Bakuman
Short Synopsis: Our lead character wants to be a manga-writer.
The season so far has really had its ups and downs. The biggest down however was the characters department: none of them tried to be anything deep, nearly all of them were just simple and one-dimensional, based on a gimmick or stereotype. Bakuman changes this, however: within its first episode it establishes its two main characters, it clearly shows what kind of past the lead character lived in and how this managed to shape who he is today, and it detailed what he likes how he looks at life. This is how first episodes should be done… aside from the romance, perhaps. That was pretty forced, cliched and unnatural.
OP: A very interesting emulation of the old kids shows.
OP: The refrain is pretty decent, but the rest of the song is a bit boring.
ED: Interesting art, upbeat, quite a good way to close off each episode.
Potential: 80%
MM!
Short Synopsis: Our lead character likes to get beaten up by cute girls.
Yesterday was quite a good start for this fall season, but I also fear that that marks the ending of all of the good fanservice shows. MM is just another in the line of uninspired Xebec shows with shallow attempts at comedy. Basically, this entire episode was mostly just cute girls, beating up the lead character, but if you ignore that, then all of the stereotypes of your generic harem are there. There is no creativity whatsoever in the set-up here and everything has been pretty much taken from other series. The only thing that really sets this series apart is its extreme focus on sadomasochism, but that is nowhere near enough to carry this series: no matter who beat up the lead character, it all looked the same, it wasn’t funny at all and the entire episode was a chore to sit through. At the end of this episode the creators also tried to insert a little drama, but that just felt incredibly forced and out of place. There is no creativity, there is nothing that stands out, I really see no potential whatsoever for this series.
OP: Is that supposed to be a song?
ED: Again, horribly sung and utterly generic.
Potential: 0%
Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt
Short Synopsis: Our lead character fights crime with her underwear.
Without a doubt the best action so far, the most interesting direction, the best art style, the best humour, the most entertaining episode, the worst taste, the most amount of fanservice, the biggest amount of toilet jokes, the most creative scenario and the most shameless first episode of the new season. And yes, considering how we already got Sora no Otoshimono, Iron Man and Super Robot Wars, who were also focused on most of these areas, that has to say something here. Panty and Stocking is a show of extremes: it’s really trying to push boundaries here, and you can really see that this was made by the same creators of Dead Leaves, rather than Gurren Lagann. Some of the jokes are completely disgusting and tasteless, but it is refreshing for once to see a show treat the matter of sex so nonchalantly seeing as how most supposed fanservice shows try to pretend it doesn’t exist. And when disregarding the fanservice, I really have to praise what the creators did with the action here, especially that chase scene was a lot of fun. There’s one HUGE problem, though: the characters. Panty and Stocking were pretty much both based on a gimmick each: Panty likes sex and Stocking likes eating. To stay funny and enjoyable they’re going to have to try harder than that!
OP: Short but sweet.
ED: It’s catchy and all… but who thought that this would be a good fit for this series?
Potential: 75%
“the worst taste”
Describes you perfectly.
@karry: Was that really necessary?
Eh, karry insults psgels all the time which does make one wonder why they stay here on the site, but I suppose masochists have to get their kicks somehow.
Lol, karry must be a moeblob fanboy, and hes mad because psgels blogs animes that are actually worth watching, unlike certain bloggers /yawn
Anyway, its nice to see fanservice stuff that actually talks about sex, like B Gata H Kei… I also hate how they usually pretend it doesnt exist, and cleavage/panty shots are the best youre gonna get, so lame
This is awesome!!!! Shameless and perverted as hell, but awesome. Though I have to wander if they really made it for a Japanese audience…
I LOVE THIS. It’s all style and no substance but it works in this case. The awesome house music and pop art is addictive and sexy.
I love Gainax. While this doesn’t look like it will be their best effort, at least it rocks. Seriously, I love the classic Gainax “we don’t give a fuck” attitude. I missed that in their more recent series.
Toilet jokes and joke gimmickry? SIGN ME UP.
I’m ashamed to say it but i found that “transformation” ………….. very much to my liking….
