Category: Some Quick First Impressions

Natsume Yuujinchou Go

Short Synopsis: A boy with a book of youkai names has adventures with a youkai cat.

I said my piece on this series in the preview so I will leave this to the others.

afgm:  After a long hiatus, we can finally say hello to our old friend, the bearer of the Book of Friends, Natsume once again, and this opening episode definitely did not disappoint.  The mystery, the intrigue, the humor, and the characterization that we would expect from Natsume Yuujinchou is here and it is here in spades. In this episode, Natsume is pursued by a vengeful Youkai in a pot, the Kayatsubo, that threatens to take what is most important from him if he does not return the doll that Reiko stole from her.  I will not go further so as to spoil the story; however what I will say is that the episode touches on the dimensions of loneliness, of yearning, of the existence of evil as a facet of purity expressed in the whims and joy of the Youkai and Reiko herself.  All of these have been recurring themes throughout the series, and this season seems to promise a resolution in the questions that surround them, such as who Natsume’s family is and the motivation behind his grandmother’s actions..  The world of Natsume is as muted as the colors that paint it, illuminated by the bright characters that inhabit it, and this episode proves that the show will most likely continue to stay its course as having among the best composed settings in recent memory.  As such, it is definitely worth watching.

Potential: 100%

Mario: Is there anything else that needed to talk about Natsume? All I can say for new viewers is that if you watch one episode of Natsume, you’ve seen all the rest. Like Kino’s Journey or Mushishi, each episode is self-contained story that revolve around Natsume, youkai and his Books of Friends. What we’re guaranteed to get is its deeply personal stories, sometimes hilarious, sometimes sad, always touching. This first episode of season 5 follows that same path, as we get to the story of the rolling pot, her doll and the big kind-hearted youkai. It’s sometimes scary for sure, Kayatsubo the vertical rolling pot is something taken right from our nightmare, charming and creepy all the same. Natsume, on the other hands, has opened himself up more to his friends and he begins to trust them. We get to see more about his grandmother Reiko as well, and she’s for me still hold up as the most interesting character in this universe. Natsume is a just-sit-down-and-relax anime of this season (last season we had Amanchu!) and I could never say no to more Natsume.

Potential: 90%

 

Nanbaka

Short Synopsis: A group of prison inmates have wacky comedy adventures.

While not quite as painful as reading the manga this show does annoy me. I hate the characters and the comedy is a weak straight man vs funny man double act with the prisoners interchanging between the two. What really was strange was that throughout this entire episode there was some sparkle effect on the screen at all times. Considering that this is a prison this effect is so out of place and it never stops no matter what is on screen. A guard is watching security camera’s talking to his boss and I see around the edges of the screen these sparkling lights and wonder “Why? Just why is that there?” If you find the banter charming and the comedy to your taste this may be for you. However if like me you find it all rather banal then I certainly say give this one a pass.

Potential: 10%

Mario: One thing about Nanbaka that really impressed me is they know their tones really well. Unlike Matoi which has tonal inconsistencies, the creators of this show know exactly what make this show appealing; and they turn it up to 11. Wacky, fast-paced, over the top and a bit of slapstick nature make this show entertainment and a joy to watch. The jokes are short and fast enough to not stay out its welcome. All the characters are your typical anime characters: overdesigned, full of quirks and nothing deep, but they are perfect characters for this kind of show. The four guys in particular have great chemistry together. When it comes to mindless popcorn everything-comes-everything-goes like this one, the more ridiculous things get the more awesome this becomes, that is why the last moments when things get a bit seriously doesn’t do well for me. Nanbaka is the kind of show that knows exactly what they’re doing, for that judging it is rather easy: if you enjoy this first episode, you’ll enjoy the rest of the show. If you find it silly and contrived, the rest will wear out its welcome very quickly. Actually, writing this and listening to Meat Loaf songs make them a perfect combo. Fancy trying it out?

Potential: 30%

 

Yuri!!! On Ice

Short Synopsis: A young Ice Skater is given an opportunity to be coached by his idol after a video of him ice skating goes viral.

This is probably the most promising candidate for one of the hits of the season but it is a shame that it’s really not the kind of show I can get into. I like the portrayal of the main character Yuri’s struggles and the animation is top notch throughout. However there does seem to be fujoshi pandering in the future and there is a rather weird tone with the humor. While a majority of this episode is relatively down to earth and serious, the comedy tends to veer towards the type I particularly despise in shoujo manga. Where the character designs get distorted and simplified for emphasizing the joke. It’s also strange to hear Yuri jokily talk about his complete failures and then have him crying in a toilet stall right after. I don’t think these two sides mesh well but it’s likely the comedic tone is going to become more prevalent in later episodes. The comedy is a miss for me but I do find Yuri’s struggles to be compelling so if it can avoid putting in too much fujoshi pandering and focus on the Ice Skating then we could have an interesting anime on our hand. Sadly though, even if that does happen this really isn’t my thing so I won’t be blogging it.

Potential: 65%

Mario: Welcome to the very first great premiere episode of this Fall season. Seriously, there’s a lot to love in this episode. Top-notch productions, reliable music and sound designs. The character designs are mostly great and, dare I say, sexy. There are many little details to the settings (the skating stadium, his hometown, his hot bath house) that already feel live-in and vivid. The animation certainly is smooth, and that speaks a lot for a show about figure skating. More impressively, it’s not strictly scenes that involving ice-skating that showcase the fluid animation, but the way each character moves feel like they’re dancing in the own beats too. Our main character Yuri’s sadly unimpressive, but his struggles are well-defined. The feeling that after all the hard training that you spend for many years while being far away from home, you realize that you’re just not good enough for the sports is something I feel really resonate to. At the same time, I feel the comedy don’t mix well with the tone of the show, especially whenever his chibi version pops up to provide us some info, and many exaggerated reactions that make it feel more awkward than funny. It’s Sayo Yamamoto’s show so Victor’s naked pose will eventually make its way there so I have no comment on that one. The ending provides an interesting twist to the story (feel a bit out of the blue though), and there are real potentials going forward. Yuri!!! On Ice, like this guy Victor, is the most confidence and good-looking show this season.

