The grand finale of our spring impressions, because I don’t feel like covering anything else and have ran out of witty introductions. For this installment I feature impressions on the second season of Hayate no Gotoku, Natsu no Arashi and Pandora Hearts as well as a wrapup.

Hayate no Gotoku!!:
The renewal of HnG more or less has JC Staff pick up where SynergySP left off in the first season. Apparently adding an extra exclamation point constitutes a sequel. I think it just looks ridiculous!! So anyway, we kick off the brand new season with a vaguely familiar episode that involves most of the major and minor characters from the titular Hayate to the people that no one cares about like Nonohara and that one PE teacher guy. Yeah… Not a bad episode but not a great episode either. It did what it was supposed to though by reintroducing us to the fairly large cast of characters.

The new shift in the animation style is a tad jarring, but it’s nothing we won’t get used to in ten episodes or so. The new designs look notably softer compared to the first series and are closer to Kenjiro’s designs from the manga. Just as well, I think what little there is to the story will also be more faithful to the manga, because it looks like HnG!! will include characters and plot lines that the original anime omitted. The new OP, Wonder Wind by Elisa is also weird and just doesn’t have the same Hayate feel to it that all of Kotoko’s songs did. And the new ED… Hinagiku fanboy pandering much? Nevertheless, HnG!! looks to be more of the same for better or worse. The plot will continue to move at a snail’s pace and not go anywhere for episodes on end while referential jokes get shot out of a baseball pitching machine at 100 mph. So basically if you liked the first season, you’ll like the second season.

Hayata Ayasaki and friends return for another outing in Hayate no Gotoku!! Hinagiku fanboys rejoice.

Natsu no Arashi:
My first impression upon watching Natsu no Arashi was, “Damn this art sucks all sorts of raptor balls”. My second impression was, “This is actually kind of fun to watch”. I like the whole magic premise, and while the plot of the first episode was actually quite charming and well written, the atrociously ugly animation hurts it a great deal. Yeah, yeah it’s what’s on the inside that counts, but you can’t discount ugly animation when it makes the show difficult to watch. Such a pity too because Kobayashi’s original art was so nice to look at.

Due to the show’s setting, Natsu no Arashi would have been more at home airing in the summer instead of spring. It’s kind of a second tier, niche show that would have benefitted from airing in the season correspondent to its setting rather than try to compete with the typical spring powerhouses. I’ll probably sit through Natsu no Arashi because I liked the plot so far, and I want to see what kinds of nonsensical references SHAFT can throw at us such as the following.

Natsu no Arashi: Good premise hampered by bad animation.

Pandora Hearts:
It’s been a while since I’ve watched a first episode this painfully dull. This was duller than an aeronautics lecture and slower than waiting for grass to grow. I normally don’t mind slow shows but damn, Pandora Hearts took the whole freakin’ cake. One episode is not enough to make an adequate judgment about a show, so I’ll extend my trial before rendering my final decision… It’s just that the sour first impression doesn’t help the show’s cause. You’re supposed to gallop out of the starting gate, not fall flat on your face.

Everything about the show was just wholly unremarkable, especially the subpar animation. In all fairness it did get kind of interesting in the last minute or two with the appearance of this weird crazy girl, though chances are slim I’ll continue past the trial period, especially with BL undertones lurking in the dark.

Insomniac? Put the Ambien away and try Pandora Hearts today!

My ranking for shows I liked most to least based on impressions:
1. Phantom ~Requiem for the Phantom~
2. K-ON
3. Valkyria Chronicles
4. Sengoku Basara
5. Fullmetal Alchmest: Brotherhood
6. Natsu no Arashi
7. Shangri-La
8. Hayate no Gotoku!!
9. Dragonball Kai
10. Tears to Tiara
11. Pandora Hearts

My prediction for this season’s most popular shows:
(from most to least based on what I’ve covered)
1. K-ON
2. Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood
3. Valkyria Chronicles
4. Hayate no Gotoku!!
5. Sengoku Basara
6. Shangri-La
7. Dragonball Kai
8. Phantom ~Requiem for the Phantom~
9. Tears to Tiara
10. Natsu no Arashi
11. Pandora Hearts

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 12th, 2009 at 10:24 am and is filed under Anime, First Impressions.You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.