Category: First Impressions

Woo boy. The last few days have been pretty busy for me, and that’s kind of limited my time for anime, but just because I’ve slowed down doesn’t mean the premieres have, and there’s still been a hefty amount of premieres in just the last few days with plenty more to come. Going through most of these still seems like a pretty daunting task but hey, I’ve made it this far so might as well keep this train running. Let’s do this.

Ratings Scale

Bad: Stay away far away from this one.  Not worth watching

Decent: Has some okay elements to it. Might be worth giving a  couple of episodes to see how it goes

Good: Fairly solid show. Should be worth keeping up with for now

Great: Really good show. Definently worth seeing if you get the chance

Excellent: Really outstanding show. Absolutely worth following .

• All series synopsis from Anime Planet

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Gurazeni: Money Pitch

Synopsis: Bonda Natsunosuke (26, single), is a left-handed relief pitcher for the professional baseball team, the Jingu Spiders. He became a pro right after high school and now in his 8th year makes 18 million yen a year, and is not what you’d call a “first rate player.” “I don’t know how many years I’ve got left to play after 30.” “Only a few can become coaches or commentators after they retire.” “Pro baseball players need to make their money while before they retire!” Despite the harsh realities, Bonda always repeats the same phrase: “There’s money buried in the grounds.”

First Impressions: This wasn’t on my radar at all and I didn’t even know it existed till CR announced having it, but I like the sports show formula a lot so I figured I might as well give a shot. However it turns out this isn’t really a sports show, or at least not a sports anime in the traditional sense. Instead the focus of this series is more on the financial aspects of being a professional athlete and the need to stand out in order to have any hopes of retiring on a decent salary. It’s a unique angle to be sure and one told through our protagonist Nanba, a relief pitcher who scrapes by on the lower end of the major leagues. Seeing this from that kind of perspective certainly helps to hammer home how unforgiving the pro sports scene can be as there’s a moment where he pretty much has to send a new player straight back to the minor leagues in order to earn his keep, and it makes for some intriguing commentary. At the same time though, the show is perhaps a little too focused on exploring that financial aspect, and as a result Nanba doesn’t feel all that interesting on his own by the time the episode is through, and slightly awkward CG for some of the in-game scenes isn’t helping this much on the visual front. This is yet another middle-of-the-road premiere for me so whether or not I go any further likely depends on how many other potential Friday shows it has to compete with. For now though, it might be worth taking a peek at.

 

Hinamatsuri

Synopsis: Nitta Yoshifumi, a young, intellectual yakuza, lived surrounded by his beloved pots in his turf in Ashigawa. But one day, a girl, Hina, arrives in a strange object, and uses her telekinetic powers to force Nitta to allow her to live with him, putting an end to his leisurely lifestyle. Hina tends to lose control of herself, wreaking havoc both at school and in Nitta’s organization. Though troubled, he finds himself taking care of her. What will become of this strange arrangement? It’s the beginning of the dangerous and lively story of a nice-guy outlaw and psychokinetic girl!

First Impressions: This was yet another thing that wasn’t particularly on my radar so I wasn’t really sure what to expect here. As it turns out, this is something of an oddball comedy involving a father-daughter dynamic between a yakuza member, and a kooky psychic girl. If that sounds weird, the show is pretty much agrees with you, as it doesn’t waste anytime in establishing that premise, and forgoes any kind of actual setup. Normally that would be to the show’s detterent and it sort of is, but even though it brings our two leads together in a mostly unexplained fashion, the dynamic between them is funny enough that it quickly becomes irrelevant and I got quite a few chuckles over how easily Hina wraps Nitta around her finger and how bizarre her reactions are to basically everything around her. Funny as it is though, this sort of thing only really works when the relationship can be equally sincere and the show works well enough on that angle too,  as Hina’s clearly some sort of bio weapon, and Nitta is the first adult she’s met who doesn’t just want to use her as a tool, which could make for something cute, albiet standard. I sure didn’t know what I’d be getting here but I walked away pretty happy with what I got so this seems like something I might keep up with for a while.

Rating: Good

 

Persona 5: The Animation

Synopsis: Ren Amamiya is about to enter his second year after transferring to Shujin Academy in Tokyo. Following a particular incident, his Persona awakens, and together with his friends they form the “Phantom Thieves of Hearts” to reform hearts of corrupt adults by stealing the source of their distorted desires. Meanwhile, bizarre and inexplicable crimes have been popping up one after another… Living an ordinary high school life in Tokyo during the day, the group maneuvers the metropolitan city as Phantom Thieves after hours. Let the curtain rise for this grand, picaresque story!

First Impressions: This was definitely the most anticipated show of the season by a long shot for most anime fans but I can’t say I was quite as excited personally. While I totally dug the Persona 5 game and its story could translate into an anime pretty easily if handled right, I was pretty skeptical about this due to how the Persona 4 anime turned out. That one also seemed like it could translate the game into a solid anime pretty easily, but it instead focused more on pandering to the game’s pre-existing audience than telling a story, and combined with some of Aniplex’s executive shenanigans resulted in something that while okay on its own, felt like a massive waste of potential. Fortunently this adaption has one thing in its favor and its a change in director as rather than being helmed by Seiji Kishi who at this point has become pretty well known for mediocre video game adaptions, this is instead being helmed by Masashi Ishihama who gave us From the New World, which was an absolutely stellar adaption of the novel it was based on. That difference makes itself pretty apparent in this premiere on the visual front as besides the obvious fact of this being a lot better animated than Persona 4’s anime was, this is a lot more sharply directed, with some solid camera work during the opening heist scene, and some really effective scene transitions that help the episode to maintain a swift flow. Unfortunately I can’t quite say I feel as confident about the execution on the storytelling front as the premiere goes through the earliest events of the game pretty robotically, and hasn’t really done much to convince me the protagonist be Rei won’t made as much of a self-insert as possible in order to pander to the fans of the game. Still its probably a bit too early to judge how it’ll fair on that front and there’s always the possibility it’ll get a little bolder with time. I’m probably gonna end up keeping up with this either way since I well…liked the game, but I really hope this adaption will do enough to stand on its own merits

Rating: Good

 

Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online

Synopsis: In the world of guns and steel that is Gun Gale Online, LLENN has been a devoted, female solo player. She is obsessed with two things: donning herself entirely in pink and honing her skills with consistent game play. She soon discovers her love for hunting other players (a.k.a. PK), soon to be known as the “Pink Devil.” Meanwhile, LLENN meets a beautiful yet mysterious player, Pitohui, and the two click right away. Doing as she is told by Pitohui, she enters the Squad Jam group battle.

First Impressions: So allow me to preface this with something I’m sure will shock no one who’s followed me on Twitter for more than 10 minutes: I don’t like SAO. In fact I’d go so far as to say I basically despise it as what I’ve seen of it failed to live up to the promise of the show’s premise and the climax of its first “arc” was such a gigantic slap in the face that I refused to go any further. Even so, I was actually pretty interested in checking this out, the main reason being that rather than being penned by the franchise’s author Reki Kawahara, this spinoff was instead handled by Keiichi Segawa, the mind behind Kino’s Journey. Since I actually do like Kino’s Journey, I was curious to see what Segawa’s take on the franchise would be and the result was pretty solid. Right away its easy to tell that this series is being handled by a different writer as where the game world was more of an afterthought and the focus was more on the characters (inconsistent as the handling was in that respect) this instead puts quite a bit of emphasis on the actual game world. While it doesn’t go into outright info dumping in explaining the mechanics, every bit of this opener is obsessed with making Gun Gale feel like well…a game and puts a lot of emphasis on strategizing and making use of the environment to the point where it actually does feel like you’re genuinely watching skilled players at work. Of course that means that if you aren’t particularly interested in the gaming aspect then there isn’t too much to latch onto in this premiere since it seems like the proper character introductions are being saved for next week. But even if you aren’t the execution is solid enough that I think you might at least be able to get some enjoyment out of the spectacle itself. This isn’t quite among the strongest premieres of the season, but it certainly kept my attention and while I almost never thought I’d hear myself say this again: I’m probably gonna keep watching Sword Art Online. Hopefully this time around I won’t regret it.

Rating: Great

 

Devil’s Line

Synopsis: Tsukasa, a college student, is rescued from an attack by a devil, one of many vampires that can blend in among the human population. Anzai, her savior, is a half-devil who exploits his supernatural gifts as a member of a shadowy police task force that specializes in devil-related crime in Tokyo. As Anzai continues to keep guard over Tsukasa, the two quickly forge a tentative bond—one that Anzai fears will test his iron-clad rule of never drinking human blood…

First Impressions: Well it wouldn’t be a full season of anime without a vampire show in here somewhere and well…here’s our vampire show. I’m not really the target audience for these so most of the time I skip over them unless given a compelling reason to do so, but given this was the first show that Sentai Filmworks announced would be getting a simuldu-I mean “dubcast” I figured I’d give this a peek. Given the sheer amount of vampire anime at this point, having a distinguishing gimmick is kind of essential, and in this show’s case the gimmick is that the desire to drink blood is something akin to a drug addition and vampires have to stave off said addiction to live normally. We find out about this through our heroine Tsukasa and one of her close friends who’s fallen so in love with her that he’s gone around raping and killing random women to avoid the urge to do the same to her. That as you might imagine was the point where I kind of had to shake my head at the show, and its attempt to try and make this guy sympathetic didn’t help much either. So…yeah I wasn’t really into this but I figured that’d be the case so it’s not a particularly big deal. It’s a decent enough looking show that I imagine it’s actual audience will be mostly satisfied but now that my curiosity’s been satiated I’m gonna move on.

Rating: Bad

 

Cutie Honey Universe

Synopsis: Cutey Honey is an android created by Prof. Kisaragi. Within her is the ‘Fixed System of Air Elements’, a device that can create anything out of air. The evil organization Panther Claw desires this device. While trying to steal it, they kill Prof. Kisaragi. Now furious, Honey makes a vow to get revenge, and destory the Panther Claw.

First Impressions: Cutey Honey is one of those things I’ve heard about for years but never really saw in context. Having recently been baptized in to the weird mind of Go Nagai through winter’s Devilman Crybaby and enjoying the experience, I figured a new Cutie Honey series would be a good opportunity to dip my toes into the franchise. Sadly I can’t quite say this show was particularly made for newcomers as basically everything about this premiere assumes you know the basics of Cutey Honey and forgoes any form of character or setting introductions and just assumes you already know the details about Honey and her backstory. Since Cutey Honey is basically about as iconic in Japan as most of the big superhero comics are in the states, I can sort of understand the approach but it did sort of suck as someone coming in blind. Thankfully it’s not too hard to follow regardless though what I watched was something. The horny nature of some of Go Nagai’s work is about as well known as their amount of edge, and even before watching this I knew Cutie Honey was among the hornier of Nagai’s works. Even so, I wasn’t expecting it to be quite this horny, as it features everything from aggressive lesbians, to clothing damage, and a rather odd instance of BDSM. It was pretty overwhelming to say the least and perhaps a tad uncomfortable in some places, but it certainly kept my attention, and its sort of easy (for better or worse) to see how this influenced authors of later generations. Sex aside, this is solid looking production given Production Reed is a pretty small studio and while its not quite gorgeous, it does have some pretty nice visual direction, and both theme songs are pretty catchy. I can’t really say there was too much in this premiere that appealed to me personally, but it definitely didn’t make me any less curious about Cutie Honey so if nothing else, I may keep up with this for that.

Rating: Decent

 

Golden Kamui

Synopsis: In the early twentieth century, Russo-Japanese War veteran Saichi “Immortal” Sugimoto scratches out a meager existence during the postwar gold rush in the wilderness of Hokkaido. When he stumbles across a map to a fortune in hidden Ainu gold, he sets off on a treacherous quest to find it. But Sugimoto is not the only interested party, and everyone who knows about the gold will kill to possess it! Faced with the harsh conditions of the northern wilderness, ruthless criminals and rogue Japanese soldiers, Sugimoto will need all his skills and luck—and the help of an Ainu girl named Asirpa—to survive.

First Impressions: And here we have another highly anticipated adaption and one actually was fairly excited about. I’ve heard great things about the Golden Kamui manga over the last couple of years and very much enjoyed what I read of the first couple of chapters from a while back. Combined with a director who’s already had some experience with period pieces such as Gosick, this seemed like it would have all the makings on a really solid show. As far as the first episode goes though I’d say it…mostly lives up to that potential. The material itself is strong, and while we’re thrown into the whole gold hunt setup pretty quickly, the episode still manages to establish Sugimoto as a compelling if somewhat ruthless protagonist, and the dynamic between him and Asirpa already seems like it could be a lot of fun. The big issue here unfortunately, lies in the production itself. Given that Geno Studio is fairly new, and was more or less built off the corpse of the now defunct Manglobe (whose own productions were pretty inconsistent) I can’t say that I was expecting this to look gorgeous, but I was expecting it to look at least passable enough to get by. It mostly succeeds in that area too (albeit with quite a bit of corner-cutting), but with the unfortunate monkey’s paw of giant 3DCG bears. Like I said with Fist of the Blue Sky, 3DCG usually just gets a shrug from me in most circumstances, but the 3DCG used for the bears is too photorealistic to properly blend in with the painted looking 2D backgrounds, and combined with the thick lined character models, the result is a bizarre looking mess whenever all three elements are on screen at once. Fortunately these bears are disposed of by the end of the episode, and I can at least hope that the rest of the show’s animals won’t look that way, but it is a kind of annoying concern for what’s otherwise a perfectly fine premiere. Luckily the material here is good enough that I’m pretty sure this issue shouldn’t be a complete turnoff to most viewers, but I figured I might as well give fair warning. As for me, I’m gonna keep watching and hoping that we’ve seen the last of those monstrosities.

Rating: Good

 

Stein;s Gate 0

Synopsis

First Impressions: I’ve generally made it my business not to go over sequels anymore when doing these since it seems kind of pointless but this is a unique enough case to make an exception (and to be honest I wasn’t really sure exactly what this was before diving in). It’s been many a year since I watched Stein;s Gate (about 6 to be exact which is actually kind of terrifying) and while I found the first half of the show to be a little too self-indulgent and slow, the consistent payoff of it’s second half made it a very enjoyable watch for me, and turned it into one of 2012’s standouts, even if it wasn’t exactly my favorite show from that year. That said, I’d be lying if I said I ever really wanted more Stein;s Gate. Convoluted as the story was, it more or less wrapped up perfectly and I didn’t really see the need for it to be revisited in any capacity but it seems it made far too much money for one series to be the end so here we are. I hadn’t actually paid attention to anything surrounding this beforehand so I didn’t know if it was a spinoff or a sequel, but it seems that it’s a little bit of both.

This one starts off in the middle of a bad route where Okabe apparently fails to save Kurisu and his continual failure to save her over multiple timelines has caused him to retire from time travel shenanigans entirely. Suzuha however hasn’t given up on her quest, and with the signs of the end times approaching, it seems like Okabe won’t be able to stay out of the game for long. Needless to say anyone coming into this blind, might as well give up as this requires you to at least remember the events of the first half of the show, and since again it’s been about six years since I last watched this series, I myself had to spend about half the episode trying to remember who all these characters were. Even as a “sequel” though, going this route seems strange since well…the story wrapped up nicely the first time. I suppose this is sort of the only way they could do more of it and have it make sense but it does seem like a kind of cynical exercise. Joke’s on me though, because I’m still pretty curious where this is gonna go regardless and exactly how much mileage they’ll end up getting out of this. It seems baffling to me we’re getting another 24 episodes of this but I guess I’ll be going along for the ride.

Rating: Good

 

Last Period: the journey to the end of despair

Synopsis: “I’m never going to give up!! For that reason, I became a Period!!” Evil demons known as “Spiral” -made of souls who died in agony- threaten the people of the world. In order to stand up against Spirals, people founded the “Arc End”. Individuals whose skills are recognized are admitted to Arc End to become “Period” to fight for peace. Hal, who failed the Period admittance test 38 times, was accidentally admitted as an “Assistant Period” in Arc End 8th Squad. Forming a team along with other new members, Gazel and Liese, he is finally able to take his first step towards reaching his goal!

First Impresssions: This was another blind watch and one that turned out to be a mostly pleasant experience. From what I can gather this is based off of gatcha game, and rather than going for any kind of serious plot, this is instead more of a loving parody of fantasy games, and one that seems intent on riffing into the nature of gatcha games in general. I’ve personally never played any gatcha games (unless Xenoblade Chronicles 2 counts) and kind of refuse to so i can’t exactly say this concept really appeals to me, but I have enough passing awareness that I got a few chuckles out of those jokes. It helps that its particular brand of self-awareness is more light-hearted than an overhanded parody which makes it kind of relaxing, but the lack of edge also means that it could get pretty boring if you’re not really in the mood for it. Fortunently I mostly happened to be so this premiere hit a decent enough sweet spot for me. I’m not super pumped about watching more of this, but I could always use something simple and quiet so it might be worth a couple more goes

Rating: Decent

 

Doreiku the Animation

Synopsis: 24 people enter a survival game. Each has a device called an SCM (slave control method), which can make their opponent into their slave. Each person has their own reason for participating in the game.

First Impressions: I was a little apprehensive about checking this one out since everything about it’s premise sounded like it would be pretty gross. But like with Devil’s Line this is another one of Sentai’s picks for a dubcast and combined with my morbid sense of curiosity I felt at least a bit compelled to give this a peek. Weirdly enough I walked away from this premiere feeling pretty…okay. Much like with Kakeguri, this show combines games of chance with sexual desire, but where as Kakeguri was actually pretty chaste for how over the top it was, this leans much more into the sex related side of that deal and wants to be taken a little more seriously. That as you might imagine, makes this a considerably less fun show than Kakeguri but it’s first game has some pretty decent direction going for it, and while it’s definitely concerning that said opening game is the result of sexual assault, I suppose I can at least give the show credit for not sexualizing it since I honestly wasn’t expecting even that much. A lot of my feelings here are the result of low expectations but since I was really expecting to be repulsed by this show, the fact that I wasn’t is a reaction I’m still trying to process. It certainly wasn’t over the top enough to make for a fun trash show though, so I’m not sure if I have any desire to give it another episode. For now I can at least say it’s far from the grossest premiere of the season. Looks like Magical Girl Site will hold that crown

Rating: Decent

 

Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku

Synopsis: Narumi Momose has had it rough: every boyfriend she’s had dumped her once they found out she was an otaku, so she’s gone to great lengths to hide it. When a chance meeting at her new job with childhood friend, fellow otaku, and now coworker Hirotaka Nifuji almost gets her secret outed at work, she comes up with a plan to make sure he never speaks up. But he comes up with a counter-proposal: why doesn’t she just date him instead? In love, there are no save points.

