First Impressions / Series Introduction / Snapshots

OP Sequence

OP: 「前奏曲(プレリュード) -We are not alone-」 (Prelude -We are not alone-) by 大藤史 (Ootou Fumi)
Watch the OP! Mirror 1 Mirror 2 (9.3MB, XviD)

Summary:
-A long time ago, people settled the moon and established the Sphere Kingdom. However, there developed a conflict between Earth and the Sphere Kingdom called the Oedipus War, and much damage was done to both sides. After the war, the relations of the two sides remained poor. Much time passed and now a moon princess is headed to Earth with her maid Mia.
-At school on Earth, Asagiri Tatsuya has to wake up his classmate and childhood friend Takamizawa Natsuki by pretending that they’re welcoming customers at work. Natsuki immediately wakes up and says her welcome line for her job, but then gets embarrassed when she realizes what Tatsuya did.
-The two come upon Tatsuya’s little sister Mai, who’s practicing her flute playing. When she comes up to them, Tatsuya pinches her nose, embarrassing her. Mai is the part leader of the flutes in the wind ensemble whereas their friend Tooyama Midori is the part leader for the clarinets. Midori puts her nose out to Tatsuya, but then cries when Tatsuya doesn’t pinch it. Natsuki calls it a bad habit from long ago.
-The two go to work, which is Natsuki’s family restaurant. Tatsuya happens to live next door, so he goes home first to change clothes and sees a note from his older cousin Sayaka. She apparently has something to tell him and Mai tonight.
-Tatsuya goes next door the restaurant for work and is greeted by Natsuki along with her brother Jin and her father Samon.
-After the evening rush and the store closes, Samon and Jin send Tatsuya home early. Upon entering his home, Tatsuya is surprised when he’s greeted by a maid, so much so that he thinks he has the wrong house. Sayaka is also here along with Mai, and Sakuya explains that Mia is actually doing a home stay with them. What’s even more shocking to Tatsuya is that Mia is the maid of a Sphere Kingdom princess.
-That princess is outside looking at the moon, and Tatsuya’s heart immediately starts beating faster when he sees her. When she introduces herself as Feena Fam Earthlight, Tatsuya’s reaction is noticeably flustered.
-When Feena walks back into the house, she trips on her dress and falls flat on her face. After she gets back up, Tatsuya proceeds to pinch her nose, much to the dismay of Mai and Sayaka. Mai thinks that this is the end for her, and Tatsuya finally realizes that he might have angered Feena, so he apologizes. Mai explains that it’s a habit from when her brother was little, and fortunately Feena doesn’t take offense. Actually, she touches her nose when the others aren’t looking and notes to herself that Tatsuya hasn’t changed at all.
-Feena is staying here to learn more about the Earth in order to improve relations and will be studying at Katarina Academy in Tatsuya’s class.
-Mia’s stomach starts growling, so the group decides to go next door to the Takamizawa family restaurant, the Trattoria Samon. Tatsuya, Mai, and Sayaka get Feena and Mia out of the way right as Jin gets thrown out the window by his little sister.
-The restaurant has been prepared for a welcome party for Feena and Mia. Before they eat, Tatsuya catches Feena looking at him, but she claims it’s nothing.
-Feena suddenly feels something in her skirt and finds an old man under it. He takes some pictures of her and then calls out his assistant to develop the film immediately. This old man is the famous filmmaker Takano Takeshi, whom Samon knows of and gets an autograph from.
-When things settle down, Feena brings Tatsuya his drink and brings up how Tatsuya had called her “Feena” instead of the usual “Feena-hime” (Princess Feena) when Takano first appeared under Feena’s skirt. But she’s actually fine with him calling her just Feena from now on, and he asks that she call him just Tatsuya.
-Outside, a blonde girl is floating in the air staring down at the restaurant.

ED Sequence

ED: 「Crescent Love ~月のなみだ~」 (Crescent Love ~Tsuki no Namida) by 生天目仁美 (Nabatame Hitomi)
Watch the ED! Mirror 1 Mirror 2 (6.6MB, XviD)
There’s something about the OP…I love the way the piano starts out, but my first honest impression of the vocals was “Disney.” That went away after I listened to it a few times, and I rather like the entire song now. Like the OP, the ED is also a slow song, sung by Feena’s seiyuu, but I don’t like it quite as much.

