And yes, thankfully we watch all these series in their original Japanese form with English subtitles.
Here is a breakdown of all the series I saw:
First, the "regulars" that will be shown from 8 to 9:45 each night. This means that we watch one episode a week while the school year is in effect.
Azumanga Daioh: Well, I've been told this series is pretty funny. And, well, I guess how I could see it could get hilarious later on. However, they only showed the first episode tonight, and while it had its moments, it wasn't as continually funny as, say, Excel Saga. Still, I'm going to hang with this series. The setup looks intriguing.
Martian Successor Nadesico: This was reasonably funny, but still not as funny as Excel Saga. I'm told it gets hilarious later on the line, though, until it gets more serious in the latter half. I was laughing a lot towards the end, though. The animation was a bit old, though.
Princess Nine: Standard shojou anime. This is not going to be as good as Fruits Basket. Still, there is some charm in the heroine, so I'm going to hang with it. The animation is also a bit old, though. And what's with the cliffhanger? It's not even a cliffhanger...is it? I mean, I think I know what's going to happen...Then again, maybe what the series will surprise me. Oh, and based off of the two choices in males for the heroines just based on this first episode, I can already tell you how it's going to end.
Last Exile: Ah, finally an anime that amazed me. When this series was loaded in the DVD player, there was applause. I can now understand why. The setup for the story is intriguing, although it kind of reminds me of the video games I've seen. The animation...well, it is more modern, and it's certainly better than most, but I have a few complaints. The shots were the CG is mixed with the animation or where animation is shown on a spot that CG was used to show that same spot (or vice versa) sometimes doesn't work and can be a bit distracting. For instance, when the flags are shown, they look a bit weird. Another example would be where the kids launch their ship from the place they kept it inside. As they launch it, it looks animated. Then it starts flying down the path, and it looks all like CGs, giving it a different look. Still, I'm being nitpicky. I guess I'm not a fan of this style of animation. Still, it does look good most of the time, and I do like the current storyline, so I'm looking forward to seeing more of this series...
Then afterwards, we took a break until 10:00 and then watched our wildcard series. So here's what I saw of those:
Someday's Dreamers: Ah, now here's shoujo done better. It's all done in animation like Fruits Basket (in fact, I'll bet the same company drew them), and in fact, I preferred this look and animation to Last Exile's. I also like the ideas that mages have their own trainers and beauracracy, that they have to go through training and that they serve the government. Of course most of the people are basically good (except for the mean guy at the top of the beauracracy. Why are they always mean?), but I'm liking this.
Kenshin: The Kyoto Arc: Ah, finally I get to see Kenshin! Well, I saw one episode before, and I liked it. It seemed very intelligent in how it chose to tell its story and about swordfighting techniques. We saw one episode of this, and I also liked it a lot. The story looks particularly intriguing. The animation style is older, but it didn't bother me. I personally don't like the idea of showing the blood, though. It's never gory or anything, but it's not toned down a lot either. I personally like a style like Noir or like the Matrix (or at least, when you're in the Matrix) where you don't see blood (or at least, rarely see it) no matter how gory it'd really be in real life. And maybe it's just me, but I dislike Kenshin's seiyuu. He's way too high, making him sound too young more like a adolescent kid than an experienced monk of a swordfighter. Still, all the other voices are cool, and I am really looking forward to watching more.
) and voice actor sound pretty good to me. I have no qualms bout them.
