Category: Some Quick First Impressions

Moshidora

Short Synopsis: Our lead character enlists as the local school baseball team manager.
Here’s the weird thing about Moshidora, besides its premise: most series try to stand out with their first episodes. They really try to catch the audience’s attention. Moshidora doesn’t do that in the slightest. This episode was mundane, the budget was the minimum of what would be tolerable, and there are no attempts made to make the setting seem any more exciting than it already is. It’s clear that this show has hardly any production values and there are a lot of still frames all around For the most part of this episode I just kept wondering whether anything was actually going to happen. And yet, this series is definitely not bad. This show knows how to write characters, it knows how to stay away from making them pure stereotypes, and despite being slow-paced, it’s not wasting time either. This first episode explored the different characters, it took a look at the baseball club’s history, and it introduced the principles of Drucker’s management book neatly. These characters are not bad, and I’d much rather see Trans Arts put focus on their writing insttead of their animation.
OP: Quite dull
Potential: 60%

Hidan no Aria

Short Synopsis: Our lead character gets to live together with a cute girl.
Oh GOD no. Not another Kugimiya Rie tsundere!? When will they ever stop!? I mean, at least Lotte no Omocha cast her as a ten year old. This Aria is pretty much a yet another Shana clone. There is nothing new or fresh about her; everything is pretty much copy pasted from your standard uninspired moe show. Only the lead character stands out because of how he treats her like a kid, but that’s not really a positive thing to say here because it only made her into an even bigger tsundere. Now, as for the rest of this episode: it really tried to be a fun action series, which I can understand. What I can’t understand however was the huge amount of really boring moe antics around really boring characters that dominated the rest of this episode. I’ve heard that the manga this is based on gets really good after a while, which is something that I’m willing to believe. However, I have two problems with that. First of all: is there any guarantee that the anime will reach that point? With such a trollish director I doubt it, and this episode wasn’t really in a hurry to get to that point. My second problem: is it really worth it to sit through a ton of crap, just to get to those good parts? I mean, the action scenes in this episode were fun enough, but random action scenes only stay fun for so long unless you build up, and I know that I’m not going to be able to sit through any more of the moe antics of this series. The lead female is just that annoying. I’d really like to congratulate this season: I was nearly getting over my bias of Kugimiya Rie, but Rose, Lotte and especially Aria reminded me of why I hate that voice.
OP: Actually not bad, and they tried to be a tad different here. It’s still a very typical OP once the voice starts, though.
ED: Nice visuals. Again, not bad.
Potential: 10%

Yugioh Zexal

Short Synopsis: Our lead character plays a children’s card game.
Oh, this wasn’t actually as bad as I expected. Okay, obviously the main character looks incredibly stupid and all (really, this guy’s looks are on a completely different dimension), he’s pretty much a moron and this is the umpth show about a young guy who plays some sort of game, but it did it with the kind of cheese that actually made it a bit watchable. The background music was actually surprisingly good, and the bad guy in this episode was so ridiculously over the top that he actually was kindof fun to watch with his angry flying sharks and all. I have to say that the monster designers got pretty creative for this one. Oh, this is cheese. But the very least it knows how to build up tension.
OP: I would have expected much worse from a kids’ show.
ED: Actually decent if you ignore the cheese.
Potential: 30%

Seikon no Qwaser

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is an unregistered sex-offender.
Oh, lord. I’ve just been watching four new bad series in a row… that really was too much for my sanity. Especially since this one takes the cake: it has completely stopped pretending now. Why isn’t this labelled as porn yet? Just… watch this if you want boobs. It’s got plenty of them. The rest of this episode was just stupid beyond belief. I have no energy anymore to rant about this thing.
OP: Boring, badly sung, the usual.
ED: Is that Aya Hirano singing through her nose?
Potential: 0%

Lotte no Omocha

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is a ten year old succubus who needs to find herself a male to suck… wait what?
Well, on the bright side Shinbo actually held himself back: his style for once wasn’t all over the place here and the other creators also got their chance to bring their own style out. Unfortunately though, this still wasn’t very good. A lot of this has to do with Rie Kugimiya who is getting really annoying having to play the umpth tsundere, although at the very least she’s more eloquent here then her previous role in Dragon Crisis. She remains an annoying brat, though and this episode was tedious to sit through because of her. The character designs are also really generic and the music was just stock music as well. There was an actual story, but it moved awfully slow here and a lot of time was just reserved for moe antics that were neither funny nor enjoyable. There is only one character who caught my attention, that purple-haired servant. She at least was interesting to watch and actually seemed to have half a braincel. I probably would have been a lot more positive about this series is if focused on her instead.
OP: I hope that this wasn’t one of those “let’s summarize the plot here in 90 seconds”-OPs, because it really looked like one.
ED: Could have been worse, but still a boring ballad.
Potential: 10%

