Author: AidanAK47

Nier Automata Video Game Review – 83/100

by AidanAK47, posted in Game Reviews, Reviews by AidanAK47

 

When I heard about the reveal of a sequel to Nier my initial reaction was of relative apathy. Even upon hearing it was coming to PC I was relatively unhyped. To say I was uninterested would be wrong as I did previously hear of Nier being a game with a interesting and strange story but I couldn’t really find myself all that invested in it. Around the release of Nier Automata my interest in the game went higher as I learn more about the writer, Yoko Taro. Taro is a strange fellow who likes to write strange stories. He has a desire to test the boundaries of video game storytelling and his previous efforts were noted for being strange but refreshingly unique tales. The biggest problem is that while Taro has wrote some interesting stories for his games, ones enough to gather him a fanbase, even the most dedicated of fans would struggle to say they were good games. A Yoko Taro game was something you played for the plot and the gameplay was often the thing you had to struggle through to get that plot. This is another one of those things that had me rather apprehensive about a new Nier game. However this time is different as Platinum games steps up to lend a helping hand. Thanks to that while people could debate the quality of the story compared to his previous work, this is clearly Yoko Taro’s best game. One which has me rather interested to experience the rest of his work. Before playing Nier Automata I watched summery videos on youtube of Nier and Drakengard 3(As Nier is a spinoff of the Drakengard series.) Not that you need to know anything about those works as Nier Automata is clearly it’s own self contained entity. For this review I played the steam version of the game and I will try to avoid spoilers. Lets dive in.

The game is set thousands of years after the end of Nier 1 and earth has been conquered by Aliens.Humans have retreated to the moon and use an Army of Androids to go down to earth to take back the planet for the human race. Likewise the Aliens combat these androids with an army of Machines and this battle has been raging between the two for hundreds of years. You play as an android by the name of B2 who is send down earth and works together with a hacker android called 9S to fight the machine menace. Said androids also happen to fight with samurai swords while in gothic maid and butler outfits with heads up displays in blindfolds. I mentioned this before, but Yoko Taro does indeed write strange stories. The story is certainly intriguing as it explores the nature of what makes something human and whether the self is truly a irreplaceable thing. The androids are the most humanlike creatures on earth but have a rule against feeling emotion. Though expressing emotion isn’t so much as a reinforced law as plenty of androids break it. I saw that a android repressing emotion was more out of decorum rather than a genuine law. The androids hold humans to a high regard so it’s fitting that they would find imitating them to be disingenuous. I do admit that the story has very interesting idea’s and execution but I found my biggest gripe with the story is that it is just how disconnected the events of it where. Each part of the story has very little correlation to the other and there isn’t really much of an overarching goal besides the matter of reclaiming the earth. Though how that is accomplished is never made particularly clear. For most of the game you are ordered to investigate an area and often take down a certain robot but there isn’t any real sense of progress on what you are doing. One thing that really speaks of this flaw is that in the second half of the story suddenly a massive robot appears and the entire android army is tasked with taking it down. Is this massive robot related to the antagonist? No. Is it used for character development or to shed insight into Nier Automata’s themes? No. Does it affect the plot in any way? Not really besides giving a reason for 2B and 9S to be separated. Overall the whole section feels like their was a big section of the script which had “Insert multi stage boss fight here” on it. This is what really bugged me about the story of this game, it’s so disjointed. Like Yoko Taro wanted to present a series of idea’s but didn’t really attempt to weave them into an ongoing narrative. If you’e looking to play something different, you can play satta king online by visiting a satta king website.
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Little Witch Academia – 16[The Trial of Pohjola]

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Little Witch Academia

One of the weaker episodes of the show but still enjoyable. This week sees us visiting Lottes parents and Akko unlocking another of the words of Arcturus after sloving a disease outbreak. Thus getting closer to the grand triskelion and now learned the meaning of pathence. Except she didn’t learn the meaning of pathence. This episode was strange in that it clearly was geared towards teaching Akko the meaning of pathence. Much of the episode showed off Akko’s lack of pathence causing trouble and I was waiting for the “Ah Ha!” moment of realisation where she would demonstrate her new understanding of the word. However that didn’t actually happen as when Akko had her “Ah Ha!” moment when stiring the potion and then proceeded to stir it slower till Shiny rod finished the job for her. It feels like Akko only learned the meaning of the word when the Shiny rod just said “Close enough” and gave her a freebie. Which makes me wonder if the activation of these words just means you have to guess the meaning of them and not nessarily grow or learn from them.