First Impressions: And finishing out my spring anime impressions we have Wotakoi. It took a while for this premiere to finally be snatched from the jaws of Amazon’s incompetence but it was well worth the wait because it is without a doubt the strongest opener for a comedy out of all this season’s offerings. A workplace comedy between a fujoshi and a game otaku sounded like something that could potentially be a good time but I still can’t say I was expecting it to be quite this well…relatable. I’ve always been a little back and forth as to how much of my nerdy tendencies I feel comfortable displaying at work so I could relate to both Narumi’s desire to keep things on the down-low and appear normal, and Hirotaka just straight up whipping out his handheld during a lunch break as that’s also become a pretty regular part of my routine. So as you can probably imagine, I got a lot of laughs out of those little moments and it helps that both of the leads come off as almost immediately likable and they have a pretty solid chemistry going to the point where their sudden hookup at the end of the episode is equal parts hilarious and completely believable. The show itself is pretty good looking too, and the opening theme in particular has some of the most bubbly character animation I’ve ever seen, and helped to set the mood before I even really got started with this. So…yeah this show’s a definite keeper. It might suck having to battle through the trenches of Amazon for this every week, but if the rest of the show is as good as this opener, it’s a battle I’m more than willing to wage.

Rating: Great

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And looks like that’s it for Spring stuff. There’s certainly no shortage of shows this season, and while there aren’t a ton of must watches this time around, there’s enough variety here that you’re almost guaranteed to come across something that gels with you, there’s already quite a few things I’m probably gonna keep up to date with. Time will tell if the quantity of shows here will get to be a little too overwhelming, but till’ then: stay animated.

It’s that time of the year again…sort of. We’re technically still a week out from the actual start of the Spring anime season, but since Crunchyroll decided to give out an early preview of one of their premieres, I figured I might as well get a head start on this. This is looking to be one of the most packed seasons of anime I’ve ever seen as just about everything and its grandma looks to be coming out in Spring, and if even half of it ends up being watchable it could most certainly destroy me. Even so I’ll do as many first impressions as I can, and I’m determined to do so even if I’ll probably regret it two weeks from now. Let the suicide tour begin!

Ratings Scale

Bad: Stay away far away from this one.  Not worth watching

Decent: Has some okay elements to it. Might be worth giving a  couple of episodes to see how it goes

Good: Fairly solid show. Should be worth keeping up with for now

Great: Really good show. Definently worth seeing if you get the chance

Excellent: Really outstanding show. Absolutely worth following .

• All series synopsis from Anime Planet

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Magical Girl Ore

Synopsis: Saki Uno is a high school girl and rookie idol who has a crush on Mohiro, her best friend’s older brother. When Mohiro is kidnapped by demons, Saki hastily makes a shady contract to be able to transform into a magical girl, which transforms her body into that of a handsome man.

First Impressions: I feel as though I’ve been seeing the main visual for this thing floating around the internet for the last couple of years now, with no sign of when it would actually be a thing. Seems as though it’s finally here though, and it’s certainly…something. Magical girl parodies aren’t exactly new territory at this point and Cute High Defense Force Love did just about every gender bender joke with the genre that I could think of, but that series turned out to be pretty funny, and this seems like it’ll do a good job of following in its footsteps. The gimmick of having girls turn into muscular magical boys seemed like it would kind of one note, but the show gets a lot of mileage out of it by playing up to the raunchier side of magical girl shows rather than how Cute High mostly stuck to riffing Sailor Moon, leading to some pretty unexpected jokes and giving it a little more of an edge. On the downside, the animation is a little choppy (though given this was previewed before the official broadcast date it’s possible it could get touch

ed up a little before then) and the extra bit of edge means the show is a little lacking in sincerity which is kind of essential for a proper parody. It’s possible that last one could get fixed over time though, and there’s enough laughs here to make it plenty entertaining in the meantime. Hard to say how much steam this one’ll actually have in the long run but for now, it certainly has my attention.

Rating: Good

 

Ge Ge Ge no Kitaro

First Impressions: Ge Ge Ge no Kitaro is apparently a pretty big deal in Japan, and is considered something of a classic there, but it’s also something that’s never quite made it’s way to the west so I had what to expect from this (other than the hope that it would be decent, if only because Dragonball fandom is so angry over it being Super’s replacement). Having walked away from the first episode, I have to say I was pretty impressed. Horror is an aesthetic anime often struggles with and I sure wouldn’t expect a kids’ show to handle it well, but while nothing here is particularly frightening, the direction exudes a creep factor that a lot of other shows have kind of stumbled on. The yokai designs are pretty simplistic, but the framing gives them a clear sense of menace, and the unsettling feeling also extends to the protagonist Kitaro who comes off as equal parts helpful and distant in his apparent job as a yokai exterminator. Adding onto things is the fact that the actual production itself looks well…decent. Toei shows have gained an rather infamous reputation over the years for being shoddy looking, and Dragonball Super suffered a lot for the early part of its run, but this came out of the gate looking pretty respectable, and the action animation towards the end is nothing to snuff at. On the downside this seems like it could go into repetitive monster-of-the-week territory pretty fast, and that could end up wearing out its welcome, but for an introduction into an unfamiliar franchise this works pretty well, and I’ll certainly be sticking around for a while.

Rating: Great

Uma Musume: Pretty Derby

Synopsis: The concept begins with Uma Musume (Horse Girls), girls endowed with excellent running capability, and who aim to become top idols and compete in the national sports entertainment show “Twinkle Series.” Players take the role of both teacher and trainer for the girls in the Nihon Uma Musume Training Center Gakuen (Japan Horse Girls Training Center Academy) and help them make their debut.

First Impressions: So this show has had something of an interesting backstory as it was announced as Cygames second anime project after the success of Rage of Bahamut a couple of years, and had been stuck in production limbo ever since. I was beginning to think we’d never actually see this weird thing, but after all that…waiting I guess, it’s finally here and its certainly strange. Idol shows, moe, and monster girl shows are all varying niches of their own in anime (even if some will tell you otherwise) and while there’s certainly been various mixing of these niches I don’t think I’ve ever encountered a show that actually had the audacity to do all three simultaneously (especially with the addition of being something of a sports show). You’ve got horse girls running late to school with carrots in their mouths instead of bread, you’ve got horse girls training for horse track races, and you’ve even got horse girls putting on extensive live shows with apparently no time to practice choreography. All of this sounds like it’d be a wonderfully wacky time in concept but in execution it’s just kind of cute and not much else. Part of the problem with trying to do so many things simultaneously is that the show runs into problem of trying to juggle too many things at once, and doesn’t get the amount of time needed to properly revel in its absurdity. Thus the end result is a monster girl show that feels a little too much like standard moe, and a sports show that seems to have idols tacked on because, why not? I can’t say anything in this premiere was a gigantic turn-off but in a season as stacked as this one, first impressions are a lot more important than usual. Perhaps I’ll give this another go if Sundays seem light, but I’m not sure if I’ll be going ahead any further with it.

Rating: Decent

 

Kakuriyo- Bed & Breakfast for Spirits

Synopsis: Aoi is a female college student who inherited the ability to see spirits from her late grandfather. She prides herself on her cooking, and one day while feeding some agricultural spirits, a god and the master of the “Tenshinya” appears and takes Aoi away. He says that due to her grandfather’s debts, she must become his bride. Aoi hates this idea and instead declares that she will pay back her grandfather’s debt by working at the Tenshinya.

First Impressions: I wasn’t really aware of anything about this going in, and just glancing at the key visual I kind of assumed this was based off of a shojo manga or an otome game. In  truth it’s based off a light novel series which is kind of neat considering those usually star blatant male inserts, so a female lead is an interesting change of pace. That however is probably the most interesting thing about the show just going off the first episode. While Aoi thankfully isn’t a total blank slate, we’re barely given time to be introduced to her before getting thrown into the show’s premise and the shows premise unfortunately happens to involve her literally being trapped into an arranged marriage she knew nothing about. Given that bit, her ability to see spirits, and her being thrown headlong into the world of ayakashi, this sort of comes off as a discount version of The Ancient Magus’ Bride, but where as the marriage scenario in that was a backdrop thing that’s tossed to the wayside pretty quickly and Chise’s emotional state beforehand help to ease the discomfort a bit, the undertones here give the impression that’s going to be a lot more in the forefront of this show. On the brightside Aoi’s at least not willing to be sold off without a fight, and the show’s already introduced another ayakashi who doesn’t seem to have any particularly creepy motives so hopefully it can at least run with that for a while. As far as the technical front goes, nothing about this stands out particular (kind of par the course for modern GONZO) but it looks decent that nothing there should be an immediate turn-off. While I’ve put a lot of emphasis on the uncomfortable setup the show otherwise seems okay and it’ll probably make the whole thing less creepy as it goes on, but as I said before with Uma Musume, first impressions are gonna be pretty important this season due to sheer volume, and on that front, this show is likely another pass for me.

Rating: Decent

 

Fist of the Blue Sky- REGENESIS

Synopsis: It is just before WWII, Kasumi Kenshiro hides as a quiet, absent-minded professor teaching literature at a small women’s college in Tokyo. Once the 62nd Grand Master of Hokuto Shinken, “God Fist of the North Star,” and known has Yan Wang, or “the King of Death,” who preserved the peace in the “City of Devils.” A fighter of thugs and drug dealers, Kasumi seeks anonymity and a quiet life until the death of his lover, and former brothers, forces him to return to Shanghai to fulfill his destiny and avenge the deaths of his associates.

First Impressions: I’m a pretty big fan of Fist of the North Star, and I’ve always been curious to check out its prequel series, Fist of the Blue Sky, so a new anime adaption seemed like as good an opportunity as any to do so. Having actually watched it through, I mostly walked away with a giant shrug. Part of what made Fist of the North Star an entertaining watch was the simplicity of its setup as Kenshiro wandered a post apocalyptic world, helping the innocent and punching bad guys into play-doh. This looks to be a little more complicated that as we’ve got some kind of conflict between Chinese mafia gangs, and another plot-line involving a mysterious little girl and her bodyguard. While nothing here was super difficult to follow, the lack of a clear focus did make it a lot less engaging than i was hoping, and it takes till the end of the episode for these threads to connect. Of course the actual issue here is the animation which is done courtesy of 3DCG anime studio, Polygon Pictures. 3DCG anime is already something that causes a lot of backlash on its own, and while I’m personally pretty neutral on it and Polygon is generally one of the better studios in that field, handing them a martial arts action show probably wasn’t a good idea. The animation is frankly clunky looking, even by their worst standards, and while that can normally be offset by how CG can benefit fight scenes, there aren’t really any to be had in this premiere so audiences are left with 20 minutes of clunky CG models mostly talking. I can’t say this is gigantic disappointment but I was hoping for a bit better and while my curiosity might compel me to give this another episode, if you aren’t already interested in Fist of the North Star, this seems like an easy skip.

Rating: Bad

 

Gundam Build Divers

Synopsis: The Gunpla Force Battle Tournament is a big event held in GBN once per year. Competing in the final round are Avalon, led by the champion Kyoya Kujo, and the elite 7th Panzer Division led by the cunning Rommel. Starting with Kyoya’s Gundam AGE II Magnum, a variety of Gunpla take to the field to determine which is the strongest force!

First Impressions: Gundam Build Fighters was actually my first real entry into the Gundam franchise (fight me) and I had a blast watching it since it turned out to be the crazy super robot show I never knew I wanted. It’s sequel, Gundam Build Fighters Try wasn’t quite as good, but I have enough love for the concept that I was more than willing to check out this new iteration. So far though this one seems to have dialed things down a bit as where the previous Build shows were a little more over the top, this seems a little more grounded which is slightly disappointing. Equally disheartening is that this seems to be a much rougher production than either of its predecessors as while they weren’t quite on the same level of quality as a full-blown mainline Gundam show, they were still pretty polished, and very pretty looking for kids shows. This in comparison has a lot more off model shots and some notable animation shortcuts, and since this is the first episode where the show is supposed to look at its best, that’s a little concerning. Having said all that I’m here for one thing: to watch giant robots punch each other. In that respect, the episode delivers as the first big fight of the series at least has enough direction going for it to make up for the shoddier animation, and even with my nitpicks, it didn’t take long for me to get swept up the atmosphere of watching these Gundams duke it out. So…yeah I’ll probably keep up with this for a while. It’s certainly no Gundam Build Fighters, and it might not even end up being a Build Fighters Try but so long it gives me the super robot fights I crave, I’ll be lining up to take a big sip of that every week.

Rating: Good

 

Legend of the Galactic Heroes- Die Neue These

Synopsis: The war between the monarchical Galactic Empire and the democratic Free Planets Alliance has raged ceaselessly across the galaxy for over a century, with the fleets of both powers having fought countless battles. Currently the conflict revolves around the strategic Iserlohn Corridor, one of only two passages of space through which the two forces can access each other. Here the Empire has built the nigh-impregnable Iserlohn Fortress, whose deadly weaponry has thwarted repeated efforts by the Alliance to capture her. Phezzan, a neutral mercantile state, controls the other corridor. The long war has resulted in an indecisive stalemate, but there are two men from the two worlds who will change everything: Wen-Li Yang, a gifted strategist from the Alliance who wants nothing more than to retire and be a historian; and Reinhard von Lohengramm, a man from the Empire whose ambition knows no bounds. Their loves, struggles, triumphs and failures play across an interstellar stage of intrigue, war and death.

First Impressions: Ever since I decided to pick up Viz’s release of the original Legend of the Galactic Heroes novels, I’d been really looking forward to this adaption since if handled properly, could make for a pretty good anime of the year competitor. Of course since then, I’ve burned through a decent portion of the 80’s OVA and when I learned that this version was going to start off with 12 episodes and 3 movies, I couldn’t help but feel a little apprehensive about the possibility of it being rushed. Fortunately, this first episode did a lot to dissuade those fears as it actually covered a lot less material than I was expecting, even under my ideal scenario. This premiere gives us a brief backdrop into the universe that surrounds this series, and the three major powers fighting over it before thrusting us into its first major battle and introducing us to one of our two main leads, Reinhardt. While a lot of this episode mixes between Reinhardt sitting around strategist and occasionally showing the aftermath in the battle itself, it maintains a consistent enough flow to never feel boring and it’s aided by a sturdy looking production. While CG battleships can be something of a mixed bag when it comes to visual execution, they actually blend in pretty well and it allows for the battles to have the sense of scale I had envisioned when I read the first novel. It also looks like it’ll hold up pretty well in terms of music as while competeting with the orchestral score of the 80’s OVAs was always going to be something of a losing battle, this makes a pretty solid effort, and the opening theme is something that’s probably going to be stuck in my head for a while. On the downside the other lead of this show, Yang, somehow ended up getting robbed of screentime for the entire episode, which is a little annoying on a personal level since he’s the best character, but hey I guess it just means he’ll get to steal the show next week so there’s that. I realize nothing I’ve said here is particularly helpful to newcomers so I’ll just say that if you’re in the mood for big space battles, and pretty boys (as well as some well timed political insights) you’ll be in for a good time. Go give it a watch

Rating: Great

 

Lupin the 3rd Part V

Synopsis: In the new series, Lupin III will travel to France — the home of his grandfather and namesake, Maurice Leblanc’s master thief character Arsène Lupin.

First Impressions: So in many respects, this one was actually my most anticipated show for this season. Lupin the 3rd pt 4 was my first entry into the franchise and I was blown away by how stylish and consistently fun in managed to stay over the course of its 26 episode run. Since this latest iteration has the same director, it pretty much goes without saying that I was really excited to check it out, and having the theme being centered around technology is an interesting take for a franchise that’s been around as long as this one and its off to a rip-roaring start in that respect as Lupin trying to work around the constant visibility of social media is a neat setup for his thieving shenanigans. Interestingly it does seem as though this version actually does hold some kind of connection to pt 4 as well as possibility some of the earlier incarnations, but much like the others this is pretty standalone and requires no previous knowledge to be able to jump in and have a good time. It’s a good thing too because in much like pt 4 before it, this is a really nice looking production and in addition to some slick animation, this premiere features what is quite possibly one of the coolest car chases I’ve ever seen on a TV animation production schedule. Sadly I kind of expect this to fall under the radar given the amount of bigger franchises and new series it has to compete with this season, but for what it’s worth this is hands down the best premiere I’ve seen thus far, and I highly recommend checking it out.

Rating: Excellent

 

Tokyo Ghoul: RE

Synopsis: Haise Sasaki has been tasked with teaching Qs Squad how to be outstanding investigators, but his assignment is complicated by the troublesome personalities of his students and his own uncertain grasp of his Ghoul powers. Can he pull them together as a team, or will Qs Squad first assignment be their last?

First Impressions: I really like the Tokyo Ghoul manga, and while people were pretty divided on its original anime adaption, I had a lot of respect for how it handled the material, even if the execution was murkier in Root A. Having said all that, I can’t say I was particularly excited for this. I’ve only read a little of the Tokyo Ghoul: RE manga and I’d normally be more than happy for an easy opportunity to see more of that material, there’s quite a few things holding back my optimism. For one thing, the anime diverged pretty heavily from the manga with its final episode, and while that normally wouldn’t be too big an issue for what’s just supposed to be an adaption, this is keeping in step with the manga’s continuity instead, meaning the anime’s ending is more than likely going to be retconned and it’s going to leave any anime only watchers seriously confused. My other point of contention is that for all its speedbumps the first anime series held up well on its own thanks to the efforts of its director Shuhei Morita who ended up being replaced for this iteration. For the most part the first episode hasn’t really done much to dissuade those fears. The obvious retcon is already in place, and the visual direction has been dialed back a bit from horror vibes to something a little more shonen-y. The bright spot here is that the material itself is pretty good. Whereas the first series focused on the perspective of the Ghouls, this one instead focuses on the perspective of the investigators that hunt them, with one of said investigators being Kaneki who seems to have somehow lost his memories. Its an interesting enough hook to keep things engaging and while I can’t say I’m super invested in the mystery surrounding Kaneki, I’m at least curious to see where it goes. All my groaning aside, I’m invested enough in TKG that I was probably gonna watch this even if it sucked, and while I still can’t help but feel a little irritated at how muddied the whole situation surrounding this show is, hopefully the actual material will be solid enough to ease those frustrations

Rating: Good

 

Real Girl

Synopsis: Hikari Tsutsui is a high school boy who is satisfied with the virtual girls he encounters in anime and games. He does not have many friends and he lives in his own world. One day, when he is stuck on pool cleaning duty, he is approached by Iroha, a “real girl” who is showy and popular with boys.

First Impressions: I’ve been hearing a few interesting things about the manga for a while, so I was somewhat curious about  the anime adaption for this. A romance between an otaku and a “normal” girl seems like it’d be pretty standard fare for anime at this point, but somehow or other it kind of isn’t (well at least without some kind of harem or power fantasy clause) so it makes for an interesting setup. The premiere is largely focused on getting us into the headspace of the male lead Tsutsumu who kind of strattles the line between annoying and sympathetic in his self-deprecation, with just enough of the latter to be fairly likeable. While the circumstances leading to him getting involved with Iroha are kind of contrived even by anime standards, the emotional circumstances of him coming out of his shell over the course of the episode are mostly believable enough to compensate, and the dynamic between the two of them is kind of cute. Unfortunently the show is held back by a pretty lackluster looking production as it’s noticeably ugly looking, and while its not totally devoid of direction, there isn’t quite enough of it to make up for the empty backgrounds and off model character shots. This made it a pretty uneven premiere to be sure, but I walked away with just enough interest that I kind of want to see where this is headed, so unless it gets flooded in the wave of other shows this season, I’ll probably give it another episode or two.

