First Impressions / Ore no Imouto ga Konnani Kawaii Wake ga Nai

Ore no Imouto ga Konnani Kawaii Wake ga Nai – 05

In Kirino’s case, it’s technically flattering to be told that she loves you just as much as she does her porn collection.

「俺の妹の親友がこんなに××なわけがない」
(Ore no Imouto no Shinyuu ga Konnani Batsu Batsu na Wake ga Nai)
“There’s No Way My Sister’s Close Friend is That **”

With the beautiful and respectful Ayase showing a drastically different side of her and Kyousuke worrying about her friendship with Kirino ending more than she was, I would’ve thought that receiving a swift kick to the groin was a good sign for Kyousuke to start rethinking why he’s going to such lengths for his little sister.

First Impressions / Gundam Unicorn / OVA/Movie

Gundam Unicorn – 02

「赤い彗星」 (Akai Suisei)
“The Red Comet”

It’s kind of hard to believe it’s been eight months since the release of the first episode of Gundam series that marks the long-awaited return to the Universal Century timeline, but Sunrise sure made it well worth the wait. With each episode being an hour long and production quality that doesn’t disappoint one bit, this is more akin to a six-part movie series like Break Blade and worthy of a theatrical release if the story is broken up accordingly.

First Impressions / Sora no Otoshimono

Sora no Otoshimono Forte – 05

Eishirou sticks it to the Master of the Sky and says, “I shall return.”

「天界から来た超兄弟（トモダチ）」 (Tenkai kara Kita Chou Kyoudai (Tomodachi))
“The Super Brother (Friend) from the Heavens”

Compared to the first season, this sequel appears to be taking off much quicker on the relevant story side of things as the focus shifts back to the mysteries surrounding Synapse. The man of the (half) hour is none other than Eishirou, who plunges back into a Dive Game and makes his proclamation against the Master of the Sky. Oh now it’s on!

Amagami SS / First Impressions

Amagami SS – 17

「桜井梨穂子編 第一章 オモイデ」 (Sakurai Rihoko-hen Dai Isshou – Omoide)
“Sakurai Rihoko Chapter 1 – Memories”

The childhood friend arc has arrived, and with it a much cuter Rihoko than all the previous ones had me believe. I guess it’s true what they say about how one’s perception of someone can drastically change once you get to know them. As this is only the first episode, I’m nowhere near jumping on the Rihoko bandwagon just yet, but can definitely see some of her cuter charm points.

First Impressions / OVA/Movie / Series Introduction / Yozakura Quartet

Yozakura Quartet: Hoshi no Umi – 01

As a treat for manga readers, the trend these days seems to be bundling Original Animation DVDs (OADs) with volume releases that animate a few parts of the original source material. In the case of ones that had already seen an adaptation like Yozakura Quartet, these bonus episodes also tend to please the purist crowd, who strongly feel that the anime should be an exact moving and talking version of what they read.

First Impressions / Kami nomi zo Shiru Sekai

Kami nomi zo Shiru Sekai – 04

「今そこにある聖戦」 (Ima Soko ni Aru Seisen)
“The Crusade Happening Over There”

There’s gamer pride over maintaining one’s reputation and then there’s obsessive compulsive disorder. In Keima’s case, the line between the two blurs badly when’s he’s faced with the buggiest romantic simulation game ever and still tries to get through it. While it wasn’t quite Endless Eight, there was a lot of looping going on as well. For those with traumatizing memories of that Suzumiya Haruhi debacle, don’t worry, it was actually funny here.

First Impressions / Shinryaku! Ika Musume

Shinryaku! Ika Musume – 04

Well I’ll be damned. There’s tentacle rape going on but the clothes are staying on!

「買わなイカ？／乗りこまなイカ？／ニセモノじゃなイカ？」
(Kawanai ka? / Norikomanai ka? / Nisemono Janai ka?)
“Won’t You Buy It? / Won’t You Come In? / Isn’t That An Impostor?”

Compared to last week, this episode was a lot cuter than it was funny and had some slightly unsettling moments to boot. However, by the time the third skit rolled around (with gigantic mechanical Ika Musume heads and all), the laughs were aplenty again thanks to Ika’s tunnel vision perception of what her squid species’ looks like. i.e. A squid hat with blue tentacles. de geso!

PV

sphere – MOON SIGNAL PV (Otome Youkai Zakuro OP)

[flv:sphere_MOON_SIGNAL_PV.mp4 550 310]

I may not be covering the Otomoe Youkai Zakuro, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been watching the military/youkai mash-up series whenever I can make time for it. I mentioned back in the Fall 2010 Preview that the series came off a bit generic to me despite its all-star cast (both male and female); however, its shoujo-esque nature has made it a lot more entertaining to watch than I originally thought. An initial impression that hasn’t changed since then is the one I had about the opening theme, “MOON SIGNAL”, performed by seiyuu group sphere. The short clip of it featured in one of the fifteen second commercial message at the time had me looking forward to hearing more of their sixth single, which much like their previous ones, is very pop-like and well-suited for anime themes. It’s kind of hard to believe that the group was only formed back in April 2009 and has already had four of those six singles featured as opening themes (of which I’ve posted about two of the previous three), but it’s a welcome trend in my books since I tend to like their songs.

..More after the jump.

First Impressions / Yosuga no Sora

Yosuga no Sora – 04

「ハルカズハート」 (Harukazu Haato)
“Haruka’s Heart”

It’s not quite the same as Amagami’s omnibus format where the story completely resets after every girl’s arc, but Yosuga no Sora employs something similar with a bit of episode overlap throughout. Using this approach, the writers seem intent on providing four four-episode arcs with only twelve episodes in total. Pretty clever.