One Minute Of Dusk | Anime Blog

Series Review: Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun (9/10)

2013-05-21T13:21:00.001+08:00

Instant summary: Two social recluse, one incredibly violent and one incredibly studious, falls in love.

Can I say... faith in shoujo genre restored? Well, Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun proved that the genre doesn't have to be exceedingly formulaic and full of generic characters. At least that's true for the manga scene, and I'm glad the anime scene doesn't have to follow it.

The shoujo genre quickly becomes stagnant when they only care about squeezing in cool moment after cool moment, and main duo always seems to be stuck in a perpetual state of uncertainty towards each other, that makes me want to just plant their faces into each other yell "JUST F*CK ALREADY!". Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun was very, very different. It was an emotional roller-coaster that almost completely escaped the trend; the characters are frank with each other right at the beginning, and it's their unique personalities that brings their relationship to its highs and lows. And it wasn't a long, boring ride; the highest and lowest point of this roller-coaster can happen within the span of one or two episodes.

Speaking of unique personalities, I believe that's the primary reason Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun became something awesome. Let's begin with Shizuku, who is the complete opposite of a dreamy high-school girl desperate to fall madly in love. In fact, she unique enough to be one of my top bishoujos of the season. Icy, gritty and cynical, she's unfazed at the obscenely loud personality of Haru, including his violence, despite her tiny frame. But at the same time, it takes a man like Haru to get under Shizuku's shell, and actually got her to fall helplessly in love. He's both extremely predictable and unpredictable at the same time, and for a fun character, I couldn't ask for a better one. Together, they made things exciting. A term you never seem to hear for a shoujo title.

And it's often very, very funny. The anime is strangely energetic most of the time as well. In some ways, I guess it even broke the norms of a romance title.

I guess my problem is that it never got too exciting. The ending was extremely mellow; and while you can call it a good ending, it's also somewhat inconclusive. I guess it's a drawback for staying faithful to the source? I wish they could have ended on a more exciting chapter. It would be more impressive, and more importantly, more memorable.

Plot/Concept: Broke the limits of the genre into something fantastic!
Story Style: Uniquely energetic, funny, and moving!
Audio/Visual: Great
Value: 9

Random Musings: Gargantia Ep5, Railgun Ep4, Henneko Ep4, Valvrave Ep4

2013-05-08T15:54:00.000+08:00

Amy grew several cup sizes for this, but that's a problem for approximate zero people. Big boob Amy FTW!

Episodic posts are a pain in the arse. Let see if I can try something new...

Suisei no Gargantia Ep5

- Probably one of the best beach episodes ever, except there were no beach.
- Thank god they didn't sparkle or glitter the shot where the "camera" pans over the girls in bikinis. I hate it when they oversell...
- They spent almost the entire episode in bikinis. Why can't more episodes be like these? Heck, why can't more animes be like this?
- Love how they nonchalantly flew around the whole fleet in their bikinis. It's like walking across your whole town in your swimsuit. I need to go live on the Gargantia.
- Is it still a mech anime at this point?

To-aru Kagaku no Railgun Ep4

- I'm pretty sure Misaka Imouto had flat, monochromatic brown eyes in the previous titles (Index 1, 2 and Railgun 1). She has normal eyes now... Is it J.C. Staff's attempt to give the character more "life"?
- They also changed Nunotaba Shinobu's unique eyes from the manga... something I'm not happy with.
- 4 episodes in and so little has happened... this is getting boring for me. Although it's mostly because this is my 4th time reading/watching the sisters arc. The ending is unlikely to differ much, so there's nothing to anticipate...
- Is Satou Rina getting too old for Misaka?

Hentai Ouji to Warawanai Neko Ep4

- In the first episode I'd have sworn that the main two characters had swapped traits. I guess that's not the case after all?...
- Unsurprisingly, cracks has already began to show. Episode 4 was incredibly rushed, and Onee-chan's character got dumbed down waaay to fast. It became unrealistic and almost ruined the character.

