[IXI! Digest] First Impressions, Summer 2011 Anime Season

Hello, and welcome to my usual installment.  Summer season has begun, and this is usually the time of year I look forward to most.  I find that the summer season of anime is where studios and directors like to try new things and experiment.  It’s probably due to lower number of viewers during those months, but it usually means this is the season we see a lot of original concepts and ideas floating around.  Is that true for this season, well, let’s get right into it, shall we?

Usagi Drop
I had heard wonderful things about the manga this is based on, but had never had the chance to read it myself.  So when I heard that they were making an anime based on it with the same staff that made Kimi ni Todoke, I was excited.  Sure enough, this show doesn’t disappoint.  The story revolves around a single, middle-aged man named Daikichi who, due to various circumstances, finds himself raising a six-year-old girl.  She is his recently deceased grandfather’s illegitimate child, which makes her his aunt.  No one in the family even knew she existed until his grandfather passed away, and the majority of the family views her as an embarrassment.  Instead of allowing them to shove her off to an orphanage, he takes charge and takes her in himself, unable to just abandon the girl like the rest.  The story follows the two of them as he discovers all the hardships and joys of raising a child.  The series is incredibly heartwarming, and a must see as far as anime this season goes.  Give it a watch, I guarantee you’ll like it.

Sacred Seven
This is definitely one of those shows.  The first episode looked really promising, but then the second episode quickly destroyed any notion about this being a good series.  The story revolves around a teenager with a special ability he is unable to control.  He avoids people to avoid losing control, until a girl appears before him, asking him to lend her his power to defeat those that would use similar powers to harm innocent people.  She is able to give him temporary control over his power as long as she is around, and she has him help her defeat monsters.  All I can say is that this show looks to be very generic.  There’s nothing really original about it, just a gathering of stereotypes, and not a horribly well executed one either.  Anyways, watch if you want, but it really doesn’t seem worth it.

Kamisama Dolls
This one is about a university student (finally something not about a high-schooler!) running from his past.  He comes from a rural village with a secret, a number of mystical automatons called Kakashi that can be controlled by the thoughts of special people called Seki.  After some major incident that has yet to be explained, the main character quit being a Seki and left the village, trying to get away from the village council that dictates every facet of their lives.  Now, his little sister comes looking for him, with some bad news that shows him he may never be able to escape completely.  This series is excellently done.  The storytelling keeps you interested the entire way through so far, and I can’t wait to see how this turns out.  The mysteries in the series go so deep, and everything’s only explained a bit at a time.  It actually reminds me a bit of Higurashi, minus the time loop.  Give this one a try if you like supernatural mystery anime with a bit of action in them.

Dantalian no Shoka
This show is about mystical girl who has millions of forbidden texts sealed away within her, and a man who became her new partner after the previous one, his relative, passed away.  Together they search out more of these Phantom Books in order to seal them away and save those endangered by them.  For a series that feels like it should be a mystery series, this show is surprisingly straight-forward.  Huey, the girl’s partner, finds trouble wherever he gets a request, and the two of them seem to immediately know what’s happening and solve the issue.  Very episodic as of so far, with nothing really connecting one episode to the next.  The opening theme gives me hope for some actual plot though, but I’m not going to hold my breath.  It’s not a bad series, but it really doesn’t have anything yet that makes it anything to look forward to.  Give it a look if you’d like, its definitely not one of the worst this season.

Croisee in a Foreign Labyrinth
This show is just adorable, that’s all I can say about it.  It’s about a Japanese girl who goes to Paris as an apprentice to a metalworker.  The entire series centres around her struggle to get used to life, food, and the local customs in France, as well as the people she’s living with’s struggle to get used to her quirks and habits as well.  It’s just a refreshing story of people from different countries learning to get along and coexist.  I can also appreciate the fact that a lot of the narration in the series is actually done in French.  My only issue is the way they handled the language barrier in the first episode.  It seemed a little awkward that they were supposed to be speaking two different languages, and yet it was all in Japanese.  Just a small issue though, nothing big enough to ruin the moment.  This show is very good, and is worth a look.

Kamisama no Memochou
This show starts out with a whiny protagonist who doesn’t seem like he’s good for anything.  Then suddenly it explodes into an interesting and energetic mystery series out of nowhere.  The main character gets stuck working with a group that call themselves the NEET Detective Agency.  An oddly effective team of otherwise worthless individuals led by a shut-in hacker named Alice.  Just a reminder for those who don’t know, NEET stands for Not involved in Employment, Education, or Training.  In other words, these people have no jobs, and aren’t in school, and are more or less useless people who could be making a ton of cash off of this, but don’t for whatever reason.  The series itself is very well done, combining plot, character development, and light humour into one very neat package.  I definitely recommend this one, it’s one of my picks for best this season so far, up there with Usagi Drop and Kamisama Dolls.  One last note, between this and Steins;Gate, I hope Dr. Pepper is sponsoring anime recently, because otherwise they’re getting a lot of free advertising.

Blade
The fourth installment in the Marvel anime series that has been airing for the last year, the Vampire Hunter, Blade.  Now, I’m not quite as familiar with the Blade continuity as I was with Ironman, Wolverine, and the X-Men, so I can’t really compare on that end of things, but if it’s anything like the above, then it should be canon in some way or another.  Just as the last few, Blade makes his way to Japan in order to hunt down a certain Vampire, and comes across a whole organization of them known as Existence, led by the Vampire that killed his mother.  The series seems to pace itself fairly well, introducing new characters for the most part so far, most of whom are probably to be killed off by the end if Ironman and Wolverine are examples to go by.  Anyways, if you’ve enjoyed the Marvel anime so far, you should definitely give this a look.

