Fall 2010 titles... a good mix between mediocre and awesome.
I have been watching six new anime titles this Fall anime season, and one of those titles I decided to drop on its fifth episode and I am planning to drop another one once I am not that satisfied with it. Here is my quick review on the six titles that I watched this Fall… in alphabetical order. Why this is called, First Five? Because the best way to know if you will drop the title or not in my opinion is by watching the first five episodes.
Bakuman
The title is about two boys, Moritaka and Akito who dreams in creating a manga… well, it was Akito first who want to become a manga artist but because of the stroke of fate, Moritaka ended up becoming one of those gamblers that his uncle described.
The first five episodes of the anime are strong and at the same time, inspiring. Surprisingly, the one who created the original manga were the ones responsible for the classic supernatural title, Death Note! Like I mentioned in my review on the first episode, I was skeptical at first about this title because Death Note left a strong impression on most fans and I am not sure if Bakuman can succeed to its success that its predecessor left. But the Ohba-Obata tandem never failed to impress me on this one!
Sure, it was vastly different from Death Note but this title has a certain charm in it that I want to continue watching it. Maybe its charm is in its comedy, or maybe is the genetics aspect of it, or maybe it is just about two vastly different persons dreaming on becoming a famous manga-ka someday.
Aside from that, it gives us viewers a guide on how to create a manga. If my memory serves me correctly, no one attempted to do a title entirely based on it, but if someone attempted it was quite underrated or no one knows about it.
Will I continue watching it? Yep. Since the source is still on-going, if they don’t want this title to end up like Naruto or Bleach with an army of fillers, I smell that this series might stop at a certain arc of the manga… or maybe to an original ending depending on the whims of the writers.
Iron Man
The title is about Tony Stark being in Japan for his arc reactor project with Lab #23 and a secret organization called Zodiac wants his head. That simple. The first episode kinda hints that this would be an episodic series with Tony fighting every member of Zodiac… I was wrong on that part. In the third episode, he fought a mad scientist, and the following eps, some various problems caused by Zodiac.
The series is more concentrated on Tony and his arc reactor project and Zodiac doesn’t want it to succeed. The CGI Iron Man suit is one of the few factors that I hated in this title, and for the first time, I have watched a mediocre Madhouse title. From the first five episodes, the next three episodes are the ones that stood up. In ep 3, we see Tony’s human side, ep 4, is a flashback episode with a Wolverine cameo and ep 5 is an episode in which everyone is a victim of a strong radiation coming from space!
One thing that I noticed this title is the fact that it felt like a regular tokusatsu episode… which is a good thing in way, heck; I can say that I can consider Iron Man a Metal Hero since he is in Japan right now. What’s keep me glued on Iron Man right now is the plot twist on the 4th episode regarding Yinsen, the person that you might call Tony’s indirect mentor as a superhero. But on the next episode, the fact that he learned that Yinsen is still alive didn’t affect him still bothers me right now. Plot hole?
Will I continue watching it? Yes since this series will last for 12-16 episodes and the Yinsen twist is really good.
The title is about Kyosuke who learns that his perfect sister, Kirino is not that perfect at all. She loves magical girls and eroge, to exact, those titles that involve brother-sister incest relationships! She is an otaku and she doesn’t want her perfect life to be ruined by his hobby. Therefore, Kyosuke ends up helping her.
Few words. This. Is. Heaven. As an otaku, moe is one of the factors that keep us glued in our screens. Add the fact that she is an otaku, plus points! The series is filled with female otaku culture, which is quite interesting considering that I barely knew their culture! Aside from that, the amount of references to eroge keeps me glued in this title. Add the fact that it is comedy!
In the later parts of the series, it seems that Kiririn is slowly felling in love (?) with his elder brother, kinda like those eroge with the younger sister squealing onii-chan or aniki. Animation wise, the colors looks good, the animation kinda reminded me of Seto no Hanoyame (My Bride is a Mermaid) oh, no surprise, AIC are the ones behind both titles!
Will I continue watching it? Yep. Accordingly, it will last for 13 episodes; I expect more development with the relationship of the siblings!
Also known as Squid Girl, it is about Ika Musume who came from beneath the ocean and decides to conquer humanity because of their actions against the ocean! First, she must invade the beach house as the family owning it is slaving her because of her damages she made in her first appearance!
Okay, this smells like Sgt. Keroro except that we have a girl with squid qualities. That’s it. Aside from that, a single episode composes of three parts, kinda like a standard western cartoon. Animation wise, no problem with it… plus the moe factor of this series kinda kept me glued for a while.
Since I mentioned Keroro at the first place, like Keroro’s Platoon, Ika-chan keeps on being distracted in the middle of her invasion, but unlike Keroro who was able to step in the first base, Ika-chan never, I repeat, NEVER, reached the first base! Heck, she is scared in the eldest sister!
Will I continue watching it? As of now, nope, I will drop it once I am not satisfied in the consecutive episodes, or if I am sure that Ika-chan will not succeed, which is obvious! If there is a plot twist in the story to keep me glued, I might continue with it.
Takuto came in an island to enjoy his youth in which he learns about a secret group working underground to unseal the maidens of the islands… err, seals. Using his mecha, Tauburn, he stops the members of the Glittering Crux with their plans of destroying the seals and use the Cybodies (the mecha of the series) outside Zero Time for their own personal gain.
Probably one of the flashiest titles that I have seen, the first five episodes were interesting but none of them are worth that talking about less the first episode is worth talking because of its flashiness… and that’s it. That is why I never reviewed the first one.
The character designs felt like is was fit for a shojo title. The male characters are too slender and too beautiful that would cause yaoi fanfiction writers to spur various situations with it! Heck, Wako has been thinking of it in an episode! The female characters are okay, only a few female characters stand out in my own opinion.
As for the concept, it was igneous to begin with. Fighting in Zero Time was fun and this sort of Shaider nostalgia in me while watching it. Why Shaider? In Shaider, there are some instances that Shaider must fight in a different time space thanks to Poe’s (Or Ida if you watched the Filipino dub) time space warp.
The mecha designs here are in its extremes. Its either the body is too slender or the joints are too large. The proportions of the mecha suck in my own opinion, from the mechas seen in this series, only Tauburn stood out. None of the episodic mechas left a good impression on me. The only one that left a good mark was on that mecha that Tauburn first dueled with swords.
Will I continue watching it? Probably. The latest arc of the series which is about Sugata having the strongest Cybody and now, he is on a coma because he used it to protect Wako (Gee, that Mary Sue).
What is the title that I dropped before reaching episode 5?
Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt. Why? Because the series screams western animation in it, sure it was a fun story with Panty addicted to sex and Stocking addicted to sweets to make matters worst, they need to collect coins for them to return to heaven. Wait. What?!
The series was a fun series but I am not sure will it end. Because of its art style, I am quite sure that it might last for a long time. If I am sure of the length of this title, I might continue watching this one.
Will I do the same treatment next Winter 2011 anime season? Yes because of the upcoming titles that are interesting... for me.
Sidenote: This is the 100th review of this blog! Sweet!
