Archive for the ‘Articles’ Category

Uta no Prince-sama – Maji Love 1000%
Studio: A-1 Pictures
Premiere Date: 7/2
Review Date: 7/7
Genre: Reverse Harem
Adapted From: Video Game
Available via NicoNico.com

First Impression: I did not hate this as much as I thought I would.

In this reverse harem series, a girl named Haruka desperately wants to attend Saotome Academy so that she can become a composer for her favorite pop idols. When she’s late to the entrance exam, she almost never gets her chance until two beautiful bishounen appear and come to her rescue. After becoming a full student, Saotome and her best friend Shibuya begin to meet the very beautiful pop idol wannabes that begin to make up her world including the angsty Masato, the fun loving Otoya and someone who looks an awful lot like her favorite idol.

Let me say off the bat that I am usually the worst person to watch these types of series. While there are always exceptions, the reverse harem genre is generally anime kryptonite to me. So let that carry some weight with you when I say that this was not a terrible first episode. I’d even go so far as to say that I enjoyed it.

It’s not perfect by any stretch of the imagination. On the artistic side, the females in this series all pale in comparison to their male counterparts. On one side, Haruka has shining golden eyes which look like they belong on a bug while Shibuya has a braid in her hair that looks like it’s just wrapped in a hair net and pinned back to nothing. Neither design are overly appealing but it’s nothing compared to the technical problem of watching this series on NicoNico.com. This was the slowest player that I’ve had to deal with in a very long time. It took a good few minutes for it to load the entire episode and you HAVE to load the entire episode or the buffering will absolutely kill whatever viewing experience you’re having.

Once you get past these issues however, Uta no Prince Sama is a fun series that isn’t afraid to make the audience laugh along the way. While the animation isn’t as sharp as I would prefer, the characters introduced go a long way towards keeping this series enjoyable. Every character introduced (and there are a lot of them this episode) has their own distinct personality which can generate a laugh in their own way. From the playful ones to the brooding ones, everyone is able to get a laugh even if it’s by favorably comparing Haruka to their family dog.

Just like with other harem series though, it’s impossible to watch this one and not pick out your favorites. As I watched this episode, I could feel myself comparing each of the new harem members as they appeared trying to sort out which ones I liked best and which ones I wanted to die in a fire. Luckily for them, everyone has made the cut so far.

As you’d expect from a series about music, there is an excessive amount of good background music playing throughout the episode. From very generic pop song opening to nice backgrounds, this is a good series to listen to for its music. The series creates a nice atmosphere with music that sounds like it could all easily be in an otome game.

With its off the wall sense of humor and attention grabbing characters, Uta no Prince sama is a surprising win in its premiere episode. A fun series that makes for good viewing, this is a first episode that even those who aren’t a fan of the genre can laugh at along the way.

Kami Sama no Memo Chou
Studio:  J.C. Staff
Premiere Date:  7/2
Reviewed: 7/7
Genre: Mystery

First Impression: I was right, GoSick without the period setting.

In the first, almost hour long, episode of Kamisama no Memo chou, the hero is introduced as Narumi Fujishima. Living in his own world, he is approached one day by his classmate Ayaka who has a couple of special tasks for him: join the gardening club and help out in a restaurant. When he visits the restaurant for the first time, he is introduced to a number of characters who are all working for a NEET detective named Alice.

Somehow finding himself pulled into her world, Narumi joins those who are working as her assistant as she investigates the mysterious disappearance of a high school girl who went missing after it was revealed she was working as a prostitute.

Good and the Bad

Before this series even started I was getting an image that I was going to be watching GoSick only without the cute Victorian loli character and I was right. This is exactly that only with more people working as assistants to the genius detective. This is both good and bad. While it’s bad for the obvious reasons, it’s good in its own way for the turns that it takes as it presents its opening mystery.

The unique approach here is that this is a series that isn’t going to be afraid to explore some much darker issues. In this first episode, a high school girl loaded down with pressures from real life forces horrible things onto her body and goes missing because of it. Other story tidbits from around the internet indicate that in the future this series will also be exploring the rarely used theme of drugs within the Japanese society. This is a series that is promising things for its future that few series ever do.

The issue here is that the presentation of the first episode isn’t particularly gripping. While all of the usual motions are made, the longer runtime did not play positively for this series. The pacing for the episode felt slow the entire duration and really drug the episode down as the episode was slowly played out. You could almost compare the workings of this episode to an episode of House; “Have we wasted enough time? Good, here’s what really happened…”

Overall

I wasn’t as impressed with this episode as the creators obviously wanted me to be. While a nice attempt at the mystery genre, this first episode feels a little too clunky to get me excited about watching more. I am hopeful for the next couple of episodes but I fear this one is going to end up in the dropped column before long.

