Jhiday – Page 37 – Blog@Jhiday.net

DEVIL SURVIVOR 2 THE ANIMATION

(13 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Demons start appearing in downtown Tokyo. Fortunately, there’s an app for that.

Adapted from a DS strategy-RPG. From what I gather, the various games in the “Devil Survivor” series are mostly unrelated plotwise (much like the “Persona” games), which is why adapting the second game makes any sense.

Characters

Hibiki, our protagonist. He’s the cold, emotionally-detached type, and very good at processing the plot. Which comes really handy here.

Daichi, his wacky best pal. He hooks them up on a bizarre cellphone app that predicts their imminent death in the very subway station they are currently in… but offers them a second chance at life. They just have to fight off some demons with whatever their phone app can summon.

Nitta, a random girl in the same high school that Daichi is a bit infatuated with, happens to be in the same place at the same time, and also got the app. She’s a bit damsel-in-distress-y so far.

Emergency services have no idea what the heck. Fortunately, the Meteorology Agency (no, seriously) quickly take over the scene, having predicted the whole thing for thousands of years. They’re especially impressed by the super-demon Hibiki can somehow summon.

Hovering on the fringes of the plot, there’s a white-haired pretty boy ™ who looks very interested in the whole thing.

Production Values

Decent, I guess ? It looks very generic, though, and the very basic designs for those first few demons don’t help. The ED sequence rocks, though.

Overall Impression

I am not impressed. The obvious comparison point is Persona 4, what with being adapted from a game from the same company, and having the same director. And however flawed that one was, this is noticeably worse. It just lacks spark ; the plot is nothing new and really piles on the clichés, the dialogue isn’t much good, and the atmosphere doesn’t work.

Unless you’re a fan of the games, I have trouble recommending this one.

via [In which I review] New anime, Spring 2013 – Page 3.

The Severing Crime Edge (Dansai Bunri no Crime Edge)

(13 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Cutting hair is sexy ! And serious business.

Characters

Kiri, our ~~generic~~ perverted male protagonist. His very peculiar turn-on : cutting people’s hair. He’s also the proud owner of a family heirloom, the titular Severing Crime Edge. It’s just a pair of hair-cutting scissors, although rumour has it was a crime weapon long ago.

Iwai, a cute girl with cursed, uncuttable hair. She’s like Kiri’s dream come true. He stumbles on her house at random, and it’s definite attraction at first sight.

Houko & Yamane, two girls who antagonistically take care of Iwai’s needs (since she stays at home and has no family). Iwai claims they’re murderers (or at least owner of Murder Tools like Kiri), but they don’t actually do much besides acting like creepy antagonists.

Just to make sure we know all of this is tremendously important, at the end of the episode there’s a mysterious dude in shadow who ominously declares that “the games have begun”. Of course they have.

Production Values

The show is sure keen on making us feel that cutting hair is the sexiest thing since Mysterious Girlfriend X‘s saliva. There’s no real fanservice at such, but lots of longing shots of our two leads being aroused by each other.

What did I think of it ?

Wut.

Not the premise as such ; I’ve been around the block too much to be weirded out by it. No, it’s just that I was expecting something besides the the hair-cutting fetish. Like, either a plot or some chemistry in the romance. But this first episode feels empty of substance, and the perfunctory mumblings about the Murder Tools don’t inspire me much confidence.

By the way, I hope the romance is meant to look creepy as heck, because otherwise this is giving completely the wrong impression.

I’m giving it another episode to give me a better idea of where it’s going, but I’m not optimistic.

via [In which I review] New anime, Spring 2013 – Page 2.

Anime Mirai 2013

This might be the time to give some thoughts about Anime Mirai, aka this year’s iteration of the Young Animator Training Project. For those who don’t know, it’s a group of four one-shots funded by the Japanese government and produced by notable studios as training grounds for new animators. They’re always at least watchable, and there’s often a gem hidden among them. (See last year’s Wasurenagumo, for example.)

This year, everyone is looking forward to Studio Trigger’s contribution, Little Witch Academia. (They’re the TTGL/Panty&Stocking/Redline people, hence the hype.) And, well, it isn’t as visually distinctive as those, and certainly isn’t breaking any new ground. It’s just a very well-told and well-animated story made from stock elements, with enough enthusiasm and care to the details to make it very fun indeed.