Valvrave the Liberator Ep4

- This episode makes me so mad, I don't know why I still clung on to hopes that it would be something good later on.
- Like, for example, Shouko would risk the authenticity of a piece of information that everyone's lives depends on, just to protect a unknown suspicious girl from being found out?
- Imagine how the series would be ruined if she actually stripped naked to prove a point? Well, if words doesn't work, tits should, right?
- So JIOR spend so much time and money to develop a mech that could kill the pilot if he made fun of the mech's mascot?
- So Haruto tries to convince the pilot not to get into the Valvrave... by screaming? How about some actual reason?
- Why won't he want another pilot for Valvrave anyway? We can always use a couple more vampires...
- The school song and the Moses thing made me cringe so hard.
- They were so dismissive of Shouko, but paid so much attention to L-elf?
- AND not arrest/capture him after that? No one finds him suspicious for knowing so much?
- The extremely pessimistic student body turns incredibly optimistic in 30 secs because a risky proposition from a teenager?
- So they're going to break away from the rest of the country? Don't they need supplies like, food, water, electricity and air?
- Just... look that the students chanting for Independence with Shouko as president...
- There's only two things I know for sure: one, Sunrise's trademark angsty protagonist is just going to get angst-ier, and two, the writers are just going to smoke even more pot for the rest of the season.

Spring 2013 First Impression Rankings

2013-05-04T18:09:00.001+08:00

More crappy opinions and er... fanservice shots? It wasn't completely intentional...

1. Suisei no Gargantia
Easily topped the list with amazing animation and concept.

2. Hentai Ouji to Warawanai Neko
Filled the moé quota all by itself.

3. Hataraku Maou-sama!
Witty, funny, and beautiful chemistry between the down-to-earth demon king and bitchy warrior angel.

4. Aiura
Proof that you can actually impress with very little.

5. Ginga Kikoutai Majestic Prince
It's surprising that dumb comedy and intense mech battles can work together.

6. Yuyushiki
Slice-of-life in its purest form.

7. Namiuchigiwa no Muromi-san
A really dumb comedy, but that's the point.

8. Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Come wa Machigatteiru (On-hold)
Nice characters, but no idea where this is heading to.

9. Mushibugyo (On-hold)
Seems to be dragging to a 100+ episode anime, and the manga is actually better.

10. RDG: Red Data Girl (On-hold)
Immediately becomes really boring from the start, and P.A. Works can't save it with beautiful animation this time.

11. Devil Survivor 2 (Dropped)
Apparently my favourite character designer had a thing with boring storylines.

12. Valvrave the Liberator (On-hold)
Fucking unconfession. And terribly cliché.

13. Dansai Bunri no Crime Edge (Dropped)
Not unique enough to save itself from all the cheesiness.

14. Karneval (Dropped)
Have no idea what it wants to be other than a fujoshi bait.

15. Photo Kano (Dropped)
I could stomach a lot of sick, yet I still find this sickeningly perverted.

16. Sparrow's Hotel (Dropped)

Series not included:

Aku no Hana (couldn't even be considered anime)

Hayate 3, Oreimo 2, Nyaruko 2, Hyakka Ryouran 2 (didn't finish prequel, probably going to suck anyway)

Date a Live, Arata Kangatari, Zettai Bouei Leviathan (unappealing)

Shingeki no Kyojin, Railgun 2 (waiting till it's finished... it's going to rock anyway)

First Impressions: Suisei no Gargantia

2013-05-02T18:59:00.001+08:00

Instant Summary: A pilot of a state-of-the-art mech lands on Earth, and gets picked up by a (seafaring) fleet with technology a few eons behinds.

I know, it's already pretty late for such a post, but this is the last one. I sure saved the best for the last didn't I? Suisei no Gargantia pretty much secured the best title of the season with the first episode, and I'm disappointed to say that no other title in the season came close.

Personally, Gargantia has the best mech designs out of the 3 mech titles this season. It's much more detailed than Majestic Prince's, and not as messy as Valvrave's. The important thing is that while Gargantia's mech spent a lot of time on screen looking fabulous, Majestic Prince's mechs and the Valvrave spent a lot of time in the background, far shots, or blurry action scenes. The premises of this show didn't even need a flashy mech battle, but they did it as a prologue anyway, and made it look fantastic.

The background is amazing. The beautiful clear skies and endless ocean created an amazing setting for the show. In fact, it's probably good enough to forget about the space battles altogether. It's also amazingly detailed, right down to the "primitive" tools of Gargantia, the rust from the salvage and the girls' outfits that suggests a unique heritage. And there's the character designs; it's a character designer's trick to use big, bright eyes to inject liveliness and youth into a character (think Eru Chitanda), and the effect here is multiplied by their contrasting dark skin; although they almost had a constant surprised look, you can really feel a lot of their energy, that which makes them really likable.

