Monday, October 20, 2014

Lilac's Impressions: Fall 2014 (Week 1)


Well, boys and girls, we’re back at it again! Fall is here and so are a bunch of new anime to have some fun with! Over the next few weeks, or so, I’ll be taking 21 series that I picked from the Fall Charts and try to narrow it down to a reasonable amount for me to watch for the next few months! Since things have been rather hectic for me lately, I’ll be making these posts once a week. Also, mind you, as of posting this first week some of the series have already had more than one episode or, in the case of a few other series, have made it to their third. Therefore those series episodes will be covered/graded this week! Let’s get started!

A Good Librarian Like a Good Shepard
Episode 1

The first series to talk about (though it’s one of the last ones I watched), and it’s just kinda meh. The opening sequence I liked, I thought that was done well and rather creatively. The rest of the episode, though, was the beginnings of a harem just waiting to happen. And it includes the ever wonderful boob grab that you’ll see me talk about a few times today. Here’s the thing, I’m not that into harem or ecchi series all that much because, more often than not, they can either be stupid or perverted or both a decent amount of the time. This one falls into the middle but leans more towards perverted a bit because of some of the dialogue I got from the first episode. The story’s premise isn’t that bad either, but I feel like it’ll be one of those things that just somehow doesn’t work very well in the long run. There’s really just a mix of things going on here that I’m not that excited for so, because of that, A Good Librarian will not move into it’s final week. I say this because, as of writing this, there are actually two episodes released. I just didn’t want to go through anymore and waste my time. Again, you’ll see me doing that a couple more times today. Anyways, this isn’t something for me so I’ll see you later Good Librarian.

Amagi Brilliant Park
Episodes 1-3

Ah Kyoto Animation. You are a mysterious little beast, you are. You and I have been having an odd relationship recently. I didn’t like Tamako Market and dropped it after one or two episodes, however I loved Free! and still need to finish season two. And here we are again talking about a new series that involves amusement parks, magic, and a really narcissistic leading character! ……Wait what? Ok what is going on here? The first episode had left me a little worried because I honestly didn’t like Seiya, our leading man. Doesn’t help that he’s a former child star that retired and has turned into a vain butt hole, but he just seemed so unlikeable to me. Then there’s the story that was kinda ok, but I didn’t expect it to really be a bombastic kind of series. Though the humor was kinda decent. It was a hit or miss.

The second episode was what gave me some hope. After Seiya tries so hard to stay away from the park and refuses to act as the new manager, after overhearing a staff meeting he jumps in and takes on the role. At least not before he lectures the group and proceeds to piss them off a lot. This is where I learned that Seiya is actually rather smart. He riled the group up to see if they really had given up on the park. Although this was a logical thing to see happen, it was interesting to see Seiya doing this because of the kind of character we’ve seen up until this point. It at least gave him a few points. As for the third episode, all it really is is Seiya starting his plans to save the park. Those plans include closing it for maintenance, decreasing the entry fee, and taking some of the women employees and creating a viral video of them in swimsuits. His determination and smarts just keep him in the likable area but just barely. But, honestly, the welcome change in personality is fine. Having someone who may be seen as unreasonable isn’t a bad thing considering the situation.

I guess that now leaves me with my grade for this series. It’s not bad. Although Seiya’s character drives me a little bat s**t insane and some of the other characters can be boring, many other characters as well as the story are managing to keep me interested. It’s not the best of the season, that’s for sure, but it’s not the worst. For a Kyo-Ani series, it has some potential for me here. Therefore, Amagi Brilliant Park is getting a Tentative Passing grade from me this season. I’m interested to see what Seiya has in store for our magical group of theme park characters and what those characters will be able to endure. Now I wanna go to an amusement park…. Geez.

