Seasonal Reviews: Summer 2015 Pt.2
And so we enter part two of our Summer coverage. So far, we have three shows dropped by our staff, and more calf is bound to be cut down later. But has everything that we've kept managed to keep a constant quality or improve in any way, or are we on the way to disaster? Let's find out!
Dropped Shows
Actually, I Am
Danni Kristen
Everyone ready for another dose of B-list monster girls? While we
haven't been introduced to any new characters yet, the existence of a
few upcoming ones has been referenced. These would be the sweets-loving
demon and the perverted werewolf who happens to be Shiragami's childhood
friend. While we wait for them to enter into the plot, we're treated to
some more wacky antics involving Shiragami, Aizawa, and Akemi. First,
Asahi is recruited by Aizawa to transport and recharge her external unit
during class activities. Everything goes smoothly until Akemi sees
Aizawa outside of her unit and concludes she must be a figure someone
made. Asahi successfully resolves the fiasco and keeps Aizawa's
extraterrestrial identity a secret by claiming that he made the figure
out of perverted lust for her. In the following episode, Shirigami tries
to confronts the problem that is the bad tan she gets whenever she
steps in the sun. After failing and giving up, Asahi offhandedly
suggests she tries sunblock, which she had somehow never considered.
Turns out, sunblock keeps vampires from tanning. Overjoyed at this, she
invites Asahi to the place she's always wanted to visit: the amusement
park. It isn't an ordinary amusement park, though. It's the place her
vampire father and human mother fell in love. Cue the awkwardly cute
moment where she realizes the implications of what she just confessed.
The episode ends with her father commanding the aforementioned werewolf
to find out if she's told anyone her secret, because I guess he's just a
huge hypocrite.
I poke fun at the fact that Actually, I Am uses some pretty B and C-list monster girls (I mean, an alien? Posessed glasses? Really?), but I really do enjoy it. The show's supernatural aspects are used more for set dressing and setup for jokes than anything else. The show leans most heavily on its romantic comedy aspects, which I quite enjoy for two reasons. For one, the supernatural aspects are kind of cheesy and not all that interesting. The other reason being that I'm just a sucker for cute romantic comedies, even if they are hetero. If you like cheesy hetero shipping, you should give Actually, I Am a shot.
Solid Recommendation
Aoharu x Machinegun
David O'Neil
In a season with fewer high quality shows, I probably could have stuck with Aoharu x Machinegun week
by week until the end. It's not a bad show, there are things I enjoy
about it. Unfortunately, it doesn't quite come together as well as I
wish it did, never going past just mildly interesting as a whole. It's
average, and when I'm already watching plenty of shows this season that
are above average or beyond that, I find it difficult to motivate myself
to continue it.
The show does have its strengths to be sure. The airsoft battles don't have much in terms of impressive animation, but they're still well executed. They're fast, fun, and intense, managing to create some fairly dynamic gunplay despite heavy use of still frames, zoom ins, and empty space of little actually happening. They're far from the best gun-focused combat I've seen in anime, but they kept my attention. Much of the cast also has a certain charm to them, I especially like the protagonist, Hotaru. She's been expanded on in the past few episodes, and she's an intriguing blend of blind idealistic justice, and passionate thrill-seeking bloodlust that I feel could make for some great plot developments later on if handled well. But as of now the show is moving slowly, and despite its occasional lapses into sadistic glee, for the most part to restrained in terms of enjoying itself. If anything I feel its been taking itself far too seriously, treating airsoft battles with a life or death importance than frequently borders on intentionally hilarious edginess. It can't quite manage to find its groove in terms of tone and narrative, making it hard to become fully invested in the plot and characters.
It also doesn't help that from a visual standpoint the show continues to be one of Brain's Base's less impressive works. While their hardly known for going above and beyond with their visuals (sans a few exceptions) they're typically better animated and more polished than the messy, static Aoharu x Machinegun. It's not so bad that its horribly distracting, but off model faces are commonplace and character movement in noticeably limited, both in and out of the action. There are things I like about Aoharu x Machinegun, and I could see myself coming back to finish it at some point after it ends, but as of now it just hasn't quite convinced me to keep coming back week by week.
Weak Recommendation, dropped at episode four
Aquarion Logos
Joe Straatmann
Aquarion Logos is beginning to explore the odd sexual mixings
of vector battle. Episode four starts to develop the love triangle
between main character Akira, obvious spy Maia he constantly bickers
with who is a love interest because... she's the character design they
spent the most effort on, and Kokone who at least makes sense since
Akira saved her belongings during a robbery when they first met.
Coincidentally, the evil villain guy just happens to be trying to
destroy the word "love" which causes Kokone to be messed up in the head
and get in the way of fighting the corrupted word. You know what the
solution to the love triangle is? They don't have discussions or even
make decisions on where they stand. They have a three-way. Well, Aquarion style where they all form into an attack mecha. Feel free to leave a This Lonely Island reference at your own discretion.
The next episode is the swimsuit episode where the word "Summer" is messed up, and all the guys at the Shirobaco office have to defeat a snow monster to defend the honor of swimsuits. Yes, really. They're mostly goaded by Tsumotsu, who is what I imagine Tatou from actual Shirobako to be like in ten years, but eventually Akira and Hayato-who is known solely as the one who wears glasses (Although he is the rare anime character who can pull off a bolo tie without being an American stereotype)-follow his lead because swimsuits represent great justice. Or to provide a smokescreen for the gay subtext since the three characters meld into an Aquarion and until this series, the franchise has been awfully clear with sharing each other consciousness being somewhat like sex.
Once again, I get it. This is supposed to be a goofy, playful sendup of formulaic mecha shows meshed with the modern... "needs" of otaku. The problem is everything is too thin. There is little attempt to write the main character Akira as anything but this guy who works on the circular logic that he's the savior because he does the things to be the savior, and why he knows how to do these things is because he says he's the savior. Maia is a character who is supposed to be completely sheltered from the world yet seems completely comfortable with the world until the writers remember she's never seen the ocean. The monster fights all feel like the same crap from anime fighting 101 where the battle looks easy until the monster breaks out the special twist for the episode, and the heroes have to find a way around it.
They don't really have fun with this. The descriptions are more entertaining than the execution. I would actually welcome any sexual edge to the threesomes, but there's not enough chemistry between the leads and the suggestive activities are dropped in unceremoniously when the writing is cornered and lets the doujinshi fandom do the real legwork. It turns what could be enjoyable trash into a tedious and robotic project. Camp can be a valuable weapon when it's used to provide character and flourish, but when it's a shield to protect the makers from any complaints, it loses its charm rather quickly. Unless the series steps up its game, the third entry of Aquarion is just a copy of a copy of things that weren't that great to begin with.
No Recommendation
Bikini Warriors
David O'Neil
There was a part of me that almost wanted to stick with Bikini Warriors,
not because I liked it (it's a terrible piece of garbage) but because I
thought I could survive its brevity. After all, each episode is a mere
five minutes, perhaps I'd be better off saving a drop in case one of my
other shows becomes too uninteresting, and simply power through these
brief, five minute episodes. I will now describe the chain of events
that is the fourth episode of Bikini Warriors, and how it
unequivocally regret ever even considering that option. The Fighter
class Bikini Warrior has to do odd jobs, thinking its to prove her worth
as a hero. First, she chases down a lost dog. That dog begins to start
licking her face, followed by her chest, followed by her crotch, as she
makes sexually suggestive noises. Then, she tests out a new potion the
mayor created. It causes her to become aroused, and start groping the
other characters. Then she fights a tentacle monster, which massages her
breasts and fondles her lower regions, before thrusting in fully, as
she writhes, begging for it to stop. One of the other girls watches and
complains that she's "saving the fun part for herself". This is all in
the span of about three minutes. I can't. I can't. I just can't. I
thought I could, but I was wrong. So wrong. Even if each of these
episodes is only five minutes long, in those few minutes it manages to
pack in so much disgusting, horrible content it's almost feat in it of
itself. A triumph of repugnance. An accomplishment in vileness. It's jam
packed with revolting sewage that it's trying to sell off as
entertainment, so ill conceived I'd have trouble even bothering to call
it fanservice. Forget five minutes, I am incapable of spending another
minute on this wretched piece of terrible softcore pornography disguised
as a fanservice comedy. I'm done. I can't. I just can't.
No Recommendation, Dropped at episode four
Castle Town Dandelion
Stephanie Getchell
Everything is just as odd and crazy as before for the royal family.
While one episode has some rather embarrassing times when Akane
accidentally doesn't wear a skirt to school as well as introduce us to
the Akane fan club and it's president, the other takes on middle son
Haruka's point of view as the family enjoys a beach day, Akane learns
about fan run sites, and we get a little more time spent with Haruka's
twin Misaki. You know, all the normal every day things a royal family
goes through in the midst of election time.
Compared to the rather strong start the series had, for me, a couple weeks back, it's slowly wearing on me. While we have those moments with our lead, Akane, where she is the biggest awkward turtle I have ever seen; it is nice to have episodes from a different perspective such as Haruka as it keeps the antics that Akane gets involved in from getting too stale. I mean, seriously, there's only so much of an awkward and embarrassed girl one person can take. I also find it nice to have a little bit more added to Misaki's character as she is the only sibling who we haven't seen or heard much from since the show started. However, it's very clear that there wont' be any form of character development; making the siblings, more or less, stay in their rather simplistic roles and character troupes. Then there's the story where the only main piece is the upcoming election, with the siblings trying to vey for votes. Honestly, because of the entire basic premise, how the episodes are given to us gives the viewer a chance to be a citizen of this town just like everyone else, allowing us to decide who is fit to be the next king. The only problem with that is most of the time is spent with Akane, which isn't a bad thing but, causing our time and view of all the siblings to be rather limited. Hell, this series would be better from Kanade, Haruka, or even Shiori's standpoint!
With the initial three episodes under my belt last time, I'm starting to notice a slight decline with this series. While the series still has it's fun moments, it is starting to repeat itself in some areas and causing a tiny bit of boredom. Castle Town, at least, was on the right track and it saved itself a little bit with episode five being from Haruka's perspective as well as adding some character to the previously underdeveloped Misaki. I am curious to see what will happen next because the title on part of the next episode may indicate that the election is upon us with, potentially, a change in the tone of the series.
Solid Recommendation
Chaos Dragon: Sekiryuu Sen'eki
Joe Straatmann
Well, if you're going to feature a ton of exposition, why not have it
delivered in the female part of a bathhouse while the camera and the
women themselves do everything possible to hide the unbroadcastables?
We're here at the world building portion of Chaos Dragon where
they're explaining where things are, why they are, and how things exist
within the rules of this universe. It's goes a little past exposition
and perhaps into stalling territory, but, you know, potential nudity's
there if you're really desperate. It's not particularly well animated
and doesn't even look particularly good stilled, but at least they're
trying to spice up the constant, endless talking with something.
The Red Dragon expedition is more clearly spelled out, its goals solidified and difficulties expounded upon. Mainly, to say the first expedition failed miserably would be an understatement, and now, the crazy Red Dragon has an army of Returned Ones (This universe's version of zombies) at its disposal in his volcano lair. The expedition takes no time in getting there (Apparently, you CAN just walk into Mordor), but is stymied by said Returned Ones. Meanwhile, the characters do what they've been doing. Ibuki is reluctant to really go about anything that might even suggest needing to sacrifice a friend, Sweallow is as dumb as his name, Lou is the most transparent "sneaky" villain seen in quite some time, La Grava is mysterious mixed with cars and guns, and I swear the head of the revolutionary army would just line up his family for Ibuki and say, "Here, kill them all for the sake of the country. I don't care!"
Even as the party makes its way to their destination fairly quickly, it's still treading water. I struggled to find an image to put up for this one simply because there was so much talking and not many interesting visuals to augment it. There is one fight that is spoilerrific, but it lacks a certain tension that the other similar moments in Chaos Dragon have. Will Ibuki offer the soul of his friend who's already a Returned One to the Red Dragon or not? Kind of a no-brainer there. Also, if Lou is trying to be subtle at being the antagonist of the party, she sure isn't doing a good job of it. She even breaks out her sidemouth of obvious deception when asked if she killed a member of D'Natia's army and comes a nefarious laugh from outright admitting it ("Nooooooo, it wasn't me who did it at allllll! PSSSSST, high five, evil weapon I talk to all the time! They totally bought it!"). It's a lot of progress that feels like a lot of nothing at the same time.
The fascinating little touches are about the only aspect keeping me going at the moment. The concept of the Bound Ones' (The series' equivalent of beast men) animals becoming Returned Ones when their masters do is cool and offers the one quality moment of epic fantasy this series has to offer right now. The negatives are beginning to pile up like the army of the dead, though. The visuals keep getting cheaper and cheaper (And just when you think the horrible CG elephant from the first episode is properly implemented, BOOM, a shot where its worst features are the focal point). Does the music exist? I believe I heard some, but I watched the most recent episode three hours ago and I can't recall a single drum beat or musical phrase. I wouldn't say it's a complete failure. I'm still interested in where they're going. It's simply a listless episode or two away from becoming a time landfill.
Weak Recommendation
Charlotte
Stephanie Getchell
I think I'm an idiot for not noticing the pattern that P.A. Works has
been pulling in recent years with the amount of supernatural series
they produced. Red Data Girl, Glasslip, and Nagi no Asu
(to an extent) can fall under this area. Huh. How did I not see that
before? Ah well, you learn something new every day. Anywho, this week,
Yu and the student council first track down a teen with two abilities;
channeling and pyrokinesis. When they find her, they learn that she's
well know idol Yusa; but there's even more to it. Yusa is capable of
channeling her older sister, Misa, who passed away six months prior and
who has the pyrokinetic ability. After giving some assistance to her,
Tomori has Yusa transfer and join the student council like Yu did in the
beginning of the series. Just in time too, as the group then plays some
baseball with a telekinetic pitcher in order to force him to stop using
that power.
This week kind of goes back into the comedic form after the rather dramatic end to the second episode involving Tomori's older brother. Along with this change comes Yusa and Misa's introduction to the series. Having these two episodes take that small breather from the dramatic is wonderful, allowing us to process what's going on, all the while giving us some new things here and there; with a new character being the main piece this week. It's still rather unclear if the story, itself, will change as it is currently following an episodic narrative, but, again, like the dramatic aspect, the episodes manage to introduce new elements or hint at them in a clever manner. While Yusa and Misa are one element to this, there is a slight hint at the end of the fourth episode when Tomori has Yu take on a little experiment after their baseball game finishes. While the viewer doesn't know the result, it's clear that this secret may come into play later on.
