Category: Some Quick First Impressions

Some Quick First Impressions: Hana-Saku Iroha , Toriko and Tiger & Bunny

by psgels, posted in Hana-Saku Iroha, Some Quick First Impressions, Tiger & Bunny

Hana-Saku Iroha

Short Synopsis: Our lead character starts working at an inn.
Before this series started, I thought that it would be just a simple slice of life series. As it turns out though, Hana-Saku Iroha is as much slice of life as it is a drama. this series made excellent use of its first episode, and it really did a lot in just twenty minutes, especially for a series that will be 26 episodes long. It showed the lead character before, and after she moves to her grandmother after her mother pretty much abandons her. It’s both light-hearted, but also already showed what a huge change in lifestyle the lead character went through. What makes this series especially great though, is how detailed it is. The entire cast is versatile, the slice of life is realistic, the dialogue feels very natural and inspired, and the animation is of PA Works usual high standards. This series is definitely interesting: its series are either really great, or not worth checking out at all. There’s hardly anything in between for me so far.
ED: Decent J-Rock
Potential: 85%

Toriko

Short Synopsis: Our lead character has a straw hat and is a pirate.
No. No, no, no. They just didn’t do that. There must be some mistake. Did Toei really just use One Piece’s popularity to introduce the Toriko anime?! What the heck was Luffy doing there? What the heck was the entire One Piece cast doing there? Toei is known for their sell-outs and all, but this just takes the cake. It doesn’t even make any sense either: the One Piece cast just wanders off and runs into Toriko, with the rest of the episode just being people talking about food and eating. The One Piece cast was just… there. They were more obnoxious than helpful. And as for Toriko, the only thing it pretty much has going for it is its creature design. Seriously, I am no fan of Shounen Jump and all, but setting aside To Love-Ru, Toriko has to be the worst Shounen Jump anime I’ve seen in a long, long while and this episode showed that Toei has no intention whatsoever of making something good out of it. This was a terrible introduction, for a show that basically advertises poaching to young kids. Toei already have more than enough money. This is commercialization at its worst.
OP: “Wow Wow Wow Wow Wow Wow?”
ED: At least the song is decent here.
Potential: 0%

Tiger & Bunny

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is a superhero who fights crime.
This season rocks. I mean, for one: only four series have premiered so far, and already we have two of them that features main characters that are older than 30. Heck, the lead of Tiger & Bunny actually has a daughter; when was the last time that we actually had such a series? On top of that, I love the concept of this series, as a kind of semi-satire on modern mass media that’s focused around a program that exploits superheroes, complete with sponsors and everything. The action is excellent, combining both great stunts and nice humour, and it just keeps changing dynamically due to all of the different characters involved. Characters who already have all kinds of charms. This can make for a very interesting series, especially if it will go beyond 13 episodes. My complaint about it is that it does tend to overuse CG, and the director of the whole Superhero show was a bit of a stereotypical corporate bastard who’ll do anything for money. Apart from that, this was a wonderful episode.
OP: The OP is just a collection of boring still shots and a dull J-rock song, though.
ED: As excellent as the OST is, this is just another dull J-rock song.
Potential: 90%

Some Quick First Impressions: Nichijou, Dog Days and X-Men

by psgels, posted in Some Quick First Impressions, X-Men

Nichijou

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is a random schoolgirl.
There’s no shortage of creativity in Nichijou. Its entire premise is based around the fact that it’s about the every day lives of a group of random school girls who live in a world in which anything can happen. This episode shows random explosions, androids and goats and the characters don’t even seem to find them unusual. That’s what’s good about Nichijuo. Its problem is that that’s also pretty much the only praise I have for this series. Unlike K-On and Lucky Star, this show tries to be a comedy… and it’s just not funny. It does not know what punchlines are, nor how to build up a good joke. It’s full of randomness for the sake of randomness, and seems to believe that just by doing something completely random, it can get funny, though such a thing already got old in the OVA. In the same way, the characters aren’t much to write home about. Kyoani has this thing with characters who are cute for the sake of being cute, and this is no exception. Nichijou just tries way too hard to be mainstream and popular. It’s just too forced.
OP: Badly sung and not really special.
ED: Again a boring song with that just feels like a copy paste of just about every other ED out there.
Potential: 30%

