Category: Some Quick First Impressions

Rozen Maiden

Short Synopsis: Our lead character gets to be the servant of a doll.
The big question for Rozen Maiden was how on earth it was supposed to fix the way that the original series left it behind, seeing as how that seemd to go into complete anime original material. Well, don’t ask me how, but they somehow nailed it with this first episode: for people new to Rozen Maiden it provided a good overview of everything important that happened in the first few volumes of the manga, thus making it accessible for people who haven’t seen it. On the other hand it is worth watching for the people who already watched the first anime because the events are totally in different order, a new character suddenly shows up and while some things are similar to how they happened, others are completely different. Seriously, the creators managed to do A LOT in just one episode, and while it was obviously rushed, it was coherent, it was engaging and you can follow what was going on. It’s great for giving a taste of what Rozen Maiden is about. Also, Suiseiseiki made her annoying “desu”-trademark far more bearable, and the animation is really good, and actually quite experimental with how it combines CG with its regular animation. And the music is awesome as well.
OP: ALI-Project again, but there was no way for them not to do something here. And this OP does look really nice.
ED: The art here is amazing. Great direction.
Potential: 95%

Servant X Service

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is a civil servant.
Colour me surprised: Servant X Service is actually good. I really was expecting this to be just another Working, or another show with bad jokes that really wasn’t about anything. Guess what? The comedy is actually good. What we have here is finally another slice of life series that doesn’t take place in high school, doesn’t have terrible jokes, isn’t completely pointless, doesn’t have characters that are just copied and pasted from other series and that doesn’t just desperately try to fill its time. This was actually a very charming look at the other side of the desks of the civil service that we usually just take for granted as this annoying bureaucratic institute. This show deals with the ups and downs, and the weird people that undoubtedly show up once in a while. What I especially liked was how this show portrayed all of the different people that came by. That rang home so much, and that was done so believably. The big problem with the cast is that every character just is one-dimensional and depends a bit too much on a collection of two or three quirks (that has the potential to be really annoying fast when handled poorly) and the biggest challenge for this series will be to remain interesting for an entire season. But this was good!
OP: This is actually a very good opening. I really like how it combines live action with drawings and how it explodes everything
ED: By all means not a meaningless opening. Also candy!
Potential: 80%

Kitakubu Katsudou Kiroku

Short Synopsis: Our lead character joins a club at schol.
Kitakubu is a show that has a lot of stuff that just ticks me off. It’s not like there is incest or fanservice or anything. Instead, all my prolems here can be summarized by one word: laziness. The setting? A bunch of girls in a club that doesn’t really do anything. The characters? Various stereotypes from other shows. The humour? Either really lame jokes, parodies that don’t really parody anything and jokes that were copied from other series. The content of this episode? Completely random and pointless. Voice acting? Lame. Animation? Nothing special. The only good thing I have to say about this series is that for some reason or the other the creators here really like animals. The best animation here is that of a pigeon walking around. Heck, the animals in this series looked much more interesting than the actual characters. Why don’t you make a show with THEM in the lead?
OP: Badly sung and lame.
ED: Breaking the fourth wall is so funny, har har.
Potential: 0%

Tamayura More Aggressive

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is entering her second year of high school.
Well, there was no way for this not to, but Tamayura just delivered my favorite first episode of the new season so far. But yeah, we’re barely in it yet, and this show does have the advantage of an entire season plus OVAs of build-up so it did cheat. But nevertheless: that was so adorable. I really missed this, and throughout this episode I nearly dreamt away at its leisurely pace and soothing soundtrack (the music also is the best of the season so far). There really were a lot of flashbacks in this episode, so this probably is not the best episode for if you decide to marathon the entire season, but I have to admit: I got so nostalgic that I got a bit teary-eyed from how incredibly genuine this episode felt. Now, I expect this season to do more than the first season. Being such a relaxing series has its limit, so Sato Junichi, you’ve got your work cut out for you: develop these characters! Do something interesting with them! You’ve got the right ingredients, so don’t be lazy and take the easy way out!
OP: The music of the actual series was better.
ED: D’awwwwwww~~
Potential: 90%

Free!

