First Impressions: Ristorante Paradiso, Eden of the East, Hatsukoi Limited + Final Roundup

I usually like to review four anime at a time so I was one short this time. I was considering reviewing the latest episode of Yu-Gi-Oh the Abridged series but decided against it on the basis that screenshots would be hard to take.

My Rating System Explained!

A = If you watch anything this season, watch this

B = Very good, sometimes surprisingly so.

C = If you have the time, you should check this out

D = Not my kind of thing, I won’t be watching this

E = Bad. Very bad, ignore this show

F = Frustratingly awful

Ristorante Paradiso

I can sort of guess what’s going on here. The mangaka got sick of all the harems around that were chock full of young men. Why were there no anime or manga with middle-aged men with glasses? So the result is a rather creepy anime full of old Italian men wearing glasses. Studio David must have been really struggling to find an anime to make. Or else they have the same fetish. It’s actually really creepy.

However it’s more than just creepy. It’s also hopelessly boring. Ristorante went for the laid-back approach but it’s leaned back too far and has completely fallen over. After watching the episode, I suffered from an extreme bout of yawning, and it was only 8 and I really wanted to watch Eden of the East, which is difficult when you are falling asleep. I had to stick on some loud anime opening songs to wake me up (thank you Black Lagoon).

David are a newbie studio and they failed. Not every studio can be lucky enough to pick up a gem like Moyashimon as their first anime. Their animation is also lacking, particularly when it comes to backgrounds. For all the fun other studios could have with animating Rome, Ristorante does quite a miserable job of that. All round a failure to be honest. Unless you like middle-aged men with glasses that is.

Rating: E

 

 

Eden of the East

Everyone knew this would be good but it’s still a relief when it does turn out to be good. In fact, it was almost embarrassing how good it was compared to many other anime without even trying that hard. It just screams quality from every pore. Anime like this that are able to have such genuine dialogue are absolute gold dust. This was probably the funniest first episode, and it’s main aim isn’t even to be a comedy.

You can sort of tell this is slightly geared towards an international audience. For once a studio hired English voice actors to play the English voices (either that or they are REALLY good Japanese English speakers) and the opening is sung by none other that that English band Oasis, which is a real sign that this is geared towards us. The main character even makes refrences to Western movies like Taxi Driver and The Bourne movies.

Eden of the East is probably the best of the season and it hasn’t even got down to the bones of the story yet. The first episode was just to set the scene and to develop the relationship between the lead pair. But you can’t help already love the lead two. Their conversations are hilarious and yet so genuine. Plus, the bloke has finally put away his Johnny, so basically what I’m saying is Watch This.

Rating: A-

 

 

Hatsukoi Limited

I looked at my watch list and noticed something rather worrying. The anime I was watching was full of bishies (07 Ghost), naked men (Eden of the East and, bar a few square inches of loincloth, Guin Saga) and transvestites (Shangri-La). I was in dire need of some animated breasts in my life! However any anime with hot women this season have sort of failed and Queens Blade is out of the question. So it looked like Hatsukoi was my final option.

But frankly, it could’ve been better than this. It wasn’t all that bad. In fact I was grinning for pretty much the entire middle section of the anime and I couldn’t help but cheer for that big bloke because it must of taken a lot of courage to give that letter to her in front of 4 of her  high-pitched giggling friends. But there is something inherently annoying about the women when they start talking. I suppose it is a fairly accurate of girls at that age. They really do obsess about the dumbest things.

Howver JC Staff know what’s really going to draw the viewers in: Cute Girls. There is no better studio for cute girls than JC Staff.  The background animation is sort of lacking. However I didn’t notice this until I went back to take screen shots. I suppose I was too bust watching the women. Look, there is a fanservice anime every season (Queens doesn’t count – thats just semi-hentai) and at least this one has half a brain.

Rating: C-

 

 

And that’s it! OK, it isn’t but I’m not even going to bother with Queens Blade, Tatuyuma or that reverse harem thing with the ridiculously complicated name. So finally, a round up of what you should be watching this season. In my honest opinion obviously 🙂

 

Must Watch:

Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood:

I watched the original in English dub so listening to Alphonse sound like Aisaka Taiga is a bit off-putting. Still, it is FMA and I really do want to see how the manga storyline went.

 

 

 

Eden of the East:

A classic in the making? It certainly looks like it could become one. Man, this is why I love anime.

 

 

 

 

07 Ghost:

I seem to be one of the few people who like this…why? It’s fucking awesome, and I don’t use fucking to describe anime that often.

 

 

High Potential:

Shangri-La:

It looks like Gonzo have a real winner here, transvestites and everything. It may take a few more episodes to gauge if we really have another Last Exile, but early signs are certainly promising.

 

 

Guin Saga:

Epic fantasy in it’s most luscious form. Imagine how many cameras you would have to fly over to New Zealand to achieve this is live action. Don’t you just love anime!

 

 

Cross Game:

Sorry Cross Game, but you are going to be almost completely ignored due to your not-so-pretty animation and the fact you are slightly related to baseball. Which is a shame really.

 

 

Requiem for the Phantom:

Hey guess what? Turns out I really do like Bee Train. If you like Bee Train, watch it. If not, don’t. Pretty simple really.

 

 

 

Natsu no Arashi:

School Rumble Mangaka + Shaft? OK, I’ll admit this is here mainly off optimism, but still.

 

 

 

Worth a pop:

Pandora Hearts:

Hmm…mysterious, very mysterious. I am  still a bit doubtful of this anime’s capability of keeping my interest but so far I am intrigued.

 

 

 

 

 

K-ON!

After a hilarious first episode, the second was hopelessly boring. They spent half the blasted episode eating! I’ll keep it going to see if it goes back to the form of the first.

 

 

 

 

 

Valkyrie Chronicles:

It’s a game based anime, so it’s only a matter of time before this starts to suck. However, that time has yet to come, so huzzah!

 

 

Not my sort of thing:

Tears to Tiara:

One fantasy anime a season please. So Mr.RawrIlikeeatinglittlechildrenrawr priest loses to Guin.

 

 

 

Sengoku Basara:

Many fighting, my spear will be the spear that pierces the excellently choreographed fight scenes and so on. Yeah, umm…no.

 

 

 

Saki:

It was no way near as awful as I expected it to be, but I’m still not watching it.

 

 

 

Just Awful:

Ristorante Paradiso:

I wouldn’t call it a cure for insomnia. However if they show it on a plane during turbulence, it would help people unblock their ears due to the intense urge to yawn heavily

 

 

 

Basquash:

The closing song is actually pretty good. Otherwise…no.

 

 

 

 

Z Mazinger:

I was wondering whether I should create an extra layer for this but I didn’t know what to call it.