Monday 13 July 2015

First Impressions: Summer 2015

I swear the Spring Season always just seems to end with little notice or care.

Some Ground Rules~

1. I will try to give every show a chance but this doesn't mean i have to watch a full episode... if i stop early i will note the time and reason for stopping.

2. No 'webshows' or shows that are shorter then 20 minutes... i don't like waiting a week for these so i don't tend to watch them... i have made exceptions in the past but they are rare.

3. No shows with Brother, sister or Father in the title... i mean i may still give them a chance but they almost always have insest so... no...

4. No Second+ seasons of shows i didn't originally watch for obvious reasons.

5. no shows about card games, again i may give them a chance but they are almost never my cup of tea.

6. all opinions are my own and are based soley on what i see... unless i have read the manga of something i tend to go into these shows completely blind.

Returning shows.

Sailor moon
Please just let it end... please... it's just getting painful
i'll be honest i nearly dropped this show a few weeks ago.... the way they have handled chibiusa is just downright creepy and it got to a point where i actually stopped and episode and walked away.
still... this arc should end very soon.... possibly before i even post this.

The Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-chan
More Haruhi....
The best episodes of this series focus on Haruhi and Kyon's relatiosnhip or Prime Yuki.... disappearance yuki is boring and dull and not terribly interesting to watch.
however this barely qualifies as a returning show as it's only going to air for about 3 more weeks
and yes... part of me is annoyed that Haruhi barely got more then 12 episodes per season (only like...7 in season 2 by my count) and yuki-chan is getting 16.... but i just bury those feelings and rewatch the movie/reread the books....
yeah seriously..
After watching episode 14
I'm getting a little tired of this show making me cry not because it's sad... but because it's making me miss the original series and reminding me the rest of the novels will probably never be animated. I will never get to see the snowy mountain lodge.... or the Anti-SOS brigade... or anythng from surprise
Shows like The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya tend to sneak up on me with how important they become to me... I adore it, the movie is probably my favorite film... and being reminded every week that this is probably all you'll ever get again hurts... and then thinking that the same may be true for Natsume Yuujinchou... it just hurts...

Rinne
The only reason i watch this show is that Wednesdays are slow at work and i almost always get a lunch and last season i had nothing else to watch by that time... it's cute but a little gag heavy and if something more interesting takes up the 'you can watch this during lunch' slot i may just drop it.
I do want to mention the intro and ending song change... i've never seen a show where the animation is pretty much exactly the same but the song changes.... i've seen the visuals change with the same song.... but yeah only changing the song seems lazy... and a little foolish because it doesn't even work with the visuals...

MY love STORY!!
I love this show, there is something i am hoping happens because... well i think it makes sense but right now this show is one i look forward to every week and i'm so happy it's not just one Cour.

The Heroic Legend of Arslan
It's an interesting enough show but it's a little slow and the artists style shines through a bit too much... if find it fairly distracting. still i'm hoping it continues to be interesting.

Not too bad of a start considering we haven't even started the new season yet.

Lets get started

Rampo Kitan: Game of Laplace
So from the looks of it it's a show based on a series created by someone who has been dead for 50 years now.
I'm not the biggest fan of Detective type stories because they are either too obvious OR the solutions are so obtuse that no one outside of the show/book/film whatever could possibly get it.
Depending on how little ends up airing around this time i may or may not remember to watch this more but i have a tendancy to drop these types of shows after the first case is solved.
it's not bad so far... but it's not grabbing me just yet.
*watched episode 2*
Normally i don't want to talk about anything past the base first impression.... but i hate to for this.
So this is the type of mystery that takes the Obtuse road.... you cannot guess who the killer is before it's revealed... so thats already a huge failing... but even worse then that it's just way to blaze about things....
"I wanted to be his chair" is a literal line in the second episode... they try to make it sweet that a character was litterally murdering people and turning them into chairs...
yeah.... no that is incredibly messed up.
If the first episode was boring this is the one that pushes it into being terrible...

GATE
Well... i could hear that it's Junichi Suwabe right away so i'll take that as progress...
So it's a mix of modern day and fantasy from another world, a litteral gate is opened and it looks like one ends up in the other... and so we have fantasy armies and military armies and...
...
so far this just feel like a huge "look how cool the army is" anime... maybe that changes... i'm only halfway through but it does feel like "look at this pathetic Otaku, even he can become a Second lieutenant"
Also not really digging the whole "lets go into another world with vastly better tech and just... destroy everything" vibe... yeah they opened the gate but they didn't seem to expect where they would land.
Yeah... could just be that Military shows aren't my thing but i don't think i'll be continuing this unless i hear a lot of good things... i mean i like A1 pictures most of the time but this just isn't working for me.