Short Synopsis: Our lead character likes to swim.
Seriouly, my first impression when I started up this episode: “These guys all sound like girls!” – Thankfully this just seemed to be about their child-versions and Kyoani just couldn’t be arsed to get convincing actors for children for just two measly minutes, but the fact the entire cast has girly names doesn’t make things any less obvious. Now, on a more serious note: this was decent slice of life, with its positives and negatives. The bad points are two of the main characters, who are nothing but annoying straight men offering pointless commentary and still acting way too muh like girls. Tis show is also really weird in showing the obsession that the characters have with swimming. Being passionate, okay, but putting on a semi-naked apron while cooking is just ridiculous. What I liked was the chemistry between the two lead characters. It brought up interesting points about how people change significantly as they grow up as adolescents, and if this series can actually focus on this then it will become quite good (but do note that this IS Kyoani, whose slice of life shows are pretty infamous for NOT doing that…). And yeah, the animation is really good, and the soundtrack has some pretty catchy tunes, like expected. Also, why the dubstep?
OP: A standard J-Rock opening where the singers try a bit better than usual.
ED: Silly dancing!
Potential: 60%

Brothers Conflict

Short Synopsis: Our lead character gets to live in a house full of hot guys, eh brothers.
This show… it’s shows like this that make me ashamed of being an anime fan. If this was a standalone incident, then I’d just write this off as one of those silly gimmick series. But I’m sick of all these goddamn incest shows! They just keep making them! Why is there SO MUCH demand for them? You really want to turn this into a genre? I mean, the girl arrives at her new house full of brothers and immediately this show keeps throwing around romantic hints. If you want to make a harem that badly, then go for a harem! Also, if things couldn’t be any worse, the creators also for some inexplicable reason threw in this animal mascot who is supposed to protect the (incredibly bland) female lead from all of the advances that her brothers make on her. WHAT!?
OP: Again, why the romantic hints? WHY!?
ED: Dear god… those vocalists are terrible
Potential: 0%

Gifuu Doudou!! Kanetsugu to Keiji

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is a famous hero from the Sengoku Era.
Okay. Hands down, bar none. This was the biggest WTF of the season, and I don’t think that any other series will be able to top this. And I already KNEW that this series would be weird. For those of you who don’t know the bizarre background for this series: it’s based on a manga written by the guy who wrote Fist of the North Star (the incredibly muscly over the top action story that basically created the Shounen Genre). The story was adapted by Yasuhiro Imagawa, the guy who directed the New Mazinger, the first Giant Robo, and some more really epic mecha series. It’s direted by the director of Hetalia. Yeah. In my mind I was already imagining these incredibly muscly guys yelling and fighting non-stop in an incredibly over the top way while at the same time having gay romantic antics. Um yeah, about that fighting. Let me tell you exactly how much fighting there is in this series: two people slash a sword, and a guy fires an arrow. Beyond that, this show is all about TALKING about fighting. And that with the gay romantic undertones. I know this is hard to believe, but this show is even camper than Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure. Everything is so incredibly sentimental that this episode became completely hilarious. And don’t get me wrong, the animation is crap, and it hardly ever tries to make actual jokes. It’s all about the atmosphere in this show. The camp, camp, camp atmosphere.
OP: Samurai baby, yeah baby
ED: The art is nice and all, but those facial expressions are unsettling…
Potential: 80% (hey it made me laugh, okay?)

Kamisami no Inai Nichiyoubi

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is a gravekeeper
So yeah, lots of series tend to follow a tried and true format in one way or the other. For this, it’s the one about the guy who ends up together with a young girl who has special powers, only where most of these series make the girl really talented or smart in one way or the other, the girl here is weak; much like your average young girl, except that it this show doesn’t treat her like that and throws all sorts of horrible things at her. For a moment I was afraid that this series just went with a young girl for the cuteness factor, but I have to say: I’m impressed. It actually uses the girl’s age really well. She’s meant to be young and naive. The setting has a lot of potential as well: a world in which people ust become zombies when they die. It’s up to the rest of the series to explore exactly what that means: what are the pros and cons? How much of their humanity do these zombies regain? This first episode had some great ideas. The big danger is that it used all of its ideas right at the start. If it didn’t, then this can become quite the interesting series.
Potential: 80%

