Seasonal Reviews: Spring 2015 Pt.1

Welcome to the first part of our Spring 2015 coverage! Things are already looking much stronger than the Winter (thank god), and we have quite a few interesting shows to talk about.

This time around, one of our newest writers, Danni, is on board as a seasonal reviewer and is taking part of the load for us, alongside David, Stephanie, Joe, and myself. Danni and Stephanie have one drop at their disposal that kicks in after this installment, while everyone else has two, one they can use now and one at the same time as Danni's and Stephanie's.

Also, we'd like to apologize for a lack of coverage on Lupin and Digimon. They're just not airing, or in the case of Lupin, only airing in Italy and therefore near impossible to get subs for. Expect them later this year, as Lupin is getting a Fall Japanese airing, and Digimon BETTER COME OUT THIS YEAR, TOEI, YOU FUCKS.

Ameiro Cocoa
Stephanie Getchell

Every season is a new surprise and, for me, this season I get to follow my first short series since Rainy Day started up. This one will probably be one of the more difficult ones I get to talk about, so bare with me as I figure out what I should be discussing each week. With each episode only being about two minutes a piece (a minute and a half not counting the opening theme), you may understand why this will be challenging. Never the less, let's give it a try! We learn a few little things here and there from the first three episodes and than a lot of nothing outside of that. We find out how Keiichi and Aoi meet each other and we learn a little bit of the owner, Amami's, little obsession of hand picking items for his shop as well as his love of showing off souvenirs in the cafe. That's really all there has been so far, aside from adding in some fun silliness to boot.

I kind of find this series a little adorable. There's this little charm in it that makes watching it all the more easier. But then there's the problem of it being a short series with two minute episodes and, therefore, the story will probably not get a whole lot of plot and the characters will probably stick to their respective stereotypes. Yes, these are some classic stereotypes we're seeing here. Like I said, this will be an interesting season for me since I'm dealing with this short series, however it's not outstanding right now even with the charm that it has. Though, if I had to pick between this and another series I'm covering to use my only drop on, at some point, it probably won't be this one. Believe me, it will be rather obvious which one I use it on after you see what else I have this season...

Weak Recommendation

Blood Blockade Battlefront
Danni Wilmoth

Looks like we have an early shoe-in for anime of the season!

I've been looking forward to this anime ever since I heard who was helming the series as director. Rie Matsumoto may not be a well-known name among anime fans right now, but she's one of the most talented directors out there. Having previously only worked on Toei productions such as Precure and her original series Kyousougiga, Matsumoto has teamed up with studio BONES for this adaptation.

At some point in its near-history, New York City became engulfed by a portal to a paranormal place called the Alterworld. Since then, NYC has become known as Jerusalem's Lot, a melting pot for supernatural activity, underground wars, and everyday madness. Leonardo Watch is a photographer who stumbles into a chance meeting with "Libra," an organization of mutants seeking to preserve order in the chaotic city. He strikes up a deal with Libra that he'll lend them his "Eyes of God" in exchange for their help in healing his sister's sight.

Kyousougiga was one of the most visually stimulating anime I've ever seen, and many such as myself wondered if Matsumoto would be able to match that in Blood Blockade Battlefront. Thus far, I'd have to say it doesn't match up to Kyousougiga, but not for lack of trying. BBB is incredibly pleasant to watch. Matsumoto excels in visual composition, and is very resourceful with her limited colors. Jerusalem's Lot is a very gray-brown city, but Matsumoto knows exactly when and how to use her limited colors to make them stand out. Another interesting touch she adds is how she lets the viewer understand the nature of different locations without adding a word of exposition about them. For instance, we're introduced to the Alterworld in the latest episode when some characters travel there. While many would simply add a few lines of dialogue about how surreal and reality-bending it is there, Matsumoto chooses to simply show how surreal and reality-bending it is. An unnerving soundtrack echoes as we're thrown into disorienting and off-balance shots. Roads and buildings twist around in impossible ways, appearing as though one is inside a three-dimensional maze. Matsumoto loves her environments and isn't afraid to linger on them. In fact, she encourages it. So many shots are extreme wide shots where important action only takes up a small portion of the frame. We're encouraged to explore the rest of the city and submerge ourselves within it. Yes, our focus is on these characters, but their actions are still only a small part of a huge and bustling city.

In a season where I was assigned both Triage X and Gunslinger Stratos, Blood Blockade Battlefront is a breath of fresh air. It's my early favorite for anime of the season. You owe it to yourself to check it out, if only for the ED.

Strong Recommendation

The Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-chan
Joe Straatmann

Most people have been rather kind to this spin-off series. Even the ones who don't like it just pass it off as "not my thing" or a harmless lark. I am not one of these people. As I said in my review of The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya, I quite enjoyed the sweetness in the scenes between Kyon and Yuki, whether it be regular universe Yuki's quietest of quiet desperation or alternate Yuki's trying to overcome her extreme shyness to let Kyon know how much he meant to her. I may even have this among my other favorite characters on the top of my bookshelf. If you must put it in grossly overly simplified fan fiction terms, yes, I am a shipper of this relationship, so a spin-off exploring this it would be well within my interests. This explanation is necessary so you realize I am not a reviewer who was simply given the "wrong" assignment when I say this: The Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-chan is terrible.

That said, this will be a hard series to be totally fair about, mostly because I've read well into the manga and know where it's going. I had an extremely faint hope animation studio Satelight would head in another direction, but alas, it seems to be a straight adaptation. I can understand some who would call my criticisms blatantly overblown based on three or four episodes and maybe that's true because the part where I rage quit on the manga is mostly where my deepest frustrations lie. Still, the pieces of what's fundamentally wrong are still here at this point and I will try to reveal them.

Let's start with Yuki herself. If you were hoping for the character of Yuki as she was in the Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya novel and movie, you got bait-and-switched, sucker! The Yuki in the series where she's the titular character is the creation of manga/artist Puyo (even if he's not credited for the writing part), and this Yuki is a completely average teenage girl with a few Yuki "flavorings." It's easy to not pick up on since Puyo can draw adorably shy Yuki as well as anybody and Satelight reasonably replicates this, but she's actually not that introverted. She converses with everybody reasonably well including the person she has a crush on, Kyon. She has problems confessing her affections with the person she loves, but who doesn't? And she's occasionally clumsy! That's not a rudimentary character trait plenty of anime girl have at all! For those who've read the manga and are waiting in the wings to say, "But they specifically made her different from the canon material and they explain this later on," we will get there. OH, WILL WE EVER GET THERE.

Her quirks are being the president of the Literature Club even though she doesn't seem to have much interest in books, and she's a video game addict, which only serves as a running gag for how she stays up all night playing them at the worst times. When Eruna in Mikagura School Suite uses her game system, it's a part of her character, but for Yuki, it's just a prop and likely pandering to shy, nerdy guys this might appeal to. Alternate Yuki in the canon material was a more developed individual in a much shorter timespan and her withdrawn personality gave her palpable challenges as a person and real power when she broke through them. This is the fourth or fifth season of a 90's sitcom where we know the neighbor kids are going to get together, but the makers want to milk two more seasons of the same old same old before anything actually happens. Heck, EVERYBODY knows the romantic vibe between the two including most likely the duo themselves from the first episode and the only reason it doesn't happen is because the series would be over.

Backing up to the overall picture, these are the characters from the Haruhi Suzumiya franchise as normal teenagers (As normal as Haruhi can be, at least). No supernatural origins, no one being a secret deity, just kids being kids. The main thrust of the early goings is Yuki is about to lose the Literary Club because she's the only member, and with the help of her best friend Asakura and a "mysterious" girl who recruits Yuki to send a message to Santa Claus in the middle of the night, she gets the confidence to find enough members, including secretly beloved Kyon.

It all sounds well and good even if the flashback setup is a little awkward, pushing some key character moments as stuff that already happened (The main plot of the first couple episodes is planning for a Christmas party). What is unfortunate is this series takes out the engine driving the franchise of the weird, loopy, fun sci-fi elements, and they don't really find a decent replacement. All of the characters didn't really have lives outside of babysitting Haruhi Suzumiya for very valid reasons, and not having those restrictions opens up some possibilities they simply do not care about. Where are Yuki Nagato's parents?  Their absence could be a vital piece of texture if they acknowledge it, but nope. Speaking of parents, who wants to meet Haruhi Suzumiya's parents? You could do that here. Instead, it's the same ol' antics with an extremely  elementary romantic story.

I've spent almost twice the average length of a seasonal review bashing this show, but I can understand why people would be with it so far. Satelight is no Kyoto Animation, but they do an okay job, especially considering the manga is kind of messy when it comes to acting as a storyboard for the anime. Even so, in using a similar character model to the girls with the large eyes on Kyon with smaller eyes, his face looks incredibly weird. There are a few clever referential character traits. Since Asakura doesn't have a sinister edge to being Yuki's best friend, it's replaced with occasional passive-aggression where she smiles as waves of anger almost manifest physically. And even as I can't see past what the series becomes, I can admit the first two episodes are an okay enough start, doing the necessary things to get the ball rolling. There is something you need to understand, though. The plot of a holiday where Yuki can get closer to Kyon and concurrently getting into an encounter with a romantic rival is the ONE plot this show has with a single exception (Again, WE WILL GET THERE), and it repeats itself with diminishing returns each time. You're already seeing it with the Valentine's Day episode. How tedious does this get? You ever hear of a little experiment called "Endless Eight?"

