First Impression: Gatchaman Crowds

I didn't give this show any attention until my colleague starts spazzing (and drew fanarts overnight) about it. He said it was good and funny. It sounds alright so yeah lets check this out. I do hope it is as good as people say it is. After all, it takes a lot for me to actually go loco for a mecha anime.

(c) Pixiv ID 4394760

And I didn't go loco (well, not completely anyway) for the Gatchaman but I do like the characters in this show, especially Hajime which is quite surprisingly given the fact that I usually ended up disliking characters like her.

Gatchaman is about a bunch of people who are selected by JJ, the Gatchaman God of some sort. They are given a planner that represent their soul and they would use it to change to Gatchaman mode and save the innocent people from MESS. Hajime is the newbie and she's about to throw the balance out the window. At least from the inside.

This show is surprisingly addicting and greatly entertaining. I am certainly looking forward to see the rest of the Gatchaman suits. Having said that, Hajime's Gatchaman suit is definitely my least favorite. That much, I can tell already.

Episode: 12
Aired: Summer 2013
Producers: Tatsunoko Productions

arts & animation 8/10
story 7/10
characters 8/10
sound 9/10
enjoyment 9/10
overall 8.2/10
 

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First Impression: Date A Live

This could be the first harem show of the season for me. I have never been kind with harem show and I have a feeling that I might end up raging a lot watching this first episode of Date A Live. But lets not jump to conclusion. Let's go prove that I am right, shall we?

(c) Mishima Kurone

Well... technically I wasn't wrong. It has not turned out as I expected it to be. There isn't any harem to begin with, well at least not obvious harem but there is some flying girls with big swords and big guns. I was totally at lost.


As always, the stupidest male gets to be the protagonist of the show and surrounded by females of different boobs size. Goes to show that world is not fair, even in animu. Somehow his younger sister is a commander of a battle ship that fought or try to eliminate spirits that common people thought was spacequake.

Yeah, stupid as fuck.

Which mean I won't be watching the rest of the show.

Having said that, the assistant commander, that masochist guy, made me LOL'd.

Episode: 12
Aired: Spring 2013
Producers: AIC Plus+

arts & animation 6/10
story 6/10
characters 6/10
sound 6/10
enjoyment 6/10
overall 6/10

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First Impression: Karneval

I know of this series through the manga. The manga is full of bishies so naturally as a fujoshi it quickly becomes one of my favorite manga to read until the day came when I stopped reading manga because I was too busy. So somewhat the series was forgotten. So I'm glad that they decided to make an anime out of it!

(c) M 0514

Well, that feeling of glad doesn't lasted very long. Half way through the first episode I was at lost. I blame it all on myself because I cannot remember anything that I've read from the manga. The only thing I remember are the characters and Circus. Other than that, nada.

So, I feel a little bit disappointed at the show as well at myself. I have high expectation for this show but it didn't satisfy me at all. Having said that I am still gonna watch this. I am sure that it can only get better from here onwards.

By the way, Gareki is  my favorite character when I read the manga. I remember him being more aloof in the manga though.

That's about all I can say from watching this first episode of Karneval. Not much, huh? Not even a rant.

Episode: 13
Aired: Spring 2013
Producers: Manglobe

arts & animation 7/10
story 7/10
characters 8/10
sound 9/10
enjoyment 7/10
overall 7.6/10

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First Impression: Muv-Luv Alternative - Total Eclipse

It was easy for me to dismiss this show and put it in the anishit list for my preview for the simple fact that I am not a fan of boobs or any of the genres. I have also seen figures being made for this show which often means that I made the right decision. My logic is fucked up sometimes but I'm fine with it. Problem?

Muv-Luv Alternative is pretty much about a bunch of girls driving a mecha to fight off alien invaders. They are still kids with barely any training but obviously one/two of them girls will be great and such. It is a pretty much standard mecha story all over again. Having said that, the pace was good and the setup wasn't all that bad at all.

I just don't understand the tight-suit part. Why the hell they have to create it to look like that? Did pervert invented them? That should explain all the unnecessary exposures. And why the hell am I ranting about this shit?

Anyhoo, I wasn't a fan of the character designs. It was typical and wasn't even that sharp. Maybe they literally took the 90's concept because it really does feels outdated. The sound, especially during the war, was pretty accurate though so credits for that. Too bad I don't really pay any attention to the seiyuu but overall I think they did good.

I stand corrected though. This show does not deserved a place in my anishit list at all. Unfortunately, like I said, I am not a fan of the genres and so, even though I somewhat enjoyed the first episode, I doubt that I will have time to sit through the rest of 23 episodes. I don't think I will enjoy it that much.

However I will watch several more episodes just because I want to see Daisuke Ono's character. Heh.