Final Grade: Tentative Pass


Celestial Method
Episodes 1-2

There are just some series that have that charm to them that I just can’t help but love. This season, Celestial Method may possibly be that show. From what I can tell, this series centers around five people (though there is one lead, Nonoka), who were childhood friends before one of them, Nonoka, move away without saying goodbye. Seven years pass and Nonoka moves back to the house by the lake after the death of her mother and things seem to be a little different. Primarily that weird saucer thing floating in the sky above the lake. What’s also weird is the little girl, Noel, who visits Nonoka as she seems to know her and yet Nonoka doesn’t have much memory of Noel. The set up for this series is actually pretty good. Right now, we spent some time with Nonoka and Noel and began to have that friendship grow, but we’ve also started a friendship with Yuzuki a girl who is trying to get the saucer to leave. What Nonoka doesn’t seem to know, but we do, is that Yuzuki is one of Nonoka’s childhood friends but neither really seems to remember that. Is it they just grew up and forgot? Or maybe that saucer really did do something to them.

Again, this series has some charm to it. It’s really pretty and the story seems to be off to a great start. The characters, as of now, have at least been established and we’re likely going to see them come through much more throughout the series. I don’t see a lot of problems with this series, so far. If I had to complain about one thing then it may be that the pace fluxes from fast to slow on occasion and it doesn’t help the series that much. But, again, there’s not much to complain about right now. I guess this means that Celestial Method will be headed into Week 2 and receive it’s season grade. We’ll see how this goes because there’s always a chance that it may do something stupid and make me dislike it.


Cross Ange
Episodes 1-2


Sunrise and I have an odd relationship. First and foremost, I’m not the biggest fan of the mecha genre. There are some good ones I enjoy like Code Geass and RahXephon, and even Aldnoah.Zero has it’s good points, but otherwise then that it’s one of the weaker areas for me. What made me very hesitant about this series is the stories I heard about another recent mech series, Valvrave. What made this even worse was the reactions I was seeing from people based on the first couple episodes of this series. At this point, I just decided “screw it” and just added Cross Ange into the mix. Honestly, I’m not so sure that was a good thing. In a world where people have a power called the Mana of Light, there are some that can break that power called Norma who are isolated from the rest of the world. One such person is Princess Angeliese who discovered she is actually a Norma on her 16th birthday (what is it with anime and things happening when you turn 16?). She is sent away on the order of her brother while her father is imprisoned and her mother is killed by accident. Now, Ange must fight these creatures called Dragons (they have a more complex name than that, believe me) and try to come to terms as to what she really is.

No I'm good, Fola!
First and foremost, this series is mature. Like some girl on girl action mature. Not kidding here, folks. It’s certainly not for the more faint of heart or squeamish of things like this that’s for sure. And I’m actually among those people. Personally, anything related to sex or something sexual that I can see happen kinda makes me uncomfortable cause I’m very private when it comes to things like that. I will admit though, I’m slowly becoming desensitized as I watch more and more series and films that have something like this. As for the story and characters, there’s very much a racism theme going on here with Ange needing to overcome that fault since she’s a Norma herself. It’s going to be one of the big developments for her character and it’ll be interesting to see that among a bunch of crazy women soldiers. Anyways, where does Cross Ange stand with me? I’m not entirely sure. I watched two episodes and I’m still trying to get a handle on it. I think what I’ll do is send it to Week 2 and give it a grade next week. I need to sort my thoughts on this one out a lot more. Cause it’s not bad, but I’m also terrified after hearing the stories about Valvrave. I guess we’ll see where this takes me.


Denki-Gai
Episodes 1-2

Comedies have been doing very well the past couple of seasons. With Kawai Complex in the Spring and Nozaki-kun this past summer, it’ll be hard to find a decent comedy from the Fall lineup. Denki-Gai actually does come rather close. The story centers around the daily lives of a group of coworkers at a manga store and has some rather amusing results. Simple in premise and execution. There’s no need for a huge set up and it doesn’t need to be all that complex like more story driven comedies can sometimes be which is perfectly fine. The two episodes I’ve seen did have their fun moments as well as their really dumb ones like the festival thing the group takes part in during episode two. It made me wonder if it was going to be this on repeat for every episode and I feel like that will be the case here. The cast can been seen as rather cliched depending on the character you’re looking at and some of the jokes don’t really land well for me.

