Category: Some Quick First Impressions

Some quick first impressions: Kanokon, Blassreiter and Kamen no Maid Guy

by psgels, posted in Some Quick First Impressions

Kanokon

Xebec has really fallen. Once they were a studio that brought quality-series like The Third and Hitohira, though this season their only focus seems to be fanservice. Really, I don’t know what’s left to say about these series in which the male main character suddenly gets loved by a bunch of beautiful girls for no reason. They’re bad, and just depend on their fanservice to make as many otaku buy their DVDs as possible. At least, I have to give this series credit that the dialogue seems a bit more inspired than usual series of this kind, but that’s to be expected with this being based on a light novel.

Blassreiter

To be honest, this episode didn’t give me any reason to condemn this series as an utter failure. There were a few problems here and there, where the animation looked rather unnatural, but overall this turned into a very capable action-series. And therein lies the problem, though. It’s been a really long time since I watched a “good” action series, and something really has to be wrong when the most satisfying action scenes I’ve seen for the past year came from Power Puff Girls Z. Action-series like Devil May Cry, who had great first episodes also turned out to consist of nothing but fillers, and while Gurren Lagann was entertaining, it still wasn’t really what I was looking for. Blassreiter definitely has the potential, but I first want to see whether it won’t screw up its future episodes before I get my hopes up too high.

Kamen no Maid Guy

Well, it’s a good thing that this seems to be a season of shoujo anyway, so I didn’t have any big expectations for this series. I maybe chuckled trice during this episode, which is way too little for a good comedy. This series really seems to try too hard, but all it does is waste a lot of energy on fanservice jokes that get boring really fast. I don’t even mind the bad animation, but there’s so much you can do with a concept of a GAR maid with a mask, and this series seems to choose the most predictable route through lots and lots of fanservice. I’m going to give this series one more chance, to see whether it’s perhaps like Muteki Kanbanmusume, though for now I won’t recommend this one.

Some quick first impressions: Druaga no Tou ~The Aegis of Uruk~, Amatsuki and Itazura na Kiss

by psgels, posted in Amatsuki, Some Quick First Impressions

Druaga no Tou ~The Aegis of Uruk

Well, this episode turned out to be something entirely different than expected. You can say a lot about Gonzo, but I don’t think that anyone can say that they don’t know how to create a bad game-adaptation, and they use this perfectly to their advantage for this episode to create a hilarious RPG-parody that also takes the Mick out of popular series as Haruhi and Gurren Lagann. I was throwing all kinds of curses at Gonzo before I found out. 😛 On the other hand, however, this series still has a 16-year old male protagonist, so there’s still enough room for screwing this up. Still, it’s a good thing that Gonzo knows how not to do this series; now let’s hope that they do know how to do it properly. One hint that points in a positive direction is that none of the characters we saw in this episode, apart from the main guy and his rival, seems to be a major character. Are they going to get killed off or something? Now that would be a great opportunity for character-development.

Amatsuki

Seriously, why do so many series suddenly have first episodes of this quality!? I’ve been used to the fact that nearly every series starts out mediocre, and here series after series suddenly sparkles with potential. Really, apart from To Love-Ru and Kyou Kara Maou, I have yet to see a series this season that didn’t deliver for its first episode! In any case, Amatsuki turned out like I hoped it would: a wolf in sheep’s clothing. On one side, it’s reminiscent of a Kyou Kara Maou-clone without any sexual innuendo, and then suddenly the main character sees a huge beast slaughtered in front of him. Don’t make the mistake that this will be an ultra cheerful series, because this series isn’t afraid to deal with the darker topics.

Itazura na Kiss

The past Autumn- and Winter-season featured an unexpected wave of good shounen-romance series, though this really seems to be the turn for the shoujo-romances to shine again. It’s felt like ages since a good one popped up, after the disappointing Shugo Chara and all. For Itazura na Kiss, the character-designs look very simple, but that’s the beauty of it: neither the males nor the females feel exceptionally beautiful, like you see in so many other series. Heck, our main female lead is befriended with a couple of punks. The story for this series isn’t anything special, and it’s just meant to get another boy and girl in one house, but what really shines in this series is its lovable cast of characters. It’s just been one episode, and already the characters feel diverse and have shown the viewer multiple sides. Now all that’s left is to hope that this series won’t delve into useless fillers, but I’m pretty confident with the director and the music composer of Toward the Terra and the animation-company of Kaze no Shoujo Emily.