No Recommendation

ETOTAMA
Joe Straatmann

My goodness, is this show ever pretty. It's a glorious, candied wonderland with plenty of extra time put into its expressive faces and acrobatic bodies. Even when they slip into the world's battle arena that's done all in CG and it's obvious with stuttering backgrounds the computers have gone way beyond their processing capability,  it's beautiful. Then the central character starts talking. Then the central character never stops talking. Then anthropomorphic versions of the Chinese zodiac animals wander in, wreck everything and make the same running gag about how nobody can remember half of them. Then there are discussions about the facets of the world that use weirdly technical terms and lengthy definitions that spill onto the eyecatches. Then, like the everyman character Takeru who acts as a foil for all of the craziness, you wind up with your house destroyed and wondering what in the world just happened. Maybe that last part is just me.

It's madcap wackiness when Takeru Amatu moves into his new place and finds Nya-tan on the premises. Nya-tan is a cat Eto-musume, a representation of an animal that has the possibility of being in the Chinese zodiac. Nya-tan has lost her memory, but she does know she wants to become an official part of the zodiac, and the way to do that is by winning the ETM12, a fighting system where all the creatures turn into chibi versions of themselves and fight using sol/lull powers. Sol/lull is energy culled from people's emotions, and it just so happens average, everyday Takeru is a sol/lull machine, attracting the rest of the zodiac to invade his personal space and life.

How much you like this show depends on how much you can tolerate. It is a manic comedy that never stops moving with Nya-tan never ceasing in utilizing every obnoxious feature of a catgirl. It's a lot of slapstick, fast talking, puns, and a weird tinge of meta humor. For instance, a character comments on what wasn't talked about in episode 2 in regards to what transpired in episode, referring to them directly as "episode 1" and "episode 2" until Takeru wonders what they're going on about. I think this is meant to make the writing seem smarter than it is, but it's distracting. That's not to mention there is a ton of jargon and definitions if you haven't noticed. I wasn't lying when I say this intrudes on the eyecatches, which have almost a fourth of the screen dedicated to one definition or another. Once again, instead of making me appreciate the intelligence of the makers, it calls unnecessary attention to things other than the story and the characters. Plus, it bogs down what's supposed to be lighter fare with technobabble.

If you can take the manic pace and enjoy characters that straddle the edge of obnoxious, then I can see this working very well. Have I said this show looks fantastic? Etotoma moves frantically and most of it is fluid and spirited. The battle sequences are incredibly smooth with the fantastical arenas looking spectacular. And the battles are actual battles, not just some super cutesy add-on to make a comedy series mean more. The third episode actually has some serious business with the representation of the rat coming to town with intentions to brutally murder Nya-tan, and the series doesn't back down on her ruthlessness. I'm not sure Etotoma has the guts to make the surprise that comes of this permanent (And it already has something in its universe that can act as a way out), but at least it's not all fun and games. The playful parts are a bit too much noise and clanking around for me when it goes full volume. Maybe I'm just getting old.

Weak Recommendation

Food Wars! Shokugeki no Soma
Danni Wilmoth

Food Wars is essentially the byproduct of someone taking the phrase "Food Porn" completely literally. Yes, there's food. A lot of it, actually. It's amazing how much thought appears to have gone into the food in this show. It pays off well, to be quite honest. I've yet to finish an episode feeling anything but intense hunger. All the food in the show looks delicious, and my inferior pasta from the supermarket can't compete.

Food? Check. Porn? Double check. This show is incredibly ecchi, and you know what? I love it. Food Wars seeks to satisfy your tastes regardless of sexuality, featuring heavily fanserviced male and female characters. At least once per episode we are treated to a sequence where a character eats a dish of Soma's and has an orgasmic experience, complete with erotic moans and all. This is absolutely an anime you want to break out the headphones for.

What completely sells the series for me, though? How incredibly shounen it is. Every time Soma breaks out his knives to cook becomes a battle, with each sequence backed by an intense score and dramatic animation. Everything is over the top, especially the setting and characters. The academy, hailed as the number one culinary academy in Japan, is huge and foreboding. Every moment in the kitchen is a do or die one, with Soma's entire culinary career hanging in the balance. The characters are all wonderfully eccentric and intense, which clashes well with Soma's carefree attitude.

Food Wars probably isn't a show that can appeal to everyone, but I enjoy the hell out of it. Whether or not Soma's domination in the kitchen week after week will get old remains to be seen, but for now, I'm enjoying this anime's wild ride.

Solid Recommendation

Gunslinger Stratos: The Animation
Danni Wilmoth

Gunslinger Stratos's first episode opens with a quote about time from St. Augustine, as if mocking me for all the time spent watching this show I can never get back.

Originally based off a third-person shooter series of the same name, Stratos takes place in a future world where Japan has been split up into districts. Citizens lead peaceful lives and are each given ranks according to their status and abilities. We're introduced to Tohru Kazasumi, a D-ranked high-schooler living alone years after his parents' death. He hates standing out, preferring to be just another face in the crowd. One day, he happens upon a young girl he remembers from a dream. He follows her into an abandoned factory and onto a rusty walkway, which gives out underneath his feet. Tohru falls helplessly into the cloudy hole beneath him.

From here, things get weird. Somehow, Tohru time travels to the year 2015 while free-falling. He and his friend Kyoka, who followed him into the factory, land right in the middle of a warzone between two factions equipped with futuristic technology. Also the factions fight in a parallel dimension or something that allows them to destroy anything and everything without residents of the year 2015 actually seeing or realizing it...or something. It's never really explained why their fights don't affect 2015 and why they have to go back to 2015 to fight at all.

Anyways...

Tohru ends up coming face-to-face with a faction member who had been pursuing him. This mysterious pursuer turns out to be none other than Tohru himself (but with cooler hair). He and Kyoka are soon rescued by one of the factions and taken back to their time, where they learn that futuristic beings called "Timekeepers" are pitting their universe against a parallel universe over technology that can supposedly save them from the end of the universe. Oh yeah, the universe is falling apart, and by that I mean people are turning into sand. They call this process 'Sandification' (I'll let that one speak for itself). Coincidentally, both factions have the exact same members. They're essentially fighting parallel versions of themselves. Tohru and Kyoka both decide to fight for their universe.

If there's one thing Gunslinger Stratos does well, it's keeping the tradition of games getting bad anime adaptations going. There's just nothing here to enjoy. As you can probably tell, the plot is extremely convoluted, which is made worse by the fact that at three-quarters of every single episode is just exposition. It's so dull. The animation doesn't help either. The character designs are bland, and their outfits are just plain dumb. Character animations go off-model frequently, leading to unnaturally saggy faces that make it look as though the characters are having a stroke. While Stratos is certainly not the worst anime this season, it's definitely one of the dullest.

No Recommendation

The Heroic Legend of Arslan
David O'Neil

One of my all time favorite anime has always been Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, so when I heard the author/artist of the Fullmetal Alchemist manga was adapting a fantasy novel series called The Heroic Legend of Arslan, it had my attention right away. Before the anime had been announced I checked out the first two volumes of the manga, so when the anime was announced I was interested in how it would be adapted, and if I'd want to switch over to the anime rather than simply sticking with the manga. In the end, it'd all come down to whether the anime had strong execution.

The Heroic Legend of Arslan takes place in a fictional country known as "Pars", focusing on the journey of the young prince of Pars, Arslan, as he faces numerous challenges and trials while his kingdom is put in danger. So far the anime has faithfully followed the story of the manga closely, only adding in a few minor details to better get across aspects of Arslan's character and the setting of the show. And the story it's adapting is a strong one so far, following a somewhat weak, kindhearted prince as he must learn strength and courage to eventually rule the kingdom himself. This part of the story is a bit lacking in terms of the characters, as the story focuses more on setting up the world and plot in the first episode, then more on a large battle that kicks off the main plot in the next two. It gets across the character's personalities just fine, but right now there isn't a whole not of interaction that really sells the characters or makes them really stand out. Despite that, it's a good set up and there's a lot of promise in this world and this story, along with a lot of interesting stuff being teased for later on that I'm looking forward to being expanded on. In addition, Arlsan is a likable protagonist who manages to walk the fine line between being naive, without being stupid or overly corny.

I mostly take issue with how the show's been adapted, at least to some extent. Studio Liden Films does a solid job in some regards, the character designs have transitioned nicely from manga to anime, it effectively captures the scope of the setting and battles, and in still, close up shots there's a lot of detail and shading put into the characters. But it also has flaws, for instance, it's use of CG animation. While I understand the use of CG in a story with massive battles and hundreds of soldiers, I still can't excuse just how bad Arslan's CG looks. Models are stiff, and often don't mesh well with the backgrounds, the camera will often move too close showing the lack of detail the CG has, and far too often the show will switch back and forth between 2D and CG animation making them stick out all the more. In addition, as an adaptation Arslan has failed properly capture many scenes in the manga. Scenes that should be intense, or imposing are often framed in a way that just comes off as shoddy and timid. It comes down to presentation, and Arslan's more important scenes just aren't presented as well as I would have hoped. It's also largely as a result of the show's underwhelming animation. The show's 2D animation only accomplishes the bare minimum, as sword fights and emotional scenes feel toothless and static. The great soundtrack helps, but I still felt Arlsan so far has been very hard to get behind from a production standpoint. Still, while it's an uninspired adaptation, for those who want to experience the story and aren't interested in reading the manga it gets the job done. And it's a decent story so far, one which I'm looking forward to continuing. Then again, if the anime doesn't step things up soon, I may end up continuing it in manga form instead.