It looks like the comedic pattern will be on a break the next time I write about Charlotte, because I have already heard we get some dramatics in the fifth episode. It's just that because I don't have a premium Crunchyroll account, at the moment, I can't quite see the episode yet. The main five characters are either developing rather nicely like Yu and Tomori, or seem to stick to more archetypal characters to some degree like Takajo, Yusa, and Misa. The biggest mystery of them all, to me, is just the circumstances of this world. Yes, we do know the story behind Tomori and her older brother, but I feel like we now need much more context and background on the world as a whole rather than the characters themselves. Again, I may get my wish depending on how the fifth episode pans out; but, for now, Charlotte is still a strong anime in my eyes.
Strong Recommendation
Classroom Crisis
Jonathan Kaharl
Apparently, I'm the weird guy this go because I actually liked episode five. Since we last left off, our class of geniuses have been stuck in the old lab of the company's founders, which has no necessary tech they need to build advanced rocket engines. With staff leaving in droves, Kaito decided to seek help from the company union, which turns out to be a much more complicated matter than expected. However, Kaito eventually grows a little in his defeats and comes up with a clever way to raise the funding his class needs, gaining back his old employees and students. Even Nagisa admits that there was nothing he could do about the strategy. Afterwards, the class go on a trip (which was delayed thanks to countless budget cutting) and Nagisa is forced to interact with them to take care of some important business as things keep going endlessly wrong for him.
The thing that keeps surprising me about this show is that it's almost too hard to watch at times. There's so much grounded drama here, and so much of it based on real world constructs and politics. The union episode was especially clever, not denouncing the idea of a union, but what unions have become in the modern age in major industry. The sheer crushing and seemingly hopeless situation the class find themselves it also speaks way too true to my own financial situation, where the mammoth power and unfair structure of the system makes even the most simple goals soul crushing. That's why I liked episode five so much.
This is not a series I could ever marathon. There's just too much heavy material there, and even with the happy ending of episode four, some levity was desperately needed, even if it didn't break any new ground and mixed in some exposition poorly. Still, the episode isn't pointless, as it gives us little bits of information about Iris and Nagisa, and it's the point where one of the class starts to better understand Nagisa's horrid position. This was definitely the proper place to put this episode, and hopefully the next few go back to capitalism commentary.
Strong Recommendation
Danchigai
Stephanie Getchell
Every day life keeps moving along for these siblings in their little
apartment. Episode three gives us a little more time surrounding the
eldest of the siblings, Mutsuki, as the one and only male in the family
seems to have some problems trying to relax or understanding why his
sister treats him differently than his younger sisters. Meanwhile, it's
shopping day in episode four as the family take a shopping trip that
ends with free items due to giving the super market a little publicity
and some medium spicy curry as Mutsuki tricks little Satsuki and Uzuki
after they tried being brave in getting spicier curry.
This is the kind of series that makes so much sense as a short! Being much more episodic rather than constant story like Pupa, Rainy Cocoa, and even Million Doll is really helpful in relaxing and taking a breather in a rather crowded and, slightly, lackluster season so far. The dynamic of the five siblings has been rather fun as well! I'm slowly learning a little something new about these characters every episode and I can only imagine how much more I'll get to learn as I continue with the series. However, the next problem is whether or not I'll be able to keep writing about this series if there isn't a whole lot to go off on. Next report will the last time I get to use my second drop, so, unless something changes, I may have to drop Danchigai just so I am able to save myself the frustration of finding something to talk about.
Solid Recommendation
GANGSTA.
Jonathan Kaharl
Thanks to scheduling gaffs, I only have one episode to talk about this time, but it's an eventful one at least. Ally is currently debating staying or leaving, as she realizes her new employers are too consumed by the horrors of the city to really be the type of good people she was wishing they were, and having visions of the rotting corpse of her former pimp degrading her is not helping. Meanwhile, we learn a bit more about Worick and Nic, discovering the two met as children and came from opposite worlds, as Worick was the son of a rich man of power, and Nic was an abused mercenary. In the present, a gang war may be on the way, as two dumb thugs thought it was a good idea to hire a high level tag to go off a family head. Nic is happy about this, though, because he gets to fight a strong enemy.
Gangsta is really starting to lose me. It's slick, atmospheric, polished, and gritty, but my original complaints still stand. This is all stuff we've seen before, and the series has no interest in doing anything original with its material. Because of this, I'm starting to get bugged by little other bits of problems, like how Ally's entire storyline is kind of sexist. It's very much the Nic and Worick show, but neither are that interesting outside their odd skills. Or, rather, the show isn't exploring the more interesting parts of their pasts and personalities. The show is just moving too slow and leaving nothing there to latch onto.
The entire series is like a really well produced pop rap track. Sure, it's nice and all, but you quickly lose interest in it as you realize there's nothing else there besides the production value. I want to like this series, I really do. It does a lot right, and there's very little wrong with it. But it's just so empty an experience, and that emptiness isn't used for anything besides filling time. Just go read Black Lagoon.
Weak Recommendation
God Eater
Joe Straatmann
Wait, there's only one episode of God Eater this update? A
small break in the mediocrity is nice, but that doesn't leave me a whole
lot to talk about. We're finally going full-bore into the action which
is a decent distraction from all of the tropes. Mainly, this episode is
an introduction to Alisa who, if we're continuing the Top Gun motif
from last update, is the Iceman, er, Icewoman of the group. You don't
rescue Alisa Illinichina Amelia from the Aragami swarms. You rescue the
Aragami from Alisa. She also doesn't want to team up Lenka because he's a
dangerous wild card who could put everyone's lives in jeopardy. Hey,
I'm going to keep delivering these clichéd lines as long as God Eater wants to set them up.
The episode is an air battle in which flying Aragami are pestering a rather large airplane and the main party has to come in to save the day, much to the Chagrin of elite New-type Alisa who thinks she can manage just fine on her own. The action is pretty serviceable, though it triggers a lot of those little breaches in suspension of disbelief I shouldn't think about in such series but my ADHD can't ignore. Everybody can breathe just fine in a battle that is taking place over 10,000 feet in the air, and the cast has no trouble maneuvering around an airplane that is moving at speeds that make Tom Cruise hang on for dear life in every single Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation ad. Alisa's newsie hat is never at risk of blowing off. They can even have a slow-motion badass gathering moment at the top of it. If this were running on Bayonetta rules, maybe it's not worth thinking about, but at worst, this is operating at the level of latter Resident Evil games given the Aragami slice through the law of the conservation of matter at will and become as large as they damn well please at any moment the plot requires. It's a pretty high threshold involving bending the rules of reality, but not quite high enough.
All right all right, enough of this! My logic brain hijacked that paragraph. It tends to do that in series that leave me little to ponder over or be distracted by. It has cool ideas, like Alisa slapping on a bungee cord and taking to the bottom of the plane, but it's all stiff and simply adequate. If this were a better season, I might simply dismiss the show outright, but given the absolutely dire quality of my assignments this go 'round, I have bigger and uglier fish to fry. Plus, I've seen enough of the Star Ocean, Wild Arms and Arc the Lad anime to know this is far from the basement of video game adaptations. That said, this only barely reaches the levels of "it'll do" if you REALLY need a straightforward action series to watch, and it takes a Boom Boom Satellite soundalike insert song to get there.
Weak Recommendation
Himouto! Umaru-chan
Danni Kristen
I originally wanted to make this installment nothing more than a
slideshow of my favorite Sylphyn poses, but apparently as a seasonal
reviewer I have to actually review, so here goes. [SFX: Shupapapaaann]
To put it simply, Himouto has been great these past few episodes. I found the show's early introductions to supporting characters early on promising, and the past two episodes have delivered amazingly on that front with Tachibana Sylphynford, aka Best Girl. While she stole all her scenes in last installment's episodes, she never got a lot of screentime. These past two, however, she's appeared heavily throughout, taking on both of Umaru's personas as a rival. At school, she enthusiastically challenges Umaru in subjects such as athletics and test scores. She loses every time, but she loses with dignity, showing no signs of total defeat. In the arcade, we see her go up against Umaru's arcade persona (UMR) in a nationwide fighting game tournament. She actually almost bests UMR before withdrawing for mysterious reasons we'll likely learn later. She comes back to the arcade over summer break to challenge UMR once again. UMR loses in a game of chance, and Sylphyn recruits UMR to help her finally defeat Umaru.
I've said it already, but Sylphyn is easily my favorite character on the show. Everything about her sticks out so well that it makes me think she accidentally wandered into the wrong anime. While everyone - save Himouto Umaru - has very normal character designs and clothing, Sylphyn's is significantly bluer with cute yellow designs in her pupils that no one else has. Her personality is also very unique to the show too. She acts like a kind version of the stereotypical shoujo-ai antagonist, and even brings her own flowery backdrops and baskets of flower petals to toss wherever she goes. Also, like I said before, her poses are amazing. I'd bet anything Sylphyn read a lot of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure as a kid.
The past two episodes do actually focus on more than Sylphyn, though, filling the gaps with the short gags between Umaru and Taihei that mostly made up the first episode, which I still find funny. Additionally, we're also being slowly introduced to her brother's coworkers/friends. These friends are Takeshi the slacker, Alex the otaku, and Kanau, Taihei's near-stalker. I'm sure we're going to start seeing more and more of Taihei's coworkers, or at least Alex. His presence at the game tournament appears to be the reason Sylphyn forfeits, so I assume they're going to touch on whatever relationship with each other they have. Personally, I'd love to see more of these characters interacting with each other. While I do quite enjoy watching Umaru and her brother bounce off each other, it would get very old if every episode was only that. A season of Umaru and Taihei interacting with each other amidst sections of them interacting with others provides a lot more opportunities for new jokes. If Himouto is really just Japanese Garfield, then it's a Garfield in which Jim Davis actually bothered to make more than one character.
Strong Recommendation
Monster Musume: Everyday Life With Monster Girls
Jonathan Kaharl
And so the best girl is here.
Before her arrival, though, Darling had to deal with a full moon, causing his three house guests to all go kind of bananas and start acting on instinct, though his initial chickening out when Smith brought up marriage did not help things. After the hell night of all hell nights, the doof decides to make a decision and date the three to decide who he'll marry one day over time. After that, a smile appears from the guy's stew and starts causing trouble in the house, but eventually calmed down by tossing her in the bath (while poor ol' Darling was being drowned to death in her body). This slime gets named Suu by Papi and may be an illegal immigrant, causing a debate on what to do about her. Some time with Papi and some kids helps Darling make his decision, but now he's getting a fifth house guest.
That third episode adapted probably the most problematic chapters in an incredibly problematic series, and to their credit, they made it pretty damn hilarious. There's a lot of good slapstick on display, and the build up to the full moon night is well handled. Suu's episode stands out in the series so far, though, as she's so alien and strange, yet so instantly endearing. She's a complete innocent compared to everyone else, and the chaos she causes more comes her whole being made of living goop thing. What makes her a fun addition is that she's one of the only characters who can be on the same emotional and intellectual level as Papi without being obnoxious, giving her someone to bounce off of in a different way.
Smith is getting to be a bit more lively, correcting a problem I had earlier, and the animation is working in a lot of fun gags and strange moments, like when the main three are getting ready to go to war over Darling. I think my only problem left is the score, which tries working in terrible porn music tracks in raunchier scenes, which doesn't work for this series because of how many gags get mixed in those moments. But it's a minor complaint, as the sheer ridiculousness of the series is still making things a blast.
Solid Recommendation
My Wife is the Student Council President
Joe Straatmann
Thankfully, the nature of being a short makes this a quick kill. This
is 7-and-a-half minutes of the most creatively bankrupt comedy anime
has to offer (and that's saying something) with 30 seconds of the writer
or whomever getting their own little corner of crazy and being
genuinely enjoyable. I would recommend just fast-forwarding to the
"playhouse" portion of the show, but where it shows up varies between
episodes, so randomly fast-forwarding through the thing until you see
the characters resembling or actually represented as paper cut-outs is
maybe a little too much work to get a fun size serving of entertainment.
For an example in just how absolutely bottom drawer this is, all you need to look at is the love hotel episode. Main character Hayato is in the middle of a spat between his promised wife with fluctuating character traits Ui (She's determined! She's shy! She follows her own will! She immediately relents to the arrangements of her parents! She's dumb! She can process everything all too well!) with disciplinary head Rin when it starts raining. Due to racing to the nearest building with no cognitive abilities whatsoever, Hayato and Rin find themselves inside a love motel. Instead of admitting they made an honest mistake and moving someplace else, they rent a room. Instead of merely drying off and leaving, they hang out and have an awkward conversation about how Rin's boobs are her curse. And instead of noticing there was a certain device inside her all this time, she accidentally triggers the "climax" to the episode.
This is when the episode turns into "Wife Theater" with a paper cut-out of Rin riding a cat and there is a message talking about Rin going through some kitty training while the rest of the audio from the scene plays out as one would expect. It tends to lean on these scenes when they can't show the extreme ecchi content from the manga. Yet they are brief and enjoyable reprieves from a series where nobody can have a basic conversation to sort circumstances out, nobody can do anything but completely overreact to every situation, and nobody acts like anything close to a human being as a desperate ploy at extracting any kind of laughter or sexual arousal from an audience that literally has hundreds of better viewing choices. They've introduced Ui's mother, who is at least a character that required more than one thought to put together, and she actually attempts to have some kind of real talk with Hayato. There's only so much time for serious conversation when you're interrupting your potential son-in-law's private bathing, however.
No Recommendation
Overlord
Jonathan Kaharl
I think I may love this show. After those first two dull episodes, Overlord picks up and basically becomes a narrative based on the cover of a heavy metal album. Momonga has now become Ains Ooal Gown, and he's making his name known by putting himself directly in the middle of a huge political conflict by saving a village that was being attacked by a nation trying to trigger a war between two enemy countries. Ains is becoming a person of two minds, influenced by his game character's in-game morality and his own humanity, creating a complicated character that can no longer emphasize with human beings normally, but can't leave well enough alone because of what he was taught by his old guild mates. At the same time, he's trying to keep up appearances for his minions and the people he saves, and what he's going to become to the world may just end up being one of the most terrifying beings in the world.
What I love about all of this is that Ains isn't really a villain or a hero. He's an unexpected third party that's throwing a chaotic air into this huge political scuffle, and he's only doing so because of is own goal of taking over the world. He's not dumb about it either. He presents himself kindly to the people he saves, and only asks for monetary reward to ease their worries and sell himself as an adventurer instead of something more wicked. He also realizes that his true skull face scares others, so he starts wearing a mask. He even considers reviving the dead villagers, but decides against it because it may cause more trouble for them or himself when people start learning that he can bring back the dead. He's smart, and I greatly respect that, and his conflicting and complicated motivations are really interesting to boot. I also love that the minion characters all act as reminders of his old friends and that shapes his personality and actions.
