Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure
Short Synopsis: Our lead character is a rich noble’s son.
Well, there you have it. The fourth awesome opening episode of the season. I mean heck: this was absolutely delightful. It just screamed retro cheese, but it was so incredibly over the top that it became stunning. I mean, Dio Brando is such a great villain that every time he appeared on the screen I just sat there with a giant grin, but just about everything in this episode was done with incredible passion. Normally I’d complain about overacting, but the way in which this episode just took it over 9000 made it so enjoyable to watch. The show also has this reallly interesting visual style: like expected the animators didn’t attempt to make everything look clean and the characters often look off-model (not to mention the inclusion of some manga-style sound effects – really!), but the direction was so good. It knew what to animate properly, and the use of colours and poses was just delightful to watch. Why did it take so long to make a proper anime of this thing?
ED: Great song there, with great vocals and a very good use of a guitar.
Potential: 90%
K
Short Synopsis: Our lead character has this evil side that murders people.
Whoa, now this is a feast for the senses! The graphical style really shows that this comes from the same people as Mardock Scranble, but even then I was surprised by what a visual orgasm this was. And they made it look so easy. Every frame of this episode looked utterly gorgeous, but what’s even more impressive is that at times they actually bothered to animate the background art. Keep a look-out for the skating scenes, because those were particularly gorgeous. On top of that, this show has a very creative soundtrack: it’s diverse, has very catchy songs and comes with a ton of different styles. The voice acting though… not so good: Lotsa Engrish! Beyond that though, this is a show that was clearly inspired by Durarara, and that’s a very good thing: there were lots of different characters, lots of stuff going on at the same time. It very much was an introduction episode, and this can still go anywhere, but I’m glad to see that this show tries so hard: so many characters are difficult to balance well, but they can get some very good stuff out of this when they manage to pull it off. Some minor complaints: this show has bad hacking going on, and for some reason they did manage to include a school in this series. There are a few cliches in this show that just seem to be there in order to look cool. I know that that’s exactly what this show is trying to do, but there is such a thing as taking things too far.
OP: Utterly gorgeous OP, plus a nice song from Angela.
Potential: 85%
Btooom!
Short Synopsis: Our lead character wakes up in a video game.
One of Madhouse’s specialties is adrenaline: creating those series that focus on building up this stuff. In that way, Btooom is the perfect series for them. It focuses on this teenager who ends up in a game world, but usually with these kinds of stories, the game is an RPG. This time, we’re talking about a full blown action game in which people kill each other with bombs. This is really what I’m looking for for a weekly dose of adrenaline: it got the emotions of the lead male right, combining bewilderment with this sense to survive. This episode already gave a bit of a taste of what the battles will be like, and they’re tense, but also completely unrealistic. It’s a missed opportunity that this series should have put some thought into its explosions, but right now they’re mostly plot devices. The soundtrack and animation are pretty solid though. I mean this isn’t going to win any awards, but if it can keep up this atmosphere then it’ll be pretty damn entertaining. Just handle the lead female with a bit of tact, okay?
OP: Quite stylish, but degenerates into a bit too much of a copy of other OPs as it goes along.
ED: Is that Chiaki Ishikawa? One of my favorite singers for these OPs and EDs. Not her best work, but still a great voice.
Potential: 75%
I think it was stated that the MC was like 22. I could be wrong
Btoom? yah he’s 22
The director is a girl, and the second episode handled the girl pretty well.
Lol, I thought it was Chiaki Ishikawa too at first, but it’s actually May’n – the one who sang Sheryl’s songs in Macross Frontier and the OP for the first season of Phi Brain.
Oh my god, I’m laughing so much my sides are hurting here. Really? K has 85% potential? Holy crap, that was one of the most horrible anime I’ve ever seen, and I’ve been watching them for roughly 25 years of my life :_D
It’s one of the few shows I’ve seen where everything was done poorly; from the visuals (with all that dumb green-blue tint and the terrible CG) to the characters and especially the script. OMG the script. Nothing is salvageable here. The K must be for “Kubo”, because this really is an even dumber version of Bleach- stuff happens at random, characters are as paperthin as it gets, and everything is geared toward creating something “cool” just for the sake of it… but in the end, it all falls flat on its face.
