Thread: First Impressions Winter Anime 2012

Welcome back to First Impressions of ARC (Anime Review Club), Winter 2012! Like always we give everyone insights on the latest animes! We also gladly accept other people’s thoughts on new animes they have seen, so do not hesitate to jump in! Let’s get started shall we? (Do not forget to scroll down for more reviews from other members!)


Ano Natsu de Matteru 2.5/5

Genre: Sci-fi, Romance


One night when the main-character decides to look for a good movie setting, he is suddenly hit from the sky by a meteor of some kind, only to find himself lying in his bed the next morning. Of course the next morning a new transfer student sets foot on the university grounds. The out-of-place red-haired transfer student who tries her utmost best to blend in, unfortunately stands out more because of it. But this transfer student isn’t just trying to fit in the new class, she is actually… (not gonna tell) It is hard to explain but the story is reasonable, but the characters are all too apparent, or better said obvious. You could say that this anime thus fails at making characters believable; “that kind of guy/girl is fake” feeling, you know. Anyways, as may be apparent by now, I am completely lost into rating this anime, so it just gets the mean score.

Another 3/5

Genre: Thriller, Mystery


What can I say, this is borderline interesting I guess. The feeling of this anime is pretty well established. You can compare this to other thriller/horror animes in the past (Shiki for example), making this a very difficult anime to judge just like that, since you have no idea what exactly is the purpose the anime, which on the other hand is what helps excite the audience. The problem in my case is that I do not have, or better said, do not what to spend time on this ‘yet another’ high school sentiment thriller drama. But if people like thrillers and this eerie feeling that something is not right, that something ill-fated is going to happen, then this anime is just fine.

Area no Kishi 2.5/5

Genre: Sports, Romance


“I like soccer (football) I like soccer (football) very much”. I believe that starting your anime with such straightforwardness, quite a few people will just say “whaevah!”. If it wasn’t for these First Impressions I would have used the escape button myself. It did help that I immediately noticed the most dull but amusing quote “you can’t win if you don’t score a goal” from a great football player which I will not recall, so OK I will complete this first episode. Having met a certain faith, our hero has decided to stand on the sidelines as manager of the football team instead of playing football himself. His brother, famed for his great skill on the football field, is disappointed in his little brother for suddenly starting lame manager work instead of fighting with him on the field. How will this end? Well I guess I know already but that is not the issue. This seems like just another high school anime with a football theme, since it has been so popular these days. I am watching the next episode just for fun, for I am slightly interested how things will turn out, and would want some clearance on the hero’s handicap on the football field (he can’t use his left leg apparently).

Brave Ten 3/5

Genre: Action, Adventure


A historical (but fictional) ninja/samurai drama, blend in with some supernatural effects. As the case was before feudal Japan, tribes were fighting amongst each other to gain all the power over Japan, now that one tribe finds out that a temple holds an item that can turn everything into ash around it, they go straight for it and burn the place to the ground, the maiden who holds the item gets away but is inevitably chased. She runs into a Ronin (samurai without master) who wields a deadly cursed blade with which he easily takes out all the pursuers. He soon finds out the tremendous power of the item she holds, and why it can change the whole war between the tribes… This anime is heading for some good plot development, but I am somewhat hesitant on whether I can keep up with the characters in the anime, for they are somewhat boring, or either annoying. The fighting is doable but not that great. In the end I am just giving this a 3 for being well introduced.

Danshi Koukousei no Nichijou 4/5

Genre: Comedy, Slice of Life
Probably the best of the season. OK there are some extremely awkward jokes in this one, but I enjoyed everything thoroughly! The anime consists of mainly short sketches of 3 guys (later one also a weird girl) who are just wrong in all kinds of ways, but just so funny. Give this one a go if you are in for some good laughs.

Highschool DxD (This anime is 18+) 1.5/5

Genre: Henta… Ecchi, Action


In the past I had been wondering “where IS the borderline between Hentai and Ecchi??”, Highschool DxD should be surpassing this invisible line. This anime does not only have panty shots, it has booby shots (if I may call it that, in Japanese it is called Pororo if I am not mistaking, flashing of the nipples that is)! Clear as daylight we are served tons of, needless to say unneeded, fan services. I remember the time that panty shots were censored in Rosario X Vampire 2 and it disturbed me to a certain extent, however this anime disturbs me for not giving the audience the insight of imagination. So I am saying this is just HENTAI! Nyyyways… We have our hero, who, just like 2 or 3 seasons ago became a something mainly featuring in Ecchi animes, entered a school which previously was girls-only and now co-ed. Taboos are all gone and he and his oversexed friends show their intrigue in the women’s rack, and for starters we are shown a few nearly full size nude shots of girls. Our hero unfortunately meets his end facing a winged-girl, wondering why he did not just fondle her breasts before dying and we see a shot of a girl without a bra. And then… what was I talking about again? Ow yes, he has a mysterious “apparatus” of some kind in which demon girls have much interest in! To be continued. ED with lots of naked girls.

