Category: Some Quick First Impressions

We now turn to the second batch of summer-anime. These were the shows which were the most hyped for the summer-season.

Coyote Ragtime Show

This is a science-fiction action series which just oozes with style. The first episode was more focused on the side-characters, instead of the main characters, which means that we haven’t seen too much of what this anime will really be like. We did get the chance to take a good look at the bad guys, though. It seems that they’re an army of twelve extremely dangerous cyborg-sisters with highly developed artificial intelligence. Only that was enough for me to keep following this series, though the best part of this anime is the action sequences it features. A lot of things happen at once, events succeed each other in a rapid pace and the music is awesome. It did have some boring parts, but overall, I liked this first episode.

Tsuyokiss

When I first heard about this show, I feared that it would probably become horrible, with each character as a tsundere. Still, it was better than I expected. Then again, my expectations weren’t what you’d call high. I’d describe this series as plain mediocre. It’s not nessecarily good, but not bad either. It wasn’t scared to throw all of the harem-cliche’s on one pile, the little brat, the silent girl, the annoying student council member and the big-breasted teacher. But the brat was okay, I guess. I also like the orange haired girl. Though my main problem with this series were the main characters. Both the male as the female one. Whenever the two of them were together, this series became predictable as hell, and not in a good way. Actually, I think that if Tsuyokiss would have been a yuri-anime, it would have stood a chance (the hug was about the only effective scene in this), but the male main character will probably ruin things. Still, I’m really recommending this to you if you have some sort of sleeping problem. Just watch the episode right before sleeping, and I’ll be a definite help.

Zero no Tsukaima

Now this is the real garbage of this season. What we have here is a pretty good concept, being handled by the guys who produced Shana. The result is a horrible mess. Everything that could have been messed up has been messed up. The backgrounds feature some fancy CG, but in exchange for that, they lack in so much detail. A room feels more like a cheap movie-stage now. The main characters aren’t any better, as they fit every stereotype in existance. The bishounen could have been so much funnier and half of the scenes just seem aimed to display as much fanservice as possible. The anime also shows that there hasn’t been any research put into the world, as the concepts just seem totally random and convenient. My advice is to not even touch this series with a ten-foot pole.

Okay, and we now turn to the first batch of the summer-season. The first patch is very a very light-hearted one. The comedies work at certain times, though Akazukin is amazing.

Otogi Juushi Akazukin

First of all: OMG CUTE!!! Second of all: I really enjoyed the first episode. It’s got a very light feeling, and the character design is amazing. The story’s got a good base, though it remains incredibly simple. It’s a kid’s show, after all. I have to admit, though, the first episode of the OVA was better than the first episode of the anime. Overall, I certainly recommend this if you’re looking for a light-hearted fairy-tale story.

Demashitaa! Power Puff Girls Z

This show, is just stupid. It’s incredibly low-budget as well. Except for the transformation sequences, the major part of the budget seems to have been put in these transformation sequences. There have also been a lot of changes made to the original cartoon. The main characters weren’t made, they just were normal girls who were exposed to Chemical Z (a stronger version of Chemical X). Professor Utonium seems to have a son (who’s the mother?), and both he and his son have the ugliest character designs ever. His son also attempts to use the humour of repeated scenes, but he fails miserably. The major also isn’t the incredibly stupid guy he used to be before. The girl also seem to be 2-D stereotypes with just one personality. Still, there is one character which manages to save this show: Mojo Jojo. He actually was quite funny to watch and really brightens up the show.

Muteki Kanbanmusume

What we have here is a pure non-ecchi slapstick comedy. Characters try to act as outrageous as possible, mostly this goes along with lots of screaming. It was pretty funny at times, though I think this is missing something. This show feels like it’s Jungle wa Itsumo Hale Nochi Guu, without its brilliance. It’s a fine attempt at comedy, but it could have been so much better.

