Daydream Sanctuary Features

Monday, March 14, 2011

Quick Impressions on Some Manga-Based Spring 2011 Anime

I usually check out the manga versions of upcoming anime in every season, provided that they are indeed based on the manga and I can get a copy of an English version. My impressions on the anime would usually be the same as my thoughts on the manga manga (since they're the same anywayz) unless the anime does major changes on the plot or execution/presentation.
So here goes my list, ranked from least liked to most liked (I didn't end up falling madly in love with any of them). I didn't include Deadman Wonderland and Ao no Exorcist in this list because I'm already familiar with those two since long ago.

[ I Didn't Like This Batch ]
Everyday Life
I like weird stuff.... I believe can see sense from nonsense (like with Arakawa Under the Bridge).... but this appears to be TOO random and nonsensical for me x_x I really liked the idea of the characters being weird (they're not even human) despite the title.... but.... it's hard to decipher what's going on =_= First you see a girl getting lost and losing an arm... then there's this girl complaining that she was not being punished for losing... whatwhatwhat??? @_@
A Channel
I don't see the fun in watching the everyday lives of girls doing stuff with shoujo-ai undertones. Some I admit are pretty funny but... it's also pretty repetitive. The blonde girl is also too naive to exist (it's supposed to be funny but... I dunno =_=) and there's also this tall girl that's just too easy to abuse and r@pe. Guh.
Sket Dance
It's already my THIRD attempt to read this manga but it still got me sooo bored. I admit that it had some nice twists and that the characters are pretty cool and fun (especially Switch~ And oh, Bossun + Onihime moments are pretty sweet). However, it still got me sooooo bored... I skipped a lot of dialogue bubles in the manga =_= (I can read dialogue-heavy manga but... I dunno... dialogue-heavy in this kind of series seems boring). The only chapter that I think I bothered to read every freakin' dialogue was with the girl who sees the main character as a bishie (as in, it's just her imagination). It got me amused xD Well, it's funny but.... majority of the jokes are so lame (and overdone) that instead of laughing I was yawning instead x_x

[ I Kinda Liked This Batch But I Doubt I'll Like it More ]

Tea for Universe
It's about a warrior who is more interested in aesthetics than his job xD Hahahahaha! It had been very amusing~
But... hhhmm... not my type. Especially when he started comparing a cup to a woman's breast... o_O gah...
Toriko
I thought it was about cooking at first but it turns out to be more on hunting for wild beasts and eating crazily delicious food. That's more like it~ *can't appreciate... most... cooking shows*
This looks so GAR too xD He's apparently too badass to be defeated. Hahahaa!
The chef dude is seemed to be an accessory during battles because he's too weak though.... but it's hard to hate him because he can be useful at times... has guts to involved on such a dangerous mission (for food!)... and is actually good in cooking (not a chef of a 5 star restaurant for nothing).
I hope this is more than just Toriko hunting dangerous beasts and accomplishing his goal of picking out for his ideal full course menu. Him beign so victorious all the time made it seemed redundant and less challenging...
It as a fun read but it's not the type of series I get addicted to ^^; Ehehehe (Too manry? LOLz)
Steins' Gate
This is SUPPOSED to be something I'm highly interested in because of the time travelling stuff. But the manga had been quite a CHORE to read.... it got me bored and very disappointed.
I like mystery but.... I'm not sure if this series is doing a good job on that. Leading guy sees a dead girl... then sees her alive later... he finds it weird... but since no one believes him, that's it. There were no further investigations or hints on why that happened.
Why the hell is the leading guy so special by the way? He's the only one not affected on the changes of time (he's the only one with recollections of what happened before the past was changed). I know he's special (leading guy specil treatment!) but oh come on, provide a reason why he's so special at least.
I'm not impressed on the time changes either (I've read a novel series for middle schoolers which does a much better job on that). They had changed the past.... but how come relationships didn't change drastically? Yes, it could be fate but... for relationships to stay the same no matter what change in time is just TOO coincidental =_= You have to keep the main cast together that much?
Speaking of relationships... the main cast got assembled TOO suddenly. The genius girl's involvement in the gang felt like she just popped out of nowhere! And geez, they spill top secret information TOO easily. They're too stupid and careless that it's becoming annoying. And for some reason they easily get very crucial information out of unlikely places from unlikely people.... TOO much convenience =_=
Aaagghh.... it's annoying me when a plot so promising is becoming like this =_=

[ I Kinda Liked This Batch And I Don't Mind Reading More Though I Doubt I'll Ever Get Hooked to Them ]

