Anime Pilgrimage RTT

Patlabor WXIII

Watching this made me nostalgic for the first two Patlabor films. Patlabor is an extremely atmospheric series that fills me with love even if I’m not paying the fiercest attention. I was not outraged by the limited appearances of Special Vehicle Unit 2.
It was a very nice mood piece, but I will have to watch it again. As always, I was impressed by the architectually idealised model of Tokyo presented.
Question: Was WXIII set before Patlabor 2? I thought the unit had pretty much broken up in it – and I remember being struck by the mature Noa’s distance from her Labor.

Assemble Insert

Why was this made? It’s like Silly Patlabor! Best anime ever. Well, not the best, but I laughed so frequently, it was marvellous! Then I found out that all of the people in the Demon Seed Defence Squad were based on all of my favourites in the industry, and it just got better and better!
I think this would be accessible to anyone, the only problem being the lack of OP and ED subs. And at $5US, it was (without exaggeration), one of the greatest bargains ever!
No justifiable reason can be given for the creation of this – which is perhaps why it’s so marvellous! Anything that can take itself entirely seriously while poking fun at itself all the while is good enough to make anyone’s brain explode.

Magical Project S – Episode 1

Traditional AIC! Probably don’t need to have seen Tenchi Muyo! to watch this, but it makes the idea of Mihoshi as a teacher the funniest thing ever. Also it questions the species of Ryo-Ohki. I can see where Pixy Misa’s parrot was formed from, but who was transformed into Ryo-Ohki?
It looks like it will tread the fine line between conviction and over the top. And English is always funny.

Anime comedy is alive and well!

Orphen – episodes 4 to 12

The Garden episode was reminiscent of Laputa, in a good way.
I liked the Deep Dragon episodes more the second time around, because the first time I was obsessed with the picture quality. Any Azalie episode in this series is good, and Dortin and Volkan are always hilarious. And, of course, the part where Dortin showed that s/he really cared about his/er brother was good, too.
No surprises any more (you can’t be surprised by something you’ve seen, unless you’ve forgotten or it’s transcendentally magical), but firmly enjoyable.

Orphen – episodes 1 to 3

I’ve seen this (two years) before, but I didn’t like it much until the third disc – but this time through, knowing the general lay of the land, I found it heartily enjoyable. Volkan and Dortin are marvellous!

Sakura Diaries

Sakura Diaries failed to be anywhere near as ecchi as they made it out to be. So if you don’t worry about the ecchi or the idea of kissin’ cousins, Sakura Diaries is a nice little romance. I particularly liked the idea of Mieko (the object of Tonma’s affection) being manipulative and stringing Tonma along.
The series didn’t have one of those definite conclusions, but it ended very nicely – and with a character montage of all things! Also the characters had consciences – so after they commited acts of bastardry they felt remorse. I liked that.