The more I read this blog, psgels, the more I realize your taste in anime is quite lacking. Or maybe you’re just very easily entertained and have really, really low standards. I’m not even trolling here: nobody can call himself an anime enthusiast and say with a straight face that K was good. Nobody. I would delete your blog from my bookmarks, but your opinions are so unbelievably removed from the truth that reading them is funny as hell. Keep on with the comedy man!
and if you look ahead you’ll see the metaphorical door, please exit through the left and don’t it hit your ass on your way out because it is invisible
So his taste is wrong and yours is RIGHT? lolk
nope, but he’s said he wanted leave, just being courteous
No, he said your opinions are unintentionally funny to read. If he likes to read them by all means he’s entitled to.
I’m just trying to save the man some precious time, cause it sounds like if he wants to continue to find the opinion funny, he’d have to to continue to watch a show that he think is crap, that’s a lose lose for everyone.
I haven’t watched the episode yet but who cares if he liked it and you didn’t. Go make yourself your own blog where you can trash K all you want. How does that sound. I don’t mind you having a different opinion, this is all part of an internet community. But don’t trash someone because he thinks differently. You didn’t like it, that’s fine. No need to be rude to psgels because he did like it.
you’re a dumb green-blue tint
@kiavik I see no valid reason why you insulted psgel the way you did. Given that you’ve lived more than 25 years, at this age you should be relatively mature enough now to know that people’s opinion and taste differs. But yes you are not quite grown up yet given the comment. If you truly think that your opinion is better, just create your own blog and stop reading psgel.
“Every frame of this episode looked utterly gorgeous”
Even those with the greenish glowing tint? Even the utterly orrible CGI?
“Beyond that though, this is a show that was clearly inspired by Durarara”
If Durarara was dull, full of cliches and with random useless bishies everywhere, maybe.
“I’m glad to see that this show tries so hard”
I’d say this show tries WAY TOO hard. And that’s why the first episode failed so miserably for me.
“There are a few cliches in this show that just seem to be there in order to look cool”
Yeah. And the other ton of cliches just seems to be there because the script is godawfully bad.
In conclusion, I found that the first episode of K was probably the most disappointing first episode I’ve EVER seen in my life. A ton of wasted potential, and nothing more.
I caught K yesterday, simply because some of its production staff are from the team that did Mardock Scramble (MS), which I love. You can definitely see hints of MS in it, especially with regards to how that ‘simulate’ photographic filters, lens distortion and how they add ‘noise’ to shadows and give everything that ‘cross-processed’ tint. Problem here is; unlike MS which pulled it off effortlessly, K’s trying way too hard to be cool. Kinda in the same vein shows like Haruhi and Bakemonogatari try way too hard to seem intelligent (and fail, imho).
As for the plot, it started out alright (if a bit generic), but went to shit the moment the protagonist appeared. Typical. Feels a bit like Durarara (another show which tried to hard). Also get vibes similar to that queer ninja anime (Nabari something).
Also, the animators seem to be playing way too much Tony Hawk.
So far, the only keeper for me this season is Shin Sekai Yori.
I laughed at the top rankings in Btooom being famous tennis players.
K is over the top, for sure, but what’s with the vehement reactions?
trolls
don’t feed them
I’m being totally serious here, Wicked. For me, K was a huge disappointment, and I don’t see any redeeming quality whatsoever in the first episode.
What do you really know about K? You saw one episode. You might as well just watch Bruce Wayne’s parent die and tell me this batman movie is terrible.
What’s that flame thingy, what’s with the swords, who’s that chick on the promo, why is the whole thing tinted? Is that white hair guy actually a girl?
I mean it’s cool if you have no patience, I dont really plan on following K that closely, you could be right you could be wrong, but snap judgement are what they are, do pawn it off to me like you’re the great seer of destiny
Yeah. But I didn’t judge the series. I said that the first episode was a colossal disappointment. Because it was. And that’s it. Never talked about the series as a whole.
Hell, I don’t even plan on watching the series after the first episode, because I thought it was horrible. Those were (I repeat it to be as clear as possible) just my opinions on the first episode.
