Fall Season 2014: Early Impressions

[MFauli]

And again, post in here to give a quick first impression on all your episode 1-watchings. If you really like something, don´t hesitate to create a separate topic for that anime!


So far:

- Terraformars: This first episode was better than what it makes me look forward to. Hm. Atmosphere and artstyle are above average. But the cockroach design looks like it´s from some Animaniacs-cartoon. And I have a feeling that this episode was just to set up 100 strong people on Mars, so we can then have a whole season of generic fighting. But I liked this episode, so definitely going to watch one more.

[NeoCybercoin]

Terraformars.
I like how the OVA was something that happened before episode one. But man...it was censored as fuck. So I am hoping there will be much less of that in the future.

[MasterOfMoogles]

Is watching the OVA necessary?

[NeoCybercoin]

The OVA explains the same things as the first episode does. So it's not necessary. But it is a nice watch it'll display the kind of action you can expect.

[MFauli]

lol, wow, Karen Senki looks so BAD. Didn´t even bother watching a single scene, just skipped through it to witness how terrible it looks. EW.

[KrayZ33]

Terraformars.
I like how the OVA was something that happened before episode one. But man...it was censored as fuck. So I am hoping there will be much less of that in the future.

Is it even worth watching if its *that* censored? whenever there is a thread on /a/ about it, the absurd brutality along with death waiting around every corner seem to be the only things going for it. Does the setting even work without it?

[David75]

Is it even worth watching if its *that* censored? whenever there is a thread on /a/ about it, the absurd brutality along with death waiting around every corner seem to be the only things going for it. Does the setting even work without it?
I was surprised after reading the synopsis the first ep was decent at all.But the censorship was so strong that there are scenes with no image at all for several seconds.
I guess the first ep was some kind of appeal. I liked some of the sex jokes, I like those anyway.
If it turns out to be a gore orgy, I'll drop it without problem.



As for Karen Senki...
Well the full 3D isn't on the level of knights of Sidonia I had complaints with, but that was okay since the show is good.
Regarding that one, well it's a 10 minutes ep show. Not good. And the rushed introduction was following by some ball-trap with targets being bots with blood...
Certainly not a good start.

[Buffalobiian]

Is it even worth watching if its *that* censored? whenever there is a thread on /a/ about it, the absurd brutality along with death waiting around every corner seem to be the only things going for it. Does the setting even work without it?

Most of the action in episode 02 had half the screen blacked out. I'm mildly interested in this but I'm by no way engrossed by it at least partially due to that reason.

[vejita613]

Gundam Reconguista In G

Same crappy story telling from Tomino, but I've come to expect nothing less. Fight scenes and character designs are pretty good though.

[MFauli]

Gundam Reconguista In G

Same crappy story telling from Tomino, but I've come to expect nothing less. Fight scenes and character designs are pretty good though.

are they? i hated the stills showing the pilots during the fight. looked so cheap. also i HATE this weird dancing during the mid-break of the episode. WHY are they dancing? it looks so annoyingly silly and has shit all to do with mechs and space and all. :/

[vejita613]

I thought so, except for maybe the "ORA ORA ORA" punching in the second episode. Maybe I'm too desensitized by Tominos work that it doesn't bother me anymore.

[Ryllharu]

Cross Ange - I got three minutes in. I skimmed the rest of the episode, and have not been more satisfied in a decision to drop a series in a long time. The ludicrousness of the combat scene alone was enough to make me drop it, long before any of whatever political bullshit got involved.

This anime is just another platform for Mizuki Nana (who I do actually like) to sing throughout the episode in nonsensical places. It is a cobbled together mishmash of shit, recycled from Sunrise's back catalog. There's no campiness to make it palatable, they strive too hard for gravitas and angst. It's no so bad it is good, it is simply bad.

Symphogear this is not.

[David75]

The last rape/hysterectomy scene was something new though

[MFauli]

Ushinawareta Mirai wo Motomete: Dropped. Simply nothing unique or specially interesting about this one. It didn´t look bad or something, just way too generic. If I was new to anime, I´d probably watch it. But I´m not.

Danna ga Nani wo Itteiru ka wakaranai Ken: I was about to say "dropped", but then realized it´s only 3 minutes per episode, so I might keep watching. Still, wasnt that good. Too jumpy. I have no idea why they married, why this guy to this sexy wife. Also it makes me sad that she changed her hair color to blonde, looked way cuter with darker hair.

World Trigger: Dropped. Too generic, too. I have no time nor motivation for average shows.

[David75]

Shingeki no Bahamut - Genesis

With such a title, I had no hopes... But it turns out that first ep was more of a movie than an average anime.
Animation way off the budget charts, with animation techniques and art that feel so 1990-2000, but with modern 3D rendering.
I admit I was positively surprised. I'm not really into that kind of universe, I do not like that art that much, the pace was uncomfortably high like a blockbuster, but it was enjoyable and I think I found a show I'll wait every Sunday evening. That and UBW.Sadly, this season's week-end shows are boring. I guess the other channels had to tone down their grid when they knew they had to face UBW and Shingeki :D

[neflight86]

Nanatsu no Taizai:

With HxH over, its fair to say we all have a shounen shaped void in our hearts. This is going to serve as my latest cork. It doesn't defy convention, but is executed well and can only get better. Give it a try.

