I was able to attend Katsucon in D.C. over the weekend. Unfortunately I wasn't really impressed with the series I saw that were coming out. Most of the disappointment was due to the overzealous plot borrowing that some of these series exhibited. Please be aware that I'm trying to be as general as I can with these plot intros, but they could be construed as very mild spoilers.
Black Blood Brothers - Only watched a couple episodes of this before giving up and moving on, but this was a series about vampire brothers who are part of a severed bloodline attempting to clear the world of an evil vampire race that is threatening the world. We've all seen the basics of this plot way too many times.
Venus versus Virus - The first few episodes borrowed a few facets from Someday Dreamers, although didn't seem nearly as inspired. The protagonist is a part of a special team to take out evil spirits that only her, her comrades and a few other select people can see. People who are being pursued by the spirits are able to see a flier that normal people cannot. This flier directs them to a jewelry storefront that secretly is the headquarters of the team, where the pursued can be a client to the team.
Shuffle - Shuffle is based off of a dating sim, with the typical house of girls all fawning over a single indecisive guy. Included is the variety of peppy, traditional, young, etc. etc. girls. Many of the episodes center around a pseudo-date with one of the characters. Think Sister Princess with a few less characters. Normally I don't mind this stuff as mindless fluff after a long day of work when I don't want to think, but the protagonist in this one seems so lame, giving in to whatever is going on around him and not exhibiting much character.
Devil May Cry - This was one of the better ones, but still nothing I'd buy. Dante has set up shop waiting for clients to drop by to request him to kill off demons. Often times he'll end up in a situation where he has to decide between his moral integrity or finishing the job to get some money to help pay off his bottomless debt. Artwork looks a lot like the recently released Highlander. Reminds me a bit of Cowboy Bebop due to the darker city look, the insurmountable debt, job undertaking structure, and badass woman who helps/competes on jobs that reminds me of Faye Valentine.
Cat Soup - This seemed a little more like an animated homage to the Brothers Quay than an anime. Very bizarre and imaginative animation with comical but gruesome subject matter including a good amount of dismemberment. This was on very early in the morning (like 4 or 5am i think) which made it even more strange as my mind wasn't thinking as logically as it could. If you're open minded about avant-garde artistic anime that only vaguely follows a plot, you'd appreciate this one.
Welcome to the NHK - Was able to see a little bit of this with a guest voice actor explaining what was going on behind the scenes in the production. Seemed like a very good series, a little bit like Genshiken that it provides a look at the life of otaku, in this case referred to a hikikomori, and how he struggles in his social life. I saw an early part of the series which seems pretty comedic, however I understand that it gets pretty serious and depressing in the end, so I don't know that I'll pursue it.
I was able to see a couple full-feature length films that I really liked:
Tekkonkinkreet - This was absolutely amazing. Animation was done by Studio 4°C which is a very artsy up-and-coming animation house. The movie is centered around two characters, effectively a yin and yang, named Black and White. These two live in a dystopian society where there are powers fighting over the city in an attempt to shape it to their desires. These brothers, especially Black, are against these changes and will do anything in their power to stop them. Highly recommended, and available on Bluray if you have a player.
The Girl who lept through Time (Toki o Kakeru Shōjo) - although this couldn't hold a candle to Tekkonkinkreet imho, it was still very very good. I would consider the animation to be pretty close to real life in character movement. The protagonist, Makoto, is able to figure out a way to traverse through time when she has a life threatening accident, and ends up involving herself in a number of issues at school using her power. Makoto finds herself in the predicament of questioning whether or not she is helping or harming the people around her.