Solid Recommendation

Is It Wrong to Try and Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?
Stephanie Getchell

And now you understand what I was saying about possible drops earlier. The one show I really did not want to see and I magically ended up with it. Thanks random.org... Ok, so what do we have here? A fantasy setting with, what seems to be, an RPG kind of air to it: Check! A lead character that is weak and wanting to become stronger: Check! A lead character with a very rare talent that everyone has their eyes on: Check! Fanservice: Check! Let's see, am I missing anything else here? I don't believe I am. Guess that makes it easy now. So from what I can gather right now, Bell, our lead adventurer, falls for a girl after she rescues him in the dungeons. Because of those feelings, he's gained a rare ability that let's him grow quickly depending on how strong his feelings are. However, he isn't aware of that yet because the goddess he follows, Hestia, won't tell him just yet because she really likes him and is slightly jealous. Ok, that's the obvious reason, but it seems she's also concerned with Bell potentially getting too much attention from this and looks to protect him. However, it looks like she can't hide it for much longer or else the two will end up dead since another goddess seems to have gotten interested.

I'll admit, the world that's been created is interesting and also rather confusing. Interesting because of the backstory and information we get, and confusing because of those RPG elements. It doesn't seem like an actual MMORPG game we're dealing with here, like Sword Art Online and Log Horizon, and yet there are skill points and leveling up in this world. I wouldn't mind if that was explained a little more, but I highly doubt that will even happen. So does that make this an MMORPG world or just real life? It's an extremely odd concept to go with in this world that even that entire backstory I mentioned before, doesn't explain it either. As for the story itself, again, the ideas presented aren't terrible but they are also the same things we've seen over and over again. Bell, as the a-typical hero, is like the opposite of Kirito from SAO, he's not a strong player and wants to gain strength so he can be by the side of a girl he likes. Got to be honest, here, his character is leagues better than Kirito's. Granted that not saying much to being with.... Can you tell I despise SAO? Hestia reminds me a little bit of Satsuki from World Break last season, minus the incest tendencies. It's more like the personality is what's similar, and I already know that I should keep some aspirin nearby cause that will mean a good amount of headaches.

For all the bad mouthing I've done today, with this show, there are elements that I find interesting like the world and some of it's mechanics. It's basically everything else that drives me up a wall or want to kill things with fire. It's not frustratingly bad, more like an annoying bad that I'm running into. True, I'm not allowed to use my drop today, so that gives me another chance to see where it really decides to go. It is humanly possible that I become surprised by this show and I keep it to watch for the season! Maybe some big conspiracy will happen or we get a glimpse of the real world if this is an MMORPG type of series! .............. Yeah, none of that is going to happen.

Weak Recommendation

Mikagura School Suite
Joe Straatmann

Sometimes, you just find a character. The one character that makes your series endlessly watchable  no matter what the show does to jump the shark or needlessly pad its existence. Mikagura School Suite finds its Gregory House in Eruna Ichinomiya. Eruna is a boisterous redhead whose goal in life is to find wild romance with another woman like in her dating sims and go to the nurse's office to play doctor. She even plays this into her choice of high schools, picking cute uniforms over education. When her cousin suggests she go to his school, Mikagura Academy, she is not so much won over by his incestuous romantic advances (Those get responded to with beatings), but the beautiful maiden Seisa who is in the booklet.

Eruna finds there is much more to Mikagura than at first glance. The school is one large training ground for magical powers, and the rank and file is determined by what club you join and how much weight you pull in it. Her current lack of powers and zero club protection leave her resting in a sleeping bag in the school hallways and having barely enough rice to live. With a talking cat creature as her guide, she tours the clubs and eventually finds Seisa as one of the most powerful students and member of the going-home club where she hides away in her mansion. To get the favor of her "destined love," Eruna must take Seisa's place in battle and find her magical powers to win her respect.

There are various elements in Mikagura that would normally dissuade me from watching a series. Within the gears of the plot, there are cogs of tournament fighting, one of my least preferred means of trudging through a story. At the end of three episodes, they're even foreshadowing the Rookie Tournament. Yet, there is Eruna. Somehow, she manages to make being lecherous lovable, lacks enough common sense to be funny without being a ditz, and has a fierce and unpredictable determination that is her own. You could take the elements of this character and try to imitate her a hundred times and never get it right (The odds would be even worse if you tried to make her male). Just watch the way she handles her interview to Mikagura with a floating cat she didn't even know existed in this universe until it appears in front of her, stretching and prodding it like the only way to prove its real is to find its weak point. She follows the beat of her own drum, and it's entertaining to see the path she pounds out.

The supporting cast are all charming or entertaining in their own ways, and I find the fighting more interesting than an average combat show. Combat is handled in vastly different forms depending on the club, such as the astronomy club representative using a telescope as a gun of star energy. This mixes up the fighting to more than people throwing magic beams or shoving their manliness around. Maybe tournament battles won't get tedious this time. We'll see what happens since the main story hasn't shown up yet, but right now, Eruna is driving this show and driving it well. It blew my expectations out of the water as an adaptation of a light novel based on vocaloid songs, that's for sure.

Strong Recommendation

MY love STORY!!
Jonathan Kaharl

Me and shojo romance have had our problems over the years. It's not because its a female targeted genre, but that it's weirdly misogynist at times. You know how people accuse Twilight of being a problem because of just how sexually fucked up it is? A lot of shojo is like that, and a running fantasy in a lot of shojo romance is the girl being forcefully romanced by some stronger guy. Sometimes, it gets really creepy. When it's not that, shojo romance is just boring and very been done, with tired cliches pairing up because its expected and tired misunderstandings driving the plot. This series, however, is the shojo romance series for people who hate shojo romance, and it is ADORABLE.

The main character, Takeo, is a big, awkward guy with the wit and tact of a gorilla. He towers over everyone and has a generally threatening disposition, but he's way sweeter than he first appears. He just wants to make friends, but his doofy manners make that difficult. His best friend, Suna, is a more traditional protagonist for these sorts of series. He's pretty, aloof, constantly bored, and attracts the attention of most every girl in the area. While the two get along and have a touching history, as Suna has really helped out Takeo in bad situations pretty regularly, Takeo's self-confidence has taken a major hit in just how easily Suna gets the attention of the opposite sex, despite having no major interest in getting a girlfriend. Eventually, Takeo saves a girl named Yamato from a train grouper, and he falls in love, but gets the idea that it's Suna that Yamato has fallen for, deciding to help the two get together (Suna shows minor interest as well). The thing is that Yamato seems far more interested in Takeo, and his self-fulfilling prophcy is making it difficult for him to see that.

It's not just your average beauty meets beast story. Suna isn't an unlikable prick, he's just quiet yet surprisingly empathetic. Takeo doesn't have any issues that Yamato has to help him move past to discover his inner goodness. Yamato herself is adorable and has problems really expressing herself. It's a story based around miscommunication, but it's very well done and told from Takeo's perspective. He makes a good case for why Suna and Yamato would be a good couple, but it becomes clearer and clearer that he's also lying to himself for the sake of his friend and Yamato's happiness. I want to see how this problem of his will eventually work out, and I want to see the chemistry between these three characters grow. Every single one of them is relatable in likable in some form.

The second episode really cements things, especially with a great final scene where Takeo saves Suna and Yamato from a falling steel beam, starts having a depressing realization about why he's so awkward ...only for both Suna and Yamato to return and try to help save him. It's that moment that makes the series really click for me. A love triangle where nobody is a colossal dick and honestly care about each other!? How have I never come across this before!? This is not one to pass up, even if you're not normally into romance.

Strong Recommendation

Ninja Slayer From Animation
David O'Neil

While studio Trigger may be best known for the acclaimed OVA Little Witch Academia, and popular TV series Kill la Kill (and that light novel adaptation people sorta want to forget about), before all that they made a series of bizarre shorts on a shoe string budget called Inferno Cop. Inferno Cop wasn't so much tongue in cheek as it was a tongue bursting through a cheek with incredible force, a bat shit crazy series about the flaming skeleton cop "Inferno Cop" who put a stop to evil doers in the name of justice. Despite being essentially animated with a bunch of still character designs being moved around like puppets, the show was a lot of fun, as Trigger poked fun at both themselves and anime/tokusatsu shows as a whole. But what does all that have to do with Trigger's latest adaptation Ninja Slayer The Animation? Well, for one thing it's the sophomore directorial effort of Inferno Cop's co-director, Akira Amemiya (excluding his Animator Expo short). Also, it basically attempts to do the exact same as Inferno Cop. Unfortunately, this time around it doesn't work nearly as well.

Similar to Inferno Cop, a large amount of Ninja Slayer isn't what you'd call traditional "animation". Characters are stiff cut outs of the characters on a 2D plane, who simply slide around and bump into each other than actually walking or fighting. In Inferno Cop this worked largely because it stuck with this style of animation all the time, one of Ninja Slayer's major faults is that it actually switches back and forth between the 2D, flash-style animation and actual hand drawn animation. Instead of just accepting that visual style as the norm and filling in the blanks with your imagination like in Inferno Cop, by switching between the two styles it only makes the cut-out animation incredibly jarring and far more unpleasant to look at than it once was. Ninja Slayer is also hampered by its runtime. Inferno Cop episodes were only a few minutes long, short enough that the joke didn't overstay its welcome and keeping it at a brisk enough pace that it's lack of substance didn't hinder the show's humor.  Ninja Slayer goes on for 15 minutes, which is just long enough that it starts to drag on and lose my interest at a certain point.

