Completed Series: Devil Survivor 2

Series: Devil Survivor 2 (デビルサバイバー２ THE ANIMATION)
Year: 2013
Episodes: 13
Production: Mainichi Broadcasting, Pony Canyon, Sentai Filmworks, Bridge, Devil Survivor 2 Animation Committee, Index

Summary: Mysterious invaders called the Septentriones arrive in Japan and begin attacking the country on a Sunday. To fight back, the heroes in Devil Survivor 2 signed a pact with the devil to become the Thirteen Devil Messengers. The Septentriones show up at least once a day and you have a time limit of seven days to defeat them. ( - MAL )

Catie's Thoughts: An adaptation of another of the Shin Megami Tensei series; Devil Survivor 2 follows in Persona 4: The Animation's footsteps to be exactly like the walkthrough of the game. The benefit to me, however, is that I haven't played the Devil Survivor series (and now, I don't have to!), so the story was entirely original to me. 

It did feel like playing a game, though, with the added bonus of having absolutely no control over the circumstances or the battles. The animation was slick, and the storyline wasn't bad - but it felt like it was lacking something. I enjoyed it overall, the characters were mostly likable, the battles were huge and the quickly deteriorating setting was interesting. The music was not as memorable as P4, but the ending theme was used fantastically. I tend to like it when they can bleed the theme over the last bit of the episode, it adds such heavy atmosphere, especially with the ending song for this series.

Would I buy it? Possibly, if I found it on sale or used. Does not have a particularly high rewatch value for me, but I did enjoy it.

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Series: Hataraku Maou-sama! (はたらく魔王さま!)
Year: 2013
Episodes: 13
Production: Lantis, Pony Canyon, White Fox

Summary: Devil King Sadao is only one step away from conquering the world when he is beaten by Hero Emilia and forced to drift to the other world: modern-day Tokyo. As "conquering the world" are the only skills the Devil King possesses—and are obviously unnecessary in his new situation—he must work as a freeter to pay for his living expenses! ( - MAL )

Catie's Thoughts: Oh my god I thought this show was fantastic. I loved it. My biggest qualms are its wasted potential - there are so many bits of the storyline that could be explored, both on a serious side (Sadao killed a shit-ton of people on Ente Island, he was kinda insane? We just ignoring that? Okay then.) and otherwise. But this was only a single season show, wasn't like they had the time to do two-season story arc. I don't care how many times I have to complain about the new turn of single-season shows, because I will. Every damn time. Ahem.

Oh man, the characters were fantastic. All of them. I love how Alsiel and Sadao just acclimated and became domestic. I loved Lucifer the hikkikomori, Emilia and her best friend, Sadao working at McDonald's - forgive me, MgRonald's - all of it. 

I might have had a tiny shitfit at the blue-haired cupid Sariel. Tiny little one. Eensy. I may have not scraped Sariel!Ed off the ceiling yet. 

Would I buy it? Heartbeat. Yes. Get into my bookshelf.

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Series: Kakumeiki Valvrave (革命機ヴァルヴレイヴ)
Year: 2013
Episodes: 12
Production: Sunrise, Aniplex

Summary: True Calendar (T.C.) 71 - A new age where 70% of the human population lives in space thanks to the development of "Dyson Sphere", a city in space.

The world is divided into two main powers: The Dorssia Military Pact Federation, a power which grew out of a military alliance, and the Atlantic Rim United States (ARUS), which grew in power as it expanded its trade agreements. The minor nation of JIOR has declared neutrality between these two forces and maintains its peace through economic prosperity.

Within the JIOR's Sphere, Haruto Tokishima lived an ordinary life as a high school student in the division known as "Module 77"—until the Dorssian military begins their sudden invasion!

But the whole world will be shaken when Haruto meets the mysterious humanoid weapon, Valvrave! ( -MAL )

Catie's Thoughts: Another series that I was unsure of at the start, that it turned out I loved. While there are certain .. aspects ... of it that I wish hadn't occured, overall the series took a tired premise and put a bunch of newer spins on it that mashed together and made things more interesting to me. Most of the characters I'm ambivalent to - Haruto has possibility to go either way, but L-Elf fascinates me. The whole lot of the cast becomes more and more fascinating as the season progressed, and I have to say that the last pilot's identity ended up surprising even me, and I loved that twist.

I'm glad this one is getting a second season, and that there is more to it. Shoko too, she is amazing, I feel remiss in not mentioning her awesome. She is a new generation's Relena and I am glad to see that there is not the hate that Relena got. (I think it helps somewhat that her character is more personable, but their roles are quite similar.) I'm not as big into mech shows as I once was, I burned out on them fairly quick as they start to blend together quickly, so it's nice to have one that stands out. It's a Sunrise production though, so that explains a lot. There's also this faint tinge of CLAMP to the character designs - they're clearly not, but you can feel the echoes of Geass here.

Would I buy it? Definitely. I enjoyed the season way more than I thought I would, and may even rewatch it.

Completed Series: Karneval

Series: Karneval (カーニヴァル)
Year: 2013
Episodes: 13
Production: Bandai Visual, Manglobe

Summary: Nai searches for someone important to him, with only an abandoned bracelet as a clue. Gareki steals and pick-pockets to get by from day to day. The two meet in a strange mansion where they are set-up, and soon become wanted criminals by military security operatives. When Nai and Gareki find themselves desperate in a hopeless predicament, they encounter none other than the country's most powerful defense organization—"Circus"!! ( -MAL )

Catie's Thoughts: Okay, let's get this out of the way. The main character looks and acts like Rian. If you know who Rian is, great. If you don't, whatever. I maybe screamed about this for the first half of the show and then fell in love with Yogi for the second half. Regardless, this is an enjoyable show, if a bit middling and confused about what it's doing. Yet another one of those series that should be more than one season and feels like it was planned for longer, but let all these plotlines fall apart in the face of a limited space to tell a story.

I love Circus's character designs - also fascinating to me is their eyes. No one's eyes are a single color. And they're not like, shades of the SAME color, they're, like, yellow with a purple tint and it's so weird and fascinating and unique. I love it. 


Would I buy it? Oh yes. If only for Gareki because reasons, okay. And his questionable, likely-influenced-by-Ed clothing choices.