First batch of testings are done and one more await me in a month or two Anyways, I will provide pictures later and will update as I go but for now, it’s just text.
Hmmm I wonder if I should just do episodic reviews to avoid walls and walls of text..It’s just copypasta-ing stuff to seperate posts so…
I’ll give that some thought:
Pictures added
Date A Live (1-3): The series starts off with an event called a “Spacequake” a few years prior to the story. With fatalities staggeringly high, the series opens with quite the dark premise. A premise that is immediately shattered when the scene quickly shifts to the regular morning cycle for a harem protagonist: Being abruptly woken up by a cute girl. Itsuka Shidou and his little sister Kotori Shidou share a rather harmonious relationship between brother and sister (something I don’t see too much, especially within a series 2 titles down). Like most other harems, Shidou isn’t the most popular guy in his school and also has the “one strange friend”. He also somehow garners the attention of one of the school’s more famous females, Tobiichi Origami. While she is athletically and edcuationally gifted, she doesn’t have too much going on, her expression being painful neutral most of the time she shows up on screen.
When a spacequake occurs near the area, Shidou encounters a mysterious girl at the center of the crater. Before Shidou can explain anything to her, a group of mechs piloted by all females (are males just not worthy of mech suits? Can we only operate fully armored ones?). One of these girls, happens to be Tobiichi, who begins fighting the other girl. The fights end in a flash, and Shidou wakes up in the med bay of some ship and then is guided to the control room by the baggy eyed Murasame Reine. He is introduced to Koyasu (well, Kannadzuki) and then he finds Kotori sitting in the chair. Kotori turns out to be the commander of this vessel named the Ratatosk, a flying ship and also introduces Shidou to Spirits and AST’s (Anti-Spirit Teams). The mysterious girl he encountered being one of them and those mech girls being the AST’s. Shidou has trouble getting his thoughts together but he’s enlisted to help Kotori’s issue with Spirits. His training turns out to be practicing with dating sims that more or less reveal that making spirits fall in love happens to be a way to “tame” them. Later that day, Tobiichi informs Shidou that the reason she kills Spirits is that her parents because of them.
Shidou’s mission officially begins in episode 2 when he finishes his dating sim and tests out his woo-ing abilities on is teacher and then Tobiichi. Both are suprisingly affected hy his skills (and Kotori talking through a mic). He’s given the real deal when the mysterious girl from before materializes after messing up part of the school building. The girl is hostile at first, but careful words (with mixed help from Kotori’s helpers) finally get her to calm down. Shidou is then granted the honor of bestowing a name upon her, and after one failed attempt, bestows her name as Tohka. While the air becomes significantly lessened, the AST shows up to ruin the party. Shidou doesn’t back out and decides to stay and just hold a conversation with his new friend. Tohka accepts and the two converse. At Kotori’s words, Shidou finally asks Tohka out for a date while being showered by bullets. Tobiichi interrupts once more, and a similar occurence like last time shifts our scenes to the next day. The school was more or less destroyed and Tobiichi is sent away to be patched up. Amongst the rubble though, Shidou finds Tohka there who wishes to partake in this activity called “date”. Shidou informs her to change her clothes before doing anything and she transforms her armor into the school’s uniform.
Tohka’s limited knowledge on human culture mistakes the simple act of eating/buying food as dating. So Shido uis forced to buy her mountains of food and a particular site happens to be an exclusive restaurant were Reine and Kotori relay plans to make Shido bring Tohka to a residential area. With Kanandzuki’s orders, the area becomes a festival like shopping district. Eventually, the date comes to an end, and Shidou only takes time after the date is over to explain what a date actually is. Tohka understands why she is wanted dead by the AST’s for disrupting the peace but Shidou is able to convince her that she can live a peaceful life. All the while that’s happening, Tobiichi locks on to Tohka with a rifle. Everything goes swimmingly until Tobiichi takes the shot, which gets intercepted by Shidou himself. Seeing the only person who ever accepted her, Tohka summons her gear and locates Tobiichi to brutally exact vengeance. Back in HQ, the crew is completely appalled by Shidou’s death but Kotori calms everyone down and lo and behold, Shidou is back on his feet. Before Tohka kills Tobiichi he stops Tohka’s rage, but her blade’s destructive energy is not something she can cancel. Shidou is given the inuitive signal (well, not really) to complete his mission and with a kiss, Tohka’s powers are sealed away.