This makes me question Akko’s character growth thoughout the series as there have been times that it felt like she made massive leaps in her character arc only to regress back in the next episode. It’s hard to really cheer on a chearacter when they don’t learn from thier mistakes and Akko was certainly testing me this episode. The whole ordeal with the Yeti was humorous enough until you realise that Akko’s friends were quite literally dying the whole time she was critising the Yeti. Speaking of which, despite the stakes being high the atmosfere of the episode was really too light hearted to get accross the actual agency of the problem. The ridiclous conditions for the desease, the comedic gathering of ingredients and a general lack of concern from both Akko and Sucy made the entire situation just feel like another day at the office. I did like the moment with her begining to doubt herself when walking through the snow but it was a small moment that was quickly brushed aside.

As for Criox, who knows what she’s up to. She’s discovered that the emotion of anger can draw out the most energy from magic but to me that’s just asking for trouble. Much like in Doom 2016 they thought that the prefect solution to an energy crisis would be to draw energy from Hell. It’s just a matter of when everything goes to hell if the source of your power is based around dark matter. My big question is why is Ursula just letting Criox do as she pleases and not warned Akko about her? She clearly sees the threat she poses and yet isn’t really trying to do anything to get in her way. Theres also the matter of the governer who has yet to do anything despite foreshadowing shutting down the witch academy. Seems he was shoved off stage rather fast and the same can be said of Amanda and friends. Despite having a spot on the opening I am rather surpised how under utilised they are. I was under the impression that after the second OVA that the three would be a regular part of Akko’s entourage but that appears to not have happened. Shame as their presense could have really brightened up the interactions in this episode. Sucy and Lotte are good but both are too quiet to really bounce off Akko. Even having just Amanda there would have been good for drilling in the point that Akko needs patence as she could have been another example of lacking it. I have lots of complaints but that is out of a geniune love for this series and a wish for it to excel. I wonder if anyone on the trigger team happens to notice these kinds of complaints as the Yeti getting trolled online certainly seemed like a metaphore for just such a thing.

Seikaisuru Kado – 03[Wam]

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Seikaisuru Kado

I admit this show moves at a pace that is rather slow but he concept it sets up is truly brilliant. Normally in alien invasion stories the threat is clear as the aliens blow up the white house and attack humanity. Other versions usually paint humans as the antagonist force attacking something they don’t understand. However in Kado, the Alien and humans understand their positions. Logic and reason are prevalent in the discussions at work here and thus the threat of an Alien comes in a new force. The thing that makes zaShunina such a devastating factor is not his potential for warfare but rather his gifts to help humanity’s advancement. Wam’s are his first gift and being an infinite energy source that looks to require no maintenance as well as easy to transport and make, he has effectively devastated the energy market. All major energy production companies are rendered utterly moot in face of this device which results in companies shutting down and thousands losing their jobs. Assuming of course they plan to go down quietly. Make no mistake, they will try to find something wrong with these wam’s and discourage their use. Even I think that what is promised is rather too good to be true.

That is only one of the problems with an even bigger problem being that Japan is now the holder of the greatest energy device known to man and the only present manufacturer. The preview does hint at discontent over Japan’s monopoly over the devices. So the question is, just why is zaShunina presenting these wams to Japan? We get somewhat of an explanation over just why he chose Japan though admittedly it’s a little sigh inducing. Apparently Japan has more “heart” than the rest of the world and thus seem more likely to share the gifts zaShunina presents. This logic is fairly flimsy and zaShunina does mention that heart is only a word that represents half the mention of the quality used to judge. Personally I prefer to think of it that Japan had the prefect dimensional parameters for the manifestation of Kado. Really both of these are just a flimsy excuses to make Japan the center of the story, much like Kyubei’s explanation about emotional energy in Madoka was a flimsy excuse to justify magical girls over magical boys. What’s important here is that Japan now has the solution to the energy crisis and zaShunina has left the distribution, use and handling of these devices completely within the hands of the Japanese government. Painting a giant target on Japan because with a device like this, someone is going to want to try weaponising it. Thus having it that anyone can grab one of these things opens up the dangers of them being greatly misused. Whereas withholding such a device from the world makes you public enemy number one.

The first episode makes it clear where this series is planning to take itself as it’s most likely up to Shindo to find a way of reaping the benefits of this fantastic device while preventing it from sparking World War III. This being only the first of zaShunina’s gifts as I am certain he has more groundbreaking items at hand. He has already shown that he can duplicate food which could end world hunger and is most likely capable of teleportation as well. Both equally as devastating to earth economy. Something that I think could really carry the series is the interaction between zaShunina and Shindo as the two do sometimes devolve into amusing bickering from time to time. The negotiator on the side of the Japanese government briefly broke character upon witnessing it though previously she did state that she was wary of Shindo. These three character show good potential for growth and i hope they do and that things are kept as far away from the weird science girl as much as possible. Comic relief characters are all well and good but when a show has such a mature serious atmosphere, having some hyper teenager who looks like she jumped out of a light novel adaption just kills the mood. With the stakes laid out and the setup pretty much done I hope this is the point this show really takes off.