Classroom * Crisis
is that Sakura Chiyo i hear?
... well she does have a unique voice but it's a little odd to be able to recognize it after only seeing her in one show.
Anyways this show kind of lost me when there was so much space talk...
Still a new transfer student is taken hostage and they go to rescue him cause this class doubles as a space piloting devision of the company...
yeah... again i just don't care... pretty much nothing in this episode made me wonder about the world or the issues... it's just "here is a class of gifted student who are building a type of plane"... so if i can't care about the character cause i know nothing about them then i'm not going to care about anything else... music wasn't terrible though.

Oh boy...
My Wife is the Student council President.
Crunchyroll has two versions of this... Censored and uncensored
I don't want to watch either....
Please let this be 3 minutes...
8 minutes! i will call this a victory and bail
Maybe i should add Wife and Husband to the auto ban list of title's i wont watch.... but gather those don't tend to get insesty (which is the reason i wont watch anythign with sister/brother/father in the title)

Aoharu x Machinegun
hm.... i have said this before but i don't like airsoft or bb guns because the guns look real and it's kind of romanticizes guns in my mind... at least painball guns tend to look like colourful things... rarely like guns (and those that use the ones that look like guns aren't terribly fun to play with)  anyways yeah... don't like guns so i think i'll pass on this show... i made it about 10 mins in before quitting.

Durarara!! x2 The second arc.
this should probably be in a continuing series section but there was a season off.
I love this show...
i am so happy.
Just go watch it... all of it... it's so good
I will still argue that the first season is the best use of non-linear story telling i have ever seen.

ok next!

Charlotte
I think i know a little about this before hand... well at least that it's Key/visual arts... so it'll probably be feelsy
you know whats funny? Uchiyama Kouki sounds extremely similar to Hiroshi Kamiya.... so much so that the only way i can tell it's him is by going "this sounds vaguely like natsume but i didn't get that intant reaction... it must be 'not natsume'..."
and i'm right 99% of the time... so i figure it's about time i learn his name... it's the least i can do lol.
Anyways... as much as i don't like aniplex's pricing models their animation is spot on... i'm so happy they seem to have taken over Key/vis arts stuff from Kyo-ani... this show is pretty.
It's about a boy who has an ability to possess people for 5 seconds, he uses this to cheat and pick up girls until he is found out by a school who gathers up students like this and keeps them in a dorm situation until they grow up and their powers vanish.
Considering i love Supernatural powers in a modern/realistic setting i have a feeling this will be one of my favs this season... also Key/vis arts tends to be on my good side more often then my bad side (granted i didn't care for little busters or angel beats but hey... clannad and Kanon[2006] are up there as some of my fav shows ever)
so yeah really looking forward to this.

Rokka -Braves of the Six Flowers-
it's odd looking at a character design and knowing what voice will come out of it... this is the first time thats happened.
Anyways... this was animated by Passion... i've never heard of them... seems like they've only done two other shows... and i HATED rail wars...
Still this is really interesting so far... Fantasy, despite the fact that i love reading it, is hit or miss with me in anime... but so far i'm intrigued.
Occasionally the Demon King breaks his seal and 6 warriors are given a mark that will prove that they shall seal the demon king once again...
of course i look forward to there being more to this sealing buisness and finding out why they can't completely destroy him... should be fun hopefully.


Working!!!
yay another season of funtimes! it's fun hearing Hiroshi Kamiya like this~
you'll be lost if you don't see the rest of the show so watch that first, it's essentially a slice of life for a group of people working at a family restaurant... and it's a comedy.
it's very fun and is a must watch of this season!
Hm... Popura's hair is really long.... *pulls up hair* and my hair is almost long enough to cosplay her....
I need a haircut
anyways sorry...

Shimoneta: a boring world where the concept of dirty jokes doesn't exist.
......... well it's the first stupid titled anime of the season so i can't complain too much... but i can hope that it's only 3 mins long
23... damn... ok
So based on the opening bit... this is infact a world where dirty jokes don't exist... mostly because there is a 'decency squad' that destroy your ero magazines and put you to work for your indecent words... so they do exist but the price is pretty high
it's kinda funny how they had to censor the dirty words cause japan does have some silly decency laws. and when i say they i mean the show itself it wouldn't work at all if the broadcast was censoring it
*bursts out laughing* why does she have those on her face? how is yelling those words terrorism? if someone doesn't have the context for the word then it can't really be considered obscene can it?
I can't stop laughing... this show is stupid as hell but pretty funny especially considering the prudish society it's making fun of.
I probably wont be watching though... not my cup of tea... but pretty funny for a first episode.