Honestly, it’s hard to follow up with a comedy series after the success of Kawai Complex and Nozaki-kun, and Denki-Gai isn’t all that bad. It has it’s high and low points, but what my decision comes down to here is whether or not I would love to keep watching this series throughout the fall. The answer here is, sadly, no. While I did enjoy some of the moments the series had, in the end I don’t see this as something I would faithfully watch week after week. And it doesn’t help much more when I have plenty of series to watch and try to narrow down in the coming weeks. You have something going for you, Denki-Gai. You really do. It’s just not something for me is all. Don’t be mad, please.


Fruit of Grisaia
Episodes 1-2

Visual novel adaptations are also something that can be a hit or a miss. Fan service use can also make a series either good or bad as well. Fruit of Grisaia has both and I’m not entirely sure what that first episode was about. It kinda seemed like a normal VN set up with it literally looking textbook basic every minute of the the episode, at least until the final few minutes of the show. That’s when I got extremely confused. Apparently all of these students are some kind of operative or criminal or something. I don’t know, it doesn’t really tell me. What makes this even harder to deal with are the characters. We have yet another harem on our hands here, but with a rather cold and distant leading man. The main male character is, often times, someone a guy would attach himself to and place in his position in order to gain the experience of a harem themselves. With a character like Yuuji, however, it makes me question who in the world would be able to place themselves as that character. I guess I just don’t like his character.

I was going to drop this series after the first episode, but the last few minutes, as I mentioned, had me a bit confused so I decided to watch the second episode as well. And I’m ready to drop the show now. The story is bland, the characters are just annoying or dumb, and I’m left with an overall feeling of boredom or tiredness that calls for something else in order for me to cure it! Though it doesn’t help how busy and stressed out I’ve been lately either. Grisaia isn’t a series for me, and I’m ready to drop this one now. Someone else my find some fun and amusement out of this, but for me, I’m ready for something better than what I saw.


Garo: The Animation
Episodes 1-3


I honestly never heard of a situation like Garo’s happen before, though, granted, I wouldn’t be surprised if this isn’t the first time. What I mean by this is, Garo is originally a tokusatsu series from Japan and this anime series is kind of a prequel, if you will. I’ve seen some of Garo thanks to my pal Durga when he used to stream it every week, so I have the general idea of what the story is. For those who don’t, the 2005 live action series is about a guy fighting monsters called Horrors as the Maikai Knight, the golden armored Garo. Simple enough, right? When I heard about an anime version in the works months ago, I instantly placed Garo into my list of series to cover this season. Here’s what’s different, the setting and characters. Really that’s it! The anime has decided to take place during a rather medieval time where a massive witch hunt occurs with our main character, Leon, as a casualty of it because his mother died at the stake for being a witch…. and he was born right then and there… Couldn’t make this crap up, folks.

Garo is managing to make me extremely happy! I’m not just saying this as someone who enjoyed the TV series, and you actually don’t have to know anything about the TV show in order to understand the anime. That’s something I am really happy about here! The anime explains the basic concept of Horrors and Maikai Knights well enough for new comers into the franchise and yet has some fun new characters and story line for the ones who have seen the TV show, giving something fresh and new instead of a complete reboot. It’s also one of the more mature series I’ve seen this season (it’s the 9th one that I got to watch while working on Impressions). Literally, the first episode has German, Leon’s father, in bed with a woman as he plays the role of exposition. Also, the woman has a Horror that comes out of her vagina. Pretty damn sure of that! To be completely, 100%, honest, I have almost nothing to complain about! The animation might just be my only complaint, and even that is extremely minor. I love where this series is going and it’s probably going to be my favorite this season if not Parasyte!

