This post was written by Dark_Sage. He is Dark_Sage.
Spring 2014 will officially begin for Crymore tomorrow, now that the previews are out of the way. Look forward to waiting for me to review things I say I will and then backing out last minute due to work, laziness, or a severe case of the death.
~Table of (False) Contents~
Soul Eater Not!
Dai Shogun – Great Revolution (Fuuun Ishin Dai Shogun)
Nanana’s Buried Treasure (Ryuugajou Nanana no Maizoukin)
No Game, No Life
Black Bullet
The irregular at magic high school (Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei)
Captain Earth
Is the order a rabbit? (Gochuumon wa Usagi Desu ka?)
Dragon Collection
Chaika the Coffin Princess (Hitsugi no Chaika)
Ping Pong the Animation
La Corda d’Oro Blue Sky (Kin-iro no Corda Blue♪Sky)
Kamigami no Asobi
Kanojo ga Flag o Oraretara
Visual guide to appear in the next post. Makes more sense to have a compiled preview image.
Excellent (9-10/10)
Soul Eater Not!
Animation Production: Bones (Soul Eater, Soul Eater, Soul Eater)
Manga: http://www.mangareader.net/soul-eater-not/1
Skip 35 seconds in to this trailer. The rest is just pointless logos.
It’s a side-story of Soul Eater, which is legitimately the best straight shounen Japan’s ever made. The spin-off may not be have all the punchy goodness of its predecessor, but goddamn does it retain the charm.
I actually had to stop myself after reading three chapters of the series, cuz I didn’t want to spoil the on-screen experience for myself. That’s the mark of a damn solid manga. Hell, Isshukan Friends was the only other series I did that for this season. Everything else I just stopped reading cuz time is precious and those series weren’t.
Anyone who liked the original has enough taste to owe it to themselves to watch Soul Eater Not. And if you haven’t seen the original anime, watch this one to find out why you should. (This is a standalone story, so don’t worry about being left all that far behind the rest of us.)
Besides, ain’t like Bones has ever let anybody down. I’m sure it’s gonna be great.
Good-ish (7-8/10)
Nanana’s Buried Treasure
Animation Production: A-1 Pictures (Black Butler, Magi, Sword Art Online)
Manga: N/A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Myg_bE6BA-4
I’m going to assume this is a prequel, since the trailer seems to show a rather darker, more post-apocalyptic side of the Nanana universe. Whatever it is, I’m sure it will be decent. After all, any series with the budget A-1 throws at their properties is good by default.
I just hope the MC ends up wearing a cool costume that I can order from Japan for $100 and wear to cons to be exactly like the thousands of other unique anime fan snowflakes out there. ^_^
No Game, No Life
Animation Production: Madhouse (Btooom!, Hajime no Ippo, Hunter x Hunter 2011)
Manga: http://www.batoto.net/read/_/156779/no-game-no-life_ch1_by_renzokusei-scans/4
It’s pretty much Yu-Gi-Oh, but without the cards, and with less incest. Oh, and the male MC is a complete asshole.
The only thing that prevents me from throwing this into Excellent tier is that the manga hasn’t really gone anywhere. It feels like the manga was solely created to hype the anime up, seeing as how nothing of consequence has happened yet other than promises of super-cool gambles.
There’s always the possibility that Madhouse will let us down when the cards are on the table, but since that would result in my disappointment, we’re gonna assume that won’t happen to too large of a degree. You can pull this off, Japan. Just don’t be as shit as you usually are.
Dragon Collection
Animation Production: Oriental Light and Magic (Pokemon 4ever, To-Heart, Camp Pikachu)
Manga: http://www.mangareader.net/dragon-collection/1
There’s 101 people fighting for supreme power, and they do so via a pseudo-card game where they summon monsters to fight for them. Standard shounen setup, standard shounen bullshit.
Now, I don’t wanna say this is gonna be good, cuz the manga sure as hell wasn’t…
But it’s at least competent in its mediocrity. And since we haven’t had an honestly enjoyable shounen in years, I’m inclined to
overlook its faults to get my blood burning with the hot passion of youth.
And besides, any series with an MC who likes slimes can’t be a bad one.
…
Oh wait, they aren’t following the manga, and are instead coming up with a story based on selling a microtransaction-based phone game to five-year-olds?
Good gods. 0/10.
Mehdiocre/Okay (5-6/10)
The irregular at magic high school
Animation Production: Madhouse (They did a bunch of American cartoons)
Manga: http://www.batoto.net/read/_/71156/mahouka-koukou-no-rettousei_ch1_by_mangaholic/3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvcBRaiy6uo
God damn is this some stupid shit. Take your regular incest anime, drop all the ecchi, throw some shitty shounen into the mix and you have this hot mess.
Take MC-kun, who is totes cool and mysterious…
But then a few chapters later, we get this:
Come the fuck on.
This is an enjoyable series if you can get through it fast enough to ignore how boring and stupid it actually is. As such, I wouldn’t recommend watching the anime, but quick readers may find the manga’s worth a look. But if you like thinking while reading, save your time for something that knows what it’s doing.
