Mini-Review – Spring 2009 Pt.1 : Arad Senki, K-ON!

This season did not have many series I was interested in, so I decided to watch the first episode of anything I could get my hands on! (even shows that I normally would never consider) As usual with these types of posts these are only my first impressions of these shows and if you disagree with me, just tell me so I can reconsider them. I’m also watching these with a  blank slate, I didn’t do any previous research, so let’s see how this goes!

Slap-up Party Arad Senki

Interest level: 1.5/5

Synopsis (from ANN):”Swordsman Baron travels the world of Arad to find a way to heal his demonic left arm. Accompanying him is Roxy, the ghost of a woman who unwillingly unleashed the evil that also caused Barons transformation. On their travel they get to know other fighters who accompany them and soon they call their group the “Party”.”

Review: I was about to write off this show as a terribly cliche RPG anime. I could predict every scene and each piece of dialogue, it was that bad. (But not it’s not like RPG anime are renowned to be original) But then I looked on its ANN page and discovered there were only 9 Japanese staff members, everyon else is Korean. It’s a Korean anime in disguise! I’m not saying that Korean animation isn’t good (I haven’t watched any) but this is a sign that it’s cheaply made. Not surprising since Gonzo layed off most of its staff. While it wasn’t anything special, it wasn’t painful or anything. Just boring. I wasn’t too sure at first what type of show Arad is trying to be. At the begining it seemed like an action-RPG anime, then it turned into a RPG comedy, then back to action. Usually I don’t mind this sort of thing, but I felt in this case, the changes were a little jarring. I couldn’t take the dramatic scenes seriously at all. The comedy was overdone, but a lot better than the dramatic ones. The main character was the tough guy stereotype,  although the overly dramatic Cabensis  was a pleasant exception, He was probably the most interesting to watch, but he’s unfortunately been pigeonholed as a comedic character. It was okay, but it was too uninspired/bland for me want to follow it.

K-ON!

Interest level: 5/5

Synopsis: For some reason searching for a synopsis for K-ON! was more difficult than expected, since I’m lazy, here’s my terrible summary. (Someone please put a summary on ANN!) 3 girls (Ritsu, Mio, Tsumugi) want to form a band in the light music club. They need one more member to keep their club alive and in desperation recruit the clumsy Yui, who can’t play any instruments nor even knows what light music is.

Review: That was really. Cute. Maybe a little too cute. Especially Yui, whose clumsiness seems to be too severe to be normal. Something must be wrong with her head. This show seems like a character-driven one, and so far I’m really enjoying the characters. Even if they they fall into archetypes : moe klutz, tsukkomi, boke, and the mature lady, there’s still potential. The humor wasn’t as laugh-out-loud-ish, more cute, but enjoyable. I especially enjoyed the cameo of Krauser from Detroit Metal City. I have high hopes for this series.

Also, this is bothering me, did anyone notice the scene when Yui was expecting horde of people trying to recruit her, her hairclip was different? This is going to bother me the rest of the day…

Sorry for the short post! I was planning to include more series, but unfortunately my ancient computer can’t handle large .mkvs. I’m going to get a hold better laptop tommorow!

-shirokiryuu

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