1st Impression: Queen's Blade

Name: Queens Blade
Genre: Fantasy; Supernatural; Action; Ecchi
Studio: ARMS

Forgive me on the details, but I believe the "Queens Blade" is a contest held between powerful warriors to determine the next warrior queen. Having only watched the 1st episode no other plot indication has been given, except that the story may revolve around a family of warrior sisters and a vagrant warrior/thief.


Based on a manga I have never read, I was solely attracted to this title by the accompanying picture of the characters in full battle gear and the word ecchi in the caption.

An action packed 1st episode and a few very interesting battle techniques have left me with high expectations for the remainder of the series, whether my expectations will be met is yet to be seen.
As I've mentioned already, the biggest selling point of this anime will be the ecchiness of the show and boy is it available in copious amounts. The Queens Blade contest certainly seems to be a no-holds-barred, clothing optional type of contest.

The animation style is reminiscent of DBZ, sporting full-bodied female characters which I rather favour over the disproportioned females of other fighting type shows.
All been said, I really will only be watching this show for one reason.

1st Impression: K-ON!

Name: K-ON!
Genre: Slice of Life; Music; Comedy
Studio: Kyoto

Its Yui's 1st year in high school and she decides to join a new club at school. She decides to join the Light Music Club (K-ON) despite not being musically talented in any way whatsoever. The club comprises of three other members, each distinctively different but all share something in common.

Now it should be known that I am not the biggest fan of slice of life shows. I find them often pointless and lacking in much depth, however I don't know why, but i have this weird feeling about K-ON!.

Perhaps it is the somewhat dry humour used in the show which isn’t shoved in your face, but its there and for those who pay attention can be extremely funny. It may also be the all girl cast (well, they haven’t introduced a male character yet), although I don't think so - it’s not ecchi, let me repeat that: no harem here, it is not ECCHI.

The animation style is very modern, but not too realistic as they make fair use over-sized & chibi styles to portray different emotions. Overall its very smooth, sleek and soft on the eye which is greatly supported by the mellow BGM. However this is a music anime and if the intro & outro are anything to go by, I expect this to change in the near future or at least during their performances.

Bottom-line, it’s funny and fresh (to me) and very easy to watch, especially as a mental break between my favourite deep thought provoking shows.

Spring Anime 2009 - 1st Impressions

Its April and that means its the beginning of the spring anime season in Japan and a whole slew of brand new shows for me to procrastinate time away.

For a neatly colated list of the spring anime line-up, you would do well to have a glance at Animebreaker's Spring 2009 Anime list. Or if you wih to read the article which inspired mine, check out Anime News networks Spring 2009 Preview Guide.

So, after the "Week of Ends" as I like to call it and the minor bout of depression that accompanies it (RideBack I miss you!); I was eventually able to dive into some of the new shows. I thus prepared this article - My 1st impressions on those shows which I tip to be moderate-to-big successes this season.

To make for easier searching, I will upload each review as an individual post. And without any further hesitation, in no particular order...

Disclaimer: Just let it be known that I have done very little research on any of these shows and any "facts" stated within has been obtained from any previous anime knowledge that I may have aquired. Lastly, and this goes without saying - the article is purely of my own opinion and hence will probably contain some heavy biases towards my preferences.