Episode: 24
Aired: Summer 2012
Genres: Action, Mecha, Sci-fi, Military

arts & animation 5/10
story 7/10
characters 6/10
sound 7/10
enjoyment 6/10
overall 6.4/10

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First Impression: Accel World

I have seen some of the fanarts for this show, and what others have to say about it on Twitter but still, it doesn’t prepare me at all for what the show really is. I was totally lost the first five minutes checking it out.

We have this fat and short male protagonist, Haru, who is naturally weak and get bullied by everyone, and often escaped from reality by joining the virtual world, of which he transformed into a pig. Orz. One day he got a break when the most popular girl offered an application (Brain Burts) which totally shattered his concept of reality. It brings him to Accelerated World, or Accel World in short.

(c) Ekakibito

He is the kind of protagonist that pissed me off. He knows he is weak and cowardly so why the fuck doesn’t he want to change that and actually pushed people who wanted to help him away? I would have smacked people like him in real life so hard just for the fun of it. I mean, they love it, don’t they? That’s why they don’t want to change.

Oh, did I mention that the technology is so advanced they don’t need computer or keyboard or modem. All they need is what seemed to be an electronic neck collar that allows you to connect and use the computer using your eyesight vision. Pretty nifty, right?

Black Swallowtailed Butterfly warned Haru not to on the Global Linker at all after school but he forgot. What happened? He got an upgrade (he’s no longer a pig, but a kin of Green Power Ranger) and an opponent to boot.

I am more interesting to see what happened with his friends that he doubted though and probably the only reason why I would continue watching it.

The story is somewhat unique and the art and animation weren’t bad at all. I can’t say that I enjoyed it though. It is more like the story itself force me to sit through the entire episode because it got me curious. I personally think that’s a good thing. At least it piqued my interest.

Number of episodes:

Season: Spring 2012

Art & animation 7/10

Story 8/10

Characters 7/10

Sound 7/10

Enjoyment 6/10

Overall 7/10

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First Impression: Ozma

This show started even before the Spring season official release was out but it is only now that I feel like watching it. That is just me being lazy or caught up with work and life in general. I wasn’t excited at all about Ozuma but I figured I need to be fair and see what it is all about before I draw my own conclusion.

I was damn excited when I heard the opening song because I immediately recognized that it is a song from FT Island, my favorite Korean band. If I had known that they sang the OP, I would have checked this show out sooner.

Unfortunately though, the show itself was crappy. The art really turned me off. It is too shoujoish for me. It’s the year 2012 for fuck sake, who draws like that anymore? The animation too was below average. The perspective was off and it wasn’t smooth at all. Mediocre is probably the right word to describe it.

As for the story, I can’t really tell what it was all about. It is just sand after sand of shit. I dropped the show before it hits the 7 minutes mark. If they phailed to grab my attention or pique my interest in the first 7 minutes, I doubt they could do it at all. First impression is pretty important after all.

But I did know that the show is named after a creature that lives under the sands. It was pretty stupid really, especially when I saw the vehicles they were on. For a second there, I thought I was watching an animated Star Wars, if you know what I mean.

There’s only one good thing about this show and that’s the OP. That’s not good enough reason to suffer through this. It is definitely not worthy of my time.

And so this show is being dumped into the anishit list. I refused to be Leijitimize!

Number of episodes: 6

Season: Spring 2012

Arts & animation 4/10

Story 4/10

Characters 4/10

Sounds 6/10

Enjoyment 4/10

Overall 4.2/10

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First Impression: Zetman

Heh, if you read my preview for this show, you see how mislead I was. Here, lemme quote myself

"For some reason I got excited with Zetman. It probably has something to do with that misleading poster. It looks like a guy carrying another guy in his arms. The fujoshi in me squeals in delight."

So for the sake of argument, let just say that I have quite an "expectation" for this show XD

(c) pixiv id 4062951

And holy shit Zetman totally blew my mind away. I got more than what I expected. There was blood and violence and the fighting sequence makes me wet my pantsu. I love it.

Jin is a Player, an experimental creature used to entertain the higher society. Unfortunately one day these Players gain a mind of their own and rebel. They are at large in the society disguising themselves as human. Jin was brought up by the man who created him so he's more human than all the other creatures, and hence our main protagonist. This episode pretty much a history lesson for us viewers and it was done cleverly and interestingly enough to make me want to see the episode ASAP.

I thoroughly enjoyed this episode because of the reasons I have already stated though I am a bit apprehensive with what's going to happen when he's all grown up and met Kouga again. If they end up as enemy, that would be intense.

I'm giving all the compliments that they deserved to the animation studio for job well done with the arts and animation. I was very impressed indeed especially when Jin showed those thugs what he was made of. That was definitely one of the highlight of this episode for me. The other was when Jin being ZET towards the end of the episode.

I guess the creativity part comes from the manga itself.

