I had very low expectations going into this show due to the title, but it turned out to have some potential. Definitely not one of Bones’ best works though. The banter between the two main characters is enjoyable to watch. So far I think the mystery aspect of the show is lacking, however. Even I could figure out who the murderer was. It’s not so much the girl is a genius as the other two are idiots. Maybe that was the point though. Since this is only the first episode, I assume the mysteries will become more involved as the show moves along.

It looks like next week the show is moving into more supernatural stuff. I’m guessing that they will get into more mythology as well. I’m hoping they’ll use actual myths rather than ones they made up for the show – it’s not like there is a lack of material to work with. Plus, I hope they develop the setting more. I am a real sucker for settings in alternate histories like this, and it would be great if they went into more historical details. I’m not too hopeful though, as I think they made up most of the myths that were mentioned so far. The “springtime reaper” legend sounds plausible but a quick google search didn’t reveal anything. On further reflection I would think a reaper would be more closely associated with autumn. Guess we should learn more in the rest of the show.

I was expecting this show to be boring and uninspired and I have to say that it fully lived up to my expectations. Boy has a nightmare (this was the best part of the show, I briefly held out hope that we would get some steampunk), goes to school, talking with his childhood friend on the way. When he goes home a magical girl falls on him from the sky. What a surprise. Then he is cornered by a monster from his dream and said magical girl rescues him. They have a fist fight (which is slow and boring) and then return to the real world. The girl cries because she wants to return to the world of nightmares. What tragedy!

But seriously, do the creators of this have any imagination? They are fighting in a dream that the cat boss created for goodness sake. Why are they having a fist fight? This needs magic and explosions! One of the cats had a cannon but was standing next to the boy, and even as useless as he is he can beat up a cat. And the main girl is named Merry Nightmare. Seriously? Couldn’t you use a random name generator, or at least name her Mary so we can pretend it was a bad pun?

I was expecting this to be a parody, but it was actually quite serious. It was Nanoha meets Hidamari Sketch meets Negima, which sounds like a complete disaster but somehow seemed to work.  My main concern is, will this be any different from Nanoha at all, aside from the Hidamari faces (not that they aren’t great, to be clear). But seriously – girl rescues cute talking ferret, and fights against her friend who is working for the evil witch. She has two friends at school, one of whom is a rich girl. She has a loving family. How is this different? Of course, there is still plenty of time for this show to distinguish itself.

Maybe this is just the plot of every magical girl show (I’m not the biggest fan). But still, the episode was very enjoyable. The characterization is great and so is the animation – Shinbo mostly controlled his urges to spam tons of text and random images.

For the first few minutes I felt like I was having deja vu from Dragonauts of all things, with what looked like the same kind of setting, overacting and a horribly cliched plot. This plus a combination with the harem from Chaos Head. Definitely not a winning combination. Fortunately in a few minutes it got much better, as the creators seemed to realize that they have a hopeless setup and decided not to take it seriously. If this show continues to focus on the parody and not lapse into SERIOUS BUSINESS like so many shows of this type seem to it could end up being pretty decent, but I don’t have my hopes set too high.

Once the female lead let her hair down, she really reminded me of the president from Seitokai Yakuindomo.

They really do look similar. I looked it up afterwards and apparently they even have the same voice actress. I wonder if Shinonono has a teddy bear….

Well, this show was mostly what I expected- an excuse for fanservice where the main character, Rio, dresses up in revealing costumes. It’s an adaptation of a Pachinko game, so it didn’t hold much promise to begin with. Umi Monogatari was also based on a pachinko game and managed to build a good story with its limited premise, but the creators of Rio Rainbow Gate don’t really seem to be trying for this (the story is even set in a casino, how creative!).

With that said, this show did have me laughing, especially at the ending. It’s of the so bad it’s good variety, but still, if they manage to keep it up, it could be a decent show. I doubt they’ll be able to for an entire season though, and the show will probably descend into pointless fanservice and insipid drama.  The only feature of Rio’s personality seems to be protruding from her chest, and I’m going to predict there will be some tedious story involving Rio’s mother. I’ll probably keep watching this one but am not too optimistic.