…and I meant to write “Because for me it was”.
What I understand even less is how you could have expectations for a series that quite literally revealed nothing. You must have saw those CG in the promo, too. How do you criticize script when it didn’t even began to tell a story.
They were only referring to the first episode, slick.
Yet another person basing an entire anime off the first episode. K was weird, even I can admit that and not all the characters came off as people I want to watch for another 3 months, but that is not going to stop me from allowing the show to change my opinion.
It may not happen, but 2-3 episodes are absolutely necessary to truly judge an anime. If it still isn’t working for you after that then by all means stop watching it.
Earlier you said, “I found that the first episode of K was probably the most disappointing first episode I’ve EVER seen in my life.” Either you had RIDICULOUSLY high expectations or you have not seen very many truly bad anime.
Like some of the other commenters, I was very disappointed by K. I had high expectations of it, which probably makes it seem worse. It might well be able to improve itself in the next few episodes, so I’ll keep watching for a while longer. To me, the visuals seemed overdone and uncomfortable to watch (although pretty at times), the characters were generic and boring, the music was unremarkable, and it turns out that the female lead is a cat who’s going to spend lots of the time in human form naked.
JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure looks very promising. I’ll have to watch it.
Jojo that one fast pace adaptation without leaving any page from manga. even then it still good, but it kinda screw the timeline from the anime only viewer. At the time dio meet jojo, and the end of this episode it probably a years has past. however it feel like 1 week in anime
was years though it just exaggeration, i was meant to reply at Steelman
no burning danny… man are they going to leave the gore elements out of this?
I’m glad to hear that the first episode of JoJo was one of the best of the season. Can’t wait!
Seems like this will be a good season tbh ^^
Oh wow. They crammed 120+ manga pages in one episode. And I can’t say i disapprove – JoJo is among my most anticipated anime of the season, but let’s be honest, Part 1 is not exactly stellar. It’s Part 2 and 3 where the manga becomes exceptional.
Some things about K.
After the first scene, I was ready to bust out of my chair laughing at the ultra-bad, terribad, everything that had happened, but it redeemed itself slightly with the second half.
Also, the skate scenes were outrageous for me. Such pointless style-swapping; and it did look… borrowed, from some western video games (i dont want to say tony hawk, but i’ve seen this style before somewhere – and it’s pretty much the exact same camera angles). I did like that same stylistic direction in other parts, however, so i may just have some bias to skateboard..ers.
I’m a little worried about seeing that red-haired dude with the chain (chains were never cool) come back, tho.
And i’m almost done: Trying to look cool = failing to look cool, no matter how you put it. I mean… I could in some ways use subtle as a synonym for cool. If there’s anything we can all agree on, this show is not subtle.
Sorry for the blog post-reply on your blog, psgels 😛
Haha, lots of strong opinions on here! So I’ll just throw mine out there too, since it seems nobody has voiced similar thoughts yet..
I thought Jojo was absolutely awful – one of the worst things I’ve sat through in a long time. Granted, I’m not familiar with the source material or other incarnations, but to me it was an insult to my intelligence, and anime in general. The animation was terrible (like the low budget scenes from zetman), the acting was overdone, and most importantly the plot had no redeeming value. There’s the main kid who is a clueless idiot (who boxes, but can’t beat some random thugs over a doll??). There’s the way over the top villain who has no reason to be such an ass – the only thing he should be mad about is his dad waiting until his deathbed to send him to the rich family. (And both boys are supposed to be 12? Ha!) Dio way too easily destroys Jojo’s life – and the stuff with the dog was uncalled for. And then there’s that silly mask.. I don’t even want to know why the father keeps it. I’m assuming it will possess one of the boys, and hilarity ensues..
I mean… it comes across as a cheap spoof of anime cliches. I can’t see how that is entertaining.
You do realize this comes from a 1987 manga series, right? These cheap cliches are part of its retro charms, even if they seem completely silly today. It’s pretty much like calling Dragon Ball a generic battle shounen that you’ve seen countless times before. But that’s obvious, since now you have hundreds and hundreds of series influenced by it. Without the so called cheap cliches, lots of great stuff wouldn’t have been developed, and that’s one of the main reasons why I love retro stuff. They are usually outdated, simple and not as impressive as their modern counterparts, but that just makes me appreciate them even more.
