Summer 2014 Anime: First Impressions

So I watched a couple of first episodes this month. And I fangirled. A lot. MORE than a lot.
Most of that fangirling was for Free!!~Eternal Summer~ but still. I absolutely LOVED many first episodes. Let's get into the anime, shall we?!

Psycho Pass New Edit

This is an anime that I didn't mention in my Summer 2014 Anticipated Anime post because I already watched Psycho Pass and the New Edit version is just simply cutting the 24-episode-series into a 12-episode-series, meaning that each episode they're releasing is going to be around 40 minutes. There's hardly any new footage, but I'm just taking this chance to re-watch it in anticipation of the second season that's coming out after the airing of this New Edit is done (Autumn 2014).

First Impression eh I already watched it

Free!!~Eternal Summer~

Can we just. CAN WE JUST talk about this for one second?
O H. M Y. G O D.
Every other time I've said my ovaries have exploded is A LIE. This first episode, I knew my ovaries were gone. Yup. Bye ovaries. I already sold my virginity to this. Just kidding. Not really.

If you don't know what Free!! is about or have never heard of it; well, you've probably been absent from the anime scene (or not on tumblr).
The first season of Free!!~Iwatobi Swim Club~ chronicled a quartet of childhood friends, Haru, Rin, Makoto, and Nagisa, that swam together at a local swimming club named Iwatobi Swim Club (what a surprise.) They, however, separated as they went onto middle school (Rin moved to Australia, Haru and Makoto still went to school together, and Nagisa is one year younger than the rest of them.) Now, they are in high school and Haru, Makoto, and Nagisa go to the same high school and decide to start a swimming club. From there, they meet another student named Rei, and they recruit him into the club as well. Pretty much after that, they deal with the situation with Rin being a jerk to them, and aiming for nationals and whatnot.

The synopsis for ES, or at least where I think it's heading, is a bit similar. Now that Haru, Makoto, Nagisa, and Rin have all reconciled, as well as Rei who fits nicely into the group, there are a couple new characters that enter the scene, one in particular is Rin's old friend named Sousuke. He's pretty much the Rin of this season (except that he's only hostile to Haru and not anyone else.) And Momotarou is great too. I love him a lot so far! Mikoshiba siblings 5ever~

 I think more serious themes are going to show up in this season because of the OP, which shows the characters going through various inner turmoils (it seems like.) It is Rin, Haru, and Makoto's last year of high school, so they have to find more members for the club or else it will perish. There's also a notable scene in episode one where Rin asks Haru and Makoto what they plan on doing after high school, and Makoto replies that he doesn't know. And multiple scenes after that concerning Ama-sensei talking with Haru about his future career, Makoto seemingly looking at his paper in a daze and then looking expectedly at Haru, as if Haru would give him the answer of what he was going to do in the future. A scene in the OP shows Makoto letting go of Haru's hand and maybe that's a sign that Makoto is letting go of Haru? He's been Haru's sort of "guardian" for a while (he's almost always with Haru) so I guess that maybe he's finally going to make a resolve to let Haru stand on his own and him to consider what he HIMSELF wants to do in the future.

I don't know; my speculation could either be spot on or terribly inaccurate.
There's also a theory for Nagisa's inner turmoil on tumblr.

That's pretty much my opinion of Episodes 1 and 2 of Free ES so far. The OP and ED are PHENOMENAL. I love it. I love Free. I love everything about it. 

5/5 First Impression

Zankyou no Terror(Terror in Resonance) or Terror in Tokyo

You see, I was already anticipating this anime because it was an original anime series. And the plot seemed interesting enough.
But WOW, was I blown away. It was an absolutely fantastic first episode.

If you haven't heard what this is about, it's basically about these two boys, called Nine and Twelve (or in school they're called Kokonoe Arata and Hisami Touji) that, for some reason, have this desire to blow up Tokyo. Enter Mishima Lisa, a victim of bullying, who accidentally witnesses Twelve placing a bomb (which is disguised as a stuffed animal). I think Lisa was oblivious as to what the stuffed animal was or maybe she was too intimidated to disobey his orders or whatnot but she held onto the bomb for a while until Nine calls her cellphone and makes a deal to her.

"You have two options; you can die where you are or become an accomplice."

Of course, like any sane person, Lisa doesn't want to die so she chooses to help them out. The end of the episode is when she is with Nine and Twelve on the rooftop of a safe building, watching as destruction envelops Tokyo.

