Hana-Saku Iroha
Short Synopsis: Our lead character starts working at an inn.
Before this series started, I thought that it would be just a simple slice of life series. As it turns out though, Hana-Saku Iroha is as much slice of life as it is a drama. this series made excellent use of its first episode, and it really did a lot in just twenty minutes, especially for a series that will be 26 episodes long. It showed the lead character before, and after she moves to her grandmother after her mother pretty much abandons her. It’s both light-hearted, but also already showed what a huge change in lifestyle the lead character went through. What makes this series especially great though, is how detailed it is. The entire cast is versatile, the slice of life is realistic, the dialogue feels very natural and inspired, and the animation is of PA Works usual high standards. This series is definitely interesting: its series are either really great, or not worth checking out at all. There’s hardly anything in between for me so far.
ED: Decent J-Rock
Potential: 85%
Toriko
Short Synopsis: Our lead character has a straw hat and is a pirate.
No. No, no, no. They just didn’t do that. There must be some mistake. Did Toei really just use One Piece’s popularity to introduce the Toriko anime?! What the heck was Luffy doing there? What the heck was the entire One Piece cast doing there? Toei is known for their sell-outs and all, but this just takes the cake. It doesn’t even make any sense either: the One Piece cast just wanders off and runs into Toriko, with the rest of the episode just being people talking about food and eating. The One Piece cast was just… there. They were more obnoxious than helpful. And as for Toriko, the only thing it pretty much has going for it is its creature design. Seriously, I am no fan of Shounen Jump and all, but setting aside To Love-Ru, Toriko has to be the worst Shounen Jump anime I’ve seen in a long, long while and this episode showed that Toei has no intention whatsoever of making something good out of it. This was a terrible introduction, for a show that basically advertises poaching to young kids. Toei already have more than enough money. This is commercialization at its worst.
OP: “Wow Wow Wow Wow Wow Wow?”
ED: At least the song is decent here.
Potential: 0%
Tiger & Bunny
Short Synopsis: Our lead character is a superhero who fights crime.
This season rocks. I mean, for one: only four series have premiered so far, and already we have two of them that features main characters that are older than 30. Heck, the lead of Tiger & Bunny actually has a daughter; when was the last time that we actually had such a series? On top of that, I love the concept of this series, as a kind of semi-satire on modern mass media that’s focused around a program that exploits superheroes, complete with sponsors and everything. The action is excellent, combining both great stunts and nice humour, and it just keeps changing dynamically due to all of the different characters involved. Characters who already have all kinds of charms. This can make for a very interesting series, especially if it will go beyond 13 episodes. My complaint about it is that it does tend to overuse CG, and the director of the whole Superhero show was a bit of a stereotypical corporate bastard who’ll do anything for money. Apart from that, this was a wonderful episode.
OP: The OP is just a collection of boring still shots and a dull J-rock song, though.
ED: As excellent as the OST is, this is just another dull J-rock song.
Potential: 90%
Tiger & Bunny. So far so good!
got pissed and waived my middle finger in front of of my 36 inch tv (used as a computer monitor) when I saw the One Piece preview -_-
seriously! they just had to make a filler about that -_-
._. Heck, they even had special cross over one shot manga between Toriko and One Piece… What the heck?
You know this is due to the manga crossover as well?
toriko x one piese just came out
@Otter: Hey, I already said that D= Besides, the manga cross over used the new designs of characters, not the old ones. At least judging from psgel’s pic.
Good to hear you liked Tiger&Bunny, it’s probably my most anticipated show of the season. Btw 2ch says it’ll be 24 or 26 episodes.
Why are you judging Toriko on a crossover special? And yeah I can totally see all those kids getting ready to poach.. its the next thing on their list after becoming pirates.
Tiger & Bunny: After I watched the PV I thought this show would be bad. I was wrong. It was funny with a touch of humanity. It’s poised to have some fun with superheroes, commercialism, and mass market entertainment. With the presence of actual brands it’s already proceeding with tongue in cheek. It doesn’t give one the impression that it’ll be as cynical as Watchmen, or fall up its own ass like Hancock, or be quite as silly as The Tick. Maybe there’s no one more zealous than the recently converted, but I have to admit I’m optimistic about this show.
Dude, you know the Toriko thing was just a crossover special right?
Huh, I heard over on ANN that T&B was getting 12 episodes, wonder if anyone has a source on that….
aww, my one piece is now delayed because of this special 🙁
*Remembering last years Detective Conan vs Lupin III*
Made the worse by the fact that Lupin the 3rd festival masks had appeared in earlier Detective Conan eps as ‘fictional’ charachters.
‘What Lupin the 3rd is Real? I thought he was a Manga charachter!’
From a supposedly crack detective.
Oh, so we don’t get ep 492 of One Piece this week, but some Toriko crossover special instead? Seriously, what is Toei thinking? First the 3D movie that scares the hell out of me (I’m really NOT looking forward to it)and now this thing… I don’t follow Toriko manga, but I do doubt that it takes place in the same world as One Piece, so the reason for making such a crossover is just beyond me… Is Toriko really that bad, that it needs One Piece for advertising or what?
Long time follower, 1st time commenter, I want to start off by thanking you for introducing me to some terrific animes. seriously, thank you.
