Winter seasons this year is, shall we say, not the most widely anticipated season ever. But with that said, there are some shows that looked like they could have promise back during preview time. With a couple first episodes out (and the Baka to Test Christmas Special short), I thought I’d take a look at the first three that I got my hands on and see for myself. In this post I’ll be taking a look at Baka to Test to Shoukanjyuu (Christmas Special short), Ladies vs Butlers, and Sora no Woto in a ‘liveblogging’, stream of consciousness style. Comments are as I wrote them down on a notepad while watching each episode, so they may change as more info became available later in each episode. Let me know if you like or dislike this style, it’s a bit of an experiment. (Full credit for influencing to me to use the format goes to the Democracy in America blog on The Economist’s website, for the multi-commenter liveblogging they did of the primary and general election debates and later presidential speeches. I’m sure others have done it, but DiA is where I saw it first.)
Baka to Test to Shoukanjyuu – Christmas Special
-DAAWWW at pink haired girl. Such a romantic.
- Christmas Klux Klan or robed minions of Sauron? Either way, WTF?!
- Ugh oh, girl #2 (Tomo) is taking a cue from Minmay with that scarf tactic.
- Kuroko’s little sister! Miharu love for her oneesama will not be denied.
- Hmm, could be a bit of a rip off character idea though.
- [EDIT] Originally took as girl by character design, but absolutely FAILED to think when I wrote down the name, as pointed out by Sunao in the comments. Boy #1 named Hideyoshi. Still, those are some girly boots he’s got there, never mind the haircut and clothes. [EDIT]
- SHAFT-esque footprint sequences.
- Fourth person is a guy, BL option, something for the ladies.
- Final Verdict - Has promise as decent but probably not amazing comedy, still need full episode to tell.
Ladies vs Butlers – Episode 01
- Expecting this to be HORRID.
- Animation is pretty crisp looking, at least.
- OH GODS! Her giant insect pupae hair is straight out of Kafka!
- Character designs otherwise pretty generic.
- Her name is Flameheart-san? Seriously?
- At least the other girl is a good troll (Tomomi).
- Green haired clumsy maid girl? Never seen that before, nope, no sir.
- Sigh, completely random, unnecessary panty shot as camera pans across classroom.
- Slight laugh out of principle trying to figure out her OTP in dating sim.
- Big sigh, protruding nipples.
- “I don’t have time to be playing around with you.” Me neither.
- Look out! Those things are going to hatch!
- aaaaand there’s the inevitable fall-grope.
- Oh god dammit, AND a pantyshot?
- Eyecatch. You mean this is only half over!?
- Apparently this is the Community School for the Easily Fainting.
- Obligatory loli in high school who’s sensitive about being called a kid? Check.
- Yes you’re nineteen. Nine….teen.
- And panty shot on her. Literally facepalmed.
- Nugi-onna ripoff character.
- Dear god it’s just pathetic: maid trips, falls, lands on male lead, rides his face.
- Is that Index? How much is this show going to rip of the To Aru shows?
- Or is it supposed to be a burqa? Hope you like death threats, producers.
- Kind of like troll, yandere childhood friend character. The one bright spot in all this crap.
- Lots of censored bath scene stuff. Go on otaku, buy the DVDs for it. OBEY YOUR MASTERS!
- And a crossdressing character too.
- Overall episode statistics (by my count) : Panty shots – 12. Fainting – 6. Groping – 4. Falling onto other character – 3.
- Final verdict – Had one good character. Otherwise only good for making fun of it while watching it.
Sora no Woto – Episode 01
- I like the limited use of colors for emphasis on the mostly gray background in opening scene.
- OP sequence is pretty good, song is too.
- It’s like postwar Valkyria Chronicles.
- Mix of languages is a bit weird.
- Please don’t say she is Mio, datte hontou wa Rio.
- ‘Douse the moeblob’ festival.
- The cat sees all!
- Sneezing bit has crossed the line into annoyingly moe.
- Legend of maidens of the flame protecting the city? This is Valkyria Chronicles!
- That’s some tank you’ve got there. Or is it some sort of mecha hybrid?
- White flag raising in midpoint eyecatch. WWII French or Italian army?