Potential: 80%

Trickster

Short Synopsis:

Edogawa Ranpo certainly was a man before his time. At least if this series is to be believed he was writing about mecha, hacker loli’s, boob jokes and superpowered emo teenagers before light novels were even a thing. Or at least if this series is to be believed to be based on his actual work. I for one am absolutely certain that this has about as much to do with the Boy Detective novels as Shakespeare has with “The Shining”. As someone who is interested in Rampo’s work i find this to be quite insulting to rob his name just to get people to watch an otherwise unremarkable anime show. So I doubt our boy detectives will be doing any actual detective work and this will be mainly more of an action show. The writing isn’t good but it certainly isn’t the worst I have seen all season. If pushed I would say this was rather mediocre but just barely above bad. I like the nature of the emo boys superpower but it bugs me at just how woe is me he is about having superpowers. Why not take what that other kid says into account and stop getting all depressed about not being normal and instead appreciate that you can chop stuff with your mind. Or at least take a page out of Mob’s book and try to better yourself instead of crawling into a ball to be a whiny little Shinji. Maybe this might be your thing but I will say there are likely better alternatives to what this show will likely end up being.

Potential: 35%

Mario: I have my worried when it comes to Edogawa Ranpo’s inspiration as Ranpo Kitan: Game of Laplace last year was terrible. Trickster seems to follow the same path because the writing is its weakest component. I have an issue with shows that display random crimes for no apparent reasons; not that they don’t happen in real life but casual crimes like these just to show the bad side of people, or in this case just to show off how amazing our main character is (the schoolgirl is kidnapped by two thugs just to be rescued by our boy), is heartless and lazy. The dialogues are contrived; characters speak with their one-note tones throughout this episode. The twists are half-baked and the characters themselves are not all that interesting. The shot compositions and the use of strong color, on the other hand, are flawless. The scene in the fire sequence for example, everything is just bathed in red and black that resonate to the theme of isolation and the dark, gritty world. But those alone cannot save the show and if you can’t get pass the lousiness of the monologue in the very first sequence, chances are the rest of Trickster ain’t going to change your mind.

Potential: 10%

 

Shakunetsu no Takkyuu Musume

Short Synopsis:

These girls take ping pong way too seriously. Anyway I am a bit disappointed with this one, not because it’s cute girls doing cute things because that was a given. It’s because I thought that ping pong would make for some pretty interesting animation. But the animation of this episode was bare bones. It’s passable for the story though it’s clear with the number of still frames and shots aiming to present the least amount of animation on screen as possible. The character designs are a bit miss here as well as the girl’s eyes are freakishly huge. I haven’t seen eyes like this since Kanon. My original point in my season preview still stand but it seems like the anime actually toned down the fanservice. A good point for it but sadly negated because we still have the terrible boob jokes and it still is what it is. With the lacking animation I am afraid the ping pong loses a lot of it’s appeal and what remains is a sports show that’s bound to go nowhere and the always overdone cute girl antics. Chances are the other cute girls type shows this season would be a better alternative. Though I believe I did hear word that long bikers was no longer airing this season.

Potential: 10%

Mario: We get to the first “cute girls doing cute things” show of this season. This time it’s all about ping pong. For those kinds of show there are 3 words that best described their quality: cute but inoffensive. This goes the same for this one. It’s nice (and make my job easier I would say) to just watch the first episode, you could tell right away the show’s direction for the rest of the season (playing National Championship), their conflict (first the main girl has to fix her attitude problem, then her, the new girl and two other girls will form a school team to compete regional-wise, then head out to national tournament), their main opponent (the creepy smiling girl). Everything is as clear as daylight so you don’t have to think too hard. The cuteness aspect is all there and sadly it doesn’t offer anything distinctively. I also found the ‘new girl stuck on a gate’ joke a bit overused and those boob jokes are certainly not gain you any fan. This is a harmless little show and I’m pretty sure it’s content to be just that.

Potential: 10%

 

Soushin Shoujo Matoi

Short Synopsis:

This show really wasn’t quite was I was expecting. i was anticipating either a straightforward magical girl show or a dark magical girl show in disguise but this episode was a kind of mix between the two with much more comedy. The opening scene had military commencing an attack on a mysterious beast and was so vastly different from  the promotional material that I was wondering if I mistakenly picked the wrong show. Then some girl with a giant mecha shows up and I wonder where the genre from the first few minutes went. After this came a light hearted and comedy driven antics and I finally started to see the show I was intending to watch. Judging based on the first few minutes I would say this show was dull and tonally awkward but the remainder of the episode fared better. There is still a bit of a tonal problem as anything dealing with the monster was deathly serious but when it came to Matoi the tone became pure slapstick comedy. The scenes with Matoi were almost studio Trigger-eqe in a way. My opinion on this is rather mixed as some things I liked here but there were also things I hated quite a bit. That last joke about her father mistaking her for his wife when she was in Magical girl form and then him feeling her up was in bad taste. Also if mecha girl from earlier is joining the cast I can see this getting a bit bland. I say wait maybe one or two more episodes to see how this show pans out

Potential: 55%

Mario: Matoi has its messy first episode, but ultimately a rewarding one. This is an original show from White Fox right after the success of Re:Zero. This originality explains the tonal issues as this show tries to be many things, and they might not work together as a whole. On one hand they attempt to go for a bright, coming-of-age story of Matoi as she gains her magical power and how she both manages to control her power and fits in with her normal, mundane life. On the other hands those supernatural monsters are dark and fearsome, and the plot goes much darker and more intense. At some points the show just doesn’t quite sure which side it’s going to be. But to say that this show has a lot of potentials to be a good (but uneven) show. The fighting sequences are fresh and creative, the fundamental theme of exorcising evil spirits is promising; the characters have great chemistry to each other (most notably, Matoi and her dad and Matoi with her friend Yuma). Still, that awkward groping gives a chill down my spine and I hope this joke is just one-off. I have a feeling that this show will take 3,4 episodes before it can find its own footing, but I sure respect shows that willing to try than majority of shows that just content to be harmless.