Some quick first impressions: Allison to Lillia, Kurenai and xxxHolic Kei

by psgels, posted in Allison to Lillia, Kurenai, Some Quick First Impressions, xxxHolic

Allison to Lillia

Ah, the first good series of the season. This episode was pretty solid; it started out as not anything special, but as it went on, it became more interesting by the minute, and this is just the first episode. You can really see the influences of both Mokke and Kino no Tabi, and yet this series goes into its own direction. It turns out that this series will be about two couples: Allison and Will, and Lillia and Treize, who have yet to be introduced. My only point of critique would be that Will’s voice-actor sounds a bit too young for his age, but that should be easy enough to get used to. Another interesting thing is that the female lead likes to ignore rules if necessary. It never really came to me, but you don’t often see people that break rules as easy as she does in anime. One thing I’m hoping for the future episodes is to explain a bit more about the politics of the country that the two main characters live in, but with 26 episodes there should be plenty of time for that.

Kurenai

Whoa! Here’s a contender for the best first episode of the season. You can really see that Brains Base (who did the animation for Baccano!) worked on this series, and the result looks absolutely gorgeous. There are hardly any still frames, characters make subtle gestures, the 7-year old girl really sounds like a young girl instead of a squeaky 30-year old voice actress and the OP has been done entirely in flash. The art style is a strange combination between that of Red Garden and Baccano, which only makes things better. The scriptwriting also is quick and witty. Here’s a potential classic, if the creators can keep up this level of quality, at least.

xxxHolic Kei

What an awesome episode to start off the second season! This episode was exactly the reason why I fell in love with the first season. Watanuki is downright hilarious, and stands miles away from your “typical high school boy”. On top of that, this series has always featured thought-provoking cases, and this episode was no exception. I won’t spoil anything, but if you liked the first season, you just have to watch this episode. Really, this series makes coming up with an entertaining storyline look so incredibly easy.

Some quick first impressions: Chi’s Sweet Home, Kyou Kara Maou Third Season and To Love-Ru

by psgels, posted in Some Quick First Impressions

Chi’s Sweet Home

Ever since I first saw the promo, this series intrigued me. It was a show about a lost kitty, and yet it was labelled as a seinen-show and animated by Madhouse and the episode director of Death Note and the assistant director of Shigurui. Well, it turns out that the guy was just looking for something completely different to work on, and rather took this to the extreme. Chi’s Sweet Home is a really cute series, though with just ninety seconds for each episode, it’s way too short. Heck, even Hanoka was longer. How many episodes will there be anyway?

Kyou Kara Maou, Third Season

A few years ago, I watched the first few episodes of this series, though I dropped it when the sexual innuendo became a bit too much to take seriously. I became intrigued again, however, when I found out that the director of Simoun and True Tears was behind it, so I decided to give this series one more shot, just in case this turned out to be more than fangirl bait. It didn’t start off too well, when the very first scene features a bunch of unicorns, though thankfully there were one or two scenes that at least hinted at potential. Overall, though, I feel that this series really needs to take itself more seriously. The main character is a king, yet he seems to know nothing about how to properly run a country. What bugs me the most, however, is that it’s been seventy freaking episodes and the characters hardly feel different. A 13-episode series is excused to have minimal character-development, but 70 episodes are plenty of time for the characters to go through changes. Really, what the heck have these characters been doing in the first two seasons?

To Love-Ru

Well, so this one turned out exactly like expected, and that’s a bad thing because I was expecting this to suck. There’s nothing much to say, actually. The only reason why you’d want to check this out is because of the fanservice, nothing else has any value. Things are badly explained, the main character is just another “typical high-school boy”, who turns out to have the mysterious power of attracting cute girls. It’s just the same we’ve seen over and over again. In any case, after watching this series, I was edging for another episode of Kyou Kara Maou, and that’s not a good sign.