Rating: Decent

 

Tada-kun Never Falls in Love

Synopsis: Mitsuyoshi Tada, who has never known love, is taking pictures of the cherry blossoms in full bloom when he meets Teresa Wagner, a transfer student from Luxembourg. Upon arriving in Japan, she got lost, separated from her travel companion. Mitsuyoshi helps her and brings her to his grandfather’s coffee shop.

First Impressions: While this probably isn’t one of the more anticipated anime originals of the season it was one of the ones I was the most interested. Monthly Girls Nozaki-kun was a pretty fun shojo comedy so a series with pretty much all the same staff carrying over seemed like it’d be a good time. Although whereas Nozaki-kun was mostly a comedy and it’s romance angle was part of the punchline, this looks to be a little more sincere on the latter front while still carrying over a quick paced sense of humor. The result is mostly plesant and I got a few good laughs out of it. While none of the characters particularly standout so far, the show makes them likable enough, though between the two leads, Teresa is probably the more compelling of the two even if I kind of wish they were stalling on the obvious “twist” that she’s some kind of royalty. I can kind of do without the annoying best friend character but aside from him this seems like it could be a cute little romcom and it was certainly a plesant premiere. There’s no shortage of big shows this season but if you’re in the mood for something a little more low-key, this may do you fine.

Rating: Good

 

Megalo Box

Synopsis: A desolate land stretches out from the city of poverty. A motorcycle speeds recklessly, blowing clouds of sand and dust. The rider is the protagonist of this story – he has neither a name nor a past. All he has is his ring name, “Junk Dog” and a technique for rigging MEGALOBOX matches with his pal Gansaku Nanbu, which they use to support their hand-to-mouth lives. JD is bored, resigned, and unfulfilled. Yuri has been the reigning champion of MEGALOBOX for the past few years. He has the skills and presence of a true champion. This is a story of JD and his rival, Yuri.

First Impressions: And here’s yet another anime original that I was kind of curious about. The only thing I really knew about this going was that it’s supposed to be some kind of anniversary project for the boxing manga classic Ashita no Joe, while also apparently being it’s own thing (unless it involved robotic boxing arms and no one told me). It’s certainly a strange prospect to be sure, but the end result led to a pretty solid premiere. This seems to be continuing the recent trend of throwbacks to the grungy 90’s OVAs aesthetic as every aspect of this show oozes that sense of style, from the jazzy soundtrack to the artstyle that seems to be deliberately filtered to make the show look less modern. That 90’s vibe also applies to the show’s protagonist as well since Junk Dog is the sort of quiet tough guy who’s basically designed for folks who grew up on those kinds of anti-heroes and his struggle between trying to get by and his aspirations of becoming a real boxer seems like the perfect setup for a classic slum underdog story. Sadly it looks like it’s going to be another episode until we can see if the show has the animation and visual direction fully needed to match its boxing elements since we hardly get anything here, and while I wouldn’t expect full on Hajime no Ippo levels of action choreography, getting even a couple of intense matches could make for a fun treat. So far this show is mostly an exercise in aesthetic but it happens to be an aesthetic I’m down with so until the show gives me reason to think otherwise, it’s probably gonna be a safe watch for this season.

Rating: Great

 

Dances with the Dragons

Synopsis: Jushiki, a system for reproducing natural phenomena and paraphysical acts such as the creation of matter, allows humans to wield a power which they once feared as “magic.” Its mastery has brought advancements to all fields of life, while facilitating the extermination of the once-rampant “Dragons” and “Others.” Gaius and Gigina, two combat-type jushiki wielders, run an office in a chaotic frontier town called Eridana, and make a living using their art to solve problems and collect bounties. One day, a dragon-hunting job falls into their laps. But the job is just the start of a plot that goes far deeper…

First Impressions: So I didn’t know much about this going in other than it was apparently an LN adaption and that it has a pretty wacky title. What I walked away with was an…experience to say the least. Infodumping and light novel adaptions basically go hand in hand at this point and I normally just roll my eyes at the technobabble but this episode opens up one of the most incomprehensible pieces of exposition in recent memory and doesn’t get any easier to follow from there. By the end of the episode the only things I was really able to piece together is that our heroes are a pair of bishies who fight dragons and in addition to apparently having a hot elf girlfriend, one of them has what is hands down the most unfortunate light novel name I’ve ever seen: Gayus (the jokes almost literally write themselves). There’s also some kind of political craziness going on behind the scenes but the show doesn’t really offer any real clarity on it nor does it really do a good job of really introducing us to our leads aside from the whole hot elf GF thing. On the positive side it is quite pretty looking and the action animation is solid but I can’t say anything else about it seemed particularly appealing. It might make for a fun trash show but aside from that I’d say give this one a pass

Rating: Bad

 

The wave of new anime continues as the Winter season hits it’s second week, and more premieres are coming down the pipeline. So far it doesn’t seem like this season will test the limits of my sanity, but there’s still plenty more to check out, so might as well get started

Ratings Scale

Bad: Stay away far away from this one.  Not worth watching

Decent: Has some okay elements to it. Might be worth giving a  couple of episodes to see how it goes

Good: Fairly solid show. Should be worth keeping up with for now

Great: Really good show. Definently worth seeing if you get the chance

Excellent: Really outstanding show. Absolutely worth following .

• All series synopsis from Anime Planet                                                                                      ———————————————————————————————–

Karakai Jozu no Takagi-san

Synopsis: Nishikata is a middle school student who has suffered humiliation due to being teased by Takagi, the girl who sits next to him. Since then, he has vowed to one day do the same to her and succeed in teasing her.

First Impressions: So this is a show I was a little more aware of going in, but I also wasn’t sure how much it was going to grab my attention. It’s premise is essentially based off of one joke and since I’m already kind of rooting for Nishikata to eventually succeed in getting one over Takagi, it’s hard to say how much mileage the show is going to get out of that one joke for me. For what it’s worth though, this premiere was certainly cute and the dynamic between Nishikata and Takagi works well enough that I’m hoping the two of them will eventually be more honest about their obvious crushes on each other even if that’s probably not going to happen here. It also managed to get a couple of chuckles out of me so, I might keep going if there isn’t much else to watch on Mondays, but since I’m not currently sure if this will actually be able to maintain my interest for a full 12 episodes, I’m currently on the fence with it.

 

Basilisk: The Ouja Ninja Scrolls

Synopsis: The battle for succession that continued for three generations of shogun in the Keichou era culminated in a gruesome battle of ninja arts between the Kouga and Iga clans. Amidst a rain of flower petals, a man and woman who had decided to live for love were separated once again, beautiful in their transience.

First Impressions: Of all the sequels coming out this season, this one is the weirdest. The original Basilisk anime was a manga adaption by Gonzo, and was essentially if Romeo and Juliet was about ninjas and the feud between their two families escalated into a battle royale. Needless to say that show ended pretty violently, so I was really surprised it got another series, and this already looks like it’ll be a similar setup. The main difference this time though (aside from the more generic character designs) is that the Romeo and Juliet ninjas of this story happen to be siblings which is uh…more than a little questionable (and no the weirdness of it being acknowledged by the other characters doesn’t make it any less so) and this first episode is largely just setup as it’s dedicated to showing off the various powers of these soon-to-be-dead warriors. I can’t exactly say that there’s anything in this premiere that would really be enticing to newcomers, and the actual character introductions here are pretty weak, but watching ninjas fight to the death again is bound to be entertaining if nothing else, so if my Mondays stay light, this’ll probably make for an decent distraction.

Rating: Decent

 

• After the Rain

Synopsis: 17-year-old high school student Akira Tachibana is a girl who barely expresses herself. She harbors a secret crush on Masami Kondou, the 45-year-old manager of the family restaurant she works at part-time.

First Impressions: This was a title that I was kind of interested in checking out, but was also simultaneously very apprehensive about. While I wasn’t sure about the exact details behind it, I knew coming in that the basic premise was about a high school girl’s attraction to a middle aged man, and it’s not exactly a scenario that I imagine most folks are comfortable with, myself included. Having said that though, this first episode sure made a for a strong case in the show’s favor as it does a fantastic job of getting us into Akira’s headspace purely through her actions as we get an immediate feel for how isolated she feels thanks to an as-of-yet explained event, and the way in which she goes about dealing with her crush is equal parts cute and down to earth. Kondou himself comes off as pretty likable for the amount of time we spend with him, and the overall direction of the show feels downright pleasant, as it’s packed with solid character animation, and some shots that were so gently framed, I seriously forgot this was a WIT production. Of course, none of this really negates the fact that the show’s premise is a hard sell, and I’m still kind of worried about exactly what direction it’ll go with this, but this was such strong premiere that uncomfortable scenario aside, I’m willing to go along for the ride.

Rating: Great

 

Marechen Maedchen

Synopsis: Hazuki Kagimura is a normal girl who is usually alone. With her relationship with her new family not going so well, she retreats every day to the world of stories and books. One day, after school, one of the library’s bookshelves sends her to another world with a magic school, where she meets Shizuka Tsuchimikado. She finds out that girls (called “mädchen”) who attend the school are selected by old fairy tails and folk stories to wield their magic, and are taught how to wield it in the school. The school has girls who are chosen by such stories as Kaguya-hime no Monogatari, Issun-boushi, Der Freischütz, Shuten-douji, The Little Matchstick Girl, The Gigantic Turnip, Arthurian legends, and The Ramayana. Hazuki herself is chosen by the Cinderellastory. She begins her new life at the school to become a magic user, and be friends with Shizuka.

First Impressions: This was another title I was vaguely aware of coming in, and one that I was interested in checking out. The idea of a magical girl show based on fairy tale heroines sounded like a fun premise, and it was easy to imagine what kind of crazy ideas they could run with it. Unfortunately the show I actually watched, turned out to be a pretty boring waste of 23 minutes. While “isolated losers with no friends” is a pretty common staple for main characters, Hazuki is quite possibly one of the single blandest anime protagonists I’ve ever encountered. Nothing about her personality comes off as particularly exciting or even endearing, and her obsession with books feels more like a wacky anime trait than an actual part of her character, and since that IS supposed to be one of the defining factors of her character that we’re given here, there’s not really much of anything to go on. To make matters worse, in addition to our ultra boring protagonist, the show is pretty bland looking too, with the character designs being pretty cookie cutter, the visual direction virtually non-existent, and the OP theme having some of the most embarrassingly lazy clip-show animation I’ve ever seen for an anime opening (and given Magus Bride’s second opening for this season is also a lazy clip show, that’s saying a lot). I guess if you’re REALLY interested in the show’s supposed premise (which it doesn’t even elaborate on much in this premiere) it might be worth sticking it out longer, but I’m slamming this book shut.

Rating: Bad

 

Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody

Synopsis: “Satou,” aka Ichiro Suzuki is a programmer in the middle of a death march. He was supposed to be taking a nap but somehow wakes up in another world… What lies before him is what looks like the menu screen of the game he was working before his nap. He’s at a complete beginner stage at level 1. However, he had three “Meteor Showers” which could level a whole map. Suddenly, a whole group of lizardmen appears in front of him. In order to survive, Satou uses Meteor Shower, his level jumped to 310 and he became extremely wealthy. Whether it be dream or reality, Satou’s journey was now beginning.

First Impressions: After a couple of seasons worth of absence,  a new “trapped in a video game” has decided to grace us with its presence. This one apparently stars a 29-year old man, working a thankless job as a game designer, and if that seems too realistic for a light novel protagonist, rest assured that he’s only a grown adult for the first 9 minutes of the show, after which he’s transported into the game he was working on and becomes 16 again, with all the in-game powers of a demi-god. I’ll admit I was pretty disappointed that the show didn’t actually decide to follow through on staring an adult protagonist (he still sounds like an adult when he’s thinking to himself, but it’s just not the same) but the show actually does seem to have a trick or two up it’s sleeve. The biggest point in its favor so far is that rather than having the main character be insanely overpowered purely for the sake of a convenient power fantasy, he has in fact become SO overpowered that a test of his powers nearly kills him, and he seems to actually be something of a danger to his new environment since he can casually shrug off dangers that would be disastrous for anyone else. I have no idea if the show is going to actually follow through on this idea, and I’d be very surprised if it did, but the novelty of it was more than enough to keep me entertained the entire time. It’s also a pretty decent looking show for what it is, and I really appreciate the use of darker colors in the MC’s real-world life to establish how much his job sucks. I’m probably giving this more credit than it deserves, but this was certainly an amusing enough premiere and I’ll likely keep going with this until I get bored.

Rating: Good

 

Hakata Tonkotsu Ramens

Synopsis: At first glance, the city of Fukuoka seems like a peaceful one, but under the surface, crime is running rampant. The city’s Hakata ward is home to the professionals of the underworld: professional killers, detectives, informants, professional revenge seekers, those skilled in torture, and more. And according to urban legend, even a “killer of professional killers” exists in the city. When stories of the men in the underworld are told, a “professional killer murder” appears.

First Impressions: When I was checking out the lineup for this season, I didn’t give this one too much thought aside from its weird title, but this one could turn out to be interesting. It’s been a little while since we’ve had a “carnival of killers” show, and this premiere is largely about establishing all the different assassin factions based in this one city, and giving us the circumstances that allow the show’s two leads to meet. By far the most interesting thing about this premiere was how it managed to tie the individual factions  together, and it could make for a fun Baccano-esque scenario, though I certainly wouldn’t expect this to be anywhere near as strong as that show was. Aside from that, I can’t say anything here was particularly impressive, but the show seems to be a lot more grounded than the premise would suggest, and I appreciate it’s more casual take on the seedy underworld of it’s setting rather than reveling in how dark it can be. Visually it’s a pretty by the numbers show, but it looks passable enough, and the music has a nice jazzy-vibe that fits aesthetic of the show. This certainly isn’t the most exciting premiere this season, but it more or less does what it needs to, and there’s enough potential for me to stick with it for a while.

Rating: Good

 

Hakyu Hoshin Engi

Synopsis: A once thrived kingdom, In—now governed by an evil hermit, Dakki, and her party—is in a chaotic status with its people suffering Dakki’s oppressions. Seeing this, The Hermit Band took it seriously and planned a “Hoshin Plan” which is assigned to an apprentice hermit, Daikobo, who gathered partners, captured and sealed all evil hermits, and planned to establish a new kingdom. On the other hand, the strongest and an In- royal hermit, Bunchu, stood up against Daikobo to protect the old kingdom with all his might. Thus, the death battle among invincible hermits begins…

First Impressions: Of all the new shows coming out this season, this was probably the one that intrigued me the most. Ushio & Tora turned out to be a really excellent shonen throwback, so the idea of another classic shonen getting a revival seemed like something right up my alley. Sadly, though I’d have to say that this premiere is a mess. While my familarity with the manga only stretches as far as a handful of chapters I read way back when, I knew coming into this that it came to a grand total of 23 volumes, and since this is only slated for about 24 episodes, they were obviously going to have to cut a lot of material. Given that Ushio & Tora worked out well despite having to do the same thing, I wasn’t too worried about notable pacing issues, but it seems that rather than cutting out material to fit the story within the show’s episode count, the staff chose to do the exact opposite of that and are rushing through the plot at breakneck speed in order to fit in as much as they possibly can.

That approach works about as poorly as it sounds as this first episode moves a mile a minute, and things happen so quickly that it’s hard to keep track of what’s happening in any given scene, and it gets to the point where I almost couldn’t tell who was talking with who. It’s a real shame, because the material I was able to piece together seemed interesting enough, and the show actually looks like a very polished production with gorgeous backgrounds, and some color visual direction, but things move so quickly that the show doesn’t give enough time to appreciate any of it. Sacrifices were to be expected when it came to the amount of material the staff had to compress, but this premiere felt like it should have been spread out into 2 or 3 episodes, and if it’s coming out of the gate this troubled, I’m scared how the rest of it’ll turn out. I might give this another episode out of sheer curiosity, but I can’t imagine either new or familiar audiences being happy with this, and this feels like it’s going to be a project under siege.

Rating: Bad

Killing Bites

Synopsis: Killing Bites are underworld duels between human-animal hybrids. One beast who knows no fear will fight in this animalistic world full of fear and insanity. This ultimate battle of the beasts will shock you to your core!

First Impressions: All I really knew about this one coming in is that it had something to do with furry girls and ultraviolence, so I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised this was on the trashier side of things. The first minute of the show features attempted rape, and things don’t really get that much more wholesome from there, as the actual furry people duels teased in the show’s premise are on the gruesome side of things, and since Amazon seems to have the uncensored version available for streaming, it’s literally full frontal when it comes to fanservice. In any other season this might be my go to choice for trashy entertainment, but since Devilman Crybaby was filled to the brim with ultraviolence and sex while also being ya know…good, I feel kind of spoiled now, and this felt a lot more shruggy than it probably otherwise would have been as a result. This is another one where I honestly can’t say whether or not I’ll give it another episode, but I guess if you’re in the mood for crazy trash, this is the place to look this season.

Rating: *Meh*

 

Darling in the Franxx

Synopsis: Set in the distant future, the land is ruined and humanity establishes the mobile fort city Plantation. Pilots produced inside Plantation live in Mistilteinn, also know as the “birdcage.” Children live there knowing nothing of the outside world or the freedom of the sky. Their lives consist of battling to carry out missions. Their enemies are mysterious giant lifeforms known as Kyouryuu, and the children pilot robots called Franxx to face off against them. For the children, riding the Franxx proves their existence. A boy named Hiro is called Code:016, and he was once known as a prodigy. However, he has fallen behind, and his existence seems unnecessary. Not piloting a Franxx is the same as ceasing to exist. One day, a mysterious girl known as “Zero Two” appears before him. Two horns grow out of her head.

First Impressions: And ending out my first impressions for this season, we have what was probably it’s most anticipated show. Studio Trigger shows tend to get people excited, and generally for good reason, but for one reason or another I ended up not paying too much attention to this in terms of previews and came in completely blind. That may have been for the best as this premiere is certainly solid, but moreso in flash than substance. 2D mecha animation is something of a dying breed these days, but this show is out to make as strong a case for it as possible because it comes roaring out of the gate with some awesome looking robot designs, and equally cool looking monsters. The animation here is spectacular, from the action to the character movements, is incredible and really feels like it’s hearkening back to Gainax’s most acclaimed mecha shows like Gurren Lagann and Eva. As far as the actual story itself goes it’s…kind of hard to say how it’ll go thus far. We spend most of the episode in Hiro’s headspace as we learn that he doesn’t like the feeling of being another cog in the apparently messed-up system that governs the world he’s in but the exact details behind his current isolation are a mystery, and the exact details of the show’s premise go largely unexplained (though with the amount of unsubtle sex metaphors making up some of it’s terminology I can make a few guesses), making the visual flair it’s strongest hook. Fortunately that’s a pretty strong hook. and while it’s hard to say if this’ll actually cover any new territory as far as mecha stories go, it at least seems like it has a story to tell. I wasn’t quite as blown away by this as would generally be expected of new Trigger things, but it certainly looks cool, and there’s enough potential on display that this a pretty easy recommendation if you’re looking for something big to get excited about this season besides Devilman.

