Spring 2013 First Impression Rankings

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!

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

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

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

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

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

Winter 2013 First Impression Rankings (and crappy short opinions)

A quick summary of the first impressions of winter 2013:

1. Tamako Market
This is Kyoto Animation doing what they do best, where they will be able to do their best.

2. Minami-ke Tadaima
Better than the last three seasons combined.

3. Maoyuu Maou Yuusha
This is Spice and Wolf upsized; more cutesy romance, more GAR, less confusing jargon, and a huge pair of tits.

4. Yama no Susume
Short episodes and slice-of-life fits together like peanut butter and jelly.

5. Kotoura-san
Works beautifully on a pretty generic formula. But if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

6. Senran Kagura
Tis' one of those shows that is so dumb, watching it makes you feel smart. And horny.

7. Vividred Operation
You either watching it for the story catered for a five-year-old, or for little girl butts.

8. Sasami-san@Ganbaranai
A flashy and ambitious undertaking that impressed exactly zero people.

9. Mangirl!
A fair amount of success in the graphic department and failing miserably in the comedy department.

10. Amnesia
Compress the first 3 episodes into 10 minutes, and you might have something. Might.

11. GJ-bu
A bunch of stereotypes lumped together by the worst comedy writer there is.

12. Ore no Kanojo to Osananajimi ga Shuraba Sugiru
Having two shitty main characters doesn't make a show enjoyable.

13. Boku was Tomodachi ga Sukunai NEXT
Same shit, in a slightly nicer-looking package.

14. Da Capo III
The characters themselves are less relevant than their tits.

First Impressions: Kotoura-san

Instant Summary: A girl can read the minds of others, but her childhood was ruined because she didn't learn to respect the privacy of others.

An underdog appears!

It's simple and it works. Kotoura is a lonely and depressed girl that puts a barrier between her and other people, but our male lead shamelessly barges into her life, making sure she won't be lonely again. Yes, it's a fairly cliche setup, but the important thing is that it didn't felt forced at all. In fact, the whole title felt more easy-going than anything, with plenty of humour and a tad bit of fanservice, despite the pretty dark introduction and undertones.

My favourite part is how the main character consistently break Kotoura's mental barrier by raping her mentally, flooding the mind-reader with perverted thoughts. It's hilarious how the guy is completely innocent in this case, but Kotoura is defenceless and endlessly flustered in these cases.

And Kanemoto Hisako, our dear Ika-musume, sounds so freaking awesome with those flustered sounds. HanaKana, on the other other hand, sound pretty unimpressive in a non-moe role.

While the production values are pretty darn low for my liking, I'll still definitely enjoy this.

Outlook: Pretty damn good!