Dawnleaf Watches Unbreakable Machine Doll: Episode 1 – Close Call

Hey, y’all?  Remember Pokémon?  Of course you do, you’re lying if you say that you don’t remember that anime, because you have all seen at least snippets of it.  Well, my best snappy one-sentence summary of Unbreakable Machine Doll is that it’s Pokémon aimed at the teenage male demographic.  Yes, we’ve got those proxy battle and creatures with fun designs, but we’ve also got a developing harem and a fanservice doll.  Literally.

Dawnleaf Watches Beyond the Boundary: Episode 1 – Boy Meets Girl

“Don’t worry; it’s only a flesh wound!”

Now, I read the summary of this originally and my mind started going “Bakemonogatai ripoff alert”, but I kindly told it to shut up because Kyoto Animation would never make something like Bakemongatari.  And I was actually right.

Dawnleaf Watches Coppelion: Episode 1 - Of Magic Skirts and Thick Outlines

For me, one of the hardest parts of blogging like this is when I come across an anime like Coppelion.  Because, well, my reaction to it is very difficult to articulate.   Because me just saying “THEANIMATIONTHEANIMATIONTHEANIMATION” over and over in a post would just be boring, but that’s really how I feel.  So, I guess the easiest place for me to start is trying to describe dat animation.

Dawnleaf Watches Diabolik Lovers: Episode 1 – Let’s Be Friends

Herm… Okay, my opinion on this anime is going to be rather difficult to formulate.  So let’s just start with the technicals, so I can get my thoughts straight.

Dawnleaf Watches Makai Ouji: Devils and Realist: Episode 2 – MAGICAL GIRL TRANSFORMATION SEQUENCE

I definitely see that this anime’s trying for some of that Black Butler camp.  However, no one will ever be as fabulous as Grell.  It made me snigger like a fifth grader, though.  I mean, about halfway through the episode, there’s an honest-to-goodness transformation sequence, with the declaration of title, silly clothes, and rainbow background.  It was positively glorious.

Dawnleaf Watches Sunday Without God: Episode 3 – Who’s Your Daddy?

I still can’t say that I like this anime, but some stuff happened this episode that rectified some of the problems I brought up in the last episode.  Mostly, the ones related to that ass Hampnie Hambart (I know that he has another name now, but I can’t remember it, so I’ll keep calling him his hilarious alias).

Dawnleaf Watches Sunday Without God: Episode 2 – Do Gravekeepers Dream of Zombie Sheep?

Please forgive me for my two week hiatus.  I was on vacation, and I figured that I really needed a break from this whole Vampire Knight business, anyway.   All right, on to the anime Sunday Without God, which doesn’t have vampires in it but does have a white-haired pretty-boy with a gun and undeads degenerating into animalistic creatures who run on instinct.  Aaaargh…

Dawnleaf Watches Vampire Knight: Episode 6 – Looks Like We Have a Badass Over Here

I think that Yagari the vampire hunter wasn’t originally supposed to be in this anime.  He wandered in from some other show’s set, and the writers figured that they’d stick him in somewhere.  However, I’m extremely thankful for this mistake.  Because he taught me something I never would have thought of otherwise: shoujo anime need more grizzled, badass vampire hunters with deep voices.  In fact, all anime do.

Dawnleaf Watches Vampire Knight: Episode 5 – Time To Go Castlevania on This Mofo

Finally!  Another character for me to like showed up!  The school just got a new teacher- a vampire hunter!  And he has an eyepatch.  And he smokes.  And he’s a freakin’ badass!  This anime really needed a new infusion of badassery. 

Dawnleaf Watches Vampire Knight: Episode 4 – Totally Called It

Hahaha!  I was right! This show actually did something that I said that it should’ve!  Apparently, all humans who get turned to vampires via purebloods go all Level E.  Not instantly, but it’s a sort of slow degeneration.  However, this opens up the question of how non-Level E vampires are created, but I guess it could just be genetics.

Dawnleaf Watches Vampire Knight: Episode 3 – Zero Doesn’t Act Like A Raging Tsundere!

Worst episode ever.  

Dawnleaf Watches Vampire Knight: Episode 2 – Brooding Sexily In the Bathroom

So, we’ve learned for certain the matters concerning Zero.  When he’s not being busy leading the rebellion against Brittania- whoops, wrong Zero.  The reasons our Zero equally spends his time being a dick, brooding sexily in the moonlight, and acting tsuntsun towards Yuuki are because he’s a dick, because he’s actually in the process of turning into a vampire even though he hates vampires because they killed his family and he can only resist becoming a vampire through sheer willpower and it hurts, and because he wants to suck out her body fluids, respectively.

Dawnleaf Watches Vampire Knight: Episode 1 – Are You A Good Vampire, Or A Bad Vampire?

Okay!  It’s been decided, and fairly easily, at that.  I’m watching the sub.  Because there’s basically only one role in the dub that does a really good job, and it’s the character that already has Mamoru Miyano in the original Japanese.  The rest of them in the dub range from ‘okay, I guess’ to ‘really bad’.  And, of course, everyone in the Japanese does a fine job.