That isn't to say the show doesn't have its moments of fun. Some of the zany, over the top humor still works and I have gotten a few good laughs from the two episodes I watched, and Amemiya's style of animation (when it does surface) is really cool on its own. But as a whole, Ninja Slayer feels like a step backwards for Trigger. Inferno Cop was something really unique, a perfect storm of cheaply made but passionately assembled elements that came together to create a cohesive show that was short, sweet, and hilarious. Ninja Slayer tries desperately to make that same lighting strike twice, but at this point it feels like they're retreading old ground. Ninja Slayer episodes are too long to work with Inferno Cop's style of humor, the inconsistent animation creates a jarring divide, and overall it just feels like its attempting to recapture something it could never hope to recapture. Because no matter how hard he tries, Ninja Slayer will never be Inferno Cop. Only Inferno Cop is Inferno Cop.

Weak Recommendation

Plastic Memories
Joe Straatmann

I was thinking about all the ways this series could go wrong when I received this assignment, but for the most part, it hasn't done any of them. That's not to mention this thing really punches above its weight. Animation studio Doga Kobo has spent the better part of 40 years cleaning up everybody else's projects with plenty of in-between and 2nd key animation work, but with this season alone, they have a near-great show in Mikgura and this pretty good one. The future where all of the surfaces have a holographic sheen are a very cool design idea, but the execution doesn't quite get 100% realized (I could imagine someone like Production I.G. absolutely wowing people with this idea). There are frames of in-between animation that just aren't there. It feels like this show intentionally leaves out certain action sequences because they don't have the money for it. With all of this, it still does everything well enough, and has one of the biggest hearts of any show this season.

It starts as a tale of college graduate Tsukasa who falls in love at first sight with artificial human Isla as he sees her in an elevator. The opening scene is played with somberness and Isla leaves the elevator crying, so it's obvious they're not aiming to be THAT kind of series like, say, Chobits is. The story becomes a lighter, more friendly version of Blade Runner when Tsukasa goes to work at SAI, a corporation involved with the managing of Giftias, androids with real emotions and humanity. The limitation of technology prevents the Giftias from living more than around ten years (Hey, that doubles the Tyrell Corporation!), so SAI has a group with two-member teams of a Giftia and a human charged with deactivating them before their programming starts to fail (The deterioration is suggested to be very traumatic for the owners). Tsukasa is the newest team member, and his partner turns out to be none other than Isla. Surprisingly detached and monotone, Isla is nothing like when they first met, not to mention she's surprisingly horrible at a job she's supposed to have been doing for years.

Plastic Memories is setting itself up to be quite the science fiction tear-jerker. The first episode sets up how the organization works and puts Tsukasa and Isla on the case of a cranky woman who refuses to give up the closest thing she has to a daughter. It feels like there are deleted scenes they simply didn't have time for, like when they have to chase down someone and the scene just stops and moves to the aftermath, but it gets all of the emotional beats right and it's hard to keep a dry eye at the ending. This seems like it's going to be the template for all of the episodes, but for now, they're moving into developing Tsukasa and Isla as partners and slowly cracking Isla's shell as to what caused her to go into a robotic routine and start to fail at her job. If everything comes together (And certain details I dare not spoil seem to suggest it will), this will be a show that will cause me to go my crying corner eventually.

The individual elements of the show aren't much to speak of by themselves. Tsukasa and Isla aren't much more than boiler plate anime characters, but they are likable enough. The duo has amusing co-workers at least, including Michiru, who is eying the couple very closely in case Tsukasa decides to do some unsolicited perving. The visuals do have a nice design scheme even if it's not top notch. Even if the concept itself isn't particularly original, there are enough alluring elements that I really want to see where it goes. It really is a case of standard parts coming together to make a satisfying whole, and if you want to take a chance on an original property this season, you could do a LOT worse.

Solid Recommendation

PUNCH LINE
David O'Neil

I can't help but wonder if Punchline's title is some way taunting me. For three episodes now it's gone on and on with its set up, as if some sort of long winded joke leading up to an elaborate punchline. Though at this point, I'm wondering if whatever it's setting up could make up for just how messy and drab the show has been thus far. The series pitched itself as a wacky, fanservice-laden comedy with a bizarre premise: If the protagonist sees a girl's panties, he'll cause the destruction of the world. It's a premise almost begging you to say "Wait, what?" and at the least I curious how exactly they planned to build an entire show around that premise. Also notable is the production being headed by Studio MAPPA, a promising newer studio who've made some mostly good looking shows (Rage of Bahamut: Genesis, Terror in Resonance), and the show being written by video game designer/scenario writer Kotaro Uchikoshi, the mind behind the acclaimed Zero Escape series. With all that I couldn't help myself from being curious, wondering if perhaps there was more to this show than it at first seemed.

Unfortunately, as of now, there seems to be less to this show than there at first seemed. The show's story is an overcomplicated, unclear, cobbled together mess. With such a simple premise one may not expect this show to lean to heavily on plot, but in a strange way it actually does. The first three episodes spend far too much time explaining the rules of the game it's set up here, droning on about how the protagonist's powers work, what his weakness are, how he gains more power, who the side characters are, what they're backstories are, some stuff about a scientist that makes robots, an evil plot by a terrorist organiz- you get the point. Punchline almost does feel like it was written like a video game, with arduous amounts of time being dedicated to a talking cat droning on about various restrictions and guidelines the protagonist has to abide by as if going through a tutorial, rather than actually explaining the most basic elements of the plot or why any of it matters. While that can be fine in a video game, in a more narrative driven medium such as anime it's putting the focus in the wrong place. The show has yet to explain who the protagonist is, how he got magical panty powers, why he turned into a magical spirit after dying, or why any of this crazy stuff involving the destruction of the world has been centered around him. It's reminiscent of the early episodes of Yuki Yuna is a Hero, aimlessly wandering around without much in the form of substance, but constantly giving off vague hints that it's all just build up towards some unexpected plot turn down the line.

The problem is that the show isn't entertaining enough to make this confusing, purposeless stretch of episodes worth watching. Despite the show's frequent attempts at weird, crazy humor, none of it really works. Only a few scenes have actually managed to make me laugh, the rest feel horribly contrived as the show alternates between being just plain boring and waving wackiness in your face yelling "ISN'T THIS RANDOM?". Probably the show's only saving grace is the animation and music, which are the highpoint of the show's first few episodes. Character movements are hardly fluid, but still quite lively and fun. Plus it features some rare, but cool looking action scenes that are a brief release from the uninteresting plot and humor. The music is shameless, in-your-face dubstep that probably isn't for everyone, but I'm into that sort of music so I can't complain. It's no Taku Iwasaki, but it fits well with the action scenes of the show. Punchline is a muddled, confused little show that can't seem to get across what the point of all its antics are. It even fails from the standpoint of just being "mindless fun" because it isn't very fun, with flat humor and unentertaining characters. It seems to be building up to some sort of grand purpose, but right now I don't have a clue what it is and the show isn't doing enough to make me care in the mean time. Pretty much all the show has is good animation, cool music, and (if it's what you're into) some shameless fanservice panty-shots, but if you really want all that then just go watch Tatsunoko's Yozakura Quartet anime, with that you'll at least get some likable characters and strong humor in addition to all that.

No Recommendation

Re-Kan!
Jonathan Kaharl

So, how do you make a slice of life comedy with mild yuri undertones more interesting than the millions of others out there? Re-Kan's idea is simple; ghosts! That sounds stupid, but it kind of works. The premise here is that Amani is a high school girl who can see ghosts, and they have a habit of following her around and showing her affection ...which leads to a lot of unwanted attention and hyjinks. The cast around her also includes the tsundere Inoue, who simply refuses to believe in ghosts at all costs, two girls who used to be in a gang, and the token guy. Oh, and one cat that only Amani can understand that constantly wants to look at her panties and even invades her dreams to do so. He's my favorite character.

What makes Re-Kan stand out among its peers is not just the premise, but the amount of heart it carries in that premise. A major running theme is remembering and respecting the dead, as the show stops its comedy bits from time to time to have Amani do various bits of tribute for the spirits around her, like giving a doll that summons rain to a faceless ghost who loves the rain, or playing with some dead children and bringing them candy. The show does not shy away from the darker subject underlay the comedic overreactions and sexual harassment via cat (*explodes from the ground* "SHOW ME YOUR PANTIES!"), and it handles those moments with surprising amounts of grace. It just slows down to remind you that while everyone will die, you won't truly be forgotten, and the bonds you form or people you inspire will still affect the world in your absence. It's a really sweet thought and the series pays great respect to it.

It's one of the better gag shows I've seen in the past few months, and I'd definitely suggest it if you want something softer than the manic Etotama. Also, making the comedic pervert character a cat was the most brilliant idea ever.

Solid Recommendation

RIN-NE
Stephanie Getchell

Did you know that one of the first anime series I watched when I first discovered what it actually was was Inuyasha? Now, did you know that Rin-Ne is a series based on another manga created by Rumiko Takahashi, the same one who created Inuyasha? And so begins my look into Rin-Ne for the season! Based on the two episodes I've seen thus far, Sakura Mamiya has been able to see deceased spirits for as long as she can remember, unable to remember what caused this in the first place. After a short amount of time in her new school, she meets a strange student, Rinne Rokudo who, for some reason, can also see the spirits. Not only that, but he helps send the ones still tied to earth, through their regrets, to the afterlife. The first couple of episodes help introduce us to our two leads as well as the world and the circumstances of it. Oh! And Sakura also remembers how she can see spirits and it's because she has actually been to the other side once before as a child, only to be sent back by Rinne's "grandmother." I use quotes because the woman calls Rinne her grandchild and yet she hates it when she herself is called a grandma... Also, she looks rather young.