And here’s another batch of the spring-season anime which were horribly ignored by the fansubbers. All of them are low-budget. They’re all incredibly cheesy. And when I say cheese, I really mean cheese. The OPs all are ridiculous, though catchy. Strangely enough, despite all this, I enjoyed watching them.

Hime-Sama Goyoujin

This certainly is a low-budget comedy anime. Was it funny? Yes, it was. I had some good laughs, which could easily compete with Ouran High School Host. The show knows how to use utter randomness, along with a couple of horribly wrong jokes. Still, this certainly won’t be one of the smart anime out there, as each member of the cast has the same intelligence of a dog, chasing its own tail. This show knows what it is: a comedy-anime and nothing more. Overall, I liked it. The jokes were funny, and I’ll be recommending this to anyone who’s in for a few good laughs.

Gun Doh Musashi

From now on, the term extremely corny samurai-show” gets to be the equivalent of Gun Doh Musashi. If I didn’t know that this show came out this spring, I would’t have guessed it at all. The show follows the life of Miyamoto Musashi. It’s based on history, though the creators made thankful use of artistical freedom. It’s also entirely directed at children. I mean, Musashi likes to use weapons that hurt, but don’t kill. He’s a brat who’s an expert swordsman and he’s able to take down entire armies if he wants to. Still, why am I so drawn to this incredibly cheesy show? Despite they look incredibly corny, the art of the main characters somehow looks very interesting, and the OP is just totally awesome, in a funny kind of way. No other show would attempt to include an OP like that. Overall, if you’re into cheesy japanese samurai-shows, I might recomment this. ^^;

Spider Riders

This show was so unknown that the dubs got out even sooner than the subs. Okay, this may be an extreme case in which an american company and a japanese company joined together to make it, but still. In any case, what we have here is a standard show for six-year-old boys. Think guy-gets-transported-to-other-world-and-gets-to-fight-alongside-giant-creatures-sort-of-plot. Still, the bad thing is the dubs. I totally agree with the people who say that english dubs don’t fit anime, and this show proves it. The voice-acting has experienced yet another horrible miss-cast, everything sounds horribly ugly, especially in american accents who show absolutely no signs of emotions. The jokes also fail 50% of the time because of this. Still, the show remains interesting. I think I’ll continue watching this when the subs get out, as it certainly beats shows like Kiba, Elemental Gerad and MAR, despite it being horribly cliché.

And here we have the latecomers of the season, either in terms of air date, or in terms of late fansubs. I’m kindof curious about the series which still have to be subbed. There are about six of them left, but there might be something very interesting among them.

Yoshinaga-san chi no Gargoyle
An example of good shows almost totally ignored by the fansubbers is Yoshinaga-san chi no Gargoyle. The story’s about a very energetic, young girl, who won a living, stone gargoyle by accident. Ever since, the gargoyle has been protecting the little girl’s house, but he’s a bit too enthusiastic in this, trying to burn everyone who comes close. The little girl does not like these events, so the’s often yelling at him, resulting in some awesome scenes. The case introduced in the first episode also was a beauty. it’s about the daughter of a blind man, who comes to understand the blind man’s guard dog. Greatly excecuted. Yoshinaga-san chi no Gargoyle certainly isn’t the best show around, though it will definately be entertaining.

Kamisama Kazoku

When I first heard about this title, I kept hoping for this show to be centered around lots of puns. The main character also looked relatively old, so I kept hoping for him to be the only mature, while his family was something around the lines of the Kami-sama in the Law of Ueki. That really would’ve been awesome. Alas, I was wrong. Totally wrong. Our main character remains a 12-year old brat. His entire family is crazy, but it isn’t centered around puns, it’s centered around perverts. Ugh. What could’ve been an amazingly cool hippy turned into an old pervert who grants his son any wish he wants. His mother and sisters don’t make this a lot better, as they’re the standard harem-cast featured in all of those other anime. Our main character also has someone who loves him, namely an angel sent from the heavens in order to protect him. Just when I thought this couldn’t get any worse, this angel (named Tenko) managed to save it, right at the last possible moment of the episode. If this show will revolve around her mental breakdown, I’ll be happy. I also have to say, that the character art, although messy, looks good.