I have nothing but good words to say about this show. A very good first impression indeed. I'm sorry that I didn't check this show earlier.

Number of episode: 13
Season: Spring 2012

art & animation 8/10
story 8/10
characters 7/10
sound 7/10
enjoyment 9/10
overall 7.8/10

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First Impression: AKB0048

My understanding is, this series might be pretty similar to the iDOLM@STER. And then I heard that it was inspired by a real life group idol that I don't give a shit about hence can't remember their names. So basically, I think this series is going to sucks. BAD.

 

The story is indeed as bad, or perhaps worse, as I predicted. A bunch of girls in a planet where any sorts of entertainment is forbidden, created a guerrilla group which supposedly will inspire the people. Sounds reasonable but is poorly executed. It just doesn't compute for me, especially when I see old guys fapping cheering for them.

I feel sorry for the mecha fans. I really am.

I dropped this shit after 9 minutes and 11 seconds. I was raging. No big surprised.

art & animation 7/10
story 4/10
characters 5/10
sound 7/10
enjoyment 3/10
overall 5.2/10

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First Impression: Haiyore! Nyaruko-san

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First Impression: Uchuu Kyoudai

This show is better known as Space Brothers and though it has been several weeks since it was released (I remember downloading it before I went to Korea), it is only know that I have time to sit down and check out the show. I said in my preview that I look forward to watch this show (because it is produced by A-1 Pictures) but since horriblesubs named the torrent in English, I totally missed it. Orz.

Without further delay, let see if I am right about this being a good show that is worthy to be in my "must watch" list of anime this season.


Uchuu Kyoudai and A-1 Pictures definitely did not disappoint me. It is what I expected it to be and much more. The story is pretty simple; it revolves around two brothers who made promises to go to the moon and Mars when they grow up. Mutta is the older brother of the Nanba household and Hibito is the youngest. The two of them are pretty tight since their childhood days, always doing things together. As an older brother, Mutta always trying to be one step ahead of Mutta, which is how he ended up promising that he's going to Mars when Hibito said that he's going to the moon during the night they both saw UFO, which pretty much sparked this story.

The setup for this show is in the year of 2025. Naturally the boys are all grown up and Hibito is already an astronaut working with NASA in a mission to the moon. Mutta on the other hand just lost his job and unemployed after he butthead his employer when he made fun of Hibito. He was pretty lost with his purpose in life until Hibito helped him out by reminding him about the promise he mad when they were kid. He also (with the help from their mother) sent Mutta's resume to JAXA (Japan equivalent to NASA) which apparently is quite impressive because Mutta was accepted to be their next astronaut.

What I like about Uchuu Kyoudai is the realism about it. It was easy for Mutta to given up simply because he was born on a bad date but he never really take that as a set back but embraces it as part of his responsibilities as an older brother to stay focus and be one step ahead of his younger brother Hibito, who unlike him, was born during an auspicious day. This allow the show to open up a deeper discussion about destiny and personal attitude.

The art and animation for Uchuu Kyoudai are not really familiar to A-1 Pictures' other productions. Usually they produced really pretty and astounding animation but for Uchuu Kyoudai, they choose to be a minimalist. This can clearly be seen for the character designs that are lot less details than what they normally do, and less clean as well. Not that it's a bad thing though because even though they sort of look oldskool/nostalgic (that of BECK), it somehow works brilliantly with the concept. After all we are going back and forth to the past (1996 - 2006) and present (2025).

The art isn't the only thing that is nostalgic about this show. The OP and ED complimented that feelings really well. It is like the OP and ED were specifically chosen to resonate with the two protagonists. The oldskool rock of "Feel So Moon" OP definitely fits with Mutta while the more recent modern rock vibe can be detected in the ED of "This Wonderful World" by Gira Mundo which of course fits Hibito, the younger brother.

As for the seiyuu, can't say that I am a fan of Mutta's voice. I thought he sounds too old for his age. I'm not taking anything away from Hiroaki Hirata though. I am just saying that someone like Tomokazu Sugita would have been perfect playing the role of a mid 30's man. No complains for Kenn though. Hibito is rather perfect in every sense of the word, no?

This show is lot heavier and deeper than any other anime I've seen so far for Spring. It takes a fresh and realistic approach at the lives of two brother without any hidden undertone. I love the ideas of what they want the audience to experience by watching this show: of desires, choices and decisions that we made in our lives, and if they affected the path that we once chose as a child. It is also of hopes and dreams. Ain't that the beauty of being alive?

Why am I being so poetic all of a sudden?

Alright then. End.

art & animation 7/10
story 8/10
characters 8/10
sound 7/10
enjoyment 9/10
overall 7.8/10

p/s: Did you know that this show is an adaptation from the same titled manga Koyama Chuuya which won two manga awards as well as nominated for several more? Well know you do.