Enough about animation! What sets this apart is that there's already quite a bit of development in the characters and their relationships, as they're bridging the disparity between the two groups in terms of culture and technology. I love seeing how they're already warming up to one other, from the beginning where they held each other at gunpoint. The relationship between the bubbly Amy and stony Ledo is a rom-com in the making! And of course, there's also the bits of comedy gold. Damn primitives and their animal corpse-eating habits!

And finally, there's also the action, which can be exciting without being explosive. That's saying a lot when there has only been a few battles so far. Having your protagonist hold a overwhelming combat advantage can be pretty cool.

This is probably way too long for a first impression, but this very well shows how impressed I am with Gargantia.

Outlook: Already secured the best title of the season.

First Impressions: Hentai Ouji to Warawanai Neko

2013-05-02T18:15:00.000+08:00

Instant Summary: By the magic power of a cat statue, a girl becomes an instant kuudere, and a guy became unable to hide his perverse thoughts.

An anime based on lolis being absurdly cute? I approve!

Outlook: Two words, MOE OVERLOAD!

Fun Fact: Ishihara Kaori and Ogura Yui, respective VAs of Azusa and Tsukiko, are supposed BFFs and forms the singing duo YuiKaori.

First Impressions: Namiuchigiwa no Muromi-san

2013-05-01T20:58:00.000+08:00

Instant Summary: A guy fished up a mermaid, who continues to meet up with him whenever he goes fishing.

This is a 10-min anime. I believe the only other title I've seen like this is Doujin Work.

Despite how backwards the animation style is (not as bad as Sparrow's Hotel, of course), Muromi-san is really a lot of fun. I'll even say that the simple animation contributed to the comedy because of how silly it can be. The anime puts characters of legends like Leviathan, Yeti and Harpy in bodies of tiny girls and made them a normal, daily occurrence to the main character; so it is essentially Nyaruko-san, but twice as funny, twice as silly, and probably ten times less annoying.

I couldn't point out any real flaws to this anime. It's a risk-free, extremely simple light-hearted comedy, and it's hard to go wrong unless you have unappealing or annoying characters. But while the level of production quality guarantees that it will never be one of the top titles in the season, it still could be one of the most enjoyable.

Outlook: Pretty good

First Impressions: Mushibugyo

2013-05-01T20:40:00.001+08:00

Instant Summary: A young samurai joins the Mushibugyo, a group that hunts man-eating giant bugs.

This is as shounen a shounen title can be; a young, gung-ho samurai joins a brigade of warriors and starts out at the bottom; everyone's insanely stronger than he is; the protagonist's willing to go through any sort of training he can get to reach that level. Titles like this are a welcome sight because there just aren't many good shounen titles around, and no, don't get me started on the horseshit that is Naruto and Bleach.

The characters are instantly likable. While the protagonist might be a little flat, he is complemented by Hibachi (a tsundere) and Shingiku (a reckless criminal). The action could use a lot of improvement; every bug seems to be defeated by a flash of light that represents the too-fast-to-be-seen slashes. And I like the fanservice, which also provided a lot of humor at the same time, as long as they keep it at the tame level.

My only problem is thtoe likelihood that it will drag into a 100+ episode title. I don't have the time for it, and titles like these tends to start sucking in the middle, when it's already too late to drop it.

Outlook: Fresh and pretty interesting.

First Impressions: Valvrave the Liberator

2013-04-30T10:20:00.000+08:00

Instant Summary: A guy stumbles upon an insanely powerful mech when his city is being invaded.

Protip: If you're using CG and not on super HD, don't bother with so many parts on your fast moving model. It'll just look a mess.

It's the birth of another mech series with the most formulaic anime beginning ever. But wicked good titles like Gundam Seed and Macross Frontier also came about this way, so I think I can forgive that.

The good thing about this anime? Really cute bishoujos, and some interesting fanservice.

The bad things about the anime might be personal, but I suspect many might feel the same. The story thus far has been really bloody predictable. Everyone knows that the main antagonist is going to escape; and while his method is pretty cool, you can't help but lament how incompetent the captors were. You tie one of the most dangerous criminals in the world (universe?) with rope to a chair? Where's the glass prisons and titanium handcuffs?

