[1st episode] Natsuyuki Rendez vous

I had no idea this was going to air so soon, I expected it for next week, not that I mind, at least my first impression will be done already.

So, Natsuyuki Rendez vous is the story of a young man who falls in love with a florist, and so he starts working for her, however the florist is a widow and it happens that the ghost of the deceased husband is still around though no one but the young man can see him.



Actually, I thought this would be bad, despite being Noitamina I had my reservations about watching yet another anime where the ultimate love interest would be a ghost. But actually it seems kinda cute. Definitely a shojo but cute.

Though I'd say it's more like a josei than a shojo because it seems like death will be a central plot point. I mean, the story isn't exactly about which one she'll choose (if she chooses anyone and even though it kinda comes down to that) but more about which place the deceased have in her/our life/ves.

I guess that's the main thing that made it interesting to me, instead of going completely surnatural like Tasogare Otome x Amnesia did, it takes a more realisctic approach to it and I can't help but be interested. Not to mention the voice acting really makes everyone on screen come alive.

In the end, despite my initial reservations I find myelf completely drawn by this anime, probably mostly because it touches my personnaly but it still remains a cute story about love.
Now all I hope is that it doesn't make me cry.

[1st episode] Binbougami ga!



Hey! It's time for you to read yet another first impression of something I didn't intend to watch. I'm so weak.

I probably would have given up and watched even if other people didn't talk me into it granted it's Sunrise and I'm usually curious about thei stuff.

This time their comedy is about Momiji, god of misfortune trying to repair the balance of the world. However she happens to be cursed by misfortune while her opponent is the luckiest person in the world. What the hell will happen?

And actually I wonder what happens too. Though it's the kind of absolutely hilarious nonsense I love.

Our two heroines make a wonderful duo (that I actually already ship, I'll always be a fujoshi) and despite fighting against each other they actually really look like they're friends more than enemies, it's nearly cute to watch.

I don't even know what to say because in the end there's not really anything to say, those two are nuts and I'm looking forward to more of their adventures and more development, because the first episode already showed a bit and I thought it was well played.

Another definite one on my watchlist, if they keep on being as fun and interesting I'm in.

Oh and I nearly forgot to mention that the really fortunate girl is voiced by Kana Hanazawa in her Kuroneko voice, I nearly didn't even recognize her and damn is she good, damn is Momiji's seiyuu interesting to listen to as well. She just gained a new fan.

[1st episode] Chouyaku Hyakuninishu Uta Koi

I'm on a roll!

So, this one, abridged as Uta Koi because we're all lazy, is, well, maybe not a story, this episode adapted 2 poems of the Collection. It's basically a series about love stories, or so I understood.

Exactly as they said in the series most of us are going to be familiar with the Hundred Poems through karuta because we've watched Chihayafuru. For those who are not the series offers a quick explanations, that is something I loved about it.

The two stories it adapted were pretty sweet and seemed to be really close to the poems they were supposed to adapt and we got to hear it actually included in the story, that was great too.
And damn were the stories cute, I got really invested at some points, it was that adorable.

And it had good seiyuu.

Another one I'll definitely follow. You should too if you liked Genji Monogatari or even if you want to know more about the Heian period, it seems like a nice introduction to it and the anime actually explains things

[1st episode] Tari Tari

If you remember well this is something I was wary about, I mean, it's supposed to be about a music club, you can't really help but find similarities to K-On, which strangely enough I did find entertaining.

So yeah, Tari Tari is about a girl whose dream is to sing, unfortunately she's ostracized by the evil vice-principal (somehow those are always evil in anime, or nearly) from the choir club and since she can't sing in it, well, she quits. After all what's the point?

So obviously being an annoying little brat she can't help but continue singing anyway, that's what an heroine should do after all.

To be honest, there's nothing much to say about this, in that aspect it's like K-On, it's just about cute people (yeah because there are boys in this and one of them is moe as hell) doing cute things at school.
Where it differs from K-On, aside from the character design, is that it does seem a bit more mature and realistic. Things don't always go as well as they do in K-On, in that sense Tari Tari's probably for people who can handle seriousness in their anime.

Characters seem like they're going to have a bit more development and well, it has boys! Can you believe it?

It seems like it'll be an interesting thing to watch, the first episode flows pretty nicely, nothing really feels forced, aside maybe from the main character who's a bit too over the top for me.

Definitely on my watch list!

[1st episode] Tsuritama

Two more series and everything hasn't been broadcast yet. Damn this season. 

