Judge-by-Cover Part 3, Winter 2011

Seiyuu_joke.

Beelzebub – Miyuki Sawashiro reprises a baby pokemon slash deadly seed of the demonic overlord. I am not sure if it is entirely impressive, or just a waste of time. It delivers the hijinks with sufficient precision that most of us who watch crap cartoon in bulk would find it entertaining. However its non-ending-JUMP-y premises kind of tickle me in the wrong way. Not a huge fan of checking my brain at the door, so it’s on probation. Last year made me slightly more picky about comedies this year, unfortunately. Was it as funny as Mitsudomoe S2? Probably not, yet.

Oniichan no Koto naka Zenzen Suki Janain Dakara ne – It feels like a complementary piece to OreImo. I like the art style, actually, and it works surprisingly well in terms of “serving up” the fanservice elements in a way where it is obvious yet without being too grotesque. Or I should say, it is grotesque in a way that doesn’t interrupt the flow of the visuals. Better than Kiss x Sis, right? Right, but you wouldn’t use that measuring stick unless your standards are really low. So far it’s unclear where the show is going to go, so I will stick with it a couple more. KitaEri does a pretty kimoi job here, and I think that particular category of cliente appreciates that.

Level E – Feels like Bantorra, but it plays out more like Occult Academy. Can’t say this is bad, really. I guess it’s a keeper. However I don’t really like any of the characters so far. It feels like everyone in the series is like Mikaze from Occult. There’s just something that sticks out like a splinter in the character animation and design. But I guess it “adds character” and doesn’t really subtract from the overall experience. Just makes it hard to like, you know? The genre makes this a must-watch for me, I guess.

Dragon Crisis – It’s kind of iffy, but if I had to say rotten or fresh I would go for rotten. It didn’t fail by much, though. I would watch this for Yukana alone but she had to carry the first episode, and she failed to do that. At this point having Kugyuu play the role like Rose is a detriment for me, not a plus. As far as story goes, it’s kind of too fruity of a presentation, but I will probably stick around enough to make sure the setting is something I can pass on before passing on this. If there’s one truly notable thing here it is that 1/3 of Besame Mucho is on board this show, possibly saving it from sinking further into mediocrity.

Kore ga Zombie desuka? – It’s like a more palatable Inukami. I think I will stick around for the jokes for now, but this kind of anime is really hit and miss. I laughed at the jousou jokes and all the play on stereotypical magical girl (I know someone made a Saitama Chainsaw Girl joke already), the zombie abuse, and of course the Mitsuishi cameo. But none of them are sticking points (unless Mitsuishi repeats her performance!) so I’m kind of on the fence on this too. It might be another case where if it wasn’t pure-simulcasted on CR I would have passed.

Speaking of Crunchyroll, its Noitamina snag of Wandering Son will make good head-to-head compare with Funimation’s Fractale stream. I might just write it up for Jtor or something? Well, it’s kind of meaningless because I would just be writing about Hulu. They use Akamai too…so it’s basically the same sort of thing to a large extent. CR is behind the ball in a few technical areas, but discerning videophiles may appreciate what CR provides that Hulu doesn’t just as much. Well, it’s a good thing right? You read that, TAN? Get on with the program already!