Shingeki no Kyojin(Attack on Titan) – 29[Soldier]

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Shingeki no Kyojin(Attack on Titan)

Before I started this episode, I had it in mind to write in this post that the titan designs of this season were far less intimidating and more comical. After this episode however you can consider that though solely retracted. Personal favorite is the titan that appears when Reiner opened the stairway door. If I saw that in the middle of the night you would be certain I would be running as far as possible in the opposite direction. It’s good to have some action after the cool down period of the last episode. Monkey trouble is kicking up…trouble but I can’t help but wonder just what is his agenda here. Is this simply an act of killing humans or is there something else at work. Considering her recent focus, perhaps Krista is the one he wants dead and the others are just collateral. But then again Ymir is acting suspicious enough that she could very well have something to do with this. I really wish this series could hold back a bit presentation wise and show a little more subtly as Ymir had “Acting suspicious” plastered all over her face and the camera make a point to shout this all the more. The reveal at the end of the episode isn’t really that much of a surprise when you openly announce that she’s hiding things with dramatic emphasis. Honestly I had her number when she interrupted Connie just as he was coming to the realisation that the titans within the wall where his village’s inhabitants. Making her the second person to cut off the line of thought, with the first being Reiner. Though considering Reiners actions this episode and his brief flashback that seems to dismiss the idea of him being a titan.

The deaths of the scout corps leaders didn’t surprise me all that much. Upon introduction I had these people marked for dead so to see it happen was hardly surprising. Though even if it was expected I will say those death scenes were really good. I knew when I seen Krista pouring that alcohol over Reiners wound that it would come back later. It annoyed me so much to see her waste the entire bottle, not even pouring it over the full wound. Majority of it ended up on the floor. Poor Gerger, all he wanted before he died was a drink. This world couldn’t even give him that. I do find it rather amusing how Nanaba sacrificed herself in order to save him, only to give him a far crueler death. Though considering what happened to Nanaba afterwards, maybe not. At least he wasn’t conscious when the titans started eating him and Nanaba’s last words are utterly bone chilling. Fun fact for some, the last line that Nanaba said “Father. Please stop. I won’t do it again” was an anime only addition. I actually really like this change as it insinuates a lot about the character just right before she dies and to see a strong character get broken down to a sobbing child is a pretty horrifying sight. As to what we could inferred over her last words, perhaps it was a beating she got after doing something wrong or that her father was an abusive parent or potentially something significantly darker. What it is we shall never know now that she’s titan chow but what it does show is that the veterans of of the scouting corps are just as fragile as the rookies.

This episode does showcase the things which make attack on titan so well regarded but while I enjoyed this episode a lot I still have this nagging in the back of my mind. That being that this episode presented more questions and little answers. We are reaching the 30th episode of this series and we don’t know much of anything about the titans or anything in general. There are plenty of teases for answers down the line(The key to the basement, the priest talking to Krista) but whether we will get those answers in this cour is up in the air. Another thing is that I would really like to see humanity start winning. Every victory up until this point has come with a big however nailed to it. I may have mentioned this before but the key to tragedy is the balance between hope and despair. Muv Luv Alternative (Stated as the inspiration for Attack on Titan by the mangaka himself) managed this balance perfectly. It made you believe that humanity could win, that things were turning the tide before bringing in the BETA and everything going straight to hell. Attack on Titan piles tragedy upon tragedy and a constant tragedy isn’t interesting. We had a small moment where it looked like the survey corps would pull through but pretty much one minute later and things are right back to doomed. I think this would have had greater impact if the survey corps succeeded in defending the tower and then the viewer is like “Yes, these people can win!” and then just as they are about to leave the second wave of titans come in. Then the despair is real and more poignant because for one moment we believed things would work out. Well next episode has titan Ymir and if I am not mistaken, her titan form looks remarkably similar to the titan that killed Reiner’s brother in that flashback.

Little Witch Academia – 15[Chariot of Fire]

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Little Witch Academia

Shiny Chariot rides once again and I think that’s where most of the animation went besides the showcase at the end of the episode. Wise choice though as it shows that Ursula hasn’t dulled much in her later years. She still seems intent on keeping her identity secret from Akko though this may be because finding Chariot is her main driving force at the moment. We at least are getting some idea of Chariots past as it seems she and Akko are a lot more similar than first thought. Akko and Diana seem to mirror the relationship of Ursula and Croix in their youth. However it would be a strange twist of fate if Akko ended up under Croix’s wing while Diana and Ursula teamed up. Diana has started to look into Ursula so she could very well figure out her true identity.

