These first impressions are based off my first impression of the summer season’s anime, based on the first episode of each anime series. I only cover shows that I have a genuine interest in and as such your favorite show from this season might not be on here. I mainly cover darker, more action-oriented shows in these first impressions.
Potential scale: Extremly High – High – Medium-High – Medium – Low-Medium – Low – Extremely Low
Akame ga Kill! (Akame ga Kiru!)
Being well-versed in the source material for this anime I was pleasantly surprised to see how closely this episode followed the manga. BUT….I have many quips. The animation is mostly sub-par, looking like the budget was too low or as though they intend to continue the series as an ongoing iteration quite like One Piece or Fairy Tail, which is a definite possibility with the mix of similarly styled humor and action in it. The pace was rushed, which I kind of understand from the manga style and the necessity to get though the chapter they did to grab viewers’ attention, but honestly two episodes would have been more proper. The music was different, but not in a good way. Overall I enjoyed it but I was somewhat disappointed with it compared to the high bar set by other shows this season. I am skeptical to it’s overall value in the long run.
Potential: Medium
Aldnoah.Zero
Even having Gen Urobuchi’s name attached to it isn’t enough for me to automatically be hyped about a show, but even so Aldnoah.Zero has shown it isn’t afraid to push boundaries in its debut. The music is super-awesome, as expected from Hiroyuki Sawano, who also did the music for great anime such as Attack on Titan. The characters haven’t been fleshed out much so I don’t know exactly how to feel about them, especially since some felt they were copied and pasted from Evangelion. The animation is superb, including the exceptionally refined character designs. The story is interesting and bold. Everything about this anime makes me want to watch it, which is more than I can say for quite a few mecha anime the past two seasons (yes Knights of Sidonia, Captain Earth, and M3: The Dark Metal I’m looking at you)
Potential: Medium-High
Black Butler: Book of Circus (Kuroshitsuji: Book of Circus)
Not being familiar with the Black Butler franchise, I had no real idea of what to expect with this anime, especially with is being an apparent continuation of the Black butler anime that splices itself in after episode 15 and more closely follows the manga. The episode did an excellent job of giving new viewers an idea of the contract being held by the MC and the gist of the plot, as I didn’t feel at all lost by its conclusion. The music is fabulous, the animation superb, and the characters interesting. I am excited to watch more of this series and possibly pick up the manga and/or original anime.
Potential: Extremely High
Space Dandy Season 2
What’s better than anime in English the night before Japan gets it? When Shinichiro Watanabe works on it! That’s right, baby! Again following the comedic adventures of Dandy and his crew, the second season picks up right where the last one left off, with another wacky adventure into another dimension. In addition, the awesome opening theme and soundtrack are still here along with the same high quality Studio Bones animation, thank God! A fun, leisurely watch.
Potential: Medium
Sword Art Online 2 (Gun Gale Online)
The first episode of Gun Gale Online brought with it a wave of nostalgia for me. I love Kirito, I love Asuna, I love the story, I love everything about Sword Art online, AND IT’S BACK!!! I’m too biased to say anything more about this sequel’s first episode.
Potential: Medium
Terror in Resonance (Terror in Tokyo/Zankyou no Terror)
What an excellent first episode! Shinichiro Watanabe just keeps them coming! Excellent music, interesting script, top-tier animation, no idiotic MC, the first anime about terrorism that I have ever heard of – sounds good to me! I can hardly wait to see episode 2! The characters aren’t really fleshed out yet and seem somewhat trope-y but hopefully that changes in the next few episodes.
Potential: High
Tokyo ESP
Wow, what a shock. I thought this episode would leave me dissatisfied, but instead, despite its lackluster animation style, it left me really wanting more. The music was pretty good, the characters interesting and varied yet realistic, and the direction and script absolutely amazing. I look forward to more of this in the near future.
Potential: Medium-High
Tokyo Ghoul (Tokyo Kushu)
What to say, what to say….what NOT to say!? The music is great, the animation really gives the feeling of the pain and loss that our MC is going through. This anime (in it’s first episode at least) does a great job of converting the manga over to an animated format. I will be watching this, and I will be loving it. It’s too bad that a lot of the blood and gore has to blacked-out in the TV version for public media reasons.
Potential: Extremely High
Yes I am getting a late start on this anime season, as I was in the hospital for quite a while, deal with it.
Thanks for reading! Until next time, CATCHPHRASE!!