Battle Spirits Heroes
Short Synopsis: Our lead character plays a childrens’ card game.
Every season has its array of kiddie shows, so this one is no different. I do like to check out the first episode of each of them, although this does get really repetitive after a while, especially when nearly all of them are just having a competition to see who can rip each other off the most. Battle spirits though… is nowhere near the worst of the bunch. And don’t get me wrong: it’s silly, but it’s not too silly, nor overly dramatic. It’s been a while since I’ve seen such an opening series of such a kiddie shounen that didn’t cover either a hot blooded match with an overly villainous rival or some kind of epic world threatening stake. Instead, the main character plays one match, loses and isn’t angsty about it at all, and helps to test out the holographic system that is this show’s excuse to actually make those battles interesting. The only reason he won there is because nobody told his opponent that the rules had hanged. At least the chemistry between the characters is decent, but it has one major flaw though: everyone acts the same. Seriously, just about every character in this series is snarky in various degrees.
OP: Decent for a kiddie show.
ED: Badly sung and very generic J-Rock.
Potential: 10%
Busou Shinki Moon Angel
Short Synopsis: Our lead character randomly finds a battle toy in a tree.
For me there are pretty much two big mysteries of the upcoming Autumn Season: what can HunterXHunter seriously hope to add, and is Busou Shinki Moon Angel going to be anything more than a glorified commercial? As for the first, we’ll probably have to wait a really long time before that answer is clear. As for the latter… well, this episode WAS a glorified commercial, there’s no way around it: it’s an advertisement for a doll maker, and lo and behold, we have a show where the toys all have superpowers and a random boy finds one for himself. This indeed all screams blatant, which makes the good direction even more awkward. The action is decent, the pacing is nice, the use of music is pretty nice. That’s the thing with this series: if this would have been a full fledged production it would have a near dream-team for its staff; it really was one of the more solid match-ups of the entire season. Overall though: they can definitely do better. This episode had executive meddling written all over it. Especially the script is no excuse for the main writer of Bounen no Xamdou. Will I keep watching for a few more episodes though? Yes. It’s only five minutes.
Potential: 40%
Working’!!
Short Synopsis: Our lead character works at a restaurant with a lot of cute girls in it.
Oh, we’re having a pre-airing special this season. Ironically, it’s from the series that I was looking forward to the least. To my surprise however, it was nowhere as bad as I feared. This was definitely the best episode that I’ve seen from Atsushi Ootsuki. Okay, so for the director of Motto To-Love Ru, Ladies Versus Butlers and Kanokon this isn’t really hard, but the slice of life parts of this episode were actually pretty decent. It’s the comedy however, where it completely lost me. For starters, I didn’t even laugh once in this episode, but what’s worse is that it was very repetitive, and this episode just kept repeating its jokes over and over. A lot were the same jokes that I also remember from when I checked out the first two episodes of the first season. The thing with these characters is that they all have one or two quirks, and they try to show these quirks to the viewer as often as humanly possible, even if they make no sense whatsoever in the process (one character is obsessed with small things to the point where he cries for ten full minutes because someone swatted a fly), and that got old really fast. There were some original jokes that nearly worked, but my standards for comedies are really high: if it didn’t make me laugh out lout, then I refuse to sit through cringe-worthy humour in the hopes that at some point the creators might get lucky and deliver an actual joke that works.
Potential: 10%
but since this was an introduction episode, it was expected to be boring
Since you didn’t watch the first season all the jokes are going to be completely lost on you and don’t seem to be your type of humor. Each to their own I suppose because I loved the first season and am really looking forward watching the second season.
I loved the first season but was really disappointed with this episode. I don’t think the humour worked at all. It came across as a series of disjointed sketches. I’ll be watching it anyway but i do hope it gets better.
However, at least it wasn’t infested with fanservice which is a plus.
I think I got overly bored of the first one.
I think the first episode is all about boasting the improvements in the production quality.
