New Mohoromatic Specail coming in October

[Dr Memory]

Anime News Network posted an announcement that there will be a new two part Mahoromatic special released October 17th & 24th.  See the articale dated Saturday August 24, 2009

[DrizzlingEnthalpy]

I watched the raw of the first of the two specials. It seems to take place early in the second season. No indication as of yet of the "I'm Home / Welcome Home" in the title being anything other than a reference to the fact that there haven't been any episodes produced for six years.

It looks like a fight with Feldrance will commence, though. I'm still holding out hope that Feldrance will end up dead somehow, contradicting his death in "End of a Dream". I don't think anything like that's been done before, but this is the first time I can think of that an anime was brought back from six years of absence (not counting remakes/new series). It can't just be about playing dressup, right?

A couple of other notes:

-Mahoro's limited lifespan is referenced, unlike in the Summer Special.
-For the first time ever, the nudity is obfuscated for the TV version. Not for censorship purposes, as it aired at the same time on the same channel as it did nearly a decade ago, but there's an increasing trend in ecchi shows to only show nudity in the DVD/BD versions. I suppose it's sort of like a nag screen saying "THIS IS A TRIAL VERSION." The sad thing is that I was certain it would be pseudocensored as soon as the new special was announced.

[Dr Memory]

I've had the chance to watch raws of both episodes and you're right about the "censorship" (although Chizu does seem to have a lot of panty shots).  The quality isn't quite as good as the original, but it isn't all that bad either.

The story is brand new (and I'll have to fit it into my calendar).  My Japanese isn't all that good so I'll probobly do a lot of stops and replays and work with my dictionary to at least work out the jist of the story... at least until someone subs it.

Since it is another open ended story (no more details) maybe there might be some additional filler specials.  I wouldn't mind seeing other stories from the manga like the Cosplay chapter or possibly the Mahoro Goes to Junior High School arc.

[DrizzlingEnthalpy]

Despite the fact that Anno doesn't seem to have storyboarded the OP like he did for Mahoromatic's previous two, it's even more Anno-ish than both of them combined (except for the lack of the train). I mean, it even has the quick flashes of white text on a black background.

And the conversation between Minawa and Feldrance in the second episode is probably the most artistically shot/executed scene I've seen in all of Mahoromatic (in the anime, anyway). I couldn't understand what they were saying, but it looks like they were attempting to build Feldrance into a sympathetic character... which, if they actually managed to do, is quite an accomplishment since he was always depicted as a sadistic psychopath, particularly after he killed Prof. Methris.

[Dr Memory]

Actually there is a train reference.  Mahoro is waiting at a train crossing and is shown after the train has passed.

And when you think about it, having Feldranace as a sympathetic character when you know he's a sadistic psychopath is even more scary.

I do like the opening theme and will endevor to get a copy of it when it becomes available.