Dog Days

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is the legendary savior for a country of dog people.
That was just insulting. This show had the privilege of being anime original, and yet the creators actually come with this kind of crap? The creators of Nanoha A’s have sunk to a completely new depth here. this was by far the worst I’ve ever seen from them. I can see the intentions of the creators: creating a fantasy setting where two countries have to participate in all kinds of fantastic games at fantastic setting hols potential to be an enjoyable and fun series. But this was just so ridiculously poorly executed. It committed just about every flaw imaginable. The characters are a joke, the setting of having dog people fight cat people, surrounded by teenagers with unexplained superpowers is equal to a slap in the face. The character designs are utterly terrible, the script is abysmal, and the worst thing is that it actually believes that it’s funny and witty. It refuses to make proper use of its silly setting, and it doesn’t even make jokes. It just expects tot get laughs from… nothing. This is… this is even worse than Rio Rainbow Gate. At least that series was aware that it was terrible.
OP: Boring visuals and boring song.
ED: Ridiculously generic.
Potential: 0%

X-Men

Short Synopsis: Our lead characters are a bunch of mutants who fight crime.
That was actually… pretty amazing here. Seriously, this episode hit a ton of right buttons, and sets the X-Men already one step higher above Wolverine. The graphics were utterly gorgeous, the atmosphere is just awesome, and already this show has put in a lot of characterization for its five main characters: Xavier, Cyclops, Storm, Wolverine and Beast. The atmosphere is heavy and the drama tends to get a bit sappy at times, but it all works surprisingly well with each other. Plus, this show also isn’t afraid to sometimes toy with its characters (the joke around Wolverine’s entrance especially was hilarious, in a “couldn’t resist”-way). As for Madhouse’s usual acting problem: the thing is that the character-designs of this series are utterly amazing. The creators not only gave a wonderful rendition of the X-Men in anime form, but they gave every single character, even the minor ones, a unique and individual look. That’s obviously harder to animate, but even then the animators do a pretty good job here. Instead, my qualm is that the voice actors should have tried to be a bit more varied, and they’re a tad too hammy at times. On the other hand though, the soundtrack is yet again amazing, and at this rate it could get even better than Wolverine’s. Seriously, ti’s been a while since the start of a season has been this impressive.
OP: Best one of the Marvel Anime so far!
ED: Again, no vocals, and a good way to close off each episode.
Potential: 85%

Some Quick First Impressions: Danbooru Senki

by psgels, posted in Some Quick First Impressions

Danbooru Senki

Short Synopsis: Our lead character possesses the legendary tiny robot to save the world.
This season, the first series to debut was also its biggest mystery: the director of Berserk and Figure 17 doing a kiddie show. Now, after watching this first episode, it’s unfortunately not like this series strays far from the usual formula of these kinds of series: three lead characters, one main rival, a tournament arc, and the lead character who possesses the single most important robot in the world. Not to mention the way in which every single adult in this show leaves the fate of the world hanging on the shoulders of a young boy. OLM have really become lazy during the past decade. I mean, I know that they’ve got successes with Pokemon and all, but even Toei comes with shows like Mononoke or Trapeze once in a while. Having said that, though: for a kiddie show adhering to this overused formula, it’s not half bad; I’ve definitely seen worse portrayals. There is none of the obnoxiously bad acting that you usually see with these kinds of series, and the creators immediately state that the lead character is special due to his father’s influence as the inventor of these strange fighting robots that this series focuses on. He also doesn’t find his own robot by accident, but for some reason his father made the conscious decision to send the world’s most powerful robot to his teenaged son. That does bring up the question of what an incredible bad parent you must be to involve your kid in international schemes like this…
OP: For a kiddie opening, it’s pretty decent.
ED:
Potential: 30%

Some Quick First Impressions: Supernatural The Animation

by psgels, posted in Some Quick First Impressions, Supernatural The Animation

Supernatural The Animation

Short Synopsis: Our lead characters are a bunch of detectives.
So, finally the first episode of the Supernatural Animation has popped up. A very badly encoded version, so I wouldn’t recommend it, but nevertheless this was quite good. The visual style of the designs and the animation all look wonderful, and especially the animation in the action-scenes is stunning and imaginative. As for the story, this episode started off with a random case, which was a fairly straight-forward thriller until it started to get quite creative with its climax. Overall, I’m very interested in this show at this point. The characters are pretty interesting as well, though my one point of criticism is that the acting (especially the way in which the characters are animated) feels a bit stiff. A typical Madhouse problem. There is also this point where one of the lead characters gets hurt, only to completely heal again only hours later. Right after his co-lead specifically points out that that’s impossible. Continuity, guys.
ED: English with a bit of an accent, instead of the usual Engrish. It’s still a bit of a boring ballad, though.
Potential: 80%

