First Impressions: Winter 2014 – Chuunibyou Demo Koi ga Shitai! Ren, No-Rin and Sakura Trick

Gah 2nd episodes are coming our already – I swear I will catch up!  Now lets look at Chuunibyou Demo Koi ga Shitai! Ren, No-Rin and Sakura Trick.

Chuunibyou Demo Koi ga Shitai! Ren

What this first episode makes abundantly clear is that Chuu2Koi really didn’t need a sequel.  I can’t actually remember much of what the plot of the first season actually was, just the brilliant animation during the elaborate delusion sequences, and that’s the only thing I really enjoyed about this episode. I just don’t care about the characters at all and the whole chuunibyou thing has gotten old now.

The pretty animation isn’t really much to sell me on enduring another full season with these characters.  My new year’s resolution is to stop watching sequels to shows I managed to finish the first season of, but didn’t particularly enjoy – as such I’m not going to bother with more Chuu2Koi.

No-Rin

Urgh, this was a chore to finish.  With all the “quirky characters” and weirdness it actually reminded me a lot of BakaTest (and since it is the same studio & director I guess that shouldn’t be surprising).  However unlike BakaTest, No-Rin doesn’t really have the advantage of a fantastical gimmick to drive its “whacky” comedy.  Rather this is an agricultural school so we have rampaging cows, conversations about phallic vegetables and a strange amount of misogyny where all the female characters seem to crave a life of domesticity …..and into all this enters an idol character for no apparent reason.  I don’t know what this show wants to be, all I know is that all the characters irritated me.

I was more than ready to quit when the teacher appeared looking exactly the same age as her class, and started regaling them with her tales of desperation and loneliness as a 40 year old singleton….was that meant to be funny because I just found it rather sad.  I also found the idol concert at the start a touch terrifying – there is just something about those dance sequences that unnerve me.  Basically everything about No-Rin rubbed me the wrong way – dropped.

Sakura Trick

Yuri then.  Not a fan of yuri shows to be honest, but it is nice to see some variety.  Main couple is already established and there is actual kissing so that is already a massive step up from most romcom shows!  The whole tone is quite light and fluffy – basically it is the usual cute girls doing cute things anime, just this time the cute girls kiss each other too.

Show is very pastel, character designs are okay as is the voice acting.  Basically there isn’t much to complain about with Sakura Trick, it is pretty decent for the genre.  But this isn’t my cup of tea so I’m dropping out here.