As the first series, for me this season, to reach three episodes and get a grade I can’t give it anything less then a BIG FREAKING PASS! The story and characters are really enjoyable thus far, with all the dark yet cheesy moments you would come to expect from a regular tokusatsu. Add to it the ever wonderful Hrionobu Kageyama from JAM Project REPRISING his role as Zaruba and this anime is on it’s way to be something very badass! It’ll be interesting to see how Leon and Alfonso’s stories are incorporated as they, more than likely, cross paths in this show. It’s one of the only series I have very little complaints with, and yet giving it this high of a grade doesn’t mean it’s going to be the best of the season. It could pull an Aldnoah.Zero from last time and just completely die. But there’s only one way to find out….

Final Grade: BIG FREAKING PASS


Gugure! Kokkuri-san
Episodes 1-2

 You know how I just mentioned a minute or two ago about how well comedies have been doing recently? Well, I may have found one to add to that line up for this year! This time we have a story about a little girl Kohina who summons the fox ghost Kokkuri-san on her own one day. After seeing how alone she is and how poorly she takes care of herself, Kokkuri decides to haunt her in order to help take care of her and becomes her guardian. From there it’s really just some silly hijinks and every day life for Kohina and Kokkuri which, as of the second episode, now includes a dog spirit named Inugami who is also Kohina’s damn stalker and keeps trying to get her to marry him/her (can change gender whenever). The humor in this series has just been amazing so far! I was laughing almost every step of the way while watching these two episodes. Granted not as much as Nozaki-kun, but I did have fun with some of the wacky jokes and gags that are in these couple of episodes.

Here’s something else that I’m happy for. See, I’ve never real followed the careers of Japanese voice actors before and would normally not get too excited about them. Recently, however, I’m starting to pick up on them more and more leading me to a couple rather fun VA’s coming in with this series that I managed to pick up on. Those being Diasuke Ono and Takahiro Sakurai. Sakurai you may have heard me talk about recently thanks to Eccentric Family. Meanwhile, Ono has been around for a while but you may have at least heard him as Black Butler’s Sebastian or, if you’re looking for something more recent, Handa from Barakamon. I just think it’s pretty cool that I’m beginning to pick up on these voice like I am able to with English voice actors. Anyways, everything about this series is amazing so there is not way I’m dropping this one. Let’s see what next week, and episode three, will have in store!


In Search of the Lost Future
Episodes 1-2

How hard is it to create a supernatural harem series? Apparently not that hard. Now, how hard is it to make a good supernatural harem series? I say rather difficult. That’s what we have sitting right here, folks. In Search of the Lost Future is a rather confusing series that mixes the supernatural with a romance element to it. While watching the first episode, I was rather bored and the animation wasn’t that great so I was completely ready to drop it. At least until the end of the episode came up and then we go back in time for some reason or other. I’ll admit that at least got me a little curious about the show. The second episode, however didn’t expand on much outside of a mysterious girl, Yui, just appearing out of no where. Though I get the feeling there’s some science kind a malarkey going on here thanks to the test tubes and scientists, and stuff like that.

What doesn’t really help it much more in obtaining my interest is the story and characters. The first episode seemingly went along as one would normally expect, but then the end credits do take us back in time. That’s where everything got confusing. As for the characters, they’re just cliched and stereotyped. I believe this was adapted from a visual novel, so I’m not all that surprised here. Bottom line, this series has something there. It really does. Sadly, it needs to get my attention much more in order for it to stay. That twist before the end credits did get me to watch the second episode, but it’s more of the same at this point. For those reasons, I’m dropping In Search of the Lost Future. It has decent ideas, but they aren’t really executed all that well.


Laughing Under the Clouds
Episode 1

What do you get when you mix Gray (Fairy Tail), Eren (Attack on Titan), and Nagisa’s (Free! Iwatobi Swim Club) Japanese voice actors together? You get Laughing Under the Clouds! A series where….. Uhh…. I’m not entirely sure what it is, honestly. I guess it’s about three brothers that work for the government to catch criminals and take them to jail or something like that. The first episode wasn’t really all that clear. I believe I know what my major problem with this show is, I find it rather dull. It has some fun ideas but, honestly, it tries a little to hard to be quite a few things including funny, witty, and full of action. In the end, it tried a little too hard and got boring. Therefore, Laughing Under the Clouds has ended it’s run after episode one. As of writing this, the first three episodes have been released but the first was all I needed of this series. Don’t tell me FUNimation has gone back to licensing really dumb shows… I would be so disappointed if that was the case.