Uta no Prince-sama
This series is about a school for the performing arts, known for producing many famous actors, pop idols, and the composers that write songs for them.  It follows one girl in particular who aspires to be a composer, and her life as a student surrounded by talented and attractive individuals.  By that last comment, I of course mean Bishounen guys everywhere.  Not quite sure what direction this show is going to take, but it seems entertaining enough.  If you’re not put off by a large number of pretty men, then by all means give it a shot.

Nurarihyon no Mago 2
This will be the one exception to my rule about second seasons in these reviews this time.  I just wanted to say that I enjoyed the hell out of the first season of this series, and I was really looking forward to this.  The first five episodes have so far been a little disappointing though.  It seems a little weird that after ending the first season with Rikuo being shown as hugely powerful and finally fully coming into his powers, they start this season showing off how weak and useless he is.  After being almost unstoppable the entire first season, it just seems like a stark difference.  Also, there have been so many flashbacks to start it off that the actual story has been a little slow to start.  I still have some hope for the series as a whole, but it’s been off to a fairly rocky start.

Yuru Yuri
And now for this season’s dose of bright and colourful random stupidity.  This show follows a set of high school girls through their average school life.  In other words, its just another plotless excuse for moe value because studios know it will sell regardless.  Did you see A-Channel last season?  Then you’ve already seen this show, and I’d give it a pass.  If you like this sort of thing, then go right ahead.  Otherwise, it’s probably not worth it.

Mayo Chiki
I can only describe this series as Hayate the Combat Butler meets Maria+Holic.  It’s about a girl who desperately wants to be her best friend’s butler, but is told that a woman can’t do the job properly.  Finally, the head of the house gives her a challenge.  If she can go through her entire high school career disguised as a man, and manage to keep anyone from finding out, he would allow it.  However, the main character, Jirou, accidentally finds out, and is forced to help keep her secret.  It’s by no means an original plot idea, but I have to say this show pulls it off really well.  It’s filled with clichés and stereotypes, but somehow manages to make them fresh.  Even the rich girl she serves, there’s so many of that character type in every anime ever, and they managed to make it seems like the first time you’ve seen it.  This show is very entertaining, and if you don’t mind a little perverted humour here and there, I’d give it a watch.

Nekogami Yaoyorozu
This series is about a cat god named Mayu who is stripped of her powers and banished to earth where she lives in abject poverty with a young woman.  Not that the whole banishing thing seems to have affected her relationship with various other deities, who all seem to gather around her and follow her every command.  This show bills itself as a gag anime, and it definitely has that element to it, but it can get surprisingly serious at times.  It really harps on the ideas of personal responsibility and friendship, and each episode generally ends with a good moral lesson.  This is an okay series, and if you enjoyed series like Tayutama, I suggest you give it a look.

Itsuka Tenma no Kuro Usagi
This is a show about a boy and a witch who fell in love with each other, and were finally reunited after being pulled apart around ten years prior to the start of the show.  In the mean time, the main character had his memory of his meeting her erased, but finally figured it out when things started happening.  Now he fights to protect her from those trying to hunt her down, alongside two somewhat unlikely allies.  Now, this show is mainly an action/fantasy series, but it also tried to throw some psychological thriller into the mix, though it generally fails at it.  The main character’s ability, given to him by the witch, is that he has seven lives.  However, if he can manage to not die for fifteen minutes, the counter resets back to seven.  That might seem like an awesome ability, but the fact that he seems unable to do that so often just seems like it’s pushing it a bit.  How hard is it to not die?  Apparently it’s the hardest thing this guy has ever done, because he gets killed at least six times an episode.  This show tries to take itself seriously, but it goes way over the top with things sometimes.  It’s not a bad watch, and it looks like its trying to get at a deeper storyline, so if you like fantasy and magic, I would give this one a look.

Mawaru Penguindrum
This show is just plain weird, but its weirdness gives it an interesting feel that keeps you wanting to watch.  It follows a pair of brothers, who, after losing their sister to an illness she’s had her entire life, are amazed to see her come back to life.  Her life, however, is now tied to a mysterious king penguin hat that seems to house some sort of deity.  In order to make sure that their sister remains alive and well, they are forced to follow this deity’s every whim, which seems to involve collecting mysterious objects without ever actually telling them what it is they’re looking for.  Despite the somewhat original plot, the series seemed to be treating itself as fairly generic until the musical number.  Yeah, I’m not even sure what the point of that was either.  It was so out of place too.  Sitting eating dinner, arguing, then suddenly the hat was on, “Survival Strategy!”, and suddenly a really trippy musical number.  It was just so delightfully out of place that I couldn’t stop laughing for a few minutes.  Anyways, this show is definitely entertaining, so it’s totally worth a look.

Anyways, that’s it for this season.  Now, there are a number of other shows, but as usual, I only mention what I myself am watching.  On that note, if someone gives me a good reason to watch No. 6, I may pick that up too, but I’m otherwise totally disinterested in the other shows that aired in July.  I’ll see you again around the beginning of November for my first look at the Fall anime season.