Absolute Duo

Absolute duo, is not as bad as it could be but I'm not that impressed by the first episode either.

Pros:

-The Main Character isn't the only guy a the academy. That's a cliche that's need to die.

- There's a pretty nice twist that I didn't see coming, though the impact is lessened by the fact it happens so early.

- Usa-sensei is kinda funny.

- The art doesn't look half bad.

Cons:

- The Main Character is bland in every sense of the word. He has character design of a background character, his personality is the same vaguely nice but mostly just whinny and indecisive that I've come to expect in this type of anime, and a backstory that's been recycled more times than water. Not that the Heroine who's a white-haired demure loli.

- Speaking of Julie, I'm rather uncomfortable with how sexulized she is. She looks 12 at most, it's creepy.

- The whole thing just gives me "been there, done that" feeling. I hope they do something interesting with the setting but I'm not too thrilled.

Gonna keep watching for now.

I actually found the first episode to be quite entertaining with some nice humour. I am liking the characters and the abilities seem interesting. It does seem to be on something of a budget however.

I heard it pretty much falls into the category of Shitty L Ns so I came in without many expectatio-

OH MY GOD THE MAIN CHARACTER IS VOICED BY MATSUOKA YOSHITSUGU.

ALSO ALBINO TWINTAILS

10/10 WILL WATCH TILL END

Jokes aside, while my opinion of the main character is increased by a thousandfold just by virtue of his voice actor (and specific performance), I personally don't really care about how Juile is sexualized. Part of it, I guess, is that she doesn't even seem to give much of a shit anyway, rather than being actively so or reacting in the usual way(you all know what I mean.) Well, not that I'm not hyperdesensitized to anime fanservice to begin with. And sleeping in only Y shirts is totally legit, I used to do it all the time since I didn't have pajamas and disliked T-shirts.

I feel that for all the obvious limited budget scenes, it does decently well in making it dramatic. Hope it can keep it looking pretty even without much money to use, like Madan No Ou To Vanadis.

I feel that the main character could instantly become more interesting design-wise by just giving him a different fucking hair color. You could even give him black hair and he would look less generic. This is anime, people, if I wanted to look at brown and black hair all day I'd be watching dramas or go outside instead.

Men really tend to get the short end of the stick on character design in anime and manga. Even in shoujo manga. Pretty much like real life.

edited 7th Jan '15 5:34:12 AM by YuukiAsuna

I'm not entirely sure why but personally I rather like the design of the main character, it just seems right for some reason.

I always imagined the lead as having a slightly deeper, somewhat manlier voice.

But he just sounds almost identical to Kirito.

edited 7th Jan '15 5:26:52 AM by HanabiraKage

What's so special about the voice actor? He sounds rather bland.

Oh yeah, you're righ!

Explains why Im not impressed

I love hearing his voice when he's roaring, panting, pissed off, complaining, embarrassed, confident, serious, taunting, going "FFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUU-", crying, being dense, trying to sound like a girl and failing in an adorable way, and pretty much every situation ever really aside from when he's trying to casually crack a joke, being comically evil, or getting aroused in an exaggerated way so I'm gonna be watching this no matter what, even if the character has no substance beyond being music to my ears.

I just find it boring. Most V As at least have enough range to not sound too similar in different roles.

Probably the same reason why I almost never recognize those elsewhere. It's a part of why I find the seiyuu love a little weird, but others tend to be better at this identification thing(or they just hear so many of the VA's characters they're bound to find a similar performance.)

Hmm. But then again Ono Daisuke sounds exactly the same as Handa and as Kokkuri...but it fits because they're both pretty pathetic.

My memory of Ono Daisuke tends to be more of the (probably a little gay) kinda-halfway-between-calm-and-cheery bishie.

Not sure where Handa's from.

edited 7th Jan '15 6:28:08 AM by YuukiAsuna

Barakamon I'm guessing.

I mostly agree with the opening post. It's not as generic as expected, but it still feels generic, and quite a bit worse than the corresponding manga chapters due to the lousy execution.

Handa Seishuu from Barakamon, and Kokkuri from Gugure! Kokkuri-san.

I did a double-take when I saw his name in the credits for Barakamon, because he usually voices bishies.

Episode 2:

We start with the usual antics as Tooru is of course mistaken for a pervert and keeps landing face first into girls. You know the drill.

