Kira Yamato
11-22-2007, 04:18 PM
Alright, it's nearing that time of the month when we'll have a new series to feature in this subsection and we need your help to decide which anime will get that chance. Here are the nominees for next month's Anime of the Month title:
**Warning, Synopsis may contain spoilers**
Clannad
Tomoya Okazaki is a third year high school student who dislikes his life. However, Tomoya finds that his life is about to change when he meets Nagisa. Tomoya's mother Atsuko died when Tomoya was young, leaving his father Naoyuki to raise him. After the accident, Tomoya's father turned to alcohol and gambling, and held frequent fights with his son. One day, Naoyuki, again arguing with his son, slammed Tomoya against the wall, dislocating Tomoya's shoulder. Ever since then, his father has treated Tomoya nicely, but distantly, as if Tomoya and he were strangers rather than a family. This hurts Tomoya more than his previous relationship with his father, and the awkwardness of returning home leads Tomoya constantly to stay out all night. Additionally, the injury disables Tomoya from participating in his basketball club, and pushes him to distance himself from his school and other activities. Thus his delinquent life begins.
Tomoya's psychology is further developed in his dreams of a bleak world. In the first few dreams of that kind, he sees a world which is devoid of all people except for this one girl, whom is never shown but is spoken of. Each time he dreams he finds out more about the world.
http://i17.tinypic.com/2igkcch.jpg
Genre: Drama, Fantasy, Harem, Romance
Bamboo Blade
Based on the Sports Manga created by Masahiro Totsuka. This features Kojirou, who is also the Kendo instructor at a high school who decided to take on a bet by his senior, as he is totally broke. The bet requires him to send a team of five female kendo students against his senior’s team. For the sake of his empty tummy, he has to win the match! The story starts off with Kojirou trying to get more female kendo students (there’s only one female kendo student at the kendo dojo). However the first girl he has interest in refuses to join even though she has great kendo skill.
http://img126.imageshack.us/img126/4358/bambooblademo8.jpg
Genre: Comedy, Sports
Genshiken
Genshiken follows the lives of a group of college students drawn together by their shared hobbies, and the trials and adventures associated with being otaku. The story begins with the introduction of Kanji Sasahara, a shy, confidence-lacking freshman who on club day at university, decides to join a club he would actually enjoy, Genshiken. Over his four years at Shiiou University, Sasahara comes to accept himself for who he is and loses the inhibitions and guilt he once felt and associated with otaku culture, becoming an enthusiastic clubmember, and for a time, a capable club president. As the story of Genshiken progresses, focus is also placed on Saki Kasukabe, an emphatic non-otaku who initially struggles to drag her boyfriend out of the club, and Chika Ogiue, a self-professed otaku-hater who feels a deep-seated shame and self-loathing toward her own interests and hobbies.
During the course of the series, the reader bears witness as the group grows in its cohesiveness over time, and bonds form between the characters as they begin to see themselves as more than fellow club members, but friends as well. In this context, club activities such as group outings, the biannual pilgrimage to Comifes, and even simply hanging out in the clubroom, allow the characters' complex relationships to grow into friendship, infatuation, and at times, even love. While a few of them never quite see eye-to-eye about their interests or the lives they lead, they are held together by the bonds of friendship that they share.
http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/2390/imgmainbq1.jpg
Genre: Comedy, Slice-of-life
**Warning, Synopsis may contain spoilers**
Clannad
Tomoya Okazaki is a third year high school student who dislikes his life. However, Tomoya finds that his life is about to change when he meets Nagisa. Tomoya's mother Atsuko died when Tomoya was young, leaving his father Naoyuki to raise him. After the accident, Tomoya's father turned to alcohol and gambling, and held frequent fights with his son. One day, Naoyuki, again arguing with his son, slammed Tomoya against the wall, dislocating Tomoya's shoulder. Ever since then, his father has treated Tomoya nicely, but distantly, as if Tomoya and he were strangers rather than a family. This hurts Tomoya more than his previous relationship with his father, and the awkwardness of returning home leads Tomoya constantly to stay out all night. Additionally, the injury disables Tomoya from participating in his basketball club, and pushes him to distance himself from his school and other activities. Thus his delinquent life begins.
Tomoya's psychology is further developed in his dreams of a bleak world. In the first few dreams of that kind, he sees a world which is devoid of all people except for this one girl, whom is never shown but is spoken of. Each time he dreams he finds out more about the world.
http://i17.tinypic.com/2igkcch.jpg
Genre: Drama, Fantasy, Harem, Romance
Bamboo Blade
Based on the Sports Manga created by Masahiro Totsuka. This features Kojirou, who is also the Kendo instructor at a high school who decided to take on a bet by his senior, as he is totally broke. The bet requires him to send a team of five female kendo students against his senior’s team. For the sake of his empty tummy, he has to win the match! The story starts off with Kojirou trying to get more female kendo students (there’s only one female kendo student at the kendo dojo). However the first girl he has interest in refuses to join even though she has great kendo skill.
http://img126.imageshack.us/img126/4358/bambooblademo8.jpg
Genre: Comedy, Sports
Genshiken
Genshiken follows the lives of a group of college students drawn together by their shared hobbies, and the trials and adventures associated with being otaku. The story begins with the introduction of Kanji Sasahara, a shy, confidence-lacking freshman who on club day at university, decides to join a club he would actually enjoy, Genshiken. Over his four years at Shiiou University, Sasahara comes to accept himself for who he is and loses the inhibitions and guilt he once felt and associated with otaku culture, becoming an enthusiastic clubmember, and for a time, a capable club president. As the story of Genshiken progresses, focus is also placed on Saki Kasukabe, an emphatic non-otaku who initially struggles to drag her boyfriend out of the club, and Chika Ogiue, a self-professed otaku-hater who feels a deep-seated shame and self-loathing toward her own interests and hobbies.
During the course of the series, the reader bears witness as the group grows in its cohesiveness over time, and bonds form between the characters as they begin to see themselves as more than fellow club members, but friends as well. In this context, club activities such as group outings, the biannual pilgrimage to Comifes, and even simply hanging out in the clubroom, allow the characters' complex relationships to grow into friendship, infatuation, and at times, even love. While a few of them never quite see eye-to-eye about their interests or the lives they lead, they are held together by the bonds of friendship that they share.
http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/2390/imgmainbq1.jpg
Genre: Comedy, Slice-of-life