Saikyou Busho-den Sangoku Engi
Short Synopsis: Our lead character is another famous character from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms novel.
I was not looking forward to this series at all. With all of the cheesy adaptations that have been done before, I had pretty much given up hope for this franchise. But damn, this episode had some of the best animation of the new season. There are hardly any still frames, everything is moving like it should. The animation is still a bit jerky at times, but it’s so much better than just show a bunch of talking heads whose mouths move up and down, or only move three or four frames each scene. The storytelling itself was a bit rushed and the characters tended to overact, but wow, this actually has some potential.
OP: Matsumoto Leiji homage?
ED: Decent ballad.
Potential: 50%%
Arakawa Under the Bridge
Short Synopsis: Our lead character ends up living under a bridge with a cute girl.
I did a little check. In two years, most directors are able to handle two or three series, right? Well, in the same timespan Shinbo has done a whopping TWELVE of them, excluding four OVAs. At this point I’ve pretty much given up on trying to watch him delivering some half-assed product, just for one or two good episodes that might or might not come. This episode ultimately was dull. I usually like a lot of dialogue, but this time it was ruined by a hopelessly overacting lead character (it also didn’t help that he had exactly the same voice as a ton of other Shinbo-lead characters). The humour overall was predictable and hardly ever funny. With the high standard of the rest of this series, is there really a reason to continue watching this series? If there is, then please enlighten me because at this point I’m way too biased to give Shinbo’s series a fair chance.
Potential: 0%
Hime Chen! Otogi Chikku Idol Lilpri
Short Synopsis: Our lead character is destined to be the legendery Little Princess. Get it? Lilpri. Little Princess. *har har*
As if this season couldn’t get any better, even the cheap mahou shoujo which I initially wrote off as just another Jewel Pet clone turns out to be much more enjoyable than I imagined. And don’t get me wrong, the story behind this series is utterly terrible. All of the fairy tale princesses are disappearing and because fairy tales can’t live without their princesses the queen of fairy land sets three animals out to wake up the “super miracle idols” (an actual quote from the dialogue. It sounds every bit as silly as it looks) who are supposed to very vaguely represent Sleeping Beauty, Snow White and Kaguya-hime, in order to get them to sing horribly cheesy songs in front of live audiences. This premise is just… stupid beyond all belief. Even for kids’ show standards! And yet, despite such a cheesy plot, there’s one thing that this series did surprisingly well: the chemistry. The cheese and the characters made this into a surprisingly fun series to watch. The three lead kids in this series are surprisingly likable (and actually sound and act like real kids. I loved the part in which the animal sidekicks were looking for their princesses, and just dismissed the lead characters because they were too young.
OP: Don’t tell me they’re going to sing this in every episode?
ED: TOO. MUCH. SUGAR.
Potential: 30%
Not disagreeing with you about the whole Shindo thing, but 12? Even counting the OVA, he only directed seven series between 2007-2009.
This is with the sequels included as multiple series, not just one.
I think I’d still rather watch Romance of the Three Kingdoms in Mandarin. *-* Judging by how I prefer the Chinese OP to Japanese OP. orz
yes,I believe that your opinon on Arakawa is extremely biased due to your disappointment of Shinbo lately.
i found myself laugh a lot and charmed to its eccentric-ness.Oh wait,the manga has the same author as Saint Young Men…
Don’t think or look so serious at Arakawa under the bridge.It totally insane show.(Like Shinbo) With kappa and the girl from Venus and totally insane male lead.
But Ok. I get laugh form it. So…I will watch it for laugh only. ONLY !!
Arakawa’s been getting good ratings from everyone except for Psgels; giving it 0% potential is a bit ridiculous, especially because he does still rate “bad” shows 70% in his reviews.
But I get that he hates Shinbo now… so maybe he would’ve been better off not previewing it at all rather than previewing it unfairly?
Arakawa under the bridge wasn’t bad. I found it mildly amusing. It could turn into a decent comedy/gag series. I think it deserved a 50% potential.
But I can’t really blame you for your bias against shinbo. He really needs to do an awesome series to prove that he is a good director, after all these mediocre shows he has put out, and Arakawa (while it wasn’t as bad as say, vampire bund) isn’t it.
uhhh Shinbo hasn’t done anything good since basically season 1 of Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei. The guys got a lot of potential, but just seems to busy pleasuring himself with his almost-loli porn to make anything decent.
