With the Fall Season here, there are a ton of First Glances to write. But to increase readability, I’ve merged those posts into one. As you can see, this season not as good as the last one – even with the long-awaited Index 2 – but has a lot more unique shows. Now, let’s start with…

Toaru Majutsu no Index II

Yess! It’s finally here! The long-awaited continuation of Toaru Majutsu no Index! As you may remember, Toaru Majutsu no Index – one of the few titles to ever get a perfect score on my list on MyAnimeList.net – aired last year and just randomly ended after Episode 24. It didn’t have an end, it just randomly stopped after the Kazakiri arc.

Once again we are thrown right into Academy City, the best Anime setting ever made so far, with Touma suffering the consequences of playing hero all summer: Zero homework made on the day before school starts. Then Index gets kidnapped by a strange guy (Terra of the Left) who wants to use one of the books stuffed into Index’ mind to cure someone from a curse, and Touma has to run around playing hero again. And all of the homework he had done so far got destroyed first by a waitress dropping a cup of coffee over the printouts, and then Terra turning into confetti with a magical crossbow. Nice.

The second episode instead has Touma get recruited by Stiyl to help protecting a book not in Index’ mind from a group of magicians who wants to use that book to aquire some sort of awesome powers. More fights coming up! But… where did Terra go? Did they just forget about him? Whatever. Index’ plot has never made perfect sense but it’s been enjoyable anyways.

Like all of J.C.Staff’s larger projects, the visuals are really amazing, something that will most likely show even more in the over-the-top fights up ahead. And did I mention it’s in full HD? The downside is that there are some mistakes in the animations (especially episodes 2 and 5) where peoples’ heads are out of proportions.
The soundtrack, made by I’ve Sound just like the first season and Railgun, is actually pretty good so far, and it also has an opening theme (“No Buts”) by Mami Kawada – just like the first season. The new OP is not really on PSI-Missing’s (the first season’s incredible first OP) level, but still really good. And it actually got rid of Index’ biggest fault, it’s slow pacing, without getting rid of the story. In the first season, a lot of the time was spent on people standing around talking. In the second season, there is a lot more action mixed in between, without the story or the technobabble suffering.

This is so far the best show of the season, and nothing else is particularily likely to surpass it either. The only reason why you wouldn’t want to follow this is if you haven’t seen the first season, in which case you should see it first.

Score so far: 10/10

Shinryaku! Ika Musume

Shinryaku! Ika Musume is Keroro Gunsou and Lucky Star using the Fusion Earrings from Dragonball, and it’s just as odd as that sounds. Ika Musume (“Squid Girl”) gets mad at all of humanity for polluting the sea, and single-handedly tries to take over the world. However, she is completely clueless about the surface world, and ends up working in a nearby beach house for making a hole in it’s wall. Nice progress! Just like a certain incompetent frog, she spends her time scheming to take over the world while working for free in a café. And just like said incompetent frog, she has a complete lack of focus. And she’s daft enough to actually forget that she can breathe underwater and act like she’s drowning, among other things. Seems this invasion won’t be finished any time soon, but the endless failed attempts are extremely enjoyable.

The cast so far consists of an airheaded squid (Ika Musume), a character that’s like a direct copy of Natsumi from Keroro, Chizuru from Seitokai no Ichizon with a new hairstyle (?), a Captain Qwark-esque lightsaber lifesaver, and a hysterical Ika-fangirl.

Ika Musume herself actually deserves some special credit. Despite apparently being an invader, she’s completely adorable, especially her way of ending her sentences with ~de deso, a kind of baby-talk suffix. And she’s more clueless about everything than Yotsuba from Yotsuba&!, and does stupid things like mistaking a crocodile floater for a real one.

The art style is a bit like a hybrid of Toaru Majutsu no Index and Lucky Star. And it’s actually really nice, they even do underwater light effects really nicely. And over-the-top effects like the one above appears pretty frequently as well. The only thing so far I’ve found to be annoying in the seriously bad opening theme. It reminds of Lucky Star’s Motteke! Sailor Fuku minus everything that’s good about that song. Ika Musume is actually one of the few shows that I actually fast-forward through the OPs every time. It should be noted that the opening video is pretty nice, so if you turn off your speakers you can at least enjoy that.

Score so far: 9/10

Ore no Imouto ga Konnani Kawaii Wake ga Nai

“Ore no Imouto ga Konnani Kawaii Wake ga Nai”, or “There’s no way my little sister could be this cute!” in english – also dubbed “Ore no Imouto wa Lolicon desu” (“My little sister is a Lolicon!”) by me – is one of the most unique series’ I’ve watched in a long time. The story is about a boy named Kyosuke who discovers a cover from a Mahou Shoujo anime called “Stardust Witch Merule”, containing an 18+ Lolicon Visual Novel game, dropped in the hallway. By bringing up the topic of Mahou Shoujo animes at the dinner table, the only one who could own it seems to be his sister Kirino. But since Kirino is something of an uber-tsundere, she couldn’t possibly have something this cute. Right!? But when Kirino wakes him up in the middle of the night and tells him the truth about her huge collection of Mahou Shoujo animes and Lolicon VNs, Kyosuke agrees to help her keep it all a secret. Especially from their parents. Oh, and during just this scene, Kirino denies her own existence about 10 times.

