One of my fave anime screams…
I had the opportunity to check out the Get ready to Scream with Animax event at STGCC (Thanks in no small part to my media pass…), where people who purchased the an Animax exclusive Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan T-shirt got an exclusive preview of the Scream Awards 2010 and the Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan anime. So did it make me scream? More after the jump…
Before the event:
People start arriving:
First up, is of course the Scream Awards 2010 preview screening. Broadcast back in October on Spike TV in the US, the Scream Awards is an awards show dedicated to sci-fi, horror and fantasy genres. Animax gave us a one-hour-ish preview of the show. Considering its not a particularly recent event, one can actually find out the winners by google-ing or wiki-ing it. Nonetheless, it was pretty nice to see some of the funny stuff which happened during the show. The full show (if I remember correctly) would last 1 1/2 to 2 hours, so giving us half or more of the award show as a “preview” was kind of pushing it. I honestly don’t see the point of watching it again when it screens across the Sony channels on Starhub TV on December 19.
Right after that, was a short announcement on the winner of Favourite Anime of 2010 as voted by Animax viewers, which was not so surprisingly Fairy Tail. A little disappointed that Inuyasha: The Final Act didn’t get it (I personally voted for it too). Since the Fairy Tail producers couldn’t come down to receive the award, they sent a short video (somewhat blurry picture above) with the usual pleasantries and thank you message etc.
Finally, it was what I (not so sure about the rest of the audience) was waiting for, the Nuraihyon no Mago (a.k.a Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan) preview screening. Animax screened the first two episodes of the 25 episode anime series (which will be ending soon in Japan).
Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan tells the story of Rikuo Nura, an ordinary teenager if not for his one quarter demon blood line. Though destined to become the third master of the yokai (demons), he prefers to remain an ordinary human. His demon side however, is able to manifest itself during the night (literally his “night” side), transforming him into a confident and strong yokai.
To be entirely honest, after watching the first two episodes, it seems to be standard shonen manga fare, with the standard character types. The main character (played by Jun Fukuyama) is the typical male lead struggling to come to terms with his powers. Female lead / likely love interest Kana Ienaga (Aya Hirano) is the standard damsel in distress, though this might change in future episodes. The feel of the show is also somewhat reminiscent of Kekkaishi (which is good, of course). If the plot is developed well, it could turn out to be more than decent. Would likely start watching it when it starts airing on Animax.
Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan will be broadcast on Animax Asia from February 2011.
All in all, was it a “screamable” event? Not really. While it was pretty fun, it probably wasn’t worth the entry price of S$35 (albeit with the T-shirt and an additional poster/pillow case, unless you’re a big fan of the show). Nonetheless, it was good to see Animax Asia continuing to connect with the anime community in Singapore (There was also a lucky draw at the end where lucky audience members got either a S$50 voucher or Sandman figurine. All of the audience got an additional Fairy Tail handphone pouch, myself included of course). I certainly hope to see more similar events in future (preferably with a less-steep entry fee, of course).
Tags: Animax, Anime, STGCC, The Scream parody