Category: Some Quick First Impressions

Kotetsushin Jeeg Short Synopsis: A typical loser gets to pilot a big mecha. Good: Rocking OP. Bad: Sadly, the OP was the only exciting part; horrible main character. Overall Enjoyment Value: 4/10 The umpth attempt to remake a mecha-classic. While most of them turn out good, or at least decent enough, Kotetsushin Jeeg, turned out to be pure garbage. It features characters with a way-too high testosterone-level, the main character being the worst case of this. Basically, it’s just an excuse to show flashy action, while attempting to make its characters look cool (which, let’s face it, obviously failed). Such a waste of a good OP. Darker than Black Short Synopsis: In a strange city, people can make contracts, in order to gain strange powers. Good: Has potential… I guess. Bad: The main character. Overall Enjoyment Value: 5,5/10 Bones may have hit the spot during the fall-season with Tenpou Ibun Ayakashi Ayashi, I doubt that Darker than Black will become just as entertaining. So far, it had a few interesting points, but nothing really stood out. Yoko Kanno also disappointed, in my opinion. The main character also just doesn’t suit my tastes, like I mentioned before. First of all, he’s perfect, and second of all, he acts like a wimp. The broken fingers at the beginning of the episode also were a bit too much. I don’t feel like watching any more of this. Koutetsu Sangokushi Short Synopsis: It’s a war-anime, focusing on a guy whose parents have been killed, and is now under the care of an important person. Good: Great combination of fights, characters and emotions. Bad: I’d like to know how the main character was the chosen one. Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10 Now this is more like it! Koutetsu Sangokushi was one of those anime I knew next to nothing about before I watched it, and it immediately comes with a very strong first episode. It wasn’t without its flaws, though, as the main character gets great powers while it isn’t explained exactly why he got them, but apart from that, I liked this episode a lot. Finally we’ve got a bit of a good main character, who’s really struggling with his own morals at the moment. He’s fairly young, but he’s already learning in this first episode. I was also fairly surprised when he saw his father’s killer. With a first episode like this, the rest of the series either has to be incredibly good, or incredibly bad. I definitely hope it’s the former. Oh, and also thumbs high up for the background music. Beautifully orchestrated it is. :)]]>

OverDrive Short Synopsis: A typical loser gets to learn to ride a bicycle. Good: Decent enough music. Bad: Yawn… err, where was I? Overall Enjoyment Value: 3/10 Sports-anime have never really been my thing. Strangely enough, I never really had a good reason to avoid them. Finally, OverDrive gave me one. God, that was awful. The main bad point about this anime isn’t really that it’s bad, but the whole thing is just so incredibly boring. I felt myself nearly fall asleep after the first few minutes. Oh and the main character is a fourteen year-old loser who’s never ridden a bicycle before and will somehow end up as the best cyclist ever without having to practice hard like everyone else does. I definitely do not hope that all sports-anime are as bad as this one. Fuyu no Semi Short Synopsis: Quite an interesting setting: Ezo. Two guys who want to open up Japan to the rest of the world fall in love with each other (yes: guys). Good: Nice historical backgrounds. Bad: A tad boring, but that may have been because I watched this right after OverDrive. Overall Enjoyment Value: 6,5/10 I was quite surprised to see Ezo as the main setting in this OVA. It takes place perhaps a few years after Bakumatsu Kikansetsu Irohanihoheto, but without the magic and supernatural elements. What was even more surprising that I heard the name of one of the main characters: Akizuki. After a while, it appears that this wasn’t Youjirou, but Keiichirou. Brothers? Anyway, the episode self didn’t make me too enthusiastic. It does have some interesting historical elements, but most of the episode looked like some strange version of a dating-sim. Saint Beast Short Synopsis: I’ve been wondering this myself. Good: Nice OP and ED, I guess, albeit a bit cheesy. Bad: Oh god the Engrish… the horrible, horrible Engrish! Overall Enjoyment Value: 4/10 My impression of Saint Beast can be described in one word: forgettable. Yet again, nothing of the episode caught my interest. Heck, now that I’m writing this, I can hardly remember what this anime was about anyway. I believe it was about six bishounen-angels who live happily in a mountain-cottage, until they get summoned by a Greek God-ish type of guy. I can hardly imagine recommending this one.]]>

