Infinite Stratos - IS - 01
Story: In the near future, a Japanese scientist engineers a powered combat exoskeleton called "Infinite Stratos" (IS). The IS easily defeat the world's military powers. Since only women can operate an IS, the power balance between men and women is broken, with women coming to dominate society over men. The peace is shattered, when a 15 year old Japanese boy, named Ichika Orimura, is discovered to be capable of operating an IS. Realizing the potential, Ichika is forced by the Japanese government to attend the prestigious Infinite Stratos Academy, an international academy where IS pilots from all over the world are trained.
Genre: Mecha, school life.
Comments: The 3D CGs were poor when not viewed in motion, but this ep was mostly about 2D school life, and that was ok.
Unlike in "Ichiban Ushiro no Daimaou", the introductions were not rushed, I enjoyed this episode.
Yumekui Merry - 01
"Ten years ago Fujiwara noticed he had a power to see multicolored auras surrounding the person's body. Ever since then he's been having a weird dream about a war with cats. Then one day a mysterious girl falls on top of him..."
Between dream and reality.
Nice art. And nice action sequences. I like!
Puella Magi Madoka Magica 01
"Madoka Kaname is a 14-year-old girl whose life changes when she encounters the magical girl Homura and the familar Kyubey, who transforms her into a magical girl herself."
Magical girls.
Eek, those faces are... huh, weird.
Well anyway, not my kind of anime.
For the fans of SHAFT.
Gosick 01
Gosick takes place in 1924 in the made-up European country of Sauville. The story centers on Kazuya Kujo, who is a transfer student to St. Marguerite Academy, where urban legends are all the rage. There he meets Victorique, a mysterious beautiful girl who never comes to class and spends her days reading or solving mysteries.
Mysterious mystery.
The mystery is that I don't know what is this. Is it a detective story, a horror story, a love story? Or all of them?
The newspapers were sometimes written using a mix of French and English (the title was in French, but the text was in English), so if it's a detective story I guess it's not a serious one.
Freezing 01
"Set in a slightly futuristic world where Earth has been invaded and is at war with aliens from another dimension called the Nova, the story follows the adventures of a Japanese boy named Kazuya Aoi who enrolls for training at a special school for genetically modified girls called Pandoras who battle the aliens, and their male partners, called Limiters, who use a special power called "freezing" to limit their opponent's mobility."
Ultra-violent sci-fi.
Based on a Korean manwha, which usually means "high quality art + guro + boobs + unlikeable, stiff characters + no plot".
I think I'm going to follow this for a few more episodes to make sure, and then I'm going to drop it when it's confirmed to go nowhere.
And yeah, so far I didn't like any of the characters.
Because For Some Reason My Big Brother Doesn't Like Me At All--!! 01
Nao's brother complex is so strong, it's almost at the point of incest. She's determined to make her brother Shuusuke see her as a woman. So determined, that she goes as far as going into his room to throw away all his non-incest related porn.
Comedy.
Based upon the designs of a yucky loli manga where the body proportions are completely off, even worse than CLAMP.
For the fans of that kind of stuff.
Beelzebub 01
The story follows the "strongest juvenile delinquent" as he watches over the devil king's son (and future devil king) with the fate of the world hanging in the balance.
Comedy.
Pretty funny! I liked this first episode.
Hey, this is a pretty useful thread. I just started watching anime again (most recently Eden Of The East and Jigoku Shoujo), so this is nice for someone like me who has no idea where to go next.
Dragon Crisis! - 01
Kisaragi Ryuuji peaceful life is turned into a hectic adventure when his cousin Eriko comes back. Eriko steals a box from bad guys. In the box, they find a girl...
Slice of Dragon Life.
"Ryuuji"? And the voice of that girl... A Toradora clone? But Toradora was by J.C. Staff, and this is by Studio Deen. And the author of Toradora[2006] is Yuyuko Takemiya, while the one of Dragon Crisis[2007] is Kizaki Kaya... Synchronicity, or Copy-city?
Ok anyway, besides all the Deja-Vu's, it's pretty good for a first episode. I need to see more.
Level E - 01
The plot follows an alien prince who crash lands on Earth and begins living with a high school student. (Alien) hilarity ensues.
Documentary... er, no: comedy.
Ah, I think I read this manga a long time ago... Either it was so long ago that I forgot all about it, or the anime version is much more cool calm & collected and tongue-in-cheek than the manga.
Funny stuff.
Is this a Zombie? (Kore wa Zombie Desu ka?) 01
Ayumu Aikawa is a zombie, ressurected by a necromancer named Eucliwood Hellsythe after being killed by a serial killer. As he tries to make the best of his undead life, he encounters a maso-shoujo named Haruna and inadvertently takes her magic powers, being forced to become a maso-shoujo in the process.
