So I managed to get first looks on the latest new anime episodes just aired in Japan, and I have mixed feelings about them. As I always say, judging an anime by its first episode is like judging a book by its cover. But usually, the cover will tell you what to expect, and it's not always wrong. Mind you these are just personal opinions which I just felt like telling everyone about. Feel free to comment.
School Days
School Days is about this weak girl named Kotonoha Katsuri and a boy named Makoto Itou. They both take the same train together and Makoto, being the boy he, finds her interesting (ahem ahem) and takes photos of her on his phone. Another girl, Saionji Sekai (yes. Sekai as in World) looks over his shoulder at school and discovers the photos on his phone, and then takes the initiative to pair Itou and Katsuri together. The first episode shows how Sekai gets Katsuri and Itou together and eventually causes Itou to confess to Katsuri.
Seriously, I think Sekai is closer to Itou than Katsuri. To say the least, he calls her at night, talks to her almost completely casually and even is in the same class as her! She drags her all over school trying to pair Itou with Katsuri and then runs off with an excuse. And what's with Katsuri not being able to cook properly!? >_<; It looks as if Katsuri was NEVER MEANT to be with Itou. But we'll see. The cliffhanger at the end of the episode shows there will be much more to come and I am really anticipating it.
The animation is based off a 'violent' game of the same name and I don't see where the violence will come in. Probably Katsuri murdering Sekai? Who knows. If such a plot twist is planned, then I should not know of it and it would really give the anime a POWERFUL punch. Not to mention it rising to the high levels of my rating scales. I can't tell if Sekai is much of a tsundere character. But she certainly shows signs of one. Katsuri, is well, the Nodoka-style deredere type which is so squishy in my opinion. By squishy I mean you could tell her she gained weight and she'll cry you a river. Makoto, is the normal lucky guy who deserved to be punched on sight if he ever dares to exist in this world.
After my first looks at the animation, it's of good quality. I heard the studio which made this isn't a very famous one. But I'm all for underdogs. If I could I'd cheer them on to do this one right and earn their place in the top anime studios beside KyoAni, SHAFT and JC Staff!
TokiDoki is subbing it now for all to watch! So support them and get it! I have high hopes for this anime and I hope this 6 episode story will turn out to be one awesome asskicker with lots of tsundere action and love triangle plot twists!
Nanatsuiro Drops
This is my first impression of this one: chibi characters appearing suddenly during unreasonable times, a very silly plot, AND Nanoha-style mahou shoujo beginning. Yes. I fell asleep watching it. Whether this is because it is boring or because it was 2 a.m. when I was watching it, I wouldn't know but it sure as hell was pretty silly.
The story is about this fella Masaharu Tsuwabuki which ran into a cute girl with pink hair called Sumomo Akihime, literally and knocked her over. That was not very important except for the fact that the anime used it as an excuse to introduce the characters, which included a tsuntsun girl Nadeshiko 'Nako-chan' Yaeno, and a mahou sensei eccentric teacher called Kisaragi. Tsuwabuki runs into some suspicious character with dog ears and drinks something he gave him by accident and turns into a doll ram. OMG. Kisaragi-sensei then animates him when he finds him and then tells him why he became a doll.
Then, Kisaragi tells Tsuwabuki that he needs to collect stardrops to return to human form, and tells him to decieve a person to help him. Yes I call it deception. Tsuwabuki cannot mention his name, and ironically the person chosen to help him is Sumomo. Tsuwabuki is then sent flying with a book and a ring in one package to Sumomo, endowing her with magical powers that will allow him to collect stardrops. I doubt she'll be able to keep the magical powers once Tsuwabuki is back to normal though.
I was told not to expect too much from the first episode so I'll give the next few eps a try. But I have to say I ain't too hopeful. The animation is a plus tho. Ito Noizi, the illustrator of the Suzumiya Haruhi novels and Shakugan no Shana is the lead artist, so I hope good things will come from it. Especially since those green eyes of Nako really looks like Tsuruya-nyoro's eyes.
Seriously. When I first read the name I thought that Drops had something to do with a monster from Ragnarok Online. But it seems it just means stardrops, as in (Hoshi no Shizuku: drops of the stars). Sumomo isn't as strong as Nanoha and constantly does clumsy things and falls down saying 'itata!' cutely like some helpless damsel in distress (helping some hero in distress). I could liken this to the blind leading the blind but I might be killed by moe-tic fans of this anime.
Doujin Work
When this anime was announced, I had a look at the site and I suddenly felt like I really had to watch this. Now that I have, I must say I am not disappointed. (Or maybe its because I like flat chests. DONT GET ME WRONG. I'll screw Kagami but I won't make Konata my wife)... I digress. Anyway forget what I said just now.
This story is about a girl called Najime Osana and her doujin artist friend Tsuyuri. One day Najime follows Tsuyuri (lol Yuri) to the comiket where they meet Kona-chan and have an awesome time Najime discovers Tsuyuri's secret project. She draws ecchi doujin and sells them at the Comiket. After seeing how much Tsuyuri can make from drawing doujin, she becomes interested, thinking that it would be easy and she would finally be able to escape her life of poverty.
Personally, I find this show very interesting probably because I could relate to it somewhat. I like to draw, but I really suck at it, unlike bj0rN who just churns out awesome wallpapers one after another. I like the idea of girls drawing ecchi stuff. Also, when I saw Tsuyuri manage to sell a book and looking so happy after that, I could only say: I FEEL YOU GIRL... I know what that's like ^_^; I also enjoy the comedy and randomness. Its not the randomness Nanatsuiro has, but more of a reasonable randomness. Randomness that is actually funny, like misunderstandings. Like stuff that is always implied but interpreted wrongly in that particular context. It's better if you watched it to get the joke raw because that is the best.
I also enjoy drawing art related to anime that I like. If you have seen one of my posts, I had little hand drawn characters from Lucky Star in the background. But drawing actual doujin, like paneled comics and stuff, I'm still far from that. If I could, I'd buy a ticket to Tokyo with my remaining money and start a career animating there.
I digress again. Anyway, the animation is consistent and gives the feel of a slice-of-life story that revolves around young hopefuls trying to find their way in life. If its something this anime scores high points on, its it's story. I'd certainly like to know more about how Najime gets around to fulfilling her dream to become a doujin artist and the journey she has to undertake. Would make a great series. Overall, I'm hopeful for this one and I'm anticipating future episodes to come.
That's it! Now I have to make a comment about my last post. Suzumiya Haruhi is coming! WOOOOT! If the second coming is not something to look forward to, I don't know what is. I hope that KyoAni will do another spectacular animating job and head towards the 15k+ episodes that was promised on haruhi.tv XD.