Winter 2012: First Impressions (Amagami-SS+ Plus, Tantei Opera Milky Holmes Dai-Ni-Maku and Senhime Zesshou Symphogear)

New shows are coming out thick and fast now – struggling to keep up!  Today we have more harem antics, incomprehensible nipples & battling idols……or Amagami-SS+ Plus, Tantei Opera Milky Holmes Dai-Ni-Maku and Senhime Zesshou Symphogear.

Amagami-SS+ Plus

So I didn’t watch all the arcs of the first series, but decided to have a look at the sequel anyway.  Five minutes in and suddenly it all comes flooding back to me – I hate all these characters.  Seriously, it’s utterly inexplicable how so many cute girls throw themselves at our uber bland male lead.  Anyway season two picks up from the last arc covered in S1 – basically Junichi is locked into Tsukasa’s route and is being used as a pawn in some sort of cold war between Student Council presidential candidates.  The whole episode was tedious, mainly because I couldn’t give a flying fuck about anyone in the show.  No idea if this season will employ an omnibus format again, or just stick with Tsukasa’s route – not sticking around to find out.

Production is as good as S1, wasn’t overly keen on the OP & ED, same cast is back (remembered how much I disliked some of the VAs – looking at you Squeaky-chan & Ni-Ni!).  If you enjoyed the first season this is probably a must watch, but for me it’s instantly dropped.

Tantei Opera Milky Holmes Dai-Ni-Maku

Well, against my better judgement I decided to take the plunge and watch the second season of Milky Holmes.  About 3 minutes in I decided I should have really gotten drunk before attempting this show, but ploughed on regardless.  The second season of this show is probably even more deranged than S1 – a thing I didn’t actually think possible.  The series drops us right in things – although absolutely nothing as changed since S1; the Milky Holmes girls are still more concerned with where their next meal is coming from rather than getting their powers back.  The episode kept up a madcap pace with no let up at all……..and yes, Twenty’s nipples are still completely inexplicable.

Production seems to have been stepped up –  the animation is smoother and they’ve increased the amount of stupid reaction faces.  Milky Holmes is still a Technicolored acid trip of  a show, filled with shouting & weirdness (and Cordelia’s random singing).  The OP is saccharine sweet as expected as is the ED (although the ED is easier on the ears).

Will watch more, but shall have to mentally prepare myself before each episode!

Senhime Zesshou Symphogear

Well I’m not sure what I was expecting going into this, but it sure wasn’t this!  Symphogear managed to grab my attention and hold it completely, very interested in where they’re going with the show.  Symphogear is like an odd mixture of the singing from Macross F, the transformation sequences from Mai Otome and the OTT battles from TTGL.   The setup seems to be that there is some sort of alien (?) threat called the Noise, who basically resemble huge multicoloured blobs, which can only be repelled by a pair of superpowered idol singers…….and it is much more awesome than that sounds!

The animation is pretty imaginative – it clearly has a decent enough budget, but makes the most of the tricks available to it by using eye-catching stills & lots of colour.  The singing seems decent too (well it does have a pretty impressive voice cast) and I really enjoyed the concert scene!  I’m definitely watching more of this – pleasantly surprised by how caught up in the show I got – unexpectedly awesome!