Dawnleaf Watches Vampire Knight: A Foreword

I’m an odd person, at least in terms of tastes.  I can enjoy shows with a lot of action and violence.   Then, directly after finishing something like, say, Baccano!, I can turn around and like something really girly and fluffy, like Fruits Basket.  Thus, I’ve decided that I’m going on a search: an anime that has action and fluff.  

Summer 2013 Anime Poll Results

Crunchyroll provided the results to a very... interesting poll about what was best this season, run by a Japanese website.  Here they are, with a few of my comments.

Dawnleaf Watches WATAMOTE ~No Matter How I Look at It, It's You Guys Fault I'm Not Popular!~: Episode 2 – First Base

Oh, I see what you’re doing here.  I’m taking this as a challenge!

Dawnleaf Watches il sole penetra le illusioni ~ Day Break Illusion: Episode 2 – The Morning After

This is going to be like Dog & Scissors, isn’t it?  Not bad enough to drop, but nothing amazing.  

Episode 2 was devoted to explaining the world.  Basically, what the magical girls fight are Daemonia, which are demons that humans with darkness in their hearts (or something like that) contract with.  The Daemonia claim to grant a wish of theirs’, and, in return, after it’s granted, the human/Daemonia combo go on a killing rampage. 

Dawnleaf Watches Gatchaman Crowds: Episode 1 – Rainbow!

This show is rainbow.

Dawnleaf Watches Fate/kaleid liner PRISMA ILLYA: Episode 1 – Stick Accosts Loli in Bathtub

There is definitely some Freudian significance to magical stick trying to make a naked loli grab it, just sayin’.

Dawnleaf Watches Silver Spoon: Episode 1 – Best Out-Of-Context Line Ever

I mean, come on, how could that not be the main picture?  I’m such a child.

Now, as you may infer from my previous posts, I’m a bit of a fan of the person who wrote the manga for this anime.  Why?  She wrote the manga for Fullmetal Alchemist.  I’ll let that sink in.

Dawnleaf Watches Dog & Scissors: Episode 2 – An Announcement

As I am now starting watching the second round of episodes this season, I would like to explain how I’m going to do this.

These next posts are probably going to be shorter than my first impressions posts (unless I have a lot to say).  I’ll only be posting about an episode if I either decided to drop the anime because of it or because I have something to say about it or because I have some sort of hilarious screenshot.  So, I may not cover an anime if I don’t have a whole lot to say about it, so you won’t see a post for it.  That doesn’t mean I dropped it, though, I will post if I dropped something.

However, you’ll still see first impression posts from me, as there’s still a depressingly large amount of stuff I haven’t even touched yet.

Dawnleaf Watches Brothers Conflict: Episodes 1-3: The Fact That I’m Trapped in a Squirrel’s Body Has Left Me in Despair!

This anime has a talking squirrel voiced by Hiroshi Kamiya in it.  For those of you who don’t know who that is, he is both Ararararagi of Bakemonogatari fame and the crazy teacher from Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei.   And he sounds basically the same as he did in those, except his voice is higher.  It’s a bit of a trip to listen to, really.

Dawnleaf Watches Sunday Without God: Episode 1 – Loli-pops

Studio Madhouse is a really good studio.  They don’t always make great shows, but the standard of quality (and usually amazing animation) usually means that every show they make deserves at least a cursory check.  They also made The Tatami Galaxy, a vastly underrated and great anime with insane visuals, for which I am extremely grateful.

Dawnleaf Watches WATAMOTE ~No Matter How I Look at It, It’s You Guys Fault I’m Not Popular!~: Episode 1 – Death Mouse

There is a scene in this anime which plays like one from Death Note, except instead of Light murdering people, it’s a high school girl looking up how to pick up men.  It’s the one that sold me on this show, I think.

Meganebu! Trailer

As anime is going all gender-equal on us now, we have a Cute Guys Doing Cute Things™ slotted for Fall 2013 about guys with glasses.  That's it.  They have glasses.  No survival games, no large guns, not even some weird supernatural stuff.  So I'm not really all that excited about it (I mean, even Free had something else; swimming).  However, there's something somewhat familiar about the PV. Watch this video and try to figure it out for yourself.

Dawnleaf Watches Stella Women’s Academy, High School Division Class C3: Episode 1 – Cute Girls Doing Cute Things™- With GUNS

As the fairly well-received (even by people who hate moe) Girls und Panzer has taught us, adding heavy weaponry to a Cute Girls Doing Cute Things™ show can be done, and done rather well.  Did this live up to my expectations?  Well, let’s see.

Dawnleaf Watches Fantasista Doll: Episode 1 – Tuxedo Mask’s Long Lost Brother?

I would totally buy it if they said he was Tuxedo Mask’s brother.  He even makes an entrance by throwing a bouquet of flowers to the heroine.  Can we make this anime about him?

Dawnleaf Watches Makai Ouji: Devils and Realist: Episode 1 – I Can’t Tell You to Go to Hell, Seeing as We’re Already There

This is how this episode opens.  Excellent tonesetter, huh?  