Comedy.
Not bad, but the jokes fall a bit dead.
And the maso-shoujo is acting more like a sado-shoujo, except it's reversed when it's him being the shoujo. A clone of "MM"?
I recall checking a few chapters of the manga before giving up.
I wonder if the anime will fare better...
thisyou
It is a lot of anagrams in the mentally deficient person Chinese character in the word of Japan.
How about Rio?
Rio doesn't look like an anime with a story to me, more like a promo piece for pachinkos or casinos. But feel free to write your own review here if you like.
Fractale 01
"The story takes place in an island, where a "Fractale System" is beginning to collapse. One day, Clain finds an injured girl called Phryne under a cliff, who disappears leaving a pendant. Clain sets out for a journey with the girl-shaped avatar Nessa to look for Phryne and discovers the secret of the Fractale System."
Journey.
The art is nice. The first episode didn't explain much, so I'll follow some more to get a better idea of the big picture. But somehow I get the feeling the secret may not be a nice one. Where did everybody go, and why?
Wandering Son 01
"The story depicts a young boy named Shu-ichi Nitori who wants to be a girl, and his friend Yoshino Takatsuki, a girl who wants to be a boy. The series deals with issues such as transsexuality, gender identity, and the beginning of puberty."
School life.
An "Aki Sora", softcore version? This looks like a female mangaka type of plot... ah yeah, the author is a girl too.
Anyway, too shoujo/yaoi/confusing for me.
Mechanism of gambling pachinko of Japan
Pachinko shop(The same treatment as video arcade tentative)
It offers premiums in proportion to the number of sheets of the medal or the pachinko ball.
The premium is exchanged for cash in the realization place in the shop according to juridical of Japan.
As for the pachinko shop, the video arcade has been treated in juridical of Japan.
ster w...............
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Nichijou - 01 [="Everyday Life"]
"The setting is a strange school where you may see the principal wrestle a deer or a robot's arm hide a rollcake."
Nonsensical slice of life.
Well, it's funny in its own way... but 20 minutes of it? Halfway the episode, I was already checking if it wasn't the end yet.
For the fan.
Hanasaku Iroha - 01
"Ohana Matsumae is sent to live with her grandmother, who she has never met nor spoken to, at her Taisho-era (1920s) hot springs inn. It's not a lifestyle that Ohana would have chosen, but she decides not to be discouraged and to make the most of her new circumstances."
Bittersweet drama.
Well-animated. The girl is cheerful, but clueless about real life, like love and work.
Looking at the outro scenes, it looks like she'll learn from her mistakes in the end. But I don't know if it will take the whole 12 episodes before that happens.
Dog Days 01
"In the land of Fronaldo, the Republic of Biscotti has been aggressively attacked by the Lion Kingdom of Galette. Facing potential defeat, Princess Millhiore summons a hero who can save the country. What she gets is Izumi Shinku, a middle-school boy from Japan. Awaiting him in Fronaldo is the task of becoming hero enough to defeat his enemies while learning the peculiar rules of battle in this strange new world."
Cats vs dogs.
Everybody is cheerfully happy. The colors are very brights, the animation is pretty good. I liked the white "chocobo". ^^
But I'm not sure I'm going to keep an interest for very long, as the premises seem childish.
Ore-tachi ni Tsubasa wa Nai 01
"It's winter in the big city of Yanagihara, and young people will meet and fall in love. Takashi is a boy who plans to escape to another world, but is held back by thoughts of his younger sister Kobato and girlfriend Asuka. Shusuke is a poor part-timer who has to work with student-author Hiyoko in spite of their initial dislike for each other. The antisocial Hayato makes his living as a handyman until he is visited by a girl name Naru."
Loud romance.
Barf. All this screaming and badvertising and random scene changes are giving me a headache... but when it finally stops, I find myself falling asleep. It's just white noise. None of the characters are likeable.
Uh, let's see, who did this? "Nomad" studio? Last anime: "Kampfer"? Well, okay...
Tiger & Bunny - 01
"Sternbild City is home to people called "Next," who use their special abilities to protect the people as superheroes. These heroes solve cases and save lives so they can wear sponsor logos or acquire "hero points." Their activities are documented on the popular program "Hero TV," which picks the "King of Heroes" in a yearly ranking. The veteran hero Wild Tiger has always preferred to work alone, but now he's been assigned the rookie Barnaby Brooks Jr., who has a different perspective on being a superhero."
Heromercial.
Uh? This doesn't look like anime. This looks like a kids cartoon, North-American style, full of advertisements and all that crap...
