Category: Some Quick First Impressions

Some quick first Impressions: Umineko no Naku Koro ni, Aoi Hana and Needless

by psgels, posted in Aoi Hana, Some Quick First Impressions, Umineko no Naku Koro ni

Umineko no Naku Koro ni

Short Synopsis: Our lead character visits an island owned by his grandfather, along with the rest of his mysterious family.
Chance of me Blogging: 70% (It’s from the creators of Higurashi, so yeah)
Well, the series with the biggest amount of hype around it has finally aired. First of all I have to ask: out of all possible lead characters, could the creators have chosen one that is even more bland than “Battler”? He may be eighteen years old, but he still acts like an immature teenager and keeps making boob-jokes. In all seriousness though, this first episode was a bit of a disappointment, and well for the following reason: the acting. This episode suffered from a cast of bad voice actors that hardly know to use any subtlety in their voices. This goes for the lead character, but also for just about the entire rest of the cast. These kinds of stories require the characters to be able to switch to a lot of emotions, but the change from one of these emotions in the others feels woody at best. Ok, sure there could be a chance that everyone in the family is infected with the “hopelessly bad acting virus”, but the voice acting cast really needs to do a better job in the rest of the episodes if they want to do justice to this excellent storyline.

Aoi Hana

Short Synopsis: Our lead character enters high-school and meets with an old childhood friend.
Chance of me Blogging: 80% (Lots of potential)
Now this is more like it. Noise has done it again, as this seems likely to be the third hit in a row for the time-slot. It’s obviously not going to be for those who want a fast-paced storyline, but I personally loved the subtle yet poignant drama between the two lead characters who meet each other again after having been separated when they were kids. The tall girl is a bit of a crybaby, but she definitely has her charms. The rest of the cast also feels alive, rather than being a bunch of 2D Stereotypes. There wasn’t any annoyance about this episode, aside from the fact that I just know that the rich and detailed animation of this episode is probably going to disappear after the next episode.

Needless

Short Synopsis: Our lead character loses his sister and meets a weird priest with strange powers.
Chance of me Blogging: 20% (With so many other great shows this season? Not likely)
It’s strange: the character-designs in this series are abysmal; their style is uninspired and too similar to most other anime and the costumes make EVERONE look like an incredibly ridiculous fashion-victim. The rest of the visuals however, are really sweet. The animation was really good, the gun-designs rocked, and the shots in which the characters weren’t doing bland things really rocked with their visual style. Overall, this was a typical first episode in which the creators go all out to make it as exciting as possible, and for me they did a pretty good job: this episode was a lot of fun to watch, with a lot of adrenaline-pumping action and an interesting cast of characters so far. This series feels the most like the next Koukaku no Regios, so let’s hope that this time the creators do know how to handle the rest of the story, as it definitely has the potential for a fast-paced action story. I liked how the main characters are of all kinds of different ages: we have a kid, a teenager, a guy in his thirties and an old guy. Definitely makes the series varied.

Some quick first Impressions: Saint Seiya The Lost Canvas, Fight Ippatsu! Juuden-Chan! and Umi Monogatari

by psgels, posted in Some Quick First Impressions, Special Articles

Saint Seiya The Lost Canvas

Short Synopsis: Our lead character has huge powers for no particular reason and gets to become a saint.
Chance of me Blogging: 0% (No way)
Okay, so I’m pretty much a Saint Seiya noob: I’ve never watched anything of the franchise, despite how it seems to be churning out an OVA every year. So yeah, this felt like a good opportunity to check out and see what this franchise was all about. Well, if the rest of the installments are anything like this first episode, then it’s a franchise full of hopelessly bad acting and stereotypes. Seriously, this episode starts with a bunch of generic bullies nearly killing a dog, only for one of the lead characters to act like a flower-child and protect it. The other lead character is your typical hot-blooded teen-aged lead, only exaggerated even more than usual. The episode was full of inconsistencies or things that just didn’t make any bloody sense; my favourite of this has to be the point where a river was blocked by a bunch of rocks from a landslide. So what does our main character do? HE TRIES TO PUNCH HIS WAY THROUGH THE ROCKS. Granted though, the animation looked really nice and the backgrounds looked pretty. But pretty pictures aren’t going to excuse the disaster that is the cast of characters.

Fight Ippatsu! Juuden-Chan!

