Seasonal Reviews: Summer 2015 Pt.1
And so the Spring has past us and we enter swimsuit weather! if only anyone here had a good swimsuit body. But hey, that's not why you're here. It's time for Summer anime coverage, and lord knows there's a lot of strange stuff to cover this season. The series with the infamous "her. fucking. nipple." scene got an anime, two monster harem manga got animated, one show had Skeletor get the titty, another is based on a bloody D&D game between the creators of Fate, Madoka Magica, and Durarara, and one show is just ninty seconds of a lady eating food and drinking booze every episode.
No telling if this is going to end up being a good or bad season, but that's where we come in. It's time to find out what's brilliant and what's absolute trash, and I'm putting my money on the light novel show set in a magical school being trash! Every one of the five seasonal staff have two drops, and one they can use right off the bat. What they don't drop, they must finish, no matter how awful their shows may be. And of course, we have second opinions where everyone on staff can chime in their two cents.
Now, let the Summer of monster girls, titty getting skeletors, jingoistic nationalist propaganda, turbonerd role playing, bisexual BDSM manga artists, capitalism criticism, totally not suspicious fun times at school, and her fucking nipple begin!
Actually, I Am
Danni Wilmoth
Kuromine Asahi has a problem: he
cannot tell a lie. Not for moral reasons, mind you. He physically cannot
tell a lie. No matter how hard he tries he can't help but make his true
feelings obvious to everyone around him, leading to him being known as a
"leaky basket." At the urging of his friends, he decides to confess to
the love of his life, Shiragami Yoko. Upon finding her, however, he
makes a startling discovery. Shiragami's dignified, quiet demeanor is
really a front she uses to hide the fact she's actually a vampire. After
having her true nature realized, she confesses that her father will
force her to change schools to keep her identity safe. Saddened by the
thought, Asahi vows to take her secret to the grave and become
Shiragami's first friend.
Aoharu x Machinegun
David O'Neil
Remember Ouran High School Host Club? It was a great little
comedy anime about a teenage girl frequently mistaken for a boy, who due
to a misunderstanding ends up owing a handsome blonde boy working in
the school's Host Club a lot of money, and must stay disguised as a boy
working as a host to repay her debt. On an related note, Aoharu x Machinegun
is a new Brain's Base anime about a teenage girl frequently mistaken
for a boy, who due to a misunderstanding ends up owing a handsome blonde
boy working in a Host Club a lot of money, and must to stay disguised
as a boy fighting on that boy's survival games (competitive airsoft gun
battles) team to repay her debt.
Borderline plagiarism aside, I actually had a good time with the first few episodes of Aoharu x Machinegun. Even though I'd seen similar routines done before, it played out in some interesting and unique ways, and the show does have a sort of maniacal, irreverent tone to it that at the least makes it stand out in comparison to even it's most damningly similar counterpart (Ouran). Although Hotaru makes for an often adorable protagonist, the character by far stealing the show as of now is easily Tohru, the shy, introverted, perverted, and just a bit insane ero-doujin author who's about as unpredictable as he is hilarious. I was worried early on when he came off as a bit too hostile, but once he warms up to the protagonist his true nature shines through as a great character who creates many of the show's most memorable jokes. As of now Masamune, the blonde Host who "recruited" Hotaru, is the real weak link. He just comes off as bland, without much too him other than liking guns and generally being a pretty nice dude. Hopefully he's expanded on in future episodes, but for right now I don't care much for him.
Visually Aoharu x Machinegun is just pretty average overall. Aside from a very well animated opening, it's one of the less impressive looking recent Brain's Base anime. The art style leaves much to be desired, there's limited character acting animation, and the action never really goes above and beyond making it's gunfights dynamic or especially well animated. It gets the job done well enough, but that's about all. Overall though I still find the show enjoyable. The visuals are mixed and Ouran fans may feel a quick wave of deja vu, but past that there are some good characters and funny gags to make it worth a watch.
Solid Recommendation
Aquarion Logos
Joe Straatmann
It's probably not surprising anyone that Aquarion Logos is
pretty dumb. The franchise itself lives on the border of ridiculous and
cheesy. We have multiple ships that can meld into one fighting machine
while the both pilots go into orgasm (Though that's toned down here).
It's hard to up your prestige after that. The main question is how much
of it is your kind of stupid, and I can say it's most definitely not
mine. The initial series had some moments like an attack that
potentially took place over Alabama, though it turns out to be Memphis
(Imagine how golden Japan's view of Alabama would be?). Mostly, I got
tired of the main duo who are supposed to be reincarnated lovers
bickering like a divorced couple fighting over a coffee table.
Similarly, I'm not digging Logos' main pairing for separate reasons, and it's dragging my enjoyment down severely.
In a weird change-up, the first episode is actually two separate stories, the first being an extra helping of Aquarion EVOL involving kinda' sorta' bringing back a dead character through alternate dimensions. It felt like a test pattern with re-used Yoko Kanno music from the first series because I didn't even bother too look at EVOL for one potentially stupid reason: The name Zessica. You can't survive anime without having a certain stomach for bad names, but adding Zs to standard names is one way to make me uncharacteristically angry. Regardless of whether that's enough reason to pass by a show or not, there it is. Let's move on to Logos, shall we?
Keep in mind I am not lying about anything I am about to tell you involving the plot. The villainous Sougon runs a huge social network, but has made it his life's work to destroy words because words have apparently corrupted and separated mankind and the only way to reunite people as one mind is to decimate vocabulary. He dives into the realm where words exist and he injects certain words with purple stuff that causes them to go crazy, and makes everything involving that word go crazy. For example, the corruption of the word "twist" causes twisters, ties to strangle their owners, and soft-serve ice cream to... not twist. The team standing in his way is a cafe of theatre performers called Shirobaco (I see what you did there) where the employees are secretly vector pilots who go by the name Verbalism Club who can fight in the dimension of words. They use their ability of re-arranging Japanese letters and terms at their disposal to create attacks to defeat the corrupted words that have evolved into the monster of the week that mostly waggle around and say their word over and over.
Yup. That went through a committee. That got funding. I would almost put the experience as joyfully stupid if the main character wasn't one of the laziest constructs in a big series I've seen in awhile. Akira appears out of nowhere to help Shirobaco staff member Kokone after her purse is stolen. He stops the crime by turning off the thief's motorcycle while he attempts to drive off. This doesn't break his arm because he's the savior. He's the savior because he says he is. Because he's the savior, he can follow Kokone back to Shirobaco and discover their secret facilities, and in the midst of a crisis, knows how to pilot these specific vectors and save the day. As a special bonus, he joins up with the vector the villain uses to protect the corrupted word to become an Aquarion making its pilot Maia his immediate love interest with no chemistry or history because together, they turn their bodies into a heart when they unleash their attacks (By the way, in this universe, isn't docking vectors with someone you don't know akin to sexual assault?). He knows exactly what to do and exactly what to say at all times. Because. We're not even getting into Maia who is Sougon's flawed protege, locked in an isolated facility with nothing but Sougon's indoctrination. He must've been really crappy at it (Maybe using those flawed, evil WORDS to instruct her were his failing. Try interpretive dance next time), because when she tries to steal a vector and escape from Shirobaco, she is stopped and enraptured by the hard work and pure spirit of the cleaning crew in the hangar. There is only so much bad writing I can take before drawing the line.
As the other aspects of the series go, it looks decent enough. I appreciate character designs like Maia's that are unique without trying too hard. The opening theme by Yoko Kanno and her vocal sidekick from Macross Frontier May'n kicks everything into high gear, though it may make you wish you were watching another transforming futuristic vehicle show. It has a nice unified style and vision. The writing is simply too much and the franchise's habit of making characters fated lovers even before they have a decent conversation annoys me. Can they at least LIKE each other first?! I can't hate this thing because it's too goofy to hate, but I can't even recommend it as entertaining trash as it so revels in its trashiness that it starts to stink after awhile.
No Recommendation
Bikini Warriors
David O'Neil
Well here you are. Reading a review for a show called Bikini Warriors.
I'm not sure why you would, honestly. If there's one positive thing I
can say about this show, it's that it's at the least upfront about what
it is: A show about warriors in bikinis. Believe it or not though,
there's actually a second positive thing I can say about Bikini Warriors,
the other being that it's mercifully short at a mere four minutes an
episode. Perhaps you considered this was some sort of ruse, such as last
season's Punchline, a carefully constructed fanservice-driven
front to hide a more serious narrative beneath. It is not. Maybe you had
a glimmer of hope that it could overcome its premise and deliver
compelling characters and an interesting world. It does not. Maybe
you're just here for the boobs and butts, but if that's the case you
really didn't need to read this did you? If you weren't sure, I can
assure you there are indeed plenty of bouncy breasts, curvaceous
buttocks, and unashamed attention purely dedicated to the male gaze. At
times you may even forget the characters have faces, as the camera
continuously pans around every other part of their bodies, meticulously
animating even the slightest jiggle in a pair of bosoms and nothing
else. The comedic gags primarily function as excuses to have the girls
tied up, ogled, embarrassed, or stripped. It was bland, uninspired trash
simply existing for the purpose of showing off fictionalized female
bodies, from beginning to end. But chances are you knew all this, which
leads us to only one conclusion. You're here to watch me, some poor sap
who had no choice but to watch three entire episodes, a whopping twelve
minutes of garbage PG-13 rated pornography trying to sell itself as
"animation", lament and complain about what an expectedly terrible
experience it was. Why go through the effort of reading something so
futile and predictable? It's almost as silly as someone going through
the effort of writing it. Yet here I am, and here you are.
No Recommendation
Castle Town Dandelion
Stephanie Getchell
Large ensemble casts can sometimes be hard to manage. I should know,
since being a stage manager I have had to keep track of a lot of people
during larger productions. In terms of anime, it can also be rather
difficult because you need to be able to give balance between all
parties and show how each one is equal to the next. This is something
that Baccano and Blood Blockade Battlefront have manage to achieve. But those are more actions series than anything. What about a comedy anime?
Akane is just one of nine children growing up at home with her family, and trying to live a normal life. Except it isn't quite easy when your father is the king of the country. Let's not also forget that the children are under constant surveillance thanks to over two thousand cameras placed all throughout the city. The reason for this? King Soichiro is trying to find an heir to his throne, and figures the only way how is to let the populace vote in a year. While some of the siblings are gunning for the crown, others, like Akane, just aren't all that interested. Though Akane just wants all the cameras to go away so she can stop having a massive case of anxiety.
As mentioned before, this is a comedy anime with a larger ensemble cast. This can prove both fun and challenging at the same time, yet, so far, it's been doing rather well! Time is taken to give different siblings a chance in the spotlight, even though Akane is the main character. We've seen a classmate profess their love to Shuu in one episode, while Hikari is seen a few times coming up with ways to gain votes. Each moment is even more fun and charming than the next, and it really has me on my toes a good amount of the time. While some of the characters end up falling under different archetypes, and some classics troupes can be found, it doesn't take away from the series either. It does something rather different with the family dynamic by making the family royalty and having the cameras in their faces all the time while they are vying for the throne. It's a rather nice touch and combining that with the personalities and relationships the family members have with each other makes Castle Town much more amusing and fun! I'm honestly glad I decided to ask for this series. Honestly, I was hesitant on this one before starting, but, after these first three episodes, this may be the surprise series for me this season! But there is always a chance that it could bomb later. I shouldn't get my hopes up, but I'm going to keep being optimistic!
Strong Recommendation
Chaos Dragon: Sekiryuu Sen'eki
Joe Straatmann
Anime based on tabletop roleplaying campaigns are kind of like
vacation slide shows for me. I'm sure the people who went through these
things had a marvelous time, but turning them into entertainment
requires a certain amount of adjustment to grab my attention. Chaos Dragon is
the adaptation of light novels which were culled from an extensive week
of RPG sessions between five reasonably prominent writers including Gen
Urobochi (Madoka), Kinoko Nasu (Garden of Sinners light novels), and Ryogo Narita (Baccano! light
novels). For all the talent involved, the result is rather flat save
the main concept and falls into the traps many writers have when they
lift their adventures from their own RPG time: The characters lack a bit
of flavor since we don't have the creator's subjective attachment to
their avatar and the worldbuilding gets too into itself as essential
information that must be given no matter how dry or out of place the
presentation is.
The island nation of Nil Kamui is in shambles. The ancient country Kouran (So ancient, it's claimed they're the origins of this world's civilization) decided to make Nil Kamui its next prize. Nil Kamui's allied neighbors D'natia pretty much protected their own property and left their pals hung out to dry. As a result, Nil Kamui was pretty much forced to sign a treaty of full surrender and its royal palace and all of its family are burned save our main character Ibuki, who is sent off to orphanage. To properly showcase how this series shoehorns expository information, dinner is being prepared at the orphanage and on one of the prep tables for no reason is a map of the country to zoom into and expound upon. The first episode is a whole lot of that.
Ibuki is just fine living in the orphanage, but the country's revolutionary army has bigger plans for the last of the nation's noble blood. They dress him in royal garb as he goes to market which just happens to be where Kouran troops are passing through as well as D'natia knight Sweallow (Along with his assistant Meryl Sherbet, establishing D'natia as the nation of bad Engrish). This creates an inciting incident where eventually (Because there's only so much plot description one can read before going to the next review), Ibuki is forced to go to extremes to solve the situation, invoking his psychic (?) connection to the nation's Red Dragon, which all the royal family has. Now the Red Dragon has gone crazy in the royal family's absence and begun killing people at random, but it chooses to consciously give Ibuki amazing powers at a cost. For every person Ibuki needs to kill, he must kill one of his friends in exchange. The end of each episode is a lineup of the main characters with the dead ones X'ed out, making one wonder who's next.
This is the one redeeming quality of a not especially good series. The Internet has already torn the first episode's CG a new one, but for the sake of having a more complete review, yes, the animation is not good at all. Silver Link's attempts to gussy it up with a CG crane shot to start backfires as it stutters and buckles under its ambition, giving a particularly bad first impression. The world is absolutely plain fantasy trappings with the usual mix of cultures and times as to not make it completely generic (Guns exist, which like in most RPGs, are never as useful as they should be). The only thing ornate is the character designs, which don't particularly add anything except aesthetic. Search me if I can remember anything about the music.
Since this a writers' RPG campaign, the characters themselves are a bit better, though they certainly lack some core elements. They each have unique skills, such as Sweallow's ability to use weapons at full power once before they fall apart. The party getting developed is an expedition crew made of members of each aspect of the country, including Ibuki, Sweallow, and Kouran assassin Lou Chenfa. Ibuki is the standard angsty youth who has to do things against his will for the greater good and Sweallow is a thick-headed warrior whose ignorance is mainly used as a way to parlay information. The most interesting one is Lou, or she would be if she were anywhere near the character who lives in the gray areas. It would be nice to have someone who works for the villainous country who isn't completely evil, but yeah, Lou is nothing but bad intentions and her dialogue to her talking weapon along with her and sinister sidemouth completely betray her intentions. All these characters have their charms, but they lack extra dimensions probably held by the creators during the roleplaying itself.
I caught up to the history of the series late so I didn't have the massive expectations many did. It's not like it's terrible, but merely unimpressive. Silver Link doesn't have the budget to make this properly epic, but I can give a poor man a break if the series is interesting enough. The element of Ibuki sacrificing friends to get past his obstacles is a nice touch and keeps an element of tension over what happens next throughout the story. If the characters can break out, it will be a much better series, and Lord Ka Grava introduced in the latest episodes has potential. Right now, though, it's merely watchable.
Weak Recommendation
Charlotte
Stephanie Getchell
I'll admit, I adore P.A. Works. They manage to produce some really good series when they want to, with Red Data Girl and Nagi-Asu some of the ones I liked in recent memory. However, there are some that aren't that well done such as Glasslip,
which I had dropped after only three episodes. Though I also heard it
doesn't get any better so.... Yeah. As you can probably guess, based on
what I read of the summary, I was very interested in seeing Charlotte. Is it possible that it will be good? Who knows? But from the two episodes I got to watch thus far, it's a good start.
Yu, a first year in high school, has the ability to posses the bodies of others for five seconds at a time. As you expect, he takes full advantage of this and manages to cheat his way into a prestigious high school. However, he is quickly found out by Nao, the student council president of a completely different school and forces Yu to not only transfer, but to join the student council. When Yu and his younger sister make the transfer, he quickly realizes that this isn't an ordinary school. This high school is full of individuals with special abilities or who may gain abilities while in their adolescence. What, then, does that make the student council? Their job is to investigate and track down other teens with supernatural abilities and have them either transfer to the school or make them stop using them altogether in order to protect them from the government and scientists who wish to hatch experiments on them. Still doesn't make things any less easy for Yu being thrown into the student council with a, partially, invisible girl and a, partially, able teleporter.
This series, from what I've seen thus far, is a mix of both drama and comedy with most of the comedy coming from the characters, their personalities, and their abilities. I mean, let's be honest here, was I the only one who thought of Light Yagami from Death Note the instant I saw Yu and what he pulled off in the first episode? Please tell me I am not the only one here. But, on the flip side, the story and the circumstances of this world manage to bring out the dramatic side of the series, especially when Yu meets and learns about Nao's older brother during the second episode. For all the fun and light hearted moments the series has, you suddenly realize that it's not all fun and games and there are serious consequences for these teens and not a lot of help that can be given to them unless they are found before the government does. There is a fairly clear sense in that regard, and I like how this has been taken care of rather early on in the series. Although, the next possible step to really solidify it, is to see the end result if the student council were to fail at their mission. Charlotte is off to a great start! I am very much glad I somehow managed to be given this series. Thank you for having so few episodes and long waiting periods, Venus Climax!
Solid Recommendation
Classroom Crisis
Jonathan Kaharl
I had absolutely no idea what to expect from this show. It has pedigree behind it, but its premise smelled of capitalist propaganda. A bright future where humanity is colonizing in space as a bunch of genius kids are taught by a powerful company that controls most industry to date? That's some red flag stuff, but Classroom Crisis thankfully goes in a completely different direction. The first episode sells that premise, until the class group A-TEC find out that a new student was captured during an uprising among some miners on a dying site. They go in with their expensive prototype ship and engine to deliver money to the kidnappers, only to find said student has already used incredible business sense to completely turn around the situation. Worse yet, that student is also now their boss. He's Nagisa Kiryu, and he's been assigned to downsize A-TEC. What the show is actually about is a group of dreams and eccentric talents trying to make reality their dreams in a suffocating business world, while their main enemy turns out to be yet another victim of that cruel reality and has to somehow destroy A-TEC for his own sake, and possibly his very life.
Classroom Crisis is less "CAPITALISM IS EVIL" and more "CAPITALISM IS FLAWED." it's exploring the fundamental problems with the system and businesses that think with a capitalist mindset, along with how stifling it can be for creatives trying to work within the system. At the same time, it's also showing how failure to work with the system on the creative side is an equally large problem, caused by people ignoring the reality of their situation and causing headaches and problems for everyone else. The show walks a really narrow line between tackling the philosophies of good for all and good for some, showing that there's a bit of both mixed in from both the larger business and A-TEC's own desires. People are driven by selfish desires, even if there's some selfless goals mixed in, and vice verse. This show gets that and is really interested in showing how this causes problems, especially when dealing with people who are completely unrealistic, or far too realistic.
Kaito, the teacher, and Nagisa, the chief, are basically both sides of the same coin. They've grown up in a capitalist system and are frustrated with it for different reasons, and that frustration and their values put them at complete odds. Kaito has the drive to do great things and a talent few others have, including bringing out the best in his students. However, he's a complete failure as a responsible adult and has no idea how the system he's in even functions. Nagisa's skills come with manipulating that system, but even he has limits and is completely closed off from others. He can make a win-win situation nearly every time, but he doesn't truly care about those around him because the risks he constantly goes through to beat the system literally put his life on the line. His family have been trying to off him for awhile, and A-TEC has become his last battle ground, and he's now taking the futures and hopes of the students of the program and destroying them for his own rise to power and right to live. He probably does feel guilt, but he swallows it so he can do evils he sees as necessary and his only way out. The old chief of the division also seems to think that the two clashing is necessary to save Nagisa, and I can see where he's coming from.
Each of these characters have points to their ideals, but each is also heavily flawed and frustrates everyone around them. That's really difficult to pull off, but the show does it almost effortlessly. The script is fantastic, and it avoids a lot of needless exposition and keeps everything easy to understand through a lot of slapstick and comedy. The animation is stellar, as is the set design, and there's a surprising amount of depth to the main cast. It's an examination of how youth and the aged live and try to make sense of a confusing contraction of a system based around teamwork and competition, and it's brilliant so far. This series is going to be the one to watch, because right now, I'm not sure anyone will top it once it reaches the big finish. Nothing else this season is as thoughtful or interesting as Classroom Crisis so far, and I doubt that will change.
