Mad Science

A pile of more first looks as the season continues to spread eagle for us: Ai Tenchi-Muyo, Amagi Brilliant Park, Denki Gai no Honya-san, Trinity Seven, Ino Battle wa Nichijo-kei, and Chaika: Avenging Battle. Impressions continue to be fairly strong across the board, but there are a few niggles here and there. First weeks always tend to impress though, so we’ll see how things are after the Kool-Aid man busts through the wall.

Ai Tenchi-Muyo
“Momo panties. Juicy on the inside.”
Twenty years doesn’t seem like a long time, but when you consider that I first saw Tenchi-Muyo in 2000, well that was about two-thirds there. AIC decided to spin a little side project this season airing in four-minute chunks. As far as I can tell, it seems to be an alternate-universe spin involving Tenchi and some unknown girls. The animation is obviously nothing like the original, but I guess it works for a modern incantation. Mayhaps we’ll see the rest of the classic cast re-imagined also. We at least got Washu so far, and she is the best girl after all. Not even up for debate. Mad motherfucking science.

First Rating: 7
Sub Group: Anime-Koi

Denki Gai no Honya-san
“Not your neighborhood comic book shop.”
One of the things that turned me away from American comics between the late nineties and the early twenty-tens, was that all your seedy small comic book shops were never filled with eager comic book fans able to tell you what was cool and what wasn’t, or let you read it a little before buying. No, shops were owned by shifty little Indian guys who would constantly remind you not to touch anything you weren’t going to buy and to stop loitering. Oddly enough, Gamestop is about the same.

What Denki Gai no Honya-san reminds me of is a combination of Comic Party, Genshiken, and Working!. Honestly? Not a bad combination. The animation is quirky, and I actually had to check to see what the runtime of the episode was thinking it was a short series. It relies on the standard nerd and porn jokes prevalent in any series that satires its own viewers, even going as far as to satire Japanese politics and social topics like the various new laws aimed at adult anime and manga. That’s always a good time. I’ll give it a couple more episodes to further impress.

First Rating: 7
Sub Group: Commie

Hitsugi no Chaika: Avenging Battle
“System Shock. Many twos. Wow.”
The Chaika Train continues this season, and thankfully they don’t really spend much time reminding us what happened in the previous season. Vivi’s transformation into another Chaika of course is a hot-button topic of interest, but it seems to be business as usual for Chaika and Co. But if we reflect from last season:

Sadly, it did not end as well as it could have. I know they’re getting a second season, but what bothers me, as usual, is that they cop these shitty mid-point endings that make everything sound like they didn’t have a green light for S2 until the last minute, and were fully prepared to just go “Okay… so, mid-boss is dead, fortresses crash, everyone survives, except that guy, the end. Ship it!”. Annoying as fuck. If you knew you had a S2 at least five episodes before the end, set it up to transition so that watched as a whole, it’s not going to be some half-assed story that has a potential ending in the middle. I swear, ever since Code Geass, you fucks have been getting lazy.

It’s like lazy software developers who know they should spend the extra time making it work, but why bother when you can go get coffee and talk about football. We got the second season, but without one of those patented TIMESKIPS used to stump the gap with, it just sort of brings us to where we’re asking how she got to the next hero. So what? CHAIKAS. Right?

First Rating: 7
Sub Group: Horrible

Trinity Seven
“Why seven? Well there used to be eight. Until that grease fire…”
My first thought ten minutes into this show was probably what most of you gentlemen were thinking:

httpss://twitter.com/tldranimu/status/520020707104006144

I half expected to see an uncensored FFF version popping up, and maybe still with any luck. I know, they went for the Mahou Sensou route in a more Hayate Yagami sort of way, but to have a male protag who, like Issei, isn’t afraid to get his hands, or mind, dirty for the chance to court seven powerful mages in order to get his cousin waifu back? I mean, Trigger Warning: Pawns. Let us hope the hype train manages to keep on steaming on this one.

First Rating: 8
Sub Group: Horrible

Amagi Brilliant Park
“Kyoani started playing Nintendo Land, and thought ‘Hey, we have all these shows…'”
Ahh, the requisite Kyoto Animation show of the season. The sort of entertainment that pleases the masses, and makes Nyarth feel a little funny down there.

httpss://twitter.com/nyarth/status/520000189185396736

Delusions aside, all of the usual mannerisms are present for Kyoani’s year-end conflagration. They even fired the grand-finale off in the first episode to remind you that they once did a show involving a mascot. But not to be stopped at just “Mister Bones’ Wild Ride: The Anime” they KICKED IT UP A NOTCH with some bona-fide magic, or more specifically, MIND BULLETS. That’s telekinesis, Kyle.

Oddly enough though, it did not start out as absurd as past flavors of KyoBeef have in the past, so perhaps it has a chance. But then you remember it is a VN adaptation. Around Kyoani, never relax.

httpss://twitter.com/CirNobar/status/520046760086220800

Ah, the fellow cynics assemble. Let the party begin.

First Rating: 6
Sub Group: Vivid

Ino Battle wa Nichijo-kei
“We won’t rest, until the Key Club has been defeated.”
When I read the premise for this show, I thought about some kind of hokey pseudo-magic show like a comedy wedding or gag-reel type of thing. Instead, I got something that is half-trying to be GJ-bu, but actually suggest they seriously have powers, and from the OP, actually suggest that others may come along and challenge them. Unlike ESP from last season though, it doesn’t look like it’s going to get super cereal, especially with names like DARK DARK. But, noticing the studio is TRIGGER, that cute little studio that brought you KILL LA KILL seasons ago, and helmed by three directors, one rookie, another from popular GAINAX shows Evangelion and Gurren Lagann, and the last involved with A Channel, Vividred, Idolm@ster, and Strike Witches, it’s like they all got drunk at a bar one night and thought they might make another show where they can spin absurd superpowers while giving it a light comedy spin. Oddly enough, I am interested. For now.

First Rating: 7
Sub Group: Commie

More first-looks later in the week. Trying to break them up a bit. That and making sure I have words for them. Mostly.