Seasonal Reviews: Winter 2016 Pt.3

part three yadda yadda yadda im tired intro wee john cena

john cena


Dropped Shows

• Ajin (David, two episodes)
• Dagashi Kashi (David, five episodes)
• Mahou Shoujo Nante Mouiidesukara (David, one episode)
• Nurse Witch Komugi R (Stephanie, one episode)

Full Shows

Active Raid
Jonathan Kaharl

If it wasn't clear before that this was a directorial work of Goro Taniguchi, it sure as hell is now. The older generation saving the new? Check. Homage to old school giant robots? Yup, it's here. Sudden swerve from wacky running joke to fuel for a surprisingly dramatic tone shift? Of course! We finally get to see Yasuhara and Haruka's episodes, along with Haruka's willwear. Yasuhara's being built up as a dork who is way out of his league in most cases, such as in the gambling episode, but the giant robot episode finally gives him some much needed development as we see where his dream to be a protector of the people came from. His innocence and enthusiasm is really needed for the unit, and it ends up saving the day. Haruka, on the other hand, is revealed to be a train otaku, obsessed with the Japanese railways and making that central to her episode in a way I honestly didn't expect.

Logos uses another random person to raise chaos in a stolen willwear, this time a member of a minor political party who's tasked with killing the governor. The episode plays out with a battle of red tape with Unit 8 and the governor, who wants to use a specially designed missile weapon that will destroy the willwear's barrier system, but will still lead to significant damage for the perp. As this is figured out, the team also has to work within the restrictions from other departments to come up with a plan to deal with the situation. I was expecting Haruka's knowledge of trains to come into play to give her a way to contribute, but what I didn't expect was her knowledge of those connected to the railway industry would be even more important.

Haruka's train obsession isn't handled as well as it could have been. I get that the show is trying to show that her obsession is what got her to form her world view, but its poorly explained because of all the other pieces at play. However, the fight at episode end manages to come to a shockingly tragic conclusion, making good use of her words and and attempts to talk down the perp. We're seeing more holes in the relationship between Logos members, the selfish in-fighting of the Japanese political system ends up destroying lives, and our heroes are starting to have their views and desires challenged. Active Raid is filled with promise, and I hope it does what it set out to do and more to be the big surprise of the season.

Strong Recommendation

AOKANA: Four Rhythm Across the Blue
David O'Neil

Aokana: Four Rhythm Across the Blue continues on its somewhat strange premise of a sports anime surrounding a fictional sport involving people flying around with jet shoes with dating sim elements. And just as before, it actually manages to pull off this oddly specific premise quite well. The last two episodes saw the series entering a brief tournament arc, and while not all that much has changed, slight shifts in focus certainly change what elements of the show are in the spotlight.

As the protagonists of Aokana participate in their first qualifier tournament against rival schools, each character finds themselves facing off against Flying Circus competitors more determined to win than ever before. With the show being in a tournament arc, the show puts full attention on the Flying Circus sport and the matches that occur throughout said tournament. On the one hand, this does mean any of the show's drama and character development takes the backseat to action, as only glimmers of anything other than sports talk manages to slip through the cracks of constant competition. This isn't a huge issue though, as the show manages to make up for this with how exciting and interesting it manages to keep the Flying Circus matches. The array of matches allows for a varied display of the sport's cleverly constructed layout. The rock paper scissors approach to the sport's three classes (one for speed, one for power, and one in between) allows for both tense high speed chases, almost Dragon Ball Z-esque dogfights, with people smacking each other around through the air, and matches that constantly switch between the two at a rapid rate. It makes for a sport that constantly stays engaging, and this is coming from someone who absolutely loathes all sports (even in anime form for the most part).

