Wednesday, April 30, 2014

2014 Spring Anime First Impression

Spring is here again and there are tons of new anime to watch. There're quite a bit of mecha related show for Spring 2014 anime. Once again the boom of light novels turned anime is here this season too. There were a few sports ones and a little bit of reverse harlem too. I've watched quite a bit of new anime this season. There were some good, some bad, and some ... Here're my first impression of them.

Mushishi season 2

Watched: 2 eps



I love the first season of Mushishi. It was one of my favorite anime of all time. The second season did an awesome job of bringing back the Mushishi world. If you love anime with solid storyline that's interesting and a little bit of Japanese urban myths, then this anime is for you. Ginko's journey continue as he helps people to get rid of the mushi(ubiquitous creatures)that harms them. I felt like the essence of the first season wasn't lost and the animation is much better. I do suggest those who haven't seen the first season to watch it and also watch the OVA just to set you up to date with the second season.

Verdict: Definitely will continue to watch.

Haikyuu!!

Watched: 3 eps


Sport manga turned anime about volleyball. I love the character design of this show and Hinata, the main character, is just really likeable. It's entertaining and the animation is really good. The story is about Hinata joining the high school volleyball team so I can't wait to see the team assembling and they playing actual tournaments. This is what I pick up watching since Kuroko season 2 has finished.

Verdict: Definitely will continue to watch.

Baby Step

Watched: 1 ep



It's a manga turn anime. It's about tennis but it doesn't have bishounen like Prince of Tennis. Baby Step is a story of a teenage boy who keeps things neat and doesn't have much motivation in life. He then decided to join the tennis club. It had an ok character design. Not much of the story is pulling me in. The main character is ok. The main girl is kind of blunt and mean. Maybe the store gets better later on but I don't think it was for me.

Verdict: Don't think I'll continue watching.



Dragon Collection

Watched: 1 ep


Short 15 min shows of a boy getting sucked into a card game fantasy world called Dragon Collection. The character design is cute. It's definitely aiming toward younger audience. The animation is not bad. First episode was fun.

Verdict: It's cute. Maybe.

Oreca Battle

Watched: 1 ep


Another card game turned anime. This one has Fire the main character and his friend Data fighting in the Oreca Zone to bring back the missing monsters from their card. The character design is similar to Dragon Collection. Also a lot of the monsters are in chibi form and looks really cute. It's also a 15 min show. Also aiming toward younger audience.

Verdict: It's also cute. Maybe.


Hitsugi no Chaika (Chaika-The Coffin Princess)

Watched: 2 eps



This one was good. Don't let the title of this series scare you. It doesn't have to do with the cemetery and the morgue at all. The character design is really well done. It's a light novel turned anime. It's action-fantasy story of a young loli girl, Chaika, hauling a coffin containing a magic sniper rifle and she late meets the Saboteur guy, Toru, in a weird situation. They later met his sister, Akari, and the siblings were hired to do work for Chaika. It's a very interesting story. Chaika is really cute. She speaks in incomplete sentences, which makes her adorable. Toru and Akari are a funny sibling too. Episode 2 give more info of who Chaika really is and that may be why she's hauling a coffin. The animation is top notch and the fighting scenes are really nice.

Verdict: Looks good. Will continue watching.

Dai-Shogun

Watched: 1 ep


Historical x mecha anime. Why do I feel like there's a lot of Nobunaga The Fool type of anime coming out. This one has a trouble maker teen who has royal blood in him which able hime to pilot a robot that's hiding in a bath house. The character design is good but the animation sucks. They animation flow is just horrid in this one. It felt rough and the characters barely moves. You can definitely tell that there's fan service in this show.

Verdict: So bad. Nope.


Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei

Watched: 3 eps



Another light novel turn anime. This one has both sci-fi and magic element in it. It's about a brother and sister attending a prestigious magic school and they are trying to find some truth. There's something off about Tatsuya, the older brother. The younger sister, Miyuku, has a brother complex too. There's a segregation between two group of student mages(the blooms and the weeds). The blooms are those with the high test score and the weeds are the one with the lower test score. Tatsuya does horrible at practical test but awesome at written so he was assign to the weeds. The younger sister, on the other hand, did really well and belong to the blooms. The story is interesting. The character design and animation is ok. It look promising.

Verdict: Will continue.

Soredemo Sekai Wa Utsukushii

Watched: 2 eps



Manga turned anime. It's funny how I was reading this manga a few months ago and then I found out it was going to be an anime series. The manga is awesome and they did an excellent job with the anime. The first episode give you a look at Nike the youngest princess of the Rain clan who was chosen to marry the king. Who would have known the king is a young boy. Thus their love story begins. The animation is gorgeous. The character design is a bit different from the manga and they kept the story like the manga, which is good. I'm curious to see how this anime will go.

Verdict: Will continue.


Mekaku City Actor

Watched: 3 eps



I honestly don't know what this anime is about. It looks like a bunch of teenagers in this series has special abilities and they are trying to form a group. Episode one doesn't give much information but once you watch ep 2 and ep 3, you'll see the connection of many of the characters in the story. I like the artistic feel of this show and the animation is pretty cool. The characters design is nice. I'm hoping to see what happen next.

Verdict: Will continue.


This will be part one for now. There's a few more shows that I'd watched. Part 2 of Spring Anime 2014 first impression will be coming soon...

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