28th October 2014, 12:04 AM
Yuki Yuna is a Hero 1-3 - This is a magical girl-style show. It stars Yuki Yuna, a very protagonist kind of girl -- she's kind of dense, but good at heart and determined. She's a normal Japanese schoolgirl... but then evil creatures invade, and the ... Shinyuu-sama, whatever that is, has called her and four other girls to be heroes who have to save humanity by stopping the giant monsters and defeating their cores. To everyone else they're just the members of the Hero Club, but when time freezes, they have to save the world in another realm. When a monster invades, they are all transported to a pretty cool-looking world of crazy colors. There, they fight the monster. So far, they have been successful, and have already defeated 5 of them. The cast is mostly stereotypical, but one of the girls is pretty unique -- one is disabled, and has to use a wheelchair. Her legs were paralyzed in an accident some time ago. A girl in a wheelchair, as a main character in a show? I can't say I can remember seeing such a thing before, and it definitely makes this show stand out from others of this general heroes/magical girls-and-monsters genre. Her hero form can't move her legs either -- she uses these long paper-like arm things to maneuver around. Interesting stuff. She has sniper powers. MC girl is a physical fighter, of course. The other three are a somewhat tsun girl with strong abilities; the older girl who's the president; and said girl's younger sister. It's somewhat predictable stuff so far, but entertaining. So far this is a decent series, and I'll probably continue with it.
However, there have been many expectations that it'll change in tone and get dark. So far this has not happened; it's just magical girl and not grimdark, despite many peoples' comparisons between this show and Madoka Magica (the alternate world, the MC's costume in hero form, and some other things are reminiscent of that series), and I at least hope it stays this way! Yes, I know that the staff includes the writer of Akame ga Kill (and also the harem series He Is My Noble Master, I believe...), but... well, those two seres are quite different, and this one is different again. It's also got some people behind the Persona 4 anime or something, apparently. But I prefer this as it is to grimdark -- I dropped Madoka at episode 3 and never watched it again after that -- so I'd be happy if it stays away from that stuff, despite the obvious visual comparisons that can be made.
Overall, considering how many are expecting a dark turn, I think it'd be amusing if it doesn't to it... or if it's just minor, and nothing remotely like Madoka Magica is. If the show does go Madoka's way I'll likely stop watching, but it doesn't have to... and we got through three episodes without a Madoka ep. 3 moment, so you never know!
I Wanna Be the Twintail 1-3 - I've already said that this show is a lot of fun, but... it's a lot of fun! Twintail is a ridiculous and very amusing anime that's a homage, or takedown, of anime, I guess. That's it's strength, but also its weakness. For the most part this is a quite entertaining show, but it is mostly very generic. It feels intentionally so, like it was made to check off all those generic trope boxes, but it plays it a bit too straight to be a parody, and that's where the issue comes in for me; this show's funny, but it's got too many dumb anime tropes that it seems to take seriously for it to entirely be a parody. And other times, it both laughs at a thing and has it in the series at the same time, which is kind of odd. I imagine that they are trying to attract people who like anime with this series and keep them watching, and they've hopefully succeeded at that, but does it REALLY need to be so generic in some ways? You've got the generic tsundere childhood friend, etc.
However, most of the time this show is great fun; the complaints above are relatively minor. This is a ridiculous show that knows how absurd it is and runs with it, to quite amusing ends! The main character is a guy who loves twintails. Then aliens invade who steal the things people love from their hearts, while also loving those things that they are stealing; yeah, it's weird. So, a crazy scientist woman comes from a world that they have conquered, and gives the MC a power bracelet that turns him into a superhero twintailed girl! The guy also has a twintailed tsundere childhood friend who is somewhat violent, particularly with the scientist woman (because said woman keeps hitting on the MC). She's now joined the group as Twintail Hero #2 as of episode 3. I was hoping she'd get her power bracelet soon, and she finally has. #3 is sure to be the twintailed school president girl, who the MC saved in episode 1 but is in the OP as one of the heroes... so, well, it'll happen eventually.
The enemies are amusing guys, all completely obsessed with something -- dolls, hair, what have you. They try to steal this from people who love those things, so the power of someone who loves a thing as intensely as the MC does twintails is the perfect power to fight back against them, you see. Yeah, the plot's ridiculous, while also being stereotypical anime. As I was saying, this is the show's one weak point -- I know that by making it as it is they're going to draw in anime fans, but some more originality would have been great, beyond that absurd humor of course. Ah well; anime rarely REALLY tries to break the mold, unfortunately. And what is here, with the decent fighting, sometimes silly comedy elements, and generic and yet oh so obviously intentional anime-being-anime moments, is mostly good. Of course, I love that it's a genderswap series too, I've always liked such things, ever since Ranma! This show is no Ranma, that's for sure, but it is well worth watching for anime fans. Other people won't get it, I imagine.