So, Tsuritama is the story of a guy who keeps on transfering and is really shy, a guy who says he's an alien, and a class-president type who is voiced by Uchiyama Kouki. 

I have been quite surprised to discover that Tsuritama was basically an anime about fishing. About friendship and fishing to be more exact or, how a friend of mine put it "about cute boys doing weird things"

Plus, the artstyle is quite interesting to watch, pretty fresh and colorful. Nice to see and entertaining at the very least. 

I have honestly no idea about what more I could say, it's about fishing for god's sake, fishing is such a calm and quiet activity that even making an anime about it is hard. Its success is going to depend on the characters. Though maybe it'll have some plot development. 
To be honest I have no idea where this is going to go in terms of plot, nor in terms of character development, I absolutely don't knw what to expect, then again I didn't know what to expect before starting either. 

I'll continue because Noitamina, I can't really decide with this first episode alone.

[1st episode] Sakamichi no Apollon

For some reasons I imagine that one of the two main character is a basket player. Go figure. 

So, this one's the story of another guy who transfers who also happen to make friends with the class president who also happens to be the childhood friend of the class delinquant who also happen to "target" the transfer guy and OMG like jazz. 

I started that without really knowing what to expect, yes I start anime without reading the summary quite often and so I was surprised, pleasantly surprised. 
I thought it'd be boring at the beginning, a rich and smart transfer student goes in a new school, has no friends and things happen (like he falls in love and all that stuff, which he does, I think) but in the end it's not a completely normal school life anime either. 

I don't really know what it is either, almost like a mix between K-On and Nodame Cantabile. 
In the sense that jazz (even if K-on isn't really about jazz) meets classical music. I am actually quite curious as to how it'll develop.

I quite like the interactions between the characters too, I like their differences and how no matter how deep the gap is between them they still manage to find some common ground in music, even if they don't like the same genre. 

I'm really curious as to the music they'll play together 

I say you should watch
But I'm biased I'm a sucker for music anime so ...

[1st episode] Kuroko no Basket

And again something I didn't want to even try, hopefully the last one, hopefully the last one of today's batch as well. 

Kuroko no Basket is, hell I don't even really know how to describe it, it's the story of a basketball team and of Kuroko, a legendary shadow player.

Well, it's the first episode of a sport anime, what can I say? It shows the key players and the additional side characters and how they all play together as a team, the rest will be composed of how they'll win. 
The way it's done isn't original either, using the excuse of a new school year to do it, as usual. 
They're all kinda special too, even the girl, only the captain seems like a normal guy even if he is really good. 

I almost don't have anything else to say. 
I do like the characters, especially the big guy coming from America, he's strangely endearing. 

Following, obviously, now I'm caught in it, exactly why I usually avoid sport anime, they are impossible to drop and they make me want to play whatever sport it is about. Not to mention I was actually pretty good at basketball, but mostly because no one paid attention to me, like Kuroko XD

(I'm also curious about the male and general not fujoshi crowd opinion on this anime, because it's fujoshi that made me watch and it's nearly the only ones I have seen mentioning it, so, enlighten me?)

[1st episode] Jormungand

First of it all I need to tell you all that I have been curious and look up exactly what Jormungand was and then I was surprise because mind you, Jormungand is a giant snake that has been send to the sea around Midgard and was so big that he bit his tail. As such, in my headcanon, Jormungand is a sub-organization of Tiger&Bunny's Ouroboros. Headcanons are fun -___-

To get back to the topic at hand Jormungand seems to be the story of a group of arms dealers led by Koko something (I honestly couldn't remember her last name) and as she said it herself they all have a screw loose. 
I want to say, it's OK, very few anime this season have characters who don't have one or a few screws loose. What is originality? 

First of all, GG, I liked Mameshiba better, nothing can beat Mameshiba (I know, I know, it's not your fault if there's no Mameshiba add airing with the anime. I don't even think it'd be wise to advertise Mameshiba along with Jormungand either)

As for the anime in itself, I liked it. The characters aren't really original but it's just been the first episode, they'll develop and get a personality of their own I'm sure of that. They need to if they don't want to become boring. 

I like the story much more, the world of arms dealers is fascinating to me, I don't really expect the anime to be realistic but anything that deals with that kind of subject is fine with me (sometimes my taste scare me too, don't worry)
I loved the blood, I loved Koko, I loved the political machinations and the whole "behind the scenes" aspect of the anime. 

