Spring Anime 2006: Promo Trailers

April 1, 2006 | 21 Comments

Spring anime season will start from today so I thought I'll go over several new trailers which have just been released all over the internet. Some of these trailers can be seen in the Animage DVD so I'm not going to include those ones. But the rest are brand new ones which have just been aired either on Tokyo International Anime Fair or in Japanese TV. The best one that I've seen so far is probably the xxxHOLiC Trailer. I really like the colour scheme and the character design, both of which are a lot better than the ones used on Tsubasa Chronicle. Even the super deformed expressions of the characters look a lot more detailed here than in its crossover counterpart. The opening theme of the series, 19-sai by Suga Shikao is not bad either. I hope the ending song, Reason by Fonogenico will be equally good.

The other good trailer is the one for Gintama anime. I am surprised at the amount of details included in the trailers. The colours look vibrant and the character design is attractive and similar to the ones featured in the manga. Having said that, I can't help but laughing upon hearing Gintoki's voice. That is because his VA, Sugita Tomokazu, uses the voice that he also used for playing Mayama in Honey and Clover. I was hoping that Sugita will actually use his Hideki's (from Chobits) voice but it seems either he or the director decided that Gintoki's voice sounds more like Mayama. The problem is, Honey and Clover is still fresh in my mind and as a result, everytime Gintoki speaks, it feels as if I just heard Mayama speaking. The rest of the VAs are good though and the anime seems to reproduce the manga's comedic nature rather well.

School Rumble Ni Gakki's promo disappoints me a little bit because the OP song for the series, Sentimental Generation does not seem to be as good as the 1st season, opening theme Scramble. Admittedly, this is only based on my impression after hearing the song for 30 seconds so it remains to be seen if the full version of the song is actually as bad or a lot better than the ones used in the trailer. The animation itself doesn't look that different from the ones featured in season one and I didn't really expect much from this part. School rumble's strength are mostly in its comedy and characters so as long as the animation doesn't get any worse than the first season, I think I'll be perfectly happy with it. I've also seen the trailer for Glass no Kantai. The trailer features a lot of mismatched CG just like any other Gonzo's latest production. This worries me a bit since I hate watching series with mismatched 2D/3D animation and Gonzo's track record with matching the two elements together is not exactly known as stellar.

I think this is unfortunate because the character design by Okama looks really good. It feels like a waste to hire a talented artist like Okama and then ruins his design by doing a half-hearted 3D animation. There is also a Kiba promo floating around on the net but as it turns out, this is the same trailer as the one included in the Animage DVD. I thought the trailer was rather ghastly. The character design looks unimpressive and the background, which looks good on paper doesn't seem to be translated well into the screen. Worst of all, the trailer makes the series looks like one of those Monster-collecting children series. The trailer for Air Gear also doesn't look that impressive. But I think I like the soundtrack that the trailer use so I'm going to check at least the first episode of the series. The last trailer that I found was for Saiunkoku Monogatari. I don't know if it's just the compression or if the actual animation is actually going to be that bad. But my first impression was that the animation quality is not as good as Fushigi Yuugi.

Posted by Garten

Comments

April 1, 2006 | muhootsaver wrote:

xxxholic looks so good 0_0;;; I was rather dissapointed with glass no kantai, but maybe it was too short to tell. As for Gintama....I didn't really liked the manga, but the trailer looks okay... I guess. >_<

April 1, 2006 | NetNN wrote:

All of them looks good to me.
But the one that cough my interest the most was Gintama (I like the manga very much so I had been look up for it.)

April 1, 2006 | Michael wrote:

Oh my god. School Rumble. Here we go again.

April 1, 2006 | Miguel wrote:

I'm very interested in Air Gear... I hope it turns into a decent anime since I love the manga... time will tell!!

April 2, 2006 | Blue-Kun wrote:

Only checked Air Gear and xxxHOLiC from those up there. School Rumble doesn't ring a bell for me, as I don't find the first series anything really memorable, like some people do, and I'm still planing to watch the first ARIA Season, so I can give a check-up at this ARIA The Natural.

Anyways, xxxHOLiC's was DAMN nice. I really like the Character Artwork, Thumbs Up For Clamp Girls on this. I won't compare the Animation with TC's, since it's a show from last year, and pretty much every new show 'till now had a great improvement of animation and such. Oh! And the Music is G-R-E-A-T. Really loved that theme, it's awesome.

Long story short, I do love TC, and I have high hopes for both, TC S2 and xxxHOLiC.

