Autumn 2012 – First Week Impressions (Part 2)

This post reviews: Busou Shinki, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, and Little Busters!

Watching:

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure – Spanning 25 years now and still continuing strong, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure is an ageless classic being reintroduced to a younger generation of fans in the form of this new anime.  Despite being quite renowned and immensely popular, I don’t know much about the series as a whole and even less of its beginning, so this review is exclusively on the anime itself without being able to compare it to the source material or any other material for that matter.  That being said, I thoroughly enjoyed the first episode of JoJo’s thought it fluctuated between being impressed and being unexciting.  I don’t really have an objective analysis yet, nor a definite opinion of the anime yet, but one is surely developing as I understand the series more.  It’s a bit off from what I thought it would be, somewhat heavy in the drama and light in the comedy, though the fighting is about where I figured it would be.  The art and animation are certainly distinctive but it is only mediocre when it comes to whether I like it or not.  Still, the first episode was enjoyable from both a story and entertainment perspective, so the first episode did its part in securing me as a viewer for the series.  Depending on its length and progression, it may very well change, but for now, I’ll be following this anime.

Little Busters! – Though far from spectacular in its debut, I find Little Busters! to be a solid anime despite being a bit unimpressive.  I knew exactly what to expect from this anime (well, just the set-up, setting and characters really) and it seems to have positioned itself well enough to make an appealing and amusing anime.  Its strengths were founded in its persistent comedy, a delightful blend based on the character personalities and their stupidity, though in some cases the jokes were tired anime clichés and there was an unfortunate reliance on physical humor which the first episode went to the well a few too many times.  The dynamic, or the character relationship and how they fit in with their school setting, is pleasant, though nothing innovative or inspiring thus far.  I’m beyond happy to see a female cast member act comfortable around a group of guys and for them to act natural around her, too.  Often times in these type of high school romance/harem anime is that there’s this unpleasant disconnect between the two sexes and everything is awkward or heavily pronounced (in that they make a big deal about EVERYTHING, like a boy and girl sitting next to each other).  Here, it’s like actual humans conversing with each other.  I respect that in an anime and find it to be a positive for Little Busters.  The art was subpar at places and there weren’t really any momentous displays of animation in this first episode, but it’s hardly unwatchable or a reason to feel concerned about this anime.  There really wasn’t any significant drama, either, so there’s nothing to comment on that either though I assume that will change quickly once the characters are introduced and the story begins moving forward.  So Little Busters! made it on my list without much worry though I expect more from the characters and the story when the show finishes its introductions.

Undecided:

Nothing to ponder over for another week and give it another chance to make or break its season.  Things have been pretty simple this season, though I’m sure there’ll be one or two with this second week of new anime beginning their broadcasts.

Dropped:

Busou Shinki – Well, that was disappointing.  It seems as though a cast of cute, miniature android girls equipped with mecha battle equipment and featured in awesome battle sequences isn’t enough to overcome the faults of being a pretty generic, fairly boring otaku-bait anime with a substandard plot and an animation quality level that is right above embarrassing.  Busou Shinki does have some positives, specifically that the cast is amusing and energetic, but their roles are nothing different than those that you’d find from any 5-girl generic harem anime.  The fact that they are so strictly defined by these tropes makes me feel that the story will be, too, something about one of these dolls being evil and fighting them to make the world happier or friendlier or some sorta bullshit like that.  Either way, besides the character appearances, their light comedy, and the energy they bring, they’re a negative to the series.  The plot, another minus.  And that art and animation?  Ugh, the less said, the better.  At times, like during the battle sequence, it looked fine and conveyed the action well but, the rest of the time, it was a disaster.  Inconsistent character body shapes, inelegant positioning, and inept motion gave the anime a shoddy visual appearance for most of the episode.  It was distressing to watch.  So, to sum it all up, low quality characters, lower quality story, and lowest quality animation equals an easy decision: Dropped.