I’ll say this flat out at the start: I only started this series because of Tsunako’s art. While Neptunia isn’t the most outstanding game, Date A Live isn’t the most astounding series, but hey, at least it provides a harem with TWGOK style of wooing girls (with the only exception of Katsuragi). I already read the light novels, which provides me some knowledge on what they’re saying for the unsubbed episodes. So for me, I’m just following the light novel’s approach and hope that they keep it the same because, if anything, I enjoyed reading the light novel. So let’s just get down to the more nitpicky parts before we move on to other non-harem series. First off, Tohka and Shidou’s first contact dialogue was pretty much completely removed. The entire scene onboarad the Fraxinus was heavily rushed too. Episode 2 didn’t change things too much but episode 3 did change one thing. When Shidou gets murdered, Tohka’s rage decimates Tobiichi pretty badly, and only when Shidou gets kicked off the Fraxinus (They showed him, sitting on his pool of blood and then falling to Tohka) does it stop Tohka from absolutely destroying Tobiichi. What they did add was a nice touch though, Tobiichi didn’t tremble at all when she accidentally snipes Shidou instead of Tohka. For me, it didn’t follow it the LN perfectly but was an enjoyable watch. This got more pictures because…well it features the most pretty girls for my lineup
Shingeki no Kyojin (1-2): Eren is a young boy who lives with his father, mother, and his adopted sister, Mikasa. They live in a medievel European-esque village that is surrounded by 3 large walls. Humanoid beings called “titans” live outside these walls and are known to consume humans. For a 100 years, the people within have not seen a titan while those enlisted in the Recon Squad have lost many men while trying to claim territory outside. Eren and his friend Armin are skeptical on mankind’s “imprisonment” within the walls and are convinced that peace will not last. Even Eren’s father, a distinguished scientist hypothesizes of an event. Eren voices his wish to join the Recon Squad to save humanity, but everyone he knows seems to be against it. After saving Armin from bullies, a wicked lightning shakes the city and from outside a wall, a skinless, towering titan looms over the village. It kicks open a hole in the wall, and after 100 years of peace, the titans enter the city. Chaos fills the streets and Eren is horrified to see that his house is in the direction of the hole. He rushes toward his house to see his mother trapped under debris. Whilst trying to save her, a titan lurches toward them and the resident guard, Hannes shows up to help them. He plans on killing the titan, but the fear overwhelms him and he flees, taking the two children with him. Eren and Mikasa watch in horror as the titan consumes their mother.
Apparently, the titans emerged many years ago and wiped out a large chunk of humanity in the following wars. The humans had no choice but to protect themselves and built their last city surrounded by 3 walls, Maria, Rose, and Sina. Back in present time, the citizens scramble into the inner gate and are put on ships to navigate further into the walls. The guards try to hold up a resistance in front of the gate but their hopes are crushed when the gate behind them starts closing…and an armored titan appears ahead and begins a charge.
The titan smashes through one of the inner walls but the attacks seem to stop there. Eren has a rather disturbing nightmare where he remembers his father injecting a syringe into his right arm and giving him the key to the basement. When Eren wakes up, and see’s the current state of the people. Food shortages and struggles run rampant and Eren picks a fight with some guards. Eren is completely pissed about the entire situation and has a small fight with Armin, but gets shut down by Mikasa. Eventually, the three decide to join the Recon Squad and vow to wipe out the titans.
This is probably the breakout series of this season. Killing off the main character’s mother by getting eaten in just the first episode? Yuki Kaiji finally seems to have landed himself a role with a Eren here with the determined and future badass attitude. The art style definitely has something dynamic to it and it was quite the sight seeing all hell break loose in the city. While I haven’t read the manga, I am seriously tempted to do so. I can expect more crazy acrobatics with the gear the recon squad showed off in the first episode. Huge potential with this one, and due to the serious nature of it all, I can’t wait to see more. I kinda feel bad that this is the shortest write up…I can honestly say that I’m just empty with compliments to give.