Short Synopsis: Our lead character hasn’t been toilet-trained properly and Deus ex Machinas depressions away.
Chance of me Blogging: 0% (No way)
It’s stupid, clichéd, full of fanservice and stereotyped. But still I have to admit that it made me laugh at times. This is basically another shounen mahou shoujo, but for once the chemistry between the male and female lead was enjoyable, rather than annoying. The problem with this series however, is that that’s just about the only thing that I liked. The visuals look horrible, the background music is generic voice-less J-Pop. The drama is incredibly shallow: it’s built up poorly and simply solved because the lead character has the power make depressions go completely away. It just screams laziness to me. The fanservice also was abysmal at times. Fully unneeded, especially in the ED, and you know a character is bad when she still pees in her pants.

Umi Monogatari

Short Synopsis: Our lead character lives under water.
Chance of me Blogging: 40% (If the rest of the season is mediocre)
Another series with lots of moe, but it’s actually pretty interesting. Umi Monogatari tells the story of a tribe of people who live underwater and use strange rings to move to the shore. It’s got an ambient atmosphere with lots of quiet piano background songs. The pacing is also quiet yet at the end o the episode there were definitely some dark pasts. A major theme of this episode also was cultural differences, which can become quite interesting as well if the series develops it properly. My one gripe with this episode was the comedy, though; it just felt forced, so that’s a potential problem for the future of this series. I know that ZEXCS isn’t the best company out there, and the animation and visuals really are nothing special, but if they can make this series as solid as they did with Wagaya no Oinarisama, then I’m in.

Some quick first Impressions: Ristorante Paradiso, Higashi no Eden and Hatsukoi Limited

by psgels, posted in Eden of the East, Ristorante Paradiso, Some Quick First Impressions

Ristorante Paradiso

Short Synopsis: Our lead character visits a restaurant managed by lots of bishies
Chance of me Blogging: 100% (Obviously, since I’m already blogging it)
This one was surprisingly relaxing, to be honest. while most people are probably going to avoid this one because of all the middle aged bishies, it feels like some cross between Bartender and Antique Bakery. While from the outside it looks like yet another josei series (okay, yet another… there hardly are any of them in the first place, but you get what I mean), this episode was strangely charming and I’m quite fond of the lead female character. I only have one big complaint, though: the overuse of CG. Even the most useless things that would have been much easier to just draw have been CG-ified, with some pretty bad results. Still, I really like what Fuji TV is trying to do right here, in creating yet another time-slot with interesting premises aside Noitamina. Especially after it was followed by Michiko e Hatchin. It’s going to become interesting if they can keep this up.

Higashi no Eden

Short Synopsis: Our lead character visits the white house and runs into a weirdo with amnesia.
Chance of me Blogging: 100% (Hell Yeah!!)
Okay, so what have we here? Out of all first episodes this season so far, Higashi no Eden has by far the best OP, the most imaginative setting, the most interesting characters, the best mystery, the best use of amnesia, the most natural dialogue, the best combination between quiet scenes in which nothing happens and eventful ones, the best Engrish (the best use of Engrish ever since Beck, actually) the biggest amount of weirdness and it has me more intrigued than any other show. Oh, I love how Production IG manages to come up with these premises that you’d never think of. Here I thought that Eden of the East would be some combination of Shangri-la, and any one of the long line of fantasy shows that this season has already so many of. Guess my surprise when it turns out to be a series about a naked terrorist with amnesia who befriends a twenty year old Japanese girl and goes to Japan with her. I’m really interested in this series, and what the heck the creators are planning to do in only eleven episodes.

Hatsukoi Limited

Short Synopsis: Our lead character gets confessed to by a huge streetpunk.
Chance of me Blogging: 0% (Interesting concept, but I already have enough plans for this season)
My first impression when the OP started rolling was “oh god… generic harem”. That’s why I was pleasantly surprised to find out that this wasn’t a harem at all, but instead a show about a bunch of school girls experiencing their first loves. It’s going to be interesting to see the modern version of Sentimental Journey here, with each episode focusing on a different girl (don’t ask me what the show plans to be doing in its final episodes, though). I do have some complaints, though: the girls just look like carbon copies of each other. There’s nothing that really sets them apart from each other. While the girls in Sentimental Journey all had their own problems and lives, the girls of Hatsukoi feel more like carbon copies of the same moeblob.

