Some Quick First Impressions: Kotoura-San, Tamako Market and GJ Bu

by psgels, posted in Some Quick First Impressions

Kotoura-San

Short Synopsis: Our lead character can read people’s minds.
What they did for this series is that they handed what was actually a pretty cool premise to a bunch of soap opera writers. What I mean by that is that I actually quite like the concept of this series, of a girl who can read minds and how this affects her as a child. What I dislike is that the creators lack any sort of subtlety. Throughout the first half of this episode they do whatever possible to make the life of the female lead a complete hell. Of course, there are children who grow up in horrible environments, but this show, it starts off happily, only to throw one depressing plot twist after the other, to the point at wich it becomes laughable and adults completely overreacting. Nobody in this series has any common sense whatsoever… except for the male lead of course. So yeah: this series can go into two directions: wish fulfillment by showing a cute girl warm up to a typical lazy guy with dirty thoughts (ie, a target demographic often used for anime), or a charming coming of age story for a group of scarred teenagers. Which one will it be?
OP: It’s the way in which this contrasts with the really dark first half that makes it stand out.
ED: Good piano song
Potential: 70%

Tamako Market

Short Synopsis: Our lead character works at a Mochi bakery.
Someone shoot me. Tamako Market had the best first episode of the new season. I did not expect this from what was advertised as the next K-On. But really: to see this as the next K-On would be a grave disservice. You do not watch this series for the cute girls: cute girls are just a part of it. No, you really watch this series for the parrot. I love that animal. Beyond that though, this series also sets itself apart from a lot of other Kyoani series in a very interesting way: its cast is varied. It’s not just about a bunch of teenagers at school having a club. It’s got some teenagers, it’s also about a bakery, it’s got shop owners of all kinds of ages. There was so much going on, and not just random chatter. The characters as well: for once they’re not stereotypes. The lead female is ditzy, but it’s not her only character trait. The chemistry between the characters is also really good: no character is trying too hard to be annoying, which is a thing that really got on my nerves with K-On and Lucky Star.
OP: Mostly stands out through its animation.
ED: This is quite good: great visuals and nice song.
Potential: 85%

GJ Bu

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is a random high school student.
So, GJ Bu is a show of the genre “bunch of teenagers hang out at school and do random stuff”. It’s a genre that I know is not for me by far. I can only enjoy these kinds of series when there is something else going on beyond just the random sketches… but GJ Bu doesn’t have that. It tries to be funny… but isn’t. It’s just various situations with sterotypical characters who try to be cute/charming/quirky. It also doesn’t help that most of the jokes are focused on stereotypes: the rich girl is rich, so she doesn’t know what instand noodles are. The catgirl eats a lot, so she eats a lot. The calm girl is calm so she isn’t afraid of anything. That kind of dull stuff. It all feels so forced, dull and uninspired, and this just isn’t my type of series.
OP: Some idols got their first singing job or someting…
ED: Generic J-Pop, cheesy visuals.
Potential: 10%

Magi – 13

by psgels, posted in Magi

The creators really splurged the budget on this episode. I remember the previous prime-time series that A-1 pictures did: Ao no Exorcist. And when you compare those two series, I really have to say that Magi is a huge improvement. The action here was so much better than what Ao no Exorcist showed me: the art was messy, yet fluid. Not to mention the awesome camera angles. Yes, this show definitely made the wait during the new year time-skip worth it.

The interesting thing also is that Abhmad is completely weak and unsuited for fighting. That’s not something you see often in a fighting series like this, and it had a nice side-effect: this episode was full of action, but as soon as the focus went to Abhmad the action toned down, Alibaba became powerless and instead we got to see a much more personal conflict. I quite liked seeing him being pushed into a corner like that.