The animation is spot on as far as I can tell, the character design of Twelve very much reminds me of Space Dandy, the music is quite interesting and so far, I'm really excited to watch more episodes.
I wonder if Lisa is going to become the rational voice of the this little terrorist group. She seems rather afraid to express her opinion though. And it seems that Nine and Twelve recognize her somehow...? I have no idea, but I'm looking forward to finding out their pasts!

5/5 First Impression

Sword Art Online II: Phantom Bullet

Whoaaa, look out, it's one of the highly anticipated animes of the year!
Definitely a cool series and I know I will enjoy watching this season as well as the first one.

I'll just give a brief summary of SAO, even though I know probably everyone and their mother knows what it's about. Basically, in a alternate modern world of sorts, there is a virtual reality MMORPG game that is release called Sword Art Online. However, one day, things go amuck in the game; no can log out, and if you die in the game, you die in real life. The creator of SAO suddenly appears and tells all of the players that to survive, they have to beat the bosses on the 100 levels of the game. We follow the main character, Kirigaya Kazuto, or more commonly known as Kirito, who achieves fame by becoming the one to defeat this game. The second part of season one was called Alheim Online, which was another virtual reality game containing Elf-like players that the main cast got sucked into aka the rapey part of SAO.

And now we have Gun Gale Online! We learn that GGO is on a whole 'nother level from SAO and ALO because GGO is for professional gamers. Recently, there has been a GGO player that apparently found a way to kill someone in real life by killing them in the game.

Obviously enough, Kirito is going to go into this game, to kind of spy on what's going on, and who's behind this crime. I think Asuna will also end up going into GGO too. Looking forward to the new characters!
But sadly, I'm not as hyped about this as I was before. I don't know why. The first episode was good but nothing really spectacular.

4/5 First Impression

Glasslip

I LOVED Nagi no Asukara. That's when I fell in love with P.A. Works. They are the embodiment of scenery-gasms. So when they announced after the end of NnA that they were starting a new work, titled "Glasslip", I was on the bandwagon immediately.
Again, I believe that P.A. Works has done a PHENOMENAL job on the scenery, the details, and everything like that, maybe, MAYBE even better this time. I didn't love Glasslip off the bat, but that's okay, since I felt the same towards NnA when I first started watching it. NnA had gradual buildup until it reached the summit and then BAM. Everything just...too much. If you've watched NnA, you understand how I feel.

Beautiful glass-work

There's a whole supernatural element in this that I don't quite understand. The first episode didn't blatantly state it out, but I could understand that something otherwordly was going on, I just couldn't understand what (probably because I'm thick-headed.) Apparently the main character, Touko, can see the into future, with the help of this mysterious boy named Kakeru. This will clear up in later episodes, I know, but I don't like being left in the dark. xD

Also, I love the little details they incorporated to hint that Imi liked Touko. It was brilliant. I can see that this is headed the route of NnA, where there are complex relationships, although not a love polygon (I don't think) but it's going to be at least a love square. Not sure, but if this is a P.A. Works anime we're talking about, there is definitely going to be a twist.

Overall, I need a few more episodes to decide if I really like this new series or not. Above all else though, I'll mostly stay to watch this because of the art. OH THE BEAUTIFUL SCENERY.

4/5 First Impression 

Ao Haru Ride

Possibly the anime I'm looking forward to watching the least and I was kind of disappointed with the first episode. It was okay but that was pretty much it. Now, don't get me wrong, the episode just wasn't what I expected. I mean, Ao Haru Ride, is a shoujo manga so of course, what else were they going to do? Obviously flowers and sparkles and awkward pauses.

For some reason, I imagined that Ao Haru Ride was different than most shoujo mangas, that it wasn't that girly at all. I guess maybe in the beginning it was a little girly but I feel like the anime made the girliness and cheesiness level go off the charts.

Ao Haru Ride wasn't my favorite manga but it was an enjoyable at the least. I will be watching few more episodes of this anime to decide if I want to continue watching or if I be too blinded by the sparkles to watch.

It doesn't seem like the interwebs is talking about this anime much. Oh well. I guess I understand. 

3/5 First Impression

Tokyo ESP

Dope image from crunchyroll.com(http://www.crunchyroll.com/anime-news/2014/03/11/tokyo-esp-tv-anime-is-set-for-summer-2014)

Okay, so I kind of remember reading a bit of the manga a veryyy long time ago but I didn't clearly remember much about it so this episode was definitely a new and exciting one for me.
I'll just get a few bad parts out of the way before I move to the gushing part. I thought the characters introduced were pretty typical. I can't think off the top of my mind who they reminded me of and how many times I've seen those types of characters done but I can say; A LOT. It's not such a bad thing that it annoys me; just something that I've noticed.

