The Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-chan
Short Synopsis: Haruhi without Aliens, time travelers or espers.
I certainly watched something. And that something wasn’t Haruhi. Sure the characters look similar and bare the same names but are so different they may as well be different people altogether. Kon isn’t narrating or being a deadpan snarker. Nagato is nothing like her counterpart. Asakura isn’t being a psycho smiling doll and green hair isn’t laughing her head off at everything. Only one who’s the same is Mikuru but maybe because she’s the only one that didn’t need to be Moefied. I said before that I don’t see the point of this and I still don’t. Really this just looks like an attempt to capitalise on Haruhi’s success by turning it into something blander and more forgettable. Sure you could write me off saying that I don’t like it because its different but quite frankly this story could be done without using Haruhis characters. Change the character designs and few would make the connection. The point is, that judging it as a standalone anime this is nothing significant at all.
Potential: 10%
Highschool DxD BorN
Short Synopsis: I watch this for the plot.
Oh you shameless vixen. I want to hate you and yet I cannot. High school DxD brings what it has brought for two seasons before. Boobs and butts and bare bones animated action. I think its it not that fun being an anime fan if you can’t enjoy something stupid every now and again. And this show is stupid in spades and shows it proudly. I just wish the animators could put a little more effort into the action pieces. With two assuming successful seasons you would think there would be a budget for beefing up the battles. But perhaps that went to another area… So purely for the interests of science I will watch it to its conclusion.
Potential: 0%
Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha ViVid
Short Synopsis: A girl receives her first magical device as a mysterious woman is attacking people in town.
This looks to have the same problem as Nanoha Strikers. Namely characters from previous seasons are dragging down the story. These characters have already completed their arcs so adding them in just amounts to fan service. This results in the cast being bigger than it needs to be and complicating the story because it needs to involve all these characters. Nanoha is best kept simple and fun. The previous seasons were not known for epic storytelling after all. But it is interesting that Vivio is a magical girl that focuses mainly on physical attacks and close range fighting. It differentiates her from her mother who was more a long range fighter. The character designs are a little rough on the eyes but animation looks solid. Its hard to gauge so far but it does have that fluffy easy going atmosphere of the original.
Potential: 50%