Rating: Great

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And that’s it for my Winter impressions. Aside from my disappointment with Hoshin Engi, I have to say that so far this seems like it could be a pretty decent season. There’s some pretty comfy shows to check out this time around, and a couple of things that seem like they could have some serious potential. Of course it’s hard to say if any of that will stick, but hey if it doesn’t, Devilman Crybaby has ensured that there’s at least one show from the season that’s bound to stick everyone’s heads for a while. Until next time, stay animated

It’s the start of a new year everyone, and that means a year of new discovers, new political scandals, new potentially world ending disasters, and most important of all, new anime. The winter season is generally a pretty sleepy one, and the division with certain anime streaming services could easily make this worse, but there’s actually quite a bit of potentially interesting stuff this season, and there’s always the possibility of a sleeper hit or two. As always there’s quite a bit of stuff to get through, so let’s get to it.

Ratings Scale

Bad: Stay away far away from this one.  Not worth watching

Decent: Has some okay elements to it. Might be worth giving a  couple of episodes to see how it goes

Good: Fairly solid show. Should be worth keeping up with for now

Great: Really good show. Definently worth seeing if you get the chance

Excellent: Really outstanding show. Absolutely worth following .

• All series synopsis from Anime Planet

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A Place Further Than the Universe

Synopsis: Scenery that we have never seen. Sounds that we have never heard. Scent that we have never smelled. Food that we have never tasted. And the surge of emotion that we have never experienced. This is the expedition of recollecting the pieces torn apart and sensation left alone. When we reach that place, what will we think? Howling, 40 degree angle. Raging, 50 degree angle. Shouting, 60 degree angle. A wilderness beyond the heavy sea. The furthest south, far from civilization. At the top of the Earth. We will find lights through the girls’ eyes to live tomorrow.

First Impressions: This one kind of fell under the radar for me, as while it looked kind of interesting, I assumed it was probably going to be a cute girls doing cute things kind of deal. What I got instead seems to be something that could actually turn out to be really exciting. The feeling of having never done anything adventurous in life that helps to kick off this story is something I can relate to pretty easily (I’m quite boring in case you couldn’t tell) and the premiere does a great job of capturing that desire to do the impossible while also leaving me immensely curious as to how our two heroines will actually make their supposed journey to the Antarctic. In addition to it’s solid hook, the show also has a pretty nice visual aesthetic going for it, as while its director Atsuko Ishizuka is generally known for her use of bright and outlandish colors in her shows, this has a much more muted look to it, and it serves the angle of realism that the show is apparently going for. I sure wasn’t expecting much from this one, but it looks like our first new anime of the year is actually off to a solid start

Rating: Great

 

Ms. Kozumi Loves Ramen

Synopsis: Koizumi is a high school girl who looks like a cool beauty at first glance, but actually has an unexpected side of her that loves ramen.

First Impressions: This is another show I didn’t give much attention to in previews, but Winter’s generally a decent time for anime comedies, and going by the incredibly stylish OP song, this seemed like it could be pretty entertaining. The actual show itself on the other hand, left me feeling a little mixed. It’s premise seems very straightforward as it centers around a girl named Kozumi who’s passionate about ramen, and another who follows her everywhere because she thinks she’s cute. On the surface that seems like an okay enough setup for a comedy, and the ramen itself is detailed enough to make for some solid food porn. The problem lies in that Kozumi’s admirer is basically a stalker, and despite being turned down at the end of each of the premiere’s three shorts, the “joke” is that she can’t take no for an answer, and keeps trying to hang around Kozumi anyway. This could kind of work if the show gave the impression that Kozumi tolerated her enough that she might gradually warm up to her or something, but she’s clearly disinterested and it just makes the stalker girl’s antics come off as more pestering than endearing. Maybe I’ll consider giving this another shot if the season seems light on good comedies, but right now this looks like something I’m gonna take a pass on.

Rating: Bad

Laid-Back Camp

Synopsis: Rin enjoys camping by the lakeshore, Mt. Fuji in view. Nadeshiko rides her bike to see Mt. Fuji, too. As the two eat cup noodles together, they behold the beautiful scenery around them.

First Impressions: Continuing the trend of things that fell under the radar for me was this show, which coming in seemed like it probably wasn’t going to be for me. Series about cute doing cute things have to have a really strong hook to maintain my interest, and while it certainly wasn’t a hook I expected, cute girls doing camping trips seems like something I can get behind. I myself am a former Boy Scout and go on yearly trips with my dad’s troop so I know a pretty good deal about camping and the show manages to capture that feeling surprisingly well. From accurately setting up an A-tent to acknowledging how much of pain it can be to start campfires, the attention to detail was really impressive and it really felt like the kind of experiences I’ve had going on weekend camping trips. It helps that the show has a nice visual atmosphere as while the character designs are pretty standard as far as moe goes, the backgrounds really capture the rustic beauty of nature, and the last shot of Mt. Fuji towards the end pretty much nailed it home. As far as the characters themselves go, so far nothing about them stands out to me enough to assume they’ll be much more than the usual moe archetypes, but the two girls we’re introduced to so far are likable enough, and the show feels so relaxing that I can probably get over that if it can maintain the overall aesthetic of this premiere. I sure didn’t have any real interest in this one coming in, but while it’s brand of moe just happens to be attached to something I’m actually familiar with, it captures said thing well enough that I’m more than willing to give it a few episodes.

Rating: Good

 

Katana Maidens~Toji no Miko

Synopsis: Since the ancient times, the Kannagi priestesses have used their swords, or Okatana, to exorcise the creatures known as Aratama that brought chaos upon the world of man. These maidens were known as Tojis. They are a special task force within the police. They are allowed to have their Okatana on their person because they are government officials, but they mostly consist of middle school and high school girls who go to one of five training schools throughout the country. Though they mostly live normal school lives, if they are given a mission, they take their Okatana and unleash their powers, fighting to protect the people. This spring, the top Tojis from five schools across the country have been gathered for a customary tournament where they will use their abilities and fight for the top position. As the many Tojis trained and prepared for the upcoming tournament, there was one girl who was even more determined than the others on improving her swordsmanship. What lies before the end of her Okatana?

First Impressions: So I’ll be completely honest in saying that decided to watch this show literally immediately after going through the first 5 episodes of Devilman Crybaby and checking out the first ep of Maid in Abyss on Prime Video since Anime Strike finally kicked the bucket. That seems to have been a pretty poor decision because despite having spent 23 minutes of my life on this show’s premiere, I couldn’t really tell you anything that happens in it. It’s among the latest in the moe action show genre that seems to have gradually become a thing over the years and the plot has something to do with girls with swords fighting ugly CG monsters and apparently having rough internal politics. Even though my mind was admittedly elsewhere while watching I can’t say that anything about this really grabbed me. The characters introduced so far seem like the general archetypes you’d expect from this type of show and while it’s certainly not the ugliest looking show around, it’s pretty bland on a visual front, and that made it’s occasional instances of awkward CG stand out more. In fairness, the show seems harmless enough, and if moe action shows are your jam, then I guess you might get something out of it, but for right now, I have enough to watch for this to be an easy pass.

Rating: Decent

 

Junji Ito Collection

Synopsis: The works of one of the most famous Japanese horror manga artists, Junji Ito, finally gets animated! This will be an omnibus animation where each episode will star different protagonists such as the famous Tomie, Soichi, and Fuchi!

First Impressions: Junji Ito is known throughout the world as a master of horror manga, so idea of an anime adapting some of his best short stories certainly seemed interesting enough. The premiere kicks off with a short story about a creepy boy named Souchi who goes around placing curses on people he doesn’t like. It’s an interesting story in and of itself but admittedly it didn’t really work too well as a horror story, and the visual direction, while competent, didn’t do much to make any of it particularly scary. However I was a little more impressed with the second short, as even though it only went on for about a minute, it at least ended on a grotesque enough visual to make me feel like we could be in for some neat stuff later on. I’ve been curious about Junji Ito’s works for a long time, so it’s pretty much a given that I’ll keep up with this, but while I certainly wasn’t bored by this premiere, I’m hoping the next episode has some better stories to adapt.

Rating: Decent

 

Record of Grancrest War

Synopsis: The fantasy action light novel series takes place on a continent ruled by chaos. The chaos breeds disaster, but the Lords of the continent have the power of “Crest” (a Mark of the Saint) that can calm the chaos and protect the people. However, one day the rulers throw away their creed of protecting the people, and instead start to fight each other with their powers to gain dominion over each other. The novels center on Silka, an isolated mage who scorns the Lords for abandoning their creed, and a wandering knight named Theo, who is on a journey to train to one day liberate his hometown, which is under tyrannical rule. Silka and Theo make an everlasting oath to each other as master and servant, and work together to reform this continent dominated by wars and chaos.

First Impressions: So I knew going in that the author’s previous series, Record of Lodoss War (or more specifically it’s OVAs) has generally been held up by the anime community as something of a classic, and while I haven’t gotten around to that one yet, it certainly helped to put this show on my radar. I can’t exactly say that this premiere blew me away, but it certainly holds a decent amount of promise. The show’s fantasy setting seems a little on the generic side, and the rough looking quality of the production right out the gate certainly doesn’t help with that, but it makes up for these deficiencies in other areas. One point in it’s favor is that it at least does a semi-admirable job of making its magic elements stick out from the rest of the show visually, and it manages to avoid feeling too infodump-y when it comes to exposition, which is always something I’m happy to see dodged when it comes to LN adaptions. The thing that really works for me so far though is the dynamic between it’s leads, as while they meet under some pretty contrived circumstances, the chemistry between them works well enough to make me curious about what they plan on accomplishing together, while leaving plenty to be explored for both. Overall this was a perfectly competent premiere and while I can’t exactly say this show is a standout, it looks like it’ll scratch my fantasy itch just fine

Rating: Good

 

Sanrio Boys

Synopsis: The project’s premise follows Kouta Hasegawa, a high school boy that loves the yellow Pom Pom Purin dog. By mere coincidence, he ends up attending the same school as Yuu Mizuno, a boy who likes the bunny My Melody. Yuu tells Kouta that there’s nothing to be ashamed of for liking Sanrio’s cute characters. Together, Kouta, Yuu, Shunsuke Yoshino, Ryou Nishimiya, and Seiichiro Minamoto learn to accept their love of the characters instead of feeling embarrassed.

First Impressions: I’ve said this before in previous seasons but male idol shows generally aren’t my kind of thing for all the reasons you can probably guess and even the ones with a decent hook usually have to go the extra mile to impress me. So needless to say I was pretty surprised when I walked away from this premiere satisfied. I suppose the biggest point in this show’s favor is that rather than throwing out all the bishies to the audience at once, the first episode is instead laser focused on the protagonist and how his love of cute things helped to make him into an introvert. Nothing about his story is particularly unique, and it was pretty easy to guess where its big dramatic turn was headed, but it was told just well enough to make me feel for him, and that certainly works out better for me than most male idol things I’ve tried. It also helps that the show has some surprisingly solid animation for its genre, and the visual direction is pretty effective too, helping to give it something of a more distinct look compared to its competition. It’s entirely possible the rest of the show is going to be a lot more ensemble focused, and said ensemble could just be the usual archetypes for this kind of series, but enough about this premiere impressed me that I’m willing to go along with it for a while longer.

Rating: Good

 

Pop Team Epic

Synopsis: The self-described “crappy anime” centers around two 14-year-old girls, the short Popuko and the tall Pipimi. The story summary on the anime’s website quotes William Shakespeare’s Tweflth Night play, “There is no darkness but ignorance.”

First Impressions: I’m not even sure what to write here honestly, and I probably shouldn’t even bother. Nothing I could write would accurately depict the kind of experience this show is, and anything I’m capable of saying would spoil it. Just…go watch it I guess?

Rating: WHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAATTTTT??!!!!!!!

 

Citrus

Synopsis: Yuzuko Aihara, a high school girl whose main interests are fashion, friends and having fun, is about to get a reality check. Due to her mom’s remarriage, Yuzu has transferred to a new, all-girls school that is extremely strict. Her real education is about to begin. From Day One, happy-go-lucky Yuzu makes enemies, namely the beautiful yet stern Student Council President Mei. So what happens when a dejected Yuzu returns home and discovers the shock of her life: that Mei is actually her new step-sister who has come to live with her? Even more surprising, when Mei catches Yuzu off-guard and kisses her out of the blue, what does it all mean?

First Impressions: Well I knew going in that this was a yuri show, and giving that explicitly yuri based titles tend to be on the trashier side of things, I tempered my expectations accordingly. Having actually watched the first episode, I can’t exactly say it wasn’t what I expected but it was definently better than I thought it would be. For one thing the show surprisingly well directed. It knows its audience is here to see girls making out, and lays out the fanservice accordingly while never getting so explicit that it affects the context of whatever’s happening. The show also looks pretty good, given that yuri titles tend to look like lower end productions, and it helps in making the episode’s sexual moments to be a bit more effective. Of course while there’s certainly a lot of nice window dressing here, it’s still a pretty trashy affair, and the first episode even ends in a makeout session, so if you were somehow hoping for an earnest lesbian romance, you’re probably gonna have to look elsewhere. As for me, I wasn’t really expecting much, and I still kind don’t, but the overall presentation in this premiere was just competent enough, that I’m willing to take a plunge on another episode.

Rating: Decent

 

Slow Start

Synopsis: 16-year-old Hana Ichinose who unbeknownst to her classmates was a year late in enrolling into high school. Although it may not seem like a big deal, it is a big deal to her. She wants to catch up with everyone else someday.

First Impressions: Me and moe have had something of a rough relationship over the years, as “cute girls doing cute things” is not my cup of tea, but it has also generally gotten better about knowing how to throw in some kind of hook for wider audiences. This show however, feels as though I’ve somehow gone back in time 10 years because it almost the literal personification of stereotypical moe. The character designs have the absurdly big eyes that people used to poke fun at, the artstyle is pretty bland, and the girls themselves are walking archetypes to the point where the heroine’s defining trait is literally that she looks too young to be in high school. If there’s one bright spot here it’s the character animation, which is so good in some instances that it almost feels outright offensive given that the characters themselves don’t really display enough personality to justify it. I had thought moe was past being this by the numbers but I guess I was wrong. As always, I’ll be fair in saying that if cute girls doing cute things is you’re jam, this should do a perfectly adequate job of filling your needs, but I personally need a little extra spice in my cute girl shows, and this was just too much of a slow start to keep my interest.

Rating: Bad

 

Kokkoku: Moment by Moment

Synopsis: In order to save her brother and nephew who have been kidnapped by a mysterious religious group known as the Genuine Love Society, Juri and her family cast a spell using a stone hidden by her grandfather to enter the world of stopped time known as Stasis. However, when they infiltrate the kidnapper’s base, they’re met by other people who can also move about freely. With grotesque creatures lurking about, will they be able to escape the parallel world and return to their normal lives?!

First Impressions: Since I assumed this was going to be locked under the recently defunct Anime Strike, I didn’t pay any attention this one in previews, but now that I actually CAN watch stuff on Amazon without the double paywall, I figured I’d give this a shot. This is the first series by Geno Studio, aka the zombie version of the anime studio, Manglobe and for a first show this seems…pretty middle of the road. We spend most of this first episode getting used to the main character and her family, the latter of whom come off as intentionally unlikable, and from there it transitions into the setup for a strange sci-fi thriller involving the ability to stop time. As the show has yet to really clue us on on what the premise will actually involve, the premiere is very much on the slow side of things, and middling production values don’t really help it stand out visually with the exception of some strange looking 3DCG when demonstrating the effects of stopping time, and it’s outrageously cool opening theme. This seems like it’s going to be one of those cases where I can’t really give my two cents on the show until I actually know what the heck it’s about, and since that’s apparently going to require at least one more episode, I guess it has my attention for now

Rating: Decent

 

Mitsuboshi Colors

Synopsis: In a certain corner of a certain park in a certain Ueno area of Tokyo exists the secret base of the “justice organization” called “Colors.” A group of three elementary school girls lead Colors, and the members of the group roam the park day and night (actually just until evening) to protect the peace of the park.

First Impressions: I feel like someone in Japan must have heard me complaining about how boring Slow Start was, because every ounce of this show feels like the superior version of that. I may not be big on the premise of cute girls screwing around for 20 minutes, but “kids being kids” is one of my favorite forms of slice of life shows (part in part why Ed, Edd n Eddy remains my favorite cartoon of all time) so little girls, screwing around and generally just being goofy kids, is something I am absolutely down for. There’s always something magical to me about seeing how much excitement little kids can make out of mundane activities, and both of this episode’s two shorts do a really great job of demonstrating the different personalities of the main trio while also making, some of the most believable little kids I’ve ever seen in anime. Their interactions with one of the town’s lazy cops made for some consistently solid jokes, and I walked away from this premiere feeling way more entertained than I was expecting. If the rest of the series can be as charming as this first episode one, than this is absolutely gonna be a keeper for me.

Rating: Great

 

School Babysitters

Synopsis: Ryuichi and Kotarou are brothers who lost their parents in an airplane crash. They’re taken in by the chairman of Morinomiya Academy, who lost her son and daughter-in-law in the same crash, on one condition: Ryuichi has to babysit the kids at the daycare room in the school! This room was opened to help the school’s teachers who had kids to take care of, but it suffers from a lack of staff until Ryuichi becomes the first member of the babysitter club formed to solve that problem.

First Impressions: Well I guess this must be the season where children take over anime because here comes another show about little kids. At first glance this seems like a show dedicated to showing off how cute little kids can be, and as someone who’s actually helped out in a few preschool classes, I’ll admit I’m a pretty good target for this sort of thing, and much like with Mitsuboshi Colors, I was impressed with how well this was able to make the kids feel like well…kids. What I wasn’t expecting though, was for this show to actually have a pretty solid emotional hook. While the two brothers losing their parents in the beginning of the episode is shot through so quickly that it almost feels like an excuse for this premise to exist, it turns out to actually be a deliberate measure as Ryuichi doesn’t really realize the impact that the loss of his parents has had on him, until he’s in a situation where he realizes he’s the only one left who can look after his little brother, and the scene hit so hard that it had me tearing up a little bit. It’s hard to say how much that feeling of loss is going to end up ultimately playing into this show, and I really hope it does, but if it doesn’t it at least has a strong cuteness factor going for it, and that makes this a pretty good pick up for me.

Rating: Great

The fall anime rollout continues as a pile of new premieres comes out of the woodwork. So far the season’s been off to a pretty solid start with a couple of standouts, some decent looking stuff and only a couple of real stinkers. Now let’s see how well it can keep up that momentum

Ratings Scale

Bad: Stay away far away from this one.  Not worth watching

Decent: Has some okay elements to it. Might be worth giving a  couple of episodes to see how it goes

Good: Fairly solid show. Should be worth keeping up with for now

Great: Really good show. Definently worth seeing if you get the chance

Excellent: Really outstanding show. Absolutely worth following .

• All series synopsis from Anime Planet                                                                                      ———————————————————————————————–

Code: Realize ~Guardian of Rebirth

Synopsis: I want you to touch me. I want to feel your warmth. Claudia is a girl who possesses a toxin that melts everything she touches. Feared as a monster, she spent her days in isolation. One night, just as she is about to be captured by the British army, she meets a man who calls himself the gentleman thief, Arsène Lupin. She arrives at London, where she meets many people and experiences many things. In her adventures with Lupin, she comes close to discovering the truth about her body and her missing memories. What is the truth that this so-called “monster” of a girl finds?

