Love Live! Sunshine!! Episode 1 - Review

After having done minimal research on this new Love Live series, I decided to give it a try despite having dropped the first season of the original series.

Having watched the first episode to this series, I can say that I am now tempted to return to the original to see if I maybe lost interest too quickly as this first episode was pretty appealing, though as with everything, is not without its flaws.

The plot thus far is that the main character, being inspired by the School Idols from the first series, has decided to start a School Idol Club at her school, though the Student Council President is very much against the idea, which does little to dissuade the protagonist.

It sounds pretty basic, though the series makes sure to pack as much exposition as it can in as little time. Though this is purely subjective, at the four minute mark I thought we’d already been twelve minutes in, and that’s typically not a good sign to me. The difference with this episode is that the longer it went on, the better it got, though I might need to rewatch it to learn all of the characters’ names considering that this series has nine group members as opposed to the previous series’ eight.

Thus far, not all of their personalities have been showcased, though a few seem samey because we’ve yet to have the spotlight shone on them. The main character is incredibly happy, and suffers from Haruhi syndrome where she realizes she’s painfully normal, and is determined to make herself stand out with this idol gig. Because of the series she’s in, I doubt she’ll turn into god, but we’ll have to give it some time before that’s perfectly clear, haha.

Aside from MC, there’s a couple of other archetypes. There’s a shy girl and a chuunibyou character, though she seems more anime-oriented than video game-oriented, which makes me think she’ll be a cross between Kuroneko from OreImo and Kobato from Haganai.

Additionally, a plot-important character in the form of (桜内 梨子 Sakurauchi Riko) shows up to slow down the pace just enough to not turn this episode into a too-quick-to-follow mess. This girl is a pianist, and is looking for inspiration to write an Oceanic song, or so she claims.

At the end of the episode, she transfers to the same class as the MC to move the plot forward, but she then refuses her invitation to join the yet-to-be School Idol Club and the episode ends.

Truthfully, the fact that this episode ended with a cliffhanger is shocking considering the lack of drama I remember from the original series, though it’s a surefire way of keeping me watching, definitely.

While a few of my complaints stem from the fact that I can’t help but feel that this series has a lot of that same-face/same-body syndrome series like SAO suffer from, the plot helps in that all the characters are made distinct from the beginning, though I can only hope that as the series progresses they all grow to be their own person with their own goals and aspirations, however, that might be expecting a bit much considering series like these feel like an excuse to create anime in the musical genre.

Moreover, the episode’s directing was not comfortable, because as I stated before, it goes too fast, and very rarely feels like it wants to let things sink in. The original series felt like it went way too slowly for my liking, but this series seems like it might be the complete opposite. Additionally, there is a sequence where the MC is trying to stop pianist girl from jumping into the ocean and to provide dramatic emphasis, these weird camera effects were placed, which felt incredibly strange and inappropriate since we are not told outright that anybody was snapping photos of them.

However, that is as much as I have to say on this episode without rambling on endlessly. Thank you for watching, and I’ll see y’all later.

Addendum:

The camera effects from the scene where Rika is trying to jump into the sea are used in another scene in that same episode, with the same effect, though in that part of the episode they feel more normal. That part of the episode occurs a little bit after the first time the effect is used, though I still found it deeply distracting.

Furthermore, I really did forget that Umi existed. She must not have left a lasting impact for me to have forgotten her, cause I believe she had already been introduced by episode six when I dropped the series. I’ll have to give the first series a try to go ahead and see what’s up there.

ReLIFE Episode 1 - Review

ReLife Episode One begins by introducing us to the main character who bears a visual similarity to the protagonist from Bokura wa Minna Kawaisou. This guy is 27, which is immediately different from most anime protagonists, and it’s shown that he has a seriously hard time getting or holding down a job, to the point where his parents are currently financially aiding him. Randomly, pops up Walker Yumasaki from Durarara AKA Yoake Ryou and sets in motion the main plot: the protag, named Kaizaki Arata, will take a pill to look like a high schooler again with all living expenses paid as part of a project and a job will be offered to him after the year ends should he succeed with said project.

First off, the premise of this show was quite interesting to me. After hearing of a protagonist who was not yet another regular high school boy, I was ecstatic. But after finishing the synopsis off, I was disappointed and couldn’t help but feel like it was just gonna be a regular show.

For the most part, I’m not wrong. The animation is very standard, and the general aesthetic does remind me quite a bit of Bokura wa Minna Kawaisou, though extremely downplayed. That show seemed like it was trying to go for a budgeted version of Kotonoha no Niwa, due to the gloss and shine of most things in it. And although I thought it was a fine show, it still didn’t stand out much to me. However, this show’s aesthetic is not ugly. I do like the backgrounds which at times look painted, but mainly maintain a colored pencil look to them, which I tend to love, because of the serenity the softness of colored pencil coloring brings with it.

Still, the aesthetic will not generally make or break a show for me, which is where we get to the writing. I thought it was just fine, though we can already see some storylines writing themselves right off the bat. There seem to be two possible love interests in the form of Kariu, the coughing redhead, and Hishiro, the quiet genius. Just from glancing at the Wikipedia page for this show and looking at past shows with similar premises, I get the feeling that the protag will lean towards Hishiro and break her out of her shell, as Kariu seems fine on her own, and might even grow to like Mr. Show-Off AKA Kazumi Ouga.

Overall, though, it was fine for a first episode, though if I have anything to say, it’s that I want a ton more exposition on the ReLife project that Walker Yumasaki AKA Yoake Ryou is conducting. We’ve gotten hints on what’s what, though nothing concrete, probably cause it’s the first episode. Also, my hopes are that Kaizaki ends up romantically entangled with the teacher, should he return to his real age. I know it’s very unlikely, but their chemistry is great, and I personally think they’d make a great couple. Plus, the age different between them is just right.

That was it for this episode, though. Thanks for watching, and I’ll see y’all later.

Samurai Flamenco EP1 Review

The first episode of Samurai Flamenco was very...interesting.

At first, it begins with the certain formula of guy being the straight man, kind of like in a comedy, and he lives alone and he's a cop so it's all good. This guy is Goto.

Then, as we witnessed at the beginning of the episode, he encounters our second main character, Masayoshi.

This guy is a model. He grew up with superheros and the like and then found himself wanting to be one. He is eponymous (the show is named after him) and is much more fun and quirky than Goto who is slightly more serious and down to Earth. They have the popular best friend dynamic that is popular in anime and media in general that for some reason really reminds me of Domeki and Watanuki from xxxHolic.

Anyhow, onto plot and stuff.

Basically, the show begins with a very interesting first impression where Masayoshi is nude in an alley beside his superhero outfit and Goto meets him and then the outfit is set on fire and through a list of events Goto ends up rescuing Masayoshi after encountering a band of middle-schoolers who just beat him up cause they're thugs and stuff.

While the concept is similar to Kick-Ass, I certainly love the originality here, and the characters. For an anime, it surely seems like it could even be a TV series and is extremely grounded but still has an anime feel to it that is nice and makes it much more lovable.