Dawnleaf Watches The Eccentric Family: Episode 1 – Crossdressing Tanuki and Flying Women

When you see it, you’ll shit bricks. 

Dawnleaf Watches KINMOZA!: Episode 1 – Would You Like To Eat Some Desert?

Oh god the engrish.

Dear Japan, I have to assume that there are people in your country that can speak some perfectly fine English.  I’ve watched Higashi no Eden, I’ve heard a perfectly serviceable black woman in there.  Maybe I can understand it if you need a character to speak both Japanese and English and you want a specific voice actress for the Japanese, but this character could probably have switched actresses later on, considering that she receives an age-up before we see her again.

It’s hard to convincingly act in another language, trust me.  You’re so hooked on trying to pronounce everything right, you can’t really put emotion in.   And the accents are hilarious, but extremely jarring.

Dawnleaf Watches il sole penetra le illusioni ~ Day Break Illusion: Episode 1 – Flaming Hair

Life’s all happy for our protagonist, Akari.  Her mom’s dead, which is a bit of a downer, but, beyond that, it’s swimming.

Dawnleaf Watches Hyperdimension Neptunia: Episode 1 – Of CPUs and Kitty Slimes

Oh my god, look at those outfits.  Looks like we’ve hit fanservice central here.  *sigh* Well, at least they’re actually adults instead of young children, so it’s a bit less creepy.  I mean, imagine if they were all lolis...

Dawnleaf Watches Danganronpa: Episode 1 – Evil Has Never Been This Fluffy, Cuddly, and Soft

 So… that means she sucks, right?

Dear lord, FUNimation, why do you only have one ad on your video player?  I had to watch the same damn thing over and over and over again.  If Devious Maids is ever playing on television, now, I will attempt to destroy the screen with a BB gun.

Okay, on with the actual anime.  So, fourteen colorful characters and the main character get locked up in a high school.

Dawnleaf Watches Rozen Maiden Zurückspulen: Episode 1

Okay, me watching this was a terrible idea.  Because I have no idea.  Apparently this episode was eight volumes of a manga squeezed into one episode.  The rest of the show will continue at a normal pace, and will apparently be some sort of ‘what-if’ story.  But I won’t be able to truly appreciate it or anything because I’m not comfortable with the source material.

FUNimation Streams High School DxD New

FUNimation is rounding out its summer streaming schedule with the second season of an anime whose very existence makes me believe in the human race less.  

Dawnleaf Watches Servant x Service: Episode 1 – No, This Doesn’t Have Maids in It

*Cues Jaws theme*

After the assassination of comedy by the ahoge-girl from Chronicles of the Going Home Club, I decided to sit down and watch something from the Working!! guy.   For those of you who haven’t seen it, Working!! was a rather above-average comedy about some high-schoolers working at a diner.  It had colorful, likeable characters and a cheery, pleasant atmosphere, even if it wasn’t exactly rib-crackingly hilarious.

Dawnleaf Watches Chronicles of the Going Home Club: Episode 1- Go-Home Club Applicants \ Life is Short; Go Home, Young Lady \ Beware of Hagizuki-ryuu Practitioners \ Extravagant Youth: Priceless

I included the episode title because… damn.  Look at that monster!  I've read essays with less words in them than that!

Dat ahoge.  It puts Araragi’s to shame!  I mean, I love ahoge (AKA idiot hair/cowlick) and all, but this is a bit ridiculous.  It’s as tall as her head!  Well, you know what they say… It’s not the size that counts.  When I first saw that design, I had hopes that this show would be as legitimately insane as that ahoge.  They were cruelly crushed shortly afterwards.

Dawnleaf Watches Free! - Iwatobi Swim Club: Episode 1

Nagisa: he could only be more moe if he sprouted A-cup breasts and was voiced by Rie Kugimiya.  Thus, I will devote this post’s screenshot selection to him.  I’ll avoid screenshots of the fanservice, though, so nobody gives me weird looks if they see the pictures saved on my computer.   Don’t worry, there's nothing NSFW here, though.  You can watch it with the ten-year-olds you’re babysitting without permanently scarring them.

Crunchyroll Streams Gatchaman Crowds and Other Misc. Stuff

Yup.  As you can tell from the title, those of us with Crunchyroll premium memberships can watch Gatchaman Crowds in all its alien-fighting glory starting Friday the 12th.  For me,  I'll start writing posts about this baby the week afterwards, regretfully.  I'm adding this to my preview post.

Dawnleaf Watches Blood Lad: Episode 1

Since Blood Lad has a vampire in it, it is my obligation to mention Twilight in this:  Screw Edward Cullen.  This show has real vampires.  Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to present Staz.  The vampire otaku.

Dawnleaf Watches Dog & Scissors: Episode 1

I was really, really dreading watching this show.   In fact, this may be the one anime this season that I wanted to watch the least (well, besides all the ones that I think will bore the hell out of me).  Thus, of course, it’s the first one that I could get my hands on, instead of all the stuff I actually am excited for.   Was my fear justified?  Well… sort of?  Not really?

Summer 2013 Anime Season Impressions (before watching)

A quick rundown of all the shows I'll be watching (or trying to watch) this season.