Re: Interesting new anime coming

"D B Malmquist" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]



> According to "Moon Phase", "Ragnarok Online" starts in April 2004.

My mistake, I thought it was earlier.

>  http://cyan.maid.to/Html/anime.shtml
>  http://www.ragnarokonline.jp/
>
> I don't know anything about it though - is it a manga, a single-user
> game, or one of those MMORPG things?

Well, originally Ragnarok was a Korean manwha (I'll be damned if I can get
the stupid spelling right) which is currently being published by Tokyopop in
English.  It then got made into a MMORPG called "Ragnarok Online",
unsurprisingly.  There's an animated "opening sequence" for the game with
character designs by Nobuteru Yuuki (Escaflowne, Heat Guy J, Lodoss War)
around on the Net somewhere...

http://www.irradiance.net/NewStuff/Game-Demo/ (scroll down and download
"Ragnarok_anime_promo.avi")

...which seems a little strange - the artwork for the Ragnarok manwha is one
of the primary attractions of the series (by Myung Jin Lee, mainly known for
his gorgeous CG work in games like Magna Carta and War of Genesis), and
which looks very different from the Escaflowne movie style employed here.

> > > July 2003?  <Goes & checks>  I did like "Dokkoider", and "Popotan"
> > > was sorta interesting in a puzzling and ecchi way.
> >
> > I haven't watched anything from July at all (mainly because I was
without
> > broadband all summer) but I do plan to eventually watch Narutaru at
least.
> > Not much else appealed, though - I might try Dokkoider, but you may have
> > guessed that I have a very poor appreciation of comedy in anime ^_^.
>
> I had so guessed.  "Dokkoider" might well not appeal to you.  But
> if you like Philip K. Dick novels, or the older anime "My Dear Marie",
> episode seven of "Dokkoider" is a great homage to both.

I'll have to give it a try - never let it be said I won't try something new.
Unless it's Kimi ga Nozomu Eien, of course, which I irrationally refuse to
watch.


> > Well, from what I can read of the first page
>
> Taking Japanese?  My compliments.

Only when my degree doesn't get in the way, which is unfortunately
infrequent.

> > (and incidentally, if anyone cares, the official Chrno Crusade
>
> "Chrno" doesn't even have enough vowels to be pronounced properly in
> English, much less Japanese.  I wonder how they pronounce it?  "Kolono"?

"Kurono" in the manga. I suspect the only reason it's spelt "Chrno" is
because the logo is styled to closely imitate the "Chrono" series of
computer games from Squaresoft, and using the actual "Chrono" name would
probably infringe copyright.  Either that, or the mangaka's English is
genuinely that poor!

>
> > website is
> > now fully open at http://www.chrno.com - for some reason, there's
something
> > slightly odd about Rosette's character design compared to the manga
which is
> > off-putting a little that I don't notice with any of the other
characters
> > and I can't quite place it.  Maybe it's the eyes.  Anyway, I hope they
pull
> > this off well.)
>
> Haven't read any of the manga - is it any good?

Well, I quite like it.  I have a much higher tolerance for manga than I do
anime, though.  Rosette Christopher is a gun-toting nun who travels 1920's
New York exorcising demons alongside a young boy, the Chrno of the title,
who May Not Be What He Seems.  By about the third chapter of the manga
they're joined by Asmaria Hendrick, who they rescue from an unscrupulous
businessman and possesses angelic healing powers, and another character who
hasn't been revealed on the website yet so I dont know if she's in the
series.  Of course, everyone has the usual unresolved back stories, there's
secrets in the monastery where Rosette lives, there's a True Enemy round the
corner or whatever.

The manga has rather good artwork (there are some pictures at
<http://www.chrno-crusade.com>, I believe) but what I like the most are the
characters - Asmaria is almost likeable for a cutesy moppet style character,
Chrno doesn't brood in a bishounen manner too much, and Rosette manages to
alternate between hyperactivity and professionalism in a believable manner.
The villains of the story (I've only read two volumes, mind you) are also
pretty damn cool. There's the usual nicely done action scenes and so forth
too.

It could just be my high tolerance for manga that makes me fond of the
series, though - most "shounen fantasy" series tend to bore me rigid, but I
managed to rather enjoy the E's manga (until the Otherwise TV series made me
see how bad it really was), and I'm currently enjoying scans of Rise^2
(hurry up, ADV, release the first volume!) which is a very typical fantasy
story but with nice artwork ^_^;

Andrew H

Andrew H