Autumn 2008 anime season: impressions thread
- Thread starter Paul
- Start date
I watched Toradora out of some weird sense of curiosity, and it was actually decent. It's fairly predictable where it's going but it made me laugh a little a few times and once a lot, which is enough. So I guess I'll be following it.
It's better than being subjected to another season of Clannad at least :roll:
It's better than being subjected to another season of Clannad at least :roll:
Kurozuka - looks good I'm a sucker for fantasy-historical horror things like Ayakashi Ayashi and Requiem From the Darkness.
Mouryou no Hako - get to be over excited over the girl-girl messed up loving weirdness of it all, a really confusing first episode, but, yuri?? PLEASE!!
Casshern Sins - balances violence in a post apocalypitic world with robot characters you actually care about, the second episode made me cry, perhaps I was just in a soppy mood but I really love this show.
Tytania - I was prepared to ridicule this to death as bishies and butlers in space, but then it gets good! Political Space Opera battles for the win, haven't enjoyed a space battle this much since Heroic Age.
Michiko to Hatchin - Although this looks like Les miserables shoujo cossette and afro samurai lumped together through a prison, I don't think I can give this up until I've seen a few more episodes of action.
Kuroshitsuji - compulsory comedy series, despite the possible yaoi undertones, this made me laugh in a happy silly way.
Ga Rei Zero - worth watching for the school girls fighting with swords in the second episode.
Kemeko DX - everyone must check out the opening and ending credits, which involve whipping jesus and a work out dance to get chubby otaku wiggling their butt! A full grown girl inside a loli robot, a nice WTF series.
Mouryou no Hako - get to be over excited over the girl-girl messed up loving weirdness of it all, a really confusing first episode, but, yuri?? PLEASE!!
Casshern Sins - balances violence in a post apocalypitic world with robot characters you actually care about, the second episode made me cry, perhaps I was just in a soppy mood but I really love this show.
Tytania - I was prepared to ridicule this to death as bishies and butlers in space, but then it gets good! Political Space Opera battles for the win, haven't enjoyed a space battle this much since Heroic Age.
Michiko to Hatchin - Although this looks like Les miserables shoujo cossette and afro samurai lumped together through a prison, I don't think I can give this up until I've seen a few more episodes of action.
Kuroshitsuji - compulsory comedy series, despite the possible yaoi undertones, this made me laugh in a happy silly way.
Ga Rei Zero - worth watching for the school girls fighting with swords in the second episode.
Kemeko DX - everyone must check out the opening and ending credits, which involve whipping jesus and a work out dance to get chubby otaku wiggling their butt! A full grown girl inside a loli robot, a nice WTF series.
I'm actually yet to start any new series this season actually, though i have a couple that interest me. I'll be watching ef - a tale of melodies since i did enjoy the first series a fair amount, so i'm looking forward to this one.
Toradora has my interest as well, yet another light novel to anime series which is, from what i know, incomplete, but still may worth looking into.
Clannad ~after story~ Started this when it started, i expect this to get better as it continues, i thought at first 24 episodes would be too much for this series but considering how much more of the visual novel it has left to cover, i expect it maybe alright.
Ga Rei Zero read a couple reviews on it and it seems interesting enough, so plan on giving that a look into at some point in the next day or so.
Asides from that, i've not really looked into much else, i expect i may avoid casshern and linebarrels, but i'm looking for something a tad different to the usual bunch you see about every season.(that being the general romance and mecha that you generally see at least a few off)
Toradora has my interest as well, yet another light novel to anime series which is, from what i know, incomplete, but still may worth looking into.
Clannad ~after story~ Started this when it started, i expect this to get better as it continues, i thought at first 24 episodes would be too much for this series but considering how much more of the visual novel it has left to cover, i expect it maybe alright.
Ga Rei Zero read a couple reviews on it and it seems interesting enough, so plan on giving that a look into at some point in the next day or so.
Asides from that, i've not really looked into much else, i expect i may avoid casshern and linebarrels, but i'm looking for something a tad different to the usual bunch you see about every season.(that being the general romance and mecha that you generally see at least a few off)
hopeful_monster
Thousand Master
Yes (from the first 2 episodes anyway), also has good pedigree as written and directed by the guys who did Legend of Galactic heroes.Lupus Inu said:
Watched a few more
Yozakura Quartet- fun, but why is it a quartet when there are 5 (or more) of them? Will give it a few more episodes
Mouryou no Hako- Found this while looking for other another show, interesting, but lead in and OP seem to be from a different show. Mysterious enough to keep my interest a bit longer
Kurozuka - Like, except for the art. It's not bad enought for me to want to quit, but still kinda meh
Michiko to Hatchin-wierd but fun. Matilda meets Thelma and Louise
Right, so watched 3 of the new season stuff so far, thoughts are:
Clannad ~After Story~ - After 3 episodes its back into the same routine it was before, and personally i can't complain, its doing what it does well. As much as i do like the comedy within it, i will have to say i'm probably more taken in by the more serious parts of the storyline. Overall though i'll probably keep watching this throughout.
