Allison and Lillia [Archive]

Andrew Cunningham

10-03-2007, 09:09 PM

The other major series by the author of Kino no Tabi, Allison is a pulp adventure series involving lots of airplanes, world changing secrets, and boldly lying their way onto military bases.
As much as I love Kino no Tabi, Allison kicks the shit out of it.
Three Allison stories (in four volumes) were followed by three stories (in six volumes) about their children, Lillia and Treize that were every bit as good.
Far more commercial than Kino, I've been wondering just how these had not been turned into anime, but the obi on Kino no Tabi 11 and the cover of the most recent issue of Dengeki Hp both confirm that an anime adaption is coming soon.
More details should emerge soon.

Lego

10-03-2007, 09:40 PM

author of Kino no Tabi,

Thats an instant "hmm, I'll check this out" for me.

roastedpekingduck

10-03-2007, 09:57 PM

It's a pulp adventure and has the same author as Kino no Tabi? Count me in for sure.

HellKorn

10-05-2007, 05:40 PM

It's a pulp adventure and has the same author as Kino no Tabi? Count me in for sure.

What he said.

Andrew Cunningham

11-20-2007, 02:52 PM

Lego

11-20-2007, 03:22 PM

11-20-2007, 04:14 PM

Wow, this one has the potential to make the season. If I have to drop stuff to make time for it then so be it.

roastedpekingduck

11-20-2007, 08:36 PM

Madhouse!
Director is Masayoshi Nishida, writer is Doko Machida. Both have some experience but nothing that bowls be over with confidence.
Airing on BS2, which has generally been a mark of quality. Nishida going directly from directing Mokke to directing this in April is a slightly shorter lead time than I'd like, but I'd say this balances out to positive.

Niiiiiiice.

Looks like Spring/Summer '08 is again going to have a few interesting gems. This is probably my most anticipated show of '08, with the IG shows following (Real Drive and Library Wars).

Lego

11-20-2007, 10:30 PM

I.G looks to be taking on a lot of projects this upcoming year along with the second season of Welber.

Westlo

11-21-2007, 05:29 AM

If Spring/Summer 08 have half as many good shows as Spring/Summer 07 than we're in for a great few seasons.

Anyway I'll be looking out for this show for sure, Madhouse have impressed me a lot with their work from the last few years even though they have a few stumbles. But with the amount of shows they do I guess that's expected.

HellKorn

11-21-2007, 05:13 PM

Though Madhouse has made the majority of my favorite anime, they've left me cold in recent years with their shows, sans Kemonozume (thank to Yuasa).

I do gotta give props to their films: The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, Paprika, and I'm still looking forward to Piano no Mori.

Even with an underwhelming staff, perhaps the source material will be strong enough to shine through?

roastedpekingduck

11-21-2007, 05:25 PM

Staff is still an indicator of things (There's some people whom I know to avoid such as Masashi Abe), but I'm starting to put less stock into staff after Baccano!, which had some less notable people comprise its staff, but still was able to become one of the best fucking things I've ever seen.

HellKorn

11-21-2007, 05:32 PM

Andrew Cunningham

11-21-2007, 05:38 PM

Whaaaaat?! If Takahiro Omori (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/people.php?id=5380) as director and Noboru Takagi (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/people.php?id=18669) as chief screenwriter doesn't scream awesome, then I don't know what does.

Exactly. Neither one of them had done anything particularly impressive. Never heard of almost all the director's work. We've been over Texhnolyze, never heard of Koi Kaze, and heard exclusively mixed things on Hell Girl (or is the second season far better than the first? They seem to have only worked on the second.)
Haibane Renmei is the only thing on the director's resume that really impresses, and there's a big difference between directing an episode under someone else's guidance and running a show.

roastedpekingduck

11-21-2007, 05:41 PM

I wouldn't say that Takahiro Omori's resume screams awesome. He did direct Koi Kaze, play a minor role in Haibane Renmei and Jigoku Shoujo's second half was certainly better under his control, but he's also creatively involved in some less than stellar stuff. (Power Stone and Hyper Police?) A number of the shows he was prominently involved with such as Fancy Lala, also completely do not side with my taste, which was why that I had some slight doubt going into Baccano!.

Noboru Takagi on the other hand was involved in only a few things prior to Baccano, and in his case, I have to concede that his credits don't have blemish, but there were just far too few things that he had been involved with beforehand.

Edit: Andrew beat me to it.

HellKorn

11-21-2007, 05:47 PM

We've been over Texhnolyze,

Judging from your reaction to Shigurui, I wonder if it lies more with the director.

never heard of Koi Kaze,

One of the better romances I've seen, anime and manga.

and heard exclusively mixed things on Hell Girl

Very solid direction bogged down by unimaginative storytelling.

(or is the second season far better than the first? They seem to have only worked on the second.)

Takagi seems to have written a few episodes for the first season, though his name was incorrectly put in there as "Noburu" on ANN.

Granted, I have no idea which specific episodes that he wrote for either season, so you have me there.

Haibane Renmei is the only thing on the director's resume that really impresses, and there's a big difference between directing an episode under someone else's guidance and running a show.

True enough. Though nowadays with the amount of trash being pumped out having a couple of credible titles to one's name seems to give *some* promise.

Andrew Cunningham

11-21-2007, 05:59 PM

We've been over Texhnolyze,
Judging from your reaction to Shigurui, I wonder if it lies more with the director.

Definitely. But the script stilled lacked the right balance of mystery and hooks, the balance that Ghost Hound is currently managing beautifully.
never heard of Koi Kaze,
One of the better romances I've seen, anime and manga.
I just looked this up, and it's about a man in love with his underage sister? I think I can be excused for being dismissive.