On the other hand, I’m puzzled by Arve Rezzle. It’s a decent sci-fi premise (dude finds out his comatose sister’s body is now inhabited by another person (who’s amnesiac and can’t explain), and then commandos start attacking. The thing is, this is clearly a pilot for a longer story ; nothing whatsoever is resolved by the end of it. Which kinda defeats the purpose of these shorts, really. It’s okay, just incomplete.

(I’ll comment on the other two when subs surface.)

via [In which I review] New anime, Spring 2013.

Date A Live

(12 episodes + a bonus OVA)

What’s it about ?

Dating sim mixed with a sentai show. Adapted from a light novel series.

Characters

Shidou, our generic male lead. He’s exactly what you’d expect from a dating sim protagonist : a normal high school boy squabbling with his little sister, he’s got the mandatory perverted best friend, and he’s utterly oblivious about some pretty girls starting to stalk him. Oh, sure, there is some background noise about vast tracts of lands being levelled by “spacequakes” over the last 30 years, but that’s just colour setting, right ?

His life changes when he meets a Mysterious Girl In A Skimpy Outfit at the epicentre of the latest spacequake, which happened right down the block. It turns out that spacequakes are actually the result of MGIASOs landing on Earth, so obviously the authorities are hunting them down on sight. The MGIASO escapes in the confusion before they can catch her.

Origami, the school genius, who was stalking Shidou earlier, is one of the mecha-musume that are the frontline defense against MGIASOs, doing this because her family got killed in a spacequake 5 years ago. She urges him not to tell anyone about this side-job.

Kotori, Shidou’s sister, is actually the commander-in-chief of the local anti-MGIASOs defense force. No, seriously. That’s what her masochist adult subcommander says, so I’ll take his word. They’ve got a spaceship HQ hovering 15,000 km above the city.

The big twist is that the mecha-musume corps isn’t quite cutting it (the MGIASOs have way too much firepower), so our heroes have to resort to a new strategy : have Shidou romance them ! (Why him ? I have no clue.) Cue dating-sim training montage…

Production Values

It’s a bit hard to judge from the eyebleed-o-vision, but I’m not convinced this has much of a budget. The CG is obvious, the character designs are beyond generic, and the animation’s no great shakes.

What is clear is that the fanservice level is noticeably high. We get a bit too much focus on Kotori’s panties for my taste, and these aren’t the only buttshots in this episode. Also, the camera is very interested in the MGIASO’s breasts.

Overall Impression

Well, I’ll grant it that : for a show made exclusively out of stock clichés, it actually manages to put them together in a way new enough to be distinctive. It’s a joke that gave me a chuckle.

Is it actually good ? Good lords, no. It’s impossible to take the rare attempts at emotional impact seriously, given how stupid the premise is. The characters are one-dimensional cardboard cutouts, and none of them look like they’ll rise above their archetypes. (Although I’ll admit the not-nurse is fun to watch.) It’s a show with one joke, and I can’t see it lasting for 12ish episodes without becoming tedious.

In another season I might have given this a bit more of a chance for the fun trainwreck factor, but I just can’t be bothered.

via [In which I review] New anime, Spring 2013.

RDG: Red Data Girl

(12 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Supernatural romance ? Even with three episodes released, it’s a bit hard to tell where this is going.

Characters

Izumiko, our female lead in her last year of middle school. She’s a shy introvert who can barely do anything without relying on others. She’s also terrible with electronics, somehow always breaking them. She lives in a remote shrine deep in the forest. The twist is that she’s the host of the local goddess, and thus all kind of nasties are out to get her. Fortunately she’s got many bodyguard “monks” looking out for her.

Miyuki, our male lead, really doesn’t want to be there, but Daddy has forced him to take up the family business and become her new bodyguard. It’s disgust at first sight, and we all know where this is leading.

Izumiko’s parents are conspicuously away. (She’s hosted by her relatives.) Dad is on another continent, and Mom’s yet to be seen.

The OP sequence lists tons of other male characters in a manner suspiciously reminiscent of dating sim adaptations. Hmm…

Production Values

Quite good. It’s a notable improvement over studio PA Works’s last supernatural project, Another ; here the creepy atmosphere actually works.

Overall Impression

I’m not quite sure about this one. There’s nothing particularly wrong about it, and there’s several little sequences that are well done (Izumiko’s drowning in anxiety in front of a computer, or Miyuki “changing his mind” about staying at the shrine). But I can’t quite shake the impression that Izumiko is a very annoying protagonist ; I’m not fond of those wet blankets that have to be saved by awesome but antagonistic dudes.