Inu x Boku 3/5

Genre: Romance, Comedy, Supernatural
Interesting "master x servant" anime with a few weird features such as superpowers and shape-shifting abilities. It is a bit too girly for my taste though so I am letting this one slide ;P.

Kill me Baby 2.5/5

Genre: 4-panel comic, slice of life


Like most 4-panel comics, Kill me Baby also doesn’t have a real purpose except for short weird sketches. It was funny from time to time, but in general the jokes were childish and you could see some coming from the first sentence they said. Well I guess that is the downside to turning a 4-panel in an anime. I did like the ED btw.

Mouretsu Pirates 3.5/5

Genre: Action, Sci-Fi


Somehow similar to Captain Harlock, the ancient anime pirate series, or so it seems. It was hard to make a good first impression on this one, however the plot is quite easy and there might be some good action in this one too. I also like the animation, both the flying in space and the characters, so I am probably watching the next episode of this one.

NisemonoGatari 4.5/5

Genre: Supernatural, Comedy


This one shouldn’t be in this list, it’s a sequel to Bakemonogatari. I just wanted to say this is just the same as its predecessor.

Papa no Iukoto wo Kikinasai 2/5

Genre: Romance, Harem


For starters, one may want to think twice before watching an anime called “Listen to what Papa says”, and than seeing a picture of young girls. Another theme that has become a classic in the anime world, is as some may have witnessed in the “as good as hentai” Kiss X Sis OVA, where father and mother, who were divorced got married while they both had kids (in this case slightly different; the mother’s little brother and the father’s 3 female kids). Egh all the weird “meet one of the sisters in the bathroom while she was changing” scenes are already used, I might start crying some time soon. Anyways, this looks like one hell of an oversexed anime and I guess you have to be in the mood for that….

Recorder to Randoseru 4/5

Genre: Comedy


Normally these 3 minute animes just don’t work, but this time I was astounded by the simplicity of this short but extremely funny first episode. It was a good thing that I read the description or else it would have been just weird though. I recommend this ;P.

Rinne no Lagrange 2/5

Genre: Mecha, Action


You have to imagine yourself sitting around a huge round table, on this table there lie several popular anime, the boss tells you “make something of it!”, and you puzzle your way through sure-hit specific plots and ideas, then you get… There should be someone who stands on top of the anime chain who says “be original!”, since I have been crying the whole time watching Rinne no Lagrange, why does everything look like Evangelion meets Thunderbirds meets Suzumiya meets Gundam meets …. Etc! The only points which I can give credit for are, lets see, animation and effort. Sure, things look like they are copies of some good animes in the past, but the product here is not half-baked, it is a good looking anime with the requested amount of explosions, graphics and panty-shots, I guess!

Senki Zesshou Symphogear 3/5

Genre: Action, Music, Supernatural


Given the importance of idol groups and cute characters who sing them in this time and age, I can’t blame one to think that they are interchangeable and your lucky lot to win a prize. Like Final Fantasy, worms or transcendental beings who devour people because they can, ascend to earth to do so :P. To counter them there are a few people (girls, so it seems) who sing melodies which powers their anti-alien “suits” in order to kill them. Being transcendental enemies, they can’t be hits with manmade weapons; bullets and rockets just fly through them as if they are ghosts, but contrarily they turn people into dust by touching them. The melodic girls can seemingly almost effortlessly slice through them though, as if they swing through void airspace, but their suits are not limitless. Also the songs they sing have specific powers, ranging from usage of certain attacks to self-destructivity. The music is not bad, and give a certain personality to the anime, but I can’t really conform to the whole idea that they have to sing to fight, honestly it looks a bit dull :P. But anyways, this anime is well put together and a tad original, so not that bad.

As usual, I won’t be reviewing sequels or OVAs, but others may do so. I’ll be constantly adding to the reviews until all of the new anime are rated. Updates are in blue.

