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「900秒の放課後〈前篇〉」 (900-Byou no Houkago (Zenpen))
“900 Seconds After School (Part One)”
So we have ZEXCS animating and the screen writer Morita Shigeru of Kore wa Zombie fame creating something? I’ll admit that I wasn’t too excited with the premise of this show but I was blown away with how well this first episode played out. Even with all the fan-service thrown in (why censor it when you’re going to add it anyways?!) there was a lot to take away from this first episode.
To start off, I don’t think I’ve been this excited to listen to a seiyuu I’ve never heard in a lead role before. Something about the Taito’s voice (Tachibana Shinnosuke) just drives me crazy. It has this charm to it that manages to make him seem like a total bad ass but still retains that nice guy feel to it. At the same time, it must be nice to have a girl like Haruka (Mina) around you. Somehow, the thought of having a really close friend who’s a girl just sounds really nice. Especially when she’s brave enough to do intimate things yet still gets embarrassed when the topic of being asked out arises.
Which is why I’m confused on how we’re supposed to deal with Himea (Takamoto Megumi) — some kind of vampire magician that can change her physical form to her liking, who has apparently been sealed away for 9 years, and made a permanent pact with Taito by filling him with her “poison”. While the problem at hand would be the fact that she got stabbed straight through her gut only minutes after finally meeting Taito, I’m more interested with how Taito’s going to deal with two girls trying to grab his attention. Thinking about how he could literally get ripped to pieces in the process makes me chuckle a bit.
So let’s take a look at what’s actually going on. We have Kurenai Gekkou (Nakamura Yuuichi) and his partner Andou Mirai (Nomizu Iori). Apparently Gekkou has serious attitude problems and his partner loves Dr. Cinnamon. Then we have Taito and Himea with the former able to walk around without his head and the latter regaining her powers after Taito should have physically died. While I still don’t have any idea why there’d be someone out there waiting to just stab Himea, there better be a damn good second episode to make up for this huge cliffhanger.
That said, did anyone feel like the ending of the episode resembled how a drama ends? Without an actual ending sequence and only a flurry of credits flying on screen, I almost forgot that I was watching an anime.
Preview
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First?
“Somehow, the thought of having a really close friend who’s a girl just sounds really nice”
This is a really sad statement. XD
Yeah, stop being so sexist! A really close friend who’s a boy sounds just as nice. :<
Lol. In some ways, I’ve always thought the osananajimi archetype was the fakest of them all. Anyone who’s grown up with a friend like that would know :/ They so don’t treat you like that. To be honest, if you have a close female friend who’s grown up along with you, it’s probably because she’s pretty tomboyish >_>
that’s not really true however, most of the time at some point someone had a crush on the other but eventually gets over it.
If the ever try dating there goes the friendship
Disagree with you and agree with sin. First hand experience in that department. A childhood friend has all the properties of a lover. As a kid you spend the most of your time with your friends. you discuss your problems, have fun together, and know each other well as there is a lack of pretense. Knowing and trusting are the first steps to loving.
Furthermore, you probably go through puberty with your childhood friend. Puberty means you usually form a crush to the person right next to you, in this case the childhood friend.
I love this episode, Chibi Himea ♥.
I was pretty amused at the fact that the panty shots got censored but not the severed head rolling down the street.
And then they censor just barely before he reconnects the head to his body. I actually chuckled at that one.
lol. I think if we buy the BD or DVD not only do we get fan service shots but also gore shots as well. D:
One thing I don’t get is just how the heck did the head come off?
This show seems to have the most confusing censorship since Higurashi. I don’t understand it. Still, the rest of the show seems entertaining enough.
If you watched Softenni then you might have noticed something similar. They censor some parts but not others.
Fav anime of the season already.
Once again, Dr. Pepper continues its conquest of anime.
Comedy, violence, fan service, lolis, romance and fantasy. Everything mixed together in high doses. LOL. Pretty messy, but not bad.
This was initially one of the shows I was most anticipating with ZEXCS behind another adaptation from DenYuuDen’s author. While a lot of people came away disappointed from DenYuuDen, which is understandable with its super draggy chain of episodes with slow development all through the middle, I still really enjoyed it and felt it a shame we may never see the proper meat of the story animated.
Then the promotional vids started coming out for it and I wasn’t so sure about the impression they left me with. In the end this first ep. was quite the enjoyable ride and probably rounds out my top 3 of the season I’ll be looking forward to most along with Penguindrum and Kami-sama Dolls.
Things should get even more interesting once Fukuyama Jun brings all the craziness as Gekkou’s twin brother, Hinata.
Fukuyama Jun’s voice in DenYuuDen in berserk mode was great.
