Sneak Peek: Sakamichi no Apollon, Tsuritama, Shining Hearts – Shiawase no Pan

Sneak peeks are now down to three shows instead of four, because there’s only six shows left. That makes three for this post, and three for the next.

Yes, I know Acchi Kocchi and Sankarea have already been out a while, but since I’m anal about choosing sub groups, I’ve only now decided on which groups to go with. You’ll have to wait until Hyouka comes out for my thoughts on those shows, though, because I’m OCD about the number of shows I cover each post. THERE HAS TO BE A PATTERN OR I’LL GO INSANE.

Oh, and if you haven’t noticed yet, I won’t be covering Fate/Zero since it’s a continuation. If you want something on it, there’s still the preview I wrote back when it first started.

Sakamichi no Apollon

Despite being a gigantic contrarion and hoping this show would fail so I could rub it in everyone’s faces, I actually didn’t mind this episode. I didn’t exactly love it, but it definitely has the potential to be great.

I liked the character interactions in this. Admittedly, I liked it a bit more when I thought Sentarou was actually helping because he was a good guy, rather than so he could get money off of Kaoru, but oh well. It gives him a flaw in his character that’ll probably end up being fixed. Same with Kaoru and his frequent smug attitude.

I can’t say much about the music, because I’ve never really cared that much for it. Yeah, I listen to it and it sounds nice, but I’m no aficionado. That means I’m not someone who spazzes out just because they’re doing jazz music for the show. I just don’t think jazz sounds all that great. Of course there are exceptions, as there are with pretty much everything, but still.

Anyways, I enjoyed the first episode, so hopefully the next few episodes can keep it up.

Tsuritama

Yeah, I thought this was the better noitaminA entry.

I don’t usually care much for animation; as long as it shows stuff happening, then I’m pretty much set. But the way it was handled in Tsuritama impressed me a lot. In a similar vein to how a good game implements the gameplay into the story, a good anime can implement its animation into its story.

Obviously the scene I’m talking about is the one where Yuki gets pulled out of his drowning sensation and back into reality by the fish. Which, also obviously, is the scene the above picture came from.

Other than that, I liked the unique characters, and I’m curious how this is all going to play out. The sky’s the limit with this show, so hopefully it makes use of that.

Bread: The Anime Shining Hearts – Shiawase no Pan

This episode was… well, it was pretty terrible. But it was also hilarious.

The complete infatuation with Rick’s bread is just at such absurd levels that it’s hilarious to see. The town citizens want his bread, the random forest creatures want his bread, some random hot elf wants his bread, everyone wants his bread! I can already see the big villain/catastrophe of this series being tamed by the power of Rick’s bread. It’s ridiculously stupid, but I can’t help but find it funny.

The one positive thing I can say is that Rick lives in a fucking pirate ship. That’s badass. Now I want to live in one.

Now, this may sound backwards, but this show’s only hope of working is to not try to improve at all. If it tries to be good, it’ll just be sad and nobody will have any sympathy. But if it stays ridiculous and sticks to The Power of Bread, then this’ll be the show to be laughed at this season.

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