Strong Recommendation
Danchigai
Stephanie Getchell
There are many curious happenings in the world, and one of them is
how did I manage to be assigned two shorts for the season? I honestly
don't know what's going on, but random.org just seems to dislike me or
something. Anywho, Danchigai seems to be a rather simple slice of
life series about the daily lives of five brothers and sisters. The
first two episodes manage to set up the family dynamic as well as give
the spotlight, just a little bit, to the twins Uzuki and Satsuki.
Unlike my coverage for Rainy Cocoa last season, Danchigai is much more episodic in story as well as slightly longer at a total of three minutes thirty seconds compared to Cocoa's two minute episode run time. Because there isn't a constant storyline, it makes each episode fresh and different with the viewer not having to worry about a quick cliff hanger in story by the end of the short run time. The characters aren't extremely complex either as they each have fallen under some kind of archetype as of now with Yayoi's tsundere qualities as the most prominent. The downside, as of now, is the lack of depth that I could really expand upon. Because Danchigai is your basic slice of life series, it doesn't make writing about it all that easy. However, unlike the other short I'm covering this season, it's a little bit of fun and a breath of fresh air in a rather cluttered summer season. Danchigai is getting some more time for me, but it may get dropped next. I'd rather it not, but we'll see what happens.
Solid Recommendation
GANGSTA.
Jonathan Kaharl
I've seen people pretty divided on this one, and I get it. GANGSTA is beautifully directed, surprisingly classy (despite the subject matter), well produced, and very engaging. At the same time, it is a tad generic from the three episodes I've seen. The series follows two handymen in a crime riddled city that do odd jobs for the police and various syndicates, usually whenever someone needs to be "removed" by a neutral party, or when someone particularly strong is raising trouble. One is Worick, a gigolo with a bad eye hidden behind an eyepatch and a bad habit of shooting his targets in the back of the head. The other is Nic, a deaf ex-mercenary with incredible sight and incredible skill with a katana. He's also a "tag," a special type of person in the city that effectively marks him as one of the most powerful people there in terms of killing ability. The two save a prostitute from both the police and a few syndicates by killing off her boss, and they have her become their secretary. This is Ally, who's basically are true main character, a woman who's still new to the horrors this city hides, and one who may not be able to take it as she sees more and more. She may not even trust Worick and Nic ...which, honestly, is a pretty wise thing.
GANGSTA is a crime drama, and a damn good one at that. It establishes how badass Worick and Nic are early on (along with how damn hot they are, this was so made by a woman), and also establishes just how terrifying they are through the eyes of an innocent in all this chaos and horror. The third episode is particularly strong, showing how easily the charade of civility can be dropped in this world of carnivores and prey. It's also damn nice to look at, with good animation, beautiful use of light and shadow, and fantastic flow in action scenes due to great direction. On a technical level, this may be the most constantly well put together series this season (except for maybe GATE and Classroom Crisis).
The problem is that I can't help but feel that I've seen this show before. I'm getting that vibe a lot this season, with so many shows having almost identical premises to far better ones, but GANGSTA comes out better than those because I think this may be the best version of this sort of show I've seen from an anime. I hated the direction of action in Black Lagoon, and that's the one wildly regarded as the masterwork of crime dramas (the manga is genuinely amazing, mind you). It does very little wrong, but it also doesn't do much new. Some elements, like the tags, feel like unnecessary additions to help the series cement itself more with fanbases or genre conventions (in this case, shonen action), while unorthodox character traits are mostly just window dressing. Nic being deaf isn't nearly as interesting as it sounds. Granted, having a deaf major character is cool, just not as cool as I think it could be. GANGSTA just doesn't gel with me as much as I want it to, but but I'm still very impressed by it. If you want something a bit darker than your normal action show, this is definitely the best series you can see from this year.
Strong Recommendation
GATE
Jonathan Kaharl
GATE is the single most evil anime I have ever seen.
Yes, I am describing it as evil.
I can forgive bad ecchi works, they're made out of unrestrained id. I can also calm down a little when I think of that objectivist garbage Mahouka. That's more born from general ignorance and is far too blunt and up its own ass to really influence many people. But GATE? This is propaganda. There is no way around it. What Mahouka was to objectivism, GATE is to military imperialism, just far better at making people believe it has a good point to be made by not lecturing the audience.
GATE has the promise for a good series. A fantasy army floods out of a mysterious gate into a major Japanese city, causing untold chaos and death, leading to Japan warring in a fantasy land as our main cast explore the countryside and take in the culture in a recon mission. Basically, Outbreak Company with violence commentary. That could be great. The problem is that the politics of this fucking series are absolutely awful in every imaginable way.
The characters in the Japanese self-defense force solve almost every problem by shooting or killing it. They shoot the shit out of a massive fantasy army to the point where I wanted to root the bad guys of the show, because they were clearly the underdogs. They shoot a horse that went wild on the road, which causes a wizard's apprentice to become enraptured with them because they saved her life. Instead of showing the enemy mercy, the main character rips out a guy's throat in front of children and civilians when he could have easily just incapacitated him. Keep in kind that all of this is treated as heroic or something to be celebrated.
The show is asking you to applaud as a massively better armed force utterly destroys natives of a land they're invading, then helps out other natives by shooting to make the bad things of their "savage" land go away, and are then treated as heroes for it. This show once you to applaud as our perverted otaku hero slits the throat of an enemy soldier in front of civilians, which is meant to define him as a badass hero that the world needs.
This show is asking you applaud to war crimes, murder, and slaughter. It treats violence as good because the good guys are committing it, and because their country or side is somehow more right. Sure, the fantasy people attacked first, but that just leads to even MORE problems. They aren't treated as characters, but as hapless lemmings the self-defense force have to save, or corrupt politicians that feel like they came out of a bad political satire comic. Basically, it's okay to invade and claim the land as yours because they started it and they're mean poop heads with no redeemable qualities at all. For god's sake, Britannia in Code Geass was treated as a more complex nation than the fantasy empire, and that was a nation run entirely by racists and social darwinists. Even real world governments get dragged into this, as the US' only appearance in these three episodes shows them as evil, greedy monsters that want to get all the unspecified resources in the other land because the US wanted oil badly in the middle east so now this is all they are for the sake of making Japan look completely flawless and perfect (mind their own massacres in the past).
GATE is nationalist dreck that makes Call of Duty look even handed. It's all about glorifying Japan's military might, and it does it in ways that show why that's such a dangerous thing. The heroes are defined mainly by violence over their ability to use their power properly for the greater good. Sure, they help people, but even then, it's not in a heroic way. They usually kill the enemy or a given hostile, or make token gestures to give first aid or help refugees evacuate. How they're portrayed here in this context is that they're the oh so perfect and benevolent saviors that the uncivilized fantasy world needs to have peace at last, and they're the only good people in two bloody worlds populated entirely by people who wouldn't be out of place in a Saturday morning cartoon.
It's not about heroic ideals. It's not about helping people. It's not about using violence in a necessary manor, respecting the plight of the soldier, discussing the true horror of war or protecting and helping those that need it. No. GATE is about glorifying the actions of a country and those who act in its name. It's about how easily violence is justified and even something to be commended because your guys did it to the enemy. It's about how the third world needs more advanced nations to take over their way of life and make it better through force. It's evil. It's vile. It makes my skin crawl.
When a series has waifu bullshit at work, and that's nowhere near top or the middle of my list of complaints, that should tell you how bad it is. Do not ever watch GATE, even for hate watching. Let this nationalist vomit drain into the gutter.
No Recommendation, dropped at episode three
God Eater
Joe Straatmann
The obvious parallel to this series is Attack on Titan, but I
found its influences to be more akin to the impossible love child
between directors Tony Scott and Zack Snyder. Acid cuts during
transitions, copious amounts of slow motion any time things start to get
serious, and filtered flashbacks that smash into a half-second of
screen time are all hallmarks of the two directors, but while Tony
Scott-as insane as he could get-did things for a purpose (Yes, even all
of the abominable Domino), this is merely a layer of paint over a
completely standard game adaptation which strangely reminds me of
Scott's pre-crazy filmography, mainly Top Gun.
The world of 2071 has been essentially taken over by monsters known as the Aragami. Mankind's last hope is Fenrir, an organization that creates God Arcs, weapons made from cells of the Aragami. Warriors infused with Aragami cells are also called to use them, and there are more adaptable people called new-types who have the potential to turn the tide. Our new-type hero is fresh recruit Lenka, and he's a loose cannon who doesn't play by the rules. Like a more somber Maverick in Top Gun, he even gets a senior officer who yells at him for his ego writing checks his body can't cash, though it's Tsubaki, a woman with gigantic boobs who either wears practical back bracing or an impractical corset, instead of Mr. Strickland from Back to the Future. After a day or two of training, the Aragami attack Fenrir's base, Lenka runs out against orders, and gets his ass handed to him almost immediately. Oh, sure, he eventually does get to show off his "he was born special" gift to save someone, but it also costs a member of the 1st squad, the most elite God Eaters in Fenrir. This happens to open up a slot for Lenka, and despite blatant insubordination, he gets into Top Gun... er, 1st squad at the recommendation of squad leader Lindow Amamiya (Who has a lit cigarette in his mouth no matter what) because he likes the kid's guts. At least Lenka has to spend some time in the brig for insubordination and he has to live with getting someone killed, so it's not like his recklessness has no penalty.
Obviously, this is a series loaf of inspirations thrown together to make something else. Even the flashbacks that explain the Aragami developing from a scientific breakthrough are cribbed from the Will Smith iteration of I Am Legend. Like the game it's based on, derivative doesn't automatically mean bad. Outside of the small visual flairs, the animation pulls the trick of having the character coloring like the visual novel parts of a video game in motion. It weirdly works, showing its gaming origins without kowtowing to it. Even if everything is derivative, I was never particularly bored even if I was waiting for developments that were sensed from the outset. Everything else seems nominal.
Forgive my brevity on this series. The premier was delayed, leaving this with only two episodes out so far. Outside the fairly clichéd introduction to the people and setting, there's not a whole lot to discuss. Maaya Sakamoto's character Alisa seems like she's about to unleash some awesome upon the world in an air battle, so it promises some excitement to come. We'll just have to wait and see if it's an empty promise.
Weak Recommendation
Himouto! Umaru-chan
Danni Wilmoth
It's very likely you recognized the fact that this show's title is a
play on the word 'imouto' and thought "Oh, God. Another incest show. I
can't take it. There was Imocho, Kiss x Sis, and who could forget Oreimo?!
Keep this show the hell away from me." This is not an uncommon thought.
In fact it's the exact thought I had upon first seeing this show in the
summer anime chart. Never fear, however, for this show is essentially
the anti-'imouto.'
Umaru Doma is nothing short of the perfect student. She's beautiful, graceful, intelligent, athletic, and popular. She is admired by all except her older brother, who has become well-acquainted with the REAL Umaru. As soon as she steps through the door, Umaru transforms into an otaku who does nothing but whine, game, and pester her older brother. Due to the fact she dons a hamster hood and turns chibi-like at home, her brother has nicknamed her the "Himouto."
Himouto! Umaru-chan is the latest anime from Masahiko Oota, who you might recognize as the director of the widely-beloved comedy Yuru Yuri, and it shows rather well. While the lesbian humor Yuru Yuri is famous for is absent from Himouto, the director carried over the shows hilarious visuals, slapstick humor, and episodes filled with short skits as opposed to consistent plots. The end result is what's most likely the zaniest anime of this season. Umaru is an absolute nightmare who never ceases to annoy and manipulate her innocent onii-chan. She's whiny, messy, lazy, and prone to tantrums. Through all of this she somehow manages to remain be lovable and endearing to watch. I have to admit that's not exactly a universal opinion, though. I've seen many people drop the show and dismiss it because they find Umaru so god damn annoying. I can understand this. One's enjoyment of Himouto is largely dependent on how much they like watching horrible people be horrible people (On a related note, It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia is one of my favorite comedies).
Umaru's tantrums, however funny they may be, would obviously get old quickly. Thankfully, Himouto features a lot of visual and slapstick comedy that complement each other well. Animation is somewhat limited, but the animators at Doga Kobo make up for this by using lots of visual smears that sort of remind me of those found in Looney Tunes. Shortcuts like that not only provide wonderful screenshot-fodder, but also freed up their time to focus on making each frame look as sharp and vibrant as it does. My biggest concern heading into this season is whether or not Himouto can remain interesting as a full 24-minute show that only uses short gags. We're slowly being introduced to the lives and characters of Umaru's school friends, so it's likely that watching all the characters play off each other more and more will keep it interesting, as opposed to a full season of Umaru annoying her onii-chan. So far, though, I'd have to say Himouto is one of my season favorites.
Strong Recommendation
Million Doll
Stephanie Getchell
The second of the two shorts I've been tasked to cover this season, Million Doll has
a few different stories tossed in. First is the story of local idol
group Itroio, working their way to a major debut. Second, is a hekkimori
who supports idols from the sidelines and is a well known blogger. And
lastly, the glasses wearing idol fan Ryuu who seems to bounce from one
idol to another and is currently on the idol Mariko. The first episode
was a bit deceiving when I saw it was an eight minute run time, however
the second episode cut that in half so I'm going to chalk it up to first
episode establishing.
While the series has an ok start, I do have to say it's not the brightest crayon in the box. In fact it has really really terrible CGI.... Wanna know how bad? The soldiers in Arslan are actually tolerable compared to the CGI in Million Doll. Yeah... That says a lot. Even the 2D is rather sloppy at points. It's bad because there are plenty of other shorts that actually tried to look nice, but this one doesn't really do that. My other main problem is the story itself as it's actually rather dull to me. I tried to enjoy it, however it was really hard for me to get into and it became boring not even a minute into the second episode. While parts of it were interesting, mostly the possible war between the blogger girl and Ryuu, the rest just kind of fell flat to me. It's difficult to really watch shorts and decide what you like and where the show is even going. It's easy to see what Million Doll plans to do, however it's harder to really find things for me to like about it. I've decided to spend my first drop of the season on Million Doll because of this. At least the three actual series I have and even Danchigai are fun and interesting to me in some way. Million Doll, not so much.
Weak Recommendation, dropped at episode two
Monster Musume: Everyday Life With Monster Girls
Jonathan Kaharl
Oh Monster Musume, I was destined to review you, wasn't I? Something I never got to say about the manga that needs to be said is that I kind of hate myself for liking this series, and I'm sure I'm not alone in that feeling. There is so much gross and wrong with Monster Musume, but damn if it doesn't succeed in entertaining its audience. The anime has a lot to live up to, and honestly, it doesn't quite have the same balance, going more for gross most the time over funny. But it's getting there, and there is promise here, especially because it appears that the studio behind this one actually gave a shit.
For those new to one of the biggest manga sensations in years (really), the series takes place in a near future where humankind and monsterkind have started a cultural exchange program, with monster people living with host families of humans to learn more about human society and help transition the various races to co-existence as a larger society. Our main character, Kimihito Kurusu (or as he's more commonly called, "Darling" or "Master"), ended up being a host family by complete accident gaining one more house guest in the form of a lamia named Miia. Her handler, Miss Smith, picked the wrong house by accident and never corrected the mistake because Miss Smith does not give any fucks. It's not long before things become more complicated as Smith dumps more monster girls on Darling, including a birdbrain harpie with no common sense or even the most basic intelligence named Papi, and a big breasted centaur knight (basically Saber as a horse with huge boobs) named Cerea. Cue Darling getting hit and scratched by accident constantly as his monster maidens keep trying to jump his bones or prevent others from jumping his bones. Or sometimes just because they're clumsy.
This should be terrible, but Monster Musume really sells its premise by giving every character personalities informed by their species and by mixing in a ton of legitimately funny slapstick and verbal gags. Even the gross sex stuff manages to sometimes work by mixing itself with a joke, or by subverting expectations (as we'll see with Suu soon). The anime doesn't quite have the same balance, though. When it does gross stuff, it lingers too long and just makes things uncomfortable, though only some of the time. Papi bathing in a public fountain (she thinks it's a bird bath, get it?) works, Cerea having her boobs grabbed during a chase scene and Miia's early morning antics are much more questionable in how they're framed. I think because Papi has no idea what sex even is makes dirty jokes with her work, because Darling isn't ever trying anything, he just gets caught up in the crazy and things keep happening. Cerea and Miia do get it, which frames their scenes in a much creepier light when they try jokes with them (though Miia getting a literal cold shower is pretty clever).
The show can only get better from here, as the staff is showing they get the source material. They're being faithful and not cutting any really good jokes. The only change that I don't think works is Yu Kobayashi as Smith. Everyone else is well casted (especially Miia), but the most arguably talented person here seems like she's phoning it in or being directed poorly. Smith being so laid back or seductive feels off right now, but some of her crazier, devil may care attitude is already starting to leak out at points, so maybe she can make this work. She's fantastic as Angelica in Classroom Crisis, so let's see what happens once Mon appears.
At the end of the day, I can only describe this series with one famous quote from a particularly wise man.
*ahem*
"theres actually zero difference between good & bad things. you imbecile. you fucking moron."
Solid Recommendation
My Wife is the Student Council President
Joe Straatmann
So apparently, I had to adjust my mature content filter just to be
able to watch this on Crunchyroll because it was listed as 18+, like it
was porn or something. Oh, My Wife... WISHES it was porn. Then it
would serve some kind of purpose rather than slowly bringing you to the
end of your life with nothing to show for it one 8-minute short at a
time. Not so much brazen with the sin of lust as it is sloth, it lacks
on almost all accounts except for the moments where it's about to show
you things that normally get edited out and then stops, so it's actually
more annoying than the shows that are completely honest with how much
they can't show unless you buy the Blu-rays. At least those light flares
and fog are hiding something actually going on.
This very shallow story involves Hayato Izumi, a student who lost in a landslide to classmate Ui Wakana in the student council president election. Despite her charisma (Which is mostly portrayed as people talking about how much she draws people to her), her main platform is students being able to express their love freely, as shown by an all-student assembly where she throws condoms into the crowd. This isn't properly set up and isn't really consistent with what little of the character there is, so the entire joke is condoms=funny! Everyone who hates Shimoneta, watch a couple episodes of this and then apologize to the decent series. Anyhoo, one night Hayato comes home and finds Ui waiting for him, and apparently, both their parents who are conveniently overseas arranged a marriage between them, making Ui his semi-official waifu. This greatly confuses Hayato, but eventually, he gets used to to idea and they almost have sexy time, but they're both super virgins so it doesn't happen. Besides some noise from disciplinary committee head Rin and her little sidekick who exists to hold up her boobs (Less funny than it sounds), that's the story.
I don't even want to rip into this series because I would be putting more effort into doing so than was put into making it. Ui has almost no character and is strangely set up like the female version of a main erogame character rather than an object of desire. Hayato is the typical guy who gets in a wacky situation and overreacts to everything until he gets used to the idea when his hormones have their say. Is this supposed to be for male and female audiences who have a self-insert character fetish? I'm sure it exists. There is no attempt to get this anywhere near where we'd buy the characters just accepting their fate, and the humor is ecchi 101. The only funny part to every episode is when they have a random playhouse where they suddenly have the characters in pop-out paper form and either re-inact scenes from earlier or do something else entirely. That is not the funny part. There is a scroll at the bottom that usually accompanies most anime with the advisory, "Watch in a brightly-lit room and blah blah blah." It is turned into a stream of consciousness discussing the weather, the nature of legends, or whatever the hell else is on the writer's mind. Other than that, worthless. Most of you have already ignored this thing's existence. Please continue to do so.
No Recommendation
Overlord
Jonathan Kaharl
What is it with light novel writers and MMORPGs? And how do they keep finding new angles to explore what should be such an empty premise? Overlord is yet another MMORPG gone horribly wrong series, and it stakes its premise by making its main character cast as a traditionally evil character. In the hands of a bad writer, this could have easily just been a mustache twirler or crazy psycho, but there's more going on here. Momonga is a former salary man turned lich that once played in a popular MMO, building a powerful non-human guild and creating a powerful fortress that nobody could ever storm. When the servers were supposed to go down for good, he ended up becoming part of the world, and all the NPCs he and his friends created came to life, based on how they wrote them. Now, he has an army of demi-humans and monsters at his command, and no family or love ones waiting for him in the real world. But he's really a nice guy, an introverted dude who just wanted to leave a mark on the world somehow, and was depressed that all he accomplished in the game meant nothing. But now he has a second chance, and these beings that his friends created wish for him to rule the world. So, he decides to do so in the memory of his old guild members, for the love of the life they created, and for his own desire to leave a mark on the world. And possibly, that may grow to trying to create a world where non-humans can live in peace, as the humans of this world seem to be quite hostile to his kind.