But what makes these last two episodes such a delight is that the show is finally showing what it can do when it's not passing out exposition. What it does is have giant skeleton monsters decapitate people and the strongest warrior of a nation killing the shit out of angels. The action in this series is brutal, ridiculous, and incredibly entertaining, mainly because of how much it endears you to those involved in it quickly. It even makes curb-stomp battles incredible, using a fight with a low level bad guy to show off just how utterly, impossibly powerful Ains' is compared to the non-player characters of this world. Half of episode four is just Ains humiliating this evil dick who wanted to destroy a village for the fun of it, and it's just so, so very entertaining. I almost cheered out loud at points, it was just so fun in a twisted way. Apparently, the dark comedy routine is going to be the series main style, based on what little I know about some future events, so I'm excited.
I'm also starting to like Albedo. While she was a bit obnoxious at first, episodes three and four give her a bit more depth by revealing her distaste for humans, and also having fun with her obsession with Ains. She has the best expressions in the series by a long mile, and her whole crazy yandere shtick is so overplayed that it wraps around from being terrible to incredible. Overlord is achieving an unexpected balance between darkly hilarious, violently fun, and unexpectedly interesting. I'm just so surprised by how good these last two episodes were, and I'm excited to see where this is headed. The only challenges it may have up ahead are finding a good ending point and dealing with some animation quality drops.
Strong Recommendation
Prison School
Jonathan Kaharl
Now with our situation presented and our characters now motivated to escape by working together, Kiyoshi and Gakuto end up bonding in their shared ambitions of freedom, Kiyoshi to keep a promise with a girl he has a crush on, and Gakuto to get collectable figures that only get released every four years. The humiliations they have to endure to get their moment of freedom to meet their goals, however, are endless. The show just keeps finding new ways to top itself in tasteless situations, mixing in a good heaping helping of homophobic humor and even a heroic act involving shitting one's pants. Oh, and did I mention there's a plot important subplot where the chairman buries his collection of ass pictures, then digs them back up, and then decides he has to bury them again with cement? I'm not making this up, this is a thing that happens in this show that effects the main plot.
I like trash shows if they have just enough good qualities to help me overlook and even embraced their terrible values, and Prison School is basically a who's who of ridiculously talented people and groups. The director of Witch Craft Works and Shirobako!? The head of script composition for Princess Tutu!? The composer of Code Geass!? It goes on like this. The execution for this series is so perfect that it conditions you to just accept this absurd thing and find yourself getting caught up in the tension and feel for the characters, despite how utterly ridiculous they all are. I felt bad for Gakuto, for fuck's sake! Gakuto! The most textbook creepy boy of the gang of creepy boys! On top of that, it keeps making plot points out of perverted situations and doesn't bother trying to titillate the audience and just lets a scene breathe as an actual scene! This is incredibly rare for ecchi these days, and it's all the more appreciated here because of the amazing score and intricately detailed shadows and backgrounds.
And it's all hilarious. The show plays everything straight, despite everything being so damn ridiculous. Characters being distracted by panties or butts is used to build tension. Gakuto plans for him to be horribly punished for the sake of intricate plans. Andre being an open masochist is going to be an important part of his character that affects the actions of a character yet to be introduced. The other three boys thinking that Koyoshi and Gakuto are gay is used to build empathy for Gakuto. I'm bi, I should be offended, and I just can't help but laught at all this, because you know damn well everyone involved with this knew exactly what they were doing and making.
And yet, there's so much effort! The character designs are beautifully detailed, the backgrounds feel real, the expressions all explode with life, CG is implemented almost perfectly, the score compliments every scene just right, the color pallet builds so much atmosphere, the actors are giving it their all (especially Katsuyuki Konishi as Gakuto), scenes are edited together just right for a constant flow that keeps you active with the show, and so on and so forth. It's a masterwork of garbage, a trash pile that's made up almost entirely of pure gold. It's a joke everyone took completely seriously and not seriously at all.
Prison School transcends every medium it's portrayed in. There is absolutely nothing like it, which is both for the best and for the worse. It's a true masterpiece if I've ever seen one, right up there with the likes of Gatchaman Crowds and Yurikuma Arashi, farting in their general direction while reading a bad Naruto doujin where the artist gave Sakura huge tits for some insane reason. Absolutely nothing about it should be good. It may very well be one of the best shows I have ever seen in my entire life, of any animated or live-action or televised or even streamed program.
Good and bad things really are the same. You imbecile. You fucking moron.
Strong Recommendation
Ranpo Kitan: Game of Laplace
Stephanie Getchell
As mentioned in the last report, I only had the opportunity to look
into the first three episodes of the series due to some family events
that were planned. Because of that, I wasn't able to look at the fourth
episode of Ranpo in time for the seasonal report deadline. So,
today, I'm playing full catch up mode with episodes four through six.
Also, to be honest, if I had seen another episode of Ranpo last
time, I probably would have added another paragraph to my discussion on
it. Somehow, I have the feeling that this series will be a fun one for
me to write about if it already has made me written much more than
normal for these seasonal reports. And, yet, there may have been a few
points I missed looking back at what I had written before.
This time around, we have another two part mystery, sort of, in the form of a copy cat version of the deterrent known as Twenty Faces. The original that appeared three years prior to the series was know for punishing criminals who were never indicted for their crimes by police and were released. In present day, a new individual calling himself Twenty Faces has gone on a mass murder spree killing many criminals. Police Superintendent Kagami brings in Akechi and Kobayashi to help solve the case, which they do rather quickly, and with a rather surprising turn of events! We are also introduced to Black Lizard, a woman imprisoned who assists Akechi and who also seems to have a thing for him. The second part of the entire story is, essentially, the unmasked culprit arrested and telling his story as to why he took on the mantle of Twenty Faces, with his final message to Akechi and the others being that the belief of Twenty Faces will never go away; something that is evident when our girl kidnapper from the previous case (after being used as bait to lure out Twenty Faces) is killed in the street by another masked man who claims to be Sachiko's father (the little girl Shadow-man was searching for during that same previous case). Finally, we take a little bit of a breather from mysteries when one day, out of no where, a kitten, a baby, extremists, and Shadow-man with a bomb strapped to him appear on Akechi's doorstep in need of help... Minus the extremists though. Oh yeah! By the way, Akechi's not a huge fan of cats or children.
I think, from now on, I want to give more in depth context to the stories that are adapted from Edogawa's work just to give a little more detail and showcase what's similar and what's different. Episode four, titled Twenty Faces, by the looks of it, should be linked the Edogawa's novel The Fiend with Twenty Faces. In the original novel, Kobayshi (Akechi is overseas during part of the novel) deters a renowned thief who is capable of disguising himself as anyone. While this part seems more to apply to Shadow-man, there is one important factor that has been kept from the original novel and into the anime: Twenty Faces is Akechi's biggest adversary. While this hasn't been out right stated in the series, we do know that the young detective has been after him since he first appeared three years prior to the present setting. Episode five, titled The Caterpillar, is based on a short story of the same name. Here we have a husband and wife, Sunaga and Tokiko, with the husband as a quadriplegic after returning from war and the wife taking care of him. The story focuses on their rather strained relationship. What Ranpo Kitan did with the story here (remember the episode is the "second half" of the Twenty Faces story) was take the names of the two main characters and place them here in different capacities. Tokiko, is the younger sister of the current Twenty Faces who was killed by a violent man, named Sunaga, causing Twenty Faces to begin his crusade against criminals. The quadriplegic part of the short story was also kept, but I'm gonna just let you guess where in the series that comes in...
While on the Twenty Faces arc, I'm going to touch upon the context behind Black Lizard; a new character introduced during these episodes. In the novels, she appears in Edogawa's The Black Lizard and Beast in the Shadows and is seen as a master criminal and femme fatal character who has a rather charged relationship toward Akechi and is a huge sadist. Lastly comes episode six, A Glimpse into Hell. While I couldn't find much regarding the actual summery of the original Edogawa work, I can at least say that the episode title is based on an untranslated novel called Jigoku Fukei in Japanese, and published in the early 1930s. It's possible that the summery of the novel could link to the events of the episode, however I don't want to make any kind of false claims.
Ok, I think I have my bases covered here so I can really get into my thoughts on the series this week. After doing much more in depth research into the original novels, it's safe to say that the anime is taking on a rather loose adaptation of Edogawa's work or it can be seen as more of a love letter to the author, of sorts. Even doing some back tracking to the first three episodes, this is very clear. So, from here on, don't expect me to treat this series as a faithful adaptation of Edogawa's work. This still doesn't really mean I'm happy about that. As a lover of mystery and of books, knowing how influential Edogawa is had me very interested in seeking out his work. It still does now, however I honestly would have loved to have seen what the anime would do in taking a more tried and true approach to the original work. But this isn't the biggest problem I have with the series this week as it is the Twenty Faces arc that caught my attention in a bad way. While the twist at the end of episode four was surprising, the build up to that discovery and arrest of Twenty Faces was very lackluster. There was almost no sign of hints as to who the culprit could be (though The Human Chair arc is far more guilty of doing this), and it goes by too quickly that the pay off isn't as good. The surprise is there, yes, but then it goes from surprise to frustrating fairly quickly. While the following episode did well to clarify a few things, there are some parts that could have been either taken care of before Twenty Faces or before his arrest.
There are some shining moments from this week, though, and they all come from episode six. Even if I didn't know the episode is, supposedly, taken from an untranslated work, it was a very nice break from what we'd seen thus far; adding a bit more humor and fun to the series and bringing it out of the darker and somber mood just a tiny bit. To be fair, a good portion of this can be credited to Shadow-man and his personality, but part of it can also be because of Akechi. During the last report, I mentioned that Akechi hasn't exactly done a whole lot in the series. While he does play a bigger part during Twenty Faces, it's here where his character is much more interesting. Yes, I'm talking about the fact that he dislikes cats and babies. It brings in a different side of his character that what had been shown so far, and it's a huge breath of fresh air for the viewer knowing that he's not fond of the simplest of things. This also gives a break to Kobayashi who had been given a lot of screen time up until this point even though he's just Akechi's assistant. As for Hanibasa, it's his turn to get a little bit more character added in. While I'm not sure if he's a recurring character in Edogawa's novels, he is seen as part of the main trio of characters; making some proper development a much needed piece.
While the series had a strong start, for me, previously, this week I've run into the weakest arc of the series to date. While the character development is growing and moral and ethical lines are being crossed, the structure and pacing of the Twenty Faces arc is something I just can't ignore, bugging the living hell out of me. Thankfully, I had the fun little breather to help make things a little better, but the series isn't out of the woods yet. I decided long before the season started that I will finish this one regardless, and I still stand by that, however that doesn't mean I can't be hard on it. My horror/mystery/psychological fan girl ways have worn off after the first three episodes. I'm not afraid to be overly critical towards a series that I enjoy.
Solid Recommendation
Rokka: Braves of the Six Flowers
David O'Neil
Up until the most recent episode, Rokka -Braves of Six Flowers- had
mostly functioned as set up, very good set up, but set up nonetheless.
One by one the six "Braves" destined to defeat the demon god and save
the land gathered one by one, although there were some hiccups along the
way. We had our first conflict between braves fairly early on, as one
of them is revealed to have a past that complicates things in terms of
trust. Despite this, Adlet, the focal character of the series, managed
to keep the team together until they finally all gathered in one place.
However, anyone who's read a plot summary of the series (or counted the
characters in the show's main visual) probably already knows about the
first major conflict that arises in the series: Despite it being set in
stone that six "Braves" are granted powers to defeat the Demon God,
inexplicably, seven warriors with the signifying flower mark have
arrived at the meeting point. Not only that, but seemingly that very
traitor activated a barrier preventing them from moving forward, and the
only way to deactivate it is to kill the culprit.
The most recent episode marks a transition for the series, going from slow, world-building to something more akin to a fantasy "whodunit" story. The episode really does feel something like a detective story, and despite how out of place that may seem in the setting, so far it's actually managing to pull it off. The most recent episode entirely takes place in a single room, and is dedicated to dialogue between characters. They state their alibis, accuse each other, and overall try to get to the bottom of what exactly happened. Despite not a whole lot actually happening in the episode, the writing keeps things feeling brisk and tense, to me the episode flew by in what felt like barely any time at all. I was quickly wrapped wrapped up in the intrigue and mystery, even though it seems as if the show has only scratched the surface. In addition to the writing, this is also thanks to the strong characters as well. Even the personalities of the newly introduced characters quickly shine through and throw interesting new perspectives and conflicts into the mix. Although all the Braves are working for the same grand objective, each clearly has their own agenda and motivations, and the way they discuss makes for some promising chemistry and clashing. This new direction for the series has only been going on for a single episode, but so far it's very promising. If it can continue to effectively balance mystery, fantasy, and drama this well Rokka could be one of the best shows of the season.
While Rokka's story is stronger than ever, in terms of production it feels as if the show's thinning more and more by the week. There's an evident lack of visual polish, with characters going off model on a fairly frequent basis. Pretty much any distance shot of characters ends up looking like doodles out of a high school notebook, with crooked eyes and jagged heads. The show's great music and pretty backgrounds do help to distract from this, along with some interesting use of rotating shots and unique camerawork, that often help the drawn out scenes of characters talking feel more dynamic. Though I can't help but feel better character animation would be a better way to address this, rather than the occasionally distracting use of rotation and CG backgrounds. But although Rokka is struggling visually, it's hard to notice when the real meat of the show continues to be so well executed.
Strong Recommendation
SCHOOL-LIVE!
Danni Kristen
Every episode of SCHOOL-LIVE leaves me anxious over where
exactly this show is going to go. Taking into account the fact that the
most recent episode left me crying, it probably won't be anywhere happy.
The past few episodes have wound back the clock a bit, telling the
story of how all the girls came together to create their "club" at the
school. The most recent two episodes have focused on Miki, the only
non-original member. We briefly get to see her enjoying a trip to the
mall with her best friend Kei on the day of the attack. Trapped in the
mall with no way out, they end up barricading themselves in one of the
staff rooms with boxes of food and water. Miki remains as comfortable as
one can be under the circumstances, but Kei voices her desire to leave
and search for help. The relationship between the girls slowly
deteriorates, causing Kei to finally leave, promising she'll find help.
She leaves Miki with her only remaining personal possession - a portable
CD player.