I admit it, the second half of the season wasn’t nearly as impressive as the first. While there are still a few gems poking out from the rough, it’s hard to tell with all of this fluff and rough around the edges comedy. In this half, we’ll be talking about series ranging all the way from the very boring Sket Dance all the way to the sporty Moshidora. Luckily for me, we’ll also be hitting some of the highlights of the second half including Deadman Wonderland and A Channel.

 

Sket Dance
Premiere Date: 4/7
Studio: Tatsunoko Production
Available via Crunchyroll

Summary: The sket dan is in charge of making sure the students in their school lead trouble free lives. If you have a problem, they can solve it.

Where I Started: So every episode is going to be like this? This makes my head hurt.

Where I Ended: It gets better which is more than I can say for a lot of other series this season. However, when I say that it gets better I mean that in the sense that it hadn’t really set a high mark for it to beat to begin with. It’s definitely a school comedy for those who love that sort of thing but the jokes are generally so on the nose that it’s hard to consider it particularly clever. It’s a nice attempt and some people are going to respond to it. Most are going to wish that they had looked the other direction.

Verdict: Not going to do it to myself. Fail!

 

A Channel
Premiere Date: 4/7
Studio: Studio Gokumi

Summary: Four cute girls doing cute things with some occasional yuri overtones.

Where I Started: Oh yeah, I can see myself watching this.

Where I Ended: This is K-ON with music replaced by yuri. It’s the slightly racier alternative to this season’s My Ordinary Life. It’s all of those things plus a little extra thanks to being hilarious! Yet another fluff series, this is the series for those who love their moe and need another strong dose of it in comedy form. Four girls in high school doing cute things in their everyday lives isn’t going to satisfy every otaku in the audience but if you do enjoy moe comedy, this is not going to disappoint you.

Verdict: Moe comedy win! Pass!

 

Softenni
Premiere Date: 4/7
Studio: XEBEC

Summary: Four other girls have ecchi comedy fun while training to reach their next tennis tournament.

Where I Started: I have to watch more of this? 

Where I Ended: There’s a line that certain series can toe around in order to remain a fun ecchi comedy. Some series take awhile but eventually they find that line. SoftTeni found that line almost right away but ignored it anyway. From the first few minutes you know exactly what you’re getting into with this one. Bottom of the barrel humor that isn’t afraid to rely on whatever tropes it can think of to get its point across, this isn’t even ecchi comedy for those who like it to enjoy.

Verdict: Fail, fail, fail.

 

Pretty Rhythm: Aurora Dream
Premiere Date: 4/9
Studio: Tatsunoko Production

Summary: Two girls are randomly chosen to be the new stars of the Prism Show which involves magical jumps, ice skating, dancing and being an idol.

Where I Started: It doesn’t always look great but I can see where it’s going.

Where I Ended: If it weren’t for this series being such a commercial, I could actually see myself watching and enjoying this. However as someone who looks at this series and sees a price tag on everything in sight it’s hard to enjoy it nearly as much. While the animation is questionable at times, this is still a not bad shoujo series aimed at selling toys to little girls.

Verdict: I won’t be following it but this was a solid introduction and deserves a pass.

 

Astarotte’s Toy
Premiere Date: 4/10
Studio: Diomedia
Available via Crunchyroll

Summary: A 10 year old succubus princess must suck life juice from men in order to survive and is given an adult human male to become friends with.

Where I Started: That wasn’t bad but still…

Where I Ended: I tried to like this one and by the end of 3 episodes I had even chuckled a bit at the various antics. This is still just a premise that I can’t get behind and won’t be continuing with. For the record, you’d expect a series of this nature to rely on fan service and sex humor a lot more than it does. This is still just far beyond the line of what moe and ecchi fans should look for in a series. Cute in its own way but be sure that you’re the type who can ignore character ages.

Verdict: Not as bad it could’ve been but still a fail.

 

C: The Money of Soul and Possibility Control
Premiere Date: 4/14
Studio: Tatsunoko Production
Available via Funimation

Summary: A poor college student is offered a chance to enter the seedy financial district where he could have all his money problems solved. All he has to do is sign over his future and take part in weekly battles without going bankrupt.

Where I Started: This could be interesting.