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First Impression: Tsuritama

Surely by now you would have known that I am a fan of A-1Pictures. They didn't come out with any anime last season so I was really looking forward to watching two of their anime this season and Tsuritama is definitely one of it, especially so since it is featured in noitaminA and Tomokazu Sugita is one of the seiyuu. But then I started notice people's reactions to the show and though it doesn't dampened my excitement, it sure does rings some warning bells in my brain, just so that I won't be disappointed at the end of this episode.

Having said that, I can understand why people are whining about this show, especially you boys: it is featuring the story of four boys. If they were girls, I am sure the reactions would be different indeed.


Well, thank goodness that I didn't let others' opinions influenced me because I ended up enjoying every second of Tsuritama and dare I say it that my faith in noitaminA has been restored!

It is a show that I can't figure out how it will end after watching the first episode which is always a good thing. Predictability can be so cliche and I am not that good at dealing with cliche shit. Tsuritama starts with a tale of dragon with five heads that darkened an island with horrors and such until a goddess appeared one day from a purple sky. The dragon then fell in love with the goddess and before I knew it, there's Haru, one of the boys, who claimed himself to be an alien. He certainly has abilities of controlling people using his water pistol and communicating with fish. It looks like he was searching for something until he found Yuki, whose grandmother is quite hawt to be honest, and has some panic issue. He wants to be normal but has problem dealing with attentions. He transferred to the city by the sea because his grandmother got a new job there. The two of them are Natsuki's classmate. Natsuki is the prince of fishing - oh did I forget to mention that this show has a lot to do with fish and sea? - and has quite a cold persona, which is his charm in my opinion ♥

The first time they met, they were brought together by Haru who brainwashed them to go fishing with him. Yuki seeming has found something in fishing that might help him with his panic attack - and friends too - something that he always wanted.

But they are being watched by Akira, some sort of a prince who is always with a goose, and surrounded by bodyguards. It is still not clear who he is and what his deal is but the episode definitely got me interested in finding out more about everything.

I think Ryota Ohsaka does a really good job at voicing Yuki, given the fact that he is a novice. Yuki is not a one dimensional character and if he can carry his character well, I'm sure he has a bright future as seiyuu right in front of him. Needless to say, given the 1 minute introduction, was enough to makes me giddy of Akira simply because of Tomokazu Sugita. Haru's voice is rather annoying but I think it fits perfectly with the kind of character that he is which says a lot of his seiyuu, Miyu Irino. Kouki Uchiyama deep and serious voice makes me fall for Natsuki so yeah needless to say, I am a fan of all four :D

Everything about Tsuritama is vibrant and bizarre, starting with the character all the way to the animation and arts, which I must say, is something that I love to see in many other A-1 Pictures. It gives the feelings of watching a mix anime between SHAFT and Toei animation. Speaking of which, Tsuritama is directed by Kenji Nakamura, the same genius who directed Mononoke and C. Knowing this just makes my expectation for this show grows exponentially. It is rather careless of me, I know, because this could end up to be another Fractale but hey as long as I'm entertained, I won't complain much.

Yes, I know that I am biased as fuck. Aren't you?

Which mean I love the OP and ED too, especially the ED ^____^

Like I've said, it looks like I am most likely gonna spend my Spring watching A-1 Pictures anime and nothing else.

art & animation 10/10
story 9/10
characters 9/10
sound 10/10
enjoyment 10/10
overall 9.6/10

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First Impression: Ai no Kusabi (2012)

I can't remember the last time I watched yaoi. It has been a while. Since I've been working relentlessly for these past couple of months, I think I deserved a reward. Needless to say, I'm pretty stoked about this one right here. I have been waiting for it since last year but for some reason they canceled the plan to release it last year and only now did us fans finally manage to get the 2012 version of the legendary Ai no Kusabi. Yeah, if you think you are a fan of yaoi but have never watch the 1992 version, don't call yourself a fan.


The premise of the story is basically the same but with better animation, character design etc. Riki is still Iason's pet, since well... he has black hair and thus automatically made him a mongrel. The blondies are pretty much the men in power and each of them are allowed to take one mongrel from the slum to become their pet. I know... fucked up society is fucked up LOL

I found myself still a bit partial towards Iason. He's just so calm and collected. His behavior as Riki's master is something that I look forward to actually and he's the reason why I fap to this yaoi. Riki for me personally, is a one dimensional character. He's a rebel and that was it. I guess we just have to wait until he realized that he's nothing if he isn't Iason's pet to finally see the other side of his character, if any. This is because Iason has released him and allowed him to go back to the slum. He's a confident buttfucker though and he is just so sure that Riki will be his soon enough. I wish Iason nothing but the best :3

As expected, the animation is crisp and sharp, way better than the 90's version. It sort of reminded me of Togainu no Chi. At certain point, especially when Iason was whispering to Riki's ear as he teased him, I found the animation exceptional what with each of the characters' face expression. It sure is turning me on! If only we get to see more yaoi action... but hopefully good things will come for those who wait.