- Nice landscape shots, this cliff scene especially. Animation in this show is at its best when frames are mostly empty.
- Wreckage seems to indicate something more advanced than just tanks.
- Wow, a plot in a moe show. Hard to believe, I know!
- Don’t stop BELIEVIN! (re: advice to young Kanata in flashback.)
- More nice visuals with the horn in the chasm shot.
- Visuals are nothing really special in style/design, but when they do the sparse shots with just one character and a wide open background they really work. Especially when combined with playing instruments. Reminds me a little of some shots in Last Exile.
- Complete breakdown of discipline, no one uses their ranks to refer to each other.
- Sorry, incompetent moe doesn’t do it for me. Practice moar!
- I want to like the ED with it’s ska elements, but I just don’t like the vocals at all.
- Final Verdict – Has potential due to plot elements and occasionally nice visuals, but I’m having a hard time meshing what I like with the moe comedy concept, generally like the two separate. Will give it another episode or two before making final watch/won’t watch decision.
(NOTE: for those interested in a more thorough review of the first Sora no Woto episode, Crusader should have a post on that up sometime soon.)
8 Comments
…Seriously? You mean you didn’t notice the obviously male name “Hideyoshi”, and still fell for it?
“SHAFT-esque footprint sequences.”
Not that surprising. Silver Link have nicked a whole bunch of Shaft employees, including the director, for this series. I’ve actually had my hopes raised for the series after hearing about that.
“- And a crossdressing character too.”
HOW DID YOU FIGURE THAT OUT!!!
“Visuals are nothing really special in style/design, but when they do the sparse shots with just one character and a wide open background they really work. Especially when combined with playing instruments. Reminds me a little of some shots in Last Exile”
I see a little what you’re referring to here but the big difference in you’re comparing Range Murata character designs to moeblob. At least when you pan back you can’t tell anymore
Hahaha… The third person in Baka testo special is a GUY…
Don’t fall into the trap. Come back…
@ sunao
D’oh! I guess I was too busy taking notes to even think about the name, just looked at character design. Massive FAIL on my part, will edit to correct. Thanks for catching that.
@ Scamp
Good to know about the poaching of SHAFT employees, my expectations just went up! The crossdressing character was spotted because she was very effeminate, but mostly due to how she covered up her chest when starting to take her shirt off. It’s so Mako-cakes/Natsu no Arashi it’s ridiculous. As for the Last Exile comparison, I wasn’t comparing so much the character design as I was the shot as a whole. Single character highlighted against a vast, beautiful, but simple landscape. First time I noticed it was when Kanata was climbing along the cliff face, then later when she played her trumpet down in the chasm and when Rio played her’s on the castle battlements.
@ Tylon
So #3 and #4 were guys? #4 was obvious, though I just took #3 for a tomboy. But as sunao pointed out, I COMPLETELY ignored the name when I was taking notes.
i see a bird flying by
a dog barked at a cat
i wonder how many rolls i’m going to get
is this an interesting writing style?
I’d say no. Though still possible as long as you write a nice ending/final thoughts piece.
Nice preview of the shows! cant wait to see crusaders post on Sora-no-woto!
Baka to Test to Shoukanjyuu
-can be considered as fun but nothing revolutionary … first episode started quite funny as every similar light comedies,especialy when main character entered the classroom,also mentioned KKK heh, but then in the end that fighting system was … well I don’t know …
Also the reason why pink-haired girl is in F-class is probalby due to failure of school system.But than once again anime would loose on point. So 2nd episode should be match with A-class, I’m sure they will loose or anime would end with 2 episodes : | , animation OK
Ladies vs Butlers
-just shortly … impression similar to Baka to Test to Shoukanjyuu, might be fun
and in the end not mantioned…
Dance in the Vampire Bund
-3/4 of the episode – well simply boring -_- but the end was sensational…
first vampire will turn into chameleon … ah : | yes, I know from where they were inspired shimmering vampires in the daylight ,werewolf turning into big wolf wait what?… nevertheless the queen of vampires ends it with order of death for bad vampire ,so big lizard blows up… and thus the vampire bund was created
So final conclusion I’m having a lack of quality stuff … cmon ><
Just to note : I got the uncensored one hehe ^^