The premise to Overlord is just incredible. It is seriously one of the most brilliant ideas I've ever seen, mixing together human ego, responsibility of creation, natural rights, the foundation of faith or worship, and so, so much more. Momonga himself is easily one of the most interesting main characters I have ever seen, incredibly admirable in such complex and relatable ways, and leaving so much up to audience interpretation. His kindness isn't harem protagonist kindness, it's genuine and built on his past relationship with his friends. The devotion of his followers also comes from them seeing him as a god, and wanting to believe that he can be the god they truly desire, despite him not seeing himself as that. I even think one of the followers is trying to convince Momonga a little, which is a really nice touch. While I'm watching this show and see Momonga just talking about the state of the world with his smartest man or giving some water or a ring to two of his younger followers for a job well done, I actually feel something. I connect with this character more than I've ever connected to a character before, and I mean this from the bottom of my heart.
But what's keeping this series from being one of the best of the season is two-fold. First off, it is one of the slowest shows I have ever seen. Almost nothing in these first two episodes has happened besides setting up the premise and Momonga slowly learning more about his new nature as a lich. A lot of people dropped because of this, and I totally get why. There's also harem trappings here, and they do get tiring. Thankfully, Momonga has his sex drive missing in his new form (which I hope means he becomes an asexual antihero), but his followers, not so much. Albedo, the head of his followers, was a character he re-wrote some details on before the world changed, and so now she loves him. Madly. Like, she goes full Yuno Gasai at the drop of a hat. It's damn entertaining, but I fear it's going to cut into the series more meaningful subtext and themes, as she ruins a beautiful moment between Momonga and Mare. Shalltear is also kind of crazy in this regard, but damn if I didn't laugh over just how open she is about it.
Overlord needs to kick into gear soon. It has the premise to be something truly amazing, but it could stumble so easily if it falls into the dreaded light novel adaptation trap of focusing more on the text than the visuals. But I don't plan on ever dropping this. There's something beautiful to this series at its core, and idea that talks about faith in a way I've never seen, and it touched me in my rotting heart. It has my attention for good, I just hope it rewards me for it. Come for the thematic depth and two crazy demon yanderes, just don't expect a lot of thrills.
Solid Recommendation
Prison School
Jonathan Kaharl
Once again, to quote a wise man, "theres actually zero difference between good & bad things. you imbecile. you fucking moron."
If Monster Musume was one of the two especially infamous manga getting shows this season, the other was Prison School, and it probably deserves that status far more. Prison School was a manga born from spite and hatred. His award winning series about the blues sold like garbage, so he decided to give the filthy masses exactly what he wanted and made the worst possible erotic manga he could think of, with chapters upon chapters of guys being abused by women who are sick and tired of their perverted shit. But then a weird thing happened. Prison School became popular. Very popular. When that happened, the creator decided that if he was going to make this is success story, he might as well make it actually good. The end result is one of the funniest sex comedies ever made, mainly because it came from the hand and mind of a fantastic talent that would normally never stoop to content like this. Piss jokes and the main character commenting that he is indeed looking at. her. fucking. nipple. were matched by complex character relationships, unexpected depth, and a brilliant comedic touch.
The anime could not possibly be more perfect. Let me make this perfectly clear; Prison School isn't just one of the best anime of the season, it's in the top five for the year alongside Yurikuma Arashi, Maria the Virgin Witch, Sound! Euphonium, and Blood Blockade Battlefront. Hell, it may be better than two or three of these shows when all is said and done.
And man oh man, I kind of love how fucked up the show makes me seem for liking it.
The premise of the series is utterly ridiculous. A group of perverted boys end up at an all-girls school that went co-ed, though with only those five making it in. They all have no luck with the girls, except for Kiyoshi, who befriends a cute girl named Chiyo through a weird sumo eraser his mom gave him. They set a date, but Kiyoshi ends up going along with his idiot friends on a peeping mission, and the lot of them get caught by the underground student council, three powerful students with incredible influence in the school, including the chairman's crow controlling daughter. They end up in an on-school prison and have to serve out a service and do hard labor. Thing is, Kiyoshi's date with Chiyo is during this sentence, so he has to escape as fast as possible.
What makes this series so amazing is all of the details. The art style is weirdly realistic at points, creating a strange atmosphere from its deranged premise. The characters have little personality quirks that get built up over time, like the chairman's noble pervert personality and Hana's obsession with learning how boys work down there. Relationships get built up in surprising ways, particularly between Hana and Kiyoshi. The anime adds to all of this by kicking up the pacing from ludicrous to plaid. The first episode goes over the entirety of the first volume and forces you to just accept all the madness you're witnessing, with no room to breathe of think. Everyone reacts differently to that first episode, and every reaction is spot on. The second episode keeps up the pacing as well, but it does it by cutting out pauses and focusing instead of comedic timing, punctuating jokes far more than the source material did. The chairman is a comedy revelation here, even more so that he was in the manga (I hope they animate the scene where he has a serious conversation with the boys on why they like asses over boobs). And the casting, my god. Keiji Fujiwari and Kana Hanazawa deserve awards for their portrayals of the chairman and Hana.
I could go on and on about why this series is amazing. The production, the direction, the art, the color pallet, the flow of scenes, the rapid fire pace of fantastic jokes, the sheer absurd haze it creates near perfectly. Oh, and of course every single time bodily functions or sexual perversion becomes the subject of the story. Now this is how I want my sex comedy to be; completely unrestrained, self-aware, and completely lacking in any sane major characters. This is the perfect way to end the week, trust me.
Strong Recommendation
Ranpo Kitan: Game of Laplace
Stephanie Getchell
For those who have been reading these seasonal reports, or are
frequent Rainy Day readers, for a good long while, you will understand
my excitement when I first received this series as one of my assignments
this season. For those who are new let me introduce myself. Hello! My
name is Stephanie and I love the horror/mystery/psychological genre. Now
I had planned on covering the first four episodes all at once, however
by the time that fourth episode comes out, I'll be knee deep in baby
shower party preparations for a friend this weekend so I decided just to
go with the first three. Which was probably a smart move considering
how the first two was a two part episode.
Kobayashi is a 13 year old middle school boy who seems to go through life every day trying to find something that will excite his boring life. One day, he wakes up to find himself at school and his homeroom teacher in front of him, dead, and a bloody hand saw in his hands. Suddenly, Kobayashi becomes the prime suspect of the murder and he becomes hurled into the world of mystery thanks to young genius detective Akechi. Kobayashi helps solve the mystery and is able to clear his name of any wrongdoing, all the while begging Akechi to take him on as his assistant. The rather aloof teen, reluctantly, agrees. The duo, as well as Kobayashi's class rep and friend Hashiba, begin to solve even more mysteries of varying dark and gritty elements.
One of the larger pieces for people to know going into this series, especially if you're not from Japan or haven't read any Japanese mystery novels, is that all the stories in this series are based on the work of Rampo Edagawa; the man who helped shape Japanese mystery fiction from the 1920s to around the 1960s. Not only that, but the characters are from his novels. Specifically Akechi and Kobayashi, though it's possible that Hashiba and the detectives are recurring characters as well. Want to know how big of a deal he is? His stories and even his name have been used in anime and manga to many extents including The Daughter of Twenty Faces and Case Closed, while well known manga artists and authors have adapted his stories into manga. Ranpo Kitan, as a series, is primarily meant to commemorate Edagawa's passing fifty years ago.
This is actually the last summer series I watched for this first report (I wrote this up on Wednesday, fyi), so you can imagine that I've been hearing quite a few different things seeing as how this was among the first summer shows to begin and is currently the one with the most episodes out by the time this report goes up. I've seen things such as dislike for the animation, interest in the story, and even a kind of WTF mentality when it comes to the characters. Here's my take on all this... The animation is really stunning, and it actually reminds me a lot of Shiki with the stylistic choices and the darker color scheme that it decides to go with. However, the use of character introductions as well as Kobayashi's view of the people around him, while creative, isn't really all that necessary. I can't say it was a budget issue because when we spend a little time with Hashiba in the second episode, we can clearly see every one rather than solid colored humans, so this is clearly a stylistic choice. I understand the reason behind this choice, however I think it could have been handled differently than how it has been so far.
Story and character wise, there is a strong Sherlock Holmes vibe coming from it, which would make a lot of sense. I wouldn't be surprise if I did more research into Edagawa and found out that Conan Doyle was an influence of his and his work. Akechi is, clearly, the Japanese version of Holmes except as a teenager and with a much more mellow personality while Kobayashi doesn't really make a connection to Watson that much except for the need of some excitement in his life. Personality wise, a connection to Hashiba would make more sense. The story looks to be taking a more episodic approach with a "mystery of the week" kind of direction. This works in order to adapt both well known and not so well known Edagawa stories, but this could be a problem if you're looking into the accuracy of those stories. For western viewers, this may be less of an issue as it's very unlikely that a great number of people have read his work. In Japan, it could be a different story, but since I haven't read of Edagawa's novels I personally can't say for sure. Thus far, The Human Chair and Shadow-Man have been adapted. It's unclear which one will be next, however since there is a character named Black Lizard it's a safe bet that The Black Lizard will be adapted at some point in the series.
As a fan of mystery, this is a dream come true! However, there are some things that both work rather well and yet also aren't all that necessary. The idea of even adapting Edagawa's work seems like something that is long overdue because of how well known in Japan he is, and yet we haven't seen it happen in anime, really, at all! It will be interesting to see, in the coming weeks, the tone and direction it plans to take itself and how well these stories will be adapted and how the progression of the cast of characters will be. I plan to follow this series regardless of how bad it may get, but I do plan to try my damnedest to be as critical as possible and not just let my fan girl tendencies go off the walls. Does this mean my current recommendation is based on those tendencies? A tiny bit, however I think that the series is going in the right direction and is picking the stories that have yet to be seen in anime and are done, hopefully, how Edagawa wanted them to. My only gripe is that we need more Akechi since he is the genius detective. I do think Kobayashi is an interesting character, however, out of the main trio, Akechi hasn't had a whole lot of development time. Something I hope is rectified in the near future.
Strong Recommendation
Rokka: Braves of the Six Flowers
David O'Neil
I've stated before that adaptations of fantasy Light Novels tend to
put me on edge. Sure, there are good ones out there, but beyond that
there's a slew of same-y harem garbage that wastes space in nearly every
anime season. If that wasn't enough to make me cautious about Rokka, it's also from the same studio as Rail Wars!,
a show I had to cover for this site that left me disappointed when it
turned out to be less about the train-based warfare I had hoped for, and
more about bouncing cleavage. Yet, despite said bad omens, in its first
three episodes Rokka: Braves of the Six Flowers has become one
of my favorites of the season, and brilliantly shows how a simple
premise can be made great through strong execution.
The premise itself isn't hugely unique, a story taking place in a fantasy world where the most powerful warriors in the land are chosen by a god to defeat an ominous evil force threatening the kingdom, and the journey of those chosen as their varying personalities and ideals start to clash upon encountering each other. With that said, the show still manages to stand out through it's skillful, slow storytelling. More often than not I consider a show being "slow" to be a bad thing, as I typically prefer my anime to move at a brisk pace rather than to draw things out more than necessary, but Rokka is what I'd call "effectively slow". Three episodes in the show has only introduced four of the seven protagonists, and much of the show is spent on one on one conversations between characters that can go on for a significant amount of time, but despite this the series never wastes a moment. The dialogue is geared less towards droning exposition, or outright stating things about characters and their motivations, and more so towards naturally building its characters and world through conversation. Small details in character's actions and words slowly reveal their true nature past the initial impression they make, along with progressively feeding details on the major conflict at the center of the show's world, and how that world is dealing with the conflict. Despite all the talking, Rokka constantly stays engaging because at every moment we're learning about the characters, their motivations, and their place in the show's world, all often without ever explicitly stating anything.
In terms of presentation, the show is a tad mixed. It's remarkably well directed, there are a variety of gorgeous shots, dynamic fight choreography, and clever use of lighting and visual cues to get across actions and ideas simply and effectively. It also boasts a unique setting, diverging from the typical elves and castles of anime fantasy in favor of a more Mayan inspired architecture and cultures. On the other hand, the show's visual polish isn't consistent, on occasion characters faces will get messy and uneven in long distance shots. In addition, the show's CG, which is used on all the monsters fought in the show, doesn't quite impress. They look good enough that it doesn't severely hurt the experience, but at times they can be jarring, especially at first. But still, these are small blemishes in what is so far a well crafted narrative with plenty of interesting characters, and the kind of slow build, character driven storytelling that isn't incredibly common in this genre.
Strong Recommendation
SCHOOL-LIVE!
Danni Wilmoth
For some reason she can't explain,
Takeya Yuki loves going to school! She loves it so much, in fact, that
she's decided to live there along with her friends in the School Living
Club, overseen by their faculty adviser affectionately nicknamed
"Megu-nee." Yuki wakes up every morning to a wonderful meal cooked by
Yuri, the club president. Also living with them are their friends
Kurumi, Miki, and a puppy named Taroumaru. After breakfast, she runs to
classes she always ends up sleeping through. Sometimes Taroumaru escapes
off his leash and Yuki has to skip class to find him. Yuki's every day
is filled with laughter, friendship, and mischievous antics. Gear up,
folks, it's time for this season's stock slice of life club comedy!
Seiyu's Life
David O'Neil
Just a few seasons ago, a series called Shirobako took the
anime community by storm. Although the show had plenty memorable
characters and heartwarming moments, one of the things that made it
stand out was it's premise: The show was about the daily challenges of
the employees of an anime studio. It offered tons of cool industry
insight, and offered anime fans a glimpse into the creation of the
medium they care about, through that very medium. A while later, Seiyu's Life
comes along, hoping to go down that same path mixing a quirky workplace
comedy with insight into anime production, this time primarily focusing
on "Seiyu" (a term for voice actors/actresses in Japan).
The show is centered around three newcomer voice actresses trying to make a name in the business, Futaba, a worried, somewhat clumsy girl who often caves under pressure, Ichigo Moesaki, an eccentric girl who acts under the persona of being a "Strawberry Princess" from space, and Rin Kohana, a calm and talented voice actress, despite still being in high school. The show and its characters are just downright funny, tons of great, clever gags both playing off their differing personalities of the characters and various adventures trying to achieve their aspirations. Most importantly, it really nails the chemistry between the three which is important as that's actually a plot point in the show, as the three are chosen to host a Web Radio show because of their strong comedic chemistry and goofy conversations. They're most adorable to watch when together, bouncing jokes off of each other to great success. As mentioned earlier, another prominent aspect of the show is its frequent pieces of trivia and insight into anime voice acting. While these little factoids are interesting, they're integration into the show is far from graceful. Rather than simply working the information into the dialogue, the show constantly brings its pacing to a halt to have a stuffed animal mascot explain things about voice acting, often even explaining things just said or shown through character actions or dialogue. It's lazy, jarring, and just a tad bit insulting to the audience's intelligence, spelling everything out rather than letting people figure it out through simple observation. I would like to give credit to the show's portrayal of the anime voice acting industry. I was worried it'd unrealistically glorify it, but it does take into account the harsh realities of the career field as well, such as two of the thee main characters having to work part-time jobs to get by, and the highly competitive (and often unfair) nature of role auditions.
The series is animated by Gonzo, who's reputation has leaned on the side of infamous as of late. Despite creating some classics, they've also had a reputation for lesser shows, and inconsistent animation quality, and haven't created a well received show in years. So it comes as a big surprise that Seiyu's Life is actually one of the better animated shows to come out this season. The art style is simple, but the character animation is filled to the brim with energy, it has heavy use of smears, morphing, crazy faces, wieght-y character acting, dancing animation, mecha animation, the list goes on. It's hardly gorgeous, but there's a surprising breadth to the amount of high quality, interesting animation put into this. Overall, Seiyu's Life may not very effectively blend its voice acting trivia with the rest of the show as well as it could have, but beyond that it still succeeds as a well animated slice of life comedy with cute characters and great humor.
Strong Recommendation
SHIMONETA: A Boring World Where the Concept of Dirty Jokes Doesn’t Exist
Joe Straatmann
Fahrenheit 451 is turned into a comedy about a terrorist group
trying to unleash porn onto a world that has been sanitized under
penalty of law. Instead of memorizing literature, the terrorists try to
awaken the world with a video of flies doing it. This is the main joke.
Either you're with it or you're not. For as hard as I seem on comedies
(So much so my editor has said I have no detectable sense of humor) (Editor's Note: ]:), I
am finding myself on the front lines defending this raunchy sex comedy
from a strange amount of people who hate this thing, especially given it actually has some decent writing underneath its foul-mouthed veneer.
All I ask for is a bit of structure before everyone goes maniacal with double entendres and Shimoneta provides it. It's the future and Japan has cleaned up its act, completely abolishing porn, sex education, and any filthy language period (Most likely a reference to recent decency acts implemented by Japan). To ensure compliance, all citizens have devices called PMs around their necks (Still trying to figure out if that's a dig at Japan's infamously conservative Prime Minister Shinzo Abe or not) that monitors everything they do and will remove the person from society if they so much as make the wrong euphemism. A generation is moving into society not know anything about reproduction and the awkwardness has turned them into a bizarre mesh of innocence and urges they can't explain with no outlet.
Main character Tanukichi Okuma would be perfectly happy existing in this society after having his father become shackled and shamed as an infamous porn terrorist. He transfers from a high school with the lowest morality ratings (Seemingly replacing grades in importance) to becoming a student council representative with Anna, his crush and pure-hearted daughter of the politician who instigated the entire social shift. Unbeknownst to everyone, also in the student council is Ayame Kajou, the mild-mannered identity of Blue Snow, the head of porn terrorist group SOX who wears panties on her face as a "hero" disguise. With Tanukichi's checkered past, she sees him as the perfect recruit to spread their ideals of imparting sexual knowledge upon the school with porn raining from the rafters or secretly teaching the word vagina in an eye test. If nothing else, he looks decent in a dress and makes a clever decoy.
What follows is Tanukichi being pulled between his dream of a pure romance with Anna and his realization under Ayame's forced recruitment that there is something seriously wrong with the world. Along the way, they pick up other confused classmates like science club member Hyouka who is trying to figure out how reproduction happens from scratch and artist Otome whose short stature hides a dominant personality with a strangely older voice to match. If there was a comparison I could make, it would be to the Farrelly Brothers, directors of Dumb and Dumber. They've garnered a reputation for humor that dives head-first into gross-out, sex, or a combination of the two, but at their best, they have a certain gentleness for their characters. As much as Tanukichi is a target for cross-dressing and grave misunderstandings involving his sexual knowledge, it understands him and Ayame as teenagers who feel alienated in their society and reacting to it in vastly different ways. It sympathizes with everyone, and the easy target, Anna, is actually the most lovable character as she is greatly accepting of everyone than what her social representation would have you believe. The Farrelly comparison is especially apt when one considers episode three is this series' version of There's Something About Mary where most of the main and supporting cast find out everyone either loves or looks up to Anna in some way. What I'm saying this show treats the people as people and not objects of ridicule with one or two funny traits.
The sum of this series is transferring the energy of a serious cautionary tale into a sex comedy. For those who think everything is too extreme, let's remember that it's not likely we're going to eat manufactured people squares or burn every book in existence either. Cautionary tales are usually extreme by nature to reveal the potential direction we could be heading and to be mindful to not do that. Of course, that doesn't mean it's good. To be honest, I found Soylent Green dreadfully dull. Here, J.C. Staff manages to find a visual style of censor circles and suggestive imagery that works around network standards as a clever meta way to get the right feel. Jokes are often in your face, such as when Ayame uses a loophole she found to say whatever she wants for a few minutes a day and crams every dirty phrase she can think of into the conversation, but it works in a few surprises, too. My favorite is when Anna stumbles onto a picture she thinks is a lovely depiction of a woman eating a mushroom that would be just darling in the student council room, and... it so isn't a mushroom. The obvious innuendos may grate on the taste of some and not everything hits its mark. I find science club member Hyouka more creepy than funny. Still, as a sexual somewhat sci-fi cautionary satire thing, it's pretty good.
Solid Recommendation
Sky Wizards Academy
Danni Wilmoth
Light novels must die. I sincerely mean that.
Sure, if it wasn't for light novels we wouldn't have Durarara!! or Baccano, I realize that. At what point, though, will we realize that enough is enough? Sure we've gotten a few good LNs, but is the wait for a few good ones worth the ever-growing mountain of shitty ones that keep getting made into anime?! If you've even watched only the first few minutes of Sky Wizards Academy, your answer should be no.
Stop me if any of this concept starts sounding good. In the future, giant magic CG Devil Beetles have consumed the earth and driven humans into living in floating cities powered by magic. Teenagers are sent to a special academy where they can hone their magic and skills in magical gunsword combat. While in the academy they are grouped into teams where they not only fight the magical CG insects, they also fight each other for sport. Our hero,Kirito Kanata Age, is a 17
year-old powerful wizard who one day thought "FUCK IT" and stopped
fighting the beetles, which caused everyone but his closest friends to
label him a traitor. He's soon commissioned by the academy to become the
personal instructor to the absolute worst team in the entire academy.
