Summer 2013 anime season - Early impressions

[Stuffman]

So, most of the new series have had their first episode. What have you watched, what did you like? This is just for covering the first one or two episodes so people can decide what to watch, more in-depth discussion can be funneled off into their own threads. There's a convenient chart you can view here to track all the new releases.

With my summer break just ending yesterday, I got a chance to see a lot of it. Brace for OPINIONS.

Free! - Cute boys doing cute things in swimming pools. Finally, the fujoshi get their day in the sun. This show should be pretty watchable for anyone, though. Even /a/ likes it, that should tell you all you need to know.
Ro-Kyu-Bu! SS - Absolutely unforgivable bottom-feeding loli fanservice moetrash. ANIME OF THE SEASON!
Rozen Maiden - Long-awaited and disappointing as fuck. It's a reboot, but it quickly re-establishes the status quo from last season (

Spoiler:

Hinaichigo and Souseiseki die in the first episode

). I kind of want to drop it, but I'll see where it's going, if only for old times' sake.
Stella Jogakuin Koutou-ka C3-bu - Cute girls doing cute things, and then shooting each other with airsoft. It's Gainax, so it's well-animated. Good shit. Seems to be picking up the same vibe as Girls und Panzer, which if true will mean this show will be fantastic.
Danganronpa - The Animation - Has it's own thread. Of questionable quality so far.
Servant x Service - Comedy about workers in a civil service office. First episode was reasonably funny, dunno how long the premise can keep it up though. I'll give it three episodes to win me over.
Love Lab - Comedy about girls discussing how to approach romance. Funny, lots of good visual gags. Apparently in the 4koma they actually do get boyfriends eventually, so if you're in it for ~*~lesbians~*~ you're shit out of luck.
Senki Zesshou Symphogear G - Second season, it's a sci-fi magical girl thing. It is apparently better than the first season (which I didn't watch) but I still thought it was awful; it all seems very poorly thought out. I guess the gimmick is that the girls sing while they fight, but it's not handled cleverly (like, say, the ballet in Princess Tutu), it's pretty much just window dressing on top of mundane action.
Kiniro Mosaic - Slice of life about British girls living in Japan. Tons of engrish. Fucking adorable, go watch it. One of my favorites.
Genei wo Kakeru Taiyo - Tarot-themed magical girls, gets pretty dark right off the bat. Off-the-wall character design, very striking visuals. Mixed reviews, but I personally love it.
Fantasista Doll - Some sort of card game where holographic girls battle each other by gaining different powers in different outfits. Not recommended, the action is very flat.

Neptunia - SOON.

[MatsuriSakuragi]

I'm only watching two things at the moment.

Dokidoki! Precure - had and still has some excellent potential, but is currently in a mess of non sequitur events and writing choices that are frustrating. Not awful, but I hope the writers shape up. (Continuing series, not new to this season, but airing, regardless)
Danganronpa - Apparently it's only likable if you're completely new to the series, which I am. It seems to make a lot of the die-hard fans whine and complain a lot though. It's annoying. But so far I think it's okay?

Also considering watching Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya too. Why not, I guess.

[Edible]

I've watched most of what this season has to offer so far.  I too shall summarize!

In no particular order:

Dog & Scissors - Watched this thinking it would be terrible, is actually okay so far.  Bibliophile dies, gets reincarnated as a dog, gets adopted by his favorite author (who can read his doggy mind).  Decently produced but I unfortunately can't see it getting "good", as judging from the OP they almost certainly plan on introducing several other characters that probably won't help the dynamic.

Free - Probably kyo-ani's least competent adaptation so far, or maybe the source material is to blame.  Either way, their animation and storyboarding isn't up to their usual standards here, the writing's not very good, the plot is bog-standard shounen sports manga (although the source is a novel iirc), the seiyuu seem to have phoned it in with one or two exceptions, but look at all that rippling man-meat!  While watching it I kept asking myself if I cared more if they were girls instead of guys and came away with a resounding "... eh, maybe?"  I'll give it another episode or two to see if it does anything good.

