And here it is! I know you all were waiting with bated breath for this second part.
*Will be updated as I watch
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Dog Days Dash:
Ah, Dog Days, how did you get a sequel? When I watched the first season, I never thought that this show would get a second season because it was so…average. The story for the first season was pretty straightforward and only got interesting near the end. I did give it kudos, though, for figuring out a way to bring the kid back. The main things that kind of bugged me about Dog Days, though, were the fights and the characters. To be completely, honest, I was completely baffled by those fights. The reasons they were held were kind of dumb and I thought it was cheating a bit by making it so that no one could die (although it did bring up an interesting fact when someone mentioned that there are areas in that world where you can be killed if you fight there. That point was, sadly, never really brought up again.) As for the characters, half of them were annoying and the other half I didn’t really care about. The lead was an okay guy, and the dog princess was alright too, they just weren’t very interesting. Some of the side characters were nice too, they were just kind of bland.
Going into the second season, I wasn’t expecting much of a difference from the first. Well, my suspicions were pretty correct. The show starts out in much the same was as the first season, minus a whole bunch explanations. The only major differences being that Biscotti isn’t in any sort of desperate situation, Shiku brought two of his female friends with him, and the introduction of bunch of squirrel people. The obvious fan serivce is obvious.
What am I expecting from this series? Nothing much. If anything, I’m hoping that he’ll finally hook up with someone, but that is extremely doubtful, considering the nature of the show. I’m pretty much watching this because its predecessor wasn’t terrible and, with a new director at the helm, I’m interested to see if it’ll go anywhere. All in all, I’ll try to keep up with this weekly, but I may drop off somewhere and finish it when its done if its as exciting as the first season was.
Binbougami Ga!
Going into this show, I really wasn’t expecting too much. I thought the synopsis was really weird and didn’t really understand it, but I thought I would give the first episode a shot. And boy am I really happy that I did. Binbougami Ga! was actually really funny. The jokes were pretty consistent and most of them were pretty funny too and had me laughing a lot. But, what really impressed me in this episode was that there wasn’t just focus on the comedy aspect on the show. There were some great scenes with the lead character that were touching and gave her character more depth. The great thing about the drama in this episode is that it didn’t feel out of place in this comedy show and actually added a great deal to it.
One really interesting thing about the show is the concept of the balance of fortune and misfortune. It really emphasized how delicate the balance was how how any unbalance could have really negative effects on others.
All in all, I was pretty impressed by this episode which has effectively raised my hopes and expectations for this show a great deal. I can only hope that all of the other episodes can deliver in much the same way that this one did. Regardless, I think I’m in for a run ride with this show and am looking forward to it.
Campione!:
This is another one that I just decided to try for kicks. After reading the synopsis, I have started to develop some future worries for the show which already is mildly worrisome.
The episodes starts out pretty typically with the seemingly average guy being pulled into a mess he doesn’t really want to be apart of after meeting a haughty blonde girl with boobs who is a prodige magician. Okay, so the show isn’t exactly breaking any molds here. It does have some perks though. The action sequences aren’t too shabby and the guy isn’t a complete wuss. However, there are some signs that this show will degrade into something pretty average. The awkward fan service and synopsis promising, and I quote, “a bevy of overly-worshippy female followers”. Those two aren’t really factors for success. Another thing the show has working against it is the typicality of the characters themselves. They fit snugly into the stereotypes the portray, and I doubt that they’ll make any great leaps in the development area.
You know, I’ve come to learn that in anime women, alcohol, and teenage boys just don’t mix well. You’d think other people would realize the same thing, but they never seem to. Campione! went right ahead and mixed the three together and came up with a scene was pretty awkward to watch and so terribly pointless. Why, fan service, why?
I’m also not too sure about the romance. I mean, yeah they kissed, but there are plenty of times where that is brushed off as the power-up kiss, although I doubt that’s what it was. I’m sort of hoping for some development in this department because of the romance fan inside of me, but experience tells me there won’t be much. On a real quick personal note, though, it was kind of awkward how she had her eyes closed when she was kissing him, but he was totally focusing on the five jillion magical swords that popped up out of nowhere. Also, “a devilish interest in encouraging some VERY unorthodox activities” leaves me wondering if the relationship aspect of the show will be reduced to only fan service-y stuff or power-ups.
Overall, not expecting a whole lot from this show. I do plan on finishing it, but I may drop off somewhere along the line while its airing which I predict as very likely. I do hope that it manages to do something with the gods aspect because that was a pretty interesting idea, and I hope it won’t be reduced to a god an episode type of formula.
Tari Tari:
I’m actually not sure why I decided to check this out, but I did and it’s a pretty alright show. Now, I know that everyone is comparing this to Hanasaku Iroha, but I haven’t finished that yet, so I can’t really say anything about that, although I don’t really think that they should be compared since they’re so different. The one thing they probably have in common is the visuals. Tari Tari has some really pretty visuals in it. Tari Tari also has some nice background music with lotsa piano and violin.
In the character department though, I can’t say that I’m a huge fan of Miyamoto. She just seems pretty in your face and can get annoying at times. As for the other characters, I don’t really have an opinion on the rest of the female cast, except for the prego teacher who I thought was cool. I thought that they guys were more fun to watch in general, especially Wien. I’m interested to see how they’ll all mix once the show gets going. The interactions between them were pretty natural when there wasn’t any drama going on and that was nice. Speaking of the drama, I’m not a huge fan of it because it seems overly dramatic. Miyamoto’s drama is pretty overblown and I don’t really care for it too much. I’m more interested in the other girls who seem way more engrossing.
I’m actually not expecting a whole from this show, so as long as the drama grows on me and Miyamoto settles down, I’ll be a happy camper.
Sword Art Online:
Going into this show, I thought it was going to be something along the lines of Accel World which I have yet to finish past episode two because I really don’t like Accel World. I thought the main character was a loser and the main girl rubbed me the wrong way. Well, I am very happy to say that Sword Art Online has left me with a much better first impression than Accel World did. It spends a lot of time doing introductory stuff and explaining a lot of the basics which is really nice to get out of the way early on. I also think that the characters introduced in the first episode were pretty likable. The premise of the show is really messed up, but it’s really interesting. I am definitely interested in finding out how they handle the whole 100 levels thing without getting repetitive or boring.
Although this seems kind of obvious, the animation was really nice in this show. The backgrounds were really pretty to look at and the character designs weren’t too shabby either. I really liked the fluidity to the characters movements though and I think that’ll make for some great fights later on.
Overall, I’m pretty happy with this show and I hope that it’ll continue to make me happy. I hope the characters get proper development and that it keeps things interesting with its setting and the potential it holds.
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And so concludes my first impressions list for the summer season. Most of the shows on this list look promising and I can only hope that I’ll be able to keep up with them and not get too far behind.
This was actually a pretty interesting experience for me since I’ve never done something like this before. It was a lot of work, but I’m really happy that I did it because it helped me establish my initial thoughts about a series. I would like to say a big thank you to anyone who read both entries, or even one. Thanks!
Amateur Rambling 