Episode Reaction: Bonjour♪ Koiaji Pâtisserie (恋味パティスリー) Episode 1 – WHY IS IT SO SHORT???

It really breaks my heart when I learn that a two-cour series I was hoping to be twenty-something minutes long per episode is actually five minutes. Sigh. Stop breaking my heart, fall anime. But whatever. To my pleasant surprise, Bonjour♪ Koiaji Pâtisserie is effective in setting everything up in episode one. We got our important characters introduced and just what kind of challenges our heroine may face.

Our episode begins with a girl named Sayuri (finally a character's name I can remember without looking it up!), who's arrived to a baking academy to learn how to become a pâtissière, just like her parents. At this school, she has befriended a girl named Ran (whose name I can remember due to Super GALS!, *cough, cough*) and her first day of school is beginning when the three bitches of the school overhear her conversation on how she's there on a scholarship.

Yeah, I bet. When you have a school that looks like a freaking palace, tuition rates must be high.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! Um, excuse me, but . . . she completely deserves the scholarship because her skills were good—in that, I mean better than yours. The best come up on top: if your skills aren't better, then sorry, you'll have to try harder and get better. So instead of whining about not being good enough, become good . . . bitch.

So anyway, a redhead (and one of the love interests) appears and yells at them to stop arguing and blocking the way. Then, the McGonagall of the school overhears their arguing and shoos them off to hurry to the entrance ceremony. When they leave, she asks Sayuri if it was a mistake to give her a scholarship. On this note, she leaves. Ran explains that that woman is a first-class pâtissière, so you bet your ass she's a stern woman. She kicks out students who she thinks don't have competent skills—and apparently there are countless of them. With this in mind, Sayuri heads to the auditorium where we are introduced to the three other love interests. While she sees they are handsome, Sayuri thinks to herself she has no time for romance as she desires to graduate and become a full-fledged pâtissière.

"...and become one of four guys's girlfriend!"

Despite its short episode length, I really enjoyed this episode. While we have common shoujo tropes in here *cough, cough*bullies*cough, cough* I thought it was an enjoyable watch. Sayuri herself is a likable heroine. While not being very developed, I already admire her determination. She reminds me of Haruka from Uta-Pri in that respect. I hope her personality gets more fleshed out throughout the next twenty-three episodes.

We've only been briefly introduced to our four love interests, but I'm already loving their designs. Three of them are instructors and the redhead is a student. (I believe . . .? I don't know, it's never clearly clarified.) We barely know any of them but they seem to already fall into certain archetypes—nice guy, hothead, shota, and hard-ass—however, I'm expecting them to develop their own unique personalities soon.

I'm not kidding, I thought of Seijuro and Momo from Free! for a second there.

Pretty hot for a teacher, not gonna lie.

He's pretty fluent in Japanese for a Frenchie who's never been to Japan before.

We will now present our hard-ass traditionalist!

Oh, speaking of . . . Ran tells Sayuri that a romantic relationship between an instructor (see: those guys above) and a student (see: main heroine) is absolutely forbidden. Sayuri assures herself, however, she won't be getting herself into a romance because she wants to become a pâtissière. . . . We'll see about that. ( ¬‿¬)

The art style is definitely a strong suit for this anime. In fact, the character designer of Uta-Pri was the one who was put in charge of the animation, so the colors all harmonize very well together. There is another show, however, about pastry making, and that show is called Yumeiro Pâtissière. I know, I know, it's unfair to compare both these anime to each other, but I can't help it. The premises are very similar. All I can think about is how delicious those sweets in Yumeiro looked, and I'm really hoping the sweets here will match those. *crosses fingers*

Oh, sweet Mama. Come to me. *purses lips*

I am sad to report that there's no opening or ending song. :c I mean, come on! Even The Circumstances in My Home's Bathtub had an opening and (kinda) ending song. Why can't this? Granted, we're only on the first episode, so the next might have one . . . maybe . . . hopefully . . . I don't know. :(

Otherwise, this was a pleasant watch and I look forward to seeing more of it. And with that, take care, otakus!