I feel that Akko’s nativity is getting to be a bit much as her trust of Croix is so much that even when walking up to her lair she doesn’t seem to register how ominous it is. Though Ursula is at fault as well seeing as she doesn’t seem to be making an effort to warn Akko of Croix’s intentions. I don’t really understand why she covered for her when Akko woke up as letting Akko know of the danger Croix possesses would be a very good idea. Though what is Croix after exactly? Others besides Ursula to harbor doubts over her changes to magic and with good reason. Amanda makes a point that with her innovations magic has essentially been supplanted with Science, making it indistinguishable. It does feel like with the technological upgrades it’s getting that something more personal has been lost. However another reason to be concerned is that this direction for magic is heavily dependant on Croix. In fact she pretty much holds full control of magic power distribution with this system and she seems like just the kind of person to take full advantage of that. Those routers may allow magic to be used off grounds but who’s to say she didn’t place a backdoor in them to allow her to shut them down whenever it’s convenient for her. It’s getting to the point that when she makes her move, nobody would be able to do anything about it. For everyone would depend on her inventions at that point and she would have them by the balls.

Kudo’s to the commenter on the last post who correctly guessed the involvement of Yggdrasil as Ursula points out the tree as being the source of magic power. I originally wrote it off as I thought it was strange to involve Norse mythology when so far it’s been mostly Celtic(Though we did have a dragon named Fafnir so it’s not the first time it’s popped up.) but if Wikipedia is trustworthy then mentions of a world tree are in Celtic folklore as well though that tree was unnamed. The final bit of exposition that Ursula gave at the end of the episode was impressive animation wise but admittedly only really served to inform us of what we already know. It clued in Akko to what she needs to do and the main new information to be gleaned from it is that the seven words unlock some sort of reality warping magic and the bit about Yggdrasil. In that regard I feel like unsealing the words can only really lead to trouble as Croix could swoop in to take the magic once Akko has done her job.

Shingeki no Kyojin(Attack on Titan)- 28[Southwestward]

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Shingeki no Kyojin(Attack on Titan)

It’s more than a little frustrating when you have a character present who has answers to very important questions, yet refuses to speak up for rather contrived reasons. Though we don’t quite know why the priest doesn’t speak up I can’t really think of anything that would possibly be preventing him from doing so. This world isn’t advanced enough to have listening bugs or specialised bombs. And with him admitting that he will speak only to Trista of the scouting legion that suggests it’s not a matter of him being overheard either. I just can’t really see it as anything but a contrived reason to keep the audience in the dark. So I think this is the episode where this anime’s production values can’t keep it interesting for me. Though it seems like those are slipping as I notice more still frames in play. Perhaps my lack of interest stems from the fact that I read the manga and thus all this baiting for answers isn’t grabbing me because I know the answers. Though I also remember this was a round the point that I started to lose interest with the manga. Still what have we learned with this episode?

For one we learned that the material of the wall is made out of the same crystal material as the titan’s hardening which means that they could block the hole in wall maria by Eren making use of the technique. I am not certain if Eren made use of it before in the first season but Levi pretty much says for him to shut up and do it with hopefully will mean that Eren won’t be angsting up a storm about it. We learn that Connie’s village was apparently attacked by titans but oddly there isn’t any blood or signs of villagers escaping. Considering the rather bloodchilling “Welcome Home” Connie got from the immobile titan I think it’s a safe assumption that the Titans within the wall are the villagers of Connie’s town. What further proves this is that the wall has not been breached which pretty much means these titans somehow climbed over the wall or magically appeared within it.

I did really like the moment where during the check on the wall one of the soldiers was getting ripped up by the anticipation of an enviable titan attack. Being out in complete darkness and knowing that at any moment giants can come out and rip you to pieces is nerve wracking enough but agonising over when it could happen is sure to drive anyone mad. This show does lack subtle when it comes to character interactions so it’s pretty clear that Ymir lied to Crista over being with her because she wanted to be and clearly has a second agenda. Reiner was acting weird as well with just how hard he was trying to get Connie to ignore what the titan said but I admit I have difficulty determining if this was him covering up the truth or just acting really over the top for dramatic effect. Now that are stuck in a castle with Titans at the doorstep. But for good news this week, Sasha got a potato. Honestly that did make me smile.

Seikaisuru Kado – 02[Novo]

by AidanAK47, posted in Seikaisuru Kado

This episode answers the question of just what was happening to the plane survivors during the period the government were trying to break into the cube. The answer seems to be that they were interacting with an alien lightform. This episode does feel like the series is still in its introduction stage and likely the real start will be next episode when the Alien starts taking a active position in politics. We do at least find out why he doesn’t just release the passengers out of the cube right away as it seems it will take a degree of processing time to allow each passenger to leave. This seems to suggest that the inside of the cube isn’t really a psychical space but rather some kind of database which currently has the data of the passengers stored as virtual data. The big question is that does this mean that the passengers died when the cube absorbed them and now the Alien is reconstructing them based on the data it absorbed? What’s more, was this an intentional act or an accidental one?