Potential: 60%

Touken Ranbu – Hanamaru

Short Synopsis: Famous swords are turned into humans and have to stop strange monsters from changing history

Here’s a thought. If your show has so many characters that you literally cannot introduce them all in the first episode besides just flashing up a name when they appear then maybe you should rethink your cast. We start this episode with an action scene followed by a comedic chase as the series jumps from character to character flashing up names and just presenting personality quirks instead of genuine characterisation they just all blend together. By the time all the introductions were done I couldn’t remember who was who. Followed by a clunky infodump where the audience is told what exactly these swords turned humans do. The thing is I get what they are doing but I don’t really understand why. Apparently some mindless monster samurai’s can decide to interfere with history, why? Who knows? So some master sends swords owned by famous samurai to counter them and preserve history. Why are the swords doing this? Who knows? Of course it’s the first episode so answers to these questions could come later on. However this series just hasn’t given me any real reason to care. To me this looks like some kind of male version of Kantai collection and whatever entertainment that anyone can get out of it is reserved for fujoshi’s and fans of the game.

Potential: 0%

Mario: This ends up as a mixed bag for me. Based on a card game, that means I have a low expectation going for it, but it turns to be better than I thought. The first half of this episode first starts with a battle we know nothing about, then heads back to introduce their characters (about 15 of them), and then we have an info-dump section explains us their missions. Those moments are a recipe for disaster. We never have enough time to know about those characters, and each of them have their own quirks that for me make them over the top and I don’t feel them as actual human. But that precisely the point, for them are the incarnation of famous swords throughout the history. The second half plays out much better and that where the premise shines through. The character designs are attractive and the fight in the end is actually quite good to look at. The premise about them protecting the history has its merit, and I suspect in later episodes we will get to know each character (and their master tragic death) a little better so there still something that I can look forward for after this first episode. On last note, they are not good with comedy so I hope they would tone the comedy down in next episodes.

Potential: 40%

 

Magic-kyun! Renaissance

Short Synopsis: A girl attends a magic high school filled with prodigy boys.

Welcome to the world of Magic-kyun! Renaissance, were when someone does something artistic, a random invisible person grabs a fistful of glitter and shoves it into your eyes sockets. Well really it’s just that something artistic just shows out glowy sparkles  which attracts our main heroine who much like a bird follows after anything shiny. Speaking of our heroine she is standard reverse harem lead number 257, seeing as she has no really personality and is as bland as watching paint dry. Come on, even male Harem leads have more variety than this. Anyway this has to be the most pointless version of magic I have ever seen and all it seems to do it is create a light show when someone does something. And thus now all talent is judged by how pretty the light show is, instead of you know, the talent itself. Shown here as our main’s mother is a world famous…flower arranger. Didn’t quite think that putting flowers in a pot required that much skill but what do I know. After all I can’t create sparkles by writing about anime so clearly I am a talentless hack. There isn’t much to say about this one as it’s a pretty standard reverse harem with nothing particularly notable about it.

Potential: 0%

Mario: My god this show is soooo gorgeous to look at. Lustful color, grand staircases and castle-like buildings, and most notably, those sparkles make this production the best looking show I’ve seen this season. You could say they are over the top but I’m a fan of it. Unfortunately, the rest is just below-average. The cast, while charming in their own way, is all one-note creation. Making them a prodigy doesn’t help either, for all the quality we see about them is just the dressing on top of the salad. Our main female lead is your typical girl that somehow see the best in people and the male cast will eventually fall head over heel over her. The way she encounters the “king” (I know, I know) on her first day at school is your typical girl’s daydreaming (I mean, she even falls from the stairs into his arms for Christ sake). The little fact that she’s a daughter of a famous artista just keeps bringing up in this episode to the point of annoying. The story is not worth anyone time but the magic the cast performs and the candy-looking production are what this show shines for.

Potential: 20%

 

Vivid Strike

Short Synopsis: A girl is picked off the street and asked to join a martial arts gym.

This isn’t the same magical girl show I watched in the first season. In fact I am not sure we can even classify this as magical girl anymore as it seems to have tossed aside any resemblance to it. The last Vivid series was produced by A-1 Pictures and was an adaption of a manga but this time we have Seven Arcs back in to make a new anime original series. So gone are the days of Nanoha making friends by blasting them with laser beams and instead we have magical girls literally kicking the crap out of each other. What makes it stranger is that I am quite ok with this. It looks like this series can stand alone as the events of Vivid don’t seem to be all that important and the events of Nanoha even less so. There’s no big bad to defeat in order to save the world but instead this girl wants to get stronger so she can knock some sense into her old childhood friend, who’s currently the reigning 15 age range champion in the martial arts world. The fight animation is quite exhilarating and the tension reminds me a lot of Hajime no Ippo which is a very good thing in my book. This franchise has never been particularly deep but it is an enjoyable simple story and after having trying to grin and bare through a number of pretty bad to flawed shows, a bit of fun is something I really need. I plan to keep up with this though I won’t be blogging it.

Potential: 60%

Mario: Again, I’m not familiar with the original Nanoha Vivid, but in a way it gives me a fresher perspective on this spin-off. Let me be frank but I’m not a fan with the show’s art characters. For once you rarely allow girls to have long hair when playing sports, and then there are many girls with two different eye colors. For the martial art sport itself, it’s more like a kick-boxing style which I actually really like. And I enjoy the way they build up the conflict between the two leads, at the same time explore a bit about the rich/poor conflict. It’s nothing impressive of course but they do it just about right. The other supporting characters don’t fare well unfortunately, and if you are not familiar with the old seasons (like myself), the characters’ introduction when they literally introduce themselves one by one will give you headache. I like the main lead’s head strong personality and I see potentials in what to come (she joins in the club and they play tournament), so if you’re already a fan of Nanoha Vivid, or you like sports/fighting in general, you will have a good time with it, others might proceed with caution.