Some quick first impressions: Mnemosyne – Musume-tachi, Mai Otome S.ifr and Bus Gamer

by psgels, posted in Some Quick First Impressions

Mnemosyne Musume-Tachi

Mnemosyne’s strategy is basically to attempt to capture its audience with lots of gore and nudity. Like I said before, I haven’t bought the formula yet. The characters do have potential, but it seems to me that they’re trying a bit too hard to be sympathetic, so early on. Especially the case for the first episode was a bit too extreme, and to me it seemed that it was more keen on to shock its viewer than to come up with a cohesive story. Who knows, this is one series that can go both ways: it can get lost in its endless fanservice, or it can turn out to be quite an interesting character-study. One thing that I do want to say is that the OP is pretty amazing. Especially the track that the creators found for it.

Mai Otome S.ifr.

Well, at least this one looks to actually contribute to the Mai Otome-universe, rather than the abomination of Mai Otome Zwei. Still, the new characters are just as annoying as all the other series. Thankfully, the main character is less annoying than Arika was, but that doesn’t mean that she doesn’t get on my nerves every time she appears. Overall, I doubt that something good can come out of this OVA, but at least it seems to be trying. It’s going to have to try really hard to fit in all the development for the huge load of new characters, though. Hardly anything was explained in this episode (heck, we still don’t know why Sifr was kidnapped in the first place), and it’s going to take a lot of time for just three episodes to explain everything.

Bus Gamer

Well, this didn’t turn out as interesting as I hoped. Bus (as in BUSiness, not an actual bus) Gamer obviously didn’t receive that big of a budget to work with. The crows that appear once in a while look really bad, and one particular character has his hair conveniently over his eyes so that the animators wouldn’t have to draw them. The OP sung by a boy band and the bishounen character-designs quickly show that this is a series, aimed to cater the fangirls. The bad guys don’t help much either, because they’re just a bunch of paper bags that need to be defeated by the good guys. But that’s where the three-episode format for this series comes into play. This isn’t your top-quality series, but the episode was fun to watch. The creators managed to keep this episode interesting, despite the faulty ingredients. The music is also very decent, and as it look like, this series won’t have any time to get boring. This really is one of these series that’s for those rainy days when you’re bored and need half an hour to burn.

Some quick first impressions: Spice and Wolf, Noramimi and Hakaba Kitarou

by psgels, posted in Hakaba Kitarou, Some Quick First Impressions

Spice and Wolf

So… this is what you get if you hand an award-winning novel to an animation-company like Imagin: an authentic atmosphere, interesting characters, and a main female lead who spends nearly the entire episode without any clothes whatsoever and basically ruins the entire series. Still, I do admit that this series turned out better than I originally expected. I can see the potential here in this series, and this episode also took its time in telling the story. At times, I’m just not sure whether the creators’ minds were on storytelling or cheap fanservice, and seeing their reputation (Love Love, Cosmopolitan Prayers, Smash Hit…) there is enough reason to worry about this one to fall into a fanservice-fest.

Noramimi

Ooh, this reminds me so much of Tetsuko no Tabi! Not in terms of story, but in terms of execution. The graphics again are simple and again there’s great chemistry between the characters. Basically, in this series people live together with things called mascots. Noramimi is about a sort-of dating-service company, which basically matches people and mascots so they can live together. It works quite well, but yet again, I don’t see this one getting any chance of being subbed. Still, any series that features a hamster smoking a cigarette deserves to be watched.

Hakaba Kitarou

Oh my god! Oh my god! Oh my god! I can’t believe I was wrong in my entry about Shigofumi! The best first episode of the season definitely belongs to Hakaba Kitarou, and yes, I’m serious about it. Gegege no Kitarou, which aired last year, got dull quite fast, but Hakaba Kitarou turned into a really well-done and freakish horror-series. Whether it can keep up with the same quality for the rest of the series remains another question, but still the fact remains that this episode absolutely ROCKED. If you’re tired of all the moe-shows, you should definitely give this one a chance. I LOVE what noitaminA has been doing for anime for the past few years!!!

Some quick first impressions: Strait Jacket, Minami-ke Okawari and Gunslinger Girl – Il Teatrino

by psgels, posted in Gunslinger Girl - Il Teatrino, Some Quick First Impressions

Strait Jacket

Well, this OVA has been pretty dull so far. The biggest reason for this is a rather dull cast of characters. None of them really stands out, and they’re all rather stereotypical. On one hand, the creators want to be all serious and dramatic with gruesome deaths and killings, and on the other side the biggest priority of the cast of main characters is whether or not they look good. So far, the first episode did introduce the concept, but the overall storyline (which should be important for an OVA like this) is dangerously ignored. The premise is solid so far, but the creators do need to try harder in the next episodes if they want to make this work out.

