First Impressions – Sabagebu!
Can these girls hit their mark? Lets find out!
We can’t really go a whole year without another girls with guns type of anime, can we? What will Sabagebu bring to the table this time? And will it hold up better than the previous girls with guns shows that we’ve seen recently?
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Woooooooo! Another moe girls with guns anime?! I sure hope Sabagebu performs a bit better than C3-Bu, but I am hearing more comparisons to stuff like D-frag? We shall see how that holds up and personally it feels a bit like Gintama for me especially with the narrator messing around.
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A Different Approach
Skeevy molester guy meets his match
Highway// It was a year ago that Stella Jogakuin Koutou-ka C3-bu premiered with a tremendous first episode filled with action and an awesome soundtrack. And it was a few weeks after that that that show really lost the plot, starting a slide down to mediocrity. It wasn’t necessarily that bad, it was just not that interesting in the way it took Yura through her character arc. And now we’ve got another entry into the same kind of show in Sabagebu! (the ! is in the show title). But right off the bat, there’s a different feel to this show, even though the plot is somewhat similar: survival game club wants to recruit the main character of the show, for fun and continuation. For starters, Momoka Sonokawa, voiced by Ayaka Ohashi (Fantasista Doll, Tesagure Bukatsumono) isn’t anywhere near the shrinking violet type. What she is is a fake. Having transferred schools a lot, she knows how to put on an air of a cute airheaded girl to not be the new girl pariah, even if she hates it. So everything’s going to plan, until she gets caught snooping around the sabagebu clubhouse.
Momoka tried to be the good girl, but when things go bad, the only thing for it is revenge
This club brings ‘desperate for a new member’ to whole new levels. Chaining Momoka up, tricking her into writing her name on a club election form, even drugging her to get her to ‘hand’ it in herself. Miou, the club president, even hangs out with her, undoing all of Momoka’s hard work at positioning herself as noone special by hanging around her, making her look like she’s sucking up to the school idol. But instead of just accepting the apology of the bullies, she visits vengeance on them after Miou gets them to stop bullying her. And that’s not the only off-kilter thing. This club isn’t just the misfits. It’s the school’s most popular girl, a gravure model, the cute girl, and the crafts / cosplay girl. But they are still all weirdos.
A cast of misfits, but not necessarily the normal one
A Different Feel
Maya is slain…
The battle they put Momoka through is also a bit different. The whole thing plays out with augmentation from their imagination, so imagining that it’s real bullets, they get shot through, and plenty of bloody woulds. But it’s not super serious battle, as evidenced by the wounds that Momoka gives Maya, and the real reason that Miou is able to wield the special guns for adults: she is an adult, having to repeat a year in school for misconduct. Not to mention that Momoka tries to spend the whole time saying that it’s not going to show survival games, even though it clearly does. The show, at least so far, is just one big tongue-in-cheek effort, and it works pretty well as that.
And if she can position herself with the cute girls, she’ll go along
Moe Girls With Guns Yo!
Can you find the best character ever?
Fosh// Once again we the odd combination of giving cute girls high powered weapons continues on with Sabegebu, but what will this anime be do differently than C3-bu I guess this is a classic case of needing more material to chew on before we can answer that question; however I have a feeling that Sabegebu will go the route of comedic power instead of following some kind of drama! Hell even the narrator said that this is not going to be drama filled after we saw Momoko getting bullied by the other girls. I swear that whole scene made me laugh especially when she got revenge on the bullies instead of playing the typical everything is cool card and with that level of comedy I can already see where things are going or do you see it differently?
While the comedic moments had me laughing I enjoyed seeing the detail spent on the guns! Yeah since this was a low quality episode the detail was a bit off and I know the girls are not using real guns, but hey at least the animation team spent the time to make the weapons appear to be realistic looking. Besides that did anyone notice Kayo was totally cosplaying as Jill Valentine from Resident Evil 3? I wonder what other video game characters she plans on dressing up as? My money is on Laura Croft or maybe some more Capcom related shooters maybe Trisha from Devil May Cry or Regina from Dino Crisis? Whatever she chooses I will have to keep an eye on that! So who did you like out of the main cast of girls? So far it was a toss up between Miou for acting completely insane on the train and Momoka because she had some hilarious expressions or maybe Maya cause she was rocking that outfit during the game! Damn girl…
Extra Moe Guns
Indirect kissing with toast.
I love Momoka’s expressions!
Duel wielding guns!? Take that Kirito!
muhahahahaha
End Thoughts
Not a bad start to another survival game club show, with some good efforts to differentiate it from the other girls survival game shows. It was much less about setting a mood and much more about making jokes. We’ll see if it can keep that separation from the other shows, and keep being fun to watch, as Momoka gets pulled more into the group. Sometimes coopting the tsukkomi works well (like in Kitakubu Katsudou Kiroku, where it got better when Natsuki just learned to accept she was in the group) and sometimes it just defangs them too much.