I’m still watching it, but I don’t expect wonders out of it.

via [In which I review] New anime, Spring 2013.

Doki Doki! Precure

(50ish episodes)

What’s it about ?

The latest iteration of the now decade-old magical girl franchise. As usual, it’s a complete reboot, introducing new characters and a new conflict but fitting the now traditional formula.

Characters

Cure Sword, last line of defense of the Trump Kingdom… and, er, it’s clear from the action prologue that she failed. She went into hiding on Earth under the cover identity of idol Makoto Kenzaki, because obviously that’s the best choice of occupation to lie low.

Mana, our actual protagonist, is the kind of person who goes out of her way to help anyone who looks vaguely in trouble within her line of sight. She’s also her middle school’s Student Council President, as she clearly sees that as the best position for her to help everyone. Anyway, she randomly gets a power jewel from a kinda creepy dude (seriously, calling a middle school student “my sweetheart” isn’t appropriate…), and eventually use it to transform into “Cure Heart” and jump in so as to help Cure Sword.

Rikka, Mana’s best friend, who tries her best to keep her on track somewhat. It’s obvious from the paratext that she’s gonna become a Precure soon.

Alice is a super-rich girl who owns (among other things) the gigantic “Clover Tower” this episode takes place around. She doesn’t let it get to her head, though, and seems to be good friends with Mana. Again, she’s clearly our 4th Precure-to-be.

The plot here is that a couple of mid-boss-level villains are wreaking havoc on the Tower in an effort to draw Cure Sword out and get some macguffin from her. This actually sounds like quite a decent plan, and they may have gotten away with it if (1) wild card Cure Heart hadn’t shown up and (2) Cure Sword actually has the macguffin… and I suspect she doesn’t.

Production Values

Contrasted. There’s a gap between the “normal” designs, which are a bit on the busier side of the Precure scale of character designs, and someone like Cure Sword, who looks like she’s on loan from Heartcatch Precure given the fluidity and gracefulness of the way she is animated. It’s especially jarring when next to the Monster of the Week, whose shoddy animation is just appaling.

What did I think of it ?

I was pleasantly surprised by this. I was all ready to drop it like a stone, as I’m kinda tapped out on the Precure franchise at the moment and I need to recharge my magical girl batteries in preparation for the Sailor Moon revival (this Summer, maybe ?). Especially as the advance promotion made it look somewhat like Suite Precure.

But this is actually quite a good first episode. It packs in quite a lot of plot, introduces all the main characters with remarkable economy, and sets up mysteries for further down the way. Moreover, it manages to instill a sense of history, like we’re picking the story in the middle of a long conflict and this is just the latest stage of it. That’s not particularly a new thing for the Precure franchise (Heartcatch did it quite well too), but it’s always welcome. And the character dynamics and artstyle are different enough for this not to feel like a retread of Heartcatch.

Damn it, I think I’m going to keep an eye on this one.

via [In which I review] New anime, Winter 2013 – Page 10.

Winter 2013 capsules

First, let’s get a couple of shorts out of the way…

My Little Sister talks like an Osakan Mom (Boku no Imouto wa “Oosaka Okan”) surprisingly isn’t incest-bait, unlike the immense majority of series with “Imouto” in the (long-winded) title. Instead, it’s terrible in a completely different way : it features horrible cheap Flash animation and revolves around a “wow, the Kansai dialect as spoken by this girl is weird and kinda nonsensical” joke that’s mostly impenetrable to Western ears and doesn’t sound that funny to start with. Apparently it’s adapted from a language guidebook, which really shows (with “helpful” translation recaps explaining the jokes slowly all the time).

Inferno Cop is a weird little short series coming from Studio Trigger, aka the people behind Gurren Lagann, Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt and Redline. Alas, despite the pedigree this is objectively mindless garbage, with no budget whatsoever. Obviously this is part of the joke, but it’s not that funny. (Even P&Sw/G at its most poop-joke-obsessed lows had more depth and looked way better than this crap.)

via [In which I review] New anime, Winter 2013.

Anime shorts are hard to review. In some lucky cases, they’re so terrible it’s easy to dismiss them immediately (see above ; although Inferno Cop‘s second episode had such gonzo charm that I’m starting to reconsider it). But in some case, there’s so little content it’s hard to judge how they’ll end up going.