The show is by no means impressive production-wise, but it continues to be just well executed enough to get the job done. CG is used sparingly enough in the Flying Circus matches, never being too up close or intrusive to distract from the action. Episode 7 does have iffier animation than usual, with some awkward looking cuts of animation and off model faces in low key scenes, but makes up for it with surprisingly good use of 2D animation when the big match of the episode came around. For those looking for a one of a kind sports anime that continues to use its unique gimmick in interesting ways, Aokana is still worth watching.

Solid Recommendation

BBK/BRNK
Danni Kristen

After finding out their friend was actually Zetsubi, one of Reoko's Four Gods, in disguise, Hiiragi is locked into a bubuki battle with her. However, he is swiftly dealt with thanks to her bubuki's power to briefly stop time, Before she can finish him off, though, their fourth and final challenger, Akihito Tsuwabaki, arrives and challenges Shizuru. Everyone watches in silent awe at the powerful battle between these two geniuses. It's soon revealed that Akihito is none other than Shizuru's uncle and has been a source of comfort and encouragement ever since she was a child. In a flashback to her childhood, Shizuru recalls her own mother being terrified of her enigmatic and compulsive habits. She asks for Akihito's help and he gets to the heart of Shizuru's feelings. She doesn't feel like a human. She feels like a stone. So, Akihito tells her she is a stone - the most brilliantly shining stone he's ever seen. Back in the present, however, he berates her. He tells her she's no longer shining because she's being held back by her friends. Hiiragi gathers his composure after being made a fool of, and is soon able to catch Zetsubi off-guard with an attack, destroying her bubuki and winning the battle. With three of the Four Gods having lost, the battle between Shizuru and Akihito is automatically forfeited. Defeated, they make their retreat.

Azuma and his friend's aren't quite out of the woods yet, though. While they were fighting, a headless buranki was making its way towards their location. It arrives and attacks Azuma just as the bubuki battle ends. Using their bubuki, the five awaken Oubu and launch an attack on the buranki. They're defeated in a single hit, though, and Azuma is injured. The Four Gods retrieve substitute bubukis from Reoko's vault and begin launching an attack on the buranki. Unfortunately, the buranki has already awoken, so their attacks have no effect. Reoko soon arrives in Entei and begins attacking the buranki, but even she can do no damage to it. Fearing for her misstress's life, Zetsubi commands the four wielding Oubu's limbs to give them to Reoko. According to her, the buranki has begun the process of terraforming the earth, and will ultimately wipe out all life on the planet if Entei can't beat it. Reluctantly, they give up their bubuki, and Reoko destroys the buranki after a hard-fought battle. After an ominous jab at Azuma's inability to last in battle, Reoko returns the limbs to their rightful owners and withdraws. In the end, Azuma inspires his dejected friends to continue on their journey to finding Treasure Island.

These episodes were certainly better than the ones from the previous installment. Shizuru's backstory was neither drawn out or creepy like the others had been, and was in fact one of the best moments from the episode. It was also incredibly entertaining watching her and Akihito fight. Shizuru is a bit of an enigmatic wild card. In the show's more relaxing moments she's a spaced out source of comedic relief, but in battle she's a precise machine. We also saw a bit of character development this time around from Hiiragi, so hopefully he won't be as annoyingly arrogant and headstrong as he has been. There were also a few small moments in these episodes that will certainly grow into bigger plot points later in the show. At one point, Reoko's personality suddenly shifts to one more fitting of the child-like body she's trapped in, leaving Matobai bewildered. At another point, we see a mysterious girl in a mask and top hot. If I had to guess, I would say she's Azuma's twin sister whose absence has somehow gone unmentioned this entire time.

Overall, these were probably BBK/BRNK's best episodes. There was a lot of action in each, and the battles were very well-animated. While previous episodes had dragged out the talking and expository backstories for too long, these episodes handled those moments perfectly. The backstories were concise and interesting, while the more talky conversations were usually delivered while watching action unfold nearby. I still can't say it's a particularly beautiful show, but it does have its moments that make you love everything you're seeing despite the CG. However, it definitely still has its ugly moments as well. If you couldn't stand the animation in the first episode, then I doubt you'll find the payoff from these episodes to be worth watching the rest. If you've been enjoying or simply putting up with BBK/BRNK so far, though, you'll definitely like what it has to offer now.

