Nurarihyon no Mago – Sennen Makyou
Short Synopsis: Our lead character leads the youkai.
Okay, this season is definitely being adapted by different people. This episode fitted this series much, much better. It’s like, an improvement in every way. You can really see that the director of Hyakko worked on this: it has the same timing, the same camera angles, and there are actually jokes put in the lighter moments that are really similar to Hyakko’s delivery (oh and for the record: I really liked Hyakko and consider it among the better high school comedies out there). What’s more though, the animation also really got an upgrade, and actually looks really good. Characters look less like cardboard boxes, and the creators even found a way to get Rikuo’s hair to move. Finally after Giant Killing we get to see again that Studio Deen DOES know to create some eye candy. As for the story: I have no idea whether or not it’ll be better, because this episode animated a chapter that the first season forgot to animate and inserted at the weirdest point in the final episode. Peoeple kept promising that Rikuo’s friends would play a much lesser roles in the later arcs, but this episode still was all about them, so I’m not sure where they think they’re going with this.
ED: Neat visuals, catchy instruments, though cheesy vocals.
Potential: 75%
Sacred Seven
Short Synopsis: Our lead character is the legendary hero who will defeat evil.
Here’s the thing with this first episode: this series needs 24 episodes. With that, it can make a great plot and cast of characters. Without it, it’ll probably have a difficult time. With this series, I really would have liked it if the creators put a big more imagination into the setting. I know who wrote this and the creators could certainly have been able to do something more than just another high school mecha show. But the thing remains that this episode was quite solid. The action is good, the characters are a bit emo, but with the right development they can really work (hence the 24 episodes) and it will probably make an entertaining, yet unremarkable series. The big problem is that it has very little that makes it stand out aside from small things like the OP and the fact that the main character is riding around on a very tiny motorbike. Those were really cool, but they also were just gimmicks. This show takes too many elements from other mecha series, and doesn’t even go with the most interesting ones. It lacks a signature, and will the creators be able to create this during the rest of the series?
OP: Yuki Kajiura delivers again.
ED: Yuki Kajiura delivers again.
Potential: 70%
Kami-Sama no Memo-Chou
Short Synopsis: Our lead character meets a girl who is Not in Employment, Education or Training and who works as a detective.
Holy crap. This was well written. I mean, heck: this was incredibly well produced. Rock solid in every single way. The premise of this series of yet another guy who finds yet another genius detective does far from justice to this episode. The cases and especially the dialogues are intelligent, the side-characters all are portrayed with exceptional detail and are miles away from the usual stereotypes. The story in this episode was great and really well built-up as well, but in particular it was the voice acting that really made this episode shine and bring the characters alive. This is a series which has episodes of 45 minutes, and it really makes use of that to make everything play out slowly. This was creative and the few jokes it put into this episode really worked. My only complaint is JC Staff forcing in their usual incredibly out of place fanservice shots at the end of the episode. They really need to stop doing that, because that was the only blemish on an otherwise consistently excellent first episode.
OP: Unremarkable music, but inspired visuals.
ED: Hell yeah, rock and roll really well done. Great visual direction as well.
Potential: 95%
Wow, I thought that Kami-Sama no Memo-Chou would be just a Gosick like or some kind of imitation, but, gladly, I got a mistake, I guess, the investigation part is better than Gosick, and I agree, the characters are very good. First episode has 40 minutes and I didn’t mind, when I saw, it ended.
Considering Sacred Seven is being done by Sunrise I would expect it to be 24-26 episodes. The only show I’m really excited for this season, glad to see the potential is there.
OP: Yuki Kajiura delivers again.
ED: Yuki Kajiura delivers again.
Just increased the chance of me watching it to 100%
So the director of Hyakko directing nurarihyon now?
Then I might actually watch the second season.
I’m glad Nurarihyon finally gets the attention it deserves. The first season was such a disappointment!
I thought Kami-Sama no Memo-Chou was simply amazing. The mystery was really well constructed, if not a little disturbing. The whole ‘compensation dating’ thing is pretty creepy but the twist at the end of that episode was great. The good thing about the twist though was it made sense. It’s that AH OF COURSE type of twist. I hope it can keep it up
I was underwhelmed by Kami-Sama. Felt like a pretentious Durarara without the energy or intrigue, just some standard crime show drama with some standard preachy moralism.
It didn’t really sell me on the feasibility of these “neet detectives” when they were too scared to do the real leg-work and had to enlist the male lead to do it for them.
That, and the cops would have solved this case long before these inept kids if the victim was half as socially upscale as the show made her out to be.
But I’m being too hard on it. My expectations were just set too high. It’s far better than usual for a JC Staff anime.
PSgels
Mago 2 Episode 1 is the first chapter of the manga that was finally animated. Basically the mangaka asked S1s director to animate it and he promised and yeah…. so he kinda forced them to animate it in s2. Also the very first scene wasn’t in the first chapter… but is important for this season.
As for Rikuo’s school friends and co just take a look at the OP for the show…
Sacred Seven: It has a lot of visual polish, but the story elements aren’t doing anything for me, the sound engineering was pretty bad in a few places, the soundtrack is unpleasant and loud, and I didn’t like most of the character designs. I’m not really that interested, but I might end up watching it to appreciate the animation.
NEETs with jobs: The visual direction and the music was pretty good. The OP was nice. I immediately don’t like the loser A-Team. I don’t really like Alice either. If she were a he or not drawn cutely no one else would either. In the end the main character doesn’t really know why he’s there and neither do I. However, I thought it was pretty solidly put together and I’m willing to wait and see if it grows on me.
That fan-service bit at the end of the NEET show made me facepalm.
Why japan? Why must you always do this? Its like giving you a tasty icecream, only to have a mousetrap in the bottom of the cone.
I wouldn’t even realize that sacred seven op is a fiction junction song if you hadn’t mention it o.0 Its very different from the usual stuff and I’m not sure I like it. The show itself is a bit uninteresting too.
Holy crap Lelouch is back! LOL Seriously, that guy looks A LOT like Lelouch in those eye close ups
Glad there is a new Sunrise anime anyway, they always have tons of twists and turns so its bound to be entertaining
I find Sacred Seven…weird… And the the Arma guy looks like Lelouch indeed XD
Sacred seven episode sucked. Noisy, generic, random.
I thought Nura Clan’s first season was pretty good, but the second season looks to be more promising. I’m curious to see where the story will go next–such as whether or not Yura will be finding out Rikuo’s a yokai.
I second Tomtom. Sacred Seven was pretty trash. I can’t blame the voice actors; this was all the premise. It makes very little sense, and the writers completely failed to immerse the viewer into the cracked-out world that serves as its setting. I really think its potential is like 5%. It feels like it will be hardly tolerable to watch throughout.
That said Kami-Sama no Memo-Chou seems like its the series to watch this season (bar Natsume of course). I expect great things from it.
I really wanted Sacred Seven to be good. I really did, but it was pretty much sucked. It took campy to a whole ‘nother level.
I really dislike this trend of intelligent, snarky, moe girls that seems to plague a lot of anime lately :/ It’s not cute
I honestly liked Nura’s first season better… it was sort of light-hearted. A really easy and pleasant watch. This feels more like the shonen epic it SHOULD be, but, eh.
Sacred Seven was horrible in every single way except animation. A bunch of maids, a super rich loli with a bishounen butler, stupid highschool drama…from the names attached I expected much more than this. It’s like “stupid generic anime stereotypes: the series” and it pisses me off that it gets a huge budget while other more deserving series have to operate on a shoestring.
I’ll continue watching for the animation.