Minami-ke Okawari

I dropped the original series after two episodes because it just wasn’t that funny, but I became interested in this series when I learned that this season of Minami-ke would be handled by an entirely different production-team. The three main characters still aren’t that interesting, though. They’re all a bunch of stereotypes. I do admit that the side-characters are quite funny, though, when they stand in the spotlights. The OP is quite interesting as well, though I don’t think that these factors will make up for the rather lacklustre lead-characters, so I doubt that I’m going to continue watching this series. If you were a fan of the original, though, you might want to check this one out.

Gunslinger Girl – Il Teatrino

One thing that should be noted first: yes, the character-designs changed. Is it me, or are animators getting lazier nowadays, with hardly any attempt to look different? In any case, the second season of Gunslinger Girl starts with an action-packed episode. While it was definitely exciting, it’s not what the original series great, and I hope that the new staff realizes this for the second season as well. But there’s no need to worry for now. The first season also started with the most action-packed fight of the entire series, and this episode gave enough hints to the deep characters and dialogue. Fans of the series will have to get used a bit to the new style, but apart from that this episode couldn’t have been a better introduction to the second season, and I’m glad to see more of the concept. The new soundtrack also is great. Along with Porfy’s Long Journey the best of the season.

Some quick first impressions: Shigofumi, They are our Noble Masters and Porfy no Nagai Tabi

by psgels, posted in Porfy no Nagai Tabi, Shigofumi ~ Stories of the Last Letter, Some Quick First Impressions

Shigofumi

Ever since the past spring-season, Saturday has by far been my busiest day in terms of blogging, and it doesn’t look like the Winter-Season is going to change this, with yet another excellent series. Even though we’re only halfway the season yet, I’m pretty sure that Shigofumi has the best episode of all the new shows that have aired. It’s only the first episode, and it kept my interest throughout the entire episode with some excellent storytelling (and a very nice twist at the end. ^^;). Shigofumi turned into an excellent combination of Shinigami no Ballad and Jigoku Shoujo, and grabbed the best elements of them. The main character for this episode would have been better if he was a bit smarter (what idiot fires off an amateur-rocket in the middle of a city anyway?), but overall, we’ve got ourselves an gem here.

They are our Noble Masters

Well… at least it doesn’t take itself seriously, unlike the abominations of Rosario to Vampire and H2O, though something makes me suspect that some kind of melodramatic element will appear in the semi-final episode or something. In any case, instead of bad, They are our Noble Masters is just boring. There are lots of stereotypes and fanservice, but at least the plot doesn’t seem to be written by a whiny twelve-year-old who’s just hit puberty. Nearly everything about this series is just mediocre, though at least there is chemistry between the characters that kept me from falling asleep. Overall, this series will never become memorable, though at least it’s not the worst this season’s had to offer.

Porfy no Nagai Tabi

Okay, I know that this is rather useless, but please, someone sub this series, and don’t let it get horribly ignored like what happened with Les Miserables. There’s a very good reason why this is a series that’s part of the World Masterpiece Theatre-series: there’s no moe, no forced climaxes, no stereotypes, and instead it’s got genuine and detailed storytelling. Like expected, the big earthquake that separates Porfy from his sister has yet to happen, and I can imagine how the creators decided to use the first few episodes to flesh out the two of them and their mother, and already it has been an excellent slice-of-life series. Sure, this is definitely going to be the slowest series of the entire season, but it’s going to be worth it when the drama kicks in. To add to that: this series also has the best background-art of the entire season. It looks absolutely gorgeous and life-like. The music also is excellent, just like what you’d expect after Les Miserables (the Greek influences really work). Unfortunately, a lot of people will probably not give this series a chance, but you can be sure that I’m going to be blogging it from beginning to end. This definitely is one of the most promising series of the season.

