Looking at the summary, I actually thought that it would be kind of a thriller with the main character having to dodge law enforcement and other vigilantes who mistook him for a criminal, while he's hunting down the real one for some reason.
Guess I was totally off the mark. Seems the actual Knight Lancer is his dad or something.
edited 1st Oct '15 7:40:18 PM by HanabiraKage
Hacka Doll - For what is apparently an extended commercial of an phone app, this short was actually pretty good. It starts with some really good English narration talking about the problem of Information pollution
and the need for a solution (hint: it involves absurdly advanced AI avatars that can materialize in real world and look like teenage girls) and citing Clarke's Third Law... only to then reveal that the current generation is somewhat lacking. The rest of the episode is the trio trying to help a girl who downloaded them, but only managing to piss her off.
The humor was very fast paced, with jokes flying left and right with the speed of a machine gun, not missing a beat. The animation is actually pretty good and they take advantage of it to help build up the jokes (at one point they shift to a early 90's style designs) which is more effort than I expected them to put in.
Over all this was a pleasant surprise and I'm going to keep watching it, hopefully they will keep up this quality through the run.
Miss Monochrome - Not much to say, if you liked the previous two season, you'll like this one, since picks up right where they left, and there's absolutely no difference in style or substance. I have to give props to a short series that keeps an ongoing plot and characterization through three seasons.
edited 2nd Oct '15 2:28:19 PM by Shlugo_the_great
Hacka Doll: Reminds me of RGZ, but worse. Not planning to follow
Heavy Object: It would have been nice if someone involved had ever been to Alaska. That aside, it's decent, I guess. Dialogue is 90% exposition, but it looks fairly good and the comedy is okay. Probably not going to follow, but still
K: Yep, it's K. Some awkward fanservice, but I'm hoping that's a first-episode thing
Heavy Object is clunky, exposition-heavy, and flabbily-paced light novel dreck from an author who still seems to be in lingering shellshock after being informed that girls exist. A shame, too, since the premise of infantry taking down giant doom-fortresses through raw determination and ingenuity is seriously cool.
What's precedent ever done for us?Heavy Object - the first episode was well written, well paced, full of interesting exposition and character introductions, and shows that the author really put a lot of though into constructing his world while considering how the sci fi elements he introduces would affect it. It has every making of the anime of the season and one of the better anime of the year. I'm holding my thumbs.
Gakusen Toshi Asterisk was a lot better than I thought it would be with an interesting setting and some cool Magitek. I am interested where the plot with the main character's sister goes as well.
Young Black Jack: still as silly and over the top as the original anime series, but the absence of Pinoko is highly appreciated. Wasn't really a fan of the episode, but I guess I'll give it a chance.
edited 3rd Oct '15 2:01:08 PM by Elfhunter
If I knew how I know everything I know, I'd only be able to know half as much because my brain would be clogged up with where I know it from![]()
Yeah, Asterisk is good. Seen many series with similar premise, but it looks way better than most of them and is shaping up to be very interesting. If I had to compare it to something, it would be Strike The Blood.
I made a thread for it, if anyone's interested.
edited 3rd Oct '15 2:00:44 PM by Shlugo_the_great
Unlike Asterisk, Rakudai Kishi No Eiyuutan (Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry) is far more generic and comedic. Having said this, there is some potential here as the fight was good and the main character's abilities are quite interesting.
I didn't particularly like the "The hero is actually very strong, but the system can't measure that, so he get pushed to the bottom rung." thing, but as long they don't milk that'd it could be interesting.
I really like Stella though, she's cool.
Could it be? Not one but two good high-school fantasy action series in the same season? It was some time.
@Shlugo: It's not that the system can't measure it. It's just that they're more or less ranked by natural talent.
The main character has no talent in magic, so he's rank F. But that's not exactly why he's discriminated against...
Also, Ittou Shura is a Dangerous Forbidden Technique. Because it taps into normally inaccessible energy reserves, he will kill himself via exhaustion if he uses it too much. Rule of thumb: He can only use it once a day.
Break it down, and both Gakusen Toshi Asterisk and Rakudai Kishi No Eiyuutan are light novel adaptions that open with our protagonist intruding upon our Fiery Redhead foreign princess-with-something-to-prove while she's in a state of undress, which ultimately leads to a duel between our presumptive hero-and-heroine in which the hero proves himself unexpectedly competent. Both are set in a magic high school, featuring a female school official with a trickster personality who may be more important to the overall plot than she initially appears.
Of the two, Gakusen Toshi Asterisk has better production values, script writing, and directing but feels more generic, while Rakudai Kishi No Eiyuutan has more likable characters. If Rakudai Kishi No Eiyuutan had Gakusen Toshi Asterisk's budget and staff it would be the clear winner, but as things are it's hard to say which of the two is better.
edited 3rd Oct '15 10:40:06 PM by HighVelocityPointyThings
Okay, got around to watching Rakudai Ep 1. The pacing felt a little too fast there. Guess they wanted to get the fight out of the way...? What a waste, since the fight's the nice part really. The pacing was great up till the fight started, then it went to shit.
The video quality and subs suck too. How the heck did Blade Steal become Played Steal? There were also quite a few questionable translation choices. I guess I should stick to a different sub group for this...

Well gee, you'd think you'd be nicer to the authors of Pillow Boys then.