Evil Lelouche with Godly powers…
@Madox: That’s exactly what I was alluding to. Nice to see someone pick up on that. 🙂
Glad you liked it, Takaii. I must confess I found it pretty generic and not too interesting. I much preferred R-15 which I suspect is going to put me in a tiny, persecuted minority…
I am so behind on anime right now that I don’t even know what to expect anymore 🙁
I am the same. It’s as harsh fast-paced world out there, imagine if you had to watch all of them on their original airing times. How hectic would that be?
I also didn’t really think this was all that great and that R-15 is much more appealing to me.
Enzo already knows this, but I feel the exact opposite. I didn’t like all the extra fan-service that ZEXCS added, nor the big-headed female character designs, but Itsuten was much better than R-15 in my eyes, mainly because I’m looking forward to some of the material that’s coming up.
I´ve been waiting this for months! the episode develop a lot better that I cuold´ve anticipated and the attitude of Taito is really nice, serious and at the same easy going. Between the two female leads, Himea is my absolute favorite, his personality is really cheerfull and sincerly loves Taito. Haruka can drop dead for all I care, there is something that really bugs me off about her chacarter.
The story started well and strong, I just hope that this keeps up. I´m curious of how they´re going to develop the realiotship between Taito and Himea. Acording to the season preview Himea the most powerful sorcerer that ever lived, so it shuold be interesting to see what is the pporpuse of all that power.
This is Tachibana Shinnosuke’s third lead role, his first one was in Myself; Yourself, and his second one was in Sekirei.
Shinnosuke definitely doesn’t have a lot of variety in his voice acting, since I was immediately reminded of Minato in SEKIREI as soon as teenage Taito spoke.
/cheststab
LOLZ at he end. I didn’t expect that sword to come out of her chest seconds after she finally met him. Shocking…. like that in Chaos Head… but cool nonetheless.
dvd sales duh.
Definitely going to stick by for a few more episodes. Kore wa Zombie Desu ka was really fun and I hope Itsuka Tenma no Kuro Usagi will be even better.
This anime reminds of 11eyes and Kore wa Zombie desu ka?
I got a Zombie vibe from the manga as well, but now that you mention it, it does seem a bit like 11eyes. It must be the red sky.
I totally have that feel as well Croos. Just adding.
This is a good anime, seem like the first anime i can’t wait to watch 2nd episode.
I thought it was increadibly boring, the gore just seems so forced and I can’t like any of the characters. I don’t know if I will stick with this one, seems like a mixture between Elfen Lied and Hidan no Aria (which is not a good combination for me).
I think I will not bother with this next week, making it the first show this season I’m dropping 🙂
You could always give the second episode a try. No harm done there, right?
I do feel that sometimes you might miss a potentially nice anime simply because some of them don’t ‘measure up’ in the pilot episode. There are plenty that look uninteresting and slow on the uptake on the first episodes but end up being sleeper hits.
I’d recommend holding out for a little longer as well, based on the impression I got from the manga during my research. I’m wary about whether or not ZEXCS will be able to produce a good adaptation, but there’s definitely enough substance in the story to make Itsuten a lot better than this first episode will have most people believe.
To tell the truth, I spoilt myself a little on the manga and I thought it wasn’t half bad. Story hasn’t advanced enough yet though. I like the character designs, and it seems promising that Kore wa Zombie’s writer is doing this. And yes, when Hinata comes in, things are probably going to be more entertaining, especially with Fukuyama Jun voicing that crazy brother. Not sure how they are going to portray the melodrama that might follow, though.
Is it me or does Gekkou kinda look like Athrun Zala from Gundam Seed~ Except Gekkou is more cold and bad boy-ish xD
From watching that scene of Taito’s past, did you get the feeling the boy that attacked them was a younger Gekkou? That’s what I thought.
That’s actually Gekkou’s twin brother, Hinata (Fukuyama Jun), like I mentioned in the Summer 2011 Preview. I described a bit more of the premise than was covered in this first episode. Please refer to that if you want a better idea of what this series is about.
@ Eiensora: I thought so too. I hope he doesn’t turn out to be the actual bad guy of the boss though for that reason. I only cam to see what this post was about after hearing is was from the same creators of Zombie~desu. I think I’ll wait for another episode review before deciding to pick this up to watch. Actually, if there’s an OP/ED post that would be better.
Wish ZEXCS wasn’t so crazy on the fanservice, but it was a nice first episode.
Also, it feels great listening to Akiko Shikata again (she sung the song near the end), if only because I’m a stickler for Ar Tonelico-esque music.
I don’t know about you guys, but for me it was just like wtf did I just watch. The fanservice is not necessary, and I think this episodes goes all over the place. But I’ll have faith in this, since so many people like the manga.
Ah, I see. Well, I can’t say I’m very thrilled about the spoilers in your message and in the preview you directed me to, but I guess I have no one to blame but myself.
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