This series also has a new OP. I don’t really like the song, but I do like how much the creators managed to stuff into it. I think that that also strikes the animation of this episode: it had a ton of detail stuffed into it, both the character-designs and the backgrounds. There were a lot of shots with huge crowds, and still the creators managed to keep up a pretty good framerate.
Rating: 5.5/8 (Excellent)

Some Quick First Impressions: Line Offline Salaryman, Senyuu, Amnesia and Bakumatsu Gijiden Roman

by psgels, posted in Some Quick First Impressions

Line Offline Salaryman

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is a salaryman.
I’m just going to cover all of these bloody three-minute episode shows, if only to drive home how many there just are this season. I mean, the original reason why I hated this season was something completely different: no non-sequels stood out and the majority of my top 10 of creators that gets on my nerves the most is involved in a show this time. But the sheer amount of these types of series is really helping things! Line Offline has no moe whatsoever. Instead, you can see this as a sitcom: a collection of sketches around a salaryman. The unusual thing about this episode was that it was entirely building up to one single joke at the end. That joke was… well… dull. The kind that might get a chuckle once or twie, but in the long run just isn’t worth it to spend more time on.
OP: At least they didn’t skimp here. Cool song, good use of a phone chat.
Potential: 10%

Senyuu

Short Synopsis: Our lead character fights monsters.
We’re up for a slight variation, people. Senyuu doesn’t just have three minute episodes, oh hell no: its episodes are four minutes long. Yes, you get a minute extra with this series! Isn’t it wonderful? Sarcasm aside, Senyuu is an RPG parody. Was it funny? Well, it got a chuckle out of me. The thing with it was that it, like many other series this season, just jumps into scenes without any sort of lead-in or build-up. Characters are cardboard boxes: the main character in particular got hit with this bad: his role in this series is that of the straight man. Burdened by this, he yells every single line of his. Yutaka Yamamoto, I know that you’re not the best director and all… but you should know better than this.
ED: Cheesy
Potential: 0%

Amnesia

Short Synopsis: Our lead character has amnesia.
Ooh, I like this. Out of all the non-sequels this season, this was by far the best first episode, and it will probably remain so for the rest of this season. I’ve been so used to otome game adaptations with crappy executions that this one actually took me by surprise by being really good. This too has the same premise of having a girl surrounded by bishies, but this episode added a few things that the others don’t have: intrigue for one. The main character has amnesia: so every character treating her like it was the most normal thing in the world, despite seeming completely foreign to the female lead. I like that a lot. For once, the bishies actually don’t try to fit themselves into stereotypes. Oh, they’re bishies and all, but they felt like actual characters for once. The soundtrack plays with this, especially the intrigue, leading to an actually good atmosphere for once. Yeah, this one works.
OP: I don’t like the song, but the visuals are interesting enough.
ED: Vocals are too washed out and feel off-key in some way but cool visual effects.
Potential: 85%

Bakumatsu Gijiden Roman

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is a phantom thief in the Bakumatsu era.
This obviously was meant to be a tongue-in-the-cheek rendition of the Bakumatsu Era (the original creators is the same guy who was behind Lupin III). For those of you who don’t know: it makes use of the legend of Hiraga Gennai, an inventor with apparently a very eccentric reputation. That’s why people fly around with rockets in this series. It doesn’t really work though: you can get the same experience but much, much better by just watching Ooedo Rocket. The thing with this series is that it’s got some very sloppy editing: it jumps around from one scene to the other without much build-up. The result of that is that the main character who was already meant to be an ass becomes even more unlikable and the banter between the characters feels way too forced: every character is trying way too hard to be quirky. The use of sound and music is also cheap at best. This episode does try to be heart-warming at times, but in the grand scheme of things it just feels shallow. I like TMS Entertainment for how experimental they were in 2012, but this is just one of those experiments gone wrong.
ED: This is actually quite interesting…
Potential: 50%

Uchuu Kyoudai – 39

by psgels, posted in Uchuu Kyoudai

We’re only eight episodes into the year, and I’ve already found a very big contender for the best OP of 2013. Holy crap, the new OP for this series is amazing. When it finished it took me about half a minute before I managed to control my self to stop laughing.

Beyond that, we’ve finally arrived at the final quarter of Uchuu Kyoudai. It was a delight as usual to watch, but the most interesting were two of the developments that happened in it. Most importantly, the cliff-hanger in which Hibito accidentally raced off a cliff and will very likely be in a lot of trouble for the next episodes. My guess will be that the next few episodes will focus on this, while Mutta and the others prepare for their trip to space. But then?

You see, the thing is that Mutta still is quite far from being an astronaut. Sure, he’ll get there, but we’re a few years further down the line before he gets to move into space. The creators will probably show some conclusion about Azuma, but are the creators really going to skip a year around that point? Would be awesome for the character-development.