Ushio and Tora
I have actually heard of this, i had a friend way back when who wanted this on dvd... i know nothing about it though... i hope this is a remake cause otherwise i'm going to be very lost.
also i keep wanting to call it Ushio To Tora... cause well thats what it's called it's just how i'm used to hearing about it
Right off the bat i like that it's kept it's older style while having pretty nice animation... better then some other remakes as of late...
*cough* however watching this made me realize something...
This is Natsume's book of friends... but instead of a book it's a spear...
but the concept is damn near identicle at it's base.
A boy who can see spirits teams up with a cat like Yokai that is forced to protect him but also plans to eat him... however they work together to get ride of problems with Yokai...
and to be fair i should say natsume's book of friends is this cause well this came WAY before....
but yeah the resemblance in plot is a little uncanny.
Will i continue? probably... i mean it's a shonen version of my fav show (or my fav show is a shoujo version of this... it's all about perspective i guess) and i'm not always into shonen.. too much focus on fighting and getting stronger... but still i am curious... and if it's older show thats popular enough to warrant a current day adaptation then I really want to see why.

wow too many shows on saturday... ok moving on!

Gangsta.
Again... i can hear that it's Juichi Suwabe playing the blond guy.... it's still not the instant 'i am positive about this' reaction i get with other VAs but still...
have... have i finally figured out his voice?
Anyways, i went into this expecting not to like it cause i'm not a fan of super gritty things...
It was actually really good... i don't even know why i found it so intriguing but yeah... i would say i liked this.
First episode is mostly setup but from what i gather they are somewhere where the Mafia is pretty much everywhere... there are two known as Handymen who are nuetral parties and go in to clean up messes.
The most interesting thing is that one of the main characters is Deaf so how they handeled that was really really interesting... looking forward to seeing more of this.

Snow White with the Red Hair
And here i thought i had my fill of Snow white but with pretty boys instead of dwarves...
granted this only seems to have 1 pretty boy instead of Pretear which had... well they claimed 7 but it was really 3....
anyways i really liked this... a very neat and unique take on the story... looking forward to more.
Shirayuki is an herbalist, one day a prince comes to claim her as part of his concubine and she runs away and bumps into Zen, the two cexome unlikely friends as they thwart The prince's dubious scheme.

Actually, I Am
Imagine being so easy to read you couldn't keep a secret or lie about anything ever....
now imagine you had to keep a secret so your crush doesn't have to quite school.
That's basically this show... it is a harem show which i'm not terribly fond of but i may give this one another chance... but i wont be surprised if i stop and forget about it.

Chaos Dragon
This looks pretty cutesy to have a MA rating....
oh boy... i really dislike the art... it's so angular and lacking in depth.
ok... so there is a ton of exposition.... but nothing was actually said.
from what i can gather.... there was a king, he was killed, his son helps with an orphanage.. it's a warring state caught in the middle and the dragon god that protects the land is going nuts and other people who have made contracts with other dragon gods have come to kill it butnoe the song of the king who died has made a contract and in order to unlock the dragons power he has to kill his friends... esentially the good of the many outweighs the good of the few or the one.
it's a somewhat interesting concept... too bad it was boring as hell... the info dump is just so much and not once was i given a reason to care...
I know nothing about this character other then now he has to murder his friends who i also know nothing about.
and then gratuitous amounts of blood just for the sake of it... yeah i'm going to pass.

Castle Town Dandelion
So your father is king, but he insists you and your 8 other siblings have to live a normal life, go to school and even be elected to the position of king.
Each child has their own magic as they work to get their approval rating up
oh and you just happen to suffer from crippling shyness that makes you not want to be seen in any capacity.
it seems fine but again, large cast of characters an no reason to really care about them or why they want to be king or what they will do... it's just too goofy for that.

Overlord
Diving MMO RPG...
I am tempted to drop out now.... but who knows... it could be good... or it could be another terrible show like sword art.... guess i'll find out
ok.... seeing a big scary skeleton use emoticons like that already has warmed me up to this more
SO anyone who has played an MMO for a long time has probably have it end on them... do you wait till the end an have the server boot you or do you go on with your normal life?
One player Named Momonga, a giant inhuman Skeleton decided to wait... only when they clock struck midnight the game didn't end... instead things changed... the Hud vanished, NPCs started to act more natural and things like touch and smell became apparent.
SO does momonga work to figure wout whats going on and maybe get back home or does he enjoy tis game world?
I don't know if i'll continue this or not... so far there are no other tuesday shows...
but if this gets at all sword arty then i will bail so fast... i am not going through that again.

Monster Musume Everyday life with Monster girls
I know i'm not going to make it very far into it...
wait Musume translates to Daughter right? *checks*
YES... i mean it also translates to young unmarried girl but i'm taking the former definition and ditching.
i did see about 3 mins and yeah.... i would have ditched there regardless but i'm just glad i can use one of my ground rules to not watch anymore.

Bikini Warriors
... i don't.... want to watch this.... can i have a "if a character has underboob as the focal part of her wardrobe i dn't have to watch it" clause?
next season.... it'll be a new rule.... for now i just hope it's a short show... i mean... you can't keep up that kind of gag for a full 25 mins... can you?
4 Minutes! good, Bailing... insert obvious "thats not how those work" comments and off to the next thing.