The premise for this anime is interesting for sure; basically Esper War. I believe that the main heroine's group is trying to take down this professor guy...? Yeah, I don't know much about it. But I will definitely watch more episodes.

An interesting fact I picked up on was that the manga is apparently split up into 3 different arcs and each arc has a different main character. I'm guessing that the anime will do the first heroine, The White Girl, for the whole season, and then maybee do the other characters for different seasons? That could be too hopeful though.

I'll be honest, the fact that I expressed any interest in this series was because of the heroine. It's not often that you see a heroine of a shounen anime. So, I'm waiting to see if she cracks down and chooses to be a damsel in distress. MWAHAHAHHA just kidding. But seriously. I've seen so many times where a strong heroine cracks down and becomes weak because of love or something stupid (love isn't stupid but I hope you understand my point.)

Interesting episode, overall. I can't wait to see the characters that are shown in the beginning of the manga but not in the anime. (BTW I'M ROOTING FOR ROMANCE BECAUSE IT LOOKS LIKE IT HAS SOME.)

4/5 First Impression

Akame ga Kill!

This anime. It hit me so unexpectedly. I knew that everyone and their mother was hyped about this anime but I wasn't; because I'm a judger. I judge things by it's cover and let's all admit that several of you guys do it too. I thought it was going to be another stupid harem anime but OH BOYYY, oh boyyy I was completely wrong.
It kind of gave off a SAO feel, to be honest. But other than that, it is no way similar, I'm not trying to compare them or anything but both main characters had swords on them.
AgK!! is more violent, more grotesque, and I read somewhere that it would be a horror/tragedy so yup, I'm preparing myself to have some feelings. But it's just SO. FREAKING. AWESOME. I can't believe a first episode has made me feel this way.
Damn, Akame ga Kill, damn.

So if you don't know what this anime is about, it's set in this weird setting. Kind of like a cross between the medieval times but modern at the same time? Well, basically there's this young adult named Tatsumi, who travels to the imperial capital (named Capitol) to earn money to save his village, when he is suddenly swindled of all his money by a random lady (who turns out to be "not-a-random-lady"), forcing him to sleep on the streets. An aristocrat by the name of Aria, drives by on her carriage, and offers him a place to sleep in her mansion. What he doesn't know is that her family is hiding a big secret....And it's a pretty disgusting secret at that.
You see, Aria has been luring in poor people (who she sees on the streets I guess) and then torturing them in this hidden building behind their estate. Two of the people that she's tortured in their are Tatsumi's companions, the two other people that came with him from their village, and they both end up dying in the torture chamber. That scene was absolutely terrible. My condolences to both Ieyasu and Sayo.

An outer depiction of Aria's twisted mind

I liked that Tatsumi just went ahead and killed Aria. That was the best. I hate when main characters hesitate when killing a character that is absolutely despicable. I'm like, "come on, that person did so many horrible things! They even killed your loved ones!" I don't always condone killing, but when I do, it's killing people that have done something disgustingly horrid. 

Oh yeah, and the reason that he found out about that secret was because the Night Raid, a group of self-righteous assassins I suppose, had targeted Aria's family because they knew their horrid practices. That random-swindling lady that I mentioned before? Turns out that she's apart of the Night Raid and that was the only reason that Tatsumi didn't get killed. Now, he's a member of the Night Raid too! Sweet.

Anyway, positively looking forward to the next episode! I think this will be a great anime.

5/5 First Impression

EDIT: Okay, so I just watched the first two episodes of Aldnoah.Zero and OH MY GOD. YES. I really, really dig it.

Aldnoah.Zero

Sorry I couldn't include a fancy-dancy picture here since I'm kind of in a rush but basically this is a mecha anime about a war between Earth and Mars. Or Terraens vs. Martians. And it's REALLY good.
The anime is hinting at two boys, one Terraen and one Martian (or I guess the Martian one is actually a Terraen, not really sure), facing each other on the battlefield? Or maybe it's just to show the counterparts of the two races. IDK. But it's cool.
Although I'm not really into mecha, this anime actually got me pretty pumped. The OST is great; kind of reminds me of the chilling music from Attack on Titan, and UGH I just love it so far.

