Shogi (Japanese chess) + murder mystery = great entertainment!

This is another anime that will probably not make its way to the US due to the obscure (to the US) subject matter.  This anime does go into nerdy detail about Shogi, but it’s not necessary to understand specifically what’s going with the Shogi games to enjoy the show.  Shogi, rather serves more as a back drop and a metaphor the rest of the show.  The murder mystery is the interesting part of the show.  The story starts with the brutal murder of a little girl’s parents as the little girl looks on.  The little girl, Shion, is left alive and we don’t know why.  She is also unable to speak due to shock from the incident  — or so we are told.  The rest of the story continues to unfold in dramatic fashion with lots of false leads and one shock after another as the characters themselves realize how screwed up things really are.  It’s fun to watch characters who thought they were in control find out that they are just pawns in someone else’s larger scheme.  I’m not sure how many episodes there are, however, there are 18-episodes translated into English and they are available through the usual portals.  At episode 18, the story seems to be at a climax.  We think we know for sure who the murder is.  The question now is why did the person kill all those people, will the person kill again, and will the police catch the criminal before the person kills again.  This is definitely a show for adults despite being animated due to the level of violence and the complexity of the story and the characters.  I highly recommend this anime to anybody who likes a good “whodunnit.”

Here’s list of anime that I am currently watching.  Most of these are not licensed in the US and are available fansubbed over the ususal anime bittorrent portals.

• “Gundam Seed” — and epic gundam (giant robot), space, soap opera
• “Rosario + Vampire” — human accidently gets accepted into a high school for monsters.  He quickly forms a harem consisting of a Vampire, a Succubus, two witches, and an ice user.  This anime is full or humor, action, romance, and a healthly doze of fan service.
• “Spice and Wolf”  — an adventure anime rooted in economics
• “Rental Magica” — a young man inherents a magic users service company.  The show mostly revolves around the solving of various horror mysteries and the relationship between the young President and his employees, who all lovingly call him “Shachou.”  This is an excellent series.  I highly recommend it.  I also like the opening theme song a lot.

Coming soon:  “Vampire Knight” starts up the first week April.  The manga is wildly popular in Japan and US.  I expect this to be licensed before the season is completed :(.

There’s a new anime series out there about a beautiful girl, and handsome guy, action and adventure on the high road, political intrigue, and wheat, currency, commerce, and “bean counting” ???  Hey, wait a minute here!  This anime is called “Spice and Wolf”!  Where’s the spice?  Where’s the wolf?  Huh? The story begins in some alternate universe in a land that is on the cusp of an industrial revolution.  The main character is travelling merchant, Lawrence, and he stops in small town to rest and catch up with an childhood female friend.  The town is in the middle of their harvest festival and the girl of interest has been declared “Horo” the wolf god and the bringer of a good harvest.  In the background of all of this, the society is in transition.  Farming methods have improved and the people no longer feel the need to honor “Horo” and have abandoned this god and others for a mono-theistic religion.  What’s the real god Horo to do without worshippers?

Horo and Lawrence meet up and Horo relays her tale.  Lawrence decides that the god could bring him luck in commerce and so off they go.  We see Lawrence negotiating and the wise god Horo stepping in and bettering the deal with her salesmanship.  There is great amount time devoted to having the characters explain in great detail negotiating and sales tactics as well as the  beans.  Then the story moves on to political intrigue driven by a currency devaluation scheme — oh, the excitement … Again much care is taken to explain in detail the inner workings of the politics and the ecomonic forces of this fictitious world.  It’s very geeky.

Anyhow, if you like beans this is the anime for you.  There are twelve episodes in total.  6 have aired.  I imagine due to the nature of the story, “beans”, we won’t be seeing this anime licensed in the US at anytime, so online maybe the only way to experience the econ-geeky joy of “Spice and Wolf.”