While it saddens me (a bit) that the first season of Tsubasa Chronicle has wrapped up on Animax (and there's no word of when season 2, still on its broadcast run in Japan, will reach Animax East Asia audiences), I'm also little delighted—well, "intrigued" would be the more precise term—by what replaces it.Honey and CloverYup. Starting this August, Honey and Clover (season 1) will air every Tuesday at 6PM (Jakarta/Bangkok local time) on Animax.I've actually been hearing the buzz on Honey and Clover for quite some time now. Based on the award-winning manga by Umino Chika-sensei (or so sez the Indovision August TV guide), Honey and Clover or Hachimitsu to Clover (Hachikuro for short) is obviously hot property, having been adapted into an anime and live action movie. The anime second season just started airing on Fuji TV this June, while the theatrical release premiered at #8 on the Japanese box office last weekend (report by ANN).Impressive stuff, but I was never one to jump on the bandwagon immediately, tending to do things at my pace. So for a while there, Hachikuro was simply a blip on the radar and not one I would've scrambled Kazuma Shin in his Area 88 jet to investigate further.It took Animax scheduling Honey and Clover in its August 2006 line-up (and the slightly weird plugs it produced to promote it) to make me curious enough to go looking for more than albeit awesome, still dry facts.And this is what I found:Was it ever supposed to get this good? Honey and Clover began life as the debut series for Fuji TV's "Noitamina" (read it backwards) lineup, a new anime block aimed at older female audiences. The simple but daring plan worked—young women who would never normally watch anime got into it, and the manga now breaks the Top 10 sales list regularly, sitting alongside blockbuster titles like Prince of Tennis or Bleach. But even viewers outside the target demographic attest to its greatness, pointing out its heartfelt storytelling and unique visual style. It was supposed to be just good enough for sophisticated female viewers—and it ended up being good enough for everyone. Funnier than most comedies and more touching than most dramas (even the live-action ones), Honey and Clover has emerged as one of the best shows of 2005.Thus opens the low-key but extremely convincing review that Carlo Santos wrote for the Anime News Network during the last quarter of 2005 (you can read the review in its entirety here). And whadda you know? I'm the target demographic for this anime ^^I'll definitely be watching (the encores because I don't think I'll make it home in time for the original showings).Paradise KissAnother new-ish shoujo anime to look forward to this August (well, it only aired during Q4 2005, hence "newish") is Paradise Kiss. Based on shoujo manga-ka extraordinaire Yazawa Ai-sensei's manga of the same name, ParaKiss starts its telecast on 22 August (Tuesday) at 7PM. I've already watched this series but it will be interesting to see if Animax cuts out the *S P O I L E R* ... ... ... George and Yukari lemon. After all, it edited the Shin and Yankumi in bed scene in Gokusen episode 8—which I thought was fairly innocent and just played for laughs; I don't see how their standards board will handle ParaKiss. Perhaps they'll slap Parental Guidance advisories like they do for Onegai Teacher?Alice AcademyYAY! (Never thought the day would come that I'd actually welcome reruns ^^;) Starting 7th August (not 1st as originally reported), Alice Academy will be back weekdays at 3PM (JKT/BKK), with encores at 7.30PM and 7.30AM the following day. Hopefully with this, I can finally do something about the "COMING SOON" on episode 13 of my Alice shipper guide. ^^Returning anime and premieres - shounen versionThe above titles are chotto shoujo skewed, so here's something for da boys ^^Law of Ueki (premieres 17-AUG) | Thursdays, 6PM (JKT/BKK) Samurai 7 (rerun) | Weekdays, 10PM (JKT/BKK) starting 22-AUGBut since I don't care for gender discrimination, you should consider all the series here "for ALL" fare.For You in Full Blossom mangaThe licensed Indonesian release of For You in Full Blossom, published under the Level Comics imprint, is finally in stores.(Yes, Virginia, that IS Hana-Kimi. The first volume ^^)Invaluable resource(s)Animax East Asia » Honey and Clover | Paradise KissAnime News NetworkGakuen Alice (JP)Honey and Clover movie (JP)J.C. STAFF » Honey and Clover I (JP)Paradise Kiss (JP)
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