First Impressions: Winter 2016 – Part 3

Yeah…..weekdays just don’t happen for me – long live the weekends!  So I’m a bit late with these first impressions since 2nd episodes are coming out, but whatever – here’s my thoughts on:

• Luck & Logic
• Durarara!! x2 Ketsu
• Bubuki Buranki
• Nurse Witch Komugi-chan R
• Nijiiro Days (Rainbow Days)
  
• Ooya-san wa Shishunki!
• Dimension W
• Hai to Gensou no Grimgar

Luck & Logic

I actually didn’t mind this too much – think it was all the pretty colours and the fact absolutely no brain power was required.  It isn’t good (it really isn’t good) but made for an enjoyable watch……well aside from the scenes with the imouto, could have done without those.  The concept is all sorts of slapdash and filled with hilarious lines about logic and goddesses – which is to be expected since Luck & Logic only really exists to sell the card game tie-in and they certainly have gone all out with the character designs.

I kind of like the chill main character since he’s fully embraced his overpowered MC status and doesn’t get all flustered by the presence of all the scantily-clad girls he ends up working with.  Well, until he’s told to share a room with one that is.  Still for most of the episode he wasn’t irritating to watch – a rare bonus in this type of show.

I think I’ll watch another episode just to see how the show devolves into generic magic highschool hijinks after this introductory episode.

 

Durarara!! x2 Ketsu

It’s only in episodes like this where the show attempts to showcase all its characters that you really appreciate how sprawling the Durarara!! cast is – it’s impossible to remember them all!  The thing is that all of them are bonkers and interesting in their own right, and most of the entertainment value gained from watching Durarara!! is seeing them all bounce off each other, but it’s gotten to the point where the cast is just too massive to really function well.

There’s so many individual agendas that it is incredibly difficult to keep it all straight, and that is a shame since it seems things are finally coming to a head in the story.  Still, I’ve come this far, I’m certainly not going to quit now!

 

Bubuki Buranki

So I liked the prologue stuff with the MC as a kid and living with his parents, I was a bit less fond of the rest of the episode with all the superpowered kids running about, but it was still a pretty interesting opening episode – there’s some interesting stuff in here.  As a purely CG animated show Bubuki Buranki actually looks rather impressive – the facial expressions are a bit flat, but the show still looks pretty damn nice on the whole (hilariously over-designed characters aside).

I’m going to give the show a second episode to see how it plans to progress and if the animation quality can hold up.  I’m not massively optimistic that this will be anything other than a generic shounen action series though.

 

Nurse Witch Komugi-chan R

I really struggled to finish this episode.  Terrifying opening filled with CG dancing aside, the whole episode was just so boring and lacking in character that I can’t imagine even existing fans of Nurse Witch Komugi finding anything interesting here.  Dropped.

 

Nijiiro Days (Rainbow Days)

So the half episode length works pretty well for this show – it’s pure fluff and trying to stretch it out to full length would have been too much.  I’ve actually been reading the manga for this, so I’m pleased it’s gotten an anime – it’s cute, fun and requires absolutely no thought to watch/read  It’s basically the male equivalent of “cute girls do cute things”, and despite my general impatience with that genre I’m shallow enough to enjoy the same thing with cute boys instead.

This introductory episode follows the manga to the letter, although it has to be said that there clearly isn’t much money being fired at this adaptation – it’s pretty simply animated, and the OP & ED just scream cost-cutting.  Still there is a solid cast and there isn’t anything wrong with just following the manga when your subject material is this light on content.  Will be watching more.

 

Ooya-san wa Shishunki!

Another short – only a couple of minutes long, but definitely an instant drop for me.  Basically it’s just a little girl managing an apartment complex for some reason, and the older fella having delusions about her.  Creepy. Dropped.

 

Dimension W

Well this certainly had the cool factor!  From the dancing in the OP to the edgy futuristic world and slick action scenes, everything about Dimension W is geared for maximum cool points……so I should really like it, right?  Unfortunately the show left me a bit cold and I really can’t fully figure out why.  Everything ticks the right boxes – great designs, animation, music and seiyuu – but there isn’t really much to get invested in in this opening episode beyond the polished presentation of the show.  I think it has something to do with the fact I’m not really loving the characters at the moment – the MC is too stoic to be entertaining and the design of the moe robot and pervy angles she’s shown from is preventing me from really engaging with her struggle.

I am of course going to give the show a few more episodes – there is plenty of potential in this series, and it does look great.  Hopefully I find something to get properly engaged with in the second episode.

 

Hai to Gensou no Grimgar (Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash)

The set-up for Grimgar is actually pretty interesting.  I really like the idea of a group of amnesiacs struggling to survive in an RPG world – there’s loads of scope for interesting group dynamics and the daily grind to just get by makes a change from most “dropped into a video game” shows that have their characters be super talented right from the start.  However any potential for Grimgar to be interesting more or less flew out the window once it became clear that this was just going to be populated by the same LN archetypes as every other similar show.

The characters are obnoxious and/or boring.  The camera is absolutely obsessed with the boobs/butts of the girls.  There’s no flair to the presentation of the show beyond the exceptionally pretty backgrounds.  Basically this just ended up being a waste of time to watch – dropped.