Steins;Gate 0
Short Synopsis: An alternate timeline where Okabe never concluded Steins;Gate
Aidan’s review
If you are a fan of Steins;Gate, then you are watching this so it’s wonder if a impression is even needed. But regardless we can say this is a very strong start for the series, in fact it feels just the same as when you left it despite the new director. There is at least issues that this episode was spent mostly recapping the situation so that the audience is up to speed and characters have gone through a redesign which may annoy people. In particular Mayuri seems to have gone up a few cup sizes between Steins;Gate and now. But this is a first episode that recaptures the spirit of the original and in particular Okabe’s PTSD scenes was masterfully done. Of course what comes after this could go any way but having played the game I feel Steins;Gate fans will be satisfied if it is adapted well.
Potential: 90%
Lenlo’s Review:
I’m in. I’ve been ready for this since Steins;Gate ep 23 B aired years ago. Recap aside, since it was necessary with how long we have had between seasons, Kenichi Kawamura knocked it out of the park with this first episode. Okabe is suitably muted and depressed, the soundtrack is on point and Steins;Gate 0 is wasting no time getting us involved in the plot. There are some stylistic differences that may bug some people, like how every girl went up a few cup sizes since the first Steins;Gate, but overall it just feels like the original in every way that matters. I am ready for the darkest timeline Kenichi, don’t let me down.
Potential: 95%
Last Period -Owarinaki Rasen no Monogatari-
Short Synopsis: a gang of heroes (known as Periods) finds out that their beloved branch office has been closed so they have to work cheaply to support the office.
Lenlo’s Review:
Last Period knows exactly what it is, a bright, sugary monster of the week show. We even have our own version of Team Rocket to cause fun, solvable hijinks every week. Last Period is the kind of anime you can sit down and watch and just relax. There’s no big message, no great symbolism or theme. It’s just a simple show for simple folk and it works. The thing about shows like this though, you either lovem or you hatem. If your looking for something to sit down at after a day at work or school and just want to enjoy to anime, you could do a lot worse than Last Period.
Potential: 50%
Mario’s review
Generic is all I can utter here. This show intends to be a parody of sort of RPG-styled fantasy shows, but I’m hard pressed to regard it as parody since it’s weak on humors. I appreciate how the characters themselves point out tropes and cliches, but they do nothing but acknowledge and embrace these tropes. This “doesn’t take itself seriously” nature also means that the story is random at most, characters fight without much purpose, thus the show feels significantly lightweight, like a short OVA spoofs you would see from popular shows. Characters are lame and the production values are on the lackluster side. Not worth your time is my final verdict.
Potential: 0%
Butlers ~Chitose Momotose Monogatari~
Short Synopsis: A guy is on a mission to find his missing sister.
Lenlo’s Review:
Every season we get a “Cute Girls doing Cute Things” show. Whether it be cat girls, horse girls, maid girls, or whatever Keijo was. However in its quest for equality, Butlers is breaking ground in a “new”, “unique” genre called “Beautiful Men doing Beautiful Things”. We have the whole cast. The Shota jail-bait, the Androgynous Aloof one, the Cocky Jerk one and even the emotionally dead main character with no reason to actually be there. Truly cutting edge. There’s only one problem with Butlers. That Ouran Host Club did it already and did it better. Butlers is a mish mash, trying to be the new Ouran Host Club, while missing everything that made Host Club even mildly interesting. With how great this season is so far, my only recommendation for Butlers is Skip It and if you need your Shojo fix, rewatch/checkout Ouran Host Club.
Potential: 0%
Mario’s review
People can call this an overambitious premiere with that final hook, for me it’s just an incompetent show that makes up the plot as it goes so that they can cram in as many hot boys as humanly possible. This episode we have about ten to dozen boys introduced, none of them carry any distinctive feature (and curiously enough, one of them named Akira Tachibana. I sure have missed her). That lack of personality extends to our main character, J, who most of the time feels like he doesn’t belong to this world. Towards the end we find out the reason but the issues still remain that it’s boring. The pacing sucks big time as we see him spend majority of the time doing activities as a president of student council and how the hell these activities have anything to do with the main plot of him being a “butler” trying to find his dear sister? It’s the show that can’t decide what it wants to be and thus, it doesn’t belong anywhere in this present world.
Potential: 0%