(Oh, and I also wish that the MC and the other girl weren't both completely completely flat-chested... oh well. This connects to what I was saying, though -- the show is trying to be funny and absurd, but also to draw in an otaku audience and keep them watching, so it plays the tropes straighter than it perhaps could. So, MC's girl form is young-looking because scientist girl claims to like it that way, etc.)
Hi-scoool! SeHa Girl 1-3 - Girls who are living representations of the Sega Genesis, Saturn, and Dreamcast go on adventures in videogames in order to try to win enough points to graduate Sega School. This may sound slightly like Neptunia, but fortunately, this series isn't horrible trash like that franchise; instead, it's a constant barrage of Sega references and fun. Yes, despite the stupid title, this is a pretty good series! I like Sega consoles, they're second on my list behind Nintendo, and this is a solid, above-average anime. The three girls have good designs, and teh challenges so far have been amusing. This is a fairly simple show, with little depth and some pretty dumb elements, but it's definitely entertaining overall.
Still... really, did it HAVE to be such a dumb-looking attack that won every round in Virtua Fighter? And while for a while it was funny that Dreamcast could beat every opponent in one hit with that thing, after a while it got kind of boring... but they played it straight, all the way to the end. They missed an opportunity there for something more interesting. Ah well. Otherwise, my only complaint is that this is a 12-minute-episodes series; this would be better as a full-length series, there's plenty more they could do! This is amusing stuff, any videogame and anime fan should watch it for sure.
When Supernatural Battles Become Commonplace 1-2 - This is a bad anime about a chuunibyou guy and the girls around him. He got a lame superpower (to create a dark flame, of course), while the girls got powerful ones. Beyond that, it's almost sleep-inducingly generic and bad. Generic anime sexism, generic anime plotlines, generic anime everything... and it's all done poorly, too. Don't bother with this waste of time. It's not the worst thing ever, but this is a bad series, no question.
As for Trinity Seven 1 to 3, I have watched them. Will write longer impressions separately.
Older Stuff
Sakura Trick 11-12 (End) - Finally got around to finishing one of the best animes in a while! ... Okay, it's completely one-note, and has terrible production values, but when that one note is about girls kissing, I'll give it a pass. I'd stopped watching it because the last couple of episodes before this got slightly serious and I didn't like that, but the last two are a total return to form, and are great! Haruka and Yuu kissing, light "drama" that barely deserves the term, the sadness of the passing of time as Yuu's older sister graduates high school, more Haruka and Yuu kissing... these episodes have it all. Why did people not buy this show?? We need more of it, and with an actual budget next time.
My only complaint other than the budget and lack of conclusive ending (since this isn't the end of the manga) would be that the series did continue with its theme of having Haruka not understand love. In the manga she sort of does, but they made her dumber about the subject in the anime in order to keep much of any romantic progress from happening. It's unfortunate, but in the last episode at least she tries. Great episodes despite the occasional slight frustration, overall.
High School DxD 13-14 (OVAs 1 and 2) - More fanservicey High School DxD, what else did you expect? They were okay. I'm not sure why I didn't watch these before going to the second series, but I didn't, so I'm caught up now.
However, there have been many expectations that it'll change in tone and get dark. So far this has not happened; it's just magical girl and not grimdark, despite many peoples' comparisons between this show and Madoka Magica (the alternate world, the MC's costume in hero form, and some other things are reminiscent of that series), and I at least hope it stays this way! Yes, I know that the staff includes the writer of Akame ga Kill (and also the harem series He Is My Noble Master, I believe...), but... well, those two seres are quite different, and this one is different again. It's also got some people behind the Persona 4 anime or something, apparently. But I prefer this as it is to grimdark -- I dropped Madoka at episode 3 and never watched it again after that -- so I'd be happy if it stays away from that stuff, despite the obvious visual comparisons that can be made.
Overall, considering how many are expecting a dark turn, I think it'd be amusing if it doesn't to it... or if it's just minor, and nothing remotely like Madoka Magica is. If the show does go Madoka's way I'll likely stop watching, but it doesn't have to... and we got through three episodes without a Madoka ep. 3 moment, so you never know!
I Wanna Be the Twintail 1-3 - I've already said that this show is a lot of fun, but... it's a lot of fun! Twintail is a ridiculous and very amusing anime that's a homage, or takedown, of anime, I guess. That's it's strength, but also its weakness. For the most part this is a quite entertaining show, but it is mostly very generic. It feels intentionally so, like it was made to check off all those generic trope boxes, but it plays it a bit too straight to be a parody, and that's where the issue comes in for me; this show's funny, but it's got too many dumb anime tropes that it seems to take seriously for it to entirely be a parody. And other times, it both laughs at a thing and has it in the series at the same time, which is kind of odd. I imagine that they are trying to attract people who like anime with this series and keep them watching, and they've hopefully succeeded at that, but does it REALLY need to be so generic in some ways? You've got the generic tsundere childhood friend, etc.
