First impressions – Genei wo Kakeru Taiyou
Skittles brand magical girls coming at you!
After seeing the first few trailers for this series I was instantly curious because of the unique art style and strange looking character designs, but of course I would be lying if I did not say that the theme of card wielding magical girls pushed me to want to watch this series. So tagging with me on this first impressions post is magical partner Kara!
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Mahou shoujo and tarot? …Well, why not. Plus some of the images are giving me Madoka vibes (not to mention there being both good and bad to every tarot card), so this might be pretty entertaining
Magical artwork and more!
Which one is your favorite? I like the ice powered girl!
Someone is about to get owned in the face!
Since this is the first episode I wanted to take a few minutes and talk about the animation and right off the bat Genei is filled with some very unique looking character designs that were originally done by Gomoku Akatsuki who worked on Astarotte’s Toy and Eureka Seven Ao while Shinpei Tomooka worked on such hits as Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, No 6, Squid Girl, Turn a Gundam and so much more, but of course there are probably some out there might not really care about what the characters looks like in the end as long as the story is good. I hope this series does not turn into Guilty Crown in terms of WOW IT LOOKS COOL but the story fails! That said we just need more episodes to see where things go for this series and I know this is going to be heavily compared to freaking Madoka Magica which is fine but at the same time that comparison really annoys me especially when something dark happens in a magical girl series it is instantly seen as a Madoka Magica clone? I guess that is a hard thing to get away from for any production company looking to do something different for the genre of magical girls! Besides that I am looking forward to seeing more of this crazy looking series.
Mahou shoujo Karakuri in the house
Akari is ready for something cute to happen today~
or not…
Yay! That was as dark as I wanted it to be! I have no idea what was going on half the time, but between everything trying to strangle Akari and seeing Fuyuna dead for no real reason, I was pretty satisfied. Also, it’s kind of surprising (in a good way) how Akari is so… sunny (haha) in real life, but her mahou shoujo transformation seems so badass and serious. It’s like she flips personalities. …Or if we want to translate this into meta/pretentious tarot terms, it’s like her personality was reversed. Anyways, Akari was so obviously based on the Sun, it’s not even funny. Her last name was even Taiyou. I’m not entirely sure about kanji, but I think her name seriously sounds like the japanese for ‘bright sun’. Can they make it any more obvious? …PFFT I just looked up the Moon and Star characters, and they totally have ‘moon’ and ‘star’ in their names too. …I have no idea why Temperence-chan is linked with money, but I can hazard a guess (due to it representing ‘balance’ and all of that. You know, balancing a bank account, etc).
With that though (and the large cast of mahou shoujo that were in the OP), are we going to get 22 magical girls in here? I totally saw the Moon and Star in here this episode at the end. …And apparently the other girl is based on Temperence (I have no idea about the gothloli+look alike). I noted some cards reversed in the ED too, so maybe there will be antagonist mahou shoujo? Or maybe the card arrangements are supposed to represent the lives/events of some of the characters, which is probably more likely. I recognized a few of the layouts (and was too lazy to pull out my book and try to interpret them… added to the fact that I can’t read what number some of the cards are), but I think I’ll wait until the storyline progresses a bit just in case they spoil something important that I don’t want spoiled for me. I do think they have some kind of meaning to them though, since they obviously arranged them a deliberate way. As for how tarot is working in the actual episode, I kind of had to suspend my disbelief on the whole tarot helping people thing and Akari being so accurate. Maybe it’s because I used to tell fortunes as a hobby a few years back, but people hear what they want to hear as long as you’re vague enough. I assume that because this is anime, Akari is perfectly accurate and not just telling people what they want to hear.
Extra magical fun
Taking a page from Index season one are we?
Akari is such a cute character
This is why you keep your plants OUTSIDE!
