areaseven Posted December 28, 2003 Posted December 28, 2003 (edited) Asagiri no Miko ( 朝霧の巫女 ) Chaos Project/TV Tokyo/King Records, 2002 AnimeWorks, 2004-2005 Directed by Yuji Moriyama (Project A-Ko, Geobreeders). Rated 13-Up for violence and mature situations. Based on the manga by Hiroki Ukawa (Serialized in Monthly Young King Ours). Since childhood, Tadahiro Amatsu has two different-colored eyes - one brown and one light hazel. But because of a dark secret behind his left eye, he's become a target for the masked sorcerer Ayatara Miramune and his band of demons. To combat the demons appearing all over town, Yuzu Hieda, a priestess in training, recruits four other girls from her high school. Under the supervision of Yuzu's elder sister Kurako, the five young priestesses must undergo months of training to master their abilities. Story: A- I picked this anime up online without any knowledge of what it's about, and it completely got me off-guard. Yes, each episode is 10 minutes long, but is filled with non-stop laughs. To loosely describe it, Asagiri no Miko is like Azumanga Daioh poking fun at the magical girl genre. As a matter of fact, most of the characters are derivatives of the Azumanga girls. For instance, Seiko is Tomo with a hunting spear. Chika is a demented Chiyo with a digital camera. I could go on further, but all I have to say is you have to rent or buy the DVD, as Asagiri no Miko is a damn good series. Animation: B+ Did I mention that the artwork and animation look a lot like Azumanga Daioh? It sure does, only not as consistent with the digital 2D. It's still pretty good, though. Soundtrack: A- The BGM by Tsuneyoshi Saito (Tenchi Muyo! In Love 2, Nazca) is an interesting mix of pop and traditional Japanese instrumentals. Fans of Megumi Hayashibara will dig the opening and ending themes. Sub vs. Dub Asagiri no Miko features Takahiro Mizushima (Christopher in Scrapped Princess, Kouta in Sora no Stellvia) as Tadahiro, Ai Shimizu (Minawa in Mahoromatic: Something More Beautiful, Monica in Heat Guy J) as Yuzu, Kaoru Morota (Hakuryu in Saiyuki) as Seiko, Nanase Katou (Madoka in Magic User's Club) as Chika, Sayaka Ohara (Misumi in Please Teacher!, Ezra in Vandread) as Shizuka, Rie Kanda as Izumi, Megumi Hayashibara (Need I mention what she's done?) as Kurako, Shizuku Hasegawa (Nana in Tenshi no Shippo) as Tama, and Ryotaro Okiayu (Jinnai in El-Hazard, Sakata in Love Hina) as Masashi. No word on who will be in charge of the English dub. It'll be either Bang Zoom! Entertainment (Figure 17), NYAV Post (Berserk), or Arvintel Media Productions (De:Vadasy). The Bottom Line If you like Azumanga Daioh, you'll enjoy Asagiri no Miko (even though they're not related). It's probably the best anime comedy not yet available in the US. Links King Records' Official Asagiri no Miko Homepage (Japanese) Reference Anime News Network Edited August 21, 2004 by areaseven Quote
gnollman Posted December 28, 2003 Posted December 28, 2003 Gotta agree... I'm a big fan of this one as well. It's got plenty of humor, and just a bit of supernatural evil... that always seems to faceplant somewhere along the road.... Worth your time.... Quote
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