No, as I said, I’m not familiar with the source material. “They are usually outdated, simple and not as impressive as their modern counterparts” – I don’t agree that because it is older that it should be inferior to later works. Classics are classics because they are great, not because they are old. For instance, the Studio Ghibli stuff from the 80’s: Nausicaa, Grave of the Fireflies, Laputa, etc are still amazing now. But watching something just because it is “retro” even though it sucks is not my idea of good entertainment.
“insult to anime in general” – your petty idealistic view of anime is showing, might want to choose an actual show that’s cliche for your insult, like the cute girls with tanks, cute girls as mini robots, harem with cats, just plain harem, high school girls SoL, reverse harem, harem butler, 4 shows on beyblades, middle school girls SoL, tennis school girls SoL, all of it, this season.
hurr durr, I can’t watch a show where the antagonist does antagonistic things. dio is trying to isolate jojo, why else does he kill his dog?
And both boys are supposed to be 12? – and konata’s supposed to be 18?
the animation was terrible – it’s david production, and it’s the only thing i’ll agree with you. jesus i hope you’re trolling in some way.
I agree that my standard for anime might be different from yours. Most of those cliche types you list, I avoid from the get-go. I don’t knowingly put myself through stuff I know I won’t like. You can usually tell from the promo art or description what the show will be about. But not in this case. I was expecting something more like Lupin, or Gankutsuou, or Man of 20 Faces.
Let me add that I don’t watch the first episodes of every series that comes out. I follow blogs like this one because I respect psgels judgment, and when he rates something higher than 75% or so, I’ll check it out.
As for your comments on my post:
“a show where the antagonist does antagonistic things” – doing antagonistic things for the sake of being the antagonist is plain bad writing. I’m ok with it if a reason is given. Why is Dio such an ass? Just bad genes? Or are we watching a Saturday morning cartoon here?
The age thing – Konata.. from Lucky Star, yes? I think we can safely say these shows are not related.. so what’s your point? Super-deformed might be another (modern) cliche used for comedic or cutesy effect, but I’m pretty this one is not supposed to be either.
Trolling? – sorry no, I’m here in all seriousness. The only thing trolling is this show, and possibly everyone who says it is amazing. (Sorry, that just slipped out..) I added my comments in the case somebody else makes the same mistake of checking this out without hearing the flaws. I’m just surprised nobody else has felt the same.
looking back, i may have been a bit rude on my part, and have lost my anger a bit.
The reason dio’s evil is already implied by the show. dude’s father was a drunken bastard which eventually lead to the death of his mom. he’s a dick to jojo due to jojo being rich and spoiled compared to having lived slums most of his life. Lastly it would be his ambition to rise to the top rather than becoming the shameful disgrace his father was, and taking down jojo is all part of it.
alright, he’s not exactly 12 year old looking. so how does this screw up the show?
how the heck did you expect lupin ganketsuou or twenty faces?
main character is a clueless idiot – character development to fabulous
over the top villain – fabulous effect
insult to anime – ignore the 50% of anime that get lower than 75% and still regard anime as worth insulting
Haha, I listed those three quickly because I was trying to come up with examples of the initial feel I got from the description and screenshots… atmospheric, artsy, action-mystery..
So, we don’t really need to argue about the details in this show anymore. I think it is established that it’s not my cup of tea. I might check out later reviews to see if it goes anywhere, but I don’t intend to follow it.
As for your last comment, I’m not sure I understand, “ignore the 50% of anime that get lower than 75% and still regard anime as worth insulting.” Just because I enjoy anime, doesn’t mean I have to like ALL anime. Sometimes they just suck.
You’re worse than that k shitposter. This is the best anime of the season and you missing out on all the fun because you’re fucking tasteless.
