Category: Some Quick First Impressions

Some quick first impressions: Strike Witches, Birdy the Mighty Decode and Yakushiji Ryouko no Kaiki Jikenbo

by psgels, posted in Birdy the Mighty Decode, Some Quick First Impressions

Strike Witches

Short Synopsis: Our lead character becomes a witch that fights against alien forces.
Highlights: Lacks the style of the OVA.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 6,5/10
It’s a shame that the style of the OVA was abandoned for the tv-series. Still, overall Strike Witches did its job, I guess. Ironically, at the moment this seems to be the perfect series for Gonzo to get some of their funds back, because stuff like this definitely sells. There’s lots of fanservice indeed, but it’s nothing when comparing it to Sekirei. This episode was nothing special at all, but it did serve as a good enough introduction, although I wonder whether trucks can violently explode like that. There are lots of characters, which is going to be either this series’ saving grace or doom, whether or not the creators can develop them sufficiently within 12 episodes. I personally doubt it, but I’ve been surprised by such a series more than once.

Birdy the Mighty Decode

Short Synopsis: Our lead character gets killed and ends up sharing his body with a female alien cop.
Highlights: Great style, awesome action, fun characters
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10
This has been my most anticipated series of the season, and probably the weirdest most anticipated series I’ve ever had for a season. It doesn’t disappoint at all, though. What we have here is a fun action-series, sharing a deep contrast with the other action-series this season (Ultraviolet), which is much darker and melancholic. Birdy the Mighty is sortof like (and it rather disturbed me when I found this out) To Love-Ru done right. We’ve got an alien in a space-ship, but instead of the predictable princess, being chased, she’s a cop, after a bunch of bad guys. When she meets our lead character, she doesn’t instantly fall in love with him without any reason, but instead she accidentally kills him and feels sorry for her own mistake. She also has a dress-up robot, but he dresses up as a strange transsexual. Overall, it feels like much more imagination went into creating this anime, and it’s amazing what a bit of imagination can do to my opinion of a series. And of course, this is being done by the director of Noein, so of course: the fight scenes are bloody amazing. What surprised me the most during the summer previews is the bad reputation this series seemed to be getting, simply because of its name. I mean, what’s so bad about calling your series Birdy the Mighty?

Yakushiju Ryouko no Kaiki Jikenbo

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is a policewoman, who gets assigned to supernatural cases.
Highlights: Glamorous look at the way of a detective, but at least the characters are interesting; good luck at explaining that plot-hole at the end of the episode, though.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 7/10
Well, this one turned out to be different from expected. What I expected was a supernatural mystery-series, but what I got was a thriller: it’s pretty clear what the enemies are, and they need to be stopped. I may not work with the police or anything, but I do think that the depiction of inspector Ryouko could have been more realistic: she spends the entire episode buying bras, swimming and in fancy clothes, while doing her investigation that’s in no way systematic. That’s why her assistant is the interesting character in this series: he has to put up with her eccentric character, while trying to do his own job as well. I’d really wish for the bad guys to get some more depth in the next episode, because they were rather boring in this one. Ah well, at least this series is backed up by nice enough graphics and an interesting soundtrack that combines techno with eerie sounds.

Some quick first impressions: Someday’s Dreamers: Natsu no Sora, Hidamari Sketch x356 and Antique Bakery

by psgels, posted in Some Quick First Impressions

Someday’s Dreamers: Natsu no Sora

Short Synopsis: Our lead character who lives on the countryside gets accepted on a magic school in Tokyo.
Highlights: Awesome art direction; warm slice of life; is the first season as good as this?
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10
Usually, I refer to the titles of anime in their romanized form, but in this case I’m going to make an exception, simply because it’s so damn long. In any case, as a fan of experimental anime, I just have to say that I LOVE the art direction in this series. The creators actually used live-action backgrounds, and pasted drawings on top of it. The effect looks great, and it’s a very effective way to save a bit of budget without coming across cheap. The character also looks excellent. This episode was mostly slice-of-life on the countryside, and the real meat of this series is probably going to take place somewhere entirely different (a magic school in Tokyo, it seems), but I think that we can expect some great things from this series. It’s already been episode one, and it already introduced a charming love-story between two side-characters.