Demonbane

Garbage, garbage, garbage! This SO contains every single fantasy-harem cliche, puts it into one series, and thinks it’ll be succesful. Apparenly, destiny plays a big role in this thing. Our main character is destined to drive the most powerful mecha ever, he’s destined to meet up with a beautiful girl, merge with her, and he is certainly destined to save the world. There’s one thing that cracked me up, though: the beautiful irony of a statement that was made at the end of the episode: “Does a hero become a hero from the moment he’s born? No, a hero is one who follows a path of bloodshed with an iron will.” Oh, the beautiful irony. This show doesn’t even know it sucks. On a side-note: the art looks horrible as well.

These all feature an episode in which a female tries to do her best. The first two fail horribly, though the last one succeeds.

Inukami

Okay, I think we’ve identified the worst anime of the season. And I thought Joshikousei was bad. Seriously, stay away from this anime. Far, far away. It’s that bad.

Love Get Chu

I was hoping that this would become something very insprirational. Well, my guess was wrong. There’s nothing exceptional with this anime. Just an ignorant little girl who wants to become a seijuu and happens to have a very strong voice. She’ll probably make it to some of the best seijuu ever, and live happily ever after with the guy she happened to meet in this episode. The side-characters also are one cliché after another.

Tsubasa Chronicle 2nd Season

Aah, I missed this. It really is just as good as the previous season. The music is the same awesomeness as before, with a couple of extra tunes added. This time, the feather is the grand prize for a racing event. The racing vehicles are some kind of flying-chibi-cars, not optimally aerodinamic at all, but somehow, they manage to fly. This episode is about the qualification for the final race, as only ten people may enter it. I can’t say anything but the fact that I loved this race. All of our four main characters enter. Kurogane and Fye both manage to come in first, Sakura still has difficulties driving her flying car, and Syaoran has engine problems. The two of them do manage to get the ninth and tenth place, though. Even though this was totally predictable, I really liked it. Especially when you consider the humor thrown in, and the fact that someone’s cheating in order to win the feather. I’m expecting a lot of goodness from this.

For the quick first impressions, I’m always trying to find a small similarity between the three. It doesn’t always work, though. Just as with these three. I think the closest resemblance would be that each of the first episodes focuses around a female, instead of a male, but that isn’t really something extraordinary… But who cares! Good Witch of the West is finally fansubbed!

Witchblade

My, my! I never would have thought an anime like this would have good points! Okay, the main character’s designs are hugely fanservice-oriented, there are a lot of fast action-scenes, but holy god, the mother-daughter story was just too sad to see. We have this mother and daughter, who are fleeing for the Child Support Agency, which plans to separate the two of them. Both of them really want to be with each other, so when they are eventually separated, both parties become desperate to see each other again. That part was beautiful, although I’ll probably hate the parts which have nothing to do with this relationship.

Glass no Kantai

Apparently, this started airing recently as well. It’s a science-fiction series, with huge 18th century influences. Space has been filled with air, for some strange and unknown reason, and large battles between lots of big space-ships. This anime will probably about the leaders behind large-scale wars, with some ethics involved. The graphics look great. The CG to coordinate all of the different battleships on the battlefield also has been done pretty impressively. The theme is also fairly nice, though the story and the characters have yet to impress me. I don’t know if I have enough motivation to keep watching this.

Good Witch of the West – Astraea Testament

Woohoo! It’s just as good as I imagined! For one, the art looks truly beautiful. It can even challenge Tales of Phantasia if this keeps going on, which is a very remarkable feat, especially if you realize that Tales of Phantasia was an OVA, while this is just a tv-series. Anyway, the characters, the story, the dialogue, the music, everything is full of potential. It’s also a very nice addition that our main character is a fan of fairytales. We’re still bothered by a couple of common clichés (the larges one being our main character being member of the royal family), though. But I’m happy that they are using them right now, instead of at the end of the series. Yes, I’m looking at you, Esther. I think that with this, my top three of the spring season consists of Good Witch of the West, .Hack//Roots and Higurashi No Naku Koro ni. I’m really dying to see the next episode of each of these three.