Meanwhile at the school, Yuki suggests that the School Living Club go on an outing for the day, which Kurumi and Yuri both approve of. They decide to go to the mall so that they can gather supplies on their outing. While looking for supplies, they accidentally release a mob of zombies. Miki hears them struggling, and, having not heard from Kei since she left, decides to abandon the mall as well. The girls make it outside, and Miki is surrounded by the mob of zombies. Yuki, on the edge of completely breaking mentally, decides to go back in for Miki. Yuri triggers an alarm that distracts the zombies while they all escape. Miki asks if they've seen any sign of Kei, to which they answer with a simple but somber no.
SCHOOL-LIVE is certainly a welcome spin on a very tired genre. It's hard to pinpoint exactly why given the fact that it seems to simply be re-telling situations we've seen in every other piece of media with zombies. The most obvious reason is of course the fact it uses moe tropes and framing as a way of eliciting horror and emotions that one can only feel within the context of this specific show. However, one specific aspect stands out to me especially: the lack of zombie-killing. Throughtout all five episodes so far, I can only think of three cases where any of the girls actually killed a zombie. I say "any of the girls," but Kurumi is actually the only one who attacks any at all. The only weapon in the show is her shovel, and she's the only one that uses it. While she does use it fairly often to attack zombies, the only time she ever kills them with it is in a one-on-one situation. In each of these situations, it takes her a good few hits to actually kill the creature. In every other situation she uses her shovel on zombies, there are a lot of them. Since it takes more than one hit to kill them, she'd have to stop and get a few more bashes in f she actually wanted to kill one. Her shovel is instead almost exclusively used for slowing the undead pursuers by knocking them away. This aspect of SCHOOL-LIVE is something rarely seen in the zombie genre. Survivors are always armed with guns, knives, axes, or any other object capable of killing something with one hit. The members of the School Living Clubs are four tiny girls and a shovel. It's nearly impossible for them to brute force their way out of any situation. Instead, they have to rely on stealth and methods of evasion. It's an interesting concept, one that I'd love to see more of.
SCHOOL-LIVE is one of the most popular shows this season, and for good reason. The direction is intriguing and the execution is unexpectedly good, with my only real quip being too many CG zombies. The obviously CGd creatures really succeed at taking me out of the story in the middle of scenes that would have been otherwise terrifying and emotional. While I do love this show, I must admit that I remain tentative about it. While it's done a good job of remaining fresh so far, the simple fact it's a zombie show in 2015 means that a single misstep or overdone could kill a lot of people's buzz for it. This isn't actually a fault on the show's part, though, just a risk that comes with the genre. I still highly recommend you keep up with SCHOOL-LIVE.
Strong Recommendation
Seiyu's Life
David O'Neil
It's difficult to come up with complaints for Seiyu's Life, because
there's really not all that much to it. It's simple and remarkably
consistent, from the first episode almost nothing has changed and for
those who had liked it thus far (like me) that's just fine, though it
means those who were hoping for something more may not be getting it.
It's a cute, fun little comedy show with neat cameos, clever gags, and
energetic animation.
Despite staying steady on its course to act primarily as a vessel for silly humor and voice acting insight, the show does inject just enough plot progression and conflict to hold my attention. It's very thin, sure, but giving the characters conflicts to overcome and facing new challenges (like hosting their own radio show, preparing for a debut CD) helps to keep things from feeling stagnant despite the show's aforementioned simplicity. One of the few noticeable "changes" if you can even call it that is the steady decrease in what was one of my biggest pet peeves towards the show early on, the unnecessary and obnoxious stuffed animal mascot character who constantly chimes in to trail off information about how voice acting works. Whether it was a conscious decision, or just a result of having less to explain, he's rarely shown up in the last few episodes, increasing my enjoyment of the show significantly. I prefer when the show provides information through more natural means, rather than forcing it onto the viewer as if they need things spelled out for them. I'd prefer if they dropped the mascot altogether, but that may be asking for a bit much at this point.
Last time I covered Seiyu's Life I mentioned my appreciation for how the show didn't glorify the voice acting industry, and I'd like to carry that praise over to its handling of the show's cameos as well. Every episode of Seiyu's Life features a cameo by a voice actor/actress playing themselves as characters in the show, which is normally the sort of thing I loathe. I'm fine with subtle nods, or Shirobako-esque fake cameos, but typically straight-up having people as themselves in cameos borders on pandering in my eyes. Despite this, I actually don't mind the cameos in Seiyu's Life one bit. A large part of this is, similar to its portrayal of the voice acting industry, it isn't just blatant glorification. The show actually portrays them as people rather than idols, and even has a lot of fun with inside jokes surrounding each cameo, like Hiroshi Kamiya always talking about his cat, or Yui Horie being a bit of a slob outside of her beautiful public persona. It's cute details like that keep the cameos from feeling forced. Not much has changed in Seiyu's Life, as it continues to be an entertaining slice of life comedy with lively animation and cool insight on voice acting.
Strong Recommendation
SHIMONETA: A Boring World Where the Concept of Dirty Jokes Doesn’t Exist
Joe Straatmann
Whoa, now that's a character turnaround. After having a near
"docking" with pure-hearted love interest Anna, Tanukichi finds she
isn't quite the same. Spoiling comedy is one of those dick moves that's
under enforced so I won't be explaining it entirely, but let's say she's
another one of the many poor souls in this series who has no idea what
to do with the urges she receives and those notions go into all the
wrong places. Meanwhile, her mother is upping the ante on the PM
monitoring devices for all citizens and planning on making them into
chastity belts. The only hope is the revolutionaries finding porn in the
woods. I assure you, all of this has proper context!
If the people who disliked Shimoneta from the outset are still watching, they definitely hate it now. We've moved from satire leaning on heavily sexual jokes and censor sight gags to straight gross-out comedy which is, shall we say, less accepted amongst the many critical circles. It works here. They properly set it up (Though looking back on the foreshadowing is a little frightening. I thought it was some kind of Mysterious Girlfriend X thing. Somehow, it's worse than that....) and it provides a new and interesting dynamic to a character in a genre that tends to keep people on limited traits that are summoned ad nauseam. What I hope is all of this doesn't make Anna into a straight villain like her mother. One of the most admirable parts of this series is that no matter if they're 100% working against her, everyone loves Anna, and that hate the sin, love the sinner setup is rather unique for comedy if it's not the main character. They're going the "nobody is a saint" route, which is okay for right now.
As far as everything else, it's still the most fundamentally sound series I've watched this season, surprisingly enough. J.C. Staff isn't the biggest hitter in anime, but if they have a project with decent enough content, they generally have the vision to execute it properly, even if the vision is constant visual metaphors for sex, euphemisms making everything innocuous filthy, and anything could be taken the wrong way given its own brand of censor circle. The comedic timing is about spot-on,and the plot is moving long confidently at a medium stride. Not much to complain about unless you want the subject matter to be something else entirely. It has its obvious points, like having a pet that exists solely to imitate the motions of penetration, but it also has more than you'd think.
Solid Recommendation
Snow White with the Red Hair
David O'Neil
If I were asked what Snow White and the Red Hair does that
hasn't been done before by other shows in its genre, I'm not sure if I'd
be able to come up with much of anything outside of its polished
visuals. As a story it hasn't done much to stand out or challenge the
viewer, its a fairly straight forward romance show about a blossoming
love and a young girl trying to achieve her dreams through her own
strength. It's never really surprised me, impressed me, or made more
than a small impact on an emotional level. But despite currently doing
little that brings it to true greatness, I still enjoy the show
nonetheless.
It may be simple and straightforward, but what it tries to accomplish it does well. Shirayuki continues to be a likable, engaging protagonist who constantly strives to become closer to Prince Zen without relying on him. She's the show's strongest driving force, cute and funny, but also interesting and complex, to the point I'm hoping at some point the rest of the cast catches up and reaches the same level of character depth. Zen probably comes the closest, and in recent episodes has been expanded on more as a character. He's had some really heartfelt moments, along with deepening his relationship with Shirayuki along the way. Many of the side characters continue to feel one-note, simply serving as white noise in the background rather than actually contributing much to the narrative as a whole. Some may also be turned off by the near mundanity of the show's plot. As of now there's no overarching story, and the show mostly just revolves around small, laid back plot lines surrounding the characters struggling with fairly small scale problems episode by episode, with the exception of the most recent episode where the stakes were heightened somewhat. That said, I'm totally fine with this sort of easygoing, relaxing structure. If anything it fits well with the characters and tone of the show, allowing the characters to interact and overcome obstacles in a gradual and natural fashion. With that said, those seeking more in terms of emotional or dramatic stakes may be left underwhelmed.
Outside of the story and characters, Snow White with the Read Hair's visuals continue to be where it excels more than anything. The animation is good, with moments of adorable comedy and also realistic movement, and the attention to detail in terms of lighting, atmosphere, and backgrounds is damn near jaw dropping. Every episode is littered with gorgeous shots and vibrant backgrounds, and the beautifully composed visuals work in perfect unison with what continues to be an exceptional soundtrack by Michiru Oshima. Snow White with the Read Hair is simple, slow, and conventional, but it conveys its straightforward feelings with sincerity and strong execution, and wraps it all in perhaps the best visual and audio presentation of this anime season. I feel as if the show could do more and go farther with its characters and ideas, but for now it's an enjoyable series for what it is.
Solid Recommendation
Ushio and Tora
David O'Neil
Ushio and Tora is the kind of shows that takes basic, common
elements from similar works of the same genre and just pulls them off so
well I can't even complain about the lack of fresh ideas. Ushio and Tora hasn't
wavered in the slightest in its ongoing effort to blend classic 90s
style comedy, action, and drama perfectly together into an immensely fun
romp of a series that constantly overcomes its few shortcomings through
pure energy and execution. It's goofy while simultaneously taking
itself totally seriously, and pulls off this feat every episode without
fail.
The past few episodes have been focused mostly on character building, with a few hints at later major conflicts scattered here and there. The bond between the two protagonists of the title, Ushio and Tora, grows stronger and stronger with every battle. Its still clear they're far from over hating each other, but half of the fun is watching them overcome that to help each other when it really counts. Tora has been explored as a character far more, largely on his constant struggle between clinging to his old cruel, human eating ways, and being forced to help them (and to some extent learn to respect them more) being at the beck and call of Ushio. There's also more revealed about Ushio, his past, along with how he operates, and overall he makes a thoroughly likable protagonist. Which is impressive considering a lot of the time he does act like a bit of an ass. The show has also given more screen time to the two female side characters, Asako and Mayuko. I do wish they'd less often end up being damsels in distress for Ushio to save, but at the same time I respect its effort to make them well rounded characters who, even in the face of insurmountable danger, prove themselves to be strong willed and courageous, even if they lack magical powers that allow them to do much in terms of fighting the horrifying monsters they encounter.
My main complaint with Ushio and Tora so far remains that I wish they'd do more in terms of action animation. The action scenes are cool and fun for the most part, but I'd like more cuts of dynamic movement than what the show is currently providing. I know that MAPPA has some really great action animators, so its a shame that so far the action lacks flair animation-wise (I've heard around that currently Studio VOLN is pulling most of the weight, which could explain it). Still, the action is well presented, and features big, memorable moments that make up for the lack of especially good animation. And overall, Ushio and Tora continues to be one of my favorite shows of the season, an exciting callback to 90s style anime that perfectly balances its tone to create an engaging action show.
Strong Recommendation
Wakaba*Girl
Danni Kristen
Since the last installment, Wakaba Girl has continued to
deliver the same colorful, sugary moe antics that will absolutely rot
your teeth and take a few days off of your life. Wakaba briefly takes a
break on the sidelines during an episode that centers Mao as she tries
to craft a rich girl persona. At first she tries to mimic Wakaba, the
only rich girl she knows, but gives up when she realizes Wakaba is
simultaneously mimicking everyone else. Summer break approaches and
Wakaba finds herself more and more bored with each passing day until her
friends invite her to a water park. Moe antics ensue involving swimming
lessons, bikini tops, and Wakaba getting absolutely rekt by a water
slide. The girls make plans to attend a festival together the following
week. At this point Wakaba Girl tries to introduce something new to the show: drama.
According to Wakaba, she got lost for awhile when she was a little girl. Due to this, her parents have saddles her with a strict 6 PM curfew that they don't seem apt to rescind. The episode takes a more dramatic and somber turn in atmosphere as Wakaba sadly declines the invitation to their evening outing and wanders home. The episode closes with the girls left wondering how they can include her in their festival celebrations, which is really the closest thing to a cliffhanger Wakaba Girl has had thus far. By the looks of it, next week's episode is going to be a direct continuation of the most recent one, which is also a first. Each episode thus far has been self-contained and not within a real timeline of events, as they often are for this kind of show. I'm curious as to whether or not this is a one-time thing. I'm sure that everything will be resolved in next week's episode and end on a high note, but the way Wakaba's disappearance was alluded to leads me to believe it'll be brought up again. It was just mentioned vaguely and with enough weight to suggest it will definitely play an important role later in the season.
This kind of continuity is something I never really expected to see in Wakaba Girl, and I'm not sure how well it can hold up. The normal course of action in the moe slice of life genre is to save an event like this for the very end of the season, rather than the mid-point. I struggle to understand why it's playing out now. I hope this is just a strange bump that isn't addressed again, because Wakaba Girl is much better at short gags and cute comedy than it is at emotional substance. We'll have to wait until next week to see how this plays out.
Solid Recommendation
Wakako-zake
Danni Kristen
It has been two weeks since I last wrote about Wakako-zake,
and in that time I've had the privilege of viewing another exciting
three minutes of content (Four, if you count the 30-second OP). In these
three minutes, we get to see Wakako try something new as well as
realize that her culinary practices might not be as advanced as she'd
thought they were.
I don't really have anything else to say about Wakako-zake that I haven't already said. It's a very pleasant and relaxing experience. The art style is very simple and pleasing to look at, and the backgrounds are often quite beautiful, especially when they're done in watercolors and oils. Wakako-zake is simply a show about an office woman relaxing after a long day of work, and it wants the viewer to feel relaxed too. In a season packed to the brim with fast-paced, what-the-fuck anime (looking at you, Prison School), Wakako-zake is a welcomed - and well-deserved - respite.
