Uragiri wa Boku no Namae wo Shitteiru
Short Synopsis: Our lead character is the reincarnation of some woman.
Well, I’m intrigued. While it’s no Night Head Genesis, this episode of Uragiri was pretty good. It deals with a lot of heavy stuff, like insanity, death threats, parental abuse and orphans, but it handled all of the angst surprisingly well and down to earth. This episode was perhaps a bit fast-paced, but as an opening episode it did well to grab my attention. And best of all: it didn’t turn its characters in those stereotypical gay people you see everywhere. Instead, the lead character is just your typical shoujo lead in a male body (which in a way makes sense when you consider his backstory). We didn’t get to see a lot of teh plot in this episode, but what we saw of it has quite a bit of potential to be this season’s dark gothic series. My only problem with this episode was that group of random punks that just decided to kick that old man from out of nowhere. That’s an anime cliche that seriously needs to die unless you plan to do it well.
OP: Decent rock-song
ED: Again, pretty nice.
Potential: 70%
K-On!!
Short Synopsis: Our lead character enters her third year in high school as a member of the light music club.
You know what? As a slice of life series, this episode was pretty good. My biggest fear for this show beyond the moe overload was that it would go down the same road as Lucky Star (as in, a ton of repetition and no development whatsoever), but the characters have actually evolved beyond what I saw of them when I previewed the first episode of the first season last year. The lead character especially has gotten a lot more bearable now that she actually knows how to play an instrument. What I appreciated the most is that this episode had the characters act like what you’d expect from teenaged girls, without hanging all of the cheap moe stereotypes and paper-thin characters that you regularly see in these moe shows all over them. The animation also was very good, as expected of Kyoani. I was really disappointed by the live performances. I mean, with the budget that Kyoani has, you would expect that they’d… like… actually animate it. Instead, they skip it nearly entirely, even though actually performing is the most fun part of being in such a band. Now, while this episode was decent enough, I do have my doubts whether this series warrants 26 episodes. Do the creators really have what it takes to make it consistently enjoyable, rather than consistently repetitive?
OP: To answer my question below at Mayoi Neko Overrun’s OP blurb: yes.
ED: Hmm, probably the best ED I’ve seen from Kyoani.
Potential: 30%
Mayoi Neko Overrun
Short Synopsis: Our lead character is loved by a cute girl.
Well… we’ve certainly found the series with the biggest amount of overused cliches this season. Where to start? There is the childhood friend, the tsundere, the panty shots, the annoying best friend, the catgirl, the horny sister, the maids, the rich spoiled brat, the parents who are gone, the waking up scene, the abuse of said tsundere whenever fanservice comes into play, and the female voice actresses also really don’t try to hide these stereotypes. While the tsunere was surprisingly likable, the voice actresses of the other female characters were just horrendously annoying and predictable. But yeah, I gotta admit: it’s well made. The direction and dialogue is snappy and funny whenever these three characters aren’t in the centre of attention, and the chemistry is pretty nice. It certainly beats out Nyan Koi and Sora no Otoshimono; AIC’s moe shows of the previous winter season. Due to time constraints I doubt that I’m going to continue watching this (especially when three of the four female lead characters are so incredibly and pointlessly annoying), but really: I expected a lot worse.
OP: Can it get any more squeaky?
ED: Annoying J-pop.
Potential: 30%