Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Early Impressions & Diabolik Lovers (Lilac's Impressions: Fall 2013)

So we're coming into the new season of anime! Today, I figured I talk about the series that I picked for my Impressions and also talk about the first episode of one of those shows since it's the only one of the list that has aired as of right now. This doesn't mean this is Week One of my Fall Impressions, but just an early look at what's to come. First, let's take a quick look at Diabolik Lovers.



DIABOLIK LOVERS


Episode 1



So this show... It exists. A little background on this series. It's produced by ZEXCS the same company that gave us Say I love you and Flowers of Evil. They have been becoming a good studio to me based on these recent works. However, I'm not so sure that I should keep that statement after seeing the first episode of Diabolik Lovers. First off, the episode is under fifteen minutes so it's not a normal episode length. Second of all, it just throws everything at you at once and you can't quite digest it. Third off, what the f*** is with those vampire guys?! Nearly all of them are just blood thirsty demons who want Yui. It just bugs the crap out of me! I have so many reasons to hate this series right now, but I also kind of want to know about this whole bride business that's been mentioned. And I get a sense that there's going to be some sort of Beauty and the Beast story in there some where, but I could be completely wrong. I guess, for now, I'll see what episode two brings. I'll wait till I start my actual Impressions for the Fall season to talk about the second and third episodes (if I make it that far). But for now, this series has a lot of work to do cause episode one doesn't give me a lot of hope. If you're interested in watching the series, it's over on Crunchyroll.



Now let's talk about the new season! Normally, I start off with ten shows to watch at the start of the new season and narrow down to a final five or six series. However, this season is rather difficult to narrow down to my ten shows. What I decided, for this season, to start with eighteen series (including Diabolik Lovers) and try to narrow it down to eight or nine shows to watch over the course of the Fall season. I got one out of the way now, so I'm going to briefly talk about the other seventeen series I picked this season and my hopes for them. Also, some of the titles are roughly translated and may be changed once the series starts up. I also included any Previews of the series that I could find in case you wanted an idea of what these series will look like.



ACE OF DIAMOND

I don't really watch a lot of sports anime. The most I've seen out of a sports anime was some Prince of Tennis when it was on Toonami back in the day. But this series, along with another show I picked for this season, I'm curious about because of the fact I haven't seen nearly any sports anime. In the case of Ace of Diamond, specifically, it's the partnership between Madhouse and P.A. Works that I'm really interested in. As of posting this, there is no listed director for the series so it'll be interesting where this show is going to go under who's hands. But Madhouse and P.A. haven't let me down yet. If I had to pick someone to license this series, I can see it going to either Sentai Filmworks or Aniplex of America. Sadly, due to the lack of success of Big Windup, FUNimation has been steering clear of sports anime. This show seems like an Aniplex show for sure, but I wouldn't be surprised if Sentai Filmworks decided to give the sports genre a go. Maybe they'll have better luck than FUNi did.



ARPEGGIO OF BLUE STEEL: ARS NOVA

When going through the list of shows over and over again and trying to decide which ones to drop, Arpeggio was one of the ones I considered dropping. I don't know much about this series. First it's from Sanzigen, an animation studio that has more credits in assisting in series rather than their own. Then there's the director Seiji Kishi, who's been the director for series such as Angel Beats, Humanity Has Declined, and more recently Danganronpa. But what's keeping my interest is the preview of the series. It looks nice and it seems like it'll be a decent action series, so we'll see where it goes. I can only see Sentai Filmworks taking this one. Considering their license of Girls Und Panzar, this would make sense for them.



BEYOND THE BOUNDARY

So Kyoto Ani managed to get my interest over the summer with Free! Now the question on not only my mind, but on the minds of others is can they now hold that interest. And I have to say, this one has potential. It's also rather different than what Kyo Ani normally does along the lines of Free and Haruhi Suzumiya. It looks nice and I am interested in seeing Kyoto Ani going back to action after it gave it a shot with Full Metal Panic (which I have yet to see, shut up). This is certainly a Sentai Filmworks show if I ever saw one, however I would be up for a FUNimation simulcast as well.



