Some Quick First Impressions: Kill La Kill, Golden Time and Outbreak Company

Kill La Kill

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is on a quest for revenge.
This is awesome. In the past half year, it was obvious which was the series with the best animation: Shingeki no Kyojin just beat everything. This time though, there are tons of studios who are competing with each other with their best, all in their own ways. We’ve already had Kyoani, Gohands and Toei, here we have Trigger, and we’re most likely going to see awesome stuff from Tatsunoko, Manglobe, A-1, Mappa and Studio Deen. So much eye candy! Kill La Kill also has awesome graphics: the action is just terrific and it just keeps on coming, and on top of that we have the just bizarre sense of humour that the creators have, featuring tons of senseless violence and nudity (both male and female). The story is simple, but it can still grow over 26 episodes to become more than just a “lots of style, no substance”-series. You need to like lots of action though, otherwise this isn’t a series for you. You can also see that Kill La Kill is a throwback to the eighties and nineties, with the absurdly powerful student council that was very often used, combined with the much more cartoonish character designs.
ED: Just some characters, but I expected some more of the song.
Potential: 85%

Golden Time

Short Synopsis: Our lead character enters his first day at college.
Golden Time! Please: keep up the level of this first episode! Don’t be one of those comedies that blow their entire load on their first episode, but keep your wit. Keep your characters at this combination between down to earth and absolutely bonkers! Keep that balance! Keep playing with your mood, the way you did in this episode. Because seriously, if you manage that for your entire run, then we’ve got a comedy classic. If not… then this is just Hataraku Maou-sama with worse animation. This first episode though: really surprised me with how funny it was. The humour was actually quite clever and it *gasp* built up its jokes. It was exceptionally good at delaying its jokes: you knew they were coming, but just delaying it made things even funnier than what they already were. It’s a show with a small budget and not many great animators, but they actually did a pretty good job to make things work. Plus some effective use of the simple soundtrack made the above mentioned mood swings work really well. But yeah: it’s all going to depend on whether they can keep this up or not. There have been plenty and plenty of series that just went downhill after hilarious first episodes. I’d give this show a 50/50 chance of that happening.
OP: Very thickly laid on cheese on the J-Pop.
ED: A bit weird considering the context of the series.
Potential: 80%

Outbreak Company

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is the legendary otaku savior who has to cultivate the simple-minded who know nothing about moe.
In all of the years I’ve been watching these first episodes, I can’t recall any other series that was as blatantly kissing the asses of its own audience as this one. They really went out of their way to make this dream as wet as possible without resulting to porn for any otaku watching this series (or at least, what the creators think are otaku…). Escapism at its worst, creating a fantasy world in which the main character’s otaku self is celebrated, all because he once got rejected for being one (though granted, having watched this guy for an episode, that probably wasn’t the only reason she rejected him). The acting may not be the worst or anything, but here is the thing with this series: to someone who isn’t an otaku like myself, all this series does is reafferm, if not worsen, the stereotypes that I have of otakus. The male lead is a really unlikable guy, and if they just keep going on about how he’s living inside his own world, rejecting reality, then this show really is not helping to lessen the biases people have here.
OP: Bland J-pop, nothing outstanding.
ED: Again bland J-pop.
Potential: 0%

25 thoughts on “Some Quick First Impressions: Kill La Kill, Golden Time and Outbreak Company

  1. Same studio who did garbage like Mayo Chiki, Yosuga no Sora, Kiss x Sis and Da Capo. Can’t say i really expected much from this.

  2. Actually, you are an otaku. Not of the type who buys lot of merchandising or has 2D “waifus”, but of the “watch a lot of anime” type.

    Watching all the first episodes that air is pretty “otakuish”.
    You even watch the ones that doesn’t really fit your tastes (and you make previews of them, so you should know what to expect).

    Casual viewers just watch what they find interesting after reading a preview or by recommendation.

    1. I found it very funny psgels was always denying that he is in fact an otaku. However he seems to be highly biased about what real otaku actually look like, not the over-exaggerated stereotypes presented in anime.

  3. kill la kill reminded me of medaka box. also interesting that medaka box was a gainax show and kill la kill has a lot of former gainax talent. liking the show so far, although im not a big fan of the school setting.

  4. I’m actually a fan of Golden Time’s author. Maybe not the genre she specializes in, but more her writing style. She just has this way of getting you to relate to her characters, even if you’ve got nothing in common with them. Having said that, her work doesn’t quite translate to anime all that well, imho, and I wonder how they’re going to cram 7+ LN volumes (it’s still ongoing) into 12/13 episodes and do it any justice. Plus, unless the LN is ending in a volume’s time (which I can’t see happening), they’ll have to give it an anime-original ending.

    Just started the Kill la Kill download. Will probably watch it on the weekend. Looks alright. Never heard of Outbreak Company, and after reading your synopsis, I can’t say I’m all that interested anyway.

    1. haha psgels golden time is awesome you’ll see xD it has a partial supernatural element as well plus Kaga Kouko is a excellent character though your a bit wrong their golden time isn’t a comedy by design its basically a drama with bits of comedy.

      1. Toradora was an awesome series, and it’s from the same author. Golden Time also has a more adult setting. It’s just a shame it doesn’t seem to have as high production values as toradora had.