Where I Ended: I was right, it could have been interesting had they tried just a little bit harder. While the tsundere asset was a nice addition, there isn’t enough here to make this unique premise into what it could have been. With more time, this series might go somewhere but during its initial impression it left me with little curiosity to find out more. If there is a chance that it’s going somewhere I might catch it on DVD someday but for now, this is a rainy day series at best.

Verdict: Fail

 

Ano hi Mita Hana no Namae o Boku-tachi Mada Shiranai
Premiere Date: 4/14
Studio: A-1 Pictures

Summary: A dead girl comes back with a wish to bring together all of her old friends who have all grown apart.

Where I Started: Wow, powerful and beautiful.

Where I Ended: Another coming of age story, this one is one of the more powerful of the season as the lead character is just instantly likeable. Compelling writing brings together a sympathetic cast of characters in order to create a beautiful landscape of detail to get lost in. There is little about this series that one can complain about and is one that everyone should be checking out.

Verdict: A Noitamina series for everyone. Pass!

 

Aria the Scarlet Ammo
Premiere Date: 4/14
Studio: JC Staff
Available via Funimation

Summary: In a high school where students are trained to be international police, a guy runs into the elite Aria who wants him to become her partner (or as she calls it ‘slave’).

Where I Started: Where have I seen this before?

Where I Ended: Leaving behind the many times the series decides to steal the plot from the movie Speed, the series itself is a rehash of action series you’ve seen in the past. The tsundere lead is a cookie cutter of heroines who have come before her and the action is hardly worth getting excited about. The one place where this absolutely succeeded was in its music but I’m not watching a series for its soundtrack.

Verdict: Another cheap action that’s not even visually impactful. Fail!

 

Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko
Premiere Date: 4/14
Studio: Shaft

Summary: A high school student moves in with his aunt and cousin, the latter of which believes that she is an alien after going missing for six months.

Where I Started: I really want to like this but damn is it hard.

Where I Ended: It took awhile but I finally came to a certain peace with this series. After so many dark series, director Akiyuki Shinbo returns with this comedy that never quite finds its footing. The artwork is the first hurdle to overcome with the writing coming in on a close second. I have faith that this series is going somewhere but these first three episodes aren’t giving me much evidence of that beyond my healthy (hopeful?) hunch.

Summary: I continue out of faith that it’s going to get better but still fail.

 

Deadman Wonderland
Premiere Date: 4/16
Studio: Manglobe
Available via Crunchyroll

Summary: A kid is framed for the murder of his entire class and sent to a twisted amusement park where convicts battle for their lives in front of a live audience.

Where I Started: The grittiest series this season and I love it.

Where I Ended: Every season needs an incredibly dark and twisted series that leaves you captivated with just how far it’s willing to go. This season the title of that series is Deadman Wonderland. Dark and twisted, at one point I cursed that this series was so heavily censored but as I saw just how dark it was willing to go with its ideas, I became more and more grateful for it instead. Once you start getting into the violence and twisted story behind this series, it’s hard to take your eyes away.

Verdict: Pass!

 

[SinglePic not found]Moshidora
Premiere Date: 4/25
Studio: Production I.G

Summary: A high school baseball manager accidently picks up a business management book and uses it to coach the team towards the nationals.

Where I Started: Alright, I’m getting your point. Now make something happen.

Where I Ended: Once it stopped trying to introduce itself, Moshidora turned into a fun baseball series about doing your very best. Bringing together the best elements of sports and dramedy, this turned into a fun drama about thinking outside the box and doing something different. Then you add in some nice animation and a wonderful orchestral soundtrack and you have a surprisingly fun little treat.

Verdict: Shockingly this one is getting a pass.

So I am supremely late with this. Like really freaking late. How late am I? My deadline for this is usually the first of the month. I have a really good excuse though and that was there was just too much good anime coming out this season! Between the slice of life series proving much more interesting than previously imagined, the comedies being off the charts hilarious and the action providing more than enough to keep your eyes bugging out, I’m willing to call this the second good season we’ve had in a row. If this is what the first half of the year has brought, what will summer and fall bring?

For the first part, I’m taking a look at all of the series I was able to hit from the first half of the month ranging from Dog Days to Steins;Gate.

 

Dog Days
Premiere Date: 4/2
Studio: Seven Arcs

Summary: A foreign teenager living in Japan is summoned to an alternate world where dog people and cat people are fighting an endless war of cute. After being recruited to the dog side by the beautiful princess, he is crushed to learn that he won’t be able to return home.

Where I Started: This is so cute I think I just went into diabetic shock.