My Fall 2014 Anime To-Watch List

CAN WE JUST TALK ABOUT HOW MANY TWO-COUR SHOWS THERE ARE THIS SEASON? I MEAN REALLY. I have over seven—SEVEN—shows this season I'm watching that are going to be more than twenty episodes. So how about we check out the new season's anime for fall 2014. Let's do this!

Black Butler: Book of Murder

Ah, Black Butler. Never can get enough of it. So apparently Book of Circus was actually really good, since it followed the manga(?) quite closely. Now this time we're getting an OVA for a different arc: the Phantomhive Manor Murder Case. I'm actually really looking forward to this, despite not being able to watch it because Funimation is yet to dub Book of Circus. *sigh*

Bonjour Koiaji Pâtisserie

Welp, I need my seasonal reverse-harem (yes, Free! ES counted as my "harem" for summer *cough, cough*), and this anime seems good as any. Although this seems like your typical reverse-harem, I will argue that it will be better than most, possibly even as good as the latest reverse-harem, Kamigami no Asobi, from the spring season. I'll have to say, Koiaji has a very, very impressive staff. The director directed Bakuman, the character designer did Uta-Pri, and the cast—oh, the cast—have simply marvelous résumés: you have all sorts of delectable choices, from Haikyuu! to Nagi no Asukara and even Terror in Resonance.

To my (pleasant) surprise, this is going to be 24 episodes. Twenty-four? That's unheard of from a reverse-harem! So yes. I am very much looking forward to my reverse-harem, as I've been feeling a little empty since Kamigami no Asobi, and especially from Free!.

Bookstore in the Electric Town, The

Okay, I'm kind of a bit late with this. In fact, I'm cheating since the first episode has already aired and I've seen it (see: blog post here), but I'll pretend like I haven't and just give you my expectations. Bookstore takes place in present-day Japan in the bustling otaku city of Akihabara. Here, a group of friends work in a manga store. Being listed under a slice of life and comedy, I'm not really expecting all that much from it. But if it ends up being an entertaining watch, than that's all I could ever ask for.

Circumstances in My Home's Bathtub, The

I really have no freaking clue why I plan on watching this show; but if the voice actor of Haru is in it, well, I gotta check it out. It also just screams "Haru": mermaids, bathtubs, black-haired dude as the main character. All that Haru-stuff. I guess another reason why I'm watching this is because there's no label for "yaoi," so that's another thing I'm looking forward to. It's pretty interesting that it's 13 episodes that are only five minutes long each, but I think that's fitting in this case for this anime. Looking forward to it, so don't disappoint, mermaid anime.

Donten ni Warau

So what if I'm watching this because there's dragons in it? I'M WATCHING IT FOR THE DRAGONS, DAMMIT. YOU CAN'T STOP ME! To be honest, when I first saw this, my first thought was just, Eh . . . interesting . . . I guess . . .? and that's about it. However, I soon saw another image of the show—of a dragon—and instantly I was on board. What's the story? Hell if I know. All I need to know is that there's dragons: DRAGONS, DRAGONS, DRAGONS!!!

Okay, okay. So maybe that's not the only reason why I'm interested in this show (it really is, though), but I thought I was somewhat lacking in the supernatural category lately, my last supernatural anime probably being Noragami from the winter season. So, in short, dragons are awesome. And because this show is going to have dragons, it's worth watching.

Gugure! Kokkuri-san

Just so you know, I lurve me some ayakashi (damn you Voltage for your awesome ayakashi otome game ;__;), so when I saw this show, I thought, Romance with ayakashi?! But . . . from reading the summary, I can tell it's most likely not going to go down that route. Although I think it's a cute concept, I'm not entirely sure if I'm in the right mindset for a show like this in the fall. I don't know, but I'm willing to give this show a chance.

I don't know exactly why, but I'm feeling really picky this season, so if this show doesn't please me, I will not be continuing it. For it to work, it'll have to give me a few hearty laughs using the comedy of Barakamon rather than Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun. If not, consider this a drop.