Black Bullet
Animation Production: Kinema Citrus (Code:Breaker, Busou Shinki, Tokyo Magnitude 8.0), Orange Animation Studio (Nothing on their own.)
Manga: http://www.batoto.net/read/_/142098/black-bullet_ch1_by_asdf-scans/2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHgcn2YevWA
The only good thing about this series is that it reminded me Psyren exists.
The two MCs go around fighting monsters because they have powers and normal humans don’t, but the complete lack of tension or suspense, alongside them missing any notable or unique character traits, makes the tried-and-true path the anime tries to stay on look more like a sewer drain that the series is being dragged through. And with worse pacing than Dragonball, the only redeeming factor is that sometimes the characters look cool.
Yeah, not very redeeming. Avoid this one.
Captain Earth
Animation Production: Bones (FMA Brotherhood, Darker than Black, Noragami)
Manga: N/A
Remember Eureka Seven season 2? Neither do I. And somehow, I remember this show even less already. Sasuga Bones mech animes.
Save Yourself-tier (0-4/10)
Ping Pong the Animation
Animation Production: Tatsunoko Production (Beyblade Metal Fusion, Beyblade Metal Masters)
Manga: http://www.batoto.net/read/_/46321/ping-pong_v1_by_reimu/4
Someone was legitimately paid to draw this. But you couldn’t pay me enough to get me to another page. What a cancerfest.
Kamigami no Asobi
Animation Production: Brains Base (Akikan, Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun, Kurenai)
Manga: N/A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6JIHD9SCOw
I read the last paragraph of a fujoshi’s review of the game and she seemed to imply it sucked more ass than two-thirds of the human centipede, so I’m gonna consider this another Diabolik Lovers kind of failure and avoid it like the Bible Belt avoids literacy.
Shoulder-a-Coffin Shiro
Animation Production: BONES (Yowa’s mushy pedals)
Manga: http://www.batoto.net/read/_/102534/hitsugi-no-chaika_by_village-idiot/3
As I was watching the PV, I thought to myself “Hey, this looks like a rather blatant ripoff of that shitty wannabe shounen I read a few months back.”
Turns out it was that shitty wannabe shounen, but with less of a budget than even its manga version had.
MC-kun is a super-powerful dude who doesn’t want to fight. But holy shit, life just can’t seem to let him take a break. Through his powers of shounen maleness, he overcomes every battle with the power of friendship and refuses to kill his enemies, because whoa dude, that’s violent. And thus the plot goes on in spite of him.
And the plot itself? It’s an escort mission, with all the fun that those entail. Skip this like you skipped the pep rallies at your school.
Dai Shogun – Great Revolution
Animation Production: A.C.G.T. (Duel Masters, Freezing, Koi Kaze), J.C. Staff (Joshiraku, little else of consequence)
Manga: N/A
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dhLQ5rTMP0
Is this another stupid fucking sengoku-era anime? Japan, I’m tired of your shit.
Well, Japan, I appear to have misjudged you. Please accept a spot in the Excellent tier as an apology.
La Corda d’Oro Blue Sky
-
I can’t tell which one’s the girl.
Animation Production: TYO (Nothing on their own.)
Manga: N/A
Here we have a cheap-looking otome spin-off from a series no one cares about, made by a company that no one’s heard of. I’m surprised I even managed to remember the title long enough to throw it in this post. Let’s just assume it sucks and never watch it.
Kanojo ga Flag o Oraretara
Animation Production: Hoods Entertainment (Mysterious Girlfriend X, Qwaser of Stigmata, Fantasista Doll)
Manga: http://www.batoto.net/read/_/132460/kanojo-ga-flag-wo-oraretara_v1_ch1_by_village-idiot/2
It’s your typical high school harem romcom, except all the girls are into flags or something.
I didn’t read far enough to get to the flag part, nor will I watch far enough to get there. Avoid this like the MC will avoid any form of sexual intercourse with the girls.
Is the order a rabbit?
Animation Production: White Fox (Jormungand, Steins;Gate, The Devil is a Part-Timer!)
Manga: N/A
A bunch of little girls put on dresses and serve people while being cute or something. And that’s the anime.
Look, I ain’t saying I won’t masturbate to the show. All I’m saying is that maybe Japan shouldn’t give me the option.
Summary
^
Great post. You’re the Stephen Colbert of fansubbing, D_S.
>Excellent
Soul Eater Not!
Dai Shogun – Great Revolution (Fuuun Ishin Dai Shogun)
Dark_Sage, please. Also, poll when?
when will you review?
Normally I would protest that the light novel is much better (in the case of the magic high school irregular) than the manga… but it’s still not really worth reading unless you like protagonists who are invincible geniuses with the Kamijou disease.
The anime at least might have better action scenes as long as they have enough budget, and they already cut out a lot of the repetitious exposition the light novel author loves so much.
The only reason I’m watching Mahouka is Hayami Saori.
Holy hell was the light novel a pain to read, even more than the parts of Toaru without Biribiri or Accelerator.
>ping pong
>directed by yuasa masaaki
>bad
sasuga D_S
The anime’s theme: Ping pong.
The art: Horrific.
No director can save that show.