And the protagonist, outside of his revenge rampage, is nondescript. He's being led by the nose everywhere he goes, while carrying a constant and pointless worrying look on his face. It feels like it could inch closer and closer to a Guilty Crown with every episode. And while it could have scored some points being a rom-com, but they killed it with a unconfession, a trope that should never have existed.

I'm staying only for the bishoujos, but by themselves they can't keep me much longer.

Outlook: Leaning towards negative.

First Impressions: Karneval

2013-04-29T12:41:00.000+08:00

Instant Summary: I have no fucking idea.

The anime starts with a guy, Nai, who's imprisoned in a house for some reason. He's also searching for an unseen character for reasons unknown. A thief, Gareki, broke in the house and broke him out for his expensive looking bracelet, instead of, you know, stealing from him. Later, they end up on a train that happens to be the stage of a kidnapping case, which later transforms into a terrorist bombing case. The members of the paramilitary Circus showed and kicked the terrorist's asses with insane acrobatics, magic and little help from Gareki.

With everything as confusing as it is, I lost track of when they ended up as wanted criminals. The story's all over the place, and everything that has happened doesn't tie together.

And so... I stopped caring. It's easy to see where they're heading with this, but it's mostly clever guesswork. The anime completely failed to shape the plot at all in 2 episodes, and the huge amount of bishouens, especially the puppy-eyed softy Nai, is setting off more than a few alarms. So...

Outlook: ...No.

First Impressions: Sparrow's Hotel

2013-04-29T12:33:00.001+08:00

Instant Summary: A hotel receptionist is an ex-assassin.

A return of 80's animation?! It's been eons since I saw those eyes with the size of dinner plates. I don't watch titles before the turn of millennium for a reason; the animation, especially the characters, looks fugly.

Sparrow's hotel has a shorter runtime than most 3-min shorts, with only about a minute of "story" each. It stays true to its premises, running jokes about Sayuri using her assassination skills in a regular, working class job. But the jokes can be really bad. Normally it won't be a big problem for shorts like these, but paired with the ancient style of animation, it's a recipe for disaster.

Outlook: Why are they going backwards?

First Impressions: Aiura

2013-04-29T12:28:00.002+08:00

Instant Summary: "What happens when there is nothing happening."

It would be hard to write an episode summary for something like Aiura. The first episode, for example, could be something like "Ayuko goes to a taiyaki shop". That's not even a summary, because that's all that has happened in the entire episode. Despite its short run time, Aiura is in no hurry whatsoever; the scenes goes by so incredibly slowly. It's a complete opposite of Teekyuu.

I hope I don't sound like I'm trying to put Aiura down, because despite the speed of things, the first impression is actually pretty good. The girls look lively and cute. The events happens in a light, slightly humorous style (this is slice-of-life after all). The animation uses lovely pastel colours with a nice, sketchy style. The voices of the main characters sounds uniquely fresh and raw, because they are new seiyuus with literally no other project to their names. These three could possibly be the whole point of the whole project.

I'd like to think of this as an experiment project to test creativity, voice talent, concept, etc. If this were my project, I think I would be pretty proud to see how it actually turns out.

Outlook: Pretty interesting!

First Impressions: Yahari Ore no Seishun Rabukome wa Machigatteiru

2013-04-28T15:23:00.000+08:00

Instant Summary: A self-hating loner joins the volunteer club, where he meet other schoolmates that doesn't have friends.

This is almost a clone of Haganai on first glance. A guy with no friends joins a club for people like him. The prettiest girl in school is an outcast because of her overwhelming charm. One of them is a complete bitch, while the other is a curvy, jumpy, clingy and slightly dumb tsundere.

I hated Haganai because it's essentially an easy harem that spent way too much time fucking around with no regards to story, plot or development. Yahari doesn't have that problem; the anime spent a lot of time around Hachiman's self-loathing and solitude, which has actually played heavily into the events so far.

Yahari can look really boring, but it has some positives. The girls of Yahari are fairly attractive, even if most of the ones introduced are supposed bitches. And while it's hard to like the main character Hachiman, his attitude could be something special to the show. It can be witty and funny, and at times, the main character can actually look cool for the strength of his conviction.

Or... it could not. Hachiman has the "unintentional kindness" that resulted in the creation of practically every single harem that existed, and it seems that there's a lot of female characters to come. I'm totally not against a harem, of course, but I'll really hate to see another Haganai. And could the concept be interesting? These guys are really anti-social, and that itself seems more like a boon than a perk.