Solid Recommendation
Second Opinions
Actually, I Am
David: Two things bugged me about Actually, I Am going in, the first being what a bad title that is. Every time I say it I feel like I'm starting a sentence, than leaving it unfinished. That may seem insignificant, but- yes, it is insignificant. The second being the somewhat unappealing look of the character designs. Despite this I decided to give it a shot and found myself pleasantly surprised by it. The show doesn't quite excel in any area as of now, but it's entertaining, has some funny gags, and it most of all: It's very sweet. Like, relentlessly sweet. Nearly every episode has moments that just make me go "gaaaaaaw" at how adorable the main romance is. And for now, that's enough to keep me watching the show. Good jokes and cute characters, it's a simple romcom that's worth watching for those looking for something that makes them feel warm and fuzzy inside. Solid Recommendation
Jonathan: I really wish this show was a little more focused on the supernatural shenanigans. The rom-com stuff is funny, mainly because of how utterly dense every character is and the series charming and kitschy style, but after seeing the first glimpse of the principal, I want so much more. Thankfully, I think we're finally getting into the series more ridiculous side, and I cannot wait. Solid Recommendation
Aoharu X Machinegun
Jonathan: The series gave up on that paying off the debt angle fast. Huh. Instead, Hotaru is now addicted to survival games and shows a natural talent for them. Problem is that her teammates have a ton of baggage with this big competition for the best in the country coming up, and she's still too inexperienced and immature to fully understand her situation. The writing for these dramatic bits is surprisingly strong, making up a lot or some production issues. Don't mess this up, Brain's Base. Solid Recommendation
Charlotte
Joe: Charlotte is chugging along just fine. I wouldn't call the most recent batch of episodes memorable, but they do the job in expanding the world and abilities after introducing the main cast. The main characters have really good chemistry even if their schtick, especially involving the idol worship, is starting to wear thin. The baseball episodes manages to make a decent one of these things without using an endless amount of time to wring out as much drama as possible. You see, Ace of the Diamond, everything doesn't HAVE to be stretched into infinity! Solid Recommendation
GANGSTA.
Stephanie: I'm pretty sure I have a little bit of everything this season, with Gangsta as the mandatory mature action series for me. While much of the show, thus far, has been a bit more episodic, there's been the start of some backstory for Worick and Nic; which, by the way, Nic is an adorable dork as a kid, just saying. There also seems to be some story that's going to be coming in rather soon if Alex's behavior is any indication of this change. It's nice that we've been able to establish our main and recurring characters, so it's soon going to be time to give us an actual story. Also, the fact that a broadcast dub is going to happen, and it's the only one I actually give a damn about, tells me I have some Dub Talk work to do! Regardless, this one is still a strong one for me and it's certainly, still, towards the top of my favorites of the season. Strong Recommendation
Himouto! Umaru-chan
Jonathan: New character is a socially awkward lesbian. I take back all my past criticisms. Strong Recommendation
Monster Musume: Everyday Life With Monster Girls
Stephanie: While this series is still weirdly entertaining for me, I am noticing small things here and there that kind of deter me. The story and the animation are slowly dragging for me, even though this is the kind of thing I expected. To be fair, I think this is more of a case of my brain automatically going to dislike mode for series like this. I'm trying to break my habit and give this one a try, and it's doing fairly well; however because I'm starting to notice these things it could be a matter of time until I possibly drop the show entirely. Excuse me, brain, please let me try something different for a change. Don't stop me on this. Solid Recommendation
Overlord
Stephanie: Thank goodness the series is really starting to move on it's feet, because I was a little scared that it wasn't going to. There are lot of pieces coming into play and a lot more information about this new world our lead has been tossed into. As more and more of the pieces are appearing, it's all falling into place rather slowly. I'm not sure if there will be more than one season, since the show is set for thirteen episodes as of right now, because it's starting to get towards the time where you ought to give us a clear direction in terms of your story. While the basic premise is set, everything else needs some work. Overlord is certainly and underdog series if I had ever seen one since, for me, it's the odd one that I never thought I'd like but actually do. But let's see whether or not it can manage to get me to watch the entire show. Solid Recommendation
Prison School
Danni: This show contains the single most heroic act of pants-shitting in the history of anime. If that doesn't convince you to watch it, I don't know what will. Strong Recommendation
Rokka: Braves of the Six Flowers
Stephanie: If there's one thing that can bug the living crap out of me are series that can be rather slow and drawn out. I somehow managed to get through these two episodes, however the story keeps dragging more and more. This is one of those cases where it would be fine if this was a two cour and it would give us more time to develop the story and the characters. By the end of the fourth episode the seven braves have gathered, and you would normally think this is fine. Rokka is set to be a twelve episode series... With how slow the series is going and the amount of time that's being wasted in order to really get anywhere, I figured I should spend my time elsewhere. It sure had a decent start for me a couple weeks ago, but if it's going to keep up the same pace as it is now for the entire series, I'd rather try and marathon it later than wait every week for a new episode. Weak Recommendation, dropped at episode four
SCHOOL-LIVE!
Jonathan: Episode four nearly got me to cry, so yes, I am sure that this is a good show. The brilliant thing about this series is how it brings back lost humanity in the zombie genre through contrasting two of the most inhuman genres out there, the zombie thriller and moe-blob slice of life. The sheer mismatch between the two creates a new sense of horror and dread that shouldn't be there, and it then proceeds to create surprisingly human characters in the process. It draws you in and then surprises you with impressive execution. This could be a best of the year contender at this rate. Strong Recommendation
Seiyu's Life
Stephanie: And so the unit known as Earphones was born! First of all.... Creative name? I think? Anyways, things are up and down with this group of newbie seiyus, with Ichigo taking the most of it during the fifth episode as she takes on her first event. Meanwhile, Futaba is still having the problems of a newbie. My only real concerns are Rin's character development and the pacing of the show because it can be slow and drawn out at times. But, I'll admit, this is the first Gonzo series I've seen that has had rather decent animation in a long time because we all know how they like to handle their animation at times. And the addition of actual seiyus such as Yui Hiore, this week, have been a fun little easter egg even for someone who barely knows a thing about seiyus. And, because of this, Seiyu's Life is one where I wouldn't mind FUNimation NOT dubbing because it would be extremely weird finding english equivalents for these actors. Yes, I have my concerns with this show, but this is still a hell of a lot fun in it's own adorable way! Solid Recommendation
SHIMONETA: A Boring World Where the Concept of Dirty Jokes Doesn't Exist
David: Shimoneta is like South Park without the satire. It's like Panty and Stocking without the unique animation style. It's non stop bad words, sexual innuendo, and lewd humor, enjoyable only to those with the most immature senses of humor. So, people like me basically. I fully admit that it's not a very good show. Although it has its moments of genuinely clever humor, a large amount of it is just lewd humor for the sake of lewd humor, but its just the sort of turn off my brain for twenty minutes and watch all the senseless shenanigans play out series I can get a kick out of. Perhaps part of my enjoyment is just how goofy its tone is, with the exploits of the sex-themed terrorist organization "SOX" often bordering on Lupin III levels of cartoonish lunacy. Basically, if Prison School or snake girls aren't your thing, Shimoneta just may be the trashy fanservice comedy for you this season. Solid Recommendation
Snow White with the Red Hair
Stephanie: If Gangsta is the mandatory action series and Ranpo is the mandatory mystery series, that should make Snow White the mandatory romance series of the season. To an extent, yes. There is actually a lot more than what you first can see, and these recent episodes help solidify this much more. Both Shirayuki and Zen play both sides of their characters rather well; the stereotypical and the non stereotypical. This helps break away from the cliche and into something much more fresh and enjoyable! Also, much of the cast of secondary characters are enjoyable as well; stepping completely out of the norm and becoming something else entirely. The story has been simplistic so far with no sign of a potential plot, which is good, and the romance between our two leads is growing rather naturally, for the most part. I say this because the admiration they have for each other that occurred from day one hasn't left, and it can be a little odd at times. Never the less, this isn't your typical fairy tale; as much as it seems to be. Something I am perfectly fine with. Strong Recommendation
Ushio and Tora
Jonathan: Oh hey, proto-Orihime finally meets Tora and introduces him to the magical world of hamburgers. America: 1, Demons: 0. The following episode is a tad too heavy handed, but does make up for it with a great fight with Tora fighting someone on his level. I liked that, and I'd like to see more. Also really adore the dynamic between Ushio and both Asako and Inoue. Strong Recommendation
Dropped Shows
- GATE (Jonathan, three episodes)
- Million Doll (Stephanie, two episodes)
- Sky Wizards Academy (Danni, three episodes)
Actually, I Am
Danni Kristen
I poke fun at the fact that Actually, I Am uses some pretty B and C-list monster girls (I mean, an alien? Posessed glasses? Really?), but I really do enjoy it. The show's supernatural aspects are used more for set dressing and setup for jokes than anything else. The show leans most heavily on its romantic comedy aspects, which I quite enjoy for two reasons. For one, the supernatural aspects are kind of cheesy and not all that interesting. The other reason being that I'm just a sucker for cute romantic comedies, even if they are hetero. If you like cheesy hetero shipping, you should give Actually, I Am a shot.
Solid Recommendation
Aoharu x Machinegun
David O'Neil
The show does have its strengths to be sure. The airsoft battles don't have much in terms of impressive animation, but they're still well executed. They're fast, fun, and intense, managing to create some fairly dynamic gunplay despite heavy use of still frames, zoom ins, and empty space of little actually happening. They're far from the best gun-focused combat I've seen in anime, but they kept my attention. Much of the cast also has a certain charm to them, I especially like the protagonist, Hotaru. She's been expanded on in the past few episodes, and she's an intriguing blend of blind idealistic justice, and passionate thrill-seeking bloodlust that I feel could make for some great plot developments later on if handled well. But as of now the show is moving slowly, and despite its occasional lapses into sadistic glee, for the most part to restrained in terms of enjoying itself. If anything I feel its been taking itself far too seriously, treating airsoft battles with a life or death importance than frequently borders on intentionally hilarious edginess. It can't quite manage to find its groove in terms of tone and narrative, making it hard to become fully invested in the plot and characters.
It also doesn't help that from a visual standpoint the show continues to be one of Brain's Base's less impressive works. While their hardly known for going above and beyond with their visuals (sans a few exceptions) they're typically better animated and more polished than the messy, static Aoharu x Machinegun. It's not so bad that its horribly distracting, but off model faces are commonplace and character movement in noticeably limited, both in and out of the action. There are things I like about Aoharu x Machinegun, and I could see myself coming back to finish it at some point after it ends, but as of now it just hasn't quite convinced me to keep coming back week by week.
Weak Recommendation, dropped at episode four
Aquarion Logos
Joe Straatmann
The next episode is the swimsuit episode where the word "Summer" is messed up, and all the guys at the Shirobaco office have to defeat a snow monster to defend the honor of swimsuits. Yes, really. They're mostly goaded by Tsumotsu, who is what I imagine Tatou from actual Shirobako to be like in ten years, but eventually Akira and Hayato-who is known solely as the one who wears glasses (Although he is the rare anime character who can pull off a bolo tie without being an American stereotype)-follow his lead because swimsuits represent great justice. Or to provide a smokescreen for the gay subtext since the three characters meld into an Aquarion and until this series, the franchise has been awfully clear with sharing each other consciousness being somewhat like sex.
Once again, I get it. This is supposed to be a goofy, playful sendup of formulaic mecha shows meshed with the modern... "needs" of otaku. The problem is everything is too thin. There is little attempt to write the main character Akira as anything but this guy who works on the circular logic that he's the savior because he does the things to be the savior, and why he knows how to do these things is because he says he's the savior. Maia is a character who is supposed to be completely sheltered from the world yet seems completely comfortable with the world until the writers remember she's never seen the ocean. The monster fights all feel like the same crap from anime fighting 101 where the battle looks easy until the monster breaks out the special twist for the episode, and the heroes have to find a way around it.
They don't really have fun with this. The descriptions are more entertaining than the execution. I would actually welcome any sexual edge to the threesomes, but there's not enough chemistry between the leads and the suggestive activities are dropped in unceremoniously when the writing is cornered and lets the doujinshi fandom do the real legwork. It turns what could be enjoyable trash into a tedious and robotic project. Camp can be a valuable weapon when it's used to provide character and flourish, but when it's a shield to protect the makers from any complaints, it loses its charm rather quickly. Unless the series steps up its game, the third entry of Aquarion is just a copy of a copy of things that weren't that great to begin with.
No Recommendation
Bikini Warriors
David O'Neil
No Recommendation, Dropped at episode four
Castle Town Dandelion
Stephanie Getchell
Compared to the rather strong start the series had, for me, a couple weeks back, it's slowly wearing on me. While we have those moments with our lead, Akane, where she is the biggest awkward turtle I have ever seen; it is nice to have episodes from a different perspective such as Haruka as it keeps the antics that Akane gets involved in from getting too stale. I mean, seriously, there's only so much of an awkward and embarrassed girl one person can take. I also find it nice to have a little bit more added to Misaki's character as she is the only sibling who we haven't seen or heard much from since the show started. However, it's very clear that there wont' be any form of character development; making the siblings, more or less, stay in their rather simplistic roles and character troupes. Then there's the story where the only main piece is the upcoming election, with the siblings trying to vey for votes. Honestly, because of the entire basic premise, how the episodes are given to us gives the viewer a chance to be a citizen of this town just like everyone else, allowing us to decide who is fit to be the next king. The only problem with that is most of the time is spent with Akane, which isn't a bad thing but, causing our time and view of all the siblings to be rather limited. Hell, this series would be better from Kanade, Haruka, or even Shiori's standpoint!
With the initial three episodes under my belt last time, I'm starting to notice a slight decline with this series. While the series still has it's fun moments, it is starting to repeat itself in some areas and causing a tiny bit of boredom. Castle Town, at least, was on the right track and it saved itself a little bit with episode five being from Haruka's perspective as well as adding some character to the previously underdeveloped Misaki. I am curious to see what will happen next because the title on part of the next episode may indicate that the election is upon us with, potentially, a change in the tone of the series.
Solid Recommendation
Chaos Dragon: Sekiryuu Sen'eki
Joe Straatmann
The Red Dragon expedition is more clearly spelled out, its goals solidified and difficulties expounded upon. Mainly, to say the first expedition failed miserably would be an understatement, and now, the crazy Red Dragon has an army of Returned Ones (This universe's version of zombies) at its disposal in his volcano lair. The expedition takes no time in getting there (Apparently, you CAN just walk into Mordor), but is stymied by said Returned Ones. Meanwhile, the characters do what they've been doing. Ibuki is reluctant to really go about anything that might even suggest needing to sacrifice a friend, Sweallow is as dumb as his name, Lou is the most transparent "sneaky" villain seen in quite some time, La Grava is mysterious mixed with cars and guns, and I swear the head of the revolutionary army would just line up his family for Ibuki and say, "Here, kill them all for the sake of the country. I don't care!"
Even as the party makes its way to their destination fairly quickly, it's still treading water. I struggled to find an image to put up for this one simply because there was so much talking and not many interesting visuals to augment it. There is one fight that is spoilerrific, but it lacks a certain tension that the other similar moments in Chaos Dragon have. Will Ibuki offer the soul of his friend who's already a Returned One to the Red Dragon or not? Kind of a no-brainer there. Also, if Lou is trying to be subtle at being the antagonist of the party, she sure isn't doing a good job of it. She even breaks out her sidemouth of obvious deception when asked if she killed a member of D'Natia's army and comes a nefarious laugh from outright admitting it ("Nooooooo, it wasn't me who did it at allllll! PSSSSST, high five, evil weapon I talk to all the time! They totally bought it!"). It's a lot of progress that feels like a lot of nothing at the same time.
