(L) Allison to Lilia (Allison & Lilia)

[Kirarakim]

Originally Posted by qtipbrit92

Are we now using Ed as our typical 15-year old male?
Wasn't he about 10 in attitude and appearance?

Aha no. That was just the first male character that wasn't a pre-teen that popped in my head.

I know there are others voiced by female seiyuu but I think in general most older teenage male characters are voiced by male seiyuu (it's different with younger male characters of course).

[DragoonKain3]

Originally Posted by mirakarim

Well now you are misinterpreting what I said.

I don't think so. Your comment that..

I guess that shows to not take fansubs literally.

implies that the fansubs should NOT be taken literally, because their literal meaning is wrong at that particular instance. But really though, the literal meaning of Wil being in 5th grade is actually right, assuming the translation is spot on (and its forumla/ShS, so I trust these guys).

My point is not whether you're right or wrong; what I'm trying to address is the literal value of the fansubs. Which so far, should be trusted.

[Kirarakim]

Originally Posted by DragoonKain3

I don't think so. Your comment that..


implies that the fansubs should NOT be taken literally, because their literal meaning is wrong at that particular instance. But really though, the literal meaning of Wil being in 5th grade is actually right, assuming the translation is spot on (and its forumla/ShS, so I trust these guys).

My point is not whether you're right or wrong; what I'm trying to address is the literal value of the fansubs. Which so far, should be trusted.

No I meant that I personally took the fansubs too literally and thought that 5th grade is 5th grade. I was looking at it in a literal sense. Not that 5th grade might mean something different in the story. Although afterwards I thought that might be a possibility. It wasn't what popped in my head when I was watching.

I am not sure why I have to keep defending what I said because I already admitted I was wrong.

I am not saying the fansubs were wrong.

[KholdStare]

Originally Posted by qtipbrit92

My expectations were the opposite. KholdSecks had given it an A+, 10/10-type review just before I watched it, so I was expecting something amazing. It obviously didn't live up to the 10/10, but it wasn't bad.
I don't really think that they were aiming for relaxing and fun with this, though.
In my opinion, it's an adventure anime with potential that got off to a good start, spending the first half or so of the first episode on situation explanation and backstory, getting off to a good start near the end of the episode.

It's just simply a difference of style. That first episode was excellent, and every little piece of it contributes to a perfect start for the series. This isn't Code Geass, and there doesn't need to be any cool techniques or hardcore action within the first episode. Since you hate Kino no Tabi, you won't appreciate how wonderful what first episode was.

In short, if I forced one of my friends who is indifferent classical music to listen to (in my opinion) one of the best piece of music ever created, Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor op.18, chances are he wouldn't give it a 10/10, even though he might like it.

[Jazzrat]

Looks like a nice relaxing series to enjoy this season. Love the music and the premise but i think how they handle the chemistry between Allison and Wil will be the main factor of keeping my interest

Also the mature undertone of the story is a nice change from all the outrageous anime this season

[apr]

Will and Allison are both 17. Benedict is 24, Fiona is 20.

http://allison-web.net/chara.html

Fifth grade is not 5th grade.

[FlareKnight]

Well should be interesting at least to see how the second episode goes. Preview at least made it look like somebody was getting shot at. Not sure if the plane they 'borrowed' has any guns or if they will need to just rely on evasion out there.

Should be nice to see the relationship between Allison and Will as they move forward in this situation. Don't think the school grade thing is the biggest issue anyways. Since I'm not expecting them to head to a classroom any time soon.

[kujoe]

Fiona is 20 years old?

Based on the ED, I thought she would be even younger than Allison or around the same age. Looks can be deceiving in anime, but sometimes I'm not even surprised anymore.

"World Masterpiece Theater" vibe indeed. I guess that's why it tugged at me from the get go. Something about the first episode felt nostalgic, as if I had the impression that I was watching some anime adaptation of a classic book I once read. (Well, it did start out as a bunch of light novels after all, but I'd hardly classify them as old classics.)

