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Thermae Romae Review – 77,5/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews

So, for those of you who don’t know: Noitamina is a timeslot started back in 2005, dedicated to showing anime for an older audience and touching upon themes that are beyond the norm for anime. 2010 was a huge year for it: it upgraded to having two series air per season, on top of showing three brilliant series right after each other (Sarai-Ya Goyou, Yojou-han Shinwa Taikei and Shiki). Unfortunately these didn’t sell so well.

This lead to a completely different direction for the timeslot in 2011: it actually started making series that focused on a younger audience. Yeah, the same audience that every other show was also focusing on. In particular Fractale and Guilty Crown were very unnerving examples because of how they also dumbed down their own content and characters. For a long while the future of the timeslot was uncertain. Of course an experimentation into different audiences should be encouraged, but the timeslot shouldn’t stay in this and lose the thing that made it stand out in the first place. Thankfully, with Thermae Romae the producers have shown that they haven’t run out of their drive to experiment anytime soon. Yes, we here have a series about roman baths.

This probably is the first full comedy that the timeslot aired. It did feature funny series before, but the humour never was as important to the whole series as here. What makes this series work so well is the deadpan humour that it uses. It’s got this great lead character who is a roman architect in charge of building baths, and throughout the entire series he keeps taking himself seriously, even though some really weird stuff happens to him. The show is only six episodes long, and each episode is just ten minutes, so it’s perfect if you want to watch a little bite-sized comedy that touches upon something different for a change.

It’s just a damn shame that out of all the production companies to get their hands on adapting the manga for this series… it had to be the single worst one out there. The animation i this series is just completely abysmal. Instead of actually animating the characters, they just stand as cardboard cutouts on the screen and wiggle back and forth with bad flash transitions. This feels more like a fancy visual novel than an actual anime, and it’s the same in a long line of terribly animated gag stories like High Score, Haiyoru Nyaruani, that gothic teacher one and Himitsu Kessha Countdown. With Thermae Romae, they finally sat down and actually got themselves some good source material, and it shows, even through their crappy translation. But how good this series should have been if it didn’t have such awkward animation and direction.

Storytelling: 9/10 – In particular the deadpan dialogue works really well for a comedy, and it’s well written here.
Characters: 8/10 – The only one who really stands out is the main character. But he is so enjoyable to watch that he dwarfs the unlikable and one-sided other characters.
Production-Values: 5/10 – I usually don’t try to be harsh on bad animation: sure, it’s nice to have good animation, but it’s not vital for a good series. Here though, the animation is so bad that it really does get in the way of the story. And that’s a bad thing.
Setting: 9/10 – It’s baths in Rome, with a little japanese twist.

Suggestions:
– Marie & Gali
– Hetalia Axis Powers
– Gag Manga Biyori

Hyouge Mono Review – 87,5/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews, Hyouge Mono



Nowadays, there are few series that you could really call unique. Nearly all shows base their ideas and concepts off of some other work that came before them, or build further upon concept introduced anywhere else. Once in a while though, an anime appears that just can’t be compared to anything. Hyouge Mono is one of those series.

I mean, seriously, I’ve got nothing. At first sight this might be lumped with the other historical series, but there are just a ton of elements in this series that no other historical anime has. Here we have a series of 39 episodes that is solely about a bunch of old guys talking about aesthetics, while making the most bizarre faces in the process. Beyond my wildest expectation, this series ignores just about every convention that has been established over the past ten years and just goes into its own direction. It has really been years since I last saw a show do that.

Being unique is of course one thing, but you still need to be interesting. A show can be unique, but a chicken riding a unicycle while singing the Estonain National Anthem is too, but that perhaps isn’t the most interesting to watch. Thankfully though, Hyouge Mono is a delight to watch for those who are looking for something slow, yet substantial. There are a lot things that this show does right.