Case in point : Encouragement of Climb (Yama no Susume). It’s about a high school girl who used to love mountain climbing but has been traumatized by a bad fall ; one of her elementary school friends tries to take her back to her old hobby… and won’t take no for an answer. It’s actually quite a promising start : it’s got some decent animation (including a slightly jarring CG-background shot at the beginning that isn’t half-bad), the plot progresses at a good clip, and it’s got more than one joke. Nothing earth-shattering, but good enough to be worth watching.

I’m more wary about Mangirl. It’s a comedy about young women setting up a new manga magazine. The problem is that it’s not really funny ; the basic joke is that they’re terrible at it, but the show features random bursts of offscreen competence so that they can be in business for more than one episode. And if you’re interested in the behind-the-scenes of manga publishing, this looks much more superficial than, say, Bakuman (which is, you know, still airing).

via [In which I review] New anime, Winter 2013.

Ai Mai Mi is yet another series of shorts adapting some comedy 4-panel manga. It’s notionally about a high school manga club, but really the three title characters spend most of their time or acting out terrible jokes. At least Mangirl had a plot ; this is just unfunny, horrible-looking crap. Avoid.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Nekomogatari (Black) somewhere, now that I’ve watched the whole of it (the four episodes aired just before the New Year, but took a bit to get translated).

For those who aren’t aware of it, this is a prequel to 2009’s Bakemonogatari, a very peculiar mix of harem romance, supernatural horror, self-indulgent dialogue and Akiyuki Shinbo being weird for the hell of it. That was a very good show indeed (if only for being a visual masterpiece), but it’s not for everybody. Nisemonogatari, its sequel last year, was basically more of the same, with even better technical quality but also even more self-indulgent.

The question with Nekomonogatari (Black), like any prequel, is whether there’s any point to watching it, considering how the events of “the Cat incident in Golden Week” have already amply been described in the main series in its “Tsubasa cat” arc. I’ve actually rewatched those four episodes to make sure, and yes indeed Nekomonogatari (Black) does cover a lot of (until now) relatively unexplored territory. It helps that this is a lean narrative (by -monogatari standards), making its point very efficiently at a pace that never feels idle. And the visuals are as striking as they’ve ever been.

This obviously whets my appetite for Kizumonogatari (the prequel people are actually looking for, describing “the Vampire incident on Spring Break” we’ve only very briefly flashbacked to until now), whenever that comes out ; and the “second season”, apparently slated for later this year.

via [In which I review] New anime, Winter 2013 – Page 2.

Chihayafuru 2 was off to a good start, with the start of a new school year and the introduction of new club members feeling like a strong enough move forward to avoid repetition of what the first season did, and update the formula somewhat. (To say nothing of complicating the love dodecahedron a bit more.)

via [In which I review] New anime, Winter 2013 – Page 8.

I’ve been pleasantly surprised by Senyuu, a series of shorts parodying heroic-fantasy RPG games. Hilariously mean-spirited, and served by some impressive voice work from Yuuichi Nakamura. It’s got a shoe-string budget, but that doesn’t prevent it from being lots of fun.

via [In which I review] New anime, Winter 2013 – Page 9.

I won’t bother with a full review for Straight Title Robot Anime (Chokkyuu Hyoudai Robot Anime). Notionally it’s supposed to be the first anime series fully animated with Vocaloid-type software, but that just makes it look cheap and generic. As for the story, it’s basically three “girl” androids failing to grasp the concept of humour for 12 minutes. I don’t just mean it’s tedious and unfunny (although it certainly is) : that’s really the plot. (They’re trying to recreate human humour long after humanity has vanished.)

I wouldn’t recommand watching this crap to anyone.

via [In which I review] New anime, Winter 2013 – Page 11.

Problem Children Are Coming From Another World, Aren’t They? (Mondaiji-tachi ga Isekai kara Kuru Sou Desu yo?)

(10 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Super-powered teens are whisked away to a parallel world devoted to gambling.

Adapted from light novels, as you can guess from the ridiculously plain and long title.

Characters

All three main characters share the same personality : full of themselves and sarcastic. They are quite clever, but they never stop letting us now it. Anyway, there’s Izayoi, generic loner antihero with telekinetic powers, who does stuff like begrudgingly “saving” guys being bullied by stereotypical delinquants ; Asuka, authoritarian upper-class snob with hypnosis powers ; and You, a “friend to all animals” who can talk with them.