Some quick first Impressions: Konnichiwa Anne, 07-Ghost and Souten Kouro

by psgels, posted in 07-Ghost, Konnichiwa Anne, Some Quick First Impressions

Konnichiwa Anne

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is finally ready to tell the story of how she grew up.
Chance of me Blogging: 200% (Seriously, is there any way for me not to blog this series?)
Finally! I’m really glad to finally see the next World Masterpiece Theatre again, and it doesn’t disappoint. While most of them all have the same start, after the first thirteen episodes they all move into different directions that only have one thing in common: an AWESOME cast of characters. there are definitely differences when compared to the style that the great Isao Takahata used when he adopted the original Anne of Green Gables series, and this episode indeed wasn’t as good as the powerhouse of Ghibli’s founders, but nevertheless it was such a wonderful episode, and you can really see that the little girl in this episode would grow into the lovable girl of the Akage no Anne series. The creators really managed to capture Anne’s endless fantasies about all sorts of things like her pigtails, red cats and other sorts of silly stuff that’s typical of of young children. There is obviously no way that this is ever going to be subbed within the next six months, so I’ll at least try to provide a summary for all of the following episodes for those who want to follow this show anyway. Oh, and for those who are still interested in this series (yeah, both of you), you don’t need to have watched Anne of Green Gables in order to enjoy this series: it’s simply a prequel and a very good standalone series.

07-Ghost

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is about to graduate from some sort of magical power-school.
Chance of me Blogging: 90% (Hell Yeah!)
Finally! I kept wondering what the heck happened to Studio Deen this season, but I’m glad to see that they at least managed to put out one series this season, and it’s promising to be a really good one. This episode formed one heck of an introduction, where already lots of stuff happened without feeling rushed. While it starts out as your average high-school series, a big twist near the end turns this into some sort of tale for revenge. My only gripe is the animation, but then again Studio Deen has never been strong at detailed animation. While I don’t think that this is going to become one of Studio Deen’s top works, it’s still promising to be a very good one.

Souten Kouro

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is leading a powerful army in ancient China
Chance of me Blogging: 10% (Really not sure about this one…)
Finally! I was really wondering what happened to Madhouse this season, but here they finally are with their new series… though unfortunately I’m not really positive about it. It feels like some sort of weird cross between Hokuto no Ken and Koutetsu Sangokushi, characters are way too busy trying to look cool rather than being interesting, it’s got the good guys pretty and strong bad guys ugly and weak syndrome so far. The graphics also look really sweet on one side (I appreciated to see finally some good gore), but the big-lipped CG Dragon that ate itself was utterly abysmal. All in all, I here get the feeling of a show that’s trying way too hard. It lacks the impact and feel of the average Madhouse series, and feels more like a Madhouse Wannabe instead.

Some quick first Impressions: Hanasakeru Seishonen, Guin Saga and Kigurumikku

by psgels, posted in Guin Saga, Some Quick First Impressions

Hanasakeru Seishonen

Short Synopsis: Our lead character can choose between three bishies to marry.
Chance of me Blogging: 5% (Something really weird has to happen in order for me to blog this thing)
Ah, this season’s obligatory shoujo series. I was already wondering when it was going to pop up. Still, this one unfortunately promises to be even worse than average. The thing with most of the shoujo-romances I’ve watched so far is that while they start out promising, they usually fall apart somewhere after around eight episodes (with some very notable exceptions, of course). This show already seems to be falling apart with the first episode, which… really isn’t promising a lot. The creators tried to insert way too much nonsensical drama, resulting from one cheesy scene to the other, with nearly all of them bordering on the ridiculous. It’s a shame, this show really seems to be trying, but so far it has really no idea on how to tell a good story. Having said that though; the music was pretty nice. Especially that ED was really well sung and perfect for such a series. Ah, if only the rest wasn’t so hopeless.

Guin Saga

Short Synopsis: Our lead characters are the prince and princess of a country that gets attacked by some sort of evil empire.
Chance of me Blogging: 60% (If the second episode is as impressive as this one)
With a title as “Guin Saga”, I expected yet another one of those fantasy series that are already so prevalent this season, but oh my god, this episode really left me impressed. While not a lot of things happened and the pacing was really slow, this episode also was really solid, both in terms of storytelling and production values. Seriously, the animation in this episode looked really sweet, and you can see that Satelight is in its elements this season. While the whole thing of a destroyed country that needs to be rescued by the prince and princess because they miraculously escape is nothing new, I see lots of potential in the character development, with this solid of a first episode. Let’s hope it can keep this up.