Going Home Club/Kitakubu - Looked terrible, was mediocre.  Bland comedy with a few good moments often ruined by a main character who completely abuses tsukkomi gags.  Production is very budget.  That said, there's something about it that makes me want to watch another episode; for the lines that weren't ruined by a screaming protagonist, their sense of comedic timing was pretty on par.  Designs aren't bad either.

Servant x Service - A Good Office Comedy?.  I watched this show and was like "hey this is pretty good it reminds me of working!!" and lo and behold it's by the same guy who did working!!.  Good stuff, nice variety of comedy, characters that interact with each other very well.

Rozen Maiden Zarathustra or whatever - Big Rozen Maiden fan and this episode was pretty great for a recap.  The refreshed designs and art style are amazing (Suigintou's wings...) and they fast-forwarded the hell out of the existing source material, which is nice.  Music's great too.  They even managed to get ali project to release a track that wasn't godawful!  Hooray.

Day Break Illusion/Genei Taiyo - The first episode was all over the place, so the show didn't establish a firm identity for itself.  A whole lot of higurashi grimdark with some madoka mahoushoujo angst mixed in.  It really got cool towards the end of the episode, which was pleasant and interesting.  Pretty wild character designs, but good.  Will almost certainly continue watching.

Kiniro Mosaic - The animated 4koma adventures of three Japanese schoolgirls and a British exchange student.  Very cute, competent directing, source material's also good so I was looking forward to this.  Budget's up there and the designs translated really well to anime.  Basically, :3c.

Eccentric Family/Uchoten Kazoku - I watched this and don't remember any of what it was about except tanukis, tengus, and really terribly-drawn ears in modern Japan.  zzz

Fantasista Doll - It's Sekirei except with a female protagonist.  yawn

Edit: Forgot some stuff.  Whoopsie!

~monogatari - This needs zero explanation, either you've seen and liked the first two seasons and know (and get) exactly what you're expecting or you don't care.

Love Lab Winner of the best continuous use of sound effects in anime.  Surprisingly cute, and very very silly.

[Fetch()tirade]

I'm only watching a few things from the new season atm, I should be picking up more.

Kaminomi S3:
Basically skipping a whole bunch of captures (summing like 80 chapters in 7 minutes) and getting straight to the goddess arc was probably not the best way to do things, but it's not like another season of captures only would be doing Manglobe any favors. I'll keep watching this because I'm already a fan of the series and I want to see (read: hope and pray) Manglobe adapt this arc well.

Kamisama no Inai Nichiyoubi:
Loli suffering + undead: the anime AKA crime edgy's spiritual successor.
Having not read the source material at all, I'm interested in seeing where this series is going.

Servant x Service:
Cute public servants doing cute public service things. Lucy (abbreviated) is nice. Reminds me of Working! (same guy and all, but still).

Love Lab:
Got a hearty chuckle out of me on more than one occasion. One of my favorites of this season, along with...

C3-bu:
I was not expecting to enjoy this so much, especially because it's Gainax.
Dem models.
Dat trigger discipline.
Rambo-chan #1

Spoiler:

dess

.

[Amraphenson]

Nepnepnepnepnepnepnepnepnepnepnep.....

[trancehime]

Free - Ignoring my personal biases (and me constantly calling it legit), it's standard-fare KyoAni except on the lower end, which SUCKS because it's the first thing coming from KyoAni which doesn't have a distinct emphasis on moeblob trash shit or GIRLSGIRLSGIRLS. Sigh. I hope KyoAni don't disappoint me, it's too early for me to call it something awesome.

C3 (C-Cubed) - It's a fun watch for me, that's all I've got to say, personally... >>;

Renai Lab - I am very upset because I am fairly familiar with the source material. T_T Even so, I think people should watch it if they're looking for reasonably light-hearted fun stuff.

New Rozen Maiden - High PRODUCTION QUALITY but other than that it was weird because of the recap.

