Valkyria Chronicles – 02

by psgels, posted in Valkyria Chronicles



Short Synopsis: Alicia tries to use the tank to bring everyone to safety.
Episode Rating: 7/10 (Enjoyable)
I must admit that blogging this show is going to be a huge gamble. At this point, I myself am not yet convinced of this show, but first: about the series I’m not going to blog:
– Slap Up Party, granted, is an interesting collaboration between Japan and Korea to produce an anime. Some of the jokes worked, but others however just fell flat. Not to mention that the drama sucks and is full of cliches.
– Full Metal Alchemist – Brotherhood. Why? Because everyone and his DOG is already going to blog it.

I like the new FMA, don’t get me wrong, but I’d much rather devote my attention to a show that actually needs the popularity. Seriously, what is it really that I can add to the already sixty other bloggers? I’ll continue to follow it obviously, and judging from the first episode, it is very likely that it’s going to surpass the original series.

As for Valkyria Chronicles: I see potential for potential, but this really is a series that’s decided to use its first 13 episodes for building up. That really can go anywhere, from incredibly bad to incredibly good. I’m intrigued, though: this is one of those series that didn’t start off ~showing all of its trumps in the beginning. While that didn’t make for the most exciting first episode, I do admit that it’s paying attention to fleshing out the characters very slowly. This attention to detail might prove to be interesting in the future.

But yeah, the show does need to get rid of the overall stupidity of some of the side-characters. People mistaking others for spies, or taking out a tank that isn’t fully charged. I guess that it meant to serve to show that mistakes in such a time of war can have grave consequences, but the creators shouldn’t end up building the plot around this stupidity.

Having said that, though: I admit that this is the first time that I’ve seen an anime focusing on tank combat. It surprises me, because in nearly every other show, tanks merely serve for cannon fodder for whatever giant robot or monster gets in their way, so it’s good to see an actual series that shows how handy these machines can be in warfare.

I’m also interested in the staff behind this series. A-1 Pictures is an interesting production-company and every single of their shows is trying to do something interesting with its animation (most notably Birdy the Mighty, of course ^^;), and you can see that here in the shading. Overall the colours in Valkyria Chronicles look very nice and they match really well with each other, while at the same time keeping a down-to-earth feeling.

The director is a new guy, it seems. He was the episode director of Ookiku Furikabutte (which as I heard was really good), and also directed a bunch of episodes for xxxHolic Kei, most notably the one with the ghost woman (which was very well executed and built up). The series composition is done by someone with lots of experience on all kinds of different series, including Princess Tutu, Strange Dawn, xxxHolic and Hare Nochi Guu (but unfortunately also Kujibiki Unbalance and Nabari no Ou), and with a bit of luck she’ll make sure that the series stays on track.

In this episode, Alicia ends up joining some sort of military academy or institution, it seems, and Welchim also seems to live there. I’m not sure what’s going to happen from here on, but I’m willing to give it the benefit of doubt.

Pandora Hearts – 02

by psgels, posted in Pandora Hearts



Short Synopsis: Oz attends his coming-of-age ceremony
Episode Rating: 8/10 (Excellent)
Well, well; it’s been a while since I accidentally deleted my own post before publishing it. At the moment I don’t feel like retyping everything again for a second time, but I do want to say that Pandora Hearts is promising to be good stuff, especially since the second episode was even better than the first. The thing it reminds me of the most is a 20th century fairy tale gone really dark.

It’s good to finally see another potentially great show from Xebec. They’re a strange production company: quite a few of their shows… fail to really impress (Heroic Age never really went anywhere, not to mention last year’s To Love-Ru and Kanokon), but at the same time they really hit the right marks for me with The Third, and some other excellent shows.

Phantom – 02

by psgels, posted in Phantom



Short Synopsis: Eins trains Zwei for his upcoming missions.
Episode Rating: 7,5/10 (Good)
Next up: Phantom, the show that turned me into a huge hypocrite (not that I wasn’t already one before, but okay). It was of course obvious that I was going to end up blogging this one, since I really like Bee-Train’s style of storytelling, but yeah: in the end it’s not exactly the most original series out there. Just like Kyoani, Bee-Train sucks because they hardly try to do any series outside of their comfort zone. On the other hand, however, I really like them because of their great sense of characterization and their very slow storytelling, in the same way as how Kyoani rocks because of their huge attention to detail.

