Kyou no Go Ni
Short Synopsis: Our lead character does pretty much the same as in the OVA…
Highlights: …and actually does a better job at it.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 7,5/10
There really are too many teenage-antics series this season, but the best ones so far for me came from Hyakko and this series. It surprised me a lot, because the original OVA bored me so much that I dropped it after only two episodes. It’s probably because the main cast is significantly younger than in nearly all other shows this season, and still have a sense of innocence, combined that someone hired some sort of uber-director who managed to get the best out of them. The first half consisted exactly out of two stories that also appeared in the OVA, and yet they were hilarious here, while boring at the OVA. I think it’s because the creators are willing to take more risks, and also add their own style a bit, without copying blindly from the manga. It’s got a nice sense of pacing, and although it’s still there, the emphasis on fanservice is definitely less. Overall, a pleasant surprise.
Ga-Rei Zero
Short Synopsis: Our lead character fights against invading zombies
Highlights: Nice ending!
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8,5/10
Wow! That was actually much better than I expected when I first learned that this would be an action-series. This episode would have been fine as an excellent standalone story, and to think that it’s still continuing afterwards. The episode starts with some solid action, with an unremarkable plot (where the experienced adults get mercilessly slaughtered and the young ones somehow manage to survive – that’s a plot-hole they need to take care off in the rest of this series) and an excellent soundtrack. Just when the action was over, and I thought that the rest of the episode would just consist out of an epilogue, it pulls a friggin’ Shigofumi, and actually exceeds Shigofumi’s first episode in this. Now if this series manages to avoid going the Kiss Dum-route, we’re in for a very solid action-series!
Inazuma 11
Short Synopsis: Our lead character is a 10-year-old brat why plays soccer (yup, it’s that kind of series)
Highlights: Lack of originality, clichés, blah blah.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 4/10
So… yeah. Alongside Battle Spirits, this is another one of those shounen-sports series that are meant to only appeal at boys of the age of 10 and below. This single episode was decent enough to watch, but there’s no attempt at originality at all: we have the spunky male lead, the rival who doesn’t want to play but is actually kind hearted and a transfer student, the lead character’s best girl friend, a bunch of incompetent side-characters, the evil punks, the father who is gone and is a major soccer-player, et cetera et cetera. That bit of character-development at the end was also way too soon. I mean, why bother make a new series if you can just air something of ten years ago. I mean, there’s no way that these kids are going to notice and it’s a lot cheaper to produce this way.
When I saw the Ga-Rei PV, I was kind of disappointed that it didn’t look anything like the manga, which was looking to be a really above average shounen from what I’d read. But holy hell, that was amazing, and now that I’ve read a bit farther, I think I can see about where it fits in.
If it really goes back with the manga, I don’t know that you’ll like it, but it all depends on how they go about it.
well the main lead of this is suppose to be 25 and the female 20 so i guess the entire team range btw early 20 to late 30, well it suprise a bit that not only gundam eill have an older cast i guess, Mmmm they change the cast but keep the manga enemies? o boy let see what this turns out!!!, by the way nice boat at the end lol.
Awww, you found the Kyou no 5 no 2 OAV boring? I really liked it. Hopefully, this means I’ll like the TV series even more. (:
-Tom
oh god I disagree, kill me with the new voice acting in kyou no go no ni. i felt that the animation was lacking as well. liked the manga, liked the ova…don’t think i could watch another ep of that series though.
haha ga-rei was so much better than I expected too!
Kyou no Go Ni: (Hmm….)
Ga-Rei Zero: (So it’s actually good huh? Sounds interesting!) *Adds to watch-list*
Inazuma 11: (Based on the soccer rpg made by Level5, known mostly for their games dark cloud and rogue galaxy. It was actually better than i expected, finally have a sports anime i can watch besides eyeshield 21).
Thanks god! I wanted to check out Kyou no Go ni, but I found out that it was going to be produced by XEBEC, and you know what they have made earlier this year. Nice to see I have nothing to fear.
And with Ga-Rei Zero, I wasn’t going to check that one out, but I’ll consider it now. Considering I gave Hyakko a chance and loved the first episode.
Woops, I meant thank god. Not actually thanking him. xD
I found Class 5-2’s OVA to be very awesome in what it intends to do: throwing sexual innuendos even though it is not meant to be anything sexual except for the perverted mind. In addition, the OVA is actually funny. However, the tv series is an a total decline. The graphics is overly simple and poor to depict the drastic face distortions. The jokes are dry and not done well. The worst thing is that they even fouled up the sexual innuendos. Xebec really fouled up the first episode completely.
For the soccer show, it’s for kids. ^^
the bike in ga rei zero was surprisingly the most creative element i’ve seen in japanese anime series so far. cant wait till subs come out 🙂
Now i’m interested in Ga-Rei. Thought it would be a generic watch, but now I have to see it.
mulligan-Oh lord, that motorbike. I swear I was harder hit by that thing breaking than I have been by the death of many an actual character.
I don’t know if I’m sleepy or something but Kyou no go no ni is very absurd, it makes me feel like my brain will deteriorated and turn back to a 2 years-old child if I continue watching it ==.
Garei-zero is my hope for good action this season, seeing you mention about Shigofumi and all , that should be great.
imo.. 5-2 OVA was awesome… 5-2 TV is utter failure and makes me cry. enough said.
Back again. This time to say the first episode of Kyou sucked (sorry, it was just dull to me), and that the first ep of Ga Rei Zero blew my mind.