Meanwhile, I loved Nasuda’s analogy about the kanji for “Person”. Not just its direct meaning, but also how it got used afterwards. That lead to some very fluid animation afterwards, by the way, when Murasaki came and shook everyone’s hand. The lecture that followed later in the episode also was just hilarious. In any case: this episode confirmed that this series will set a very high standard for the rest of the series this year to follow.
Rating: 5.5/8 (Excellent)

Some Quick First Impressions: Zettai Karen Children The Unlimited, Ishida to Asakura and Senran Kagura

by psgels, posted in Some Quick First Impressions

Zettai Karen Children The Unlimited

Short Synopsis: Our lead character has esper powers.
I have not seen Zettai Karen Children, but I was able to follow this episode, and I enjoyed it. The music is quite good, and the animation is really solid, leading to quite a bit of eye candy during the action scenes. I like the story that revolves around espers and their powers, and the setting they’re placed in. The only problem so far is the cast of characters, which needs some definite work. I only had one character that caught my attention: the red haired guy. The white-haired male is too perfect and is way too busy trying to look cool, and the villains also seem bland and boring at this stage. I feel like this episode was a bit too forced as an opening, trying to show too much already in its opening episode, but it can keep up with the action of this episode, and add some good characterization as it goes along, it can end up becoming pretty darn good. Oh, and nice cliff-hanger.
OP: Best OP of the season so far. Has some cheesy bits, but finally something that feels different.
ED: Feels like the same vocalist as the OP on one of his lesser songs.
Potential:80%

Ishida to Asakura

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is a high school student with an afro.
Two minute episode alert! Although this one can’t be called moe this time. In fact, I’m not even sure what the hell it was that I just watched. Ishida to Asakura seems to go with lots of deadpan humour, and while I normally am a big fan of that those types of jokes, they were so completely random and nonsensical here that I have no idea whether the jokes in this show were bad on purpose or whether the creators just have a terrible sense of humour. In any case, this was weird.
OP: Dull, but different from the norm.
Potential: &!#%

Senran Kagura

Short Synopsis: Our lead character has boobs and is a ninja.
Artland…. I used to be a fan of them. And to think that now, they’ve got the biggest and most shameless fanservice series of the season. Ah well, at least it’s not the most generic: the fight animation was better than usual for this type of show: for once the animation budget didn’t just go into the boobs, but also the actual action. Although that doesn’t excuse the fact that this series is constantly reminding us what gender the lead characters are. The stupid premise of this show leads me to believe that it wants to be a tongue-in-the-cheek parody, but here is the thing about parodies: if you’re adhering to the tropes without really making fun of them, you’re just being lazy. This show does have a soundtrack that’s a bit too good for its own sake….
OP: Generic copy paste OP
Potential: 0%

Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure – 13

by psgels, posted in Jojo's Bizarre Adventure

Holy crap man. The fights in this series just keep getting better. I mean, holy crap. This makes all other shounen battles just pale in comparison. How on earth does this series manage to be so epic in every single episode, and we’re talking about a shounen jump adaptation for goodness’ sake. Aren’t these things supposed to drag on forever before they get anywere!?

The fight between that Ultimate Life Form and Jojo and von Stroheim was amazing. It just kept surpassing itself: just when you think that things are done, it just gets even crazier. Now, Dragonball Z did this in a bad way: just when you thought things were over, it just kept finding new ways to drag on. The difference here is that it all happened in one episode. It just kept building up adrenaline and left no second wasted. This is the type of build-up that I love.

Stroheim indeed redeemed himself at the end here when he got his leg cut off in such an incredibly overblown fashion. He then proceeded to blow himself up, only for Joseph to finish things by throwing himself at the well at exactly the right time. That’s sortof like what happened in the third episode when Jonathan and Dio fell down in that burning building. And the soundtrack! it was perfect through all of this.
Rating: 6/8 (Awesome)

Some Quick First Impressions: Da Capo III, Love Live! and Hakkenden Touhou Hakken Ibun

by psgels, posted in Some Quick First Impressions

Da Capo III

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is surrounded by girls.
I… am just blank here. I mean, this was just completely generic in every way, except perhaps the fact that this is about a newspaper club. The first half was just the characters randomly talking about such a dull topic, then they went to some tree and did things, and in between there also was a bit of incest hints. Every character just looks utterly generic and I can’t believe that they actually made more of this. This is the 84th episode of Da Capo already for goodness’ sake!
Potential: 0%

Love Live!