The acting in particular is just sublime. This series managed to deliver the most accurate version of the Sengoku era we’ve seen so far (which admittely isn’t that hard with shows as Sengoku Basara), and put down very believable portrayals of characters like Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and the tea master Sennou Rikyuu. And on the other hand it’s also chockfull of the most bizarre facial expressions that are almost glorified throughtout the entire series. And strangely enough, these two extremes blend in really well. The performances of the main characters in particular is stunning, but also the side characters (and that cast is HUGE) shines with very diverse and true to life characters.

By far the biggest mystery of this show is how on earth it managed to land itself a whopping 39 episodes. In a time when all experimantal series can consider themselves lucky if they can get 13 episodes, and here this show comes from out of nowhere with a length three times of that. Because of that, it can get really in-depth into its subject material. This both is a really good look into history, but it’s in particular the detail into aesthetics, and the teachings of “wabi sabi” that really stand out in this series.

In terms of flaws, I’d say that this series is a little too slow for its own good at times. It’s not exactly dragged out or anything, but when you look at each individual episodes, there is relatively little that actually happens, for the sake of detail, and that balance at times was skewed a bit too much to the slow side. The visuas in this series are limited, but most of the times they try to make very good use of their budget. There are some exceptions here, resulting in badly drawn faces on what are actually key moments.

Also, this series can be quite misleading in its actual subject matter. At first it might seem like there will be quite a bit of attention into medieval warfare, and the first half of the series has some very interesting battles (including what could possibly be one of the best death scenes of the most recent years). There really is signfiicantly less action and even more talking in the second half. The action that’s there however is incredibly stylish. This is a series that really evolves and changes over time, amd the conclusion they went with really fits the series perfectly.

Storytelling: 8/10 – Excellent direction. A bit slow at times, but the use of camera angles and the dialogue are just wonderfully written.
Characters: 9/10 – The acting for these characters is just sublime. Rock-solid performances from the main cast in particular.
Production-Values: 8/10 – The animation is simple. but very effecitvely used with very detailed character designs. Soundtrack also is excellent, but doesn’t get many chances to really stand out due to its restricted nature.
Setting: 10/10 – Spends a huge amount of time fleshing out the teachings of wabi sabi, japanese tea ceremonies, and is an amazing look at the days of the Sengoku Era.

Suggestions:
– Not gonna even attempt to find similar series for this one

Some Quick First Impressions: Thermae Romae, Listen Girls, I am Your Father and Danshi Koukousei no Nichijou

by psgels, posted in Some Quick First Impressions

Thermae Romae

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is a roman bath architect.
Yeah, so this was without a doubt the single most unique series of the entire season. Thankfully DLE’s hack-job still didn’t prevent this one from shining. what we have here is a show about roman baths, and on top of that it’s centered on deadpan humour. That really isn’t something that a lot of anime tend to do, even though I really like that kind of humour. Most deadpan humour in anime either misses the point, or isn’t trying to be funny in the firts place. This show is based on such a strange and unusual premise, and thankfully the script can back it up. I can really see how much fun the original manga that this was based on must have been. But yeah, DLE. The thing about animation is that things need to be… animated. The one advantage that this medium has is that things actually move. Not hop around the screen in bad flash transitions. The animation in this show is just plain bad. With this hack-job you could just as well have shown a slide-show of the coloured manga and call it a deal. The one thing I have to give them: they did pick some great music to go with this show. At the very least I can say that this was by far the best thing they ever did. And half a year ago, I never expected to see a show even slightly similar to Hyouge Mono. And yet, while that series is still airing we get another show that’s entirely about a bunch of old guys talking.
ED: Bizarrely enough: the best ED of the entire season.
Potential: 75%

Listen Girls, I am your Father!