I really liked Tiger & Bunny.. The idea of sponsors and TV execs having a say in Superheroics is a largely unexplored one in most forms of media.
I thought the OP was nothing special, but the idea behind it was a combination of corporate satire & product placement, like the show itself.
Does anyone else think that the female producer (Don’t remember her name) will introduce powered villains to the mix ?
She certainly had a devious look when she promised the Chairman “more excitement”.
—
And while I don’t think you should judge Toriko on the basis of this special, as someone who started reading the manga (Around two & a half volumes in) I can honestly say that it doesn’t start off deep, although it does establish an interesting world and has some entertaining action, which is what I will probably follow it for.. My brain needs breaks, a lot of ’em ! 😀
From what I’ve heard, the two authors for Toriko and One Piece are friends which initiated the collab in the first place. And to be fair, if you had the option to get a new series introduced and had the option of using the most popular Shounen series out there to help, wouldn’t you do it? Yes it’s a cheap and obvious marketing strategy, but you can’t blame them for knowing that OP fans will definitely watch it. I did, and I’d never heard of Toriko before.
All that said, I didn’t enjoy the animated crossover. The manga version was much better and showed why the authors thought a collab would work. This one was more “Hey, here’s how Toriko works!” Oh and have a side of Straw Hat while we’re at it. The Toriko part themselves looked really strange to me though (and this is coming from an OP fan), but yeah, I can’t judge how the series will turn out based on a crossover. There’s not enough to go on.
At the opening, I saw pink Gundam and thought, ah this one’s a girl. Guy. Thought who lead was going to be paired with. With Bunny of course. Except, I didn’t think Bunny was a guy either o.o
“ED: Decent J-Rock”
Okay, wait. That ear-splitting ED (which I think may actually be the OP) was decent but Tiger and Bunny’s was dull?
I really liked Hana-Saku Iroha, so I’m going to add that to my list!
garfield: I didn’t find it ear-splitting at all.
You should note that despite being an anime fan, I really dislike most J-pop and J-rock. Especially all of the generic-sounding songs that unfortunately fill most anime OPs and EDs.
Hanasaku Iroha: This show reminds me of the parts of Summer Wars that weren’t awful. It’s certainly beautiful. I didn’t care for the soundtrack or the screechy vocals during the train ride. I’m curious what the show’s intentions are going to be for character development, because a couple of the unlikeable characters seem to have been pulled out of the character vault to play their parts to zzzz.
I really liked Hanasaku Iroha. It’s cool how the main character is just waiting for anime stereotypes to happen to her xD
Damn, Hana-Saku Iroha has some nice visuals. I hope they can keep it up.
Hana-Saku Iroha, As others have stated is was a nice suprise. They did a fine job of story telling in with no wasted scenes, yet nothing felt rushed or too contrived. I loved the way the main character has these expectations of what will happen in her new life only to see them hit the hard rock of real life. This one will be on my must watch list now.
Tiger and Bunny also had a great setup and nice lead in to their world. I am not convinced it will be a must watch yet.
I freakin loved Tiger and Bunny! Such an interesting story 😀 Also, a smart way to put their sponsors into the anime and integrating them to the story 😉 + The main character is just superb! You should learn from that Fractale xD Only sad point: Fire Emblem…why did they have to make a stereotypical gay character. Nice way to help change mentalities -_-‘
I’ve never encountered an anime as charming and realistic as Hanasaku Iroha, I’m in love with it!
Hanasaku Iroha reminds me of Atelier Rorona. Cute girl that everyone has a crush on (Grandmother is obviously tsundere for Ohana). Ko is Sterkenburg.
Hanasaku Iroha is officially my girly anime of the season. I have high hopes for it!
From the first episode of Hanasaku Iroha, we can see the art is just as gorgeous as the PVs promised. What I did not expect is to find a story that actually manages to take itself seriously. I feared that this series would just be some moe show with ridiculously high production values, but I am happy that it seems to be more mature than that.
Tiger and Bunny really look promising. This is probably the first non american superhero series I’ve liked. Can’t abide the Madhouse adaptations.
Both Tiger and Bunny and Hana-Saku Iroha have great animation and nice stories and I hope that you will continue to review them. As for Toriko, AniDB states that the first episode will air on April 10th so I really ask myself: why did you review the Toriko X One Piece Crossover which is a different thing?
Hana-Saku Iroha was great. So far, none of the anime on my watch list have let me down! Definitely a keeper! ^_^
Let’s celebrate for the first time the main character of a teen girly series is not annoying, does not try too hard to endear itself to audience and behaves close to a normal human being. with no disrespect to the tastes of fans everywhere, it’s a very welcome break in a constant tide of moe-centred productions IMO.
ah, my apologies. that was in response to psgels’ first impression of Hanasaku Iroha 🙂
wow
Tiger and Bunny seems to be my personal surprise hit of the season. I hope it stays as good as it is. At first I even didn’t want to watch this show, but thanks to psgels und other bloggers I tried it.
When I first saw you talking about Toriko, I wanted to say that you’ve got the wrong name. ONE PIECE. THE ONLY THING i CAN SEE IS ONE PIECE.
I watched the Toriko op. It was horrible.
No, it’s “Guts Guts Guts Guts Guts”.