Some Quick First Impressions: Nil Admirari no Tenbin – Teito Genwaku Kitan, Caligula and Cutie Honey Universe

Nil Admirari no Tenbin – Teito Genwaku Kitan

Short Synopsis: A girl joins a group of pretty boys that search for cursed books

Aidan’s review

I will give credit where credit is due and say that this certainly is better than what I usually expect from an Otome adaption. But better as in only slightly. The same problems are here, the main character is too bland, we have a boy band cast of stereotypical pretty boy Otome tropes and they all have an interest in the main character because she has some super special power that was handed to her from birth. The cursed tome aspect could be somewhat interesting but both the Opening and Ending sing a clear tune of “Look at these boys, aren’t they neat? Which of them should I get in my sheets?” I am fully expecting this to go downhill fast with the second episode.

Potential: 10%

 

Mario’s review

One thing that really irks me towards this first episode of Nil Admirari is the misfired usage of dramatic effects. Why rely on such obvious technique when you can convey the same thing more subtle? It’s an otome game adaptation so naturally we have a team of hot boys with no personality here. Gosh, this genre and boy idol shows are my kryptonite. It sucks out my energy and my ability to think clearly. Otome adaptation, on the other hand, can boost a good central female character who can think independently and if they use the tropes right, it could serve as a serviceable reverse-harem show. This show certainly has none of the latter, but the lead girl has some pretty solid development here. Her issues with her brother is nothing stellar, but what makes her character work is what comes after. She constantly blames herself and eventually comes to term with it (I particularly like the visual metaphor of her getting herself bleed by the thorn of the roses. In your face I know but it speaks right to her mentality there).  Another little thing I like about this show is the setting of old Japan in early 20th century. While I do like the concept of “cursed tomes” being the books that can possess people, although the implication so far of that neat idea is tenuous. It’s more as a basis for the team of hot guys and gals performs their cool jobs. As it turns out, I enjoy many little extra ingredients, but the main ones: the cases, the reverse-harem and THOSE BOYS turn me off. As such I think this one will turn out mild and serviceable at best.

Potential: 20%

 

Caligula

Short Synopsis: A boy finds his reality breaking apart after he listens to an idol song

Aidan’s review

Girl, Johari’s window isn’t complex psychology, it’s just that this guy sucks at explaining it. Also myopia is nearsightedness and as someone with myopia I can tell you that I don’t need a long winded analogy about a fish tank to explain that to people. Weirdly while I stated that you would be better off watching Persona instead of this, this episode was actually was much better than persona was. Up until the last few minutes I was legitimately interested. I mean sure the main character is a hipster dumbass who thinks he’s a psychologist because he looked up some wikipedia articles but the general disjointed nature of his reality was quite intriguing. Why did his female friends mother go from dangerously thin to beautifully young? Why do people act zombielike whenever the MC brings up the topic of his inconsistencies with reality? Up until the last few minutes I was considering watching beyond the first episode on personal curiosity. Then the video game part of this game adaption appeared with dumb looking RPG enemies popping up and what looks to be an evil idol singer. Got a firm feeling this show hit its peak with this episode and it will be all downhill from here but still that was a pretty good effort.

Potential: 30%

 

Mario’s review

Well, I certainly didn’t expect Caligula’s first episode turn out that way. Not that I think it will become a solid one, given the main meat isn’t that promising, but for this premiere alone I can offer 3 solid reasons why this episode is worth checking out. First, the blurred line between dream/reality is explored here, and while it goes for the Matrix route – which I am not entirely keen of – I’m glad to see it make good use of this conflict (I am a fan of Satoshi Kon’s works for a reason). Second, Caligula methodically creating a sense of disorienting, making viewers feel uncomfortable in the right way about something seems off in that world. I particularly like the use of “glitch” that for me feel much more uncanny than any pure horror (I hail Lain as one of my most favorite anime for a reason). Finally, the show has a good sense when it comes to scenes transition while jumping across many characters through the use of match-cuts or repeated dialogues. This is HOW you make your story flows well in visual medium so kudos for a show that based from video game that understand it. But then all these innovative points come crashing at the end with the full-blown action that makes me scratching my head. The main lead is one of the worst lead of this season so far, always spouting philosophical nonsense every chance he opens his mouth that it’s irritating to hear and based from the direction at the end, I feel the first episode was just one-off occurrence and the story will be more conventional from now on. Which is a real shame since this first episode totally grabbed my attention.

Potential: 60% for this episode alone and 30% for the real potential.

 

Cutie Honey Universe

Short Synopsis: An Android girl called Cutie honey fights off an evil organization

Aidan’s review

How am I to judge this show. It certainly has a lot of yuri, and not yuri undertones, more like actual yuri. This is Go Nagai at his most shameless and I find myself in two minds over it. Certainly the story has not aged well at all and is trashy as all hell. Yet it is a manga that inspired a lot of future works, most notably the famous Sailor Moon. Much like Sailor Moon there is a certain charm to this show. It’s bright, colourful, ridiculous and poppy. Though it seems a lot of people are quite angry that they changed the Opening theme that Cutie Honey has had for every single interaction of her show. Having watched that opening I admit that it’s catchy tune would have been perfect for cashing in on nostalgia. Still this seems like a warts and all kind of reboot when I feel the better option would be the route of Devilman Crybaby which took the material and adapted it for a new audience. Still I might watch this for cultural reference….I swear I am not watching for the boobs.

Potential: 40%

 

Mario’s review

Welcome to the trashiest anime show of the season. There are two qualities of this updated version that carry on the spirit of uncle Go Nagai’s works: flashy and horny. The level of fanservice is up to the max: with horny girls kissing each other, fighting that results in Honey nearly shredding her clothes, bondage as a punishment and so on so forth. To be fair, the show embraces those fan-services so passionately and energetically that it’s hard to fault them for that. It looks exactly like the kind of entertainment came out 30 years ago, with more over the top and surprisingly well-made production. Story is told in bare minimum, the dialogues are full of nonsense (glaring example: “sure take gall to do that in the middle of the afternoon”) and even Honey is just there to fight sexy busty Thundercat copycats in her gym suit, but nevermind since we all know what we’re here for: to watch Honey fights sexy busty Thundercat copycats in her gym suit. And for that I would argue there’s inherently nothing wrong with a show that understands – and is proud of – its own DNA.

Potential: 30%