The fascinating little touches are about the only aspect keeping me going at the moment. The concept of the Bound Ones' (The series' equivalent of beast men) animals becoming Returned Ones when their masters do is cool and offers the one quality moment of epic fantasy this series has to offer right now. The negatives are beginning to pile up like the army of the dead, though. The visuals keep getting cheaper and cheaper (And just when you think the horrible CG elephant from the first episode is properly implemented, BOOM, a shot where its worst features are the focal point). Does the music exist? I believe I heard some, but I watched the most recent episode three hours ago and I can't recall a single drum beat or musical phrase. I wouldn't say it's a complete failure. I'm still interested in where they're going. It's simply a listless episode or two away from becoming a time landfill.
Weak Recommendation
Charlotte
Stephanie Getchell
This week kind of goes back into the comedic form after the rather dramatic end to the second episode involving Tomori's older brother. Along with this change comes Yusa and Misa's introduction to the series. Having these two episodes take that small breather from the dramatic is wonderful, allowing us to process what's going on, all the while giving us some new things here and there; with a new character being the main piece this week. It's still rather unclear if the story, itself, will change as it is currently following an episodic narrative, but, again, like the dramatic aspect, the episodes manage to introduce new elements or hint at them in a clever manner. While Yusa and Misa are one element to this, there is a slight hint at the end of the fourth episode when Tomori has Yu take on a little experiment after their baseball game finishes. While the viewer doesn't know the result, it's clear that this secret may come into play later on.
It looks like the comedic pattern will be on a break the next time I write about Charlotte, because I have already heard we get some dramatics in the fifth episode. It's just that because I don't have a premium Crunchyroll account, at the moment, I can't quite see the episode yet. The main five characters are either developing rather nicely like Yu and Tomori, or seem to stick to more archetypal characters to some degree like Takajo, Yusa, and Misa. The biggest mystery of them all, to me, is just the circumstances of this world. Yes, we do know the story behind Tomori and her older brother, but I feel like we now need much more context and background on the world as a whole rather than the characters themselves. Again, I may get my wish depending on how the fifth episode pans out; but, for now, Charlotte is still a strong anime in my eyes.
Strong Recommendation
Classroom Crisis
Jonathan Kaharl
The thing that keeps surprising me about this show is that it's almost too hard to watch at times. There's so much grounded drama here, and so much of it based on real world constructs and politics. The union episode was especially clever, not denouncing the idea of a union, but what unions have become in the modern age in major industry. The sheer crushing and seemingly hopeless situation the class find themselves it also speaks way too true to my own financial situation, where the mammoth power and unfair structure of the system makes even the most simple goals soul crushing. That's why I liked episode five so much.
This is not a series I could ever marathon. There's just too much heavy material there, and even with the happy ending of episode four, some levity was desperately needed, even if it didn't break any new ground and mixed in some exposition poorly. Still, the episode isn't pointless, as it gives us little bits of information about Iris and Nagisa, and it's the point where one of the class starts to better understand Nagisa's horrid position. This was definitely the proper place to put this episode, and hopefully the next few go back to capitalism commentary.
Strong Recommendation
Danchigai
Stephanie Getchell
This is the kind of series that makes so much sense as a short! Being much more episodic rather than constant story like Pupa, Rainy Cocoa, and even Million Doll is really helpful in relaxing and taking a breather in a rather crowded and, slightly, lackluster season so far. The dynamic of the five siblings has been rather fun as well! I'm slowly learning a little something new about these characters every episode and I can only imagine how much more I'll get to learn as I continue with the series. However, the next problem is whether or not I'll be able to keep writing about this series if there isn't a whole lot to go off on. Next report will the last time I get to use my second drop, so, unless something changes, I may have to drop Danchigai just so I am able to save myself the frustration of finding something to talk about.
Solid Recommendation
GANGSTA.
Jonathan Kaharl
Gangsta is really starting to lose me. It's slick, atmospheric, polished, and gritty, but my original complaints still stand. This is all stuff we've seen before, and the series has no interest in doing anything original with its material. Because of this, I'm starting to get bugged by little other bits of problems, like how Ally's entire storyline is kind of sexist. It's very much the Nic and Worick show, but neither are that interesting outside their odd skills. Or, rather, the show isn't exploring the more interesting parts of their pasts and personalities. The show is just moving too slow and leaving nothing there to latch onto.
The entire series is like a really well produced pop rap track. Sure, it's nice and all, but you quickly lose interest in it as you realize there's nothing else there besides the production value. I want to like this series, I really do. It does a lot right, and there's very little wrong with it. But it's just so empty an experience, and that emptiness isn't used for anything besides filling time. Just go read Black Lagoon.
Weak Recommendation
God Eater
Joe Straatmann
The episode is an air battle in which flying Aragami are pestering a rather large airplane and the main party has to come in to save the day, much to the Chagrin of elite New-type Alisa who thinks she can manage just fine on her own. The action is pretty serviceable, though it triggers a lot of those little breaches in suspension of disbelief I shouldn't think about in such series but my ADHD can't ignore. Everybody can breathe just fine in a battle that is taking place over 10,000 feet in the air, and the cast has no trouble maneuvering around an airplane that is moving at speeds that make Tom Cruise hang on for dear life in every single Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation ad. Alisa's newsie hat is never at risk of blowing off. They can even have a slow-motion badass gathering moment at the top of it. If this were running on Bayonetta rules, maybe it's not worth thinking about, but at worst, this is operating at the level of latter Resident Evil games given the Aragami slice through the law of the conservation of matter at will and become as large as they damn well please at any moment the plot requires. It's a pretty high threshold involving bending the rules of reality, but not quite high enough.
All right all right, enough of this! My logic brain hijacked that paragraph. It tends to do that in series that leave me little to ponder over or be distracted by. It has cool ideas, like Alisa slapping on a bungee cord and taking to the bottom of the plane, but it's all stiff and simply adequate. If this were a better season, I might simply dismiss the show outright, but given the absolutely dire quality of my assignments this go 'round, I have bigger and uglier fish to fry. Plus, I've seen enough of the Star Ocean, Wild Arms and Arc the Lad anime to know this is far from the basement of video game adaptations. That said, this only barely reaches the levels of "it'll do" if you REALLY need a straightforward action series to watch, and it takes a Boom Boom Satellite soundalike insert song to get there.
Weak Recommendation
Himouto! Umaru-chan
Danni Kristen
To put it simply, Himouto has been great these past few episodes. I found the show's early introductions to supporting characters early on promising, and the past two episodes have delivered amazingly on that front with Tachibana Sylphynford, aka Best Girl. While she stole all her scenes in last installment's episodes, she never got a lot of screentime. These past two, however, she's appeared heavily throughout, taking on both of Umaru's personas as a rival. At school, she enthusiastically challenges Umaru in subjects such as athletics and test scores. She loses every time, but she loses with dignity, showing no signs of total defeat. In the arcade, we see her go up against Umaru's arcade persona (UMR) in a nationwide fighting game tournament. She actually almost bests UMR before withdrawing for mysterious reasons we'll likely learn later. She comes back to the arcade over summer break to challenge UMR once again. UMR loses in a game of chance, and Sylphyn recruits UMR to help her finally defeat Umaru.
I've said it already, but Sylphyn is easily my favorite character on the show. Everything about her sticks out so well that it makes me think she accidentally wandered into the wrong anime. While everyone - save Himouto Umaru - has very normal character designs and clothing, Sylphyn's is significantly bluer with cute yellow designs in her pupils that no one else has. Her personality is also very unique to the show too. She acts like a kind version of the stereotypical shoujo-ai antagonist, and even brings her own flowery backdrops and baskets of flower petals to toss wherever she goes. Also, like I said before, her poses are amazing. I'd bet anything Sylphyn read a lot of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure as a kid.
The past two episodes do actually focus on more than Sylphyn, though, filling the gaps with the short gags between Umaru and Taihei that mostly made up the first episode, which I still find funny. Additionally, we're also being slowly introduced to her brother's coworkers/friends. These friends are Takeshi the slacker, Alex the otaku, and Kanau, Taihei's near-stalker. I'm sure we're going to start seeing more and more of Taihei's coworkers, or at least Alex. His presence at the game tournament appears to be the reason Sylphyn forfeits, so I assume they're going to touch on whatever relationship with each other they have. Personally, I'd love to see more of these characters interacting with each other. While I do quite enjoy watching Umaru and her brother bounce off each other, it would get very old if every episode was only that. A season of Umaru and Taihei interacting with each other amidst sections of them interacting with others provides a lot more opportunities for new jokes. If Himouto is really just Japanese Garfield, then it's a Garfield in which Jim Davis actually bothered to make more than one character.
Strong Recommendation
Monster Musume: Everyday Life With Monster Girls
Jonathan Kaharl
Before her arrival, though, Darling had to deal with a full moon, causing his three house guests to all go kind of bananas and start acting on instinct, though his initial chickening out when Smith brought up marriage did not help things. After the hell night of all hell nights, the doof decides to make a decision and date the three to decide who he'll marry one day over time. After that, a smile appears from the guy's stew and starts causing trouble in the house, but eventually calmed down by tossing her in the bath (while poor ol' Darling was being drowned to death in her body). This slime gets named Suu by Papi and may be an illegal immigrant, causing a debate on what to do about her. Some time with Papi and some kids helps Darling make his decision, but now he's getting a fifth house guest.
That third episode adapted probably the most problematic chapters in an incredibly problematic series, and to their credit, they made it pretty damn hilarious. There's a lot of good slapstick on display, and the build up to the full moon night is well handled. Suu's episode stands out in the series so far, though, as she's so alien and strange, yet so instantly endearing. She's a complete innocent compared to everyone else, and the chaos she causes more comes her whole being made of living goop thing. What makes her a fun addition is that she's one of the only characters who can be on the same emotional and intellectual level as Papi without being obnoxious, giving her someone to bounce off of in a different way.
Smith is getting to be a bit more lively, correcting a problem I had earlier, and the animation is working in a lot of fun gags and strange moments, like when the main three are getting ready to go to war over Darling. I think my only problem left is the score, which tries working in terrible porn music tracks in raunchier scenes, which doesn't work for this series because of how many gags get mixed in those moments. But it's a minor complaint, as the sheer ridiculousness of the series is still making things a blast.
Solid Recommendation
My Wife is the Student Council President
Joe Straatmann
For an example in just how absolutely bottom drawer this is, all you need to look at is the love hotel episode. Main character Hayato is in the middle of a spat between his promised wife with fluctuating character traits Ui (She's determined! She's shy! She follows her own will! She immediately relents to the arrangements of her parents! She's dumb! She can process everything all too well!) with disciplinary head Rin when it starts raining. Due to racing to the nearest building with no cognitive abilities whatsoever, Hayato and Rin find themselves inside a love motel. Instead of admitting they made an honest mistake and moving someplace else, they rent a room. Instead of merely drying off and leaving, they hang out and have an awkward conversation about how Rin's boobs are her curse. And instead of noticing there was a certain device inside her all this time, she accidentally triggers the "climax" to the episode.
This is when the episode turns into "Wife Theater" with a paper cut-out of Rin riding a cat and there is a message talking about Rin going through some kitty training while the rest of the audio from the scene plays out as one would expect. It tends to lean on these scenes when they can't show the extreme ecchi content from the manga. Yet they are brief and enjoyable reprieves from a series where nobody can have a basic conversation to sort circumstances out, nobody can do anything but completely overreact to every situation, and nobody acts like anything close to a human being as a desperate ploy at extracting any kind of laughter or sexual arousal from an audience that literally has hundreds of better viewing choices. They've introduced Ui's mother, who is at least a character that required more than one thought to put together, and she actually attempts to have some kind of real talk with Hayato. There's only so much time for serious conversation when you're interrupting your potential son-in-law's private bathing, however.
No Recommendation
Overlord
Jonathan Kaharl
What I love about all of this is that Ains isn't really a villain or a hero. He's an unexpected third party that's throwing a chaotic air into this huge political scuffle, and he's only doing so because of is own goal of taking over the world. He's not dumb about it either. He presents himself kindly to the people he saves, and only asks for monetary reward to ease their worries and sell himself as an adventurer instead of something more wicked. He also realizes that his true skull face scares others, so he starts wearing a mask. He even considers reviving the dead villagers, but decides against it because it may cause more trouble for them or himself when people start learning that he can bring back the dead. He's smart, and I greatly respect that, and his conflicting and complicated motivations are really interesting to boot. I also love that the minion characters all act as reminders of his old friends and that shapes his personality and actions.
But what makes these last two episodes such a delight is that the show is finally showing what it can do when it's not passing out exposition. What it does is have giant skeleton monsters decapitate people and the strongest warrior of a nation killing the shit out of angels. The action in this series is brutal, ridiculous, and incredibly entertaining, mainly because of how much it endears you to those involved in it quickly. It even makes curb-stomp battles incredible, using a fight with a low level bad guy to show off just how utterly, impossibly powerful Ains' is compared to the non-player characters of this world. Half of episode four is just Ains humiliating this evil dick who wanted to destroy a village for the fun of it, and it's just so, so very entertaining. I almost cheered out loud at points, it was just so fun in a twisted way. Apparently, the dark comedy routine is going to be the series main style, based on what little I know about some future events, so I'm excited.
I'm also starting to like Albedo. While she was a bit obnoxious at first, episodes three and four give her a bit more depth by revealing her distaste for humans, and also having fun with her obsession with Ains. She has the best expressions in the series by a long mile, and her whole crazy yandere shtick is so overplayed that it wraps around from being terrible to incredible. Overlord is achieving an unexpected balance between darkly hilarious, violently fun, and unexpectedly interesting. I'm just so surprised by how good these last two episodes were, and I'm excited to see where this is headed. The only challenges it may have up ahead are finding a good ending point and dealing with some animation quality drops.
Strong Recommendation
Prison School
Jonathan Kaharl
I like trash shows if they have just enough good qualities to help me overlook and even embraced their terrible values, and Prison School is basically a who's who of ridiculously talented people and groups. The director of Witch Craft Works and Shirobako!? The head of script composition for Princess Tutu!? The composer of Code Geass!? It goes on like this. The execution for this series is so perfect that it conditions you to just accept this absurd thing and find yourself getting caught up in the tension and feel for the characters, despite how utterly ridiculous they all are. I felt bad for Gakuto, for fuck's sake! Gakuto! The most textbook creepy boy of the gang of creepy boys! On top of that, it keeps making plot points out of perverted situations and doesn't bother trying to titillate the audience and just lets a scene breathe as an actual scene! This is incredibly rare for ecchi these days, and it's all the more appreciated here because of the amazing score and intricately detailed shadows and backgrounds.