Hey Psgels, the ED is “Roundabout” by Yes, one of the greatest classic rock bands of all time.
sato: JoJo is one of those things that really deserves a look into as far as source material goes before you start laying on the criticism. Its the best shounen series of all goddamn time for Chrisakes. :/
Btooom! was okay, but there are some logical flaws… I think. Like you mentioned psgels: How the bombs (not) worked on the main character in battle. I kept thinking to myself “How the hell can he NOT be killed by this / stand up everytime again and again / still have all his limbs left on him?”. But I also found it VERY … let’s call baffling that it took him so long to figure out that he got frickin’ time bombs. Dude. There was a timer on it. What else should it have been? He even tested one before! I mean, when I as watcher, totally unfamiliar with military, weapons, bombs and such, can figure out that “strange little device with counter that ticks down and down” = “ITSA TIME BOMB” … Why can’t he, who seems like he’s having an interest in the whole thing. These bombs even are implemented in the game as he mentioned… 10th best player alright, huh ^^;; Of course he was thrown in the whole situation … but as I said, he tested one of them and SAW the counter and had the bomb explode before him… so yeah. Sorry, I’m rambling, but that was just too strange for me, that he suddenly went all like “omygosh those are TIME BAAAMBS?”
Also, did you notice at the end how he threw his controller into the fricking wall? XD What was that about? Either those walls in Japan are really not the most robust ones, or he has some scary inhuman powers in those gamer-arms!
I’ve punched through dry walls a couple times in my life, at the expenses of my knuckles, but if it’s not concrete, actually not so difficult.
First episode could have done better. For one thing, it didnt bother to explain that contact style bombs are the weakest in term of firepower because of it’s convenient nature(this showed up as a info sheet before the manga chapter). The other thing is that it should darker than what the anime portrayed, the two of them were never really able to fully make out the other much less the bombs, which why the psycho’s accuracy is horrible.
With his mental process. He just kidnapped, knocked out and threw onto a tropical island with a fanny pack full of contraption he’s never seen(obviously it looked different from the game). Who in their right mind would quickly make the connection immediately that this is exactly like the game I played? A psycho is chasing him with bombs trying to kill him in real life. Under stress, his mind is not processing how the bomb works. Bill Buckner played baseball so well that he made it into the big league as an everyday starter, he’s field grounders countless times it should be like breathing, 1986 World series, right through his leg.
Well of course there are walls that can be smashed easily. But for me, that was just too dramatic in that moment – A controller you angrily throw off in a not-so-concentrated way just should not stack to the wall like that, I just can’t cope with that! :D”
You’re right about that: At least darkness would’ve explained that the aim of the two was way off, causing the bombs to go off in places where the guys (luckily) were out of explosion-range. Well, it was dark later … and they were running through that jungle in panic and haste too … Of course this also leads to missing the target, but in the anime it was portrayed, like, the bomb fell to his foot, and he just flew some metres, without being harmed at all. That’s not aim-off, that’s aim-on. They just shouldn’t have placed the bombs/explosions so near at him – then I wouldn’t have any complains.
Like I said – *that* point I can understand, he’s just thrown out on this alien island, all by himself, someone’s chasing him down, etc. But he acutally tried these bombs out before, in a calm moment … he -saw- how they worked, and that time-counter. I don’t complain about him missing his opponent/forgetting to push the button the whole time – because under those circumenstances, that shouldn’t be surprising, also because he most likely never held a real bomb in his hands before – I was just baffled how he completely forgot about that counter at all and then exclaims so excitedly, that he has time bombs there. It should’ve made “click” in his head soon before when the bomb of his exploded on the beach. But, overthinking it: You’re completely right, in mental confusion, that’s an easy one to go wrong, especially with so many things going around at him at the moment, and he’s literally running away from his own death.
Still. I think, when it comes to such a series, where unrealistic things and circumenstances are all around (nobody will come and kidnap the 10 best players of some shooter MMO to let them fight with each other with real bombs… …I hope?), such things that need a sense of realism shouldn’t be thought too much on as well. 😐 When I as watcher sit there and just think to myself “already figure out what you’re holding there, damnit. stop whining about getting killed, you’ll live on, that’s the first episode”… I dunno. It was so predictable. Anime like to exaggerate, but when it comes to such simple things, they drag it out… Still, I’m not talking back to your opinion at all! I think, I just don’t like how it was executed. … yeah, I think, that was the point I was trying to make!