Magic Kaito 1412
Episodes 1-3

Hey, guys, have you every heard of a little series called Case Closed before? Or Detective Conan if you’re in Japan? Bet you remember that now that you’ve seen this poster, huh! Well if you’ve seen Case Closed then you may have seen the Kaito Kid pop in and out of the series from time to time. Apparently it was high time for him to finally have his own anime series! Here’s the story: Kaito is a high school student who’s father is a famous magician that died eight years ago from a dangerous stunt. When Kaito discovers a secret lair in his house, he finds out that his father was the phantom thief Kaito Kid who would steal precious gem stones. In order to solve the mystery of his father’s death, Kaito takes on the role of phantom thief. Along the way he finds out a very rare and powerful gem known as Pandora that is able to grant eternal youth. Kaito decides to stop whoever is trying to get a hold of the gem while evading police at the same as well as stay out of trouble with Aoko, his love interest.

This is so much like Case Closed it’s not even funny! Really the only huge difference is that Kaito is a magician and thief compared to Jimmy Kudo’s smarts and detective work. Otherwise than that, you have the cocky yet lovable main character, the kind of tsundere love interest who’s father is also a detective, an older person helping our lead in the ways of technology, and some evil organization that is causing some kind of problem for our lead. This series has a mess of nostalgia written all over it and I am perfectly fine with this! I loved Case Closed while I was in high school and, though I probably won’t get to finish it, Kaito Kid is making me want to revisit the series for some fun! The story is simple, the characters are enjoyable, and little Kaito is probably the best thing ever. “Poker Face!” You’ll understand it when you see it.

Anyways, after three episodes, I can’t turn this series away. Magic Kaito 1412 Passes this fall season! I’m thrilled to see an old school manga get an anime adaptation and A-1 Pictures has been doing well with it so far! The only downside is the part where it’s unlicensed as of writing this so….. SOMEONE PICK THE SHOW UP PLEASE!!! PREFERABLY FUNIMATION CAUSE CASE CLOSED AND JERRY JEWELL AND STUFF!!! OK THANKS BYE!!

Final Grade: Pass


Parasyte -the maxim-
Episode 1

Wanna know the major reason why my Impressions are currently varying in episodes? Because I currently don’t have a premium account with Crunchyroll and I am behind on these series each week by one. It’s not a huge deal to me, but here’s the reason why I’m bringing it up. Before watching Parasyte, I was told by a friend that I would probably enjoy this series. So far, that statement is very accurate. It reminds me a little bit of Tokyo Ghoul when we compare main characters. This time we have Izumi who has some weird creature in his right hand that has been gaining intelligence. Not only that, but people have been eating each other as these weird creature things that take on human form. Can you see the Tokyo Ghoul comparison begin to grow some more? Right now, this has the makings of my favorite anime of the season. Yes I know this is just after one episode, but I really think it has some great potential here! The first episode managed to set up the story fairly well, and I know there will be more to that set up in the next episode or so. I’m surprised at how MadHouse is managing this one since the last series they’ve put out recently that I’ve been watching is Ace of Diamond. Bottom line, Parasyte is pretty cool and it’s heading into next week.