Short Synopsis: Our lead character gets to live together with a bunch of cute girls.
Urgh. I keep stressing that I like series to focus on a more older cast, just than only teenagers. I know I say that a lot. But when the oldest main character of the entire season is in a show like this, I really make exceptions. This show already stood out as the worst pandering premise of the entire season. Now that I watched this episode, I unfortunately have to say that this show is exactly what it seems at first sight. Only not in the way you first expect it. The weird thing about this episode was that it took an incredibly long time to get anywhere. Most of this episode actually was build up between the lead characters and his friends from college. It really stood out in how dull it was, but with those parts it would have just been a dull average romance. Only near the end of the episode do the lead character’s little nieces start living with him, and it immediately turns into a fanservice fest full of some of the most overdone cliches. That’s where this show really descended from forgettably mediocre to just plain bad. Really, at the very least the largest part of the episode explored who the characters were. But with its true colors really being the way they are… yeah.
ED: Really bland J-pop
Potential: 1%

Dansei Koukousei no Nichijou

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is a hyperactive middle schooler.
Now here is a surprise: this show turned out to be quite funny, and I laughed a lot with this episode. The characters all have a good chemistry together, and this episode was a lot of fun. The big question is for how long the creators can make it that way. To me, the characters were often not sure what kind of personality they had, and yet they still remain pretty one-sided and some of the jokes were pretty forced. There also is one very interesting thing about this series: Tomokazu Sugita. This show comes from the director of Gintama, and I have a lot of reasons to believe that he really tried to get Sugita Tomokazu (Gintoki’s voice actor) into this series. The result is that finally we can listen to the wonderful rants of this guy. His over the top rants are just hilarious to listen to. But how the heck did he think that he would get away with playing a middle schooler with that kind of a performance? I mean, I know that there are kids who grow up earlier than others and all, but seriously, something really went wrong when his balls dropped when his voice is this masculine already…
OP: Generic J-Rock
ED: Now this is a very witty way to end a comedy with.
Potential: 75%

Some Quick First Impressions: Another, Ano Natsu de Matteru and Aquarion Evol

by psgels, posted in Another, Aquarion Evol, Some Quick First Impressions

Another

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is a transfer student.
To the people who claimed that the season sucks after only half of the shows had aired: perhaps a bit of patience would have been in order, because this season also has a very good horror series. Another again doesn’t have the best premise. Heck, it yet again takes place at a high school. If there’s one flaw of this season, it’s that everything is centered around bloody schools. In any case though, this show understands horror. This episode built up this wonderful horror atmosphere with a good script, neat camera work and some subtle mystery that combined all really drew me in. This was the kind of horror series that combined the ordinary life with a lot of creepy hints. This episode was very uneventful, but it slowly revealed more about what was going on, which will very likely get continued into the next episodes. The ordinary parts about this episode in any case were a neat way to flesh out the cast, and in particular the script gave them some character that made them interesting to watch. They all had something interesting to say here.
OP: Ah, the ALI Project. That’s long ago. Their style still doesn’t really match here though…
ED: Dull ballad with dull images.
Potential: 85%

Ano Natsu de Matteru

Short Synopsis: Our lead character gets killed and then revived again.
Here is the thing with this season: its premises are crap. In fact, it’s been years since we had a season with less interesting original series. And yet, it’s got so many big names, there are so many talented people working on all kinds of different series this season. The best example of this is Ano Natsu de Matteru. Here we have a show which follows all of the romance cliches… only it actually is well executed. What does this mean? The characters act and feel real. The animation and acting is realistic and believable, rather than the overacting moe stereotypes that you usually see in those types of series. On top of that, this doesn’t feel disjointed, but introduced a few different subplots that should keep the show interesting, rather than having it hang apart from random incidents. This show has a degree of believability that a ton of other shows of the genre lack. And yet the lead character is wimpy, there were quite a few romance cliches, there is the ditzy blond girl. And yet it feels strangely interesting when it’s delivered so much better than usual.
OP: Finally some J-pop I like this season. The really good use of instruments did it.
ED: Simple yet interesting graphics. The j-pop was a bit dull, though.
Potential: 75%