This episode like expected was mostly building up. The biggest focus was making Zwei realize in what kind of situation he is: doomed as an assassin who serves to kill people, and a lot of the episode sees him training to make him catch up his skills with Eins (Ein?). I liked how this made the use of a gun difficult, and more than just a point-and-shoot game.

I’m not sure what’s up with all of the different people behind the scenes right now. At the moment they just feel too much like one and the same person, but with a bit of luck they’ll develop through the course of the series, and end up as individuals. But yeah, that’s most likely going to take a long while, considering that this is Bee-Train and all.

In terms of music, this time an interesting composer was chosen: Hikaru Nanase. She has produced a lot of soundtracks, but most of them didn’t really stand out, with two exceptions: she composed Shigofumi and Noein’s OST. The result is quite interesting: for a Bee-Train soundtrack it’s down to earth, and yet still awesome and varied. The ED by the ALI project is a bit disappointing, though. Bee-Train has already shown that they can even get some original music out of a band that just keeps producing the same tune over and over (the soundtrack they produced for .Hack//Roots still remains one of my favourite soundtracks out there, even though the series itself was a disaster), but the ED yet again felt incredibly out of place in this episode. The entire episode built up this somewhat slow and haunting atmosphere, and there the ED blasts out of the screen and nearly ruins this atmosphere.

Basquash! – 02

by psgels, posted in Basquash!



Short Synopsis: Dan quickly loses his status of hero when he goes up against a girl.
Episode Rating: 7,5/10 (Good)
As for the shows I’m not going to blog:
– Asura Cryin’ has annoying characters.
– K-On also has annoying characters, and its sense of humour just isn’t my cup of tea.
– Sengoku Basara’s ridiculously overpowered sword-fights are fun; I’ll give it that, but it also remains just another incredibly overblown shounen series. Fine to watch… but to blog?

Basquash isn’t exactly my favourite show of the season, and there are a lot of things wrong with this, but I decided to give it the benefit of doubt. The biggest reasons for that:
– It’s got style.
– The setting really feels like something different. Despite the silly premise, you can see that there went a lot of attention in developing it. It’s one of the few original settings this season.
– Very nice graphics, if you can stomach the CG.
– A charming cast of characters, despite being a bunch of kids they’re fun to watch.

My biggest reason not to blog this show was that I’m not the biggest fan of Shoji Kawamori. Especially when I tried to blog Macross Frontier last year: I just couldn’t get myself to like the characters in the end. Still, I guess that the cast of Basquash feels a lot more colourful (on first glance, at least). I’m not exactly sure why, but what this show reminds me off the most is Gad Guard, a surprisingly good underrated show that especially became something unique in its second half, and I’m curious to see whether Basquash can do the same.

But yeah, until then I guess that I’m going to have to suspend disbelief quite a bit for that, with the 14-year-old lead and all (at least, I think that that’s his age). Ignoring cliche’s though, he amuses me so far. Especially how his attempts at setting up a delivery business only ended up in an increase of the bounty on him, and I also laughed at the incredible incompetence of the police in the city.

What this show needs to do now is continue fleshing out the characters. The cast right now has quite an interesting dynamic between them, but it needs to keep pushing this development forward. This doesn’t really look like the series that would work if it just descended into episodic random stories: this really looks like a typical series that needs some sort of plot to keep things going, unlike shows as Natsume Yuujinchou or xxxHolic and the like.

Some quick first Impressions: Ristorante Paradiso, Higashi no Eden and Hatsukoi Limited

by psgels, posted in Eden of the East, Ristorante Paradiso, Some Quick First Impressions

Ristorante Paradiso

Short Synopsis: Our lead character visits a restaurant managed by lots of bishies
Chance of me Blogging: 100% (Obviously, since I’m already blogging it)
This one was surprisingly relaxing, to be honest. while most people are probably going to avoid this one because of all the middle aged bishies, it feels like some cross between Bartender and Antique Bakery. While from the outside it looks like yet another josei series (okay, yet another… there hardly are any of them in the first place, but you get what I mean), this episode was strangely charming and I’m quite fond of the lead female character. I only have one big complaint, though: the overuse of CG. Even the most useless things that would have been much easier to just draw have been CG-ified, with some pretty bad results. Still, I really like what Fuji TV is trying to do right here, in creating yet another time-slot with interesting premises aside Noitamina. Especially after it was followed by Michiko e Hatchin. It’s going to become interesting if they can keep this up.