Kigurumikku

Short Synopsis: Our lead characters are a bunch of magical girls who save the world from evil.
Chance of me Blogging: 20% (Not sure what could be blogged about a series like this, but what the heck)
Okay, I think that with this series, I’ve found the most hilarious first episode of the season. I’m a huge fan of parodies, but I hate it when a show just sticks in random references to other shows without making fun of them. Kigurumikku completely slaughters the credibility of mahou shoujo–series in the shounen-genre and has lots of fun in the process. I really laughed a lot during this episode, and there were many hilarious points. What I liked most was the huge wit of the scriptwriters. Now, my message to the creators is simple: please keep this up, and don’t start milking out your own jokes or get boring!

Some quick first Impressions: Saki, Tayutama ~Kiss on my Deity~ and Shangri-La

by psgels, posted in Shangri-La, Some Quick First Impressions

Saki

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is very good at Mah Jong.
Chance of me Blogging: 20% (Really not sure about this one)
At this point, I don’t know what to think about this series, and whether it’s going to be Good Gonzo or Bad Gonzo. There is some definite potential, but at the same time there are so many things that got on my nerves. The lead character is charming, but some of the other members of the cast were beyond obnoxious (especially that overly squeaky little girl). The fanservice-parts felt really weird and forced (Gonzo is a bit too fond of its fanservice at times, and it really shows in this show). The ED is a very annoying J-Pop song which SO doesn’t fit my tastes and the small bit of drama between “boob”-san and Saki in the middle bit felt forced and not really that genuine. Having said that, though, the Mah-jong parts do feel interesting, the student council president was nice to watch, and overall there is potential, both for the show to become something nice or fall apart completely.

Tayutama ~Kiss on my Deity~

Short Synopsis: Our lead character gets to marry a cute fox girl.
Chance of me Blogging: 0% (No)
Hehe… oh boy. Well, what we have here is another one of those romantic comedies that try to find the most ridiculous ways to get a male and female to live together with each other. This time, it’s an ancient fox deity who gets transported to modern days, turns into a little girl, and then turns back into a teenager again when the male lead promises her that he’s going to marry her when she’s grown up. Yeah, you have to love the depth of this show, but what stands out the most in this episode were the utterly, utterly horrible character-designs. THAT HAIR! Aren’t these girls ashamed or something? The editing also feels unprofessional at times, and there are certain transitions from one scene to another that are so obviously flawed that I suspect that this episode was produced in a very big hurry. In any case, this definitely is another one of those series for the people who are into cheesy romantic comedies. If you’re not, then stay faaaaaaaaaaar away from this one.

Shangri-La

Short Synopsis: Our lead character has been in youth prison for two years, it seems.
Chance of me Blogging: 60% (I’m intrigued)
Ooh, nice. Shangri-la has great ambitions, and I really liked all of the different kinds of ideas that were put into the setting; definitely creative. I liked all the potentially interesting characters, the detailed character-designs, the culture that these people live in; all in all it’s good stuff. But then again, with huge ambitions also come huge potential pitfalls: is this show going to be able to put everything it wants to show in its limited time frame, or are things just going to fall apart in a rushed and incomplete conclusion? This show especially has to deal with explaining how a teenaged girl seems to be so incredibly good at fighting with such a strange weapon, and the strange instances of fanservice were typical Gonzo. Still, the potential’s definitely there.

Some quick first Impressions: Metal Fight Beyblade, Jewel Pets and Natsu no Arashi

by psgels, posted in Natsu no Arashi, Some Quick First Impressions

Metal Fight Beyblade

Short Synopsis: Our lead character has uber l33t hax0rz skills with spinning tops
Chance of me Blogging: -30% (No)
Next up in the line of stupid shounen franchises that refuse to bloody die: Beyblade’s new installment, in which a bunch of kids battle it out with… spinning tops. No, seriously, those spinning tops are most likely going to decide the fate of the world at the end of this series; they’re serious business. In any case, it’s one thing to see little kids play such games, but when even tough street-punks squeal like little girls when they’ve been defeated in such a game, you know that something is wrong. Dull, generic, boring, shallow. Is there anyone uberhaupt planning to watch this series?

Jewel Pets

Short Synopsis: Our lead character gets visited by a magical creature from a fantasy world.
Chance of me Blogging: 0% (Obviously not)
Okay, so there’s obviously no way that I’m going to continue following those cheesy kiddie shows, but they are nice for a good laugh once in a while. Especially Jewel Pets isn’t half that bad for a kiddie show. Sure, it’s just another rehash of the same formula that has been repeated over and over again, but at least it has a sense of humour. I laughed quite a bit during this episode, though for once I laughed because the characters were funny, rather than because of the overuse of cheese or clichés like I usually do with these sorts of series. Still, that doesn’t mean that the setting isn’t utterly ridiculous: you’ll have a hard job to find a series that’s as pink and fluffy as this show, ranging from heart-shaped cherry blossoms to all sorts of overly cute pets, ranging from cats to bunnies to dogs.