She is super cool~
End thoughts
Well damn that was a strange first episode and I can see why it quickly reminded people of Madoka Magica, but to me it honestly felt more like a Black Rock Shooter clone because it seemed to have that whole alternate world thing going on because the other world looked very stylized just like Black Rock Shooter. Besides that I have to hand it to Mai Kadowaki who is pulling double shifts as two magical girls this season as illyasviel von Einzbern from Fate Kalied and as Akari Taiyou in this series! So good work to her and I have to mention the opening song done by Lisa? Wow this series has just about everything going for it aside from the oddball story and loli girls being choked by giant freaking monsters…so what did you enjoy about this first episode? I loved the amazing looking opening because it has me so hype to see the action moments!
..I swear, the more I hear LiSA sing, the less impressed I am. Her voice is still lovely, but I just can never get into the songs she sings. It all kind of sounds the same to me. Anyways, this was a lovely choice of style for this anime, and I really liked all of the animation. The plot looks super interesting too and even if it derails, I think I can have fun with the tarot aspects of the show. As for the characters… well, that’s where I found this kind of weak (other than the fact that the beginning was kind of slow… but then again, exposition). Akari is just every kind of generic. However, I don’t think this will be a problem for long since we have her inexplicably serious mahou shoujo transformation and the fact that she sees her friends dead. I’m really, really curious about what was going on at the end of this episode and can’t wait to find out what this all means.
Preview
Magical ghost loli next time!
More Genei on Metanorn with Kara and Fosh so stick around
About Tag Team
We live, laugh, enjoy and strictly believe on "more the merrier". When together, we usually come up with very chatty, conversation-based episodics and interesting posts.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10997 comments
I cannot pick a favorite character at this time, no knowing enough about them, but an early favorite is going to be Temperance-chan. She has that takoyaki thing going on, she’s a bratty half pint (if the TV Tropes character page for the show is any indication), and Temperance reversed just has to be tsundere. And….she’s voiced by Yuiko Tasumi…none other than Leticia Drakurea!
Yeah, she is the Bright Sun. Is she too bright in that regard. Man, yeah, Madoka vibes coming off this like a gong was struck. But since it’s the most recent dark MS show, it’s just gonna get the comparisons. Oddly, it took me posting to the Anime Talk G+ site, and someone commenting for me to even see the comps. I must have been blinded by the light.
Both of you did a good job stitching up all the details in the show, from the shared VA for Akari and Ilya, to some of the stuff about Tarot. Good review.
And, I look forward to more blog posts on this show. It’s one of my tops this season.
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
True it is hard to pick a favorite without really seeing the other girls and a tsun magical girl? Sounds like a odd combo but it works!
I suppose if you have any dark vibes in a magical girl series will always be compared to Madoka Magica, but its cool I will still think that this is more BRS/Madoka mixture xD
Thanks! I hope you enjoy this series~
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10997 comments
Yeah, we’ve had some cool tsundere magical girls, Kyouko from Magical Madoka being an all time fav….
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
Kyouka for the win! Speaking of her name it reminds me of that yandere-ish evil magical girl Kyouko from Kore wa Zombie, but season one version because she was awesome <3
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10997 comments
She was “more restrained” in Season Two, yes…
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10997 comments
Spammy? Again? Well, this is the week or so for him to gorge out…
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
Saved it~
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
I was like “This is a new show, might as well give it a watch.” It turned out to be enjoyable enough (even with all the name confusion: Day Break Illusion? A Dark Spot on the Sun? il sole penetra le illusioni?).
Again, a show that’s not giving everything away in the first episode. I don’t know what people’s reactions to this show have been, but I don’t see where this show was much different from Rozen Maiden as far as amount of information given out. The idea of retconning people out of history was quite a change for me, and I wonder how much Akari will be tormented by these alternate timelines where she ends up killing people close to her because they are seemingly taken over by negative aspects (I think that’s where the dual nature of the tarot will come in).