The entire series oozes quality, and it’s pretty obvious that the producers knew exactly what they were doing when they made this – if you have seen Eden of the East (Higashi no Eden in Japanese), you may recognize this feeling from there. They manage to avoid both being unclear and over-explaining things, staying right in the middle. For example, Kirino’s introduction is about 10 seconds long, and since it’s in a dream she’s technically not even present herself, but still manages to explain her perfectly simply by showing a polar opposite-version of her. Same thing with “Kuroneko”, who is introduced with just a few phrases, but still gives a perfectly clear picture of her. Kyosuke has such a generic (lack of a) personality so he doesn’t even need an introduction.

I don’t usually notice voice actors particularily much, but OreImo has quite a cast. My favorite Seiyuu Kana Hanazawa, who voiced Futaba Aoi in Asobi ni Iku yo! last season, Kanade Tachibana in Angel Beats! the season before that, and Anri Sonohara in Durarara!! the season before that, and who also appears as Sharon in Pandora Hearts and as Haruue in Toaru Kagaku no Railgun, returns as Ruri “Kuroneko” Gokou, one of Kirino’s new friends. Kyosuke is voiced by Yuuichi Nakamura, who voices Tomoya in Clannad, Kadota in Durarara!!, Gray in Fairy Tail, Greed in Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood and Arashiyama (the Lightsaber Lifesaver) in Shinryaku! Ika Musume (see above). Kirino is voiced by Ayana Taketatsu, who voices Miharu in Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu, Mio in MM!, and Michie (one of the Student Council members, the one with the bats) in Ichiban Ushiro no Daimaou. And Saori, another one of Kirino’s new friends who seems to change speech pattern all the time, is voiced by Hitomi Nabatame who voices Magery Daw in Shakugan no Shana and the dorm supervisor in Toaru Kagaku no Railgun. This is one cast of star seiyuus that’s seriously hard to ignore. Sure there are better all-star casts (like Gintama), but this is definitely one of the better ones.

As you can see in the picture above, the art style is just as unique as the rest of OreImo. It’s clean, unique, and while it doesn’t handle epic faces as well as Lucky Star, it’s not far away. It also tends to use overlays with typical VN elements, such as different kind of Flag Selections, and also oozes of quality. Motions are fluid, and pictures always seems actually living. There are few completely static backgrounds, but instead most of them have some kind of movements on them, saving it from seeming dead. And no matter where you look, you won’t find many empty spots or places left out of the animation. Like the image above, where the walls are covered with unnecessary stuff and Kirino’s hand moves despite focus of the scene obviously being on her face.

Oh, and just a note: since the main theme revolves around a lolicon, and a huge amount of Eroge VNs, it’s not recommended for anyone under 14-15. Anyone 14-15+ will on the other side most likely enjoy this.

The World God Only Knows

The ending… I can see it!
— Keima

The World God Only Knows (or Kami nomi zo Shiru Sekai) is a very classic Harem kind of series. There are better ones, sure, but there are a LOT worse too. Keima Katsuragi is known as the Capturing God because no Dating Simulator heroine can resist him. However, he is completely hopeless when it comes to real girls. When he receives an email he percieved as a challenge letter, he accepts what he thinks is some kind of Dating Simulator Contest. However, this turns out to be a contract with a demon called Elsie (who was apparently sent by Dokuro-chan?) who wants him to capture real girls to force evil souls out of them by filling their hearts with love. And they can’t cancel the contract after Elsie realizes that he can’t capture real girls without both losing their heads. The only way to complete the contract is to capture a certain number of evil souls, by using Keima’s enormous knowledge of game scenarios and Elsie’s magical garment to recreate those scenarios in reality.

While this is kind of cliché, it is enjoyable. It’s all played out very nicely, even though I dislike that someone apparently thought you can apply Game Scenarios in real life. The entire idea is stupid. But if you can see past that, you have an enjoyable series to watch. The main character, Keima Katsuragi, is voiced by Hiro Shimono, who also voices Aki in Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu. Elsie is voiced by Kanae Itou who voiced Akai Ringo in the last season’s Ookami-san to Shichinin no Nakama-tachi - a character who is very similar to Elsie, except with a manipulative side -, Eris in Asobi ni Iku yo (also last season), Fumino in Mayoi Neko Overrun, Junko in Shakugan no Shana S, Sanae in Shinryaku! Ika Musume and Saten in Toaru Kagaku no Railgun. Some other voices that appears are Yuuki Aoi (Shinra in Durarara!!), Tomo Sakurai (Chigusa in Shakugan no Shana), Asumi Kana (Kazakiri in Toaru Majutsu no Index), and my favorite seiyuu of all time: Hanazawa Kana who voiced Kanade Tachibana in Angel Beats!, Aoi Futaba in Asobi ni Iku yo, Anri Sonohara in Durarara!!, etc. Look up 10 centimeters under Ore no Imouto ga Konnani Kawaii Wake ga Nai for the list.