This series got a lot of good hype in some circles, so I was actually looking forward to seeing this a lot. Not knowing much about it, I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I found this first episode to be a fairly amusing introduction with some interesting quirks. The opening battle scene felt a bit too long and detailed to fit with the rest of the episode, and reminded me more of something I’d see on Gundam with all that destruction. On the other hand, there were several scenes done in a chibi style, and those were my favorites. I also have to note that Zero no Tsukaima must be too fresh on my mind because Mia (the maid) seems a lot like Siesta.
Anyway, Tatsuya, the male lead, apparently has the odd habit of pinching noses. There are some hints that he and Feena knew each other before meeting in this episode. With the way Feena was touching her nose, he must have pinched it in the past and not remember for whatever reason. Assuming this is in the harem style, the other girls will probably vie for Tatsuya in some way or another, with Natsuki being maybe the biggest challenger. Or maybe they could prove me wrong and set Tatsuya up with Feena from the beginning so that they can expand on another part of the story. Oh, and on a random side note, I haven’t said Natsuki and Mai so much in an entry since Mai-Otome lol.
I had generally positive reactions to this first episode, though I’m unsure about being able to blog the series in general. I’m already (happily) committed to Negima and Bleach, so I dunno if I’ll have time for this too. We’ll see how the second episode turns out.

53 Comments

  2. This looks good, I hope for subs.

    Are you still planning to at least blog the first episode of the Super Robot Wars Original Generation anime? I’m fairly interested in hearing your opinions on it since I believe you mentioned that you’ve never played the games.

    Anza
    Reply

  9. I have been keeping an eye on this ever since Stripey started raving about it, but other than the design, I hope the story is strong enough to maintain my interest. I am hooked enough to watch the first few episodes, but whether it will sustain remains to be seen.

    Cheers.

    Skane
    Reply

  15. My reviews today:

    Negima!? – animation is good and I really like the caracter design and the ” DARK” style = 9
    Busou Renkin – What do you have when you cross hagane + BLEACH + GUNDAM = a shonen action with a romance excuse to help the female co-caracter just to get laid = 9 the animation is really nice 😉
    Souten no Ken – HOKUTO nO KEN no OTOTO 😀 ” HATCHAAAaaaaa…you have got 3 seconds of life in your body take good use of it……(JONY BRAVO 😀 😀 ) ” = it doesn´t make my style but hey the animation is good too so = 7
    Yoake mae yori ruriiro na Crescent Love – HAREM in a very powerfull form with a really romantic story…..AHHHHhhhhhh…COME ON GUYS WITH ME NOW ” WHERE´S MY PRINCESS ” 😉 = 9
    Super Robot Taisen OG – Divine Wars – WEll MECHA + VIOLENCE + KNOWN SERIES + BANDAI = 9

    PS: JONY BRAVO READ A PORN MAGAZINE ON THAT TIME….EVEN….LAUGHTING!!! 😆 😀
    TOMMOROW IS GONNA BE A LONNNNNNNNNNGGGGGG DAYYYYYYY ( 10 OR 11 NEW ANIMES ) SO SATY TOON FOR MORE SECRET AGENT TENSAI OTAKU……..AND THE MAN SAID TO STAY TOON 😀

    tensai_otaku
    Reply

  16. ” Zero no Tsukaima is too fresh on my mind. Mia (the maid) is a lot like Siesta. ”
    MAN YOU´VE READ MY THOUGHTS…I THOUGH THE SAME WHEN I WAS WATCHING!!!
    SUGGEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeee!!!! -> MUGIWARA NO RUFFY 😀

    tensai_otaku
    Reply

  17. It looks kinda similar to Zero no Tsukaima, but it looks fun. I’m hoping for subs, to just check it out first. There’s a possibility that this might not get added to my watch list. But, i’ll see.

