Hidan no Aria 01

Princess carrying dominance

I had originally planned to post a rather lengthy entry, but I decided to keep it simpler. I’m so glad to see Junji Majima (Ryuji’s VA) and Rie Kugimiya (Taiga’s VA) of Toradora fame together again. The chemistry is all still there, and it doesn’t disappoint. The same first episode formula remains largely there. Flustered girl, girl attacks our male lead, and they end up in a partnership by the end (i.e. slavery though she says it right out here unlike in Toradora).

The World God Only Knows 2 - 01

Battle of the Devoted Auras

The World God Only Knows is one of the few mangas that I keep up with on a regular basis, so it’s exciting to see the adaptation continue.  For those unaware, the basic plotline serves as a parody of dating sims combined with the popular shounen battle concept.

Our poor lead otaku (nicknamed the Capturing God for being able to beat any dating sim) becomes entangled with a demon to find loose souls that have escaped from Hell and encased themselves in those with an empty heart. The loose souls are replaced by the contenting feeling of love except they forget what healed them in the first place. 

The formula makes for taking away the strongest, most emotionally powerful parts of romances and frequenting it via a journey towards salvation and freedom from the death penalty if he fails to collect souls with his demon compatriot.  Sadly, however, it is painful to be forgotten
and Keima must deal with that as he does ultimately put his real feelings into the relationship (despite what he’d say).  It’s no wonder the series has such a strong female fanbase as well despite appearances.

This particular arc focuses on the girl that must be strong because she has to cast aside her gender to fulfill the family connection to martial arts, but she really has a strong girlish side. As a result, her soul begins to split into two selves due to her repressing. How our Kami-sami will
heal this certainly makes for a fun watch. 

Since I’ve done so much already…

Yeah, I just realized how long it took to post those “impressions.”

So I’m going to really just quickly post three more.

Gosick 12:  Character development episode rather than mystery arc.  One of the best of the show.

Nichijou 01:  Odd, very odd, but it still manages to delight. Flying wieners, goat riding to school, Buddha statues to teachers, and toe missiles. That is all.

Hanasaku Iroha 02:  A very gorgeous slice-of-life show. The realism aspect accompanying is its biggest plus. Life can suck, and your family
can too.

The show about the loli that hates men, but needs male semen or will die that reminds me of Zero no Tsuikama, Go Nagai’s Enma remake
(little kid demons fighting a no face demon that fights with a penis spear episode), adult game with a random as hell episode that I mostly recall for loli saying in English about the guy wanting to stick his monster in her kitty did not make the cut this week.  Oh, and the show about soft tennis, cows, and a middle school girl with an odd amount of sexual fantasies (Xebec, hah) were not included on the being written about list.

Steins;Gate 01 Impressions

Collectible cute creatures.  It is Japan!

A somewhat confusing episode that draws you into the mystery. The show is all about the technobabble, and the immersion factor works pretty well. The first episode introduces, and it mildly plays with what you think is real and what isn’t. Is “Okarin” all there, and you’re seeing what he’s seeing? Or isn’t he…

For a show about time travel, it’s turning out to be very similar to chaos;head (also by Nitro+) thus far. The cast is interesting, and it’s going to get a lot deeper than present. Plus, it already had a murder
and using a microwave on bananas for the sake of time travel.  I’m sold.


Oddball rants are typical here

Dramatic poses are always necessary when delivering

Yondemasu yo, Azazel-san Impressions

Lust Demon + New Master = ???

I wasn’t sure what to think originally. A show involving rather famous Hebrew demons: Moloch, Beelzebub, Azazel, etc., and they’re in cute chibi form when in the human world. This is where the show starts getting interesting…it’s all about contrasts.

The episode centers around a woman whose pissed about her husband cheating. So, she goes to a detective agency where a man named Akutabe-san decides to help her. He just happens to be a devil summoner as well.

Evil Faces.  There are plenty.

Indeed.

As the woman comes for a relatively evil wish (to punish her husband), we see her being depicted in a rather ugly, awkward animation style.  Whereas, the demons are left in a relatively powerless cute chibi form due to a barrier. Whether it’s an intentional commentary on what form evil can come in or not it still stood out to me.

The show is sadly another short twelve-minute per episode type, however. There’s a lot of interesting, expressiveness going on, so it’s going to be a blast to keep tabs on.


Sexually harass her eternity, eh? It makes for a scary rape face.

More Screenshots:

Dog Days 01 and 02 Impressions

 
The clever invocation of Chocobo

Heroic pose, check

The journey to another fantasy world with a slice of fan service has been done to death recently in anime. It’s refreshing when a studio decides to make fun of such a situation by being extremely self-aware of where the weaknesses lie.

Dog Days is a show that relies on energy. The first two episodes are pure energy and action. Rather than checking all the boxes and fulfilling a fan service to serious ratio, they simply choose to be outright odd from the beginning. The young boy is summoned for war, but it’s not our definition of war. It’s simply cats versus dogs playing at war for the sake of their kingdoms. There’s no death, and it’s a competition like any sports meet.

With that in mind, the youth dragged into this world can just go all out and have some fun rather than worry about going home (until the battle ends). Because of this, the episode just flies by and is pure enjoyment. 