Actually I have no complain to make. At all. A definite must watch for me.

[1st episode] Shirokuma Cafe

That one's a bit late and I have no excuse except for the fact that I didn't have work (since most of my reviews have been written at work lately DURING BREAKS ... probably, well at least during the breaks I gave myself)

Shirokuma Cafe is the story of a Cafe owned by a Polar Bear in a society where humans and talking animals live in perfect harmony. Main character seems to be Panda though, a very lazy animal trying "very hard" to find a job and stumbling upon the Café by chance

It may sound weird written like that and sure enough it is, not that I mind, I wouldn't be myself anymore without my love for the weird.

The story seems like a regular slice of life. I have however no idea in which channel it airs but have heard people saying it was meant for kids. Which I do not agree with. 
I know it's cute and all, it has big plushie like animals, but I don't really think children would appreciate it that much beyind the cuteness, we're talking about adult characters there, even if they're animals, so I guess that'd be a good example of something having several layers. 

As for the characters, I have a little problem with the kind of voice FukuJun uses for the Panda. I do like however Sakurai Takahiro and his passive agressive tone as the bear as well as Kamiya Hiroshi as the penguin even if (because) it reminds me of Beelzebub in Yondemasu-yo Azazel-san and that I find this simple fact absolutely hilarious. 

It probably won't turn out to be the greatest thing ever but I'm enjoying that a lot anyway

[1st episode] Tasogare Otome x Amnesia

I had to find something to fill in for the lack of the eternal holy anime yesterday so I watched that. 

I rename it and you'll understand what it's about right away, new title is hereby : "My Girlfriend is a ghost"

Weird romance anime sure are a hit this season, zombies, ghosts, large cast of strange creatures in Kore wa zombie desu ka, I'm pretty sure I must miss things because I don't watch everything, I usually especially avoid weird romance anime as well but there's nothing you can do against curiosty. 

As for this one, it was a bit underwhelming. The first part was pretty hilarious, I was incredibly entertained by the thought the mysterious ghost must be facepalming. 
It started going downhill after the fact the president was actually the ghost was made clear, it actually was a bit too obvious too. I don't like the obvious.

And then they started re-doing all the scene with the ghost actually appearing. It wasn't boring per se, just, not really necessary, they would have inserted the inside comments during the actual scene it would have been much better. 
I think I'd like this anime much better if we didn't see the ghost at all. 

In the end, I won't drop despite the underwhelming feeling I get from it but I'll proceed with caution

[1st episode] Nazo no Kanojo

I have finally found some courage to review the episodes I have seen lately. Prepare for a bit of spamming in the next minutes. 

Nazo no Kanojo is basically as such, boy meets girl and they fall in love. I think. Awesome isn't it? 

After the first line has been said you immediately get the idea of what it'll be about. And I was really happy mind you. Barely kept myself from spazzing all over Twitter about how it'll be my favorite anime of the season. I'm glad I did. 

Because it's boring. And definitely not pretty to look at. 

I do get the appeal on the other hand. It's just not really one of my fetish but I could live with that, I didn't really like the way it was dealt with either. It's presented a bit too beautifully for me. I like my dirty things (because that's essentially dirty) to stay dirty thank you very much. 

Strange how the thing that disturbed me in an anime that could be seen as disturbing by pretty much everyone is the fact it wasn't disturbing enough, go figure. 
In any case I was bored and thus, dropped.

[1st episode] Medaka Box

I was so much out of my mind yesterday that I totally forgot I have watched Medaka Box too. (Maybe it's because it didn't leave that much of an impression too ^^)

Anyway, Medaka Box is the story of Kurokami Medaka, very talented and loved (and well endowed) new president of the student council.

I honeslty don't even know what to tell you. For a Gainax anime the quality of the animation sure is bad. 

The story, well, I don't even know if there's a story just yet. She's going to solve problems right? And? 

As for the characters, well, the guy is going to piss me off real fast. The girl as well. 

I liked the Kamina guy (totally don't remember his name but same voice actor and attitude, thus, he's named Kamina) 

The little girl with blue hair seemed the most interesting of the bunch.

Oh well, that's something I'll watch the second episode of but don't know if I'll finish.

