First Thoughts: Yona of the Dawn

I haven’t done reviews lately simply because nothing has caught my attention. And by nothing, I mean absolutely NOTHING. That is, until I happened to see a trailer for Yona of the Dawn on my Facebook newsfeed.

Has anyone realized the difference between harems and reverse harems? One thing, reverse harems seem to focus just as heavily on story as romantic interaction. Whereas in harems, no one gives a crap about story and just want to see fanservice. (These speculations come from my own personal experiences, mind you. Though I’d love to see someone prove me wrong.)

So far, Yona of the Dawn looks just as promising as what I saw in the trailer. Obviously they’re geared toward female audience members so I’m biased. While all the basic storytelling components are rather mediocre, there’s still something entertaining about it. Perhaps I’m just happy to at last find a new anime that doesn’t look like garbage.

Let’s talk art. I can’t say I like it, honestly. The hard blush characters have and the overall moe/shoujo style has never impressed me. The character designs are…fence-sittingly generic. What I mean is, I feel like I’ve seen Hak’s design thousands of times..

Yet Yona is a heroine I could easily recognize.

As for the animation…I’m once again, still on the fence. They’ve hardly used still frames (10 points to Griffindor) but there’s nothing impressive about the animation. Hopefully we’ll get some good action scenes later though (here’s hoping~)

Voice acting…define “acting”. I’ve yet to see the dub, but I’ll probably switch over to it simply because Yona’s voice gives me a headache. Her voice doesn’t sound natural at all, as if her seiyuu is trying to be 8 years old. But I see potential with this show, so I’m hopeful actual acting will occur later.

The score fits the anime, but it isn’t memorable. It does remind me of the score used for the Soul Calibur games, however, so +100 points for nostalgia.

Now let’s talk about plot. Here’s the reason I’m continuing this show. While the first episode was predictable and they do have a couple drops of exposition, I have high hopes for Yona’s character. I’m excited to see her development from a helpless princess to the determined and fierce girl shown in the banner art. I want to know what trials she’ll go through to become stronger. Unfortunately, exposition is still exposition. Characters say things that are out of place and obviously directed to the audience. There’s only been a small amount of it so far, however, and I’m guessing it’s because they wanted to jump straight into the story within the limited time of the pilot episode. It’s irksome, but I have a feeling this will not continue. The good thing is, what exposition they use are only little things like “I can’t wait to see my cousin who is 3 years older than me!”. No one says things like that, but it’s tolerable to be used here because it’s not some reveal that will impact the story.

Overall, I’m just happy to finally find a series that has caught my interest. Yona of the Dawn looks promising and hopefully it’ll continue that way.

Reaction: Tokyo Ghoul – Episode 3

Heck yes, episode 3 has been released! I’m actually starting to enjoy this series quite a bit.

As always, the art is great, but while the animation was solid, there wasn’t too much movement in this episode compared to the last two.

Touka, of course, is still my favorite.

In my first thoughts, I mentioned how it was rather strange how she would go from bashful and kind to cold and straightforward…

Turns out it’s just a face she has for work. I’m glad they kept it this way, her character is a lot of fun to watch. 🙂

Now, while I praised Kaneki in the last episode for the small development he gained, this wasn’t a good episode for him. I understand the adjustment to the life of a ghoul would be difficult and Tokyo Ghoul is still doing a good job to show this…but I had a facepalm moment when he saw the dead body at the bottom of the cliff.

…Really? Really?! I think you’ve seen enough messed up things by now that you wouldn’t be surprised by something so mild in comparison. His reactions in this episode felt kind of old.

One of my favorite things about this episode was the introduction of all the new characters. A sweet little girl and her mother, a doctor with some kind of connection with the ghouls, ghoul hunters (called “doves”), a ghoul that makes masks, and some flamboyant dude in a red suit. (Who I have a feeling I’m going to end up hating. 😛 )

(I especially loved Hinami who was just the sweetest thing ^^- )

Finally we’re getting to some major conflicts! I can’t wait to see what the CCG (a group that’s determined to wipe out all the ghouls) is going to play in this story. 

These two were just so interesting and the ghoul slaughtering they did was AWESOME for a horror fan like me.

This episode certainly had its high points and low points, but overall, it was very satisfying. I can feel that it’s slowly moving into the main story now with greater forms of conflict.

And the “Highlight of the Episode” award goes to:

Story development

Join me next week for a look at episode 3~ 🙂

First Thoughts: Great Teacher Onizuka

With all the new anime being released, it’s nice to step away and return to the classics. I recently finished the first episode of GTO and was pleasantly surprised. I remember a few years ago when I tried to pick up this series but couldn’t stand the art. It’s weird how your taste can completely change over time.

TEACHER BANZAI!

The story centers around Eikichi Onizuka, a 22-year old, ex-gang member who strives to become a great teacher through practically any means necessary. All the way from torturing his own students in order to get their attention. GTO brings up the topic of the borderline between students and teachers and the need to break down that wall. (With a sledgehammer if necessary…)

Onizuka is definitely…what I wasn’t expecting. Which is both good and bad. He’s wonderfully flawed in many ways (which is a good thing) and his determination and methods of getting his points across are entertaining as heck. While I couldn’t stand how utterly perverted he was, I’ll admit that I did chuckle at a couple scenes here and there. (Teacher banzai!)

The first episode definitely had me hooked. This goes to show that age doesn’t always deter from a well-written tale. While the 45 minute long episode made me fearful of what was to come, I was happy to find the episodes after are all in the normal 23-minute long time frame. I’ve never been a fan of long episodes because I find it harder to stay interested. But even with 45 minutes, GTO had me interested till the very end.

I also LOOOOOOOOOVEEED the twist in the first episode with the class he got! I should’ve seen it coming, but it actually took me pleasantly by surprise. It was great.

So right off the bat, the first episode was enough to keep me interested. Onizuka seems to be a memorable, fun character and I’m a sucker for delinquent anime. The only flaw I’m finding is all the suggestive dialogue. While the fan service isn’t bad, (especially since the art is old fashioned) it’s the mature themes that come into play that can make you feel rather…awkward.

Other than that, I’m hoping to finish GTO to the end and hopefully write a review some day.