Some Quick First Impressions: Amaama to Inazuma, Fukigen na Mononokean and Tales of Zestiria the X

Amaama to Inazuma

Short Synopsis: A father wants to learn how to cook to make his daughter happy.

This is one of those shows, the ones you watch on a rainy day after being stressed out at work/school and too tired to stomach something that requires more attention. This is fluff but it’s good fluff. If you can get past the rather ridiculous hair for the little girl you have a show about a single father and his adventures in cooking for his daughter. While watching I found myself relaxing and smiling as I watched the father and daughter interact. The two have some excellent chemistry and their dialogue never comes off as forced or unnatural. Luckily the food tasting isn’t over exaggerated like that of other shows about food and the characters are good. The biggest negative I can say is that it’s not the kind of show you will rave over or put you on the edge of your seat. Rather more of a soft pillow to take a break in between shows. In regards to that I say this could be a good watch for tired minds.

Potential: 80%

 

Mario’s thoughts:

By formula, the show is Bunny Drop in ways more of eating and cooking together. The two shows have the same plotline of single father (or father’s figure) learn how to raise a child on his own, but if I put it that way I’d sell this one short. Yes, this show’s about a father tries his best to raise his daughter, and determines to spend more time cooking to make his daughter happy; but the central theme here, as clearly shown in this first episode, is about their relationship. And their relationship is one of the most natural and real in anime. They’re a bunch of likeable people, and Tsumugi charms her way through very natural and spot on behaviors. This first episode also succeeds on showing subtle emotions from each cast (like the way Tsumugi sings her favorite song, and asks her father to sing it with her), making them lively and true to life. This is such a pleasant watch and I believe it would be a solid low-key show to follow.

Potential: 80%

 

Fukigen na Mononokean

Short Synopsis: A boy hires a student exorcist to get rid of a Youkai that’s clinging to him.

Welcome to Natsume’s book of friends School life edition. Not sure how else I can put it other than that. This series carries a lot of similarities with it in being about helping Youkai and having a somewhat episodic structure. Is it better than Natsume? Truly I don’t know as i didn’t really find Natsume all that interesting. I think I just don’t like the concept of Youkai as I find them more silly than intimidating. I think this episode manages to be a great adaption of the manga and animation seems suited to it. I can see others taking quite a liking to this show if you are fond of shows such as Mushishi or stories dealing with sympathising with supernatural beings. If it feel on one front I say I am not too fond of the comedy which seems too slapstick for the nature of the series. If it’s your thing I think you will enjoy it quite a lot so I guess just try it out and see for yourself.

Potential: 60%

 

Mario’s thoughts:

I’m surprised to say I enjoy watching its first episode, but at the same time I have my doubt on it. It’s simply because most of elements that I enjoy in this episode is going to be one-off. The yokai this week is the real star of course and I like the gag where Ashiya passes out at school and wakes up in nurse’s office. The comedy is spot on so far and I mildly interested in the main concept: about Ashiya and Abeno and how they exorcise the yokai monsters. But the elements that going to be prominent are sadly just not as interesting and predicable. The chemistry between the two leads is just average. They’re still nothing more than their archetypical role and putting them on the same class is as cliché as hell (pun intended). Moreover, the way this week’s yokai even has more emotional complex than our two leads is not a good sign. The show has my curiosity so far, but it needs to do more than this to get my full attention.

Potential: 50%

 

Tales of Zestiria the X

Short Synopsis: A queen deals with the world’s destruction as she waits for the arrival of the hero called the Shepard.

Interesting. This episode is actually completely anime original as the game doesn’t actually show what happened to the queen before she met the main protagonist. Though I think this was a wise way to start the story as the game starts with a much slower less interesting tutorial. It’s Ufotable so naturally it looks pretty beautiful but I really hope they pick something better next time to bestow excellent fight animation and lush backdrops. Maybe an Adaption of “The empty box and Zero Maria” perhaps?(They certainly could get some experimental animation with that and the series does share some similarities with their previous work Kara no Kyoukai) Or better yet an original anime. None the less I think this better presents the state of the world than the game did but I fear this may have given viewers the wrong idea about the tone of the series. You should expect things to get more lighthearted and typical JRPG in the next few episodes. From the tales games I played the story doesn’t stray too far from JRPG archetypes. For one that King Arthur symbolism is so obvious that it hurts. My original estimate still stands for this, it will look quite pretty but considering that the game failed to engage me even with gameplay, i doubt stripping out gameplay will make it more engaging.

Potential: 20%

 

Mario’s thoughts:

Man, talking about heavy-handed! Many of factors of this series scream “important” to your face: from the story itself about the young queen lose almost everything at the end of episode, to the many big talks, to the intense fight sequences to the dark and loud score to even darker art designs. As you can likely guess I’m not a fan of heavy-handed material and even fantasy genre in general but I’m quite impressed with the production values of this one and the destructive storms sequence is for me a glaring example on how CGI done right. I’m not familiar to any of “Tales” franchise so I can’t say how this one reminisces others. The visual and character designs remind me a bit of From the New World, which is a great sign. Story-wise everything is all over the place now but it’s no mean inconsistent, as I think we will understand more as the series continue. With the production is as great as this one, I really hope the coming episodes tone down a bit on its seriousness, but I highly doubt it.

Potential: 35%