Wow that was such a fantastic episode even if it was lacking in the quality department! So what did you think about this episode? Do you plan on watching more? I think I will watch more just to see what outfit Kayo throws on next and what other crazy thing the survival club pulls Momoka into next, but I know for sure that I was already planning on watching this series regardless if it becomes popular or not.
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 10998 comments
I really wanted to hate this show, due to leftover angst for C3..but darn if it doesn’t take the wheel…doesn’t reinvent..but takes it for a new spin…
For one thing it isn’t that ultra serious, and is kind of a piss take on the whole girls with guns genre. Ah well, that which is last, is first…
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
I didn’t really like that angst moments of C3-bu! Those parts made me feel annoyed and turned me off, but I guess some people enjoy seeing characters suffer which is fine! I just didn’t find that appealing.
I love the comical side of Sabagebu and it doesn’t want to be taken seriously and I can bet they saw how C3-bu went and wanted to be different instead of copying that one? I dunno I had fun <3
POWUH: 400-499 with 462 comments
I only got a few episodes into C3-bu because it started getting into drama in a manner that didn’t appeal to me. So far this show looks to be more to my taste. Cynical sadist protagonist seems far less likely to cause angst.
PS: I refuse to let a comment on this episode go by without mentioning that the twintailed club member totally stole her name from Cure Lemonade. 😛
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
Ya? Same the drama of C3-bu came off as super forced! That did not appeal to me as well and I agree with you hopefully Sabagebu maintains their level of comedy.
Ahaha nice! I haven’t even started Yes 5 yet! I think I was about 6 or more episodes into it? Good find on the names wow xDD
POWUH: 700-799 and Parkouring Fanboy with 776 comments
The one word that best describes the show for me is “retro.” From the very start with that cold open with the wacky confrontation with the would-be molester, this show felt like it had been transplanted from the 90s or late 80s. The OP with its soft lighting and use of classic techniques like pans over posing characters drove home the connection. Same goes for the slapstick comedy throughout the episode. Sure, there are plenty of slapstick comedies out these days, but the animation style and the mediocre animation quality of those gags made it feel like I was watching something from 20 years ago.
Also, screw all of you and your shitty taste! Stella Women’s Academy High School Division Class C3 was excellent, at least when it wasn’t struggling with animation quality issues (that island episode was one of the worst things I’ve seen). I’d be delighted if Sabagebu! ended up half as good. It seems to be taking a pure comedy route compared to C3-bu‘s character study one, but I was laughing pretty hard throughout this first episode, so this show certainly has a shot. One thing I did like a lot was the narrator telling us outright that it’ll take a fantastical approach to depicting the airsoft battles. C3-bu had similar scenes where the battles were depicted as real battles, but it wasn’t consistent, sometimes showing realistic battles, sometimes showing the battles without fantasy but with the characters pulling off insane/impossible moves (wall runs, flips), sometimes going full fantasy but then making it seem like the fantasy was actually real… sticking to one system and excelling in it would have been better. Maybe this show will do that.
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
Hahahah I didn’t realize it had a retro feel to but now that you mention it you are right! It totally does.
LOL! I loved C3-bu I just didn’t really care for the drama moments and agreed some of the artwork was struggling a lot in certain episodes. Yeah I think Sabagebu will definitely focus on the comical side and yeah!!! That narrator was quite hilarious! I certainly hope things will stay in the illusion world while these girls play airsoft hahah
POWUH: 900-999 with 915 comments
It’s so weird seeing the lack of moral in Momoka after expecting something closer to C3, she’s almost the opposite of C3’s lead. Not saying that I don’t like it though. I liked the serious take on pellet fights, but the not-so-serious is good as well. Feels like a caricature of C3, with the whole transfering situation, and the all-girls school and the desperate search for new club members. Miou’s melon pan was like Rento’s cake trap done right. And Momoka don’t even try that hard, she just shoot and hit, so we probably don’t have to worry with her trying to be the best of all times because she doesn’t have anything better to do. She’s the best, no doubt, if she can shoot someone’s boobs so easily…
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
I don’t know if it’s a lack of morals or ethics, it’s just in a different place: She’s not afraid of exacting petty vengeance. She certainly fits in with the Sabagebu, since Miou poisoned her and fraudulently locked her into the club. Also, the club members were fine with chaining her up.
As an aside, I liked Rento’s cake trap because it was a wonderful exploitation of cultural values, and because Rento was a great character. And you can’t say that it didn’t work.
POWUH: 900-999 with 915 comments
If you think about it, there were like dozens of hidden cake traps until the girl joined the C3-bu XD
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
Momoka was AWESOME! Finally a female lead who is like FK THE RULES and actually got some much needed revenge on those mean girls! Then again I think most people found that to be not as funny as me? Guess they took it way to serious? Anyway I am quite pleased that all the girls of Sabagebu are completely mental unlike the super serious cast of C3-bu~
POWUH: Metanorn Regular with 77 comments
Momoka’s the best MC in quite a while.
The second episode is sidesplittingly funny.