Outlook: It wasn't disappointing in any way, but in no way did it impress either.

First Impressions: Ginga Kikoutai Majestic Prince

2013-04-27T16:06:00.001+08:00

Instant Summary: The worst pilots in a division obtains the best mechas available, and heads out immediately to fight the space war they are born to fight.

An action mecha... comedy? I approve! It's a little weird if you think about it, because almost all the mecha titles touch on the subjects of war and death, and that leaves little room for comedy. Ginga Kikoutai Majestic Prince is not too different in that aspect as well, but even when the threat of death is pretty real, so far they managed to kept the mood really light and comedic. There's even one character, Tamaki, that is almost never seen with a super-distorted face. You'd think that she doesn't even know about the war that's going on.

Speaking of faces, the anime is chock full of super-distorted faces, to the point where the animation looks really sloppy outside of the action scenes. Though, this is part of what makes the show comedic, for the better or worst. But if that's the unique selling point of this anime, why not?

But on the flipside, the action scenes look gorgeous. The fast-paced battles with pretty mech designs and CG effects makes a stark contrast with the scenes outside of the suits. This is, of course, their primary selling point, as with literally all mecha animes, although it has yet to become anything unique.

Outlook: Likable and already pretty enjoyable, this one might have some potential.

First Impressions: Photo Kano

2013-04-26T11:53:00.000+08:00

Instant Summary: A guy obtains a camera from his father and starts taking pictures of female schoolmates in borderline erotic positions.

This is my impression of Photo Kano after two episodes:

For the characters, it's a bunch of well-sculpt girls with no personalities that really likes the painfully boring protagonist, and really like to have their photos taken, especially if they're slightly perverted.

For the premises, it's a place where arming yourself with a camera turns your schoolmates into instant gravure models, even if you're acting like a creep, or using threats to get what you want.

For the story... what story?

As an anime, it's a series of pretty fanservice still shots of anime girls, with really ugly animation in between them.

It's a shame that the anime has a full lineup of big name seiyuus. Saito Chiwa, Sawashiro Miyuki, Nakahara Mai, Itou Kanae, Kanemoto Hisako, Mizuhashi Kaori. I would really like to enjoy Photo Kano, but I can't.

Outlook: Save yourself the trouble and find a blog that takes a dozen screenshots off each episode. All that is good about the title would be there. Don't waste your time.

First Impressions: Hataraku Maou-sama!

2013-04-26T09:53:00.001+08:00

Instant Summary: The most powerful being in the demon came to the human world, lost almost all of his powers, and restarts his life from a dirt poor part-timer.

White Fox strikes again! Now that's seriously the studio to look out for.

I wonder if you can call it gap moé? That would certainly be true for our female hero Emilia, who's also reduced to a mere human from the level of power she share with the demon king. The concept of a noble living a commoner life has been done before (e.g. Kure-nai), but the difference that span across worlds? That's simply brilliant. Seeing how well the demon king has been reduced to a peasant is pretty funny in itself, but the rivalry between the hero and demon king takes the cake. Who'd have guessed that they would be comrades sharing the same plight?

The series is full of hilarious moments, extremely likable characters and runs on a great concept. Even if it may not be as well produced as other titles, it could very well be the most enjoyable title of the season! We'll see.

Outlook: Brilliant!

First Impressions: Yuyushiki

2013-04-26T07:05:00.003+08:00

Instant Summary: A bunch of laid-back girls surf the net and... do stuff.

The source manga comes from the same magazine as Hidamari Sketch, so it's easy to know what to expect. I had expected a 3-min short, but they actually had enough content for a full half-hour episode? Wow.

Anyway, Yui is the tsukkomi that hangs out with two bokes, Yuzu and Yukari, where Yuzu is the insane one in charge of all the hijinks. The episodes are mostly about them discussing various topics, some very briefly, before jumping into name puns, silly names and generally whatever topic that comes to mind. Barely anything actually happened in the 3 episodes and honestly, there isn't even a good joke up till now, but I do find myself chuckling here and there. It's the magic of light-hearted anime! Of course not many people can stomach something like these (actually, everyone but slice-of-life fans), but I guess I could actually see the appeal in this.

Outlook: Fairly appealing, but strictly only for slice-of-life fans.