I like everything about Iason including his voice so I have to compliment Tooru Ookawa for the job well done. Itou Kentarou too is perfect for Riki because he has that rough edges to his voice that showcase the rebellious side of him. He also sounds pretty convincing when he's hot and horny. Heh.

I am currently downloading the second episode of this OVA and can't fucking wait for it to be done. The 2012 version of Ai no Kusabi does not disappoint except for the BL action part. I need to see more of that in my yaoi please...

art & animation 8/10
story 7/10
character 8/10
sound 7/10
enjoyment 9/10
overall 7.8/10

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First Impression: Mouretsu Pirates

Episodes: 26
Producers: Satelight, Starchild Records, Sentai Filmworks
Genres: Sci-fi

Mouretsu Pirates is one of the animes that I know won't sit well with me, based on the preview. As usual, I am watching this just to see if I am right about it. I've heard bits and pieces of this show on Twitter but since I tuned out most of it because of the spoilers, I have no idea what to expect.

(c) Matsumoto Noriyuki

This show evolves around Marika Katou. She is the daughter of the infamous space pirate who led the Bentenmaru. She has no idea about it though until she was visited by her mom's friends and was told that she inherited the space pirate ship since according to the law, only the direct descendant can take over. As expected Marika was skeptical but she can't run from her fate, can she?

Her school is taken over and looks like they are recruiting her friends to be pirates as well. On top of that, the new transfer student looks like she knows more about what's going on than Marika. I have no idea what her role in this show is yet but she's clearly a tsundere.

The art and animation aren't something that will guarantee you to watch this show. In fact I think they are below average. The set up supposedly to be in different planet in different universe but they used kanji to write any legal documents and they were too lazy to think to depict the setting that they wanted to achieve for this show. It ends up like they are on earth in year 3050. It's not convincing at all. Same goes for the character designs. I found them not attractive at all.

The OP and ED greatly compliment the show as in, it annoys the fuck out of me. It has some pretty colorful cast of seiyuu at it's disposal unfortunately they are just average at best and didn't actually bring anything special to their character to remember them by.

Mouretsu Pirates is a 26 episodes show. I don't know why it needs that many episodes because I can't see how they can develop the story to be interesting. Though the first episode wasn't bad, it didn't bring anything to the table. I just pretty much sat on my chair and watched it from start to finish without any kind of excitement. It's was monotonous and it's the second worse kind of feeling for an anime fan to have. The first one is of course raging.

Mouretsu Pirates is as average as anime can get, not even that to be honest but if you don't mind spending time watching average anime, go ahead since it wasn't bad. It's definitely wasn't good either.

art & animation 5/10
story 5/10
characters 5/10
sound 5/10
enjoyment 5/10
overall 5/10

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First Impression: Ano Natsu de Matteru

Episodes: 12
Producers: J.C. Staff, Sentai Filmworks
Genres: Sci-fi, Comedy, Romance

When I saw the female protagonist has quite a huge rack in the poster, I have got to be honest, I was already judging this show. I don't usually do well with characters with big tits (Orihime Inoue is one fine example) so I have my reservation about this show as a whole. But I'm kinder when it comes to romance theme anime so I hope the romance will outshine any other flaws that I might find in Ano Natsu de Matteru (or Waiting in the Summer). And of course, there's the fact that this one is produced by J.C. Staff.

look at that character chart >_>

Well, I am ready throw my judgement out of the window after less than 2 minutes in. If nothing else, the animation and the art got me hooked right away and is it just me of Kaito looks like Jintan from Ano Hana with that shaggy hair and megane? Having said that, I wasn't very fond of the prospect that there's alien or extra terrestrial being in this show because I personally feels like that theme has been abused for far too much in anime to make it original and different. Hmm, there I go being judgmental once again >_>

Halfway through the episode it started to dawn on me that I might ended up raging about this show. Why? I can already see what is going to happen because apparently J.C. Staff decided to take the safe path and thus it's cliche as fuck.

And then there's that FRIENDZONE shit. For some reason I always ended up liking the other girl, the second heroin, which in this case, Kaito's childhood friend Kanna and for that reason I knew that she and Kaito could never happened simply because a red haired alien with big tits who saved Kaito when she landed on earth (if you asked me, it was totally her fault that he's "dead" so I don't see why Kaito would be attracted to her) decided to overstay her visit and enroll at the same school as theirs.

IF and that's a big if, that Ichika decided to go back to wherever she comes from and Kanna ended up together with Kaito because he either (a) feel sorry for her (b) has no other choice, I would rage my ass off. If the production decided to do something unexpected like that, they better develop the story that is not only convincing but unique as well. I don't want another repeat of True Tears.