Where I Ended: This is my absolutely mindless series of the season. I can be totally upfront about this though; this is a monumentally sugary series and beyond that I can’t think of any real redeeming qualities. The story is laughably silly and the writing is shallow at even its best of times. It’s just that Seven Arcs has created such a beautiful looking world and adorable characters that it’s hard to care.

Verdict: Pick this one up! I’m going all the way!

 

Tiger and Bunny
Premiere Date: 4/2
Studio: Toei
Available via Viz Anime

Summary: Super heroes backed by corporate sponsors fight crime in a city where it is all televised on on reality TV. When an old veteran and a rookie are forced to team up, aggressive sparks fly between the two.

Where I Started: Wow, not amazing but still worth a wow.

Where I Ended: Anime mixed with western super heroes and buddy cop movies creates quite the impressive offspring. Helped in no small part by its amazing visuals, this is a series that caught critics and fans completely off guard. Unlike anything else this season, the witty writing and unique premise has won over plenty of fans including myself.

Verdict: It passes and lives to see me continue.

 

My Ordinary Life
Premiere Date: 4/2
Studio: Kyoto Animation
Available via Crunchyroll

Summary: Imagine Azumanga Daioh with edge that only comes from a weekend bender.

Where I Started: I love this series.

Where I Ended: I still love this series. I love just how far outside the box this series is willing to think in all of its scenes, I love the very simple animation style and I love the two separate stories telling student life and the world of the child professor living with her robot. This is the best random school comedy since Azumanga Daioh and is easily the comedy of the season you should be watching.

Verdict: Pass!

 

Toriko
Premiere Date: 4/3
Studio: Toei
Available via Funimation

Summary: In a fantastical world, Toriko is the greatest gourmet hunter there is. With his assistant, he travels the world finding the most dangerous, exotic animals to kill with his bare hands and create his ultimate dinner.

Where I Started: Well, that was definitely a shonen series.

Where I Ended: This series is filled with so much manly gar I had to shave after watching one episode. The comedy is juvenile but the premise keeps this series clever and fun. While I’ve never been one for shonen shows, I was getting into this one by the time I was done with it. I won’t be continuing this one but anytime I need a fix of weekly manliness, I know exactly where to find Toriko.

Verdict: Pass.

 

Hanasaku Iroha
Premiere Date: 4/3
Studio: PA Works
Available via Crunchyroll

Summary: A young girl is ditched by her mother and forced to live with her estranged grandmother who puts her to work in her inn.

Where I Started: This might end up being the best looking series of the season.

Where I Ended: A great looking series that is telling a strong story about growing up. As the focal point of the series, Ohana is serving as a memorable heroine that is growing up before the audience’s eyes. The emotion of the series is sweet and endearing even. The beauty of the animation only serves as a strong helper of the slowly forming story. This is worthy of being called PA Works 10th anniversary piece.

Verdict: Pass and I’m going all the way.

 

Without Wings – OreTachi ni Tsubasa wa Nai
Premiere Date: 4/3
Studio: Nomad
Available via Crunchyroll

Summary: 3 stories about couples coming together under the most different of circumstances including the handyman on the search for a girl’s lost bike, an angel who doesn’t want to leave his girlfriend and cousin behind and the restaurant worker who can’t stand her her co-worker.

Where I Started: Ok, didn’t expect those panty shots.

Where I Ended: Jumping from story to story, I was hoping that this series would have something that stood out as special. No such luck even with three different tries. All three of these stories are not nearly as interesting thanks to its reliance on fan service and terribly unlikeable male leads, it can’t even write a decent romantic hook. The angel story was the closest this series ever came to hooking me in but since most of these episodes were focused on the lesser two of the three, it became a struggle to even get through three.

Verdict: Cheap drama that relies on pointless fan service. Fail!

 

Battle Girls
Premiere Date: 4/4
Studio: TMS Entertainment
Available via Crunchyroll

Summary: Teen girl gets transported back to alternate feudal Japan that is made up entirely of women. She then proceeds to act like an idiot and gets rewarded for it with a quest.

Where I Started: I hate this and I hate those in Japan who made me watch this.

Where I Ended: I predicted an odd mix of Sengoku Basara and Queen’s Blade, I was not disappointed. Battle Girls wants to be a lot of things: it wants to be a fan service series but can never quite pull the trigger, it wants to be a comedy but only knows how to write jokes for the idiot female lead, it wants to be an action series but doesn’t do anything memorable with the sequences. There are just not enough things in this series to make it worth anyone’s time. The writing is poor and the story has been done better.