They’re suddenly transported to another world by the Black Rabbit (actually a busty human-rabbit hybrid), who claims to have done that because they’re elite and deserve to participate in those high-stakes, high-reward gambles. Obviously she’s got ulterior motives, and as they’re smarter than her they’re quick to call her on it. (They do agree to participate, as they’re hopelessly bored by their regular life and this sounds slightly more interesting.)

The gambling world is populated by tons of hybrid races, some of them with superpowers.

Production Values

This looks very cheap, with generic character designs and even more generic fanservice. The OP playing at the end is quite well put together, though.

Overall Impression

This actually ain’t as bad as I originally feared after the uninspired “real world” initial scenes and the introduction of the Black Rabbit (who’s a face-palm-inducing character on every regard), mostly because of the strength of the three leads’ personality. Admittedly they all share the same one, but I liked how they take no shit from the Black Rabbit and cheat like crazy at her game after carefully listening to the rules.

I’m mildly curious on where this is going, and willing to give it one more episode.

via [In which I review] New anime, Winter 2013 – Page 8.

Vividred Operation

(12 episodes)

What’s it about ?

The war on pants is back.

Characters

Akane, grand-daughter of the mad genius who invented the free, clean energy generator located nearby. As perks, she also got a flying bike, as well as the means to fight the bad guys.

Grampa, though, seems to have had a falling out with his former associates, as they don’t seem to be getting much money from the generator’s operations. And he buries nearly everything he’s got into more random mad science projects, leaving his family barely pennies for the food.

(Said family seems to be limited at this point to those two and a little sister, who’s the one who hunts bargain bins and has to resort to creative cooking.)

Aoi, Akane’s best friend, is returning to the island the series takes place in after a long absence. Just in time for her plane to get caught in the crossfire between the authority and a giant mechanized war machine suddenly attacking ! Akane saves her just in time.

Production Values

From the director of Strike Witches ! As you’d expect, the show uses the tiniest excuses to have characters in bloomers, and the camera loves ass shots. It’s more than a bit distracting, especially as the show is quite good-looking aside from that.

What did I think of it ?

Urgh. The plot and the characters aren’t interesting enough to make up for the tediousness of the constant ass shots. Even ignoring that, it’s fairly generic anyway.

via [In which I review] New anime, Winter 2013 – Page 6.

Sasami-san@Ganbaranai

(12 episodes)

What’s it about ?

What is this I don’t even…

Characters

The titular Sasami, a recluse who never leaves home. She’s extensively cared for by her elder brother. When he’s off to work, she uses her computer network to spy on him possessively.

Said brother remains unnamed throughout the episode, and indeed goes to impressively bizarre lengths not to show his face to the camera at any point. Anyway, he’s a high school teacher, and probably well into his thirties.

Then there are the three sisters pursuing him to various degrees. Tsurugi is one of his colleagues, who does stuff like watching porn in the teachers’ office. The other two are students in the same high school : Kagami is the deadpan sarcastic one, Tama the loony one.

And then the plot goes completely insane : chocolate starts overtaking the world until the three sisters put a stop to it and save the world. (Oh, and and Kagami is apparently a cyborg.) It’s implied that this kind of stuff happens regularly.

It’s a SHAFT show, so there are absolutely no other characters around, with a cityscape entirely devoid of even a single extra.

Production Values

Typical Shinbo direction : artfully composed wide shots, random weird body language bits (such as the brother’s insistant avoidance of the camera), non-naturalistic backgrounds and colours. The animation for the action sequence is very impressive, which makes me wonder about the budget of this series.

What did I think of it ?

Hum. I had no worry that if anyone could make a brocon series watchable, it’d be SHAFT. Especially as the source material is said to be quirkily bizarre on its own right. And this is certainly an enthralling watch, even as alarms bell ring to warn that all of those characters are very creepy indeed.

But the big question is : where do you go from there ? A “bizarre menace of the week” structure could quickly become tediously repetitive, but I doubt this is really what the series is going for. On the other hand, there’s not that much room for character growth either : the characters’ quirks are overpowering and allow for little depth.

There’s definitely a lot of potential here, and on a technical level it’s definitely on SHAFT’s upper range, but I’m not convinced yet this is a show with legs beyond the shock-value façade.

via [In which I review] New anime, Winter 2013 – Page 6.