However, most of the time this show is great fun; the complaints above are relatively minor. This is a ridiculous show that knows how absurd it is and runs with it, to quite amusing ends! The main character is a guy who loves twintails. Then aliens invade who steal the things people love from their hearts, while also loving those things that they are stealing; yeah, it's weird. So, a crazy scientist woman comes from a world that they have conquered, and gives the MC a power bracelet that turns him into a superhero twintailed girl! The guy also has a twintailed tsundere childhood friend who is somewhat violent, particularly with the scientist woman (because said woman keeps hitting on the MC). She's now joined the group as Twintail Hero #2 as of episode 3. I was hoping she'd get her power bracelet soon, and she finally has. #3 is sure to be the twintailed school president girl, who the MC saved in episode 1 but is in the OP as one of the heroes... so, well, it'll happen eventually.
The enemies are amusing guys, all completely obsessed with something -- dolls, hair, what have you. They try to steal this from people who love those things, so the power of someone who loves a thing as intensely as the MC does twintails is the perfect power to fight back against them, you see. Yeah, the plot's ridiculous, while also being stereotypical anime. As I was saying, this is the show's one weak point -- I know that by making it as it is they're going to draw in anime fans, but some more originality would have been great, beyond that absurd humor of course. Ah well; anime rarely REALLY tries to break the mold, unfortunately. And what is here, with the decent fighting, sometimes silly comedy elements, and generic and yet oh so obviously intentional anime-being-anime moments, is mostly good. Of course, I love that it's a genderswap series too, I've always liked such things, ever since Ranma! This show is no Ranma, that's for sure, but it is well worth watching for anime fans. Other people won't get it, I imagine.
(Oh, and I also wish that the MC and the other girl weren't both completely completely flat-chested... oh well. This connects to what I was saying, though -- the show is trying to be funny and absurd, but also to draw in an otaku audience and keep them watching, so it plays the tropes straighter than it perhaps could. So, MC's girl form is young-looking because scientist girl claims to like it that way, etc.)
Hi-scoool! SeHa Girl 1-3 - Girls who are living representations of the Sega Genesis, Saturn, and Dreamcast go on adventures in videogames in order to try to win enough points to graduate Sega School. This may sound slightly like Neptunia, but fortunately, this series isn't horrible trash like that franchise; instead, it's a constant barrage of Sega references and fun. Yes, despite the stupid title, this is a pretty good series! I like Sega consoles, they're second on my list behind Nintendo, and this is a solid, above-average anime. The three girls have good designs, and teh challenges so far have been amusing. This is a fairly simple show, with little depth and some pretty dumb elements, but it's definitely entertaining overall.
Still... really, did it HAVE to be such a dumb-looking attack that won every round in Virtua Fighter? And while for a while it was funny that Dreamcast could beat every opponent in one hit with that thing, after a while it got kind of boring... but they played it straight, all the way to the end. They missed an opportunity there for something more interesting. Ah well. Otherwise, my only complaint is that this is a 12-minute-episodes series; this would be better as a full-length series, there's plenty more they could do! This is amusing stuff, any videogame and anime fan should watch it for sure.
When Supernatural Battles Become Commonplace 1-2 - This is a bad anime about a chuunibyou guy and the girls around him. He got a lame superpower (to create a dark flame, of course), while the girls got powerful ones. Beyond that, it's almost sleep-inducingly generic and bad. Generic anime sexism, generic anime plotlines, generic anime everything... and it's all done poorly, too. Don't bother with this waste of time. It's not the worst thing ever, but this is a bad series, no question.
As for Trinity Seven 1 to 3, I have watched them. Will write longer impressions separately.
Older Stuff
Sakura Trick 11-12 (End) - Finally got around to finishing one of the best animes in a while! ... Okay, it's completely one-note, and has terrible production values, but when that one note is about girls kissing, I'll give it a pass. I'd stopped watching it because the last couple of episodes before this got slightly serious and I didn't like that, but the last two are a total return to form, and are great! Haruka and Yuu kissing, light "drama" that barely deserves the term, the sadness of the passing of time as Yuu's older sister graduates high school, more Haruka and Yuu kissing... these episodes have it all. Why did people not buy this show?? We need more of it, and with an actual budget next time.
My only complaint other than the budget and lack of conclusive ending (since this isn't the end of the manga) would be that the series did continue with its theme of having Haruka not understand love. In the manga she sort of does, but they made her dumber about the subject in the anime in order to keep much of any romantic progress from happening. It's unfortunate, but in the last episode at least she tries. Great episodes despite the occasional slight frustration, overall.
High School DxD 13-14 (OVAs 1 and 2) - More fanservicey High School DxD, what else did you expect? They were okay. I'm not sure why I didn't watch these before going to the second series, but I didn't, so I'm caught up now.
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