First Impressions: This show is our second otome game adaption of the season, but where Sengoku Night Blood felt a little too auto-piloty and dull for how goofy it’s premise could have been, this one seems thankfully seems to be trying a little harder. The premise this time centers around the protagonists from classic British novels teaming up to protect a mysterious waif from the government and some nebulous evil organization, and the show properly capitalizes on that goofiness with Arsene Lupin being a showboat tsundere and Victor Frankenstein publicly regarded as a terrorist despite apparently being a sweetheart. Aside from those crazy asides there’s not a whole ton to this one, but it kept me relatively entertaining, and the female lead feels a bit less like an insert character compared to Night Blood so there’s at least the hope the story might try to build some actual chemistry between her and her harem. The direction also leans in favor of this one making an attempt to sell some kind of story so all in all it feels like a pretty workable premiere. How long I stick with this probably depends on how much mileage they can get out of the novel character inserts, but for the time being, I can give it a few more episodes

Rating: Good

Two Car

Synopsis: Yuri Miyata and Megumi Meguro are two girls who enter the world of competitive motorcycle sidecar racing on Miyake Island. While they are the complete opposites of each other, and often butt heads, they complement each other well during races. The team will fight other motorcycle sidecar teams from all over Japan, each with their own opposing traits, such as honor student and working student, sadist and masochist, and a funny man and straight man.

First Impressions: Slapping moe on top of different genres has been a trick that anime’s been pulling quite a lot recently, and this isn’t even the first time it’s been racing related. However while I haven’t seen any of the other moe racing titles, the general reception has been pretty negative so I wasn’t sure what to expect coming into this one. What I actually got was pleasantly surprising as the first episode managed to capture all of the appeal of a good sports anime, and makes the racing feel as exciting as possible despite some of the obvious visual limitations. It helps that the episode also does a solid job of introducing us to our two heroines and does a great job of selling their dysfunctional friendship and making the dynamic between them feel totally believable. So far the rest of the racer girls just feel like a checklist of popular archetypes from goth lolis to mature lesbians, but hopefully the show will manage to expand on them as it goes further in, I wasn’t expecting to enjoy this one as much as I ultimately did, but it was a pretty pleasant premiere and I’m certainly up for more of it.

Rating: Good

The Ancient Magus’s Bride

Synopsis: Chise Hatori has lived a life full of neglect and abuse, devoid of anything resembling love. Far from the warmth of family, she has had her share of troubles and pitfalls. Just when all hope seems lost, a fateful encounter awaits her. When a man with the head of a beast, wielding strange powers, obtains her through a slave auction, Chise’s life will never be the same again.

First Impressions: I’ll be blunt here. There pretty much wasn’t any way I wasn’t going to like this show. The manga’s come highly recommended by folks whose opinions I generally trust, and I recall really enjoying the bits of it I skimmed through a few years ago back when I used to read scanlations. The real question is how MUCH I was going to like this show, and the answer is quite a lot. The premiere does a wonderful job of introducing us to our depressed heroine Chise, and while we’re never given any specific details as to how she ends up in her current situation, we’re given just enough information to get an idea of how rough her life was before giving herself away to Elias, and I’m already looking forward to learning more about her. That of course speaks nothing for the show’s fantasy world which is of course going to be the biggest draw for most people. Admittedly even without being that familiar with the source material I was a bit apprehensive about Wit Studio handling this given that this seemed like it could really use a fantastical visual aesthetic, and their stuff generally looks too clean to properly handle that sort of thing. I can’t say this premiere completely removed those feelings as some parts of it looked a little too anime for what I was hoping to get (looking at you fairies) but the overall presentation creates a solid sense of atmosphere and sells the fantastical nature of its setting as both beautiful and dangerous. All in all this premiere was pretty much what I was hoping I’d get and while I’m a little nitpicky on how this is being drawn, everything about it works so well that it’s really hard not to get sucked in. I’m in this one for the long haul

Rating: Great

 

Anime Gataris

Synopsis: Just as soon as she enters Sakaneko Private High School, Asagadani Minoa is dragged into the anime club by her classmate, Kamiigusa Arisu, even though she knows next to nothing about anime. A classmate, Kouenji Miko, along with other anime-loving senpais, quickly turn her into an anime fan. Fighting off the incessant shut-down threats of the student council, and completely oblivious to the coming apocalypse, the anime club talks about anime in the club, at Akihabara, at anime Meccas, and at hot springs.

First Impressions: A lot of international fans tend to make this mistake, but anime isn’t really as big in Japan as you’d think. They’re certainly surrounded by it more, but outside of household stuff that everyone knows like One Piece or Sazae-san, it’s a niche thing the same way it is in the rest of the world. Given that, a series about a girl with only an extremely casual interest in anime suddenly finding herself thrust into an anime club sounds like a pretty fun premise, and while the show seems to have a bit too much anime style wackiness for how grounded of a premise this should be (did we really need super flamboyant teacher man?), and wasn’t as funny as I’d hope something like this could be it seems amusing enough to at least have a bit of fun with this idea. All of this…is what I would like to say but the the last 3 minutes or so of the show suddenly shifts gears by introducing a talking cat and some kind of magical beret that can stop time. It comes off as pretty weird, even on top of some of the out of place wackiness that was already in there to begin with, and I left unsure of exactly what kind of show this is going to be. At the same time though, it’s so out of left field that it did leave me genuinely wanting answers as to why it’d suddenly pull this sort of stunt, so I guess much like MMO Junkie, I’ll be giving this another episode if only to see what the heck the actual show will be.

Rating: ???

 

A Sister’s All You Need

Synopsis: Itsuki is a novelist and “modern day Pygmalion” who works day in and day out to create the ultimate younger sister. He’s surrounded by various other characters: a beautiful genius writer who loves him, his big-sisterly classmate from college, a fellow male writer, a sadistic tax accountant, and his editor. They’re all looked after by Itsuki’s perfect younger step-brother, Chihiro, who has a serious secret.

First Impressions: I’ve been a hardcore anime fan for roughly 12 years, and in that time I’m come across my share of irredeemable trash. In all that time however, I’ve never seen a show actually attempt to stockholm syndrome the audience into accepting it until now. The first 90 seconds of this premiere is the comprised of the grossest “imouto/little sister” fantasies imaginable, and to the point where I’m sure even real life creepers would cringe a little. It’s all mercifully revealed to be something of a bizarre fakeout though, as we then transition to a less gross, but still kinda gross story about a light novel writer with an extreme imouto fetish and his fellow author friends, one of which happens to include his jokes around about wanting to get in his pants . Admittedly her antics and the semi-decent conversation the group has while just lazing around with each other was almost tolerable enough to trick me into getting over those first 90 seconds, but then the show reveals the MC’s junior is horny to the point of acting sniffing his dirty undies, and the show has the gall to immediately try and shift into being a “sincere” romance between the two of them. I don’t think I’ve ever experienced a level of whiplash this fierce but this show certainly accomplished it, and while that might seem like an endorsement to at least watch this first episode before checking out. Do yourself a favor and don’t. Transitioning from the quality of the show from the  lowest circle of Hades to purgatory was a clever ploy, but even with that in mind, this isn’t worth giving the time of day. I need some brain bleach.

Rating: WELCOME TO PURGATORY

 

Evil or Live

Synopsis: In this modern society, a new kind of “illness” is striking young boys and girls; Loneliness, disbelief and outrage push this generation to get more or more attached to Internet and technologies. The experts called those symptom “Net Addiction”. To prevent that, a certain Rehabilitation Facility has been set up to “Lead the young man back to the right path”. Enrolled to treat is addiction, Hibiki had no idea that this Rehabilitation Facility is nothing more than a prison. In this place where it’s not permitted to escape, how will Hibiki challenge despair in this hell?

First Impressions: And to close on my fall show impressions, we have our obligatory Chinese co-production of the season. As always I approach these with a sense of dread since with the exception of A Centaur’s Life (which never quite lived up to its premise) they’ve generally been pretty awful. This show however is truly special. And when I say “special” I mean this may well be the single most pretentious anime I’ve ever seen, and given I’ve seen upwards of 500 shows, that’s saying a heck of a lot. This series is based off the wonderfully archaic premise of young people being so addicted to the internet that they can barely function and have to be sent to a special facility to be rehabilitated. If this sounds like a 50-60 year old man’s idea of “edgy social commentary” rest assured that this plays out exactly like that, and I could almost literally feel the author yelling “these young people and their gosh darn internet!” though my screen.

To “add” to all of this, we have the show’s visual direction, which is shot in letter-boxed format for whatever reason and occasionally incorporates shots from real world environments and some other crazy visual cues, which feels like it’s supposed to give the show a look to match the weight of it’s “message” but it just makes the show seem even more full of itself than the writing already does, and these tricks don’t do much to match the low-end character designs and choppy animation that continually plagues every chinese co-production that’s come out to this day. All of this comes together to result in a show that’s convinced it’s the smartest thing ever made, and in the face of such bold stupidity I couldn’t help but be amused. Everything about this premiere is dumb and terrible, but it’s ridiculous that I’m genuinely curious to see how far it’ll go in it’s soapboxing and it’s certainly entertaining if nothing else. It’s rare that any of these chinese co-productions leaves me genuinely  wanting for more but this is such a unique brand of bad, that I can’t help but be curious about where it’s headed. I’ll probably regret strapping myself in for this one, but you’ve won me over . Evil or Live. I look forward to mocking you for weeks to come

Rating: A-MAZ-ING

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And that’s it for my first impressions this season. I was honestly ready to write off 2017 as the weakest year of anime I’ve seen since I started keeping up with seasonal stuff, but fall might really be able to turn it around. There’s a lot of extremely promising stuff this time, and I’ve only really come across a couple of things that really rubbed me the wrong way. It feels like it’s been a long time since I started off an anime season with this positive of an outlook but it really seems like they’ve got all the bases covered this time, and if even half of these shows manage to avoid imploding on themselves, this could turn out to be an extremely memorable one. Only time will tell how it all pans out so till then, stay animated.

 

The fall season has finally arrived and it’s looking to be packed to the gills with anime. There’s a ton of cool sequels coming out, and some potentially exciting new stuff as well so it seems like it could be a season with something for just about everyone. Let’s get started.

Ratings Scale

Bad: Stay away far away from this one.  Not worth watching

Decent: Has some okay elements to it. Might be worth giving a  couple of episodes to see how it goes

Good: Fairly solid show. Should be worth keeping up with for now

Great: Really good show. Definently worth seeing if you get the chance

Excellent: Really outstanding show. Absolutely worth following .

• All series synopsis from Anime Planet

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Black Clover

Synopsis: In a world where magic is everything, Asta and Yuno are both found abandoned at a church on the same day. While Yuno is gifted with exceptional magical powers, Asta is the only one in this world without any. At the age of fifteen, both receive grimoires, magic books that amplify their holder’s magic. Asta’s is a rare Grimoire of Anti-Magic that negates and repels his opponent’s spells. Being opposite but good rivals, Yuno and Asta are ready for the hardest of challenges to achieve their common dream: to be the Wizard King. Giving up is never an option!

First Impressions: *sigh* Of course we’d start off with this show first. So if you’ve been following my Twitter feed for the last year or so you’ve probably seen me ranting about the Black Clover manga, and dreading the fact that it lived long enough to see an anime adaption. Ideally I would steered clear of said anime adaption for my sanity, but for reasons I can’t yet disclose I’m obligated to watch it for at least a little while so here we are. This first episode features the exploits of Naru- I mean Asta who wants to be the Hoka- err… “Wizard King” and has an introverted rival named Sas- I mean Yuno. Asta is constantly made fun of for his inability to use magic and the big dreams he has in spite of that. On the day he’s supposed to receive his magical grimore which signifies he’s become a mage, he fails and falls into despair, but it turns out there’s a bit of a technicality there because he does have a grimore: an evil one, hosting a demon inside of Asta.

Does any of this ring any bells? It should because outside of a few setting details these are almost all of the basic beats of the beginning of Naruto with the exception of the Sasuke knockoff appearing in the first episode rather than later on. To the anime’s credit, it does it’s best to try and tone down some of the beats that were literally ripped straight from Naruto’s first chapter, but even with that it still feels like an incredibly auto-piloty battle shonen, Asta is an archetype we’ve seen a million times before (not to mention having read the manga I know he only gets worse as a character, not better)  and done to better effect, and the show does a pretty lazy job of getting the audience invested in his dynamic with Yuno (which looks to be spread out into the next episode) or its universe, and both elements come off more as a checklist of obligatory tropes than something heartfelt, which is kind of a dealbreaker for me with any shonen thing. Combine all this with the fact that the show looks like a pretty rushed production (complete with blatant CG towards the end), and there’s not a whole ton of appeal here for newcomers. I suppose if you’re new to anime, and you’re looking for a new battle shonen to seek your teeth into you can always do worse, but if you’re looking for one with a bit more originally or heart, I’d recommend My Hero Academia, or Boruto, since even the latter doesn’t pull as much from Naruto despite being an actual spinoff of that franchise. Again this show is far from the worst thing out there, but as offering anything new as a shonen, it definitely doesn’t leave a good first impression

Rating: Decent

Juni Taisen: Zodiac War

Synopsis: For one wish, they’ll risk it all. The time has come for the Twelve Tournament—held every twelve years. For twelve proud warriors, each baring a name from the Chinese Zodiac, they’ll prepare to fight in a bloody battle royal. The victor gets any one wish they desire, but they’ll have to do whatever it takes to earn it. Blood and tears will flow on this battlefield—who will be the lone survivor?

First Impressions: Nishioshin is a pretty notable name in the Japanese creators sphere, and his work on Bakemonogatari and to a lesser extent, Medaka Box, have been generally well regarded material. The latter happens to be one of my favorite manga ever made, so needless to say that the prospect of him doing his own weird spin on the Fate franchise seemed like it could be a pretty good time. This episode certainly delivered on that promise as it was a rip roaring ride from start to finish. The show looks downright fantastic and now that director Naoto Hosoda (best known for 2011’s Future Diary) can stretch his wings, on a better scheduled production, he really makes the most of it, and the opener delivers on some fantastic action sequences that I’m slightly worried it won’t be able to maintain. The actual story itself is a pretty straightforward tournament thing, but direction does a great job of explaining everything through natural dialogue rather forced exposition, and the cast of bizarre killers all seem like they’ll each be entertaining in their own right. My only real point of concern here is that material might go a little overboard on the edge factor and risk harming the broader level of appeal this could deliver on, but Nishioshin’s track record is consistent enough that I’m not too worried about that, and I’m curious to see just how strange some of these character’s backstories can get. There’s still plenty of new stuff to check out this season, but this one’s certainly off to a promising start, and very much worth a peek

Rating: Great

Sengoku Night Blood

Synopsis: One day, Yuzuki is enveloped by a mysterious light suddenly emanating from her cell phone and finds herself in an unfamiliar place. The scenery spread out before her almost resembles Sengoku period Japan– But this is another world known as “Shinga” where non-human creatures such as vampires and werewolves reside. Long ago, the various tribes of Shinga lived together peacefully under the protection of the Himemiko who possessed special blood. However, one day the Himemiko suddenly vanished. With the protection of the Himemiko gone, the world has fallen into a period of strife.

First Impressions: And here’s our otome game adaption of the season. Sengoku era stuff generally bores me to tears unless someone puts a really fun spin on it, and otome adaptions generally aren’t my cup of tea either, but the premise of figures like Totomi Hideyoshi or Nobunaga being vampires sounded like enough of a dumb fun idea to be worth a peek. Unfortunately the show doesn’t really seem interested in fully capitalizing on that and instead just focuses on showing off the boys and awkwardly tossing in the female-insert who they’re all meant to faun over. Needless to say I didn’t have a particularly good time with this one, and found myself checking the runttime counter halfway through it. That’s okay though, because I’m not really the target audience for this kind of thing, and I’m sure those who are interested will get their mileage out of it. As for me, it’s a pass.

Rating: Decent

Infini-T Force

Synopsis: The story of the original manga begins when a girl named Emi uses a pencil that can grant any wish. Emi gets caught up in the robbery of a convenience store, and her life is in danger. She uses the pencil to wish for a “hero that will save everyone.” Four heroes appear in response to Emi’s wish to change the course of the future.

First Impressions: Tatsunoko superhero properties have been a staple of anime for decades, but they’ve always been pretty obscure in the west, with the closest to any significant level of relevance being Casshern Sins and to a lesser extent Gatchaman Crowds. With all that in mind, a Justice League esque team up of their most iconic heroes seems like as good an introduction as any and as far as that goes this is off to a pretty okay start. The biggest point of note here would be the show’s 3DCG animation which looks surprisingly solid compared to 90% of its anime contemporaries, and a lot of the action sequences actually managed to look pretty cool. It helps that the character designs lean more towards actual CG models than trying to emulate the 2D anime look and while it’s still a bit choppy in a few places, this is probably the best implementation of it I’ve seen on a TV budget production. Storywise things are a bit more of a question mark with things involving a few rumblings of a mysterious villain who wants to destroy other dimensions for some unknown reason, but it’s not too difficult to follow, and the personalities of the individual heroes seem interesting enough that I’m sure we’ll get to know them beyond their costumed personas. For now, I’m mostly just in this for the prospect of watching a CG anime that actually looks like a proper CG production, but hopefully this’ll evolve into something interesting

Rating: Decent

Urahara

Synopsis: Harajuku… The place where culture, kawaii, and fashion come together. Three high school girls Rito, Mari, and Kotoko are planning to open a temporary store called Park. One day, aliens from space come to Earth to take away the culture of humans. That’s when a mysterious girl who calls herself Misa appears. Now, in order to protect the Harajuku that they love, these three girls must be prepared for anything!

First Impressions: I recall skimming through the manga (?) to this a while back on CR’s manga app and thinking it was pretty weird, but while cute girls doing cute things can be something of a mixed bag in execution this seemed like the sort of thing that could be amusing in animated form. It certainly still feels weird in animated form, but not necessarily in a good way. The show’s animation is…limited to say the least and the direction feels kind of maniac with transitions that make things feel more like a motion comic than a show, and combined with the intentionally scribbled looking backgrounds, it didn’t feel as energetic as it was clearly meant to. It doesn’t help that for a cute girls doing cute things esque show, the girls don’t feel particularly endearing in any major sense, and the seiyuu performances felt kind of dull, which sort of seems like it’d defeat the purpose here. The one saving grace of this whole thing is the wonderfully cartoonish premise of aliens who literally suck up other cultures, but the overall aesthetic weirdly serves to hamper rather than elevate the fun to be had, and it all left me feeling rather cold. If you’re down for moe for moe’s sake, maybe you’ll enjoy this, but I think I’m gonna move on.