Aquarion Evol

Short Synopsis: Our lead character can pilot a mecha.
There is one way in which this season stands out: the amount of teenaged sci-fi mecha epics in it. Rinne no Lagrange, Mouretsu Pirates and Aquarion Evol are all ambitious action/adventures, while they still all pursue a different direction with a different kind of execution. Rinne no Lagrange focuses a lot on its direction and script, Mouretsu Pirates placed emphasis on its characters, and Aquarion meanwhile has gorgeous action and a ton of eye candy. I mean, this is the kind of big budgeted flick you’d expect in the big seasons, not the small ones. Besides that, Aquarion has the least interesting characters of the three, yet they’re still an interesting bunch. Their biggest problem is that most of them blend into each other due to the cast being huge. A long show can fix that nicely (and it’s Mari Okada behind the script. She has shown often enough that she’s able to do this). The plot had these interesting elements of males versus females. I haven’t seen the first season, but heck, I’m curious where this will go.
ED: A well produced song that fits the epic nature of this series really well.
Potential: 80%

Some Quick First Impressions: Brave10, Nisemonogatari and Mouretsu Pirates

by psgels, posted in Mouretsu Pirates, Some Quick First Impressions

Brave10

Short Synopsis: Our lead character meets a bunch of famous figures from the Sengoku Era.
Well, the good news: the lead female is better than her counterparts from Sengoku Otome and Hakuouki because she actually tries to act. The bad news is that she is far from out of the danger zone because she still remains a female who gets thrust in the midst of these famous Sengoku Era figures through really shallow reasons (this time it’s because she possesses some sort of really powerful thingy of doom). The good news about the males is that they are better than the other bishie show this season (Prince of Tennis), because they too actually remember to act. Again though they’re still pretty one-sided. This is really one of those shows that needs time to show whether it’s really going to be worth it. It’s got potential to grow and the characters were at least fun to watch, but this show will have to put a lot of time developing these characters, and not just rely on their famous names. Also, the lead female. She kept hopping back and forth from interesting to Mary Sue to trying to use her female charms a bit too forcedly.
OP: A bit of a bland j-rock tune.
ED: Was it really necessary to put auto tune on these vocalists?
Potential: 65%

Nisemonogatari

Short Synopsis: Our lead character talks a lot.
I want to like Shaft. I really want to like the way they use their storyboards, the way in which they try to show a lot with limited efforts. I really want to like how they use their creativity. But dammit they make it so hard! Nisemonogatari is exactly like Bakemonogatari; most of the things I disliked about it are still there! Or at least the flaws that can be apparent after only 1 episode: this episode did not have any budget issues yet, so thankfully I didn’t have to watch an incomplete episode. Still, my other issues with Bakemonogatari still stand. First of all, watching this episode didn’t feel like watching characters, but it felt like watching a slide-show over which a bunch of voice actors read a script. The first half didn’t have this problem, but unfortunately it returned in all its glory in the second half. The camera panned way too often to random scenery, random images, or the characters making weird poses that had no relation to what they were saying or doing. Second of all: what really happened in this episode? I mean, all it consisted of was Araragi talking to various members of his harem, and his sister. One of the other sisters, who this show apparently is supposed to be about, didn’t even make an appearance. Heck, this arc is supposed to be about this girl named “Karen”, but even she was completely absent here. All this episode did was restore the status quo and reiterate that Araragi is some weird pedophile (seriously, what the hell did he do to Hachikuji?). As for the dialogue: yeah, it had its witty moments and there was some nice wordplay, but it also had its moments where it just blatantly wasted time for the sake of wasting time or deliver bad 4th wall jokes. Now, Shaft does have this habit of airing troll first episodes, so at this point I can only hope that I’ve been reverse trolled and that the next episodes will have something genuinely interesting and new to offer.
OP: More staples. How are these still relevant?
Potential: 50%

