New Season Anime Round-up

wellber Sisters of Wellber

Sisters of Wellber is a medaeval-style fantasy romp in which a thief girl tries to rob the royal palace and gets involved with a murder. The king’s daughter has just knifed a prince from a none too friendly neighbouring kingdom because she didn’t like his rough bedroom manners. They escape together, pursued by the royal forces who want to execute Princess Rita in order to avoid a devastating war, and one of the prince’s friends who just wants to kill her. Fast-moving and entertaining, worth a look.

El Cazador de la Bruja (Witch Hunter). Fantasy drama set in Mexico. Bounty hunters search for a naïve girl who soon demonstrates her supernatural powers. Given the choice of bringing in the girl dead or alive, most of the hunters opt for the former, except for one female bounty hunter who soon becomes more of a companion and would-be protector. Not bad, well scripted, worth a look.

Murder Princess: Swords-and sorcery fantasy romp in which a royal palace is overrun by a defecting scientist and his small but deadly helpers – two cute-looking girl puppets. The royal princes has to flee for her life, but soon runs into a bounty hunter. They both fall off a cliff, and during the fall they exchange personalities, so now we have a princess with an extremely aggressive personality and two ugly and capable assistants, and a bewildered girl. The ‘princess’ soon gets her palace back, and that’s only episode 1. This is really a lot of fun, that is, if you enjoy cartoon violence.

Claymore: A world in which youmas in human disguise eat people, and are hunted by ‘claymores’ – half-human, half youma girls with silver eyes and carrying large swords. The principal character, the ‘claymore’ Claire, befriends a young boy who has lost his family to youmas.
The story isn’t bad, and some of the artwork looks good, but I marked it down for having a stupid title (a ‘claymore’ is actually a large sword formerly used by Scottish clansmen), and the treatment seems rather overheated.

Tales of Symphonia: Nonsensical farcial stuff, apparently about a magical school, that left me completely unimpressed.