Something that kind of concerned me and awed me was how the Terraen main male character, Nao, is just so oddly calm in the most dire situations. It shows that he has potential to be a leader but it makes me feel like he's just indifferent to the world in general lol. I mean, he's not as bad as Kiriyama from Battle Royale of course, but a character with as little reaction as him...I don't know, makes me unsettled. I'm just used to characters freaking out in a situation where they're being ATTACKED BY MARTIANS IN GIANT MECHA. Well, actually, kids Nao's age are pretty used to mecha in his society so I guess I can cross the mecha part off BUT STILL.

As for most of the animes I've seen ^, Aldnoah.Zero has gorgeous animation and artwork as well. I love the character designs so far.

I can see that this will be a contender for one of the best animes to come out of Summer 2014. If not, I'll make it happen.

5/5 First Impression

Summer Anime 2014-My Anticipated List!

As you can tell from the title, I'm going to be talking about the animes that I am most looking forward to seeing this summer. Although, it doesn't mean that I will immediately like them when I see the first episode (who knows, we'll see...)

Note: All summer anime tends to release around the beginning of July (so like July 6-8, somewhere around there)

First off, if I don't include an anime that you are looking forward to, you can comment and tell me what it is and I'll check it out. ^^ I also apologize if I don't.

Secondly, I won't be including Kuroshitsuji 3: Book of Circus just because I feel like I don't know enough about it to talk about it (I haven't even finished the first season, I know >.<;;) so after I complete the first 2 seasons, I will probably talk about it (?)
I also won't be including Re: Hamatora or the second season of Hamatora because, again, I haven't finished the first season. I really need to catch up on anime!

Ao Haru Ride

 Link to one of the PVs: Click!

 Aren't the designs just beautiful? The art style stays pretty true to the manga as far as I can tell from these images. I love that more shoujo mangas are being animated! We need more shoujo anime! :)

Ao Haru Ride is originally a manga created by Sakisaka Io and this is the summary from baka-updates manga:
"Yoshioka Futaba has a few reasons why she wants to "reset" her image and life as a new high-school student. Because she's cute and had a demure personality she was ostracized by her female friends in junior high, and because of a series of misunderstandings and mishaps, she couldn't get her feeling across to the one boy she has always liked, Tanaka Kou.

Now in high school, she is determined to be as unladylike as possible so that her friends won't be jealous of her. While living her life this way contentedly, she meets Tanaka-kun again, but he now goes under the name of Mabuchi Kou. He tells her that he felt the same way as she did when they were younger, but that they cannot go back. Will Futaba be able to continue her love that never even started from three years ago?"
The production company confirmed to be animating this anime is Production I.G., who has also created (or co-created) Attack on Titan, Ghost in the Shell, Usagi Drop, etc. and one of the animes they are working on right now that I absolutely ADORE is Haikyuu!! so you can definitely tell they are a pretty superb group.
I have so much hype for this anime! It's going to be adorable!

Sailor Moon: Crystal

Link to freaking awesome PV:  Clickity!
I feel obligated to put this here even though I probably won't stick around to watch all of the episodes of this sailor moon remake. I really like the new art style, although some people differ, because as time goes on, art changes and the quality gets even better. What did old Sailor moon fans think was going to happen; they would keep the old art style. Ew, no. The girls look so beautiful and stunning here, but I'm not really a fan of the spider legs look. I will, however, definitely check this anime out and see what other changes they have decided to make to this series. Also want to see fandom hate lol. Just kidding, but still, this is probably the biggest news in the anime world besides SAO II...and Free! Eternal Summer. The production company in charge of this anime is Toei Animation, who has done another magical girl series Pretty Cure (and the five billion spin-offs of it), Dragon Ball Z most famously, Toriko, etc.

Summary from anichart.net:
"Tsukino Usagi is a clumsy crybaby, but otherwise very cheerful 8th grade student. One day she meets a cat named Luna with a crescent moon on her head, and is transformed into the sailor-suited guardian of love and justice, Sailor Moon! As a chosen guardian of justice, Usagi has a mission … to find her comrades; to find the Phantom Silver Crystal; and protect the Princess. However, Queen Beryl of the Dark Kingdom also seeks the terrible power of the Silver Crystal, and sends her agents into the city where Usagi lives; triggering the start of a fierce battle.

Will Sailor Moon be able to find the other Sailor Guardians, and if she does, together can they find the Phantom Silver Crystal and protect the Princess?!"

 Free! Eternal Summer AKA Free Season 2

 Okayy SUPER unbelievably excited for this anime! I enjoyed the first season (although I had trouble getting through the last few episodes) and these water babies, and I can't wait to see them again in their adorableness. And dem abs. Oh yes. 