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10997 comments
It very much is. The recurring motif of the Tarot Cycle is change. So if something can be negated, can something be brought back? I’m liking the idea, because the reversed cards have always fascinated me. Especially The Sun.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
I felt this show’s episode was more upbeat and fast paced compared to Rozen Maiden’s first.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10997 comments
This show really put the premium on tight pacing, didn’t it. I still can’t tell what they were trying to do with Rozen Maiden. I can tell it’s a digest, but when you detect the edits more than the remainder…
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
That translated title makes me laugh and yes for a first episode it was a lot of fun!
I never got into the whole crazy of Rozen Maiden but I can see why people would like it, as for the info part it was a bit confusing and hopefully the next episode explains more of the story! Yeah I wonder if Akari is screwing up time or are they going for a Shana thing aka if you die in the other world people in the real world forget you forever…
POWUH: 500-599 with 519 comments
The character designs are so nice. *_* Although in one of the long shots I noticed that Akari looked REALLY thin and it was very distracting…
Plot-wise, I’m happy there is another dark magical girl! 😀 These are a nice change of pace from the happy friendship-is-everything sort of storyline.
And I’m guessing that Akari’s mother was also one of these magical girls before she died? The fortune tellers did say that Hinata was miserable and retconning people out of existence(especially if you know them) can get taxing after a while.
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
Agreed Liza the character designs are nice and yeah from the side Akari did look a bit strange LOL
Yep! Another dark magical girl series xD
I think so that would make for a interesting story if Akari’s mom was a magical girl just like her, but I am looking at this as more of a BRS story with each girl having another side to them? We shall see I am curious about the overall story.
POWUH: Novice (36-50) with 38 comments
I love the style so much! It’s so pretty to look at. I liked the opening too. Honestly though, that’s about all I enjoyed.
I’ll see how I like the new characters in the next episode, but the protagonist annoyed me. The episode was rather boring to me and I felt like it… tried too hard to be dark, I guess? I didn’t get the Madoka vibes, but I did get the BRS vibes, which I also didn’t end up liking.
I dunno, I’ll stick around for a few more episodes, but I’m not impressed so far.
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
Yeah that was the number one thing that caught my attention was the animation and the opening is awesome! I hope we can get a lot of over the top action from this unique series.
Right I can see how Akari would come off as annoying and I am with you Soliila I did not really get a lot of Madoka vibes because technically the friend that died was not a magical girl? So yeah I am going with more BRS themes.
True we need more episodes to see where the story is going to end up.
POWUH: 600-699 with 691 comments
at first on the episode i was like “meh” especially to the adults animation! but, in the last few minutes(the last battle) i was like *0* OMG Seira is so cool
the OP was cute, the music didn’t fit though(it needed a darker kind of anime to fit well…not super cute little Tarot-using magical children), sometimes the VA’s felt a bit short(lack of enthusiasm), the protagonist sucks, but the RM like green haired girl and Seira saved the show
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
I will admit the adults look just like the children which is a bit strange! Yeah Siera does look cool <3
OP was great! LiZA for the win! True on the voice actors I guess we just need to see more especially all the other characters.
POWUH: 900-999 with 915 comments
Oh my… Why are those characters so cool? *-*
I didn’t even plan to watch it. But at this season I tried that “Oh, I will watch every debut this season and see what happens” and this thing really came as a surprise… And my MAL unexpectedly grows in size… Damn.
Well, one thing that irritated me a little and that until today don’t let me watch Fate/stay night is that it throws a lot of things on our face. I didn’t have time to think about what happened .-. Why the “sister” appeared dead out of nowhere? Why the plant broke on the wall? Was she the plant that strangled Akari? Or did the plant kill the “sister”? And what’s with the sudden change in dimensions? AAAAH I WANT TO UNDERSTAND, DAMN!
Anyhow, what made me stick around was really the dark mahou shoujo thing, the hyper cool character design and the thousand tarot card references (I’m interested on it ever since I played P3 and P4…).
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
Yep the characters are very cool indeed <3
I was surprised seeing the massive cast of voice actors! It rivals Danganronpa as Kara said on her post! I just hope we get to see and hear them before the series ends.