Nagasarate Airantou Short Synopsis: A typical loser ends up on an island with only young girls. Good: Could have become good… Bad: …if it didn’t have the most horrible concept to work with, didn’t include the main character, blood-noses or fanservice, didn’t seem to think that a guy screaming, getting beaten-up, hurt or getting chased was the funniest thing ever, etc. Overall Enjoyment Value: 5/10 It took me a while to figure out that “Airantou” is actually a horrible katakanification of the word “island”. Obviously, I think that my opinion on this one is clear by now. Okay, I do admit I chuckled at some parts, I liked it when the characters went crazy, and the evil smiles had potential. But why the heck did the creators find beating up the main character over and over and over and over again funny? It’s horribly dull and his screaming and nose-bleeds are some of the most annoying scenes ever. If the annoying parts are scrapped (including the horrible concept) though, this could make quite an interesting anime, but unfortunately that’s not going to happen. Definitely dropped. Romeo x Juliet Short Synopsis: Juliet, a former princess now lives underground, in the same city where she used to live. There she gets saved by a boy: Romeo. Good: Nice production-values, great ED Bad: …Gonzo…grmblrg….. Overall Enjoyment Value: 7.5/10 Okay, I may only have read certain parts of the book, the beginning not included, but I doubt that this first episode was very true to the book. For starters, I never recall Juliet having lost her throne. Someone once commented about how Gonzo likes to add their own elements to the stories they adapt, and only now I realize what that means. Heck, if I’m not mistaken, William Shakespeare even makes a cameo-appearance. I don’t think I’m happy about these changes. In one thing, it did make the story more generic. I was looking forward to seeing this, as the book featured a type of storytelling that you don’t usually see in anime. I also definitely do hope that Gonzo won’t be thinking of a different ending. I’d love to see such an ending, which makes perfect use of the different character’s weaknesses: their naivety. Les Miserables proved that staying true to the book doesn’t mean a bad thing, and I’m fearing that Romeo x Juliet will somehow ruin this classic, in an attempt to make it “mainstream”. Still, the episode itself wasn’t bad if you see it as just another anime, and not “another Romeo and Juliet story”. Gigantic Formula Short Synopsis: Somewhere in the near-future, each major country possesses one strong mecha, which fight each other. Two children end up piloting Japan’s. Good: Excellent production values, beautiful character-designs. Bad: Makey no sensey. Overall Enjoyment Value: 6.5/10 It’s such a pity. If I had to guess, then the creators spent lots of effort to create some very high-quality graphics, music and scenes, only to realize that they ran out of budget to hire a decent writer. The graphics look amazing in this one, but it just makes no sense. I kept wondering how two children can end up piloting such an important mecha, but it appears that all of them are very highly skilled. Even more than normal adults. I really do hope that the future episodes will give some explanation about why these characters are so skilled, as they need every little piece of background they can get after this first taste of the series. Thankfully, near the end of the episode we got a small flash of the history of the main character, but that definitely was not enough. At all.]]>

Ooedo Rocket Short Synopsis: In a fictional Edo, we’ve got ourselves a young kid who’s able to make some of the greatest fireworks. Unfortunately, what he’s doing is illegal. Good: Hilariously awesome, great parodies. Bad: Obviously, most people will never give this wonderful concept a chance. Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10 I never thought I’d say this, but boy, that was awesome. Obviously, this isn’t going to be the most serious story, but I just loved the parodies in this one. It’ll be a great replacement for Master of epic. Ooedo Rocket is one of the few obscure series this season, but obviously it’s just as promising as the other obscure anime of the previous seasons. The series comes with a huge cast of characters, each with their own different and unique quirk. Characters appear in all kinds of different sizes. We’ve got some small townsfolk with some of the most hilarious faces, there’s a bunch of teenagers, a couple of “normal” men and women, some strange monsters, and let’s not forget the guy who is so tall that his head almost always doesn’t fit in the screen. ^^ I also loved how the officer had a cleaning-obsession. If you like an anime which is different from usual, hilarious, and doesn’t take itself too serious, then this is a definite recommendation! Shinkyouku Soukai Polyphonica Short Synopsis: A typical loser can turn his tsundere friend into some kind of superhuman when he plays piano on his motorbike. Good: Good points? We don’t need no stinkin’ good points! Bad: Lack of thoughts behind the concept, too much fanservice, the fact that there just aren’t any good points. Overall Enjoyment Value: 5/10 In a season with so many potentially good series, it’s good to know that some series are just never going to be something worthwhile. Shinkyouku Soukai Polyphonica is one of these series. The demolition showed me that this is just an excuse to show cute girls. Real demolition teams would never allow people to enter their construction-site, and they would make sure that all items and properties are removed from the building before they detonate. The addition