Mouretsu Pirates

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is a space pirate.
Haha, it’s just as I hoped. This series may look silly, but the acting is very good here: it actually treats its characters like actual characters. The result is a mostly mellow episode that’s full of subtle quips that the characters make towards each other, followed by a random action scene. This is what I’ve been looking for: a show that gets the balance of both silliness and subtlety. That made this a fun episode, even though it was just an introduction episode in which the characters haven’t even entered space yet. There are a lot of parallels with Rinne no Lagrange: they have the same length, same director, they both air outside of the season you’d expect them to air in, and they both advertise themselves as fun teenaged mecha series with a serious undertone. The big difference is that Rinne no Lagrange’s direction is better, while Mouretsu Pirates has better characters. They both can become quite fun, though.
OP: “Hey, let’s try to stuff as much audio ideas into just one song and see how it works!”
ED: Very uninspired visuals and all, but the song could be worse.
Potential: 80%

Master Keaton OVA Review – 87,5/100

by psgels, posted in Anime Reviews

The OVA of Master Keaton is pretty much what you’d expect of it: more Mater Keaton episodes that keep the standards of storytelling quite high with well researched settings and characters. What makes this particularly interesting is that it was written not so long after the Berlin Wall collapsed, and therefore it offers quite an interesting look at Germany compared to the one we have now.

Also, it’s too easy to label the new episodes as more random episodes of Master Keaton, because what the OVA also does is fill in a bit of the gaps here and there. There is an episode that goes for a really intense survival story, every main member of the cast gets his or her own episode, Keaton’s past also gets explored a bit, The cast definitely got better after the OVAs.

And at the same tme I do have to say that the episodes of Master Keaton that made the most impact were in the television series, so it is a bit of a tradeoff. Not to say that the episodes of the OVA aren’t great, of course, although there are a few weak points here and there. It stands out when in a series that prides itself with using really well researched stories, one of the episodes takes out members of the maffia in a way that is surprisingly similar to the way in which most kids movies take care of mafia members…

Those are just small incidents, though, but with a show as well written as Master Keaton, they do stand out. In any case the Television did have surprisingly little character deevelopment, and that’s exactly what this OVA gave us, so I’m happy.

Storytelling: 9/10 – Still well told, still well built up, the fights and heartwarming moments are still very neatly written, with a few exceptions this time, though.
Characters: 9/10 – Some nice extra character development for the main cast really helps.
Production-Values: 8/10 – This was pretty much produced in the same way as the TV-series.
Setting: 9/10 – Still well researched, and it still adds to the universe where this series takes place.

Suggestions:
– Mushishi
– Yugo the Negotiator
– Darker than Black

Some Quick First Impressions: The Knight in the Area, Zero no Tsukaima Final and Sesshou Zenki Symphogear

by psgels, posted in Some Quick First Impressions

The Knight in the Area

Short Synopsis: Our lead character wants to play soccer.
This is a strange season. It’s not the best out there, and yet my standards of it are really high due to the best stuff airing right at the start (and don’t get me wrong: I’d love this statement to be wrong). The Knight in the Area finally came with a show that impressed me again, although it definitely isn’t perfect. Sports series are known for being really well executed, but this show doesn’t have that. What it especially lacks is subtlety: the foreshadowing is obvious as heck, it had some really overdone and annoying cliches like the hot transfer student childhood friend classroom introduction, and the acting overall lacks the refinement that you usually see in sports series. Nevertheless, this was an interesting episode that did a great job of fleshing out its lead character. We’re not looking at someone who wants to be the best, but just a guy who is passionate about the game, and this episode already looked at who he is, what drives him, what’s in his past. We really got to know him already, and that’s definitely a plus this early in the series. The soundtrack also is pretty well done, and the drama also works.
OP: Generic sports tune.
Potential: 75%