Rage of Bahamut: Genesis
Episodes 1-2


It’s been a while since I’ve seen a Geneon series, and this is one I’ve been rather hesitant about when I looked through the fall chart. Seeing as how, for a while, the only thing I knew about it is that it’s based off of a card game. Now, a good amount of the time, this may not be a good thing as anime adaptations of card games can just sometimes be terrible. However, since I did enjoy Selector Infected and do plan on watching its second season, Selector Spread, I figured why not give this a try. Here’s what I can say about this series after the first episode: there’s a lot going on and it’s a little too fast for my liking. We get some exposition, but more of the visual kind and none of the explanatory kind at the start of the episode. Afterwards we get to go around hunting bounties with our main character Favaro. Along the way we meet Kaiser, a rival bounty hunter and a mysterious girl who requests assistance. Here’s an interesting comparison that I thought of while watching these three characters: Samurai Champloo. While Kaiser and our mystery girl don’t resemble Jin and Fuu 100%, if you were to switch parts of their personalities then you may have them. But Favaro really reminds me of Mugen based on personality and looks (that hair, thou). Someone else told me Favaro reminded him of Lupin. It’s fine to remind myself of something familiar, however the story is just barely established in the first episode that I had to go into a second episode to try and figure it out!

The second episode makes me feel a little better. It slows down the extremely fast pace the first episode had, but just enough so it doesn’t feel long and drawn out. Amira also seems to do a 180 in personality which kinda confuses me a little bit. She goes from the strong and stoic character to almost a child seeing a big shiny toy for the first time, except the shiny toy is booze and dancing. Bahamut has been getting me to laugh and there is some pieces of fun here and there. I can tell the whole exposition from the first episode probably won’t be talked about again for a few more episodes, so that’s nothing bad. My problem with the series, at this point, is both Amira and the extremely fast paced first episode. It’s like between these two episodes, I’m suffering from whiplash or something. That’s really my only problem right now, but, otherwise than that, Rage of Bahamut is headed for next week and a final grade from me! Let’s see if we get semi explanation next time.

Shirobako
Episode 1

That was probably one of the more sweet and yet funny opening sequences I’ve seen in a while! It started off as really sweet and charming and then all of sudden a race to get to an animator’s apartment between our lead and someone from G.I. Production (I see what you did there PA Works). This series seems to be one of the more realistic ones about the daily life of people working in the anime industry. A decent amount of us have probably heard about some of the conditions that working in the anime world are and I’m rather happy some of those have been displayed here in this single episode. It shows that it’s not trying to completely make the industry just full of happy sunshine and rainbows. Hence why I say realistic. Also, so far, the characters are fun to watch. From our leading lady to her coworkers with varying personalities (Taro groveling was amusing just so you know) Shirobako is a strong series for me right now. Hell, and it’s been a while since I’ve seen a comedy come from PA Works! I think the last one I saw with comedy in it was Eccentric Family which is a 2013 series. Regardless, Shirobako speeds its way into Week 2! I’m ready for this crazy ride!


Terraformers
Episode 1

You know how the mecha genre is still a little unknown to me? The SciFi genre is also unknown but it’s also more of a hit or miss. There are some that I like and others that I don’t. Terraformers kinda falls into the latter of the two, and here’s why. I think it’s kinda boring. That’s really all there is to it. Doesn’t help that I had a couple face palm moments in the first episode including the fight with a bear at the beginning of the episode. It also doesn’t help that the series is HEAVILY censored and they don’t take any other kind of creative liberties in order to try and get past that. Mind you, this isn’t the fault of Crunchyroll. Sometimes animation companies in Japan have to censor it in order for it to make it to television. A similar situation came up last season as I saw many people complain about FUNimation censoring Tokyo Ghoul when the episodes that they simulcast were exactly as Studio Pierrot sent them. Just wanted to make that much clear and stop the confusion. Anyways, the premise is ok and the characters aren’t bad, but I’m just not feeling this one. Hence why, after only one episode, I decided to drop Terraformers. I know there are at least three or four episodes already out as of writing this, but if I’m just not feeling it then why force myself to watch more? I may go back to it once it’s done and I hear what other people have to say. You never know, it could have been one of the better ones this season. However, considering what I’ve seen so far, I highly doubt that.