of semi-classical music for the climaxes also just doesn’t work, and the main guy doesn’t look cool AT ALL when he’s playing his motorbike. Add a female tsundere with an unnaturally large amount of hair, and whose only purpose is to supply fanservice to the viewer, and you’ve got yourself a failure of a series. Engage Planet ~ Kiss Dum Short Synopsis: The current year: 2031. The greatest enemy of mankind: bugs. And lots of ’em. Good: Great climaxes. Bad: A bit too heavy on the techno-babble, teenagers, able to pilot complex machinery. Overall Enjoyment Value: 7,5/10 With certain series, I just know that watching the raws with my limited Japanese is going to be near-impossible. Kiss Dum is one of these series. Not really because if has more difficult dialogue than other series, but the pacing is just insane at times. I think that you’ll need to be able to understand this perfectly in order to enjoy it to its fullest. And it’s got quite some potential to become good, I especially liked the climaxes at the beginning and the ending of the episode. Still, the main force of the protagonist somehow consists out of either teenagers or young adults. I tried, but I never managed to find any veteran amongst the characters. I’m not really enthusiastic about these kinds of concepts (due to the lack of realism), but I do admit that I’m impressed so far.]]>

Touka Gettan Short Synopsis: I’m not sure, but it involves cross-dressers, two people in the same body and a lot of tragedy. Good: The tragedy-part, interesting characters, Kannadzuki no Miko-esque soundtrack. Bad: Has a bit too much harem-elements. Overall Enjoyment Value: 7/10 Wait, wait, wait! A hentai-game adaptation that doesn’t actually suck? Whoa, that definitely is something new to me. Touka-chan and his girlfriend were quite interesting to see, and I like the degree of mystery in this series. For a while, I was really impressed by this. That is, until the anime started to introduce your typical harem-lead, an army of maids and even more female bishoujo who are totally unrelated to the story. I didn’t quite like that. Still, I’ve got hope. This first episode was definitely better than the first episode of most other harems I’ve seen in the past few seasons. Now let’s hope it’ll revolve around more than just “who gets to date that main character?” Wellber no Monogatari ~ Sisters of Wellber ~ Short Synopsis: The princess of Wellber ends up being wanted and in the care of a thief named Tina, after she kills her fiancée. Good: Probably the best OP of the season, great concept for a story. Bad: A few small flaws here and there, fanservice, a few deus ex machina, though nothing too major yet. Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10 While I watched the previous shows of the spring-season, I never really had the thought “I am going to blog this”, apart from Claymore perhaps. For these shows, I’ll be making up my mind after having seen the second episode. But with Wellber no Monogatari, I really feel that blogging it will be interesting. Especially the first half of the episode was very nice, when the viewer is just thrown into the events. Tina running into the princess who just killed her lover was quite an amusing moment. Oh, and finally we’ve got ourselves a princess who can actually do something, as it seems that she’s quite skilled in martial arts. The visuals are also quite pleasing, and while the music isn’t done by Yuki Kajiura, it’s quite good. I especially love the OP. It’s so simple, yet so different from usual. Wellber no Monogatari is promising some great things. Kono Aozora ni Yakusuku wo Short Synopsis: Main character wakes up with a half-naked girl in his bed. Bad: A first half of PURE PAIN!!! Good: With a second half which shows potential… what!? Overall Enjoyment Value: ?/10 Okay, I’m baffled. The first part of this episode was just horrible. It starts of with one of the most cheesy J-pop songs ever. After that, our main character wakes up with a half-naked girl in his bed, who slaps him afterwards and runs away. The characters have the most annoying voices AND characters EVER. Lots of harem-clichés are there: the annoying student-president, the annoying tsundere, the annoying brother-complex sister, the annoying silent girl, the annoying teacher, have I already mentioned how annoying those characters were? Oh, and surprise, surprise: they all live with the main character in the same building. Boy, you will never see that coming, there is no way you will. Seriously, though, I had almost given up on this anime when it comes with a surprisingly heavy dialogue in the end. Okay, the tsundere will obviously end up somewhere in the main character’s pants in the end, but that dialogue felt strangely genuine. That’s probably the first ever for a harem-anime. As you’ve seen by the rating of “?”, I have no idea what to think about this anime. It’s got so many bad points, but at the same time the good ones have potential. I’m going to watch at least another episode before dropping it.]]>