The lack of info is one of the problems I can see with the first episode, but I kind of like the mystery of why and how things happen with this and hopefully the second episode explains it a bit better.
GOOOOOOD! I hope you stick around for more!
POWUH: Metanorn Lover with 245 comments
Fabulous Opening by LiSA~
The show overall was pretty confusing for me though, hopefully they explain a bunch of stuff next time. I think I’ll be watching this one for a bit longer, seems interesting enough, also tarot cards are cool~ *v*
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
I loved the opening by LiSA <3
True very confusing first episode and I hope the second episode explains WHY things are screwy xD
POWUH: Occasional (51-75) with 53 comments
This one is definitely a good one so far. I just came in with a ‘meh, might as well check this one out’ attitude and I came out satisfied.
The OP was great and the second half made up for the weird artstyle that can make a pregnant woman look like she’s 15.
I take it that we’ll start to get some answers in the next episode of this BRS-style anime.
On another note, does anyone who is reading the manga know if the arcana involved will be only the 22 Major Arcana or will we also be seeing some characters using the Minor Arcana?
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
Yep a good start so far they just have to clean up the story a bit and explain what is up!
OP FTW <3 and the artwork is awesome aside from the 15 year old looking adult characters LOL
Hmmm I have no clues on the 22 cards...
POWUH: Occasional (51-75) with 53 comments
Oh, yeah! It looks like our Blue Magical Girl is voiced by none other than Eri Kitamura. I’m starting to think this has become a niche for her…
It was just weird that the MC was voiced by Illyasviel von Einzbern’s VA.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10997 comments
Two points draw a line, but don’t make a pattern. But, really, aren’t we just waiting for her next Blue Hair Mahou Shoujo role?
POWUH: Occasional (51-75) with 53 comments
She also voiced the blue magical girl from the Magical Suite Prism Nana PVs.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10997 comments
Oh, I missed that one. Granted it’s a PV, but SHAFT doing a MS show should be on my radar. Hiss made a pattern. Thank you.
POWUH: Occasional (51-75) with 53 comments
Let me just add another one: Aono Miki from Fresh Precure.
Yep, definitely a niche role.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10997 comments
Hiss is kicking ass and, literally, taking names. GJ-bu!
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Eri Kitamura also played that blue haired magical girl/magician Kiichi in Karneval.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10997 comments
Wow, this is turning into all kinds of blue haired mahou shoujo crazy…
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Wow! First episode in and it was great. To me, it was a blend of magical girls, Black Rock Shooter and Persona 4 thanks to the Tarot cards unleashing power. The premise had me skeptical but some of that faded with the surprisingly nice OP and I got won over once the supernatural stuff kicked in.
The character designs on the normal people are odd but it goes well with the girls with powers who showed up at the battle in the burning building. The best looking one next to Akari for me is the ice girl though the ice on her look more like diamonds. I haven’t seen Madoka so in my opinion, Akari is more like a flat chest Yuki Yoshida from Kore wa Zombie.
Things got dark in a hurry. What caught me off guard were the brutal deaths in such a seemingly innocent looking show. Now I have no idea what to expect. The deaths have a sort of BRS effect. Once the individuals have been killed, reality gets altered as if they never existed just like in BRS when the each girl was killed in other world, their reality along with their memories are changed.
The three episode process is not needed this time. I’ll be watching this series no matter what. All that’s needed is to make sense of the story. Akari awakening on the anniversary of her mother’s death is too much of a coincidence. And what are the odds her mother was the same thing she’s now become before she died and it was the reason she tried to keep her from Tarot cards in the flashbacks?
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10997 comments
I’m still thinking of this show as it’s own animal, rather than alluding to Madoka or BRS. Those are great comparisons, but I don’t want it to override what I feel to be an original program.
Oh, I loved that OP, waiting for a drop of the tv sized version with baited breathe. And the animation for it was just right.
Yeah, the PV and CM material sold me on the show months before the first episode. But now the deal is totally sealed.