As for Wil's voice, it's that not that I was surprised at him being voiced by a female voice actress. How could anyone be surprised at this point? It's quite common nowadays. Rather, I thought the chosen voice sounds a bit too young for the character. Oh well, just a minor observation from my view.

[Kaoru Chujo]

I liked episode 2 even more than episode one. I like the people, and the story. The character design works for me, and Mizuki Nana is doing something with Allison.

[Rhyel]

O_o Great OP Music... I want full version now.

The Anime start very well, I will follow it.

The BG art is good too, it is essential for airplane wow effect.

[kujoe]

Episode 2 turned out to be cute and touching all throughout.

With Allison reminding me of Haruhi to some degree I was not surprised to see that there's a small hidden tsundere side to her. (Sorry, couldn't help making the observation...) As for Wil, he has proven to have a very balanced head on his shoulders which complements Allison's lively and spunky personality.

All in all, definitely an interesting pair to watch. And you got to admit, those two look kinda spiffy in those uniforms.

[SeijiSensei]

Originally Posted by qtipbrit92

In Strawberry Panic!, fifth year meant the Japanese 2nd year of high school, or 11th grade.

The British "form" system covers what Americans consider grades 7-12. A fifth-form student is in the eleventh grade. I suspect that's the interpretation of "grade" in use here; it fits the European stylings. I was confused at first, too, but it quickly became obvious that this wasn't intended to be a romance between two elementary schoolers. They're clearly much older than, say, Haruka and Yuu in Noein.

I approached this show with no expectations whatsoever except a vague sense that it might be worth watching. I saw some familiar names in the fansub credits (watching the lovely Anime Yoshi version of episode one) which raised my expectations. I'm glad I picked it up.

I like plucky girls like Allison and thought Mizuki Nana captured her character well. The first time I heard Wil's voice I knew immediately I was listening to another woman. I found that disconcerting at first, but its femaleness receded to the background as the episode continued. It's also easier to accept his seiyuu, Kumai Notoko, voicing a male because Ms. Mizuki's voice is so decidedly female.

Like others here I was reminded of some of Miyazaki's generic European settings like those in Howl's Moving Castle. I'm a bit disappointed that we don't have at least a third political force in the history so far, though. A bipolar world seems a relic of the Cold War. Maybe some aliens will intervene when they find the treasure? I also kept waiting for one of the students to ask, "why does it matter which country is the origin of man?" I was surprised the young glasses-girl-in-training didn't bring that up. Lisa Simpson knows that's a question worth asking.

According to ANN Allison has the very British surname of Whittington; Wil's full name is the Germanic Wilhelm Schultz. This makes for an amusing pairing given the relationship between those countries when biplanes cruised our skies.

I liked this show quite a lot and hope it will continue to grow on me. It's nice to see a simple romantic adventure. I watched this just after seeing the third Sky Girls OVA. The contrast in styles was stunning to say the least.

Edit: I didn't read the previous page before posting and realize that, with his usual critical acumen, TinyRedLeaf has already highlighted some of the plot issues that I describe above.

Also one touch that made me laugh was the animated lens flash that you see during the first motorcycle sequence (just after Allison stands up in the sidecar). Adding phony realism like that demonstrates a comedic flair by the director.

[OMchan]

Just watched Episode 1 and I really enjoyed it. And like some have mentioned already, Wil sounds a bit young, but not really a big deal for me. I couldn't help but laugh at how Wil reacted to Allison's love letter story, hehe.

And from the comments, it seems Episode 2 is even better, can't wait!

[Sorrow-K]

Ep 1

Interesting first ep, but nothing really ball-grabbing. It quickly separates itself from Kino's Journey, that's for sure. Seeing as how this has been constantly hyped as "from the writer of Kino's Journey", my expectations ended up being for this to be along the same lines as that. It only took a few minutes of the first episode to realize those expectations are wrong.