Potential: 35%

WWW.Working!!

Short Synopsis: A guy is forced to get a part time job at a family restaurant after his dad loses his job, and runs into all sorts of antics.

K-Off: It’s well known by this point that Takatsu Karino is great at writing comedies, Wagnaria!! was a gem all the way through and Servant x Service was a memorable, dark horse of a comedy. But with that said, I’m almost slightly let down with WWW. Working. The first episode introduces us to a good blend of characters, and they seemed to have imported the Wagnaria formula, where most of the jokes would revolve around a character having opposite traits for comedic effect. Problem is, Wagnaria is now iconic enough to the point where it’s a problem when that same formula is stuck on a spin-off. It essentially feels more or less the same, and comparisons inevitably happen in the back of my head. But hey, the formula worked brilliantly in Wagnaria for three seasons, and yes the comedy was good in this episode. Nostalgia aside, the character introductions to this spin off was actually superior, the first episode of season 1 of Wagnaria really just focused on the short waitress and only introduced Inami at the end of the episode – here, all the staff have amusing intros. All in all, while it wasn’t the breath of fresh air I was looking for, it’s looking great, I wonder how it’ll eventually set itself apart. Aside from swapped character types.

ED: Catchy soundtrack, as expected of Working.

Potential: 80%

 

Mario: Well, I haven’t watched Wagnaria!! before but for my taste, I always prefer gag comedy. Maybe because it’s short and to the point, maybe because the pun is more focus and stronger, or just maybe because I like the messy and random nature of gags. www.Working works really well on me. The cast is a bunch of interesting weirdos. Sometimes they appear a bit one-note, but that precisely why the comedy works for me. It’s a tremendous job to introduce that huge cast in one episode, and by the end I actually remember most of them. This show is a perfect light watch in-between show, I know a lot of people will be put off by its slice-of-life and light hearted nature but this is my kind of show.

Potential: 50%

 

Bloodivores

Short Synopsis: Some vampires decide to rob a bank.

I always find it funny how a story can awkwardly avoid using an established term and instead resort to calling it by some other name despite it being completely identical. I recently played a game which has a magic system with four types. Pyro, Aqua, Terra, and Aero. Which are all basically alternative terms for Fire, water, earth and air. But I guess they didn’t want to use something so overused and gave it a different name despite the fact that changes absolutely nothing. Here we have bloodivores, otherwise known as vampires and I think that goes to show the level of writing we are dealing with. The writing is certainly flimsy and I can think of a few plot holes right off the bat. For one these vampires have some collars with a GPS function. But it only seems to activate in certain conditions instead of being constantly monitored. It’s conditions also seem to be really weird as a child’s crying counts as an attack, yet a vampire beating someone to death with a gun is apparently not? If you are going to the lengths of putting collars on them then why not have it inject a tranquilizer or blow up instead of having to send in a swat team? Honestly I could poke holes in this thing all day as the writing is fairly contrived and just dumb. The biggest failing is this episode ending with the cast getting shot to death by soldiers. Only to show a preview right after confirming they are all fine. The characters are nothing worth noting and the main is especially bland. Things could improve now that the setting has moved to prison but I doubt it’s going to leave any good impressions.

Potential: 0%

 

Mario: Like a heist within the episode itself, there’s a lot going on underneath of Bloodivores, I mean it in both good and bad ways. The bank robbery and the car chasing right at the beginning of the episode are easily its weakest points. Those moments are cliché and could only excite the most hardcore thriller fans, other than that it adds nothing to the table. The very nature of Bloodivores, people who drink blood to survive (aka vampires) is hinted quite effectively throughout this episode; both on the origin of those Bloodivores, and on how normal society look at them. The whole plot about who really behind all the murders, on the other hand, was undercooked. There’s just not enough cards on the table for us to know right now about the culprits, and the show doesn’t hook us enough for us to care. The main cast is bland and generic to say the least. I say compare to Hitori no Shita the Outcast last season (Chinese-web manhua adapted), Bloodivores is a step up, but still not good enough to catch our attention.

Potential: 30%

 

Dream Festival!

Short Synopsis: A boy is scouted by a male idol and..I guess…stuff…snore…

This is going to be the new bane of my existence, isn’t it? Boy Idol shows. I am not exactly sure what sparked this particular surge of boy idol anime but I can certainly say it makes my job a little harder. At least with light novel harems I am within the demographic and therefore I can judge it with a degree of confidence. However I am fairly certain that even if I was to spot a notable boy idol show that I wouldn’t be the kind of person who can assess it’s quality. But one thing that really kills me with these kinds of shows is the level of blind optimism that permeates though it’s being. For a cynical such as myself I find it poisonous to watch as I am certain if a boy smiled and tried to hand me a balloon I would tell him to bugger off. I certainly do think that being an idol is hardly easy but it being worthwhile is something I don’t quite agree with. Sure, work your ass off and maybe you can make terrible music while being the masturbation fantasy of preteen girls worldwide! Then there is this whole magic element were idols collect cheers from fans which change them magical girl style into fancy outfits. I question why this technology is being used for something so redundant and also why they aren’t standing on stage in the skimpiest outfits possible if they are dressing according to fan wishes. I am far too cynical for this stuff but I think even if I wasn’t this wouldn’t be noteworthy.

Potential: 0%

 

Mario: Wow, the story within this first episode is not unlike a patchwork of many under-written pieces put together. With this kind of story, you pretty much need to shut down all your logical sense and go with the flow; because plot holes just keep popping up like an overcooked popcorn. Let see, we follow a hot guy to hand out balloon for 5,6 hours. While he’s attentive and gives smile to everyone, he happens to overlook the one person who was sitting there the whole time? That guy was offered to audition for the company, but he’s declined. But soon after someone else mocking him that he can’t do it; he’s getting fired up and later want to join the company? How about the concert in which he has no knowledge of before, but when he’s on stage he performs flawlessly? And then we have the Dorika cards which supposedly… a fan cheers? And what’s up with those exclamations (!!!!!!). The only point I could give in all honesty is its absolute positive attitude regarding idols industry (you know, hard but rewarding), but that point also has its fair share of problems, isn’t it?

