Spring Season 2016: Early Impressions

[MFauli]

Can´t be helped.

Just watched the first episode of Mayoiga. Bad first episode. It relied solely on the weird-factor, but it failed to end with a punch. We needed some kind of twist at the end. As is, it´s just a bunch of spoiled, self-pitying brats running away from home.

[NeoCybercoin]

Just watched Endride. Reminds me of Absolute Duo with the two male leads. Now for the ingredients of the show. Magical Kindom inside the Earth. Check. Former Prince out of vengeance. Check. Weapons coming from within people's bodies.Check. MC being dragged into a new world without knowing anything about the former 3. Check.

Looking forward to the rest.

[Ryllharu]

The first episode of Boku no Hero Academia only covers the first half of the first chapter (and not a particularly good half, just all the exposition). If you didn't like it, make sure you at least give the second episode a shot.

[shinta|hikari]

What's BokuAcademia about?

[MFauli]

Just watched episode 1 of Ace Attorney. It´s pretty much a 1:1 adaptation of the first game. Japanese names are weird after having played 5 games with Phoenix Nick Wright, Miles Edgeworth and so on, but it´s okay. Since I long pondered to replay the first game because it is the best in the series, I´m happy to have this anime. The in-your-face elements are rather gimmicky and obstrusive, but I can live with it. Not a must see for me, but one I will gladly follow.

[David75]

Ace was pretty bad. Also, two murders and both victims are nice women...

[MFauli]

Ace was pretty bad. Also, two murders and both victims are nice women...

Go watch GATE then, only men are killed there.

[Ryllharu]

Watched Kuma Miko: Girl Meets Bear and it is pretty cute. Silly, but really funny. A bear that knows more about the city than a teenage girl. Nice animation style too. Detailed, crisp characters, watercolor backgrounds. I'd say more, but I wouldn't want to spoil the gags in the first episode.

I'm definitely going to keep watching this.

@shinta: A world where superpowers are commonplace (and correspondingly, so are villains), and a high school for aspiring superheroes. The manga at least is extremely well written. The pacing/planning is badly off in the first episode. Not sure what bones was thinking, but they're going for straight adaptation I suppose.

[David75]

Kuma miko was fun on the jokes, even if I'm not totally confortable... Also, I wonder if they can keep the entertainment levels for a season.

[Kraco]

I don't know how Hero Academia's first ep could hook anybody. It was so annoying and tedious. Normally you'd have an intriguing and inspiring first episode and then save shit like this for a flashback a bit later when people are already fans and would stomach it better.

But then again, the Japanese have weird tastes, so maybe this is precisely their cup of tea.

Kuma Miko was quite funny and cute. I'll keep watching it.

[Ryllharu]

Re Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu - The fantasy RPG version of All You Need is Kill/Edge of Tomorrow. It's kinda fun, I'll keep watching it for now.

Bakuon - This is motorcycle porn. I value a good mechanical design team, and it has a character who is a parody of The Stig. It's funny, a little dirty like Kuma Miko is, and did I mention how good the bike designs are? It's basically K-ON with motorcycles instead of instruments, but something just kind of clicks with me here. It's quality mechanical design makes up for the following:

Macross Delta - For the record, I love Macross (I'm firmly in the macross camp instead of the gundam camp), and when I watched the preview of Delta months ago, I didn't like what I saw. Watching it a second time only made me realize how inferior the music, combat, and premise are to everything that has come before it. The music isn't just bad, it's bland and has no soul.

Macross Plus had some so-so music (let's face it, Sharon's music isn't great), but "Voices" completely redeemed it. Minmay, Sheryl, and Ranka had pretty standard, but powerful songs. Even Fire Bomber was campy enough to be enjoyable amidst how silly Macross 7 is.

But given the message and premise Macross Delta series is trying to push, I'd expect a lot better out of the songs at the very least. There's no Yoko Kanno or similar, there's no named music director at all.

They're heartless, synthetic songs. There's no emotion or particular singer skills that stand out. It's background singer idol music. The type of shit you'd expect from the girls who don't even make it to the Top 20 of a marketing girl group with 40+ members.

There's nothing really good about the mecha design or combat either. CGI Valkyries from Frontier, and bad CGI battlepods and Queadluuns. The whole thing seems to lack detail while they focus on stupid idols running around unarmored with Gundam-style bits producing holographic bullshit.

I'm sorry. I just can't. I want to watch this, but it is just so fucking bad.

[KrayZ33]

I liked Macross Delta alot for some reason, don't know why exactly, maybe because my expectations are extremely low and I can take this show for what it is now. When I watched that one with sheryl and... was it Macross Zero(?), I always expected this show to be mostly about dogfights... but I came to realize that it's basically an AMV on 2x speed.

I liked the second song too.

[MFauli]

Have there been any must-sees so far? Anything on the level of Boku dake ga inai Machi?

[David75]

Not to my knowledge.

