The Impression Series: Summer 2011 [Part 2]

pardon the long wait, rl owns.

Finally the second and final part of my Summer 2011 anime impression. At first I planned to make it a three-parts entry, but I am considering to limit my watchlist to about 10 series this season, hence I ended up dropping/holding about one-third of the amount I initially watched.

Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu 2
MAL/Official
Genre: comedy
Studio production: SILVER LINK
Number of episodes: 13

Comments: Well well, it’s Bakatest season 2, how much do I need to comment on this one? The first season already made me laugh a lot (only marginally lost to Mitsudomoe as my best comedy anime of 2010), so I had high expectation from the second season, knowing how much I could laugh from watching this show. And fortunately the few episodes so far delivered, right off the bat, I had a burst of laugh. On a side note, for some reason the more I watched the anime, the less I remembered about the importance of those class battles.

verdict:4.5/5



Mayo Chiki!
MAL/Official
Genre: comedy, romance
Studio production: Feel
Number of episodes: 12

Comments: Aka Mayoeru Shitsuji to Chikin na Ore to. The story is about a gynophobic Sakamachi Kinjiro, who accidentally discovered that his classmate Subaru Konoe, also a butler to Suzutsuki Kanade, is actually a girl. Thanks to the horrid time he had at home with his little sister and mother constantly using him as pro-wrestling guinea pig, Kinjiro somehow developed some kind of allergy that made him nosebleed whenever a girl touched him (lolwat). And with the discovery of Subaru’s secret that’s supposed not to be known (or else she will be removed from her butler position), you bet it’s going to be good (or bad, depending on how you see it) for Kinjiro. A generic comedy romance story which has probably been recycled, tweaked and used many times in other anime/manga/novels, but still never failed to amuse me if done right, like Mayo Chiki did. I mean, it’s not the first time you see a trap like Subaru, a sadistic yet caring ojou-sama like Kanade (Kitamura Eri ftw :3) and a main character with some kind of allergy/phobia like Kinjiro, yet these three blended well to make the story interesting. Kinjiro’s little sister, Kureha (Kana Hanazawa again, huh?), the bunch of Subaru’s admirers as well as the fujoshi defectors made things even funnier. So I would say that I will keep on watching as long as the anime continue to entertain me.
p/s: Can’t help but thinking about Charlotte (IS)/young Minami Haruka whenever I see Subaru in female outfit.

verdict: 3.5/5



Itsuka Tenma no Kuro-Usagi
MAL/Official
Genre: fantasy, romance
Studio production: ZEXCS
Number of episodes: 12

Comments: Okay, another series that gave me a mixed impression. The pros: 1) The story – it was intriguing to say the least, from the point the main character Kurogane Taito remembered his old promise, the fight that ensued, and the involvement of the student council president Kurenai Gekkou and his twins. 2) The ending song, because it’s Shikata Akiko. The cons: 1) Massive cliché that bored me out. The easygoing, reckless main character (oh hi I got a new power and I’m so conceited I think I could beat the bad guy in a hit), the moe female friend that likes to hang with him, the forgotten old promise, the cool student council president, the transferring of the old lover to his school.. 2) The battles. Maybe it’s just me, but I think the battles lacks cohesion and proper flow. Kinda hard to explain, but let’s just say that I really don’t feel the tense of the battle in episode two. And the flashy animation and special effects didn’t help me either. 3) The colourful art and generic character designs (just me and my preference). 4) Cheap panty flash. This didn’t exist much in episode 2 though. In the end, I don’t think I would do anything with the series anymore, except downloading the ED single once it is released.

verdict: 2/5 (dropped)



Kamisama no Memo-chou
MAL/Official
Genre: mystery, psychological
Studio production: J.C. Staff
Number of episodes: 12

