So far this is still exactly my cup of tea. Some nice relationship growth between the main girls, with no ridiculous over-the-top drama to speak of. Just nice, down-to-earth stuff that makes sense, and some nice "aww" moments too.
I APPLAUDED IT FOR BEING DIFFERENT
Found the first ep pretty entertaining. I know Isekai shows have been done to death already but hopefully this one will have enough unique ideas to at least be a fun romp. Seems there are a lot of characters still to meet but I did like the Tsundere dragon intro!
Quite liked the first episode. Very soft and relaxing style to it. Both main girls seem pretty sweet and the supporting cast seems pretty fun too. Certainly got a far better impression from this one than I did from Citrus (no nightmarish CG crowds either).
Hoping for a nice fluffy Yuri romance series to soothe the soul here.
No-one was more excited than me to see the return of FMP after so long. The first warning sign was seeing studio Xebec, not exactly known for high-quality animation, attached to the project. And the fact that there were not only 2 intermission episodes but also the last 2 episodes being delayed suggests they may have struggled to deliver on this one.
That's not to say it was all bad, hell I can think of several studios who would probably have done an even worse job, but it's still a shame to see it not fully live up to its potential. Scheduling issues aside, there are definitely significant drops in animation quality noticeable throughout the series (more so in the last few eps).
The plot itself was compelling enough and it was just great to see the characters back after all this time. However the ending is going to suck if there isn't any more material planned after this. Overall I'm glad I watched it, and I'll still take this over no more FMP, it's just a shame as it could have been better.
We'd better not have to wait another 13 years to find out what happens next!
Quite the dip in quality in this episode. This combined with an irregular airing schedule... I wonder if Xebec were struggling?
Just as I was kinda losing interest they introduce the Naoya/Kou dynamic, which I really enjoyed and wished we could have seen more of.
Fairly cute series overall and certainly more grounded than other recent series' attempts at referencing otaku life. Animation was prety bad at times and of course being an A-1 show they couldn't help but plaster their other shows advertising everywhere (something I'm noticing more and more). Not a masterpiece by any means but if you enjoy the couples you'll get at least some enjoyment out of this one.
Kinda lost my enthusiasm for this one as it went on. Strong start, eccentric characters and good animation, but the show didn't really go anywhere. It felt like a lot of random skits, some of which were quite amusing, others less so.
Some of the characters were fun, others I didn't like as much. To be honest I didn't like Hina very much, she was often the weakest part of the story. Anzu was adorable, and Mao was nice from what we saw of her. Nitta was okay sometimes. The rest of the cast ranged from quite funny to pretty forgettable.
Forgettable is also how I'd describe the series. Not terrible, fairly entertaining, but I doubt this is one that I'll remember.
Well, that's left me hooked and wanting more. What a great show.
Probably the episode where the series finally "clicked" for me. I really enjoyed the banter between the couples, and the cute moments later in the episode.
And as @deanzel says, some great derpy faces this episode. Always the mark of a fun series those.
13 years later...
It's like it never left! I was a bit worried about this one being done by Xebec instead and I suppose there's still a chance they will screw it up, but so far it looks and feels just like the old series. Great to see them all again :D
While this wasn't a bad series in itself I have to say I much preferred the original 2003 version. It's not that this one does anything wrong per se, it's just that it does fall short of the original in my opinion. It doesn't help that half of the episodes were also in the original series too (and often worse versions, again in my opinion).
The funny thing is the animation quality is arguably better this time around (minus the usual dodgy CGI), but I think the original series just nailed the tone and pacing far better.
A bit more angst than I would have liked towards the end, but still a solid and enjoyable series.
Pretty decent conclusion overall.
I'm not sure why but this series never fully wowed me, despite it being impressively directed an animated I'd say I never got "fully" into it.
That said I still think it was a pretty good series and don't regret my time watching it. The soundtrack and a lot of the character designs were especially impressive.
It begins at last.
Since the VN has been available in English for quite a while, I wonder how many people will go into this already knowing the story like me. Here's hoping it's still good even knowing what happens.
I suspect this won't quite live up to the hype of the original S;G but hopefully we're in good hands with studio White Fox doing this one too.
Oh, and Maho is great. Looking forward to seeing more of her.
I'm pretty worried for the rest of the series now. Animation quality was pretty crap, and I really don't like the new character designs.
Passione as an animation studio seem pretty poor in their output so far.
Welp, I wasn't expecting that.
That feeling when you probably should have checked that the random OVA you grabbed ages ago and just got around to watching was actually a 1 hour recap.
Still, I've seen worse. Reminded me to get hype for S2!
