Some quick first impressions: Kamichama Karin, Shining Tears x Wind and sola

Kamichama Karin Short Synopsis: Karin is a young girl, with no friends and whose pet just died, when she meets a few strange people, one of them refers to her as “Kami-sama”. Good: Kawai! Really charming, The ALI-Project shines. Bad: I’ve seen quite a few mahou shoujo up till now, but I still haven’t found the merit of those extremely long transformation-scenes. Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10 Ah, the Mahou Shoujo of the season. I’ve been waiting for this, and it doesn’t disappoint. The first episode already was incredibly charming and heart-warming. Karin and … somehow really remind me of Sakura and Tomoyo, which of course is a good thing. I already love this. The only thing I’m worried about is the beginning of the show, which gives a small taste about what’s going to happen in the future of this anime. I’m not sure, but it looked rather formulaic. Let’s hope that the future episodes will be able to introduce lots of new stuff, as the first episode definitely showed that Kamichama Karin has the potential to become great. 🙂 Shining Tears x Wind Short Synopsis: Two teenagers get transported to a different world. Twist: the main character actually isn’t a typical loser. Good: Excellent mystery, so many potentially interesting characters. Bad: Quite a few minor flaws (see below). Overall Enjoyment Value: 7,5/10 As this was another RPG-adaptation, I’ve been looking forward to it. Let me first say that I’m a total sucker for mystery, and so it’s great to see that there’s been a huge amount of mystery thrown into this anime. I really like the potential in this one. Also, even though the concept may be generic, the main characters actually do know how to fight before the story starts. The way the main character also obtains his power also has much more detail than your average other anime who uses this plot elements. And surprisingly, the romance between the two main characters of this episode could have been done way worse. Overall, I’ve been quite pleased, but the fact remains that there are lots of minor flaws in this anime which could potentially ruin it, just like Star Ocean Ex did once. Most of all, the females. Their character-designs are a bit too fanservice-based, and I do hope that they’ll be more than just damsels in distress. Apart from that, the fights themselves are rather generic, with no outstanding animation whatsoever. The characters also could have been a bit more surprised at the sudden catgirl who appeared in front of them. sola Short Synopsis: The sky is beautiful, taking pictures of it is fun, no sky is the same… oh god, this guy needs to find himself a hobby. Good: The action-scene at the end surprised me. Bad: Harem clichés ho! Overall Enjoyment Value: 5/10 The writers of Kanon and Da Capo collaborating for this project. Obviously, it wasn’t going to be exciting. Sure, it’s got a bit of a quiet mood, but the characters are nearly painful. There’s this main character who has another strange hobby, and obviously is a total loser, he runs coincidentally into a girl, and the two fall in love. Remember also that scene in NHK ni Youkoso, where Satou suggested to combine all sorts of character-traits into one character? Well, after watching this anime, I can’t help to think that the creators used that scene as the base of one of the other characters: the bed-ridden sister who acts cold and doesn’t talk much. I wouldn’t be surprised if she turned out to be an android as well. Apart from that, we’ve also got the tomboy-childhood friend and the little girl who sleeps in a box. Okay, that last one may not be a cliché, but she doesn’t exactly have an exciting personality either. In terms of graphics, don’t expect too much. The art on the main website already wasn’t really appealing, but this art got toned down even more for the anime-version.]]>