Both Wonderduck and Astro have declared their love for Sketchbook full color’S, so I watched the first few episodes. Initially I was put off by the main character. In the first episode Sora seems not just painfully but pathologically shy and sensitive. However, the subsequent episodes emphasize her otherworldliness, and she seems less like a mental case and more like Osaka’s artistic cousin. Also, however strange she is, she not the only eccentric around:
I doubt that I’ll ever like Sketchbook as much as Mr. Duck does, but it is on my watch list. Slight though the series is, it’s appealingly whimsical, and it’s refreshing after noisier, busier shows.
Sketchbook earns bonus points for being 100% fanservice-free. It’s an anime in which high school girls wear knee-length skirts. (But it loses a point for the pointless apostrophe-capital “S” in the title.)
*****
I’m ambivalent about Minami-ke. It does feature potentially the best comic character since Osaka, and the first two episodes are funnier than Lucky Star and Hayate no Gotoku combined. Chiaki is a very bright, very deadpan grade-school student. She steals the show as Ruri did Nadesico. She has a mischievous streak, and her hyper high school sister Kana is an easy target. The two live with their older sister, apparently without parents or other guardians.
Funny though it is, Minami-ke makes me a bit uneasy. The first episode is largely about kissing, which Kana wants to demonstrate to Chiaki. The second concerns panties. What will the third feature, bra sizes? I’m not sure I want to find out. (Note that there isn’t any actual fanservice in the show, just the threat of it.)
*****
Although I was not exactly enthralled by the first episode of Ghost Hound, as I noted below, I am still certainly going to follow the series. Nakamura et al may yet come through.
*****
I’m no expert on swing, but the more I listened to the Oh! Edo Rocket soundtrack, the more familiar it seemed. “Matsuri,” for instance, may not have quite the same melody as “In the Mood,” but it sure reminded me of the earlier tune. It bothered me, so I posted a few of the tunes on my other weblog and asked if they sounded familiar. The consensus in the comments is that the pieces are pastiches of swing originals, not quite plagiarisms but damn near. So, if you like the music, instead of the OER soundtrack, you probably should look for recordings by Glenn Miller and his contemporaries.
It looks like Sketchbook is loaded with references to other anime. Just in what you’ve shown us I see a reference to Mahou Sensei Negima and a reference to Aria the Natural.
That can be cool, but it can also be annoying and distracting.
By the way, OT: Great choice for your new banner image. Those two definitely are both kawaii and kowai.
I don’t think you need to worry about Minami-ke that much in terms of where it’s heading. Based on what I’ve read of the manga, it doesn’t really get that “bad”. And the experiences really are like ones that someone with siblings would experience in real life, albeit a little more stylized than most. 😛
And I think I agree with your perception of Sora from Sketchbook. She’s really a character that goes at her own pace, and the other character recognize this and go with it. I do hope that she “matures” from her shyness though. :3
SDB, I think you are looking a little too hard. I don’t think Sketchbook is consciously trying to make references to any other series. If you try hard enough, you could relate every series right back to Betty Boop.
Sketchbook is just being itself, in a meandering and wonderful way. Give it a shot – you might be bored, but I don’t think you’ll find it annoying or distracting.
Astro, the big character on top of the bowling alley is Aria, the cat in “Aria the Animation” and “Aria the Natural”. I’m not seeing things.
Scroll to the bottom of this page.
And note that the romaji name on the bowling alley is “ARYA”.