Of course, when I first learned about this new series that was going to be written by Ryukishi07, I was very excited. But Nobuhira Takamoto? God, talk about a double-edged sword.
Technically, this is an excellent director: he knows his characterization, he’s excellent at building up, his climaxes are always very exciting with the way that he combines music with his in-your-face direction. However his pacing is terrible. His series are either too fast or drag on for way too long. Hatenkou Yuugi would have been a pretty charming travelling series if it didn’t keep flying over all the important bits (you also have to love its completely chaotic and disastrous final episode), while 07-Ghost would have been an exciting show it if actually would have gotten anywhere. However, he has made some good stuff: with Sasami Mahou Shoujo Club, he had the exact right amount of episodes to work with, and it became a really charming series. That’s what I’m hoping for here.
Basically it comes down to this: if he can get his pacing right, then this is a good rival for Durarara as my favourite show of the season. If not, then… yeah. If there’s going to be anything wrong with this series’ pacing, then it is that it’s going too fast: lots of stuff happened in this episode, and while it actually worked well right now, there’s no guarantee that it will also go well when everything has to come together. The series composition guy also isn’t helping much, because this is the guy responsible for the incredibly fast pacing of Allison to Lillia.
The success of this show basically comes down to one simple question: did the creators plan out the right number of episodes for this series? With those things, I’m never sure who’s actually responsible for making these decisions, but whoever you are: I really hope you put some thought into it, because you’re going to decide whether or not this show will rock or flop.
Anyway, about this episode: it did a great job of fleshing out the main cast. Letting everyone meet each other, and increasing the tension even more. We’re slowly getting a look at what’s going on here: there’s something really strange going on with the lead character’s new girlfriend, and my suspicion is that this is the central part of the plot. however, what’s the role of her brother, her classmates (why are they incredibly friendly with the lead character)? Is the decision for the lead character’s father to move to the town important to the plot? and what about that strange food advertisement? At this point, I have no idea how many different parties there are in this series.
For now, this series is doing its job: I’ve gotten very excited with this series during the small climaxes in this episode. Now let’s keep it that way!
Rating: ** (Excellent)
I’m liking where this series is going. It should keep on increasing the tension and throw in some more twists.
it’s not just me who’s thinking that the opening scene in the first episode is actually part of the final episode, right?
Seems like that.
Remember Higurashi? The foreshadowed part in the first episode actually came much earlier. 😉
The rating for this is excellent ? PFFFFF. At least can you take note of the downfall in the animation ? The body of Masaki looked really deformed sometimes. Not that it gets n the way of the story, but … adds to the overall wort.
1st eps of anime have better animation than the rest of the series most of the time. And the drop from the 1st to the 2nd ep for this one wasn’t really that big so I don’t know why it should be noted…
Bad animation with a good storyline can sometimes be tolerable. Even good characters can’t save a bad story.