Fall 2013 Anime First Impressions: (Part Three)

Ore no Nōnai Sentakushi ga, Gakuen Love Come o Zenryoku de Jama Shiteiru:  A great beginning to a pretty shaky premise.  After explaining that our hero has no choice but to accept one of the two multiple choices posed to him by 'the voice in his head,' and that resistance is futile, a series of ridiculously stupid yet humorous choices are posed to him throughout the episode.  The show had me laughing from beginning to end, and the art is gorgeous.  From this abyss of despair, where every single multiple choice he's given makes him worse off, finally a good one comes along at the end of the episode -- "a girl falls from the sky."

You see, I'm absolutely fine with a girl falling from the sky in a case like this.  Because our character isn't getting unearned fortune, he's in fact being given unearned misfortune all episode long.  The girl falling from the sky is just another side effect of an ability that isn't on his side at all.  This is called fair and balanced.  It appears his ability has attracted some sort of organization of higher ups in heaven that have mobilized due to its ridiculous power.  I'm sure even God would be troubled by an ability that can bend the laws of physics (as the ability was said to be able to do).  Well, that's just my theory for why she fell from the sky and said she was here to help him.  But in any case, she wears striped stockings so she's clearly the best girl in the series.

So far, I love everything about this show, from it original storytelling device to the agonized inner monologues of the protagonist, but just remember that there was another show that looked great on the first episode and subsequently sucked beyond all imagination from there on -- Kotoura-san.  I suspect that this zany multiple choice life will only be funny for so long and will instead just grow annoying and repetitive in time.  It will take a masterful author to take this premise and spin it out into a full length story.  I'll keep watching until it does fail, but there's always that worry lurking in the background.  Pass.

Kyoukai no Kanata:  After watching episode two, I changed my mind.  It's true that a variety of things are very annoying in this show, but that gorgeous fight in terms of both animation and choreography, at the beginning of the episode is all the justification necessary to keep watching.  Pass.

Samurai Flamenco:  I had zero expectations for this show.  The art style and the name were just awful, so the anime had to be awful too, right?  Not so fast.  It turns out this show is pretty awesome.  A guy who admires hero shows decides he wants to be a hero when he grows up.  But instead of fighting monsters, he fights against the petty crimes of society that everyone else just overlooks because it's too much of a bother to interfere.  However, he doesn't fight them physically, but just tells them to stop, while accepting whatever beatings come his way in response.  This way, despite being a vigilante, he actually makes friends with the cops.  And the friendship he gains with the cop in the show is pretty awesome.  Watching your favorite TV show together on a big couch with a big TV sounds pretty much like heaven.  No drama, no effort, just having fun hanging out.  Anime has a very hard time showing interesting boys who get along, so this is pretty refreshing as shows go.  Pass.

Galilei Donna:  This show, on the other hand, I knew I would like just from the name and the picture.  A1 Pictures never lets me down, and as expected, they've delivered another hit.  The artificial intelligence goldfish spaceship operating interface is the cutest, funniest thing since Kitakubu.  The three sisters seem pretty cool.  Even when they're thrown into really chaotic situations, they tend to think quickly and proactively work to change their fates.  The show as a whole seems to be more a comedy than a drama, but it's really too soon to tell what they're intending with this introduction.  All I know is the art is good and the show's a blast.  Virtually anyone, who likes anime for any reason, will find something to like about Galilei Donna.  Pass.

Valvrave 2:  I thought this was a pretty weak beginning to the second season, but whatever.  Valvrave is in my rankings already, of course the remainder of the series is worth watching too.  Pass.

Koroshiya-san and Pupa are still nowhere to be seen.  Who knows when they'll come out, so there's no sense waiting for them any longer.  The rest of the fall season has shown its stuff, so it's time to wrap this series of posts up with the full lineup of what's worth watching and how they compare to each other week-by-week.  Obviously the second and third batches of anime were much more positive than the first third.  Due to that, we have a surprisingly solid fall season.  Thank goodness, the situation was looking pretty grim for a moment there.  Here's what the fall has to offer for now:

1.  Unbreakable Machine Doll

2.  Little Busters: Refrain

3.  Hunter x Hunter

4.  Outbreak Company

5.  Noucome

6.  Galilei Donna

7.  Samurai Flamenco

8.  Non Non Biyori

9.  Yozakura Quartet

10.  Naruto

11.  One Piece

12.  Doki Doki Precure

13.  Miss Monochrome

14.  White Album 2

15,  Valvrave 2
16.  Kyoukai no Kanata

17.  Arpeggio of Blue Steel

Hopefully Pupa will be joining this list, but there's just no telling until that day arrives.  Next up, watching three episodes of all the new franchises and then expanding my rankings from the unwieldy 156 to the more natural 160, free and clear.