[1st episode] Sengoku Collection

By the way, I almost forgot to tell you but I'm participating in the AniBlog Tourney. My first "opponent" is Anime Picks. Needless to say I have already lost, but I intend to have fun either way.
I'll support everyone else instead! (And hope for Organization ASG to do better so I can at least pretend it's also thanks to me ^^)

Anyway, the real point of this post was to talk about Sengoku Collection. Which happens to be yet another thing starring Oda Nobunaga genderbent who happens to be thrown into our world as well as other (also genderbent) warriors from the era.

First thing first, it's pretty! The outfits are totally not possible but they're pretty! And their boobs are actually inside their clothes. (Wouldn't you be surprised too? ^^)

Second thing, well, it doesn't seem that interesting, a generic harem story, just with warlords, which is something that'll probably bore me or worse piss me off real fast.

But Nobunaga is awesome. And she was totally in love with Mitsuhide and Ranmaru was totally in love with Nobunaga and damn yuri love triangle and /Kuuki lost

From the start it was decided I'll watch this until the end, I can't not watch a Sengoku themed anime so ...

[1st episode] Gakkatsu

Another short one, yeah!

This is the story of a girl and her class who are having debates after school about the most ridiculous things ever (this episode was the bumpy thing on your wrist)

I don't really know what I expected about this but then I saw the little thing up at the right of my screen and saw where it was airing and knew it'd be at least interesting.
Because mind you, no matter what you may think about it, I like NHK Educational anime.

And I liked that. It was completely and utterly ridiculous but at least it made me smile.
And I learnt something. Not that I remember the name of that bumpy thing but I was supposed to ^^

[1st episode] Kuromajo-san go Tooru

By the way, since I definitely won't review it, the first episode of Kore wa Zombie desu ka of the dead was boring. But I'm still curious enough to watch. Misteltin /sobs

Kuromajo-san ga Toory is a pretty short anime, about a girl who mistakenly summons the witch Gyupid instead of Cupid and becomes her apprentice. 

First thing I thought when I started to watch is that it's really made for kids, I didn't really care either way, it's good to have something lighthearted to watch sometimes. 

Second thought was : fuck yeah Romi Paku as a girl, kyaaa <3

Third thought : damn I should clean my room more often. Hell screw that, it's the whole town I need to clean. (Hair are used in black magic ^^)

In the end I was pleasantly surprised, a bit disappointed because I thought it'd be more like Yondemasu yo Azazel san but I don't particulary mind the change either. It's cute and short, should be enough. 

[1st episode] Sankarea

Brace yourself for quite a few articles in the next hour. I have watched lots.

First of today's batch is Sankarea, story of a boy who's fetish is zombies, he has absolutely no interest at all in human females, until, obviously, he meets the star of the nearby all girl school named Sanka Rae.
Then, obviously again, shit happens.

During all the episode I kept on wondering why the hell I was watching.
- Even by my standards (which are pretty low) the main character has a few screw loose.
- The cat didn't turn into a zombie.
- Fanservice
- Girl!Main character has quite a few screw loose on her own
- I was a bit bored by the story that was like non existent.
- I don't even remember the voice acting nor the music.

To be honest that's something I'd drop on the spot.
However, as I said shit happens, and that shit looked like quite interesting (I mainly got a glimpse of intestins. Not where they were supposed to be)

As I'm curious, it'll get the benefit of the doubt and I'll be watching the second episode.

[1st episode] Accel World

I'm pretty sure I had meant to check that anime, unfortunately, I have actually no memories of the list I took so much time to make. Oh well, it'll come back to my brain in time. 

So, Accel World is the story of Buta (I don't remember his actual name) who's being bullied, but one day appears a magical older girl student who presents him with a power that can help him, and so it does. Unfortunately for him, everything has consequences. 

Ah and I forgot to say that Sunrise managed to put some kinds of mecha suits in the anime. They love mecha at Sunrise, even Nichibros had them. 

Oh well, Accel World has a pretty not-original concept, the poor and weak and voiced by Kaji Yuki (Sounds familiar?) meets a girl (Sounds familiar?) and through her he manages to access an incredible power (Again, sounds familiar?) 
Obviously he can't really use his power without consequences, the power is limited to a certain number of uses and when he doesn't have any left, well, he's done for. Or at least he will never be able to use that power anymore. 
In the end, I'm not really interested, nor by the plot, nor by the characters. (And, since the writer has worked on Guilty Crown too, I'm guaranteed it won't improve, but I shall do further researches on that)

What could be interesting (and isn't) the thing I had the most hope about after having watched 5 minutes of the anime is the world building. Come on, everyone is linked to a virtual world where they can connect and disconnect whenever they want. A bit like the network from Summer Wars. 
That could be interesting if handles properly, however it's not either. 