Rating: Bad

King’s Game: The Animation 

Synopsis: Kanazawa Nobuaki has transferred to a high school far from where he used to live. Due to an incident at his old school, Nobuaki is afraid of getting close to his new classmates and keeps himself at a distance, but he starts opening up because of a sports day inter-class relay. Then, a single text message from someone calling themselves the “King” is sent to everyone in class. Nobuaki’s classmates think it’s a simple prank, and don’t take it seriously but Nobuaki knows that a death game is about to begin, and struggles to oppose it…

First Impressions: So with Juni Taisen out to fulfill everyone’s needs for a crazy over the top battle royale thriller, this show comes off as the unfortunate other of the season. Though where Juni Taisen manages to impress as high quality trash, what we get here is pretty boilerplate and bar the course for this sort of thing. Loner MC who knows how this all goes down and fears the inevitable? Check? Everyone quickly turning on each other? Check. Girlfriend who’s clearly meant to be stuffed in the fridge as “motivation” for our MC? Checkity, check, check. Stupid as this all was though (and boy howdy is it stupid) it certainly wasn’t boring, and the execution is so incredibly off the walls that it all came off as unintentionally hilarious and Mamoru Miyano delivering his finest quality ham as the MC of this show only served to add to the silliness. If it had more to compete with I’d probably give it the boot right here, but I’m pretty sparse on Thursday shows for the moment, and if this show can maintain it’s level of a “quality” for the remainder of it’s run I can at least have a few good laughs if nothing else.

Rating: Decent

 

Recovery of an MMO Junkie

Synopsis: Morioka Moriko (♀) is 30, single, and a NEET. She has dropped out of the real world. Searching for a safe place, the place she ended up… is the online world!! In this online game, Moriko starts a new life as a handsome young man with silky hair named Hayashi. However, she’s an obvious noob and ends up dying numerous times when a lovely girl named “Lily” lends her a helping hand. Meanwhile IRL, she ends up having a shocking encounter with a mysterious handsome salaryman named Sakurai Yuta. After meeting him, the real world starts to change and starts affecting her online world as well?!

First Impressions: I was kind of wary about checking this one out as everything about its premise was giving me PTSD flashbacks to spring 2015’s Netoge, and that show was…problematic to say the least. Far as this show goes though its…really hard to say just exactly what its goals are. The episode partially introduces to our heroine who seems to have quit her office job to become a NEET, but the majority of its runttime is spent building up a romance between her male avatar, and a female avatar she befriends through an MMO. The obvious twist here is that the female avatar belongs to a guy (and given our heroine seemed to be really into the idea of romancing “her” I’m kind of curious what her reaction will be when we get there) but it’s hard to say if the show’s going to use this for something cute, or potentially meanspirited. The developments between the two are handled well enough that I don’t think it’ll opt for the latter, but Netoge exists and the cynic in my heart can’t help but be worried this could turn into something weird and gross. Either way there’s not really enough to make any kind of serious guess about its future so I suppose its earned another episode from me.

Rating: Decent

 

Kino’s Journey: The Beautiful World

Synopsis: In an imperfect world, the stories make it beautiful. Meet Kino, a traveler exploring beyond her boundaries into unknown mystical places! With only her guns and talking motorcycle Hermes by her side, she learns about unique people and their customs through the fascinating stories they weave. But to see everything, she can only spare three days to each land before moving on to the next adventure.

First Impressions: Throughout my years as an anime fan, Kino’s Journey is a title I’ve often heard celebrated as a beloved classic but one I’ve never had the opportunity to get around to. Now that the show’s been “rebooted” in a sense, now’s as good a time as any to check it out, and the first episode impressed. Going off of my understanding of the show’s premise, the story follows a young traveler named Kino who travels to different countries in order to observe their lifestyles, with each one centering around some sort of theme or philosophical debate. This first episode starts with Kino going into a country where murder isn’t prohibited by the law, and where I could have seen this story easily diverge into over the top silliness, the way it handles the concept, and the last minute twist regarding how this law actually works is all handled well enough that I walked away from this with quite a bit to think about, and this is apparently something that happens quite a lot in this show.

Even putting aside it’s interesting philosophical intrigue, the show itself looks incredibly gorgeous. While Twin Star Exorcists was a very uneven show to say the least I’d always thought that Tomohisa Taguchi’s visual direction really stood out in spite of the show’s scripting problems, and he really gets to show a lot of his full capabilities here as the show’s backgrounds really help to create a wonderful sense of atmosphere that makes the world feel real, and the more maniac camera movements towards the end do a lot to sell the tension of the episode’s twist, and it all comes together to create something that can feel as haunting as it does pretty. All in all this was an impressive premiere, and while I’m a newcomer to Kino’s Journey, this certainly helped to make me a fan.

Rating: Great

 

Dies Irae

Synopsis: At the start of a great war, an important leader in the German security bureau takes on a mission to fight supernatural mutants himself.

First Impressions: This was another show I was kind of wary of for a couple of reasons. Firstly that it involves the literal Nazis and secondly that it’s apparently so self-indulgent, it can give the Fate franchise a run for it’s money. Still I figured I should give it a fair shot, but I mostly walked away from this episode feeling…confused more than anything. It seemed like this episode was supposed to be centering around some perfect definition of a supreme Aryan Nazi deciding he wants to be an evil overlord, but this got shuffled between a couple of out of place characters duking it out for some unexplained reason, and mountains of meaningless prose. Goung by the fact that this was titled episode 0, I can only assume this was meant to be a prologue of sorts but even then it felt unnecessarily jumbled and the fact that has the visual aesthetic of an low-end early 00’s anime doesn’t help much either. I suppose the one bright spot here is that I didn’t walk away from this feeling disgusted (which is what I was expecting) but I sure wouldn’t call this an entertaining experience. In a weaker season I’d give slight consideration to giving this another episode, but there’s already enough interesting looking material that there’s honestly no real need. Pass

Rating: Bad

 

GARO: Vanishing Line

Synopsis: Highly advanced town – Russel City. While people enjoy its prosperity in the town, there is a huge conspiracy secretly going on which will shake the world. Sword, a man who notices its movement determines to throw himself into battles and reveal the conspiracy, but only to find a clue – “Eldorado”. At that time, Sword happens to meet a girl Sophie who has been looking for the meaning of “Eldorado”, a message left by her missing brother. These two, attracted by the word “Eldorado”, somehow feel invisible ties each other and start to act together. Their journey with mixed feelings now begins.

First Impressions: When Vanishing Line was first announced a few months ago, it seemed like it could be interesting, but didn’t particularly grab my attention as something to be excited about. However when it was later confirmed that this was going to be the newest GARO anime, my interest piqued significantly. While GARO’s pretty popular as a tokusatsu series in Japan, the anime versions have been a little more troubled. The first anime had cool aesthetic and some solid writing but didn’t particular stand out in the season it debuted in while the second anime Crimson Moon, was a dumpster fire that tried to make GARO a little more “anime” but felt all over place, and looked pretty ugly. It seems the third time might be the charm though, because everything about this premiere comes out of the gate full throttle (and given the biker motifs this probably won’t be the last pun I make about this) with some great looking character designs, stellar animation, and an overall aesthetic that pretty much screams western appeal. We’ve got everything from a beefcake protagonist with a love of bikes and pretty girls, to a super jazzy soundtrack and while this first episode doesn’t offer much in the way of setting up the story, the amount of flair in brings is more than enough of a hook to draw in interest. Given MAPPA’s current workload it’s hard to say how much they’ll be able to keep this up, but given the director, was responsible for the best episode of the first GARO anime, I’m at least sure it’ll cram in as much visual spectacle as it can in the meantime. With how packed this anime season is, it’s anyone’s guess if this’ll get looked over the same way the first anime did, but it’s definitely got a better aesthetic going for it as far as drawing in bigger crowds goes, and however this turns out, I’m certainly ready to go along for the ride

Rating: Great

The summer rollouts are still going steady, and there’s plenty more stuff to go through. I didn’t have much time to check out stuff yesterday thanks to some 4th of July distractions, but it’s time to keep trudging through this season and hopefully find a few more worthwhile entries.

Ratings Scale

Bad: Stay away far away from this one.  Not worth watching

Decent: Has some okay elements to it. Might be worth giving a  couple of episodes to see how it goes

Good: Fairly solid show. Should be worth keeping up with for now

Great: Really good show. Definently worth seeing if you get the chance

Excellent: Really outstanding show. Absolutely worth following .

• All series synopsis from Anime Planet

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Aho Girl

Synopsis: She is Hanabatake Yoshiko, and she’s an idiot through and through. She loves bananas, and she loves her childhood friend Akkun.

First Impressions: I was dreading to check this one out because it’s premise gave the impression that it could be gross, mean-spirited or some combination of the two. Still I figured it was only right to give it a fair shake and…yeah it was pretty much exactly what I figured it would be. The heroine is an unlikable idiot who’s constantly “reigned in” by her douche of a best friend (who she’s also in love with because anime) and that’s basically the joke. It doesn’t help that much of the comedy is done through slapstick at the former’s expense and while I’m pretty okay with female characters falling victim to slapstick if characters of both genders are considered expendable targets, that’s definitely not the case here, and it makes most of the jokes feel abusive rather than funny. The sole saving grace here is that the comedy is rapid-fire enough that something is probably bound to make you chuckle at least once, but too much of the show’s other aspects bother me for that to make it worthwhile. Definitely a nope from me.

Rating: Bad

 

Netsuzou Trap- NTR

Synopsis: Yuma and Hotaru have been friends since childhood. It is only natural that when Yuma is nervous about her new boyfriend, she asks Hotaru and her boyfriend along for a double date. But when Hotaru offers herself to Yuma as “practice”, both girls realize that they’re more interested in each other than they are in their own boyfriends. With boyfriends in the foreground but a secret, passionate tryst in the background, will Yuma and Hotaru try to forget what happened between them or have they fallen into a trap of true love and betrayal?

First Impressions: So being perfectly honest, this is probably only the third yuri title I’ve ever checked out (the others being Yurikuma Arashi and Revolutionary Girl Utena though being Ikuhara projects means they exactly conventional genre shows). This is mainly because the general impression I seem to get from this stuff is that they’re generally as fetish based as most yaoi titles are, and I’m just personally only interested in purely same-sex stories if they’re taking the subject matter seriously. However this one happened to come out in a season where I don’t have much of anything I’m particularly excited for so I was willing to check it out. So far it seems to mostly be what I expected in that the concept of the two main girls cheating on their boyfriends is done from more of a fetish angle than a serious one, and the fact that one of them comes off as a but predatory doesn’t help much either. That said, it at least managed to hold my attention for the whole way through, and the fact that it’s being done through shorts (which seems like odd for this kind of show but eh) means that it’s not exactly a gigantic time investment as far as seeing where it goes. I’m not entirely sure how strongly I feel about it one way or the other yet, but I figure it’s at least worth one more episode, and with any luck, maybe there’ll be a chance that it handles it’s subject matter better than I’m expecting.

Rating: ???

 

Tsuredure Children

Synopsis: To those of you out there who never could say “I love you” — This story is about ordinary highschoolers and how love makes them fired up, shaken, laugh, cry, and hurt. Whether things go well or not, this story of adolescence and romance will show you how they spend their precious youth. Every character is the main character here, and you’re sure to find one you can sympathize with.

First Impressions: I was pretty interested in taking a peek at this one since it’s premise sounded like it had the potential to be a cute comedy, and it certainly succeeded in that area. A series about awkward high school love confessions is something I can certainly relate to (and I’m probably not alone on that one) and when combined with some solid comic timing, it makes for a pretty enjoyable time. It’s possible this could end up wearing thin if done over the course of full length episodes, but the fact that it’s a series of shorts means that it has enough opportunities to try out as many jokes as it can while not wearing out it’s welcome. I haven’t been too impressed with the shorts I’ve seen so far for this season, but this one is a definite winner and seems like a perfect afternoon distraction.

Rating: Great

 

Fastest Fingers First

Synopsis: Bunzou High School is welcoming its new first-year students. One of them, Koshiyama Shiki, is chosen to participate against his will in an impromptu fast-buzzing quiz meet by the president of the Quiz Bowl Circle. As a quiet boy who loves reading and doesn’t want to stand out, Shiki is overwhelmed, but his classmate, Fukami Mari, is able to hit the buzzer and answer questions before the full question is given. As he watches her, Shiki realizes that there’s a point in each question where the answer becomes certain.

First Impressions: This is another show I didn’t know anything about going in but with a localization title as ridiculous as this one, it was pretty much impossible to resist checking it out. What I ended up getting here is a pretty basic setup for a sports show, but one that’s way more my speed than the awkward sports show/bishie comedy hybrid that was Aoyama-kun. The story of an introvert learning to expand his horizons through a sport is a pretty common one at this point, but to it’s credit that sort of thing almost never fails to strike some kind of cord with me, and the same can be said this time around as the first episode does a fair job of setting up Shiki as a protagonist. Although with all that said, the most interesting thing about this show besides it’s silly title is probably the sport itself as quiz based stuff definitely isn’t something I’ve ever really seen in a sports anime, and it seems like something that could be kind of neat to learn about. My only real negative point so far is that the Japanese voice actress for Mari sounds distractingly amateurish and that could possibly hurt the show later on if she doesn’t improve, but I suppose of this ends up getting a Funimation simuldub I can always watch it that way. Considering that I mostly came into this one just off the title alone, I have to say that this turned out to be a pretty welcome surprise, and if it can manage to stay consistent then this seems like a pretty safe pick for my sports show of the season

Rating: Great

 

18if

Synopsis: After going to sleep like normal, Haruto Tsukishiro wakes up to discover something unbelievable—he’s stuck in dream world! Here, witches plague the dreamscape and are more than dreamy figments—they’re the trapped souls of young women who’ve rejected reality and are afflicted by the “Sleeping Beauty Syndrome.” As he searches for a way out, Haruto will face the witches and their terrifying powers.

First Impressions: This show is here to remind us all that Gonzo is not yet completely dead, and this one serves as their second video game adaption in recent memory. Unlike Akiba’s Strip which was more along the lines of zany over the top antics, this one appears to be a bit more on the serious side and feels very transparently like the prologue to some kind of visual novel. Much like Akiba’s Strip though, this mostly just feels like a thing that exists and it didn’t leave me with any particularly strong feelings one way or the other. The premise of exploring a literal dreamworld, and the maniac visual direction that follows are kind of neat, but neither is really enough to overcome how phoned in the execution feels and it doesn’t help that the protagonist is a pretty obvious self-insert and doesn’t display any semblance of personality or motivation. This show also happened to be ahead enough in production for Funimation to put out a same day simuldub for it, and while it’s certainly not one of Funimation’s strongest efforts, it felt totally fine for what it was attached to, and should serve as a good way to stay caught up with the show for those who are interested. As for me, I’m probably gonna end up pressing X to skip unless I really can’t find enough shows to keep up with.

Rating: Decent

 

A Centaur’s Life

Synopsis: Being a teenager is never easy… especially for a centaur! Himeno is a sweet, shy girl, who like many teens her age, struggles with the trials and tribulations of attending high school. The difference is she’s a centaur; but she’s not alone. In fact, all of her classmates are supernatural creatures, sporting either horns, wings, tails, halos, or some other unearthly body appendage. Yet despite their fantastical natures, Himeno and her best friends-the dragon-winged Nozomi, and Kyoko with her spiraled horns-are down-to-earth, fun-loving teenagers who grapple with issues of life and love in a mostly normal daily school setting.

First Impressions: So between Monster Musume and Interviews With Monster Girls, it’s pretty much safe to say that shows about demihuman or monster girls is a genre that I can totally get behind. That made this show one of the few things from this season that I was really curious about and it didn’t disappoint. While this one is definitely a lot more on the fanservice side compared to Interviews With Monster Girls, it does a pretty solid job of getting across how the different races of it’s world operate without getting too heavy-handed, and it seems like it’ll dive into exploring the same bits of unintentional discrimination as that series did. What’s really interesting here though, is that there’s a few strong hints that the characters are living in some kind of dystopian society that cracks down on anything that could be seen as discriminatory or detrimental to racial harmony which has the potential to either be really fascinating or really gross depending on how the show spins it. Even putting that bit of deeper thought aside for the time being, everything so far seems pretty pleasant and the characters seem likable enough if not particularly interesting as of yet, so even if it doesn’t make full use of it’s potential it’ll at least be relaxing to watch if nothing else. I haven’t been all that impressed with this season’s offerings so far, but show is definitely the first one that’s made me really curious to see where it goes, and that makes it a winner in my book

Rating: Great

 

Chronos Ruler

Synopsis: The story centers on “Chronos Rulers,” those who fight the time-eating demons that appear when people wish they could turn back time. The Chronos Rulers fight a time-manipulation battle against these demons.

First Impressions: So I didn’t really know much about this one going in but what I did know was that it’s pretty much CR’s only other new action show offering for the season besides Touken Ranbu, and that it’s scripted by good old Hiroyuki Yoshino who has brought us such lovely works as Guilty Crown and more recently Izetta: The Last Witch. With that last factor in mind I pretty much expected this one to be a potential trainwreck going in but I wasn’t prepared for exactly how much of a trainwreck it was going to be. The show gives off warning bells as soon as it’s opening scene as it features an action sequence that looks like it was ripped from a PS2 game cutscene and used some of the most bizarre camera work this side of Hand Shakers. In fact Hand Shakers is a pretty strong comparison for this show’s overall visual aesthetic as it churns out a variety of awkward visual overlays, bad camera motion and bad looking CG in an attempt to look as unique as possible while pretty much failing at every turn. I can kind of understand the desperation though because when it’s not doing that, the show otherwise looks like something from the mid 00’s and barely has much in the way of animation.

That’s not even getting into the show’s actual storytelling which is pretty much just as bad. The main plot is a bunch of nonsense about time stealing monsters, and it’s attempts at being dramatic by diving into the heroine’s loss of her brother or the weird situation of the two male protagonists fall completely flat and just mostly come across as trying too hard. On top of that the show has what’s straight up some of the worst “anime” comedy I’ve seen in a long time, and poorly timed at that as it has a strange tendency to mix it into “serious” scenes and subsequently remove any decent chance at storytelling it might have had. I honestly wasn’t expecting to come across another Hand Shakers level trainwreck in the exact same year Hand Shakers came out but here we are and I’m still in total awe of just how bad this was. However for all the above complaints I can definitely say that I wasn’t bored watching it and it’s for that reason alone that I’ll probably keep up with this as my hatewatch of the season and see how much more ridiculous it can get. I certainly can’t recommend this one in good faith, but if you’re in need of something to mock this season, look no further.

Rating: ALL ABOARD THE TRAINWRECK

In Another World With My Smartphone

Synopsis: After dying as a result of God’s mistake, the main character finds himself in a parallel world, where he begins his second life. His only possessions are the body that God gave back to him and a smartphone that works even in this new world. As he meets all kinds of new people and forges new friendships, he ends up learning the secret to this world. He inherits the legacy of an ancient civilization and works together with the kings of some very laid-back countries on his carefree travels through this new world.

First Impressions: So from the title alone it was obvious this one would be pretty stupid, and after watching the first episode I can confirm that it is indeed silly, albeit not entirely in ways that could have been fun. The show literally starts with our MC having a chat with God, who apparently accidentally struck him with lightning and now has to bring him back to life in an entirely different world. MC-kun takes all of this in stride and requests only that he be allowed to take his smartphone with him, and God decides to sweeten the deal by giving him the full Gary-Stu package and making him super strong, incredibly durable and able to use all forms of magic that exist in the world he’s being sent to. From there the rest of the episode is pretty much MC-kun using his newfound Gary Stu powers to feel his way around his newfound world, and the entire time I couldn’t help but think to myself that this could have been a significantly more interesting story had MC-kun turned out to be some horrible prick and used his God given abilties for evil. Instead what we got was the usual bland RPG nonsense that tend to come with these lower end fantasy worlds and MC-kun’s main accomplishments for the episode are figuring out the extent of his powers and giving the world ice cream. There’s not really anything of interest to this one when it comes to execution but I guess if nothing else I at least had a good time making fun of the first 10 minutes or so, and it seems pretty harmless if nothing else. I have my doubts that I’ll watch this one any further, but this season’s pretty weak for me as is, so it could end up as a morning distraction if nothing else.

