My 2008 Watchlist…

A lot of goodies are in store for anime lovers this 2008. I personally find some of them to be repetitive of the stuff that I’ve watched before and others simply seem to be boring. But among the line-up this year the following caught my interest:

1. Ponyo on a Cliff: Another film from Studio Ghibli and Hayao Miyazaki this year. The movie is about a goldfish princess named Ponyo who desperately wants to be a human. In pursuing her goal, she befriends a five-year-old human boy, Sosuke (wikipedia). Knowing it’s from Ghibli and Miyazaki, I’d expect that this will be good. The story might go in the line of Spirited Away and My Neighbor Totoro - simple but with much deeper plot, consistent characters, and good story development. I always feel that Ghibli’s usual watercolor-like animation adds nostalgia and a general feeling of happiness to the whole film. I don’t know why but I always feel happy after watching a Ghibli film regardless of the story/plot.

 2. Persona -Trinity Soul- : This anime takes place 10 years after the events in the PS2 game Persona 3. High school student Shin Kanzato with his little brother Jun, meet with their elder brother Ryō, who is the chief of the Ayanagi City Police, again after ten years. At that time, a series of strange incidents happen in Ayanagi City such as the crew of a submarine that suddenly disappears while in their submarine, or a spiritless symptom which disturbs the world after ten years, or the case of the inside out corpse where a student took on a cruel appearance. Ryō tracks down the organization behind the string of incidents, and having become involved in the incidents, Shin awakens the “Persona”. (wikipedia)

I’m currently playing the PS2 game and like it a lot. The act of shooting one’s head to summon a persona is kinda silly but the characters look cool while doing it. Looking at the promo images and trailer, it seems that the characters in the PS2 game are better looking than in this anime. I just hope they can keep the plot interesting.

 3. Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei 2: The sequel to the misadventures of Mr. Despair. Two more episodes and I’m done with season 1. I love this anime, it’s weird and uniquely entertaining. The series is more than your usual anime highschool flick as it focuses more on the eccentric beliefs of the characters rather than presenting a straightforward plot. I definitely look forward to the next season.

 

 4. Honey and Clover Live Action (TV Drama): Finally a TV series which might be better than the Movie which was very disappointing. I guess it was really hard to digest all the Honey and Clover story in 2-3 hours. I hope that TV Drama will capture the great and important parts of the anime. I don’t know much about the celebrities who will play the roles but I hope they’ll retain the one who plays Hagu coz she really looks like Hagu and she’s cute^^

Well that’s my list for now, I hope I’ll encounter some more good shows along the way.^^