Hoshizora e Kakaru Hoshi

Short Synopsis: Our lead character meets a lot of cute girls that he can date.
This was actually nearly unwatchable. It’s the kind of hentai game adaptation that pulls every cliche it can think of, puts no creativity whatsoever in its scenario, is horribly produced and does just about everything in its power to make its females as annoying to watch as possible. You really know the drill: the lead character arrives in town as a transfer student, he bumps into a bunch of random girls, accidentally kisses one, then runs naked into the shower in front of another one, and upsets an older woman with big boobs by calling her a middle-aged lady. This is the kind of crap that has been popping up for nearly a decade now. On top of that, though, the voice acting is also horrible. Especially the main female sounds like she lives in a tank full of helium, the male lead’s acting is abysmal whenever he’s embarrassed, his younger brother sounds way too much like a little girl and it has the most annoying white haired girl who does nothing but whine at the male lead. The character designs are also really bad and completely uninspired. There were some hints at a serious story, but I really don’t see this show doing anything good with them with this kind of opening episode.
OP: Anime seriously needs to stop forcing voice actresses who can’t sing to sing in the OP for a show.
ED: Again, very badly sung.
Potential: 0%

The World God Only Knows 2

Short Synopsis: Our lead character needs to kiss certain girls in order to remain alive.
This episode was much of the same as the first season. Which like, really is a bad thing here because the first season already was really hard to sit through. I mean, this obviously wasn’t as bad as Sofuteni or Oretsuba because it really does try to give its characters an interesting story, but TWGOK still is inherently flawed: everything in this series is exactly like the games that Keima plays. The characters are all one-sided with a twist, they all immediately fall in love with the main character, and they all don’t amount to much beyond their quirks. And of course, you don’t become good at martial arts by learning the basics, but by cleaning the floor, if a cool person enters the classroom everyone suddenly gets quiet and gazes in a awe, and the female lead is incredibly klutzy, whiny and annoying (no, that also didn’t change, unfortunately). This show fails at what it is trying to do here by having no real difference between games and reality, and even now there still is no hint whatsoever that this is going to change!
OP: The classic case of “oh, the first OP was really good, so let’s make another version like it that tries too hard and ruins itself.
ED: Boring J-pop, but granted: it is better than the first ED.
Potential: 30%

Pretty Rythm

Short Synopsis: Our lead character from out of nowhere gets idol powers.
Out of all of the kids’ shows this season… this was actually the worst of the entire bunch. The thing is that the other kids’ shows this season, while boring, at least knew what they were doing. They were trying to be cute they provided a nice enough fantasy for kids here. Pretty Rythm however completely misses the point of fantasy, and starts to outright lie against its audience. Yes, it does not matter that you’re not working hard. Someone will see you jump around and immediately see your talent, you get to shine on a stage without any preparations whatsoever and you can immediately get the boy that everyone is looking up to. This show doesn’t even pretend to care about setting things up correctly. All it is is a bunch of deus ex machina that allow an airhead to just randomly become a well loved idol. On top of that, this show also contains the most terribly CG-animated dance sequences, along with some terrible live-action shots at the beginning that serve no point or purpose whatsoever. And yes, I know that this is for kids and all, but I remember that when I was a kid, I also hated these live action bits inbetween my cartoons. I mean, I just wanted to enjoy my favourite characters back then. Not see some random boring people do boring stuff and stroke each other’s egos.
OP: Boring J-pop
ED: Terrible song, terrible live action bits.
Potential: 0%

Happy Kappi

Short Synopsis: Our lead character finds the prince of a mysterious kingdom of stuffed animals.
Happy Kappy is entirely in 3D CG that tries to look like 2D. The results… vary. There is a lot of movement, but it all feels a bit too erratic and undirected. In any case, this is one for the kids. It’s just another one of those shows where a random girl gets her own pet (this time by feeding him a donut), and that pet has magical powers. It’s all just so cliched and I can’t find anything to praise it about. The acting is also pretty bad as well, which doesn’t make this one enjoyable in the slightest. And yes I know I’m criticizing something that is meant for kids here, but that’s no excuse to not try a little harder.
OP: Too much sugar
Potential: 0%