Ano Natsu de Matteru 3/5
Kirishima Kaito is gravely injured in an explosion by a landing spacecraft, but wakes up fine the next morning and wonders if it was all a dream. At school, he and his friends (including a Taiga lookalike) decide to make a summer movie, and they are surprised when the beautiful red haired transfer student Takatsuki Ichika agrees to join them. The real surprise though, is when she manages to move in with Kaito. The animation and background scenery are magnificent, but I really didn’t expect a space alien story.

Another 3/5
The 9th grade class 3 at Yomiyama North Junior High has been cursed since a death 14 years ago, and when Sakakibara Kōichi transfers into the class, he gets weird vibes from his classmates as if they were hiding something from him. The most enigmatic classmate is Misaki Mei, who wears an eye patch and tells Kōichi not to talk to her anymore. With its gloomy atmosphere and flashes of creepy dolls, the anime had a slow start tried too hard to be scary and mysterious.

Area no Kishi 3/5
With a weak left leg, Aizawa Kakeru opts to be the high school’s soccer team manager instead of playing in the game he loves. But his older brother Suguru, a soccer ace who can play at international levels, believes he’s not living up to his talent, and when childhood crush Mishima Nana moves back from America, Kakeru once again returns to the field. The drama and love interest notwithstanding, the jerky animation and recycling of footage betray the mediocrity of this latest soccer anime.

Brave 10 3/5
The sole survivor of an attack on Izumo Shrine, shrine maiden Isanami appeals to the samurai Saizō for help and protection on her way to the Ueda Castle to see Lord Sanada Yukimura. Sanada is gathering a corps of ninja with Sarutobi Sasuke as its leader, and Saizō finds this to be of great interest. Lots of shōnen action with flashy, named ninja moves and over the top techniques. Isanami has strange powers herself, embodied in her hair band jewel. This one’s for you if you like Sengoku period action series.

Danshi Kōkōsei no Nichijō 4/5
In a series of short sketches, high schoolers Tadakuni, Hidenori, and Yoshitake engage in a number of sophomoric hijinks and parodies on popular anime tropes that will either have you laughing or groaning. Unlike Kill Me Baby or Nichijou that have female protagonists, the humor in this series is definitely more male oriented and relied on the gross factor or girlfriend issues. Plain artwork and simple designs, but watch for the hilarious visual gags.

High School DxD 3/5
Perverted Hyōdō Issei and his two friends Matsuda and Motohama are still without girlfriends, in spite of attending Kuō Private Academy, a former all girls’ school that recently became coed. They are shocked in disbelief when Issei lands a date with a cute girl, but after he is murdered on the date by a demon, Issei finds himself a minion of buxom Rias Gremory, the prettiest girl in the school – and a devil herself. Lots of pert and bouncy, uncensored fanservice for ecchi lovers.

Inu x Boku SS 3/5
Shirakiin Ririchiyo moves into the exclusive “Maison de Ayakashi” apartment complex where she meets the obsequious Miketsukami Sōshi who has been assigned as her personal Secret Service bodyguard. With a quick tongue, Ririchiyo is actually struggling with her tsundere exterior, seeking to become more trusting and friendly with people. But when a burglar breaks into the building, her true nature is revealed. A supernatural fantasy with introspection, a little bit of comedy and maybe even romance.

Kill Me Baby 4/5
Goofy Oribe Yasuna likes to play with her hypersensitive classmate Sonya, a trained assassin who overreacts to any provocation, real or imagined. If that wasn’t enough, another classmate is the slick talking Goshiki Agiri, a self-proclaimed ninja with a bag full of ninja jutsu marketing scams that Yasuna falls for. Other than the annoying OP, this simply drawn, mini vignette, 4-koma style series is full of laughs and stupid humor not unlike Nichijou. Time will tell if it can be just as epic.

Mōretsu Uchū Kaizoku 4/5
A talented space ship pilot in her high school’s “yacht club,” the attractive first year student Kato Marika is shocked to learn that her father was a space pirate and that she alone can inherit his ship. When a bunch of Mafioso pack the maid café where she works, Marika makes her escape with the new transfer student Kurihara Chiaki who seems to know about her situation. An intriguing and mysterious fish out of water story with cool futuristic gadgets and promise for an unconventional adventure.

Papa no Iu Koto o Kikinasai! 3/5
Tama University freshman Segawa Yūta joins the school’s Sightseeing Club where he meets the beautiful but eccentric Oda Raika. This promising romance is rudely interrupted when his sister and her husband abandon their three little girls, Sora, Miu, and Hina, in his care. Although the artwork and animation are top notch, the outrageous premise, “but they’re not blood related” infatuation, and the pandering fanservice didn’t convince me to come back for more.