Short Synopsis: Our lead character wants to be an idol.
Okay, let’s compare the two idol shows this season, shall we? One series is about an evil government who has outlawed entertainment and the group of idols that fires guerrilla concerts in order to stop them. The other is about a ditzy school girl who creates an idol club in order to prevent her school from getting closed down. One series subtly shows the darker sides of being an idol and how competitive it can be. The other is more occupied with a student council getting in the way, who thanks to the OP we now know will end up in the idol club as well. Seriously, especially compared to AKB0048, Love Live just looks incredibly generic. Where AKB0048 wants to tell a cool, albeit far-fetched story, this just is there for fan pandering: just show the animated versions of a bunch of idols being cute on a school. It’s completely generic and un-creative in every way. And then there is the background music: it’s actually better than the songs in this series itself. The songs feel like exactly copy-pasted from other generic J-pop songs.
OP: If the character-designs didn’t already make you suspect: they will be the main characters in this series. Bad CG and dancing.
ED: Right from out of nowhere one of the characters just starts singing behind invisible instruments and everyone just dances along with her. If she indeed was dancing and singing on her own: okay. But this was so obviously pre-recorded and choreographed. A complete lack of any subtlety, not to mention that the song sucks.
Potential: 0%

Hakkenden Touhou Hakken Ibun

Short Synopsis: Our lead character has special powers.
This one was surprisingly solid. It has its issues of being a bit childish at times, but in the end it’s well acted and it had a surprisingly good atmosphere. The animation also was pretty solid, and this actually was not bad at all. At the same time though, I also can’t really say that it was good, but it did spend a lot of time building up. I like some of the side-characters now, even though the male lead is a bit of a brat. The story as well has some potential, but I can’t really see it reaching many heights at this point. There is nothing yet that stands out about this series, but it has a few things that can grow and become quite good.
OP: Rather generic display of characters and powers, though it does look good.
Potential: 70%

From the New World – 14

by psgels, posted in From the New World

You know, for a while I just kept wondering why Saki and the others were special. But yeah, there are more anime that just make their main cast special and stand out for no reason whatsoever other than that they happened to be at the right time at the right place. But this episode actually addresses that: the lead cast could have actually been just a bunch of obedient vegetables, if it wasn’t for the decision of the board of education to have them develop their own free will. Now it all makes sense: why they were the only ones who went to look for that slug creature.

I still can’t believe that Shun was killed off so early. This episode really made me suspect that he originally was meant to lead the village next, but then his powers went out of control. This episode also hints very heavily that we’re not going to Maria and Mamoru back. It’s been a while since I’ve seen a show pick off its supposed main characters so easily.

What I do wonder is why the decision was made to dispose of Mamoru? I mean, there were a few things going on in this episode that weren’t mentioned: the feelings of the board of execution. They probably got scared of Mamoru. My guess would be that giving him a mind of his own didn’t work out too well: he didn’t become independent and was rather weak, and they started to fear this and just disposed of him, since he was useless with a mind of his own. Now that that failed they tried to cover themselves up with their own authority.
Rating: 5.5/8 (Excellent)

Some Quick First Impressions: Minami-Ke Tadaima, Haitai Nanafa and AKB0048 Next Stage

by psgels, posted in AKB0048, Some Quick First Impressions

Minami-Ke Tadaima

Short Synopsis: Our lead characters are three sisters living together.
I watch Minami-ke really if I have nothing better to do: it’s not bad or anything, but the pacing is a bit too slow for me to actively watch it if I have other stuff to do. Having said that though, this episode did make me laugh. It’s got the type of humour that tries to be funny by being annoying: the entire episode was basically Kana (one of the three sister) being an ass towards everyone. And that did lead to some funny moments. There were other parts that were formulaic, though. For example, for some reason the creators found it a good idea to have these chibi-shorts in between the different sketches here that are just unfunny and just serve to turn the characters into caricatures of themselves. We’ll see. It’s not like there’s much competition this season.
OP: Dull and generic.
ED: Again dull and generic
Potential: 60%

