to ^_^
This... eyes... Key, you make me sad.
Oh boy.
I mean that in a good way by the way.
I got to play through or read if you will, the visual novel for this game and Already I am curious about how they are going to do up the series so that the final parts of the visual novel tie seemlessly into the whole series. I mean, this is not gonna be an easy series to do up properly. However, from the very get go I am ambitious. I did not count on the dango song to be thrown in there, I kind of found it odd that nagisa's apron had dango on it.
While it is a bit more fast paced than kanon was, the entire layout and central theme is wholly differant. But since this is also another key product, you will find yuuichis and ayus in all the works from them. take air for example. They had similar type characters, but the layout and presentation was much more differant than either clannad or kanon.
I will be following this series just like you will be and although I do not have a page to lay it all out on like you do. I will be keeping my community forumists on lovehina.dk informed.
Eh, not my type of series. I kinda agree with alynd.
*dodges projectiles*
good first ep. something to watch for a while..
anyone a fan of Saint seiya here?
Nagisa's Father's... Seiyu is Okiayu Ryotaro. Same guy who did Saga in SS.... strange to hear him sound so joyful though >.>
"Yes - the rest of us who like solid stories and superior animation quality will keep watching it" - If you define this as a "solid story with superior animation," you must have lived in a hole. Don't get me wrong, I didn't say the animation was bad.
"you have a right to hate it, so don't watch it" You don't have the right to tell me what to watch.
"ugh- why am i wastin my time on another flamer?" Good question. I wonder why.
"another retarded flamer trying to look cool in the net by taking on a popular show." If I was a retard, I wouldn't be criticizing a TV series. You also have no right to call people retards even if they are; that's discriminating.
"how many more personalities do u know?" ahaha~ a lot more than the ones portrayed here, that's for sure.
"Anime is the most derivitative media known to man." You've spelled derivative wrong. Also, you've made it sound like derivative media is a good thing...
Hmm...the screencap pic in the fifth row, middle column, is that the imfamous cameo of Misuzu's favourite Slimy Peach 500% concentrated juice?
Whoops. "infamous" was what I meant.
"She's thinking about the whip she'll use" xD.
That one just cracks me up!
@Alynd
/Cry more.
@Necrolyte
/Agreed!
And the one before it ("It's threesome or die bitch!) as well ha ha.
I've watched this episode...and it's a pretty good start. I'll keep on watching and see how it goes.
"Guys, he's not a vigin. He's been around the block."
"DO NOT WANT!!!"
That really cracked me up. :D
Do you have an other link to the endin theme in PSP format?
The link is dead...
And i love the clip!
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