Rating: Decent

 

Magical Circle Guru Guru

Synopsis: The story takes place in a world gripped by hero mania after a proclamation was sent out for heroes to gather to defeat the demon king. A boy named Nike is half-forced by his parents to go on a journey. As part of his town’s custom, he visits an old witch’s house on the outskirts of town before he sets off. There, he sees a girl named Kukuri who uses a magical circle. The old witch tells Nike that Kukuri is the last descendent of the Migumigu tribe, which can use the magical circles. Thus begins the adventure of the frivolous small hero and the naive magician girl.

First Impressions: So I was gonna skip looking at this one because I’ve gone through a ton of stuff as is, but I felt a strange compulsion to give it a shot. That impulse turned out to be to my benefit because this was probably the best comedy premiere I’ve seen all season. This isn’t to say that the show is particularly amazing since it’s pretty transparently a kid’s show and has all the jokes I’ve come to expect from a kid’s anime, but something about it’s aesthetic just clicked with me and it made me laugh more than any of the other premieres I’ve sat through. RPG parodies aren’t a particularly new thing for anime, but I really appreciated how much this show decided to roll with it from the occasional 8-bit backgrounds, to gags about item equipment and while not every one of it’s gags worked, enough of them did to keep me amused for a full 24-minutes. Like with Fastest Fingers it’s highly likely I’m just giving this one too much credit because of how weal the rest of this season’s been in comparison for me, but dang it I’m probably gonna keep watching the RPG parody for kids. Fight me.

Rating: Good

 

My First Girlfriend is a Gal

Synopsis: A new school term begins, as does the season of new encounters. As he surveys his class full of couples, Hashiba Jun’ichi’s mind is filled with distress as he asks himself, “Why am I still a virgin?!” Having heard from his friends that the easiest way to fulfill his long-standing desire to graduate from the fellowship of virgins is to kowtow to a gal, Jun’ichi does exactly that and asks his classmate Yukana out. And unbelievably, she actually agrees to date him. What will become of Jun’ichi from now on?

First Impressions: Well I thought I had reached the bottom of the barrel with Chronos Rulers, but that was just setting me up for the actual worst show this season: My First Girlfriend is a Gal. Of all the anime girl archetypes that exist, gyarus are very rarely in the spotlight for whatever reason, and with last year’s Please Tell me, Galko-chan! turning out to be a surprisingly pleasant show, I was all primed up for another series with a gyaru heroine. That was a mistake as this is pretty much just a low level trashy fanservice/harem series, and even by harem show standards this one’s pretty awful. We spend a good 20 minutes with the main character’s friends lamenting that they can’t get a date while simultaneously being perverted douchebags and while that’s clearly supposed to be “funny” I mostly just wanted to see all of them get punched square in the face (and the lolicon jokes didn’t help either). The main character himself isn’t much better as while he’s not openly as much of a prick as these guys, he only asks out the show’s heroine for the explicit purpose of getting laid, and is ultimately rewarded for it. If there’s one saving grace here it’s that the heroine herself actually seems like a pretty alright character, and sees through his crap the entire time, but since she’s clearly just going to end up boning him at some point anyway, it mostly wrings hollow. I’m not even surprised that something this bad made it into existance, but it’s still a wonder to behold something with pretty much nothing redeeming about it. I suppose if you as masochistic as me this might make a decent hatewatch (and even then that’s reeeeeaaaaaallly stretching it) but otherwise, I reccomend not to go anywhere near this one with a 10-foot pole

Rating: H-O-T GARBAGE

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And that’s it for me and first impressions this season. I know there’s still a few more premieres left in the season, and I’ll likely check those out, but between other stuff to deal with and My First Girlfriend is a Gal nearly sucking away my will to live, I don’t have the energy to do a write up for every show. All in all this is looking to be another one of the weakest seasons I’ve seen, and quite possibly THE weakest since I’ve only come across a couple of things I genuinely liked but who knows? Maybe something will impress me later on and I’ll feel more positive by the end of this season but until then, stay animated.

The summer season is upon is, and things have already heated up in regards to the competition between streaming services and where folks can expect to watch stuff. I got pretty riled up about that myself and thanks to they-who-shall-not-be-named, I’ve found myself with a lot potentially interesting stuff to check out, in a season that didn’t seem terribly strong to begin with. Still I’ll try to stay at least semi-positive here, and hopefully I’ll be able to come across at least a couple of diamonds in the rough

Ratings Scale

Bad: Stay away far away from this one.  Not worth watching

Decent: Has some okay elements to it. Might be worth giving a  couple of episodes to see how it goes

Good: Fairly solid show. Should be worth keeping up with for now

Great: Really good show. Definently worth seeing if you get the chance

Excellent: Really outstanding show. Absolutely worth following .

• All series synopsis from Anime Planet

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Fox Spirit Matchmaker

  

Synopsis: In a world where Spirits and Humans coexist and can fall in love with each other, the Spirits’s life expectancy being far superior to the Human’s one can only see their loved one dying before them. Even when that human is reborn, the previous memories of his past life is erased from his memory. However, it is said among Spirits that a certain “service” is spreading. This“service” is provided by the “Fox Spirit Matchmakers” who can revive the lost memories of their former lover. When the Spirits lose their lover, they can purchase the “service” of the “Fox Spirit Matchmakers” so that they could attempt to regain their former lover memories and start over a new love story. This story follows a young Fox Spirit Matchmaker who tries her best to restore lost memories and spread love.

First Impressions: At this point I’ve pretty much learned to come into these chinese co-productions with the impression that they’ll be terrible as their track record has been consistently awful. Even so, I never thought I’d come across one quite THIS bad. From the moment I saw the show’s opening theme song I knew I was in for a rough ride since the song they picked, didn’t match the visuals used for it at all, and the show itself is even less incoherent/ Despite having wasted a good 22 minutes of my life watching it, I couldn’t really tell you what it’s even about, but what I was able to parse together involves something about, exorcists fights, yokai clans and a little fox spirit girl whose told she has to marry some 30 year old dude (it’s said in the beginning he’s a teenager but the show’s so all over the place it’s hard to even tell if he was lying about his age) who seems to be your standard jerkhat overpowered protagonist. Needless to say it’s all incredibly stupid, but that last bit elevates it from trash to a gross dumpster fire since I don’t even want to consider all the implications if the guy actually IS 30 (and his inner monologues seem to support that so…eww). With this much nonsense going in, you’d figure it’d at least be a good show to make fun of, but it’s not even hilariously bad it’s just…nonsense. Maybe someday one of these chinese co-productions will be good, but if this isn’t the absolute bottom of the barrel, I’m terrified of how much worse they can get.

Rating: Bad

Katsugeki Touken Ranbu

Synopsis: The year is 1863 as the tumultuous samurai era is coming to an end, Japan is split between the pro-shogunate and anti-shogunate factions. The fate of the world is threatened as an army of historical revisionists are sent from the future to alter the course of history. In order to bring these forces down and protect the real history, two sword warriors, spirits who are swords brought to life by Saniwa (sage), rush to Edo. The polite and thoughtful Horikawa Kunihiro and the short tempered yet skillful Izuminokami Kanesada, who served the same master, confront the invading army along with a lively gang of other warriors including Mutsunokami Yoshiyuki, Yagen Toushirou, Tombokiri, and Tsurumaru Kuninaga.

First Impressions: This was one of the few hotly anticipated titles of the Summer seasons, and I was of two different minds about it going in. I saw it’s spinoff, Touken Ranbu Hanamaru a few seasons back and the first episode of that bored me to tears enough to drop it entirely and while this one was reportedly going to have a more serious tone, I wasn’t sure how much it would actually gel with me. As of the first episode of this one my feelings are that it’s…okay so far. Visually it’s as impressive as what we’ve come to expect from Ufotable at this point, as their ability to integrate post-production visual effects into animation is still a technique that rarely fails to work, and the actual animation itself is pretty solid. Story wise I’m a little more unsure since this starts off in media-res and while it’s not particularly difficult to follow, a few more plot details would have helped a lot. The basic idea here seems to revolve around time travel which is usually a pretty fun concept when done right, and one of the things that did strike me as particularly interesting about the premiere here is the idea of the characters having to sit back and let certain tragedies unfold in order keep history on the right track, and if they play with that angle enough it could give this show a little more punch than these stories usually tend to go for. I wouldn’t exactly say this one wowed me, but enough of it worked that I’m willing to give it a few more episodes, and since that’s more than I can say for it’s spinoff, I suppose that’s as good a sign as any.

Rating: Good

 

Battle Girl High School

Synopsis: In the year 2045, the world has been contaminated by Irousu (mysterious invaders who suddenly appeared), and humans find themselves restricted and contained. Standing boldly against these invaders are ordinary girls everywhere, without a powerful army or even weapons. The Shinjugamine Girls Academy is a school for these “Hoshimori” (Star Guardians) destined to fight the Irousu.

First Impressions: So I figured right away this wasn’t going to be my type of thing, but since it’s HiDive’s one and only simulcast for the season, and I recently subscribed to it, I figured I might as well give it a look. It’s more or less what I expected it to be as it’s a series that mixes the “cute girls doing cute things” genre with a few minor bits of magical girl and action stuff tossed in for good measure. Unsurprisingly the focus is more on the “cute girls” bit than anything else meaning that it’s by and large not for me, and the show crams so many girls into the first episode that I’d have a hard time imagining anyone getting attached to them even if this is they’re sort of thing. When all is said and done though it’s perfectly harmless and while nothing about it thrilled me in any real capacity, there was nothing really offensive about this either, and those who do enjoy this sort of thing should likely get some millage out of it. As for me though, it’s almost certainly a pass unless this season ends up being really barren.

Rating: Decent

 

Knight’s & Magic

Synopsis: A genius programmer and hardcore robot otaku is reborn into a world of knights and magic, where huge robots called Silhouette Knights roar across the land! Now reborn as Ernesti Echevalier, he uses his vast knowledge of machines and programming talents to begin to make his ultimate robot.  But his actions have unexpected results…?! The dreams of a robot otaku will change the world!

First Impressions: Bizarre lack of proper grammar aside, this seemed like it could be one of the more interesting offerings of CR’s summer lineup so far since both hi-fantasy and robots are things that typically gel with me, and combining them together even more so. Even with all that I can’t say this was a particularly remarkable premiere but it’s one that worked out pretty well for the most part. Reincarnation seems to be the hot new thing for LN-based anime lately, and while it’s generally a neat concept, in this case I can’t help but be slightly disappointed we couldn’t have gotten the working adult the MC used to be in his former life as our actual protagonist since throwing that kind of character into a fantasy world with robots would be something of a fresher take. Still, 20 minutes of watching his new self be totally dorky about wanting to ride a giant robot was pretty entertaining in it’s own right and it’s kind of interesting that we actually get to see some of his childhood instead of just jumping immediately to when he’s old to pilot one, and it does more to make his sense of enthusiasm endearing rather than a just a convenient excuse for him to be overpowered later on. Unfortunately all this skipping around means that this episode doesn’t really do much to establish the other characters or the actual setting of the series, but it at least manages to avoid feeling slow, and the 3DCG used for the robots proper seems workable enough (the giant monsters less so but we’ll have to see how that goes I guess). While I can’t really say this premiere did much to elevate itself as a genre thing, I had a pretty good time with it, and even though I’m mostly just in it for the aforementioned genre stuff for the time being, it seems like it’ll be okay enough at that to warrant a few more episodes.

Rating: Good

 

Clean Freak! Aoyama-kun

Synopsis: Aoyama kun is a hot, young soccer prodigy who plays midfielder for the National U-16 Soccer Team. But he’s also an extreme germaphobe!

First Impressions: So at first glance this seemed like it would be up my alley. Sports shows are generally a pretty reliable source of entertainment and the character designs seemed clean enough to give the impression this would be a semi-polished production. In execution however…I was left feeling cold. Unlike most sports shows the series starts off with Aoyama already being an established member of the team and a presumably skilled player which immediately kills most of it’s potential as a sports show since those are almost always about the progression of the protagonist as a player or the bonds they form with their team. Instead this gives off more of the impression of a gag series with plenty of pretty boys to gawk at, but it doesn’t quite work well on that end either since the episode has but only the one joke about Aoyama refusing to do things that will get him dirty, and it doesn’t really spin that well enough to produce any decent laughs, and it all fell pretty flat for me. On top of those problems it also features some of the heaviest animation shortcuts I’ve ever seen from a sports anime, and while the show at least makes the attempt to disguise them with good visual direction, it’s never quite sharp enough to work, and since the first episode of a show is usually supposed to be among it’s most well-animated I only see this getting worse from here. I really wanted to like this one, but nothing about it clicked with me and by the time I saw myself staring at the run-time I knew it wasn’t going to work out. I guess this might work for folks into bishonen comedies, but I came in expecting a sports show and left with something that felt like a lackluster mesh of those genres.

Rating: Bad

 

Elegant Yokai Apartment Life 

Synopsis: Yushi Inaba is forced into an awkward living situation at his uncle’s house after his parents pass away. He decides that when he goes to high school, he’s going to live on his own, and finds an ultra-cheap apartment named Kotobuki-so. But it was a monster apartment, filled with monsters, humans, and ghosts! At first, Yuki doesn’t know how to deal with these eerie monsters, but after spending time with these strange creatures his closed heart gradually begins to open…

First Impressions: This one was completely off my radar going in so I had no real clue what to expect here but I actually ended up digging this one. The whole wacky roomates bit is a staple that’s pretty exhausted at this point, and the same can especially be said for wacky yokai stuff, but the execution here was a lot more grounded than I would have expected from it’s premise. While Yushi isn’t exactly a stand out protagonist I appreciate that the first episode actually took the time to dive into his situation and it did a lot to make him endearing. The other residents introduced so far are also pretty likable and while I have no doubt the show’s sense of comedy will get zanier at some point, I’m glad the first episode decided to keep things relatively simple and charming. I might be giving this one too much praise but since I wasn’t really expecting much of anything, it’s hard to complain much about a mostly welcome surprise. While there’s still plenty of room for this one to turn into something a bit more sluggish for now I’m certainly happy to give more of it a go.

Rating: Good

 

Restaurant to Another World

Synopsis: There is a certain restaurant in the first basement level of a multi-tenant building in one corner of a shopping street near the office district. The historical 70-year-old restaurant, marked by a sign with a picture of a cat, is called “Western Cuisine Nekoya.” This restaurant looks completely normal through the week, but on Saturdays, it opens in secret exclusively to some very unique guests. During these hours, doors in various areas of a parallel world open to allow customers of many different races and cultures into the restaurant.

First Impressions: While I can’t say I was super excited for this show, everything about it’s basic premise seemed like a pretty safe bet for me. I like slice-of-life stories about demihumans and monsters, and I like food, so a show that combines those two elements together is something I can certainly get behind. Right off the bat, one of the single most appealing aspects of this show is how good it makes the food look. Anime about cooking is generally good in that respect but the amount of detail that goes into the look of each dish displayed is enough to leave you feeling totally hungry afterwards. As far as it’s slice-of-life elements go though, the focus is clearly more on the atmosphere than the characters so far, and we’re only explicitly introduced to our heroine halfway through the episode, but the overall aesthetic is enough to compensate so far, and I don’t have too much room to doubt that the show will flesh the cast out later on. For now though, I’m fully willing to admit that I’m just watching this because of how good the food looks, and if that’s to be my crime, I’ll be more than willing to bear it for the time being.

Rating: Good

Spring is here and it’s looking to be a pretty hefty season for anime as there’s a ton a few content coming out of the woodwork as well as a few big sequels. Unfortunately the most recent divide in terms of legal streaming means that some of the stuff I was the most interested in checking out has been more or less cut off from me for the time being, but even with all that gloom in the air there’s still likely to be plenty to watch. Now it’s time to see how much of it’s any good.

Ratings Scale

Bad: Stay away far away from this one.  Not worth watching

Decent: Has some okay elements to it. Might be worth giving a  couple of episodes to see how it goes

Good: Fairly solid show. Should be worth keeping up with for now

Great: Really good show. Definently worth seeing if you get the chance

Excellent: Really outstanding show. Absolutely worth following .

• All series synopsis from Anime Planet

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Granblue Fantasy

Synopsis: This is a world of the skies, where many islands drift in the sky. A boy named Gran and a speaking winged lizard named Vyrn lived in Zinkenstill, an island which yields mysteries. One day, they come across a girl named Lyria. Lyria had escaped from the Erste Empire, a military government that is trying to rule over this world using powerful military prowess. Gran and Lyria, in order to escape from the Empire, head out into the vast skies, holding the letter Gran’s father left behind – which said, “I will be waiting at Estalucia, Island of the Astrals”

First Impressions: At this point mobile game adaptions have replaced magic high school shows as the new thing to expect from every season by default, but outside of Rage of Bahamut, they haven’t exactly had the best track record. However with this one having been produced by Cygames who were the ones behind Bahamut, as well as this series having been planned for a whopping 48 episodes I was kind of curious to check it out. What I ultimately got though was an extremely by the numbers fantasy romp similar to last year’s super forgettable Endride and almost everything in it’s first two episodes feels like a giant checklist of generic JRPG tropes with everything from a amnesiac heroine to a protagonist with a missing dad. It’s only real standout feature at the moment is it’s visual presentation, which while making the characters look more like drawings than an actual part of the world their in, helped to keep my attention more than anything else the show had to offer. The actual animation quality seems pretty solid too for the most part, so if nothing else, the show at least has it’s look going for it. Aside from that there really isn’t anything else of note here but it also didn’t do much of anything that felt offensive either so I may give it a bit more of my time, and hope it’s not another Endride.

Rating: Decent

 

Alice & Zouroku

Synopsis: A group of young girls possesses a mysterious power which gives them the ability to materialize their thoughts. Detained and experimented upon, these youths are locked away in secret until one of them manages to escape. Her name is Sana—a girl with the power to ignore the very laws of physics. When this wilful powerhouse crosses paths with a stubborn old man named Zouroku, his carefully-ordered life will never be the same again!

First Impressions: I didn’t really know anything about this one going in but just going off of most of the preview images I had seen before hand, this looked like it would be a cute slice of life story about an old man and a little girl. Needless to say I was pretty surprised when I actually watched this and it turned out the be a sci-fi show about an old man and a little girl, and one that’s framed along the lines of something you’d see in a live action TV drama from the west. The basic plot beats so far are pretty straightforward as we’re introduced to our two protagonists and the likely government sponsored experiments that surround one of them, but the execution is solid and manages to keep things just interesting enough to keep it from feeling a bit too procedural. It helps that the leads themselves seem pretty endearing so far, and the show does an excellent job of setting up the dynamic thing without feeling like it’s forcing it’s hand too much. I’m particularly fascinated by Zouroku since it’s something of a rarity to have adult protagonists in anime much less an old man, and his down to earth attitude really gives the impression of someone who’s seen enough in life not to be fazed when things take a turn for the strange. About the only real complaint I have here (and one that I imagine pretty much everyone will) is the super dated CG that looks like it stepped out of the backside of the early 00’s, but if the show can cut that down to a minimum it’ll likely be a good time. I’m certainly up for more.