Some Quick First Impressions: Suite Precure

by psgels, posted in Some Quick First Impressions

Suite Precure

Short Synopsis: Our lead characters can become mahou shoujo.
Um, yeah. The differences with Heartcatch Precure are ufortunately apparent: this much more goes back to the standard that the old Precures set with silly non-threatening villains, and uninteresting stock characters. The biggest issue though, is that compared to Heartcatch Precure this series lacks life. The poor animation is nowhere near good enough to really portray the characters beyond their stereotypes (the usual tomboy and smart girl who hate eeach other but actually love each other). Compared to the first episodes of other Precure series though, it’s not the worst. There were strings of good drama here and there, and the soundtrack is also really excellent. What stood out the most though was the obligatory magical world for this mahou shoujo. It’s completely bizarre with singing cats,living instruments and not to mention the three henchmen of this series’ villain: they communicate entirely bBY SINGING. The thing is, the Precure series is highly repetitive: it needs some sort of hook right at the beginning to get its audience’s attention. I did not see that hook here yet.
OP: Two small scenes of great animation. Apart from that, pretty generic.
ED: Even Heartcatch Precure’s EDs were terrible, but this one is even worse.
Potential: 30%

Some Quick First Impressions: Hourou Musuko and Fractale

by psgels, posted in Fractale, Hourou Musuko, Some Quick First Impressions

Hourou Musuko

Short Synopsis: Our lead character wants to be a girl.
At the start of this episode it was a tad hard to figure out who was who because the creators didn’t bother to introduce most of the characters (this episode started in the middle of an already ongoing story), but yeah: this is good. It’s got some of the best acting of the entire season, it’s wonderfully animated with its own distinct art style, and this episode did a great job of portraying its different characters. I like how all these characters have had a history between them, and act like it. It’s miles away from the usual “childhood friends” stereotype that you usually see, and even the fact that the male lead cross-dresses is portrayed in a way unlike I have ever seen. This show takes itself seriously and really knows how to do good drama. The only pitfall that I can see is that this is Noitamina: does the story of the manga fit within 11 episodes, or do we get another rushed ending like with Kuragehime?
OP: Decent, but cliched and nothing special.
ED: Well sung at the beginning, but then loses steam.
Potential: 85%

Fractale

Short Synopsis: Our lead character saves a strange girl from a bunch of bad guys.
Ah, now I understand why this got to be Noitamina: it’s heavily inspired by Ghibli. It’s been a while since we’ve seen such a series. This show pretty much tries to add the moe factor to Ghibli, with some parts that work and others that don’t. In a lot of ways this one reminds me of Dragon Crisis’ first episode. It’s only that the setting for this one is much more creative, while the characterization is far from as good. The annoyance of the characters is definitely going to be the biggest problem for this series: just about every major character had his or her moment that rather got on my nerves due to the stereotypical moe acting, the worst being the male lead whenever his hormones started acting up. Still, this episode brought quite a bit of interesting stuff to make up for it, including a really trippy OP and a very detailed setting that is unlike anything that appeared during the past two years.
OP: Very trippy, excellent example of how to do a low-budget OP correctly.
ED: A bit of a boring ballad.
Potential: 70%

Some Quick First Impressions: Dragon Crisis, Kore wa Zombie Desu Ka? and Level E

by psgels, posted in Dragon Crisis, Kore wa Zombie Desu Ka?, Level E, Some Quick First Impressions

Dragon Crisis

Short Synopsis: Our lead character meets a cute girl who can only think about him.
Hmm, this is one with a lot to like and a lot to dislike. To start with the positives, it has one of the best soundtracks of the season so far (and with this season, that is saying something), the animation is surprisingly good for a Studio Deen series and this feels unlike any other series they’ve done before. The action is creative, the car chases are exciting and the characterization for half the cast was actually pretty decent. Ryuuji may be very girly for a guy, but this show actually acknowledges it and gives him more personality beyond “ew, a naked girl!”, and Eriko also turned out to be much more than just that fanservice character which she appeared to be at first sight. Now, the bad thing about this show however is that it just doesn’t make any sense, and it believes that it actually does. This leads to some bizarre situations like hordes of incompetent faceless mafia members that are involved in a plot that has so many holes that there is no way that it can ever be explained, a guy who just skips school for the heck of it and BY FAR the most clingy female lead I’ve ever seen. It’s a very strange combination between something that tries to tell a serious story and something that just wants to act as wish fulfillment by having cute girls continuously spoon over the male lead. The different parts of this episode didn’t mesh well together at all, but I do admit that there’s some potential here.
OP: One of the most unique OP songs I’ve heard in a long while.
ED: Again unique, but this time in a bad way.
Potential: 60%

Kore wa Zombie Desu Ka?