Weak Recommendation

Dimension W
Jonathan Kaharl

Since last installment, Toonami announced they would be airing Dimension W with a downright terrible ad (they need to stop making ads) and I'm not surprised. But I am annoyed. The haunted mansion two-parter has concluded, and it comes up with a rather neat idea related to time and how the W dimension affects it. Both Kyoma and Mira also play a role in solving the mystery, and we see a genuine bond start to form between them. It's not much, but it's something. The following episode introduces the prince of a united Africa, and he's a warlord because of course he would be (though to be fair, his actual design is really good). He's here to pick fights with advanced androids and robots, and Mira and Kyoma become involved by meeting the prince's prized creation under odd circumstances.

I'm starting to see a father/daughter relationship forming between Kyoma and Mira, but there's a huge problem. Kyoma sucks. He is a downright bad character. Just awful. I was expecting him to develop and open up a little by this point, but no. He's just proving himself to be a very boring, cliches character. Not even his sad soldier past is terribly interesting, because it comes down to amnesia and a fridged women he loved. It does not help that he keeps treating Mira in such a harsh manner. She is an android and that causes him some negative emotions, it makes sense for his character, but there's a limit to how far you can go with this before he just starts to become unlikable. Mira has been perfectly pleasant and kind to him and everyone around her, and yet he constantly treats her like crap and even strikes her at one point. Being cold is one thing, but this is crossing into outright hatred and the current development between the two implies otherwise.

It's the ideas and characters around the show that make it spark ...sometimes. There's a growing trend of victimized women in this show that leaves a bad taste in my mouth because it's so constant. Multiple wives and daughters killed in back stories, the haunted mansion arc includes an attempted rape scene that makes absolutely no sense because it's actively detrimental to the plan of the bad guys at that point in time, and the latest episode makes you know the prince is evil because he goes on about slavery and has modified his lady bodyguard to be his kink slave that orgasms when he commands it. I'm dead serious. Female characters get shafted pretty bad in this show, with exception to Kyoma's badass boss. Yes, even Mira, the most important character in the series, gets little to actually do to help. She has no real role in the Loser episode, rendered helpless in the mansion arc because of reasons, and I'm sure she's going to get similar treatment soon, unless that hinted super mode pops up and this character dynamic between her and Kyoma actually grows into something that feels like a proper dynamic and not an abusive relationship.

Dimension W is starting to test my patience, and I'm not sure where it plan to go, but it's not exciting me as it once did. All these tired male power fantasy cliches just drag it down far too much to consider this more than a solid sci-fi romp, and I may end up hating it if things don't improve fast.

Weak Recommendation

Divine Gate
Stephanie Getchell

This report comes with a rather tough decision for me; which of my three remaining shows will I use my second drop on? After some thought, or not much at all, I came to the decision of dropping Divine Gate after watching six episodes of the simulcast. With Arthur preparing to head out and search for the Divine Gate, he invites his knights as well as six students from the academy: Akane, Midori, Aoto, Ginji, Hikari, and Yukari. The majority of episode six is just seeing Akane, Midori, and Aoto's resolve to go and help find the Divine Gate; while, in the mean time, we see some plotting on Loki's part and get a tid bit more about Arthur's past with his friend Santa Clause... No I am not joking, these names are really dumb. That's really all the episode was. Don't even bother asking about episode seven, cause I'm not bothering with it.

