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Information | |
Title (English) | Ceres, Celestial Legend |
Title (Japanese) | Ayashi no Ceresu | Advertising Fantasy Novel |
Notes | US= "Ceres, Celestial Legend" New show, 2000, based on manga by Yuu Watase (who wrote Fushigi Yuugi). The manga, originally published in Flower Comics, is now widely available. |
Classification | shoujo |
Synopsis | |
Review | I was still massaging the life back into my fast forward finger ( from pressing so hard to get past the abominable Yuugi-oh ) when I put "Ayashi no Ceres" on. What a difference! Right from the start I knew that something quite different was coming and I wasn't at all disappointed. AnoC is a fast paced, intricate and surprising series and jams enough in the first half hour episode to fill a half dozen episodes of an ordinary show. There are some very well done segues from action to comedy to drama and back. The animation isn't really detailed, but the plot, characterizations and general "feel" of the show are so good that this isn't really a drawback. There is also a surprising amount of nudity for non-"fan service" show. (Dave Baranyi) And the mysteries have already got me anxiously awaiting more episodes from my friend. I've already written to her, imploring her to tape more episodes of "Aya no Ceres" for me. (Dave Baranyi) Ayashi no Ceresu was based on the manga by Watase Yuu, who is famous here as the original manga artist for Fushigi Yuugi. Fans who liked Fushigi Yuugi should watch this. But according to what I have seen so far, Fushigi Yuugi was better than Ceresu. I think the production managament was poorer than before. (CALCI) "Ayashi, yes Serious" (g) , rather, "Ayashi no Ceres" ( I had to think of some play on words with that title ) is the "big name" new anime of this current TV season in Japan. "AnoC" is the long awaited anime version of Watase Yuu's sequel to her highly popular "Fushigi Yuugi". The 26-part series is playing on the Japanese satellite pay channel, "Wowow" on Thursday nights at 6:30PM. Studio Pierrot produced the animation.
I just watched episodes 23 and 24 of "Ayashi no Ceres" back-to-back, completing this series. This was a series that caused me to get rather interesting in the beginning, but ended up leaving me rather ambivalent about it by the end. Now, I expect that "Fushigi Yuugi" fans in particular and Watase Yuu fans in general will probably enjoy "AnoC" a lot, but will the "general" anime fan base like the series? I'm not saying that AnoC is particularly "bad", but it is aimed at a very specific audience - that is, those folks who enjoy melodramatic shoujo action/romances.
I liked this series, mainly because Aya is a much less irritating heroine than Miaka and tends to react in a more realistic way. However the character development as the series progresses seems to go in the direction of making both Ceres and Aya less powerful, as though somebody didn't know how to script for a combined feisty heroine and malign super-powered being. And the ending is rather weak and unconvincing. |
Credits | Character design & executive animation director: Hideyuki Motohashi Dir: Hajime Kamegaki |
Episodes | 24 |
Release | US:DVD, US:VHS |
TV Showing | See the whole series for free? This series may be syndicated to regional cable, satellite or terrestial TV stations. For Europe click here. |
Date | 2000 |
Production | Shogakukan, Studio Pierrot, Bandai |
Broadcaster | WOWOW? |
Animation | |
References & Help | Look up the latest data on this title at: Richard Llewellyn's Animated Divots, or Anime News Network (see Encyclopedia section) , or in "The Anime Encyclopedia" (Clements & McCarthy, Stone Bridge Press, 2001). Help & further information. |
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