Verdict: Fail!

 

Steins;Gate
Premiere Date: 4/5
Studio: White Fox
Available via Crunchyroll

Summary: A mad scientist accidently creates a time machine with his microwave and sets about to discover its secrets before he is killed for his discovery.

Where I Started: If this finds some focus it could really turn into something.

Where I Ended: Yeah so much for that. Never finding a focus, Steins;Gate tells a haphazard story that is meant to keep everyone guessing and searching for answers. Instead it left me confused and wondering if there would ever be a point to this series. All I knew for certain is that after a couple of episodes I was ready to say that I didn’t care about the answers. It’s hard to judge if this series will be any good but then there lies the underlying problem: it never made me care to find out.

Verdict: Maybe it’s going somewhere but I’m not sticking around to find out. Fail!

Originally published on Ani.me

Today is a special day for anime fans because Funimation has re-released the classic parody comedy Excel Saga back onto store shelves. While I consider myself one of the lucky ones who still has my ADV Imperfect Collection, there are many others out there who aren’t so fortunate. Based off the manga, the 26 episode series first premiered in 1999 before making its US DVD debut in 2002 leaving fans in a fit of laughter each time.

Finally though, Funimation is releasing this series to a brand new generation of unsuspecting fans. The fools will never know what hit them. Muhahahahahaha…. ahem, ah right, sorry. Where was I? Oh right! Now there are some of you reading this who have no idea what Excel Saga is; well among other things the main idea behind this series involves aliens named Excel and the kidnapped Princess Hyatt working for Il Pallazzo in their quest to dominate Earth. Only a team of plucky young adults on the surface can stop them despite most of them hating each other. Sounds simple enough right? Right well, you keep on thinking that.

Before you crack open that box set though, there are a few things you should know before you get started.

Bone up on your pre-21st Century anime and Japanese pop culture

This is a parody comedy that relies heavily on references to other series or events from the real world. However it’s still parody series that originally aired in the very late 90′s which means all of the references are aimed at series from the 90′s and earlier. Where Lucky Star might have been happy to take aim with moe jokes, <b>Excel Saga</b> will hit you with hardcore Leiji Matsumoto references. If you’ve never watched an anime more than 10 years old this entire series is going to fly over your head.

Every story has its place

At certain points throughout the series, the story will go on very long, winding, seemingly meaningless tangents that make no sense whatsoever. I promise that all of these scenes have a meaning and a purpose so don’t ignore them.

Dub change halfway?

If you’re listening to the English dub and are even vaguely perceptive, you’ll notice that Excel’s voice changes around the halfway mark. The character of Excel speaks at such a fast pace and for so long that the original voice actress, Jessica Calvello, damaged her vocal cords and had to be replaced with Larissa Wolcott. The change isn’t significant but if you’re paying attention you’ll definitely notice the change.

You will never see everything in this series.

Well, that’s probably an overstatement but this is a series with a very high replay value. As with many parody series, this is another great series that only gets better as you see more series and understand more of the references.

Hyper anime alert!

The pace that this series delivers its jokes and dialogue is some of the fastest to ever come out. There is NO such thing as a slow paced joke in this series and if you can’t keep up with the initial episodes you’re in for a world of hurt later. Trust me, this isn’t something to watch in the background if you expect to keep up with all of the jokes and the humor.

Well that’s it, if you haven’t already checked out this series and you consider yourself hardcore otaku than this is one series that needs to be on your checklist. Filled with insane humor and off the wall writing, this could arguably be considered one of the greatest works of Shinichi Watanabe but be ready because this one is in a class of its own.

If you’d like to add the series to your collection, it’s available now via Amazon and RightStuf.

How much is too much? Years ago when I first started watching new anime episodes as they aired in Japan, one of the things that surprised me the most was learning that the first airings of anime weren’t the finished products. It shocked me actually to think that what was being put on television wasn’t the final product and additional changes were made before it went out onto DVD or Blu ray. Why would anyone put a product on television only to make revisions to it later? I’ve since grown a little wiser and stopped asking that question but now I’m left with another question, how much change is too much?

The reason why I’m asking this question is due to changes I’ve seen from the Madoka Magica Blu ray release (which admittedly has gone on to sell record numbers). It’s also worth admitting that probably the only reason why I’m bringing this up now and asking the question is because of how much I loved the series. The series itself I considered an incredible work that deserves all of its success and only goes to solidify how I feel about the work of Akiyuki Shinbo right now.

