Forum - View topicManabi Straight
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frentymon
Forums Superstar
 Posts: 2362 Location: San Francisco |
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An exciting and energetic new show of the Winter 2007 season! Animated by ufotable, the folks who brought us Coyote Ragtime Show, and features some big-name seiyuu.
I wasn't too eager to watch this show, but now I'm glad I did. It's a futuristic slice-of-life series somewhat reminiscent of Azumanga Daioh (maybe Ichigo Mashimaro as well), except super-chibified! (Or loli-fied, if you want another term for it). The whole cast is really cute and really fun to follow; there's energetic Manabi who's the star of the show and wants to bring life to everyone around her, Mikan who is always trying really hard and wants to help others, Mei who is distant and rarely talks, Mucchi who always scolds Mikan and is always trying to get Mei's attention, and probably many other great character that haven't been introduced yet. The music I also found to be really good, as it really set the mood for some of the scenes and is much better than a light school-life series would usually have. Haven't seen the OP yet (it was absent in the first episode), but the ED was a really cute claymation, and sung by the one and only Megumi Hayashibara! Plot will probably be episodic in nature, light, and comedical, but with such a great and lively cast, I'm sure Manabi straight will be great fun and an enjoyable watch the whole way through. I also noticed that this is the first time Yui Horie and Aya Hirano have been cast in the same series (as Manabi and Mei, respectively), really excited about this and greatly looking forward to Manabi and Mei in conversation together. [EDIT] Nevermind, they were both in School Rumble Nigakki, although Aya didn't have a very significant role in it. Last edited by frentymon on Sun Jan 21, 2007 1:27 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Iwatch2muchanime
 Posts: 1291 |
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Well i've actually been wanting to watch this, but I', waiting for a fansub group that I like to get it, hopefully one will, before I go all sex nuts and retard strong on it.
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8daze
Posts: 92 Location: USA |
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I was surprised to hear Aya Hirano's voice; the seiyuu lineup is quite strong. There was almost a manic level of energy throughout the entire show. I thought it was a fun, if somewhat convoluted -- or maybe just purposefully crazy-- start. Usually I'm not big on chibis, but the first episode was good enough that I'll keep following it for now at least. Now that we've had the character and setting introductions, I'm expecting the humor to step up a notch. And it was cute. One cannot deny the cuteness.
Mikan also looked perpetually like this: :3 
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einhorn303
 Posts: 1180 |
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Luckily, now two groups have started subbing the series. Azai is a new group and this is their first project, but it looks like they'll be doing a good job on it. Nice show, really looking forward to upcoming episodes and fansubs. |
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hentai4me
 Posts: 1313 Location: England. Robin is so Cute! |
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As I now tend to download the first few eps of a newly subbed series and leaving it at that (unless it's really good) I watched the first ep of this series. While it may be too early to tell how it really ends up I was impressed. It was fun, in a silly hyperactive way, doesn't seem to be overly romance orientated (too many 'high school romances' abound) but silly fun with a few, likely stereotypical, characters.
The animation style is undeniably cute but I hope it (and it doesn't seem to be) doesn't denegrate into a fanservicey loli-lite series. It's been a while since I've watched something that seems as happy and completely vacuous as this (the second Negima series being the only thing that springs to mind recently) and I for one can't wait for the next episode...and if it stays good I hope they bring it over here sometime. anime#6789 |
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Iwatch2muchanime
Posts: 1291 |
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Watched the first ep. and I REALLY love this show so far. The animation style is incrediblelly fluid and cute. I don't think it will turn into a fanservice title, at least it doesn't seem so although it seemed like it would be during the swimming contest, and if things keep as funny as the first episode then this might be one of my favorites. This show is great and everybody needs to see it!! then they can tell me they don't like it and I'll go cry in the corner.....
P.S. I love the hair in this show, how it kinda molds from one color into another, darker form of the color (just seems a little different from normal shadowing) from top to bottom. It's kinda cool. OH, but the ED on this has them in little doll form, like they did in Coyote Ragtime Show, and I never liked that, so I was dissapointed to see that here...although it did a better job of it. |
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frentymon
Forums Superstar
Posts: 2362 Location: San Francisco |
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Episode 2
Three things I noticed: Mei is really weird. spoiler[So basically, they fit about 4 completely different character archeotypes into her within 21 minutes. It's as if they looked at Hirano Aya and said, "okay, we know you're versatile with your roles, we'll throw all your previous roles into one character now." She can be bossy (like Haruhi), moe/cute (Misa), tsundere/cold (Shikimi), and responsible/calm (Sanae). Now, I don't know what's up with her, but every time the scene changes she's like a different person.] OP is bleh. spoiler[It's okay, but it's just like every other anime song out there. It builds up in the beginning, but doesn't build up to nearly enough energy, and then it dies down again and stays boring the remainder of the minute and a half. Megumi Hayashibara's voice is good, but the song itself is pretty uninteresting. I'd much rather have Yui singing the Seioh School Song be the OP, it's been played in both Eps so far and is a much better song than the OP.] ED is gone. spoiler[So they didn't have the ED song or animation and decided instead to just continue the series for an extra 2 minutes while playing some acoustic piano solo. Don't know if they're going to do this every episode and alternate between splicing out the OP and ED or if this is just a one-time deal. Hopefully it alternates, so each episode is ~2 minutes longer.] |
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Amasa
 Posts: 340 Location: Japan |
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I want to love this series so much since I'm desperate for another Azumanga Daioh. However, Manabi Straight has several flaws that I'm not happy about.
First of all, it is impossible for me to watch it and not keep drawing comparisons with AzuDaioh - this is really frustrating me. Manabi Straight lacks the comedy to even come close to Azu but everything else is almost exactly the same i.e the characters, the setting and the plot. The time setting and the main character is all that changes. I'm also having trouble liking the characters because a. they're too small and look far too cartoony and b. they're too airie faerie, they're too predictable, I would say they're not individual enough but I'll wait for a few more episodes. Also I seriously dislike the focus on cutesy, e.g Close-up of Manabi yawning, hammering her finger with a nail, being choked by dust. It's all a bit too repetitive and it lacks the quirkiness that Chiyo and Osaka have. As I said, I really want this series to be good but the first two episodes were very disappointing. And frentymon you're right, Mei is rather odd - hopefully the characters will be detailed soon. The music is a bit of a disappointment; after I saw the first episode I was almost positive the OP would be Aya Hirano's "Welcome UNKOWN"  .
Oh well, I'm looking forward to the DVD release since the YouTube quality is very poor. |
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SnowfairyX
 Posts: 438 |
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The show seems to remind me a lot more of Kamichu! than Azumanga. At this point (episode 2), I would have to say both shows are easily much better. The humor definitely isn't there but I don't think the show is trying to be a comedy like Azumanga. I like the show so far but there's definitely some room for improvement. |
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CloverKuroba
 Posts: 506 |
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I LOVE this show so far. Like frentymon, I wasn't expecting to like it, but it turned out to be a pleasant suprise. Snowfairyx, I immeadiately thought of Kamichu too when I saw it. It has that feeling to it. I really like the animation, it's nice and fluid. I like the character designs and the hair is so pretty to look at. I also like the OP, even though it is generic.
Plus Yui Horie is simply adorable as Manabi! |
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