I wasn't sure about this one at first but I really liked the direction things took in the second half and ended up enjoying it quite a bit.
And so the season comes to a close again. Yet again, this was a ride of emotional highs and lows. It was both heartbreaking to see poor Hina being bullied and heartwarming to see Rei and others being there for her and helping her through it. It was good to see some of the other shogi players being fleshed out more too and their stories were also very gripping to watch.
Season 2 has been at least on par with, if not better than Season 1. It has reaffirmed everything I love about the series - the bittersweet moments, the heartbreaking moments, those warm fuzzy moments when you could just happily melt into the warm atmosphere some of the characters seem to naturally exude. I love this series and I really hope we get a season 3 very soon.
And don't listen to the haters, Hina. Your new haircut is adorable!
I can't handle how adorable Hina is!
Welp, I didn't like the first ep very much. Very cheap looking, multiple CGI nightmare scenes with crowds of creepy clone girls doesn't exactly set the tone right. There was the occasional shot that looked decent but for the most part it looked very ugly and cheap. Wasn't exactly gripped by any of the characters or the story either, in fact parts of it actively annoyed me. Think I'll give this one a miss.
A shame as I was hoping for a good adaptation. I've not read it but I hear citrus is one of the definitive Yuri Mangas to read. Perhaps I'll just check out the Manga instead.
So sweet. My heart melted. I hope things get better for Hina now!
Oh wow, what a terrible movie this was. I watched this in the cinema with 5 other people and we all hated it.
My main issue is that the characters are unlikable and the story feels completely inconsequential and pointless. From the trailer I was expecting something more akin to AnoHana (e.g. Nazuna dies and he tries to save her by changing the past) or maybe even a bit of Steins;Gate with the reality marble thing, but instead it used for the most mundane, unimportant and inconsequential changes. I kept thinking "there must be more to it than this", but no, the guy basically just wants to go out with the girl and keeps jumping back in time/rewriting reality when things don't go his way. Not exactly high-stakes.
Then there's the fact that the Nazuna just comes across as a brat, rather than the mysterious girl I think they were going for. Again, I kept thinking that there must be more behind her trying to run away from home, but no, she's just being an immature brat. The main guy's friend was awful too, acting like a jealous jerk when he didn't get to go with her to the fireworks (even though you've already seen that given the opportunity, he chickens out anyway!) and all the other characters barely had any personality or involvement in the story.
And good lord, I got so sick of the stupid "are fireworks flat or round" conversations. I guess that was supposed to be profound/the motif of the film, but it was just stupid.
The animation was pretty poor too. There were a few well-animated segments but in general it just looked like a TV anime - and the CG, oh god the CG. It was absolutely terrible and cringeworthy whenever they used it, e.g. when they were riding bikes around looking like stiff, low-polygon aliens. How anyone can look at that and think it's okay is beyond me. It doesn't surprise me when I see that kind of thing in TV anime but for a movie you'd expect them to try a bit harder. I don't expect every anime movie to match that level of visual quality, but good god did this look cheap.
This is easily the worst thing I've seen by SHAFT and it's even more disappointing as a big fan of the studio myself. I've never seen them as a "big budget" studio but they're normally pretty good at still making their works look good even on a small budget (fans will be familiar with their unusual visual quirks - there were very few in this either), hell at the time of this comment "March Comes in Like a Lion" (also by SHAFT) is airing and it looks gorgeous by comparison and probably cost a lot less to produce too.
It feels like this was SHAFT attempting to create an answer to the likes of Your Name/A Silent voice etc and falling incredibly short.
Last few episodes have been really sweet seeing Rei desperate to help Hina, but so heartbreaking too. I just want to give her a hug and tell her it's all going to be okay!
Hopefully now that she's pissed she'll be going on the offensive and those vile girls will get their comeuppance
Poor Hina :'(
Tissues out for this one!
Hululu is mai penguin waifu.
RIP Grape-kun :(
I hope we don't have too many episodes that cover the same material the original series did. The Colosseum arc spanned 2 episodes in the original and it's hard not to view this one as a rushed version of it (although I don't know if first-time viewers would feel the same way). Still, I suppose it was somewhat necessary to introduce the son of the king and his talking dog, who will be recurring cast members if the series art is anything to go by.
Always nice to have a Yanagi Nagi OP and ED too :)
Definitely one of the prettiest shows this season. I notice it's 2-cour too, so it'll be a longer story. At a guess I'd say this will be more on the slice of life side of things, with some magic and drama thrown in (that was certainly the impression the 3 OVA story released prior to this gave), which is fine by me. I like what I've seen of the characters so far but I think it'll be a few more episodes before I know how much I'm going to like them.
