Kurozuka
Short Synopsis: Our lead character meets a mysterious woman who lives in the forest, while fleeing for people who are out to kill him.
Highlights: A LOT to like, a LOT to dislike
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10
I must say that I watched this right after being pumped up with adrenaline from Mouryou no Hako, so this series may have had a bit of an unfair advantage. Still, with that bit of adrenaline, I really loved this episode: the production-values are just awesome, the OP is the best of the season, the mysterious post-apocalyptic-samurai-setting sounded very interesting, and the horror-styled storytelling was excellent, and it keeps you on your toes. Still, there were a few things that might hurt this series in the future, so despite these excellent bits, I’m not going to label this series as among the best of the season yet. The thing that needed the most work was the cast of characters. They’re not fleshed out well enough, and the development was a bit too soon. The kiss came from nowhere, and especially the way that the lead character just “forgave” the woman that she brutally killed his partner. There’s also the superhuman powers that are a bit on the weak side, especially the way that the main character seemed to be virtually fine after being stabbed multiple times, among which in the stomach. What this series needs to do is the following: flesh out the characters; show different sides of them; show what they’re doing when they’re not on a mission. This premise is too good to be ruined by a faulty cast!
Bihada Ichizoku
Short Synopsis: Our lead character is the prettiest girl in the world.
Highlights: Mary Sue! Mary Sue! Mary Sue!
Overall Enjoyment Value: 1,5/10
Ooh… the pain. The horrible, horrible pain! Who the hell writes this rubbish? I was pretty sure that Rosario to Vampire would take up the title of “worst first episode of the season”, and I’m so NOT pleased to see this series beat it. Really, it feels like this episode was directed by someone without any experience at all, someone who’d probably never even seen a proper anime or movie. That and a schedule that was way too tight are probably the only thing that could possibly explain the crap that’s supposed to be storytelling. Those glowy-eyes were probably the worst about this episode. For God’s sake, did nobody ever point out to the creators that that absolutely doesn’t work?
Stitch!
Short Synopsis: Our lead character meets a mischievous alien.
Highlights: Obviously aimed at children, but strangely charming.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 7/10
Let me make use of this chance by saying that I absolutely HATE Disney’s western TV-series, based on their famous franchises. They’re nearly always just cheap rip-offs of their original franchises, that use just the names and characters to get people to watch them, they’ve got a mediocre and often stupid plot and there’s no room for character-development because then they’d fall out of the line with their original character. So no, I wasn’t looking forward to this one at all, especially after having seen its western counterpart. Though I have to admit: the set-up that the eastern creators chose for does allow for character-development. This episode very much established the bond between Yuuna (yes: Yuuna; not Lilo) and Stitch, and this bond between them has all the potential to grow. There’s an interesting sense of innocence between the two, and they feel like children. Unfortunately, this series downright sucks when it attempts action-scenes. They’re way too energetic and unrealistic to be taken seriously, and the bad guys are just way too stereotypical.
“The kiss came from nowhere” is actually better from “The sex came from nowhere” in Kurozuka the manga.
Waw, 1.5 XD, must be really awfull series
For Kurozuka, I was so surprised by the names of Yoshitsune and Benkei…cause these people are real in Japanese history(specifically Kamakura period). Both of them are quite famouse so I hope the creators don’t go too far with bias…
Agh. The Kurozuka raw from TT had such a shitty resolution. Hope the raw providers can come up with higher quality than that in the future, because it is quite cool visually.
Something tells me the animation/design staff for this must have some similar entries with Death Note-especially going on the OP.
After watching the first ep of “Bihada Ichizoku”, I can’t say it’s a rubbish , well it’s a completely shoujo anime however there’s some interest in it and it’s a strikingly new subject nearly never spoken about in anime( not the ones I know ). That’s jealousy between sisters, that was rather interesting, even if put in a dull way ( the laughter of the sister at the end was quite inappropriate, I must admit, the two servants were quite stupid too, but it’s all i can blame them for, the charach design was fine )but I really enjoyed it even if it’s too short( 9 min isn’t enough for an anime and its dvpt), but as I say it is a theme I enjoyed for personnal reason. I wish it’d follow some tragic path though , I don’t want some foolish comedy. We’ll see.
First (cause it’s my first comment) I must praise you a little.) This is the only anime-blog I regulary read. So, thanks for your hard work! But still, go and watch 1ep. of Kurozuka once again. If it was his companion se killed, then who appears on 20th minute? And, by the way, here’s some info on original Kurozuka Noh play I found: http://www.theatrenohgaku.org/projects/2004_e.php Could be interesting.
Uh, for your info on kurozuka, his ‘best friend’ betrayed him so I don’t think he’s very much bothered about the woman killing him off brutally.