I've introduced some of the characters but there are few more in my opinion that are far more interesting than the two protagonists. For example, the ladies man Tetsurou, the perverted Mio and Lemon (that name I think is self-explanatory). I found myself rather interested with (and if) there are other romance budding besides that of Kaito and Ichika. It would be less cliche, definitely.

Like I said earlier, the art for Ano Natsu de Matteru is definitely the strongest selling point for this show. I was amazed by the clouds and the level of details that went into production. J.C. Staff definitely didn't disappoint it fans in term of the quality of the overall animation. I am too lazy to check but is this the only production for J.C. Staff this Winter?

look at that cloud ^_^

I hope more thoughts will be given to the story and romance. I want them focusing on the development of the romance/story as well so that it won't come out too cliche. Cliche just doesn't do very well with me. It tend to make me rage. If it does, then I might just drop this without further notice.

I mean, I was already pissed off when I saw Ichika kissing Kaito in order to save him. THIS IS NOT DISNEY!

Oh boy... I'm in for a rough ride.

art & animation 9/10
story 6/10
characters 8/10
sound 8/10
enjoyment 7/10
overall 7.6/10

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First Impression: Last Exile ~Fam, The Silver Wing~

Last Exile is in my anime show with potential list for this Fall and since I'm late a few days, I have seen how the aniblogsphere absolutely been raving for this show. A good sign indeed. The time has cometh for me to see what the hype is all about.


It takes a while for the story makes sense to me since I have not watched the original (thouggh I bought the DVD many moons ago Orz) but I really don't mind that much because the show is brilliant with the pacing. Fam is one of the Sky Pirates who always seek to hit the First Harpoon. According to the rules, whoever hits the target first will have the right to decide on how to proceed with the assault of taking over the target ships. On the day where Turan Kingdom is supposed to sign a peace treaty with Ades Federation, Fam and her Sky Pirates crew become a hero when they save the two princess of Turan from the Ades Federation who betrays them as they declared war upon Turan Kingdom.

Ah why do bad guys look so delicious? I wanna tap Hafez's ass so badly.

I love the fact that this show isn't just about Fam, but how they come up with strategies to catch those Skyships. It definitely gets me caught up in the moment and I find myself just as excited as Fam's ship crew when she sends out that signal flares. I wanna be a Sky Pirate too!

Needless to say I am very impressed with the animation, and not just with the 3D aircraft. I'm absolutely sold. Hand it over to Gonzo for flying airships. Maybe it's my double standard for the studio, but I am pretty surprised to see Gonzo coming up with something that is fresh. All those places in the show are believable and nicely done. They are definitely serious this time after since their comeback with Nyanpire: The Animation. Gone are the day of Blassreiter heh.

I have seen some very great improvement in female protagonists this season. I usually has absolutely no love for them because they are either stupid, moe or stupid. But things have changed for the better. They are more capable of taking care of themselves with an attitude, looks and intelligence that should make Paris Hilton envious. Just in this show alone, I'm awestruck by both Fam, Dio and Sophia. I'm loving it.

This show has no fault as of yet, probably because i haven' seen the original so I'm less critical about it. Last Exile definitely moves up a rank in my list. Now it's a much watch.

For all of those who are in Asia, you can watch Last Exile ~Fam, The Silver Wing~ same day as Japan on Animax starting October 15, every Saturday at 8pm! You can learn more about it here: http://www.animax-asia.com/shows/lastexile. Since I learned that they are showing this in 3D in Japan, I am excited to watch it on Animax and try it out because I have a specialized 3D TV! Thank you, technology ^__^

art & animation 10/10
story 10/10
characters 10/10
sound 10/10
enjoyment 10/10
overall 10/10

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First Impression: Guilty Crown

I wasn't too impress with UN-GO so here I am hoping that Guilty Crown could make up for what is lacking in that other noitaminA series.

(c) Redjuice

Ouma Shu is a socially awkward student who is currently living in a quasi-independent Japan. He is not happy with what has Japan turned into after the Apocalypse Virus weakened the country to the point that it has to be dependent on other countries, even after all these years. One day he met with Inori, an Egoist singer who is also deemed as a terrorist since she is a member of the Funeral Parlor. Inori was badly hurt and the "authority" found her and took her into custody in front of Shu. This just pressured Shu to do something. Shit can't go down like this forever y'all!