The rest of this series isn’t particularily remarkable. There’s nothing really bad about it, but nothing that good either. The art is nice, and the sound gets a passing grade. Anyone who likes Harem series should check it out, but if you don’t you’re not missing out on too much. Except a lot of cute girls, and strange 2D cutscenes (like “Woniichan Moé” or the 2D Nazi)

Soredemo Machi wa Matteiru

Maid-lo!
— Arashiyama

The only word that can describe Soredemo Machi wa Matteiru is “HYSTERICAL”. With capital letters. We’ve seen Maid Cafés before, but where else do you find Maid-Jutsu?

The story follows a small Maid Café, with a total of one regular customer. The “head maid”, who doesn’t want to be called that, is over 70 years old, and the only other employee is Hotori Arashiyama, who works there because she owes the owner for 10 years of curry. Arashiyama also has no clue about how to be a maid, neither has the “head maid”, so the place just acts as a café where people are dressed as maids.

Arashiyama, the main character, is one of the most unique characters I’ve seen in a while. Her sleepy voice and heavy accent fits her character as an irrational airhead perfectly. She also looks like Fuka from Yotsuba&!, and acts quite a bit like her. While she is incredibly stupid, she reads a lot of mystery novels and is a good detective, and her completely irrational – but correct – “deductions” are driving her Math Teacher (who thinks everything must be 100% logical) insane; think the headmaster from Great Teacher Onizuka. The rest of the characters – save for said math teacher – are rather unimportant though. The jokes performed by Arashiyama herself is more than enough to make it worth checking out, like changing “Hello” to “Maid-lo” while making a V-Sign…

While this is by no means one of the best shows of the season, it’s interesting enough to be worth checking out.

MM!

What the heck?
— Mio (good summary of MM!)

MM! works based on a simple principe: If two wrongs don’t make a right, how about ten? Or fifteen?

We have the main character who has an extreme case of machosism, the heroine (Mio) who has a Superiority complex to the extent of thinking she’s god, an androphobic (afraid of the opposite gender) secondary heroine (Arashiko), a crossdressing friend who changes personality to some sort of queen when he’s dressed as a girl (Tatsukichi), a violent school nurse who likes to dress up her patients and photograph them, a loli inventor who wants to make the world perverted, the lesbian heir to the Mamiya style of massaging who wants to massage all cute girls, and Tarou’s mother with a huge son complex and his sister with an equally huge Brother complex. And I’m pretty sure I’ve forgotten someone… Essentially every time you see someone who appears to be normal with a spoken dialogue longer than a few words, s/he is going to turn out to be some kind of weirdo. Most people actually turn out to be weirdoes within 2 minuter of being introduced.

The sheer weirdness of it all is enough to motivate anyone into watching it, provided they’re not under 15 – I strongly discourage anyone younger from watching this.
They even have parodies of a lot of different shows, like Toaru Majutsu no Index and Dragonball. In Episode 5, Tarou even turns Super Machosist, the MM! version of DB’s Super Saiyan.

—
Before anyone asks about that last pic’s description: No, I don’t watch Yuri. I despise it just as much as Yaoi.

Bakuman.

NOTICE! This is not to be confused with a kids show called Bakugan!

Bakuman. (yes, with the dot) is another one of those really unique shows, depicting something you usually don’t see in Anime and Manga: the lives of the Mangaka (Anime/Manga authors) themselves. Something that could have turned out boring also turned out great, as expected of the authors behind Death Note. It doesn’t really have a slow pace, but not too fast, instead just right in the middle. It’s slow development, and well-made.

Mashiro Moritaka is a 9th grade student whose only real talent lies in drawing. He hopes to get through university, and get a boring job as a salaryman somewhere. This plan changes when Takagi Akito, who is an aspiring writer, recognizes his drawing skill and invites him to together become the greatest Mangaka Japan has ever seen. At first Mashiro is skeptical to the idea, since his uncle was an unsuccessful mangaka who died from overworking, but after Azuki Miho – his secret crush – after a series of events tells him that she’ll marry him if they actually become Mangaka. But even with their combined skill, becoming successful Mangaka isn’t easy.

Just like Death Note, the writing is so incredibly well done it’s completely addicting. You want to see the next episode right away, and can hardly stand waiting an entire week for the next episode. While this certainly might not be everyone’s favorite, anyone should see at least a few episodes. If possible, more.

What you should NOT watch!

Yosuga no Sora - From the creators of Kiss x Sis comes another risqué catastrophe…