Haikyuu!! Jump Festa 2014 Special

How can anyone not like Haikyuu!!? It's like one of the most entertaining sports anime series I've ever seen, that solely focused on sports. I've seen Kuroko's Basketball (actually, I've placed it on-hold), and that show doesn't even hold a candle to this one. No, instead of random power-ups, the characters actually work hard and practice just to get better at the sport they love: volleyball. I very much enjoyed the series and am hoping for a season two. With that being said, this special is something I'm very much looking forward to.

Hitsugi no Chaika AVENGING BATTLE

I was pleasantly pleased from spring season's Hitsugi no Chaika, and the ending certainly left a way to end a show, so I will be continuing onward to Hitsugi no Chaika AVENGING BATTLE. While I thought the previous season was good, there was some mediocre things about it, like the subpar animation and some B.S. moments (that I will not bring up here, due to spoilers).

However, I am looking forward to a follow-up show this season, seeing as there's quite a lack of them at the moment. All I can hope is that the story ends with a nice little bow on top.

I Can't Understand What My Husband is Saying

Like The Bookstore in the Electric Town, I've already seen the first episode of this anime (see: here), but I did write my expectations of it prior to watching it, so here ya go: The title of this anime is more than reason enough to watch it. The very idea that one of our kind—meaning a fellow nerd—has gotten a girl is just mind-boggling and amazing. Congrats, dude! Okay, so all joking aside, I remember hearing about the manga getting an anime adaption, but I wasn't prepared for it to come out this fall! Like, Japan, please the calm the hell down: I already have enough anime on my plate to deal with.

But, regardless of the amount of anime I'm watching this season, I will be watching this oh-so-very-intriguing anime and will be hoping for cute and funny moments from this show.

Magic Kaito 1412

This is probably my most hyped series for this season. As a fan of Detective Conan (though I'm very, very far behind right now), I rather enjoyed the character Kaito Kid, the "phantom thief," from the series. Although there are a few things about him that slightly irritate me, I am very excited for this upcoming spin-off series of a show I like. Magic Kaito 1412 will be following the aforementioned Kaito Kid, a thief who's looking for Pandora, a gem that is believed to grant immortality, and possibly the adventures of him trying to get it before a mysterious organization responsible for his father's death find it first.

I'm really glad Magic Kaito has an episode limit (24 episodes), because that should mean they're wrapping up his story in this series. As I stated in my Detective Conan review, I believed the show could be simplified to maybe fifty episodes, or possibly even a hundred, without all that unnecessary filler. I don't like an unnecessary amount of episodes. I firmly believe they shouldn't milk a cow to death by having hundreds upon hundreds of episodes of filler and only touching upon an important fact every now and then. But I'm also worried if 24 episodes will be enough to create a complete, good story.

By the way, for those of you who haven't seen the Magic Kaito specials, you may not realize it, but the 1412 in the title actually spells KID. Don't believe me? Well, here ya go:

Ronja the Robber's Daughter

I'm honestly trying my best to keep an open mind. I'd like to think that maybe one day CGI anime will look . . . normal to me, but in its current state CGI anime is just so awkwardly hilarious and bad that I can't ever take it seriously. Maybe the problem isn't the animation itself, but instead the story. Maybe the horribly written story prevents me from really getting into an anime. But being done by Studio Ghibli, I have really high hopes this will be good.

I mean, this is their forte: fantasy and adventure. Ghibli's always been wondrous at combining both elements perfectly fine, so I don't see how they cannot do so in this case. So again, my mind will be kept wide open to what may hopefully be a fun adventure. I'll just say ahead of time if I can't find myself getting into it, don't expect me to watch 26 episodes of it.

Shirobako

Where is the official visual? :c

P.A. Works, I swear to God you better not mess this up like you did with Glasslip. P.A. Works is a studio that makes sure its anime are beautiful and filled with detail. While Glasslip had these things, it had a godawful "plot" and "characters." Its previous work, on the other hand, Nagi no Asukara, had both amazing animation, well-written plot, and developed characters (and you all know how much I worship that show as one of my all-time favorites).