And it's all hilarious. The show plays everything straight, despite everything being so damn ridiculous. Characters being distracted by panties or butts is used to build tension. Gakuto plans for him to be horribly punished for the sake of intricate plans. Andre being an open masochist is going to be an important part of his character that affects the actions of a character yet to be introduced. The other three boys thinking that Koyoshi and Gakuto are gay is used to build empathy for Gakuto. I'm bi, I should be offended, and I just can't help but laught at all this, because you know damn well everyone involved with this knew exactly what they were doing and making.
And yet, there's so much effort! The character designs are beautifully detailed, the backgrounds feel real, the expressions all explode with life, CG is implemented almost perfectly, the score compliments every scene just right, the color pallet builds so much atmosphere, the actors are giving it their all (especially Katsuyuki Konishi as Gakuto), scenes are edited together just right for a constant flow that keeps you active with the show, and so on and so forth. It's a masterwork of garbage, a trash pile that's made up almost entirely of pure gold. It's a joke everyone took completely seriously and not seriously at all.
Prison School transcends every medium it's portrayed in. There is absolutely nothing like it, which is both for the best and for the worse. It's a true masterpiece if I've ever seen one, right up there with the likes of Gatchaman Crowds and Yurikuma Arashi, farting in their general direction while reading a bad Naruto doujin where the artist gave Sakura huge tits for some insane reason. Absolutely nothing about it should be good. It may very well be one of the best shows I have ever seen in my entire life, of any animated or live-action or televised or even streamed program.
Good and bad things really are the same. You imbecile. You fucking moron.
Strong Recommendation
Ranpo Kitan: Game of Laplace
Stephanie Getchell
This time around, we have another two part mystery, sort of, in the form of a copy cat version of the deterrent known as Twenty Faces. The original that appeared three years prior to the series was know for punishing criminals who were never indicted for their crimes by police and were released. In present day, a new individual calling himself Twenty Faces has gone on a mass murder spree killing many criminals. Police Superintendent Kagami brings in Akechi and Kobayashi to help solve the case, which they do rather quickly, and with a rather surprising turn of events! We are also introduced to Black Lizard, a woman imprisoned who assists Akechi and who also seems to have a thing for him. The second part of the entire story is, essentially, the unmasked culprit arrested and telling his story as to why he took on the mantle of Twenty Faces, with his final message to Akechi and the others being that the belief of Twenty Faces will never go away; something that is evident when our girl kidnapper from the previous case (after being used as bait to lure out Twenty Faces) is killed in the street by another masked man who claims to be Sachiko's father (the little girl Shadow-man was searching for during that same previous case). Finally, we take a little bit of a breather from mysteries when one day, out of no where, a kitten, a baby, extremists, and Shadow-man with a bomb strapped to him appear on Akechi's doorstep in need of help... Minus the extremists though. Oh yeah! By the way, Akechi's not a huge fan of cats or children.
I think, from now on, I want to give more in depth context to the stories that are adapted from Edogawa's work just to give a little more detail and showcase what's similar and what's different. Episode four, titled Twenty Faces, by the looks of it, should be linked the Edogawa's novel The Fiend with Twenty Faces. In the original novel, Kobayshi (Akechi is overseas during part of the novel) deters a renowned thief who is capable of disguising himself as anyone. While this part seems more to apply to Shadow-man, there is one important factor that has been kept from the original novel and into the anime: Twenty Faces is Akechi's biggest adversary. While this hasn't been out right stated in the series, we do know that the young detective has been after him since he first appeared three years prior to the present setting. Episode five, titled The Caterpillar, is based on a short story of the same name. Here we have a husband and wife, Sunaga and Tokiko, with the husband as a quadriplegic after returning from war and the wife taking care of him. The story focuses on their rather strained relationship. What Ranpo Kitan did with the story here (remember the episode is the "second half" of the Twenty Faces story) was take the names of the two main characters and place them here in different capacities. Tokiko, is the younger sister of the current Twenty Faces who was killed by a violent man, named Sunaga, causing Twenty Faces to begin his crusade against criminals. The quadriplegic part of the short story was also kept, but I'm gonna just let you guess where in the series that comes in...
While on the Twenty Faces arc, I'm going to touch upon the context behind Black Lizard; a new character introduced during these episodes. In the novels, she appears in Edogawa's The Black Lizard and Beast in the Shadows and is seen as a master criminal and femme fatal character who has a rather charged relationship toward Akechi and is a huge sadist. Lastly comes episode six, A Glimpse into Hell. While I couldn't find much regarding the actual summery of the original Edogawa work, I can at least say that the episode title is based on an untranslated novel called Jigoku Fukei in Japanese, and published in the early 1930s. It's possible that the summery of the novel could link to the events of the episode, however I don't want to make any kind of false claims.
Ok, I think I have my bases covered here so I can really get into my thoughts on the series this week. After doing much more in depth research into the original novels, it's safe to say that the anime is taking on a rather loose adaptation of Edogawa's work or it can be seen as more of a love letter to the author, of sorts. Even doing some back tracking to the first three episodes, this is very clear. So, from here on, don't expect me to treat this series as a faithful adaptation of Edogawa's work. This still doesn't really mean I'm happy about that. As a lover of mystery and of books, knowing how influential Edogawa is had me very interested in seeking out his work. It still does now, however I honestly would have loved to have seen what the anime would do in taking a more tried and true approach to the original work. But this isn't the biggest problem I have with the series this week as it is the Twenty Faces arc that caught my attention in a bad way. While the twist at the end of episode four was surprising, the build up to that discovery and arrest of Twenty Faces was very lackluster. There was almost no sign of hints as to who the culprit could be (though The Human Chair arc is far more guilty of doing this), and it goes by too quickly that the pay off isn't as good. The surprise is there, yes, but then it goes from surprise to frustrating fairly quickly. While the following episode did well to clarify a few things, there are some parts that could have been either taken care of before Twenty Faces or before his arrest.
There are some shining moments from this week, though, and they all come from episode six. Even if I didn't know the episode is, supposedly, taken from an untranslated work, it was a very nice break from what we'd seen thus far; adding a bit more humor and fun to the series and bringing it out of the darker and somber mood just a tiny bit. To be fair, a good portion of this can be credited to Shadow-man and his personality, but part of it can also be because of Akechi. During the last report, I mentioned that Akechi hasn't exactly done a whole lot in the series. While he does play a bigger part during Twenty Faces, it's here where his character is much more interesting. Yes, I'm talking about the fact that he dislikes cats and babies. It brings in a different side of his character that what had been shown so far, and it's a huge breath of fresh air for the viewer knowing that he's not fond of the simplest of things. This also gives a break to Kobayashi who had been given a lot of screen time up until this point even though he's just Akechi's assistant. As for Hanibasa, it's his turn to get a little bit more character added in. While I'm not sure if he's a recurring character in Edogawa's novels, he is seen as part of the main trio of characters; making some proper development a much needed piece.
While the series had a strong start, for me, previously, this week I've run into the weakest arc of the series to date. While the character development is growing and moral and ethical lines are being crossed, the structure and pacing of the Twenty Faces arc is something I just can't ignore, bugging the living hell out of me. Thankfully, I had the fun little breather to help make things a little better, but the series isn't out of the woods yet. I decided long before the season started that I will finish this one regardless, and I still stand by that, however that doesn't mean I can't be hard on it. My horror/mystery/psychological fan girl ways have worn off after the first three episodes. I'm not afraid to be overly critical towards a series that I enjoy.
Solid Recommendation
Rokka: Braves of the Six Flowers
David O'Neil
The most recent episode marks a transition for the series, going from slow, world-building to something more akin to a fantasy "whodunit" story. The episode really does feel something like a detective story, and despite how out of place that may seem in the setting, so far it's actually managing to pull it off. The most recent episode entirely takes place in a single room, and is dedicated to dialogue between characters. They state their alibis, accuse each other, and overall try to get to the bottom of what exactly happened. Despite not a whole lot actually happening in the episode, the writing keeps things feeling brisk and tense, to me the episode flew by in what felt like barely any time at all. I was quickly wrapped wrapped up in the intrigue and mystery, even though it seems as if the show has only scratched the surface. In addition to the writing, this is also thanks to the strong characters as well. Even the personalities of the newly introduced characters quickly shine through and throw interesting new perspectives and conflicts into the mix. Although all the Braves are working for the same grand objective, each clearly has their own agenda and motivations, and the way they discuss makes for some promising chemistry and clashing. This new direction for the series has only been going on for a single episode, but so far it's very promising. If it can continue to effectively balance mystery, fantasy, and drama this well Rokka could be one of the best shows of the season.
While Rokka's story is stronger than ever, in terms of production it feels as if the show's thinning more and more by the week. There's an evident lack of visual polish, with characters going off model on a fairly frequent basis. Pretty much any distance shot of characters ends up looking like doodles out of a high school notebook, with crooked eyes and jagged heads. The show's great music and pretty backgrounds do help to distract from this, along with some interesting use of rotating shots and unique camerawork, that often help the drawn out scenes of characters talking feel more dynamic. Though I can't help but feel better character animation would be a better way to address this, rather than the occasionally distracting use of rotation and CG backgrounds. But although Rokka is struggling visually, it's hard to notice when the real meat of the show continues to be so well executed.
Strong Recommendation
SCHOOL-LIVE!
Danni Kristen
Meanwhile at the school, Yuki suggests that the School Living Club go on an outing for the day, which Kurumi and Yuri both approve of. They decide to go to the mall so that they can gather supplies on their outing. While looking for supplies, they accidentally release a mob of zombies. Miki hears them struggling, and, having not heard from Kei since she left, decides to abandon the mall as well. The girls make it outside, and Miki is surrounded by the mob of zombies. Yuki, on the edge of completely breaking mentally, decides to go back in for Miki. Yuri triggers an alarm that distracts the zombies while they all escape. Miki asks if they've seen any sign of Kei, to which they answer with a simple but somber no.
SCHOOL-LIVE is certainly a welcome spin on a very tired genre. It's hard to pinpoint exactly why given the fact that it seems to simply be re-telling situations we've seen in every other piece of media with zombies. The most obvious reason is of course the fact it uses moe tropes and framing as a way of eliciting horror and emotions that one can only feel within the context of this specific show. However, one specific aspect stands out to me especially: the lack of zombie-killing. Throughtout all five episodes so far, I can only think of three cases where any of the girls actually killed a zombie. I say "any of the girls," but Kurumi is actually the only one who attacks any at all. The only weapon in the show is her shovel, and she's the only one that uses it. While she does use it fairly often to attack zombies, the only time she ever kills them with it is in a one-on-one situation. In each of these situations, it takes her a good few hits to actually kill the creature. In every other situation she uses her shovel on zombies, there are a lot of them. Since it takes more than one hit to kill them, she'd have to stop and get a few more bashes in f she actually wanted to kill one. Her shovel is instead almost exclusively used for slowing the undead pursuers by knocking them away. This aspect of SCHOOL-LIVE is something rarely seen in the zombie genre. Survivors are always armed with guns, knives, axes, or any other object capable of killing something with one hit. The members of the School Living Clubs are four tiny girls and a shovel. It's nearly impossible for them to brute force their way out of any situation. Instead, they have to rely on stealth and methods of evasion. It's an interesting concept, one that I'd love to see more of.
SCHOOL-LIVE is one of the most popular shows this season, and for good reason. The direction is intriguing and the execution is unexpectedly good, with my only real quip being too many CG zombies. The obviously CGd creatures really succeed at taking me out of the story in the middle of scenes that would have been otherwise terrifying and emotional. While I do love this show, I must admit that I remain tentative about it. While it's done a good job of remaining fresh so far, the simple fact it's a zombie show in 2015 means that a single misstep or overdone could kill a lot of people's buzz for it. This isn't actually a fault on the show's part, though, just a risk that comes with the genre. I still highly recommend you keep up with SCHOOL-LIVE.
Strong Recommendation
Seiyu's Life
David O'Neil
Despite staying steady on its course to act primarily as a vessel for silly humor and voice acting insight, the show does inject just enough plot progression and conflict to hold my attention. It's very thin, sure, but giving the characters conflicts to overcome and facing new challenges (like hosting their own radio show, preparing for a debut CD) helps to keep things from feeling stagnant despite the show's aforementioned simplicity. One of the few noticeable "changes" if you can even call it that is the steady decrease in what was one of my biggest pet peeves towards the show early on, the unnecessary and obnoxious stuffed animal mascot character who constantly chimes in to trail off information about how voice acting works. Whether it was a conscious decision, or just a result of having less to explain, he's rarely shown up in the last few episodes, increasing my enjoyment of the show significantly. I prefer when the show provides information through more natural means, rather than forcing it onto the viewer as if they need things spelled out for them. I'd prefer if they dropped the mascot altogether, but that may be asking for a bit much at this point.
Last time I covered Seiyu's Life I mentioned my appreciation for how the show didn't glorify the voice acting industry, and I'd like to carry that praise over to its handling of the show's cameos as well. Every episode of Seiyu's Life features a cameo by a voice actor/actress playing themselves as characters in the show, which is normally the sort of thing I loathe. I'm fine with subtle nods, or Shirobako-esque fake cameos, but typically straight-up having people as themselves in cameos borders on pandering in my eyes. Despite this, I actually don't mind the cameos in Seiyu's Life one bit. A large part of this is, similar to its portrayal of the voice acting industry, it isn't just blatant glorification. The show actually portrays them as people rather than idols, and even has a lot of fun with inside jokes surrounding each cameo, like Hiroshi Kamiya always talking about his cat, or Yui Horie being a bit of a slob outside of her beautiful public persona. It's cute details like that keep the cameos from feeling forced. Not much has changed in Seiyu's Life, as it continues to be an entertaining slice of life comedy with lively animation and cool insight on voice acting.
Strong Recommendation
SHIMONETA: A Boring World Where the Concept of Dirty Jokes Doesn’t Exist
Joe Straatmann
If the people who disliked Shimoneta from the outset are still watching, they definitely hate it now. We've moved from satire leaning on heavily sexual jokes and censor sight gags to straight gross-out comedy which is, shall we say, less accepted amongst the many critical circles. It works here. They properly set it up (Though looking back on the foreshadowing is a little frightening. I thought it was some kind of Mysterious Girlfriend X thing. Somehow, it's worse than that....) and it provides a new and interesting dynamic to a character in a genre that tends to keep people on limited traits that are summoned ad nauseam. What I hope is all of this doesn't make Anna into a straight villain like her mother. One of the most admirable parts of this series is that no matter if they're 100% working against her, everyone loves Anna, and that hate the sin, love the sinner setup is rather unique for comedy if it's not the main character. They're going the "nobody is a saint" route, which is okay for right now.
