Natsuiro Kiseki

[Fumoffu!!]

1:

Oh lord. Why did I decide to watch this? Probably because I thought I hadn't seen the moe with 4 girls type of anime in a while. Turns out it isn't moe.

So, after a brief flashback that gives us what I though would be a good idea of most the characters personalities, well, I was slightly wrong, I'll move on to that. We're thrown into some crappy melodrama where Natsumi told Saki that their friendship would be at an end if she didn't come to tennis practice anymore, with Saki the replying with "Okay then" and casually strolling off.

Yuka seems a pretty annoying character, loud, whiny, and a laugh that makes me want to murder. Rinko seemed like the quite one, but she's more outgoing than the usual repressed character, [Added 8 minutes later] ah, she's just a lackey of Yuka, booo, minus points.

I felt I was trying to hate it, so I decided to try to like it, with this in mind, we find out that Saki is leaving, and transferring to Tokyo, as AC would say, "that old chestnut". I think to myself that perhaps this could explain the characters actions, and perhaps there's hope after all. The show, as if sensing this, decided to quickly deal with this "hope" and gave us a scene where Saki and Tatsumi pointlessly mouthed off at one another, where Saki blatantly lied about promising about going to the Nationals in tennis. This is really annoying because you know all this time that the show is going to try and spin it so she is only reacting to bad circumstances, where really her actions are irrational, bitchy and confrontational.

Oh, and it gets worse, the scene at the beginning is repeated, begging the question of "why show it twice?". Then there's some shit where they get high and hallucinate themselves flying together. Wait, that was supposed to have actually happened?

Now I've posted this, I will continue this crapfest to the end. The character designs are fairly pleasant, and I don't dislike Tatsumi, but that's all the show has going for it. I don't think this will even be enjoyable in the Symphogear kind of way, but it's only the first episode.

Predicted rating: I'd say 2, but I'll go with the more conservative 3

[Shadowmage]

Unlike Fumoffou!!, I actually have reasonably high expectations of this show as it is directed by Seiji Mizushima (Fullmetal Alchemist, Gundam 00) and is a Sunrise production. 

That being said, this first episode is a very weird way to start a series.  Normally, you want to present the basic quirks of the characters, the world they occupy and the conflict they must overcome.  This first episode runs headlong into a piece of drama normally reserved for the midpoint of a show when we have more of an attachment to the characters and can empathize with their problems.  I'm not sure why the show starts off on a big piece of melodrama, but it creates a setup that I do find kind of interesting.  Now, exactly how long you can stretch out a story of two friends feuding due to circumstances beyond their control is something the series is going to have to deal with. 

Right now my overall opinion of Ntsuiro Kiseki is up in the air even more than when I watched the preview since I had 2 to 1 odds that the girls would summon a giant robot with their seance.  I was wrong... and now I don't know where they're going to go with this.

[Delphinox]

1:

The character designs along with the idea of four friends really reminded me of Toaru Kagaku no Railgun (which is probably why I even bothered looking at this show), and on further inquiry it turns out the same person in charge of Railgun’s character design is at work here. It's too bad the show didn’t borrow the chemistry between Railgun’s characters as well.

The main problem I have is how hard the characters clash already and how difficult it is to watch them as a result. Notably, this reflects the most on Saki, who, as Fumoffu mentioned, hasn’t really justified her actions as anything more than self-centered and immature. The fights between her and Tatsumi stoop down to the level of back-and-forth squabbles I’ve heard between grade-schoolers, and while they’re fighting throughout the episode, Yuka and Rin are observing all of this as if they’re barely aware of the fact that their two friends are fighting.

The scene at the stone was particularly awkward. Yuka gathered them all at the stone with presumably the intention to get Saki and Tatsumi to make up, so why approach it in a roundabout manner that you brought up in grade school instead of getting to the root of the problem? Not to mention that when that inevitably doesn’t work, Rin, who up until her moment had garnered no sense of presence whatsoever as a character, suddenly looks up at the sky – and that’s all it takes for all four of them to get on the same page. And fly as well!

…Not buying it. The show will hopefully sort itself out with a bit of time, but the cast has already started off on a seriously bad note.

[AC]

1:

If I were to summarize what this show is more or less about, it's would "Tamayura template with Ano Natsu elements and Toaru designs". Yeah, that's what it is: it looks like Toaru, it feels like Ano Natsu and it behaves like Tamayura or another one dime-a-dozen 4-girl slice of life title. It's not bad, but the premises did initially put me off into thinking "oh no, not another show with the same premises".

But what perhaps keeps me watching is the drama. Yes, the petty squabbling, immature angtsy attitudes, friends sticking together, fulfilling childhood dreams...come to think of it, the Japanese really have a thing with such stories, don't they. Let's see how good this show can be.