Am I imagining things or was that done in the Ren and Stimpy style almost line for line?
‘Stimpy, you idiot!’
I’ve never imagined I would enjoy Panty & Stocking /w Garterbelt but I did!
the best humour
WHERE?
the worst taste
Oh, ok now that’s it… But, what’s with all of those toilet jokes shows this year? It looks they’re desperatley forcing themselves to let people laugh out loud, to a certaina avail, conidering people actually seem to like this “shit” (literally speaking) as much (or even more) as the other crap humor shows of the season such as Mitsudomoe and Seitokai Yakuindomo.
‘K i get that, the gustibus whatever. Just don’t count me in.
And yes, by the way, that second image in the preview is misleading as the only anime (meant as in japan animation) thing is that 30 sec lap-porn like footage. A little few to be considered an anime, rather than some attempt to mimic American Powerpuff girls art without inspiration.
Love the style to Panty and Stocking! The soundtrack is quite good too.Wonder if the series is gonna get serious at some point..
The OP for Bakuman. is so misleading.
Hey psgels, I got the furoku DVD containing the Hiyo Koi anime yesterday. Do you want to bother reviewing…?
Don’t worry too much about the romance in Bakuman. That’s really not the main focus of that series and it won’t get in the way.
LOL @ Potential: 0%
Its the first time I’ve seen that! (I havent explored your blog thoroughly)
I wonder how you get so much time to see each and every series out there O_O
Well nevertheless your reviews are very qualitative!So I always like to visit your site for new updates 🙂
Kiseki: sure, sounds interesting. 🙂
I agree with you about Panty and Stocking bad taste, it got potential because of its originality, but still is not to my liking.
Bakuman is a great manga, the character are well designed. And although the love premise is a little dumb the rest of the story is very good.
Bakuman was awesome! Everything felt right to me… Dont know why you said the romance felt unnatural, that last scene at Azuki’s house was HILARIOUS, specially their reactions after the marriage proposal
Bakuman was just sort of weak.
This show really needs the look and feel of Durarara.
I’m starting to think that the director had to work with a small budget. Or maybe they spent too much on trying to get the characters to look exactly like they do in the manga.
Agh, and that soundtrack! I hate it!
I haven’t downloaded the anime yet, but I watched the OP and ED on youtube already. I am want to say, what are they thinking?! They making it looking like a romance show when its not!
Lol @Bakuman last line regarding romance. “That was pretty forced, cliched and unnatural.” Bakuman has a lot of realistic and natural feeling elements [at least to me] and one of the more enjoyable bits of the series is this unnatural romance between Mashiro and Azuki.
dead leaves and gurren were from mostly the same people and the same director
Belzera, as a reader of the Bakuman manga I have to agree with Psgel about the romance.
Mashiro romance with Azuki romance feels completely forced into the plot, the girl of his dreams in middle school actually want to be a voice actress, how convenient…
Takagi love interest does completely nothing of importance!
I’m glad I stuck with Bakuman through the whole episode. I nearly jumped out of the nearest window during the opening credits the song made my stomach churn so hard but by mid-show it had my attention and, to a degree, some respect. That said, I’m not that interested in the story nor drawing style so I can’t imagine I will follow it long this season.
Panty & Stocking though… that I will be watching 🙂
@Kalandra I didn’t say it forced in, I said the series itself has alot of realistic things it in. I didn’t mean to imply that the romance is one of those realistic things, also alot of stories, manga, anime, novels, sitcoms have alot of convinient things in them, its just normally these things are either ignored by the viewers/readers or explained away somehow later on.
Wew. After reading some complaints about Bakuman’s animation budget. I though I wasn’t going to like it but no, Bakuman’s actually a pretty good show. I actually like it better than Star Driver’s first episode, which I also liked a lot but at the moment is pretty shallow compared to Bakuman.
The sudden marriage proposal that came out of nowhere really made the episode to me. The characters reaction was extremely cute.
Overall, Bakuman is definitely a fantastic show that has a lot of potential. I can’t wait for the next episode. ^_^