More Spring Cleaning

Kurenai

Rozen Maiden director Kou Matsuo has clearly spent so much time directing shows about dolls of late that he’s forgotten how children move. For a show with a lot of realistic natural movement, I found the movement of the seven year-old girl that the title character has to bodyguard disturbingly alien.

Anyway if you like overwrought melodrama you may enjoy this. I found the intrusive piano on the soundtrack and the arrogant doll-like girl fantastically annoying. And the story a bit of a snooze.

Zettai Karen Children

Whereas this has 3 precocious children, none of whom as annoying as the one in Kurenai.

This animation of Ghost Sweeper Mikami creator Takashi Shiina’s current manga series, involves the adventures of three psychic 10 year-old girls and their minder.

It’s a fairly goofy shonen action comedy, much was GSM was. This first episode involved them chasing a psychic leather daddy who fired telekinetic bolts from his crotch. The usual stuff.

It’s passable stuff, but the leads aren’t as interesting as GSM’s were.

Allison and Lillia

This was light and fun. It’s a pulpy adventure set in a world resembling the 1930s where a young pilot Allison and her friend Wil set off to find a treasure that will bring peace to two nations who had been at war for 130 years. Unlike Kurenai, this has a really effective soundtrack, provided by Shusei Murai (and the themes have music by the awesome multi-instrumental group, The Kuricorder Quartet).

I can see myself watching more of this.

Kamen no Maid Guy

When I first started watching this I didn’t like it and gave up. Coming back a second time, it’s not as bad as I thought. The best parody of the maid fetish is still Pugyuru, but this bawdy, violent thing isn’t too bad if you like your comedy rough and ready. Don’t think i need to watch anymore though.

Kyouran Kazoku Nikki

This wants to be a whacky madcap comedy with a touch of ~moe~ of the sort UFOtable used to be able to make, but it ends up being a mess. I wouldn’t say it was truly awful, but the cat girl/woman (she is supposedly 20…) grew more and more annoying as the episode went along, to the extent I don’t want to see any more.