The voice acting is OK except for Kaji Yuki that really starts to get on my nerves with all of his annoying roles lately. The music has no unity, it goes ell to illustrate the events, it doesn't to build an atmosphere. 

To sum it up, dropped

[1st episode] Zetman

Hey, hey, here is something highly anticipated by a lot of people (Hello T&B Bros, you should watch this after this morning's war~), talked about by a lot of people, read by a lot of people (Mwahaha it's licensed in France :p), and ... that will end up disappointing lots of people. 

Zetman is kind of a super hero seinen story, Jin is a gifted boy that can transform at will as a "Player" a genetically transformed monster, once used for the entertainment of the upper class, now trying to mingle among the humans. 

Obviously Jin is special. 

The only problem is that I know all that because I have read the manga, or at least the first few volumes. As such, I don't really think this was a good first episode. I didn't get the story! 

I know Jin is special but I don't know exactly how.

I can't say it's a bad adaptation though, rather, it's a good one, and that's the problem. Usually, the problem in too-true-to-the-original adaptations is that they're boring, here it's not, at least that's a good point you'll say. But it's still a very bad way to get someone sucked in the anime. Even getting used to the characters is totally pointless since it's obvious they'll age in the next episode. They honestly should have just skipped most of what happened, just a quick recap about his past and be done with. It's important for his personality development I get it, it's bad for the pace of the anime though. 

I can't really say anything about the music, it didn't really do anything to me. I can't really say anything about the voice acting either since they'll change to their grown-up versions in the next episode. All I can say is comment on how I'm sick to hear Romi Park as young boys, she's good, but it's always her, at least Sawashiro Miyuki manages to voice them a little bit more differently.

And I still love Yusa Kouji as evil characters. 

In the end, the thing that strikes me the most is that even Tiger&Bunny was closed to Masakazu Katsura's original design, which is sad. (Also, they aired the same day at a one year interval, we refuse to believe it's a coincidence)

All I can say is that Zetman is a good manga. As for the anime, I'll wait, I suggest you give it a shot though, just in case it's really good.

[1st episdoe] Natsuiro no Kiseki

And the last one in the series of things I didn't intend to watch and didn't even know existed.

Natsuiro no Kiseki is the story of 4 childhood friends in middle school, apparently two of them got in a fight and then magic happened and they flew in the sky and they'll try to become idols? I think it was something like that.
Oh and it's done by Sunrise.

First of all, it's cute, I quite like the character design of the blonde. Who happens to be the poor "I'm suffering so much so I'm a bitch but you can't understand what I'm going through" kind of character. I really hope she'll improve or I'll end up hating her big time.

This anime has been started because Kotobuki Minako (Damn, Tiger&Bunny what kind of stuff are you making me do?) I don't particularly complain though.

The problem is I have no idea what the plot is really going to be about. One of the friends is moving so I don't know how they'll manage to try for their dream together. Maybe we'll get a magical time skip or something? Well whatever happens I don't get how it'll work if she moves. But I guess I'll know next week? Probably.

No matter how this will turn out to be I can say the one who wrote this episode is good, it made me want to watch the second, despite the knowledge that this is a seiyuu anime, it's just made so they can sound cute while voicing cute looking characters (and looking cute themselves, let's admit it).
In the end, kudos to the writer, dunno how this will turn out but I'm watching the second episode. (Maybe not the third and if I watch the third, maybe not the fourth, well, you see what I'm trying to say, this is Sunrise after all)

[1st episode] Folktales from Japan

And here you have something else I didn't want to watch, actually didn't know it existed, but when I saw it was about folktales I just couldn't help myself. I really love folktales.

So, unfortunately, I don't have a lot of material to sum it up, it's a bunch of different folktales. Makes you go back in time, doesn't it?

I don't really know what to say about this. I liked it. I liked it a lot. I thought it was adorable. It's strange how replacing a fairy by a dog and sisters by old people can change a story. It's interesting how our (well, I by "our" I mean French and some other European) stories often stars princes and princesses while Japanese focus on old and modest people.

All in all, I think that Folktales from Japan is a great anime for those who're culturally curious. Fairy tales can say a lot about a culture, and you don't have to watch the whole thing once you've started as a single episode has a few stories in it.

I liked it a lot and I'd love it if other people would watch it so we can talk. Since I'm pretty sure this will serve as basis to a few future editorials