Natsu no Arashi

Short Synopsis: Our lead character knows people who can travel through time
Chance of me Blogging: 30% (Depends on the budget for the rest of the series)
While there have been quite a few nice shows this season so far, I do have one complaint about the shows that aired up till now: the lack of originality. Up till now, there haven’t really been any series that wanted to try out new things, or push the boundaries of their genres, up to the point where my favourite show so far is a blatant Noir rip-off. But then again, this can also be attributed to the strange lack of series from Studio Deen, Madhouse and Production IG so far, which are usually responsible for those kinds of shows. Natsu no Arashi is Shaft’s latest series, and what do you know, it actually answered my complaints, although in a much different way than I would have expected. First of all, the camera direction rocks beyond belief, even for Shaft’s standards (which to be honest was starting to get a bit stale). There are lots of nice and creative camera angles and pans. The setting is also… quirky… to say the least. We here have some sort of cafe, run by the lead characters, but the whole things is spiced up by a number of characters who can travel through time or do other ethereal stuff. And what’s better to use those powers for than to find the culprits of stolen strawberry cakes?

Some quick first Impressions: Cross Game, Tears to Tiara and Full Metal Alchemist – Brotherhood

by psgels, posted in Cross Game, Full Metal Alchemist - Brotherhood, Some Quick First Impressions

Cross Game

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is talented at baseball
Chance of me Blogging: 50% (Surprisingly good)
Oh boy, I’m impressed. After this episode, I can fully understand why people were looking forward to this series, even though from the outside it just looks like yet another show in which a bunch of talented kids play baseball. Cross Game may have your usual stereotypes, but it also has a quiet slice-of-life pacing, already very fleshed out and charming characters, a male lead who already doesn’t feel like a carbon copy of your average male protagonist in such a series, and a very nice surprise at the end of the episode there. There’s lots of subtlety in this episode, which is something I’m a really big fan of. This series could get really good if it keeps this up.

Tears to Tiara

Short Synopsis: Our lead character has the power to summon an almighty demon king.
Chance of me Blogging: 20% (If the second episode is good)
And here we have yet another fantasy-series. My big problem with those shows these season is that they all seem to look like each other. A random fantasy show like Tears to Tiara really needs to find something in this fantasy-packed season to stand out, and I didn’t find that yet. Nevertheless, though: this episode did the job. It wasn’t anything good, but nothing bad either. In fact, this episode mostly served as a very dark introduction to the series, especially considering the contrast with the rather happy OP and the continuous dark atmosphere of the actual episode. I do hope that the show is going to be about more than simply “kill that demon king” in the end.

Full Metal Alchemist – Brotherhood

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is a famous State Alchemist (as in, someone who draws circles on floors).
Chance of me Blogging: 70% (Unless lots of other great series air in the rest of the season)
I have never read the manga, so I don’t know where this episode exactly fits into the continuity of the series, but I’m glad that the creators skipped the first thirteen episodes of the original series (which really were a pain to get through for me). This episode seriously was good stuff, though. What I’ve seen of the characterization is much better than that of the original series. My only complaint was that characters seemed to run into each other a bit too conveniently, but overall this was a very good opening. At the moment, I’m a bit wary of Bones since nearly all of their endings have a finale in which at leastsomething goes wrong, but for now I’ll remain positive about the Full Metal Alchemist remake.

Some quick first Impressions: Shinkyoku Soukai Polyphonica Crimson S, Senjou no Valkyria and Dragonball Kai

by psgels, posted in Some Quick First Impressions, Valkyria Chronicles

Shinkyoku Soukai Polyphonica Crimson S

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is a wimp and gets his own magical girl.
Chance of me Blogging: 0% (Haven’t seen the first season…)
I remember how I quickly dropped the first season after the first episode because of the large amount of clichés and annoying characters. I was rather reluctant to check out the second season, but I do have to admit: this episode was better than expected. But yeah, my expectations were pretty damn low from the first place. Even though this show seems to deal with a completely different storyline than the first season, the only character that really felt annoying was that lead female who appeared in the final minute (not that that’s a good thing, but at least this episode was enjoyable enough in her absence). There still are lots of cut corners, but at least the plot is decent enough for a first episode. There were some nice quiet slice of life moments that prevented this from turning into your regular harem-fest. But yeah, at the end of the episode your typical annoying tsundere bonded herself to the male lead, so I really doubt whether the rest of this series will be as quiet as this episode was.