So will Shirobako be able to join that list of favorites? Or at the very least, be a good show? Being about the workings of the anime industry—scriptwriting, animating, voice acting, etc.—I have really high hopes for it. Not just because I'm curious about how people produce anime, but because it's P.A. Works and when they succeed they go far and beyond. Let's just hope Shirobako is more like Nagi-Asu than another Glasslip, because nobody wants a Glasslip that is this time 20+ episodes long.

Wolf Girl & Black Prince

Why do I like sadistic love interests? In real life, I'd be pissed if some guy acted that way to me. But only in anime do I fangirl and squeal when a supposed "princely" character is actually a sadist. I don't know. I'm like a weird weeaboo or something. Anywho, Wolf Girl & Black Prince will be my shoujo of fall 2014, and boy am I excited!

Not because I am a sucker for shoujo romcoms (actually, I am), but I really like the premise of this show. Yeah, I'm interested in how a vain, braggy girl deals with a pretend boyfriend whom she thought was a prince but is really a sadist. With twelve episodes, I really hope this anime will at the very least provide solid entertainment and wrap up the romance.

World Trigger

ANOTHER SHOW I HAVE NO CLUE ABOUT BUT WILL WATCH ANYWAY! So I hear this anime, World Trigger, was once a manga from the '90s or something, so people are really hyped about it getting an adaption. I have honestly never heard of World Trigger until it was put up on AniChart. Even after reading the synopsis I have no idea what it's going to be about, but hey—I need to watch a bit more sci-fi.

Yona of the Dawn

You may not know this, but I love, love, love, love, love anime set in historical time periods. Mix in some romance and I'm sold. One of my personal favorite anime—as well as being one of the first few anime I began watching a few years back—is Fushigi Yuugi, a historical romance anime from the '90s. Just seeing the cover for this, I was instantly reminded of the good memories I got from watching Fushigi Yuugi. I know that a lot of the manga readers really enjoyed it and were looking forward to the adaption. They commented that the main heroine was a bit bratty at first, but she soon turns into a badass character, which I am very much looking forward to.

A pleasant surprise I learned a few days ago was that this was going to be 20+ episodes long. Wha—what? A shoujo that is more than twelve episodes long? That's basically unheard of! It's very rare—okay, correction: not common—that a shoujo gets 20+ episodes; a lot of the time, they get just 12 episodes and that's it. Not that I'm complaining, though; on the contrary, I am even more hyped to watch this series. After all, what's better when an anime combines all your favorite genres: romance, drama, adventure, action, historical?

Your Lie in April

When I first saw the PV for this a while back, I was very amazed by the beauty of the artwork, but not really invested in the art style itself. I mean, yeah, it was pretty and all, but it's not my taste. Despite that, however, I will be watching Your Lie in April. After all, we all need a little music in our lives. As a person who is a lover of any sort of instrument—as well as a piano player like our main protagonist—I like shows that focus on musical instruments, though for whatever reason I don't really watch all that many. But might as well begin a trend with this!

Your Lie in April is set to be 22 episodes long, and I'm expecting it to be a long, drama-filled, musical journey—and I can't wait to see that. Also, look at the image up there. Just beautiful.

Yuuki Yuuna is a Hero

Moe. Ugh. Why do I do this to myself? I like keeping an open mind for everything, regardless if it's moe, yaoi and yuri, or whatever. So I'll hide my dislike for moe and try watching this show with an open mind. The only real reason I'm interested in this show is, in its description, it mentions the year 300, the year of the gods? What? Um . . . so is this the future? The past? An alternate world? I guess my questions won't be answered until I watch the show. My only wish for it is that it's not "a cute show about cute girls doing cute things."

And that's all for now! Let's hope this season of anime will be as much fun as summer was. If you didn't see my last post, I mentioned I will be doing an episode reaction for all anime on my to-watch list—but only of episode one and any other episodes that I absolutely must state my opinion on. And with that, take care, otakus!