 Something that didn't really come as a surprise for me was the announcement quite a while ago of a new character appearing, called Sousuke. He seems like another Rin to me, except without the friendly childhood background (because if it wasn't for that connection that Rin had to the Iwatobi trio before, he would have never joined them...probably.) But we all know he's going to be another big baby adored by us fans. 

It's going to be animated by the studio that animated the first season: Kyoto Animation (one of the best animation groups)

The PV has been released and you should watch it: Click!

Summary: Swimming. Shirtless boys. Hot shirtless boys. Bromance. A shark boy that won't admit his feelings. 

Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun

From the manga

Official anime key visual

Link to PV (which I'm kind of sad about the designs...): Yo!

 Based off a hilarious manga by Izumi Tsubaki, Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun is about a high school student Sakura Chiyo confesses her feelings to her classmate Nozaki. Due to a misunderstanding, Nozaki thinks Sakura is just a fan of his shōjo manga work. Sakura has to convey her true feelings while her relationship with Nozaki develops (summary credit to AnimeNewsNetwork). 

I would also recommend Izumi-sensei's other manga (longer running) Oresama Teacher, as it is also very comedic and has great characters.

I'm just looking forward to see it animated and having a good laugh. I think it's supposed to be a gag manga but I'm not sure...it's very amusing. 

Yes, there are a lot of male characters (in Oresama Teacher too), however, Izumi-sensei does not write typical reverse harems. You can't even call it a reverse harem because not all of the guys are interested in her. There could be, like, 5 guys but only 2 of them want to date the main character. That's the same in this case, although I'm not sure about the exact number of guys in this particular story. 

Definitely check it out! This is my personal recommendation out of all of the new anime coming out this summer! 

Glasslip: To be animated by P.A. Works (my all time FAVORITE production company)

THIS IS FREAKING GORGEOUS

THIS TOO

OH MY GOSH I CAN'T HANDLE THE ART-

Do you see the fearsome prowess of P.A. Works? Like, look at that. LOOK AT IT. I'm crying right now because their art is too beautiful. ;_; After Nagi no Asukara (an anime I highly recommend), I will loyally watch any anime produced by this company. Plus, it looks interesting and like something I would watch anyway. 

If you're watching a P.A. Works anime, you can expect great art, great animation, great music, great characters, great storyline, and great voice acting. Pretty much FANTASTIC everything. You may think I am exaggerating, and I might be, but seriously, if you haven't watched an anime by them, YOU SHOULD. NOW. It's a life-changing experience. 

Link to first PV: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjHPAEnUiqw

Link to second PV (longer and more awesome): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjHPAEnUiqw 

Sword Art Online II: Gun Gale Online 

I think pretty much everyone and their mother is excited for the second season. I'm not as hyped as some other people are but nonetheless, I am still looking forward to watching it. I thoroughly enjoyed the first and second season, though not the rapey parts of the second season (spoilers!)

If you don't know what SAO is and you watch anime...that isn't possible unless you live under some anime rock or something. 

But I'll put a description of it here from ANN: "The players of a virtual reality MMORPG, Sword Art Online, are trapped and fighting for their very lives. After it is announced that the only way to leave the game is by beating it, Kirito—a very powerful swordsman—and his friends take on a quest to free all the minds trapped in Aincrad."

In the second half of the first season, they get trapped in another game (surprise, surprise) called Alfheim where all the characters are based on fairies. 

Anyway, looking forward to some good ol' SAO! :D This time, with guns!

 Zankyou no Terror

Don't really know much about this anime except that it's an original anime by the production company MAPPA, and I just want to say OMG we need more original anime series because they turn out to the best and the most unique (i mean, look at Nagi no Asukara). 

Link to PV: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDtA8aYjzzM 

I'm getting a very post-apocalyptic feel from the poster, although from the PV, it looks like it's set in modern Tokyo. Apparently there are these 2 very mischievous boys that are acting like terrorists and bombing the place up. Okay, I actually looked at the summary and the two boys call themselves "Sphinx" and they're trying to start a game in Tokyo by bombing the city...WHAT THE F-. That's so messed up. But anyway, I have no idea what role the girl plays in this but I am very interested to find out. 

Maybe this will be the gem of the season, who knows. 

FINALLY I am done with this ridiculously long post. If you made it all the way to the end, COOKIE AND CONFETTI for you! :D If you couldn't tell, I was getting increasingly bored as the post went on so I'm am SO GLAD I am done with it now (I probably shouldn't have done this in one sitting but oh well.) Now my hand is cramping a bit so I'm going to take a rest. 

Today's a good day to have a good day. <3 6ever