Inu to Hasami wa Tsukaiyou

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is a deranged bibliophile who reincarnates into a dachshund.
It’s not like Gonzo’s animation during their prime days was always good. In fact, they were infamous for having really rushed production schedules, but they had the directors to make up for it. They had the ambition and the writers to make sure that that didn’t matter for their best series. I say this because of one reason: Dog and Scissors was their big chance at a comeback, but it has one major flaw: the comedy sucks! Most of the jokes depend on the banter between the male and female lead, and the delivery is just almost always off: characters just ramble their lines in one-dimensional ways, rather than thinking about things like tonation or delivery. That’s bad for a show that’s supposed to be a comedy. But you know what? I actually liked this episode when it didn’t try to be funny. I’m baffled a bit myself, but seriously this show has some creativity, and I knidof felt sorry for the male lead and the whole set-up of the story is much bigger than what you would usually suspect in a series like this. So please, GONZO: focus on the story. Just drop the comedy!
OP: Creative, but again the attempts to be funny failed horribly.
ED: Okay I have to admit the dancing security guards were pretty funny.
Potential: 70%

Valvrave the Liberator

Short Synopsis: Our lead character may pilot a super giant robot.
This really had Ichiro Okouchi written all over it. The creator of Code Geass. This episode had lots and lots of shock value. That is not necessarily bad, but it does have me worried that this show somehow tries to convince us that the safest place to store an all-powerful robot, capable of annihilating everything on its path and that takes the soul of its pilots, was a freaking SCHOOL. I mean, the only thing that the plot had going for it so far is that it’s bigger on the shock factor. Otherwise it’s just another “been there, done that”-story about this random kid who just “happens” to find a big mecha. It’s a good thing that the animation is actually very good, the music is actually pretty amazing and the rest of the characters are… interesting enough. But really: if you want to create a giant trainwreck: think BIG. Think original. Don’t give me that school crap.
ED: Cathchy, but visually it’s nothing special.
Potential: 65%

Aiura

Short Synopsis: Our lead characters are a bunch of random high school girls.
So… yeah. For those of you who didn’t know yet… allow me to share something. The series this season with the best line-up of staff members isn’t Shingeki no Kyojin. It is not Aku no hana. Nor it is Gargantia, Red Data Girl, Hataraku Maou or Crime Edge. Nope. It’s this one. Allow me to introduce to you the next work of Ryousuke Nakamura, the best director to emerge out of the past ten years. After doing Mouryou no Hako, Hashire Melos and Nerawareta Gakuen together with Mieko Hosoi… their next work is a 4-minute series involving a bunch of random schoolgirls. I really hope, along with Mappa’s recent Teekyu, that this is just a side-project in which they want to do something silly for a chance. And yeah, this pretty much was the best of its genre. No cliches, no stereotypes. It just does what it sets out to do: animate the daily life of a high school girls. The jokes are not forced and it also doesn’t try to be funny if it doesn’t have to (unlike Yuyushiki, for example), not to mention that it builds up its jokes, which is always a plus. The animation actually focuses on subtle movements, rather than looking cool or impressive. I mean, it’s clear that this was made by people who know how to bring characters alive. I would have just hoped that they would do something more… ambitious. These are people that can bring stories to life that nobody else can.
OP: Crab! Crab! Crab! Crab! Addictive song and something different~!
ED: An actually relaxing song, instead of overly J-Poppy.
Potential: 75%

Yuyushiki

Short Synopsis: Our lead characters are a bunch of random high school girls.
A bunch of high school girls at a high school club doing random things. I am NOT a fan of this genre, yet I do believe that everything has its exceptions. Yuyushiki was actually rather close to being that exception, with a bit more thought into its script and storytelling. Rather than just being random, this episode outlined the first two days at school: there was progression. The animation was good for such a series, it was sometimes relaxing, and it did sometimes get a chuckle out of me. That’s at least the direction I’m looking for. Unfortunately, what really killed this one for me is that most of the jokes just fell flat. I don’t know about you, but I personally hate sitting through bad jokes. For me, they’re worse than simple boredom, especially when there is so many of them. The blue-haired girl in particular just kept trying to force her stupidity down our throat with ditzy comment after ditzy comment, and the pink-haired girl really was hit or miss.
OP: Not the most generic opening this season, but nothing special either; at least it gives a good overview of what the series is about.
ED: A walking ED where the gimmick wears off fast.
Potential: 40%

Danchi Tomou

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is a random kid.
I’ve stopped covering the kiddie series with these first impressions. One because of time restrictions, and two, because I can only say the same thing so many times (they all are really too much the same). The exception to this of course is the small collection of actually good ones, Danchi Tomou being one of them. Yeah, it is entirely done in cell shaded CG, that doesn’t earn it any points or something, but when you look beyond that you actually have quite an endearing slice of life series. What sets this one apart is its acting: Tomou is really bratty, but it’s one in a way that it’s enjoyable. His antics are varied, funny and not totally random. He really feels like a little kid. The rest of the cast has the same: They feel like actual characters, rather than cliches or stereotypes. The thing remains though, that I don’t really see a red thread keeping this together. The creators need to find something to make me continue watching, to keep me coming back. The fact that Tomou’s father is away is a good start, but not quite there yet.
OP: Awesome. You can see that this is from the same director as Space Brothers. Why do I feel the need to watch this over and over again?
ED: A walking ED. With a small twist.
Potential: 80%