Hidamari Sketch x356

Short Synopsis: Our lead character enlists on an art school and meets her new neighbours.
Highlights: Energy; better than what I saw of the first season.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 7/10
I only lasted for 3 episodes on the original Hidamari Sketch. It wasn’t bad; it just… didn’t catch my attention. I checked out this episode to test whether it had improved since the first season, and surprisingly, it has. For this episode at least. It feels more energetic than the first season, and I actually laughed a bit here and there. I do want to note, however, that Shinbou’s style of direction is getting a bit old. I first noticed this with Zoku Sayonara Zetsubou-sensei, but his way of adding random nonsensical shots or texts does tend to distract from what’s really important. Especially in a series that’s supposed to be slice-of-life (ie, relaxing), this works rather distracting. It would be interesting if the guy would try to evolve his own style a bit.

Antique Bakery

Short Synopsis: Our lead character gets employed by a gay baker.
Highlights: Cheese, but knows fully well that it’s cheese.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10
I’ve been purposefully keeping my expectations for this series low, since it unites the godly Nippon Animation with the Noitamina-timeslot, so I just expected this series would turn into a gay bishie-series. The scary thing is that I turned out to be right, and yet laughed my ass off in this episode. It’s been a while since I watched some good cheese, and this one seems a darn fine example of it. The entire mood is so depressing, with organ-music, and yet the characters are discussing cakes. The only gay character in this series is also portrayed in a pretty realistic way for anime, and his banter with the straight characters was just priceless. Now let’s hope that the creators can keep this interesting for 11 more episodes.

Some quick first impressions: Ultraviolet: Code 044, Slayers Revolution and Sekirei

by psgels, posted in Some Quick First Impressions, Ultraviolet: Code 044

Ultraviolet: Code 044

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is a famed and feared assassin, probably the best of her kind. In the futuristic world this series is set in, she spends the first episode on two different missions.
Highlights: Excellent action; a feast for the senses; isn’t just dumb action; TOO MUCH FANSERVICE.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10
Whoa, in terms of first episodes, this one surely caught my attention. This is going to be an action-series, and this episode absolutely delivered in that department. The creators definitely wanted to start off this series with a bang, and the result is a very fast-paced introduction. The graphics were fantastic, and the music was awesome as well. The next question is obviously: will the creators be able to keep up this level. Even with 12 episodes, action series have been rather notorious of deteriorating after their first episodes. Still, this episode showed some good signs: there wasn’t only a lot of action, but also a lot of talking. The characters here aren’t just brainless, but they’re also critical of both themselves and their colleagues. Let’s hope that this proves to be good for the rest of this series. But really, there was too much fanservice. The creators took every chance to show as much skin as possible…

Slayers: Revolution

Short Synopsis: Our lead character apparently is hunted by many people, who in one episode already manage to destroy three ships and one city.
Highlights: Starts dull, gets more interesting as the episode goes on; the pirates suck, though
Overall Enjoyment Value: 7/10
Well, so this was the first thing I saw of Slayers. There were things to like, and things to dislike as well. The main cast needed a bit of time to warm up, but they ended up being an energetic and spunky bunch of people. I was rolling my eyes whenever the pirates were on the screen, though. I don’t hope that every Slayers-minor-villain is as dull as these guys, because they’re all a bunch of stereotypes and they’re just not funny. Same with the giant fish-head (why did it need to hold on to a log at the end of the episode anyway?) Overall, for a comedy it was a decent enough first episode, but I’m not sold on Slayers yet. The problem with comedies also tends to be that you can’t predict at all whether they’ll lose inspiration or not, just by their first episode.

Sekirei

Short Synopsis: A girl with no sense of shame and a typical loser team up in a battle royale.
Highlights: Boobs?
Overall Enjoyment Value: 5/10
I’ve been told that Sekirei is more than just fanservice, so for that sake I might as well try to judge this series, without paying attention to the excessive boob-shots in this episode. What we have here is that a bunch of super-powered girls rescue a young boy from some kind of facility. Ten years later, one of these girls is still in love with this guy and wants him to be her partner for an upcoming battle royale. The thing is that I can live with the battle royale, and the rather questionable enlisting procedure of kissing each other. My problem, however, is this: how come this girl, after ten years, is still in love with that main character. I find it rather hard to believe that in ten years, not one single male has tried to make moves on her, or tried dating her. That’s basically my problem with most series like this one: they seem to think that the main character is the only one allowed to date girls, which results in a huge number of plot-holes. Since this season is small, I have enough time due to holidays and there are only going to be 12 episodes, I might as well give an attempt to watch this one, but I really wonder whether it can deliver in that time…

Some quick first impressions: Hoshi no Umi no Amuri, Candy Boy and Chocolate Underground

by psgels, posted in Some Quick First Impressions

Hoshi no Umi no Amuri

Well… it certainly is original. I’m really not sure what to think about this series. It’s definitely better than I expected: I expected another one of those cheap fanservice OVAs like Koharu Biyori or Ryofuko-chan, and what I got was… well… I’m not even sure what I got. The best thing to compare this series with is a very strange acid-trip that’s gotten way out of hand. Throughout the 30 minutes of airtime, the creators toss all kinds of flashy graphics at your face, they literally bounce from one strange thing to another (including what’s probably the most bizarre parody of Dragon Ball Z EVER). I’m still not sure what the point of the plot was supposed to be, but I guess that this is one of those anime as art OVAS. I must say that I admire the creativity, but the huge wtf-factor of Hoshi no Umi no Amuri DOES REMAIN.