Lotte's Toy!
Yes, the plot's disturbing but it turns out that the princess isn't really into sex; she's afraid of men even. (Besides, I'd prefer reading about whores than girls that act like whores even if they're not supposed to be such)
The series may have perverted jokes but it's more of going to the "the girl needs more childhood fun and innocence rather than sex, despite her nature" from what I see. Kinda like B Gata H Kei in that sense.
Oh yeah, yes, the girl's a tsundere. But this is a tsundere that admits her mistakes without TOO MUCH persuasion (unlike many of the Kugimiya Rie tsundere girls that I know). So for that I find her more decent.
What got me intrigued is that the leading guy is A FATHER... and HAS A CHILD (daddy leading guy in a perverted series. that's something new to me!)! What's even more intriguing is that he became a father at a VERY young age... It's awkward but that does happen in real life. It's making me curious on how that happened (could it have been similar to what happened in the A Child's Child manga?) and also on what happened to the mother. *_*
It's odd that the leading guy adapts to situations way too easily though. And oh gawd breast milk... ah wait... breast milk from a fairy is more acceptable than like on... a certain series *highly disturbed*
Aria the Scarlet Ammo
Ugh... tsunderes treating the leading guy as their slave and embarassed to do lovey dovey stuff when deep inside they like the guy =_= Aria might remind you of Louise from Zero no Tsukaima but.... don't worry, she's more decent... and can kick ass (Louise was generally useless and hell more annoyingly tsun tsun). And whoa... first time I see a perverted series acknowledging that there's somethign nice about small breasts after all. Hahahaha!
The detective stuff in this made the setting interesting.... but I see more of Aria's tsun tsun moments than the actual investigation stuff =_= Oh well, at least the action scenes were pretty cool (and no panty shots from what I see).
Okay, okay, what I really liked about this is the leading guy. He's perverted.... but it's something out of his control xD He's a loser but when he gets sexually excited, his skills boosts up (intellectually and physically) and manages to protect women in danger. He doesn't only get to play hero, he unconsciously uses his charms to flirt with women as well. Women fall for him for that... but he doesn't actually like that ability of his.... much more when his brother died for having the same ability. That got me intrigued~
World's First Love
I am NOT a fujoshi and I only checked it out because my goal was too "check out the manga versions of upcoming anime as much as you can no matter what the genre/demographic". So I read until the first chapter of volume 2 and I.... I.... look forward to reading more... whatthef*ckdamnit!
Actually, I find this pretty stupid. To the uke, love is wanting to know more about the person (through ways like stalking) and if you find out that your crush is not serious about you, you get butthurt and go emo for years. For the seme, apparently he f*cks/r@pes the uke out of love. Seme still does the advances and the uke keeps on insisting that he's over with the guy but deep inside his heart is thumping. Both of them get jealous pretty easily too, and of course they're just misunderstandings. Ugh.... I really don't see what other people find enjoyable in this.
Though I admit that the seme being able to recognize (somehow) the uke even after they haven't seen each other for many years and has not forgotten about him even though he was "dumped" to be.... pretty... romantic (Oh god I can't believe I just said that).
Anyway, I'm actually not that impressed witht the characters. Comedy's pretty lame too (I admit some got me giggle. But majority... meh). And no, I don't enjoy looking at the you-know-what scenes so I'm so thankful that it was very easy to skip (or browse very fast) them in manga form.
So why am I curious to read more? Well, you see, it's about men working on a SHOUJO manga... and that reminded me of a character in Otomen. They do seem to know how to do shoujo (but I'm quite disappointed that I don't see them actually loving shoujo manga o_O) We also see interactions between editors and mangaka, which reminded me of Bakuman. Though this one is more on the editor's side than the mangaka's side... but still, it's promoting mangaka appreciation ;D They care for the mangaka... daaaaw. (I know RL mangaka have the deadline problem but... oh come on, I doubt that happens in every freakin' month.)
I don't get it... it's much easier to find flaws than to see good parts in this yet.... I dunno.

2 comments:

chungky said...

i havent heard of any of these titles except for sket dance. none of them seem to be worth checking out from your impressions lol but i might check out steins gate cuz the art looks nice :D

was World's First Love the manga you were tweeting about how you were looking forward to more xD?

i always wondered how the seiyus feel when they have a role in a naughty series...

Sapphire Pyro said...

@ chungky
Majority of them hadn't been that impressive to me =_=
And yeah, Steins;Gate does have nice art~
And yepz, World's First Love was the one I was tweeting about... gaaah... it's still very awkward for me....

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