However, with the release of the first volume I’m seeing a number of comparison images pop up that are making me question how I will react whenever I see the series again on DVD. In these images, it’s clear that Shaft has fixed plenty of the lower quality animation but have also made changes that could completely alter how one views the characters.

For example, in the series, I really connected with Mami partly because of how she lived. When Madoka and Sayaka appear at her place for tea and cake, Mami is living in a sparsely decorated apartment on her own. There are hardly any pieces around that indicate someone is even living there beyond the simple cups and plates. If she were take those away, there would be hardly any reason to think that anyone had lived there at all. To me, this indicated that Mami was so dedicated to what she does that she didn’t have time to decorate. She was the character who would go to school, do her job and then come home to nothing. An empty dull life that was completely different from all of the magical girls we’ve seen trying to live normal lives at the same time.

In the new animation however, Mami’s apartment is filled with little decorations and treats. She has a lovely apartment that has plenty of personality behind it. Now my image of her has changed, is she the lonely girl who wanted Madoka to become like her just so that she can have a friend? Maybe instead she’s actually an exciting life filled with danger but doesn’t get in the way of her real life that much at all.

For me, part of what made Mami so sympathetic and moe was that feeling of loneliness and vulnerability that she was barely letting show. On the surface she was trying to train Madoka to become the most powerful of magical girls but deeper down, you knew there was an ulterior motive. Perhaps a part of her that only wanted a new friend to go on missions with and share the hardships of her life. Someone that she could take under wing. Now she’s one of the ones who is romanticizing the hardships of war the girls that take on Kyubey’s contract must face. When I watch this again, will her cold words still have that same impact they once did?

It’s entirely possible that by the time I get to watch this series on DVD these concerns will have long passed and I’ll have forgotten about the ways that the early part of this series made me feel. What about those who are seeing the series for the first time? Will they feel that same way when they watch Mami throughout the first 3 episodes? Will there be a sense of apathy when she meets her cruel fate in episode 3 since that’s the life that she chose to lead? It’s hard to imagine that something so simple as knick knacks on the shelf could make that much of a difference to my viewing experience but I know that in the future, I’m always going to wonder how my perceptions would have been had I watched the series before and after it got all of its DVD changes.

A Channel
Studio: Studio Gokumi
Premiere Date: 4/7
Genre: Yuri Slice of Life

First Impression: Oh what’s the fuss about? That was cute!

Separated from her yuri love by graduation, middle schooler Tooru works hard and gets into the same high school as her best friend Run. Only she’s dismayed to find out that she’s made new friends with Yuuko and Nagi. In this episode, the four some will have to learn how to be friendly with each other as Tooru continues her quest to make sure everyone knows that Run is HERS.

Good and the Bad

That’s probably the shortest story description I’m going to write this season but what do you say about this series? Yet another slice of life school comedy, this one stands out against the rest because of its cast of characters. For once, I’m watching a series where I can’t clearly categorize the characters. I’m not describing one as the tsundere, or the sporty one. All of the characters in this series are their own unique personality that is sometimes shy, sometimes flighty (admittedly, Run abuses this one) but overall fun.

Produced by Studio Gokumi, the look of the series is one of the better I’ve seen this season. A Channel is heavy in the moe similar to the style of K-ON. The animation is crisp but it’s specifically designed to create the perfect world for the girls to be cute in. From the opening animation to the backgrounds, no spot is missed and for all of the school comedies that I’ve watched this season, this one looks the nicest.

A Channel does occasionally suffer from scenes stuttering from one to the next but it makes up for it with strong writing. Each scene is a slow build to an extreme punch line that always managed to get a laugh. Based around the still rocky relationships between the characters, the physical comedy came across as just a bit more original than the usual bonk on the head or the more extreme freak outs that we’ve seen in the past. This is the second season to make me laugh simply by catching me off guard with its humor (My Ordinary Life was the first).

Music

I was really impressed with the strong musical presence throughout this episode. Carrying a soft jazz theme, Satoru Kousaki once again creates a score that stands out on its own. Instead of matching the mood of the scene, the music creates its own mood that carries the episode from one scene to the next. Seriously, this man is talented.

Overall

A Channel is one of the cuter and more unexpectedly pleasant series of the season. With the season just crammed with school comedies and slice of life, there has to be an original element to a series in order to make it stand out. A Channel manages to find that unique angle and rides it all the way through a successful first episode. This is an easy one to pick up and enjoy.