Potential: 0%

The Disastrous Life of Saiki K

Short Synopsis: A boy with incredible psychic powers runs into troublesome people.

It’s a pretty good watch. Sort of like Handa-kun it relies a lot of misunderstandings but the execution seems better in this regard. I say the main weakness is in that it has no real continuous narrative and instead is a series of shorts detailing Saiki running into a troublesome person and reluctantly using his powers to help them. Out of the skits shown I liked the one about his parents the best as it had the best punchlines. However Saiki as a character is rather dull considering that he has only one default state and that’s pure apathy. Sort of akin to Saitama’s bored demeanor without any of his goofy charm. I think for it to really get good Saiki needs a foil who is on the same level as him but so far it’s a rather decent comedy.

Potential: 60%

 

Mario’s thoughts:

This show based on the gags manga series, so instead of showing it as a 20-minute episode per week, they screen the show everyday as a 4-minute chapter and combine all of them for a full episode on Sunday, so in a way I could see this more as a short series one. I’m not kidding when I say this is the sharpest comedy show of this season, as it could go absurd, occasionally slapstick, most of the time over-the-top humor, but ultimately never lose its charms. Saiki is an over-power, but very self-aware kid, and his running through daily live without being stand out (because obviously he’s stand out) is a joy to watch every day. It becomes a new routine that I would start my anime-watching day with 4 minutes of Saiki K., and never once did I feel the show runs out of its joke. A must-watch for me.

Potential: 75%

 

DANGANRONPA 3 -The End of Kibougamine Gakuen- Future Arc

Short Synopsis: A terrorist group captures the leaders of the future foundation and forces them to play a death game against one another.

This is very much an anime for fans of the video games so if you haven’t played them I highly recommend that you do before seeing this show. Though regardless if you plan to watch this or not you should check the two games on steam anyway as they are quite excellent games. Jumping in from a anime only perspective would likely leave people confused as to what exactly is going on as this takes place directly after the events of Danganronpa 2. So far the writing has managed to avoid the pitfalls of the anime adaption of Danganronpa which is a relief though I need to see how they handle the mystery aspect before saying that this has better writing. It certainly doesn’t seem to have pacing issues and the new cast looks interesting.

Potential: 60%

 

Mario’s thoughts: I will not review this as I’m unfamiliar with Danganronpa’s universe

 

DANGANRONPA 3 -The End of Kibougamine Gakuen- Despair Arc

Short Synopsis: A new teacher gathers up her eccentric students to attend class.

Much like it’s counterpart, this is a series for fans of the games and if you haven’t played the games what you are going to get out of this episode is going to be little. However as someone who has played DanganRonpa 2, this episode was like being introduced to old friends. It’s interesting that Lerche is putting out both a prequel and a sequel to this series out in the same season but so far both have had solid starts. This series sounds like it’s going to be the more lighthearted of the two but there are hints of a darker tragedy ahead. With the original writer on board I think these animes could be quite worthwhile. Ultimately I say if you are a fan of the games then these two animes are a must watch.

Potential: 70%

 

Mario’s thoughts: I will not review this as I’m unfamiliar with Danganronpa’s universe

 

Mob Psycho 100

Short Synopsis: A fake Psychic cons a powerful esper boy into exorcising ghosts for him.

I have a particular fear that Bones is attempting to turn this into a repeat of One Punch man when Mob Psycho from what I recall from the manga is a different kind of story. Though considering that One Punch Man was a product of numerous talented people coming together there is a good chance that animators from One punch Man are working on this series as well. It has a particularly interesting style which is based heavily on artist ONEs webcomic art. The story of this episode is different from what I remember of the comic as it looks like things are getting moved around to make the show more dynamic. There is a much higher focus on comedy and sadly for me this doesn’t really work. For one the conman’s thing of pretending to be a powerful exorcist gets tiresome. He’s basically a version of Hercule from Dragonball Z. Mob in turn lacks the things that made Saitama so enjoyable and comes across as a more emotionally demore Saitama. Not helped by his design with has huge similarities.  This story does get interesting as it continues but I doubt it will reach the heights of OPM. Those hoping for a second coming likely should temper their expectations down to a lower level. Still the animation here is quite interesting and for that alone the series is worth checking out.

Potential: 60%

 

Mario’s thoughts:

Wow. I could watch the opening theme all day. The visual looks cool, the story is fun mainly because the show never takes itself seriously, the comedy is sharp and witty, what’s more could you ask for? I can see the running joke of Reigan as a con artist and his totally dependence on Mob to exorcise ghosts can wear off quickly, but I have faith on its writing as One Punch Man has a solid writing as well. My main concern is Mob himself, as for now he’s just plain- blank, to be exact. Yeah I guess we have to wait until he reaches 100 to see exactly what will happen. One of the most awesome thing was that creative visual is not there just for showcase but it fits very well with the theme (ghosts, supernatural) and the tone (a bit wacky, colorful) of the show. Overall, I think this is a style-over-substance show, but could be a very entertainment one at that.

Potential: 80%

 

Battery

Short Synopsis: A baseball pitcher finds a friend whom can catch his pitches.

I admit that after a long run of first episodes that I may be quite burned out at this point to enjoy battery. What make this harder for me to enjoy is that Battery is fairly slow paced and character driven which I simply have no patience for anymore. I am tired of school setting, tired of slice of life and tired of easygoing atmosphere. Let me get down to the main point. Is Battery a bad show? The answer is no. It’s a fairly solid slice of life so far but I think in this season it’s going to need a lot more than this to stand out. We already have two alternatives to watch this season besides this show and I have no interest whatsoever in baseball. I can sort of see where this story is heading and I have very little interest in continuing. Put simply I think you should check this one out yourself if you have a slice of life itch that needs scratching and decide if it’s something for you. Otherwise when it comes to this first impressions, I am done.

