Anime Kurau: Phantom Memory

[Magus]

[font=comic sans ms]I'm just going to use ANN's description seeing how bad I am in describing things.[/font]

[i]Plot Summary: It is the year 2100, and on the colonised Moon, a project is under way to explore new aspects of energy. Amami Kurau is the daughter of the chief scientist on the project, and on her 12th birthday, she accompanies her father to the lab to observe the experiments. Then something goes awry, and Kurau is struck by twin bolts of light. In the aftermath, her father is dismayed to find that his daughter is no longer his daughter. Rather, her body is now home to two energy entities with fantastic powers. [/i]

[font=comic sans ms]I managed to come across this while searching "on demand". And I got a bit curious and decided to check it out. While it was only the 1st episode that was on there, it was nothing breath-taking as far as story goes, but it did manage to get me interested.

Animation wise, it's prettiful, but then again, it's done by BONES, and most, if not, all of there work borders between great and fantastic.

At 1st i thought it was going to be another one of these stories that focuses on kids being the protagonist and whatnot, but [spoiler]they fast forward quite a bit where Kurau is 22 years old and is working for some agency[/spoiler] or something.

What made her interesting (to me) is that she seems to have an attitude that resembles Spike (Cowboy Bebop) in a way, and fights somewhat like the Major Kusanagi (GITS). Previews of the 2nd episode seems like it's going to be a slow down though....

In any case, anybody else watching this?[/font]

[r2vq]

[color=#007520]I saw the first episode because it was available for free online at IGN or whatnot.

I wasn't [i]too[/i] interested in the show. It starts off rather slow and (dare I say it) boring. Closer to the end, though, when the [spoiler]time-skip takes place[/spoiler] I found it to be a little more interesting, if not reminiscent of every GITS-style series out there.

The plot twist at the end had me wondering about episode 2, but because of the rest of the episode, I probably wont continue the series.

-r2[/color]

[Dagger]

Most of this post will be written in full-on fangirl mode, but hopefully it'll be of value to someone besides me regardless. :p

Here's my Kurau story. Watched the first episode (and part of the second) in June 2004, when the show first aired. Decided that a) it would definitely get licensed, and b) I liked it enough to hold off on watching the rest until it came out on R1 DVD. Cheered when ADV licensed it almost immediately. Waited in growing horror and astonishment as ADV sat on the license for [i]over two years[/i] with no explanation. Pinched myself when they said they would finally start releasing it.

The first episode must've made quite an impression on me, because as I re-watched it today, I remembered almost every detail.

Setting that aside, it's kind of funny--I was thinking to myself how much I liked the character designs. Turns out that they're by Tomomi Ozaki, who also did the character designs for Le Chevalier d'Eon (which was also licensed by ADV, and whose second disc I watched yesterday, all the while marveling at how gorgeous the designs were!).

There are a couple of factors about this show that appeal to me. Kurau is an important one--I love her unconventional bishounen-esque looks, for one thing, and then there's the fact that she's just really damn cool. Her in a tuxedo in episode 2? And a slim spacesuit in episode 3? Or effortlessly carrying Christmas bridal-style? So swoon-worthy. At the same time, she's no hard-nosed, frigid cynic with trust issues. She's warm & human & responsible.

The best part is her relationship with Christmas. Of course, I couldn't overlook Christmas herself--amusingly named and adorably voiced, she's sweet, brave, cuddly and pretty much the epitome of moe. They have the pure-love soul mate type of connection that can be way deeper than sexually charged relationships of any flavor.

The last scene of episode 4 shocked me. I don't know if it meant quite what I thought it meant--but if it did, well, color me impressed. Shows that they won't hesitate to move the plot ahead.

~Dagger~