Uchoten Kazoku
Short Synopsis: Our lead character is a tanuki.
Without a doubt the best non-sequel of the new season so far. The characters here just blew all of the competition out of the water. Unlike all the others, the characters here have actual lives when they’re not on the screen. The anime here just follows mere glimpes in their eventful daily lives. You’d be surprised at how many characters just do absolutely nothing when the camera doesn’t focus on them. And even beyond that, the characterization here is just really good. Characters feel real, dialogue is natural and really manages to flesh out the characters. Every character is really well acted as well, no exceptions. And to top things off: this episode had the right combination between slice of life and drama: we got to follow the daily lives of the main characters, and especially near the end of the episoe it became apparent what kind of tension there is between the characters. The characters behaving like adults also really helps. Great to see lots of shows like that this season.
OP: Love the visuals, and the song as well.
ED: I love how this ED fills in some of the parts that were left open to interpretation by the episode
Potential: 95%
Makai OUji – Devils and Realist
Short Synopsis: Our lead character has demons fighting over him.
There’s a really strange trend this season: it has Seiji Kishi’s second adaptation with a bear. Now this series has Chiaki Kon’s second adaptation with a guy with the head of a goat. I hope that this is just a coincidence. Anyway, Devils and Realist had decent action and all, but it makes one really big mistake: throughout the entire episode it tries to make its male lead look like this super elite student. And yet from his actions in this episode, he seems like an idiot. Okay, idiot is a bit too much, but he hardly asks any questions beyond the most obvious ones. It’s because of this that the characters also try to stay too much to their own caricatures, which really limits them here and the atmosphere is also pretty dull. Basically, this show has already been done but better: Uragiri wa Boku no Namae wo Shitteiru.
OP: Bad J-Rock
ED: Again bad J-Rock
Potential: 40%
Blood Lad
Short Synopsis: Our lead character is a vampire who doesn’t sparkle.
The colour design for this series is really good. It actually looks unique, yet consistent with its use of bright colours that just contrast with each other realyl well in every shot. You have series that look really saturated, and you have this: the complete opposite. Blood Lad is a shounen with lots of meta-humour. I wouldn’t say that it’s a parody, but its entire premise is based on breaking the fourth wall. What stands out the most is a cast of quirky characters: the male lead is not your typical underdog, and the show uses creative plot devices to get some good interaction out of them. As for the series’ flaws… yeah. Let’s just say that in general, I prefer strong female characters. The lead female here is a walking fanservice trophy for the male lead. I’m not sure what the creators wanted to do with her, really: if she’s meant to be a parody of the female lead than she failed completely because she really didn’t do anything in this episode aside from make a few comments that any idiot could have made.
OP: Again great use of colours, but a rather generic shounen opening.
ED: Great looking, but I’m not really feeling the song.
Potential: 75%
Blood Lad isn’t actually “shounen”, if you just go by the magazine serialization, since it’s published in a monthly seinen mag (Young Ace).
I think the classification has more to do with the target demographic. For example we have FMA, a monthly serialisation, being bracketed as a shounen as well. (http://myanimelist.net/anime/5114/Fullmetal_Alchemist:_Brotherhood)
P.S.: Had several tabs open and mixed this up with the more recent posts. Either way, some food for thought.
Seems good. Probably going to be one of the few seasons I don’t end up dropping so far. As for female leads, I mean shit. I wasn’t expecting what happened to have happened. I found that pretty funny actually.
Uchoten Kazoku was the biggest, pleasant surprise of this season so far! I went in not knowing or expecting anything of it…and it was so well-done!
Maybe it’s not too surprising considering the director has extensive work in the Ghost in the Shell series and spinoffs.
Good job on PA Works too.
When I think of tanuki, I think of Pom Poko. I wonder if there will be any references…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pom_Poko
The only trouble with Uchoten Kazoku was that the first episode had little in the way of story momentum.
Also, while the background art is good, the character designs are a bit unattractive to me. The odd ears that a lot of people had – initially I thought it was because the main character retains some tanuki characteristics even while shifted, but it looks like just about everyone has them…
I don’t know. I thought it was quite remarkable how well the story was carried forward without relying on a lot of high budget eye-candy. It once was that debut episodes took up a higher proportion of the budget to hook the audience but here, it was mostly carried forward by the fine performance of the cast. There’s a lot of subtlety in the scenes too. Like how the bar quietly clears out in stages as soon as Benten shows up. It looks like the whole clientele were made up of tanuki. Or how Benten goes off to meet the Master just as Yasaburou steps out of the bar. Coincidence or was she planning for Yasaburou to see her meet the Master as he asked? Curious about the character relationships here too. The Master seems infatuated(?) with Benten on the surface (based on the letter), although Benten seems to hint that it’s fake, while Benten seems to want Yasaburou, and while Yasaburou is fascinated with Benten, it’s not to the point of love. Possibly because of the species difference? (My experience with Pom Poko left a deep impression on me about tanuki folklore.) I suppose that’s where future character development will go. Very curious how Benten, as a human, can learn how to fly like the Tengu. I seem to remember the Tengu are supposed to be the original tutors to the ninja in ancient Japan. So that’s what Benten is? Love the setting too. I think I’ve actually been to that stretch of open-air restaurants next to the river in Kyoto.
When I first saw Makai Ouji, I thought “better version of Kuroshitsuji.” I also went ahead and read the manga, but it takes a while to get going, so I doubt they’ll be animating the good stuff in the first season.
I read the first chapters way before the anime was announced, the drawing was confusing as hell, didn’t know much of the action scenes, dropped it.
Btw, will this be 13 eps only?