Oregairu (1-2): Hachiman Hikigaya is the highschool protagonist who turns out to be the lesser of the “regular” highschooler archetype. In a sense that he’s socially distant and views the exuberance of youth a lie, and a quick way to end up in jail. So while being smart, he’s looks are off-putting and he’s extremely anti-social. When he submits a rather cynical paper that express his true thoughts on school, he is forced to join Yukino Yukinoshita’s club to “better” himself. While the two have some verbal sparring, further conversations reveal that they’re not so different in terms of social lives. Hikigaya just hates being social while Yukino suffers from what Haganai’s Sena suffers (extreme popularity with the boys while garnering hatred from the girls = no friends. Only this time, Yukino here is a smarty). Hikigaya puts it as “having everything, but still having problems”. Almost reminiscent of the Great Gatsby but why am I comparing national grade literature to this? Moving on: Hikigaya, after contemplating how similar they are, tries to make a friend, only to be shot down immediately. A knock on the door brings us a new character.
Enter Yuigahama Yui, a classmate of Hikigaya or Hiki as she calls him. She apparently needs help with overcoming her embarassment to give cookies to a special someone. Our unexpectedly similar duo tries to help her, but her products are lacking. Yui convinces herself that she’s not cut out for cooking, and Yukino lectures her on hard working ethics. I’ll let Malcolm X’s quote work its magic here: Tomorrow comes for those who prepare for it today. Something must be completely wrong with me by mentioning Gatbsy and now Malcolm X but the core of what Yukino says remains the same: It is unfair for those who have not put their utmost effort to envy the talented. Yui takes solace in Yukino’s harsh criticism and vows to try again. But even Yukino cannot teach her further, and then Hikigaya steps up to the plate and tries his hand at cooking. The result is average and as he prepares to throw them out, Yui stops him. He then explains that this is an example of his friend’s (his own) experience with girls. To make a blatant, failed confession meaningful, he explains that guys are pretty simple. Just the fact that a girl would make cookies for them is good enough for them to be happy with it. With that in mind, a good week passes by and Yui stops in the clubroom again to thank the duo for their efforts. Yui now starts calling Yukino by her first name and now clings to her. Hikigaya gets himself out the room, but recieves cookies from Yui as thanks for helping her.
Yui has trouble conveying her thoughts to the class’s idol and when Hikigaya tries to intervene, he gets shut down. Yukino jumps in this and is able to secure a good mood for idol-san and Yui to talk it over. While the way I just put it definitely isn’t as meaningful as the scene itself, Yui seems to have somewhat overcome her embarassment of talking to others and has relayed some sensitive thoughts to another. Later, Hikigaya sees the female duo of his club staring at the door’s window and hears that a strange man is inside. Say hello to Yoshiteru Zaimokuza, a portly student who is a chunnibyou. Hikigaya explains what that is and tells why this guy is calling him his friend. The chunnibyou’s delusion is referencing/based off feudal Japan but more importantly, he wishes to have his draft for a light novel to be criticized by the club. After a day, everyone gives their thoughts to him. Yukino begins the assault and quickly puts Zaimokuza on his knees while Yui has nothing better to say. Hikigaya finishes him off by asking what source he copied his story off from. By the end though, Zaimokuza is thankful for everyone’s honest opinions and vows to get better. Hard work betrays none, but dreams betray many. I’m guessing everyone noticed how everyone’s first names are part of their last names. I find it suprising how I wrote the most for this one.
This was supposed to be the regular highschool anime for me but I guess with characters like Hikgaya and Yukino, I only have so much to write about their actions and thoughts. I find it really hard to believe this will become a harem series, especially with someone like Hikigaya as the protagonist. Although, I am definitely for Yukino falling for somebody at least…I kinda want the duo to get together, and have the Senjouhagara-Araragi style relationship (only you know, minus the small part of the complete bitch mode). I enjoy Hikigaya’s character, someone who’s been so alone that he actually gloats about it, plus he’s pretty smart.
