Charles turned me on to Fate/stay night, which is an anime based on a videogame. I am really enjoying the series.
While the premise is similar to that of Kyou Kara Maou!–that is, there’s a hapless male main character with strong convictions about protecting people who wields powers he is unaware of–in Fate, the main character isn’t completely clueless. He already knows about magicians, so when he learns about the game he’s being forced to play, he is able to accept it pretty easily. It’s interesting to see a character understand what he’s getting into, and still hold on to his idealism.
Of course, lately I’ve been thinking of writing a parody of this sort of anime, with an idealistic main-type character who gets killed off instantly due to his naivete. :>
I’ve gotten through a few story arcs, and things have played out in ways I couldn’t have expected. Suddenly, Saber is conscious of herself as a woman. (By the way: intriguing rewriting of history there. I’m guessing the word 王 isn’t as gender-specific as it is in English…) I was (and still sort of am) rooting for Shirou and Rin to get together, but you know how it is…a guy’s always closest to the hero-warrior from the past he has summoned into present day.
Completely randomly–I was looking for something to do–I decided to try out The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. O. M. G. This show is too weird not to watch. I’m not even going to describe it; you just have to see it. I will say that the narrator is awesome. And it’s not often that I call a pushover who grouses to himself without trying to better his situation awesome. I don’t know; there’s just something about him that makes it work. It helps that his constant internal monologue is hilarious.
Actually, there are quite a few things in the series that would normally annoy me, like what Haruhi does to poor Mikuru-chan, and Mikuru-chan herself (she’s the stereotypical over-the-top cutesy-shy freaks-out-about-every-little-thing type), but somehow when they all come together, they’re not annoying. They’re just…mind-boggling.
It’s obviously not a show to take seriously.
I also recently watched the first episode of Gakuen Heaven, which is…a boys’ love anime. I don’t know why I did it! Obviously I was bored at the time…
The episode served to introduce a gaggle of male characters ranging from kawaii to sekushii. The main character, Ito Keita, is a new transfer to the elite boys’ school that is the setting for the series. He describes himself as fairly average and has no idea why he’s been chosen for the school. However, he’s pretty cute. Is the chairman a pervert?!
There’s also a “troublemaker” named Endo Kazuki…who happens to be voiced by the lovely and talented Sakurai Takahiro. If the OP is to be believed (and when isn’t it?) Kazuki and Keita are the couple to root for. The two hadn’t met by the end of episode 1, because of course they have to drag it out. It made me look forward to the inevitable meeting. When will they meet? How will they meet? Will they like each other right off?
Of course, there’s a chance that either the chairman or Kazuki is really Keita’s long-lost brother.
Also–there was a random motorcycle accident!
I found that the episode reminded me of Prince of Tennis…I suppose because there were quite a few guys with different personalities who were all likeable in their own way. (The guys who kept hacking each other’s computers were hilarious.) I’m not sure how far into the ecchi stuff the show is going to go, but I think it’s worth continuing. (Besides, I must find out if the King survived! ;P)
Hai told me to watch a show called Nana, so now I have three episodes and the live action movie, but I haven’t tried it out yet. We’ll see how that goes. I’ve also decided to check out Shinigami no Ballad, because I find the death god mythology pretty interesting.
I’m always open to additional recommendations!