K that skateboard part pretty awesome, i’m impressed (even with the cgi background, plus the model itself most likely a rotoscoping ) the scene look particular familiar just cant point out what……
I agree with Psgels about K. First it’s great art, and one of the few animes that deserve viewing on a large HD screen. Music too.
Then it is true the characters are cliche, but masterfully so, they are made so over the top that it becomes poetry.
I will be looking forward for this.
Hmm… Once again we have different opinions, psgels.
Like so many others, I was also disappointed by K. I still liked Durarara and liked its coolness, but K just tried way too hard. I don’t like the annoying tint either, it’s disturbing to my eyes.
And the white haired MC. God, he was just so annoying to watch. I can barely keep up with the show once he appeared. That kind of character is what I hate the most in anime, a male who acts and sounds very odd and weird, to the point where you won’t actually find anyone in real life speaking and behaving like that, BUT no one seems to care about that fact and treated him as if he’s the most normal thing in the world (don’t get me wrong, I don’t have anything against feminine guys in general).
Putting that aside, the plot was very cliched, at least as far as I can see from the first episode. This ep really left lots of things to be desired.
Well, I’m still gonna check this out for one or two episodes before dropping it though, just in case I missed something.
The criticizing “opinions” about K are so hilarious to read .. you guys need both your eyes and heads checked …. i’m not saying its perfect but it pretty much one of the best animes this new season and probably this whole year (at least gives the impression it will be from its first episode), not only are the visuals are insane and top rank and no anime TV series in a long time had such impressive movie-quality visuals (almost as good as Mardock Scramble .. only few notches below), but they setup a very interesting ground for what’s to come and introduced a lot of characters (almost all the cast maybe except the naked floating cat girl) and gave us a hint at how impressive the fight scenes in the upcoming episodes will look like.
I can understand if you didn’t like the genre or not interested in this type of show .. but disappointed !!!! seriously what kind of %^&*%$ unrealistic expectations did you have people.
Oh .. and i noticed some people are tint sensitive .. poor kiddos can’t handle color tints XD
Not sure if we’re looking at the same thing, but the animation doesn’t look fluid to me. Well, the fight scenes were cool and amazing but it doesn’t look movie quality at all, at least to me.
I was disappointed because the show is not what I expected it to be, judging from psgels’ review. I didn’t have any interest in this show before psgels gave it such a high rating, but in the end, I didn’t like it as much as him. That’s why I was ‘disappointed’. Not sure how it matters to you if I and a few others are disappointed or not, but I explained my reasons anyway. Also, notice that I never said the show was ugly or bad. It’s all about ‘disappointed’ or ‘don’t like’. It’s heavily subjective.
For the tint, I think we all (including you) know what I meant when I said ‘the tint is disturbing to my eyes’. Look, if you didn’t like spicy foods, am I right to laugh at you and say “poor kiddos can’t handle spicy foods XD”. The fact that I’m not the only one complaining about the tint proves that there are a lot who don’t like their decision to air the show completely in that color. There are of course, just as many people who liked it the way it is. But at least I wasn’t belittling anyone with their taste.
If you can legitimately hold an opinion of being pleased by the first ep, then other people can legitimately hold the opinion of being disappointed by it. Otherwise the only reaction people would be allowed would be “this was exactly what I expected it would be and I feel neutral about it”.
Enjoyment and interpretation of media is subjective. Sensible adults realise this and do not go on furious rants when they find people didn’t enjoy an episode as much as they did. Seriously, your comment above basically says that the only explanation you can comprehend without becoming enraged for someone not liking K’s first ep as much as you did is if they just don’t like the genre the show is in as a whole. Nope, subjectivity exists, and you should get used to it.
So according to the people here, K has the worst visuals, worst script, and worse characters. Holy Cow.
I doubt Btooom! ED was sung by Ishikawa Chiaki, the voice is more like May’n ‘s……..
Uwaaah. Miyuki Sawashiro is actually voicing psycho kid. >.>; She’s been in like every anime lately and even a lot of the games I’ve been playing. Now every time I run into her voice again, I’m gonna think of this blood soaked psycho kid. I should have dropped this show when I had the chance. =.=;