first impression: Michiko to Hana (anime)

From the studio that created Samurai Champloo (which was created by the same guy who did Cowboy Bebop), I've long awaited another anime with similar style and adventure. Both were intensely action packed with unlikely bonds and friendships between strangers, both had hilarity and both had heart.

Michiko to Hatchin thus far, is about a woman named Michiko Malandra who broke out of prison and a young girl named Hana who was taken in by a priests' family but treated poorly on a regular basis. It's a hard way of knowing how these two girls tie together in the long run, but the premise, I assume contains a bit of adventuring between Michiko and Hana.

This first episode of the series begins with the Michiko prison break as well as her wandering around to "make" some money via bank robbery. We cut to Hana and the Berembowser Yamada family where Hana is basically our little Cinderella who wakes up early in the morning to cook and clean and take care of her "family." There's no other way to say it except for, her "family" is no better than a bunch of slave driving sadists.

While Hana usually keeps her mouth shut, plays the submissive adopted daughter who is no better than a slave in the house, her family receives funding for her daily necessities and build up their "good" reputation as a priests' family. Poor Hana is under the impression that since every day in her life thus far has been this cruel and fake, she will continue to live in this situation for the res tof eternity. And so she fantasizes that one day, someone will come for her and take her away from the cruel fate of living with such horrible people.

There is truly no other way to deal with people like the Berembowsers. You could beat them to a bloody pulp and they would still believe they are better than you and will make up excuses to make you look like the devil when it was them who had initiated a fight. Whatever it is they can get away with being horrible people for, they will do so.

And so what do you do? You either A) endure it, B) run away from it, or C) make sure that you can make their lives much more sufferable, much more horrifying, and much much worse than your own, and making them fear you for all eternity and grovel at your feet by doing something so drastic it will scar them for the rest of their lives.

Hana takes the second approach. She runs away.

Her plea for help seems to have been answered when Michiko Malandra calls up the Berembowsers and announces that she is Hana's mother who will be coming to pick her up later on. As far as the series and the situation goes, there is a 90% chance that Michiko is not Hana's mother, and maybe a slight 10% chance that she is. But if that's the case, then how did Michiko hear about Hana and why is she so adamant about taking Hana away with her?

There are so many possiblities to look forward to in this series as it seems that Michiko will be on the run from the authorities for a while, and Hana has absolutely no idea where she is going with this woman. So many questions arise already and I think the main ones would mostly like be, who are these two girls?

Michiko, as we've established after her prison break, is no ordinary woman. She went looking for Hana specifically-- she had a number, a baby picture... etc. Hana was abandoned and then adopted by her current false family and so her past is as much an enigma as Michiko's.

And thus this is what we look for in certain anime. This is something to look forward to, because not only is the storyline quite interesting, but it holds onto you at just the right places. While I haven't felt the comedic hilarity that made Cowboy Bebop or Samurai Champloo, I look forward to seeing it soon. The style and the mood and the music fit wonderfully and I just know that I'm going to enjoy this series.

And so while awaiting other anime eagerly, I may end up enjoying this one the most for this fall season.

Michiko to Hatchin seems interesting since the beginning. The storyline takes place in some hispanic area as Spanish keeps popping up in the form of names, places, and even the date and location of each scene. This will be fun series to dive into.

first impression: Tales of the Abyss (anime)

Another RPG turned anime is born with Tales of the Abyss. This is purportedly a part of the "Tales of..." franchise which would include such titles as Tales of Symphonia, Tales of Eternia... and then some. All of these are taken from role-playing games, and accordingly, the Tales of franchise is really not too bad as both of the above mentioned have gotten praise and Tales of the Abyss is causing lots of hype among fans.

The story starts out with the introduciton of Luke, a red-haired, hot-headed young spoiled prince who hates that he's being locked away in his own mansion. When he was a child he'd been kidnapped and returned with memories lost of his previous years before the kidnapping. He is friends with a servant named Guy, engaged to Princess Natalia, and is being trained in the art of the sword by his Van Sensei.

While practicing out in the court, Tear, a sorceress type girl enters the mansion and proclaims vengeance against Vandesdelca, Luke's Van Sensei, as she puts the rest of the people of the court into a sleep with her powers. Upon attacking Van, Luke intervenes and somehow a 7th Fonon reacts and the two are transported away from the mansion. From then, though having tried to take his Van Sensei's life, Tear turns out to be quite a generous and kind young girl who makes herself responsible for making sure Luke returns to his home safely.

The episode actually starts off with some form of prophecy which more than likely involves Luke and his being a 7th Fonon. The storyline sounds kind of complicated what with Yulia the creator who had learned the 7th Fonon arts, the planet called Outerlands which was made from the 7 Fonons which ended up divided, and the two factions divided Kimlasca and Malkuth. There is also the Lorelei religion which protects the Fonons and Yulia the creator.

The central theme of this series, I can surmise, is about the score created by Yulia and how our heroes will adventure in relation to it.

The first episode was a very mashed up debacle of events occuring one right after another. While I understand that sometimes jumping right into the point is good, I don't like it when too many things are narrated within five minutes and expected of the viewer to know what is going on. Of course, for others, maybe you already know what's happening in the storyline since your a fan of the Tales of franchise and have played every single game to death.

Me, I'm not too certain I can grasp the storyline since I haven't played the game. After all, it took me quite some time to understand what was going on with Final Fantasy VII's storyline. And I'm a proud squealing fangirl who worships Cloud-sama. Advent Children is thus far my favorite RPG turned animation adaptation. Even World Destruction has lost it's appeal for me, but I will devote myself to finishing it.

Back to Tales of the Abyss, I think I'll give it a shot. After all, I like action, adventure, and fantasy, and the Tales of franchise often boasts good adventure and fantasy with a slice of romance. We'll just see how this works out.

Except I know for a fact that I already don't like Luke, the spoiled brat from the Kingdom of Kimlasca who's supposedly part of the prophecy at the beginning and is the main protagonist of the series. He sounds like a spoiled brat and acts like one too. I don't know it that's to do with the character or the seiyuu of which I'm unfamiliar. I look foward to seeing more of Tear who seems like the cool and collected woman warrior-- she almost reminds me Morute except a lot nicer and a lot more competent, less hot-headed; she would make quite the nice foil for Luke as his counter personality.

If at all possible, I've come to like Yukana, the seiyuu of Tear who has also done the likes of Meiling Li from Cardcaptor Sakura, and Tenko-sama from Wagaya no Oinari-sama.

All-in-all, there is always the possibility that I will drop this series before it's over. It is scheduled for 26 episodes, much longer than any of the other Tales of series out in animation. This may be a long and bumpy ride.