Comments: In short, the story tells how an average guy named Fujishima Narumi who longed for average life and avoiding major attention, somehow found himself involved with a group of weirdos – a pro gambler dropout, a military university nerd, a gigolo, yakuza affiliates, and finally the biggest of all, a NEET detective called Alice. The lengthy episode 1 provided the necessary introduction of the major and support characters, and from then on we could probably see similar pattern being played out in future episodes – Alice accepting a request/case and used her extensive network to solve it, with Narumi playing the sidekick role (or bigger one when the time arrived). Okay, I had some problem with Narumi's personality, but so far I could safely say that I’m liking what I am seeing from the series – nice semi-detective story, great animation (J.C.Staff, duh) and some funny moments (I lol’d hard when a simple “God Hand” computer work by Narumi totally amazed the thugs at Soichirou’s place). The story seems to put quite an emphasis in NEET theme (with Alice insisting to be called “NEET” detective), but I personally didn’t see this term having bigger influence than the term had in, say, NHK ni Youkoso. One thing that got me interested is how Alice deliberately mentioning the term “Kamisama no Memo-chou” – memo pads of the Gods in episode one. It could be a metaphor of the vast, extensive network that Alice had, but for a moment I also thought how it might relate to Alice at one point talking about the tainting of the living and the dead (Shigofumi, huh?). Anyway, finally a show from J.C.Staff that I could enjoy, after Bakuman (note that I was not that impressed with their Yumekui Merry and Aria).

verdict: 4/5



Dantalian no Shoka
MAL/Official
Genre: fantasy
Studio production: GAINAX

Number of episodes: 13
Comments: Look, another loli detective show! Dantalian no Shoka is about Hugh Anthony Disward (aka Huey) who was given inheritance of an isolated mansion and massive library from his deceased grandfather’s, and met a mysterious girl named Dalian. The atmosphere of the series screamed Gosick all over the place that it doesn’t feel right to have Dantalian aired right after Gosick concluded, though after awhile you get the sense that these two are never the same kind. How do I summed up my thought after watching the first 2 episodes: Interesting, but at the same time, it is also uninteresting? Although I like the mystery/supernatural element in the series, I feel that the story was rather confusing and weakend by plotholes. The first episode was okay, but then the second episode repeated the similar pattern, giving there’s little chance for us to understand the questions like who Dalian really is and how she ended up at the mansion, the history of those Phantom Books and many more. Then we were stuffed with lots of (uninteresting) long winded text that Huey read whenever they summoned a book from within Dalian. Basically a quarter of the episode (and half of the battles) were filled with Huey reading books! It’s amazing that Huey and Dalian remained composed even during the most dangerous situation in battle. The animation and special effects in battle was great, but the weakness in the plot kinda hold me back from giving this series a higher rating. And by the way, the ED was creepy, but I LOVE it, seriously!!!
p/s: I swear if they repeat those same door-unlocking scenes in the next 10 episodes, I'm gonna throw up. My god this is not mahou shoujo anime where enemies would give you 1 minute to do some flashy transformation =_=

verdict: 3.5/5



The IDOLM@STER
MAL/Official
Genre: slice of life, music (?)
Studio production: A-1 Pictures
Number of episodes: 12

Comments: Hm..I’m not sure why I decided to include this anime in the list. I’ve never played the game, so I really don’t have any kind of expectation toward the anime. Caught in the hype again, I guess. From what I saw, the story is about 12 girls who aimed to be real idols, and with the help of the unnamed producer-san, we see how they went through their everyday life as idol wannabe, with each episode focusing on one or several of these idols (along with their specific character ED song, which is kinda nice), what they do in the studio (everyone seems so disorganised huh?), preparing stage performance and other activities. The animation quality is somewhat lesser than what I expected, but as a whole I don't have much problem of having the show in my watchlist, although the priority is not high in my list at the moment.
p/s: Azusa has always been my favorite :3

verdict: 3/5



that's all I think for this season. There are also other series that I initially watched, but decided not to include full impression on these series:

- Mawaru Penguindrum - hm...weird series? I had real problems with the coloring and perspective of this anime.
- Nurarihyon no Mago 2 - I like the 1st season (minus the pointless ep26 recap), but I think I'm gonna wait till the 2nd season finished and marathon it in a go.
- R-15 – tbh I don’t mind watching a few more episodes of this one.
- Manyuu Hikenchou - omfg you do not tell me that I need to comment on this?
- Nekogami Yaoyorozu - another comedy slice of life of this season, but I personally like Yuruyuri more.