First Impression – Seiken Tsukai no World Break
Worst To First?
Heyoooo! Just because I’m doing a lot of continuing shows doesn’t mean I’m not going to help with the first impressions. Let’s keep the train a-rollin’ with Seiken Tsukai no World Break.
An Awful Start
“You guys hold him off, I’m gonna just finish up this blog post…”
This show had a bunch of stuff stacked up against it before it even started playing. First of all, watching it on Crunchyroll, it has an awful title. World Break: Aria of Curse for a Holy Swordsman. Ewwwww. Who thought that was a good idea? “I know, let’s just throw in a lot of chuuni words and see if they make sense!” It doesn’t help that it reminds me not of Aria the Animation, but Aria the Scarlet Ammo. There are worse things to be compared to, but not many. And then… the opening. From the mysteriously floating dragon, to the shimmery aura around everyone, it doesn’t start out with a good look. And then for the guy who’s presumably the hero to spend a full minute of the 2 and a half minute intro writing out a spell in the air in front of him was ludicrous. I was literally laughing at how bad this felt. Then, they blew up the castle they seemed to be trying to save, and had someone talking about analogies about “a speck of gold in gray gravel.”
Wakey wakey, here comes headachey
I mean, this was inspired, because I don’t know how you can start off this badly if you’re not trying really hard. And to cap it all off… this was the end of the show, which pulled the terrible stunt of saying “This is what happens at the end of the show, now we’ll go back 6 months to show you what’s going to happen.” You mean, this is what we have to look forward to at the end of the show? Or at least sometime in the future? It’s like they’re trying to keep as many people from continuing as possible. Even the beginning of the exposition wasn’t helping, with Moroha falling asleep during the entrance assembly, seemingly giving us permission to do the same. He can’t even stay awake to see Miki-Miki in a witch hat. And noone wakes him up when it’s over, they just leave him there. They don’t even draw on his face or anything. Meanwhile, the dream he has is more laughable action, like running through a army of guys in a square formation and leaving a literal wake of blood. It’s almost like the show couldn’t get any worse.
Shizuno goes for the contrast
Miraculous? Not Really. But a Bit Remarkable.
Moroha, Satsuki, and Shizuno on their way to practice
And somehow, from this point, it doesn’t. It actually recovers somehow. Of course one girl stays behind to wake Moroha up and it’s love interest #1, Satsuki Ranjou, voiced by that veteran of wincest Ayana Taketatsu, who immediately starts calling him “Nii-sama” and referencing their past lives. Yes, the power these people have is because they are reincarnations of other people and use the memories to be superpowered. It doesn’t take long for love interest #2 to show up in the person of Shizuno Urushibara (Aoi Yuuki) either, starting us down the road of jealousy for Satsuki. But a lot of what made this show better from this point was the interactions between Shizuno and Satsuki, and also Satsuki’s earnestness. Unfortunately a lot of Satsuki’s earnestness plays as “trying too hard”, like when she picks a fight with the class big man, Isurugi, and loses not too badly, but in a very obvious way.
“I’ll just help myself”
And Shizuno does well, with things like appearing to steal Satsuki’s fries, or fill us in on some way the world works. These sequences just work well, even if they’re silly and taken over the top, with Moroha spending a minute with his face in Shizuno’s boobs before finding out that Satsuki is “too bony” (although she had convenient boobs in the skinsuit and the shower). But what also works well is that Satsuki isn’t your normal pink-haired ponytail tsundere, as you’d expect from the character type. And her defeat and reflection really helped endear her to me, as well as the admonishment from Shizuno that she look at Moroha fighting for her. By the end of the show I was really interested in what was going to come next, which is surprising given how terrible it started.
Leading him around by the nose… I guess
Bonus Break
A really awful start, and a good finish lead to a show that I’m going to keep watching. There were some things that might be interesting, even if nothing in the show could really be called ‘original’. The “plana” that denotes someone’s superpower mode reminded me a lot of the Symbiote from Spider Robinson’s Starseed and Starmind books. The summoned weapons and past lives and all that jazz is from countless stories. But somehow it worked, and I don’t know if it’s something to credit to Ayana Taketatsu or what, but she was definitely the major character in this episode, and her performance might have saved the show. When I was watching it, I interrupted it to say how awful the start was to some folks online. But by the end I was just surprised at how much it had bounced back. And it’s not just me, as I’m pretty sure the comments will show.
About Highway
Proving that you don't have to be young to love anime, I enjoy all genres and styles of shows. If it's not hurting anyone else, you should never be ashamed of what you like!
POWUH: Meta Team and Meta-Analyst with 3844 comments
My Kami, how many of these shows this season are there? Fapnir, this, Intel Duo, what else did I miss? Can we condense all this into FantaNorn?