For the fans of male bonding.
Battle Girls - Time Paradox - 01
"Modern-day middle school girl Hideyoshi is mysteriously hurled into a world resembling the warring states period of Japanese history, only this time it's inhabited only by women. This world's Oda Nobunaga is gathering the legendary Crimson Armor so she can rule the world, and for some reason needs Hideyoshi's help to do it."
Japanese history lesson.
Haha. Parallel worlds have different rules! This episode was funny, I liked it.
Steins;Gate_-_01
On July 28, 2010, Rintaro finds the body of Kurisu Makise with a pool of blood in a room. He leaves the building in a panic and sends a text message to a friend about the incident when all the people around him suddenly vanish. They reappear moments later but no one around him seems to have experienced the same phenomena that he did.
Time travelers.
Is the anime using time travel with multiple realities? Or is it using a single time line, and the thing will only make sense after one has seen all the episodes? I guess I'll have to see more episodes to find out...
SKET Dance - 01
"At Kaimei High School, the Living Assistance Club (aka the Sket Brigade) was organized to help students with problems big or small. Most of the time, though, they hang out in their club room, bored, with only a few trivial problems floating in every once in a while. In spite of this, they still throw all their energy into solving these worries."
High-school comedy.
I recall checking a couple of the manga stories, and that the first story, while being not very original, was the best one of the lot. I'm not sure I'm going to keep an interest, unless the anime makes up for the weaknesses of the manga.
A-Channel - 01
Animated 4-koma about the daily lives of Tooru who has just entered the same high school as her best and childhood friend Run-chan, who is now a second year, and her friends Yuuko-chan (whom Tooru bullies cause they meet under bad circumtances) & Nagi-chan (who watches).
Slice of school life.
Nice animation, ok chara designs... but halfway the episode when the main doofus girl was falling asleep in class, I realized I was looking for when it would end. One girl gets attacked by another girl with a bat with a murderous intent? Nobody cares. Someone crashes on the floor? Nobody cares, not even the teacher.
Well, I don't care either. For the fans.
Dororon_Enma-kun_Meramera_-_01
"It's Tokyo in the 1970s, and evil youkai (goblins) are attacking the human world. The "Youkai Patrol" - Enma, Princess Yukiko, Kapaeru, and Grandpa Shappo - are sent from hell to exterminate them."
Youkai-busters.
A remake of Dororon Enma-kun [1973]? Or an upgrade? I dunno, I haven't seen the original.
Pretty good, the animation seems much better here, while keeping an old school flavor.
Softenni_-_01
"The girls of the Hakuou Middle School soft tennis club are aiming for the national championship. Along the way, their journey will be full love, rivalry, fervor, and insanity."
Soft Tennis.
Soft rubber balls instead of hard yellow balls? Weaklings! Yellow balls are already soft enough.
Censored scenes to hide panties? Weaklings! Panties are already hiding the stuff.
Anyway... I managed to keep interest for 3/4 of this first episode, a record.
The animation is nice, but nothing happens, there's no story.
For the fans of fluff.
Astarotte's Toy 01
"Astarotte Ygvar is a succubus and must have a harem, but she hates males. The human male Naoya To-hara is introduced to her to be a member of her harem."
Comedy.
Comedy for children? Or, childish comedy? Loli-comedy?
Let's see, animation studio is Diomedea. Previous work: "Shinryaku! Ika Musume".
For the fans of that stuff.
So basically what we're seeing here is, Spring 2011 looks to be a pretty good season...to go back and catch up on old stuff you missed.
Nah, this is probably the Sturgeon's Law in action: "90% of everything is crap". But, "90% of people don't agree which part is the good part." Or, better: "Which part is crap/which part is good, is in the eye of the beholder."
For me, so far:
Dog Days is passable.
Steins;Gate is ok.
Dororon Enma-kun Meramera is promising.
Battle Girls - Time Paradox is very good.
[C] The Money of Soul and Possibility Control 01
"The Japanese government was rescued from the brink of financial collapse by the Sovereign Wealth Fund. For its citizens, however, life has not improved, and unemployment, crime, suicide, and despair are rampant. Kimimaro, raised by his maternal grandmother after the disappearance of his father and the death of his mother, is a scholarship student whose only dream is to avoid all this and live a stable life. One day, however, he meets a man who offers him a large sum of money if he'll agree to pay it back. From then on his fate is radically altered as he's drawn into a mysterious realm known as "The Financial District.""
Finance battlers.
Pretty good first episode. But I wonder how it will continue. Will it be about fabulous battles, using credit cards? Or will the anime expose financial fraud schemes? I need to see another episode.