Jewel Pet Sunshine

Short Synopsis: Our lead character if a cute and fluffy animal.
That was… that was… what the hell was that?! This is the third year for Jewel Pet, and it has always been this boring children’s show about a bunch of girls who get their own cute pets. Especially the second season (or what I saw of it before tuning out) was incredibly generic and annoying. And here this show suddenly comes, puts all of the animals in school (seriously, they sit behind school desk in class just like all other students… alongside a robot and an alligator that never really are explained, let alone even mentioned. What the hell happened in that second season? This entire episode was full of overacting and bizarre situations that were mostly so bad that they became good. Also, what is up with this season and goats? First Nichijou, and now this series also has a goat in the middle of a classroom.
OP: TOO MUCH SUGAR
ED: Badly sung and boring J-pop
Potential: 30%

Sekai-Ichi Hatsukoi

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is gay.
The Sekai-Ichi Hatsukoi tells a cheesy story between two guys in high school. I pretty much already got bored with it after that episode. So, here the TV-series comes and actually skips 10 years into the future, and actually becomes quite good. What the hell? This isn’t even my bias for Studio Deen talking: I really dislike how lazy they were during the past Winter Season. This however… this just turned into a romance about two guys of 25 and 27 who work as shoujo manga editors. In fact, this episode was not about gay sex at all, and instead about the characters themselves, especially the lead characters and the choices he made in his life after the events of the OVA. On top of that, the comedy still works quite well. The lead character’s inner monologues are quite funny, but also the new department in which he starts working has a lot of charms to it. This perhaps doesn’t have the charms of something like Antique Bakery, but it still was surprisingly enjoyable here, and this is coming from a straight male.
OP: Unfortunately not as good as Junjo Romantica’s OPs.
ED: This is some cheesy boy band embarrassing themselves…
Potential: 75%

Yondemasuyo, Azazel-San

Short Synopsis: Our lead character works for a professional summoner.
After seeing so many disappointing comedies this season, especially with Hen Zemi being tamed down, I was expecting something similar for Yondemasuyo Azazel-san. But holy crap, this went even further than the OVA! This was just completely hilarious, and I actually laughed the hardest at this OVA out of any show this season, even including Gintama. I should have known that in the rare cases where Production IG does a comedy, the result would be something unique. For Azazel-san, there meaning of “restraint” is just completely absent from the dictionary. It’s so completely over the top in just about anything it does, but at the same time it’s well acted. There’s a great combination between morbid deadpan humour and some of the most varied but ridiculously drawn facial distortions I’ve seen. If you thought that Azazel was a bum in the OVA, you really haven’t seen anything yet. Some of the things he does here are completely outrageous, but just hilariously funny. It’s all done with a wonderful sense of timing, and the way in which every episode is very short (again just 12 minutes) keeps everything fresh. This is just weird in every single way.
OP: Actually pretty decent.
Potential: 80%

Hen Zemi

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is surrounded by perverts.
Today is the day of series that already had an OVA before airing. First up is Hen Zemi, interestingly in an episode that only takes up twelve minutes. This is something I really like here: series that realize that you don’t necessarily need 20 minute episodes if this doesn’t fit. In any case, Hen Zemi pretty much was the best fanservice comedy of the new season, but that has mostly to do with the fact that all of the other fanservice shows were so poor. I enjoyed it, but at the same time I unfortunately noticed that it has been tamed down compared to the OVA. The dialogue is still there, it’s still interesting and it’s still perverted as hell, but it’s also less fast and less well delivered. the chaos and disturbance of the OVA don’t return at all here. The OVA knew exactly how to just keep going on and on and get more and more under your skin. This was just a bunch of perverts talking to each other. It misses the dynamic delivery of its lines, effectively turning it into just another fanservice comedy. An above average one, indeed. But it’s a shame that the director of the OVA was shipped over to Sofuteni in favour of the director of To Love-Ru and Rio Rainbow Gate.
OP: Actually a very nice OP for this series. Only 30 seconds long, but with enough energy for the usual minute and a half.
ED: Fanservice!
Potential: 55%

A-Channel

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is in high school.
This was a surprise here. A-Channel is a step above the likes of Sofuteni, Nichijou, Oretsuba, Maria Holic and all those other shows where we just follow a bunch of high school girls. I mean, there is moe and all, but unlike the above mentioned series, the characters are more than just excuses to show cute girls. The lead character for example is an air-head, but she’s more than just that stereotype: she actually has quite a few male friends and has great social skills. The other lead meanwhile is your average deadpan snarker, but this episode made her actually quite charming by making her just a tad socially awkward, along with incredibly devoted to just one friend of her (and at the same time not having this overshadow her entire character). The animation also supports all this. I’d even argue that the animation here is better than in Nichijou, because it succeeds even more in bringing the cast to life and it’s much more efficiently used. In short: the characterization of A-Channel is actually good here.
OP: I’ve heard much worse this season.
ED: This is the kind of song that I feel will get really annoying after listening it for five times.
Potential: 60%