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
…no…
POWUH: Meta Team and Meta-Analyst with 3844 comments
Fanta Orange is a nice drink. >_>
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Orange is standard.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
I wouldn’t get my hopes up. MetaFap and MechaNorn is as far as they’ll go.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
I wanted to do one for SoL anime: MetaSlice…but Jrow thought it would be a horror block…it died then and there…
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
I completely agree Highway! This first episode started off super derpy especially with that magical writing in the sky for the “ultimate attack” while everyone else is getting owned! I hope that really is not the freaking ending and maybe things will change?
As much as I hate Oriemo’s Kirino thanks to Ayana Taketatsu she wasn’t as annoying as I thought she was going to be, but having her be defeated and being down on herself was a good touch instead of making it simple for her to win.
I am curious to see the other weapons even though I did not like the odd glow effect they added to the characters LOL
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
This is coming from the dude that doesn’t get the bits and bobs on the Kancolle girls, but I completely dug the writing of the spell…
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
I dug the way they cast it. I like the way they showed it in SAO too. But this was just waaaaaay too long. It was like one of those quests in WoW where Khadgar’s all “You need to keep these guys off of me while I channel this spell” and all you’re thinking is “hurry it the hell up, old man!”
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
“Don’t rush a miracle worker, kid. You’ll get a lousy miracle”
POWUH: Meta Team and Meta-Analyst with 3844 comments
Only because he is not Jesus-Kirito-sama! Jesus-Kirito-sama would work a miracle instantly!
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Ironically, one has actual powers while the other does not.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
I agree it looked cool. However, considering you’re in a heated battle which is a setting for all kinds of unpredictability, it’s like saying you have a death wish staying in one place. Having a long incantation to recite where you could die at any moment is already a lot to accept watching but at least move around to show some sense of urgency, that what you’re doing is indeed necessary and not like you have all the time in the world.
POWUH: Meta Resident with 1557 comments
But that’s the crux of normal spell-casting. You need to devote 100% of your concentration to the spell-casting, otherwise you won’t get the proper results. Even if the world is falling apart around you, no blinking.
But I’m a lover of fantasy magic and thus very biased.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
I kinda liked the glowy effect. It was evident without being obvious. And it’s a lot better than big armor or something for a change.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
I don’t know. It kind of makes them look as though they’re exuding abnormal body heat that a person can actually see.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
If anything, it was a good means of keeping her ego in check. Pride goes before a fall.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
A meh opening in my opinion. I was underwhelmed and unimpressed. Aside from the laughably preposterous battle sequence at the start that needed writing incantations of all things (You’re basically a sitting duck without allies to act as a shield), there was a lot that got to me and did so quickly.
First off, while the idea of using past lives as a means to draw power sounds cool because similar outlets were used for Nobunagun, the story felt cheap and forced to the point I couldn’t get into it. As though being made up as it goes along, no real structure and a great deal was spent trying not to facepalm or roll eyes.
Second is Moroha who is as bland a lead as the anime industry can produce. There’s hardly anything in personality I find likable. The fact of having trouble remembering his name is not a good sign. Right now, he’s like a doormat that lets anything pass. Never mind if he has some great power of whatever because it’s appearing like a mismatch.
Last but not least is Satsuki Ranjou who quickly got on my nerves with her clinginess and brother complex attitude, treating Moroha immensely like someone committing infidelity when they’ve just met. I mean, such a thing can slide later on but this soon is too much. All this overshadows the slight amount of earnestness she has.
Overall, with so much badly done and annoying elements, it’s hard to sort out what little good from the pile. From beginning to end, you’re hard pressed to see the worth in doing the task at all. As a show of leniency, this gets the three episode test. Depending on further development, this might be the first anime on my list this season likely to be dropped because surely with a start-off this weak and unappealing, most have given the show the axe. If they haven’t already done so about halfway through. Maybe less than that.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
The thing is, if people dropped it halfway through or earlier, they missed the better part, or at least what I thought was the better part. I agree that Moroha’s not the best of leads, and I would guess that a huge reason that it’s hard to remember his name is because it’s something boring like “Moroha” versus “Thor”. But it’s not like he’s some new low (Eita from OreShura might be my go-to for that, or perhaps any of the male leads in any Da Capo series).
I thought they did give Satsuki a bit of a reason for feeling so possessive in her mind, since she’s been thinking of Flaga for years. I do think it’s a little bit of a twist on the bro-con thing, since she’s in love with someone who used to be her brother, but the idea might be that she will eventually fall in love with Moroha for who he is, not for being Flaga (or that could go completely wrong…). We’ll see.