Seiyu's Life
Seiyu as in a character name or "Voice actor?"... guess i'll see
Seiyu as in Voice actors.... extremely moe voice actors.
i hope this doesn't remind me of work like shirobako does... (i still wanna watch that show but it shoots my anxiety through the roof)
*character has to introuce herself to everyone individually* oh.... no this is exactly like work
*character gets starstruck* n-no.... you can't do that... you have to show some decorum an be chill... no speaking unless spoken to.... please stop.... *whimpering*
Granted it's a little different for the above the line people (actors/directors/producers) but still... be chill
wow they have to handwrite script changes instead of just getting pages...
*pulling out hair* please just.... calm down...
ugh this is shirobako all over again... i dunno maybe i'll continue but.... so much like work.... and work is enough...

Himouto! Umaru-chan
Please let this be 5 minutes....
Look i know i said i would try all the shows but there are a lot and the promo art does not look good for this so yeah... judging a book by it's cover...
Full Length... ok.... let's do this..
Wow... being able to Chibi yourself so easily is a little impressive.
wow this is one endearing character... i love when teenagers throw temper tantrums because they don't get their way.
The problem with Comedy is it's not universal
The problem with characters you hate is the fact that  you can't stand when they are on screen...
so you have an unfunny comedy with character who deserved to get smacked through a wall... yeah pass.... i made it to the midroll of the episode.
besides Himouto seems to be like an abreviated "hikkomori Imouto" or "sister who refuses to go outside" so... i'll classify it under no sister titles and go with that...
but seriously this show was really not enjoyable for me at all. I figure a lot of people are going to like it... but i just do not enjoy teenagers throwing temper tantrums like children.

Sky Wizards Academy
did this show just have the "i happened to crash into you and grab your breast" with both his hands?
ugh i'm just not in the mood so... not a fan of wars or harems or things that are probably only getting made thanks to a show about girls in school uniforms fighting like tanks and getting their clothing torn up.
plus the animation wasn't very good... so yeah next

School-Live!
This is incredibly adorable... too much... can something dark happen? please?
well the one girl is reading stephen king so maybe?
oh well... good... i was worried that this would conitnue to be Moe moe girls sitting around eating cake during club... yeah.... not the case...
dunno if i'll continue watching because as interesting as it is to have super cutesy visuals with 'that' mixed in.... i'm not the biggest fan of 'that' so we'll see... doesn;t look like i have anything else that i could watch during lunch on thursdays anyways...

Wakaba*Girl
And it's a short show (7 mins)... hm... yeah i'm still going to pass

Prison School
well... 90% sure i'm going to bail on this... lets see how long it takes.
oh.... please... please you have got to be kidding me... please don't let that be
well........ ok then... i'm so incredibly sad now i can't even begin to describe.
ok... first off... yeah this is technically an ecchi.... but remember those silly censorship laws in japan? well full effect here.... beams of whiteness make sure to block off seeing anything that might give people impure thoughts.
also one guy has a very small face.
so the shading is incredibly muddled... the animation is really jumpy
it's not as bad as i expected but it's still not the type of show i like... i am really sad that my fav voice actor is in it since yeah... not even he can make me watch it... *sighs*
also the scene right before the ending song.... ew.... seriously ew....
next.

Million Doll
8 mins again... pass (is it just me or are there a lot of these this season?)
also wow that CG dancing looks terrible...

God Eater
This should be the last show... there's one other that is reported being on crunchy but..
a) it doesn't seem to be there so maybe not in my region?
b) it's girls as mech genre which i don't tend to like and i'm tired of waiting... cause the more i watch the more i want to add to these and that kinda ruins the point of something that is only supposed to be a first impression.
I will say the animation is different for this... i'm not sure if i like it or not but i do find it interesting that they are at least trying something new. Granted it does come across as a little stilted and stiff.
it's almost like it's 2d animation on a 3d base if that makes sense.
unfortunately i think the biggest issue is that i have no clue whats going on or why i should care. so yeah not for me but i'm sure others will like it.

As far as i can tell that is it... a lot of surprisingly good shows so time to make some lists.

Shows i will most likely complete

continuing from last season
Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-chan (cause at this point... there is only one episode left...)
My love STORY!!
Heroic Legend of Arslan
Sailor moon (maybe)
Rinne (huge maybe)

New this season
Durararax2 pt 2
Charlotte
Working!!!
Ushio and Tora
Gansta.
Snow white and the red hair

Need more episodes to decide if i like it 
Rokka
Actually, I am
Overlord
School Live

ugh... 14 shows... that seems to be my average as of late... it's too many and i wont be surprised if some get dropped but at least it's a bit more spaced out then other season have been

Alright see ya next time

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