Spoiler:

Also killing off Hinaichigo and DESU in the first episode is bound to be very jarring for viewers

It's too early to call it terrible or bad or anything though, will have to give it more episode.

I am honestly not watching much AT THE MOMENT, because I am waiting for two things: The Sakura Trick anime, and the Aoi Hana (2009) stream... Of course, there is one big thing they have in common: YURI *___*

[Tengukami]

Really glad someone started this thread, because I haven't really been following new anime since last fall. I know Rozen Maiden will be a must for me, totally. I've been praying for this since 2007.

[Yukarin]

Aaa monogatariiiiiii

[Edible]

Just watched something else.

Stella/C3 - This was super cute.  I didn't like the shows this was often compared to (Girls & Panzer, Upotte), but this is much more up my alley.  Very balanced animation and cast.  It kind of reminds me of Saki with guns.  Definitely up with my favorites of this season.

[Zerviscos]

Don't forget "It's not my fault I'm not that popular"
I'm pretty sure it's airing now~

[Stuffman]

Don't forget "It's not my fault I'm not that popular"
I'm pretty sure it's airing now~

IMO, the manga is a much more natural format for this kind of thing.

[Tengukami]

Just after a cursory glance, I've got Rozen Maiden, Monogatari and Watamote, at least. This might actually be a great season.

e: Decided to add Love Lab and Servant x Service. Both of those look promising.

[FinnKaenbyou]

Watched Day Break first. Trying to decide if some of the weird stuff that happened in the episode is immensely clever symbolism on the subject of existentialism (Link discusses spoilers, obviously) or just bad writing. I'll see where it goes, it has my interest for now.

Also watched Kiniro Mosaic and holy shit alice is adorable I just want to cuddle her all day.

I've got some more time at home tomorrow, will probably try out some of the other new releases and see what I think. Haven't really followed a season for a bit o.o

[PX]

Just watched Watamote, liked it.

[Widermelonz]

With what's out so far, my favorite this season would have to be Stella C³-bu. The music is so fucking good.

[trancehime]

Just watched Watamote, liked it.

I agree with Stuffman somewhat the manga pulled it off better but from the first episode I don't think we can say anything bad about it just yet. Tomoko is just 

[BT]

I agree with Stuffman somewhat the manga pulled it off better but from the first episode I don't think we can say anything bad about it just yet. Tomoko is just 

Eh, I stopped watching the first episode halfway through so I don't know.

Felt like an uninspired plot and bad execution.

[trancehime]

Eh, I stopped watching the first episode halfway through so I don't know.

Felt like an uninspired plot and bad execution.

Well like Stuffman said, the manga is a far better medium to execute the premise.

I don't entirely disagree with "badly executed." Plotwise, Tomoko as a character, and the emotions and things that run through her mind, most likely run analogous or congruent to the thoughts that the current generation of Internet-savvy users have in their minds as well, though obviously (and I emphasize this) not to the dot. It might seem uninspired, but the fact that Watamote tackles a theme that is very much real and occurring within various societies is something I think has to be commended, in a way. I think, where I agree with you, at least in regards to the anime, is that the first episode fails to really capture everything at once - too much of it is centered around Tomoko's psyche and her self-image issues.

EDIT: Gonna stop here though before it gets into a derail or something.

[Tengukami]

I'm a big fan of the Watamote manga, so I did look forward to the anime. I'm not sure I agree that manga is the better medium for telling this story; having enjoyed the manga tremendously, the anime has a lot to live up to. But it's remained pretty loyal to the original story and artwork, so I think once the jarring effect of seeing this in anime format wears off, it'll become more enjoyable still.

Biggest downside for me is the OP is terrible, but I seldom sit through them as it is.

[BT]

It might seem uninspired, but the fact that Watamote tackles a theme that is very much real and occurring within various societies is something I think has to be commended, in a way.

I've said that with this exactly in mind, though. It did not tackle the theme well. The occurrences were predictable and did not make me curious as to what happens next.