This series reminds me of a book I read called Childhood’s End. In that the story involved Aliens coming down to earth in order to better mankind. Though unlike those Aliens, Yaha-kui zaShunina doesn’t seem to understand anything about human society and thus needs Shindo to act as interpreter. What he hopes to gain by helping mankind is not exactly certain, even the Aliens of Childhood’s end had their own agenda. He has already made it clear that he isn’t exactly an enemy or a friend. But what I think this series will mainly focus on is on just how much he can influence society. He could give over great inventions to Japan but that would result in other countries getting nervous. Truthfully not much happened this episode, this was more the Alien adapting to human communication and working together with a negotiator. Perhaps when this series really kicks into gear we might see how good this turns out to be. I just hope we don’t get more of the ditsy science girl as in a sea of rational human beings she is an unwelcome distraction.

Some Quick First Impressions: Dungeon ni Deai o Motomeru no wa Machigatte Iru Darouka Gaiden: Sword Oratoria, sin Nanatsu no Taizai and Atom: The Beginning

by AidanAK47, posted in Some Quick First Impressions

Dungeon ni Deai o Motomeru no wa Machigatte Iru Darouka Gaiden: Sword Oratoria

Short Synopsis: A spinoff story of the DanMachi series.

Not even three minutes in and we got a boob joke. I say watching anime is really demoralizing for girls C cup and under seeing as anime seems to assume that if you aren’t stacked then you have no sex appeal. Well this is basically the Raildex of the DanMachi series. It lacks originality(I only just noticed that the first meeting between the sword girl and the protagonist of the DanMachi series essentially ripped off the iconic first meeting of Saber and Shirou in Fate), it’s bundled with fanservice and the action set pieces are only there to make the characters look good. Also yuri because why not. It’s not something as offensive as the next entry on this post but it is the equivalent of anime shovelware. This series was clearly made to target the SAO demographic and to those who don’t fall into that category it’s just a rather soulless experience. Guess the only thing left to say is that this show manages to barely beat out SukaSuka in terms of absurdly long anime titles.

Potential: 0%

Mario: A spinoff story based on the universe of DanMachi (which I only watched the first episode of it), this new season unfortunately is a weaker RPG fantasy fluff this season. What we have so far is the gang fighting a bunch of monsters. The cast so far is generic and the main heroine is so helpless she drags the whole cast down. I know everyone isn’t meant to be perfect and the main girl needs to develop somehow through its run, but  for God sake don’t do that by making her unbearable at the start. I still don’t really get why the show has to use “level” and all the monsters and level path exactly like a RPG? Aren’t they supposed to be in another world? Cut that game mechanics then. Now after few hours watching it, I don’t remember much of it so it kinda speaks to the quality of this one. Bland and forgettable.

Potential:10%

 

sin Nanatsu no Taizai

Short Synopsis: Lucifer falls from heaven and fights the well endowed seven deadly sins.

You know I think a series like this is an director just daring god to smite him. Cause I don’t know how more blasphemous you can get without genderbending Jesus.(Frankly I am surprised that hasn’t happened yet) So theres angels and demons and something something banished…honestly this show cares about it’s story as much as I do. This is essentially queens blade anime where the goal is tits, ass and more tits. Sadly the titillation is something I can’t enjoy because they made the age old mistake of making the breasts so big that it just becomes unappealing. The show goes out of it’s way to show nudity whenever possible and pretty much everyone is a lesbian who’s ready to feel up whoevers closest. This is an anime where a girl’s female best friend hugs her and then proceeds to cop a feel. But you know the biggest sin here is that it uses the seven deadly sins motive in the laziest way possible. Previous shows I seen at least played around with the concept to subvert expectations. Not here. Pride is prideful, envy is envious, sloth is lazy, Gluttony is hungry, wrath is picking fights, greed is trying to get money and lust is a bitch in heat. If you are interested in anime you can watch with your trousers down…honestly you would be better off going for hentai. At least that will put out.

Potential: 0%

Mario: Hello softcore porn, here we meet again. This season has offered heaps of terrible trends of current anime: we have a blatantly advertisement anime to promote their products, we have an incest anime, we have a lazy Light novel rip-off anime, but this is the trend I distaste the most: a fanservice softcore porn that numbs all the senses of us viewers. This is the most blatant misuse of seven sins concept that I have ever seen, and I can’t call this plot “plot” either because all they do is tied up the girl and “torture” her, in what sense I think you have an idea by now. The other girls are combination of huge tits, fetished custom designs and behave like they’re all ready to strip off. I will give it an upvote though that Sin never pretends to be something else, it’s straightforward fan-service from start to finish and I know there’s a market for this sort of anime but with all my respect this anime is what I disgust the most.