I agree with you on Arakawa. I didn’t laugh even once.
Of course, one of the reasons I’m so biased is that I know how good Shinbo can be when he really tkaes his time to try out something unique. I used to be a fan of him, around three years ago when he still produced series at a fairly steady pace, Sayonara Zetsubou-Sensei’s first season for example was a hilarious comedy series and SoulTaker was an excellent mystery-series. Arakawa on the other hand only got a few chuckles out of me.
I’m still a huge fan of Natsu no Arashi, but otherwise, in total agreement.
Shinbo is a hands-off director. While he’s the team’s face and the guy with the basic vision, someone else always runs the show (and I’d guess that the overarching supervision has gotten looser over time given the busy schedule).
That’s how his name can appear on so many series. While most directors are intimately involved with production (i.e. discussing each episode with the respective episode director, touching up the storyboards as they come in, checking the animation, working with post-production editors, etc. Most directors also storyboard and direct a few episodes too), SHAFT always hires other people to do that.
A 0% on Arakawa is overly harsh in my opinion. I thought the dialogue was entertaining enough by itself.
ever since i read this.. i had mixed emotions about watching Arakawa…i really thought it would be horrible…but it wasnt….IT WAS PRETTY DAMN HILLARIOUS
“ever since i read this.. i had mixed emotions about watching Arakawa…i really thought it would be horrible…but it wasnt….IT WAS PRETTY DAMN HILLARIOUS”
psgels taste is very idiosyncratic. STAR CROSSED ANIME is great for finding shows that other blogs ignore (e.g., BIRDY DECODE). On the other hand, psgel often dismisses very worthy shows (or promotes ones that no but the author seems like).
If psgel dislikes a popular show, it’s probably still good …and if psgel loves a completely ignored show, it is usually either excellent or utter crap, but either way, it’s probably worth watching at least once.
Arawaka Under The Bridge is hilarious. The best comedy of the season, and my favorite spring show alongside Ichiban Ushiro no Dai Maou. Definitely recommend checking it out.
Anyway, i’m looking forward to watching Saikyou Busho-den Sangoku Engi later on.
arawaka under the bridge wasn’t bad, it was actually quite funny and the gags weren’t predictable, some of them aren’t. anyway, giving it a 0% was too much and well giving Lilipri 30% is a little too much also.
I had many doubts about Arakawa. I planned to give this series no chance, as I saw this kappa-guy the first time – he looks so ridiculous. But after reading on other sites, that the series was great, I gave it a try and was very surprised to found myself REALLY enjoying it. I think it is very funny, and I have seen maaany comedys, so it’s very hard to make me laugh. To shorten this up: Arakawa – what a surprise – is one of my top favourites this season.
I’ll agree with you on Arakawa. For most of the episode I found myself staring at the screen, thinking, “Is this supposed to be funny?” I mean, it got a few mild chuckles out of me, but other than that… I mean, I actually fast-forwarded to the ending because I was bored!
Arakawa is definitely the most typical of the Shaft comdies directed by Shinbo. If you typically don’t like his style, then you’ll have no reason to watch this show. However, if you do like that style of show, then you’ll definitely enjoy yourself.
Everybody has different tastes. I consider myself a Shinbou fan, but both Zetsubou Sensei and Natsu no Arashi leave me cold; I’m lukewarm so far with Arakawa; and I loved both Bakemonogatari and Vampire Bund.
I agree wholeheartedly with you about Lilpri: totally cheesy and unexpectedly entertaining. I got into the swing of it and even shed tears. The girls’ seiyuus are terrible but perfect, and they can sing.
people are already bashing sengoku’s engi animation but that’s just because they’re all weaboos anyway unable to enjoy anything that isn’t made by the japanese.
i can understand. lol bakemonogatari overall was lame. especially at the end. lol it just stopped one episode before it’s final.
maybe this series will be crap later. but so far, i give it an 75. >.>
by “this”, up there, i mean Arakawa Under the Bridge.
I have seen a lot of shallow, empty headed, pseudo intellectual, reviews or wannabe reviews in my day, but you take the cake. Star Crossed? More like Little Yellow School Bus crossed.
Good bye and good riddance!