First Impressions: Devil Survivor 2 The Animation

2013-04-26T06:47:00.000+08:00

Instant Summary: A bunch of teens obtained a mobile phone app in a near-death experience that allowed them to summon demons.

Unsurprisingly, the "pokemon" of our protagonist appears to be one of the strongest one there is, making this one of the "boy finds an awesome power and takes on the responsibility to save the world" kind of anime. The thing about most games is that when you remove the gameplay, you rarely ends up with a story worth telling by itself. So judging the anime by itself, have we seen something like this before? Definitely, almost too many times.

So is it interesting? Somewhat, it's exactly what you'd expect from a shounen title based on summoning avatars to fight. Is it unique? Not one bit, at least not yet. Is it worth watching? Not really, unless it starts to reinvent itself and becomes a real hit.

It's a little sad that the demons, the main feature of the show, are so poorly animated and featured.

Outlook: Fairly good, but may not be worth the time.

First Impressions: Dansai Bunri no Crime Edge

2013-04-25T08:03:00.000+08:00

Instant summary: The hairdressing scissors of a hair-cutting fanatic turns out be a weapon with real, murderous powers.

This is a highly anticipated anime? You gotta be shitting me.

What does it tell you when the first episode itself is full of melodramatic slow-mos and cheesy glitters? It means they're actually compensating for the lack of real content. Not a good start.

And that's just the beginning. The weird fetish of main character Kiri has made the first ten minutes of the show really uncomfortable to sit through, because all the blushing and panting seems to point to the raging boner he gets by touching female lead Iwai's hair. And Iwai, in return, also pants like a cat in heat for no reason. We have a scene where the main pair is in a state of physical arousal barely ten minutes after they met, which the show led you to believe that it would end up in a disturbingly bad angle if not for a sudden interruption. What kind of genius thought this up?

The premises is a little similar to stuff like Mirai Nikki and Btooom, that puts a clueless protagonist in a killing game that is likely going to end in a last-man-standing situation. And it always involves at least one sicko/sadistic/insane character. And everyone has a unique weapon, only this time it's stuff like hairdressing scissors and medical syringes. Is it even a good idea? I don't know yet, but until now the scissors and syringe proves to be fairly boring, despite the history behind each "weapon". Especially not when you gave the weapon corny names you'd expect to see on a MMORPG boss. Next time you'd tell me there's a guy with the "Murdering Axe of Demonic Orcs". I still cringe every time they addressed the scissors or the guy as "Dansai Bunri".

I don't even want to begin on the extremely one-dimensional characters. I don't know how good the source material is, but it probably didn't deserve this kind of treatment.

Outlook: Ridiculous

P.S The Crime Edge is actually a pair of thinning shears, and they are not supposed give a clean cut like that.

First Impressions: RDG Red Data Girl

2013-04-23T02:26:00.000+08:00

Instant Summary: A girl that can destroy electronics through touch gets possessed.

...and turns out to be suitable vessel for a god, can create spiritual familiars at will and make flowers bloom through a song and dance (what, is she okami or something?) I don't even know where to begin connecting the dots, but at least it's easy to see what they're trying to establish here: main character Izumiko can wield a significant amount of spiritual power, but she isn't exactly thrilled about it.

I have to be blunt here: it's really boring. We spent three episodes getting a tiny glimpse of what she is and what the power does, and not much else. Sure, we see a lot of how she reacts to this anomaly and how the male lead fits into the picture, but all of that can be condensed into a lot of whining and complaining.

What's the story hook here? Where's the meat? It isn't even a particularly interesting anomaly, and they're pinning them to excruciatingly dull characters. If they're trying to be a good fantasy, I don't see anything particularly imaginative. If they're trying to be a good mystery, it never piqued my curiosity even the slightest.

I'm giving it another episode tops, because even if the first 3 episodes are somewhat a prologue, if they can't pick it up after a third of the season, it probably never will.

Outlook: Boring

Series Review: Girls und Panzer (8/10)

2013-04-19T19:24:00.001+08:00

Instant Summary: A bunch of girls joins the tank club and takes part in a tank battle competition.

When I started to look forward to Girls und Panzer in pre-season, I had no idea what I was in store for. I don't think anyone really did, too. Most people expect something on the lines of Upotte! where literally "girls are guns". Meaning they're the moé anthropomorphism of weapons. It's one of the anime titles where they pair a subject with cute girls and try to run a profit, usually with a crap storyline and half-baked production quality. That was what I'm going for, actually, because Upotte! turned out way better than I expected, and I hoped that Girls und Panzer would be something like that.