Higashi no Eden

Short Synopsis: Our lead character visits the white house and runs into a weirdo with amnesia.
Chance of me Blogging: 100% (Hell Yeah!!)
Okay, so what have we here? Out of all first episodes this season so far, Higashi no Eden has by far the best OP, the most imaginative setting, the most interesting characters, the best mystery, the best use of amnesia, the most natural dialogue, the best combination between quiet scenes in which nothing happens and eventful ones, the best Engrish (the best use of Engrish ever since Beck, actually) the biggest amount of weirdness and it has me more intrigued than any other show. Oh, I love how Production IG manages to come up with these premises that you’d never think of. Here I thought that Eden of the East would be some combination of Shangri-la, and any one of the long line of fantasy shows that this season has already so many of. Guess my surprise when it turns out to be a series about a naked terrorist with amnesia who befriends a twenty year old Japanese girl and goes to Japan with her. I’m really interested in this series, and what the heck the creators are planning to do in only eleven episodes.

Hatsukoi Limited

Short Synopsis: Our lead character gets confessed to by a huge streetpunk.
Chance of me Blogging: 0% (Interesting concept, but I already have enough plans for this season)
My first impression when the OP started rolling was “oh god… generic harem”. That’s why I was pleasantly surprised to find out that this wasn’t a harem at all, but instead a show about a bunch of school girls experiencing their first loves. It’s going to be interesting to see the modern version of Sentimental Journey here, with each episode focusing on a different girl (don’t ask me what the show plans to be doing in its final episodes, though). I do have some complaints, though: the girls just look like carbon copies of each other. There’s nothing that really sets them apart from each other. While the girls in Sentimental Journey all had their own problems and lives, the girls of Hatsukoi feel more like carbon copies of the same moeblob.

Ristorante Paradiso – 02

by psgels, posted in Ristorante Paradiso



Short Synopsis: Nicoletta finds herself a job at the restaurant.
Episode Rating: 7,5/10 (Good)
Okay, so my first impressions on this show are going to follow as soon as Eden of the East airs. It’s a bit of a strange choice to start blogging, but before I explain why, let me first hijack this post to write some sort of general impressions of all of the first episodes that aired this season.

On first looks, this season promises to be average: there haven’t been any instant-classics or truly original premises, but there’s a pretty good amount of nice and interesting series. What makes this season unique is the surprisingly large amount of series with short episodes of only five or ten minutes, and most of them are actually either very funny or very charming. I’m not going to blog any of them, for obvious reasons, but it’s going to be interesting following all of them.

The big disappointment this season was Madhouse: they’re usually a powerhouse that churns out one classic after the other, but this season the only thing they came with was Chi’s New Address and the next Koutetsu Sangokushi, and while I’m grateful that they still have Chi and Hajime no Ippo, I really expected better from them. But then again, since they’ve been such an active studio in 2008, it was only a matter of time before they needed to take a small step back. I guess that that time is now.

And as for the shows I’m not blogging:
– Marie&Gali and Chi’s New Address: both are very charming and funny, but Hetalia showed me that I just can’t blog those sorts of series. There’s just not enough to write about them for every single episode.
– Charady’s Daily Joke: the same, although I do like the concept: all sorts of different jokes from all around the world and every episode has a different art style. The only problem is that you never know when a joke will be hilarious or miss the mark.
– Queen’s Blade…. obviously not.