While my main issue the past several weeks has been the amount of info dumping and terrible pacing that I've talked about before; this time, the episode was just absolutely boring. I can't even remember half of the stuff that went on during it, because I just wanted to do other things like text people and look at anime I want to buy and bills I need to pay... That's right, folks, paying bills was more interesting than watching this series! It doesn't help that it's so generic, but the fact that it's extremely inconsistent to the point where it turn boring just doesn't sit well with me anymore and I am tired of having to put up with it. This is one of those situations where I know it's bound to be a train wreck by the end, but am fine with watching it in english as a kind of background noise; fairly similar to what I did with Seraph season one last year. Oh yeah! By the way, Divine Gate has a broadcast dub going on! It's the only series out of my remaining coverage that has one, and why are these amazingly talented voice actors being stuck on this one? Hell, while we're at it, why is Clifford Chapin the director? I know it's good for him to gain more shows as one of the newbie directors in FUNimation's pool, but his talent is being wasted here... Even one episode of the Daimidaler dub was a lot more fun than this one! At the very least, this dub is tolerable thanks to Joel McDonald, Alexis Tipton, and Chris Burnett taking on the three leads as well as a variety of other actors giving some solid work. I just blame the show at this point.

Divine Gate was one I was honestly hoping would be good. I placed it on my list of series I wanted to see this season because of that. Now that I've reached the half way mark, I am gravely disappointed in it. It's a mess of a series, and I don't expect it to improve by the end. It's been made clear that it's going to stay stuck in it's ways, and that's something I just don't want to bother myself with... At least in terms of the simulcast. The dub is at least decent enough that I'm willing to drudge through it, and I'm curious to see the kind of directing style Chapin will use throughout. The series is among the weakest of the winter season, there's no doubt about that. As a series, it's not really worth your time. I'm just going to put up with it a bit long because of my morbid curiosity of the dub. Otherwise, you won't be seeing me talk about this series here again until the final report where I talk about why I dropped it.

Weak Recommendation, dropped at episode six

ERASED
Jonathan Kaharl

After that whole stupid chocolate bar situation, Erased is finally back on track as Airi is nearly killed by the killer in an arson attack, but is saved by Satoru and the manager, who manages to finally feel like an actual character with this one act and how he responds to Satoru. The tension is still high as the police believe Airi is an accomplice and Satoru contacts a friend of his mother from her journalism days to get some information on the old case. He's captured, but he does one more leap back to try and stop the crimes from ever happening, hiding Hinazuki in an old bus with the help of Kenya. The goal now is to completely upset the current set of events and keep Hinazuki away from her abusive family and avoid the events that lead to her death, but of course, things may not be going as planned.

These last two episodes are a huge step in the right direction. The pace is back up and the story is focusing on tension and trying to avoid terrible outcomes again, and we're seeing this all wear on our cast. Satoru nearly kills Hinazuki's mom before Kenya stops him, really selling how desperate the guy has become to save Hinazuki and those he cares about. That said, there's still moments here and there that bug me, like Airi's mom helping her escape the hospital. They feel too contrived and are there simply so the story can keep moving, but don't mesh with the more real feeling situations the show deals with at its best. It's a necessary evil, but it keeps happening and it annoys me a bit. But it's also a pretty minor complaint in the grand scheme of things.

Most of my worries are over what I think may happen, not what's actually happening in the show so far, but for a mystery thriller like this, the ending is paramount. If it can't land properly, it's going to crash and burn. I'm starting to think that a "read the manga" ending may be the best way to go at this point, just so we can avoid any really unnecessary time travel explanations or trying to give the villain justification for their seemingly evil for evil acts. Erased works best as Satoru's story, and that's where the focus should remain from here on out. Everything else doesn't matter to me, I just want this to be Satoru's story and end on a satisfying note, but after the last episodes, I think the staff may just pull that off.

Strong Recommendation

Girls Beyond the Wasteland
David O'Neil

I won't lie, I was a bit worried in not using one of my drops on Girls Beyond the Wasteland, despite it being the worst of the shows I have remaining. It was a guilty pleasure, but I worried the novelty of my enjoyment would wear off quickly if the show didn't keep things interesting. Luckily, the show has (mostly) continued to keep me entertained, and even has shown some promise of better things to come, that I may be able to enjoy in more than just a "ahahaha this is so dumb" kind of way.