[AC]

2:

Man, is this show really flaunting its LAWSON sponsor~

This show is amusing and all, but I just don't see what's so special about it either. A show with 4-girl setup with a summer setting and slice-of-life genre is pretty much a dime a dozen, and it doesn't really have anything unique about it so I ask "so what". The production values are nice and all, but this is just a consolation prize to me.

[leokiko.]

2:

Man, is this show really flaunting its LAWSON sponsor~

This show is amusing and all, but I just don't see what's so special about it either. A show with 4-girl setup with a summer setting and slice-of-life genre is pretty much a dime a dozen, and it doesn't really have anything unique about it so I ask "so what". The production values are nice and all, but this is just a consolation prize to me.

Yuri.

 

[AC]

Yuri.

 

[Shadowmage]

2

Oh, so this is a "power of friendship" show.  Well, f$#*.

[Major Tom]

I watched the first episode and there really wasn't anything that grabbed me, unlike the WFTness of Upotte! or the creepiness of girlfriend X.  It was just....meh.  I'll give episode 2 a chance, but I can't see myself picking this one up.

[Delphinox]

2:

Wait a minute. Was the entire second half of that episode just a goose chase across town?

[Fumoffu!!]

3:

It's got much better that's for certain, however it is still very weak, and also the animation quality dropped this episode.

However, I see there's a love interest for one of them which puts it outside the usual moe set up of "teenage boys don't exist". I'm hoping for it to improve some more.

[AC]

3:

I know that NatsuKise isn't on top of everyone's "To Watch" list, but I wana take a step further and see what's good/not so good about this show:

As far as the four girls are concerned, I find myself only wanting to see more of Natsumi and Saki and less of Rinko and Yuka. Saki's my favorite character of the series; don't really know why, but perhaps she's the most fetching :V but I find Rinko and Yuka the more boring characters of the lot. In fact, Yuka's airheadedness and whiny voice can rub me the wrong way, and Rinko's listlessness makes me lose my attention. The girls in the show may be cute, but it's imbalanced.

And I can kinda tell how the rock works (perhaps I wanna put spoilers for this):

Spoiler for Hiden:

The rock grants wishes. That's about it. But it doesn't grant people's wishes by mouth per se; it grants people's true wishes. Like how Saki wishes for the girls to fly (and thereby justifying the fib that she's a witch), but deep inside she just wants Daiki and Yuusuke to reconcile. In a way, the rock tries to solve problems the best way possible.

As for the episode, it's more interesting than episode 2's "running around the whole town for half an episode" wild goose chase. I hope it stays this way, and ensure that something happens. Doesn't have to be a complication per se -- this is slice of life, anyway -- but at least something.

[Delphinox]

3:

Damn it. I was probably expecting too much of a Tuck Everlasting-ish scenario when the girls realized that they were seen flying, but the fact that it got mostly swept under the rug made that episode pretty disappointing, albeit in a different way from the first two episodes.

Saki’s starting to grow out of the horrible first impressions I had of her, but now Yuka is more than making up for that. The latter shot down the first third of the episode single-handedly by failing to realize how serious the issue was when Yuusuke saw them flying. Yes, she’s the most outspoken of the four, but she was so horrendously out of tune with the other three that it was painful to listen to what came out of her mouth. A fair amount of potential for the girls to realize that their situation with the rock carries a bit of weight, and the only conclusion they can come to (in no small part because of Yuka) is just not to fly. As for not using the wish-granting rock as an excuse to screw around?

Nah, thought Saki and Natsumi, we’ll worry about the potential implications the rock has later and use it to stick Rin and Yuka together. It’ll be a fun way to get back at them!

It can’t just open the can of worms and get off the hook like that. Sure, we got Daiki and Yuusuke to make up at the end, but what caused their fight to begin with? It’s happened twice now – I could have almost forgotten that Saki was moving if she didn’t bring it up in this episode, and there’s still the looming issue of keeping the wish-granting rock on the lowdown. There’s potential for bigger conflicts and this show seems aware of that, but it just doesn’t know what to do with them yet. Or maybe I’m expecting this show to be more ambitious when it’s quite content with the way things are going now.

[Fumoffu!!]

4:

I thought this episode was good, and not just comparatively.

For one, it was actually quite amusing, secondly, despite the fact that the premise for the episode isn't particularly original, I think the show dealt with the idea well. Also, I'm seen Yuka in a more positive light now, sure she is quite annoying, but I've somewhat grown use to her habits by now.

On a side note, why do you think Rin of all people stopped her? Was it because she realized it wasn't what Yuka wanted? I think it's actually because she has the hots for Yuka, and couldn't stand seeing her kiss him, even if she was in Saki's body. My yuri sensors are going off, I wonder if my guess is right.

[AC]

4:

Well yeah, this episode is just fanservice. But you'd think that seeing Saki acting like that would give me the HNNNGH, eh? No, it didn't. I like Saki as Saki because that's what makes Saki Saki. Get it?