Rather than talking heads, we actually have action and get to enjoy animation for that sake. Occasionally, I forget about it myself since I largely go for story, but it’s nice to see the kind of epic eye candy that drew me to anime in the first place freshly being used.

War grunts that turn into adorable balls upon defeat

Oh, you’re a girl . . .

30-sai no Hoken Taiiku 01 Impressions

Yes, establishment. Yup, about it.

A series that just begs to be watched by concept alone. A show that’s supposed to teach the thirty-year old virgins of Japan how to have sex. For an instructional show, it’s interesting to note that the strongest joke comes from the male sex god offering our lonely virgin anal sex if he doesn’t wish to go after women. The end result, well, you can guess how much it implores him to go with the charade.

Overall, the humor of the show vaguely reminds me of Hetalia. I imagine the short episode length contributes to it furthermore. I imagine it’ll either prove more humorous, or it’ll just stay awkward. It’s hard to call which way the show will go since not much beyond set-up occurred in this episode.

More screenshots:

Sket Dance 01 Impressions

So very Shounen Jump

I just thought I’d begin to post some short impressions for episodes I didn’t feel like writing a full write-up on. So here we go…

Originally, I wasn’t going to watch this episode at all. The look itself of the show just screamed we’re aiming this at a certain demographic, and usually when a show looks like it’s trying too hard it is.

The episode had a lot of jokes that fell flat mostly due to them being attributed to cliché archetypes. We have the main shounen jump hero character dressed like a free spirit that’s extremely lazy, dumb-at-times, and apparently believes an afro helps you disguise yourself amongst bushes. The next male character is the typical quiet guy with glasses. Except they take it further by having him talk through his computer. And the female character is the violent girl with a soft side who has a nickname of onihime.

Typical JUMP material that feels pretty uninspired. I might watch it to see if it improves since it airs on a slow day, but it’s definitely one of those forgettable shows. With no battles to wage, it’s just oddball hijinks.

Google Mode On

Periodic Screenshots for anyone who wants to see a rough episode outline

Hen Zemi TV 01–Lord of the Flies

Viewed with subs from [HiNA-Wasurenai]

Collective cast shot from ED

Overall, a rather odd episode. At a total of 12:04 of airtime, the re-introduction or reboot of the series starts introducing the hentai students that are part of the seminar while adding some bizarre humor segments: growing flies in your ear and wearing adult diapers. I suppose it serves to show the pursuit of intellectualism amongst depravity, but it seems like a waste of time.

The best part of the episode was the ending conversation between Matsutaka and Komugi. Imagine-based learning and their general odd chemistry remains the highlight and reason for watching the show.

Maria†Holic Alive 01– Basics 101

Viewed with subs from [Commie]

Glorious off-kilter fantasies

How I missed thee, Maria Holic. The first episode serves as a reintroduction to our cast as well as the basic comedy formula that the show hinges upon:  Kanako lets her lesbian fantasies go wild, Maria knocks her back down to earth, comedic hijinks ensue with friends, and Kanako is left unsatisfied at the end. It’s a pretty simplistic formula, but it’s another show that entirely runs off the energy of our protagonist Kanako. And who can’t help but love such a girl?

Fantasies continue to run amok

This particular episode involves Kanako and her friends transversing the challenges of Ame-no-Kisaki’s First Girls’ Dorm in order to witness a legend. If you guessed that it involved a certain tree of destiny that grants eternal happiness to the couple that confesses under it then you’d be correct. Continuing with the reintroduction of the series norms, Kanako continues to search for her fated one.

The greatest danger of all, nosebleeds

Onward, Kanako and friends go through challenges only to make it to the end. The episode ends on a light yet comedic note by invoking that Kanako gets to follow the same path that her parents did when they fell in love. While also comedically fating her towards more trials as karma demands. With the nice productive values and comedy in this episode, I’m sure all fans will be eagerly awaiting more.

Questing, Summoning, and Challenging

A-Channel 01: Moe Blobs, Candy, and a Box Cutter

Viewed with subs from [EveTaku]

And so it starts…

Every so often, a show about four girls and their ordinary yet still somewhat comedic life is shown. The show fully knows what it wants to do, and it accomplishes its mission well: colorful, cute, and soft. Otaku will be scrambling over deciding over which of the four girls they like the best, and the Internet will inevitably be full of shoujo-ai/yuri within a few weeks.

Jealousy need only be expressed with breast smacking amongst friends-to-be.

This particular episode focuses on Tooru. After having gotten into the school to chase after her friend Run, she discovers that she has two new friends of the same grade level. And her jealous reactions make up the bulk of the episode. Being left behind by your best friend is an emotional affair, and it invokes a strong enough emotional reaction for the few seconds in which Japanese melodrama is implemented (and resolved just as quickly). However, the show prefers to focus on the cute or evil sides of Tooru to reel in a fan base rather than drama.

Evil Eye Mode On!

It’s a nice show to watch if you want to rekindle those seemingly meaningless, silly, or odd moments with friends that were still the best and most memorable of your youth. 

                    Candy + Box cutter =/= Guaranteed Success