        I’m still pretty certain that it will be a good series though.

    2. They can do it, since its a 2 core series now, its been confimred for 24 episodes now. Sakurasou managed to do 7 volumes in 24 episodes so it should not be much of a problem.

  5. Kill la Kill has that same over-the-top, balls-to-wall F**K IT attitude that made ‘pure entertainment’ shows like Gurren Lagaan and Code Geass great. It has potential to be another big hit if it can maintain the same output (which is difficult and not many shows pull off)

  6. Kill la Kill is great and is all of the best of former gainax put together. It’s insane and so fun to watch, I can’t wait to see how it turns out.

  7. I didn’t find Golden Times very funny. It is rather one of those shows that spends its time saying “I’m funny” than being actually funny.

    And although they chose a university, the mental age of the students doesn’t seem different than in your average high-school comedy.

    1. It’s adapted from a light novel that is romance and drama before comedy so not very unexpected. I might have to agree on the mental age thing since when reading it, it really didn’t give me that feeling. I think they tried to make the jokes stand more out, losing some of the seriousness of the original.

  8. Loved Golden Time’s first episode, but I did find something quite strange… the male lead looks %100 generic. I don’t mean “I’ve seen this character 100 times in other anime”, I mean his face shows up EVERYWHERE on background characters.

    There were at least 3 instances where I did a double take because it cut to a random scene with the “main character” being shown talking to random people, then it cuts back to him. But it’s just a background character. One that looks exactly like him.

    I’m trying to determine if this is intentional or not…

    1. I think it’s pretty obvious they are doing it do make him seem more generic than Yanassan and Kouko and everyone else who excels at something.

  9. Outbreak Company is actually good for the first episode. How is the character unlikable? He’s not being an outright asshole. Sure he gets giddy at the sight of anime stereotypes but I’m expecting good things out of this anime. And for production values, you’ll be surprised at how good looking the show is. It’s not triple A animation but effort was put into it.

  10. I’m not an Otaku.
    I’m not a casual viewer.
    Going to jump right in and start watching this, looks great!

  11. I don’t really get the Outbreak Company review at all. The guy is so not the “legendary otaku savior”. He’s a guy who passed a 200-question online nerd test to get a job and got scammed into becoming a company manager for the government because they discovered a portal into a fantasy universe and decided to export Japan’s greatest entertainment culture – otaku, naturally. The show is totally tongue in cheek, and the fact that they touch on so many otaku tropes is very much part of the joke.

  12. Thanks you for Outbreak Company review
    I just watch the first ep and heated it from my guts

    You know what the worst part most review of the show so far pastive

    There good ideas here abd there but the wrting is bad

  13. Episode 2 of Outbreak Company was solid. It deals in serious matters, class distinction, thought provoking topics. Frankly, its Kill ka Kill which just doesn’t appeal to me after watching it. It wasn’t mentally stimulating and frankly, I find the art style sloppy, almost lazy. If I were to give the animation a rating for Kill la Kill I would give it a 3/10. Sure it resonates with Gurren Lagann but… just because something is a throwback, a show meant to strike a nostalgic chord in some people doesn’t mean its good.

    I have no idea what Golden Time wants to do, but somehow it’s caught my attention for the moment. The pacing is acceptable, the animation so-so, though I do want to know how our hero and heroine gets together – the OP spoils that much.

    My rating for these as of ep 1-2 would go:
    Kill La Kill:
    Ep 1 50%
    Ep 2 50%
    Golden Time:
    Ep 1 65%
    Ep 2 70%
    Outbreak Company:
    Ep 1 65%
    Ep 2 90%

  14. This is coming from someone who likes KlK, but I think we can all agree the cheese and fanservice is extremely heavy on KlK, regardless of its other qualities. Not that that is a bad or good thing, it depends, I’m just saying the author is biased and unaware of his self being an Otaku because he hates those A-type Otaku that he’s fairly close to himself (I’m B myself as well, preferring plot), giving two heavily and fairly cheesy shows 85 and 80 (they do deal with some issues though) while giving another cheesy show that also deals with issues (of hierarchy) 0%… are we supposed to take 0% seriously? Such an extreme score is just hatred speaking.

    And… just look at the bar to the right. Poor fool has deluded himself. How many hours has he spent on this?
    I’m thin and fit myself and have a job and all, but that doesn’t mean I hate people who’s tastes are more intense than mine.

    And Outbreak Company while being a cheesy show that flatters Otaku arguably deals with matters of more gravitas, hierarchy and inequality and the difficulties of change, than Kill la Kill (a show I also enjoy) which basically just says that fascism is terrible but has a few good points.

  15. I mean, the author is somehow not aware that even in the Otaku community, Kill la Kill is known as… a fanservice anime.

  16. Ooops, actually A-type Otaku are the ones who like plot and B-types the ones who like cutesy stuff.

    And after looking more closely it does seem the author is an intense A-type who just has a very high tolerance for B-type stuff as long as there’s enough plot in his anime to ignore it (especially if it’s fighting scenes for some reason).
    Am A-type myself too, but don’t mind a bit of fanservice (though I think Kill la Kill is too much, but can understand why others would like it).

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