New fall anime

So, fall is here, and it's cold outside. Perfect time for anime watching, and there's a few new ones out this season so far that seem promising. So there's a few new offerings: A yuri-gender swap action called Kampfer; a fantasy show about swords called Sacred Blacksmith, and one about cat curses called Nyan Koi, and finally a side story of A Certain Magical Index called A Certain Scientific Railgun. Well, those are the ones I feel like writing about anyway. Otherwise, Full Metal Alchemist and Cross Game continue, and we have some new-comers to watch until Winter.

So far, nothing from this season seems to be on the same level as Guin Saga or Canaan, however, these newer shows seem a bit more lighthearted and funny, focusing more on the comedy side of things instead of the dramatic side that we saw with the Summer anime.

I'll write about A Certain Scientific Railgun first since I just finished watching Index the other day. Index seemed a little strange, all kinds of random story arcs that didn't seem to tie into eachother. So far Railgun just focuses on two of the more minor Index characters, Biribiri and her insane sister and their two friends. This show is loaded with yuri overtones, but I'm not sure how it's supposed to fit into the Index storyline. Some day I'll stop being lazy and read the Manga and figure out what's going on. So, in Academy City, almost everyone has all kinds of crazy superpowers, and Biribiri's is the ability to control electricity. Her signature move is flicking coins at people at Mach 3 (since the only weapons on earth capable of firing a projectile that fast are Rail Guns, she's earned herself that nickname. So far, however, she's only gotten into trouble because of her perverted sister that is madly in love with her for some reason. Biribiri has a thing for Kamijyo Touma (the main character in Index), however, this supposedly takes place before Index, so who knows where that will go.

Sacred Blacksmith is about a young, inexperienced and clumsy knight named Cecily, who wants disparately to become a warrior. Unfortunately for her, however, she's neither strong nor fast, and doesn't seem to have the finesse for combat. She picks a fight with an insane warrior and would have been killed if a cloaked stranger hadn't intervened and saved her. Turns out, this cloaked man is a skilled blacksmith named Luke, who fights with a thin, curved sword called a katana instead of the standard broad sword everyone else uses. Apparently, long ago there was a crazy war involving demons and monsters, and it appears that their return is rather likely. It remains to be seen if Luke helps out Cecily or not.

Kampfer is definitely one of the stranger shows I've seen. It's about a guy, Natsuru, who is chosen to be a Kampfer for some reason. He has to fight other Kampfers, and is given special powers: the ability to use fire magic. His friend is also a Kampfer, though they start off fighting one-another, and she uses guns. The only catch to being a Kampfer is that you have to be a woman. If you're not already, you'll transform into one when another enemy Kampfer approaches. It also happens that the Natsuru's love interest falls for the female version of himself, much to his chagrin. This show is bound to be full of all kinds of ridiculous nonsense.

Nyan Koi is about a boy named Junpei who angers the spiteful cat god. Because of this, he's been cursed with the ability to converse with cats. Now, to appease the cat god he must perform good deeds for the city cats and juggle his love life. If he fails to appease the cat god, he'll be turned into a cat (and subsequently die because he's allergic to them). If you like cats, this show is likely to entertain you.

Now to finish off Guin Saga and maybe pick up Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle again while I wait for more episodes. There's a few other shows that might be neat too: 11eyes, Kobato, and maybe Seitokai no Ichizon. Time will tell!