Some Quick First Impressions: Dies Irae, Garo – VANISHING LINE and Code:Realize Sousei no Himegimi

Dies Irae

Short Synopsis: Nazi’s form a supernatural powered group and move to create Chaos in modern day Japan.

Lenlo’s Review:

Ho boy, another anime on Magical Nazi Germany. The dialogue is ham fisted, the animation is stunted and lacks any sort of impact and the directing has a number of weird cuts and spinning or zooming camera shots. Just watch until the first fight against the two bandaged people to see what I mean, as they float around and swipe/slide at each other. The quality switch between fights and stills makes me think I’m watching a completely different anime. As far as story or characters go, everything about this makes me think Dies Irae is only for the Visual Novel fans. Unless you already know what is happening, who some of these characters are or what is happening, I don’t think this will be a good fit for you.

Potential: 15%

AidanAK47’s review

Oh what a confused mess of a series this has turned out to be. I can’t say I am surprised for as I said in my preview, I wasn’t excited to see this series. I always had the feeling it would turn out something like this. First some clarification. This is not the start of the story, this is in fact a side story of the visual novel which is normally viewed after making it a good bit through the visual novel. I get the intent here as this side story is supposed to be of how our league of villains got together and seeing as they are one of the best parts of this story it’s not a bad idea to start it with them. However if you know nothing about Dies Irae then good luck trying to follow this. Even though I read the story I found this episode to be presented in a confusing way. It assumes that you already know the characters and have an idea on what is happening. This series is not beginner friendly, that‘s for sure. The animation and art is pretty terrible sadly which is a shame because the visual novel art is quite beautiful. Direction is also quite messy and the writing just feels stilted and paced wrong. What bugs me quite a bit here is that the fight scenes show the characters jumping around and doing supernatural stuff. But at this point in time in the story the characters haven’t obtained supernatural powers yet. This should just be a street brawl, not some shounen power clash with teleportation and ridiculous physics. Well I will be covering this series out of personal interest despite it looking to be a trainwreck but I implore you thus. If this episode has gained even a tiny bit of your interest then stop watching this anime and play the visual novel for it will undoubtedly be a far superior experience. You can get the first seven chapters for free on steam right now with the rest of the game as paid DLC. Normally DLC is an ugly word but in this case it means you can experience a large part of the story to see if it’s for you before buying the product. If you are interested then that is how you should experience this story. Otherwise the only value in watching this series is if you have read the VN and want to see just how badly they screw it up.

Potential: 10%

Garo – VANISHING LINE

Short Synopsis: A motorcycle-riding knight defeats Horrors amidst a modern cityscape.

Mario’s review

The premiere period is only half of its run so far, but I believe we now have a contender for the best Action show of this first impression. Vanishing Line functions like a Hollywood action movies, with really well-crafted choreography and smooth animation. The story is as straight-forward as it gets, following a new Garo hero fighting those monsters and our red-haired girl finding her road to El Dorado, the former would please any action fans and the latter would provide some thematic chop. The new hero, Sword, is a perfect lead for this type of show: hot-head, skillful but never think far ahead. The type that will think about what to eat as soon as he’s not pursuing the monsters. The battle sequences are amongst the best I’ve seen this year and with many amazing set-pieces, the show manages to entertain from beginning to end. At the end of the day Vanishing Line is still a brainless style over substance show, but at long as it doesn’t disappoint in terms of entertainment values there will be nothing to worry about.

Potential: 60%

Wooper’s Review

I’ve got to disagree with Mario on this one, especially where Garo’s visual presentation is concerned. The use of shaky-cam during its fight scenes is on the level of Paul Greengrass’s Bourne films, and MAPPA employed that technique specifically because there weren’t enough in-between frames to bring its combat to life. Even the computer-aided elements of the production didn’t have the necessary polish to communicate what the hell was going on. As a viewer, you know that people are getting punched, kicked, and shredded by motorcycle tires, but if you were asked to describe the fight fifteen minutes after watching it, the specifics would probably elude you. That’s not the kind of direction I’m looking for in an action series, and unfortunately, none of the show’s other aspects are enough to rescue it from mediocrity. The modern setting is new for Garo, but once you get past how different it is, you realize the New York-inspired streets and back-alley shots have all been done before. The aptly-named Sword has a lot of charisma, but he’s surrounded by women whose roles are either to get rescued or have big tits. The spirit trapped in the skull ring was the best part of the premiere for the ridiculous way he fused with the MC’s bike, but of the two shows this season with talking motorcycles, Garo isn’t the one you ought to be watching.

Potential: 30%

Code:Realize Sousei no Himegimi

Short Synopsis: A girl whose touch is poisonous is captured by a group of bastardised fictional icons.

AidanAK47’s review

You know I really do try with these Otome game adaptations. I at least try to have an open mind, to let the story have a chance to suck me in. But it’s really hard for me when the writing is so damn amateurish that when you have a character singing London Bridge is falling Down in the first few seconds and manage to get the lyrics wrong! Not broken down, Falling down. It’s in the bloody title for god’s sake. Do you even google sir?! On top of which we got a cast of bastardised characters from other famous fictional works and yet they get it wrong because this story is set in England and two of these characters are supposed to be french. Not that it matters all that much cause these pretty boys have nothing to do with their counterparts. Yet again in an Otome adaption our main character is a paper puppet with the emotional range of Steven Seagal. All of her lines are monotone and despite the fact she literally kills everyone she touches, all these pretty boys are out to get a piece of that fatal action. I actively laughed when one of the guys asks another how she was feeling and the man responds with “Confused…I think”. Even our main characters can see this protagonist is a piece of cardboard saying lines so standard I wouldn’t be surprised if they were straight from an otome playbook. Also of course, she has amnesia because god forbid our main character have some actual character. Look, I am not denying that eroge/visual novels have their own annoying hangups as well but at least out of them you can pick out some standout works. But when it comes to Otome, I have yet to see a single worthwhile work. Please, just one work that doesn’t feel like cookie cutter garbage would be nice.

Potential: 0%

Mario’s review

Sorry to be blunt, but the whole concept doesn’t make any damn sense. How can the main girl can stay along in the big mansion all those years without food and pass anyone’s suspicion until now? Why did her father think it’s a good idea to implant whatever it is to her chest and leave her alone, along with verbally abuse her? Why Arsene Lupin? Isn’t he French? Along with Mahoutsukai no Yome, we have another show that set in England, but with much less detail. The group of gentlemen has some diversity, but they’re still pretty much an one-note characters for now. But that main girl is just terrible, her character is indistinctive, she has no real drive and even filled with tired tropes (amnesia??? Seriously). I’m not holding my breath much for this one. Thumbs down.

Potential: 20%