What hijinks will follow?!
Shitty ones, that's what.
Look, the very first shot in the entire anime is of a horde of CG beetles. Throughout the rest of the scene there's more CG than 2D animation as we watchTakeshi Kanata
and his team fight the beetles. Half the time, Kanata and his comrades
are CG as well. When they are actually animated in 2D, the clash between
them fighting CG beetles is absolutely awful. Mind you, it is difficult
to have 2D and CG interact in a way that's pleasing to the eye.
However, Sky Wizards takes this concept to new lows. What's
supposed to be intense combat looks more like anime blobs swinging their
sticks wildly guessing where the enemy is, only for the enemy to be
shoddily CGd in later. The art never improves from here, either.
Everyone wears pretty much the same boring-as-hell uniform. The
character designs are as absolutely bland as they could be. Looking at
every character only reminds me of characters from other, better anime I
could be watching.
Unfortunately, their personalities are also as bland as their designs.Sasuke Kanata
is of course the immensely powerful protagonist who is also a loner
that no one understands. His three students aren't any better. Misora
Whitetail (yep) is a hot-blooded tsundere who is oblivious to the most
obvious things and has a complex about having small breasts. Lechty
Eisenach (mmhmm) is crippling social anxiety personified and given
breasts that seem to grow and shrink with every scene. The closest thing
to a likable character is Rico Flamel (I'm not joking these are their
names), a talented wizard who's only glaring flaw is the fact she
believes herself to be a literal goddess incarnate. She isn't exactly
likable, honestly, but she pretty much exists to piss off the other
characters with her arrogance, so that's cool.
Finally, being an ecchi, Sky Wizards is rife with gratuitous fanservice. For one, the girls all fly around in the air while wearing skirts, providing us with panty shots. Additionally, we're treated to multiple cases of the girls arguing about bust sizes. Last but certainly not least, the girls are frequently given opportunities to yell about how much of a pervert their new instructor is. In his first interaction with Misora, they bump into each other. They somehow tumble down in such a way that she's left straddling his crotch while he cups her chest. As he gets up she sees that her toast has landed on and stuck to his pants crotch. He removes his pants and finds a sink to wash them, where he happens upon Rico for the first time. She's understandably put off by the fact he's talking to her while half-naked. He then takes refuge in a bathroom, which turns out to be the girls' bathroom that Lechty requires service of. At the end of episode two, he walks into a changing room the girls are using to talk to them. He's somehow surprised by the fact that they are naked. In episode three he "trains" Lechty to not be shy by dressing her up in a skimpy maid outfit and having her work as a waitress. Also in that episode he somehow goes from having his hand covering Misora's mouth to having both his hands groping her boobs. Hilarious!
I told myself that Sky Wizards Academy had until our first seasonal installment to convince me to keep watching. As of now three episodes have aired and I've regretted sitting through every moment of them. Don't bother with this show.
No Recommendation, dropped at episode three
Snow White with the Red Hair
David O'Neil
I went into Snow White with the Red Hair with fairly high
expectations. Not only is it from studio Bones, who I on a regular basis
point out I really really like (studio behind Space Dandy, Soul Eater, Fullmetal Alchemist,
lots more), but it's also the latest directorial work of Masahiro Ando,
director of such anime as the beautifully animated samurai film Sword of the Stranger, to the visually pleasing slice of life comedy Hanasaku Iroha. Add in music from Sound of the Sky/Fullmetal Alchemist composer
Michiru Oshima, and the show had thoroughly grabbed my attention. The
question remained, would it be able to keep my attention?
Based (very) loosely on the tale of Snow White, the show follows a young female herbalist named Shirayuki with unusual, bright red hair. She becomes well known in the kingdom for her unique beauty, enough that the prince of the kingdom demands that she become his concubine. She escapes the city, where she meets a boy named Zen. As chance would have it, Zen is the prince of a neighboring kingdom, and prevents Shirayuki from being taken by the other prince. Right off the bat it should be noted: This show is cheesy as hell. It's filled to the brim with near cringe-worthy moments of chivalry, luck, and corny romantic lines. Personally, I think that's a part of the fun, but not everyone may be able to stomach it's unabashed, wholly sincere old fashioned romantic nature. Shirayuki is a large part of why the show succeeds despite its somewhat tired material. She's energetic, strong willed, and isn't just a love interest waiting to be saved by the prince. There are certainly situations where the prince shows up to save the girl, but more often than not she boasts incredible wit and confidence, at one point escaping captivity through planning and smart thinking and in another standing up to threats to her life with unwavering courage. She's sweet and likable, but also determined to achieve her goals through her own effort and strength. The rest of the cast isn't quite as fleshed out so far, but Shirayuki easily makes up for it.
As I tend to expect from director Masahiro Ando, one of Snow White with the Red Hair's most impressive aspects is its visuals. While the character designs are fairly simple, a large amount of effort is put into character animation, with some great key animation work going into scenes with tons of movement and varied facial expressions. Much of the time it's fairly restrained, but brief cuts of exceptional animation work to great effect assuring the most important scenes leave an impact, along with the great musical score from Oshima. The show overall just looks pretty as well, with gorgeous backgrounds and bright colors throughout. Snow White with the Red Hair treads some well-worn material, but does so well, with enrapturing visuals and a delightful protagonist.
Solid Recommendation
Ushio and Tora
David O'Neil
Lately it seems as if Japanese animation has entered its "Remember the 90s?" phase. From Dragon Ball Super, to Sailor Moon Crystal, to Parasyte: The Maxim,
it seems as if left and right classic 90s manga, anime series, and OVAs
are getting adaptations, remakes, and sequels out of the blue. Some
have turned out great, and some...not so much (*cough* Sailor Moon Crystal *unsubtle cough*). The latest series following this trend is Ushio and Tora,
an adaptation of a 90s manga and OVA of the same name by anime studio
MAPPA and VOLN set to cover the manga's story from beginning to end
throughout 39 episodes, seemingly never questioning how exactly they
were ever going to make any money off it. So, has Ushio and Tora stood the test of time?
Ushio was just an ordinary, athletically adept, art loving, hot tempered high schooler who happened to be best friends with the two prettiest girls in school (shonen anime) when one day he found a secret cellar under the temple he and his father live in, hiding away a powerful tiger-like Spirit pinned to the wall by a spear. At first Ushio leaves it be, but when evil spirits start attacking him and his friends he removes the spear and forces the spirit he dubs "Tora" to help him fight off the demons (albeit, to the spirit's great distaste). Although it certainly ins't the most original set up out there, plain and simple Ushio and Tora is pure, unadulterated fun. A big part of this is thanks to the two title characters and their relationship, one laden with contention and mutual distrust, but in an adorable, and constantly charming sort of way. They constantly threaten, attack, and insult each other in hilarious ways, making it all the more satisfying when the time comes for them to put aside their differences and tear apart some monsters together. Although they're both loud and unapologetically over the top, they never comes off as obnoxious. It's just clever and restrained enough with their hate/respect relationship that their antagonistic hijinks are always a joy to watch. It's that special sort of "no one gets to kill you but ME" relationship that only gets done quite this well every so often.
Past that, the show so far has overall been just been solidly executed enough all around to make its fun, crazy tone shine through. The animation and action aren't especially extravagant (other than the absolutely insane Opening), but it's presented in a way that really sells that classic, 90s feel of cheesy, edgy action through and through. It balances its tone perfectly, switching between childish goofiness, grim seriousness, and boisterous, exciting action without missing a beat. It's a difficult feat to pull off, but this show does so while making it look easy in the process. Anyone looking for a fun time with cool action and cooler characters should find exactly what they're looking for with Ushio and Tora.
Strong Recommendation
Wakaba*Girl
Danni Wilmoth
Wakako-zake
Danni Wilmoth
Murasaki Wakako is an average 26 year-old office worker trying to get
by. While her days spent working aren't always great, she manages to
find comfort in the restaurants she frequents on her way home. Each week
we follow Wakako as she visits a new establishment and tries a new
combination of food and alcohol. That's it. Oh yeah, did I mention that
this show is only 90 seconds long?
If it sounds like there isn't much to Wakako-zake, it's because there isn't. For a minute and a half every week we get to see what combination of food and drink Wakako is having. We get to see her thoughts wander as she eats. Sometimes she'll ruminate on her day, but she mostly just thinks about how good her food is and ponders why people eat rice with fried salmon. I feel like I should be saying more about this show, but there's really nothing to say. The art style is kinda cute, and Miyuki Sawashiro offers a very subdued performance that manages to sound exactly like anyone would after a long day at the office.
As surprising as it may sound, Wakako-zake is actually fairly popular. It's not huge, mind you, so don't expect any Wakako dakimukara's to start popping up (If you do see any though, tell me. I want one). It has managed to garner a rather devout following. Last year it ranked 10th in the Nationwide Bookstore Employees' Recommended Comics list and even got a live-action drama. I must admit that I too have fallen for whatever Wakako-zake is selling. What it lacks in plot and basic storytelling, it more than makes up for in warmth and charm. There's little movement and animation and the art is as simple and subdued as the voice acting. It all works together to transport us into Wakako's happy place. For 90 seconds every week, we get to relax and recharge right beside her. So cuddle up with some blankets and give this show a minute and a half of your time. You've had a long day. You deserve it.
Strong Recommendation
Second Opinions
Actually, I Am
Jonathan: I like it. Sorta like Nozaki-kun crossed with Is This A Zombie, lots of cute relationship bits, lots of fun genre smashing that isn't done with the fitness of a person with a 1.3 blood alcohol level. Also adore the opening and ending songs, they're so unlike anything else I've heard from a show this year. Solid Recommendation
Aoharu X Machinegun
Jonathan: Now this is the type of shojo I can get behind. Witty, energetic, and willing to go there for a good laugh. The survival games thing is getting really old, really fast, but this series makes it work by giving us a lead that is just completely out of place in its main subject, along with a strong supporting cast, especially the possibly bisexual BDSM mangaki. He is the best character of this show, bar none. Lot to like, just not stellar in any given category. Solid Recommendation
Charlotte
Joe: This seems to know where it's going and has a sense of fun about it, so it's already better than Glasslip. Main character Yu takes a couple episodes to settle in because initially, he's a rat bastard risking the lives of others with secret super powers to get his crush. Most high school kids with super powers would do very similar things, frankly. Thankfully, the series is perfectly aware of how he comes off and sets him straight fairly quickly about just how much his screwing around could cost himself and his sister. The rest is an enjoyable look at super heroes with a team of high school kids whose powers aren't quite super. The teleportation that leads to ghastly head wounds is a smidgen over the top, but otherwise, it's a burst of entertainment I really needed this season. Solid Recommendation
Jonathan: I went ahead and dropped this one because it's a Key works anime (remember, they ruined everything!) and I have far too many other shows to watch. But in all honesty, there's promise here. The premise is strong, the animation is fantastic, and the main character is just such a lovable scumbag. The problem, and why I chose that this was something to drop, was that this is a Key anime, and the first episode already had hints that they were planning their old shenanigans again. I already have a good idea where this is headed based on experience, and I'm not interested in more magical fairy tale bullshit tragedy. But maybe this will be different ...is something I would say if I was still in that abusive relationship with them. But hey, if you don't have the sheer hatred boner I have for Key, give it a shot. Solid Recommendation, dropped at episode one
GANGSTA.
Stephanie: I am a sucker for the dark and gritty series. Not just because I'm a horror/mystery fan girl either. Gangsta is a great example of the kind of dark and gritty series I enjoy. The story has been fairly episodic right now with the intent on establishing recurring characters, such as Captain Chad and Dr. Theo, as well as the background as to Worick and Nick's lives and what and who they exactly are because it is very clear there is a long history between the two. It will be very interesting to see what Alex uncovers while working with the guys, and I am very curious about this world as well. Not just Worick and Nick's story, but the world itself and how it operates. While it's obvious that this series will be one of the bigger ones this season, it's also one of my favorites thus far and has caught my attention in a very big way. Strong Recommendation
God Eater
David: As of now, God Eater's story has absolutely nothing going for it. It's not often a show interests me quite so little as this did, but just about nothing in the first two episodes in terms of plot or characters made me the least bit care about it. Similar settings have been done in tons of other works, the main character is a piece of bland nothing so unbelievably bland he makes light novel harem protagonist look interesting, the characters all seem to exist purely for exposition (or underboob, in the case of the female characters), and the actual plot progression as of now has been some of the most basic formulaic schlock I've seen this season. "Stop Asking if We're Owned By Type-Moon" studio Ufotable seems to be betting it all on the visuals, putting a particularly high amount of effort into both the show's unique art style, and editing. The art style itself looks pretty good, characters are more detailed and feature more shading than typical in anime, but the editing simply comes off as jarring and obnoxious, with quick cuts and slow motion trying to spice things up, but in the end simply intruding on the experience. The animation itself is fine in the action, but you'll have to deal with some poor looking CG monsters nonetheless. Personally, I'm giving this show another episode to pick this up and at least turn into a fun bad show, but either way, God Eater is still a bad show. No Recommendation
Jonathan: GOD EATER!? I REMEMBER WHEN IT WAS CALLED ATTACK ON TITAN!! OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO- but in all seriousness, this is pretty pointless. Bad characters, bad costume design, bad CG. The back story is solid, and the weird CG/2D animation style has some strengths, but it's in service to one of the most tired plots imaginable. Does not help that the direction is like from a 90s music video or an early 2000s action movie, and oddly only in non-action scenes. Nothing about this grabs me. Wake me up when Ufotable does something interesting again. No Recommendation, dropped at episode one
Stephanie: God Eater is one of those cases where I could not wait to finish the episode because I didn't find much amusement out of it. Hell, I was ready to stop watching it about eight minutes in, but I decided to push through it. While it does look fine (CGI is one of my major gripes normally, but this was ok), it's the story and characters that come off rather bland. Try as I might, there's nothing noteworthy about this show for me and it's one that I'm fine not continuing. Some may try to convince me otherwise, but I'd rather not. It's one of the more boring for me, so why torment myself? Weak Recommendation, dropped at episode one
Himouto! Umaru-chan
Jonathan: I like it when otaku get a sense of humor about themselves, so when I see an anime or manga poking fun at their fanbase and doing it well, I usually like it. This is no exception, though it's a far cry from something like Watamote. Himouto is based off a short gag manga, and it shows, with all the jokes staying pretty traditional and safe. There's no dark or satirical edge, and the supporting cast distract a bit from the show's core strengths of Umaru's hedonistic and self-destructive life style clashing with her workaholic brother, but it gets a chuckle out of me here and there. What the anime enhances is visual gags, though, taking full advantage of Umaru's two personas and her cartoonish antics when not in the public eye. That additional touch is enough to give the show some much needed energy and make a bit more than just another drop in the pond. Solid Recommendation
Million Doll
Jonathan: This got no money at all, I take it. The premise of Million Doll could be cool, exploring the fan side of the idol scene, but it doesn't go far enough and lacks any real laughs. The idol characters are also the usual propagandist perfect moe blobs, so it's really hard to care about their plight. Just go watch Locodol if you want a good series about local level idols. No Recommendation
Monster Musume: Everyday Life With Monster Girls
Danni: I have mixed feelings about Monster Musume. On one hand, it does a lot of things I am 100% on-board with. First, it has hot monster girls. Second, these hot monster girls have pretty big breasts. Third, these big-tittied, hot monster girls are fucking horny as hell. While I can appreciate these facts greatly, Monster Musume has crossed a few lines with me, notably in its types of monster girls used. First, Centaurs are just horses with boobs. If I wanted to date a horse I'd become a fucking brony, Second, Harpies are way too birdlike. There is nothing sexy about literal chicken legs. Finally, the god damn spider girl. Spiders are evil. I hate them. They deserve to all die. I don't care how into bondage the spider girl is, she still shits all the rope out. These are some bad decisions made by the staff. Nevertheless I'll continue to watch it and I hope the Chitoge/Tsugumi/Onodera argument is replaced by Miia/Papi/Cerea (#TeamMiia). Solid Recommendation
Stephanie: Originally I had no plans what so ever to watch this series. I'm not generally a huge fan of harems so I tend to stay away from them. But then it was suggested, by a friend, that I give it a try, and I do trust him, so I did. I have got to say Monster Musume does not shy away from what it is and is totally fine with being the series that it is. And as someone with very little experience in the harem genre, that is saying something! With no concept of fear, the show will go where you don't expect it to, or maybe where you think it will. It's oddly entertaining in that way, and I can't believe I'm going to watch a little more of this series. At least until A) I get bored or B) am totally disturbed by the fanservice and content. Solid Recommendation
Overlord
David: Overlord is a show using the "trapped in a video game" remise. If that hasn't scared you away yet, then go ahead and read on. I was originally planning on avoiding Overlord myself for that very reason, but- well, I'll be honest, I got really bored the day the first episode came out and I decided to give it a try. And as it turns out, I actually like it. Sort of. More than I thought I would at the least, largely thanks to the characters. It boasts a large cast of monsters who serve the protagonist, a gamer trapped in the body of a giant skeleton sorcerer (who they all worship as their master) after seemingly being transported from a VRMMO to an actual fantasy world. The protagonist, while lacking much in terms of emotional extremes, is likable, and even quite clever. It's actually interesting watching as he slowly assesses his situation and learns what's going on through logic and reasoning. In addition, the side characters are a lot of fun, even if some occasionally border on the obnoxious side. For the most part though, it's surprisingly laid back, though that aspect of it is a double edged sword, as it also has made the show feel far to slow so far. I'm hoping things speed up soon, but I'm still having a pretty good time with Overlord so far. Solid Recommendation
Stephanie: This. Show. Is. SLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW. That first episode, especially, was slower than molasses! Since then, it's been picking up bit by bit and it's growing on me. It's certainly a different take on the MMORPG genre of anime we've been seeing in recent years, and I am throughly surprised that FUNimation has finally jumped in after Aniplex snagged SAO and Sentai got Log Horizon. Overlord is very different than the other two as it's just, supposedly, one person stuck in the virtual world. However, we don't know to what extent. It's assumed he couldn't log off, but is the program virtual reality like SAO and Log Horizon or is it just a game you simply log into on your computer? Clearly, I shouldn't be asking these questions right now because they probably won't get answered. But now that things are slowly working their way in the series, I'm curious to know what will happen next. Though if it does keep dragging on, I may have to put this one on hold. Solid Recommendation
Prison School
Danni: Sometime last fall I sat down and spent a couple hours reading Prison School after hearing so much about it. Thanks to this, I've gone into every episode knowing exactly what was going to happen. This very much feels like the wrong way to watch Prison School. Thankfully, the anime has finally caught up to the point I left off at. While I'm glad I've been able to appreciate how utterly perfect the anime adaptation is with relation to the manga, I can't wait to head into an episode having no fucking idea where it's taking me. This show is complete trash and so am I for loving it. Strong Recommendation if you're a shitposter. If not, No Recommendation
Rokka: Braves of the Six Flowers
Jonathan: ...well, this exists I guess? I have no strong feelings on Rokka at all. Like, none. The most I can muster is that I think the character design is a fucking disaster and represents everything wrong with JRPG style fantasy design. This is basically a Tales of anime we never got before, and it has all the same problems and strengths. Likable characters and fast pacing matched with a very flimsy premise, exposition, and an art direction that is somehow both beautiful and ugly in its unrestrained creativity. I also know there's a big twist later, so that's another Tales trope. This is a series I need to see more of to really form an opinion on. Not much to say yet. Weak Recommendation
Stephanie: Going into the summer season typically means that you may not get the more wonderful shows since spring and fall, similar to other regions, are the larger TV seasons. However, both winter and summer have been able to surprise people before and it could happen again. Personally, I think Rokka may be one of those hidden gems of the season. The world building has been wonderful thus far, and the characters, while a little stereotypical, have their great traits as well. The larger problem I'm having right now is the show's pace as it has been going a little too quickly for my liking. While it's nice for the sake of establishing our main cast of characters, it's not an outstanding idea as it may try to rush into things and cause massive headaches later down the line. For now, it's a decent start, and I am interested to see where the show decides to go from here. Solid Recommendation
SCHOOL-LIVE!