As for the reasons I did decide to blog Ristorante Paradiso:
– Because I can.
– I’m able to blog 12 new shows this season. Even during the best seasons, I find it difficult to find that many series that are interesting to blog. Hence why I end up experimenting.
– I’ve never blogged such a series, and after blogging some male harems during the past winter-season, why not go for a female harem this time? I’ve blogged much weirder stuff in the past.
– I’m interested in seeing what the director can do: he did Crystal Blaze and Saikano in the past. The guy is definitely flawed, and this episode also shows that he might be a bit too eager to introduce drama, but his shows have something unique, that is sort-of subtle but I can’t exactly explain what it is.
– I’m very interested in the potential for the Noise time-slot: Fuji TV is basically trying to create a second Noitamina here, and I’d love to see it work out. Previously, the time-slot aired Michiko e Hatchin, and if they could continue this string of original, fresh and diverse premises that aren’t aimed at teenaged boys (just like Noitamina is currently doing), it would absolutely rock.

But yeah, Ristorante Paradiso sounds like it’s got the potential to turn into a very interesting character-study, centred around the three lead characters of Luciano, Nicoletta and her mother. I really like how Nicoletta isn’t a teenager anymore, and is basically trying to figure out what it is that she wants to do in life, both in terms of her future, and trying out things in love.

The bad part is of course the way in which Nicoletta tried to rape Luciano in this episode. At this point, this series can really go both ways: there can be too much drama than that’s good for it, or it can end up with a great combination between slice of life and drama. I’m still not exactly sure about the key to a good combination like that. What I also don’t like is how the next episode previews are followed right after the episode, and spoil the biggest plot twists of the upcoming episode. I’m really not sure what the creators had in mind with that.

As for the graphics: it’s interesting that amidst the financial crisis, a relatively unknown production company takes the risk of producing its first anime. David Production only worked on a bunch of small series here and there, but never produced their own series, and I appreciate the risk they take with this. Especially since it actually feels like it can be quite a competent series. The character-designs are very nice, and while the big mouths look a bit weird at first, they’re strangely stylish. Still, I have one BIG complaint with them: the CG. Okay, I can understand that buildings and streets and stuff are easier to animate in this kind of show, but CG spaghetti and wine? I mean, come on. Also, people are making very strange faces when they’re eating something…

Some quick first Impressions: Konnichiwa Anne, 07-Ghost and Souten Kouro

by psgels, posted in 07-Ghost, Konnichiwa Anne, Some Quick First Impressions

Konnichiwa Anne

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is finally ready to tell the story of how she grew up.
Chance of me Blogging: 200% (Seriously, is there any way for me not to blog this series?)
Finally! I’m really glad to finally see the next World Masterpiece Theatre again, and it doesn’t disappoint. While most of them all have the same start, after the first thirteen episodes they all move into different directions that only have one thing in common: an AWESOME cast of characters. there are definitely differences when compared to the style that the great Isao Takahata used when he adopted the original Anne of Green Gables series, and this episode indeed wasn’t as good as the powerhouse of Ghibli’s founders, but nevertheless it was such a wonderful episode, and you can really see that the little girl in this episode would grow into the lovable girl of the Akage no Anne series. The creators really managed to capture Anne’s endless fantasies about all sorts of things like her pigtails, red cats and other sorts of silly stuff that’s typical of of young children. There is obviously no way that this is ever going to be subbed within the next six months, so I’ll at least try to provide a summary for all of the following episodes for those who want to follow this show anyway. Oh, and for those who are still interested in this series (yeah, both of you), you don’t need to have watched Anne of Green Gables in order to enjoy this series: it’s simply a prequel and a very good standalone series.

07-Ghost

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is about to graduate from some sort of magical power-school.
Chance of me Blogging: 90% (Hell Yeah!)
Finally! I kept wondering what the heck happened to Studio Deen this season, but I’m glad to see that they at least managed to put out one series this season, and it’s promising to be a really good one. This episode formed one heck of an introduction, where already lots of stuff happened without feeling rushed. While it starts out as your average high-school series, a big twist near the end turns this into some sort of tale for revenge. My only gripe is the animation, but then again Studio Deen has never been strong at detailed animation. While I don’t think that this is going to become one of Studio Deen’s top works, it’s still promising to be a very good one.