Astarotte no Omocha
Astarotte’s Toy
Studio: Diomedea
Premiere Date: 4/11
Genre: Ecchi Comedy
Available via Crunchyroll

First Impression: That… wasn’t terrible?

The main character of this episode is the 10 year old succubus princess Astarotte who is just starting to come into maturity for her race. Unfortunately this means that she needs to start sucking the ahem life juice from men of various races in order to survive. Also unluckily for her, she hates men and absolutely refuses.

Pushed to the brink of frustration, the princess finally relents by saying that the only way she’ll accept a man into her harem is if they are the fantastically mythical race of human. Taking on the challenge, one of her caretakers opens a gate to the human world and retrieves one just for Astarotte in the form of a Japanese boy named Naota who was the first she saw looking for a job.

Good and the Bad

This was supposed to be the throw away series of the season. The one that everyone pretty much figured was going to be only for the hardcore otaku who needed loli fan service. I had pretty much written it off as soon as I started in on the premise. Then I watched the episode and lo and behold, Astarotte’s Toy is actually kind of cute.

Getting it out of the way, this is still a fan service series with an overly youthful female lead. It proves this almost right away by delivering all of its exposition during a bath scene. It didn’t really need to be a bath scene but there it is anyway. Interestingly though, despite the very obvious connotations of the premise the fan service and innuendo is very rarely overt. The animation is bright and steamy to begin with but as I watched I found that there really wasn’t a whole lot to be covered up to begin with. This caught me off guard early but still I kept forward.

Then I ran into surprise number two; this series tried to tell a decent story and manages to do just that. While I’m sure as the roles are further developed this will change, at first very few of the characters really stand out as cardboard cutouts. Instead they act a little more decisively and take actions that bring about change to the story instead of letting it happen to them because of strange, unforeseen events. Sadly this isn’t as true for the lead characters but I digress.

The biggest place where Astarotte’s Toy manages to fail is in its comedy. This is a series that is not trying to be clever in the slightest. Any humor you take away from this series is going to be directly proportional to how moe you find the princess to be. If you can get behind the latest blonde female tsundere lead character (played by Rie Kugiyama, naturally), this could be one of the funniest series this season for you. A lot of very cute things happen to her this episode which I could have seen myself laughing at if I found her to be a bit more likeable.

To be fair though, I’m already wondering if my enjoyment of this series could have been heightened if I hadn’t been spending the entire episode trying much harder than usual to read the subtitles on the screen. Very bright animation paired with unbordered white text can make reading very difficult and I would love to see the subtitler to make a new font decision before the end of the series.

Music

As with the story and animation, I also found myself surprised at the high quality of the music throughout this episode. While occasionally letting itself drift into the cartoony, there were also just as many places where the music played a great role in the episode. The OP (Tenshi no Clover sung by Aimi) is a mellower piece and the fantasy flutes and strings that follow Zelda are a nice touch. I can see myself enjoying this series for the music for at least a little while longer.

Overall

I admit it, I liked this episode more than I thought I would. That still doesn’t mean that I liked it a lot though. It was cute in places but this doesn’t feel like a breakout moe romance just yet, it feels much more standard than that. If you need to know where to find the latest tsundere, this is where she is. This will get its full 3 episode test run but I’m not expecting greatness from its future.

SofuTeni
Studio: Xebec
Premiere Date: 4/ 8
Genre: Ecchi Tennis

First Impression: If Asuna were gone this could be a lot more entertaining.

At a middle school in Japan, the soft tennis team is made up of four girls: the air headed pervert Asuna, the enthusiastic but not quite talented Kotomi, the always hungry and even less talented Chitose and finally the bizarre Kurusu who enjoys wearing oversized animal masks. Togeter with their coach, they are aiming to take the national championships. If they can ever manage to get some practice in.

Good and the Bad

If this episode is an indication, this might as well be titled ‘The Perverted Asuna Show’ now. For most of the episode, everything is centered on her perverted thoughts and misunderstandings. The good news is that this is an ecchi comedy that is happy to play those notes perfectly and with the girls as part of a tennis club, there are all sorts of legitimate reasons for them to be wearing short skirts and chasing balls.

And if that’s your sort of thing, you’ve found the right series.

For what it is, SofuTeni isn’t a terrible entry into the genre, just a cliché one. It has everything that a fan could want include moe bait characters, pointless fan service comedy and requires absolutely zero mental digestion. Naturally if you’re looking for something with slightly more substance, I’m sure that I’ve already long since lost you.

