Josh: This series has at least started off somewhat promising, but I still can’t shake the feeling that I’ve basically seen these characters and this story, in some form or variation before…several times.  Maybe this show will put them all together in some unique combination, or maybe it’ll just be the same show we’ve seen 3 times before already.  For some reason I got a feel for this show that is some strange mix of Shuffle and Asura Cryin’ or something along those lines (with bonus Pandora Hearts attack chains).

This is based off an eroge, so I guess I shouldn’t be too shocked at the fan service, and perhaps glad that it isn’t more prominent, but the more we have seemingly pointless fan service, the more points the show loses.  Some shows can survive such displays (I consider Shuffle one of them), but many do not, in my opinion.  Throw in some sexual harassing tentacles and the ever omnipresent anemia, and the start of this series feels a bit too cliched for it’s own good, despite it’s somewhat uniqueness.  Nevertheless, This is probably one of the top 4 shows that I’m watching this new season (out of 7 that have started).

Polaryzed: Well, as I’ve said before, fantasy anime aren’t really my thing.  However, I was intrigued by the promotional material, and since I’m such a big idiot I always watch almost ALL new series anyway.  I’ve only watched the first episode, but here are the things I liked so far: pantsu and fan service.  What I didn’t like: the rest.  The animation was sketchy (and it’s only the first ep!), the premise seemed the same as a thousand series before it, and let’s face it, the monsters were really lame looking.  I’ll almost never dis a series for fan service, and this is no exception.  In this case, however, the fan service might not be enough to draw me back.

On the bright side, there was a lot of mystique surround the whole sister death, the parallel world, etc., making things interesting.  But intrigue alone isn’t enough to sustain a good show.  You need good characters to help maintain the effect and so far the characters are very one dimensional.  In fact, the show lost a lot of points for me when the male protagonist proclaims in the first episode one of my most loathed lines in anime: “No matter what I will protect you!“  Ugh.  I don’t mind that line so much if the series has drawn you into the characters and you WANT him to protect her as much as he does.  Not so much here.

I’ll probably give this series until episode 3 to improve or I drop it.