Toradora! - Only watched the first episode so far, and i thought it was quite decent actually, none of the general harem style romance for a change, and the characters are quite likeable, though i'll need to see how the story progresses to really give a better judgement on it.
Ga-Rei Zero Now, this was one i had no idea about when jumping into. Felt rather generic at first, the characters having their tragic past, fighting demons/ghosts only they can see, then out comes the ending and i was like WHOA. I wouldn't have seen that coming a mile off. I'll be following this for a while longer i expect to see how things go.
Asides from that, still got a couple more planned to look into
Clannad ~After Story~ - After 3 episodes its back into the same routine it was before, and personally i can't complain, its doing what it does well. As much as i do like the comedy within it, i will have to say i'm probably more taken in by the more serious parts of the storyline. Overall though i'll probably keep watching this throughout.
Toradora! - Only watched the first episode so far, and i thought it was quite decent actually, none of the general harem style romance for a change, and the characters are quite likeable, though i'll need to see how the story progresses to really give a better judgement on it.
Ga-Rei Zero Now, this was one i had no idea about when jumping into. Felt rather generic at first, the characters having their tragic past, fighting demons/ghosts only they can see, then out comes the ending and i was like WHOA. I wouldn't have seen that coming a mile off. I'll be following this for a while longer i expect to see how things go.
Asides from that, still got a couple more planned to look into
Clannad ~After Story~ is just more of the same far as I can tell, but I liked Clannad so I'm happy.
Toradora seems like a generic high-school romance. Not bad as such, seems relatively well-written etc, but it's still stuck firmy in it's genre-box. So... probably totally predictable.
Tytania gave me a kinda Legend of the Galactic Heroes Lite impression. Gonna take this a few more episodes to see if it develops its potential. Plus, there aren't that many space operas around.
Kurozuka is stylish, as you'd expect from Madhouse. Very much an introductory episode though, not sure where it's gonna go.
Mouryou no Hako was... intriguing. Seems quite different. All very mysterious at the moment though, with a low-key horror vibe running through it.
Still planning on looking into Chaos:Head and Michiko to Hatchin.
Toradora seems like a generic high-school romance. Not bad as such, seems relatively well-written etc, but it's still stuck firmy in it's genre-box. So... probably totally predictable.
Tytania gave me a kinda Legend of the Galactic Heroes Lite impression. Gonna take this a few more episodes to see if it develops its potential. Plus, there aren't that many space operas around.
Kurozuka is stylish, as you'd expect from Madhouse. Very much an introductory episode though, not sure where it's gonna go.
Mouryou no Hako was... intriguing. Seems quite different. All very mysterious at the moment though, with a low-key horror vibe running through it.
Still planning on looking into Chaos:Head and Michiko to Hatchin.
Aion
Time-Traveller
The first half of EP1 of Tales of the Abyss tells me it's going to be a great anime. I've only stopped watching because my computer is too crappy with GG'S 720P encodes - I'm downloading the SS release instead.
The game was the perfect choice for an anime adaptation really; manga style character faces, animated cut-scenes and lots of manga/anime style humour. The artwork, colours and animation of the anime have all been top class so far; it looks amazing in 720P. The OP is one of the best I've seen, and it was made even better by it having the same song as the game animated OP does.
I never managed to complete the game, dropping it after 50 hours due to it adding new to the RPG genre. I'm hopeful watching the story animated will give me the motivation required to have another go.
/goes back to watching
The game was the perfect choice for an anime adaptation really; manga style character faces, animated cut-scenes and lots of manga/anime style humour. The artwork, colours and animation of the anime have all been top class so far; it looks amazing in 720P. The OP is one of the best I've seen, and it was made even better by it having the same song as the game animated OP does.
I never managed to complete the game, dropping it after 50 hours due to it adding new to the RPG genre. I'm hopeful watching the story animated will give me the motivation required to have another go.
/goes back to watching
Aion
Time-Traveller
The gameplay did little for me. The battles were easy, mostly simply involving button bashing, and I never understand/used the fonon...things that appeared during battles. It was the story and characters that held my interest, but the story wasn't amazing (usual RPG stuff) and the characters were only ever likeable. Luke's transformation from **** to nice guy seemed way to forced and unnatural to me.
I'm not a fan of the Tales of games. Symphonia, which is supposed to be the best, was only ever good in my eyes. It lacked that little something that makes a game great. I still need to get around to watching the ToS OVAs...
I'm not a fan of the Tales of games. Symphonia, which is supposed to be the best, was only ever good in my eyes. It lacked that little something that makes a game great. I still need to get around to watching the ToS OVAs...