Maybe if they also have great voice actors some sub group can put the dub and sub over porn or something and it’ll be worth watching.
>The art: horrific
I don’t think the art is bad. I actually enjoy the weird style. Looking at perfect moe anime girls all the time can be tiring. The same director also did tatami galaxy which I enjoyed supremely.
The “bad” I was thinking of doesn’t refer to style, but go ahead and enjoy it if you can. More power to you. I didn’t particularly like the story or characters even ignoring the art, personally, but maybe you will have a better experience. :)
True. To each their own.
>which is legitimately the best straight
>shounen Japan’s ever made
Shit taste confirmed
>Saying D_S has shit taste
Good taste confirmed.
mahouka mc’s abilities:
>Decomposition – Decomposes material into atoms. Has been used by Tatsuya to unarm hundreds of soldiers from their guns at once.
>Material Burst – Decomposes substances into pure energy following E=MC², almost like an atomic bomb. Actually produces more energy than an atomic bomb, as energy is not lost to collisions between electrons and positrons like in annihilation reactions.
>Elite martial artist by world standard. His physical ninja skills are so impressive people thinks they are spells, when they’re just his natural parameters.
>Elite class strategist by world standards
>Incredible speed at releasing magic, elite of the elite by world standards. Can essentially eliminate the buffer time completely
>Nearly unlimited magic supply
>Eyes analyze magic, allows him to cancel spells.
>The worlds greatest magic technology engineer
Why did you make this post?
D_S can you delete or edit out the post above?
It’s spoilers for the anime
I just spoiler’d it. Not like that shit would ruin the show though — it’s already gonna be bad enough.
I think it might manage to be better than the light novels and manga, not that that says much.
>Why did you make this post?
because he’s a full on mary sue on incredible scale
The manga wasn’t that bad, but it was only the first arch. I think it is only after that the full extent of his abilities are explained. The fact that he also more or less doesn’t feel emotion makes me wonder how they have maintained a coherent plot after so many novels. An invincible emotionless MC should mean all romance is out of the question (besides the possibility of the incest option which will never happen despite his sister’s wishes) and all battles should be trivial. If he is also a grand-master strategist then its not like you could use strategy to beat him either.
If you’re looking at the spoilers imouto wrote, they aren’t 100% accurate, especially for the first arc. In fact, some are wholly false, like the “world-class strategist” bit.
Biggest contribution to the light novels’ popularity in my opinion? It’s very “Nippon Banzai!” The villains are traditional japanese enemies, values of family and duty are constantly promoted, submissive female lead characters, etc.
Magic-as-technology probably draws in a few nerds who like seeing how systems are put together, too.
Well, I wouldn’t say world class strategist is correct either, but he’s pretty good at it, so I wouldn’t say wholly false.
Also his eyes aren’t really analyzing magic: they are able to read eidos to a level at which he can separate different instances, so it’s actually even MORE op since he can also act basically as a radar. And he’s not really cancelling spells either, he’s either altering or removing it’s record from eidos.
Also, I’m one of those nerds who was drawn in.
“A bunch of little girls put on dresses and serve people while being cute or something. And that’s the anime.
Look, I ain’t saying I won’t masturbate to the show. All I’m saying is that maybe Japan shouldn’t give me the option.”
This is what happens you get too into these Chinese cartoons.
Why didn’t you talk about JoJo?
I don’t usually spend time on sequels in the previews other than mentioning they exist. I’ll speak a bit to Jojo in today’s post (planned it for yesterday, but things came up at work).
Is there really the need to talk about the most important show of the season?
Reading your post is as interesting as always, D_S
No Game No Life is actually a Light Novel D_S. I started reading it after I caught up with the manga, and it’s absolutely brilliant. If the anime follows the story of the novels, you will not be disappointed.
>Excellent
>Dai Shogun – Great Revolution (Fuuun Ishin Dai Shogun)
i feel betrayed by how wrong this turned out to be
I can’t begin to fathom how the hell it turned out so horribly. It’s like they wasted the entire budget on everything BUT the animation. I thought Daimidaler looked bad, but Dai Shogun soundly beats it in that regard. How the hell was J.C. Staff satisfied with putting out a show that looks worse than most hentai?
I’m in it for the inevitable figures.
But my reasoning was so sound. Dammit, Japan. You’ve tricked me yet again.
Ping Pong will actually be really good if the live action film in 2002 was anything to go by – just a shame about the art style. Worth a look though, I reckon. Could be a sleeper hit.
I demand Aku no Hana remake…
When the MC in No Game No Life is introduced, it states he has a “communication disorder”. Yet lo and behold, he communicates just fine (even with buxom ladies). Way to be consistent, Japan.
All should be revealed in the next episode…or just read the manga if you’re curious.
Dark_Seiji,
Normally I’d blow you so hard it would exceed F5 in the Fujita scale, but…
‘Gochuumon wa Usagi Desu ka?’ is clearly AOTS.
It’s basically Kiniro Mosaic, which is exactly what I hoped it would be.
Kiniro Mosaic _with_ Satou Satomi. So, like, up to eleventy million with steroids and Red Bull on top.