I had to change the name of this series of posts, as I’ve been procrastinating a bit lately. These posts are no longer just about the first episodes, but about the first few episodes, as in some cases, multiple episodes may have aired. I’ll specify how many episodes I’ve currently seen of each show.
Kemurikusa
1 episode
By the creators of the original Kemono Friends, this show has the love and care that Kemono Friends had back in the day. Many people watched that show and loved it. Well, I dropped it initially and am picking it up again now after watching the first episode of Kemurikusa.
This first episode was great. First of all, let us address the elephant in the room. Just like Kemono Friends, this anime is 3DCGi with traditional backgrounds. However, unlike Kemono Friends, I feel like they managed to really make the CG look good in this. While I don’t mind the CG in Kemono Friends either, it had a lot more janky scenes in the first episode than this has.
The CG style they’ve gone for works so well, probably because it looks distinctly like anime. What they do is cut on animation by not having constant movement, which actually works better. I tend to dislike any shows made by Polygon Pictures (Ajin, Blame! Movie, Godzilla), not because it looks bad if you pause on a frame, but because there are constantly minor movements that make it really jarring to look at when the framerate is low. Minor movements also look a lot better in live action than it does on a stylized character. Having clear movement remedies the lower framerate and makes the CG stand out less.
I’ve played in a musical once, and back then there was this guy that always moved his feet when he was talking. He couldn’t stand still. The director told him clearly that if you’re gonna move, do it with intent. The constant small movements don’t look good on a stage and make you seem nervous instead. There’s something similar to be said about anime. Minor movements can look good if done with intention and at a higher framerate, but if they’re just there because they can and at a lower framerate, it looks quite janky. That’s why I really like how Kemurikusa does the CG
Obviously, it has its faults. Some scenes are animated pretty badly, where characters don’t seem to interact properly with the world. It also suffers a bit from a distance when there are too many lines that are thick. There’s also no anti-aliasing on the lines. However, the last point I don’t mind, as I find a certain charm to it.
The main reason why I like this, however, is the mystery. This show presents us with a world that is quite different from our own. We learn that there are huge creatures out to get the main characters, we also know that there are clones of a certain character. We learn that they are in dire need to get water for a tree that grows what they can use as a weapon against these huge creatures.
What we don’t know is, why are there only three people there (one has many clones though). Why does one of the characters have clones and not the others? Where do these creatures come from? Why are they after the main characters? Why is there no other people around? Where is that plant from? How did a human suddenly show up in the water pump?
The last part is also quite interesting, the human that suddenly show up in this strange world. It makes for a really cool subversion of the isekai tropes. Suddenly the main character isn’t the person that is transported. We don’t hear the thoughts of that character either and we don’t know where he’s from. He’s a mystery so far.
Well, in general, after an episode, I’m totally into this show, and I am seriously looking forward to the rest of it!
Domestic Girlfriend
1 episode
Having read a lot of the manga a long time ago, I was looking forward to the anime coming out. I can’t say it was that good of an adaptation, but it’s not horrible. I don’t like the overabundance of chromatic aberration, but other than that, the art looks pretty alright to me. The voice actor of the main character wasn’t really what I imagined either. I got the feeling he was a bit more assertive than this. But I guess it’s not wrong like this either . . .
In general, I was just not that impressed. It’s not bad per se, but the manga was just better. I feel like the manga is a bit scummier as well, which I kinda prefer. In anime, it feels a bit clishéd and some of the lines can be a bit cringy. I recommend the manga, but the anime, so far, isn’t as good. I’d also like it if they showed boobs later on, as the manga didn’t censor those parts. But it’s anime, so that will probably not happen. All nudity seem to be censored away from modern anime.
Grimms Note The Animation
a few minutes
I literally have to look up which anime this is to write about it because I really can’t remember what it was about. Oh, yeah, it was that one. Well, I dropped it within a few minutes. Had nothing on display, and just felt like a generic show. It’s based on a game and has “the animation” in the title, so it’s pretty much destined to be a bad show anyways. Perhaps I’m wrong, and if I am, I’ll pick it up again. I don’t think I am though.
Meiji Tokyo Renka
1 episode
The fact that this is based on a game comes as a huge surprise to me. I just looked it up right now. I tend to not be interested in shoujo or anime with a lot of males either. However, every time they introduced a new male character, I was laughing out loud. It was simply hilarious. The art was pretty to look at, especially the colors. I was pretty impressed when the dancers weren’t in CG. Though, I rewinded a couple of times and saw that some of the dancers were copy pasted. Couldn’t see that until I looked at the scene multiple times, so I don’t mind. A pretty good anime so far. I think I’ll probably end up dropping it soon though.
Boogiepop & Others
2 episodes
Just hearing the name, I was hyped. I have not seen the original yet, but I have always had the feeling that I would probably love this series, as it’s psychological. However, going into it I was pretty disappointed. This shows signs of a poor adaptation. Similar signs that made me check out the source on other series in the past. First of all, I know from people that have read the source that it’s currently set out to adapt the first volume in just three episodes. This is pretty insane, as in general, a 12 episode show tend to adapt two volumes of the light novels they are based on. It’s even more insane when you know that the first volume (at least) is actually pretty long compared to most light novels
The problems it’s showing is going to fast, glossing over important things. I was pretty confused throughout, but not in the good way that Kemurikusa did. Nope, I was just really confused. I know I’m supposed to not understand everything, but I just had problems understanding any scene at all. Who was that character again? Have we seen this guy before? What kind of person is this? Those are the kind of questions I have, not, what is happening in the background? Which is apparently what I should be asking myself. This could be in part because of the pretty generic character designs in the adaptation.
I’ve decided to drop this for now. Instead of watching the anime, I’m gonna read the novel. I tried reading a preview of the novel and was intrigued after just 2 pages (of an ebook on a small screen, so probably the equivalent of a page). Why watch an anime of something I think I’d love, but don’t, when the source has me intrigued from just the introduction?
Summary
I am impressed by how many shows I thought I’d love have been kinda disappointing and shows I thought I’d dislike has turned out to be great. Anyways. here are the scores for these shows so far if anyone wants to see how I think of them in comparison to each other:
Kemurikusa: 8/10
Domestic Girlfriend: 6/10
Grimms Note The Animation: N/A
Meiji Tokyo Renma: 7/10
Boogiepop & Others: 3/10
Reina’s Ramblings 
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