Some quick first impressions: Suteki Tantei Labyrinth, Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro and Blue Drop: Tenshitachi no Gikyoku

Suteki Tantei Labyrinth Interesting, this turned out to be a shoujo-series where a girl and two twin-companions run into a mysterious young boy-detective, and yet there are shounen-elements as well when scantily clad females fight each other (we actually get to see that very sequence four times throughout the entire episode…) and a clumsy maid appears. I have no idea what to think of this series at the moment, though. The characters aren’t as stereotypical as other series of this season I’ve seen so far, there’s a nice air of mystery, but it seems to be missing something. Still, I see no reason why this can’t be fixed in the next few episodes. It could have gotten much worse, all it needs to do now is to build up well. Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro This is the second of the three murder-mystery series for this Season. While Labyrinth focused on a more shoujo-style in its approach, Neuro is all shounen. And with that come its problems: this series just isn’t subtle in any way, something which isn’t good for a mystery-series. The first episode already sees our heroes solve one case, but I’m not impressed by how things turned out. The chemistry between the main characters feels artificial at best: all the guy does is look evil and physically abuse the girl, while the girl has a food-obsession and a sad past somehow. I’m not sure why, but Suteki Tantei Labyrinth somehow looks so much better after seeing this series. The style of comedy also isn’t my taste: even Night Wizard was funnier, and yet it had far fewer jokes. But the real reason that convinced me that this isn’t my series is the ending: they just had to throw in a shallow villain who turns into a huge bulked-up monster. I was hoping for cases with the same depth as Ayatsuri Sakon, though now that this series needs to have a fight for every episode, I think I’ll pass. Blue Drop: Tenshitachi no Gikyoku Yes! This definitely is one of the most solid titles of the season, both in terms of writing and production-values. The characters are well-written and not based on stereotypes, the scenes build up well for the climaxes with a small air of mystery, and the production values look gorgeous. While I don’t expect the latter to last for more than a few episodes, I think we can expect some great things from this series. There’s going to be yuri in this series as well, which also is a nice addition, and the side-characters so far all have their own potential. The only thing I didn’t like is how the two major characters coincidentally ended up sleeping in the same room of all possible combinations, though that’s nothing major yet.]]>