Make that first AND last impressions, because despite having no expectations going into the first episode and being completely prepared for the completely random “humor” that I knew lay in wait, I still think it sucked pretty badly. And so Bokusatsu Tenshi Dokuro-chan 2 becomes the first and only anime of the summer season to get dropped, isn’t it sad Sabato-chan ;_;.

There were two major problems with Dokuro chan that led me to dropping it. The first is that the jokes were extremely lame and predictable. Take for example the scene pictured above where Sakura thinks he’s asking Shizuki on a date, but it ends up being Minami. Almost any seasoned anime fan scratch that, ANYONE should have realized after the first couple seconds of Minami not turning around and the camera’s focus shifting onto Sakura instead of a panned out shot suggested that he was confessing to the wrong girl, and sure enough.

Now this could have worked as a nice buffer into Shizuki showing up behind Sakura instead, wishing them good luck and Sakura being dragged off in tears by a lovestruck Minami, a situation which has been done many times before, but is still hilarious in its own right. Instead Minami randomly makes up some story about Sakura saying lewd things causing Dokuro to go berserk and impale him with excalibog (though I will admit that I chuckled at the doraemon face).

Which brings me to the next major flaw, the censorship. Half the fun in Dokuro-chan is watching Dokuro come up with new and creative ways to kill Sakura, but said fun was completely ruined by the monkey censorship screen.

I know that the censorship is because of TV broadcast and they’ll remove it for the DVDs, but it still hurt my first impression when some of the potentially funniest scenes of the show were cut out.

And the final nail in the coffin? Healthy Dokuro. I mean…come on, you can’t seriously expect me to believe that Dokuro, who appears to be pseudo-DFC when wearing her seifuku, is hiding THOSE underneath. No way, I don’t believe it. It was a pointless fanservice hook, and as you may know from my rantings in School Days posts, I’m not exactly fond of pointless fanservice.

Although…albeit a little hypocritical, Zakuro-chan is quite win

I may give Dokuro-chan another episode just to make sure that the first episode wasn’t a one time fail, but with the series looking to copy the disjoint nature of the first season and play off a lot of the same jokes, I doubt any redemption will come of it. Even Kugimiya Rie voicing Sabato-chan can’t save this now.

~ Shirukii ~

So moe he’s already dead

A little late in joining the summer first impressions is Potemayo, a series of almost zero substance that still manages to deliver superior entertainment.

All pleasantries things aside, Potemayo is about moeblobs. The story thus far has been disjoint and while minor relationships are being created here and there, the series as a whole has no direction or overlying plot. However, Potemayo being devoid of plot is what makes it so enjoyable.

The subjects of attention in Potemayo are these tiny, not exactly animal but far from human moeblobs. No explanation is given as to what they are or what purpose they serve, but they have been appearing more and more frequently, sometimes attached to human masters and sometimes wandering in solitude. Potemayo, pictured above, is one of these creatures and has attached itself to a high school student Morimiya Sunao.

If I were in charge of creating a dictionary entry for “moeblob”, I would put a picture Potemayo beside the it. It serves literally no purpose other than standing there and looking cute, and what’s more, it does so without even needing to speak!

The other Potemayo-like creature that has been introduced in the series so far is Guchiko, who wields a scythe and two laser cannon Kakuna hairclips. While it doesn’t have a master, per se, it spends a lot of its time following Takamimori Kyo, one of Morimiya’s classmates, most of the time in the pursuit of food.

I find Guchiko hilarious because of how blatantly tsundere it comes off, without having a word of dialog. It has an obvious animosity for humans, or for that matter, all living things, often blasting them with her lasers. But takes a liking to Kyo and her splatterballs, offering freshly killed livestock as a sign of thanks.

Despite the main attraction being the moeblobs, the main characters are a great source of lulz too. Morimiya takes the meaning of stoic to a new level, almost nothing phases this guy. A strange creature suddenly appearing in his fridge, Potemayo pissing all over his head, having to wear a cheerleader uniform, seeing his friends get blasted by laser beams, Morimiya faces everything with a deadpan expression and a calm attitude.

And of course the reason why I picked up Potemayo in the first place. Seiyuu casting rarely sways my choice of anime, but seeing a character voiced by Kugimiya Rie, Kasugano Nene is my favorite among the human cast and what convinced me to pick up the series.