Potential: 50%

 

Mario’s thoughts:

And with this final show had its first screening, I’m happy to say that we don’t end our impressions on a sour note. Battery has fairly strong writing to start with. Unlike Days (the other sport series this season) where our main character was clueless about anything related to football, here in Days the main character is an already established teen baseball pitcher. And he’s not a likeable kid, but he’s well-grounded. He’s first appeared to be an overachiever, but at the end of episode we learn many about him, many of those through just small exchanges: his affection to baseball, to the point of playing it with his new friend – something a loner like him tends not to do; his strain relationship with his father, his ambiguous to be the best but ends up taking baseball too seriously, his mocking about “rich kid” when he gets hurt. It helps that the cast around him, most notably his brother and his new friend Go, bounds off very natural together and the more they interact, the more we understand about their personalities. This is a solid first episode and I can’t wait to see them batter for more.

Potential: 70%

Qualidea code

Short Synopsis: School students need to defend the world from a dark alien threat.

This odd in the fact that I can tell effort went into the characters and writing but it’s all really for naught when the story is so highly generic that it all feels like it’s been done to death. The characters are stereotypes but there is an attempt to make them stand out. It’s rather irritating in you can see that the writers are trying but their effort is just bringing forth a story we have seen a dozen times before. There are some pretty grievous animation errors and the plot of today’s episode just comes across as average at best. Despite the intensity of the opening scene, there doesn’t seem to be any real threat from these alien invaders. As students seem to just mess around like they are on some kind of field trip. There’s one thing however that has me somewhat curious and that is the tone of the episodes ending. It hints that there is something wrong with their current world and that it’s not all it seems. Perhaps this was made intentional generic and we could be looking at a genre deconstruction? It would be nice if that was the case but it’s a slim hope. If qualidea code continues to be what it currently is, then it’s not worth your time.

Potential: 40%

 

Mario’s thoughts:

I always have rather mixed feeling about the supergroups project, a show where multi-talented writers write their own characters/ city and then paste them up together, and the result is more likely to be a disaster with no personality from any of the writers whatsoever (read: Chaos Dragon). This episode’s main conflict so far reflects the struggle of supergroup very well. Individually, each team has its own distinctive sides and well-defined archetypical characters (the Overachievers – The Idiots- The Lazy). Each group has their own costume designs, their own fighting styles and their own personalities. But to put them together, and the whole things don’t really add up. I like that while this episode shows the teams battle with the Unknown creatures, the main conflict here is internal, and I definitely prefer internal conflict than the threats of alien. The story so far is as generic as possible. I don’t feel there is a lot of potential on this one.

Potential: 30%

 

Hitori no Shita: The Outcast

Short Synopsis: A boy returns to his childhood home when his grandfather’s grave has been dug up by a mysterious person.

Another surprise entry I didn’t see coming in my preview but in this case it’s not a particularly notable one. For one when I started watching it I suddenly realised that I had read the start of the manga/webcomic before. I started it because it had some interesting cover art but then it turned out to be something far less interesting than I expected. So we have zombies and a socially awkward girl who fights them. Plus our main character has lightning powers, I think. I will give it points for having a college student instead of a high school student but other than that this looks to be going do a road traveled far too often. The characters lack a unique kick and the comedy is sad rather than funny. This is just ok but it doesn’t give the viewer any real reason to continue.

Potential: 10%

 

Mario’s thoughts:

I see that this one is produced by Haoliners, the Chinese anime company I had covered before. This show so far looks to be Haoliners’ standard, both in terms of story and production values, so if you haven’t checked the company before, just try this one to see if you like it. For me though this show is a mixed bag, while I like the (brief) fight scene and the supernatural twist to the story, the rest of the show is just meh. The girl unfortunately comes off as one note as possible, the jokes don’t land very well and the whole thing so far is kinda slow. The main storyline, on the other hand, could be interesting the more we learn about what the gifted nature of our main guy, plus that the production values is quite solid. I think this might get interesting later on but sadly this is not my kind of show so I’ll give it a pass.

Potential: 10%

 

Ange Vierge

Short Synopsis: A group of girls on a island fight off alien threats and each other to get a high rank.

Out of all the series on this list so far, this has to be the worst written of them all. It hits a number of my usual checklist of first episode mistakes. One, throwing characters into an action scene right off the bat without establishing context, characterisation or purpose. Two, establishing the setting through a sloppy exposition dump. Three, pointless fanservice. Four, far too many characters. Five, filling your dialogue with codewords and terminology which hasn’t been explained or could easily be replaced with an already established term.(I shook my head when they needed to put a term to the end of the world by labeling it, World end. Thats stupid and I am pretty sure apocalypse would suffice.) There is a lot of negatives here and pretty much nothing I can praise. Our main girl is sad because she got a superpower straight out of nowhere and though it made her better than everyone else. Turns out it didn’t and she’s all disappointed to which I say she can go to hell. The majority of this episode is girls talking in the bath and all about the exact same thing. How the battle went and how one of them wants to ask a favor. Despite getting a terrible exposition dump, the most important questions are not answered such as. How does setting up teams of superpowered girls stop a giant gateway from ending the world? Who are these girls fighting? Why are they fighting each other and why is everyone concerned with getting a higher rank? The series itself tries to wave off these questions as a character asked who they are fighting only to get brushed off by saying “Who cares? They come, we fight them.” This is garbage, don’t give it the time of day.