Rest of episode is better, with Tooru and Julie bonding through the week. I especially liked the scene when the girls put vegetables on Tooru's plate.

It was obvious from the start how this episode is going to end so no surprise when Tooru ans Julie become an official duo. And lol, those vows.

Pretty good episode all considering.

I have to say that I have found the first two episodes of this series to be far funnier than any other series I am watching this season. Bunny Girl-sensei is brilliant although she seems to have an agenda and the main Duo's interactions are great.

Tora must be commended for being an understanding bro.

I actually found this series a refreshing change of pace.

After being subjected to not one but TWO gritty war-mecha series, Aldnoah Zero and Argevollen, an admitted exploitation series, Cross Ange, a seeming reverse harem series featuring a princess named Yona, lots of Echi series of various types especially Mandan No Ao Vanadis (Archer and Vanadis), an innocent romance set among combat training is especially nice, not to mention an INNOCENT cohabitation between a normal heterosexual boy and an innocent fanservice girl is a nice touch, especially since he's forced into it. In fact, it's so innocent, it tastes like diabetes!

The series isn't anywhere near as echi as the trailers would suggest. In fact, one of the girls shown is thrown out of the series in episode one. So it's NOT a harem. Not that harems are bad, per se, but it's nice to see it's not being overdone this season.

The official vow for the Duo pair is an interesting concept in that most duos are the same gender. So the main character is already an "irregular" in all sorts of ways.

The show also makes one wonder... why is everyone's "blaze," the manifestation of the soul a WEAPON? What trauma did these kids go through? It should be more surprising that more students don't manifest as defensive forms.

I really look forward to where this series goes.

In some cases, I would even say the lack of it in their lives makes them desire it even more.

Also I'm not sure if I should find the insanity of the fanservice scene with Tomoe impressive or not. I guess it's at least more creative than the usual stupid as fuck accident.

Kirito's voice is being put to its best use and it's only the second episode...

I loved that scene where he was hanging from the bed too. It's like the voice actor was actually in that position saying those lines.

Oh and Julie is being adorbs.

It's probably headed down the harem lane, though. Still, Toru and Julie's relationship is a treat to watch. It helps that episode 2 is a much better showing than in episode 1.

I feel obliged to recommend reading the manga. There are only small differences, but it results in a world of difference with regards to execution. In particular Tora is actually shown to agree with Toru's decision to pair up with Julie before the latter runs off.

Reading the manga up to where we a-

w-what's Shirou doing here?

alright so

some more exposition

less sakura trees so far

fucks being given about loli chairwoman

tora being more tsun

tooru giving me more shota kotomine vibes for some reason

on chapter 2

his hair starts being less consistently drawn

I swear this isn't drawn right

more backstory

kind of evil looking male teacher

I don't remember the mention of julie's name being also a japanese name in the anime

more fanservice

chapter 4 because I didn't realize I changed to 3 last time around

man it's been a while since I felt a manga took longer to read than to watch the anime

more emphasis on tits

more detail on tooru's feelings about vegetables (I hate celery and eggplant too)

...well, I guess it does, but I hear it enough from children to generally assume the hugging definition is more relevant

deadline issues

julie owns tooru

julie likes parakeets

on 5 now

tooru getting kinda jelly over julie

timespan of when julie asked tomoe is different

tooru being more jelly

totally different scene at the clocktower

and no bunny teacher scene by 6

I feel that the only differences I really like is Julie talking about parakeets, Tooru mentioning that he is cool with carrots, them sparring, and a certain namedrop.

Otherwise it seems the anime is doing a decent job of showing what they have the time to show.

edited 14th Jan '15 11:58:27 PM by YuukiAsuna

I'd disagree. Just from the first episode we have that to-be-expelled girl call out to Toru randomly instead of the manga's more natural approach where she chitchats with him in the assembly hall. Especially glaring since it's not like they saved on budget or time by changing that.

I haven't tackled any chapters past what the anime has covered, however.

edited 15th Jan '15 4:40:14 AM by fillerdude

This strikes me as one of those "fake" harem things where there is a couple girls, but the lead has basically already picked. The oath I think kinda sealed it there.

Isn't that most harems, really? Usually it's very obvious from the start who th lead girl is. I'm more surprised when it isn't.