But no, Girls und Panzer exceeded expectations by leaps and bounds. What I got was a really exciting, addictive battle anime produced on a pretty decent budget. In a way, it's very close to the common sports anime with a lot on emphasis on clever tactics, growth of ability, and challenging opponents. But we have the very unique tank battle as a sport, and we had the impossible combination of masculinity and femininity with the tanks and cute girls. It's a epic win!

The producers probably didn't expect a big success as well, because the anime still possess the weaknesses you kept seeing in small projects; very forgettable characters, and very little character development. At least they did compensate with real military tactics, traits and jargon. Having been in the army (in a tank company, no less), there's a lot of things I'm familiar with and can relate to.

Now if only the main character (whatshername) would go out of character in the ending and punch her sister in the face, the anime would have the impact to be something truly epic and memorable. Damn, I wish they would be a little more daring.

Plot/Concept: What supposed to be a cheap concept turns out really well-received!
Story style: Exciting battles, forgettable characters.
Audio/visual: Good
Value: 8

Series Review: Minami-ke Tadaima (9/10)

2013-04-19T19:20:00.001+08:00

Instant Summary: Three sisters live without their parents and their friends (from middle, junior high and high school) visits probably way too often.

OKAERI Minami-ke! Finally, we have a competent studio in charge of the anime. I recall that Asread did such a horrible job that even their promotional material looks awful. I had honestly thought that they ruined all hopes of any sequel, because their last botched job was in 2009. Thank god for studio Feel! And I guess it's lucky that people loved the franchise enough to warrant 4 seasons.

And I must say, studio Feel probably took it further than studio Daume had in the first season. Minami-ke's slice-of-life comedy is pure and mellow, but at some point it almost became stale. Feel had overcomed that weakness, and everything feels livelier and funnier than ever. They even had a really good ending! Who the hell actually saw that coming?

The anime has a huge and entertaining cast with, like, three whole sets of characters from three different schools, and the special thing about them is they're still unique and distinguishable. I won't even doubt that there's still plenty of profit to bleed from the franchise, and hopefully it'll still be studio Feel to do that.

Plot/Concept: It's the same, familiar and likable cast, as always.
Story style: They kept it simple, and they kept it funny.
Audio/Visual: Good
Value: 9

Series Review: Sasami-san@Ganbaranai (4/10)

2013-04-16T12:59:00.000+08:00

Instant Summary: A shut-in (hikikomori) has the power to alter reality.

Sasami's screencaps are pretty boring. But at least they reflect the anime well.

Despite being a big fan of "Shinbo-style", we all know studio Shaft bombs every now and then. For this anime, unfortunately, that becomes very clear by the third episode. But even among the titles that has very little success like Natsu no Arashi, I've always enjoyed the unique presentation of Shinbo. That is until Sasami-san@Ganbaranai. This anime kinda proved that while "Shinbo-style" animation may be the life of many titles, it can also wreck a show.

That is because Sasami actually had good story. It even has a good concept that puts the traditional Japanese gods in very unusual characters, and the "absolute power over all creation" becomes a very interesting element of the show. But the "Shinbo-style" seems to be in constant conflict with the story. In the first three episodes, I had a hard time telling whether the show is trying to be serious or comedic, because it seemed so absurd that everything could just wrap up as one big joke. That, and it's really hard to take the Brother's ridiculous voice seriously. It's actually pretty enjoyable during the comedic or slice-of-life sections, but the story always feels like a big mess.

The killer would be how it gets so very irritating over time. The conflict between the serious and comedic atmosphere is one. The Brother's voice is another. And there's the poor animation combined with excessive posing, probably to saving money on animation. And there's the rapid-fire conversation delivering huge chunks of information over loud, melodramatic and annoying BGM. That is a new low for Shaft.

Sasami gives me the constant vibe that it's trying to be something unique and spectacular. But throughout the show that's all it'll be; trying to be something it's not. Either the lack of budget or laziness screwed the show over, and made it the worst Shaft title yet.

Plot/Concept: Great potential...
Story Style: The style took the story to all the wrong places.
Audio/Visual: Poor
Value: 4

Series Review: Kotoura-san (7/10)

2013-04-12T14:07:00.002+08:00

Instant Summary: Kotoura, who's an outcast because of her psychic ability, found a guy who accepts her for what she is.