David: I'm assuming anything written on this show pretty much has to come with a giant -spoilers ahead- warning, considering what it is. Anyway, I was really looking forward to hating School Live. I knew what it was, I knew that it wasn't just a cutesy moe slice of life show, that it was actually a zombie survival show about a bunch of moe girls stuck in a school, but I was still ready to hate it. What I'd seen from the manga really just came off as edgy, and overly dark. In my mind this concept was so silly trying to pull it off seriously would only result in unintentional hilarity. And yet, despite knowing what I was going into, the first episode still caught me off guard. Not only because the big twist in the first episode was brilliantly handled, preceded by genuinely clever foreshadowing, misdirection, and use of slice of life tropes to subvert expectations, but even beyond that the show has stayed surprisingly well written and directed throughout. The slice of life comedy bits aren't all that funny, but they serve a vital purpose, both in terms of its narrative, as the girls desperately try to retain their sense of normalcy, sanity, and hope in a dire situation, and from a tonal point of view, as the dissonance between their blissful attempt at ignorance and the horrors they've encountered (and have yet to encounter) actually punctuates the show with a constant sense of encroaching doom. They're never safe, but they try to be happy anyway. The horror is so separated from the comedy, it actually makes even much of the comedy tense, because at any moment it could all fall apart. School Live has totally exceeded my expectations in terms of execution, and has managed to pull off a concept I had zero faith in. I dunno what's more impressive, that, or making me care about something zombie related these days. Strong Recommendation
Jonathan: This is one of the five strongest shows of the season I've seen, and I'm still trying to comprehend this. Everything about this series suggests it would be another GRIMDARK EDGY MATURE ADULT DEAD PARENTS DARKNESS HASHTAG FOURTEEN YEARS OLD piece of garbage, but it actually uses its premise in a creative way that serves the story and humanizes its characters beyond the moe blobs they could have been. I'm also very impressed by the direction, seamlessly blending the super cheerful fantasy world of the main character and the horrific reality. The zombies are even made threatening in ways they haven't been in a long time by showing very few details of them, which even serves narrative purpose in showing how detached the characters have become from their former school mates, only showing more detail when those connections begin to return and the horrific realization of their actions kicks in. I'm really interested to see where this one is headed. Strong Recommendation
Seiyu's Life
Stephanie: It's been a long time since I've seen a series come from Gonzo. They actually haven't been producing that many in recent years, which is funny since they are one of my favorite studios and have made quite a few that I consider my favorites. With Seiyu's Life, it's a nice little slice of life anime about the life of a newbie seiyu. Can't get any simpler than that. What makes it more cool is having actual seiyus in Japan become characters in the show such as Hiroshi Kamiya during the second episode. Bet you that will be interesting to dub later... Anyways, the story may be a little bit of an odd mess at times, but it's still enjoyable! The characters are rather likable and animation has been holding out well so far. I say so far because, again, this is Gonzo we're talking about it. This series may be a nice balance among all the other action and drama filled series I'm watching this season and that is something I am totally fine with! Oh yeah! And the ending theme is just oodles of fun! Solid Recommendation
Snow White with the Red Hair
Jonathan: I want to love this show, I really do, but whenever I watch it, my brain just screams "THIS IS LITERALLY EVERY SHOJO FANTASY STORY EVER" at me for about thirty minutes. It's certainly well executed, but the themes and use of parallels to famous stories is such a dead trope in the genre that it's practically a zombie horde now. I've seen this written better in other works, simple as that. I've seen more developed leads, more exciting action scenes, more dramatic turns, stronger music, and so forth. But still, I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy it. It's just that it's so derivative and does nothing new with its parts that I can't start helping but noticing these things. Even Trinity Blood tried doing interesting things with its huge cast of cliches. But this? I swear, I could try and predict the entire series, and I'd probably be fairly accurate. Weak Recommendation
Stephanie: Another series about a red haired heroine? WHY THE HELL NOT?!? I swear what is it with Japan's love of red hair? Anyways, Snow White with the Red Hair is actually rather charming in a fairy tale kind of way. It's easy to see that this was the aim here, and it's a nice touch to me considering the amount of anime I've seen lately that are unlike this one. However that doesn't mean that this is one hundred percent a tried and true fairy tale as our lead heroine, Shirayuki is very much capable of herself, showing that she isn't some damsel in distress, even with the amount of times she's been pursued or kidnapped. And then there's Zen who, on the surface, seems like your textbook fairy tale prince, but there's clearly much more to his character as well. Personally, this is one of my favorite starts to the summer season, thus far, and I will be very curious to see what becomes of the series moving forward. At the very least, Bones knows how to make a pretty fairy tale. Strong Recommendation
Ushio and Tora
Jonathan: This is old school shonen goodness with fantastic artwork and animation from MAPPA, and I don't know what else to say other than it's like the hilarious younger brother of Yu Yu Hakusho. So, instead of trying to explain why this is so amazing, I'm just going to quote the world's greatest poet to best put across the warm feelings this show's amazing opening put into me. "RIP AND TEAR! RIP AND TEAR YOUR GUTS! YOU ARE HUGE! THAT MEANS YOU HAVE HUGE GUTS! RIP AND TEAR! OOOH, HERE COMES THE NIGHT TRAIN! CHOO CHOO CHA-BOOGIE!" Strong Recommendation
Wakaba*Girl
Jonathan: Remember how I said Re-Kan was a throwback to the slice of life boom in a good way? This is that in a bad way. There's very little to say about the series, no real sense of humor you can't already get from almost hundreds of other shows produced in the past decade, and its premise of the main character wanting to be a stereotypical high school girl is really, really empty and lacking of any comedic possibility. Meh. Weak Recommendation
No telling if this is going to end up being a good or bad season, but that's where we come in. It's time to find out what's brilliant and what's absolute trash, and I'm putting my money on the light novel show set in a magical school being trash! Every one of the five seasonal staff have two drops, and one they can use right off the bat. What they don't drop, they must finish, no matter how awful their shows may be. And of course, we have second opinions where everyone on staff can chime in their two cents.
Now, let the Summer of monster girls, titty getting skeletors, jingoistic nationalist propaganda, turbonerd role playing, bisexual BDSM manga artists, capitalism criticism, totally not suspicious fun times at school, and her fucking nipple begin!
Actually, I Am
Danni Wilmoth
Basically, Actually, I Am is the 'other' monster girl harem this season. It doesn't quite have the name recognition or hype that Monster Musume does,
but it has a lot of heart to make up for it. Asahi is good-natured and
lovable, especially when he's unsuccessfully trying to hide his feelings
for Shiragami. She plays a wonderful foil for him due to the fact she's
incredibly dense. Her persona as the noble school princess is shattered
when we see her true nature as the ditzy yet lovable vampire with a
Kansai accent. Scenes between her and Asahi are especially adorable as
we watch her experience honest friendship for the first time. The rest
of the cast is a mixed bag. Asahi's friends are pretty bland characters
that exist mostly to cheer Asahi on from the sidelines. The show hasn't
yet finished introducing us to the other romantic interests. The first
is Aizawa, the class officer who turns out to be a tiny, militaristic
alien operating a human-sized exoskeleton on a mission from her home
planet. The latest girl to be introduced to us is Mikan, who is Asahi's
childhood friend and lifelong bully. She's a complete sadist who turned
the school paper into a tabloid, with Asahi as her main target. She's a
normal human aside from the fact her glasses are possessed by a god of
fortune intent on granting her wish to be with Asahi.
The
animation isn't top notch, but it's pleasant to look at regardless. It
sports an interesting art style that remains faithful to the original
manga. They did make some strange choices in production, though, the
most striking being the uniforms. Every single one of the characters is
wearing a different school uniform for some reason. One of Asahi's
friends even wears a Hawaiian shirt with his. This friend also happens
to look middle-aged for some inexplicable reason. Neither of these
things detract from my enjoyment. I'm simply confused as to why they're
there.
So far, Actually, I am is
a cute show. Despite not being the first vampire romance anime to
exist, it doesn't feel like it's treading tired ground. Shiragami's
vampiric aspects are played down somewhat. For instance, instead of
turning to ash in sunlight, she simply gets a bad tan. While her kind
does supposedly drink blood, it's treated as an incredibly intimate act
that she has never done. I'm looking forward to the meeting the rest of
the girls. If watching them interact with Asahi is as entertaining as
watching him interact with Aizawa, Mikan, and Shiragami then this will
likely be one of my season favorites.
Solid Recommendation
Aoharu x Machinegun
David O'Neil
Borderline plagiarism aside, I actually had a good time with the first few episodes of Aoharu x Machinegun. Even though I'd seen similar routines done before, it played out in some interesting and unique ways, and the show does have a sort of maniacal, irreverent tone to it that at the least makes it stand out in comparison to even it's most damningly similar counterpart (Ouran). Although Hotaru makes for an often adorable protagonist, the character by far stealing the show as of now is easily Tohru, the shy, introverted, perverted, and just a bit insane ero-doujin author who's about as unpredictable as he is hilarious. I was worried early on when he came off as a bit too hostile, but once he warms up to the protagonist his true nature shines through as a great character who creates many of the show's most memorable jokes. As of now Masamune, the blonde Host who "recruited" Hotaru, is the real weak link. He just comes off as bland, without much too him other than liking guns and generally being a pretty nice dude. Hopefully he's expanded on in future episodes, but for right now I don't care much for him.
Visually Aoharu x Machinegun is just pretty average overall. Aside from a very well animated opening, it's one of the less impressive looking recent Brain's Base anime. The art style leaves much to be desired, there's limited character acting animation, and the action never really goes above and beyond making it's gunfights dynamic or especially well animated. It gets the job done well enough, but that's about all. Overall though I still find the show enjoyable. The visuals are mixed and Ouran fans may feel a quick wave of deja vu, but past that there are some good characters and funny gags to make it worth a watch.
Solid Recommendation
Aquarion Logos
Joe Straatmann
In a weird change-up, the first episode is actually two separate stories, the first being an extra helping of Aquarion EVOL involving kinda' sorta' bringing back a dead character through alternate dimensions. It felt like a test pattern with re-used Yoko Kanno music from the first series because I didn't even bother too look at EVOL for one potentially stupid reason: The name Zessica. You can't survive anime without having a certain stomach for bad names, but adding Zs to standard names is one way to make me uncharacteristically angry. Regardless of whether that's enough reason to pass by a show or not, there it is. Let's move on to Logos, shall we?
Keep in mind I am not lying about anything I am about to tell you involving the plot. The villainous Sougon runs a huge social network, but has made it his life's work to destroy words because words have apparently corrupted and separated mankind and the only way to reunite people as one mind is to decimate vocabulary. He dives into the realm where words exist and he injects certain words with purple stuff that causes them to go crazy, and makes everything involving that word go crazy. For example, the corruption of the word "twist" causes twisters, ties to strangle their owners, and soft-serve ice cream to... not twist. The team standing in his way is a cafe of theatre performers called Shirobaco (I see what you did there) where the employees are secretly vector pilots who go by the name Verbalism Club who can fight in the dimension of words. They use their ability of re-arranging Japanese letters and terms at their disposal to create attacks to defeat the corrupted words that have evolved into the monster of the week that mostly waggle around and say their word over and over.
Yup. That went through a committee. That got funding. I would almost put the experience as joyfully stupid if the main character wasn't one of the laziest constructs in a big series I've seen in awhile. Akira appears out of nowhere to help Shirobaco staff member Kokone after her purse is stolen. He stops the crime by turning off the thief's motorcycle while he attempts to drive off. This doesn't break his arm because he's the savior. He's the savior because he says he is. Because he's the savior, he can follow Kokone back to Shirobaco and discover their secret facilities, and in the midst of a crisis, knows how to pilot these specific vectors and save the day. As a special bonus, he joins up with the vector the villain uses to protect the corrupted word to become an Aquarion making its pilot Maia his immediate love interest with no chemistry or history because together, they turn their bodies into a heart when they unleash their attacks (By the way, in this universe, isn't docking vectors with someone you don't know akin to sexual assault?). He knows exactly what to do and exactly what to say at all times. Because. We're not even getting into Maia who is Sougon's flawed protege, locked in an isolated facility with nothing but Sougon's indoctrination. He must've been really crappy at it (Maybe using those flawed, evil WORDS to instruct her were his failing. Try interpretive dance next time), because when she tries to steal a vector and escape from Shirobaco, she is stopped and enraptured by the hard work and pure spirit of the cleaning crew in the hangar. There is only so much bad writing I can take before drawing the line.
As the other aspects of the series go, it looks decent enough. I appreciate character designs like Maia's that are unique without trying too hard. The opening theme by Yoko Kanno and her vocal sidekick from Macross Frontier May'n kicks everything into high gear, though it may make you wish you were watching another transforming futuristic vehicle show. It has a nice unified style and vision. The writing is simply too much and the franchise's habit of making characters fated lovers even before they have a decent conversation annoys me. Can they at least LIKE each other first?! I can't hate this thing because it's too goofy to hate, but I can't even recommend it as entertaining trash as it so revels in its trashiness that it starts to stink after awhile.
No Recommendation
Bikini Warriors
David O'Neil
No Recommendation
Castle Town Dandelion
Stephanie Getchell
Akane is just one of nine children growing up at home with her family, and trying to live a normal life. Except it isn't quite easy when your father is the king of the country. Let's not also forget that the children are under constant surveillance thanks to over two thousand cameras placed all throughout the city. The reason for this? King Soichiro is trying to find an heir to his throne, and figures the only way how is to let the populace vote in a year. While some of the siblings are gunning for the crown, others, like Akane, just aren't all that interested. Though Akane just wants all the cameras to go away so she can stop having a massive case of anxiety.
As mentioned before, this is a comedy anime with a larger ensemble cast. This can prove both fun and challenging at the same time, yet, so far, it's been doing rather well! Time is taken to give different siblings a chance in the spotlight, even though Akane is the main character. We've seen a classmate profess their love to Shuu in one episode, while Hikari is seen a few times coming up with ways to gain votes. Each moment is even more fun and charming than the next, and it really has me on my toes a good amount of the time. While some of the characters end up falling under different archetypes, and some classics troupes can be found, it doesn't take away from the series either. It does something rather different with the family dynamic by making the family royalty and having the cameras in their faces all the time while they are vying for the throne. It's a rather nice touch and combining that with the personalities and relationships the family members have with each other makes Castle Town much more amusing and fun! I'm honestly glad I decided to ask for this series. Honestly, I was hesitant on this one before starting, but, after these first three episodes, this may be the surprise series for me this season! But there is always a chance that it could bomb later. I shouldn't get my hopes up, but I'm going to keep being optimistic!
Strong Recommendation
Chaos Dragon: Sekiryuu Sen'eki
Joe Straatmann
The island nation of Nil Kamui is in shambles. The ancient country Kouran (So ancient, it's claimed they're the origins of this world's civilization) decided to make Nil Kamui its next prize. Nil Kamui's allied neighbors D'natia pretty much protected their own property and left their pals hung out to dry. As a result, Nil Kamui was pretty much forced to sign a treaty of full surrender and its royal palace and all of its family are burned save our main character Ibuki, who is sent off to orphanage. To properly showcase how this series shoehorns expository information, dinner is being prepared at the orphanage and on one of the prep tables for no reason is a map of the country to zoom into and expound upon. The first episode is a whole lot of that.
Ibuki is just fine living in the orphanage, but the country's revolutionary army has bigger plans for the last of the nation's noble blood. They dress him in royal garb as he goes to market which just happens to be where Kouran troops are passing through as well as D'natia knight Sweallow (Along with his assistant Meryl Sherbet, establishing D'natia as the nation of bad Engrish). This creates an inciting incident where eventually (Because there's only so much plot description one can read before going to the next review), Ibuki is forced to go to extremes to solve the situation, invoking his psychic (?) connection to the nation's Red Dragon, which all the royal family has. Now the Red Dragon has gone crazy in the royal family's absence and begun killing people at random, but it chooses to consciously give Ibuki amazing powers at a cost. For every person Ibuki needs to kill, he must kill one of his friends in exchange. The end of each episode is a lineup of the main characters with the dead ones X'ed out, making one wonder who's next.
This is the one redeeming quality of a not especially good series. The Internet has already torn the first episode's CG a new one, but for the sake of having a more complete review, yes, the animation is not good at all. Silver Link's attempts to gussy it up with a CG crane shot to start backfires as it stutters and buckles under its ambition, giving a particularly bad first impression. The world is absolutely plain fantasy trappings with the usual mix of cultures and times as to not make it completely generic (Guns exist, which like in most RPGs, are never as useful as they should be). The only thing ornate is the character designs, which don't particularly add anything except aesthetic. Search me if I can remember anything about the music.
Since this a writers' RPG campaign, the characters themselves are a bit better, though they certainly lack some core elements. They each have unique skills, such as Sweallow's ability to use weapons at full power once before they fall apart. The party getting developed is an expedition crew made of members of each aspect of the country, including Ibuki, Sweallow, and Kouran assassin Lou Chenfa. Ibuki is the standard angsty youth who has to do things against his will for the greater good and Sweallow is a thick-headed warrior whose ignorance is mainly used as a way to parlay information. The most interesting one is Lou, or she would be if she were anywhere near the character who lives in the gray areas. It would be nice to have someone who works for the villainous country who isn't completely evil, but yeah, Lou is nothing but bad intentions and her dialogue to her talking weapon along with her and sinister sidemouth completely betray her intentions. All these characters have their charms, but they lack extra dimensions probably held by the creators during the roleplaying itself.
I caught up to the history of the series late so I didn't have the massive expectations many did. It's not like it's terrible, but merely unimpressive. Silver Link doesn't have the budget to make this properly epic, but I can give a poor man a break if the series is interesting enough. The element of Ibuki sacrificing friends to get past his obstacles is a nice touch and keeps an element of tension over what happens next throughout the story. If the characters can break out, it will be a much better series, and Lord Ka Grava introduced in the latest episodes has potential. Right now, though, it's merely watchable.
Weak Recommendation
Charlotte
Stephanie Getchell
Yu, a first year in high school, has the ability to posses the bodies of others for five seconds at a time. As you expect, he takes full advantage of this and manages to cheat his way into a prestigious high school. However, he is quickly found out by Nao, the student council president of a completely different school and forces Yu to not only transfer, but to join the student council. When Yu and his younger sister make the transfer, he quickly realizes that this isn't an ordinary school. This high school is full of individuals with special abilities or who may gain abilities while in their adolescence. What, then, does that make the student council? Their job is to investigate and track down other teens with supernatural abilities and have them either transfer to the school or make them stop using them altogether in order to protect them from the government and scientists who wish to hatch experiments on them. Still doesn't make things any less easy for Yu being thrown into the student council with a, partially, invisible girl and a, partially, able teleporter.
This series, from what I've seen thus far, is a mix of both drama and comedy with most of the comedy coming from the characters, their personalities, and their abilities. I mean, let's be honest here, was I the only one who thought of Light Yagami from Death Note the instant I saw Yu and what he pulled off in the first episode? Please tell me I am not the only one here. But, on the flip side, the story and the circumstances of this world manage to bring out the dramatic side of the series, especially when Yu meets and learns about Nao's older brother during the second episode. For all the fun and light hearted moments the series has, you suddenly realize that it's not all fun and games and there are serious consequences for these teens and not a lot of help that can be given to them unless they are found before the government does. There is a fairly clear sense in that regard, and I like how this has been taken care of rather early on in the series. Although, the next possible step to really solidify it, is to see the end result if the student council were to fail at their mission. Charlotte is off to a great start! I am very much glad I somehow managed to be given this series. Thank you for having so few episodes and long waiting periods, Venus Climax!
Solid Recommendation
Classroom Crisis
Jonathan Kaharl
Classroom Crisis is less "CAPITALISM IS EVIL" and more "CAPITALISM IS FLAWED." it's exploring the fundamental problems with the system and businesses that think with a capitalist mindset, along with how stifling it can be for creatives trying to work within the system. At the same time, it's also showing how failure to work with the system on the creative side is an equally large problem, caused by people ignoring the reality of their situation and causing headaches and problems for everyone else. The show walks a really narrow line between tackling the philosophies of good for all and good for some, showing that there's a bit of both mixed in from both the larger business and A-TEC's own desires. People are driven by selfish desires, even if there's some selfless goals mixed in, and vice verse. This show gets that and is really interested in showing how this causes problems, especially when dealing with people who are completely unrealistic, or far too realistic.
Kaito, the teacher, and Nagisa, the chief, are basically both sides of the same coin. They've grown up in a capitalist system and are frustrated with it for different reasons, and that frustration and their values put them at complete odds. Kaito has the drive to do great things and a talent few others have, including bringing out the best in his students. However, he's a complete failure as a responsible adult and has no idea how the system he's in even functions. Nagisa's skills come with manipulating that system, but even he has limits and is completely closed off from others. He can make a win-win situation nearly every time, but he doesn't truly care about those around him because the risks he constantly goes through to beat the system literally put his life on the line. His family have been trying to off him for awhile, and A-TEC has become his last battle ground, and he's now taking the futures and hopes of the students of the program and destroying them for his own rise to power and right to live. He probably does feel guilt, but he swallows it so he can do evils he sees as necessary and his only way out. The old chief of the division also seems to think that the two clashing is necessary to save Nagisa, and I can see where he's coming from.