[Edort4]

Yeah I cant seem to find anything that deserves a weekly follow. The Re Zero thing wasnt half bad, double episodes feel better than those 19 minute ones, seemed heavily cliched but I actually liked the assassin maybe the writer is a "rara avis" and delivers something out of the mainstream anime shit but I doubt it.

Also Joker Game could be somewhat interesting (altough im pretty sure is gonna be some Japanese propaganda) if they actually make the (supposed) MC commit harakiri and focus on the other spies it will go right to the top of spring and maybe even season.

[shinta|hikari]

I watched the early release of McDelta months ago, and I thought the squad of girls was retarded. It didn't pull me in like the usual Macross stories do.

Watched the Kuma Miko thing. Was mostly boring with a few chuckles.

Neto Ge was pretty amusing for ANOTHER MMORPG anime. Probably coz of the boobs.

EDIT:
Zero MMORPG is a friggin waste of budget. It has a 2 episode opener with great animation, but the hero is a retard, and all the characters are cut outs. It has some good comedy parts, but those are few and jarring from the rest of the setting. It's exactly what Konosuba failed to be: half-assed.

[Kraco]

Habanero of the Iron Fortress seemed better than I expected. While it undoubtly borrows hugely from Titan, at the same time it did have some differences I like more, such as the nature of the enemies and the world itself. So far I didn't dislike the characters either.

[Ryllharu]

So, Sakamoto desu ga! is a gag series about a "cool" transfer student named Sakamoto. Various bullies don't like how Sakamoto has drawn so much attention the first day, and decide that they'll bully him to bring him down a peg or two. Their plans tend not to work out too well. How cool is Sakamoto? Think Hosaka (http://anidb.net/perl-bin/animedb.pl?show=character&charid=3098), but without appearing like a pervert.

A gag series that has a predominantly male main cast but doesn't have super deformed art. How rare.

The OP is also one of the best so far this season. Oh, and what's this? School Rumble's director?

edit: Looking at the cast, I suppose subsequent episodes will also have some female "villains," so it will be egalitarian in who challenges Sakamoto.

[MFauli]

Just watched ep1 of that Neto ge-anime. First episode was okay-ish, but with how it ended, I now fully expect it to be turned into a generic harem show :/

But the most bs aspect is Ako. Ffs, she´s so cute and hot, both at the same time, and she´s all over Rusian. Damn. What I´d do to her ...

[Munsu]

Watched first episode of Ace Attorney, it was quite bad. Doubt I'll give it more of a chance.

Also watched first 3 episodes of My Hero Academia, and am quite enjoying it. Shounen through and through, so have to deal with that, and a crying protagonist, but otherwise have no trouble using it to waste some time and see where it leads. Can see why people wouldn't give it much of a thought to it though. First 3 episodes where clearly introductory for this character though, episode 4 and on seem like we'll start getting a bit more into the meat of things.

[shinta|hikari]

I felt the intro for MHA was too expanded considering it's a typical shounen backstory. It's like watching a Spiderman origin story all over again. I think 2 episodes could've made it flow better and cut down on the random crying.

[Munsu]

I felt the intro for MHA was too expanded considering it's a typical shounen backstory. It's like watching a Spiderman origin story all over again. I think 2 episodes could've made it flow better and cut down on the random crying.

Wholeheartedly agree. I have a soft spot for this types of series, so I forgive a lot. But it's a fairly poor way to introduce the series along with all the clichés.

We'll see. I'll keep watching, not that I'd go around recommending it... but I think it should get better than what it's been so far.

[shinta|hikari]

Ryll and MoM (not my mom or yours, the GW one) say the manga gets a lot better. Ryll even went as far as to call it excellent writing, which is rarer than Mfauli not ranting.




I'm just kidding guys, don't go berserk.

[Ryllharu]

And so long as Bones stays faithful to it (almost too faithful to a fault for the first three episodes, which is why they dragged), I stand by that statement.

[Kraco]

It was quite a poor launch of a story if you ask me. The beginning should be so catchy that it pulls people in and don't let go, but I fail to see how this whimper fest would do that. If I hadn't read numerous times about the manga on irc and didn't have Ryll and Archie's recommendations, that is, didn't know anything about this show beforehand, I'd have dropped this after the first ep. I only kept watching because of the knowledge it apparently gets better. And, yeah, the third ep already wasn't so bad.

So, the beginning is a failure of writing.

[Edort4]

My Hero Academia slight spoilers ahead. - please refrain from going too deeply into the plot or devices in these Impression threads. Perhaps white them out. This is especially true if you're going into manga content.

-Buff

I think I read MHA up to chapter 40 something and it was a plain shounen with nothing special to it for me. I remember the writer started to run out of ideas for new powers so it was a bit pathetic to read each new character introduced. The MC and the rival are plain and boring and 100% cliched (elite natural wonder guy vs. no powers but strong spirit and right state of mind "cheated" MC).

Its true that some of the plot and fight twists were good, how to control the vast power MC has without killing himself and so it was handled well. I guess its ok for a shounen but its miles away from HxH, OP or even Naruto IMO.