But heck, we get the same story from Sailor Moon.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
I’ll go on a little faith based your positive, optimistic points. Believe me, I went in without expectations of any sort but there was so much with this opening that irked me all at once I couldn’t help looking at it in negative fashion. I mean, even the opening for Soukyuu no Fafner: Dead Aggressor – Exodus didn’t make feel as though I was totally wasting my time watching like this.
If Moroha doesn’t gain a bit more personality, he’ll be the main focus of my discontent. It’s already enough with a shaky premise as it is. I’m not impressed with him and that power-up right at the end was too convenient.
Ooh, can’t comment on Sailor Moon, though. With its slow building story and episode release only every two weeks, there’s a lot of catching up to do.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
When I was watching it, after about 5 minutes it was almost like “I’m going to keep watching to see how embarrassed I can feel for this show.” Maybe that’s what got me to the point that I thought it was getting better. But after I described it as “Starts off really terrible, but somehow by the end you like it much more” it got skylion and fosh and Sumairii to watch it and they seemed to have a similar opinion.
It wasn’t like the opening annoyed me or pissed me off. It was more that it was just bad, and you couldn’t see how it could get any better. But somehow it did.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
…yep this show wasn’t on my radar at all. I kinda felt that the other harem shows got there first and I would be at my limit…As it stands this has more appeal than Fafnir in most cases. But the converse is also true.
POWUH: 800-899 and Mad Scientist with 814 comments
Since you saw fit to mention this, for the record your comments did not affect my decision to watch this show. You of all people should know that I always watch (almost) every show that’s airing.
POWUH: 600-699 and LN Enthusiast with 623 comments
Like I said in the Fafnir post, until this aired, that one was the weakest start amongst the magical-fantasy-action-ecchi-harem-LN anime. And then this aired. I didn’t think it would be possible to go lower.
So much things terribly wrong in this premiere. From the lacking exposition to the godawful animation to the characters. Don’t get me started on both fights and how it was stupid to turn your back on the enemy. I was rooting for the big guy even if he’s the ugliest high school student ever(is he even a high school student?)
They could really expand on the past lives’ memories deal and how it seems to affect how the person thinks like with Satsuki’s attachment to Moroha. At least I hope they do touch on that instead of these catfights that feel so flat.
That’s all of the magical-fantasy-action-ecchi-harem-LN anime and this was the worst one so far. It can go any way but if the first few minutes is the indication of what we’ll get later on then I’m not hoping for a lot. Maybe the in-between episodes can surprise me? Yeah, I don’t think so.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
Personally, I think this is the best of the three, and not because I am writing about it (it was a surprise when I looked up “Hmm, who’s writing about World Break… oh it’s me”). I just find Duo too wooden and stiff to really get into the Tor and Julie thing (opinions vary) and Fafnir 1) really annoyed me with the brightness filter (the more I think about it, the less I think that’s some bullshit ‘protect equipment’ reason and more that it’s some “we shouldn’t show bright colors to children” thing) and 2) not a big fan of Iris, although I don’t want her to turn into a dragon.
I guess the thing that grabbed me about this show was Shizuno and Satsuki. One, that Satsuki didn’t turn into Louise / ClaireRouge / super tsuntsun character, but instead stayed openly interested in Moroha (although I can acknowledge that if you wanted the tsuntsun character, then you wouldn’t like her). And two, that those two characters played off each other so well. Maybe the thing that sealed it for me was that scene with Shizuno stealing french fries from Satsuki. Not the Marshmallow Hell for Moroha that followed, but the worrying a fry out from under Satsuki’s hand, like she was unconcerned about the emotionality of her acquaintance. And then to show that more serious side as she focused Satsuki on what was important about Moroha fighting for her sake. I just really liked that character.
POWUH: 800-899 and Mad Scientist with 814 comments
What a shitty way to start a show. I’m more inclined to believe we get used to the low quality of entertainment by the end of the episode.
POWUH: Metanorn Lover with 163 comments
Well… it was better than Fafnir…
POWUH: Meta Resident with 1557 comments
Besides the rapid-motion spell writing and the poor incantation, I enjoyed everything else in the episode. I was originally going to wait for a decent sub, but based on the hate I figured I would check it out to see if it was worth waiting for…
And to my surprise, I enjoyed it. For me it’s now World Break > Testament > Duo / Fafnir.
I like powerful long cast-time spells. They’re hard to pull off in certain situations, but they’re very satisfying when it works (that tension as you’re casting and you see an enemy charging at you… do you stay committed or go into contingency mode? Choices choices…).
POWUH: 600-699 with 691 comments
when i saw the opening i was like “Is he really writing…Now! of all times!” when the show started i was like “Just like when i had 7 seven years…only he’s a teenager…” this passed to be “WTF” then kiss(Urashibara is the best character in the show), after that was the battle and me saying “REKT” by the end of the show i was like “Everyone but Urashibara, the Principal and her loli stalker sucks”