Kotoura-san is the underdog of the season. It's designed to be the underdog of the season. Despite the incredibly cheap character designs and simplistic concept, the anime achieved something that many ambitious projects didn't: it's funny, it digests easily, and it's easy to connect to the characters.

Well... for the most part, anyway. It's adapted from the 4-koma where most of the content is about the burden of her ability, and the precious friendship she made with the rest of the cast. It isn't easy spinning a story out of this, and the outcome is an incredibly predictable plot and ending. Thankfully they didn't dramatize it too much; the story became the weakest part of the show, and it would be painful if we have to focus on it any more than that. The light-hearted and comedic ending might really be the best way to go.

There's a lot of mixed reviews online. I'm just not sure if everyone had set the correct expectations for this title, based on the source and the obvious limits of its budget; Kotoura-san never had the potential to go very far, and being average is about the best that it should be doing. And I feel that it managed to do more than that.

There's a million things that could be improved about Kotoura-san, right down to the god-awful animation. But it is meant to be a really low budget project working on a really simple source. There are no highlights, but there are no real flaws as well, and that is somewhat a feat in itself. It's a forgettable, but enjoyable one.

Plot/Concept: Incredibly simple, but remarkable enjoyable.
Story Style: A extremely straightforward style turns out to be pretty effective after all.
Audio/Visual: Subpar
Value: 7

Series Review: Yama no Susume (7/10)

2013-04-11T09:47:00.002+08:00

Instant Summary: A mountain hiking enthusiast (forcibly) introduce a friend into the hobby.

Everyone could appreciate a bit of slice-of-life every now and then. The problem is that 25 min episodes become a drag for most people, unless it's chock full of comedy or fanservice, although it's hard to call it a slice-of-life at that point. So make it into a 3 min episode! As I've said many times before, the idea is utter genius.

The educational part about this anime makes it more interesting too. And rising star Asumi Kana really brought a lot of life into the title.

The downside is that while enjoyable, the characters and anime itself become forgettable, unlike many of the best slice-of-life titles out there. But that's ok, so does most of the characters in 3 min titles, with perhaps the only exception of Nyaruko (also voiced by Asumi Kana)

It's not something I would look forward to, but I certainly won't mind seeing more.

Plot/Concept: An awesome combination.
Story Style: Little originality to speak of, but nonetheless enjoyable.
Audio/Visual: Good
Value: 7

Series Review: Maoyuu Maou Yuusha (4/10)

2013-04-08T12:06:00.000+08:00

Instant Summary: The most powerful human being unexpectedly works with the most powerful demon for a chance to end the endless conflict between the two species.

Right at the beginning, we have an attractive and comical heroine paired up with a gung-ho, insanely powerful but likable male lead. The mood is light, fun, there's huge potential for character development and relationship between the two. We're off to a really good start.

A little too good, in fact. So much that I wasn't prepared for the mess that followed soon after. It was disappointing that the two things I always look out for, character and relationship development, are painfully absent from the show.

Instead, they focus heavily on "macroeconomics", whatever the fuck that means. I'm not exactly opposed to that; I'm big on slice-of-life, and I can digest Spice and Wolf quite well. Sadly, they forgot to tie that into the things that we actually cared about: the characters. No one reminded them that this is an anime, not a freaking economics class. Their idea of a mini-climax was something like: we were selling wheat at $20 in the morning, but demand has suddenly gone up, and now we're selling at $30. HOLY SHIT!

And, their supposed theme is pretty darn confusing as well. It's easy to see what's going on, but it's hard to see why. It feels like they're constantly throw new stuff into the mix and hope it fits itself together. Without seeing the why, it doesn't give me a reason to care.

By the midway point, it became clear that the show is going nowhere. I began to expect less and less from the show, but the big surprise is that it still delivered less that what I expected in the end. Because there was no end. What's going to happen to the war? What's going to happen to the Gate City? What is going to happen to the human world and demon world? What is going to happen between the two? I don't know. There are no answers.

The bigger problem is that I don't even care anymore.

Plot/Concept: It has the potential to be something pretty darn amazing, but we'll never know now.
Story Style: They lost control.
Audio/Visual: Good
Value: 4

P.S. Seriously, why the stupid maternity dress.