As for Air Gear, can't say much. It was just the boy seeing 214785 different gears, and it showed some of the girls. The animation seems decent to say the least, nothing exceptional though. But I'm with you here Garten, the BGM music is really nice, and I'm eager to listen to a TV-Size version of it. Aside from that, I'll just root for it to be at least as funny as TenTen was.

April 2, 2006 | wao wrote:

Hahahaha... well for XXXHolic the director is so so so so so much better than Koichi Mashimo even though he did Dokuro-chan. I simply love Guu! And Production I.G. >>>>>(infinity)>>>>> Bee Train

I can feel the traces of Guu-type comedy in the trailer, the director is experienced at doing comedy (and Guu was a show that I found genuinely funny).

I've got very high expectations for the show now... please deliver, IG!

Gintama looks kind of funny, and I also can't help hear Mayama during the thing - I guess I'll try out an ep of this!

April 2, 2006 | KT Kore wrote:

Gintama looks like good times.

I'm interested in Air Gear but the trailer didn't show much.

XXXholic also looks like it will be good times.

I still need to see the first season of School Rumble so I won't be seeing this year's series for a while.

Glass no Kantai looks like it can be good. I'm not a fan of the CG, but whatever.

April 2, 2006 | KyoshiroM wrote:

I can't wait to see xxxHolic! Even more so, since I liked the movie so much!!!

On a sidenote, does anyone know what is going on with TokyoTosho? Are we being watched? :P

April 2, 2006 | Garten wrote:

Kyoshiro, it was just April fools joke. Now I regret the fact that I didn't do that "Exclusive!! First Shot of Live-Action Mushishi!!" headline.

April 2, 2006 | Pepz wrote:

That April fools joke that Tokyo Tosho did scared the crap out of me. Back on topic, xxxHolic looks like the only anime I'm looking forward to.

April 2, 2006 | KyoshiroM wrote:

Ahhh, I'm always a fool for (on) April Fool's xD You should have done that Garten! :D Well, now I'll make sure I won't be fooled by any "exclusives" on your blog next year :P

April 2, 2006 | Kocopo wrote:

I'm interested in Saiunkoku Monogatari, cuz the characters and designs and the clothing remind me of Fushigi Yugi, and i had enjoyed that series (it was the first anime i ever watched).
I tried searchign on Youtube for the trailer of Saiunkoku Monogatari, but i couldn't fidn it. Could you possibly upload the trailer or tell me where i could find it? thanks!
Also, do you have any idea what Saiunkoku Monogatari is going to be about? cuz i actually have no idea what the storyline is going to be...
^^;
Gintama seems interesting too~
thou i have no idea what that is about either....
x__x''

April 3, 2006 | Naddie wrote:

I'm really looking forward to xxxHolic - the character designs doesn't look too lanky, like the ones in the movie. I know that's how CLAMP draws 'em, but when animated, it just looks WEIRD. And I can't wait to hear the full version of Suga's song :D

I'll probably give Gintama and Air Gear a try. The Air Gear character designs doesn't stray too much from the manga, so that's good...

April 3, 2006 | Dr Kain wrote:

Anyone know when Ergo Proxy and .hack are going to premier? Oh, and there was this other one shown in the latest New Type. I think it was Glass No Kakai or something like that.

April 3, 2006 | Garten wrote:

Kocopo, I don't have the trailer for Saiunkoku Monogatari. The only trailer that is out there is on the official website.

Dr Kain, Ergo Proxy already started 3-4 weeks ago, I think. Glass no Kantai will start on the 4th of April while .hack won't start until the 5th.

April 4, 2006 | Dr Kain wrote:

It did? I did not think it started yet because AnimeSuki has yet to post fansubbers, so I did not know it started yet. Has anyone fansubbed it?

April 4, 2006 | Garten wrote:

I think that's because Ergo Proxy is pre-licensed. Animesuki does not list licensed series. I don't follow the series so I have no idea if it's subbed or not.

April 4, 2006 | Melissa wrote:

i'm looking forward to seeing Host Club, I wonder if there's a trailer yet?

April 5, 2006 | Miguel wrote:

Garten are you planning on reviewing Air Gear?

April 5, 2006 | Garten wrote:

Miguel, I'll try but I can't make any promise since I'm a bit flat out lately thanks to work. I'll see if I can squeeze it in this week. I haven't actually seen the first episode either.

March 28, 2008 | Name wrote:

GinTama is off the chain! Love the Manga. As for School Rumble, the Manga is way too busy, but the Anime adaptation might do a better job. And xxxHolic I have not seen.

Goodbye.