I just felt like writing about the new SHAFT anime and I don’t think I’ll be writing anything about other new shows… :) It’s the third show from the people responsible for Tsukuyomi MOON PHASE and Pani Poni Dash! - it’s so darn good to have them and Chiwa Saito back for the new season.

I haven’t read the manga (at all) or seen the original anime (in full), but I heard all kinds of things about both - from good (lots of fanservice) to bad (lots of fanservice). Well… one thing that’s certain is that SHAFT has actually stripped their rendition of Negima! from pantsu & other fanservice - totally fine by me as long as they can keep the whole show as enjoyable and stylish as the first episode was.

Stylish… yep, the style is pretty sweet, but what about the story? Well… I’ve no idea what it might be about… The opening and ending sequences make it seem like Evangeline is going to be the central character of the show, but they really could end this in the next one or two episodes and move onto something else… have to wait and see.

After the initial previews I thought this would be a step-back for SHAFT, but thankfully it is a widescreen show and as long as they keep this animation up for the whole TV run (which I doubt knowing SHAFTs previous 2 efforts weren’t pretty before hitting DVD), I think I’ll be a very very happy viewer. Obviously, not everybody has to like the style that Akiyuki Shinbo and SHAFT have. I’ve seen some complaints about randomness, jumping around same simple backgrounds (BS!) and other stuff. The art, animation, quick cuts between different parts of a room and music are all very similar to Pani Poni Dash (which I liked) while dark scenes bring memories of Tsukuyomi (which I love) back - obviously I’m enjoying everything quite a bit here. I don’t mind the classroom (or jumping around it) one bit and actually, I am very happy they went with a university style auditorium instead of your regular classroom - we’ve seen those way too many times.

But really… the things that made me most happy in the first episode were: A: vampire and dark scenes with shadowing that probably only SHAFT can make work this nice. B: Chiwa Saito is in the show! Of course I’ll be watching the whole thing…