5/21/2007

There's a review under this, in case you missed it.

*Anime Dept: Considering that only two episodes out of a projected 26 have aired, there's a good deal of hype building behind studio Madhouse's Denno Coil, the directorial debut (beyond episode direction) of Mitsuo Iso, also the show's writer and original creator. Iso is widely experienced in key animation, and this is apparently something of a dream project for him - he's certainly managed to attracted an impressive roster of talents, and the level of animation quality in episode 1 is quite high, especially considering that this is television animation. Here's the first nine or so minutes of episode 1, which sets up the bare outline of the premise and showcases some nice character animation.

The storytelling is very low-key, kind of a whimsical urban childhood fantasy/sci-fi thing about chasing down digital pets in a quietly spooky near-future world. Lots more information can be found at the ever-valuable AniPages, including way more on the people involved than I could ever manage. People are going to be talking about this one as more episodes are released, particularly if this level of visual quality somehow keeps up.