Each of these characters have points to their ideals, but each is also heavily flawed and frustrates everyone around them. That's really difficult to pull off, but the show does it almost effortlessly. The script is fantastic, and it avoids a lot of needless exposition and keeps everything easy to understand through a lot of slapstick and comedy. The animation is stellar, as is the set design, and there's a surprising amount of depth to the main cast. It's an examination of how youth and the aged live and try to make sense of a confusing contraction of a system based around teamwork and competition, and it's brilliant so far. This series is going to be the one to watch, because right now, I'm not sure anyone will top it once it reaches the big finish. Nothing else this season is as thoughtful or interesting as Classroom Crisis so far, and I doubt that will change.
Strong Recommendation
Danchigai
Stephanie Getchell
Unlike my coverage for Rainy Cocoa last season, Danchigai is much more episodic in story as well as slightly longer at a total of three minutes thirty seconds compared to Cocoa's two minute episode run time. Because there isn't a constant storyline, it makes each episode fresh and different with the viewer not having to worry about a quick cliff hanger in story by the end of the short run time. The characters aren't extremely complex either as they each have fallen under some kind of archetype as of now with Yayoi's tsundere qualities as the most prominent. The downside, as of now, is the lack of depth that I could really expand upon. Because Danchigai is your basic slice of life series, it doesn't make writing about it all that easy. However, unlike the other short I'm covering this season, it's a little bit of fun and a breath of fresh air in a rather cluttered summer season. Danchigai is getting some more time for me, but it may get dropped next. I'd rather it not, but we'll see what happens.
Solid Recommendation
GANGSTA.
Jonathan Kaharl
GANGSTA is a crime drama, and a damn good one at that. It establishes how badass Worick and Nic are early on (along with how damn hot they are, this was so made by a woman), and also establishes just how terrifying they are through the eyes of an innocent in all this chaos and horror. The third episode is particularly strong, showing how easily the charade of civility can be dropped in this world of carnivores and prey. It's also damn nice to look at, with good animation, beautiful use of light and shadow, and fantastic flow in action scenes due to great direction. On a technical level, this may be the most constantly well put together series this season (except for maybe GATE and Classroom Crisis).
The problem is that I can't help but feel that I've seen this show before. I'm getting that vibe a lot this season, with so many shows having almost identical premises to far better ones, but GANGSTA comes out better than those because I think this may be the best version of this sort of show I've seen from an anime. I hated the direction of action in Black Lagoon, and that's the one wildly regarded as the masterwork of crime dramas (the manga is genuinely amazing, mind you). It does very little wrong, but it also doesn't do much new. Some elements, like the tags, feel like unnecessary additions to help the series cement itself more with fanbases or genre conventions (in this case, shonen action), while unorthodox character traits are mostly just window dressing. Nic being deaf isn't nearly as interesting as it sounds. Granted, having a deaf major character is cool, just not as cool as I think it could be. GANGSTA just doesn't gel with me as much as I want it to, but but I'm still very impressed by it. If you want something a bit darker than your normal action show, this is definitely the best series you can see from this year.
Strong Recommendation
GATE
Jonathan Kaharl
Yes, I am describing it as evil.
I can forgive bad ecchi works, they're made out of unrestrained id. I can also calm down a little when I think of that objectivist garbage Mahouka. That's more born from general ignorance and is far too blunt and up its own ass to really influence many people. But GATE? This is propaganda. There is no way around it. What Mahouka was to objectivism, GATE is to military imperialism, just far better at making people believe it has a good point to be made by not lecturing the audience.
GATE has the promise for a good series. A fantasy army floods out of a mysterious gate into a major Japanese city, causing untold chaos and death, leading to Japan warring in a fantasy land as our main cast explore the countryside and take in the culture in a recon mission. Basically, Outbreak Company with violence commentary. That could be great. The problem is that the politics of this fucking series are absolutely awful in every imaginable way.
The characters in the Japanese self-defense force solve almost every problem by shooting or killing it. They shoot the shit out of a massive fantasy army to the point where I wanted to root the bad guys of the show, because they were clearly the underdogs. They shoot a horse that went wild on the road, which causes a wizard's apprentice to become enraptured with them because they saved her life. Instead of showing the enemy mercy, the main character rips out a guy's throat in front of children and civilians when he could have easily just incapacitated him. Keep in kind that all of this is treated as heroic or something to be celebrated.
The show is asking you to applaud as a massively better armed force utterly destroys natives of a land they're invading, then helps out other natives by shooting to make the bad things of their "savage" land go away, and are then treated as heroes for it. This show once you to applaud as our perverted otaku hero slits the throat of an enemy soldier in front of civilians, which is meant to define him as a badass hero that the world needs.
This show is asking you applaud to war crimes, murder, and slaughter. It treats violence as good because the good guys are committing it, and because their country or side is somehow more right. Sure, the fantasy people attacked first, but that just leads to even MORE problems. They aren't treated as characters, but as hapless lemmings the self-defense force have to save, or corrupt politicians that feel like they came out of a bad political satire comic. Basically, it's okay to invade and claim the land as yours because they started it and they're mean poop heads with no redeemable qualities at all. For god's sake, Britannia in Code Geass was treated as a more complex nation than the fantasy empire, and that was a nation run entirely by racists and social darwinists. Even real world governments get dragged into this, as the US' only appearance in these three episodes shows them as evil, greedy monsters that want to get all the unspecified resources in the other land because the US wanted oil badly in the middle east so now this is all they are for the sake of making Japan look completely flawless and perfect (mind their own massacres in the past).
GATE is nationalist dreck that makes Call of Duty look even handed. It's all about glorifying Japan's military might, and it does it in ways that show why that's such a dangerous thing. The heroes are defined mainly by violence over their ability to use their power properly for the greater good. Sure, they help people, but even then, it's not in a heroic way. They usually kill the enemy or a given hostile, or make token gestures to give first aid or help refugees evacuate. How they're portrayed here in this context is that they're the oh so perfect and benevolent saviors that the uncivilized fantasy world needs to have peace at last, and they're the only good people in two bloody worlds populated entirely by people who wouldn't be out of place in a Saturday morning cartoon.
It's not about heroic ideals. It's not about helping people. It's not about using violence in a necessary manor, respecting the plight of the soldier, discussing the true horror of war or protecting and helping those that need it. No. GATE is about glorifying the actions of a country and those who act in its name. It's about how easily violence is justified and even something to be commended because your guys did it to the enemy. It's about how the third world needs more advanced nations to take over their way of life and make it better through force. It's evil. It's vile. It makes my skin crawl.
When a series has waifu bullshit at work, and that's nowhere near top or the middle of my list of complaints, that should tell you how bad it is. Do not ever watch GATE, even for hate watching. Let this nationalist vomit drain into the gutter.
No Recommendation, dropped at episode three
God Eater
Joe Straatmann
The world of 2071 has been essentially taken over by monsters known as the Aragami. Mankind's last hope is Fenrir, an organization that creates God Arcs, weapons made from cells of the Aragami. Warriors infused with Aragami cells are also called to use them, and there are more adaptable people called new-types who have the potential to turn the tide. Our new-type hero is fresh recruit Lenka, and he's a loose cannon who doesn't play by the rules. Like a more somber Maverick in Top Gun, he even gets a senior officer who yells at him for his ego writing checks his body can't cash, though it's Tsubaki, a woman with gigantic boobs who either wears practical back bracing or an impractical corset, instead of Mr. Strickland from Back to the Future. After a day or two of training, the Aragami attack Fenrir's base, Lenka runs out against orders, and gets his ass handed to him almost immediately. Oh, sure, he eventually does get to show off his "he was born special" gift to save someone, but it also costs a member of the 1st squad, the most elite God Eaters in Fenrir. This happens to open up a slot for Lenka, and despite blatant insubordination, he gets into Top Gun... er, 1st squad at the recommendation of squad leader Lindow Amamiya (Who has a lit cigarette in his mouth no matter what) because he likes the kid's guts. At least Lenka has to spend some time in the brig for insubordination and he has to live with getting someone killed, so it's not like his recklessness has no penalty.
Obviously, this is a series loaf of inspirations thrown together to make something else. Even the flashbacks that explain the Aragami developing from a scientific breakthrough are cribbed from the Will Smith iteration of I Am Legend. Like the game it's based on, derivative doesn't automatically mean bad. Outside of the small visual flairs, the animation pulls the trick of having the character coloring like the visual novel parts of a video game in motion. It weirdly works, showing its gaming origins without kowtowing to it. Even if everything is derivative, I was never particularly bored even if I was waiting for developments that were sensed from the outset. Everything else seems nominal.
Forgive my brevity on this series. The premier was delayed, leaving this with only two episodes out so far. Outside the fairly clichéd introduction to the people and setting, there's not a whole lot to discuss. Maaya Sakamoto's character Alisa seems like she's about to unleash some awesome upon the world in an air battle, so it promises some excitement to come. We'll just have to wait and see if it's an empty promise.
Weak Recommendation
Himouto! Umaru-chan
Danni Wilmoth
Umaru Doma is nothing short of the perfect student. She's beautiful, graceful, intelligent, athletic, and popular. She is admired by all except her older brother, who has become well-acquainted with the REAL Umaru. As soon as she steps through the door, Umaru transforms into an otaku who does nothing but whine, game, and pester her older brother. Due to the fact she dons a hamster hood and turns chibi-like at home, her brother has nicknamed her the "Himouto."
Himouto! Umaru-chan is the latest anime from Masahiko Oota, who you might recognize as the director of the widely-beloved comedy Yuru Yuri, and it shows rather well. While the lesbian humor Yuru Yuri is famous for is absent from Himouto, the director carried over the shows hilarious visuals, slapstick humor, and episodes filled with short skits as opposed to consistent plots. The end result is what's most likely the zaniest anime of this season. Umaru is an absolute nightmare who never ceases to annoy and manipulate her innocent onii-chan. She's whiny, messy, lazy, and prone to tantrums. Through all of this she somehow manages to remain be lovable and endearing to watch. I have to admit that's not exactly a universal opinion, though. I've seen many people drop the show and dismiss it because they find Umaru so god damn annoying. I can understand this. One's enjoyment of Himouto is largely dependent on how much they like watching horrible people be horrible people (On a related note, It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia is one of my favorite comedies).
Umaru's tantrums, however funny they may be, would obviously get old quickly. Thankfully, Himouto features a lot of visual and slapstick comedy that complement each other well. Animation is somewhat limited, but the animators at Doga Kobo make up for this by using lots of visual smears that sort of remind me of those found in Looney Tunes. Shortcuts like that not only provide wonderful screenshot-fodder, but also freed up their time to focus on making each frame look as sharp and vibrant as it does. My biggest concern heading into this season is whether or not Himouto can remain interesting as a full 24-minute show that only uses short gags. We're slowly being introduced to the lives and characters of Umaru's school friends, so it's likely that watching all the characters play off each other more and more will keep it interesting, as opposed to a full season of Umaru annoying her onii-chan. So far, though, I'd have to say Himouto is one of my season favorites.
Strong Recommendation
Million Doll
Stephanie Getchell
While the series has an ok start, I do have to say it's not the brightest crayon in the box. In fact it has really really terrible CGI.... Wanna know how bad? The soldiers in Arslan are actually tolerable compared to the CGI in Million Doll. Yeah... That says a lot. Even the 2D is rather sloppy at points. It's bad because there are plenty of other shorts that actually tried to look nice, but this one doesn't really do that. My other main problem is the story itself as it's actually rather dull to me. I tried to enjoy it, however it was really hard for me to get into and it became boring not even a minute into the second episode. While parts of it were interesting, mostly the possible war between the blogger girl and Ryuu, the rest just kind of fell flat to me. It's difficult to really watch shorts and decide what you like and where the show is even going. It's easy to see what Million Doll plans to do, however it's harder to really find things for me to like about it. I've decided to spend my first drop of the season on Million Doll because of this. At least the three actual series I have and even Danchigai are fun and interesting to me in some way. Million Doll, not so much.
Weak Recommendation, dropped at episode two
Monster Musume: Everyday Life With Monster Girls
Jonathan Kaharl
For those new to one of the biggest manga sensations in years (really), the series takes place in a near future where humankind and monsterkind have started a cultural exchange program, with monster people living with host families of humans to learn more about human society and help transition the various races to co-existence as a larger society. Our main character, Kimihito Kurusu (or as he's more commonly called, "Darling" or "Master"), ended up being a host family by complete accident gaining one more house guest in the form of a lamia named Miia. Her handler, Miss Smith, picked the wrong house by accident and never corrected the mistake because Miss Smith does not give any fucks. It's not long before things become more complicated as Smith dumps more monster girls on Darling, including a birdbrain harpie with no common sense or even the most basic intelligence named Papi, and a big breasted centaur knight (basically Saber as a horse with huge boobs) named Cerea. Cue Darling getting hit and scratched by accident constantly as his monster maidens keep trying to jump his bones or prevent others from jumping his bones. Or sometimes just because they're clumsy.
This should be terrible, but Monster Musume really sells its premise by giving every character personalities informed by their species and by mixing in a ton of legitimately funny slapstick and verbal gags. Even the gross sex stuff manages to sometimes work by mixing itself with a joke, or by subverting expectations (as we'll see with Suu soon). The anime doesn't quite have the same balance, though. When it does gross stuff, it lingers too long and just makes things uncomfortable, though only some of the time. Papi bathing in a public fountain (she thinks it's a bird bath, get it?) works, Cerea having her boobs grabbed during a chase scene and Miia's early morning antics are much more questionable in how they're framed. I think because Papi has no idea what sex even is makes dirty jokes with her work, because Darling isn't ever trying anything, he just gets caught up in the crazy and things keep happening. Cerea and Miia do get it, which frames their scenes in a much creepier light when they try jokes with them (though Miia getting a literal cold shower is pretty clever).
The show can only get better from here, as the staff is showing they get the source material. They're being faithful and not cutting any really good jokes. The only change that I don't think works is Yu Kobayashi as Smith. Everyone else is well casted (especially Miia), but the most arguably talented person here seems like she's phoning it in or being directed poorly. Smith being so laid back or seductive feels off right now, but some of her crazier, devil may care attitude is already starting to leak out at points, so maybe she can make this work. She's fantastic as Angelica in Classroom Crisis, so let's see what happens once Mon appears.
At the end of the day, I can only describe this series with one famous quote from a particularly wise man.
*ahem*
"theres actually zero difference between good & bad things. you imbecile. you fucking moron."
Solid Recommendation
My Wife is the Student Council President
Joe Straatmann
This very shallow story involves Hayato Izumi, a student who lost in a landslide to classmate Ui Wakana in the student council president election. Despite her charisma (Which is mostly portrayed as people talking about how much she draws people to her), her main platform is students being able to express their love freely, as shown by an all-student assembly where she throws condoms into the crowd. This isn't properly set up and isn't really consistent with what little of the character there is, so the entire joke is condoms=funny! Everyone who hates Shimoneta, watch a couple episodes of this and then apologize to the decent series. Anyhoo, one night Hayato comes home and finds Ui waiting for him, and apparently, both their parents who are conveniently overseas arranged a marriage between them, making Ui his semi-official waifu. This greatly confuses Hayato, but eventually, he gets used to to idea and they almost have sexy time, but they're both super virgins so it doesn't happen. Besides some noise from disciplinary committee head Rin and her little sidekick who exists to hold up her boobs (Less funny than it sounds), that's the story.
I don't even want to rip into this series because I would be putting more effort into doing so than was put into making it. Ui has almost no character and is strangely set up like the female version of a main erogame character rather than an object of desire. Hayato is the typical guy who gets in a wacky situation and overreacts to everything until he gets used to the idea when his hormones have their say. Is this supposed to be for male and female audiences who have a self-insert character fetish? I'm sure it exists. There is no attempt to get this anywhere near where we'd buy the characters just accepting their fate, and the humor is ecchi 101. The only funny part to every episode is when they have a random playhouse where they suddenly have the characters in pop-out paper form and either re-inact scenes from earlier or do something else entirely. That is not the funny part. There is a scroll at the bottom that usually accompanies most anime with the advisory, "Watch in a brightly-lit room and blah blah blah." It is turned into a stream of consciousness discussing the weather, the nature of legends, or whatever the hell else is on the writer's mind. Other than that, worthless. Most of you have already ignored this thing's existence. Please continue to do so.
No Recommendation
Overlord
Jonathan Kaharl
The premise to Overlord is just incredible. It is seriously one of the most brilliant ideas I've ever seen, mixing together human ego, responsibility of creation, natural rights, the foundation of faith or worship, and so, so much more. Momonga himself is easily one of the most interesting main characters I have ever seen, incredibly admirable in such complex and relatable ways, and leaving so much up to audience interpretation. His kindness isn't harem protagonist kindness, it's genuine and built on his past relationship with his friends. The devotion of his followers also comes from them seeing him as a god, and wanting to believe that he can be the god they truly desire, despite him not seeing himself as that. I even think one of the followers is trying to convince Momonga a little, which is a really nice touch. While I'm watching this show and see Momonga just talking about the state of the world with his smartest man or giving some water or a ring to two of his younger followers for a job well done, I actually feel something. I connect with this character more than I've ever connected to a character before, and I mean this from the bottom of my heart.
But what's keeping this series from being one of the best of the season is two-fold. First off, it is one of the slowest shows I have ever seen. Almost nothing in these first two episodes has happened besides setting up the premise and Momonga slowly learning more about his new nature as a lich. A lot of people dropped because of this, and I totally get why. There's also harem trappings here, and they do get tiring. Thankfully, Momonga has his sex drive missing in his new form (which I hope means he becomes an asexual antihero), but his followers, not so much. Albedo, the head of his followers, was a character he re-wrote some details on before the world changed, and so now she loves him. Madly. Like, she goes full Yuno Gasai at the drop of a hat. It's damn entertaining, but I fear it's going to cut into the series more meaningful subtext and themes, as she ruins a beautiful moment between Momonga and Mare. Shalltear is also kind of crazy in this regard, but damn if I didn't laugh over just how open she is about it.
Overlord needs to kick into gear soon. It has the premise to be something truly amazing, but it could stumble so easily if it falls into the dreaded light novel adaptation trap of focusing more on the text than the visuals. But I don't plan on ever dropping this. There's something beautiful to this series at its core, and idea that talks about faith in a way I've never seen, and it touched me in my rotting heart. It has my attention for good, I just hope it rewards me for it. Come for the thematic depth and two crazy demon yanderes, just don't expect a lot of thrills.
Solid Recommendation
Prison School
Jonathan Kaharl
If Monster Musume was one of the two especially infamous manga getting shows this season, the other was Prison School, and it probably deserves that status far more. Prison School was a manga born from spite and hatred. His award winning series about the blues sold like garbage, so he decided to give the filthy masses exactly what he wanted and made the worst possible erotic manga he could think of, with chapters upon chapters of guys being abused by women who are sick and tired of their perverted shit. But then a weird thing happened. Prison School became popular. Very popular. When that happened, the creator decided that if he was going to make this is success story, he might as well make it actually good. The end result is one of the funniest sex comedies ever made, mainly because it came from the hand and mind of a fantastic talent that would normally never stoop to content like this. Piss jokes and the main character commenting that he is indeed looking at. her. fucking. nipple. were matched by complex character relationships, unexpected depth, and a brilliant comedic touch.
The anime could not possibly be more perfect. Let me make this perfectly clear; Prison School isn't just one of the best anime of the season, it's in the top five for the year alongside Yurikuma Arashi, Maria the Virgin Witch, Sound! Euphonium, and Blood Blockade Battlefront. Hell, it may be better than two or three of these shows when all is said and done.
And man oh man, I kind of love how fucked up the show makes me seem for liking it.
The premise of the series is utterly ridiculous. A group of perverted boys end up at an all-girls school that went co-ed, though with only those five making it in. They all have no luck with the girls, except for Kiyoshi, who befriends a cute girl named Chiyo through a weird sumo eraser his mom gave him. They set a date, but Kiyoshi ends up going along with his idiot friends on a peeping mission, and the lot of them get caught by the underground student council, three powerful students with incredible influence in the school, including the chairman's crow controlling daughter. They end up in an on-school prison and have to serve out a service and do hard labor. Thing is, Kiyoshi's date with Chiyo is during this sentence, so he has to escape as fast as possible.
What makes this series so amazing is all of the details. The art style is weirdly realistic at points, creating a strange atmosphere from its deranged premise. The characters have little personality quirks that get built up over time, like the chairman's noble pervert personality and Hana's obsession with learning how boys work down there. Relationships get built up in surprising ways, particularly between Hana and Kiyoshi. The anime adds to all of this by kicking up the pacing from ludicrous to plaid. The first episode goes over the entirety of the first volume and forces you to just accept all the madness you're witnessing, with no room to breathe of think. Everyone reacts differently to that first episode, and every reaction is spot on. The second episode keeps up the pacing as well, but it does it by cutting out pauses and focusing instead of comedic timing, punctuating jokes far more than the source material did. The chairman is a comedy revelation here, even more so that he was in the manga (I hope they animate the scene where he has a serious conversation with the boys on why they like asses over boobs). And the casting, my god. Keiji Fujiwari and Kana Hanazawa deserve awards for their portrayals of the chairman and Hana.