Potential: 0%

 

Atom: The Beginning

Short Synopsis: A prequel to Astro boy, two creators work to make an intelligent robot.

Much like Young Blackjack two years ago we have the return of another Tezuka favorite with a prequel series. In all honestly if we were going to get a prequel to Astro Boy animated I would have prefered Pluto. Not to say this series is bad, actually it’s a strong start to the series. But Pluto is a manga by the mangaka who made Monster and 20th Century Boys. So the level of quality is on another level. (It really is sad that only one of Naoku Urasawa’s best works has been animated.) But enough on that, this show manages a nice blend of old school and new school with excellent animation and a simplistic yet effective story. Atom’s design is excellent and there is a certain love put into the mechanical workings of the robots. The main characters are loveable dopes though due to my ignorance of the source material I feel like I am missing some sub level context in the shows presentation. Seeing as the manga got better as it went along I actually have high hopes for this one. People may have some trouble getting past it’s old sensibilities such as the catchphrases and tendency for characters to awkwardly shove exposition into dialogue. But if the animation can stay strong and keep it’s charm then this could be something worth checking out this season.

Potential: 80%

Mario: We get to the end of this long winded first impressions period (finally!), Atom the Beginning is a worthy title to close off these new anime-tasting offerings. Served as a prequel to the classic Astro Boy, although you don’t need the knowledge of the existing material to enjoy this one. The best thing this series offer so far is its rich and natural world building where robots becoming a prominent factor in human life. From robots specifically giving balloons to the children, helping human for constructions, to appearing in a massive parade, that world is well-detailed and I enjoy looking those technologies on display. This episode also succeeds on introducing the main casts so far, both informs us how they view of each other (like the genius *genius* wheelchair guy towards the main duo), and clearly establishes their personal traits. The main duo so far is your typical nerdy, self-centre and blind-by-their-own-ambitions type, and hearing them keep babbling about how genius they are can be bothersome at times, but their chemistry is quite grounded. Furthermore, if this episode is any indication, the show will go less action, save-the-world pack, but more about the implication of using Atom, which for me is far more interesting angle. The productions and the retro character designs also help to make this one more accessible. A solid start for Atom.

Potential: 70%

Some Quick First Impressions: Shingeki no Bahamut – Virgin Soul, ID-0 and Quan Zhi Gao Shou

by AidanAK47, posted in Some Quick First Impressions

Shingeki no Bahamut – Virgin Soul

Short Synopsis: A girl hunts a man in rags currently freeing demi-human slaves in the kingdom.

I thought the previous season of Bahamut was fairly mediocre so I didn’t really have much expectations for it’s sequel. I still feel this show has that air of mediocrity despite it having a strong first episode. Nonetheless it’s hard to deny that this show has a dynamic likeable cast of characters and the setup of gods and demons being dominated by humans is one I am most invested in. I considered this episode pretty watchable and the animation is quite excellent. I approve the animated dragon at the end of the episode. I swear animated dragons may be the most badass things in animation. So far it’s fun and it’s ties to it’s predecessor seem few that one could start from hear. If it can manage to not get too caught up in the god and demon realms this could be an interesting watch. But again I do think this could easily fall into medicority.

Potential: 65%

Mario: Welcome back to the world of Mistarcia, it has been awhile hasn’t it? (Not in my case though, as I just finished the first season 2 weeks ago). Although based on trading card game, the first season of Bahamut became a success with its high production values, fun characters and exciting battles. This sequel maintains the spirits the first season known of, with one of the strongest production values this season has to offer, with solid animation and detailed background design. The CG battles still a bit of up and down but this is pretty much expected based from the first season. Our new main girl Nina fits right in with the former cast. I have a bit of worry there but seeing my favorite girl Rita back bring me absolute joy. The actions are thrilling, although there’s probably too much action sequences for its own good. This show continues the fun and thrills of the first season, while hints on the intrigued world where human pretty much oppress the angel and devil kind, with some super fun characters to boost. Your safe bet of this season.

Potential: 75%

 

ID-0

Short Synopsis: A girl gets abducted by space pirates after being abandoned by her instructors.

I think it was rather clever to mask the stiff animation of CGI by having the majority of the screentime be of the characters in robot forms. Robots are one of the few things that CGI works well with in animation so it was a good idea. As for the episode itself I found it alright. I think most people would have difficulty in finding this show to watch as it isn’t on crunchyroll or the like. Actually seems like a lot of anime this season has become somewhat hindered thanks in part to Amazon Anime Strike. Having both a funimation and a crunchyroll account I am not keen on signing up for another service with a smaller lines and a double paywall. But alas, what of ID-O? Well it’s alright. Not winning any oscars but watchable enough to spend some time with. Might be that the premise hasn’t quite grabbed me but I don’t feel much drive to continue watching it. Partly because I am watching so much this season already. I expect the fanservice to level up next episode not that the girl is out of the mech and perhaps then the main plot could prove interesting enough to stick with it. As for me though I plan to sit this one out.