My worry of Girls Beyond the Wasteland losing my interest reached its peak with the fifth episode, as it was easily the worst episode of the series so far. It's nothing more than a bland retread of old material, as Ando (the programmer girl) acts like a completely unreasonable jerk for no good reason, arguments spark between her and Kuroda, and Ando ends up quitting the team. Again. And it's up to the main character to track her down and convince her to come back and see the project through to the end. Again. It starts dragging on fast, not helped by the lack of any especially funny jokes or gags throughout the whole episode, other than one somewhat entertaining scene towards the end involving fishing. The sixth episode is the beach episode, and the show makes sure to remind the viewer around every corner "Hey, we're doing beach episode cliches! Take that fourth wall!". Despite this annoyance, and the abundance of shameless fanservice, it was actually a pretty fun episode (especially in comparison to the previous one). Sure, I was laughing AT it for the most part, but I had a good time with it nonetheless, and there were a few scenes that did a decent job playing with audience expectations, like Kuroda trying to spark the typical "boob size comparison conversation" that seems to come up in every single anime, as the girls just kind of act perplexed at her behavior (even if it immediately delved back into dumb fanservice-y stuff immediately after).

And finally, on the complete opposite side of the spectrum from the fifth episode, the seventh was likely the best episode of the series thus far, following the protagonist as he struggles to write a love confession scene when he's never been in love himself. For one thing, it was one of the most consistently funny episodes, and unlike many previous ones, due to genuinely clever jokes rather than how easy it was to mock. It also provided the best drama the series has ever had, as Yuka continues to struggle with her feelings for the main character, paralleling his inability to cope with what it means to be in love. Considering how much I loathe love triangles, I'm surprised how well the romantic subplot of this show has been handled, at least in this first episode focusing fully on it. Here's hoping this increase in quality from the most recent episode continues, and it doesn't sink back into the drop in quality that briefly occurred.

Weak Recommendation

Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash
David O'Neil

Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash has yet to cease impressing me week by week. Remaining my favorite show of the season, it's an excellent example of letting characters drive a narrative, and being able to build and develop said characters through small, interpersonal moments that slowly build up to big emotional pay offs. It's slow, quiet, and meticulous approach to storytelling continues to keep me fully engaged in these characters and their interactions episode to episode, and at the end of every one I'm left excited to more. I should note, that to be able to discuss the last few episodes I pretty much have to spoil one of the episodes I covered last week, more specifically the events of episode 4. So if you don't want spoilers, don't read on.

Episode 4 of Grimgar left the show's team of volunteer soldiers in a state of disarray. Their leader, Manato, was gone, leaving them without direction or any idea what to do next. Episode 5 explores the team's attempts to hold themselves together without a leader, both tactically, and emotionally. Each character is left broken in a slightly different way, and watching how their varied emotional states clash off each other makes for a fascinating episode. Haruhiro finds himself confronted with the prospect of leading the group, despite being terrified by the idea, Ranta as usual tries to bottle up his emotions, Yume and Shihoru find themselves unable to communicate with the men of the group, and even the typically calm and collected Maguzo finds himself snapping under the pressure of his comrades arguing. It's a heartwarming episode about dealing with loss, that culminates in an emotional climax that hits harder than any moment in the series thus far.  The next episode focuses on a new character to the series, the group's new Priest, a quiet and cold girl named Mary. Even as the team starts to pull themselves back together, Mary ends up being an outsider, as the characters try to figure out why she acts the way she does, and whether they could ever call her a proper member of their team. Mary ends up being a character just as interesting as the rest of the cast, her past explains well why she is the way she is, and the show's done a great job showing all the character's differing reactions as they both conflict with, and try to become closer closer with Mary, throughout the episode.