Aion
Time-Traveller
Just finished watching 1-4 of Tales of the Abyss. I'm definitely going to be watching it weekly; it's too high quality for me not to. I want to see how the story ends without having to replay the game for god knows how many hours, and since I've been looking for an anime to watch weekly this works out perfectly.
The anime has been very faithful to game up to this point. I can't remember too clearly but I don't think anything has been cut yet. Sunrise have kept all of the characters quirks -- Tear is still a lover of cute things who won't admit to loving them, Guy is still afraid of women, Anise still wants to marry Luke for his money, Jade still has his dry sense of humour and Luke is still a sheltered/spoiled brat. It's always good when an animation studio doesn't attempt to cut and improve too much needlessly.
With the series clearly having a HUGE budget and Sunrise trying their best to please fans of the game, the only problem up to yet is a problem of the source material; the story. I didn't like how a group of characters from different backgrounds joined together for the good of the world in the game, so it's no surprise that my feelings are the same with the anime. I also didn't/don't like how an elite group of bizarre looking bosses (the six god generals) are the villains - in every story of this type there's always an insane gang of super strong baddies standing in the way.
Anyway, I'm looking forward to the Luke vs. Ashe confrontations - they were the best parts of the game. Here's hoping Sunrise handle their fights as well as they've handled everything else so far.
oh, by the way: Is it just me or has Tear had breast implants somewhere in-between the game and anime? :|
The anime has been very faithful to game up to this point. I can't remember too clearly but I don't think anything has been cut yet. Sunrise have kept all of the characters quirks -- Tear is still a lover of cute things who won't admit to loving them, Guy is still afraid of women, Anise still wants to marry Luke for his money, Jade still has his dry sense of humour and Luke is still a sheltered/spoiled brat. It's always good when an animation studio doesn't attempt to cut and improve too much needlessly.
With the series clearly having a HUGE budget and Sunrise trying their best to please fans of the game, the only problem up to yet is a problem of the source material; the story. I didn't like how a group of characters from different backgrounds joined together for the good of the world in the game, so it's no surprise that my feelings are the same with the anime. I also didn't/don't like how an elite group of bizarre looking bosses (the six god generals) are the villains - in every story of this type there's always an insane gang of super strong baddies standing in the way.
Anyway, I'm looking forward to the Luke vs. Ashe confrontations - they were the best parts of the game. Here's hoping Sunrise handle their fights as well as they've handled everything else so far.
oh, by the way: Is it just me or has Tear had breast implants somewhere in-between the game and anime? :|
Aion
Time-Traveller
Had a look at Chaos Head, watching EP1-2. It's probably going to be dropped, the only thing making me hesitant right now being the knowledge that it's only 12 episodes long.
I was mostly bored when watching the first two episodes. The main character defines dull (plus weird) and the 'plot' is more sleep inducing at this point than it is thrilling. I can't get into it at all. Unless there's a fairly amazing plot twist thrown in soon, this is a 4-6/10 series to me - there's nothing special about it aside from the story being told very confusingly.
A guy lives in a metal container on a roof somewhere, his box containing an extensive otaku figure collection. A string of creepy murders are occurring in the town the guy lives in. The guy keeps having delusions involving the generic school girls at his school, one of which he saw covered in blood with a murder victim, and he's managed to make himself the number one suspect in the case when he ran away from the girl.
^ That plot isn't interesting. It's a little different but, when it comes down to it, all it seems to be is a murder investigation told from the point of view of a delusional retard, with lifeless school girls somehow getting involved. The 40 minutes it took to watch the first 2 episodes dragged on forever.
I was mostly bored when watching the first two episodes. The main character defines dull (plus weird) and the 'plot' is more sleep inducing at this point than it is thrilling. I can't get into it at all. Unless there's a fairly amazing plot twist thrown in soon, this is a 4-6/10 series to me - there's nothing special about it aside from the story being told very confusingly.
A guy lives in a metal container on a roof somewhere, his box containing an extensive otaku figure collection. A string of creepy murders are occurring in the town the guy lives in. The guy keeps having delusions involving the generic school girls at his school, one of which he saw covered in blood with a murder victim, and he's managed to make himself the number one suspect in the case when he ran away from the girl.
^ That plot isn't interesting. It's a little different but, when it comes down to it, all it seems to be is a murder investigation told from the point of view of a delusional retard, with lifeless school girls somehow getting involved. The 40 minutes it took to watch the first 2 episodes dragged on forever.
Aion
Time-Traveller
Stupidly, I decided to watch all 3 subbed episodes of Casshern Sins instead of getting a few hours sleep. I'm very rarely in the anime watching mood of late, so I thought I'd take advantage of TotA reigniting my interest.