Some quick first impressions: Hatenkou Yuugi, Persona – Trinity Soul and True Tears

by psgels, posted in Some Quick First Impressions, True Tears

Hatenkou Yuugi

Haha! I knew that the winter-season was going to be awesome. Hatenkou Yuugi had an excellent episode with an excellent combination of comedy and drama, and it would be great if it could continue this for the rest of the series. Both the storytelling and dialogue are excellent and I really like the main female lead: she basically sees a guy holding a gun, and instead of running away she decides to travel along with him. I like strong female leads that don’t need to hide behind their boyfriends. There are few things that weren’t explained in this episode (like, how did the lead girl get magical powers, and how did she get acquainted with the third main character?), but that shouldn’t be a problem for the future episodes to answer. I’m definitely going to keep watching this!

Persona -Trinity Soul-

Well, the first episode was decent enough. It basically played out like your average superpower-series: a bit of introduction, after which our main character comes into contact with the strange power at the end of the episode. The strange power for this series is very much alike Mushiuta and Ayakashi: you control some kind of monster that ordinary people can’t see. Based on the title for this series, I’d guess that these are called “souls”. For men, they look like random mecha, while for women they take on the shape of random goddesses. So far, the main character is nothing to write home about, though he’s not bad either. He actually has two brothers, instead of the clichéd sisters that you usually see around these kinds of persons. There have been a few hints of a female love interest for the guy, but she didn’t appear in this episode yet. Let’s hope that she won’t ruin this series.

True Tears

Oh, a romance-show with a male lead that I actually enjoyed? Finally. True Tears has a nice sense of building-up, and so far none of the scenes have felt forced, unlike so many other shows of its kind. There is also not as much fanservice as I expected, which seems to show that the creators are going for the drama, instead of the moe, which is always good to see, though unfortunately the bathing-scene did found its way into the series (seriously… don’t these people ever lock their doors?) The male lead also isn’t annoying as many of his counterparts, and for once the stereotypical best friend didn’t feel annoying to me. Overall, there are a few clichés here and there, but some nice storytelling makes up for it.

Some quick first impressions: Armored Trooper Votoms – Pailsen Files, Rosario to Vampire and H2O ~ Footprints in the Sand

by psgels, posted in Some Quick First Impressions

Armoured Trooper Votoms – Pailsen Files

I knew that with Ryousuke Takahashi behind the director’s seat, it would be a bit wiser to just wait for the subs to come out instead of going with the raws. And indeed, it’s only been the first episode, but it was chockfull of dialogue and politics. The “Pailsen”-part of the title turns out to be the name of a military general who killed 1700 of his men, though the first episode so far didn’t explain everything, so it was quite a bit confusing. Still, with eleven episodes left, there’s enough time for the setting to get a bit clearer, though I suspect that they’ll keep the same level of complexity. In any case, if you’re into realistic warfare and politics, then you should give this one a chance.

Rosario to Vampire

Okay, I admit this series has a sense of humour. Still, that is in now way an excuse for the useless fan-service, bad animation, obnoxious leads and lazy scriptwriters. Honestly, I found myself able to predict the entire episode. It was so cheesy and melodramatic at times that it didn’t surprise me in any way. The characters so far have been incredibly shallow and don’t even bother to go beyond their stereotypes so far (a vampire girl who falls in love with a guy because he’s the first one to not bully her? Please). I’m not sure how many of these generic plots still have to pop up. It’s a shame, because I liked what I saw before the lead-girl showed up (that bus-driver was quite funny). Thankfully, it’s not as stupid as what I’ve seen of Goshushou-sama Ninomiya-kun, but boy, it sure does come close.

H2O ~ Footprints in the Sand

Okay, I take back the statement that the animation for Rosario to Vampire sucks. Its animation is gorgeous when compared to that of H2O. I’m not asking for much, but the characters look downright abysmal at times. In terms of storyline, the episode wasn’t off much better either. Sure, the concept of a blind main character has lots of potential, but when the first thing the creators use his blindness for is to grope the bosom of the nearest girl that meets his path, you have to wonder about their intentions. And indeed, the rest of the episode shows him getting involved in various unrealistic fanservice-accidents that makes you wonder whether the creators did any research on blindness at all. Then, as the end of the episode goes nearer, this series too already gives a small taste of the drama that will await in the rest of the series… and it doesn’t end up making any sense. I mean, getting angry just because some food was lost and using two henchmen to physically beat down the suspected girl, in front of the entire class? What?! Suddenly, Rosario to Vampire looks a lot better now.