Not only could this have been an episode from season one, they used these same jokes OVER and OVER in the first season, and I assume they will do the same in this season.
How the hell can you judge this series when you’ve watched only 2 episodes of the first season?
Damn Psgels. Cynical much?
I totally agree with you on most of the more artsy, more experimental, more character driven anime fare, but lighthearted comedy and kids shows, you seem to bash to the ground.
It’s just a cute, lite fare. Just like Baka to Test which you basically smashed into the earth. I didn’t like Baka to Test much either, until I just stopped caring about expecting character studies out of the anime and just enjoyed it for the light comedy it is.
Shippoyasha: that’s indeed the thing: I just can’t seem to get the appeal of light hearted comedy shows. When I watch an anime, I want to watch something that catches my attention, not something that bores me.
I really tried to give these shows a chance, but there’s just so many of them and I hardly ever got something satisfactory out of them. The reason I slam these series is because I just have no idea what their purpose is.
Psgels has a point. I think the language barrier is at fault for decreasing the enjoyment of light hearted comedy shows. For shows like that you need to hear the jokes and not read them from subtitles.
Take girls bravo for example. Subtitled it’s an awful show but dubbed it’s strangely enjoyable and quite funny. Though that ones a bit of a guilty pleasure.
I really enjoyed the first season, yet like many have already said this felt like a repeat from then. I was hoping to see some growth to the characters.
All the set ups didn’t reflect how they had all changed during the first season. I felt the writers didn’t watch the series or just tried to make the old formula work for season 2 which just felt forced.
I’ll look in on # 02 but I don’t hold much hope that it will become a fresh look at a group of workers that are funny but they support each other in the work place. Last season did a good job with this which is why this first episode was so disappointing.
One other thing, it’s title is ‘Working’ but they don’t show the cast working very much.
ehh, i loved this episode actually. a lot of the jokes were only relevant (like the claw at the end! lol) if you watched the first season in its entirety. it’s not the deepest anime, certainly, but it doesn’t try to be, and it’s good for what it is…a light-hearted, sweet, slice of life series about working in a family restaurant.
Psgels, I realize that you want and enjoy anime that pushes boundaries, makes you think, and offers something new and unique. I’m all for that, but for the times when I want to relax, laugh, and have a good time shows like Working’!!, A-Channel, or Seitokai Yakuindomo. Shows like that don’t need to have a critically acclaimed direction and production crew, constant character progression, and a tight plot. They simply need to be funny, cute (helpful but not necessary), have characters that fit known relatable/identifiable stereotypes, and have plots that don’t necessarily have to go anywhere. They’re also nice to cheer you back up after you watch an emotionally draining episode of a more serious show.
While I respect your opinions on more serious/highbrow and under appreciated series, I’ve learned to take your opinion on other kinds of series with a grain of salt or ignore them completely.
I like to relax and laugh too but Working’!! doesn’t’ help with any of that…
Gridlynk: I can understand where you’re coming from. My issue is just that I don’t find these series funny nor cute.
It’s all subjective, people. I enjoyed K-On and A-Channel, but I couldn’t stand Working. Just because they share a genre doesn’t mean every fan of the genre is going to like all of them.
As for lighthearted anime that don’t go anywhere, PSGels has enjoyed Ika Musume.
Psgels probably has a different taste in comedy, which is probably not found in Japanese comedy.
Just accept it and move on.
“At least the chemistry between the characters is decent, but it has one major flaw though: everyone acts the same. Seriously, just about every character in this series is snarky in various degrees.”
Aren’t all kids that age kinda snarky and sassy? I think it’s kinda realistic. Heck, have you read the Percy Jackson novels? There are only a few characters in that series who AREN’T sassy or snarky, and that’s because they’re kids/teenagers!
Firechick: the thing is, that even the adults are like that. And there are plenty of adults in this series, and all of them act snarky and sassy.
Oh, I get it.