Weekly Seasonal Watches and First Impressions – Summer 2019 Week 1

As of scheduling this post, Takagi-san’s second season hasn’t be licensed yet. Kind of sad considering I liked the first season quite a bit, but I was able to watch everything else that I was planning on and even one show that I didn’t expect that I would enjoy. In general, I think that’s a net positive. Put in the fact that the shows that continued over are generally good and this has been a good week for watching anime.

On a whole, I’m that I have a lot anime to watch and one of them doesn’t air late on Sunday night so I can schedule this post earlier in the day. Attack on Titan Season 3 Part 2 was great, but I wish it came out earlier.

Friday did have a lot of seasonal things so I couldn’t finish Eva or Nadesico yet, but that completion will happen in a few days.

-Seasonal First Impressions-

Astra Lost in Space Episode 1

Astra’s first episode was double length in order to completely set up the space adventure properly and I feel like that was an excellent choice. While nothing visually wowed me because a lot of CG was used with people in space suits in outer space and there was nothing special or emotional behind it all, I can’t call this episode a dud at all. People being lost in space trying to find their way home isn’t an original concept at all, but I really like the characters. The main focus was on the shonen protagonist Kanuki and the ditzy girl Arielle, but everyone was giving a moment to tell the audience that they are more then what they were like in their first appearance. I can’t wait to see their growth as a group, the places they explore, and how they handle themselves from this point on. So much potential here.

Dr. Stone Episode 1

I can’t help myself but be completely underwhelmed this first episode. I’m not sure if it’s because of how Crunchyroll advertised the hell out of it or the writing behind the series isn’t anything but ok. The concept of people randomly turning into stone and thus society being restarted when they break out of stone is interesting, I guess wish there were more to it then was presented so far. I really do like the art work and character designs, but I can’t help but think the characters are too simple. Mad scientist guy is just mad scientist guy and the dumb idiot character is nice, but still a complete idiot. I also know that it’s a shonen show and the science isn’t going to be the best but it’s still too simple for me as well. I just don’t know about it.

Fire Force Episode 1

Oh man, I am pretty excited about this one. Not just because it’s from the same mangaka as Soul Eater, but because of own excitement, energy, directional style, and so on. This first episode gave us a solid glimpse at the main character, his trauma and where his arc will take him, and a strong enough feeling of the side characters that we know that they aren’t just generic characters. I also really like the approach to this story and/or how unique it is in general. People combust into fire demons and it’s up to the fire fighters to stop them ghost busters style. So many things to say. I just really love what we were presented.

Granbelm Episode 1

Man, talk about a busy episode. It’s a very madoka looking death game in a mirror dimension kind of like in Doctor Strange where all magic is held, but I’m not sure what the goal is yet. Granbelm had the duty of setting up it’s premise and it’s lore, give the main protagonist her own sort of mech to fight with and tell us how it works, and also give all the characters in question some good characterization personality in one twenty four minute episode. The most stunning thing is that it accomplished all of it. Especially since the exposition was delivered in a way that gave away the character’s personality plus food talk was used, which is relatable for everything. Also, the visual effects for the robot fights were amazingly consistent. This is just a well structured and well directed episode.

O Maidens In Your Savage Season Episode 1

I can’t help but admit that I’m completely stunned at this show. This one wasn’t on my watch list because I was looking at the seasonal watch list too hard besides the hypest shows. Then I hear that Mari Okada is behind the series and I had to at least give it a look. This show is maybe a little bit too horny to be realistic for high school in real life, sort of, but it’s so much more realistic compared to pure high school series. How it explores an interest in sex and horny high schoolers is amazing and low key because it doesn’t have to actually show you sexual imagery to get those thoughts in the viewers heads. It also does a great job of establishing the main characters as well. It wasn’t on my radar, but I want to see how it plays out. I’m pretty interested in it.