Potential: 0%

 

Mario’s thoughts:

This is an adaption from card games and most of the times it’s a bad sign. Ange Vierge looks to be in that path unfortunately, as I can see nothing stands out from its first episode. The show already starts with some random fights, the number of girls we encounter this week exceeds my fingers’ count, each of them is generic to the point that when the fight near the end between two teams begins (for no more reason than to boost up their ranks), I have a hard time identify which characters are from which team, nor do I care. To make the matter worse, they spend most of the time naked, and our main character, besides being annoying, reveals to us that she “suddenly” gets the gifts. Well when you get something that you don’t even try to, what is the point of feeling special? I will stop for now as keep dwelling on it required too much effort. This is an easy skip.

Potential: 0%

Thunderbolt Fantasy

Short Synopsis: A wandering vagrant gets caught up in a battle to obtain a powerful weapon after saving a girl.

Now technically this isn’t anime and that’s the main reason it escaped my radar when doing the preview. But let’s talk about this because this show is a different experience. What we have here is a stop motion puppet show written by Gen Urobuchi. Gen is a favorite writer of mine though his names prestige has diminished a bit after lending his name to Gargantia and Aldnoah Zero. Two shows were the level of his influence was passing at best.(Full note, he just provided a skeleton for Gargantia and AZ he did the first few episodes and left because he couldn’t relate to the main character.) Gen’s level of quality in general is shaky but I at least give him credit in that what he’s involved with is at least interesting. Here looks to less serious than his previous work as the story is rather over the top and resembles an old kung fu movie. Visually it’s fascinating and the puppets certainly feel more real than any CGI. However unfortunately these aren’t the puppets from Team America so the puppets faces are stuck in a default expression no matter what they do. It really is a pity those Team America puppets disappeared, that was some pretty impressive technology to be just used for a comedy movie. In fact their mouths don’t even move when speaking lines which makes it feel like those times when you were a kid and played with action figures. It’s charming in a way. However I really wish they would slow down on the editing as it’s far too fast to appreciate the puppetry during the fight scenes. Story Wise this doesn’t look too complex and may be a more straightforward plot. I recommend watching this episode simply on the ground that you will never quite see anything else like it.

Potential: 70%

 

Mario’s thoughts:

There is not often we encounter an original wuxia anime, and on top of that a stop motion/ puppetry one, that alone makes this show an unique beast among anime world and all the more reason to watch it. The fact that it was actually good is nothing but extraordinary. For those of you who don’t know I did some posts about Chinese animation before, and I experienced many types of stop-motion and puppetry movies before, so headed in I know what to expect from a wuxia series. But still it is wonderful to see those 2 elements (puppetry and wuxia anime) joined up together and the result is as fresh and fun as it gets. The custom designs and the background designs, for example, were created with full details. The fights are joy to watch, and in truth it feels refreshing to see bloods squirming all over and bodies blowing up for once, because simply you can’t find it elsewhere in animation medium. Story-wise, I’m happy to say that I enjoyed it as well. As Gen Urobuchi is a mastermind behind it, that comes with no surprise though. The things that makes the writing so spot on was how they rely on genre tropes to twist it around a bit and make it fresh again. Like for example when a girl falls off the cliff, in wuxia genre you would immediately know that she will survive, get rescued and then powered up. It also helps that the dialogue is self-aware with those tropes that make it even more absurdity (like how the main character save the girl, not because of his heroism attitude but because of the Buddha). In all, this is a really amazing and oddball entry of this season and you all need to check it out, because you might never find something as unique as this one in anime.

Potential: 80%

 

Time Travel Girl

Short Synopsis: A girl accidentally travels back in time after touching a book.

I think time travel is one of those things that is treated with either deathly seriousness or a strange sense of easygoing optimism. You never see Doc Brown or Dr Who too concerned with the consequences of time travel and it seems this girl is of a similar mind. So after a rather odd scene featuring a man resuscitating a boy with an AED machine. Education seems to be the main draw here as our main character interacts with historical figures and learns about magnetism and such. VIsually I can’t say it’s anything impressive but so far I don’t see anything wrong with the story. Well besides the horrendously neglectful father. I don’t care if you are some genius scientist, ditching your family for three years is a dick move. So far it’s a fairly watchable show.

Potential: 30%

 

Mario’s thoughts:

A time travel shoujo hey? This is a very straightforward title. On a surface I can see how this one has an appeal: Who wouldn’t want to go back in time to meet famous people and learn some of the interesting aspects of that era? I know I definitely would. That and the main plotline of a girl who traces down her missing father provide enough meat for the whole series. But how about its execution? The execution is clunky at best. There is not a whole lot amount of animation here and so far, the production is completely unremarkable. The characters are just mediocre, but I like the twist about the language barrier and the “correct way to use an AED machine (well, when it’s an educational series that bounds to happen: they want to teach you everything). Still, I like the concept, after all it’s not that often we have an educational time travel girl show where we deal with real historical figures, so I will give this more watch to see how it expands this concept.

Potential: 30%

 

Handa-kun

Short Synopsis: A boys fan club watch a new anime about a popular boy who thinks he’s unpopular

I think this will be an anime which has viewers spilt on which half of the episode they liked better. We have two stories here. The first deals with a boys fan club who are excited about an anime being made about him. This section has a lot of fourth wall jokes and personally it missed more than hit for me. You could see the jokes coming and the only thing that managed to get a smile from me was when they made their own version of a Handa anime and get bent out of shape when one of them starts criticising it harshly.  Other than that it was a cavalcade of fourth wall jokes which is a bit early because we haven’t established the fourth wall yet. or these characters. The second half deals with the school life of Handa. Now this anime is a prequel to Barakamon but it appears it doesn’t really match it tonally. The impression I get is that this is the Full Metal Panic Fumofu of Barakamon. Overall there is one joke in the second half of the episode and it’s that Handa is a massively popular school student. However he has no idea that he is popular and misinterprets his schools awe of him as bullying. So this is a comedy dependant on misunderstandings which can be a tiresome concept. I managed to get a kick out of it but I am certain the gimmick would grow tiresome after a while. Even with Sakamoto I found the gimmick ran thin as I neared the end of the series, despite it being executed well. If this series is going to continue with the dual show format I think people are just going to show preference to one side but not be willing to put up with the other half to watch it.