Maria Holic Alive

Short Synopsis: Our lead character lives together with a cross-dresser.
For most anime, a sequel means the chance to expand upon their universe, use their build-up to bring more depth to their storyline and character and push them to a new height. For Shaft however, it stands for pointlessly dragging out a show that fitted perfectly in 12 or 13 episode and being really boring in the process. Because of that, I am not going to bother with this series unless someone comes with a really good reason to do so. I’ve given these endless sequels too many chances to impress me, and every time they ended in disappointments. It also doesn’t help that Shinbo is working on three series at the same time this season. There’s no way taht that’s goign to work! This episode also was… obnoxious. It has the kind of lead character whose voice actress thinks that good acting is continuously yelling. A lot in this episode also had a same problem that Nichijou is currently having: there was a lot of randomness, but all of it just felt like randomness for the sake of having randomness. There’s nothing coherent about it at all and the creators were just seeing how many random things they could throw at the viewer. Nichijou still has a pretty decent cast to back up this flaw, but this episode of Maria Holid… none ofe its characters stood out. Especially the lead character was bad, but the rest of the cast also just failed to stand out. It also feels that a lot of characters were just there for the heck of it. In fact, everything about this episode just felt done for the heck of it.
OP: I hope that they didn’t really think that this kind of rambling would work as an OP…
Potential: 0%

Sofuteni

Short Synopsis: Our lead character plays tennis.
Yeah, this is Xebec and its moe again. This show seems to believe that if you can just show a bunch of random teenaged girls with here and there some fanservice do stuff together you have done enough to be interesting. It really doesn’t bother to be more than what it advertises: moe, fansevice and tennis. This entire episode was pretty much a random day at the tennis club. This could have worked in theory, but the characters are just too weak. They’re all one-sided cliches, fanservice material and completely unlikable. The deadpan snarker was forced, the big boobed pervert’s entire character is just based around one joke, but by far the worst was the main character. I mean, I know that some teenaged girls can’t be too bright and all, but that girl was just way too much of an airhead.
OP: The usual obnoxious J-pop
ED: What? No fanservice ED? That’s at least one plus.
Potential: 0%

30Sai ni Hoken Taiku

Short Synopsis: Our lead character has never had sex despite being 30.
So yeah, this pretty much was set out to be the worst show of the season. Not only did it have a terrible premise, it was also produced by the creators of Tono to Issho, an abysmal comedy. Thankfully though, at least this show has a point: it takes censorship to the absurd, showing that censorship has nowadays been so bad that even sexual education gets pointlessly censored. Apart from that though… this was \just painful to watch. This still is a show about a 30 year old virgin who gets visited by a sex god. The animation is terrible, and the few good jokes that it has are ruined by a poor delivery. This pretty much is an endless slew of corny sex jokes and the lead character getting embarrassed. Stay away from this one, if it wasn’t obvious enough already.
OP: Cheesy J-pop.
ED: Well, at least the song isn’t bad…
Potential: 0%

Sket Dance

Short Synopsis: Our lead character run a club that takes care of random jobs.
This was a decent opening, both with flaws and strengths. The major flaw is that it’s trying to be funny, yet fails at this consistently. During the build-up parts of this episode, I was mostly bored, as nothing really interesting was going on. On the other hand though, it did deliver the twist at the end quite well, and the animation in the fights is actually very good. This is the kind of show that has potential for later. The thing is, however, that this is a shounen jump adaptation. How many more episodes will it take for this show to actually make use of this potential? Will the series be over before that happens? Shounen Jump adaptations are notorious for dragging on, so I first want some confirmation that Sket Dance will not do that. Unlike for example Bakuman, neither its premise nor its characters are strong enough for that.
ED: Cheese
Potential: 65%

Dororon Enma-kun Meera Meera

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is a demon who kills other demons. And a total brat.
This… was weird. Overall it disappointed a bit, but Enma remains quite well animated, courtesy of Brains Base. This allows the creators to come up with all kinds of interesting monster and background designs. The soundtrack also is excellent and varied and overall this definitely was a fun episode to watch. The biggest problem here however was that the dialogue was trying too hard. It was too busy trying for random punchlines to get some laughs, and the actors were overreacting way too much. This is like that obnoxious brat who keeps yelling for some attention. To me, it seems like the creators did not spend enough time on thinking about how to make the dialogue work best. If this wants to work, it will have to find this balance between extremely fast pacing (yes this episode moved really fast), and the fun charms of the cast. Oh, and I’d like to thank this show for the most disgusting image I’ve seen in a long while. We really needed that.
OP: Surprisingly well animated.< Typical Go Nagai-esque OP./em>
ED: Not bad.
Potential: 50%