Regalia: The Three Sacred Stars
Short Synopsis: Fights break out in the city when loli’s turn into giant robots.
By far the strangest aspect of this show is how it essentially pairs up romantic relationships between a lolita girl and a older sister. Or in this case the Loli is the older sister? Also the loli is actually a giant robot. Um…You know I often try to dispel the common misguided belief of anime being “weird” as often it’s just a matter of cultural differences or the foreign audience not realising that the thing they find weird is meant to be a joke. However sometimes a show like this comes along that put some credence behind that belief. Still I still haven’t encountered anything in anime that tops the absurdity of superhero comic storylines.(Well, modern anime. Old OVA anime…well that’s another matter entirely.) I remain puzzled at what demographic this anime is aiming for exactly. Mecha Yuri lolicons? Do those exist? I mean they likely do but it has to be a small demographic. The mecha fight animation is quite nice and I would like the effect of the summoning of the loli mecha if she didn’t add that silly meaningless chuunibyou chant. The relationship between the two leads is puzzling as while they do refer to each other as sisters, it’s clear he anime is painting their relationship in a more romantic light. I can’t say the other aspects of the show stood out as it seems we are in for a more typical mecha show and whatever illusions to a higher plot are just way too vague to be guessed at. Whatever it is though I am sure it’s nothing impressive.
Potential: 20%
Mario’s thoughts:
This show starts off with a bang, literally, but this time I don’t mean it in a positive way. For all the shows that I have watched this season, Regalia is the most uneven production in terms of pacing and story. Even within its mecha genre, the show mixes in other elements, loli and yuri, to create one heck of an episode. It begins quite conventionally with a story from 12 years ago, pretty much to set the setting up than offers any backstory. But then the show gets weirder as it goes and the whole thing doesn’t really add up. For once putting an emotional scene about their relationship right in the middle of climax action is a terrible idea, since the scene will slow down the action. Indeed, it feels like we watching two shows at once as they are unsure if they going to focus on romance or action in this episode, moreover the transition between romance and action is awkward. The relationship of Yui and Reina seems bizarre to me more than earnest, as there are hints of romantic development here and there (like calling their hangout together a “date”, or the gift “ring”. The action sequence, nonetheless, is flashy and entertainment. I think this has some potential, but I have my reservation as the story and pacing are all over the place for now.
Potential: 20%
Planetarian
Short Synopsis: A scavenger in a world torn by war finds a robot in a planetarium still waiting for customers to see a starry sky.
This is actually an OVA rather than a full series, hence why it wasn’t featured on our preview. Though there have been some surprise entries that I wasn’t expecting. Well then, for the uninformed, this is indeed an adaption of a 3 hour long Key Visual novel and if you are familiar with the company in the slightest you know what you are in for here. Now i have made it clear my negative feelings about Key as a whole so you might expect me to warn you that this is typical of their output and to stay away if you aren’t into forced drama. However if I was to pick a favorite of the works of Key, much to the dismay of Key fans, it would be Planetarian. For this story is essentially the best aspects of Key rolled into a small digestible snack and manages to avoid the greatest failing of many of their works. Does that mean it’s perfect? The answer is no. It has a heavy dependence on the chemistry of it’s two leads who are the only characters in the story and practically everything is a waiting game for what is actually a pretty excellent climax. However with a five episode runtime it will be a difficult task to keep the viewers interested to that point and even during the middle part of the visual novel I start to yawn and get bored. It will have a pretty damn good finale but the question is if you are willing to watch till that point.
Potential: 55%
Mario’s thoughts:
I really like the way the show uses its first POV shots in this episode, so that we would see things the way the characters see, and that’s important, because Hoshino the robot is such a deranged character, stuck in time and seems happy all the time that we need to understand her perspective in order to sympathize her. That was unfortunately the only good thing I find in the episode. There seem to be something that triggered the biological bombing strike in the first place and the world-building so far hints at the conflict between human and machine (or citizen vs. government for that matters), but we don’t know much as the first episode spends its time on the interactions between Hoshino and the Junker. That part unfortunately was just below-average, since their chemistry was a bit off and Hoshino gets more annoying by the minutes. From what I heard this is going to be a 5-episode show, and for that I say it’s a perfect length to both explore the world-building, and develop Hoshino’s character act. But truthfully from what I had seen I don’t plan to go back to it anytime soon.
Potential: 25%
Kono Bijutsubu ni wa Mondai ga Aru!
Short Synopsis: The story details the activities of the art club which is filled with wacky characters. I enjoyed watching this but it isn’t a show I could say stands out. It’s fairly watchable but depends quite a bit on a romance between a girl and an oblivious boy. Here’s the thing with these kinds of shows and romance, it never goes anywhere. There are very few examples of these kinds of comedies were the romance element develops into anything substantial. Dagashi Kashi it never went anywhere, Servant X Service it never went anywhere, Umaru it never went anywhere and plenty of other examples where it never ever leads to anything. So this romance is certainly doomed from the start and that leaves us with the comedy which is just alright. I repeat that this isn’t a bad show, in fact I say it’s a nice watchable show if you want to add something light to your watching plan. However this is just like a small snack, quick and satisfying at the time but you won’t recall it a week later.
Potential: 40%
Mario’s thoughts:
I had such a good time with it. Yes, the premise seems like an unoriginal story, it is an execution that sold me here. I like all their character’s quirks and they produced many enjoyable little moments in this first episode. The comedy bits were light but I did enjoy some of its humor (the Apple Man, or the marriage ceremony scene for example). The most impressive character for me was a blonde girl who sneaks in a classroom’s locker box and didn’t even got introduced this week, but I’m already impressed by her enough to look for her first official appearance. The obsession of Subaru for his 2D waifu wife, and his total oblivious to Mizuki’s feeling are still amusing to watch for now, but can easily become dragging if they rely too much on those gags. This first episode offers something sweet and amusing, and I know this is my type of show, so I’ll give it more watch. For those of you who don’t like high school settings, cute girls doing cute things in an after-school random club, or slice-of-life in general, watch it with caution.
Potential: 40%