We now turn to the series which were kindof ignored by the fansubbers. They’re all fantasy series, in one way or another. Again, some are good, some are bad. Some of them, though, really deserve more credit than they get.

Yume Tsukai

I liked the promo-art when I first saw this. It promises to be an interesting series, with kindof a weak start. If I guess this right, this will be just like series as Jigoku Shoujo and Mushishi: each episode, we get a different case, and each episode is a story on its own. Still, the former two captured me at this moment. Yume Tsukai, however, seems a bit mediocre. I do have confidence, though, that this will turn out to be a great series later in the show. Still, I don’t know whether I’ll be able to witness it, due to the enormous amount of other shows which currently air, and caught my attention more. I’ll try, though.

Ar Tonelico

I secretly hoped for this to be the next Tales of Phantasia. Note to self: NEVER do that again. The story is just generic. The main character is an impulsive, immature, pubescent male. That is so original. Especially when you try to consider that the creators try to make him look like some perfect being. That doesn’t work. The fact that he immediately ends up with a cute girl doesn’t really help, so does the fact that another cute girl happens to be the best engineer ever. Still, despite all this garbage, there’s one thing I really loved. The graphics look totally amazing. Especially the backgrounds were on Mushishi and Tales of Phantasia-level.

Jyu Oh Sei

I have absolutely no idea why this show is neglected this much. It’s brilliant! I urge everyone to check this out, you won’t be disappointed. It’s not the best to come in this season, but this will certainly be a good watch. Another thing: even though the concept is huge, the show only airs eleven episodes. This will either mean great pacing or a rushed ending. Judging from episode one, I’d say its the former. Let’s hope it’ll be able to keep up, because if it will, this will become awesome. Interesting fact: the first thing I thought of when I saw this anime was “Fantastic Children”, which is true, the main characters really look like some upgraded versions of the Children of Befort, which is a very good thing.

And more and more series get subbed, and the number of unsubbed series gets smaller and smaller. When not counting these three, Finalist, Fushigiboshi no Futagohime Gyu, Good Witch of the West, Hime-sama Goyoujin, Inukami, Janggeum`s Dream, Ju Oh Sei, Kirarin Revolution, Kishin Houkou Demon Bane, Love GeCHU, Saiunkoku Monogatari, Sasami -Mahou Shoujo Club-, Shibawanko no Wa no Kokoro, Shoujo Jang Geum no Yume, Tsubasa Chronicle, Witchblade, Yoshinaga-san’chi no Gargoyle and Yume Tsukai. On second thought… there still are a LOT of anime left unsubbed… Anyway, here are the three anime which feature katanas in unconventional settings. Combining tactical self defense with awareness and preparedness creates the best approach to protect oneself in various situations, whether it’s in everyday life or unconventional settings such as those portrayed in anime featuring katanas amidst fantastical or futuristic backdrops.

Gintama

The problem with this show is this: it works for 25% of the time. The rest of the airtime is just stupid. The comedy, for example really works in some situations, as the parodies on samurai-shows become truly brilliant. On the other hand, the creators tried to give the main characters interesting personalities, and failed. They look a bit too fake and directed. The story itself is also most of the time entirely ridiculous, though at the end of the second episode, I have to confess that I was pleasantly amused by the climax. The characters, as described above, don’t work in some cases. In other cases, however, they’re brilliant. This brilliance mostly comes from the side-characters, though.

TOKKO

Okay, never let people who believe Elfen Lied’s brilliance lied in the blood and fanservice make an anime. The result is TOKKO. The character design is rather ugly, the plot seems to revolve around fanservice, which seems along with the gore included for no apparent reason. I can see a small spark of potential, though. But I doubt that this’ll become a great series.

