Now that all the shows on my list have reached the 3rd episode mark I think it’s about time to elaborate on how they’re doing. I really wanted to get this out sooner, but guess what happens when you impress your bosses with hard work? More work.
What do you mean I’m on every god damn weekend shift?
High tier
Who am I to fool myself? I may have accused it of blatant plagiarism, but at the end of the day I just like what I see. The Onegai-guy’s script may be what it is, but Nagai’s efficient directing drives the show with a very smooth flow, and avoids the early melodrama-landmines where appropriate. Good production values are evident of the show’s audiovisual look, and contribute a lot to its light yet entertaining atmosphere.
It’s yet another teenage drama (which is what we all said about ToraDora back in the day), but doesn’t attempt any unnecessary trickery and sticks to doing all the basics right. Try as I might to resist it, I personally find this to be the most anticipated show of the week – even over Nisemonogatari.
If Madoka left you thirsting for more Shinbo, then Nisemono hardly disappoints. It’s pretty much the same ol’ Bakemono with less animation per episode than five minutes of Kill Me Baby, constant close-ups of eyes, and plenty of talking heads. Koyomi is still pedo for Mayoi, and Nadeko still lusts for his cock. As does nearly every other female in the show, anyway. Frantically flowing motormouth dialogue and interaction of character chemistries are once more the name of the game, as the franchise is pretty much as character-driven as logically possible.
After all, very little of Bake/Nisemono’s setting is ever elaborated to a satisfying degree, and so us viewers end up following conversations between characters we barely know in a setting we don’t really understand. Perhaps this is why the show is so intriguing – it always leaves thirsty for one more bit of information, one more conversation, plot event, anything. Yet by some miracle it isn’t frustrating to watch, or overwhelmingly confusing. It stimulates that certain part of the mind that normally lays dormant when entertainment is being consumed.
If you liked Bakemono, then you will most certainly enjoy Nisemono – and if you thought the former was a piece of pretentious hipster shit, then you will definitely hate Nisemono just as much.
Continuously neglected by fansubbers who rather waste their time on Guilty Crown and Kill Me Baby, Milky Holmes 2 does all the right to its awesome predecessor in the field of farce comedy. That’s all.
Mid tier
Well, Fatso got her storyarc. You happy now? This better not have compromised the Stalker. Junichi continues his traditional neutron-star-grade density with occasional smooth operator moments for which we all love him so much. This is Amagami pretty much exactly as it was back in 2010, and as such you should know what to expect. I won’t blame anyone who claims it’s bland and standard, but I kind of like its relaxed mood that doesn’t try to make teenage dramas into more than what they really are. Just sit your fat ass down, grab a glass of whisky, and enjoy the girl flesh. Only make sure to not raise too many toasts in Junichi’s honor, or the next morning you may end up wondering if it were indeed you who created that nasty dent on your neighbor’s car. Jussayin’
Daily Lives of High School Boys
Nichibros started pretty damn awesome but lost some steam by the third episode, and as such I decided to drop it from the high tier for the time being. We’ll see if it picks up – all comedies have their dry times, so I’m keeping my hopes up.
I misjudged High School DxD, but thankfully Vahvin managed to open my drunken eyes. Sure DxD is shitty, but it’s honestly so, and in a way that’s funny and adorable. All I ever wanted was a big sister like Rias ;____;
Pirates is a bit hard to judge because it’s a two-cour show that can take things a little easier, and true enough taking it easy is pretty much all it’s been doing for the last few weeks. Hasty ones have already proclaimed dropping the show for “nothing happening” from episode to another, and it’s not like I couldn’t relate. However, I do remember similar things happening with many two-cour shows that I have marathoned that turned out decent all the way through regardless. Uchuu no Stellvia for instance took a while to get anywhere as far as I can remember. The point is, Pirates appears to be the kind of show that sucks when watched weekly, but works well when marathoned. As such, I recommend just grabbing the batch once the show concludes.
But that aside, Pirates is largely sailing on future promises, and it better start cashing those in soon. The cute lead girl alone won’t last far, even when delivered with a hot piece of bitchy Kanazawa. I can forgive the lack of attention to detail (beam guns with recoil? Baby’s first spacewalk: Lifelines, anyone?), and the cliché-spewing mother, but the show better deliver something for my efforts soon. As AnoHana so brilliantly demonstrated, suspension of disbelief can only hold out so long.
PedoKiki hasn’t changed much since it started – it’s still plagued by not being sure what exactly it wants to be. It’s not offensive or service-y enough to be a true otakubait, nor funny enough to be a comedy, and yet it isn’t heartwarming or dramatic enough to be another Usagi Drop either. Judging from how it’s been unfolding over the last few weeks PedoKiki seems to be going for the heartstrings, but I just don’t find it appealing to my admittedly shriveled up paternal instincts. It’s at least prompt with its dramatic bits, but on the other hand this leaves the show and its characters kind of shallow. The girls’ moefied character designs aren’t exactly helping, and makes them almost repulsive as children I’m supposed to genuinely care about.
At least show more of the Hocchan-voiced boobs, I beg of you.
Low tier
Being this unfunny should be illegal.
As much as I love Madoka’s impulsive cutesy, there’s nothing to keep Lagrange from the murky low tier. As if Guilty Crown wasn’t enough, Production IG decided hug clichés tight and hard like momma’s apron, and so we have something like Xenoglossia without the Im@s bitches and Sunrise trollface grinning around every corner. Lagrange takes the term “textbook” to a whole now level, and as such I don’t really recommend it for any other than the (unintentional) comedy value.
That’s about it. As for Guilty Crown, Last Exile, and Mirai Nikki, I’ll be farting out individual posts soon enough.
Also, Horizon OST is fucking awesome.
“Baby’s first spacewalk: Lifelines, anyone?” Naah dude, who would give a damn about such small things, cute high school girls won’t end up alone in deep endless cold space dying in lack of oxygen in my chinese cartoons for kids. This ain’t no Planetes.
I still don’t understand how someone could like Mouretsu Pirates, though. Sure, the concept is new… but in the middle of it, there’s so much cliché.
Compared to Lagrange, it’s nothing.