I could go on and on about why this series is amazing. The production, the direction, the art, the color pallet, the flow of scenes, the rapid fire pace of fantastic jokes, the sheer absurd haze it creates near perfectly. Oh, and of course every single time bodily functions or sexual perversion becomes the subject of the story. Now this is how I want my sex comedy to be; completely unrestrained, self-aware, and completely lacking in any sane major characters. This is the perfect way to end the week, trust me.
Strong Recommendation
Ranpo Kitan: Game of Laplace
Stephanie Getchell
Kobayashi is a 13 year old middle school boy who seems to go through life every day trying to find something that will excite his boring life. One day, he wakes up to find himself at school and his homeroom teacher in front of him, dead, and a bloody hand saw in his hands. Suddenly, Kobayashi becomes the prime suspect of the murder and he becomes hurled into the world of mystery thanks to young genius detective Akechi. Kobayashi helps solve the mystery and is able to clear his name of any wrongdoing, all the while begging Akechi to take him on as his assistant. The rather aloof teen, reluctantly, agrees. The duo, as well as Kobayashi's class rep and friend Hashiba, begin to solve even more mysteries of varying dark and gritty elements.
One of the larger pieces for people to know going into this series, especially if you're not from Japan or haven't read any Japanese mystery novels, is that all the stories in this series are based on the work of Rampo Edagawa; the man who helped shape Japanese mystery fiction from the 1920s to around the 1960s. Not only that, but the characters are from his novels. Specifically Akechi and Kobayashi, though it's possible that Hashiba and the detectives are recurring characters as well. Want to know how big of a deal he is? His stories and even his name have been used in anime and manga to many extents including The Daughter of Twenty Faces and Case Closed, while well known manga artists and authors have adapted his stories into manga. Ranpo Kitan, as a series, is primarily meant to commemorate Edagawa's passing fifty years ago.
This is actually the last summer series I watched for this first report (I wrote this up on Wednesday, fyi), so you can imagine that I've been hearing quite a few different things seeing as how this was among the first summer shows to begin and is currently the one with the most episodes out by the time this report goes up. I've seen things such as dislike for the animation, interest in the story, and even a kind of WTF mentality when it comes to the characters. Here's my take on all this... The animation is really stunning, and it actually reminds me a lot of Shiki with the stylistic choices and the darker color scheme that it decides to go with. However, the use of character introductions as well as Kobayashi's view of the people around him, while creative, isn't really all that necessary. I can't say it was a budget issue because when we spend a little time with Hashiba in the second episode, we can clearly see every one rather than solid colored humans, so this is clearly a stylistic choice. I understand the reason behind this choice, however I think it could have been handled differently than how it has been so far.
Story and character wise, there is a strong Sherlock Holmes vibe coming from it, which would make a lot of sense. I wouldn't be surprise if I did more research into Edagawa and found out that Conan Doyle was an influence of his and his work. Akechi is, clearly, the Japanese version of Holmes except as a teenager and with a much more mellow personality while Kobayashi doesn't really make a connection to Watson that much except for the need of some excitement in his life. Personality wise, a connection to Hashiba would make more sense. The story looks to be taking a more episodic approach with a "mystery of the week" kind of direction. This works in order to adapt both well known and not so well known Edagawa stories, but this could be a problem if you're looking into the accuracy of those stories. For western viewers, this may be less of an issue as it's very unlikely that a great number of people have read his work. In Japan, it could be a different story, but since I haven't read of Edagawa's novels I personally can't say for sure. Thus far, The Human Chair and Shadow-Man have been adapted. It's unclear which one will be next, however since there is a character named Black Lizard it's a safe bet that The Black Lizard will be adapted at some point in the series.
As a fan of mystery, this is a dream come true! However, there are some things that both work rather well and yet also aren't all that necessary. The idea of even adapting Edagawa's work seems like something that is long overdue because of how well known in Japan he is, and yet we haven't seen it happen in anime, really, at all! It will be interesting to see, in the coming weeks, the tone and direction it plans to take itself and how well these stories will be adapted and how the progression of the cast of characters will be. I plan to follow this series regardless of how bad it may get, but I do plan to try my damnedest to be as critical as possible and not just let my fan girl tendencies go off the walls. Does this mean my current recommendation is based on those tendencies? A tiny bit, however I think that the series is going in the right direction and is picking the stories that have yet to be seen in anime and are done, hopefully, how Edagawa wanted them to. My only gripe is that we need more Akechi since he is the genius detective. I do think Kobayashi is an interesting character, however, out of the main trio, Akechi hasn't had a whole lot of development time. Something I hope is rectified in the near future.
Strong Recommendation
Rokka: Braves of the Six Flowers
David O'Neil
The premise itself isn't hugely unique, a story taking place in a fantasy world where the most powerful warriors in the land are chosen by a god to defeat an ominous evil force threatening the kingdom, and the journey of those chosen as their varying personalities and ideals start to clash upon encountering each other. With that said, the show still manages to stand out through it's skillful, slow storytelling. More often than not I consider a show being "slow" to be a bad thing, as I typically prefer my anime to move at a brisk pace rather than to draw things out more than necessary, but Rokka is what I'd call "effectively slow". Three episodes in the show has only introduced four of the seven protagonists, and much of the show is spent on one on one conversations between characters that can go on for a significant amount of time, but despite this the series never wastes a moment. The dialogue is geared less towards droning exposition, or outright stating things about characters and their motivations, and more so towards naturally building its characters and world through conversation. Small details in character's actions and words slowly reveal their true nature past the initial impression they make, along with progressively feeding details on the major conflict at the center of the show's world, and how that world is dealing with the conflict. Despite all the talking, Rokka constantly stays engaging because at every moment we're learning about the characters, their motivations, and their place in the show's world, all often without ever explicitly stating anything.
In terms of presentation, the show is a tad mixed. It's remarkably well directed, there are a variety of gorgeous shots, dynamic fight choreography, and clever use of lighting and visual cues to get across actions and ideas simply and effectively. It also boasts a unique setting, diverging from the typical elves and castles of anime fantasy in favor of a more Mayan inspired architecture and cultures. On the other hand, the show's visual polish isn't consistent, on occasion characters faces will get messy and uneven in long distance shots. In addition, the show's CG, which is used on all the monsters fought in the show, doesn't quite impress. They look good enough that it doesn't severely hurt the experience, but at times they can be jarring, especially at first. But still, these are small blemishes in what is so far a well crafted narrative with plenty of interesting characters, and the kind of slow build, character driven storytelling that isn't incredibly common in this genre.
Strong Recommendation
SCHOOL-LIVE!
Danni Wilmoth
W-wait
a second. Why do they have desks stacked in the hallway like that? Why
can we hear a breeze even though the windows are closed? It's kind of
weird they have a random cross in their garden isn't it? Is that broken
glass? I don't underst-
O-oh.
Oh God...
So, I can safely say SCHOOL-LIVE was
my most anticipated anime heading into this season. I first stumbled
across the premise while looking through the summer anime chart. I asked
around and heard good things about the manga. I was ecstatic when I
found out I'd be reviewing it. I'm glad that excitement hasn't been for
naught, because what we've seen so far has been amazing.
If you aren't yet aware of SCHOOL-LIVE's
premise, I suggest you stop reading this right now and immediately
watch episode one. Make sure you stick through to the end.
If you're already aware of the show's premise, you might be a bit skeptical. This is more than understandable. SCHOOL-LIVE's
whole premise relies on mashing an overused genre in Western media
together with an overused genre in anime. It's pretty logical to expect
that you'd expect the end result to be a show that bores you with two
types of genre tropes instead of one. Let me assure you, SCHOOL-LIVE is
anything but boring. In fact, this show might have the best directing
of the season. Despite the fact that the real world and Yuki's moe
delusions constantly bleed into each other, it never becomes too hard to
follow what is real and what isn't. The show reaches some very moe
places, but manages to dive to dark depths without giving the viewer
tonal whiplash. In fact, one could argue that the show remains dark even
in its moe moments. As soon as the curtain is pulled back at the end of
episode one, the moe scenes don't feel very moe anymore. As straight as
they seem to be played, it's impossible for the viewer to view them as
adorable now that they know the truth. The context suddenly switches to
tragedy. The explicitly dark scenes are wonderfully directed as well.
The scenes instantly take on a more cinematic form and show wonderful
understanding of visual language. One scene depicts life before the
apocalypse in a very romantic, storybook fashion. This scene is
shattered as everything shifts into horror mode and the zombies appear.
One of my favorite stylistic choices used in scenes like this is in how
they chose to circumvent censors. The contrast in these scenes is turned
way up until we mostly just see shades of red, white, and black. The
zombies are either blurred out or covered in dark shrouds. This is
obviously meant to act as a censor to the gore, but they manage to apply
it for thematic purposes. In one scene where Kurumi takes on a zombie
by herself, the creature is initially covered by black shrouds. Kurumi
attacks the zombie, causing it to drop a cell phone holding a picture of
the former girl and her boyfriend. Kurumi notices the cell phone and
reacts in horror. As it reminds her of the zombie's former humanity, the
black shroud begins to disappear. It stops looking like a formless
monster in her eyes and starts looking like the human it once was.
The
show's only major weakness comes in the form of its first episode
twist, which also remains one of its greatest strengths. The apocalypse
twist at the very end of episode one spins everything preceding it on
its head, but only if you make it that far without getting bored. The
first episode plays itself up a LOT as just a regular moe school club
comedy, which it does almost too perfectly. To an unknowing spectator,
it could definitely seem like just another generic show. If I hadn't
been made aware of the premise beforehand, I probably wouldn't have
bothered to watch SCHOOL-LIVE. It's the kind of anime that would
benefit most from word of mouth marketing, since people don't usually
like being spoiled. So here's what you should do. First, tell your
friends to watch SCHOOL-LIVE, make sure they don't look up anything about it beforehand, and tell them to stick with it through the whole first episode.
Oh, and don't forget to pull up a seat beside them. You're gonna want to see their face when the shoe finally drops.
Strong Recommendation
Seiyu's Life
David O'Neil
The show is centered around three newcomer voice actresses trying to make a name in the business, Futaba, a worried, somewhat clumsy girl who often caves under pressure, Ichigo Moesaki, an eccentric girl who acts under the persona of being a "Strawberry Princess" from space, and Rin Kohana, a calm and talented voice actress, despite still being in high school. The show and its characters are just downright funny, tons of great, clever gags both playing off their differing personalities of the characters and various adventures trying to achieve their aspirations. Most importantly, it really nails the chemistry between the three which is important as that's actually a plot point in the show, as the three are chosen to host a Web Radio show because of their strong comedic chemistry and goofy conversations. They're most adorable to watch when together, bouncing jokes off of each other to great success. As mentioned earlier, another prominent aspect of the show is its frequent pieces of trivia and insight into anime voice acting. While these little factoids are interesting, they're integration into the show is far from graceful. Rather than simply working the information into the dialogue, the show constantly brings its pacing to a halt to have a stuffed animal mascot explain things about voice acting, often even explaining things just said or shown through character actions or dialogue. It's lazy, jarring, and just a tad bit insulting to the audience's intelligence, spelling everything out rather than letting people figure it out through simple observation. I would like to give credit to the show's portrayal of the anime voice acting industry. I was worried it'd unrealistically glorify it, but it does take into account the harsh realities of the career field as well, such as two of the thee main characters having to work part-time jobs to get by, and the highly competitive (and often unfair) nature of role auditions.
The series is animated by Gonzo, who's reputation has leaned on the side of infamous as of late. Despite creating some classics, they've also had a reputation for lesser shows, and inconsistent animation quality, and haven't created a well received show in years. So it comes as a big surprise that Seiyu's Life is actually one of the better animated shows to come out this season. The art style is simple, but the character animation is filled to the brim with energy, it has heavy use of smears, morphing, crazy faces, wieght-y character acting, dancing animation, mecha animation, the list goes on. It's hardly gorgeous, but there's a surprising breadth to the amount of high quality, interesting animation put into this. Overall, Seiyu's Life may not very effectively blend its voice acting trivia with the rest of the show as well as it could have, but beyond that it still succeeds as a well animated slice of life comedy with cute characters and great humor.
Strong Recommendation
SHIMONETA: A Boring World Where the Concept of Dirty Jokes Doesn’t Exist
Joe Straatmann
All I ask for is a bit of structure before everyone goes maniacal with double entendres and Shimoneta provides it. It's the future and Japan has cleaned up its act, completely abolishing porn, sex education, and any filthy language period (Most likely a reference to recent decency acts implemented by Japan). To ensure compliance, all citizens have devices called PMs around their necks (Still trying to figure out if that's a dig at Japan's infamously conservative Prime Minister Shinzo Abe or not) that monitors everything they do and will remove the person from society if they so much as make the wrong euphemism. A generation is moving into society not know anything about reproduction and the awkwardness has turned them into a bizarre mesh of innocence and urges they can't explain with no outlet.
Main character Tanukichi Okuma would be perfectly happy existing in this society after having his father become shackled and shamed as an infamous porn terrorist. He transfers from a high school with the lowest morality ratings (Seemingly replacing grades in importance) to becoming a student council representative with Anna, his crush and pure-hearted daughter of the politician who instigated the entire social shift. Unbeknownst to everyone, also in the student council is Ayame Kajou, the mild-mannered identity of Blue Snow, the head of porn terrorist group SOX who wears panties on her face as a "hero" disguise. With Tanukichi's checkered past, she sees him as the perfect recruit to spread their ideals of imparting sexual knowledge upon the school with porn raining from the rafters or secretly teaching the word vagina in an eye test. If nothing else, he looks decent in a dress and makes a clever decoy.
What follows is Tanukichi being pulled between his dream of a pure romance with Anna and his realization under Ayame's forced recruitment that there is something seriously wrong with the world. Along the way, they pick up other confused classmates like science club member Hyouka who is trying to figure out how reproduction happens from scratch and artist Otome whose short stature hides a dominant personality with a strangely older voice to match. If there was a comparison I could make, it would be to the Farrelly Brothers, directors of Dumb and Dumber. They've garnered a reputation for humor that dives head-first into gross-out, sex, or a combination of the two, but at their best, they have a certain gentleness for their characters. As much as Tanukichi is a target for cross-dressing and grave misunderstandings involving his sexual knowledge, it understands him and Ayame as teenagers who feel alienated in their society and reacting to it in vastly different ways. It sympathizes with everyone, and the easy target, Anna, is actually the most lovable character as she is greatly accepting of everyone than what her social representation would have you believe. The Farrelly comparison is especially apt when one considers episode three is this series' version of There's Something About Mary where most of the main and supporting cast find out everyone either loves or looks up to Anna in some way. What I'm saying this show treats the people as people and not objects of ridicule with one or two funny traits.
The sum of this series is transferring the energy of a serious cautionary tale into a sex comedy. For those who think everything is too extreme, let's remember that it's not likely we're going to eat manufactured people squares or burn every book in existence either. Cautionary tales are usually extreme by nature to reveal the potential direction we could be heading and to be mindful to not do that. Of course, that doesn't mean it's good. To be honest, I found Soylent Green dreadfully dull. Here, J.C. Staff manages to find a visual style of censor circles and suggestive imagery that works around network standards as a clever meta way to get the right feel. Jokes are often in your face, such as when Ayame uses a loophole she found to say whatever she wants for a few minutes a day and crams every dirty phrase she can think of into the conversation, but it works in a few surprises, too. My favorite is when Anna stumbles onto a picture she thinks is a lovely depiction of a woman eating a mushroom that would be just darling in the student council room, and... it so isn't a mushroom. The obvious innuendos may grate on the taste of some and not everything hits its mark. I find science club member Hyouka more creepy than funny. Still, as a sexual somewhat sci-fi cautionary satire thing, it's pretty good.
Solid Recommendation
Sky Wizards Academy
Danni Wilmoth
Sure, if it wasn't for light novels we wouldn't have Durarara!! or Baccano, I realize that. At what point, though, will we realize that enough is enough? Sure we've gotten a few good LNs, but is the wait for a few good ones worth the ever-growing mountain of shitty ones that keep getting made into anime?! If you've even watched only the first few minutes of Sky Wizards Academy, your answer should be no.
Stop me if any of this concept starts sounding good. In the future, giant magic CG Devil Beetles have consumed the earth and driven humans into living in floating cities powered by magic. Teenagers are sent to a special academy where they can hone their magic and skills in magical gunsword combat. While in the academy they are grouped into teams where they not only fight the magical CG insects, they also fight each other for sport. Our hero,
Shitty ones, that's what.
Look, the very first shot in the entire anime is of a horde of CG beetles. Throughout the rest of the scene there's more CG than 2D animation as we watch
Unfortunately, their personalities are also as bland as their designs.
Finally, being an ecchi, Sky Wizards is rife with gratuitous fanservice. For one, the girls all fly around in the air while wearing skirts, providing us with panty shots. Additionally, we're treated to multiple cases of the girls arguing about bust sizes. Last but certainly not least, the girls are frequently given opportunities to yell about how much of a pervert their new instructor is. In his first interaction with Misora, they bump into each other. They somehow tumble down in such a way that she's left straddling his crotch while he cups her chest. As he gets up she sees that her toast has landed on and stuck to his pants crotch. He removes his pants and finds a sink to wash them, where he happens upon Rico for the first time. She's understandably put off by the fact he's talking to her while half-naked. He then takes refuge in a bathroom, which turns out to be the girls' bathroom that Lechty requires service of. At the end of episode two, he walks into a changing room the girls are using to talk to them. He's somehow surprised by the fact that they are naked. In episode three he "trains" Lechty to not be shy by dressing her up in a skimpy maid outfit and having her work as a waitress. Also in that episode he somehow goes from having his hand covering Misora's mouth to having both his hands groping her boobs. Hilarious!
I told myself that Sky Wizards Academy had until our first seasonal installment to convince me to keep watching. As of now three episodes have aired and I've regretted sitting through every moment of them. Don't bother with this show.
No Recommendation, dropped at episode three
Snow White with the Red Hair
David O'Neil
Based (very) loosely on the tale of Snow White, the show follows a young female herbalist named Shirayuki with unusual, bright red hair. She becomes well known in the kingdom for her unique beauty, enough that the prince of the kingdom demands that she become his concubine. She escapes the city, where she meets a boy named Zen. As chance would have it, Zen is the prince of a neighboring kingdom, and prevents Shirayuki from being taken by the other prince. Right off the bat it should be noted: This show is cheesy as hell. It's filled to the brim with near cringe-worthy moments of chivalry, luck, and corny romantic lines. Personally, I think that's a part of the fun, but not everyone may be able to stomach it's unabashed, wholly sincere old fashioned romantic nature. Shirayuki is a large part of why the show succeeds despite its somewhat tired material. She's energetic, strong willed, and isn't just a love interest waiting to be saved by the prince. There are certainly situations where the prince shows up to save the girl, but more often than not she boasts incredible wit and confidence, at one point escaping captivity through planning and smart thinking and in another standing up to threats to her life with unwavering courage. She's sweet and likable, but also determined to achieve her goals through her own effort and strength. The rest of the cast isn't quite as fleshed out so far, but Shirayuki easily makes up for it.
As I tend to expect from director Masahiro Ando, one of Snow White with the Red Hair's most impressive aspects is its visuals. While the character designs are fairly simple, a large amount of effort is put into character animation, with some great key animation work going into scenes with tons of movement and varied facial expressions. Much of the time it's fairly restrained, but brief cuts of exceptional animation work to great effect assuring the most important scenes leave an impact, along with the great musical score from Oshima. The show overall just looks pretty as well, with gorgeous backgrounds and bright colors throughout. Snow White with the Red Hair treads some well-worn material, but does so well, with enrapturing visuals and a delightful protagonist.
Solid Recommendation
Ushio and Tora
David O'Neil
Ushio was just an ordinary, athletically adept, art loving, hot tempered high schooler who happened to be best friends with the two prettiest girls in school (shonen anime) when one day he found a secret cellar under the temple he and his father live in, hiding away a powerful tiger-like Spirit pinned to the wall by a spear. At first Ushio leaves it be, but when evil spirits start attacking him and his friends he removes the spear and forces the spirit he dubs "Tora" to help him fight off the demons (albeit, to the spirit's great distaste). Although it certainly ins't the most original set up out there, plain and simple Ushio and Tora is pure, unadulterated fun. A big part of this is thanks to the two title characters and their relationship, one laden with contention and mutual distrust, but in an adorable, and constantly charming sort of way. They constantly threaten, attack, and insult each other in hilarious ways, making it all the more satisfying when the time comes for them to put aside their differences and tear apart some monsters together. Although they're both loud and unapologetically over the top, they never comes off as obnoxious. It's just clever and restrained enough with their hate/respect relationship that their antagonistic hijinks are always a joy to watch. It's that special sort of "no one gets to kill you but ME" relationship that only gets done quite this well every so often.