There are a lot of other things that I dislike here (art, pacing) but even the core storytelling is a con for me. Fatal wound. It's possible that the exposition badly represents the rest of the manga but an exposition is an exposition is an exposition. It did a good job making me frown and retreat.

[Oh]

My list for Summer 2013 on a .txt:

Spoiler:

I don't get the appeal of MAL

monogatari s2
kin-iro mosiac
Brothers Conflict
Kitakubu Katsudou Kiroku
Fate/kaleid liner prisma illya
Chou Jigen Game Neptune
Gen'ei o Kakeru Taiyou
Fantasista Doll
Love Lab
Inu to Hasami wa Tsukaiyou
Danganronpa 
Tokurei Sochi Dantai Stella Jo-Gakuin Koutou-ka C3-Bu
Watamote
Gachaman Crowds
Free!

Leftovers:
Railgun S
Shingeki no Edgy

Dat watamote OP. Kin-iro and Love Lab are pretty cute. Not playing Touhou actually gave me a lot of time to watch things. Well until I get back home in August or buy a new keyboard. Why is Free! so good?

Biggest downside for me is the OP is terrible, but I seldom sit through them as it is.

Not only you find Watamote's OP not gloriously good but you also skip OPs?

Spoiler:

What a casual

Spoiler:

I'm joking

You have your opinion and I

Spoiler:

respect

that.

[trancehime]

It did a good job making me frown and retreat.

i dunno what your standards are bro. either your standards are godlike or mine are just ass

[BT]

i dunno what your standards are bro. either your standards are godlike or mine are just ass

...First option's probably more likely. Fair enough.

[Edible]

I'm with BT on this one.  The Watamote anime had a few good scenes but largely felt uninspired - two-thirds of it was a pan/still/fade.  I think the director did okay with what he had, and Izumi Kitta is great as Tomoko, but my suspicion is that this one didn't have much budget to begin with and will only get worse as time progresses.

I rewatched Stella and I'm pretty sure it's my favorite of the season so far.  Great stuff.

[Bardiche]

I've watched most of what this season has to offer so far.  I too shall summarize!

In no particular order:

Dog & Scissors - Watched this thinking it would be terrible, is actually okay so far.  Bibliophile dies, gets reincarnated as a dog, gets adopted by his favorite author (who can read his doggy mind).  Decently produced but I unfortunately can't see it getting "good", as judging from the OP they almost certainly plan on introducing several other characters that probably won't help the dynamic.

I did the same thing here, and have the same fears. The moment it turns into harem is the moment I drop it.

Only other thing I watch is Dangan Ronpa. Playing the game simultaneously just to spoil myself on who does what.

[trancehime]

I'm with BT on this one.  The Watamote anime had a few good scenes but largely felt uninspired - two-thirds of it was a pan/still/fade.  I think the director did okay with what he had, and Izumi Kitta is great as Tomoko, but my suspicion is that this one didn't have much budget to begin with and will only get worse as time progresses.

Watamote only got as popular as it did thanks to overseas scumming, so it can't be helped. An anime was never meant to materialize in the first place. It was just sheer luck it happened.

[ErASeR MOdER MAxiMUM]

I kinda hate anime so I'm only watching Free! at the moment(and Attack on Titan heuehueheu) and, I'll admit it's kinda bland, but I just love how much it's pissing people off.

Fujoshis are basking in your moeblob tears and boy oh boy does it feel great.

I've been meaning to give the Dingle Romp animu a try, but I've been hearing people whining about how it follows the game too closely. Some people are just never happy.  :3

[MaStErSpArK94]

Genei wo Kakeru Taiyo - Tarot-themed magical girls, gets pretty dark right off the bat. Off-the-wall character design, very striking visuals. Mixed reviews, but I personally love it.

The premise intrigued me, so I watched the first episode. Dark right off the bat indeed, I like where this is going.

Interested to see how it plays out.

[Edible]

Fujoshis are basking in your moeblob tears and boy oh boy does it feel great.

This is basically the best part of Free!.

[Tengukami]

Hm, well, if Free! is getting this kind of press around here, I might have to check that out, too.