Senjou no Valkyria

Short Synopsis: Our lead character accidentally mistakes a hero for an evil spy.
Chance of me Blogging: 50% (Could be interesting)
This is a big season for fantasy-anime, apparently. And so far, Valkyria Chronicles feels like the best so far: it actually tries to portray a convincing setting, characters are slightly different from your average stereotypes, girls wear clothes that actually make sense for those kinds of people to wear, rather than those ridiculously coloured outfits, the use of guns is believable so far and there’s quite a bit of time spent on slow slice of life moments to flesh out the characters. The only problem is that the main characters remain a bunch of teenagers. Still, if the creators continue to flesh out the characters like this, we could have ourselves a very interesting series here.

Dragonball Kai

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is very strong and turns out to be an alien.
Chance of me Blogging: 0% (Obviously not)
Ah, the nostalgia. While I hate to admit it, Dragonball Z played a big role in making me an anime fan. And I guess that if the show simply ended after the first arc, it would at least have been a pretty decent fighting series. Instead, it just had to develop into one of those shows that goes on and on and on, in which characters take bloody ages to see who is the best at making constipated faces. While it would have been interesting to see a modern-day remake of this that just condenses the series in 26 episodes, this attempt feels half-assed at best: the entire episode was just the exact first episode of the original series. Although it was kindof weird hearing the different characters suddenly with extremely high-pitched voices and I was also surprised to suddenly see blood in this series, so far this show is nothing more than a glorified recap.

Some quick first Impressions: Gokujou!! Mecha Mote Iinchou, Isekai no Seikichi Monogatari and Shin Mazinger Shougenki! Z-Hen

by psgels, posted in Some Quick First Impressions

Gokujou!! Mecha Mote Iinchou

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is pretty and gets invited to join the club of pretty people (no, seriously)
Chance of me Blogging: -30% (…)
This season I again avoided all the previews out there. I quite like this strategy, but the only downside is that I have absolutely no idea which series is which, and so I end up watching virtually everything… including the crap that nobody would want to watch in the first place. With a title as Mecha Mote Iinchou, I was expecting something with giant robots or something. What I got was a very cheesy shoujo series. And oh my god, this series truly shows the utter horrors of CG abuse. While if used well, you can get some nice effects, but the characters here are cell shaded 75% of the bloody time! Not only does the contrast with their regular drawings sting with the pain of a thousand needles, the creators also lack the budget to make them look good. The result is that people look more like strange marionettes than people: the way they move is just creepy. In the story-department, this show also sucks beyond belief: the lead female tries to reform a bunch of rebellious youths (and of course falling in love with one of them who had a tragic accident in his past that makes him all emo right now) and she tries to fight the super elite club in the school in which only pretty people can join. Even when compared to your average shoujo, this series is the epitome of blatant stupidity.

Isekai no Seikichi Monogatari

Short Synopsis: Our lead character attacks a very short-staffed flying island with his mecha.
Chance of me Blogging: 0% (No)
If I had to use one word to characterize this OVA, then it’d be ‘shallow’. Here we yet again have a generic fantasy OVA that doesn’t stand out at any part whatsoever, not to mention the amount of time it tests the viewer’s suspense of disbelief. The lead character is only a teenager, and yet he can knock a small army of armed soldiers unconscious in less than a minute, and the special treatment he receives from all of the cute girls on the flying island makes no sense whatsoever. If this were a series, it might have grown into something interesting over time, but what can an OVA really add to this with its limited amount of time?

Shin Mazinger Shougenki! Z-Hen

Short Synopsis: Our lead character pilots a giant robot.
Chance of me Blogging: 20% (Depends on the rest of the season, really)
Remakes of ancient Sci-fi shows can be extremely different, depending on what they decide to focus on. Shows as Toward the Terra and Casshern Sins showed how good the genre can be. The new Mazinger clearly goes for the homage route, and it clearly wants to start the series with an as big of a bang as possible. What I really liked was the GAR-ness of just about every single scene of this episode. the manly passion really flowed continuously through the screen. And so what if it’s a cheesy save the world plot: it worked at least in this episode. My question is going to be: what are the creators planning for the rest of the show: this episode definitely was interesting and had a really fast pacing, but it also assumed that the viewers knew lots of the established characters already (which in my case wasn’t the case). Can it remain interesting, or fall down horribly in just a random string of monsters that have to be defeated each episode?