Short Synopsis: Our lead character lives together with two cute girls.
Here is one that turned out better than expected. Of course, this show still has a completely stupid premise and it had quite a bit of fanservice, but it’s surprisingly well executed: the male lead has an actual personality, the scenarios are well written, the jokes are well built up and actually very funny and the action too was surprisingly good for a Studio Deen series. It’s a pretty effective romantic action comedy that knows when it needs to be completely over the top, and when it needs to be completely serious. Because of this, the few serious moments actually worked well and didn’t end up cheesy, and yet the crazy jokes also fit this show. But yeah, if you want to check this out, be aware of the fact that characters have bizarre costumes and very easily lose their clothes in this series.
OP: Decent song, but especially the visuals are nice.
ED: This one is just terrible, though.
Potential: 70%

Level E

Short Synopsis: Our lead character starts living together with an alien.
Hell yeah! Level E just delivered the best first episode of the new season, it had the most interesting back-story, it was the most intriguing opening of the entire season, it neither was overly moe or bishie, it had the best jokes of the new season, the best OP. For me, it completely blew all of the other episodes that have debuted so far this season out of the water. It’s one of those series of which I have no idea what genre it’s going to be: it has a high school student as a male lead, and yet it’s miles away from your average high school show. For a shounen series there was too little action, for a shoujo series there was too little sweetness. For a slice of life series it had a plot that is just way too interesting and a drama also doesn’t really fit. The episode was wonderfully told and I love the creativity that was put into a simple concept of an alien crash landing on earth. The chemistry between the lead characters was just fantastic. None of the characters here are typical. Hell yeah, if only because of this show, this season is going to rock!
OP: Best OP of the season BY FAR. Excellent song, great visuals.
ED: Much more generic J-Rock, but nothing bad.
Potential: 100%

Some Quick First Impressions: Oniichan no Koto Nanka Zenzen Suki Janain Dakara ne

by psgels, posted in Some Quick First Impressions

Oniichan no Koto Nanka Zenzen Suki Janain Dakara ne

Short Synopsis: Our lead character has a sister who is in love with him.
Oh… the pain. Why did we have to get yet another KissXSis? There are too many things just wrong with this series. Or what? Do Japanese siblings screw each other on a regular basis or something? IS IT THAT HARD FOR THE BOTH OF THEM TO JUST FIND THEMSELVES A BOYFRIEND OR GIRLFRIEND? The worst thing is that this doesn’t even have the worst production values of the season, nor the series with the worst comedic timing or dialogue. With this execution it could at least have been a half enjoyable fanservice comedy (for fanservice comedies’ standards of course) if only the subject matter wasn’t this completely deranged, and overused. How many more retarded incest (or quasi-incest shows, in this case) shows do we still need to get before this fad dies down?!
OP: Boring J-Pop
ED: It’s gonna be a harem!?
Potential: 0%

Some Quick First Impressions: Mitsudomoe 2, Beelzebub and Freezing

by psgels, posted in Mitsudomoe, Some Quick First Impressions

Mitsudomoe 2

Short Synopsis: Our lead character saves the world from evil.
The big question for Mitsudomoe was: would it have enough inspiration in order to fill all of its eight episodes. The answer, based on this episode: yes. This episode was completely different from the first season, but actually in a good way that still remained funny. Unlike the first season, it wasn’t divided in smaller sub-arcs, but instead it was entirely devoted to a parody of Super Sentai Shows. Unlike Beelzebub, I really laughed quite a bit at it, especially at how it was completely silly, yet the characters took themselves 100% seriously. The amount of toilet jokes was also surprisingly reduced here, and it actually worked well. This is actually very surprising, because often comedy sequels just try too hard or just can’t seem to work as well with with the new style they’ve chosen. This is a great exception, though. I really hope that the rest of the season will have more of these gimmicky episodes that work surprisingly well, and the fact that this show is only listed for eight episodes seems a great hint to that.
OP: Quite lame, but that was probably the entire point of it. ^^;
ED: Nice little gimmicky ED putting the regular characters in the role of the Gachi Rangers.
Potential: 80%