Madan no Ou to Vanadis:

This is about my ideal weight for a fanservice show with just enough plot and animation quality to give me the impression it wasn't made just for deviants. Also, give it a try.

[Xelbair]

Shingeki no Bahamut - Genesis

With such a title, I had no hopes... But it turns out that first ep was more of a movie than an average anime.
Animation way off the budget charts, with animation techniques and art that feel so 1990-2000, but with modern 3D rendering.
I admit I was positively surprised. I'm not really into that kind of universe, I do not like that art that much, the pace was uncomfortably high like a blockbuster, but it was enjoyable and I think I found a show I'll wait every Sunday evening. That and UBW.Sadly, this season's week-end shows are boring. I guess the other channels had to tone down their grid when they knew they had to face UBW and Shingeki :D

i was VERY pleasantly surprised with this one.

[Kraco]

Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso - Following Shinta's high praise in the preview thread, I watched the first episode. It looked quite promising. It immediately reminded me of Nodame, though I suppose it won't be similar at all apart from people playing classical music. But anime with good music is oft good generally, so it's at least something to begin with. I'm not sure I'm looking forward to the drama, which seemed quite obvious right in this first episode, but who knows. Nodame's comedic aspect was also missing in this, should I mention that arbitrary comparison one more time.

My initial impressions were good and I'll keep watching for now. But I have to say it's annoying the photo wasn't shown. Come on!

[neflight86]

Shirobako: It's so P.A. works that it hurts, but the subject matter makes this, frankly, more interesting than it deserves to be. The opening scenes had me scared that this would be another high school anime, but it thankfully is not, allowing for a much wider range of characters and situations (all that drifting). Recommended if you think that the dramatized process of animation production would hold your attention.

[MasterOfMoogles]

Just got through a bunch of new shows, here are my impressions:

Cross Ange - I can just picture the Sunrise meeting room on this one "Hey, Code Geass was good, let's take a bunch of random stuff from that!" That said, I was actually pretty interested in this first episode. Kind of disappointed they spoil it with the first 3 minutes + OP, though.

Daitoshokan no Hitsujikai - I don't really know what to think so far. Could be interesting, could be boring. The MC seems way to focused on this random girl for no good reason.

Denki-Gai no Honya-san - A bunch of weird characters run a comic/doujin shop. The first episode wasn't particularly funny, but I'll at least watch another one.

Unlimited Blade Works - "I am the bone of my sword."

Grisaia - they did a good job introducing all of the characters, and the MC is just amazing. Hopefully they do a good job adapting the material. Not all of the girls are very interesting, unfortunately.

Gundam: G no Reconguista - Was I transported back into the 80s/90s? I actually kind of enjoyed the first episode of this, though I don't have high expectations.

Inou-Battle - I really like the setup and look forward to some super-powered Trigger battles. Everyone seems ridiculously overpowered, though.

Log Horizon 2 - *pushes up glasses*

Madan no Ou to Vanadis - I like the MC being an archer instead of a typical swordsman. After ep 1, it seems pretty obvious where this will go, so we'll see if they can execute.

Nanatsu no Taizai - I was expecting typical shounen, and this was at least somewhat different so I was impressed. I'm a little worried about the power level, though.

Ookami shoujo to Kuro Ouji - I don't know what it is with shoujo and female leads that are dumb as bricks, but this one might take the cake. I am curious just to see how stupid she is going to be.

Ore, Twintails ni Narimasu - based on the description, I got everything I hoped for with this show. Very campy and silly and it knows what it is. Also, the voice cast is basically all the girls of Chuunibyou, which is funny.

Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso - not much to go on in episode 1, but they're promising some fun love polygons. The music parts were nice.

Shingeki no Bahamut Genesis - I was not expecting much, but after the horrible intro this was actually somewhat interesting. I'm worried it will be dragged down by the stupid mobile game it is based on.

SHIROBAKO - After Glasslip, PA Works couldn't get any worse. And it was true, this turned out somewhat interesting. I was won over immediately by the Initial D segments. Too many characters dumped in episode 1, but oh well. Has the same draw as Bakuman.

Sora no Method - I'm intrigued by the weird alien aspect, but other than that not much is going on.

Terra Formars - I like the premise. The censorship is ridiculously bad, though. Not sure if this will actually be any good though.

Trinity Seven - Based on the premise, I wasn't expecting much, but the first episode was entertaining.

Ushinawareta blah blah - Weird 3D/CG mixed art style. Kind of boring but we'll see if the element at the end of episode 1 makes it interesting.

World Trigger - somewhat generic feeling shounen. This was what I was expecting of 7 Deadly Sins, but that was way more interesting than this.


Kirito is in a lot of shows this season:
Continuing in SAO
Continuing in Akame ga Kill
MC in Trinity Seven
Weird manager guy in Denki-gai
Anime staff in Shirobako

[shinta|hikari]

Gundam G Recon (up to ep 3) has really bad Tomino writing. The dialog always feels as if they are info dumping or acting in a grade school play.

