With the first half of the show over I can safely call the show generic. For a LN adaptation it is however surprisingly adventure oriented or at least they take themselves the time.
If you're going to watch the show it is for Chaika bullying and her weird language and character kinks though. I doubt anyone will remember the show once it's finished airing.
As far as this show is concerned I expected it to be rather ridiculous and that it was. It's a mindless ecchi but still a better mecha than Captain Earth anyways. The animation and designs are all rather bad but what can you expect from a show were penguins with front tails are the enemies. Just have a look at the official site and you will know what you get into here http://penguin-empire.com/.
No idea how I finished this show but that was totally not my thing...
Dropped after nine episodes and realizing it will be a two cour show. I was never really content with it starting from the first episode already and it's only gotten worse. It feels like a kiddy show when your antagonists invade your base with an ice cream truck. The story's message is also forced and inconsistent, ass pulls are frequent and don't get me started on the amount of teen angst in this show. At least the art is consistent but I'm not a fan of the designs tho. I'm rating it unusually low but the show is not good enough and neither bad enough.
Gunbuster... Gungrave - Yeah, I had the wrong show on my Watchlist.
I'm sorry for whoever goes into the show based on the promo art because it is really misleading. The show is the sequel to a PS2 game and also opens in that setting; "Beyond the Grave" (the guy on the cover) fighting some monsters. Come the second episode and you're back to him and his friends in their late teens being members of a crime gang. From that point on the story follows them as they join the Mafia and grow older back up to the point where the first episode started. Can't say that is the best way to go about it as a standalone title.
While there are some good episodes along the road once it shifted for it's ending I didn't care for much of it. The shows core is really the relationship between Brandon and Harry and not the peng peng.
The look of the show is rather dated because Madhouse improved on everything since then and it even resembles their later Hellsing Ultimate.
Given that the previous commentators here really enjoyed the show it might appeal to others more but for me it was a true mixed bag.
This show is a mixed-bag that is more on the bad side. It can be pretty much summed up by the meta "Triptank" segments which repeatedly shows that they think that they are too edgy to be on TV (and yeah, there is a lot of stuff about pot because they got to at least grab one audience or something).
Good news: Season 2 will start in October this year. I'm still curious if we will witness the third day of Inter-High still in this season though!
I watched the first episode mostly disliking the show. The art was really bubbly and shiny and one of the center girls, Manaka, was an annoying, whiny klutz. To my surprise it actually got alot better. The characters get developed and some interesting dynamics get added to the story. Not only that, the visuals they kept consistently very high quality made it easily the prettiest show of the recent year I'd say.
Now don't get me wrong, despite this being a world where there are people living both under water and on land, thus sporting a other-worldly element, this isn't exactly it's center point. It mostly serves as a backdrop to a complicated love pentagon between the main cast of kids with plenty of melo-drama and tears (which the story around them just pushes further).
If you're into romance give the show a go but don't expect the biggest mystery out of the legend of the sea god here.
By the looks of it the next show of P.A. Works will be pretty much this again so let's hope they manage to top this.
A semi-entertaining show about a loli planning to take over the world. This should have been better but there was worse last season. Besides the anti-smoking episode which was really terrible (and I'm a non-smoker) it was persistent in it's quality and tone. The strongest point of the show are the non generic character designs (you could take issue with a little girl dressing like that though) but it's just silliness overall. Also not recommended if you take issue in secret identities that are dead obvious but noone noticing them anyways.
An innocent kids show about a little Diva from space revolving around croquettes and friendship. I picked it up on a whim because it just aired over 10 days back to back and the art is wonderfully bright. Hopefully Cyclone Graphics gets another project at some point with a different demographic in mind.
Well... that wasn't very good. It has a bit of an oldschool feel to it but doesn't deliver. Uneven progression that would have benefited from a more head-on adventure focus. The major reveals are kinda hard to believe (nobody seems to pick up on these) and some other silly things (including the ending). Visually it's also really dull and often not very pretty. All in all I forced myself to finish this...