Trinity Seven
Episode 1

Well. I’m at a loss on this one. I did not expect anything outstanding from Trinity Seven, but geez… I mean, come on, the first thing that ends up happening is our main character waking up and grabbing a girl’s boob. That alone tells me I’m in for something pretty stupid. Add to it the rather shaky set up and an extremely straightforward leading character with seven trouped females and voila! You have a possible train wreck of a series. I’ll admit, though, the story kinda interests me and the very blunt character of Arata seems a little fun, alongside the ninja girl, so I think I’ll take Trinity Seven in for another week. Again, I am in no way expecting greatness to shine through on this one. I just want to give it a chance to at least make me like it a little bit. I mean, seriously…






When Supernatural Battles Become Commonplace
Episode 1

Studio Trigger is still relatively new to me. Obviously, the first series I saw from them was Kill La Kill last year and I did enjoy that series. This time we’re taking a different route by taking on a comedy series that is actually animated like any normal slice of life/comedy series. Doesn’t this seem like an odd choice to you? Mostly because of Kill La Kill and even the series members of that production team worked on with Studio GAINAX like FLCL and Panty and Stocking. And yet, I found the first episode to be rather enjoyable. The opening sequence was animated well, giving us a contrast between the past and present similar to what Blue Spring Ride did last season except the difference is in the framing of the scene rather than the color palette. Our cast of super powered characters each have fun personalities that, although can seem rather troupey, still have good energy between each other. If there was a downside, that would be the six month time skip that we witness. It kinda jumbled the story a little, making us really learn about these powers after the six month lapse. I call it a downside, but it’s not a huge one because, to be honest, it stayed away from the cliched “first reaction to newly gained powers”. It’s a welcome change. I personally expected this to be among the first ones to be dropped, but, instead, I’m hanging on to it. This is going to be interesting.


Wolf Girl and Black Prince
Episode 1-2

Well, here we are again with the choice typical romance series of the season. However, unlike past seasons we have a little bit of a different situation. When Erika gets caught in her lie about not having a boyfriend, she takes a random photo of a guy in town. Turns out, the guy is Sata the prince of their school. When Erika asks him to be her fake boyfriend, he agrees on the condition that Erika be his dog. As in she does whatever Sata wants. Yeah, that’s the premise, folks. Obviously, this isn’t your typical shoujo series, especially considering the track record of romance series to come out recently like Blue Spring Ride and The World is Still Beautiful. So what are the good points about this series? Well it’s not trying to be anything new in terms of shoujo so there’s a plus. Also Sata’s sadistic nature is a welcome change from either overly eager or rather depressing and stoic leading male characters (also there’s more Takahiro Sakurai once again). I guess the bad points would be some of the other characters being rather dull and annoying. Erika’s plight is easy to understand, but it seems a little bit cliched, if you ask me.

And yet, I still kinda like it. As much as I kinda wanna drop it, I’m not ready to just yet. I’m rather curious as to what will happen next so Wolf Girl and Black Prince will make their way into Week 2 and receive it’s final grade next week! There’s actually something interesting going on here and it has me a little curious. People do seem to have some mixed feelings about this one and, I will admit, seeing how Erika is treated by Sata has the feminist in me coming out a little bit. Then again, I’m also extremely tired and prone to grumpiness when I’m tired. The only way for me to really figure this all out is by watching it during the day when I’ve gotten sleep and I will be a little less grumpy. Anyways, Erika and Sata it’s time to really impress me!


World Trigger
Episodes 1-2

You know, Toei can sometimes be rather hit or miss. People will either love or hate the series they put out there. That’s fine. But when you have a series that is possibly a disappointment after getting my expectations up, then you have a rather sad me. This is the case with World Trigger and it’s first episode. The story structure and the characters of the first episode are just a mess. Osamu and Yuuma are either boring or likable with some of the humor in Yuuma’s character just not landing with me. Meanwhile, the story structure of the first episode was terrible. Here’s how it went: main character is saved by supposed role model Border agent, opening theme, exposition/background on Border and Neighbors, main character meets new transfer student at school, they get into trouble with Neighbors, and then main character turns out to be a Border agent and transfer student a Neighbor. GASP!!! OH MY GOODNESS!!! I would enjoy this a lot better if a) the characters were more enjoyable and b) the damn episode was paced and written better then it was.

