First Impressions: Hyperdimension Neptunia: The Animation

And so we come to the last new anime of this season that I had some interest in: Hyperdimension Neptunia: The Animation. This anime is based on the Hyperdimension Neptunia games, but I have no prior knowledge of those, so this will be a fresh experience for me. Well, I do know the characters and areas are representative of the different gaming companies, but I don't think I'll spell out for you who's who.

The episode starts with a treaty being signed that prevents the four different nations of Gamindustri (Planeptune, Lastation, Lowee and Leanbox) from claiming Shares (basically faith) through military force.
Two months after that, we're introduced to the main character: Neptune. She would rather play games than tend to her duties as a goddess, which result in Planeptune's Shares becoming low. We are also introduced to Nepgear, Neptune's sister, and Histoire, who seems to be the one who actually keeps Planeptune running.

Two other characters arrive at Neptune's place, they are Compa and IF. They bring proof with them that faith in Neptune was dwindling, making Neptune decide to go and pester Noire about being a CPU.

Noire is the goddess of Lastation, and has a somewhat familiar black-haired twin-tailed look when in human form. She is serious about everything she does, which is a contrast against Neptune's playful personality. Noire also has a little sister, Uni, who is much friendlier than Noire. Uni tries to do her best to please Noire, but she feels that she would have to do better than Noire to ever catch her attention.

We are then introduced to Ram and Rom, the younger twin sisters of Lowee's goddess, Blanc. The twins know that Nepgear and Uni were together in Lastation and they were envious, and pestered Blanc about going to other place. Blanc tries to concentrate on her work, snapping after being pestered continously.
Ram and Rom leave, and we see that Blanc was talking to Leanbox's goddess, Vert. They were discussing a proposal.


Focus shifts back to Neptune, Noire and their companions. They fight Dogoos (think of Dragon Quest's Slime, and give it dog features). Neptune, Nepgear, Compa and IF fight together to see off the monsters, and then Noire decides she could handle the other area on their mission alone.

Noire runs into a bit of trouble against an Ancient Dragon, but Neptune arrives and transforms into Purple Heart to save her. Noire insists she could have won alone...

Anyway, we are then introduced to a clearly evil pair of characters, one of which is a mouse. They are after something in the cave that the dragon was in.

Neptune, Nepgear, Compa and IF return to Planeptune to find that their Shares had gone up, due to the photos that Neptune accidentally sent to all the civilians of Nepgear's "encounter" with the Dogoos.

So, yeah, I'm not sure when first impression started to mean episode recap, but there it is. As a Nintendo fan, I'm most looking forward to seeing Blanc/White Heart and Ram and Rom in action, which should be the next episode if the preview was anything to go by. Since I'll likely never play these games, I'll watch this, and I might even be able to enjoy it better than someone who has played the games. The reason for this is that I have nothing to compare it to.

So, yeah, another anime that I will definitely keep my eye on. After three episodes, I shall decide whether to continue watching or not, and I'll post my decision on here.