Mirai Nikki

Easily my most anticipated show of the season (yes, even more than Guilty Crown), I went into Mirai Nikki with the unreasonably high expectations of a manga fangirl. After watching this episode, I am immensely pleased to say that I am really satisfied with how this is looking.

Well, okay, maybe not completely satisfied with how it’s actually looking, since the animation was a bit subpar, and some of the far away scenes looked derpy and reaked of QUALITY, but the art is crisp and the character designs look unique and distinct. The voice cast is pretty decent too, although thanks to freaking Uta no Prince-sama, every time Deus opened his mouth my mind immediately went to SHIIIIINING SAOTOME. I didn’t think Yuno sounded as bad as she did in the OVA, and by the end of the episode I had already gotten used to it, and I liked the seiyuu for Yukki a lot (even if it would have been 1000% percent- oh god, more UtaPri- better if Megumi Ogata was playing Yukki JUST SAYING.)

The pacing was a bit fast, but I honestly didn’t mind it. It’s better that they hurry the beginning a bit so that everything fits well into the 26 episodes. The only gripe that I really have though is how fast and anti-climatic the death of 3rd was, but even that was pretty much right out of the manga (he really only served to set things up, anyway.) The rest of the characters were great though- my adorable little Yukiteru was just as pathetic as I remembered him (for now…hehehehehehe), and they captured Yuno’s craziness pretty well too, although it did feel like they toned it down just a tad (if you can believe that.)

All in all, this was a very good episode that did a great job setting everything up, so I really hope that they can keep up the good work. And hey, even if this devolves into a mindnumbingly stupid gorefest like Deadman Wonderland, at least it will still have psycho Yuno to entertain, so I will definitely be blogging this.
Oh, and LOL at the extras at the end where Third kept killing himself~ It was so much funnier seeing it animated than it was in the manga.
Should you watch this: Elyon says YES!! Mirai Nikki is a really thrilling and intense manga series, and from the looks of things the anime will be following it pretty closely.

Ben-To!

Yeah, what did I just watch? This was just…bizarre on so many levels, but I oddly didn’t hate it. In fact, I have to commend this show for recognizing how absurd it’s premise is and just going crazy with it instead of trying to take itself seriously. Then again though, I thought the same thing about KoreZom before it started to head downhill, so you never really know. For now, it’s really quirky and fun, but can it keep that up for an entire season? I’m not confident that it can. Plus, I give it lots of points for being creative, but…I guess I just didn’t find myself laughing that hard. Scratching my head and thinking “WTF”, yes, but the jokes just weren’t that funny to me. It’s kind of like Nichijou, where I was amused by the sheer absurdity of it all, yet I didn’t find myself laughing out loud often.
The animation was pretty awful too, and David Production took a lot of cheap shortcuts by shaking the camera at odd times in a pathetic attempt to hide how many stills they used. The character designs, too, are pretty boring, and most of the personalities are just the same tired tropes that every harem seems to feature.
Still, I have higher hopes for this than any of the other harem anime this season (although I guess that’s not saying much, is it?)
Oh, and again on the topic of Norio Wakamoto, Hiro Shimono’s impression of him was just awesome (and once again had me think of SHIIIIINING SAOTOME. Curse you, UtaPri!!!)

Should you watch this: If you like over-the-top weirdness, then yes (and if you have a zettai ryouiki fetish, then it’s a must-watch!) To be honest though, I really wouldn’t expect too much from it.

Posted in Anime, First Impressions on Oct 11 by Elyon 17 comments