2011-07-18
My early impressions of the Summer 2011 anime season
Another season brings another installment of what is now my regular habit of taking a snapshot of my views of the early episodes that I've seen (just like last time).
Shows I've seen, more or less in the order seen:
- Sacred Seven: it's a Sunrise action series. It's acceptable. I'm
sure there's going to be a midseason surprise twist, because that's
Sunrise's pattern.
So far this has my favorite opening of the season, partly because it's so goofy it's impossible to take it seriously. (For some reason I find the hero's little pseudo-motorcycle absolutely hysterical.)
- Kamisama Dolls: the start is interesting and I mostly like the
characters. The action helps, although I could do without yet another
incarnation of the 'young female character is cutely incompetent' trope.
- Mawaru Penguindrum: the portions of the first episode that were
supposed to make sense were well done. I need to see at least one
more episode before I actually understand it, though.
(The second episode is more setup, so I can't say I understand it yet.)
- Kami-sama no Memochou: I like the characters so far, and that's really
what a show like this is about; the nominal mysteries are likely to be
secondary.
- Blood-C: the first episode was a disappointingly boring introductory
episode, and they lose style points for lame exposition. The second
episode doesn't add all that much, and the fights seem oddly pointless.
Still, I hang on optimistically.
(Saya exposits by explaining things to her schoolmates, but there's no reason for what she explains to have only come up now, especially since this seems to be a small town where everyone would know all of this background anyways.)
- Itsuka Tenma no Kuro Usagi: there's an interesting story in here
somewhere, but I can't help but feel that the actual execution in
the first episode is a bit lacking. In many ways this suffers by
comparison with Kore wa Zombie desu ka, which covered much the
same ground but better and aired only six months ago. The second
episode makes me somewhat happier, but not hugely.
(Also, this sets new lows for casual fanservice, with radioactively censored casual fanservice for bonus fun.)
- Natsume Yuujinchou San: just what I was expecting
and hoping for. If you've enjoyed previous seasons (and even if not),
this is more of the same.
- Nekogami Yaoyorozu: it's pleasant but the first episode feels a
little lightweight. I suspect it may not sustain my interest for
long.
- Mayo Chiki: much more amusing than I expected it to be, even
if Subaru is about as convincing as a boy as Charles (from
Infinite Stratos).
- Dantalion no Shoka: Bearing in mind that I really like this sort of thing in general, I found this nice without being stunning. I expect to enjoy it a lot, although they could always fumble future episodes.
Have not watched due to the description being not to my tastes in various ways (this list is incomplete):
- Ikoku Meiro no Croisee: plain and simply not my genre. I have no opinions on its merits.
- Idolm@ster: also not my genre from descriptions so far, although
Author may yet get me to watch an episode.
- Usagi Drop: like Aroduc, I am kind of allergic to melodrama
- Ro Kyu Bu!: you jest.
- Blade: Madhouse's Marvel adaptations have if anything apparently gone downhill since I found Iron Man not interesting enough to watch more of. And Blade was always a second-stringer Marvel character anyways, movies not withstanding.
(I don't really have anything to say about the other shows I've not seen. I may yet watch an episode of some of them in optimistic hopes.)