I like the setting. There's a million different things they can do with a war-torn setting, and the whole idea of two neighbouring countries having constant tension is one that has a lot of real life parallels. There's so many interesting stories that can come out of such a setting, and it's one that anime could get away with relying on a hell of a lot more. Only very few anime use the two-neighbouring feuding countries setting, and it's typically only in fantasy series. (Well, I guess that has something to do with the fact that the last time Japan had a conflict with a neighbour has been wiped from the collective memory of its people.)

As for the characters, well, we'll see. I can't say I had an instant affinity for Allison or Wil and their interactions... there's something not quite right about it that I can't quite put my finger on. For one, for two people that had been constantly sharing letters while they were apart, they seemed to have so little to talk about.

Should be interesting. I like that I'm still not sure where they're gonna go with this.

[Guardian Enzo]

Castle in the Sky beget Last Exile beget Allison & Lilia. Hakuna Matata.

Really solid first ep overall. Highly derivative, but derived from good stock. Allen Walker's voice transplanted into "Tom Brown's Schooldays" meets Miyazaki.

[Falkor]

Finished the first episode…

Is it ok to fall in love with the opening song/sequence? It’s very similar to Spice and Wolf, conveying alike, if not, the same kind of feelings and mood (though I’m thus far liking this show a lot more). Having watched the first episode twice, it makes a great difference to actually understand the dialogue with subs, and probably I wouldn’t dare to watch in its raw form again.

After watching the trailer, I was a bit skeptic of what Allison to Lillia would actually provide for entertainment, but my fears have no longer basis now that I know what I’m getting into. I think the plot is the greatest strength of the show, and I’m glad of finally watching something simply because of this. While the adventure genre is not really one of my favorites (more or less when the animation of some scenes is sometimes lacking), I’m finding myself enjoying the show more than I expected to be, especially the Slice-Of-Life feel (this is the only show from the spring season that has strong Slice-Of-Life elements by the way). This combination seems weird to me, but it worked with Kino no Tabi (strangely enough, I haven’t finished the show) and I see no reasons why it cannot happen here.

I have no exact words to describe the setup/world, but being the most important part of the show, I wouldn’t doubt some kind of story progression surrounding the main characters that has direct correlation with this (and having a little glance of the second episode, I’m pretty sure this is the direction is willing to take). Overall, one of my favorite shows that doesn’t really fall into the awing category, nor attempts to create some kind of mind-blowing experience. It’s more like an adventure (adventure genre obviously) in which it focuses on the little details of what a journey is about—not necessarily in the most generic way, but trusting on the slow pace and the development before reaching a form of resolution.

On a side note, the voice acting is great, especially Nana Mizuki as Allison (who wouldn’t like a voice such as hers?).

[WanderingKnight]

Episode 1

And now for something completely different! Though you clearly can see the common war-torn-neighboring-countries theme (Last Exile and Simoun come to mind, and both are quite good series--Simoun being one of my favorites), it's really taken in an original way. Or at least, I can't notice the same dark aura that is usually present over such a setting. Animation is subpar, but the simplified designs (which are also a nice break from the moeblob-loli types we're so used to see these days) do a good job hiding its faults. Allison's character is quite interesting--at least she's not as predictable as most archetypal romance tomboy heroines.

Direction was awkward, though. Odd and confusing camera changes get a bleh from me.

[Guardian Enzo]

Interesting. I didn't find the animation subpar, but rather retro - backgrounds very much in the idealized English/Welsh rural mold of some Ghibli and Last Exile, character designs similarly straightforward and open.

[FlareKnight]

Think the series has good potential to be really solid. Just getting caught up in something that could mean the end of a very long war. Two countries letting their ideological differences divide them. Certainly easy to understand that kind of disagreement and how things could be kept like that for such a long time.

Just looking forward to seeing the journey with Will and Allison.

[WanderingKnight]

Interesting. I didn't find the animation subpar, but rather retro - backgrounds very much in the idealized English/Welsh rural mold of some Ghibli and Last Exile, character designs similarly straightforward and open.

Backgrounds are OK, but I was mainly talking about in-between (and sometimes key) animation.