Fall 08 Impressions PART V

V V V VICTORY

ef- a tale of melodies

While I appreciated the artistic merit in the first ef series, I only half liked it. This is not to fault the geniuses at SHAFT or supervisor Shinbo– I just thought the story was boring half of the time. I came into melodies with lowered expectations, and like most of the sequels hitting this season, I liked it a bit more than the first one. This opening episode focuses on characters who were more secondary players in the first series, and honestly, I’m already finding them more interesting than the goofs we had to deal with in series one. Chihiro was cute, though.

Bonus: ZETSUBOU SHITA!!

Kemeko Deluxe

I enjoy Tsutomu Mizushima’s style, but I think he may be only as good as the material given to him. That said, my experience with him is limited to Dokuro-chan and Dai Mahou Touge. His work in Kemeko carries the same sort of feel present in those two, but much like Dai Mahou Touge, it’s not terribly funny. At least not yet. What really grabbed me here was the character designs and animation quality, which I think are really top notch. Some jarring 3D work is present here, but isn’t much of a distraction. This seems like a show I could potentially like, but it’s not quite there yet. Episode two will probably be better.

Seiyuu fans will go on about how GREAT this voice cast is, but I guess I couldn’t care less? It has a lot of people I like in it, though.

Yozakura Quartet

If there were a list of disappointing first episodes, Yozakura Quartet probably wouldn’t be at the very top, or near the top at all; but it’d be on there. Somewhere. I really wasn’t expecting much out of this, either. At the very least I expected some stylish action, but what I got was pretty bland. There are hints of genius scattered amongst the first episode, but they don’t really come together. At least the character designs are nice, and it’s refreshing to hear a new Round Table Feat. Nino song after a good while. Seriously, what was the last thing they did? I’m waiting for their next album to come out already!

A part VI may or may not materialize depending on what gets subs in the next week. It’s kind of sad that no one’s jumped on Jigoku Shoujo 3 yet, since that one actually looks good.