HellKorn

11-24-2007, 04:11 PM

I just looked this up, and it's about a man in love with his underage sister? I think I can be excused for being dismissive.

Heh. Feel-good Love Roma it ain't.

Getting back on track, from your reviews of Alison (http://easternstandard.pbwiki.com/Alison) and Lilia and Trais (http://easternstandard.pbwiki.com/Lilia+and+Trais), I guess that it's another "episodic" series like Kino's Journey. If so, it makes it easier for an adaption (three novels of Alison for the first thirteen episodes, for instance).

Andrew Cunningham

11-25-2007, 02:12 AM

Not really; each novel tells a complete story, for six stories over the two series.

Aiia

11-26-2007, 02:11 PM

26 episodes planned according to Moon Phase. So, 13 each then? Looking forward to the show.

Westlo

11-26-2007, 02:26 PM

Hmm I wonder how they will handle the two sides... one cour to alison than the second cour to Lilia, alternate episodes or have them going at the same time and just cut back and forth.

roastedpekingduck

12-06-2007, 07:35 PM

A trailer of Alison/Lilia is now online, but it didn't show much and was admittedly a rather underwhelming trailer. It merely showed some random production art and had a pretty bad, synthy song playing in the background.

Andrew Cunningham

12-06-2007, 08:42 PM

I have no idea why they bother making a trailer when they don't have any animation ready yet.
The main thing that did was reveal a bunch of terrible official English spellings. Spelling Allison with two Ls is going to be particularly annoying.

Westlo

01-31-2008, 09:01 AM

Just got confirmed for 26 episodes.

Shigusawa Keiichi's "Alison and Lillia" has been announced to air weekly on NHK BS2, 4/3 (Thurs) starting 11:32 PM. The series will run for 26 episodes.

An original creation by Shigusawa Keiichi, to be directed by Nishida Masayoshi (Eyeshield 21, Mokke). The cast is currently undecided.

Source (http://anime.goo.ne.jp/contents/news/NAN20080131_81/index.html)
Official Site (http://allison-web.net/)

One of the shows I'm looking forward to the most this Spring.

Westlo

02-09-2008, 05:47 AM

Saw this at that forum.

http://img520.imageshack.us/my.php?image=alisonvn2.png

Ouch at the generic designs which look horrible especially when compared to the pic from the novel (I'm assuming) near the bottom left corner.

VA Cast

Alison = Mizuki Nana
Wilhelm = Kumai Motoko

Mizuki's a fav of mine and Motoko is Li Syaoran from CCS.

Andrew Cunningham

02-09-2008, 01:12 PM

That looks like shojo fanart. And I thought they fucked up the design for Kino no Tabi.
I don't know if I can stomach these...

Westlo

02-09-2008, 01:33 PM

I looked at it and went wtf, noticed the pic from the bottom and just smh in disgust. I'll still watch it because I don't have the option to read the novels.

Andrew Cunningham

02-09-2008, 01:55 PM

http://allison-web.net/
It's on the official site as well, so I guess we're doomed.
Why can't light novels get the same respect as manga does now? If Sayonara Zetsubo Sensei can be faithful to the original designs, Allison and Lillia can be, too.

HellKorn

02-10-2008, 03:52 PM

It's all generic BESM from here.

Though I'll probably be able to overlook it. If character designs were that critical for me, I'd only stick with manga considering how homogeneous anime almost always is...

Andrew Cunningham

02-21-2008, 04:44 PM

http://allison-web.net/
Updated again.
Lillia and Treize look less off model; even Allison looks fine despite the wonky perspective. Will is still unrecognizable (why does he have girl eyes?), but Benedict's hair do is bad ass.

Westlo

02-24-2008, 10:55 AM

That looks better than the pic from a while back, anyway some more VA's were announced.

Benedict: Yamadera Kouichi.
Fiona: Noto Mamiko.

Westlo

03-19-2008, 01:09 PM

New Trailer (http://uguu.es/blog/2008/03/19/y-ahora-trailer-de-allison-to-lillia/)

Looks better in motion but still not a patch on the novel designs. Could be worse I guess, look at Himitsu..

Andrew Cunningham

03-19-2008, 02:46 PM

Every single comedic expression made me cringe.
Her voice did not work at all, either; much too sweet.

Westlo

03-25-2008, 08:40 AM

I only watched the first 30 seconds of the trailer because it was fucking up when I played it off the website. Now I'm watching on youtube and something has made this show dead on arrival for me. The voice of the main male character is fucking Naturo? You have to be fucking kidding me.

Andrew Cunningham

03-25-2008, 02:10 PM

I was too busy being distracted by how the strong, irrepressible, vivacious female lead has been given the voice of the simpering airheaded doormat lead of a third rating dating sim.

HellKorn

03-25-2008, 10:38 PM

Madhouse might be pouring some gold into this series. Assuming they don't ship the series off to Korea after episode three, production values should be nice.

But I hate the fucking voices. It reeks of otaku-pandering, and neither the character nor this show deserves that in the slightest.

Likely to be one of the very few English dubs I'll favor over the Japanese if/when it's licensed...

Westlo

03-26-2008, 08:33 AM

Nana Mizuki has a massive range, her Allison here doesn't sound like her Fate from the Nanoha series, those 2 don't sound like the two voices she uses in Rosario + Vampire. The 4 voices I already mentioned don't sound like Misaki from Darker Than Black and I could go on...

Also Naruto's VA has more range than that, Naruto doesn't sound like Gon from Hunter X Hunter. I blame whoever is in charge of the VA's for this mess.