What to make of this show... Well, it's one I'm least likely to drop if that helps. I'm not all too familiar with Takahashi's work outside of Inuyasha, and that's just only so many episodes I actually watched. I am aware she is behind Ranma 1/2 as well, but I have not even seen it. I suppose this is will more of an unbiased look into the show.... I don't know. I'm actually still trying to figure out how to feel with it. It's going at a decent pace as of right now, and the story is moving along rather well compared to some shows I've been seeing this season. The characters aren't quite 100% stereotypes, but common troupes are there. Yet, there's this feeling I have that I can't shake. It may just be that the series hasn't quite impressed me as much as I was hoping it would. There's a good amount going for it right now, but compared to some of the other shows I've seen this season, both my four and my second opinions, this one's a little underwhelming. This isn't the worst thing, but it means I may or may not be in for a rather boring season if this is what I should be expecting for the next several weeks.

Rin-Ne started off pretty good, all things considered, and it's on the right track. It's just the poor luck of the draw that it's up against a bunch of really good shows this season. Seriously, this and Euphonium are the last ones I'm writing up about for this report hence why I can really say this. I do like this one, so far, I really do. I'm very interested to see what happens in the coming weeks. But putting it in the same season as Blood Blockade or Arslan, or My Love Story!! makes things a bit more tricky when watching the amazing shows from this season and then turning around and keeping track of a decent one. Since Rin-Ne is one that I really wanted to see, I will press on no matter what! Like I said, out of my four, this is the one I will least likely drop.

Solid Recommendation

Seraph of the End: Vampire Reign
David O'Neil

It's hard to cover Seraph of the End: Vampire Reign without also covering the elephant in the room. Ever since the large success of the Attack On Titan anime, some studios have been trying their hardest to emulate that success. From Terraformers being talked about as the "Next Attack On Titan", to shows like The Seven Deadly Sins doing cross promotion with Attack On Titan, it seems as though everyone wants a slice of the series' success. Nothing has come quite as close in terms of trying to make lighting strike twice as Seraph though. It comes from studio Wit Production, the same one behind Attack On Titan, shares much of the original show's staff, and even has the same composer on board. If all that wasn't enough the initial premise is eerily similar as well, following a young, brash boy living in a grim apocalypse where humans live in fear of some powerful inhuman force (in this case vampires) who takes an oath to murder every last one of those creatures in order to avenge his loved ones after watching them murdered before his very eyes. Now granted, it's not as if Attack On Titan invented this sort of story, but it's hardly difficult to see what Seraph is going for. So the question is, even when its intentions put aside, is Seraph of the End: Vampire Reign worth watching?

I should note, this will include some spoilers for the first episode, but the events are integral to the show so I feel inclined to cover them nonetheless. Seraph takes place in a world where a mysterious virus (in an unapologetically shonen turn of events) kills off the near the entirety of humankind except for children. From the ashes of civilization, vampires rise to take over and enslave a large chunk of the remaining population, to enslaving them for their blood. The show follows Yuichiro Hyakuya, a hot headed, rebellious boy living with his family, a group of fellow orphans he's been together with since before the vampires took over. They live day by day giving their blood to vampires, until one day they try to escape the facility that holds them captive to get to the outside world. But they're stopped by a powerful vampire, who kills all the orphans except Hyakuya, who barely manages to escape with his life. After escaping, he joins the human resistance against the vampires in hopes of avenging his family. The plot of Seraph is incredibly predictable. So far nearly every twist, major plot point, and even character development can be seen from a mile away, and none of it is all that engaging either. I was never the biggest fan of Attack On Titan, but even I admit the first episode really grabbed my attention. Seraph's first episode on the other hand, felt cheap and tepid in comparison, as if the show felt killing off a bunch of kids would emotionally effect the viewer by itself so it wasn't necessary to actually create any depth to their relationships, or even attempt to present it in a powerful way.

After the obligatory-feeling first episode Seraph does improve, but only so much. As it turns out, even in a vampire-ruled post apocalypse where over 90% of the population has been wiped out, there are still high schools for our characters to go to (well thank goodness, god forbid we have a shonen anime NOT in a highschool). Still though, during these two episodes the show at least gets the chance to introduce some new characters, and the ones who've joined in so far are fairly likable. The show continues to be painfully predictable, but I wouldn't go so far to say it's actually bad. It's going down the checklist of tropes until it eventually gets to the big battles, but nothing about it really stands out as outright terrible beyond the poorly executed first episode. In addition, Wit has done a really solid job with the production so far, the show has already had some really good animation and also boasts some downright gorgeous backgrounds, especially during the first episode. So far Seraph of the End: Vampire Reign brings very little new to the table, and the first episode makes a poor first impression, but past that it's a decent, well animated distraction with gleams of potential here and there.

Weak Recommendation

Show by Rock!!
David O'Neil

Show By Rock hardly is hardly a promising pitch right out of the gate. The newest contender in the ever escalating idol war follows a rock idol group, a group of furry rock idols to be more precise, based on a mobile phone game. Again, not exactly material that's rife with potential. But then again, just a few seasons ago Rage of Bahamut: Genesis showed that with a good studio behind it, even adaptations of something as light on story as a mobile phone game are capable of being adapted into a truly great narrative. Even if just last season, a certain anime about a bunch of anthropomorphized WWII ships showed how an adaptation of a simplistic game premise can go wrong. Show By Rock certainly has talent behind it though, with none other than studio Bones of Fullmetal Alchemist/Soul Eater/Space Dandy/much more fame animating it. With that in mind, I couldn't help but hope this could become more than just a soulless cash in.

All high school girl Cyan wants is to work up the courage to join the music club at her school, but she just can't seem to take that step towards following her passion for music. But one day, while playing a rhythm game on her phone (very subtle huh) she earns a special item that transports her to "MIDICITY", a colorful world where magical, part animal musicians use their powers both put on extravagant performances and fight off evil monsters. After getting involved in one concert/epic battle with lives at stake, Cyan is scouted by a small music agency, and finally gets her chance to make friends and music with the rock idol group "Plasmagica". The story so far is fairly straightforward, not exactly anything that hasn't been done in similar magical girl, idol, or slice of life shows before. That said, the surprisingly well rounded characters and nutty humor is making the show an enjoyable ride as of now. The cast of characters introduced so far are likable and carry the show well, each carrying with them distinct personalities, conflicts, and motivations that drive the show's story forward. I would like it if it expanded more on the main band of girls and their interactions, so far they all seem a bit too separated rather than a true cohesive cast (but then again, the third episode implies that's sort of the point for now). I do hope that eventually though, they can play off each other as the all male band "Shingan Crimsonz", who work for the same agency as Plasmagica and are by far the highlight of the show, with excellent character chemistry and laugh out loud humor nearly any time they're on screen.

The humor of the show is solid, it may not be for everyone, it's very in-your-face and energetic, but I personally enjoy this type of humor when it's done well. And in this show, it's certainly done quite well. The show's performance scenes are done with CG animation, while the rest of the show is 2D animation. While I certainly do my fair share of complaining about CG, and the furry character designs are a bit unsettling, I must admit the CG in Show By Rock is actually quite well done. The character models are of much higher quality usually seen in TV anime, looking less like something out of a old video game like say Kancolle, and more like something out of a lower budget western CG film. Their movements are also surprisingly well animated for CG, fitting well with the show's liveliness. The 2D animation is nothing too special, but Bones does a solid job backing up the humor with plenty of crazy reactions and energetic movements. Throw in some catchy songs and plenty of vibrant backgrounds, and the result is a well produced show overall. Show By Rock still hasn't grabbed me with it's story yet, but the humor, characters, and animation are all good enough to make it worth watching so far. Even if it is basically just an ad for a mobile phone game.

Solid Recommendation

Sound! Euphonium
Stephanie Getchell

Well.... I was originally supposed to cover both Lupin and Digimon this season. It was almost like a dream come true, honestly! But it was all too good to be true as Lupin is exclusive to Italy and Digimon won't appear until May in it's entirety. In order to make up for this mishap, I was given an additional series so I wasn't sitting on just three for the season. And hence how Sound Euphonium ended up in my hands. I gotta admit, I actually have some nice looking series to play with this season! Even my ecchi dungeon show isn't half bad to look at, animation wise. However, this one is the prettiest of the bunch for me. And, so far, it's actually got a really good story under it's belt. It may help that Tatsuya Ishihara is directing it and he has some major credits in there like Air, Clannad, My Ordinary Life, and Haruhi Suzumiya. Right away, you know this is gonna be a pretty good story. As of right now, we have Kumiko who has just started her first year of high school. She's been a part of concert band for a long while, but after the end of her final competition in middle school ended on a sour note, she debates on whether or not she should join the high school concert band. After some thought, and some coxing from her new friends, she decides to join and the concert band as a group make the decision to try for the nationals as their goals for the year.