I've watched almost everything out, but the only one that surprised me is Bahamut. I was expecting it to be horrible, fanservice filled crap, but it was pretty good. The horses jumping on roofs shattered suspension of disbelief for a moment though.

The ones I expected to deliver are doing so. Shigatsu looks like it was adapted well. I can't wait for the music episodes.

[MasterOfMoogles]

A few more impressions:

Akatsuki no Yona - Yet another show that messed up their opening by showing a bunch of unnecessary stuff in/before the OP. Other than that, this seems very shoujo but has some potential.

Gugure! Kokkuri-san - Lots of the gags kind of fell flat, and I can't help but think of Barakamon whenever the main guy opens his mouth. This and Denki-gai are so far the shows closest to the cut line.

Garo - The animation - I wasn't expecting much, but I was really impressed. I like the setting and the characters seem cool. Not a huge fan of the CG stuff, but eh, it was cool enough.

[MFauli]

Garo - The Animation: The CG sucks and the heroe seems overpowered already ... but everything else is great. Id kinda prefer if this was not about those super warriors, but some more normal people. Gives me my BERSERK-fix.

Grisaia no Kajitsu: This had zero special, unicque anything, but it had the animation quality of a movie, and the black bars helped immensely, lol. Ill watch it some more, though I have a feeling I should just play the hentai game that its based upon.

[David75]

For Grisaia, I feel like watching porno, but without the sex scenes...I played some VNs and I understand the psychological bias at work when watching an anime based on a VN I liked.
Since I didn't play that one, I'm watching it as it is, and I do not enjoy much of it yet. Eventhough I feel there are lots of references the players love.

[lelouch]

For Grisaia, I feel like watching porno

Throw Garo and Cross Ange into the mix, and you have enough material to fap to all day.

[Kraco]

Trinity Seven - Based on the premise, I wasn't expecting much, but the first episode was entertaining.


At a first glance this seemed like a cheaper version of DxD, but after a couple of episodes I like this as much and might even find this more amusing. The setting, the scope of the story and character gallery might fall a bit short compared to DxD, but there are some things here I like. First of all, the main character has a bit of Daimaou (http://anidb.net/perl-bin/animedb.pl?show=anime&aid=6968) or Rogue Hero (http://anidb.net/perl-bin/animedb.pl?show=anime&aid=9015) in him, that is, he's not totally without his own means and beyond deserving people's respect or fear. Of course he is called a demon lord candidate. On the other hand, I like how he's so smoothly and naturally pervert, without being a loser or gross about it. There have been other shows with an MC like that, and it's always good. The other thing are some of the girls, or some of the mages in general, the way they concentrate on their own thema and don't give a shit about the consequences. That's how mages are supposed to be! Arin is of course the shining example of it.

[shinta|hikari]

This suffers from the same problem as SAO. The harem is too big.

I could also do with less of the generic fanservice tropes. This could have been much better had it only kept the fanservice moments with a twist.

[Kraco]

This suffers from the same problem as SAO. The harem is too big.

I could also do with less of the generic fanservice tropes. This could have been much better had it only kept the fanservice moments with a twist.

I can't really deny either of those, but fortunately like in DxD, there's been stuff going on, so the size of the harem hasn't bothered me that much, unlike in SAO. On the other hand, I don't really know what would be less generic fanservice tropes. So far this season Grisaia clearly has the most generic ones with the constant and very blatantly placed panty shots. I don't actually recall too many shows with disintegrating clothes. It was like the signature move in DxD, considering in many other shows it wasn't necessarily only due to the MC's actions (the exploding clothes of fighting anime blow up no matter how the character happens to be fighting).

[Xelbair]

Having read the manga of Trinity Seven and LN of DxD i can say this:
1) animated Trinity Seven will be fun - art in manga isn't top notch.
2) if they do not change fanservice level it will be good - sadly they went over the top with DxD anime.
3) MC is badass but not at Hagure Yuusha level.

[Ryllharu]

Denki-Gai no Honya-san - Continually improves with each episode. It's not quite a straight-up slapstick show, and it also isn't one of those comedy shows that essentially resets each episode. The atmosphere reminds me heavily of Acchi Kocchi, which is an extremely good thing.

Semi-deformed character art, but that harmonizes well with gag-comedies. The visual gags are what make me laugh more than the spoken jokes.

The characters are well rounded, and the otaku references are at a much higher level than something like Lucky Star or PaniPoni Dash, so it is accessible humor. There are few references that will sail past you. It's got the straight characters (normal nice guy, generic cute girl), the niche characters, the teaser/harasser, the big silent type, and the socially awkward. Pretty standard stuff. Where it excels is in how it uses those characters, and how they're never static. They've all subtly developed over the course of the past four episodes.

It's that slow boil with plenty of gags to fill the space that reminds me heavily of Acchi Kocchi.

As with all gag-comedy series, it doesn't really deserve its own thread (what are you really gonna talk about?), so I'm praising it here.