Valvrave the Liberator
Early First Impressions: First of all- that theme song "Preserved Roses"? Mmmm, yes! I love T.M. Revolution and I love Nana Mizuki, so I was absolutely thrilled to hear them teaming up.
Otherwise, this series has done a fairly good job of attracting my interest thus far. It may stray close to becoming another Code Geass rip-off, but I'm willing to give it the benefit of the doubt for now. The interesting difference to this series is that Haruto chose to sacrifice his humanity in order to pilot Valvrave, and we're just beginning to see what the implications of that might be. Is he turning into a vampire/body snatcher? And will he ever be able to have a relationship with Shouko as a consequence? And what kind of a name is L-elf? So far, I'm definitely willing to find out more!
Suisei no Gargantia
Early First Impressions: Solid opening theme by Minori Chihara. It's about on par with your average opening theme, but still pleasant to listen to every week.
The show, however, is thus far my favorite of the season. I like action series that are balanced fairly with plot and character, and this one is doing a fantastic job of generating feels towards characters like Amy and Ledo while still providing a powerful conflict and battlegrounds. The landscape and art is beautiful, and I LOVE how they worked out the language difference so it doesn't come across that everyone magically speaks Japanese, even though they make it the language of the focus character for convenience. Can't wait to find out more and learn if Ledo will ever rejoin the fight against the Hideauze.
Early First Impressions: Opening theme "Tomo yo" is good for an action/comedy series, but my favorite themes are generally the more serious ones. Not bad, though!
The show itself is not something I'd usually watch, but I can't resist things set in Japan's historical era, and picked it up anyways. Luckily, the characters are pretty fun, and I love all the nut-job hair designs like crazy. Plotwise, it's fairly simple and not particularly cutting edge, but it gives me my Edo fix this season, so it's a nice break considering all the other titles I'm watching right now are fairly serious.
Attack on Titan
Early First Impressions: "Guren no Yumiya" is by far my favorite theme of the season. Fantastic job by Linked Horizon.
I was a little nervous when I started the show because of the violence. I can't tolerate excessive blood even in anime, and when I saw the Titan take a bite out of the townspeople, I thought I was going to be a little bit sick. Luckily, the plot has far outstripped my squeamishness, and I'm thoroughly enjoying this dark tale of survival and revenge. As a main character, Eren is a bit of a sourpuss, but his determination in living and trying to give others the chance to live is quite refreshing, even if he does enter jerkass mode from time to time (or the majority of the time). The cast of characters is probably my favorite of the season (although I really, really like Amy and Ledo from Gargantia) and I am convinced Potato Girl will become a legend.
Karneval
Early First Impressions: "Henai no Rondo" already brought a smile to my face simply because it's a good male vocal, which we didn't get that much of last season. Great performance by GRANRODEO, and those instruments at the beginning are yummy.
The plot at first was a bit confusing for me to unravel, but now that I'm starting to figure things out, I'm beginning to become quite the Karneval fan. As a josei series, it's aiming right at the heart of my bishounen, ho-yay laden tastes. There seems to be a lot of unresolved secrets introduced, and I'm itching to learn more (since I haven't read the manga), and hoping to see some character development with Nai, our shy main character. I'm already in love with Gareki though, so I'll be sure to watch the next episodes quite attentively!
Arata Kangatari
Early First Impressions: "Genesis Aria" by Sphere is not bad as an opening, but is easily beat out this season by better tracks
This series probably isn't high on most people's too watch list this season, but it hits at quite a bit of things I love, namely the historical fantasy genre with a dash of sword fighting, time travel, and character developing journeys. It follows a standard trading lives with a stranger trope, but I'm a sucker for the fantasy setting and political intrigue of Arata Hinohara's new life, and I'm eager to watch him become a better man for it. However, I can't be the only one wondering what's happening with the other Arata in Japan. Isn't Bully-kun going to notice the change in personality? And what's the deal with Bully-kun and Hinohara anyways? I'm fine waiting for now, but if the series doesn't answer these questions soon, I'm going to start breathing fire!
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