Heroic Age Short Synopsis: Deep in space, some kind of super-human lives who can be able to save humanity. Good: Epic music. Bad: Formulaic. Overall Enjoyment Value: 6,5/10 Heroic Age was one of the anime I looked forward too. Too bad I’ve been slightly disappointed, as the main force of the humans seems to consist out of a bunch of inexperienced teenagers. The encounter between the two main characters also leaves much to be desired, as it didn’t even bother to change from the ordinary. That main character also sounds a bit too perfect, if you ask me. But then again, that’s what happens when you get to be the first human to arrive on another planet and get blessed by the “Golden Race”. I also was a tad disappointed about these other races. I would have loved some depth on the Silver, Bronze and Heroic race, but I guess that this’ll happen later in the series. I’m suspecting that this is another one of those series that’ll only really kick off in the later parts of the series. I’m willing to give it a second chance for that, as the concept definitely has potential. El Cazador de la Bruja Short Synopsis: Unable to remember anything, a girl finds herself charged on murder and hunted by people called “Hunters”. A bounty hunter finds her and helps her. Good: Excellent mystery, when Yuki shines, she shines like no other. Bad: At times, Yuki didn’t shine. Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10 Haha, so far, El Cazador de la Bruja has been the best series of the new season. Not the most solid one (that title goes to Seirei no Moribito), but I just loved the climax. Throughout the episode, I kept wondering where the geniousness of Yuki Kajiura went. I think that that was the reason the final part of the episode was so good. her music makes you keep curious about how it’ll turn out, only to whack you down when the moment is just right. In terms of the characters, I like Ellis. She and her companion definitely scream “Noir”, though the differences are definitely there. It’ll be interesting to see where this will be going. Gegege no Kitarou Short Synopsis: Kitarou, his father (a talking eye-ball), his grandmother (a sand-throwing hag), his grandfather (an old guy who can turn to stone), his childhood-friend (a catgirl) and some strange-looking objects are youkai-hunters. Good: A fun little show, interesting powers. Bad: Obviously, this’ll never win any awards. Overall Enjoyment Value: 7/10 Like expected, this turned out to be a fun little show. It’s nothing special, but certainly not the worst of the season. The character-designs look quite interesting, and I love the catgirl. Finally we’ve got a catgirl who isn’t characterized by her nekomimi-ears. ^^; The first episode started off with a water-monster, and it’s like I expected: the fights are more about strategy, and using all of the character’s strange powers than about strength. I liked how the rain suddenly turned up, even though it may have been a bit too convenient for the monster.]]>

Hayate The Combat Butler Short Synopsis: A typical loser gets to be the butler of a rich girl. Good: Hayate’s parents. Bad: Oh god, where to begin? Ugly character-designs, thinks its funny but actually is horribly dull and much, much more. Overall Enjoyment Value: 3/10 Ow, the pain. I knew that this series was going to be bad, but at least it was labelled as a comedy, so I would get a few laughs from it. At least, that’s what I thought. This anime just isn’t funny. Apart from that, we’ve got your usual loser who runs into a beautiful girl who quite conveniently happens to be rich and in need of a butler for no reason at all. He’s also got some inhumane powers, especially for someone of his age. Events are forced, don’t make sense or are just way too cheesy to be true. The only moderately interesting parts were Hayate’s parents. I’d love to see what drove them to neglect their child so much, but there is no way that this anime is going to focus on that. Avoid this one at all costs! Seto no Hanayome Short Synopsis: A typical loser gets to marry a mermaid. (Start to notice a pattern?) Good: The Mafia-boss, concept seems to have potential. Bad: The main character, appears to be trying too hard. Overall Enjoyment Value: 6/10 Lots of people have been anticipating this, but I’ve yet to be impressed. The first episode so far was decent, but the fact does remain that the OP was the funniest sequence of the 24 minutes of airtime (seeing Mafia-bosses play in a band looked great :)). The rest of the episode basically consisted of the mafia-boss screaming, the main character freaking out, and the mermaid getting impressed over him. Like I mentioned above, it seemed to be trying too hard. But then again, Muteki Kanbanmusume also started off with one of its weakest episodes, so I’ll at least watch the next episode before dropping. But with a season with so many potentially good series, I’ll probably end up dropping this. I’ve also got lots of issues about the main character. Not only is he your typical loser, his character-design also looks rather ugly (luckily he’s the only character in this anime, as compared to Hayate the Combat Butler) and he’s rather annoying as well. Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS Short Synopsis: Ten years after A’s, we see two new (hopefully not main) characters… show their skills in a test-mission. Good: Good to see this back. Bad: A bit too much action and a bit too little characters. Overall Enjoyment Value: 7/10 This one probably is the most hyped show of the season. Still, I’ve been looking forward to it myself. The original two series had some great character-studies, which is what I’m expecting from StrikerS as well. So far, the first episode hasn’t impressed me yet, but that was to be expected. Nanoha never was great in its first or last episodes. The episode focuses on two new recruits. So far, they’ve got the potential to be interesting, though I do hope that Fate will get off of her chair at one time. Her character-design looks a bit off, by the way. I also didn’t quite like Nanoha, this episode made her look like some kind of superhero, instead of a compassionate character. One final remark: why do all these new recruits have to be women? The first two seasons showed that the space-time agency also employs a fair amount of males. While it does give potential for cheesy romance, this series has proved before that it can handle a mixed cast, instead of an all-woman one.]]>

Seirei no Moribito Short Synopsis: The main character, Barsa, who spends her life as a hired bodyguard, accepts to protect Changgumu, the second prince of the Yugu-Kingdom after he has been implanted by the egg of a water-spirit, and his father is after his life. Good: Great animation, AWESOME background art. Bad: I expected more of the music, but it doesn’t really stand out until the final scene. Overall Enjoyment Value: 7.5/10 I was quite surprised when I saw this appear on Tokyo Toshokan. After all, it’s supposed to arrive in a week. As it’s one of the series I’ve been anticipating, I eagerly checked it out. So far, it looked quite interesting. I can’t say much about the overall story yet, as this clearly was an episode meant to introduce the story. In the next episode, we’ll see a bit more of Changgumu, and how the two of them will spend their time in this anime. Barsa, so far, has proved that she’s quite a strong and intelligent character. I didn’t quite get why the palace in the end had to be burned, though. So far, it’s been a solid episode, but apart from the amazing background-art, I’ve yet to be surprised. Let’s hope this comes in the next episodes. Murder Princess Short Synopsis: Nah, won’t tell you. It’s best if you find out yourself. Good: Rocking music! Bad: Can the rest of this OVA be worthwhile without its shock-value? Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10 Murder Princess started out rather dull, with a castle being run over by a number of monsters and cute girls. But then a very nice twist in the middle made it all worthwhile. It’s something I didn’t expect to happen, and it’s really best if you watch this OVA without knowing anything about it beforehand. After this twist, the second half of the episode turned out very interesting. Okay, it may not be the most serious story, but it was definitely entertaining. Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann Short Synopsis: Our main character is a boy who’s lived underground for his entire life. He digs a lot, and during one of these diggings, he finds the face of a mecha. Lots of destruction ensues afterwards. Good: Very interesting characters. Great style. Bad: Contains every element of the shounen-series-formula. Overall Enjoyment Value: 7,5/10 Okay, it may be a shounen-series, but it’s a damn entertaining one. Sure, the main character is a wimpy boy, but the main side-character definitely is worth watching, and he even makes sure that otherwise dull characters turn interesting. I love the style of this one, even though it’s filled with clichés. The main character may have found the robot on pure coincidence, he may have run into a beautiful girl for no apparent reason, he may live in a world where people absolutely never get dizzy, but the way this anime is presented definitely made for an entertaining episode. Oh, and this anime may have one of the shortest ED’s ever. :P]]>

Keitai Shoujo Short Synopsis: Ordinary schoolboy has a childhood-friend who’s in love with him, he’s in love with her as well. Good: Finally, a harem that’s short! Only 4 minutes per episode. Bad: Harem; Childhood friend; Annoying classmate; The usual. Overall Enjoyment Value: 5/10 Well, the spring-season started out quite horribly with Ketai Shoujo. But then again, it’s not like I expected something different. And at least it’s an OVA-harem. Those usually have a bit more creativity than the usual TV-Series-harems. _summer, for example, was horrible, but it did feature some interesting direction. Keitai Shoujo on its turn only has 4 minutes per episode, excluding OP and ED, so at least it won’t be able to bore you to tears. But then again, four minutes per episode, with only five episodes in total. There’s no way the creators are going to get some good development out of this. And heck, Keitai Shoujo, the phone who turns into a girl has yet to even appear. Anyway, It’s not like I’m going to continue this one. Dropped. Idolmaster Xenoglossia Short Synopsis: Girl auditions to be an idol, gets selected, but doesn’t know that she’s actually going to pilot mechas Good: Some funny characters, solid animation. Bad: Cast of stereotypes, useless fanservice-jokes, why are these girls the