BLAZBLUE: ALTER MEMORY

BlazBlue is another series, along with Arpeggio, that I had considered dropping early on. The reason for this is because it's based on a video game and not all video game adaptations are really amazing. You can lump Persona 4 and Danganronpa into this area, though I do enjoy both. What sucks for me as, what good old MexicanAnime calls me regarding video games, a casual is not knowing how well it will translate from game to TV show. Granted this can be the same with manga and visual novel adaptations, but video games have certain mechanics that may seem rather confusing to the viewer of the TV show. For example, the Social Links of Persona 4 or the Classroom Trials of Danganronpa. But Danganronpa managed to make it through over the summer, so I'm willing to give BlazBlue a chance. With this one, I'm leaning on a FUNimation simulcast because this seems like a series FUNi would typically pick up. However, Sentai may have a chance at this one as well.



COPPELION

This is one of the series I am extremely excited for, and also a series that has had many rumors circulating around it. What I didn't know was that this series had been announced a few years back but then was pulled for some reason, making a lot of potential fans upset. Will that time lapse possibly damage this series? Who knows. But I love the premise and the art is a little shaky but it might get better. As for who this could get a simulcast from, it better be FUNimation cause this is totally up their alley! I would be really upset if they didn't pick this up.



GALILEI DONNA

A-1 Pictures has had some hits and misses in the past couple of years or so. Will Galilei Donna fall under the miss area? Beats me. But this is the first series I saw on the Fall Ani Chart, and sometimes when I see the first one of the chart I am prone to watching it, like I did with Red Data Girl this past spring. But I am interested in the plot of the story and would like to know how they're going to make three girls into criminals. If I had to make a guess as to where this show will end up, I would have to say Sentai Filmworks again. Why? Because they seem to being picking up similar shows in style and design such as Say I love you. But I could be wrong and it could always fall into FUNimation's hands.



GOLDEN TIME

How often do we get series set in college and involve adults? Not extremely often, especially in recent years. In walks Golden Time, a comedy/romance series from J.C. Staff. When I look into series I would be interested in watching I try to keep a very open mind about those series going in and try to reserve judgements about them till I've seen a few episodes. This is one of those shows that I believe I will enjoy, but I will have to wait and see. It looks really calming and charming, but this is also a comedy so I have no idea what kind of humor this series will be going for. If I had to pick a company to see a simulcast from, then Sentai Filmworks would be a strong contender here. Again, with Say I love you and Natsuyuki Rendezvous, this seems like it would be up Sentai's alley.



I, WHO DIDN'T BECOME A HERO, RELUCTANTLY DECIDED TO FIND A JOB

With my recent enjoyment of The Devil is a Part Timer from the spring season, I saw this series listed late in the announcement game I knew I wanted to give it a chance. It will probably be in the same vein as Devil is a Part Timer, which is perfectly fine, but the problem that will come out of this series is all the comparisons to its proceeding cousin. This is a double edged sword here, because it has the chance to either blow us away with how much better it is or it may want us to kill it with fire. Either way, we'll see how this goes. I would not be surprised if FUNimation picked this series up. After Devil is a Part Timer, it's logical for them to take this one.



KILL LA KILL

This is one of the other big series that everyone has been talking about. So it's no wonder why I had to go for it as well. I don't know much about Studio Trigger aside from watching Little Witch Academia with some friends. As for director Hiroyuki Imaishi, the only other work I've seen from him was Pantyat least not right away. I mentioned that FUNi is steering clear from sports anime, and I feel like Aniplex and Sentai aren't going to bite either. It's kind of saddening, but we'll see what comes out of this in the next few weeks.



Well that's all of them! The eighteen shows I'll be looking at for this season and some predictions as to licensing and what I may or may not drop. Think there's an upcoming series that I should look into? Let me know in the comments below, and I will see you all with Impressions stuff in a few weeks! Until next time, otaku on my friends!
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