Nagasarate Airantou
Short Synopsis: A typical loser ends up on an island with only young girls.
Good: Could have become good…
Bad: …if it didn’t have the most horrible concept to work with, didn’t include the main character, blood-noses or fanservice, didn’t seem to think that a guy screaming, getting beaten-up, hurt or getting chased was the funniest thing ever, etc.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 5/10
It took me a while to figure out that “Airantou” is actually a horrible katakanification of the word “island”. Obviously, I think that my opinion on this one is clear by now. Okay, I do admit I chuckled at some parts, I liked it when the characters went crazy, and the evil smiles had potential. But why the heck did the creators find beating up the main character over and over and over and over again funny? It’s horribly dull and his screaming and nose-bleeds are some of the most annoying scenes ever. If the annoying parts are scrapped (including the horrible concept) though, this could make quite an interesting anime, but unfortunately that’s not going to happen. Definitely dropped.
Romeo x Juliet
Short Synopsis: Juliet, a former princess now lives underground, in the same city where she used to live. There she gets saved by a boy: Romeo.
Good: Nice production-values, great ED
Bad: …Gonzo…grmblrg…..
Overall Enjoyment Value: 7.5/10
Okay, I may only have read certain parts of the book, the beginning not included, but I doubt that this first episode was very true to the book. For starters, I never recall Juliet having lost her throne. Someone once commented about how Gonzo likes to add their own elements to the stories they adapt, and only now I realize what that means. Heck, if I’m not mistaken, William Shakespeare even makes a cameo-appearance. I don’t think I’m happy about these changes. In one thing, it did make the story more generic. I was looking forward to seeing this, as the book featured a type of storytelling that you don’t usually see in anime. I also definitely do hope that Gonzo won’t be thinking of a different ending. I’d love to see such an ending, which makes perfect use of the different character’s weaknesses: their naivety. Les Miserables proved that staying true to the book doesn’t mean a bad thing, and I’m fearing that Romeo x Juliet will somehow ruin this classic, in an attempt to make it “mainstream”. Still, the episode itself wasn’t bad if you see it as just another anime, and not “another Romeo and Juliet story”.
Gigantic Formula
Short Synopsis: Somewhere in the near-future, each major country possesses one strong mecha, which fight each other. Two children end up piloting Japan’s.
Good: Excellent production values, beautiful character-designs.
Bad: Makey no sensey.
Overall Enjoyment Value: 6.5/10
It’s such a pity. If I had to guess, then the creators spent lots of effort to create some very high-quality graphics, music and scenes, only to realize that they ran out of budget to hire a decent writer. The graphics look amazing in this one, but it just makes no sense. I kept wondering how two children can end up piloting such an important mecha, but it appears that all of them are very highly skilled. Even more than normal adults. I really do hope that the future episodes will give some explanation about why these characters are so skilled, as they need every little piece of background they can get after this first taste of the series. Thankfully, near the end of the episode we got a small flash of the history of the main character, but that definitely was not enough. At all.]]>
Some quick first impressions: Nagasarete Airantou, Romeo x Juliet and Gigantic Formula
‘Romeo x Juliet’ didn’t really ruin the original story by “mainstreaming” it… simply because the anime so far has absolutely ZERO connection to the ‘Romeo and Juliet’, except for some names (but even some other names come from other Shakespeare plays). Which doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a bad show, but it annoys me that they boast with the title and Shakespeare’s name when the story has nothing to do with the original play.
That indeed annoys me as well. You could have just called the story “Takumi x Sakura”, and nobody would know that it’s actually a Romeo and Juliet-story. It’s a bit like what the hollywood-directors are doing at the moment: making films about great guys in history, which have nothing to do with the lives of these guys at all. Giving it a known name makes people unfortunately want to check it out. I hope it won’t be this extreme with this story, though.
I always found the original Romeo and Juliet play dreadfully boring when I had to read it in school. If anything I think the changes Gonzo makes may make it more interesting. I just hope they dont pull out random mech battles, like what they did in their count of monte cristo adaptation…
Although I admit that Shakespeare was a brilliant writer, I’ve always hated his stories. I honestly hope Gonzo makes all the changes they can.
I agree with demi – I’m an avid reader, but I couldn’t stand a lot of Romeo and Juliet for the boredom factor (didn’t help that there were so many soliloquys, which I doubt an anime would do…). It isn’t even that I dislike Shakespeare; Macbeth is okay and I enoyed Twelfth Night. It just sounds more interesting this way imo… it’s certainly sounds more like my type of thing.
I’m totally ok with Gonzo changing the story, as they did with Gankutsuou (one of my favourite anime).
hmm just watched gigantic formula… those kids’ huge irises kinda freak me out. and the main character’s mouth opens weird when he talks. but i’m still interested in why greek statue heads(or whatever) can become mecha and will probably watch more, lol