Haitai Nanafa

Short Synopsis: Our lead character finds a magical girl from a tree.
Three minute moe shows again! Alert! This is even a remnant of past seasons that took forever to get released. I have no idea why. Out of all the 3-minute moe shows though, this one is the best, because it actually impressed me with something: it’s got eye candy! I really did not expect that, but this show’s art design looks really good actually, something that I really did not expect. The rest though…. it’s about a bunch of magical girls. This was just the introduction but its comedic timing felt flawed (bad build-up). It was nothing special, but heck: people actually spent some effort into this one so I guess it’s at least something and I guess it was charming… enough.
ED: Way too long, but again quite pretty.
Potential: 60%

AKB0048 Next Stage

Short Synopsis: Our lead characters are idols who fight in guerrilla concert against an evil government.
Hell yeah, one of the two bright lights of this season has finally aired. The gorgeous visuals along with the well produced songs are as addictive as ever, making this a really enjoyable animated musical. The characters themselves set themselves apart by being so energetic and expressive, so that even the pointless fanservice felt charming, rather than annoying. This episode served as the set-up for the second season, really: it gave a face to some parties that were previously just mentioned and it changed the way in which the idols are selected from some random force to viewer-based voting. I wonder how far it will go with this, actually: there are so many dodgy sides about this, and I hope that the creators get the freedom again to address this. This episode already started by hinting at how competitive it can be, but it needs to do more. But there are plenty of episodes left to do this. The villains, the people from DES, remain a bunch of idiots, though.
ED: Visually boring (recap), but a good song, and well used with the climax of the episode.
Potential: 85%

Some Quick First Impressions: Ore no Kanojo to Osananajimi ga Shuraba Sugiru, Cuticle Detective Inaba and Maoyuu Maou Yuusha

by psgels, posted in Some Quick First Impressions

Ore no Kanojo to Osananajimi ga Shuraba Sugiru

Short Synopsis: Our lead character gets to date the hottest girls in school.
Okay. Here is the thing with this series: its premise is crap. This episode did its best to hide this a bit by at least giving the main couple a bunch of similarities (they hate love) and building this up well, but I see no way whatsoever for this series to work. I can totally see where this is going: they both hate love and gradually across the series they fall in love. That alone should be fine, but then this series comes and stars three more girls, one of which was confirmed to be the dreaded childhood friend. How the hell are they going to contribute to this series beyond being a shallow harem? This is like this fancy-looking boat with a gigantic hole in it: waiting to sink any minute after it heads out. I mean, this is A-1: the production at least was not cheap and the acting was far from as bad as some of the other shows of its genre. It’s just… that terrible premise.
OP: FANSERVICE
Potential: 30%

Cuticle Detective Inaba

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is a detective with special dog powers.
Oh my god. I originally was not interested in this show that much, but I did not expect it to be this bad. Here is the thing: the people who adapted this thing seemed to have put no thoughts whatsoever in figuring out how the jokes of the manga this is based on translate over to anime. It’s been a while since I’ve seen such a bad delivery of what could have been some good jokes if the creators took their time to build them up. Right now, this episode just keeps pulling jokes out of its ass without any eye for continuity. This feels like it was written by a bunch of amateurs who don’t know the basics of comedy: they sortof have an idea of what it means to be funny, but have no clear grasp of the details. The result is an episode chockful of random anti-climaxes that feel just put in there for the sake of having tons of anti-climaxes. It tries so hard to put in as many jokes as possible, without making sure to make any of them count. I can tell that the manga that this is based on has a sense of humour: that made me laugh a few times. But holy crap, this is not being translated well here…
ED: Again: trying waaaay too hard.
Potential: 10%

Maoyuu Maou Yuusha

Short Synopsis: Our lead character gets to own a demon king with BOOBS.
Cynical synopsis aside: this was the first episode I liked this new season. And it comes from ARMS of all people. For the record: that studio is known for making absolutely horrible fanservice fighting shows over and over. This episode had politics, and very interesting ones at that! I like how this series emphasizes that the war between the humans and demons has become too necessary to make it stop, and it can actually get quite interesting for the main cast to try and solve that. Now if only the main cast was a bit more interesting. It’s basically this sexually frustrated demon queen who just glomps the first guy who she manages to run into, and this typical teenaged male lead hero with very little personality. The only thing that was interesting between them was their dialogue: that was well written. But their actual characters… nah. Their chemistry feels very clunky together. Also, boobs.
OP: Interesting vocalist, pretty good use of music.
ED: An actual good ED that is not about fanservice. Arms, you surprised me.
Potential: 75%