AoD Review: Shrine of the Morning Mist Vol. #1

[Chris Beveridge]

Review (http://www.animeondvd.com/reviews2/disc_reviews/3419.php)

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In Summary:
While Shrine of the Morning Mist hasn't captured me fully, mostly due to some awkward pacing of the half-length episodes, there is enough material done in here that's intriguing and has me curious to see more to see how it's going to play out. Essentially being a thirteen episode series because of the length, it's hard to gauge what will work and what won't work as the focus at the moment is more on the secondary characters and battling some of the demons but the next set of episodes should reveal a lot more of the background and motivations of what's going on. The show has a really good look to it and a sense of style in a number of areas that's very attractive and is combined with some snappy writing and a couple of clever ideas that could be well fleshed out as it progresses. It's interesting and we're cautiously optimistic about it.

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[bakafoo]

Marked B. And yes, the show's brevity is really its main drawback... /images/graemlins/cry00000.gif /images/graemlins/cry00000.gif /images/graemlins/cry00000.gif

As for the matter of inserts, I wish there was one included as even if it was a rehash, it's still a pretty one that could be displayed/hung, IMO. Just $.03 /images/graemlins/happy.gif


<-- is one of AOD's Seiko Yurikasa's converts.

edit: 30 views and still no sign of that guy.. /images/graemlins/tongue.gif /images/graemlins/sdsmiley.gif

[JackProton]

A- as it exceeded my expectations with its character designs and artwork and the rather amusing writing which somehow seemed fresh even though the basic plot line has been done zillions of times before. Overall, I thought they did a very good job even under the hard restriction of the short episode lengths.

[Suwako Moriya]

I voted B+. The first ten episodes were an extremely nice start the series and made me a fan of it, but there are still things I needed to get used to. I vote positive over all based on the DVD is. I would have liked to have the cast interviews from the Japanese version, but in the end it still got a pretty nice release to me.

[Suwako Moriya]

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BakaBoobie said:
<-- is one of AOD's Seiko Yurikasa's converts.

edit: 30 views and still no sign of that guy.. /images/graemlins/tongue.gif /images/graemlins/sdsmiley.gif

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Seiko Yurikusa? Wait when have I used that name? Don't tell me Seiko finally realized Chika was the only one for her and the two got married as Seiko takes Chika's last name. Darn it I've been reading too many Yuri posts where any two girls that exist get paired.

Actually I was in the the My HiME thread ordering the girls based on how much I like them. I also needed to decide the score. I didn't want to give it an automatic A+ since I was just voting based on these episodes. So I had to think of the right score. And oh yes for the five main girls in Shrine of the Morning Mist, I go....

Seiko Rikiishi> Chika Yurikusa> Shizuka Midouh> Yuzu Heida> Izumi Sakibara. There we go.

[Nosredna]

B and positive from me. I liked the first disk but it wasn't anything spectacular. Although I'm going to continue collecting the series.

[bakafoo]

Would you believe I forgot Seiko's last name? /images/graemlins/sweat000.gif Boy, I still mispelled Chika's lastname at that. /images/graemlins/sweat000.gif

[Suwako Moriya]

Ah so that would explain it, but it still made for a weird name merger.

[mib]

I give it a B+.

The pacing is a little better than Chris says and is very good for a half-length episode series. Bonus points for: the fact that the threatening harem storyline with the transfer guy is hosed down and ignored pretty quickly; Megumi Hayashibara doing wonderful work as Kurako; and the coolest catgirl ever (even if woefully underused and probably not in this DVD's worth of episodes).

- mib

[martod]

I'm not going to give a grade, but this is a fun show. The characters are great. Chika rules over all. She kinda reminds me of Vanilla from Galaxy Angel minus the weird religion and plus a sense of humor.

[Magic_Knight]

I rated it A+. It was suprisingly good. It's so funny at times, the characters are really lovable and the animation is excellent. The ten minute episode format doesn't affect the story nearly as much as other shows and actually seems to work to it's benefit. I can't wait for vol. 2, too bad it's only 26 episodes. This show really reminds me Azumanga Daioh.

BTW, I like this graded polling system style.

[pianocello]

It needs more bicycle jokes. /images/graemlins/sdsmiley.gif

[Suwako Moriya]

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piano_cello_conducting said:
It needs more bicycle jokes. /images/graemlins/sdsmiley.gif

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I still believe Yuzu's ultimate weapon is the bicycle. She really should have used it more. Even the most powerful enemy would have been defeated by it, I bet.

[JackProton]

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Magic Knight said:
I rated it A+. It was suprisingly good. It's so funny at times, the characters are really lovable and the animation is excellent. The ten minute episode format doesn't affect the story nearly as much as other shows and actually seems to work to it's benefit. I can't wait for vol. 2, too bad it's only 26 episodes. This show really reminds me Azumanga Daioh.


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Me too -- sort of a weird, amusing cross between Azumanga Daioh and Blue Seed with Ruri from NADESICO and Chiaki from NieA_7 tossed in.

[MalrocK]

arrggg!! still waiting on my copy to ship /images/graemlins/anger200.gif

[Fluffy]

I thought this was "okay"...it really didn't blow me away. Most of the characters (thus far) left me flaccid. The opening plot salvos were fine, but rather vanilla. Character designs were mostly flat and uninspired in spots. I think the later episodes piqued my interest enough that I'll creep onto Vol. #2 (though I won't be sleeping by my mail box waiting for it).

I like the overall concept (sword chicks, waterfalls & a guy with bad eyesight) and I do like the shorter format (12-15 min. per episode).

I'll check out Vol. #2 when it hits the Used bins. It's not the quality of show I'd pay new prices for, but it might become an interesting minor distraction...like dandruff.

[MalrocK]

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Flood said:
I thought this was "okay"...it really didn't blow me away. Most of the characters (thus far) left me flaccid.

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hehe, "blow me" hehe "flaccid"

[Ty]

A- from me. I went into this one not knowing what to expect from it. The only thing I knew was that Shiho Munakata/Seiko Rikiishi/Chika Yurikusa/whatever else I'm forgetting loves and champions this show so much that I had to check it out. I'm not disappointed..... it's fun to watch. The English dub grated on my nerves, especially Yuzu's yelling, but it had some lines that were funny.

[Dennis_Mullin]

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JackProton said:
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Magic Knight said:
I rated it A+. It was suprisingly good. It's so funny at times, the characters are really lovable and the animation is excellent. The ten minute episode format doesn't affect the story nearly as much as other shows and actually seems to work to it's benefit. This show really reminds me Azumanga Daioh.

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Me too -- sort of a weird, amusing cross between Azumanga Daioh and Blue Seed with Ruri from NADESICO and Chiaki from NieA_7 tossed in.

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I thought it also borrowed bits from Magic Users Club. The creators definitely had fun with this show.

[EmperorBrandon]

I really enjoyed the first volume of this series, and I don't think the half-length of the episode bothered me much. It seems like a fun little series and can't wait for the rest.