Goldfish Breeding Competition and Autumn Premiere Week Wrapup

October 11th, 2013

I need a nap.

As always, all of my opinions have been reduced to a one-line blurb, the first thought(s) that come to mind when I think about a show. Extensive or indicative of the entire show? Hell no. The main goal is to finish it in less time than it took to find a header image. They’re all linked to my posts on them (or something at any rate) if you want more info.

And a friendly reminder, most shows are going to be mediocre and forgettable at best, make no mistake about it, so saying that isn’t exactly going out on a limb. My own tastes and preferences are not the last word in everything. Feel free to ramble or do whatever you want in the comments.

Anything that I am 100% certain I’m going to cover for at least another week gets a frog, I guess, even if I’m on the fence about it and/or very cross with the direction it’s decided to take in a second episode. That doesn’t mean I’ll stick with it past the next episode or two, and I guarantee you that the chance of me covering four shows on Thursday is slim. Likewise, just because I’m not looking forward to something just yet doesn’t mean that I won’t pick it up. I tend to watch at least part of the second episode of most things. This season had a very compact premiere schedule which was nice, but hasn’t given second looks at too many shows yet.

MONDAY

Gundam Build Fighters

 

Just another unabashed 21 minute unabashed toy commercial.

 Unbreakable Machine Doll 

 

CGI fights are kind of painful but could be okay if it keeps up the pace to gloss over the characters.

Wimpy Pedal

 

One obnoxious gag protagonist plus one who doesn’t know what comedy is in a poorly animated generic sports show.

Scenery Porn

 

Five minute long first episode stretched to fifteen further padded with enough shots of scenery to choke a landscape artist.

Arpeggio of Blue Steel

 

CGI people creep me the hell out, but the bland unexciting and unexcitable characters probably bore me more.

TUESDAY

 Tokyo Ravens 

 

Good for oral fixations and bad CGI in the last couple minutes. Exceptionally dull and uneventful for the other twenty.

BlazBlue

 

Severely lacking the animation budget it needs and not even trying to appeal to people who aren’t already fans of the show.

WEDNESDAY

Gaist Crusher

 

Another toy commercial, but this time with more exposed asses and drinking games that will kill you.

COPPELION

 

Does sparse wasteland well, but far too slow and directionless to give me anything that really hooks me.

 Beyond the Boundary 

 

Certainly well animated, but also astounding generic besides my desire to slap nearly every character silly.

 My Title is Too Long 

 

Consistent manicness that works well with the humor, but the four minute montage thing at the start still annoys me.

 Kyousougiga 

 

Lively and expressive, but also lacking direction and compared to the OVA, severely lacking the energy I really liked there.

THURSDAY

Lull of Tomorrow

 

One of the most obnoxious male protagonists and helpless female protagonists in a season full of them.

 Galilei Donna 

 

Interesting music, but pretty boring when nobody’s being shot at or there aren’t magic goldfish, and then it’s just weird.

Samurai Flamenco

 

Protagonist is too bratty and it can’t seem to make up its mind whether he’s a joke or we’re supposed to be cheering for him.

Outbreak Company

 

I’m not sure if it’s supposed to be a comedy or a drama and it’s not doing a good job at either. Plus a dick for no reason.

 Valvrave 

 

Nothing says exciting return like the climax of the episode being Haruto overcoming his angst yet again.

 Infinite Stratos 

 

Content to rehash its first season so far while Ichika has prophetic dreams instead of actually building up toward anything. 

 Kill La Kill 

 

All style, very little substance and trying to use the same things for both gags and excitement which is undercutting both.

Golden Time

 

Bland all around, but especially the characters, which especially hurts with no direction or plot to speak of.

FRIDAY

 Freezing 

 

Has minimized the most boring parts of the first season so far, but also unfortunately minimized the eye gouging.

Strike the Blood

 

Very generic magical girlfriend setup that needs to be going about twice as fast, and find a lot more money for the action.

 I Have a Title That’s Too Long 

 

Kind of okay when it’s being a wacky fanservice show, but then it tried to get emotional and angsty. Ew.

SATURDAY

Log Ho’s

 

Utterly safe, generic, and dull "kids trapped in an MMO" show bringing nothing new or exciting whatsoever.

Little Busters 

 

They’re even squeakier than I remembered.

White Album 2

 

Melodrama in the purest sense. Insecure teenager romance where the one girl who seemed okay slept through the episode.

Hippo Rising

 

When every punch is a head shattering explosion blow, no punch is a head shattering explosion blow.

Kuroko’s Balls

 

LOOK AT THIS DOG. THERE ARE SPEEDLINES. THIS IS AN EXCITING DOG.

Ace of Diamond

 

Am I supposed to be cheering for the jerk or laughing at the jerk? We should probably figure that out.

Sunday

Magi

 

Now with flower picking and lush Arabian desert gardens.

Phi Brain

 

Only two more seasons before they graduate to playing bridge.

I Wanna Be the Strongest

 

Lack of awareness of what it is, lack of any budget, and lots and lots of shots of crotches. 

 Yo! Sakura Quartet 

 

A step down from the OVAs and needs to do better than goldfish, but I can still see the characters and setting I like in there.

 Glasses! Boo! 

 

Surprisingly well-directed and silly, but needs to find something other than glasses if it’s going to have legs. And a budget.

Walkure Romanze

 

Creepy CGI jousting, creepy horses, and a female lead without two brain cells to slam together.

Silver Fox

 

Fumbling drama of immature characters learning about friendship with little indication of any ambition or… anything really.

Wrapup:

I guarantee you that I will not be covering four shows on Thursdays but I’m not sure which to go with yet, and BtB is right on the edge for Wednesdays and may very well be relegated to Blood-C/Rio style coverage where I just flip to the exciting part and if it turns into giant bunny monster blenders or space robot sharks later, so be it. I also have some other semi-significant news related to various anime coverage and whatnot that I’m going to post tomorrow as well. Otherwise, *shrug*. It’s a season. Nicely spread out across the week though besides Melodrama Saturdays (all the more time to work on the neverending black hole that is Seinarukana!).

Go ahead and beg, plead, flame, whatever. I’ve got entirely too much stuff to finish today. Back to work.

Posted in Premiere Wrapup | 4 Comments »

4 Shouts From the Peanut Gallery

  • algorithm says:

    “I guarantee you that I will not be covering four shows on Thursdays”

    IS and VVV are crap tier, though your reviews for the latter are among the very fews that are less boring than the blogged shows themselves.

  • Di Gi Kazune says:

    This is indeed masochistic. I have not seen aroduc doing a daily coverage from recent memory. (Oops.. My bad, not covering Saturday. Blame wall of text :P)

    Compared to my initial viewing list of 1 (Korra), it means there is a lot of shows that depend on personable preferences. After preview week, one new addition: Arpeggio of Blue Steel, only because I went and tried the manga and happen to like the concept of warship AI Avatars ala Andromeda Ascendant.

  • kenuran says:

    Oh my! You actually have a show to do on Tuesday.

    Hope you drop IS and keep Valvrave. You know IS is just gonna do even more pointless meandering than its first season. Just pick the more aggressively stupid show.

  • The Phantom says:

    Are you seriously going to blog all those shows?. As a side note, you still watch some shows that you stop blogging dont you?.