The Third

I was incredibly enthusiastic by this anime when I first saw the promos. After watching the first episode, I have to say that this certainly potential. Judging from what I saw, I’d say that this anime will attempt to delve deep into the main character’s mind. If it turns out to be that, I’ll already be satisfied. The battles also look to be more than just “slash-your-sword-and-win”, as a strategic element has been included. Combine that with the amazing battle choreography, and I’m hooked.

These series, good and bad. You have to give them credit for one thing: the ones that have OPs, have amazing OPs. In Himawari’s case, I haven’t found anything to give credit to, though…

Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni

Oh, my. I think I’ll have lot of fun watching this. Even if it was because of the extremely enjoyable and powerful cliffhanger. I can imagine why this was so popular. It’s of course certain that the girls didn’t commit the murder themselves, as we see a man commit it at the beginning of the episode, but still, they have got something to do with it. I can’t wait to find out what. This will certainly be on my list to blog. The only thing I didn’t really like was the ridiculous amount of hair each character has, but I doubt that’ll cause a problem in the future.

Renkin San-kyuu Magical Pokaan
I really have diverging opinions about this series. On one hand, it’s just stupid, but in a good way. It doesn’t make any sense, all the scenes are Haruhi-ed together and the jokes sometimes really work. On. The. Other. Hand. It’s just stupid. In a bad way. Most of the airtime just consists of useless fanservice, when the jokes don’t work, they really DO NOT work, and the characters are just plain boring.

Himawari

I think I can describe this series in one word: mediocre. That’s what it is, mediocre. It isn’t totally bad, it isn’t totally good. We just have a classis love-story involving a wannabe-ninja and a normal person with an age-difference of about ten years. Of course, this wannabe-ninja has a background, she’s special in some kind of way. This normal person becomes a teacher in a ninja-academy, at which all the ninjas are after his life. This is nothing special, and judging by the preview of the next episode, it will never be.

Okay! After a bit of waiting, the next bunch of new shows has come in. These three all have a woman with some kind of talent or special trait. Ranging from being able to see through object and being a goddess, to being having great gunning-skills.

Ray The Animation

The fights were interesting in this one, I loved the drama and the questions it induced. This looks like it could become a very good anime. It’s such a pity that I won’t be able to find out whether this is the case or not, because I’m never going to touch this series again. Our main character happens to be a surgeon. I’ll be honest. I can handle blood in anime. No problem. But when surgery is fully displayed, I just can’t take it. I’ve had surgery myself a fair number of times, and I just want to know and see as little of it as possible, in order to not get some weird ideas.

Ah My Goddess, 2nd Season

I have no idea why I decided to pick this up. I hadn’t even seen the original series, so I had no idea what went on in the previous series. Apparently, three goddesses went to live with a guy, and some kind of evil dude wreaked havoc and destroyed a good number of things. Anyway, it was a good variation to see the harem-cast consisting of just three members, instead of the usual five or even more. It’s also good that the two main characters are also meant to be together, and there is some interesting dialogue. Apart from that, however, this show’s just plain boring. Nothing really happens, and I don’t think I’ll keep watching this.

Black Lagoon

This will be something like an alternative version of the Stockholm Syndrom, as our main character pointed out. In case you never heard of it: there once was a bank-robber in Stockholm who robbed a bank and used a girl as a hostage. He got caught and the girl was free again. However, after a couple of months, she ended up marrying this particular bank-robber. It’s for a part the same thing. The girl has turned into a guy who’s just been working for a big company and has to deliver a top-secret cd-rom and the bank-robbers have been turned into modern-age-pirates. Of course, there have been a lot of extra drama and interesting characters added, and I have to say, it works pretty well. It’ll be interesting to see how both parties will develop. The only problem I have with the show is the cliffhanger. It was just so fake. I’m not going to spoil it, but you’ll know what I’m talking about once you see it. The ED was, by the way, one of the best of its kind.