More Summer Rants!

So this rant is a little bit late then I intended, but it’s the third and final instalment for my summer rants! If I had the time or motivation, I might have done something more detailed like I did in spring but… a lot of it is very underwhelming, I’ll probably go off on a tangent with Mawaru Penguindrum again and I really, really have no time right now @_@

As usual, I list the anime according to my preferences. While the previous summer rants showed some promise, the second half of this post is congested with all the not-that-great anime that everyone had been expecting from the summer.

But whatever. My favourite for this season is probably going to end up as one of my all-time favourites, so I’m just going to mention it once more since I can’t get enough of it.

Mawaru Penguindrum 

Family drama where little sis dies, but then she gets resurrected after being possessed by a penguin hat.

I’ve got my special rant for it right here, but long story short – it’s my favourite for this season. The questioning of fate, the light hearted humour, the ridiculous situations with the round round penguins and that tang of family angst is just perfect. Definite recommendation! I’ve watched the first episode about 6 times and the second one about 3 or 4. I am not obsessed.

Thank God it’s lined up for 24 episodes!

Summer Adaptations – Ikoku Meiro no Croisée & Usagi Drop

I’m back home now for my summer holidays, so I decided to make this post a little manga sneak peak for two of the upcoming anime this Summer 2011, Ikoku Meiro no Croisée and Usagi Drop.

Before that though, if you want the summaries and trailers for most of the summer anime, you can go check out squidoo. Hope it helps! =D

Moving on!

Ikoku Meiro no Croisée (異国迷路のクロワーゼ)

Manga-ka: Takeda Hinata

Genre: Historical, Romance, Shounen, Slice-of-life

During the second half of the 19th century, Europe became intrigued by the Japanese culture. A Japanese girl named Yune travels to France, where she started working in the lower parts of a town in Paris at a craft store called Enseignes du Roy. She and the store owner named Claude communicate with each other in order to get over their cultural differences. This is the story of Yune’s stay in Paris.

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I picked this up shortly before I realised it would be aired in the summer, and I have to say that it is definitely one of the anime that I am really looking forward to. From the art, to the story, to the characters and setting… everything is just simply so beautifully executed.

After reading it the first time round, I really wanted to mushroom it. It’s the 21^st century, and having to live and study in a foreign country hasn’t been that easy for me – I can only imagine that it should be about 50 times worse for the main character in the 19^th century, who knows next to nothing about French culture or its language. Topping it off with the fact all it took for her to travel halfway across the world was her thirst for French culture (and that she’s a kid) makes Ikoku Meiro no Croisée  really something that is worth reading.