Beelzebub

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is a juvenile delinquent with superpowers.
I wasn’t looking forward to Beelzebub, because it was being adapted by a bunch of people who are notorious for their bad adaptations. And indeed, about 70 to 80 percent of the jokes of this episode fell flat. They were either badly timed, badly acted, or just consisted of random yelling or unfunny toilet jokes. This episode was in many ways obnoxious, it already repeated some of its jokes ad nauseum (most notably that electric shock attack). now, the music was quite good, and there were a few jokes here and there that were quite funny. It feels like there are some interesting ideas in this one, but most of the time it doesn’t really know how to use them. It’s not the worst opening of a Shounen Jump show I’ve seen in recent years, that probably goes to Fairy Tail, but at the same time I have no idea why Beelzebub is so highly regarded by so many people, just based on this episode. And please don’t tell me that it’s the type of story that only gets good after fifty episodes or so.
OP: Decent rock song that at least fits the maturity level of the series.
ED: Surprisingly decent.
Potential: 40%

Freezing

Short Synopsis: Our lead character has a dead sister complex. A very severe one.
This episode was actually very good for the largest part. There sure was a truckload of fanservice, but at the same time it really treated itself seriously. The action scenes were intense and well directed, with a surprisingly large amount of gore that worked quite well. The build-up is great, the soundtrack was excellent as well (this really is the season of awesome soundtracks here), and overall as an action series, I really could see myself enjoying it. But yeah… then the final two minutes came. What the heck was that? I don’t even want to explain what just happened. Just… watch it if you really want to know…
OP: Decent rock song with nice animation.
ED: Fanservice slide show, but the song could be worse.
Potential: 50%

Some Quick First Impressions: Cardfight Vanguard, Gosick and Wolverine

by psgels, posted in Gosick, Some Quick First Impressions, Wolverine

Cardfight Vanguard

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is a wimp.
Now I’m sure of it: this is the season of awesome soundtracks. When even the silly shounen cardgame show has some excellent music, it really is a great season for the audio department. Anyway, this show is definitely completely silly with a ton of bad engrish, but for a kiddie show about card games, it’s not really that bad. I especially like how the creators managed to create the biggest wimp in existence as the lead character: it’s nearly hilarious to see how much this guy lacks a spine when he’s not in a card game. It was very pleasant to see those bullies just walk up to him and steal his best card with so much ease. It’s still ridiculously silly, though, full of bad acting (not to mention that school teachers actually use the cards of this game in their lectures). I have to give credit for some actual good monster designs (emphasis on monsters… the characters themselves look just stupid), but it’s still obviously a “buy our cardgames” show.
OP: Surprisingly good for a kiddie show. Very cheesy and hot blooded, though.
ED: This one’s just cheesy, though.
Potential: 10%

Gosick

Short Synopsis: Our lead character meets a genius detective in the form of a little girl.
Good lord… that hair. Heroman’s character designs look just tame in comparison. Who the hell found it a good idea to put such a ginormous horn on top of that detective? On a more serious note: this episode was really tedious to sit through. That hair guy had a lot to do with that, but even worse is the male lead. This is supposed to be an exciting show about detectives, so why is he so bland and whiny? This show seems to be heading the Bakemonogatari route with the “smart girl dumb guy” trope, but the girl here isn’t exactly smart: she’s just tsundere who has access to the script. In the example mystery of this episode (which was very lazily told, by the way), she never really evaluated all of the possibilities, she just stated a ridiculously far-fetched solution that nobody would have guessed. As for the positives: there were a few dark parts that hinted at something deeper than silly adventures (I guess it’s just a matter of patience to see that actually pay off) and the animation, courtesy of Bones is quite good. Especially on the female lead (for quite obvious reasons) and the backgrounds are also very imaginative.
OP: Boring J-rock.
ED: At least not bad, but neither really good ballad.
Potential: 60%

Wolverine

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is a bishie with a tragic love story.
Okay, so the big question: is Wolverine as bad as Iron Man? As a matter of fact actually… it isn’t. It’s still very outsourced, but this is nowhere near the mess that Iron Man was. It actually has come up with an interesting story here, in which Wolverine is chasing after some Japanese mafia that took away his girlfriend, compared to Iron Man’s… whatever the hell it was trying to do with its corny morals. The action scenes in this episode also felt better than any of the fights I’ve seen from Iron Man, and the creators actually managed to put down some convincing villains, and Logan himself also is far from the incompetent moron that Tony Stark was. The horrible distorted faces are also gone. The creators are really going for a tragic story here, and so far they seem to be doing a pretty good job, with an interesting atmosphere. It’s nothing great, though: there was quite a bit of hammy acting and the romance was definitely a bit cheesy and should have been fleshed out more, not to mention the transition between scenes is a bit messy, especially at the beginning of the episode. I’m glad that Madhouse actually got some competent people on this, though.
OP: Decent, but nothing special after watching it more than twice.
ED: This one is surprisingly good, though: both in the visuals and the music.
Potential: 70%