Uragiri wa Boku no Namae wo Shitteiru – 05



Hmm, I’m actually liking the quieter episodes more than the climaxes with this series. The previous episode might have been a tad cheesy, but this episode was actually quite charming. I liked the balance, and the new characters have potential.

The children in this episode are quite an interesting addition. They prevent Yuki from turning into a damsel in distress, and I’m glad that after he left the orphanage, the creators didn’t intend to drop this plot thread. I also liked how the creators used such a long car drive to flesh out the characters: with so many hours being together, the characters all showed a bit of a different side of theirs. I’m also glad to see that the police have also become involved with this series. With so many monsters roaming around, there’s bound to be a few unsovlvable incidents that the police have no idea how to handle. It’s the simple things like this that manage to retain my interest in this series.

The length of this series is going to be a bit of a problem, with just 12 episodes. I hope that the creators are going to either announce a second season at the end of its run, or create something of their own ending to at least close it off a bit without falling into the pit that trapped many series before it by slapping an ending that’s too shallow onto it.
Rating: * (Good)

Uragiri wa Boku no Namae wo Shitteiru – 04



Well, that’s it for the introduction, after this the show will start for real. We can only hope that it’s going to be as good as these first four episodes. Episode four wasn’t the best, and it pretty much concluded the introduction like we thought it would, but the atmosphere still was more than good enough to watch.

It was a bit of a stretch that Yuki didn’t bother to clean his face of all the blood on it, before going to the children though. Heck, I’d be freaked out as a kid when seeing such a thing, but it was a nice twist though. The acting was a bit too over the top here, but it’s nothing major yet. There’s also that part in which the characters were bickering and the lead character suddenly stared a weird laugh (seriously, characters in anime laugh really weird…), which gave me serious deja vus. How many times has that exact same scenario been used in anime by now?

But I digress, with this episode the lead character showed that he’s no wimp at all. He knows what he wants and stands for his own choices and morals. The big difference between him and your average shounen lead who jumps into everything is that he knows what’s best for a situation. He strikes me as open-minded, rather than the simple minded idiots that you see in those tons of generic shounen anime. So far, he could have been more balanced between his angsty phases and his more mature side, but it shouldn’t be a problem if the rest of the series makes up for it.

My big concern now is the villains. Please let us get to know these people, and don’t make them into these average incompetent idiots who take bloody ages in getting their job done.
Rating: (Enjoyable)

Uragiri wa Boku no Namae wo Shitteiru – 03



Whoa, the soundtrack for this series just continues to get better and better. that’s a very pleasant surprise for this series. Shougo Kaida seems to be very much a newbie composer, but something tells me that he’s someone to look out for.

The story so far has been a mix between cliches and interesting ideas, so it can still go anywhere. The biggest cliche in this episode was of course the lead character-deciding whether or not to join the organization of the other good guys. However, Yuki himself made up for it by showing that, while hey may be a bit of a wimp, that he does know how to take responsibility. In this episode he really showed that there’s no way that he would just go out on a flimsy adventure just for the sake of his family, and abandon the children around him. The creators also prepared a perfectly valid reason for him to change his mind in the next episode: the fact that he did not know that those monsters were after him. Compare that to 07-Ghost, in which the lead character at this point was randomly angsting and wandering around.

The big one-sided character for Uragiri meanwhile is Zess. This is the guy that needs the most work, and he’s going to need a lot of chemistry from the other characters to work out well, and his obsession is a bit overstated. Instead of talking things out, he instead just sends out blasts, and this guy seriously needs to grow a character.

This show is clearly no Night Head Genesis, I know that it lacks the many interesting ideas that that series had. Aside from Zess, the lack of originality right now is the series’ biggest flaw. But then again, who knows? So far the past three episodes have been solid, I’m hoping for the substance to come in the next number of episodes, as soon as we get to explore the characters.
Rating: * (Good)

Uragiri wa Boku no Namae wo Shitteiru – 02



Yeah, yeah. I know I’m shuffling around series more than ever this season, but who cares, this episode was goooood. Consider Hakuouki dropped now, because Uragiri’s second installment did just about everything better.

I was a bit reluctant with this series. Not because of the gay undertones, but rather because of the prospect of another gothic show with angst and bishies. Sounds like Vampire Knight, doesn’t it? But really, the reason why Vampire Knight sucked wasn’t because of its angst and bishies. It was because of its completely shallow plot and characters and the horrid character of Zero. There have been plenty of good examples of series with bishies, and really: who cares about the homosexual undertones?

One of the biggest reasons why I consider this to be better than Hakuouki is the voice-acting, which was painfully rushed in the latter. It’s like the creators were “ah, just act like a hot guy and you won’t have to worry about being credible”; it’s the same thing that annoys me about all those cheap moe show. The characters here however are credible and don’t overact despite the angst. On top of that, the lead character is much, much more bearable here. Sure, Yuki isn’t exactly the most useful character, but at the same time with such a power as his, on top of being a girl in a guy’s body you can expect why he has emotional problems. And on top of that, he also isn’t the guy to run into a building full of murdering ronin without thinking things through. That also is a plus.

But what impressed me the most about this episode was its climax. Seriously, that was some really good combination of music, dialogue, atmosphere and build-up. I can also sense a lot of creativity in the art department: the gothic undertones are there, but they’re subtle, and the use of CG is the same. The plot itself also is quite creative: not in its ideas, but its execution. I really must praise the director for what he did here, and looking at his work, it seems that all of his works as a main director have been surprisingly solid: I loved what he did to Asatte no Houkou, Rescue Wings and Tsukihime: all had excellent characterizations.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Some Quick First Impressions: Uragiri wa Boku no Namae wo Shitteiru, K-On!! and Mayoi Neko Overrun

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%