Zero no Tsukaima Final

Short Synopsis: Our lead character has ended up in a fantasy world.
With these first impressions, I also like to include episodes of series whose prequels I didn’t finish, for the small chance that I did miss something interesting. However, with this season’s trend to concentrate all of the bad shows together, I was really prepared to rant at how bad this franchise had turned out… but yet this episode was better than I imagined. Oh, it still has plenty of bad parts, like I have no idea how Saitou managed to make four girls fall in love with him, or how this episode immediately started with all kinds of boob jokes, but afterwards this series showed that it can actually… tell a story. I have to say, this episode did have some solid build-up and nicely balanced exposition with things that actually happened. What surprised me the most though, was that Saitou and Louise actually talked to each other to sort out their differences, rather just not saying anything to each other for the sake of drama. I like that. Whether I’m going to keep watching this time though… the harem elements really have to improve for that, because it’s still really annoying and I still fail to see the point in Saitou dating anyone but Louise. Also, THAT VOICE! MAKE IT STOP!
OP: Cheese.
Potential: 35%

Senki Zesshou Symphogear

Short Synopsis: Our lead character gets to be an idol who fights crime.
Good lord. Were they actually serious about airing this thing? You know, I criticized a lot of series this season for being too bland. The problems with this series are completely different, but it still has the worst and most uselessly pretentious plot of the entire season so far. To explain exactly how wrong this show is means to delve into spoilers, but here it is: finally we’ve got another animated musical. It’s about a bunch of idols who battle incredibly deadly alien monsters who only they can beat, apparently. So here is what they do at the beginning of this episode: they h old a concert, gathering ten thousands of people in one spot with really bad escape routes and no security whatsoever. And after that they get all surprised when the aliens indeed do attack and kill thousands of their fans. What the hell, people? Did nobody read the script and consider what an incredibly shameless premise this is? And the worst thing is, that that was just one of the plotholes and issues the plot has. Another plothole magnet in this episode was the female lead, a random girl. The main idols of this series watch thousands of people get slaughtered, but they don’t get sad at all. But when the main character gets shot in the chest, they suddenly break down in a huge slur of melodrama. Later when the main character is revived (yes), the same alien monsters who before slaughtered a ton of people… just stand a bit around her to give her the time of escape. I mean hell, I thought that High School DxD was the most shameless of the season here, but this just takes the entire cake. This is the problem with shows that are entirely meant to promote a bunch of idols; they do nothing but glorify them. Seriously, this is a really strong contender for worst first episode of 2012, because it’s been a long time since I watched a plot that was so offensively bad. And it’s a pity, becaus eyou can really see Satelight’s influences in the battle scenes: everything is grand, the transformation sequences are intense and imaginative. But when the script feels written in five minutes by a guy whose mind was on something completely different, it’s just completely wasted.
OP: Random J-Pop
ED: Random J-Pop
Potential: 0%

Some Quick First Impressions: High School DxD, Amagami SS+ and Recorder to Randoseru

by psgels, posted in Some Quick First Impressions

High School DxD

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is a really horny teenager.
Aaand we’ve got another bandwagon. Really, only in Japan it’s possible for a guy to be murdered in a gruesome way, only to be revived by a cute girl able to become an overused cliche. In any case, High School DxD pretty much has the least pretense of any other show this season. What this show is about is incredibly simple: boobs boobs boobs boobs action boobs boobs action gore. So yeah, if you’re looking for porn: go ahead. If not, then it’s not worth it. It’s well made and certainly doesn’t have the worst direction or anything, but when it’s already so honest about what it’s going to be about there is little to make it worth watching aside from that.
ED: Fanservice
Potential: 0%

Amagami SS+

Short Synopsis: Our lead character gets to date a cute girl.
Thursday used to be a day where many groundbreaking and interesting series aired all at once. This season, only Hyouge Mono is left of those, and that will too be ending soon too. Instead, we get many dull and lifeless teenaged comedies. And here AIC comes and adds even more insult to the injury. They are by far the worst of the big animation companies out there. Amagami SS’s sequel stood for the task of how to continue with this sequel. After all, the lead character had already scored six girls in the first season, and apparently the concept of being in a healthy relationship is completely unknown to the moe show. So what premise do they come up with? A love triangle! Sure, the third girl isn’t really in love with the male lead (who by the way still is incredibly dull and terrible to watch, especially when horny), but the end result is just the same: a ton of drama is created when she suddenly kisses the male lead, jealousy, yadda yadda yadda. Moving on…
OP: Decent vocalist, wasted on this bland song.
ED: Dull ballad
Potential: 0%