Inori left Funell, her pet robot there. Inside of it is Void Genome that Inori stole. She must give it to Gai at all cost. This presents the perfect opportunity for Shu to retaliate and redeem himself. Gai is actually so fucking hot and so fucking badass, I think I'm gonna die just watching him being so fucking awesome. He fucking kills people with a smile plastered on his face. Oh shit I think I just came LMAO

whats not to fap?
(c) Redjuice

The authority is willing to go to any length to get it back including mass genocide in pretext that they are "infected". Sounds familiar doesn't it? Well, that's what happened when you let the most powerful country (read US of A) "help" you. You are in fact selling your soul to the devil. I am just most thankful to Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohammad for not turning to IMF when the world economy collapsed in 1998. He knew what would happened if we did just that. Instead he tied our currency to MYR3.80 and that save our butt and thus let us continue to be independent. That is why he is my hero.

Anyhoo, back to the show. I am not crazy about "putting your hand inside of someone's chest to obtain absolute power whatevershit". It lacks originality (Code Geass/Dantalian no Shouka anyone?) and even though the Guilty Crown looks bad ass, in the hand of Shu, it is just... blurgh. Why does a coward good for nothing character always gets the girl and the cool gadgets? I never realized that it actually pissed me off until I watched this show. Maybe I'm just getting sick of the same platform being used over and over again. I mean, why can't Gai gets the Guilty Crown? Why does Shu, someone who doesn't know the fuck about anything gets it and given the opportunity to be a hero? Does it supposed to represent hope for the losers? Well, here's a bad news: in real life, you will remain a loser if you believe this shit.

Having said that, Production I.G. does not disappoint me this time around. Besides Gai, the stunning arts nd animation are definitely one of the strong reasons why I'm liking this show despite the infuriating story line and shallow protagonists (both Inori and Shu). The other good reasons are the songs. It was beautifully sang and even though I'm not a fan of Inori the wench, I have to admit, her singing is captivating.



Did I enjoy this more than UN-GO? Though the story sort of something that I've seen too many time before, it was beautifully done and thus credits go to Production I.G for the brilliant execution. Here I am hoping that they develop the story nicely so this one could turn out great otherwise it would be another flop.

Conclusion: There is nothing about the story that excites me but my b0nar for the animation wins the inner battle. I'm not losing my faith on noitaminA just yet and that is indeed a good news.

art & animation 10/10
story 7/10
characters 7/10
sound 9/10
enjoyment 9/10
overall 8.4/10

p/s: for the best review of Guilty Crown, click here.

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First Impression: Persona 4 The Animation

Just like I am with Fate franchise, I am also a noob when it comes to Persona since I don't play the game and the only Persona I know is the anime that was aired couple of years back: Persona ~ Trinity Soul which I enjoyed a lot. Perhaps that is why I am looking forward to see this one as well, even more so now that everyone else is hyper about it too.

Lets just hope that this show lives up to expectation.

(c) Tadashi Hitoshi

Episode 1 started with the introduction of Igor and Margaret who are in the in-between realm. I dunno who the fuck are they talking to though. Then we get to see our protagonist, Yuu Narukami moving in to his uncle's house in a small village, which mean he has to transfer school as well. Ever since he set his foot in that village, something is happening to him and we all already know what that something is. He is creating a persona of himself.

He quickly makes friends: Chie Satonaka, Yukiko Amagi and Yosuke Hanamura. He takes the first trip to the other world with Chie and Yosuke when they accidentally go inside the TV. In that alternate realm, Yuu is given a spectacle that enables him to see the Shadows. At the most critical time, Yuu awakens his Persona and he just transformed!

that megane changes everything! *faps*
(c) Mikuni

I am not crazy about the animation but there is just something about the character designs that added the realism factor for the story, except for the three tone face everyone is having. What is up with that? Did they only tanned from their chin below? The animation needs to be more consistent in my opinion. It was awful during the time Yosuke buying them dango but was great when they were being chased by the Shadows. I mean, I almost creamed my pantsu heh.

One more thing, I think they need to carefully insert their BGM so that it would not ruin the scene. It happened several times during this episode where I can't focus on what the characters were saying because the BGM was so out of place.

Somehow I feel like this show is forcing something down my throat and I am not comfortable with that. A lot of that has to do with Yosuke's supposedly comedic relief. Having said that, the reason why I want to see this show is because of the story and so far it manages to grab my attention and pique my interest.

this guy is pretty convincing ^^

Not a perfect first impression but it's a good start.

arts & animation 8/10
story 8/10
characters 8/10
sound 6/10
enjoyment 8/10
overall 7.6/10

p/s: Why don't they just stick with Souji Seta? Why did they replace his name with Yuu Narukami.

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First Impression: Busou Shinki Moon Angel

What is with the trend of 5 minutes airing time per episode nowadays? Anyway, I was all about giving this show a go, knowing the fact that it might be dropped after the first episode. I'm not a big fan of mecha after all, even more so when the mecha itself are moe lolis.

