Autumn 2015 – First Impressions (Part 2)

This post reviews: Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans, Concrete Revolutio, Comet Lucifer, and One Punch Man.

Uh… yeah… I’m already very, very behind on everything this season. At least there aren’t too many new anime for me to watch and review after this post. And yes, I’ve only watched the first episode for all of these anime, so I’ll get around to the more recent episodes once I recover from the last three weeks.

 

Watching:

Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans

Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans is probably the best example of a ‘solid’ anime this season. Everything about the anime is good to great to outstanding, from its story to its setting to its characters to the art to the animation to the sounds to the directing and to every bit and detail in-between. I can go on and on about the positives with this anime because there are really no negatives with Gundam: Iron-Blooded Oprhans… well, no real negatives that aren’t just me nitpicking about the elements. I will admit that I don’t love it as much as some of the other anime this season, given with all the sequels airing this month, but this is my favorite of the new anime that has aired so far. This is a keeper, for sure.

 

Concrete Revolutio

While I’m not too fond of the haphazard storytelling, constantly shifting through time and space to unknown characters in unfamiliar locations doing undetermined things, Concrete Revolutio really caught my attention and interest with its splash of stunning colors, its impressive artistic motifs, its outrageous setting, and its ridiculous characters. The first episode of Concrete Revolutio was incredibly inspired, screaming in your face, and it captured my imagination with its world and its superpowers. After the first episode, I felt unsatisfied – in a good way. I wanted to learn more about the characters, their organizations, who was who, and what was what. It’s uncommonly that I’m this involved after just one episode, but Concrete Revolutio really hooked me with this first episode. That said, there are some negatives, especially with the storytelling jumping around, but that is a minor detail compared to everything else this anime had to offer. I’m excited to continue watching this anime, especially if every episode can pack an extraordinary visual punch with those colors, motifs, and exclamations.

 

One Punch Man

Oh… …now I think I understand why everyone is so positive about One Punch Man. After hearing so much about it the last few years and viewing its artwork numerous times, I often wondered how well I’d enjoy an anime of this variety given my history with popular shounen franchises. Well, it actually fits quite nicely, given its over-the-top style, its reckless abandon, its flair for personality that’s skillfully embedded within the storytelling. The first episode was a wild ride, and I’m excited to see where it goes, but I am curious to see where it goes from here and how it’ll integrate its characters into the story. Nevertheless, I am curious to see where this goes and will be keeping this for sure.

 

Undecided:

Comet Lucifer

It’s difficult to say whether I’ll enjoy Comet Lucifer or not given that the lead female appeared at the end of the first episode, but it has enough qualities to be a keeper. Comet Lucifer certainly has an appealing art style, with its character designs and mecha designs. The animation was solid throughout, and quite phenomenal during the mecha battle at the end. The anime certainly has robust visuals, but it feels somewhat weak in terms of its characters and the story. While it usually takes me a few episodes to warm up to the cast, before I really start liking them, I feel nothing from the cast of Comet Lucifer. Every character thus far, especially Sougo, Kaon, and Roman feel shallow and uninspired. The whole triangle between those three is such a tired and awful storyline that I almost just stopped right then and there during the car chase scene. Comet Lucifer never recovered and the rest of the episode felt lackluster and unoriginal. I’ll give it another episode to see if the new girl can add some spice and variety to this anime, but it’s starting to seem doubtful given how the characters and story failed to deliver in the first episode.

 

Dropped:

We’ll see how Comet Lucifer does with its second episode, but everything in this cohort was good, if not great.

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