Nene serves as a voice of reason in Potemayo, pointing out the fallacies in other character’s speeches, or just making fun of them for their general stupidity.

It’s nice to see Kugimiya voicing a character that isn’t a Shana-esque tsundere loli. Admittedly, her voice in Potemayo can get EXTREMELY annoying, but it’s grown on me, and once you accept the fact that she’s doing it on purpose, it’s pretty funny.

The technical aspects of Potemayo aren’t exactly spectacular, but they get the job done well enough. The animation is choppy and undetailed, but for a series that uses gags and slapstick humor as its main source of entertainment, it’s more than sufficient. The characters designs are, again, simple but effective. The seifuku design caught me off guard though, I thought the guys were wearing the girls’ uniform for the longest time, but then noticed that the only difference between the two is skirts vs shorts. The character designs also follow the growing trend of gradient hairstyles, which I first noticed in Manabi Straight and has been becoming more and more common these days.

Music, as always, isn’t much of a concern to me. I don’t like the ED, but the OP has been stuck in my head for hours now, which may or may not be a good thing.

A lot of people seem to have passed on this anime, dismissing it for its childish appearance and lack of substance. And while they’re right on both accounts, Potemayo still manages to be oddly entertaining. Not many anime can get the cute and humorous combination working right, but Potemayo comes damn close. It may not be the laugh out loud comedy of the season, but every time I see Guchiko blast something into ash, I can’t help but smile.

IMMA CHARGIN’ MY LAZER

~ Shirukii ~

As various spring series come to a close or reach their halfway point, so signals the start of the summer season!

The first series that I checked out was Nanatsuiro Drops. When I first heard about Nanatsuiro Drops -and the tens of times after that- the phrase “Character designs by Noizi Ito” seemed to be a recurring motivation for watching it. After watching the first episode, I’m wondering if there’s any reason except the character designs to keep me watching. While I didn’t expect much original content from a mahou shoujo series, I can’t shake this feeling that I’ve watched this already…

Nanatsuiro Drops starts off as a seemingly normal school days type anime. However, it quickly discards reality and through various circumstances, a civilian loli named Takamachi Nanoha Sumomo Akihime is thrust into a world of magic through a chance meeting with a talking ferret stuffed animal.

Her newfound friend asks for her help in collecting relics called Jewel Seeds Stardrops. To help her fulfill his request, the stuffed animal, who Sumomo names Yuki-chan, gives her a red gemstone called Raising Heart that awakens her magical girl powers.

The chase after the first of seven Stardrops proves to be a success and marks the beginning of Sumomo’s life in this new world of magic. However, an ominous blonde haired named Fate Testarossa who also appears to be a magical girl is after the Stardrops as well, and is determined not to let this novice get in her way.

. . . . .

The only other two mahou shoujo series I’ve ever watched are Sailor Moon and the Nanoha series, so maybe I’m just jumping to conclusions when I see such a blatant copypasta of Nanoha’s first season, if this is a standard introductory arc in mahou shoujo series, then feel free to ignore the rant.

As for the technical aspects of the show:

Character designs and animation were definitely above average, while I don’t think it’s justified to watch the show based solely on the cute designs, they’re nice to have. Though I can’t say I’m too pleased about the frequent use of chibi animation, it brings back horrible memories of Yoakena ;_;

The animation was smooth and fairly consistent, I just hope they have a large enough budget to keep it that way until the end. Judging from the animation style, I’m not holding my breath for epic battles melee battles and earth shaking beamspam, but as long as Sumomo doesn’t start shooting sakura petals, I’m not going to complain much.

Music was meh, the OP and ED were pretty generic in my opinion, and the background soundtrack was neither memorable nor annoying. Music has always been the least of my concerns when watching anime, so a weak OST isn’t going to make or break this series.

Overall, it’s too early to say whether I’m going to enjoy Nanatsuiro Drops. So far I’m not impressed by how closely the story mirrors the first season of Nanoha, especially since that was a bore until the later episodes. But there will be plenty of chances for Nanatsuiro Drops to break away from genericness and develop its own plot.

I’ll keep watching for now, if not just for the nice character designs and Sumomo being a moeblob (even though her voice makes my ears bleed). But if this ends up being nothing but a retelling of Nanoha, I won’t hesitate to drop it.

~ Shirukii ~