Souten Kouro

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is leading a powerful army in ancient China
Chance of me Blogging: 10% (Really not sure about this one…)
Finally! I was really wondering what happened to Madhouse this season, but here they finally are with their new series… though unfortunately I’m not really positive about it. It feels like some sort of weird cross between Hokuto no Ken and Koutetsu Sangokushi, characters are way too busy trying to look cool rather than being interesting, it’s got the good guys pretty and strong bad guys ugly and weak syndrome so far. The graphics also look really sweet on one side (I appreciated to see finally some good gore), but the big-lipped CG Dragon that ate itself was utterly abysmal. All in all, I here get the feeling of a show that’s trying way too hard. It lacks the impact and feel of the average Madhouse series, and feels more like a Madhouse Wannabe instead.

Some quick first Impressions: Hanasakeru Seishonen, Guin Saga and Kigurumikku

by psgels, posted in Guin Saga, Some Quick First Impressions

Hanasakeru Seishonen

Short Synopsis: Our lead character can choose between three bishies to marry.
Chance of me Blogging: 5% (Something really weird has to happen in order for me to blog this thing)
Ah, this season’s obligatory shoujo series. I was already wondering when it was going to pop up. Still, this one unfortunately promises to be even worse than average. The thing with most of the shoujo-romances I’ve watched so far is that while they start out promising, they usually fall apart somewhere after around eight episodes (with some very notable exceptions, of course). This show already seems to be falling apart with the first episode, which… really isn’t promising a lot. The creators tried to insert way too much nonsensical drama, resulting from one cheesy scene to the other, with nearly all of them bordering on the ridiculous. It’s a shame, this show really seems to be trying, but so far it has really no idea on how to tell a good story. Having said that though; the music was pretty nice. Especially that ED was really well sung and perfect for such a series. Ah, if only the rest wasn’t so hopeless.

Guin Saga

Short Synopsis: Our lead characters are the prince and princess of a country that gets attacked by some sort of evil empire.
Chance of me Blogging: 60% (If the second episode is as impressive as this one)
With a title as “Guin Saga”, I expected yet another one of those fantasy series that are already so prevalent this season, but oh my god, this episode really left me impressed. While not a lot of things happened and the pacing was really slow, this episode also was really solid, both in terms of storytelling and production values. Seriously, the animation in this episode looked really sweet, and you can see that Satelight is in its elements this season. While the whole thing of a destroyed country that needs to be rescued by the prince and princess because they miraculously escape is nothing new, I see lots of potential in the character development, with this solid of a first episode. Let’s hope it can keep this up.

Kigurumikku

Short Synopsis: Our lead characters are a bunch of magical girls who save the world from evil.
Chance of me Blogging: 20% (Not sure what could be blogged about a series like this, but what the heck)
Okay, I think that with this series, I’ve found the most hilarious first episode of the season. I’m a huge fan of parodies, but I hate it when a show just sticks in random references to other shows without making fun of them. Kigurumikku completely slaughters the credibility of mahou shoujo–series in the shounen-genre and has lots of fun in the process. I really laughed a lot during this episode, and there were many hilarious points. What I liked most was the huge wit of the scriptwriters. Now, my message to the creators is simple: please keep this up, and don’t start milking out your own jokes or get boring!

Some quick first Impressions: Saki, Tayutama ~Kiss on my Deity~ and Shangri-La

by psgels, posted in Shangri-La, Some Quick First Impressions

Saki

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is very good at Mah Jong.
Chance of me Blogging: 20% (Really not sure about this one)
At this point, I don’t know what to think about this series, and whether it’s going to be Good Gonzo or Bad Gonzo. There is some definite potential, but at the same time there are so many things that got on my nerves. The lead character is charming, but some of the other members of the cast were beyond obnoxious (especially that overly squeaky little girl). The fanservice-parts felt really weird and forced (Gonzo is a bit too fond of its fanservice at times, and it really shows in this show). The ED is a very annoying J-Pop song which SO doesn’t fit my tastes and the small bit of drama between “boob”-san and Saki in the middle bit felt forced and not really that genuine. Having said that, though, the Mah-jong parts do feel interesting, the student council president was nice to watch, and overall there is potential, both for the show to become something nice or fall apart completely.