Rating: Great

 

The Laughing Salesman NEW

Synopsis: My name is Fukuzou Moguro, and people call me the Laughing Salesman. I am no ordinary salesman. The merchandise I sell is the human soul itself. Hooo-ho-ho-ho… All people in this world, young and old, male and female, are lonely. I am here to fill the emptiness in all of their souls. No, I won’t accept a single coin in return. As long as my customer is satisfied, that’s all the payment I need. Now, I wonder what sort of customer I’ll serve today… Hooo-ho-ho-ho-ho…

First Impressions: This is another one that I went into pretty blind, but it wasn’t too hard to guess from the title of the show and the look of the main character what this would be about. In effect it’s basically the shenanigans of a “salesman” who’s pretty obviously Satan or some other kind of demonic entity who “helps” people with their problems only to screw them over when they get too self-indulgent. That’s…pretty much the entire joke of the show and pretty much everything about it’s opening shorts was a clear cut case of what you see is what you get. To it’s credit though it was pretty entertaining and while both ending punchlines were predictable, I still got a couple of chuckles out of it, and it also features what may well be the most stylish looking anime opening this season will have to offer. It’s hard to say how quickly this show’s one joke will wear thin, but it did enough for me that this will probably make for a good Monday afternoon distraction

Rating: Good

Akashic Records of Bastard Magical Instructor

Synopsis: The Alzano Imperial Magic Academy is located in the southern part of the Alzano Empire,and is among most prominent magic schools in the world, where students can learn the highest forms of magic. All those who strive to learn magic dream of studying at this academy, and its students as well as its teachers are proud to be a part of its 400-year history. Glenn Radars is a new instructor who has suddenly been appointed to teach part-time at this highly respected academy. The previously unheard-of lessons of this man known as a good-for-nothing bastard are about to begin.

First Impressions: *sigh* Ya know I never realized how good we’ve had it the last couple of seasons. While there’s been plenty of ups and downs in terms of quality programming it at least seemed as if Magic High School Light Novel Adaptions had finally been banished to the 9th circle of anime hell, and the industry found other forms of rote material to torture us with. Unfortunately this show has arrived from beyond the grave to hit us with those sad old tropes one last time, and even by the incredibly low standards these shows tend to run on, this one was really awful. The main joke of the show is that the protagonist is a dirtbag and the episode spends literally it’s entire run-time selling us on that fact. I was expecting it to at least at some point pull out the card of him somehow being ridiculously over powered and special (but I can’t imagine that won’t happen later on anyway) which while stupid, would have at least given the episode more than just one thing to work with, but he’s just a shallow, lazy waste of human skin for it’s entirety and while I guess we’re supposed to find this “funny”, I found myself wondering how anyone could tolerate even being in the same room as him. The members of his eventual harem that we’re introduced to here are pretty one-note as well and while the production doesn’t look outright bad, there’s nothing that really stands out about it either. These Magic High School LN adaptions pretty much always function on autopilot but this one is particularly soulless and aside from a couple of okay-fanservice bits I honestly for the life of me couldn’t even tell you what the appeal of this is supposed to be. It’s reminded me how glad I am that this kind of show has been on the verge of death over the last year or so, and if this is the kind of “quality” we’re going to get from the stragglers, I hope they stay that way.

Rating: BAD

 

Boruto: Naruto Next Generations

Synopsis: The life of the shinobi is beginning to change. Boruto Uzumaki, son of Seventh Hokage Naruto Uzumaki, has enrolled in the Ninja Academy to learn the ways of the ninja. Now, as a series of mysterious events unfolds, Boruto’s story is about to begin!

First Impressions: My feelings towards the Naruto franchise have grown complicated over the years as the last third or so of the manga really went off the rails, and soured my experience. For the most part though, I’ve found myself enjoying some of the post-manga content and the Boruto movie was one of them so I figured that something in the same vein could be pretty enjoyable, and with this one having some solid staff members behind it, I was at least curious to check it out. This first episode more or less did what I expected to as it briefly introduces us to Boruto and the whole inter-generational conflict the show is going for, and while the basic beats of the episode are pretty straightforward as it involves him helping a bullied kid, it;s workable enough not to feel like it’s dragging it’s heels and the production values, while not perfect, already look to be a lot sharper than what Naruto Shippuden had, and there’s some nice character animation on display here. My biggest concern at the moment though has less to do with the content of this episode and more along the lines of whether or not it’s going to try staying behind of the Boruto manga (which as of this moment isn’t even 3 volumes long) or overtake it/go it’s own route ala Dragonball Super. I’m really hoping it’s the latter and I can’t imagine they’d have gone ahead with it this quickly otherwise, but with Studio Pierrot’s rather infamous reputation for filler, part of me can’t help but be skeptical about how well planned out this little venture was. For now though, the show’s off to a pretty decent start, and if it can avoid some of the issues of it’s predecessor (mostly boiling down to over indulgent lore and repetitive themes) it could be a fun ride.

Rating: Great

 

Sakura Quest

Synopsis: Five young women have one thing in common—the careers they planned for themselves weren’t working out. Job dissatisfaction, trying to make ends meet, and personal insecurities lead each of them to start working at a local tourism bureau where their lives become intertwined. As the girls experience their first year on the job, they learn a lot about their town, their industry, and themselves.

First Impressions: Since I still haven’t quite managed to get around to Kuromukuro, it’s been a while since I’d last seen an original project from P.A. Works and after giving us the sheer brilliance that was Shirobako, I’m more or less down for anything they have to offer. Of course since Shirobako was such a huge hit in Japan it’s not too surprising that this show ends up taking quite a few cues from it rather a story about the animation industry, this one is all about tourism and revitalizing a forgotten town in the countryside. In that respect the basic setup here is pretty predictable as we’re treated to the old tale of a someone from the big city being forced into the countryside and learning to appreciate the quiet life, but the writing’s thankfully sharp enough to keep it from feeling a little too cliche and Yoshino’s struggles in facing constant rejection trying to work her way through the job market feels a lot more relateable than I’d care to admit. The ending twist of the town being the same one as Yoshino’s most prized childhood memory felt a bit too on the nose, but aside from that everything here flows pretty smoothly, and the comedy, while not laugh out loud funny, is amusing enough to keep things from getting slow. All in all it’s a solid premiere and while only time will tell if this show just ends up being Shirobako with tourism, that’s an okay enough proposition to keep this on my watchlist for a while.

Rating: Great

It’s time for round 2 of the winter anime season. I’ve already burned my way through a few things, but there’s still plenty more to go through, and a lot more potential suffering to be had so let’s get to it

Ratings Scale

Bad: Stay away far away from this one.  Not worth watching

Decent: Has some okay elements to it. Might be worth giving a  couple of episodes to see how it goes

Good: Fairly solid show. Should be worth keeping up with for now

Great: Really good show. Definently worth seeing if you get the chance

Excellent: Really outstanding show. Absolutely worth following .

• All series synopsis from Anime Planet

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elDlive

Synopsis: “Mumbling” Chuta Kokonose doesn’t have many friends. In fact, the only conversations he has anymore are with voices inside his head. Little does he know that this voice doesn’t mean he’s crazy. It just means he has an alien living inside his body!

First Impressions: Once upon a time I was a huge fan of Reborn, and while the final parts of the manga soured things for me, I still feel enough fondness for it, that I’d be more or less willing to check out anything else Akira Amano put ot. That’s where this series comes in, and having set my expectation levels somewhere around moderate, I more or less got what I figured I would here. There’s nothing particularly standout about the storytelling here as it’s all pretty by-the-numbers but mostly entertaining, and the tone hearken’s back more towards Amano’s gag series routes than the action heavy material from the later parts of Reborn, although that could certainly change given Chuuta clearly has some sort of ominous backstory. The one major feather in it’s cap though is some solid visual direction as the show has some really nice scene transitions, and while the color pallette isn’t exactly mindblowing, it feels lively enough to match what this is going for. I was pretty much going to watch this one either way, but for right now it seems like a moderately good way to spend Sunday afternoons

Rating: Good

 

Idol Incidents

Synopsis: The story is set in a parallel Japan very similar to the modern Japan we known today. Increasing income divide, creeping environmental pollution, unsolvable garbage problems, childcare waiting lists being disputed while those directly involved aren’t present, repeated cases of corruption… Japan’s government, entrenched in its own vested interests, can do nothing about the abundant problems and discontent throughout the land. Now, at long last, idols are taking a stand to rescue a nation with no way out! The Heroine Party, the Sunlight Party, the Starlight Party, the Bishoujo Party, the Wakaba Party, the Subculture New Party, and the SOS Party: idols from these seven idol political parties who have become Diet members representing each prefecture will crash through the sense of stagnation that surrounds Japan with their song and dance! They will bring back the people’s smiles and envelop Japan in their shining aura!

First Impressions: From high strung comedies to action shows, idol shows have been inserted into just about everything at this point, so idols fusing together with politics was pretty much just a matter of time. On paper this sounds like a wonderfully dumb premise as it seems like something that could generate a lot of comedic mileage. In execution however, it’s a pretty standard idol show, and the politics hook just comes off more as awkward than funny. From the characters, to the tone, everything feels too safe and cookie-cutter for how potentially funny it could have been and while it’s not exactly short on visual gags, it really needed to be executed in a manner as over-the-top as possible to really work. There’s hints of that towards the end as we get a Love Live esque musical number towards the end, but it’s enough to elevate the rest of it, and nothing here really grabbed me. Still it’s an idol show and a fairly harmless looking one so if you’re into that sort of thing this might work out for you, but I’ll probably end up skipping this one unless I’m really starved for Sunday shows.

Rating: Decent

 

Gabriel Dropout

Synopsis: An angel at the top of an angel school has descended to the human world! However, she has already acclimated to the life of the human world so much that she ends up leading a self-indulgent life, skipping school all the time and being absorbed in online games. Gabriel soon forgets about her original goal to make human beings happy and has turned into a lazy and hopeless angel, or a “sloppy angel” in short. Amazingly, she swears to continue to fully enjoy the pleasure of various entertainments of the human world.

First Impressions: I wasn’t originally planning to watch this one originally, but today was light on premieres so I figured I’d give it a shot. This turned out to be a pretty wise decision on my part, as this one actually turned out to be rather enjoyable. Anime having fun with classical archangels and archedemons isn’t a particularly new thing as we got The Devil is a Part Timer a couple of years back, and while this certainly doesn’t seem like it’ll be nearly as clever as that, it’s seems like another okay take at the concept. Archangel Gabriel turning into a NEET seems like kind of a weird thing, but having her be the snarky one seems rather appropriate, and I got a few laughs out of Satan being a chunni since that seems like a gag that’s a lot truer to form (not sure what’s up with Raphiel being a sadist, but I don’t recall everything about the Archangels so it’s possible there’s something in the stories to go along with the joke). Nothing here was too mindblowing, but it certainly made me laugh more than some of the other “comedy” premieres I’ve sat through this season so that counts for something. For now this seems like a solid watch, and I’m curious to see how much mileage it can get out of it’s premise (I’d certainly be curious to see what it’s versions of Micheal and Lucifer are like)

Rating: Good

 

ACCA: 13-Territory Inspection Department

Synopsis: “ACCA” is a giant unified syndicate residing in a kingdom split into 13 autonomous regions. ACCA was formed back when there was threat of a coup d’etat, and it has continued to protect the peace of civilians for almost one hundred years. Jean Otus, the vice-chairman of the inspections department at ACCA headquarters, is one of the most cunning men in the syndicate’s history with the nickname “Jean the Cigarette Peddler.” Whimsically puffing his cigarettes, he wanders through the 13 districts, checking to see if there is any foul play afoot. Meanwhile, Jean is monitored by gazes, threatening rumors, and… snack time. Jean’s quiet everyday life slowly gets swallowed up into the world’s conspiracies!

First Impressions: As the director responsible for bringing us Space Dandy and One-Punch Man, Shingo Natsume has made quite a name for himself in the last couple of years. Given that this series is carrying over some of the staff from the latter, that made this one a potential darkhorse for the season and one that I was pretty eager to check out. However if like me, you were coming into this expecting a sakuga-fest ala Natsume’s previous titles, this…definently isn’t that. Instead what we get here is a somewhat low-key spy show ala last year’s Joker Game, and much of this first episode is spent giving us a rough idea of the protagonist’s personality and setting up the various procedural work that’s to be expected in this kind of show. Unfortunently that means this is pretty lacking in the excitment department, but at the same time this premiere doesn’t make much in the way of any notable mistakes, and exhumes just enough confidence and style to work as a competent genre piece. The last few minutes of the episode suggest things might get more thriller-esque later on, but I’m not exactly holding my breath on that, and it feels like it’ll probably keep things more on the slow, methodical side. All that said, this show’s genre is one that I’m usually pretty happy with, and while I wasn’t exactly thrilled by what I watched, I was certainly intrigued, so for now I’m willing to see where this goes.

Rating: Good

 

Hand Shakers

Synopsis: Tazuna is a high school student, living in Osaka, who loves to fiddle around with machines. One day, he receives a repair request from an university laboratory. He accepts the request and ends up meeting a girl named Koyori, who has been bedridden for a very long time. Suddenly, Tazuna and Koyori get pulled into a whole different world called “Ziggurat”. In this world, there are Hand Shakers, two people who touch hands and create the Nimrod. Their goal is to defeat other Hand Shakers in order to gain an audience with “God”, who will grant them wishes. Protect with your own Hands!

First Impressions: So out of the new shows this season, this was one of the ones I was the most curious about. While GoHands’s previous series, K: The Animation, was a pretty big exercise in style over substance, I enjoyed it’s first season quite a bit, and figured that a series by mostly the same people could at least be fairly entertaining. Sadly though, it turns out that this show is bad. Like REALLY bad. So much so that I was getting PTSD flashbacks to last winter’s Divine Gate, and that’s something I never wanted to experience again. Much of the episode is spent as one big “how we got here” moment in an attempt to add clarity to it’s super awkward opening scene but somehow manages to come out as even more confusing by the end of it. About all the show really manages to establish is that the protagonist has some weird obsession with fixing things, and that he has some sad backstory involving his dead sister that’s now being projected onto some white-haired loli. Aside from that, most of the episode is just one big overly-long fight scene and it feels like an absolute mess.  The minimal explanation wouldn’t be too much of a deal breaker normally, as K’s first episode was pretty similar in that respect, but it’s script was just grounded enough to follow, where as this is all over the place.

Further adding to the show’s sins is that it’s also horrendously ugly. GoHands’s weird obsession with bright filters has always looked a little jarring, but this show looks like a spectacularly technicolor-ed mess, and the “dynamic” camera angles that are clearly meant to make the action look more bombastic just come off as obnoxious (the hefty amount of 3DCG doesn’t help either). To make matters even worse, said camera angles are also used rather skeevisly for boob jiggle fanservice, which comes off as downright gross in regards to one of the female characters who spends every scene being abused in a way that’s clearly supposed to be “sexy”. Pretty much everything about this is one big NOPE, and while I certainly wasn’t going to be surprised if this one ended up being a stinker (K’s second season was kind of a letdown), I sure wasn’t expecting anything this horrible, and of all the bad things I’ve sat through so far this season, this one’s easily the worst. Stay far, far away from this one.

Rating: BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAADDDDD

 

Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid

Synopsis: Miss Kobayashi is your average office worker who lives a boring life, alone in her small apartment–until she saves the life of a female dragon in distress. The dragon, named Tohru, has the ability to magically transform into an adorable human girl (albeit with horns and a long tail!), who will do anything to pay off her debt of gratitude, whether Miss Kobayashi likes it or not. With a very persistent and amorous dragon as a roommate, nothing comes easy, and Miss Kobayashi’s normal life is about to go off the deep end!

First Impressions: Kyoto Animation is synonimous with high quality productions and solid content, but every now and then they tend to dip into the anime well and put out a low-key light novel adaption that ends up with better production values than it probably deserves. This season that distinction goes to Dragon Maid, which is an odd but mostly un-funny comedy about a lesbian dragon maid who decides to work for an office lady after the latter invites her over in drunken stupor. What ensues is a solid 23 minutes of gross out humor, boob jokes and lots of over-excited yelling, none of which managed to get a giggle out of me the entire time. My standards for anime comedies usually aren’t too high, but nothing about this one clicked with me, and I spent half the episode waiting for it to be over. Since this is a KyoAni show, it pretty much goes without saying that it looks good, and there’s some nice stuff on display here from the how the maid girl’s dragon form is animated, to some of the visual gags, but none of it’s really enough to change the fact that the comedy didn’t work for me and nothing about it left me curious for more. Of course everyone’s taste in comedies are different so maybe this one will work out well for other folks, and I don’t want to be too hard it since it’s not as though it’s attempting to be anything more than a low-end comedy, but this one’s a definite skip for me.

Rating: Bad

 

Chaos;Child

Synopsis: Shibuya, 2015. In a city recovering from the “Shibuya Earthquake” which devastated it six years ago, Takuru Miyashiro, a student at the newly built private high school “Hekiho Academy” investigates a series of serial killings known as “The Return of the New Generation Madness” as part of his work for the school’s newspaper club…

First Impressions: Looks like it’s time for yet another semi-colon show, and unlike Occultic;Nine which was apparently just a light-novel adaptation, this one’s the real deal. It also happens to be a sequel to Chaos;Head which was the first of these to come out and easily the weakest of the bunch. This is supposedly due more to poor choices made by the adaption than anything else, but it still left something of a bitter taste in my mouth, so you can probably imagine my annoyance when the first 20 minutes of this 47 minute long premiere turned out to be a literal recap of Chaos;Head. Unfortunently the new material here hasn’t done much to engage me either, as none of the main characters really do too much to make themselves endearing here, with the focus instead being almost entirely on the mystery that the show’s setting up. Nothing about said mystery really did too much to make me feel like it was worth sticking around for, but offers just enough suspense to keep things from getting boring. For all these complaints though, it’s far from the worst thing I’ve had to sit through while going down the list of winter premieres, and none of it’s choices have struck me as particularly awful so far. In a stronger season I’d probably give this one the boot, but since there’s nothing else really competing for it’s attention on Thursdays, I may give it a couple more episodes and see if things improve.

Rating: Decent

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And that’s it for me and the winter season. There’s still a couple of small premieres left and a few things I didn’t cover, but none of them seem like things that would appeal to me so this is probably as good a cut off point as any. By this point I’m used to jumping the gun on declaring a season to be weak, only to later eat my words and find enough enjoyable stuff to get by, but for the first time in a while I feel confident enough to say with absolute certainty that this is a really weak season. Usually I can find at least one or two non-sequels that feel compelling but so far the sequels (which I didn’t cover here since I felt they’d be redundant this time around) really are the best this season has to offer. Surprisingly though I don’t feel as frustrated by this as I’d expect since not having too much stuff to keep up with means I can finally tackle more of my massive backlog pile, but weak seasons tend to affect everyone, including the industry so in that respect it’s disappointing. At any rate I’m pretty much done here, and until next season, stay animated.