Candy Boy

Oh my god, I am SO late with this anime. It’s good to see another yuri-series again, they’ve been painfully absent since El Cazador and Blue Drop. Candy Boy is another one of those very short series (episodes are only 12 minutes long and there seem to be only 7 episodes in total…), but it’s focused and rather charming, especially when the two main characters are together. There’s a very annoying side-character, though. Whenever she pops up, she breaks the flow of this series with her endless rambling. I feel that Candy Boy could have been better if it just left out this character, especially considering the length.

Chocolate Underground

This is one of those “What if”-series. It asks the question: what if the government massively banned all sorts of chocolate. It does make sense in a strange kind of way. Kids these days keep getting fatter due to lazy parents and the overabundance of sweets, so it would be interesting to see what would happen… but that giant robot really came from nowhere. With five minutes per episode, this series also is criminally short, so I wonder whether it’ll really be able to go into the depths of its topic. Still, it’s fun to watch (especially seeing those government people tease the hell out of these children).

Some quick first impressions: Gosenzosama Banbanzai, Ikkitousen – Great Guardians and Telepathy Shoujo Ran

by psgels, posted in Some Quick First Impressions, Telepathy Shoujo Ran

Gosenzosama Banbanzai

Yeah, I know that this ova is already two decades old, but I just had to mention it. Liam recommended it to me, and after watching it, I have to agree that this one’s brilliant! I think the only thing you need to know about it is that it’s basically Mamoru Oshii’s attempt at comedy. Despite its age, this OVA was still a breath of fresh air. If you liked Mamoru’s work on Twilight Q, then you’ll love Gosenzosama. The entire thing feels like it’s being performed inside a theatre, rather than a cinema. Combined with a smashing soundtrack from Kawai Kenji, Gosenzosama is an excellent recommendation if you’re looking for an OVA that’s something different.

Ikkitousen – Great Guardians

There’s a fine line between a bit of innocent fanservice here and there and tasteless fanservice meant to milk money from otaku. Ikkitousen crossed this line and then kept going for forty more miles before it realized the concept of “brakes”. I admit, the soundtrack has some good tracks among it and the story about the Chinese mythology is at least interesting enough, but the characters ruin any trace of potential in this series. Scenarios are written way too obvious, the yuri lacks a lot of subtlety and ends up as just plain old fanboy-bait, and I’ve lost count as to how much time I wanted to punch Hakufu, her mother, the blue-haired girl, etc etc in the face for being so god damn annoying. I’m not a big fan of fanservice, but if it has to be included, it should be inserted into the story, not the other way around. What surprises me the most is the huge amount of fansubs this series is getting: six groups have already released the first episode after it aired. I mean, what?!

Telepathy Shoujo Ran

The first thing that catches attention is the unusual art style: there’s a stark contrast between the very simple character-designs and the rich and colourful background art, and the result works pretty well. Overall, I must say I’m impressed so far. This series is like a cross between Kamichu and Kaze no Shoujo Emily: it’s got the heart-warming slice-of-life feel of the former, and this episode already showed the powerful drama of the latter. Especially the slice-of-life parts in this episode were really nicely done, and they’ll probably form a good base for this series to work with. I did fear a bit when this series suddenly introduced the pretty transfer-student (a way too overused cliché, IMO), but I’m glad to see that this isn’t one of these series where the powers of the main characters are kept secret.

Some quick first impressions: Golgo 13, Kyouran Kazoku Nikki and Nijuu Mensou no Musume

by psgels, posted in Nijuu Mensou no Musume, Some Quick First Impressions

Golgo 13

Well, this turned out better than expected, but that may also be because I expected nothing from this series anyway. Golgo may have a laughable name, but it does have a certain style. The soundtrack is effective, though I feel that the manga-chapters don’t really fit the 24-episode formats. In this episode, the only thing that Golgo does is that he comes, he shoots, and then he leaves again. The creators clearly struggle with filling up the remaining 23 minutes of this episode so they just show a random sex-scene. I hope that the future assignments for the guy are a bit more challenging to overcome; otherwise it’d make a pretty boring series. Still, this series has no real flaws so far, apart from the fact that Golgo’s character-design makes it looks like he’s suffering from a bad case of constipation.