Lord El Melloi II: Case Files – Episode 1

Oh man did I have a lot of fun with this episode. Why? Because it focuses on what happens to one of my favorite Fate/Zero Characters, Waver Velvet, after the fourth Holy Grail War. We learn not only that he has friends, but how his time with Alexander the Great helped to make him bolder and more forward thinking. Yes, he was being questioned by Kayneth’s niece and forced to be a Mage Lord for a while until she gets old enough, plus gives his backstory from after Fate/Zero to her and stands up to what she degrees on him to take her challenge shows how great he is. Waver is still the same dopey Waver in some ways, but he’s grown. Can’t wait to see some interesting case files.

Vinland Saga Episodes 1-3

While this premiere was three episodes in length, the storyline through all the episodes was rather simple. Major father figure and leader of his far off village Thors used to be apart of a major Viking Unit left during a battle to escape with a group of villagers to Iceland because he got sick of fighting. Fifteen years after the fact, he’s tracked down once again by that unit and is called to war in a rouse to eventually kill him. Everything else is amazing world building. The harshness of the wilderness, lives of Vikings, the difficulty of living next to a village of slavers, and the major one of a father not being able to instill into their children and the village his own values.

That last one focuses on everyone in that village, but mainly his son Thorfinn. Why? Because the Vikings are a society that loves war and Thors is going against the grain. I still feel like we are in prologue territory here and what is about to happen in either the next episode or too will decide what course Thorfin’s life takes. Especially since he was able to smuggle himself onto his father’s Viking boat in the middle of a conflict. Man this anime and it’s world building are so beautiful. I hope it goes well from this point on.

-Continuing Series-

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Part 5 Episode 37

From a story stand point, Episode 37 was completely nuts. From an emotional and character point, very powerful and meaningful. Bruno made the huge sacrifice by killing himself by deleting his soul in order to stop Reqiuem’s transformation of the world and then Giorno has gained the ability from the Stand Arrow to face off against the main boss, Diavolo, because he has all the abilities now by cutting through Diavolo’s deleted time lines because that’s how our bosses ability works. Giorno is on the attack for revenge and I am loving it. So much from our main character here and all that . I’m sad that we have to wait a few weeks to watch more because I’m ready for it. I want it all now.

Fruit’s Basket (2019) Episode 14

This episode’s theme is about mothers. Which mothers? Momiji’s mother and Tohru’s mother of course. Momiji talks about how his mother hated him since both and getting her to forget about who Momiji was the only way to get her to feel happiness. Yeah, I couldn’t help but be Tohru in that scene and cry and cry and cry. Then the second half hits where Tohru and her gang visit her mother’s grave. We learn so much about Tohru’s mom like how she used to be apart of a motor cycle gang and such. I also like wondering how Tohru is even able to smile. Tohru is just so powerful of a character and this show just constantly emotionally punches everyone in this series. Still a fantastic series all around.

Demon Slayer Episode 14

I feel like Demon Slayer goes up and down for me each week. It’s on that thin line of whether or not I will like each ensuing episode. This week was a very up episode. Why? Because the character interactions were just golden. I love seeing the Demon Slayers Tanjiro, Zenitsu, and borish Inosuke together because their group chemistry is solid. Inosuke, our warthog guy, constantly being the dumb one with Zenitsu and Tanjiro both switching between the straight man and crazy man that interacts with Inosuke is hilarious. I can’t get enough of it. Especially since Tanjiro knows how to manipulate Inosuke and get him to do what he wants. After their fight, Tanjiro was able to get Inosuke to help dig graves for the people that died at the Demon house. Tanjiro also was able to help with Inosuke’s eating habits. So good.

Plus, I like how this episode added in some quick world building. These three injured Demon Slayers randomly showed up at a Wisteria Family house to recover after their fight and nobody has made serious comments about it yet. I wonder what this family and this house represents for all the demon slayers there. I guess we need to wait until next episode to find out. One complaint though, can we get more birds? They are the best characters in this show. I know that people are complaining about this episode not liking the over the top jokes with this episode the show itself, but I have to admit that is the only thing that is getting an emotional response from me. I guess I just don’t buy a lot of this show’s serious nature even if it comes from genuine moments.