The second episode doesn’t expand it that much either. All it does is have our two leads interact with each other more with Osamu agreeing to help Yuuma adjust to Japan and hide himself as a Neighbor. Also, it seems like there is a misunderstanding as to what Neighbors actually are, which is rather interesting. But the story still isn’t that engaging and the characters are still rather dull. I guess this means I’m dropping World Trigger here. It’s typical shonen, at this point and not even a good shonen at that. Granted, I’ll still be covering it over at Rainy Day this season, unless it gives me a better reason to drop it sooner rather than later over there. Boring is as boring does.


Yona of the Dawn
Episode 1


Among the series the fall season has to offer, this one was in the middle for me, pre season start. I found interest in it, and yet I didn’t have high expectations either. After watching one episode, there’s much more to go off of and my interest has grown a little. From the start you can tell that this is going to be an action series, but then you have some comedic moments that help lighten it up a little bit. Although, sometimes, the backgrounds of those comedic moments are odd considering the setting of this series. Then there’s Yona's character as an interesting thing to talk about because, right now, she’s the spoiled princess. Since she’s the only child of the king, she’s given pretty much anything she wants giving her a rather spoiled attitude some of the time. Normally, I would be annoyed by this kind of character, however the opening scene of this episode shows me there will be a change in her character so I do want to see that. My only other problem is how predictable the main villain was going to be. Granted we see this in the opening theme (kinda an odd opening theme, by the way) but I’m glad that’s been taken care of now rather than just letting it drag on for more episodes. I see the potential this series has and, although my expectations still aren’t that high, I’m more than willing to let this series head to next week.


Your Lie in April
Episode 1


Here we have one of the more musical series of the fall season with a sweet premise. We have a piano player who kinda falls out of his love for it after his mother passed away (granted it doesn’t seem like he actually loved it based on the back story we get). Enter our lead female character to try and inspire him, cause that’s the more likely direction they’re going with here. I will admit, this one did get my attention based on the premise alone, which is fine. But there’s something about the writing and the characters that I’m just not that fond of quite yet. It’s hard to write about what you think of the series when you, yourself, don’t have enough to go on to really give better judgement. As of right now, Your Lie in April needs something. What that something is, I honestly don’t know. I’m really trying to figure that out. However, I’ll have to see if I have a better idea of what that something is next week. For now, Your Lie in April will head into Week 2.


There’s certainly a lot going on this season, huh. Let’s see where everything stands!

Already Graded:

BIG FREAKING PASS
Garo The Animation

Pass
Magic Kaito 1412

Tentative Pass
Amagi Brilliant Park

Tentative Fail (On-Hold)


Fail


Currently Watching (ep.)
Celestial Method (2)
Cross Ange (2)
Gugure! Kokkuri-san (2)
Parasyte (1)
Rage of Bahamut: Genesis (2)
Shirobako (1)
Trinity Seven (1)
When Supernatural Battles Become Commonplace (1)
Wolf Girl and Black Prince (2)
Yona of the Dawn (1)
Your Lie in April (1)


Dropped (ep.)
A Good Librarian Like a Good Shepard (1)
Denki-Gai (2)
Fruit of Grisaia (2)
In Search of the Lost Future (2)
Laughing Under the Clouds (1)
Terraformers (1)
World Trigger (2)

Other Series (ep.)
Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works () 
Mushi-shi: Sequel Chapter () 
Psycho-Pass s2 () 
Selector Spread WIXOSS () 
Yowamushi Pedal: Grand Road ()

Looks like we’re off to a great start this season! Let’s see where the coming weeks take us next! If you can’t get enough about the fall season, or just want another opinion, head on over to Infinite Rainy Day right now and read up on our first seasonal report of the Fall season! I’ll be covering Amagi, Garo, Parasyte, Trinity Seven, World Trigger, and Your Lie in April this season! Either way, just go read it! Until next week, otaku on my friends!

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