Sparrow’s Hotel

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is a hot hotel ninja clerk.
In a follow-up to Aku no Hana: this series has what I personally would call really ugly art. I mean, holy crap those proportions! Those eyes! Who the hell designed that?! This is not a flash series, but it definitely comes close to that. As for the actual content… it’s basically a show with “hot girl jokes”. The entire series revoles around this hotel clerk who apparently is really gute and strong and ditzy and whatnot. The creators tried to stuff as much cliches as possible into just her, with the rest of the cast acting as a straight man (or woman). The big problem is that the acting is utterly terrible. What should have looked cute just looks incredibly forced and awkward. This is worse than even Date A Live. At least that show had a purpose!
OP: Just as bad as this series.
Potential: 0%

Arata Kangatari

Short Synopsis: Our lead character wields a magical sword.
Arata Kangatari, for those of you who don’t know, is the product of the same author as Fushigi Yuugi. Fushigi Yuugi is a series that I gave about three episodes, before abandoning it, because the main female character was a total moron. After watching this episode, I am glad to see that there was no such moron here. There is a bit of stupidity and there is one particular female character who needs to get a clue, but it’s all within acceptable bounds. And it created actually a pretty impressive story around that, with two stories running at the same time: one at present day, and one in a past fantasy world. Please let this be a series with bishies that actually remains good. They’ve gotten rather a rather bad reputation lately.
ED: My dear vocalist: you’re trying waaaay too hard.
Potential: 80%

Mushibugyo

Short Synopsis: Our lead character fights evil bug monsters.
Mushibugyo is a typical shounen. We’ve got a young kid with strong powers who wants to be stronger and protect a girl with big boobs who gets kidnapped immediately in the first episode. There are over the top powers and big monsters who need to be defeated by swords. But does it have anything to keep me interested? Not really. It’s got a nice style, the soundtrack is good, but beyond that it just does not seem to have a lot of substance. This series seems to view its battles as its main use of entertainment… and they aren’t really that good. The characters don’t really try to move away from their cliches. The only character who even remotely impressed me only appeared in a flashback, and even that was just over the top as a copy-paste excuse for the male lead to be involved with the story. It’s good innocent fun, but I’m looking for something more than just that.
OP: Quite stylish, good song at the very least.
ED: Ballad that doesn’t really catch my interest
Potential: 40%

Gargantua on the Vendurous Planet

Short Synopsis: Our lead character ends up on a strange planet with a cute girl.
The one thing I remember from the trailer of this series, is that it looked a bit dull. Now that the actual episode has aired through, I have to say that the inclusion of dialogue made up for a lot here. If you don’t pay attention it can easily sound like techno-babble, but it really was interesting. The voice acting also delivers these lines well, and I have to say that I quite like the male lead and his AI companion. They have a good chemistry together. This episode also contained quite a bit of a mood switch in its second half, and that too worked quite well. On one hand there are the technological advances of the main character, and on the other there are the “simple” technologies of the people on the planet he ends up on. It’s got a lot of potential here. My one question is: why the girl? Why is she important? Why does she have this cute mascot? Her character… she just feels so totally unlike what Urobuchi Gen would write…
ED: Generic anime song #324.
Potential: 85%

Shingeki no Kyojin

Short Synopsis: Our lead character needs to kill giants.
In one of the rare cases, I’ve actually read the manga here. Or at least the first 10 chapters. If there is any series that has the chance to become the epic of the year, it’s this one. It’s just that good, not to mention that it has some of the perfect staff behind it. Unlike with Guilty Crown, you can see Tetsuro Araki’s influence as the main director: this guy knows how to create an incredibly tight atmosphere with the means that he has. The big question for me for this first episode would be: did they get the giants right? Did they get these beings rights that are nearly impossible to animate? They actually did. They used quite a bit of CG, but the giants look just amazing. Beyond that, they put in quite a few small details here and there to brighten up the mood, the whole setting has gotten a lovely coloured rendition, making everything feel authentic and believable (this is something that I did not experience while reading the manga), and all of that had the result that this episode was a really tense ride. Next up is creating that feeling of addiction that the manga had. If it can get that right in the next few episodes, it’ll be entirely awesome.
OP: An actually epic song for such an epic series. Great art as well.
Potential: 100%