only ones who can pilot mechas? Overall Enjoyment Value: 5/10 Idolmaster Xenoglossia got aired on its website for its first lucky 1000 visitors. Obviously, this had to leak out somewhere, resulting in raws getting posted for everyone to view. After watching this episode, it’s clear that we’ve got ourselves a sunrise-anime here, as it just screams “Mai Otome”. Not that that’s a good thing, though. The main character is your usual clueless girl who will end up piloting a mecha without any prior experience, she’s joined by a rather shy girl and a loudmouthed one. So far, these characters didn’t really catch my interest, though I do admit that the loudmouthed one was funny. I wish I could say the same of the small fanservice-jokes which slip in occasionally. Those who are into solid animation could check this one out, but don’t expect the character-designs to be memorable. Dropped. Hitohira Short Synopsis: Extremely shy girl gets recruited for the drama-club Good: Charming main character, some very interesting side-characters. Bad: Other side-characters, though, were rather clichéd. Overall Enjoyment Value: 7/10 I’m glad to see that Hitohira actually turned out good. The first episode definitely showed that Mugi is more than just the standard shy girl of a harem whose only goal is to get into the harem lead’s pants. She’s got a really cute personality, especially if she doesn’t know what to say. She’s more versatile than I imagined, which is always a good thing. This series comes accompanied with quite a few interesting side-characters as well. My main problem lies with two characters: the head of the drama-club and the Mugi’s love interest. The first is a bit too nice to her, while the second just screams “harem lead”. While it’s good to see the latter being abused and chased around, and his sense of humour is nice, I just can’t help but fear that his relationship with Mugi will be too forced.]]>

Juusou Kikou Dancouga Nova Okay, the good news, this isn’t as bad as I expected. The characters so far do look interesting somehow. The bad news, however, is that this seems to have every single shounen-mecha cliché in the book. Children who are being recruited to pilot a giant mecha? Check. One standard incompetent lazy impulsive idiotic guy, combined with three other highly skilled teenagers? Check. Characters aimed at fanservice? Check. Mecha controls which can be understood with just looking at them? Check. No preparation at all in the military? Check. An enemy who just “happens” to appear? Check. Racing cars of the good guys never break while others do? Check. Like I said, this series hasn’t been painful yet, but how can the creators ever hope to create an interesting story with these kinds of elements? The battle at the end of the episode was just ridiculous, while the two girls are just way too perfect for their own good. Naruto Shippuuden I decided to check this out once more, before finally deciding whether to drop it or not. Still, it pleasantly surprised me. For now, it’s actually good enough to continue. Okay, it’s nothing special, but I really like the improvements the creators made on the music. Especially the tracks featuring choirs sounded great, and the OP was amazing. 🙂 The question still remains whether the second season will be an improvement on the first one. The first season had three major disadvantages: it dragged, the fights were way too dramatic, and Naruto was the most annoying main character ever. Now that he’s grown up, that last part should have disappeared a little, but I wonder whether this series can catch my interest. This episode also showed signs of the beginning of a Naruto-Sakura couple. I certainly do not hope the two of them end up together. Let him get together with Hinata or something. Anyway, I dropped the first season around episode 200, since I stopped caring about the fillers. Is there anything that happened in the last 30 that I need to know if I want to watch this? Rocket Girls When I first read the concept about a girl who had been asked to become an astronaut, due to her weight, I seriously wondered how the creators would make the rocket-company desperate enough to pluck a random girl off the street. Well, it seems that they found three reasons for this. The first: the manager is crazy, short-minded and impulsive. The second reason really became clear when the rocket exploded in mid-air. The third reason? Pure coincidence. The girl ends up involved with a small fight between the employees, gets dragged along by someone fleeing from the rocket-base, and then she gets noticed by the manager because she has the perfect weight. Overall, not very convincing. Especially when you add that to the fact that a girl from the local tribe and a girl from the main character’s school will be accompanying her. If you’re looking for a story that makes sense, then stay far away from this one. Still, I have to say that this was a pretty interesting watch. I like the sarcasm in Yukari (the main character) and the others. The story may make no sense, the CG may look fake, there may be a bit of useless fanservice, but somehow, the first episode was strangely enjoyable. (Oh, and the manager has the funniest cigarette-lighter. XD)]]>