    Ai-Tan
    Reply

  18. today we´ll have:

    05/10 Sasami Mahou Shoujo Club Season 2 (WOWOW, 13 episódios)
    05/10 Mamoru-kun ni Megami no Shukufuku wo (WOWOW, 24 episódios)
    05/10 Code Geass: Hangyaku no Lelouch (MBS)
    05/10 Kanon (BS-i, 24 episódios)
    05/10 Asatte no Houkou (TBS, 12 episódios)
    05/10 Giniro no Olynssis (UHF)
    05/10 Sumomomomomomo (TV Asahi, 26 episódios)
    05/10 009-1 (TBS, 12 episódios)
    05/10 Happiness! (UHF, 12 episódios)
    05/10 Jinzou Kouchuu Kabuto Borg VxV (BS Japan)
    06/10 Gift ~Eternal rainbow~ (UHF)
    11 -> 😆 -> welcome to my busy day….aah….ISOGASHI……..
    ” OTAKU NA HITO WA TOTEMO SUGOIO NÉ !!!! ” -> Gime me back my life KAMIO!! ;_;

    tensai_otaku
    Reply

  19. Off-topic, I’ll say this, the beginning parts of SRW OG TV series is THE ULTIMATE FANSERVICE for die-hard SRW FANS EVER. AND. I. MEAN. EVER.

    So, assuming no one gets what the hell goes on in the beginning, it’s really out of question. It’s for teh fans.

    Migs
    Reply

  24. “This is bit embarassing to say so, but… the girls would look much better had their breasts been smaller. It just destroys overall balance of the figure.”

    TRAITOR!!!! HERESY!!!! 😀

    Shinova
    Reply

  25. I have watched enough HGTAs to know that the games are always better… so for those of you who are planning to upkeep this series, i say get the game and forget about the anime then u can laugh at the noobs who thought the anime was great and boost your egos… =/

    Hag
    Reply

  28. I can’t believe how many new twists there were in the anime…I mean, the old man never appeared in the game.

    Good stuff, I may be able to enjoy this a lot more than I had expected. Though being more of a Natsuki fan, I’m not so inclined to enjoy the relationship developments…But hey, I can always go back and play the game. ^^;

    Rasmiel
    Reply

  33. Just watched the raw and it was simply adorable! The SD/chibi scene were overwhelmingly cutesy. I wonder if the story will turn dark though… I hope not, but if it does, I hope it is done well like Shuffle, and not end up like Magikano’s ending.

    Cheers.

    Skane
    Reply

  36. Well if I recall correctly this show is going to have a total of 13eps.
    Since it’s based on the game, it should follow it abit, athough the production team did indecated that they would add some orginal stuff to it.

    There’s so much hype for this show, that why I watched it too. Looking aside the cute and lovely character design, and just the stories. I personally are not too sure how well it will do.

    arr.. if for nothing else I am watching cause Feena have purple hair!!!

    Yuki
    Reply

  38. At last!! I’d say it’s quite up to my expectation.

    It seems that they animate Midori (The green-hair girl) in Ps2 style, which I think is a lot
    cuter than the PC version. Great.

    HeliumHe
    Reply

  42. its nice that this was based on the visual novel but i cant seem to find the game in my known sites especially hongfire…. well thts you get for an anime based on those hehe harem lols BTW is the visual novel voiced or just like utawarerumono’s silent and japanese… hmm…. this might be the start of new submissions on hongfire hehe…

    Algester
    Reply

  43. Algester, in general, you should search for the name in Kanji (hint) 😉

    I haven’t played it myself yet, but since the getchu page has CV-entries for all female main characters, I guess its voiced.

    Gloranor
    Reply

  46. well its great! nice op and ed!
    like the characters though those pinching noses stuffs ehehe well its really weird
    though i like the plot + the quality!
    + those most important is mia! well of course comes in my mind that it was siesta!
    well i guess siesta is much pretty than her right?
    well keep this series blogged! good luck!

    zaira
    Reply

  47. hmmm i found the getchu link after some research i did not find the torrent link for the game hehe looks like ill be looking for it… hope i can mentally translate it as have spoken japanese language is already almost a thing of a past…

    Algester
    Reply

  48. Shizuma-sma is back in action….
    I just love how they use chibi-like characters for the funny moments. Chibi FTW!
    I know is another romance series, but who cares anyway…

    Syaoran Li
    Reply

  49. bingo i found the game man… too much lurking is bad i dare say…. well thx anyway Glaranor well… it was just an accidental search on hongfire hehe… BTW the game is created by August-Soft im not sure about the anime it self hehe

    Algester
    Reply

  50. I’ve only till recently completed the Feena storyline of the original game, the story was certainly moving, comparatively it seems that they’ve added in a few things for comic relief, but comic relief is never too excessive so I see it as an advancement from the game.

    Tom
    Reply

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