Kyouran Kazoku Nikki

Boy… the shounen-comedies sure are dull this season. I’m sick and tired of females that rely just on their energy and moe-ness to deliver comedy. Really, a series needs more than that to be funny, and still there are heaps of series that don’t seem to understand this. Kyouran Kazoku Nikki at least tries to add this extra substance though its side-characters and I guess that they do have potential, but really, how many times haven’t we seen male lead X being beaten up and abused by the female lead? Is it really that hard to come up with something original?

Nijuu Mensou no Musume

Ah, too bad. I had high hopes for this series, being animated by Bones and all, but in the end this one turned into a big mess. This series has nice action and screenplay and all, but it’s mercilessly shatters your suspense of disbelief within the first minute of this episode. This is indeed the problem with thief-series: they’re portrayed in a way too elegant manner. When you steal something, you’re supposed to be hiding in the shadows, making use of the flaws in security, not just use a zeppelin to lift the roof of a building. Again it’s just one character who ruins the entire series. I mean, Chico was nice to watch, the henchmen were very interesting, but that thief… I still can’t believe that the creators were serious with that guy.

Some quick first impressions: Toshokan Sensou, Junjo Romantica and Kaiba

by psgels, posted in Kaiba, Some Quick First Impressions

Toshokan Sensou

With Noitamina, I just knew that this series would be worthwhile. Toshokan Sensou has proven to have the best soundtrack this season, and with Production IG, the art looks terrific. This series also smartly spent its first episode fleshing out its main characters, instead of focusing on a story-heavy start. So instead the characters already feel dynamic for when the story starts kicking in. This series has a limited time to work with, and yet it’s got quite a large premise, so this will probably be one of the most fast-paced series to come out of the Noitamina-timeslot.

Junjo Romantica

Okay, so this was a really weird combination between hilarious and disturbing. This series does have a sense of humour, and there’s some good chemistry between the characters. The only problem is that the chemistry between them might be a bit too good, because the characters wasted no time to get it on with each other. What surprises me, by the way, is that this series has the best OP song this season, strangely enough. The song is standard J-rock, but it works surprisingly well. It’ll be interesting to keep watching this series, if only to laugh at the hot passion that will erupt from it.

Kaiba

Oh my god, I can’t believe how well this series turned out! Even with the fantastic line-up that this season already has, Kaiba has delivered the best first episode of them all! This is EXACTLY the reason why I love experimental anime. Anime should be used as a medium to showcase creative ideas, not to just copy everyone else. On top of that, the mystery in this series is downright excellent. Since 2007 was so disappointing in terms of mystery, my inner-fanboy is loving all the different mystery-series that this season has offered so far! I really urge everyone to check out this series, because it’s without a doubt the most unique anime to come out this year, even taking Hakaba Kitarou in consideration. Don’t be discouraged by the childish-looking character-designs. This series is exactly the reason why simple character-designs don’t mean that the series will be for children.

Some quick first impressions: Crystal Blaze, RD Sennou Chousashitsu and Himitsu – Top Secret ~ The Revelation

by psgels, posted in Crystal Blaze, Himitsu ~The Revelation~, RD Sennou Chousashitsu, Some Quick First Impressions

Crystal Blaze

Tuesday evening was really my most anticipated day of the new season, so I’m really glad it’s finally arrived, and with such a start I had enough reasons to look forward to it. Crystal Blaze may be a bit rough around the edges, but it’s got definite potential. It’s already the first episode, and not once did I have any reason to look away from the screen. This episode kept me interested throughout its entire run. It’s been a long while since I’ve seen a good mystery-series, and this one might very well be it. It still needs to work a bit on its romanji, but so far, the characters have been interesting and the first episode has been among xxxHolic the best in terms of storyline this season.

RD Sennou Chousashitsu

Like expected, this episode was really solid, although there was some strangely placed fanservice here and there. In any case, the male main character probably has to be the oldest main character in an anime I’ve seen. He even spends some significant amount of screen-time in this episode as an old guy in a retirement home. It’s not the best way to attract the viewers who only like cute girls and hot buys, but I really like this idea, and this series is without a doubt the most imaginative series of the new season. In addition to that, it’s also the hardest to understand, though. Still, I’m expecting some great things from this series once it really gets on fire. One point of critique is that the main female lead feels rather out of place when you first meet her, though she quickly got less annoying as the episode progressed.