Tayutama ~Kiss on my Deity~

Short Synopsis: Our lead character gets to marry a cute fox girl.
Chance of me Blogging: 0% (No)
Hehe… oh boy. Well, what we have here is another one of those romantic comedies that try to find the most ridiculous ways to get a male and female to live together with each other. This time, it’s an ancient fox deity who gets transported to modern days, turns into a little girl, and then turns back into a teenager again when the male lead promises her that he’s going to marry her when she’s grown up. Yeah, you have to love the depth of this show, but what stands out the most in this episode were the utterly, utterly horrible character-designs. THAT HAIR! Aren’t these girls ashamed or something? The editing also feels unprofessional at times, and there are certain transitions from one scene to another that are so obviously flawed that I suspect that this episode was produced in a very big hurry. In any case, this definitely is another one of those series for the people who are into cheesy romantic comedies. If you’re not, then stay faaaaaaaaaaar away from this one.

Shangri-La

Short Synopsis: Our lead character has been in youth prison for two years, it seems.
Chance of me Blogging: 60% (I’m intrigued)
Ooh, nice. Shangri-la has great ambitions, and I really liked all of the different kinds of ideas that were put into the setting; definitely creative. I liked all the potentially interesting characters, the detailed character-designs, the culture that these people live in; all in all it’s good stuff. But then again, with huge ambitions also come huge potential pitfalls: is this show going to be able to put everything it wants to show in its limited time frame, or are things just going to fall apart in a rushed and incomplete conclusion? This show especially has to deal with explaining how a teenaged girl seems to be so incredibly good at fighting with such a strange weapon, and the strange instances of fanservice were typical Gonzo. Still, the potential’s definitely there.

Some quick first Impressions: Metal Fight Beyblade, Jewel Pets and Natsu no Arashi

by psgels, posted in Natsu no Arashi, Some Quick First Impressions

Metal Fight Beyblade

Short Synopsis: Our lead character has uber l33t hax0rz skills with spinning tops
Chance of me Blogging: -30% (No)
Next up in the line of stupid shounen franchises that refuse to bloody die: Beyblade’s new installment, in which a bunch of kids battle it out with… spinning tops. No, seriously, those spinning tops are most likely going to decide the fate of the world at the end of this series; they’re serious business. In any case, it’s one thing to see little kids play such games, but when even tough street-punks squeal like little girls when they’ve been defeated in such a game, you know that something is wrong. Dull, generic, boring, shallow. Is there anyone uberhaupt planning to watch this series?

Jewel Pets

Short Synopsis: Our lead character gets visited by a magical creature from a fantasy world.
Chance of me Blogging: 0% (Obviously not)
Okay, so there’s obviously no way that I’m going to continue following those cheesy kiddie shows, but they are nice for a good laugh once in a while. Especially Jewel Pets isn’t half that bad for a kiddie show. Sure, it’s just another rehash of the same formula that has been repeated over and over again, but at least it has a sense of humour. I laughed quite a bit during this episode, though for once I laughed because the characters were funny, rather than because of the overuse of cheese or clichés like I usually do with these sorts of series. Still, that doesn’t mean that the setting isn’t utterly ridiculous: you’ll have a hard job to find a series that’s as pink and fluffy as this show, ranging from heart-shaped cherry blossoms to all sorts of overly cute pets, ranging from cats to bunnies to dogs.

Natsu no Arashi

Short Synopsis: Our lead character knows people who can travel through time
Chance of me Blogging: 30% (Depends on the budget for the rest of the series)
While there have been quite a few nice shows this season so far, I do have one complaint about the shows that aired up till now: the lack of originality. Up till now, there haven’t really been any series that wanted to try out new things, or push the boundaries of their genres, up to the point where my favourite show so far is a blatant Noir rip-off. But then again, this can also be attributed to the strange lack of series from Studio Deen, Madhouse and Production IG so far, which are usually responsible for those kinds of shows. Natsu no Arashi is Shaft’s latest series, and what do you know, it actually answered my complaints, although in a much different way than I would have expected. First of all, the camera direction rocks beyond belief, even for Shaft’s standards (which to be honest was starting to get a bit stale). There are lots of nice and creative camera angles and pans. The setting is also… quirky… to say the least. We here have some sort of cafe, run by the lead characters, but the whole things is spiced up by a number of characters who can travel through time or do other ethereal stuff. And what’s better to use those powers for than to find the culprits of stolen strawberry cakes?