Recorder to Randoseru

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is really tall.
Ugh, I really hoped that the creators would get something nice out of this premise, but alas. From the makers of Morita-San wa Mukuchi comes an even worse series. In fact, this pretty much was the worst episode of the new season and I’m getting really tired of seeing all these lifeless productions here. The thing with Kill Me Baby was that at least it had some good jokes beneath its blandness. Recorder to Randoseru then comes with a bunch of really bad innuendo jokes that everyone has already seen before. A show about a kid stuck in a grown up body has been done before with Yoiko, but even though that was a fanservice fest, it actually did treat its characters like actual characters, rather than some random cardboard box to tell bad jokes.
ED: As dull and uninspired as the rest of the show.
Potential: 0%

Some Quick First Impressions: Kill Me Baby, Poyopoyo Kansatsu Nikki and The New Prince of Tennis

by psgels, posted in Some Quick First Impressions

Kill Me Baby

Short Synopsis: Our lead character knows a ninja and an assassin.
This one was really dull, but not in a way that I expected it to be. For one: it has a troll OP. It’s all fast-paced, well animated and exciting, only for the real episode to be nothing but two girls talk to each other in a classroom. Second of all, it’s not like this is a completely hopeless premise. This episode did show me that the source material that this series is based on has a few good jokes here and there. Here and there the characters have some nice quips to each other, and some jokes are built up well. It’s just the execution that’s incredibly dull. Seriously, the delivery of all these jokes is incredibly lifeless. The animation is incredibly simplistic and refuses to bring the characters to life. The timing is really bad. It’s clear that the creators of the anime just took a look at the 4koma it’s based on, and just decided to animate the individual pages without thinking about how to make them work in animation-format. What should have been an enjoyable comedy now has turned into an utter chore to sit through. The days in which comedies could really take things easy as long as they delivered a bunch of good lines is over, yo.
OP: Madness, using instruments and vocals that completely don’t fit together, but it would have worked for a comedy. Definitely the best part of this show.
ED: Weird song and a weird dance. Again, though the delivery was better than the actual episode.
Potential: 30%

Poyopoyo Kansatsu Nikki

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is a cat of the same family as Tamayura’s Momoneko-sama.
Well, this one turned out to be pretty much as expected. What would have been a really average comedy series is really brought to life by Akitarou Daichi. The episodes of this series are only three minutes long, but it’s quite amazing how much he manages to put into just that. This show doesn’t have his extreme pacing as with Gag Manga Biyori or Sugoi-Yo, Masaru-san, but he still manages to make it fast-paced, and at the same time a relaxing little comedy. It’s perhaps not the funniest, but a cute way to spend 3 minute. And for once people actually note that these fat cats are completely unlike other cats.
OP: Yeah, just 30 seconds long generic tune.
Potential: 70%

The New Prince of Tennis

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is very good at tennis.
The impossible has happened: something actually airs on Wednesday! In any case, with this one episode I can already see why this is such an infamous series. First of all it’s the equivalent of the moe fanservice series for guys, just like with flicks like Koi Suru Tenshi Angelique: it packs a ton of different bishies who all try to look cool, yet all have one or two single quirks that define them. Apparently the taste of females in guys is much more diverse than the rather simpleminded guys, and so this show really has a ton of different characters to anticipate any kind of fetish. I of course don’t know how the first Prince of Tennis was, but to be 200 episodes further, and still seeing the characters act in nothing but stereotypes: there is something really wrong with that. The characters are on top of that way too busy with looking cool. One particular scene had one character so busy doing double-takes that he failed to look into the eyes of the one he was talking to (he was challenging him to a match)… who was standing right next to him. And then there is the completely ridiculous tennis aspect of this series. I understand that this show is a parody of tennis and all, but at times I doubt that it actually forgets about this sometimes. The animation also is really bad here. There was one big tennis match here, and that showed like… three or four scenes of character actually hitting a ball. Apart from that it was still frames, or the camera conveniently panned to other characters and just played a bunch of sound effects in the background. Also, the entire cast is a group of collective idiots. How many grades to you need to skip in order to still be middle schoolers at this point?
OP: That vocalist sounds like he’s having an orgasm…
ED: Cheesy J-Rock
Potential: 0%