Casshern is very slow paced, almost to the point that I felt nothing was happening, but it never bored me. It's going to take awhile to judge if it's worthy of my time or not when it seems like no plot details, or information about the Casshern universe in general, is going to be provided until Casshern has wondered about the lands fighting lots of robots. It's a bit disappointing that no explanation has been provided as to why robots are rusting away, but it isn't exactly shocking when just about every anime series in existence reveals as little as possible about the plot at he start.
I do like the post-apocalyptic setting, usage of dark/gloomy colours and depressing feel - it's right up my street. If I had an idea what Casshern is and why the robots are rusting I'd probably rate it something like 9/10, but based on the slow paced first three episodes I can only give it 7/10. I have a feeling it'll get better as it goes on; I'll have to wait and see.
The three new series I've tried are ranked like this so far:
1: Tales of the Abyss (8-9/10)
2: Casshern Sins (6-8/10)
3: Chaos Head (4-6/10)
I'll probably give some more new series a go tomorrow - it depends how I feel.
Casshern is very slow paced, almost to the point that I felt nothing was happening, but it never bored me. It's going to take awhile to judge if it's worthy of my time or not when it seems like no plot details, or information about the Casshern universe in general, is going to be provided until Casshern has wondered about the lands fighting lots of robots. It's a bit disappointing that no explanation has been provided as to why robots are rusting away, but it isn't exactly shocking when just about every anime series in existence reveals as little as possible about the plot at he start.
I do like the post-apocalyptic setting, usage of dark/gloomy colours and depressing feel - it's right up my street. If I had an idea what Casshern is and why the robots are rusting I'd probably rate it something like 9/10, but based on the slow paced first three episodes I can only give it 7/10. I have a feeling it'll get better as it goes on; I'll have to wait and see.
The three new series I've tried are ranked like this so far:
1: Tales of the Abyss (8-9/10)
2: Casshern Sins (6-8/10)
3: Chaos Head (4-6/10)
I'll probably give some more new series a go tomorrow - it depends how I feel.
Aion
Time-Traveller
Had a look at another two series:
I rank the 5 I've tried like this:
1: Tales of the Abyss (9/10) -- I can only see Tales of the Abyss getting better as it goes on. Best video game adaptation ever?
2: Kurozuka (8/10) -- Kurozaku, although very confusing, has the potential to be a great series. Samurai's in a post-apocalyptic world? Sign me up!
3: Michiko to Hatchin (8/10) - Michiko to Hatchin is the most stylish and colourful of all the new series, and it might turn out to be amazing depending on the plot.
4: Casshern Sins (7/10) - I like the setting and gloomy feel. What I don't like is the lack of story, or even a proper explanation about what's going on. I can't rate it higher until every episode stops being about Casshern simply destroying robots.
5: Chaos Head (5/10) - Weird, dull and a waste of time. I can't be bothered to watch it, not even when taking into consideration the fact that it only lasts 12 episodes. There are far better fish in the 2008 winter anime sea.
Kurozuka (EP 1-2) said:
Michiko to Hatchin (EP 1) said:
I rank the 5 I've tried like this:
1: Tales of the Abyss (9/10) -- I can only see Tales of the Abyss getting better as it goes on. Best video game adaptation ever?
2: Kurozuka (8/10) -- Kurozaku, although very confusing, has the potential to be a great series. Samurai's in a post-apocalyptic world? Sign me up!
3: Michiko to Hatchin (8/10) - Michiko to Hatchin is the most stylish and colourful of all the new series, and it might turn out to be amazing depending on the plot.
4: Casshern Sins (7/10) - I like the setting and gloomy feel. What I don't like is the lack of story, or even a proper explanation about what's going on. I can't rate it higher until every episode stops being about Casshern simply destroying robots.
5: Chaos Head (5/10) - Weird, dull and a waste of time. I can't be bothered to watch it, not even when taking into consideration the fact that it only lasts 12 episodes. There are far better fish in the 2008 winter anime sea.
Aion
Time-Traveller
It's the best looking of the 08 lot I've seen and seems likely to be the best video game adaptation ever. 9/10 is a fair reflection of the quality on show in the first 4 episodes.
I'm no huge fan of the game (rated it 7.5/10) but it it does undeniably have a very likeable cast and, although not the best plot ever, some nice moments. The gameplay let down the other aspects, in my opinion anyway. With the gameplay out of the picture and the story allowed to be told through high quality animation, it might even reach my top 10 with me love of sword and sorcery/RPG stuff.
I'm no huge fan of the game (rated it 7.5/10) but it it does undeniably have a very likeable cast and, although not the best plot ever, some nice moments. The gameplay let down the other aspects, in my opinion anyway. With the gameplay out of the picture and the story allowed to be told through high quality animation, it might even reach my top 10 with me love of sword and sorcery/RPG stuff.