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
See, I didn’t think BRS at all while watching this.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10997 comments
Well, I’m like the Anti-Taichi. I dump all my memorization when I watch a new episode/play a new hand of karuta.
About the only thing that tugs at me is the familiarity of VA and character design. I will pause the episode and look it up. Goodness, but I love the internet…
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
I thought of it after the girl was killed then the next day, it was as if she never existed while for BRS, those killed lose their memories as if they were never the previous person they were.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10997 comments
But here, the entire Real World is going along with it. This is like, Apocalypse storytelling going down.
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
Ah, see even then, I thought of the disconnect between the mahou shoujo’s attitude and regular Akane before the existence thing. Maybe because that plot aspect didn’t really catch my interest in BRS.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
I saw that aspect in BRS much like the setting in The Matrix. Whatever happens to you there will be the same result in the real world. Only that with BRS, those who died in the other world are still alive in the real world but with altered memories.
POWUH: 1000-1099 and Pirate King with 1048 comments
I too felt a similarity to BRS, mainly the parts I didn’t like of the OVA series more than the TV series which I thought improved just a touch. The action looks like it will be nice, but personally, because I feel like I’ve already gone through this situation (like BRS) where I went along with watching the bad drama to get to the cool alternate world, I’d rather use my time elsewhere than keep up with this series.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10997 comments
This is why I’ve avoided comparisons. The pacing is already better than BRS, and it keeps up with Madoka rather well in terms of potential surprises.
I don’t think you’ll have to walk a mile to appreciate the show…
POWUH: 1000-1099 and Pirate King with 1048 comments
Enjoy the show if you choose, I just can’t watch 20-30 shows a season like most others here can, so I make it easy for myself to cut shows on my own volition.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10997 comments
You wield a great power. There are maybe, three shows I would drop this season. Bringing me to about 20. With my 55 hour/or so work week, this is going to be a challenge.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
I’m not even sure I, myself, can manage between 20-30 shows so I do the best I can with my choices.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10997 comments
Yeah, it does come down to schedule. For me, the Monday Stretch from about, whenever I wake up (around 8 am) to about noonish, is when I catch up. That’s like eight or nine shows there.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
It’s the second week, and I tallied 23 that I’ve watched the first episode to. The hard part for me isn’t going to be finding time to watch stuff, it’s keeping up on shows being released, so that they don’t fall by the wayside. The more that’s on CrunchyRoll, tho, the easier it is, since I can just click ‘Updated’ and look from the top down to the last thing I watched.
POWUH: Beginner (20-35) with 24 comments
This is just a theory that popped into my head due to the whole tarot theme they have. We’ve seen Akari use the sun card for her transformation, and the monsters have tarot cards as their ‘cores.’ I’m suspecting that the plot revolves around two waring tarot decks, one which is ‘good’ while the other the flip, aka ‘evil.’ How sentient and malignant they actually are remains to be seen.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10997 comments
That is a mad/awesome theory…
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Did any of you guys get a look at Fantasista Doll? It’s interesting and I think anyone who has taken a liking to Genei wo Kakeru Taiyou will feel the same way about that series.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10997 comments
I did, and I think it’s rather generic compared to the other two offerings of MS this season. Which is not to say it has no potential.
POWUH: Beginner (20-35) with 21 comments
This summer’s gonna be full of cute and adorable characters:) yippiieeee!!!
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Three Mahou Shoujo series this season. That statement goes without saying.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
I dunno, I think the Mahou Shoujo shows are outcuted by Love Lab and Stella C3. And that’s without bringing the 900-pound Gorilla of Cute: Kiniro Mosaic.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
The King Kong of moe. I forgot about that one. That series is a one-hit KO of cuteness and the HGGGNNN levels are high. I recommend a hazmat suit when watching.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10997 comments
Shinobu becomes so infatuated with Alice, that she grabs her and makes a bee-line to the top of the Sky Tower. Scramble the bi-planes, queue the machine guns.
Twas beauty that slayed the beast…