Like I said, this is a pretty looking show and the story is off to the best start out of my four anime this season. While this is your typical Kyo-Ani series of the season, it's managed to stand out a lot more then some of their recent properties... minus Free! cause I love me my swimming anime. It's easy to see that there will be multiple side stories as, this is high school, and coming of age is a common occurrence when dealing with the high school setting. However, it seems to me that the kids won't just be the only ones with a story to tell as the concert band advisor seems to be telling his side of things in small ways as of right now. It will be a nice change from having just the students play a role in everything, and having a more adult perspective on the entire matter. I used to be a part of band for a while before I was in 8th grade and decided theatre was my first love, so it gets me excited to see what can be done here with an anime about a concert band. Although, the whole competition thing will be an interesting touch. Geez... Japan sure does love it's tournaments and competitions, don't they.

I'm thrilled to see what will happen here. It's the best start I've seen from my four seasonal shows and it has much more going for it than I had ever expected! Aside from it looking gorgeous, there's a good story in the works here, and it's amazing that people are rather mixed on it. Even the staff here have mixed feelings that you'll see when you look at the second opinions. For me, however, it could be the band geek in me or my love of a good story, but I think this one has a lot of potential and I am very excited to see what will happen here! At least, it has to do better than Amagi. Cause Amagi was kinda meh in the end.

Strong Recommendation

Triage X
Danni Wilmoth

I never asked for this. Well, technically I did, but not THIS.

Have you ever wondered what would happen if the guy who drew the notorious Highschool of the Dead decided to write and illustrate his own original manga? Additionally, have you wondered what would happen if said manga was given its own anime adaptation? To top it all off, what if this anime adaptation was headed up by studio Xebec, the same studio that produced Tokyo ESP, which we here at IRD voted the worst anime of 2014? I for one have not wondered any of these things, but I was lucky enough to have the end result of them all assigned to me anyway. If you haven't caught on by now, I'm referring to this season's favorite among hate-watchers: Triage X.

Triage X follows chronicles the efforts of a covert vigilante operation going by the name 'Black Label' whose goal is to 'excise' all 'tumors' and 'cancers' within society so that their 'infection' ceases to spread. This organization is headed up and mostly staffed by members of the local Mochizuki General Hospital (I'm sure all the medical rhetoric is purely coincidental). Select members of Black Label have been recruited from a local high school, including Arashi Mikami, our protagonist.

I'm going to put this bluntly: there is absolutely nothing enjoyable about Triage X. I had at least expected it to be humorously terrible, but this show is just plain Bad. I can't find a single redeeming quality within it. Take our hero Arashi, for instance. Arashi is essentially that kid from your sixth grade class whose Myspace page was full of the laziest and shallowest emo crap he could think of. As a child, he was severely injured during a terrorist attack when he used his body to shield his friend Ryu from injury. Needless to say, he completely failed. Ryu died and his own father transplanted his organs into Arashi. Since then, Arashi has become a tortured soul whose only purposes in life include killing and endlessly monologuing about how easy it is to kill. Also, he likes to talk to Ryu, who seems to function as Arashi's conscience...or something.

Sadly, Arashi is the most fleshed out character in the whole show. The rest of the main cast is comprised of nurse-assassins who, despite their obvious skill as vigilantes, always somehow end up in need of saving. This is likely because they're constantly trying to not fall face-first because of their breasts. They all have absolutely HUGE busts that are in no feasible way sexy. This is coming from someone who can admittedly find the boobs in Highschool of the Dead pleasing to the eye. I'd also like to take a moment to point out that in the first three episodes, nearly every female character has been put in some sort of victim position physically, usually sexually as well. In each and every case, the woman is heavily sexualized. In the first episode alone we see a man kick a woman in the face, pull her up by her hair, and squeeze her breast like a vice. This whole scene is accompanied by obviously sexual moans from the woman as her breath heavies and a blush appears on her face. A similar thing happens to another woman in the same episode, only while she's tied to a chair and whipped in front of her father.

I could go on for much longer about how terrible this show is, but I hope by now you get the point. It's awful. Don't get me wrong, I expected nothing less when I requested it be assigned to me, but I thought I'd at least be able to find humor in it. I don't. I can't. It sucks. It's already easily the worst anime I've ever seen [Jonathan, feel free to add an Editor's Note here about how you watched all of ISUCA]. Please don't watch Triage X.

No Recommendation

Ultimate Otaku Teacher
Joe Straatmann

Ultimate Otaku Teacher's heart is in the right place. It wants to create an inspirational otaku hero who empowers his students as well as poke at the NEET problem and maybe get them back into the workforce by showing them what abilities they might have. The shows I have this season seem to be extra reliant of how good the main character is (Plastic Memories being an outlier), and this work's initial downfall is its idealized hero is not really someone you want to be. Junichiro Kagame has perfections in weird places he shouldn't have and imperfections in vital spots. I don't think this kills the show and it'll have plenty of time to perhaps give the main character an arc, but I don't think they see Kagame at an angle where he would be vulnerable enough to make that happen.

Junichiro is an amazingly smart guy who has been lauded for his brilliance in physics, yet his lot in life now is being a shut-in who constantly updates the #1 anime blog in Japan thanks to his YD philosophy. YD stands for "Yearn to Do," which means one should only do what they want to do. His sister Suzune, a very willful person with a cricket bat, has other ideas and would like his brother to get off his butt and get a job. She sets him up as a part-time high school, and his methods are, of course, unorthodox. He learns of the class' psychology by making them all play a mobile game. He leans more towards the Dead Poets Society line of teaching where he doesn't really teach anything, but he has ideas that strike a chord with the students, which is apparently enough. Because of his eccentricity and an incident of mistaken intentions while thwarting a manga shoplifting attempt, he's tossed out. Waiting in the wings is Koyomi Hiiragi, a wealthy chairman of a private institute who seeks to remake Japan by the hiring of "amusing" people to shape the youth, and Junichiro just happens to fit the bill.

I realize the show is called Ultimate Otaku Teacher and not Mediocre Otaku Teacher, but Junichiro is way too perfect out of the gate. He doesn't make his students play a mobile game because he's socially incompetent, but because it's the easiest way to analyze them. He can converse with everyone just fine and he can make his way through the outside world without issue. He simply doesn't do anything productive because he doesn't want to. This makes it hard to like him, especially when the first episode deals with bullying, and the first thing he does when talking to the person getting bullied is insulting her dreams of being a voice actress because she is too common of a person to reach such a heavenly position (And she gets the nickname Face Punch by rightfully decking him).  If he were a typical otaku who had problems communicating, this would be more forgivable because he's learning to interact with people and at an okay place to start a character arc. However, since he's already an idealized person, he comes off as a straight-up dick. I don't sense any real malice behind the show, even when Junichiro's idea of revenge is bullying the bullies by pretending to absolutely ruin their lives, but there never really is anything outright stating anything he does is wrong.

The rest of the show is standard as a school desk. It neither looks great nor terrible, the music slides in and out of the ears, and most of it is general comedy with nerdy references. I laughed a couple times and wasn't repulsed by it, but it's nothing near an essential watch for this season (Though judging by the TV ratings, the Japanese audience is taken with it). Its obvious inspiration is Great Teacher Onizuka, but their approach is far too similar when an otaku would take a far different approach than a former gang member. If you get past the first episode's sour taste, it's not bad. Just not particularly good, either.

Weak Recommendation

Urawa no Usagi-chan
Jonathan Kaharl

I really have no idea what I'm supposed to say about this.

I am serious. I have reviewed shorts before. Hell, I could write a thesis on Teekyu, a series that clocks in at a minute and thirty seconds of content every episode. But I honestly have nothing to say about this. After doing some research, I discovered this thing that exists and serves no purpose or contains no real content is an advertisement for Urawa, a section of Saitama City. That's literally the entirety of what I learned. This is why this series about high school girls doing nothing of particular importance and never managing to make an actual joke exists.

Remember how pointless those first few episodes of Lucky Star was? This is worse. At least the show about nothing approach was an approach, and it feels like those talks could actually happen. That's not the case here. What jokes are said are so poorly built up or lacking in context that they almost never register as jokes. They just exists as weird sight gags that never managed to even get a set-up. I think something may be lost in translation, but then that means the show's humor is too subtle to even work for its intended purpose. If I'm missing jokes based around Uwara's local culture ...then doesn't that mean the show isn't advertising that culture properly?

I'm using a drop right away on this. Everything else in my pile, I like, but this just feels like a waste of my time and yours.

No Recommendation, Dropped at episode two

Wish Upon the Pleiades
Jonathan Kaharl

It still feels weird to know that the first regular magical girl show to premier in years that isn't part of some long-running franchise came from Gainax making a brand deal with Subaru.

Wish Upon the Pleiades is Gainax's newest show, and a slight departure for their normal output. This go, it's a magical girl series about a group of five who hunt down and capture strange star things that power an alien spaceship via motorized flying battle spears. The main character, Subaru (hey, Eureka Seven had a character named Tahoe), is in a funk because her best friend went to another school, but fate soon comes knocking as she's somehow chosen to become a magical girl along with said friend, Aoi, to help this alien blob creature restore his spaceship. However, there's some problems with a mysterious red haired boy that wants the stars for himself, along with another mysterious red head who lives in a strange dimension only Subaru can access with the school observatory key. Also, some talk of threads of fate entwining and causing reality and timelines to collapse in upon themselves, but the characters don't care much about that right now so whatever.

There's a lot that works here. The story has some subtly to it, with a lot being said without having to be said out loud, and some interesting ideas about how people create bonds with each other. It feels more mature than it should be, especially with all the silly comedic relief mixed in. The 2D animation is lovely during flying scenes, and the CG used for the stars looks great. There's a lot of mood and atmosphere, and the simplistic characters have a tad more depth than expected. The soundtrack is also very moving at points, with some sweeping scenes during sky missions, and a good number of character themes. Being in the air with the girls feels very powerful, and it makes their rather mundane missions (there's been no fighting so far) feel far more grand.

