Category: Some Quick First Impressions

Some Quick First Impressions: 30Sai ni Hoken Taiku, Sket Dance and Dororon Enma-kun Meera Meera

by psgels, posted in Some Quick First Impressions

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%

Some Quick First Impressions: Hyouge Mono, Gyakkyou Burai Kaiji: Hakairoku Hen and Sengoku Otome

by psgels, posted in Gambling Apocalypse Kaiji, Hyouge Mono, Some Quick First Impressions

Hyouge Mono

Short Synopsis: Our lead character really likes tea.
I really have no doubt that this will be the most underrated show of the season. It’s just completely void of just about any trope that you usually see in the popular anime: there is no moe whatsoever, nor any bishies. Instead the lead characters are all in their thirties; there is no youth in this show whatsoever. Meanwhile, takes place during the samurai age, yet there are hardly any battles, with this instead being a dialogue-centred series. On top of that, this is Bee-Train, so there is a lot of focus on talking heads. The soundtrack is completely weird and unconventional and the characters all tend to make silly faces. And I absolutely loved this first episode. It’s completely unlike any other series set in the Samurai Age, especially the main character is unique, with his really weird combination of silly facial expressions and down to earth dialogue. Steins;Gate’s lead looks just ordinary compared to this guy. Still, his characterization is excellent, and with Bee-Train, the build-up also was just terrific. Most of this episode was quiet, but the climax of this episode was already amazing. And you know what the best part is? This will go on for 39 episodes. When was the last time that a series of this caliber got more than 13 episodes? Let alone 26!
OP: Quiet and laid-back, with interesting visuals.
ED: I don’t think I’ve ever heard a Bee-Train OP or ED like this. Again really relaxed.
Potential: 90%

Gyakkyou Burai Kaiji: Hakairoku Hen

Short Synopsis: Our lead character has money problems.
Kaiji is a show about Gambling, but this first episode of the sequel didn’t have any of that. It was just meant to build up, and introduce the next arc, and it was actually very good in doing so. For Kaiji standards in particular, a lot happened here. The creators really wanted to show how deep one could fall if you get on the wrong side of the mafia. They lure you in with the promise that one day your debt will be over, but use very dirty tricks to just push that deadline back and back. This episode did a great job of breaking apart Kaiji’s spirit with basic psychology. That’s the big difference between Akagi and One outs: those are shows to see how well a superhuman can pwn just about everyone around him and their lead characters are more than aware of their own abilities.. Kaiji is at the complete opposite: he’s completely flawed, makes the most stupid decisions, only standing out because he can struggle like no other. Of course, at this point I can’t yet comment on whether this second season has improved the pacing issues of the first season. The only criticism I have at this point is that the narrator is a bit too enthusiastic. Even describing the most mundane activities are announced with that over the top voice of his. But then again, why am I expecting subtlety from this series?
ED: WTF. Just… wtf…
Potential: 80%

Sengoku Otome

Short Synopsis: Our lead character lands is just an average schoolgirl who winds up amongst famous people from the Sengoku Era.
Sengoku Otome’s biggest sin is its blandness. I wouldn’t call this bad.. it just fails to stand out in any kind of way. Just about everything about this show screams “been there, done that”. It has nothing that really sets itself apart of that is actually remotely good. The creators to me just didn’t seem to care here. The premise of a random teenager ending up in a fantasy world has been done a ton of times before, so you really need to set yourself apart in this genre. So what do the creators do? They choose a complete airhead as their main character. They turn it into self-insert fan-fiction amongst famous historical figures. They gender-swap said figures into females. They put no effort whatsoever into the character designs. And okay, the character-designs aren’t as bad as with Dog Days, but they still are pretty bad here. This entire episode just followed one cliche after the other, with nothing really to make up for it. If the characters were likable then this could be forgiven, but even there this show doesn’t do anything. The lead character is beyond annoying, and the rest of the cast is just completely one-sided and uninteresting.
OP: Like the show, bland, both in terms of visuals and music.
ED: Fanservice!
Potential: 10%

Some Quick First Impressions: Suzy’s Zoo and Fireball Charming

by psgels, posted in Some Quick First Impressions

Fujilog

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is in his mid-life crisis.
Fujilog… is a sitcom. You know, the kind where we follow a middle aged guy and his family throughout random boring adventures while he nags constantly at everything. (In case you’re wondering: no, I do not like sitcoms, with only very few exceptions). In this episode he whines about how good the prefecture is in which he lives and ends up running for governor, and losing. To be honest, I didn’t like it, but this admittedly IS deeply rooted in Japanese culture. Perhaps if you live in Japan, you might get a bit of a better appreciation of what this show is trying to do. There is plenty of animation here, but it’s entirely in ugly CG.
Potential: 10%