Hataru Maou Sama (1-2): Playing out like an RPG, the demon lord’s 4 generals are defeated by an unnamed hero and is forced out of his castle. He vows to return and rule once more and opens a portal to escape. This leads him into the modern world and after a quick trip to the police station, our duo of demon lord and his assistant Alsiel figure what to do to survive in the human world. After getting all the basics of living, they acquire jobs and live like a badly married couple. Our Demon Lord gains a job at a burger joint while Alsiel goes off to libraries to find any way to restore their magic. On one particular day, Demond Lord offers an umbrella to a passerby girl and tells her that if she wishes to repay his kindness, she would return it at his work. DL here got lucky at work with his new promotion but while going back home, he meets the girl again. The girl however calls out his Demon Lord status and the DL in turn recognizes her as Emilia, the HERO.
Emilia pulls a knife on him but the two get brought into the police station to explain the situation. Emilia is still intent on killing our Maou and on the side, insults his lifestyle as a broke loser. On the flipside, we see that Emilia lives a better life but still acts like a work machine. Later that night, she tries to invade Maou and Alsiel’s house but the lock proves too great for her. She just wishes to make things clear that she will be surveying him (plus, the head priest in her party was supposed to cross worlds with her too). Emilia spends the next few days tailing the duo, but she only suceeds in learning that they’re just doing everyday chores.
At work, Emilia demands that Maou meets her at a certain intersection to talk it over. Maou’s cute co-worker Chiho (or just Chi-chan) mentions some earthquakes but also notes the nice looking girl who confronted Maou. Anyways, Maou listens to Emilia and meets up later, but while talking about their current situation, they are assailed by an unknown attacker and they flee. Nevertheless, they recognize the projectile as magic. Before they get into any serious discussion about it, Emilia had dropped her purse when they started running and is forced to stay the night at the poorhouse. Alsiel is skeptical but he has no choice. At night, Maou recieves a strange text, noting another big earthquake.
Oh lord this demon language is killing my ears, make it stop. Japanese does not suit well with pronouncing straight vowels so an intricate language such as any fictional demon language rarely ever works. With that aside, the series was unexpectedly hilarious for me. Being the guy who always expects the hero to be male, I was caught off guard (in a good way) when the hero turned out to be a girl. Maou and Alsiel’s relationship was entertaining to see too, although I wonder what the latter does while Maou keeps them alive while working at a fast food joint. I can only wonder if the other 3 generals are alive and are nearby for them to be introduced.
-Not Worth the Write Up Section-
OreImo 2 (1-2): Kirino and Kyosuke’s relationship remains no different from before. One’s a bitch, and the other is powerless against her. While Kirino meets up with her friends and apologizes for the suprise, Kyosuke has some trouble with his own group of friends. Episode 1 didn’t do anything but reaffirm everyone’s place in the series. Episode 2 focused on Ayase who feels scorned when Kirino favors a dating sim character over her. Kyosuke wants to lecture Kirino on this, and that ends up with him getting the game and getting addicted to it. Kyosuke deduces that the game’s character resembles Ayase in looks and voice but has the attitude that Kirino wish her friend would convey to her. Ayase’s hatred to otaku’s doesn’t really allow that and that’s where are problem’s roots lie. Ayase takes the game to see if she can change herself but her status as a newcomer to the hobby only ends up with her imitating the yandere route.
Hentai Ouji (1): The only role Yuki Kaiji has done that I particularly enjoyed was Alibaba in Magi (and hopefully Eren ends up there too). Other than that, not too many of his male protagonists are too great. He seems to be constantly chosen for the more weak-perverted sort of characters like Shu, Issei, and now this guy right here. We have our already perverted main character now unable to contain his inner thoughts. It’s basically a rendition of Liar Liar, only with cute girls.
HnG (1): It’s actually following some arcs/chapters from the manga? After the atrocity from last season, I didn’t expect anything else. It seems like they’ll never animate the End of The World/Greece Arc, even though it was one of my favorites. At least they’re gonna keep to the manga at least. Speaking of them manga though, when will this freaking arc end. I’m tired of Nagi…
Lair of the Idle 