Dantalian no Shoka
Short Synopsis: Our lead character meets a mysterious detective girl.
Aaand the last series to debut this season… also is really good. Holy crap, I can’t believe the amount of awesome seasons this season. Dantalian no Shoka is the third of the Gosick series this year, where a guy and a genius detective girl work together. The thing is, that it’s surprisingly well executed. Gosick, Kami-Sama no Memo-Chou and Dantalian no Shoka are all based on the same premise, but their execution is completely different. The most notable parts of Dantalian are its visuals, and the main couple. With Gosick, one of the big problems was that Kujou was an idiot, while Victorique was a genius: they were no match for each other when they were just solving a case. In Dantalian no Shoka, the two leads feel equal. Sure, the girl is smarter than the guy, but the guy certainly is no idiot, and actually a very likable airplane pilot, who simply isn’t a genius. He’s not overwhelmed by the girl, and neither is the girl a complete Hikkikomori who lets others do the work of gathering clues for her. It’s much more balanced this way. Now, as for the visuals: Gainax definitely did some interesting stuff with them, in the veins of “screw conventions”. The action scenes look gorgeous and very imaginative for once, but they also weren’t afraid to hide the fact that they used life-action images. Both for backgrounds, and for slideshows. It actually fits well, it’s used well, and it gives this series a unique look.
ED: Whoa, surprisingly good. Entirely life-action film and images, but a great mysterious atmosphere that works really well.
Potential: 85%
Some Quick First Impressions: Dantalian no Shoka
I’m really excited to see this, and am glad that you give it favorable descriptions. I always think it fun when anime brings live action into the picture, so I look forward to seeing how I react to the mixture. You comment on the ED, but how about the OP? Is there none in this first episode, or is it just not notable?
This might be the first work since Shikabane Hime that Gainax has headed that I actually like.
It doesn’t really look like a fake mystery series. It looks like a fantasy adventure. It also doesn’t appear to have anything to do with school life.
The only nit is that they spent a lot of time standing around while a dragon was trying to kill them during the transformation and incantation phase. Apparently sticking your hand into a girl’s chest is a free action.
yeah I loled at that part, while they were sitting behind the pillar talking the dragon was looking over like *r u there?* I laughed at that BUT I realyl like the main character…how hes not an idiot, can fight, and isnt a huge pussy wimp, or gay(yes Im talking about you No.6) we have an actual, male lead that acts like a MAN! Its awesome.
Wow, I’m impressed with this one, I really liked it. And finally a great main character xD
Funny just how much of a difference solid lead characters make to a classic premise like this one. Good execution, though a bit tidy and convenient in places as others have mentioned. Seems leagues better than most of the stuff airing this season.
This is going to be really juvenile but the book retrieving scene makes it look like Dalian has chest hair 😛
Considering this looks to be a post-WW1 era show i’m a little disappointed with the main character’s portrayal as a pilot. This seems a tad unrealistic to me, considering the average British pilot’s life on the job was a little less than two weeks. The chances of him even making it to the end of the war are really low. Still the plot seems interesting so far and the live action blended with animation is really cool.