Past that, the show so far has overall been just been solidly executed enough all around to make its fun, crazy tone shine through. The animation and action aren't especially extravagant (other than the absolutely insane Opening), but it's presented in a way that really sells that classic, 90s feel of cheesy, edgy action through and through. It balances its tone perfectly, switching between childish goofiness, grim seriousness, and boisterous, exciting action without missing a beat. It's a difficult feat to pull off, but this show does so while making it look easy in the process. Anyone looking for a fun time with cool action and cooler characters should find exactly what they're looking for with Ushio and Tora.
Strong Recommendation
Wakaba*Girl
Danni Wilmoth
Wakaba Girl does
not fuck around. At the beginning of the new school year, first-year
students Moe, Mao, Nao, and Wakaba all decide to become friends for no
reason other than the fact they all sit together. It's soon discovered
that Wakaba is a sheltered girl from a rich family whose biggest dream
in life is to become a high school girl. More accurately, she wants to
be a "gyaru," a member of a Japanese subculture for women that mostly
focuses on fashion and a more 'childish' way of life. Moe, Mao, and Nao
decide they'll do their best to give Wakaba the high school life she's
always dreamt of.
Like
I said, this show doesn't fuck around. It wastes no time on setup and
has the girls acting like best friends virtually from the moment they
meet. Each and every episode is eight straight minutes of
moeblob-overdose as Wakaba bakes cupcakes, wears a miniskirt, takes
pictures of food, plays a BL game, and mistakes a cordless phone for a
cell phone. You know, things every girl does in high school. There's
virtually no characterization whatsoever. Wakaba is the sheltered
airhead, Nao is the fujoshi, Moe is the team mom, and Mao just does
whatever.
Every new season brings a fresh batch of slice of life shows using tired moe tropes we've seen over and over before. Wakaba Girl isn't
really different in this respect, which can understandably turn a lot
of viewers off. I've never really been a huge fan of those types of
shows either (I hate K-On!), but somehow Wakaba Girl has
managed to grow on me, which could be attributed to a number of things.
One of my favorite aspects of comedy anime is the funny range of facial
expressions utilized, and Wakaba Girl delivers in the face
department. Aside from the faces, it actually manages to be pretty
funny. Usually it's only funny in an adorable way, but there are some
great gags in it (The cordless phone gag is probably my favorite gag
from any anime this season). It's also quite a lovely show to look at.
Backgrounds are filled with bright pastels that look like they were
drawn for a children's book and the characters are always colorful and
cheerful. Above all though I suspect my enjoyment of this show comes
from the fact each episode is only eight minutes long. Each episode is
able to keep to a consistent plot despite being based on a 4koma strip.
It manages to use its time wisely to tell its short story and deliver
some gags while not overstaying its welcome and dragging on. It doesn't
have enough substance to provide a full meal, but it's just sweet and
sugary enough to satisfy my sweet tooth.
Solid Recommendation
Wakako-zake
Danni Wilmoth
If it sounds like there isn't much to Wakako-zake, it's because there isn't. For a minute and a half every week we get to see what combination of food and drink Wakako is having. We get to see her thoughts wander as she eats. Sometimes she'll ruminate on her day, but she mostly just thinks about how good her food is and ponders why people eat rice with fried salmon. I feel like I should be saying more about this show, but there's really nothing to say. The art style is kinda cute, and Miyuki Sawashiro offers a very subdued performance that manages to sound exactly like anyone would after a long day at the office.
As surprising as it may sound, Wakako-zake is actually fairly popular. It's not huge, mind you, so don't expect any Wakako dakimukara's to start popping up (If you do see any though, tell me. I want one). It has managed to garner a rather devout following. Last year it ranked 10th in the Nationwide Bookstore Employees' Recommended Comics list and even got a live-action drama. I must admit that I too have fallen for whatever Wakako-zake is selling. What it lacks in plot and basic storytelling, it more than makes up for in warmth and charm. There's little movement and animation and the art is as simple and subdued as the voice acting. It all works together to transport us into Wakako's happy place. For 90 seconds every week, we get to relax and recharge right beside her. So cuddle up with some blankets and give this show a minute and a half of your time. You've had a long day. You deserve it.
Strong Recommendation
Second Opinions
Actually, I Am
Jonathan: I like it. Sorta like Nozaki-kun crossed with Is This A Zombie, lots of cute relationship bits, lots of fun genre smashing that isn't done with the fitness of a person with a 1.3 blood alcohol level. Also adore the opening and ending songs, they're so unlike anything else I've heard from a show this year. Solid Recommendation
Aoharu X Machinegun
Jonathan: Now this is the type of shojo I can get behind. Witty, energetic, and willing to go there for a good laugh. The survival games thing is getting really old, really fast, but this series makes it work by giving us a lead that is just completely out of place in its main subject, along with a strong supporting cast, especially the possibly bisexual BDSM mangaki. He is the best character of this show, bar none. Lot to like, just not stellar in any given category. Solid Recommendation
Charlotte
Joe: This seems to know where it's going and has a sense of fun about it, so it's already better than Glasslip. Main character Yu takes a couple episodes to settle in because initially, he's a rat bastard risking the lives of others with secret super powers to get his crush. Most high school kids with super powers would do very similar things, frankly. Thankfully, the series is perfectly aware of how he comes off and sets him straight fairly quickly about just how much his screwing around could cost himself and his sister. The rest is an enjoyable look at super heroes with a team of high school kids whose powers aren't quite super. The teleportation that leads to ghastly head wounds is a smidgen over the top, but otherwise, it's a burst of entertainment I really needed this season. Solid Recommendation
Jonathan: I went ahead and dropped this one because it's a Key works anime (remember, they ruined everything!) and I have far too many other shows to watch. But in all honesty, there's promise here. The premise is strong, the animation is fantastic, and the main character is just such a lovable scumbag. The problem, and why I chose that this was something to drop, was that this is a Key anime, and the first episode already had hints that they were planning their old shenanigans again. I already have a good idea where this is headed based on experience, and I'm not interested in more magical fairy tale bullshit tragedy. But maybe this will be different ...is something I would say if I was still in that abusive relationship with them. But hey, if you don't have the sheer hatred boner I have for Key, give it a shot. Solid Recommendation, dropped at episode one
GANGSTA.
Stephanie: I am a sucker for the dark and gritty series. Not just because I'm a horror/mystery fan girl either. Gangsta is a great example of the kind of dark and gritty series I enjoy. The story has been fairly episodic right now with the intent on establishing recurring characters, such as Captain Chad and Dr. Theo, as well as the background as to Worick and Nick's lives and what and who they exactly are because it is very clear there is a long history between the two. It will be very interesting to see what Alex uncovers while working with the guys, and I am very curious about this world as well. Not just Worick and Nick's story, but the world itself and how it operates. While it's obvious that this series will be one of the bigger ones this season, it's also one of my favorites thus far and has caught my attention in a very big way. Strong Recommendation
God Eater
David: As of now, God Eater's story has absolutely nothing going for it. It's not often a show interests me quite so little as this did, but just about nothing in the first two episodes in terms of plot or characters made me the least bit care about it. Similar settings have been done in tons of other works, the main character is a piece of bland nothing so unbelievably bland he makes light novel harem protagonist look interesting, the characters all seem to exist purely for exposition (or underboob, in the case of the female characters), and the actual plot progression as of now has been some of the most basic formulaic schlock I've seen this season. "Stop Asking if We're Owned By Type-Moon" studio Ufotable seems to be betting it all on the visuals, putting a particularly high amount of effort into both the show's unique art style, and editing. The art style itself looks pretty good, characters are more detailed and feature more shading than typical in anime, but the editing simply comes off as jarring and obnoxious, with quick cuts and slow motion trying to spice things up, but in the end simply intruding on the experience. The animation itself is fine in the action, but you'll have to deal with some poor looking CG monsters nonetheless. Personally, I'm giving this show another episode to pick this up and at least turn into a fun bad show, but either way, God Eater is still a bad show. No Recommendation
Jonathan: GOD EATER!? I REMEMBER WHEN IT WAS CALLED ATTACK ON TITAN!! OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO- but in all seriousness, this is pretty pointless. Bad characters, bad costume design, bad CG. The back story is solid, and the weird CG/2D animation style has some strengths, but it's in service to one of the most tired plots imaginable. Does not help that the direction is like from a 90s music video or an early 2000s action movie, and oddly only in non-action scenes. Nothing about this grabs me. Wake me up when Ufotable does something interesting again. No Recommendation, dropped at episode one
Stephanie: God Eater is one of those cases where I could not wait to finish the episode because I didn't find much amusement out of it. Hell, I was ready to stop watching it about eight minutes in, but I decided to push through it. While it does look fine (CGI is one of my major gripes normally, but this was ok), it's the story and characters that come off rather bland. Try as I might, there's nothing noteworthy about this show for me and it's one that I'm fine not continuing. Some may try to convince me otherwise, but I'd rather not. It's one of the more boring for me, so why torment myself? Weak Recommendation, dropped at episode one
Himouto! Umaru-chan
Jonathan: I like it when otaku get a sense of humor about themselves, so when I see an anime or manga poking fun at their fanbase and doing it well, I usually like it. This is no exception, though it's a far cry from something like Watamote. Himouto is based off a short gag manga, and it shows, with all the jokes staying pretty traditional and safe. There's no dark or satirical edge, and the supporting cast distract a bit from the show's core strengths of Umaru's hedonistic and self-destructive life style clashing with her workaholic brother, but it gets a chuckle out of me here and there. What the anime enhances is visual gags, though, taking full advantage of Umaru's two personas and her cartoonish antics when not in the public eye. That additional touch is enough to give the show some much needed energy and make a bit more than just another drop in the pond. Solid Recommendation
Million Doll
Jonathan: This got no money at all, I take it. The premise of Million Doll could be cool, exploring the fan side of the idol scene, but it doesn't go far enough and lacks any real laughs. The idol characters are also the usual propagandist perfect moe blobs, so it's really hard to care about their plight. Just go watch Locodol if you want a good series about local level idols. No Recommendation
Monster Musume: Everyday Life With Monster Girls
Danni: I have mixed feelings about Monster Musume. On one hand, it does a lot of things I am 100% on-board with. First, it has hot monster girls. Second, these hot monster girls have pretty big breasts. Third, these big-tittied, hot monster girls are fucking horny as hell. While I can appreciate these facts greatly, Monster Musume has crossed a few lines with me, notably in its types of monster girls used. First, Centaurs are just horses with boobs. If I wanted to date a horse I'd become a fucking brony, Second, Harpies are way too birdlike. There is nothing sexy about literal chicken legs. Finally, the god damn spider girl. Spiders are evil. I hate them. They deserve to all die. I don't care how into bondage the spider girl is, she still shits all the rope out. These are some bad decisions made by the staff. Nevertheless I'll continue to watch it and I hope the Chitoge/Tsugumi/Onodera argument is replaced by Miia/Papi/Cerea (#TeamMiia). Solid Recommendation
Stephanie: Originally I had no plans what so ever to watch this series. I'm not generally a huge fan of harems so I tend to stay away from them. But then it was suggested, by a friend, that I give it a try, and I do trust him, so I did. I have got to say Monster Musume does not shy away from what it is and is totally fine with being the series that it is. And as someone with very little experience in the harem genre, that is saying something! With no concept of fear, the show will go where you don't expect it to, or maybe where you think it will. It's oddly entertaining in that way, and I can't believe I'm going to watch a little more of this series. At least until A) I get bored or B) am totally disturbed by the fanservice and content. Solid Recommendation
Overlord
David: Overlord is a show using the "trapped in a video game" remise. If that hasn't scared you away yet, then go ahead and read on. I was originally planning on avoiding Overlord myself for that very reason, but- well, I'll be honest, I got really bored the day the first episode came out and I decided to give it a try. And as it turns out, I actually like it. Sort of. More than I thought I would at the least, largely thanks to the characters. It boasts a large cast of monsters who serve the protagonist, a gamer trapped in the body of a giant skeleton sorcerer (who they all worship as their master) after seemingly being transported from a VRMMO to an actual fantasy world. The protagonist, while lacking much in terms of emotional extremes, is likable, and even quite clever. It's actually interesting watching as he slowly assesses his situation and learns what's going on through logic and reasoning. In addition, the side characters are a lot of fun, even if some occasionally border on the obnoxious side. For the most part though, it's surprisingly laid back, though that aspect of it is a double edged sword, as it also has made the show feel far to slow so far. I'm hoping things speed up soon, but I'm still having a pretty good time with Overlord so far. Solid Recommendation
Stephanie: This. Show. Is. SLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW. That first episode, especially, was slower than molasses! Since then, it's been picking up bit by bit and it's growing on me. It's certainly a different take on the MMORPG genre of anime we've been seeing in recent years, and I am throughly surprised that FUNimation has finally jumped in after Aniplex snagged SAO and Sentai got Log Horizon. Overlord is very different than the other two as it's just, supposedly, one person stuck in the virtual world. However, we don't know to what extent. It's assumed he couldn't log off, but is the program virtual reality like SAO and Log Horizon or is it just a game you simply log into on your computer? Clearly, I shouldn't be asking these questions right now because they probably won't get answered. But now that things are slowly working their way in the series, I'm curious to know what will happen next. Though if it does keep dragging on, I may have to put this one on hold. Solid Recommendation
Prison School
Danni: Sometime last fall I sat down and spent a couple hours reading Prison School after hearing so much about it. Thanks to this, I've gone into every episode knowing exactly what was going to happen. This very much feels like the wrong way to watch Prison School. Thankfully, the anime has finally caught up to the point I left off at. While I'm glad I've been able to appreciate how utterly perfect the anime adaptation is with relation to the manga, I can't wait to head into an episode having no fucking idea where it's taking me. This show is complete trash and so am I for loving it. Strong Recommendation if you're a shitposter. If not, No Recommendation
Rokka: Braves of the Six Flowers
Jonathan: ...well, this exists I guess? I have no strong feelings on Rokka at all. Like, none. The most I can muster is that I think the character design is a fucking disaster and represents everything wrong with JRPG style fantasy design. This is basically a Tales of anime we never got before, and it has all the same problems and strengths. Likable characters and fast pacing matched with a very flimsy premise, exposition, and an art direction that is somehow both beautiful and ugly in its unrestrained creativity. I also know there's a big twist later, so that's another Tales trope. This is a series I need to see more of to really form an opinion on. Not much to say yet. Weak Recommendation
Stephanie: Going into the summer season typically means that you may not get the more wonderful shows since spring and fall, similar to other regions, are the larger TV seasons. However, both winter and summer have been able to surprise people before and it could happen again. Personally, I think Rokka may be one of those hidden gems of the season. The world building has been wonderful thus far, and the characters, while a little stereotypical, have their great traits as well. The larger problem I'm having right now is the show's pace as it has been going a little too quickly for my liking. While it's nice for the sake of establishing our main cast of characters, it's not an outstanding idea as it may try to rush into things and cause massive headaches later down the line. For now, it's a decent start, and I am interested to see where the show decides to go from here. Solid Recommendation
SCHOOL-LIVE!
David: I'm assuming anything written on this show pretty much has to come with a giant -spoilers ahead- warning, considering what it is. Anyway, I was really looking forward to hating School Live. I knew what it was, I knew that it wasn't just a cutesy moe slice of life show, that it was actually a zombie survival show about a bunch of moe girls stuck in a school, but I was still ready to hate it. What I'd seen from the manga really just came off as edgy, and overly dark. In my mind this concept was so silly trying to pull it off seriously would only result in unintentional hilarity. And yet, despite knowing what I was going into, the first episode still caught me off guard. Not only because the big twist in the first episode was brilliantly handled, preceded by genuinely clever foreshadowing, misdirection, and use of slice of life tropes to subvert expectations, but even beyond that the show has stayed surprisingly well written and directed throughout. The slice of life comedy bits aren't all that funny, but they serve a vital purpose, both in terms of its narrative, as the girls desperately try to retain their sense of normalcy, sanity, and hope in a dire situation, and from a tonal point of view, as the dissonance between their blissful attempt at ignorance and the horrors they've encountered (and have yet to encounter) actually punctuates the show with a constant sense of encroaching doom. They're never safe, but they try to be happy anyway. The horror is so separated from the comedy, it actually makes even much of the comedy tense, because at any moment it could all fall apart. School Live has totally exceeded my expectations in terms of execution, and has managed to pull off a concept I had zero faith in. I dunno what's more impressive, that, or making me care about something zombie related these days. Strong Recommendation
Jonathan: This is one of the five strongest shows of the season I've seen, and I'm still trying to comprehend this. Everything about this series suggests it would be another GRIMDARK EDGY MATURE ADULT DEAD PARENTS DARKNESS HASHTAG FOURTEEN YEARS OLD piece of garbage, but it actually uses its premise in a creative way that serves the story and humanizes its characters beyond the moe blobs they could have been. I'm also very impressed by the direction, seamlessly blending the super cheerful fantasy world of the main character and the horrific reality. The zombies are even made threatening in ways they haven't been in a long time by showing very few details of them, which even serves narrative purpose in showing how detached the characters have become from their former school mates, only showing more detail when those connections begin to return and the horrific realization of their actions kicks in. I'm really interested to see where this one is headed. Strong Recommendation
Seiyu's Life
Stephanie: It's been a long time since I've seen a series come from Gonzo. They actually haven't been producing that many in recent years, which is funny since they are one of my favorite studios and have made quite a few that I consider my favorites. With Seiyu's Life, it's a nice little slice of life anime about the life of a newbie seiyu. Can't get any simpler than that. What makes it more cool is having actual seiyus in Japan become characters in the show such as Hiroshi Kamiya during the second episode. Bet you that will be interesting to dub later... Anyways, the story may be a little bit of an odd mess at times, but it's still enjoyable! The characters are rather likable and animation has been holding out well so far. I say so far because, again, this is Gonzo we're talking about it. This series may be a nice balance among all the other action and drama filled series I'm watching this season and that is something I am totally fine with! Oh yeah! And the ending theme is just oodles of fun! Solid Recommendation
Snow White with the Red Hair
Jonathan: I want to love this show, I really do, but whenever I watch it, my brain just screams "THIS IS LITERALLY EVERY SHOJO FANTASY STORY EVER" at me for about thirty minutes. It's certainly well executed, but the themes and use of parallels to famous stories is such a dead trope in the genre that it's practically a zombie horde now. I've seen this written better in other works, simple as that. I've seen more developed leads, more exciting action scenes, more dramatic turns, stronger music, and so forth. But still, I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy it. It's just that it's so derivative and does nothing new with its parts that I can't start helping but noticing these things. Even Trinity Blood tried doing interesting things with its huge cast of cliches. But this? I swear, I could try and predict the entire series, and I'd probably be fairly accurate. Weak Recommendation
Stephanie: Another series about a red haired heroine? WHY THE HELL NOT?!? I swear what is it with Japan's love of red hair? Anyways, Snow White with the Red Hair is actually rather charming in a fairy tale kind of way. It's easy to see that this was the aim here, and it's a nice touch to me considering the amount of anime I've seen lately that are unlike this one. However that doesn't mean that this is one hundred percent a tried and true fairy tale as our lead heroine, Shirayuki is very much capable of herself, showing that she isn't some damsel in distress, even with the amount of times she's been pursued or kidnapped. And then there's Zen who, on the surface, seems like your textbook fairy tale prince, but there's clearly much more to his character as well. Personally, this is one of my favorite starts to the summer season, thus far, and I will be very curious to see what becomes of the series moving forward. At the very least, Bones knows how to make a pretty fairy tale. Strong Recommendation
Ushio and Tora
Jonathan: This is old school shonen goodness with fantastic artwork and animation from MAPPA, and I don't know what else to say other than it's like the hilarious younger brother of Yu Yu Hakusho. So, instead of trying to explain why this is so amazing, I'm just going to quote the world's greatest poet to best put across the warm feelings this show's amazing opening put into me. "RIP AND TEAR! RIP AND TEAR YOUR GUTS! YOU ARE HUGE! THAT MEANS YOU HAVE HUGE GUTS! RIP AND TEAR! OOOH, HERE COMES THE NIGHT TRAIN! CHOO CHOO CHA-BOOGIE!" Strong Recommendation
Wakaba*Girl
Jonathan: Remember how I said Re-Kan was a throwback to the slice of life boom in a good way? This is that in a bad way. There's very little to say about the series, no real sense of humor you can't already get from almost hundreds of other shows produced in the past decade, and its premise of the main character wanting to be a stereotypical high school girl is really, really empty and lacking of any comedic possibility. Meh. Weak Recommendation
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