It’s that time of the season again! It’s time to look at my first impressions for the anime of this season!
I’ve been a little busy with work and everything as of yet, hence the lack of posting of any Winter 2017 posts, but that hasn’t stopped me from checking out Spring 2017! (I’ll be posting Winter 2017 reviews soon, I promise!) Admittedly, I’ve watched quite a fair bit of the shows from this season, so there’s quite a bit for me to comment on… Without further ado, then, let’s get down to business!
In this post, I will be covering the following series:
- Shingeki no Kyojin Season 2
- Tsugumomo
- Alice to Zouroku
- The Royal Tutor
- Sakura Quest
- Tsuki ga Kirei
- Love Kome
Shingeki no Kyojin Season 2
I think I have to admit here that I didn’t particularly enjoy the second half of the first season of SnK, to the extent where it dampened my enjoyment of it all together. That being said, I was curious to see what would happen in the second season, as I haven’t read the manga and a friend just happened to tell me of a massive spoiler that got me interested. As for the first episode of the second season, I liked that they quickly gave you a re-cap of what happened in the first season. I also liked how this wasn’t going to be too annoying if you were to watch both series one after another in some sort of marathon. The OP is quite similar to the original OP that we’re all familiar with, arguably due to it being by Linked Horizon once again, but I find that it’s not as good – it doesn’t pump you up to expect great action scenes like in the original, so something is telling me that it’s going to be quite different? I suppose I’ll keep watching to find out, given it’s only twelve episodes long as well, with what seems to be nicer animation than before and pretty good CGI. The only thing I had a problem with was that I thought it was a bit too quick to initiate a storming by the Titans, but, as I’ve previously mentioned, I have no knowledge of the manga or anything, therefore don’t know if the timings are actually true. I also found the ED to quite creepy, but that isn’t really an issue, nor is the whole timing thing. Overall, it’s definitely looking promising for SnK and it’s definitely one I’ll be continuing this season.
Tsugumomo
Tsugumomo was a bit of a weird one, admittedly. It follows Kazuya Kagami, a guy who never goes anywhere without the “Sakura Obi” his mother gave him. One day, a kimono-clad girl name Kiriha appears before him and then ~naturally~ begins to live in his room with him. First thing’s first, Tsugumomo is an ecchi anime, a genre I don’t usually like to follow and, in all honesty, I only picked this one up as there wasn’t much else airing at the time. The first thing that caught my attention was the OP – it’s actually pretty damn good and took me by surprise! The premise just screamed ‘potential harem’ and ‘generic’ to me, but I found myself chuckling at the jokes made in the first episode one, despite them being somewhat typical of the genre. The fight scenes weren’t too bad either. The one thing I have to say about the first episode was that the personality of Kazyua’s sister was quite questionable. I’ll be continuing to watch this for a couple of more episodes, but I can’t guarantee this will be a complete keeper.
Alice to Zouroku
If any series this season has made me intrigued for the next episode, it’s definitely Alice to Zouroku. The first thing I have to mention is the animation. Holy moly, the animation in this show is amazing. From the moment the episode opened up showing a worm’s eye view of a street light in the rain, I knew the animation to this show would be on another level. The colours of the terrain, the greens and the browns mix beautifully, the detailing of the computers and the wallpaper in the Pharmaceutical Corporation is quite impressive. But, what I liked most of all was the CGI. Controversial, perhaps, considering the amount of arguing I’ve seen on this, but the way the Corporation’s buildings stand as the camera pans, the abilities, the landscape of (what I presume to be) Japan… They all look incredible. Of course, as people have pointed out, the CGI can be seen to be somewhat unpolished, particularly in the car chase scene, but when it’s done well, it certainly looks wonderful. The sounds in this show were also wonderful – everything from the sound of the rain, to the sounds in the aforementioned car chase scene worked so well. The only complaint I have is that the voice of the director of the Corporation didn’t perhaps sound mature enough, something I would have perhaps expected Masaya Matsukaze, who also voices Kyouya Ootori from Ouran Highschool Host Club, to have done brilliantly. A final point to make is that both the music of the ED and the animation of the ED are lovely – it was nice to watch after such a long episode. Alice to Zouroku is definitely a show I’ll be keeping an eye on, for I’m also curious about the characters of Alice and Zouroku and where the plot takes them.
Oushitsu Kyoushi Haine (The Royal Tutor)
Who likes beautiful anime boys who also happen to be princes? I do. Who likes relatable short-arse characters that are also extremely sarcastic and stand for no BS? I do. This means, for me, The Royal Tutor is just perfect. Apart from the great characters, the animation is also really nice and the show itself appears to be a light-hearted comedy, something that I haven’t properly enjoyed in a good while. It’s too early to comment on whether the jokes in the series are going to be somewhat repetitive or not, but the opening episode made a promising start on the comedy front. The animation is clean and quite pretty, a particular favourite feature of mine being the eyes of each character. Of course, being a comedy, it has the comedic expressions that are commonly found in such anime, giving it a lovely balance. I’m intrigued as to where the story goes for the four princes and Heine, so this is definitely a series I’m going to be continuing throughout the season.
Sakura Quest
If any series surprised me this season, it’s Sakura Quest. It’s based around a group of girls who try to aid a town in rebuilding its tourism program. It doesn’t sound too great, right? My thoughts exactly, but I urge you to at least give it a go. Sure, it’s a “cute girl doing cute things” show, but the humour is definitely one that keeps you on board. It’s genuine; it doesn’t feel forced and it made me chuckle quite a few times, something that I didn’t think would happen. Sakura Quest is such a pretty anime, as predicted, really, considering it’s from P. A. Works. The animation almost seems to glisten at times and everything just seems so smooth. The OP is also great, the animation depicting the personality of Yoshino, the main character, really well even before you meet her properly. Sakura Quest is definitely a surprise to me this season and I’ll be sure to continue watching it.
Tsuki ga Kirei
Tsuki ga Kirei was probably one of the first shows I planned on watching this season. The synopsis, quite frankly, sounds fairly generic for a romance anime, but there was something about the character design and the promotional posters that made me interested enough to want to watch it. I’m glad I did as well. The synopsis doesn’t really do the show justice. The animation is so pretty, perhaps one of the prettiest this season. But that isn’t even the main point of why I liked it so much. For those of you who liked Kuzu no Honkai last season, I have a feeling you’ll like Tsuki ga Kirei as well. The opening episode reminded me of KnH so much – it just doesn’t involve the arguably questionable concept of revenge that KnH consists of. It’s a lot more cuter, focusing on the awkward encounters of first love, by the looks of it, however it doesn’t disregard the idea of sexual attraction either. I’m intrigued about what path this show will take, so it’s definitely a keeper for me.
Love Kome: We Love Rice
This. This is incredible. And I can’t tell whether it’s in a positive light or not. Love Kome focuses on anthropomorphic rice that are schoolboys. Five of these students aim to supplant bread as the popular grain at the school, challenging themselves to perform at the Harvest Show. This slice-of-life has a serious case of questionable hair styles and bear ears. It’s completely questionable as a concept. But something within the four minute episode made me love it. Something made me want to continue watch it. And I will. And it’ll be incredible.
Part two of my First Impressions of Spring 2017 will out on Saturday 15th!