Very occasionally, SofuTeni tries its best to be clever by not relying on a fantasy sequence. Occasionally there is a bright spot of predictable comedy which led to a chuckle. When Chitose, for example, can’t hit a ball tossed to her but will take an 8 foot sideways leap to capture a dumpling in mid air, that’s silly comedy I can laugh at.

Music

There’s really nothing to write home about in the music department for this series. Bland and common, nothing ever stood out for being particularly memorable. It does its job by staying in the background and selling the visual humor. After that however, it’s just simple themes that you’ve heard variations of in many other series.

Overall

A few things will have to happen before I can really get behind this series. Asuna either needs to stop talking or more attention needs to be paid to the supporting cast. Second, something has to happen to make me absolutely fall in love with these characters because right now, I’m looking for just one more reason to drop this series like a bad habit. Empty and completely fan service based, there’s nothing of substance worth picking up here.

Reposted from Ani.me

Ore-tachi ni Tsubasa wa Nai
We, Without Wings
Studio: Nomad
Premiere Date: 4/4
Simulcast Premiere: 4/8
Genre: Romance
Available via Crunchyroll

First Impression: The moe is strong with this one.

In the first episode of OreTsuba, three stories are introduced. In the first story, the hero is a high school boy who belongs in another world. He knows that he must return to that world but he’s tied to Earth thanks to his cousin, girlfriend and the various other girls who want a piece of him. In the second story, a café owner is headed for marriage and wants one last night to end his bachelorhood with no regrets. With the help of a friend, a mixer is arranged with a couple of the waitresses and the ‘way too cool and sullen’ character. Finally, a man wanders around Tokyo doing odd jobs for whomever needs one done. He calls himself a handyman but even his friends scoff at that. What he doesn’t realize is that the big break he’s been looking for will finally be appearing soon.

Good and the Bad

Within this first episode, three stories are introduced. Just to make sure everyone is on the same page here we’ll take them in order. So first off, there’s the harem story (a not entirely impressive harem but 5 members isn’t bad). The boy who wants to leave it all behind but is tied by his emotions to those he would have to leave behind. Following that, there is the story of a bartender who can’t keep it in his pants and needs to avoid his impending reality for a night. Then finally there is the handyman, the jaded guy who is just trying to get by from day to day.

All of the stories here are introduced as their own separate stories. None of them have overlapping characters, beyond the similar art style, there’s nothing to really tie these stories together so far. Treating each story like its own series, the problem with this debut lies in the pacing. Every story has its own unique setting and characters and all of them have to be introduced within only a matter of minutes. Treating every character as though they were important, every one gets their own name card introduction and unless you’re taking notes, it becomes quite the confusing mess by the time the second story moves around.

The pacing also shows a really poor effect on the writing of the series as well. No matter how serious the story or fantastic the theme, the one thing that all of these stories have in common are that they love to rely on their panty jokes and quick gags. This creates a pace that goes a mile a minute and makes it even harder to keep up with everything that is happening in each story. With the crew attempting to cram in so much story within such a limited time, it’s almost as though you can see a little scale on the screen marking how far away from their story goal they are compared to the time left.

No matter how busy OreTsuba is with its story however, there will always be time for panty shots. 4 of them to be exact (they are quite obviously glorified shots so it’s hard to miss them) with nice slow motion captures. Why exactly these needed to be in the series isn’t clear but with the amount of screen time they receive, it would seem that they are quite important.

Based on a visual novel, the characters and art design are steeped in moe tropes which might be a turn off to some viewers. Every character has a pretty clear character archetype attached to them with no one standing out as particularly unique or different. However, the moe factor in these characters already feel pretty high with Asuka in story 1 and both waitresses of story 2 standing out early as moe idol choices of the season. With that in mind, there is no getting away from the fan service the series occasionally needs to interject and once viewers get into the category of loli pantsu flashing that’s going to be a big red flag.

Music

What I liked about this series however is that even though the music was placed for filler, there was some extra care taken in putting it together. Throughout the episode, there is a serious sense of playing towards ambiance and the music composed here is very good at this. A great example of this is the soft jazz theme that plays throughout the restaurant scene. It’s just a perfect piece that melts into the background and sounds like something that belongs in the setting.

Overall

The storytelling felt a little disjointed but I’m in for a couple of more episodes. What makes this such a difficult series to penetrate right now is that none of the stories have enough time to really introduce their concepts. I’m hoping that once a couple of more episodes have passed, it will have found a rhythm. If you’re looking for a new moe romantic drama, this is feeling like a pretty take or leave it entry to that category.