Natsu no Arashi 1
This picture is a good representation of what this episode was about in both literal and figurative sense…
This was the anime I was excited about the most due to SHAFT and potentially interesting plot based on the manga. The brief anime preview made me quite worried, and, unfortunately, my fears came true….
Two things disappointed me: character design and story. While character design is not very different from the manga, I feel that is definitely worse due to angular features.
Although it was somewhat expected from the brief trailer, the story is quite disappointing. While we don’t know the plot for the anime yet, it is clear where it is going.
The potential was there in the manga… For example, the scene where the girl reveals her true nature is very nice and could have been animated well.
Also the moment when two old friends met was very special, but they just put all people together in the anime.
I did like some things in the anime: backgrounds, music, voice acting. Background art is quite good both inside and outdoors, featuring soft color palette. Music is fun, but not as good as in Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei. Yuko Sanpei (Nakiami in Xam’d) provided fitting voice for the young male protagonist.
I’ll check out the second episode to see if there will be any flashbacks, but the first Spring anime weekend looks bleak so far… My only hope now is a girl with silver eyes…
Zetsuboushita!
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Kitsune's Thoughts 
I’m quite sure that from episode 2, they will start from the beginning of the manga. I’m guessing that this was like a “surprise attack” which didn’t really work on some of the manga fans it seems.
Heh, surprise attack… I hope you are right. The anime writer is known for his evil plot twists, so it is possible. We’ll see how the second episode turns out.
Official site said the second episode will be first chapter of the manga, so there’re still hopes…
Oh, thank you for mentioning that 🙂 They didn’t show any footage from the second episode in the preview, so it is plausible that we’ll see how it all began 🙂
At least Kurokami bolds its noses… jeebus.
haha Yes, Kurokami has some awesome noses 🙂
I would suggest the issue is more in the eyes. For some reason, the design gives them a very flat appearance
Haven’t watched the ep, but will hopefully get on it this week.
Yes, that’s a good observation that eyes might be a part of the problem 🙂
The biggest problem of this anime is too boring.
Zetsuboushita!!!!!!!!!!
Yes, it is quite boring so far, but we’ll see how the second episode looks like 🙂
I updated the post with OP and ED videos.
You know, the art looks really inconsistent. It’s wonderful in some of your screenshots, and terrible in others.
I chuckled at the Zetsuboshita – I was thinking the same thing when that black-and-white face came up.
This episode was based on chapter 18 apparently. Also they used “four assistant animation director, but none are in-house”. Studio Pastoral was credited as Production Assistant for the first episode. (Source)
Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei is one of my favorite anime 🙂
Well, to give it some credit, it does start out slow… but I’m hoping that this is like that silly Haruhi ep 0. But really… I’M IN DESPAIR… but wait! Maids…
I enjoyed episode zero of Haruhi 🙂 However, the first Summer Storm didn’t bring any refreshing air 😦 All hope is on the second one: give us a thunderstorm! 🙂
Didn’t like the odd looking character designs but the OP rocks…i love the OP sequence. Very cool.
Well, the OP is nice, but it really didn’t need naked women touching themselves 😛
Both OP and ED are not up to SHAFT standards.
Lol @ the naked women bit. Indeed those visuals aren’t necessary. It was the beginning to the mid part I like the best (like comic book covers) and I totally like the song. Very catchy. ED visual is rather plain but again, it’s the song that I end up liking.
Yes, the songs are good, and I also liked the first part of the OP 🙂