Summer Anime 2015 First Impressions- One: July 3rd, and 4th

It is finally here, the summer anime season is officially in full spring and a vast array of new animes are upon us. And I cannot be more excited and ready for some great series. As you might recall I did a post on Monday highlighting the series that had caught my eye and I was intending on going forth and doing reviews on, or at least giving first impressions of.


For anyone who might not have seen the list here is it at a glance:

• Idolmaster's Cinderella Girls
• Akagami no Shirayuki-hime/ Snow White with the Red Hair
• Charlotte
• Classroom Crisis
• Danchigai
• Gakkou Gurashi
• Himouto! Umaru-chan
• Joukamachi no Dandelion 
• Prison School
• Million Doll
• Non Non Biyori
• Rampo Kitani 
• Rokka no Yusha
• Sore ga Seiyuu
• Venus Project
• Wakaba Girl

Right now there still are a few series that have not had information for streams so I am still waiting on that. Because that is a rather lengthy list of series I took it upon myself to call up Excel and create my own calender in somewhat vain attempt to keep track of everything.

Clearly a work in-progress, but as soon as more information comes about (dates and times) it will be added.

Now back to the actual series, I just want to make a quick note that Rampo Kitani has been dropped. I started to watch the series, but some of the graphics where a bit too much for me. I suppose I might have over-estimated the strength and ability of my stomach.

For this blog post I will be covering not one, but three series; Wakaba  Girl, Classroom Crisis, and Charlotte. Of course I streamed act twenty-five of Sailor Moon Crystal, which was the first anime of the day, however I am waiting until next week to do a very length-y review of both arcs of the series. Stay tuned for that.

Oh, and spoilers ahead!

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First up is Wakaba Girl, a very light slice-of-life series centered around Wakaba that has been noted to be "a slightly out-of-tune super" child of a well-to-do family. Even though the series finds her as the main protagonist, there are four other girls that make up the cast; Moeko, Mao, and Nao.

Clocking in around the seven minute mark the first episode titled "My Dream is To Be a High School Girl", serves as the introduction to the series and our characters. The primary focus of the first episode is both setting up the plot and forming a new-found friendship between the four-some.

I wish there was more to say about this series, but sadly there is not. With such a limited running-time we did not get to see a lot happening and the story was rather cut and dry, as a manor of speaking. The only thing I can really say is that I did not have my hopes set too high for the series and pegged it as a light slice-of-life series. In truth it is just that, but I will admit I was expecting something more engaging. Instead it fell short. Proof that you are never really sure what something might be like until you get into it.

Overall, Wakaba is not a bad series. But it is what you think it is, very light and quintessential cute girls, doing cute things. If you enjoy light heart series with some humor you might give it a go, otherwise you probably will find yourself on YouTube instead.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5.
Dropped.

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 I will admit I was much more impressed with Classroom Crisis, which I watched directly after viewing Wakaba, a series with a distinctly different tone. One of the things that attracted me specifically to this series was the science-fiction present. Even though I am not overly into the genera, I do enjoy seeing things within it that are done well. Add in the fact Anipex is involved, a company that has a reputation for picking up some of the best animes, my interest was further peeked.  Never-mind the fact this is a completely original work.

And the first episode was a strong one, at least in comparison from the previous anime. But my biggest complaint is that some information was presented later than it should have been.


Classroom Crisis takes viewers into the future to a city called Kirishian City and to what is known as Fourth Toyko, a "prefectures" of Japan's located on Mars. The story centered around the hand-selected students of Kirishina Science and Technology Academy High School (try saying that three times fast), a branch of the very elite and powerful Kirishina Corporation. The corporation specializes in aerospace ventures, but like any business fictional or not, they have been expanding their market. The heart of the story, however, falls upon the selection of students at the Academy, all of which are notably gifted in fields related with aerospace; crafting and designing their own air-crafts and piloting are examples of this. Each seemingly destined to become engineers, scientist, or project managers.

Rather than starting out introducing of cast off the back, we start off  with a meeting with some of the business men at Kirishian Corporation as they have discussion a pressing matter- their new transfer student has been kidnapped my miners that is now held at ransom. Meanwhile we see instances of a young girls getting ready for the day and going towards her school- Kirishina Science and Technology Academy High School. From this point on we start to see additional characters and relationships come into play. But it isn't until the student's teacher, Kaito Sera's discovery of the status of the new student does things get a lot more interesting. With time ticking and no one else acting, Kaito takes it upon himself to enlist his students for a rescue mission.

I am trying to refrain from giving too much spoilers, as you may note, so not going to be giving too much away. Over-all it was a rather well-balanced episode with action and humor, but I have to wonder if they will be able to keep the series to this standard? Classroom Crisis is described as being a school and slice-of-life series with romance involved. But it also seems to take up itself elements of work-place on-goings, and even some economics. And that can be daunting for a series with twelve to thirteen episodes.

Despite being rather skeptical I did enjoy the first episode and am looking forward to where this is going.
Rating: 3.5/5
Picked-up.

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   If there is one thing I have learned it is that when something is greatly hyped, proceeded with caution. Charlotte is a series that has gotten quite a lot of hype and has been mentioned for a while now for a few reasons. As someone less included to automatically jump on band-wagons without information, I was not sold on-spot. But the summary of the series got me curious. As a lover of fantasy and magic I was interested.

The series runs with the concept that an small percentage of puberty aged males and females manifest powers. That alone is a broad statement, one full of potential that can be utilized or wasted.

Yuu Otosaka is seemingly a typical teenage boy, or at least that is what one to assume. But unlike his classmates and other's around him he bares a unique ability to transfer his consciousness and take control over anyone he choices. The only limitations in place is that said person must be within eye-shot and the transference only last five seconds. Rather than using the ability for good, as most fictional characters do, Yuu uses them for very selfish and self-serving instances. He never studies for any exams and has cheated his way into a top high school. But the abuse of the gift also expands out to using it to attract the affections of a girl he likes. Yuu thinks noting of using his mysterious abilities for personal gain as he, along with his younger sister have lead a rather sad life. Despite being under the guardianship of their uncle, the two only have one another. But after doing as he wishes with no consequences for a while, things change for Yuu as he finds himself caught by the likes of the student council of Hohimoum Academy- a school for others like Yuu.

There are a lot of cliche aspects to be had, and it can be eye-roll worthy. But it interesting and the fact Yuu is a bit of jerk that abuses his abilities was a mild shake-up from the norm. Yet in all truth his actions are in-line with what a lot of people would in fact do if they had such powers. Charlotte has a lot of potential; not only with the powers and how they work, but also with the characters and possible development.

Rating: 3.5/5
Picked-up.

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Overall not a bad start to a new season, bot Classroom Crisis and Charlotte have potential and I am looking forward to seeing how the series develop. 

There are still a lot more series coming and more first impressions, so stay tuned for more blog posts about that. But also feel free to let me know how you liked the format for the first impression post. Doing them in groupings by air-dates like this, or one for each specific series? Let me know.