However, there's something missing right now. It feels like a bit more could be said to make the relationships and pasts of Subaru and Aoi a bit clearer, and the actual premise doesn't make much sense. There's no explanation for why the girls are helping the alien ...though that may be part of the point. It's hard for me to give this one a judgment this early, but it's both interesting and generic. Its strongest points come from the mostly great production (minus awful moments where characters are modeled in CG), but I don't think that's enough for me to give a stronger recommendation right now.

Weak Recommendation

Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches
Jonathan Kaharl

Woo, witch anime are three for three! Although there aren't any witches in the one episode I've seen so far. There's magic, just no witches yet. Yamada-kun's premise instead kicks off with body switching (of all things), leading to Yamada accidentally switching bodies with honor student Shirashi via falling down the stairs. This would have triggered my usual garbage alarm, but this series goes in a smarter direction (after the obligatory joke). Yamada actually learns more about how hard Shirashi's life is and tries to help her out, causing the two to grow a bond over the episode's first half. From there, it's cementing Yamada's body switching powers (via man on man kiss) and the establishment of a supernatural studies club. Said club will probably introduce the witches later, so wee!

Yamada-kun is good, but very comedy anime. It has good timing and gags, but they're all pretty been there in execution, which is more noticeable here than in Re-Kan because of all the little creative touches here. It's hard to say where it's headed at this rate, but the premier episode is a strong showing, suggesting this is going to be one to follow. If I have any reservations so far, it would be how slowly things are being established, even in the opening. The opening credits are quite beautiful, but they're very, very vague, and what little is shown don't seem to match up with what's being shown in the first episode so far (besides the existence of magic). I think this is a good thing, though. There's mystery here, and I want to know more. Is this a wacky magical comedy, or something a bit more?

Long shot guess; the majority of the series will explore gender norms through its stepping into other people's shoes premise, and the magical going-ons will pick up from there as more characters become interested in Yamada's weird magical power. If that's the case I'm at full attention.

Solid Recommendation

Second Opinions

Blood Blockade Battlefront

Jonathan: This is the best show of the season, bar none. It's also already in the running for best of the year, alongside Yurikuma. It comes from the director of Kyousougiga, and it brings along the same fluid, lively, and atmospheric style of that series. The mutated New York feels truly alive, and action scenes are all incredibly creative spectacles, even against small fry monsters. On top of that, the story is instantly powerful, with themes of guilt, duty, and self-fulfillment. It's a creative tour de force that has the meat to fill out the beautiful presentation, and it's going to go down as a classic (if the world is at least some small level of just). Strong Recommendation

Stephanie: Studio Bones is at it again this season, bringing in one of the more anticipated series. Not only that, but we have another adaptation of Yasuhiro Naightow's work. Name not that familiar? Clearly you haven't seen or read Trigun in the past. Yeah, this is his little baby and it's no wonder because it reminds me quite a bit of Trigun, but just mix in some elements of Deadman Wonderland as well. It's an interesting combo, really! While some parts of the animation and humor resemble Trigun, obviously that's where the comparison stops. The story is progressing a little more quickly than I would like, however the comedy of it makes up for it as it does get a little too out there at points in order for any real logic to be hard for explaining. This is one of the series that I believe HAS to have a Broadcast Dub from FUNimation this season and HAS to be a part of their Dubble Talk block once Death Parade and Tokyo Ghoul are done. That's how much I loved these first three episodes and that's how I probably will feel throughout the entire series unless it decides to mess it up for me... But I doubt it. Strong Recommendation

Tom: Many fans were looking forward to this show based on the reputation of director Rie Matsumoto, perhaps best known for 2013's masterpiece Kyousogiga. Others were looking forward to it based on the reputation of mangaka Yasuhiro Nightow, perhaps best known for Trigun. I was skeptical. I was a big fan of Trigun 15 years ago, but I don't think it's aged exceptionally well, and I worried Matsumoto was going to be held back by the material. The first episode seemed to confirm these worries, as it seemed to be a rather boilerplate action show, albeit an incredibly stylish one. Well, fast forward two weeks and I've already bought six volumes of the manga (out of the seven domestically available), and am eagerly looking forward to learning more about the characters and plotlines Matsumoto has added to the series. The series has turned out to be less about combat, and more about developing the unique characters in an occult version of New York City. It's stylish, it's fun, and one of the best directors is at the helm. I can't wait for more. Strong Recommendation

The Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-chan

Stephanie: I should probably give some attention to one thing, it's been a very long time since I have seen Haruhi Suzumiya, which was high school. I've been curious about this coming spin off series based on Yuki Nagato for good while, and I'm actually happy it's being allowed into seasonal coverage because it'll be interesting to see what comes of it. This wasn't what I was expecting, I'll say this much, and I'm not sure what to make of it. It's a drastic change from what I remember Yuki Nagato's predecessor being so don't mind me while my brain tries to sort it all out. It's not terrible as the story is much more of a romantic comedy/slice of life series. I guess my problem is, I expected it to be a little out there but got something else instead. I think I need to sit on this one for a bit and see where my thoughts go next. Solid Recommendation

Etotama

Jonathan: I love it. The humor is so punny and stupid, but it's just at the right level of stupid. It's all matched up with gorgeous CG fight scenes and  lovely character design (Snake is best eto and I will hear no dissenters), even if its about as complex as the ramblings of a grade schooler. It's just pure entertainment to me. Solid Recommendation

Food Wars! Shokugeki no Soma

Walt: I remember when the first chapter of this show came out, everyone was joking about how the artist had moved from making real porn to food porn, and that itself is not a joke; the artist of the original manga had done nothing but pornographic manga before this work. What wasn't a joke was how the artwork was the biggest selling point of the series, sadly though, the animation doesn't live up to the artwork, with everything feeling flat and lifeless. What looks the best in this show, with no surprise, is the food, whose detailed style stands out from the characters and background, and does give the cooked food an appetizing appearance. Other than that, the story is your generic "aim to be the best" shonen story, with Soma entering an elite school of chefs to improve his cooking enough to surpass his father. So far, the story takes few risks, showing off our main characters skills while using comedy that ranges from passable to fan service awful. Here's hoping as we get deeper into school life, this anime picks up a bit more. Weak Recommendation


The Heroic Legend of Arslan

Stephanie: Is it still bad that I haven't seen the entirety of Fullmetal Alchemist? cause I still seem to get a lot of flack for it. The reason I bring this up is because we have another adaptation of Hiromi Arakawa's work, even if she isn't the one who originally wrote the story. As of now, with the three episodes I got to see, I'm very intrigued by it. This is a different world that what I have seen developed as of late, similar to Yona of the Dawn, and yet much more serious in tone compared to Yona's comedic moments. Hell, if you want to further the Yona connection even more, there's Yusuke Kobayashi who previously voiced Yona's Su-won and comes into Arslan as the title character. This series is one of the strongest starts I have seen out of the season so far, and I am rather captivated by the goings on with the war and Arslan's growth in character; seeing the potential he has to go in a similar direction as Yona's character has gone thus far. Legend of Arslan is among my favorites from the spring so far, and I sincerely hope it stays that way. Strong Recommendation

Is It Wrong to Try and Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?

Jonathan: Eh, it's okay. Will probably turn to crap. There's a lot of good elements here, mainly world mechanics and Hestia, but there's a lot of bad ideas floating around, mainly thinly veiled misogyny and a growing harem plot. I doubt this will be an SAO disaster, but don't expect this one to be one of the better shows this season. Oh, and boob ribbon blah blah blah. Weak Recommendation

Mikagura School Suite

Stephanie: So this one is a little more tricky to figure out than some of the other shows I've seen so far. It has a lot of energy to burn and a main character that may fall under, I think for the first time I've ever seen, the cliched lesbian. I know... It's weird... But it's true, unless I'm completely off base here. The world is rather interesting, sure, but my main issue is how it goes a little too fast for my liking and our lead is a little bit weak. The whole club battle system is pretty nice and the powers are fun, but even then there's part where the animation for the fights is rather sloppy at point (though I shouldn't complain too much since it's just broadcast materials for now). I don't know what it is, but I'm rather put off by it. So says the girl who, for some reason, finds Ultimate Otaku Teacher more enjoyable despite the extremes of it's first episode. Meh, my mind works in mysterious ways, and it's saying that this series had one of the weakest starts among my second opinion series. Weak Recommendation, dropped at episode three

MY love STORY!!