So, that final episode just made me lower the rating even more. Helix is a generic mix of various clichés from genre fiction but just doesn't come together very well. Despite featuring a plenthora of scientists there isn't much of their brilliance left which results in so many unneeded clusterfucks. Suprisingly for a 13 episode season taking place in a remote research base they manage to fill the runtime but there is still plenty of melodrama to go along with the silliness of the story. Probably the best thing about the show is the music choice which is rather playful but that's about it.
Season 2 has been announced and is probably the reason for the first one ending so unsatisfying. From the looks of it that one is rather disconnected and offers even less reason to have a full season of it.
Engaged to the Unidentified is based on a 4koma SoL strip with a little "mystery" to it... and that one is right there in the title and the colorful OP so I don't consider that a spoiler. The gimmicks are that Kobeni becomes engaged due to a arrangement of her grandfather and that her fiance and his loli-sister are actually aliens.
It is pretty much about them becoming closer to each other over the course of the season. That alien thing is something no one really cares about. Basicly every storyline can be traced back to either Kobeni (the apparent holy angel and best wife you could ever have) being sick, worried or someone being jealous of her or Mashiro (the loli). Too bad the show isn't very funny because then I might have cared about anything in the show. The OP also starts out weirdly sexual for no good reason (and yes, the OVA is an Onsen episode).
I might be a little blinded by it's presentation but Kaiba is creatively told sci-fi story with an unique visual flair and a good soundtrack. The direction should have been even more playful though (just like the first episode) and the finale wasn't the show's highlight but it's still good to see shows like this being made despite not being destinied to become popular.
While Noragami isn't exactly a masterpiece it is a well-rounded show with a good cast and animation to set it apart from the big pack of generic, shiny, fantasy action shows.
The story follows the god Yato (who is weirdly dressed like a Slav) on his quest to gather a following and build a shrine. To achieve that he does all sorts of odd jobs for the lowly cost of only ¥5 - the amount you tip when you pray at a shrine in Japan. Hiyori, a girl who's soul gets stuck between the human world and the afterlife joins him as his longest contracted "customer" aswell as Yukine, a teenager who becomes Yato's regalia (weapon) to combat evil spirits.
While there is initially a lot of comedy mixed inbetween the show gets progressively "darker" in tone but is still played save. I really hope the show gets another season because there is enough left to explore and the format works really well.
While I was still thinking about giving the show a go... it already got pulled from it's timeslot - That blows.
I had a blast watching the show! Given that it aired in Canada I wasn't really aware of it's existance but there seems to be a big enough fandom to actually have crowdfunded a proper, animated, ending. It feels pretty much like a more vulgar version of Buffy with lots of gore. Just like that show it knows how to work the "gang". I think my only complaint is that the show seemingly added more swearwords with every episode and thereby making the dialogue more forced.
Utopia to be remade by HBO, David Fincher will direct
The Channel 4 conspiracy thriller will be remade for the US by HBO, with House of Cards’ David Fincher at the helm, while Gone Girl author Gillian Flynn will write
http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/tvandradioblog/2014/feb/13/utopia-hbo-remake-david-fincher-gillian-flynn
Oh well... should be solid. I just hope it's different enough to warrant the whole thing.
I've tried to enjoy the show but I give up now too. It's a rather dull show most of the time and hardly anything is funny and the episodes are just too uneven in style. J.B. Smoove (terrible actor name, really) plays one of the most annoying characters I've ever seen and the daughter got replaced by a different actress a couple episodes ago... nice adapting to it by PRETENDING NOTHING HAPPENED. No wonder this airs after Big Bang Theory.
Inferno Cop is insanity. The plot is crazy and all is presented in a minimalistic flash-animation style. Despite being made in Japan the look resembles more the one of American comic books (the reporter even looks like April). All except the last episode are not longer than three minutes so it's really short. They accomplish what they set out to do and as long as you're not expecting something serious you'll enjoy it.
S2 has been confirmed with today's special and will air in April. If you havn't already give the show a try; it's truely fantastic. The fist episode is one that I would recommend to anyone even if they don't want to watch the whole show or anime in general (same goes for Kino no Tabi's second episode to which this show is similar).
