S.A - Special A ep.00

April 5, 2008 | 13 Comments

Unfortunately, none of today's show really interest me. xxxHOLiC Kei might have if the quality animation improved but this sequel still shows the same dull color like the original version. Allison and Lillia's pacing is a bit too slow for me and the worst part of that series is the character design, which looks too generic. I have yet to check Macross Frontier and I will do so later. However, with 2 other series coming next week, I don't feel like doing 3 series in a day and this works out well. Anyway, enough about other shows. This is a special episode designed to promote S.A - Special A series which will air on the 6th of April. I am glad that I saw this because it really increases my interest for the upcoming series. I love the color palette that the animators choose and some of the characters look insane which is a plus in my book. Also, I can't help but grinning after hearing Fukuyama Jun (Lelouch in Code Geass) voicing the male lead. It's kind of funny because he uses his deep Lelouch voice in one occasion. This special episode is filled with the VAs doing quizzes on one another, snippets of the animation that we'll see in the series, and basically all around introduction of the 7 main characters from the series.

The special starts by talking about how the series is originated from Hana to Yume (yeah, the same publication which published Fruits Basket), a famous shoujo manga compilation. The manga started back in 2004 and up to 12 comics have been produced. It then goes on to explain why the series is called Special A and it refers to the class for the special elite. The main protagonist is called Hanazono Hikari. Her grade is the 2nd best at school and she is voiced by Goto Yuuko. The next character is Hikari's cool rival, Takishima Kei (highest grade at school), whose VA is none other than Fukuyama Jun. Toudou Akira is a girl who takes the 6th position at school rank. Her VA is Nabatame Hitomi. Karino Tadashi occupies the 5th position in school rank. The narrator wonders why he always get knocked out by others. He is played by Shimono Hiro. Yamamoto Megumi is the 4th ranked student and the one who communicates to others by using her sketchbook (VA: Takagaki Ayahi). Yamamoto Jun, the 3rd ranked student is played by Yonaga Tsubasa. Animal-lover 7th ranked student is Tsuji Ryuu. His VA is Horie Kazuma.

The casts then gather on a couch and are informed that they are going to be ranked as well. Basically they have to answer a series of some questions about the series. The first question is "What is your character's favourite food?". The cast basically have to write their answer on a sketchbook just like Yamamoto Megumi. Anyway, when it comes to reveal the answer, Goto Yuuko is correct that Hikari's favourite food is Onigiri. As a present for her win, she receives...an onigiri from the staff. Fukuyama Jun answered that Kei's favourite food is any food that Hikari makes. The actual answer is the food that Hikari makes: Kyoudai Onigiri (humongous Onigiri). Shimono Hiro is also correct in saying that Tadashi's favorite food is sweet stuff that Akira makes. I'm starting to wonder if this quiz is rigged. His present is chocolate cake from the staff. Fukuyama Jun can't help but being jealous. Nabatame Hitomi claimed that Akira's favorite food is....girls (I didn't know the character swings that way)? and Tea Time. The actual safe answer from the producer is Croissant, Eclair, and Meringue. Yonaga Tsubasa believed that Jun's favorite food is Scones. The answer is rocket leaf salad.

This segment gets interrupted by a visit to Hana to Yume office where Takagaki Ayahi gets to meet the person in charge for S.A series in Hana to Yume. The guy in question, Hiraoka, then proceeds to show Ayahi the usual steps to producing manga from rough sketches to the final version with the texture in place. After that boring interruption, the promo goes back to the VAs talking about foods. And LOL at FukuJun rolling his Onigiri like he's sick of it. Horie Kazuma believed that Ryuu likes to eat Eucalyptus leaf. WTH? The real answer is anything spicy. Despite being wrong, Horie tries to claim that Eucalyptus is spicy. In response, the staff presents him with a sandwich filled with Kimchi and a Tabasco sauce to go with it. For some reason, Ayahi doesn't have to answer her favorite character's food and instead goes to ask the 2nd question: "When will the OP Theme (Special Days) will go on sale? LOL. They are so obvious about wanting to sell the CD. Everyone's got different answer, especially FukuJun, whose first answer is "Special Day" although his real answer is the 9th of April. Ayahi has the same answer as Goto Yuuko (16th of April). Hitomi is one day off, 17th of April. So there you have it, the CD is out on the 16th of April.

The next question is "What is Maki-sensei (the original author of the manga)'s blood type?" LOL, once again FukuJun goofs around and writes "S.A" ditto with Shimono Hiro. The winner of this round is Yonaga Tsubasa who correctly guesses AB. The other, however, protest because Yonaga wrote A.B instead of AB. They then reveal the entire results which reveals that this show has been edited because apparently there were supposed to be 5 questions and yet, I can only remember 3 being asked. I certainly can't remember the time when everyone got the answer correct. Anyway, after the entire thing is being tallied, Goto Yuuko comes up as the winner with 80% of her answer being correct. Fukuyama Jun tied with Shimomono Hiro and Yonaga Tsubasa with 60% correct answer. Finally, Hitomi ties with Kazuma with 40% total correct answer. The VAs quickly make fun of FukuJun by calling him "Ni-san" (the 2nd rank person, the term that the students often used on Hikari). FukuJun, however, jokingly tells them that it's okay if they call him "Nii-san" (older brother). The segment ends with the VAs encouraging everyone to watch before they present a brief promo of the series.

Impression:

I really get a good impression of the series from the promo itself. The characters look fun even though some people have told me that the story is not that good. Hopefully that will be fixed in the anime version. The characters certainly look crazy/insane in this promo. Hikaru seems interesting and I love the fact that she's being referred to as "Ni-san" by other students. I don't really like the main male character though because he looks arrogant on a glance. The most interesting characters seem to be the sweets-loving guy and the animal-lover guy. The quiet girl is pretty amusing as well. The opening theme by Goto Yuuko sounds okay although I hope she doesn't voice her character with that kind of tone. Speaking of tone, you should see FukuJun speaking in his Lelouch voice towards the end of the promo. It's kind of amusing and a bit inappropriate for the character. I also hope that the song that is played towards the end of the segment is the ED theme because it sounds pretty good.

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