Potential: 25%

 

Mario’s thoughts:

So this show going to be about 2 distinctive parts: The first part about Handa-kun fan club, who all self-aware of what the show is about, and the second part on Handa-kun himself before he became a big shot in Barakamon; and I’m totally fine with that format. Now in truth I haven’t seen Barakamon before (always meant to but never have a time for it, but I’m quite certain that I will like it), but this show is a standalone show so I would have no problem watching it. I like the humors displayed in this episode, it’s actually one of the sharpest comedy out this season (mainly because this season is lacking good comedy show). I enjoyed the 2 parts simultaneously, this will not break any ground, but for anyone who already love Barakamon, or like a good low-key comedy in between big shows, this is perfect for you.

Potential: 30%

91 Days

Short Synopsis: During the prohibition of America, A man seeks revenge against the Mafia for the death of his family.

We I believe we have a winner for the best first episode of the season. This series is oozing with potential and so far the writing has been solid. The characters are quite dynamic though I hope the main doesn’t pull this bit too try hard “cool” act for the rest of the series. I think the studio picked up some tips from Durarara and Narita’s writing style because this episode felt somewhat like Baccano. I really dig that. The character art could be better as some far shots the characters faces don’t look quite right but otherwise everything is solid and has style. The music and sound are of particular note as it captures the era perfectly. Of course this is only the first episode and what will really define the series is where it goes from here. But I see real promise in this and I hope it can live up to that. Then if they succeed, all we need is a Baccano styled english dub with accents and this will be glorious.

Potential: 95%

 

Mario’s thoughts:

Truth be told, while watching this, my mind keeps wandering back to Joker Games last season. Joker Games started out really strong and compelling, then went completely off the mark later on. Here in 91 Days I sense some of the same vibe so I’m a bit worry here. This first episode’s execution is solid to say the least, with gritty and dark themes about revenge and might as well about survival. I particularly enjoyed the muted color palate and the sound designs of this show. Those jazz music reminds much of this bygone era, and the dark color design nailed down the gritty world they live in. The cast so far is likeable enough, but they serve more as a vehicle of the plot than as a real person. Finally, about the plot, it sets up for a big revenge plot and for now I’m pretty much on board with the direction they head in, but like I mentioned earlier the revenge plot can stretch out too thin or can easily become a trainwreck and given how much I enjoyed the first 2 episodes of Joker Game, I have a bit of doubt on 91 Days. Then again, original shows don’t appear quite often and for the show as solid as this one, 91 Days is a must-watch of this season.

Potential: 90%

 

Amanchu!

Short Synopsis: Two girls become fast friends and decide to join the scuba club at their new school.

I thought I seen those weird cats before. In my preview I missed that this particular manga was by the author of Aria which you may know as one of the best animes to sit back and relax to. It was never deep nor did it have a story with much meat but you would be hard pressed to find another anime that could mellow you out after a few episodes. Here it looks like he’s aiming for a similar story and or the most part it’s done well. The odd deformed puppet look the characters get somethings can be weird at times but the show does have a certain optimistic charm to it. We now have two shows this season aiming for the same general feeling though in terms of quality both are on the same level. I will bump up the potential on this one due to its pedigree but really you can’t go wrong with checking either out. The friendship between the two leads is quite adorable to watch and the animation is pretty good. If you need some healing this season I say this would do the trick, especially after watching a certain other show this season which is emotionally tearing people to shreds with suffering….perhaps I will be watching both of these feel good shows this season.

Potential: 70%

 

Mario’s thoughts:

Amanchu! Is based on a manga written by an author who also wrote ARIA, and the series composer of this show who also worked for Flying itch last season, so I think you know what to expect here: a slow, tender slice of life series that relies heavily on atmosphere and endearing cast. That is exactly what you get here. The show’s pacing and occasionally silly faces remind me much of ARIA. The first half especially brings the ocean to life, while at the same time shows how each girl responses to the ocean: Hikari just loves being a part of the ocean, while Futaba’s somehow disconnected and being busy with her phone, since she feels insecure about the new place. The second part spends time as they met each other and being introduced to the new class. I like the dynamic between the two leads so far, since they bound off each other rather well. If you like ARIA, Flying witch (I do), then this show definitely is for you; otherwise, you can just check out this episode to see if you like it, as I am sure the rest will offer more of the same here.

Potential: 80%

 

Alderamin on the Sky

Short Synopsis:  After getting shipwrecked and saving a young princess, a group of military cadets must find a way to escape enemy territory.

Madhouse delivers standout adaption yet again but in this case my thoughts on the story still remain murky. I still am not fond of how the main character tends to be the only person with a plan and is always right. There are also some light novel cliches we could do better without and those weird goblin things are still so out of place that I really have no idea why they are even here. All and all this is a solid start and I like how they sped up matters to get to the meat of the  story. This does the job but doesn’t excel. There is potential for this to grow into a story about a general overcoming great odds to win large scale battles but I don’t think the writing is strong enough to get the most out of such a premise. What I expect here is a decent show but nothing more.

Potential: 50%

 

Mario’s thoughts:

Well, I was expecting this to be a lesser show out of the three shows today but it turns out to be quite solid. Then I looked it up, and found that Madhouse is behind this project so I have my faith.  There are fair shares of good and so-so elements but as a whole this first episode succeeds nicely. The biggest strength of the show is in its settings. It’s nice to see something besides the usual school settings and all that. I like the look of ancient Egyptian designs, with fairies somehow mix in and the conflict between two nations is also an interesting aspect. Being said that, put characters with different personas together before things went horribly wrong is the kind of plot we have seen so often, and most of them don’t offer any distinctive traits to stand out yet. Also that cast comes from noble upbringing (except for our main character) that it already felt like they act over the top. And that speech “Invincible LAZY General” at the end? I know it’s unintentional but it makes me laugh so hard. In the end, I’m not too sold about character’s department; but structurally, the story moves confidently and I want to explore that world even more after this episode.

Potential: 40%