As far as everything else, it's still the most fundamentally sound series I've watched this season, surprisingly enough. J.C. Staff isn't the biggest hitter in anime, but if they have a project with decent enough content, they generally have the vision to execute it properly, even if the vision is constant visual metaphors for sex, euphemisms making everything innocuous filthy, and anything could be taken the wrong way given its own brand of censor circle. The comedic timing is about spot-on,and the plot is moving long confidently at a medium stride. Not much to complain about unless you want the subject matter to be something else entirely. It has its obvious points, like having a pet that exists solely to imitate the motions of penetration, but it also has more than you'd think.
Solid Recommendation
Snow White with the Red Hair
David O'Neil
It may be simple and straightforward, but what it tries to accomplish it does well. Shirayuki continues to be a likable, engaging protagonist who constantly strives to become closer to Prince Zen without relying on him. She's the show's strongest driving force, cute and funny, but also interesting and complex, to the point I'm hoping at some point the rest of the cast catches up and reaches the same level of character depth. Zen probably comes the closest, and in recent episodes has been expanded on more as a character. He's had some really heartfelt moments, along with deepening his relationship with Shirayuki along the way. Many of the side characters continue to feel one-note, simply serving as white noise in the background rather than actually contributing much to the narrative as a whole. Some may also be turned off by the near mundanity of the show's plot. As of now there's no overarching story, and the show mostly just revolves around small, laid back plot lines surrounding the characters struggling with fairly small scale problems episode by episode, with the exception of the most recent episode where the stakes were heightened somewhat. That said, I'm totally fine with this sort of easygoing, relaxing structure. If anything it fits well with the characters and tone of the show, allowing the characters to interact and overcome obstacles in a gradual and natural fashion. With that said, those seeking more in terms of emotional or dramatic stakes may be left underwhelmed.
Outside of the story and characters, Snow White with the Read Hair's visuals continue to be where it excels more than anything. The animation is good, with moments of adorable comedy and also realistic movement, and the attention to detail in terms of lighting, atmosphere, and backgrounds is damn near jaw dropping. Every episode is littered with gorgeous shots and vibrant backgrounds, and the beautifully composed visuals work in perfect unison with what continues to be an exceptional soundtrack by Michiru Oshima. Snow White with the Read Hair is simple, slow, and conventional, but it conveys its straightforward feelings with sincerity and strong execution, and wraps it all in perhaps the best visual and audio presentation of this anime season. I feel as if the show could do more and go farther with its characters and ideas, but for now it's an enjoyable series for what it is.
Solid Recommendation
Ushio and Tora
David O'Neil
The past few episodes have been focused mostly on character building, with a few hints at later major conflicts scattered here and there. The bond between the two protagonists of the title, Ushio and Tora, grows stronger and stronger with every battle. Its still clear they're far from over hating each other, but half of the fun is watching them overcome that to help each other when it really counts. Tora has been explored as a character far more, largely on his constant struggle between clinging to his old cruel, human eating ways, and being forced to help them (and to some extent learn to respect them more) being at the beck and call of Ushio. There's also more revealed about Ushio, his past, along with how he operates, and overall he makes a thoroughly likable protagonist. Which is impressive considering a lot of the time he does act like a bit of an ass. The show has also given more screen time to the two female side characters, Asako and Mayuko. I do wish they'd less often end up being damsels in distress for Ushio to save, but at the same time I respect its effort to make them well rounded characters who, even in the face of insurmountable danger, prove themselves to be strong willed and courageous, even if they lack magical powers that allow them to do much in terms of fighting the horrifying monsters they encounter.
My main complaint with Ushio and Tora so far remains that I wish they'd do more in terms of action animation. The action scenes are cool and fun for the most part, but I'd like more cuts of dynamic movement than what the show is currently providing. I know that MAPPA has some really great action animators, so its a shame that so far the action lacks flair animation-wise (I've heard around that currently Studio VOLN is pulling most of the weight, which could explain it). Still, the action is well presented, and features big, memorable moments that make up for the lack of especially good animation. And overall, Ushio and Tora continues to be one of my favorite shows of the season, an exciting callback to 90s style anime that perfectly balances its tone to create an engaging action show.
Strong Recommendation
Wakaba*Girl
Danni Kristen
According to Wakaba, she got lost for awhile when she was a little girl. Due to this, her parents have saddles her with a strict 6 PM curfew that they don't seem apt to rescind. The episode takes a more dramatic and somber turn in atmosphere as Wakaba sadly declines the invitation to their evening outing and wanders home. The episode closes with the girls left wondering how they can include her in their festival celebrations, which is really the closest thing to a cliffhanger Wakaba Girl has had thus far. By the looks of it, next week's episode is going to be a direct continuation of the most recent one, which is also a first. Each episode thus far has been self-contained and not within a real timeline of events, as they often are for this kind of show. I'm curious as to whether or not this is a one-time thing. I'm sure that everything will be resolved in next week's episode and end on a high note, but the way Wakaba's disappearance was alluded to leads me to believe it'll be brought up again. It was just mentioned vaguely and with enough weight to suggest it will definitely play an important role later in the season.
This kind of continuity is something I never really expected to see in Wakaba Girl, and I'm not sure how well it can hold up. The normal course of action in the moe slice of life genre is to save an event like this for the very end of the season, rather than the mid-point. I struggle to understand why it's playing out now. I hope this is just a strange bump that isn't addressed again, because Wakaba Girl is much better at short gags and cute comedy than it is at emotional substance. We'll have to wait until next week to see how this plays out.
Solid Recommendation
Wakako-zake
Danni Kristen
I don't really have anything else to say about Wakako-zake that I haven't already said. It's a very pleasant and relaxing experience. The art style is very simple and pleasing to look at, and the backgrounds are often quite beautiful, especially when they're done in watercolors and oils. Wakako-zake is simply a show about an office woman relaxing after a long day of work, and it wants the viewer to feel relaxed too. In a season packed to the brim with fast-paced, what-the-fuck anime (looking at you, Prison School), Wakako-zake is a welcomed - and well-deserved - respite.
Solid Recommendation
Second Opinions
Actually, I Am
David: Two things bugged me about Actually, I Am going in, the first being what a bad title that is. Every time I say it I feel like I'm starting a sentence, than leaving it unfinished. That may seem insignificant, but- yes, it is insignificant. The second being the somewhat unappealing look of the character designs. Despite this I decided to give it a shot and found myself pleasantly surprised by it. The show doesn't quite excel in any area as of now, but it's entertaining, has some funny gags, and it most of all: It's very sweet. Like, relentlessly sweet. Nearly every episode has moments that just make me go "gaaaaaaw" at how adorable the main romance is. And for now, that's enough to keep me watching the show. Good jokes and cute characters, it's a simple romcom that's worth watching for those looking for something that makes them feel warm and fuzzy inside. Solid Recommendation
Jonathan: I really wish this show was a little more focused on the supernatural shenanigans. The rom-com stuff is funny, mainly because of how utterly dense every character is and the series charming and kitschy style, but after seeing the first glimpse of the principal, I want so much more. Thankfully, I think we're finally getting into the series more ridiculous side, and I cannot wait. Solid Recommendation
Aoharu X Machinegun
Jonathan: The series gave up on that paying off the debt angle fast. Huh. Instead, Hotaru is now addicted to survival games and shows a natural talent for them. Problem is that her teammates have a ton of baggage with this big competition for the best in the country coming up, and she's still too inexperienced and immature to fully understand her situation. The writing for these dramatic bits is surprisingly strong, making up a lot or some production issues. Don't mess this up, Brain's Base. Solid Recommendation
Charlotte
Joe: Charlotte is chugging along just fine. I wouldn't call the most recent batch of episodes memorable, but they do the job in expanding the world and abilities after introducing the main cast. The main characters have really good chemistry even if their schtick, especially involving the idol worship, is starting to wear thin. The baseball episodes manages to make a decent one of these things without using an endless amount of time to wring out as much drama as possible. You see, Ace of the Diamond, everything doesn't HAVE to be stretched into infinity! Solid Recommendation
GANGSTA.
Stephanie: I'm pretty sure I have a little bit of everything this season, with Gangsta as the mandatory mature action series for me. While much of the show, thus far, has been a bit more episodic, there's been the start of some backstory for Worick and Nic; which, by the way, Nic is an adorable dork as a kid, just saying. There also seems to be some story that's going to be coming in rather soon if Alex's behavior is any indication of this change. It's nice that we've been able to establish our main and recurring characters, so it's soon going to be time to give us an actual story. Also, the fact that a broadcast dub is going to happen, and it's the only one I actually give a damn about, tells me I have some Dub Talk work to do! Regardless, this one is still a strong one for me and it's certainly, still, towards the top of my favorites of the season. Strong Recommendation
Himouto! Umaru-chan
Jonathan: New character is a socially awkward lesbian. I take back all my past criticisms. Strong Recommendation
Monster Musume: Everyday Life With Monster Girls
Stephanie: While this series is still weirdly entertaining for me, I am noticing small things here and there that kind of deter me. The story and the animation are slowly dragging for me, even though this is the kind of thing I expected. To be fair, I think this is more of a case of my brain automatically going to dislike mode for series like this. I'm trying to break my habit and give this one a try, and it's doing fairly well; however because I'm starting to notice these things it could be a matter of time until I possibly drop the show entirely. Excuse me, brain, please let me try something different for a change. Don't stop me on this. Solid Recommendation
Overlord
Stephanie: Thank goodness the series is really starting to move on it's feet, because I was a little scared that it wasn't going to. There are lot of pieces coming into play and a lot more information about this new world our lead has been tossed into. As more and more of the pieces are appearing, it's all falling into place rather slowly. I'm not sure if there will be more than one season, since the show is set for thirteen episodes as of right now, because it's starting to get towards the time where you ought to give us a clear direction in terms of your story. While the basic premise is set, everything else needs some work. Overlord is certainly and underdog series if I had ever seen one since, for me, it's the odd one that I never thought I'd like but actually do. But let's see whether or not it can manage to get me to watch the entire show. Solid Recommendation
Prison School
Danni: This show contains the single most heroic act of pants-shitting in the history of anime. If that doesn't convince you to watch it, I don't know what will. Strong Recommendation
Rokka: Braves of the Six Flowers
Stephanie: If there's one thing that can bug the living crap out of me are series that can be rather slow and drawn out. I somehow managed to get through these two episodes, however the story keeps dragging more and more. This is one of those cases where it would be fine if this was a two cour and it would give us more time to develop the story and the characters. By the end of the fourth episode the seven braves have gathered, and you would normally think this is fine. Rokka is set to be a twelve episode series... With how slow the series is going and the amount of time that's being wasted in order to really get anywhere, I figured I should spend my time elsewhere. It sure had a decent start for me a couple weeks ago, but if it's going to keep up the same pace as it is now for the entire series, I'd rather try and marathon it later than wait every week for a new episode. Weak Recommendation, dropped at episode four
SCHOOL-LIVE!
Jonathan: Episode four nearly got me to cry, so yes, I am sure that this is a good show. The brilliant thing about this series is how it brings back lost humanity in the zombie genre through contrasting two of the most inhuman genres out there, the zombie thriller and moe-blob slice of life. The sheer mismatch between the two creates a new sense of horror and dread that shouldn't be there, and it then proceeds to create surprisingly human characters in the process. It draws you in and then surprises you with impressive execution. This could be a best of the year contender at this rate. Strong Recommendation
Seiyu's Life
Stephanie: And so the unit known as Earphones was born! First of all.... Creative name? I think? Anyways, things are up and down with this group of newbie seiyus, with Ichigo taking the most of it during the fifth episode as she takes on her first event. Meanwhile, Futaba is still having the problems of a newbie. My only real concerns are Rin's character development and the pacing of the show because it can be slow and drawn out at times. But, I'll admit, this is the first Gonzo series I've seen that has had rather decent animation in a long time because we all know how they like to handle their animation at times. And the addition of actual seiyus such as Yui Hiore, this week, have been a fun little easter egg even for someone who barely knows a thing about seiyus. And, because of this, Seiyu's Life is one where I wouldn't mind FUNimation NOT dubbing because it would be extremely weird finding english equivalents for these actors. Yes, I have my concerns with this show, but this is still a hell of a lot fun in it's own adorable way! Solid Recommendation
SHIMONETA: A Boring World Where the Concept of Dirty Jokes Doesn't Exist
David: Shimoneta is like South Park without the satire. It's like Panty and Stocking without the unique animation style. It's non stop bad words, sexual innuendo, and lewd humor, enjoyable only to those with the most immature senses of humor. So, people like me basically. I fully admit that it's not a very good show. Although it has its moments of genuinely clever humor, a large amount of it is just lewd humor for the sake of lewd humor, but its just the sort of turn off my brain for twenty minutes and watch all the senseless shenanigans play out series I can get a kick out of. Perhaps part of my enjoyment is just how goofy its tone is, with the exploits of the sex-themed terrorist organization "SOX" often bordering on Lupin III levels of cartoonish lunacy. Basically, if Prison School or snake girls aren't your thing, Shimoneta just may be the trashy fanservice comedy for you this season. Solid Recommendation
Snow White with the Red Hair
Stephanie: If Gangsta is the mandatory action series and Ranpo is the mandatory mystery series, that should make Snow White the mandatory romance series of the season. To an extent, yes. There is actually a lot more than what you first can see, and these recent episodes help solidify this much more. Both Shirayuki and Zen play both sides of their characters rather well; the stereotypical and the non stereotypical. This helps break away from the cliche and into something much more fresh and enjoyable! Also, much of the cast of secondary characters are enjoyable as well; stepping completely out of the norm and becoming something else entirely. The story has been simplistic so far with no sign of a potential plot, which is good, and the romance between our two leads is growing rather naturally, for the most part. I say this because the admiration they have for each other that occurred from day one hasn't left, and it can be a little odd at times. Never the less, this isn't your typical fairy tale; as much as it seems to be. Something I am perfectly fine with. Strong Recommendation
Ushio and Tora
Jonathan: Oh hey, proto-Orihime finally meets Tora and introduces him to the magical world of hamburgers. America: 1, Demons: 0. The following episode is a tad too heavy handed, but does make up for it with a great fight with Tora fighting someone on his level. I liked that, and I'd like to see more. Also really adore the dynamic between Ushio and both Asako and Inoue. Strong Recommendation
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