Potential:55%

Mario: This show is so much FUN. I know it’s a show about a bunch of mecha pirates in space; I know the stiff CG movements in most of those scenes, and I know the dialogues are stupid at best; but it’s fun. There’s a campy quality in the plot, the character’s interactions that makes this show charming. See how superficial the plot and the characters behave so far? The plot is about a group of adults manipulating a child to join them steal stuffs, the teacher and the other guy in the beginning act so campy it feels rather refreshing to see. And the fanservice, thank god because majority of time the characters are in mecha-mode so we don’t see that much, but the scene after the end credits really tries to level up its fanservice. For now, I like the space settings. Although it’s not that well-detailed, the concept is intrigued enough to make me want to know more about it. The girl is a bit starry-eyed at the moments so I hope they can develop her quickly. Out of everything come out so far this season, ID-0 is the one that I don’t really know what will come next (well, que sera, sera) and that is part of the fun why you should check out this show.

Potential: 60%

 

Quan Zhi Gao Shou

Short Synopsis: A pro MMO player is forced to quit and decides to start again from scratch.

For a Chinese animation effort I do think this is rather promising. Animation wise I didn’t really have much problems besides the usual CGI animation. Honestly this gives me hope that one day Chinese anime shows could match Japanese anime shows. But in order for that to happen they need to get some better source material. So a pro player is fired because he isn’t doing as well anymore and the company goes out of it’s way to be utterly insidious about doing so. What makes this rather ridiculous is that this is all about a MMO so it’s just rather silly that people are getting so serious about it. Frankly I still am puzzled about the whole paying someone to play an MMO thing. Not sure how you are supposed to get a return on that. Our protagonist is a super pro MMO player who takes on bosses singlehanded and is a saint who gives up his paycheck to fund players who couldn’t make it in the game.(Guess the orphan children and cancer patients were not important enough to get a donation because they don’t play MMO’s) Look I know that this guy is sort of the ideal that every MMO player starts out with. However one of the M’s in MMO stands for multiplayer and when you consider that the whole idea of playing solo hero becomes not only unrealistic but rather dumb. The issue here is that so far this story is about a veteran MMO player starting from scratch to show all them newbies how it’s done. Our protagonist is done with his development so what remains is just one big ego stroking in the form of a anime series.

Potential: 20%

Mario: A show about online RPG game huh, this show hits right at the Chinese market I tell ya. But can it translate its success to anime market? I highly doubt so as like many Chinese shows before it, this one moves forward too slow. The mix between the real world and the game world don’t really flesh out any of those worlds. The CG animation is a bit mixed bag, while the actions are alright, the CG people walking and playing games are jarring and again the dialogue drags too much. This seem to be a plot of him starting to play from scratch but with the 10-year knowledge I think he pretty much already had an advantage. The production value is decent, actually one of the best-looking out of all the Chinese anime I’ve checked out but this is still not enough. This offering sadly still not worth recommending.

Potential: 10%

Some Quick First Impressions: Zero kara Hajimeru Mahou no Sho, Fukumenkei Noise and Shuumatsu Nani Shitemasuka? Isogashii Desuka? Sukutte Moratte Ii Desuka?

by AidanAK47, posted in Some Quick First Impressions

Zero kara Hajimeru Mahou no Sho

Short Synopsis: A witch makes a pact with a human turned beast to work together to find a dangerous book.

I didn’t quite know what to make of this show when I looked at the source material and to be honest I still don’t quite know. However this was an interesting first episode and the two main characters are quite likeable. Maybe I should throw kudos to white Fox again as they certainly can improve on source material. Though it still breaks my heart that this has Zero Kara Hajimeru in the name and isn’t a second season of Re:Zero. It’s not related to Re:Zero at all by the way. Anyway we got a good setting and the chemistry between the two lead characters is solid. It is rather nice to have a light novel fantasy setting with no RPG elements, no high schools, no reincarnated protagonists and no harem from the looks of it.(Unless we are getting into bestiality territory.) A strong enjoyable start to the series though it’s up to the series of the series to prove if this is a good or a potentially great show as this episode serves more as a introduction of our protagonists and some exposition on the nature of magic and sorcery. Definity worth checking out and potentially a highlight of the season.

Potential: 60%

Mario: Well, I’ll be damned. Zero turns out to be quite enjoyable, much more than I had initially expected. In particular, there are two aspects from this show that I can get behind. First, The chemistry between the beastfallen and the witch is excellent. The beast is fleshed out considerably in this episode that we can see his struggles to just stay afloat towards this life where basically other races (human, witch) despite him, but he still comes off as his own person. The witch isn’t that developed yet, but still see how they argue about the soup, and more importantly how they have different method to bond their “contract”- you could tell how they’re different, yet still complement each other. I have a bit of Spice and Wolf vibe in this duo, for good reason. Second, the world building is intriguing so far, and I like how Zero attempts to tell the difference between magic and sorcery. Well, the book part is a bit farfetched so far but the strong elements of the show already raise it above other fantasy offerings this season. I will be back for more “beastfallen and witch” moments.

