Sket Dance
A show featuring an odd jobs trio comprising one layabout leader, one cute but aggressive female and one serious nerd with glasses, hmm, where have I come across this before? Perhaps sharing voice actors, Sugita Tomokazu (Gintoki Sakata/Kazuyoshi Usui “Switch”) probably not the smartest move either. However Sket Dance is more then just a Gintama rip-off, the Sket cast are not teenage carbon copies of Gintoki, Kagura & Shinpachi, through there are obvious similarities and it has more to do with them being archetypes. Through light-hearted and fairly entertaining, the first episode is pretty much a dud. There is room for potential growth, but odds are the first few episodes will be equally pandering as the introduction process is needlessly dragged out. Sket Dance could go either way.
Initial Rating: 5/10
Maria Holic Alive
Having never watched the first season I went in expecting the worse, but was actually pleasantly surprised. I’m not saying that it was good, just not as bad as I had anticipated. Still there are areas which make my hairs stand on end. The first is the hideous exploitation of gender roles. After recently finishing an emotionally sensitive anime on the issues of transgender and homosexuality (Hourou Musuko), Maria Holic Alive just seems like a massive step backwards and straight into the gutter. Of course I wasn’t naïve enough to think the rules would change overnight, but I now have to question how healthy it is to constantly portray homosexuals as perverts and women as victims of the male gaze (even through in this case the pervert is a female). Regardless, I am going to take a step back with this one and give it the benefit of the doubt. Hopefully it will surprise me in the end. Or at least give me something to rant about later.
Initial Rating: 4/10
A-Channel
A-Channel has a very attractive opening with a solid direction. This is not your typical slice of life, school girls growing up comedy-drama. Sure there’s plenty of kawaii-chan from our four female leads, but there is also a glimpse of the darker side of changing. The story deals with the friendship of Tooru and Run, separated by age, Tooru acts as the overprotective little sister to the dim-witted Run, for good reason as Run demonstrates when she very nearly falls to her death after waving at Tooru from her classroom window. The first episode moved swiftly, exploring Tooru’s feelings of isolation from Run and her new friends Nagi and Yuuko, and becoming in particularly jealous of Yuuko, to a cheerful round of hugging and head patting ending. Overall the drama was flawless, subtle and rich, brimming with potential for further lively developments. Good job.
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