(c) Momo

Oh, I stand corrected. They aren't really mecha. They are some sort of a robotic toys called Shinki that every boys in town want to own at least one. The show started with two Shinki fighting each other. The blonde was damaged in said fight and went unconscious when she took the fall. It just so happen this kid Tsubasa (who really want a Shinki) found her perched on a tree. He thought that he has found a normal Shinki who was thrown away. He took her in not knowing that the real (evil) masters are looking for her.

And that pretty much concludes the first episode. What does you expect from a 5 minutes episode?

Though it's not bad, it doesn't have anything that appeals to me either. With that said, this one is dropped like I know it would.

art & animation 5/10
story 4/10
characters 5/10
sound 4/10
enjoyment 5/10
overall 4.6/10

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First Impression: No. 6

One of the noitaminA anime for the Summer. It was released the last two weeks but I was too damn busy with shits that I have only got the time to watch it now. Better late than never I guess. I wonder if I ever going to manage checking out the remaining 15 anime of the Summer season =\

(c) Sarnath

No.6 is actually a name of a city that kinda reminds me of Fractale since it's supposed to be the ideal city but just like most place, there are always shits going on underneath the perfect facade. Chronos is the most luxurious part of the city where the most intelligent people resides. That's where Shion lives since he's proven to be a genius.

Though Shion life looks to be perfect on the outside, the show portrays that he might not be content at all. On his twelve birthday, a typhoon hits the city and on that fateful night, he met his fateful counterpart (I'm fulfilling my fantasies, ignore me :P), Nezumi, a boy his age who ran away from some sort of a military based operation. He was wounded so Shion treated him. He learned a few things or two from Nezumi, like No.6 is not really as peaceful as he thought it was.

Though the characters aren't as fluid or pretty as I hope it would be, they are still full of personalities and dare I say, soul. Credits to the seiyuus for making them come alive with their voices. In the preview, they looks like Allen and Yuu Kanda from D.Grayman but they don't look anything like them in this first episode. In fact, Shion hair color is brunette and not white. At least not yet anyway.

If noitaminA tag isn't enough to convince me to watch this show (which it is), the BL and yaoi fanarts scattered around the interweb sure does the trick. But No.6 is more than just appearance, everything else about it is engaging which is why I am so gonna follow this one, as I have stated in my Summer preview. I wonder if I should do an episodic review? Hmm...

art and animation 8/10
story 9/10
characters 9/10
sound 10/10
enjoyment 10/10
overall 9/10

p/s: I freaking love the ED ♥

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Fractale

I have high hopes for Fractale but with each passing episodes, I feel the hopes dwindling to nothingness. The only reason I watched from week to week was because of Sunda but they fucking killed him in the last episodes.

Everyone, meet the late Sunda and Enri Granitz

The story itself was what made this show lacking. It evolved around Phryne, Clain and Nessa and it shouldn't be so. Phryne and Nessa are the key to reboot the Fractale system. If Phryne didn't ran away and be a jackass about it, people won't have to die unnecessarily. Though she is (literally) a slut it is still no excuse for her to be so fickle about every damn thing. If she agreed from the very beginning to be the key and didn't change her mind every god damn 4 seconds, then the Temple will not declare wars on Lost Millenium (they are the one who are against the Fractale System - but not really). Sunda and Dias wouldn't have died.

As you can see, I'm very pissed right now and rightfully so. I am filled with rage when Clain ended up having a happily ever after ending with Phryne (with Nessa's personality). Damn these kids.

I can't believe I said some really nice things about her in my first impression post. 10 episodes later I have nothing but hate for her.

Characters wise, they are not lacking in term of personalities (except for the plain Clain). The character designs also helped built each characters' personalities while the voice actors compliment those characters, giving them souls. Thanks to her splendid performance as Nessa, I think I am a fan of Kana Hanazawa now. Credits for Yu Kobayashi as well for her job well done as Clain though I still wonder why didn't they pick a guy for the job.

The OP/ED, BGM and sound effects for this show is highly commendable. Both the OP and ED are sang by Hitomi Azuma. There are three songs featured in the single CD titled Harinezumi but I never heard the other one. Like I said, towards the end of the show, the OP grew on me and I can even sing along to it. Having said that, my favorite remains with the ED despite the poor Engrish pronunciation.


If there is one thing that blow me away regarding this show, it's the art and animation of the whole thing. I mentioned this several time during in episodic reviews. A-1 Pictures is really good at delivering these sort of stuff. Some of the scenes looks like they came from a beautiful painting, and the camera angle for certain scenes really stood out. Kudos to the animation production team. It was splendid.

But sadly, for a show that is featured in noitaminA, it certainly didn't live up to expectation. I am not entirely sure whose fault is it but if the story didn't evolved around Phryne, it could have ended up as a fabulous show. This show pretended to be deep when it's not. Yamakan totally lost the plot. I rage at how conceded it turned out to be.

arts & animation 10/10
story 7/10
characters 9/10
sound 8/10
enjoyment 6/10
overall 7/10

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