Poyopoyo Kansatsu Nikki 1/5
After a night out drinking with coworkers, Sato Moe (age 22) falls asleep on a round and puffy cat that she later adopts. Named Poyo (Puffy), the cat is very cute and friendly – except to her brother Hide. Simple artwork with minimal animation and no plot, this 3 minute slice-of-life anime relies solely on the awww factor and will be enjoyed only by those who love cats and all their cuteness.

Recorder to Randoseru 2/5
In a short 3 minute episode, we are introduced to Atsushi, a grade school boy who looks like a much older college student, and his elder sister Atsumi, a petite high school girl who looks like she’s in grade school. This sets up several amusing yet predictable reverse age scenario misunderstandings. While it has potential, the short time constraint of the show may actually work against it. The highlight of the first episode was the appearance of Morita and Hana from the anime Morita-san wa Mukuchi.

Rinne no Lagrange 3/5
Although Kyōno Madoka is energetic and multi-talented, standing in for the drama club, tennis, kendo, and softball teams, nailing each accomplishment with her trademark exclamation “Maru!” (circle), she cannot find anyone to join her Jersey Club, dedicated to wearing comfortable tracksuits. That is, until the emotionless Lan shows up and somehow gets her to try her innate talent in a mecha battle. Punctuated with bits of comic relief by Madoka, this episode felt like a Haruhi meets Infinite Stratos.

Senhime Zesshō Symphogear 2/5
Two years ago, Tachibana Hibiki attended a concert by the idols Tsubasa and Kanade of Zwei Wing when monsters known as Noise attacked. After her life was saved by Kanade, Hibiki attends Ridian Private Music School, but when the Noise attack again, she can now muster the magical power of song to quell them. The odd mix of blasé songs, lousy artwork, and mecha transformations just doesn’t work, and given the grave visitation scene at the beginning, the storyline must be tragic and very short.

Thermæ Romæ 2/5
After getting fired for having outdated ideas, Roman architect Lucius is sulking in a Roman thermæ bath when suddenly he is pulled through a vortex and pops out in a modern day Japanese sentō bathhouse. Thinking he somehow slipped into the slaves’ bath, Lucius marvels at the features and ideas that he sees and becomes inspired when he falls back into his own time. An amusing contrast of cultures and “Back to the Future” time travel astonishment in a simple two dimensional animation style.

well lets get this going...

today no good, no time, tml i shall start saving a space here

Ok here goes

Rinne no Lagrange 2/5
kindof slow pace, all moe character, common plot, art reasonably weak,
Weak plot, Moe characters, reasonbly weak art.
Weak Mecha design, bad Action/fight scene
Only thing that amusing is to see robot doing german suplex, looking forward for more weird fighting style main girl gonna bring with the Mecha

High School DxD 1/5
Compared it to the previous animes which is having EXACTLY the same plot, if not 90% same
its worse in every way, except for its uncen boobie action

Recorder and Randsell 2/5
Cool comedy of the weird pair of sibiling with heightXage issue. Well its great that every ep lasted 3min, if its were 26min, it would ended as bad as Kill Me Baby

Brave 10 4/5
Probably the best new anime series of this season....so far. Characters are great, Action even better, plot seems fresh but would end up with ending of 'ending with endoing'.
Special credit to their fight scene, ability still a myth but that doesn't seem very good either

Moretsu Space Pirate 1.5/5
Well, a normal school girl is being drag to become a legal pirate hired by government... normal life came crashing and stuff... Dumb plot i would say.

Another 2.5/5
Started with a tragedy, and follow up with mystery and conspiracy around the main boy. With a ghost girl? or suppose to be one hanging around in the story. Original story plot, characters are normal, settings are great. Much more watchable series of the season.

Danshi Koukousei no Nichijou 4.5/5
Best comedy of the season, doubt anything this comes after this could be funnier than this. Defintely must watch of the season

Ano Natsu de Matteru 3.5/5
Started out slow, with a great twist at the end. Plot seems interesting enough with much unknown going on. Character are reasonably good, settings are great. Encourage those with patience to keep following this series, it should get good as it goes on

Papa no Iukoto wo Kikinasai 3/5
Read the manga, anime version differ alots from the manga. Started out as introduction on the main charcaters and the primary side characters. Keep following this, the comedy, ecchi, heart warming will keep coming as the episode goes