Suzy’s Zoo

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is a stuffed animal.
At the start of each season, I also always review the kiddie shows that pop up. But seriously, I don’t think I’ve ever seen one where so little happens as in this one. All this episode was about was a moving duck toy taking a stuffed bear outside, the duck gets distracted by a grass-hopper, the bear moves, they hug, and the episode ends. I know that this episode was only two minutes long, but still I’m not really sure what I just watched. Thee animation is good for a kiddie show, though. It’s obviously in CG, but the creators actually put in effort to make it blend in with the backgrounds. Really young kids (read: of age 2 and 3) will probably love this one. Apart from that though… well, I guess that if you were really desperate for a big hug then this show suffices as well.
Potential: 10%

Fireball Charming

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is a robot princess who lives in a giant fortress in the middle of a big war between robots and humans.
Fireball Charming: the show without introductions! Seriously, this episode just… starts. Without ever giving the viewer a chance to sit back. This episode was only 2 minutes long, but it really made use of its time. It’s actually improved a bit here and there, but the formula is still the same: two robots just talk about all sorts of stuff while making silly poses. And again, it works surprisingly well. What they’re talking about is consistently interesting and its deadpan humour makes this even better. In the meantime, the characters are moving around even more compared to the first season, which forces you to pay even more attention during these two minutes. Very recommended if you’re looking for a quick comedy.
Potential: 75%

Some Quick First Impressions: Gintama’, Steins;Gate and Oretachi ni Tsubasa wa Nai

by psgels, posted in Some Quick First Impressions, Steins;Gate

Gintama’

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is a samurai.
I originally dropped the first Gintama season around episode 120. In short, the reason was the change of direction: it was less funny, the focus changed from dialogue to bloody action and some arcs got dragged out needlessly. It wasn’t bad by a long shot, but nowhere up to the standard of the first 100 episodes. With that in mind though, I really have to say that this episode felt much more like the first 100 episodes than the second. It was a really hilarious episode that completely broke the fourth wall in usual Gintama fashion. This is really the Gintama that I’ve been waiting for. The dialogue is again sharp and witty and I loved this episode. However, I do have one major criticism here: After watching more than 120 episodes of this show, it is getting predictable nonetheless. I could see quite a few of the anti-climaxes in this episode coming from afar. While those punchlines were utterly hilarious, it’s this predictability that will be the biggest problem for this sequel. Also (but this is just nitpicking), another thing that bothered me in this episode was that the facial expressions tried too hard. I think that a little more deadpan would have been a better choice, especially because of how characters hardly ever seemed to change their facial expressions.
OP: Best OP song of the season so far. Awesome guitar riffs.
ED: Nice idea, bu the cheesy vocals don’t fit in well.
Potential: 80%

Steins;Gate

Short Synopsis: Our lead character gets involved in a time travel conspiracy.
Steins;Gate… again is an excellent addition to this already excellent season. This one stands out in the best atmosphere: it’s really good at using its quiet pacing to build up tension and to retain that tension with some excellent climaxes. It’s got a deliberately overacting lead character (another adult, by the way), who against my expectations contrasted sharply with the dark atmosphere of this series, which worked really well. He’s exceptionally good at keeping the balls into the air and making things consistently interesting. This is a series that depends a lot on its dialogue, and it passes here with flying colors thanks to this guy, who just keeps changing the setting and topic in order to remain fresh and interesting. And yet there is some order to his chaos, which pays off during the climaxes in this episode. The females also were really great to watch, and knew that they shouldn’t try to look like moe stereotypes, but just play themselves. This was a quiet yet very interesting episode and I’m really looking forward to seeing more.
Potential: 85%

Ore-tachi ni Tsubasa wa Nai

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is surrounded by a bunch of girls.
Keeping up in the tradition of this season in which series are either really really good, or not interesting at all, Oretsuba is utter crap. Of course, I pretty much expected it to be bad when I first learned of it, but this show is so bizarrely horrible in a way that I never saw coming. The best way to compare this show with is with Shukufuku no Campanella on weed. The production values here are utterly terrible, with especially the voice actors laughably bad, but what really striked me here is that the scenario writers had no idea what they were doing. This entire episode was just a string of random sketches with no point or purpose that were nothing more than endless unfunny and terrible dialogues between random characters. Most of the time in this episode is actually not focused on the lead characters, but some random dialogue between three random guys that just refuses to end. The lead character only appears twice. Once to be hugged by all of the main females (who also don’t appear for most of this episode in favour of a random waitress and young girl) and one that simply out of nowhere had him claim to come from a parallel dimension. It just… made no sense whatsoever. Oh, and the fanservice. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a TV-series with fanservice that was THIS lazy… to the point where it just gets bizarre.
ED: Um, random.
Potential: 0%

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%