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Pretty Rhythm Rainbow Live: First Impressions

I picked up this anime not expecting a whole lot from a show about rainbows, dancing, and singing featuring a thirteen year old. Set in modern day and very much geared for the pre-teen or teen demographic, Pretty Rhythm Rainbow Live (PRRL) is a show blending the magical girl and music idol genres with a bit of a twist. It’s bright, it’s happy, and it’s fun, but it lacks much depth which means one must be content with the what-you-see-is-what-you-get sparkles, copious amounts of rainbows, and numerous hearts.

Flowers of Evil: First Impressions

I initially agreed to pick this up because of the director, Hiroshi Nagahama, who directed two of my favorites – Detroit Metal City and Mushi-shi – and the premise sounded interesting – psychological slice-of-life teenage drama. There’s a lot here to turn off potential viewers – the art style contrasts highly detailed backgrounds with character designs

The Severing Crime Edge: First Impressions

This is a tricky series to classify. From the name, The Severing Crime Edge, as well as the font that the title is in, you’d think it’s a horror show. From the artwork, something lighter and sweet. From the description, a romantic comedy. I mean, come on. A guy who loves cutting hair a little too much and a girl with supposedly cursed hair that can never be cut? Match made in anime heaven.

Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor 2: First Impressions

I’ve gotta admit, this was the show I was most looking forward to this season. I’m a big Shin Megami Tensei fan, and I’ve always been disappointed in myself that I never got around to playing Devil Survivor 1 or 2. The fact that the anime is an adaptation of the second game might be a little off-putting to people, making them think that they missed something or need to have played the first game. However, it actually stands alone, so there’s no reason not to jump in.

Oreimo Season 2 – First Impressions

The epic bro-meets-sis romantic comedy continues on in Season Two. When we last left our heroine, Kirino had returned to Japan with the encouragement of big bro Kyosuke after a brief time attending to a track camp in America (for anybody keeping score of things from season one, this is a continuation of the season one True Route Ending, NOT the Good Ending).

Attack on Titan – First Impressions by Skie

Shingeki no Kyoujin comes out of the gate strong. Its style, design, and sound are all superb, as is the attention to detail in animating even highly dynamic sequences. There are a few odd choices regarding what doesn’t get animated but that’s a minor bump in the road for the first episode. The story begins with the reveal of a titan more than 50m tall and the decided lack of sound that fades into eerie music is a fantastic choice to develop instant foreboding.

Gargantia on the Verduous Planet: First Impressions by Miki

Coming from the mind of Gen Urobochi, the creator and scriptwriter of recent fan-favorites Madoka Magica and Fate/Zero, Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet has big shoes to fill, and in its first episode does an admirable job of doing so. Ledo is a pilot for a group of humans that have built a space colony far, far away from Earth, which now only still exists as a rumor (Battlestar Gargantia?)

Gargantia on the Verduous Planet: First Impressions by Skie

It begins in deep space where soldiers are taught through dream sequences and peaceful life is the reward for duty well done in the face of an all-consuming war. The Hideauze are a race of aliens locked in mortal combat with humankind and Ledo is an Ensign of the Galactic Alliance of Humankind tasked with piloting a Machine Caliber in a last ditch effort to end the war. Needless to say, things don’t go as planned and the show drops you into the last few moments of the military fleet with spectacular space combat, nonstop action, and a flurry of information delivered in in-world communications.

Attack on Titan – First Impressions by Miki

The Titans have largely been dormant, or have stayed away from the city, for a century. The city guards are ridiculed as freeloaders, but at least the Recon teams they send out to observe the Titans have some respect… until one day, a Recon team returns battered with several missing members.

Zettai Boei Leviatan – First Impressions

Based on a mobile game by GREE in Japan, Zettai Boei Leviatan is set on the water planet Aquafell and is populated by elf-eared dragon people. So far, in this first episode, it appears to be setting itself up as a magical girl adventure story, introducing the world, the world’s Creation Myth, and three main characters who wield staves and call upon elemental magic. Leviatan is a water magic user with a…