Inu X Boku SS 2.5/5
Personally loving the S&M communication between the main characters
By having half blood monsters gathering to defense themselves against the pure blood. Charcater design is their specialty, but its fight scene in future will probably end up as their greatest downfall



Rejected
Natsume Yuujinchou Shi - well its the 4th season
Nisemonogatari - season 2 Must Watch
Prince of Tennis - season 2
Amagami SS Plus - season 2
Milky Holmes - season 2
Area no Kishi - well, just not my type of anime
Aquarion EVOL - apparently a sequel of 12000year later of its prequel
Zero no Tsukaima F - 4th season if i'm right

Senki Zesshou Symphogear - wow new type of pretty cure?!?
Sengoku Paradise - this is shit
Poyopoyo Kansatsu Nikki - just look at it
Kill me baby - well this show really make people goes 'kill me baby'
THERME ROME - no comment

I dislike most forms of sci-fi and absolutely hate mecha so I skipped some new series because of that.
I also think there's no need for me to write some review since you guys do that good enough, so here's just my scores for the new animes I've started seeing and a quick explanation why I score them as I do.


Ano Natsu de Matteru 4/5 3.5/5
I can't say much after just 1 episode so I took this very uncertain score of 2.5-4. It started off good and I noticed 2 seasons ago that I like these school-themed series more than I thought I did. I've got fairly high hopes for this.
After seeing the second episode I've decided for quite a high score. This is looking good.
Gonna lower it a little still good but not as good as I hoped.

Another 2.5/5 4/5
Not bad but not very good either. I'm gonna keep looking but it doesn't seem like my kind of anime actually.
Hehe, long time since I've been so wrong, this anime is awesome! Definitely my new "middle of the night with lights out anime".

Brave 10 4/5
Since I saw Ninja Scroll and Basilisk I've been kinda fond of ninjas/samurais with special abilities so this seems to be pretty good.

Danshi Kōkōsei no Nichijō 5/5
Absolutely the best series of this season. Never LOL'd irl in front of an anime before. The last sketch was epic! A clear 5.
The first episode was kinda unique. After that it fell off a little, still good though.

High School DxD 3.5/5
I'm not gonna lie, I love both ecchi and hentai so this may be entirely in my taste.

Papa no Iu Koto o Kikinasai! 2/5 -/5
I may be a fan of ecchi but these girls are to small for my kind of ecchi so I'm not hoping for much in this series. I will continue to look but I may scrap it later.
Scrapped... One and a half episode was enough for me, lame as hell...

Recorder to Randoseru 2.5/5
First episode was pretty funny but second was kinda lame. It's only 3 minutes though so I'll just follow it and hope for something funny.

Thermae Romae 3/5
A little odd style and short episodes. Short episodes so not much time wasted and a easy to follow plot. Not something I would pay to see but I don't regret watching it precisely. Pretty funny and it gives some insight into the bathhouses of Japan.

Seen a little further now so I'll be adding some here now. I'll add it in blue.

Only series I'm following this season are Amagami SS+ and Area no Kishi so I'll do those. I'll edit them in later thoughAmagami SS+ plus (-/5)Area no Kishi (at least 3/5)

Anime I like the most this season are:

Another (5/5)
It really feels different and I think they are spot on with the animations and the music to get across the feeling that makes this kind of anime so awesome. If you like intelligent mystery stories, this if the best of the season.

Brave 10 (4/5)
This series starts quite nicely as well. Seems to remind me of Katanagatori a bit, which I liked a lot. It seems to lack a very interesting plot though. The action and animation is nice, I think this is the best battle anime of the season.

Nisemonogatari 4/5
Second season of Bakemonogatori, but it feels more geared towards ecchi. I hope they can get the mystery feeling the first season had back fast. They seem to have some nice plot progressions in place already so I think it will be good. The animation is very nice and I would say anyone who enjoyed the first season will like this one aswell.

Inu X Boku (3.5/5)
Also started very promising, but it seems like they focus more on humor than an actual story. It is nice, but not really good yet. I hope It will get better.

Papa no Iukoto wo Kikinasai (3.5/5):
I like this series as well, but to be honest, the story seems a lot like many I have seen before. I tend to enjoy these animes as well so I will continue watching, but I don't expect too much from it. At some point it did have a nice plot twist so it might get better story wise.

Moretsu Pirates & Ano Natsu de Materu & Rinne no Lagrange (all 2.5/5)

These anime's all seem the same to me. Some future, alien or both girls go about and have fun. They probably all have about the same plot progression as well. I will watch them but I don't expect too much of it.


I watched some others, but I don't think they are worth mentioning.