All pictures found at Shakunetsu no Honoo - many thanks!
Well, now I have seen Glühen! Stylistically it is quite different, and the quality is better than the first season. It's also internally a little less inconsistent than WK. That is, there really is just one overall problem they're dealing with, instead of taking a break in the middle after killing Takatori. And some of the characters are a little....weird.
Okay. Aya. Well, altho I do love his posing as a teacher (I would so love to call him Fujimiya-sensei...but then I guess I have a sensei/shisho fixation) he's just so.........nice compared to his sullen, brooding self in the first series. It works, but it takes a little getting used to. The opening theme is very nice tho - has the boys bloody with black wings. I'm a sucker for that. I drew the one of Aya and...well...yeah.
Yohji is...um...a little psycho. I mean that in a nice way. He's still all torn up about Asuka and talks to her ghost all the time. He even calls her ghost on the phone. That's going a bit far in my mind, but still. He also has a tendency to strangle whatever woman he's sleeping with when she's not Asuka. I think Yohji's the one who took the knocks from the first season the hardest.
Ken is a little weird. He's less nice than he was in the first season or the OVA. He and Yohji don't even come into the story until episode six. He's miffed when Sena messes things up - especially after Kyou's death.
Omi is now...well...Persia. It's a little weird that he's chosen to be Takatori Mamoru and rebuild Kritiker with his grandfather Saijou, but it works. He totally acts the part of Takatori even when it hurts him - as in the confrontation with Knight at the end of the series. Mmmm, Knight. He looks and dresses a lot like Aya, except he has Seki Toshihiko's voice instead. I am not complaining. I love that voice. I mean, seriously. Seki Toshihiko might look like someone's dad, but he sounds damn sexy. He has only a brief appearance in the show, but more than his fellow Crashers, Bishop, Rook, and Pawn.
Sena turned out to be pretty cool. But then, I love Yamaguchi Kappei, so....and he dies. Well, that's not a surprise. Maybe it's cause he dresses like Xena.
You know, it's weird when things change on you unexpectedly. I'd heard a bit about Weiß Kreuz: Glühen, so I thought I'd nose around the internet and see what I could find out about it. It's the second season of the popular bishonen series...and it's totally different.
There's some change in the story and the line up of characters. Everyone has moved on since the previous season of Weiß, and come back to HQ for different reasons. There was apparently some legal brouhaha over the character designs, so everyone in Glühen looks different. Well, just a little bit...how, you ask? Well, let me start with out favorite ikebana-assassins.
1) Aya: well, he looks good at least. He has long hair, usually pulled back. It's still red, although slightly more tame than before. He has much longer bangs, and his hair is parted on the right side. He actually reminds me of a cross between Duo Maxwell from Gundam Wing, and Tatsumi Seiichirou from Yami no Matsuei. Check it out. He's posing as a teacher, glasses included. I'm a sucker for an intelligent man in a suit...Of course, his Weiß uniform has this weird coat with a high collar that makes him look like he's out of 19th century England.
2) Ken: looks nominally the same. His fashion sense is a little off, but then, it always was (c'mon...the orange shirt?). His hair kind of weirds me out. Instead of the cute floppy thing he had going on, he looks like he's taking style tips from Mimiru of .hack//sign. Very odd. Not sure if I can get used to it or not. Here's a promotional shot of Ken. I think he's trying out for Speed Racer.
3) Omi: Uh...well...not sure how to say this, but what the heck happened to Omi? Besides he totally changed. I wonder if he's still the genki boy we know and love...there's a lot of weird stuff going on with Omi. I'll discuss some spoilers when you see his new look so be warned...
4) Yohji: Um. Not sure what to say about him. He lost the long hair, and now has...well....short hair. It's a little weird. He still has some of the same tendenceis. They keep showing him in shots with a red cross painted on his chest. ^_^ I think Yohji-1 would do that, too. I'm not sure what to make of Yohji and Ken, since they don't show up much in the early series. Anyway, here's a shot of Yohji sketching.
5) Sena: yes, here's the newbie. Well, I don't know much abotu him except that he carries a chakram and his seiyuu is Yamaguchi Kappei. He appears to be 16 years of age or so...the newest bouya in the Weiß saga. See him pretending to be Xena, Warrior Princess here.
And more - there's Kyou and Tohdoh Hijiri-kun. I think Hijiri starts otu possibly villainous? He probably doesn't stay that way. Seems that no one stays that way...now Kyou, I have no idea about. I think he's invovled with Weiß. Well, duh, I guess technically the whole series is involved with Weiß, but you know what I mean.
And then there's everyone's favorite quartet of badguys, Schwarz! Only now...they're not bad guys. I know, try wrapping your mind around that weirdness. And you cannot imagine how odd they look, truly.
1) Crawford: well, he's lost the 20-something-affluent-American look in favor of the Treize Krushrenade from Gundam Wing look. Oh, and he has an evil monocle, no glasses, which is a horrible disappointment. If you ask me, he looks kind of like a sleaze. Check out his slicked-back-silver hair and evil monocle in this picture. Scary, really.
2) Schu: OY. Well, although his overall appearance has probably had the least dramatic change as far as his physical body,I can't say the wardrobe is improved at all. You thought that headband was bad? Check out the hat. Yeah, he looks like he wanted to be in Newsies or something. Either that or he raided Manx's closet and this is what he came up with. Even when he loses the goofy hat, his hair is just kind of weird. It does this flip-thing in the front that...well...makes him kind of look like a girl. I love Schu to death, and all his snide and smirking ways, but this?
3) Farfarello: He has two eyes! What? How? Why? No! Wrong! Okay, I'm done. Yes, our favorite Irish psycho has suddenly grown back his missing right eye. It's just....very odd to see a two-eyed Farfie.
4) Nagi: Now, Nagi's powers seem to have evolved quite a bit since we left the kawaii Japanese school boy. He's also much taller, which is not a bad thing. I think he and Schu suffered the least in Schwarz as far as mangled character design goes. Although his hair has a distressing tendency to want to pull a Saicho, as you can see here.
So that is Weiß Kreuz: Glühen as much as I know about it. It's probably as good as the original (Well, to be honest, I use the term "good" loosely, because the plot was always kind of thin...I mean, stealing organs? That's so urban legend...). In the beginning, after all, students are being convinced to commit suicide by evil screen savers. And you thought those flying toasters were so friendly!
Hopefully I will see some of this season soon. It's going to be weird hearing the right voices coming out of the new character designs, but hopefully that won't last. Until then, enjoy dreams of your favorite flower-arranging assassin!