Stephanie: Why? Why was I an idiot to pass this one up for seasonal coverage?! This is the most adorable thing I have seen come from the season! The characters are a little stereotypical, yes, but the series takes it away from the cliched romance we all know so well and decides to give the leading role to a rather unexpected character. Add in the amount of misunderstandings we have gotten in the two episodes, so far, and here we are. I've been nothing but giggly and smiling the entire time watching this show, and if it can manage something like that, then it's on the right track with me. I also really like Takeo and his character as the gentle giant. It's really endearing to see this occur and it's got me rooting for him to find a little love himself. I seriously wonder how he's going to take it when Yamoto tells him she like him and not his best friend. This is gonna be a complicated love story, that's for sure. Strong Recommendation

Ninja Slayer From Animation

Jonathan: I heard this series described as a Williams Street show. That is the most accurate statement I've heard in awhile. Ninja Slayer is drenched in a layer of irony and anti-humor, all while balancing out an actual story that Trigger could totally play straight. But they don't, interjecting cool fight scenes with Inferno Cop style animation, acting as a punch line to just how dumb the actual story is. It's Trigger at their most rebellious, and it's amazing. Don't go in expecting a masterpiece, expect the opposite, and expect it on purpose. Strong Recommendation

Tama: Japanese noise-rock darlings Boris and Melt Banana both created a track for the ED-of-the-week format that Ninja Slayer has chosen. What more could you want? But seriously, Japanese underground rock on the soundtrack aside, Ninja Slayer is good. Seriously good. If...oddly executed. From Studio Trigger, creators of , Kill La Kill, it's a lot closer to Trigger's other work, Inferno Cop, limited animation and all. Whilst this worked well with Inferno Cop's three minute episodes, by stretching the run time out to a good 12 minutes for Ninja Slayer...it honestly almost works better, with the limited animation harking back to the halcyon days of slightly dodgy 1980s ninja anime, whilst giving Trigger more time to developing the vengeance of the titular Slayer, in a slick, Akira-esque future past mere amusement at the art-style. In particular, the death of Kenji's wife and child is dealt with without a word of dialogue, and is probably a stand-out moment of the show. Otherwise, it's a moreish slice of 80s cheese, topped with vengeance, hammy arcing, ninja aplenty, and a slick soundtrack. Heck, it's as though Trigger have come back from the 1980s in a time-machine, with a bootleg VHS of this anime clenched in armor-clad fist. A blast from the past, and required watching. Strong Recommendation

Plastic Memories

Jonathan: A bit sappy and cliched, but ultimately good. The series creator is the writer of Steins;Gate, so it manages to pull off the heavy sci-fi drama of artificial life trying to understand its existence in a world that sees it as disposable. Unfortunately, comedy is far too silly to fit the premise, and characters act far too generically "anime" to really stand out (especially that obnoxious tsundere girl). It's very hit or miss when its not focused on the much more interesting and powerful main story. Solid Recommendation

PUNCH LINE

Jonathan: I'm cautiously recommending this one. There's a lot of pedigree here, and everything being set up suggests that this series is going to end up being a Medaka Box level mindfuck of deconstruction and reconstruction, but it's just too early to say yet. But I have a really good feeling, and at least it's entertaining right now. Solid Recommendation

RIN-NE

Jonathan: It's nice to see Rumiko Takahashi going back to comedy over drama. She's not good at drama, if Inuyasha taught me anything. This fantasy comedy about the dead has a lot to like (especially Rokudou and his grandmother), but it's also very much a relic lost in time. You can feel the age of the jokes, despite the original manga only being seven years old. Takahashi is a bit too set in her ways. I'm enjoying it, but you can do better this season. It's just nothing special. Weak Recommendation

Seraph of the End: Vampire Reign

Stephanie: Honestly, I wasn't fully intending on giving this series a shot. For some reason, as I was reading the summary I was getting some rather bad vibes off of it. However, I did see some clips from FUNimation before making that final decision to see it, and I figured I'll try it. After watching the first three episodes, it's not bad... I guess. The set up and the action scenes aren't bad, but my big problem is that the story is being rushed way too quickly. Originally I was going to be fine with it, since I saw that it was going to be a 12 episode series... And then I saw that a second season was already announced for the coming fall, making me a little more agitated. Not to mention Yu's character is Cliche McStereotype when it comes to the leading character in a series where he wants power cause precious people of his died. It seriously bugs me how much that's the case right now. I honestly think Mika is a better character and we've barely seen him! Granted, we'll get more info about him soon, but I am rather worried. Seraph really needs to calm itself down, take it down some notches, or something because while it gave a fairly decent impression at the start. I just kinda sense a potential train wreck waiting to happen. Weak Recommendation

Tama: Seraph is bad. Seriously bad. Most of the show seems to be running on Titan's left-over fuel and ideas, and when it has original ones, they range betweeen “headscratching” and “in danger of actually destroying the concept of the show” (seriously, a world population with no-one over 21 decide that schools are the most important thing ever, whilst vampires build an intricate labyrinthine fortress in less than four years with a workforce seemingly entirely of children?). The school parts in particular simply don't belong in the show, and seem force beyond belief. As for the characters, Yu is little more than a reskinned Eren Yaeger, Yoichi and Guren are little more than one note rehashes of Titan characters. Mikaela alone seems not only an interesting character, (design and motivations both) but one who seems to show there may be more to this show than just Attack on Vampire, if only by adding a decidedly BL spice to proceedings. The OP (spoiler aside) and ED are good, Sawano's soundtracking word is, as ever, above par, the fight scenes (when we actually have them) are decent; when this show actually does something worthwhile, it's worth watching. However, it's still very much stuck in Titan's shadow, and badly needs some (good) ideas of its own. Weak Recommendation

Sound! Euphonium

Joe: I want to be hard on this series and soft on it at the same time. It is not bad like Glasslip. It has goals, it has direction, it has some lively characters who I know are not going let this sit there and rot. The animation is not the greatest accomplishment of Kyoto Animation, but it meets their standards. I want to learn more about symphonic band as a person who loves music yet doesn't have one inch of musical talent in his body and a tin ear to boot. And yet, the show kind of needs a push.  The storylines may need something of more substance than, "I don't want to play the euphonium anymore and I'm going to hide the fact that I played it." This show is kind of nice if you have a light hobby you can do while you watch it, but watching the early episodes by themselves make time slow down by a  ridiculous amount. Weak Recommendation

Jonathan: It's a KyoAni show, so needless to say, it's the best looking thing out this season (besides the bloody masterwork that is BBB). It's also an interesting deviation for the studio, as its less cute high school girl hijinks and more exploring the awkward teen years and the crushing nature of competition. There's no wow moment so far, but I'm really enjoying myself. This is definitely one to watch, even if slice of life isn't normally your thing. There's more than enough drama to give the show some much needed depth. Also, fun engrish! Tutti tutti! Solid Recommendation

Tom: I'm not a particularly big fan of KyoAni. I respect their craft, but a lot of their series are far too sedate for my tastes. Right from the start, however, Euphonium impressed me, with its stellar direction, striking character designs, and most of all quality of the writing. Far from being the K-On! clone many suspected, the series is based on a novel clearly be someone intimately familiar with the inner workings of a high-school band. Here's a music series that's actually about playing music. It also has traces of melancholy that make it feel more like real high school than the fantasy version we're used to seeing represented in anime. Also, shout out to leader of the bass section Asuka, whose lively personality and gags really pull the show through its early moments when setting and character is being established. She's one of the best characters of the season, and a great season to watch. Strong Recommendation

Triage X

Jonathan: This is the most stupid show I've seen in years and it is awful and I love it. It's pure exploitation that takes the worst elements of dark age cape comics and 70s/80s low budget action films, spouting off such serious philosophical questions like "IS KILL GUY BAD!?!?!?" or "DO I FEELS BAD FOR KILLED!?!?" It's only major male characters are ultra-serious killers with no sex drive, and every female character has gigantic boobs and still somehow have a habit of ending up in damsel situations, despite nearly all of them having the skill to kill off entire armies alone. The villains couldn't possibly be anymore cartoonish (AN ARMY OF JUNKIES ARE YOU SERIOUS) and there is absolutely no moral ambiguity at any point, no matter what the show says otherwise. It's just a beautiful, terrible thing and I'm actually glad something this offensive and awful exists. It's entertaining trash, so if you like terrible, terrible movies, you will probably get a kick out of this vile thing. No Recommendation unless you love terrible things

Ultimate Otaku Teacher

Stephanie: I've come across one of the stranger ones from this season, and I'll admit I actually enjoy it so far. Prior to the start of the season, I decided against this show, but figured why not try it anyways so I have some sort of comedy to balance out all the action series I'm playing with this season. This is one of those where I have to turn my brain off in order to watch it, but once I do, it's a lot of fun so far. Add on to the fact that Kagami's lectures are similar to Koro-sensei's from Assassination Classroom, except Koro-sensei does them a million times better, along with the humor I've seen so far and you can understand why I find it amusing. It is slightly annoying how the story has progressed with Kagami getting fired by episode two and then recruited to a new school right away, but, again, I turned my brain off for this one and just let it go. That's what it comes down to right now. Also, can I say that, if and when FUNimation dubs this series Eric Vale better audition for Kagami because that would make everything all the more glorious!! Solid Recommendation

Wish Upon the Pleiades

Joe: Suburu's investment on this series might be smarter than you think. Yes, it's about transforming girls that has nothing to do with cars, but the main character shares her name with the car company. Do you know how many times per episode everyone uses the main character's name in anime?! That's massive subconscious advertisement right there. As for the series itself? I like it. I may question why Gainax chose to do this besides being paid to do so, but as a straight magical transforming girls show without a hint of irony (So far anyway. You can never be too careful these days), it's fine. The show can be breathtaking when they take to the skies, but everything else is just nice enough, just funny enough, and just fun enough to work. Nothing fantastic, but its only real enemy is expectations that come with Gainax's prestige. Solid Recommendation

Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches

Walt: Hey, the manga that claims to have more kissing per chapter than any other series has gotten an anime, and it's pretty damn nice. The series takes the comedic timing & pacing from the manga and polishes them up, improving an already fine story, and mixing well with the animation,. The voice actors, notably, nail the different personalities of each character, pulling off the body swapping motif of the series well. So far, Yamada-kun has had a strong start, and I look forward to seeing how it will do the rest of the season. Strong Recommendation