Didn't I see this thing in Magic Users Club?

That time it got transformed into a building-size stuffed bear. Haven't seen yet what happens to it this time.

The box says the title of this series is "Shingu: Secret of the Stellar Wars". But the title splash is translated as "Muryou: Record of the School Wars". Just as long as it isn't "Record of the Lodoss wars", I figure I'll be OK.

UPDATE: That has got to be the worst OP I have ever watched. Blech!

UPDATE: 9 minutes into the first episode and I already like what I'm seeing. The art style is a bit idiosyncratic, but there's a nice dry sense of humor hiding in the shadows. After the above alien ship gets defeated by something else equally mysterious, there's eventually a televised announcement by the PM.

Our hero, his sister, and his mom watch the PM's announcement on TV. He bows to the camera, and the kids bow back to the TV. I almost fell out of my chair laughing. It was a very small touch, but a very good one.

UPDATE: It depends on how it's handled, but if it's handled well then a series benefits from the presence of a smartass imouto. This one's got one. Hajime's bratty kid sister is named Futaba. After they have dinner, Futaba politely serves tea to her mother. Hajime says, "What's the point of acting sweet and cute to Mom?"

"She gives me allowance money," Futaba responds. It's nice to see a 9 year old who understands the realities of life.

UPDATE: Yet another thing that's rapidly making me a fan of this series: the primary characters are in middle school, but all of the male parts are voiced by male seiyuus.

UPDATE: And at the end of the first episode, two characters fire energy blasts at each other. I am definitely hooked.

Muryou reminds me a bit of Toga from Gravion, except that I'm quite certain that he isn't anything like as naive or maladjusted. I wonder what it's going to take to get that smile off his face?

UPDATE: And the ED sucks, too. Still, it looks like this is going to be good.

UPDATE: Lame OP and ED notwithstanding, after two episodes I'm even more hooked. The third episode is titled "The name is Shingu", so now I get to find out what that means.

UPDATE: As of the end of episode 3: they're rolling out the plot pretty fast. I wonder if it's going to stall? Sometimes in a series like this they set up a situation and then tell day-in-the-life stories for a long time before finally finishing the basic story -- if they do finish it. I think they will in this case, but I prefer a series where there's continuous progress in the overall story.

That is one of many things that Petite Princess Yucie did well. Virtually every episode contributed at least a little to the overall plotline, either by introducing new characters, causing continuity changes relating to existing ones, or by introducing elements of the backstory. I hope this series does the same, but if they continue at the breakneck speed I've seen so far they're going to exhaust themselves. And me.

I'm getting more hooked by the moment. Oh, and they do reveal what Shingu means, but I'm not going to say.

UPDATE: Episode 4, and yet more points. A class in English, and the voice actor for the teacher was American, not Japanese. It was background for a voiceover; they didn't need to do it. A hundred other English classes I've seen in anime and they always use a Japanese voice actor who doesn't really quite speak English. Not this time.

There's an attention to detail here, an understanding of the fine points. I'm very impressed.

And an incidental character from the first episode shows up again and may not be incidental after all.

UPDATE below the fold:

Don't want to overload the front page with images, so this one goes here:

This turns out to be one of the most interesting characters in the series. Her name is Nayuta and she's a study in confused motivations. I expect great things from her before the series is over.

The series is staying relatively upbeat. Naturally, there's got to be some romance, but no angst so far.

UPDATE: End of episode 4, and it's beginning to be difficult to write about specifics without revealing spoilers. I will say this: the story doesn't feel like it's stalling, and though there have been several twists and turns I didn't predict, I also get the feeling of a strong hand on the tiller.

I'm happily confused about what's going on but it's clear that the writers are not -- and that is a good thing.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in at 05:29 PM | Comments (13) | Add Comment
Post contains 807 words, total size 5 kb.