Potential: 50%

 

Fukumenkei Noise

Short Synopsis: A girl that loves singing encounters two boys she was childhood friends with during a school concert.

I give credit that the music in this show is actually really good. But boy is this the kind of shoujo show that I just can’t bring myself to like. The main character is that chooky shoujo heroine that acts like she’s been sniffing cocaine for a week and for some reason the guys find this really endearing. People cry at the drop of a hat and emotions are just blown out of proportion to heighten the drama. I know that these two guys are going to be gunning for this Alice girl but she’s going to be too braindead to understand she’s being hit on. WIll they, won’t they? Don’t know, don’t care. I must make it clear that I have a pretty huge bias against these kinds of shoujo shows so my opinion should mean little to those that like shoujo anime like Nana. The music in this show is indeed quite good, I just can’t bring myself to like anything else in it.

Potential: 0%

Mario: Fukumenkei Noise is a show that is overloaded by music and romance, with mixed results. The music department is quite good. I don’t know who the girl’s voice casting is but she really has an impressive voice. The music composing is quite solid as well. So technically the music displayed here is a treasure for an anime show, but is it going well with the romance theme of this show? Not quite, really. I can’t get behind all those intimate feelings shared by their love of music, their connection through music. And the girl switches from Yuzu mode to Momo mode is really jarring like she was two different people. I don’t even know who she supposes to have deep connection with (guess this will be the main plot of this series) but nor do I care. The romance is on a wrong side here and the plot, already in this first episode, has some leaps of logic that make this story feel so forceful. How can the band be so heartless that they don’t even try to look for their band member, but recruit another girl to perform instead? In reality, not only this treatment gives bad reactions from band members, but also there’s no way in hell the new girl gonna remember any lyrics to perform. How can you say you know about music when you messed up the beginning (twice) and stopped in the middle of the song (twice). I understand with this show, the plot will take a backseat for more romance and music but if all you have are romance and music (and romance isn’t that compelling yet) then the show will tremble for the rest of its run.

Potential: 20% (I know. Another 20% – My magic number)

 

Shuumatsu Nani Shitemasuka? Isogashii Desuka? Sukutte Moratte Ii Desuka?

Short Synopsis: A man takes a job looking after humanoid weapons.

I have changed my mind on this show from my preview. Admittedly when I started watching I was ready to demiss this show outright as I found the novel to be far too boring. However things changed when the song “Scarborough Fair” played and it was truly magnificent. A beautiful rendition of the song that foreshadows that those two will have an impossible love. Overall this episode was alright. It set up the world and introduced the main character to the main cast. I am not that keen on the interactions, namely the troll maids gimmick of constantly talking about eating people but watching these interactions is certainly more interesting than reading them. A couple of things have changed my mind and made me think this show could be more interesting than I first thought. One is the hints that this story is geared more toward tragedy which is quite frankly one of my favorite genres. Another is that the SukaSuka(So far that’s the agreed upon abbreviation and thank god as that title is ridiculous.) novels are completed at 5 volumes. So it could be possible that this anime intends to cover the entirety of the story. Whether this is two cour or one cour is still up in the air but considering that the novels are quite slow paced they could possibly manage to cover all the source material in one cour. Lastly watching this story is much more interesting that reading it. I found the info dumping of the novel to be a bit much and character interaction were a lot more annoying. At a faster pace this story could be something but that really depends on what really is in store in the later parts.

Potential: 60%

Mario: I swear anime shows need to use more popular English songs, as in here the show uses the song “Scarborough Fair” for great effect, reminding me of that tender moments in The Graduate. About the show though, SukaSuka is your LN fantasy fix this season as so far, it’s an above-average product from its genres. You have a lot of typical LN fantasy elements: the medieval world that human is a nearly extinct race; the dialogue-heavy interactions that although don’t stand out, it never drags either. The main characters whose chemistry with each other and personalities are just about enough. And then, I know it’s mostly my own soft spot but the moments those girls appear I know I will follow this show. They lighten up the screen and the notion that they are “secret weapons” adds extra flavors to the plot. I also like the way the show hints (not feeding us) many of its world-details for us to pick up (like that other girl is a troll) but again I don’t like the meta-comment in the last sequence. Well, nearly the end of these first episode impressions run, I’m quite amused that we have a string of recommendable series at our hands. I don’t particularly think SukaSuka will become a special show but I believe we’ll have a good time watching this.

Potential: 40%