Himitsu – Top Secret ~ The Revelation

If you’re one of the people who gets sick of all the anime with teenage protagonists, then this series is a must-watch for this season. Not only is it all about adults and away from annoying teenagers, but it’s also got one of the best first episodes of this season, along with Kurenai and xxxHolic. I seriously couldn’t have expected a better start for this. The cast is so different from usual anime, and yet each member has an already engaging personality, not to mention that the main premise of this story provides so much potential. In addition, the soundtrack is among the best this season as well. Madhouse has really picked out some excellent series this season!

Some quick first impressions: Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D’s, Net Ghost Pipopa and Monochrome Factor

by psgels, posted in Some Quick First Impressions

Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D’s

Masochists of the world, unite! Seriously, this was without a doubt the worst show of the new season. And without a surprise either. It’s one of these shows that are so bad that it becomes good again. And really, it was a very smart decision from the creators to make all the duels take place on motorbikes now. Everyone’s now wearing helmets, so they won’t burn your eyes with their outrageous hair-styles! If only the same could be said for the monster-design and motorbike-designs. Still, the cream of the crop in terms of badness was without a doubt the fight. It’s so badly written that it’d even give Zaizen Jotaro a run for its money.

Net Ghost Pipopa

While I most definitely won’t watch another episode of this, I can imagine how kids would love it. It’s great to see another kiddie-series that intends to do more than just get kids to buy overpriced toys. Net Ghost Pipopa basically tries to get the young ones a bit familiarized with the internet, by portraying it as a brightly coloured world that some lucky kids can enter. It’s nowhere explained why our male main character is one of those lucky ones, but series of this particular genre could have been much worse (look above). I wouldn’t recommend anyone above 15 to watch it, but if you’ve got a little sibling (and this thing ever gets subbed), you might want to consider showing this to the.

Monochrome Factor

This series has genre-issues! One moment it features a spunky girl confessing over the girl of her love, and yet all the male characters are bishies and two of them even end up kissing each other. In any case, this series isn’t necessarily bad, it’s just boring. It failed to catch my attention at all, and it’s given me no real interest to keep watching it. The fights are dull (monsters just get slashed and that’s it). I also feel that the only female voice-actress was trying way too hard. It’s still better than Hirano Aya’s performance in Zettai Karen Children, but I can’t seem to remember any line in which she didn’t scream.

Some quick first impressions: Soul Eater, Special A and Vampire Knight

by psgels, posted in Some Quick First Impressions, Soul Eater

Soul Eater

What a fun series! Really, Bones did it again, creating a series with an absolutely terrific sense of style. Everything about this series clicks so far. It may not have the most realistic storyline, but it’s fun to watch without a doubt. It’s also got a great sense of humour, and I especially love that picture of the moon with a big smile. The banter between all the different characters is also hilarious, so I’ve got high hopes for this series. The question now remains: will this series have enough material for fifty-one episodes (at least, that’s what AniDB and ANN say, but these aren’t the most trusted sources)? I must say that it’s great to see another series that aims for such a length, but you do need to have enough inspiration to pull it off.

Special A

The elite are always portrayed in an exaggerated way in anime, and this series is no different. There are about eight very talented people at school, who are looked up to by everyone, they’ve got their own enormous greenhouse, drink tea all the time and they’re superior in every single way to those measly regular students. Still, at least this series gives a good reason for our main female lead to be in that club, unlike a certain Shugo Chara and dozens of other shoujo. Hikari was already quite talented because of an ambitious father, and then she met her male rival, who always stood above her. She basically spent her entire childhood chasing this guy, walking in his shadow. Also, this series knows very well when it needs to exaggerate and when it needs to be serious, so the ridiculous premise won’t get in the way of what’s really important for this series: the relationship between the female and male lead. And I must say that the creators have tackled it very nicely so far. Here’s Gonzo’s next potential classic.

Vampire Knight

This really is THE season for shoujo and science fiction. This season has really turned out better than I expected, and to think that my most anticipated day for this season (Tuesday) hasn’t even come yet! In any case, the thing that really striked me with Vampire Knight, especially after watching Special A, is that its jokes are rather obtrusive. Special A knew exactly when to deliver a joke, though a lot of jokes in Vampire Knight are misplaced, break flow of the drama and aren’t that funny anyway. That was the bad part of this series. The good parts are that the story has a lot of potential, the characters are interesting and the soundtrack is excellent. I’ve heard a lot of mixed reviews about the original manga: some people consider it their bible, while others say it downright sucks. Well, I’m interested to find out which is true.