That was a fun watch with a rather original story (especially for TV). I really loved the saturaded colors and the playful direction in general.
Taking on the subject matter of a local amok run but focusing primarly on the tragedy left behind is probably what holds the show back in the four episode setup. Some of the affected people develop a bit odd and we end with open questions and a general lack of knowledge of the perpetrator and his motifs (which is I guess partially intentional).
Being helmed by Sean Durkin (Martha Marcy May Marlene) and Tony Grisoni (Red Riding Trilogy) I expected it to be more consistent because it starts out quite good.
Consider me disappointed given that this is the second time they adapted the story. I was expecting it to be written well (why else would they bother) but that was not the case. The writing and story are what's holding the show back.
The villain is shit and so is the conclusion to his arc. There is a general problem with the characters and their respective motivations and there is too much (repeated) exposition and odd points in the story. You will also not get an ending as it's just a part of the manga adapted leaving you with more questions and unresolved storylines.
Now what they have been doing well is... giving you creative pantyshots (even though you don't necessarily want them) and sometimes good, creatively directed action sequences with nice sound-design. This is however not frequent enough to leave you satisfied.
So, the first season is actually just part one... great. I would have prefered this ending to another season to be honest - Not everything has to be resolved.
Imho it kind of derailed with the last episode. Not only the forced drama with his wife but also how he let himself get baited like that.
Without the second half in sight there is not really a point in actually watching this right now if you havn't already.
If Norway had Adult Swim this show would probably have aired there. Produced by the Dead Snow/Hansel & Gretel guy you can guess where it dabbles in. I would have wished for a stronger Twin Peaks vibe but it looks like if anything that would be in S2 (if that ever happens).
Sound of the Sky (aka So-Ra-No-Wo-To) is set in a future where neighbouring countries are at war and humanity has lost technical advances due to previous conflict. There we follow a little girl called Kanata who joins the army in order to learn to play her bugle. Obviously the platoon she joins is all-girls... You figure where it goes :)!
As apparent by the similar character designs to K-ON the show is mainly slice of life without much threat from the military conflict. Most of the episodes deal with each of the girls past demons but the on-going war comes knocking at their door towards the end. While the conclusion is rather predictable, it's done quite well. I guess what makes the show work so well besides the fact that you can't hate these girls in their oversized uniforms is the setting and the pretty background art. If I found something weird than it's the fact that the key song in the show is a rendition of "Amazing Grace".
As someone who actually stuck with the show I can confirm aswell that this is what you call a train-wreck.
While from the production side of view it's alright... the plot is simply horrendous (and so are most of the characters). Keep in mind the show has only elven episodes but even with that it doesn't manage to tell a straight story and frankly has at least three episodes I would call mostly boring filler. It isn't just the occasional plot-hole but it had me constantly scratching my head or my face greeting the palms of my hands. The pacing was awful and no one was acting remotely realistic. What's even worse is that the last episode is the worst of the bunch.
The show is a collection of three short stories. Unfortunatley they're not very good except for the last one and are plagued by a low budget.
#1 Yotsuya Kaidan: The first one is a retelling of a classic kabuki play through the eyes of the author. It's a bit slow for my taste but adds some live action towards the end to etablish the curse around it.
#2 Tenshu Monogatari: This one is not really horror but a fantastical love story of a human falling in love with a god. It suffers even more from the low budget than #1 but has the better story.
#3 Bake Neko: The predecessor for the show "Mononoke". It's about a cat that turned into a Mononoke and haunts a certain Clan on a wedding day. It's miles above the previous two and told in a wonderful ricepaper artstyle.
Since you have to get through some supbar outputs for the good one I can't praise this as a whole.
This show can be quite fun if you're not expecting much. It plays out the same jokes on the character's tropes in every episode again but that gets mixed up with the insane multiple choice questions our MC gets from God. I could have done without the sometimes excessive fanservice though. The ending is also rather meh but hey, ten episodes are not much to work with.