Some Quick First Impressions: Natsume Yuujin-Chou Shi, Tantei Opera Milky Holmes 2 and Rinne no Lagrange

by psgels, posted in Natsume Yuujin-Chou, Rinne no Lagrange, Some Quick First Impressions, Tantei Opera Milky Holmes

Natsume Yuujin-Chou Shi

Short Synopsis: Our lead character can see youkai.
Usually the best of a season is aired last. This time, it’s completely different when the first three series are the big original series, the best comedy, and what’s likely going to be the best overall series for the next three months. Seriously, I can not imagine the rest of the season to live up to these three shows at all; perhaps only Rinne no Lagrange will get trumped. In any case, this was another very solid story for Natsume Yuujinchou. As opposed to the other seasons, it immediately starts off with an arc. And compared to the other first episodes of the arcs we’ve seen so far, it really holds up. This episode was both heart-warming as tense as a cat and mouse game between Natsume and what looks to be the series’ villain Matoba. Nyanko-sensei was as delightful as ever, the animation was also as rock-solid as usual. Now let’s hope that the series will capture the same heights as the third series.
OP: Very clever little op, completely dedicated to character development. The song could have been better, though.
ED: In the same style as the previous ED, with some nice animation and a gentle song.
Potential: 95%

Tantai Opera Milky Holmes 2

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is a detective. Or at least she’s supposed to be one.
Oh my god. What the hell did I just watch here? You see, comedy sequels are very hard to do. Most of the times, the sequel is the point where the jokes get stale, overused, and there the creators get too scared to deviate from the formula that made the first season successful. Milky Holmes does not have that problem. Oh no. This episode was actually different from the first season. The creators definitely went into a slightly different direction. I mean, the first season wrapped up pretty conclusively, so the creators had to go for something different. I did not expect that “something different” to mean complete madness. Seriously, this show has turned into an extreme self-parody. This entire episode made the entire first season look completely ridiculous. This only was the first episode of the year, but already I cannot imagine any other show this year to have a DUMBER cast than this here. It was crazy beyond belief. And it was utterly hilarious. Also, what the heck is Artland doing here?
OP: Really, really bad.
ED: Really, really bad.
Potential: 90%

Rinne no Lagrange

Short Synopsis: Our lead character gets to pilot a mecha.
Happy new year, everyone! And so the Winter Season of 2012 starts, and it already does so with the original production of the season. Because of this, it was one of my most anticipated non-sequels for the upcoming start of the new season, despite the obvious problems. The obvious problems here are the fanservice, and indeed this episode had quite a bit of the pointless variation, from some of the outfits to the lead character running around in a swimsuit. Overall though, it definitely has promise, and in particular the direction of this episode was good. This show knows how to deliver tense mecha-battles, and the acting too is quite well delivered. Madoka as a lead character so far has her pluses and minuses. I like how she is a strong female character who is confident and gets along quite easy with others. On the other hand though, the creators also made her just too perfect: she excels at everything, whether it’s kendo, acting, sports or anything else it seems, and she manages to pilot the big mecha of the show like it’s nothing. The creators had better provide an explanation of why 1) she’s able to do that, and 2) she somehow is the only one who is fit to pilot an alien craft.
OP: Quite a standard set for the visuals for the rest of the year. The song is generic, but the use of colours and textures is excellent here.
ED: Dull song, but neat visual ideas.
Potential: 75%