Zettai Bouei Leviathan

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is fantasy pest control.
Leviathan is one of the worst types of first episodes to write about… because it’s incredibly bland. It’s just a bunch of cute girls with a bit of fanservice here and there. The characters are all boring, the setting is boring, the whole premise is boring, the art is boring. There’s nothing really to write about. Oh wait. One of the girls has this this axe that is waaaay to big for her. But that’s just listing the symptoms, not the actual disease: Leviathan lacks creativity. I could have dug a series like that goes back to classic fantasy and all. But then spice things up! Do something interesting with it! Stand out! After such a boring first episode I don’t really feel like continuing to watch. And I know that there might be a great story at the end and all. But I can say that about many other series with bland first episodes. I saw no hints here whatsoever that that would be the case here. Also, Gonzo. The action in this episode was utter crap. What happened?
OP: Dull song, uninspired visuals
ED: A simple song. But again: dull. Uninspired.
Potential: 20%

Yondemasuyo, Azazel-san Z

Short Synopsis: Our lead character can summon demons
For the new series of Azazel-san, it really did help that its first episode focused on my favorite character of the series: Moloch. This guy is utterly hilarious, and this lead to a really funny first episode here. The thing with him is, that the creators have so many great ideas about him. And they used a ton of them in this first episode, turning him into this cute plushy pulling a really obvious ret-con of a certain event of the first season. This series also loves its over the top violence, and that too had some really nice moments. Where in Moromi-san, people were just beat up all the time, Azazel-san does this with care and timing. And creativity. And a mind that is completely lost in the gutter.
OP: One of the very few openings that are actually funny
ED: Quite quirky.
Potential: 85%

Namiuchigawa no Moromi-san

Short Synopsis: Our lead character fishes up a mermaid.
This year, Azazel-san is also airing alongside another 10-minute episode series. For the first season it was Hen Zemi. For the second, it is Moromi-san. For the first season it aired alongside a show that explored the borders of taste and that made it a contest to see how disgusting it could be. For the second season it aired next to…. a hyperactive mermaid. Here is the thing with this first episode: it tries way too hard to be funny, while it actually isn’t. Moromi-san just keeps yelling and yelling and yelling. She just keeps doing violent things, over and over. It stopped being funny to me after… one minute I think?
OP: Energetic at least.
Potential: 20%

Aku no Hana

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is an average high school boy.
There is one thing that I picked up from the reactions of Aku no Hana before I watched this: the character-designs were supposed to be really bad. So I was expecting them to be like full of bishoujo with brightly coloured hair, incredibly plain looking and where all characters looked like the creators just kept using the same character model but with only swapped-out hair and eyes. Not this! This is amazing! A show that has its own style, and every character looks significantly different. And also look at the animation: instead of relying way too much on key animation (like, one pose that moves slightly, then cutting to another pose that moves slightly), the characters here are nearly constantly moving in interesting and believable ways. The voice acting also is different: much more realistic than usual. This really is one of those shows that went the extra mile. One that thought: “what can we all add to make this stand out, and make it even better?” I also love the simple soundtrack: perfect for creating an atmosphere. The backgrounds are also really detailed and also very true to life. This first episode mostly spent its time showing the everyday life of the main character. Which, actually is pretty fine for character-building. And when it switched over to the main character daydreaming in his room for a short while, it really made an impact.
OP: Love the guitar solo
ED: Whoa! Hauting! Unique! Awesome!
Potential: 95%

Karneval

Short Synopsis: Our lead character Has special powers.
Karneval surprised me. I mean, it is an action show with a lot of bishies, but the animation can be pretty good and the atmosphere is pretty impressive as well. This episode already started off with a lot of different characters, and stories, and it shows quite the ambition if it wants to tie all of them together. Most of the characters are also nice to watch. It just misses a bit of depth in the character-department: none of them are really that interesting or hold potential beyond a few hints here and there. And there are a few characters who just try to be too annoying. Most notably the whimpy kid main character… On the other hand I did like the use of trains in this first episode. I hope that they continue to have creative settings like that in the future.
OP:
ED: Really bad J-pop that totally does not fit the mood!
Potential: 75%

Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Comedy wa Machigatteiru

Short Synopsis: Our lead character joints a club with a bunch of cute girls.
Yahari Blahblah is another one of those series with a dead horse premise: some random guy who joins a club with some cute girls.The originality! Thankfully though, this was one of the better first episodes with that premise that I’ve watched. The characters are eloquent, and they actually say something relevant, rather than pull a Shaft and continue to yap about nothing at all. This is pretty much the first episode of Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai, done right. There is tension, but it’s not so ridiculously stupid and one-sided as there and the three characters actually all give as well as recieve. My big problem here is what this show is going to do with the rest of its episodes. I see hardly any potential there beyond a bunch of random episodes.
OP: Nice visual effects, but a rather dull song and the visuals also aren’t that special.
ED: A dull ballad.
Potential: 70%

Photo Kano

Short Synopsis: Our lead character takes pictures of young schoolgirls.
Photo Kano is Madhouse’s latest sell-out. They may have their great series, but once in a while they also do shows like this: a generic quasi-harem about photographing girls. I remember how it had one of the worst trailers of the season, but thankfully the actual series is not as bad and shallow at what it suggested. It’s merely a really boring dating sim. The lead guy has a hobby, and beyond that is a cast of stereotypes, both in terms of girls that fill various fanservice stereotypes, and the cast of male pervert side characters. Thankfully, there were the odd bunch of characters who didn’t try to be a cliche, but there weren’t many of them. It’s not the most blatant show of the season because some characters actually did try to act. But there is a huge difference between “acting” and “actually being interesting”.
OP: FANSERVICE!
ED: What? No fanservice? Instead: SYMBOLISM WITH FLOWERS!
Potential: 30%

Hataraku Maou-Sama

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is an evil demon lord!
This was, by far, the biggest surprise I had in a long, long while when doing these first impressions. I didn’t expect anything from this at all. Just a random comedy with dull characters that may have had a few good jokes in it. There had been so many similar shows before, the entire premise of this show just felt redundant. What sets Hataraku Maou-sama apart though, is that the creators put in far more attention and effort than what you would expect. The animation from White Fox was actually quite gorgeous and expressive, but what impressed me the most were the characters. These guys are genuinely funny, and they have a ton of detail to them that set themselves apart. For example they start out speaking their own made-up language. The creators then commence to show all sorts of cultural differences that all in all are actually pretty cleverly done. This really is one of those genres that takes a well known and used genre, and pushes its boundaries. Finally!
ED: Simple, but actually quite catchy.
Potential: 90%

Devil Survivor 2 The Animation

Short Synopsis: Our lead character can summon beasts to fight for him.
I still haven’t forgotten the pain that was Persona 4, so perhaps because of that lingering on I didn’t enjoy this episode as much as I could have, but still: this was not as bad. The pacing was actually decent, and it didn’t try to rush through its dialogues. The fight scenes on their own are pretty cool looking, and it’s also good that this series cares for its continuity: whenever a bomb explodes in the whole city, it actually leaves its imprint: people die, take ages to get home and the whole city just comes to a stand-still. That, unfortunately are about the only positive things I can say about this episode. Bridge’s animation was decent, though nothing special for a first episode. It was decent, but did not stand out. One thing that really irked me though, was the main cast of characters, and how they acted through this episode. The two male leads don’t seem to be scared or surprised of anything, and they instantly notice the most insane details, like how an evil monster works, and one of them just manages to hijack a truck from out of nowhere. The main female is the complete opposite: scared, she doesn’t really do anything, and still she can summon really big monsters without even thinking of it. Hello people, balance! It’s not like they are interesting characters anyway!
OP: The lighting effects and poses are good, but the song here is rather boring.
ED: Dark J-rock, but not bad.
Potential: 70%

Majestic Prince

Short Synopsis: Our lead character pilots a big powerful mecha!
Let me tell you what Majestic Prince defines as “characterization”: every character has one quirk, and this quirk has to be repeated over and over. If you don’t to that, you simply try to look cool. Beyond that, this episode just did not make any sense. Here we have a bunch of commanders who are stupid enough to send out the worst possible pilots (not to mention a bunch of teenagers) to waste five very expensive mechas, despite that there are plenty of better alternatives. Yeah, it’s the usual bad stuff. The weird thing about this episode is that I’m not sure whether or not this series is in on the joke. At the end of the episode everyone was like “… did that just really happen?!”, like they too couldn’t believe their eyes there, with their distorted faces that are all over this episode.
Potential: 65%