Could be that reading this manga at the same time I was watching One Punch, being set in a somehow similar environment, made me more conscious about its flaws.

[Munsu]

Managed to watch up to episode 4 of Ace Attorney for no good reason.

Honestly, this is pure shit of a show, idiotic as fuck.

[shinta|hikari]

But aren't the games popular or something? I was planning to watch it but haven't started yet. Now I'm having second thoughts.

[Buffalobiian]

But aren't the games popular or something? I was planning to watch it but haven't started yet. Now I'm having second thoughts.

I watched the first episode and it was pretty horrible.

It's the same as watching a game, without the game.

[MFauli]

The Phoenix Wright-games are fantastic. From what I´ve seen the anime is a 1:1 re-telling, so unless you´re an ignorant, it should be great if it´s your first time witnessing the story ;>

[David75]

No it isn't great. Because every turning point, fact and plot are just dumb, ass pulling or utterly badly written.
The difference with the game comes from the fact everything is done for you here, and it's incredibly bad.

[Munsu]

The Phoenix Wright-games are fantastic. From what I´ve seen the anime is a 1:1 re-telling, so unless you´re an ignorant, it should be great if it´s your first time witnessing the story ;>

No need to be calling yourself names.

[shinta|hikari]

Wow. those are pretty harsh comments.

Mfauli, is it possible that you are watching the anime through rose-colored glasses because you liked the games? Maybe the story isn't as good without the player interaction?

[Ryllharu]

I loved the games, and I think the first three have one of the best interconnected story arcs that a VN-type game can have...but the anime is pretty terrible.

One-for-one adaptations are not always a good thing, as we see with Ace Attorney and the first three episodes of Boku no Hero Academia.

Half the charm of the games is the player actually having to figure it out in Wright/Naruhodo's shoes. When they simply tell you, as the anime does, it lacks that player "aha!" moment where the whole "turnabout" gameplay happens. You find the one piece of evidence or counter-statement, and the case starts to snowball in your favor. As a game, they're extremely well crafted. As an passive anime, not so much.

The game has momentum. The anime doesn't.

[MFauli]

I agree that the anime isn´t great. But calling it "horrible" takes it too far imo. It´s not an anime I look forward to because I know all the stuff. But it´s jolly good, and definitely above par. Unless it got worse, I´m only two episodes in.

[KrayZ33]

I loved the games, and I think the first three have one of the best interconnected story arcs that a VN-type game can have...but the anime is pretty terrible.

One-for-one adaptations are not always a good thing, as we see with Ace Attorney and the first three episodes of Boku no Hero Academia.

Half the charm of the games is the player actually having to figure it out in Wright/Naruhodo's shoes. When they simply tell you, as the anime does, it lacks that player "aha!" moment where the whole "turnabout" gameplay happens. You find the one piece of evidence or counter-statement, and the case starts to snowball in your favor. As a game, they're extremely well crafted. As an passive anime, not so much.

The game has momentum. The anime doesn't.

Without having watched anime, or playing the game, I can get behind and understand that.
To mem it sounds like this show is how Detective Conan was... never understood why this show got so many episodes and why it turned out to be such a big show. In the end, he'd always use context, information and scenes that were never shown to the audience, sometimes he'd even "hide" evidence and you just knew "he has something in his pocket that leads to the culprit".

[Munsu]

I agree that the anime isn´t great. But calling it "horrible" takes it too far imo. It´s not an anime I look forward to because I know all the stuff. But it´s jolly good, and definitely above par. Unless it got worse, I´m only two episodes in.

Honestly can't see how can you think this anime, so far, is anything above horrible. And I'm a very understanding person, but this has been one of the worst I've watched. So far no redeeming qualities to be said about it.

Your opinion on this, particularly given your history of heavy criticism against some animes, is a huge head scratcher for me.

[MFauli]

As I said, I watched 2 episodes so far. Maybe it´ll wear me down with more episodes seen.

[Munsu]

As I said, I watched 2 episodes so far. Maybe it´ll wear me down with more episodes seen.

Well, I thought it was horrible from the get go... but I can see some allowances to be made for those that seem to be reminiscing their experience from the game.

Even then, I still find it difficult to understand how you haven't found it to be bad yet objectively speaking. So far I've found very very few people that have actually have had a positive thing or two to say about the anime, all I've seen is an outpour of negativity towards it; I concur with them.

And when I tie it to the fact of how little allowance you've shown other animes that have been widely enjoyed, it makes your current stance very curious to me and hard to understand it aside from letting some of the game nostalgia bias cloud judgement maybe.

This coming from a person who has a soft spot for procedurals and silly detective series like Detective Conan and Detective Academy Q, just haven't found anything to at least charm some positivity and entertainment out of me. Character interaction have been bad, dialogue has been poor, the whole process of the cases have been incredibly stupid and idiotic. Just don't see anything worthwhile here so far.