I may adore this show, but it still has some issues. It does still on very rare occasions (like, once or twice an episode maybe) devolve into some immature, Light-Novel-y humor, such as the most recent episode having a brief bit where Ranta and Yume argue about her breast size. It's not too distracting, nor is it even THAT bad, but the show would be better off without it. In addition, the show's framing can be a little iffy at times, whether its simply not using visual storytelling as effectively as it could be, or sneaking a questionable side-boob into an emotional moment. Though I'd also like to mention, my complaint last time I wrote on the show about unfitting use of more energetic music at more low key dramatic moments has been noticeably improved. The last two episodes have been much more tactful in this regard, using slower, more retrained music in such moments. Overall, Grimgar continues to be an emotionally powerful character driven fantasy action show that's absolutely worth watching.

Strong Recommendation

Haruchika - Haruto & Chika
Stephanie Getchell

The troubled character a week scenario continues on this week with Haruchika. First, while on spring break, Chika and Haruta encounter a mysterious girl who seems to come and go from the music room and has actually repaired a broken clarinet for no apparent reason. Her name is Serizawa, and her dream is to become a professional musician who plays the clarinet. However, Chika and the rest of the brass band notice that she has slowing been losing her hearing over time, even needing a hearing aid, which ends up lost in the music department and how she ended up back there in the first place. After some heart to heart and the classic walkie talkie method using cups and string, Serizawa tells them she won't join the brass band club as they are right now; giving the group hope that, if they improve, she'll join them later on. Episode seven brings us the start of a new trimester, and some budget problems to go along with it. The student council president tasks the brass band with finding the geological research president, Asao, with which the brass band will be rewarded with an additional money for their budget. Through happenstance, Chika, Haruta, Asao, and Kusabake make the trek to the home of Hiyama, a shut in like Asao who is actually a well known radio host along with seven elderly people who give advice to others. This that and the other thing happen, and we end the episode with the seven sages, as the elders are referred to, tell Hiyama to go back to school; mentioning maybe he can go back to playing drums again. This connects Hiyama back to Serizawa, as she explains that she had been looking at the drums to see if they were in working condition for him to play as an attempt to convince him to return to school. Of course, Chika and Haruta both for out of their homes with the intent of convincing him to join the brass band club.

Now that we all know that I've dropped Divine Gate, that means you get to read my ramblings about this series instead! Here's the thing, compared to Divine Gate, Haruchika at least had given me a strong start compared to Divine Gate. While the previous report had me see a dip in quality, this time it improves only slightly. This is more than likely due to my getting used to the kind of series it wants to be. But episode seven does do something a little different as we are not directly dealing with a possible brass band member, and instead opting to interact with someone completely outside of music. While we don't know why Asao wants to die, it's a bit more refreshing to see someone else rather than the people Chika and Haruta try and recruit all the damn time. However, adding Hiyama as a kind of "oh by the way, this guy that was hinted at in the previous episode? Here he is now!" was also extremely lazy considering the pattern the series has had up until now. Meanwhile, with episode six, a person with a complex problem NOT joining the brass band club is also a welcome change! To be fair, she's more than likely going to join later, but for now I don't mind having her not be a part of it. The series is, at the very least, not trying to be 100% of a wash, rinse, and repeat situation; and I appreciate that.

Haruchika is not at the same level as it was when I first started the series, no way in hell. But it also isn't in the rut that I saw a couple weeks ago either. It's slowly improving, but I won't be surprised if it just dies once again by the time I finish the show. It's gone up and down so much that I could get some kind of whiplash or something. It's not all that strong in story and character development for our two leads, but, similar to my third and final show I'm covering Norn9, I can at least tolerate it a lot more compared to some of the other series this season. There are much worse things lurking out there, but, while this one does get close at points, Haruchika is at least trying it's best not to be a complete screw up. I'm fine with keeping this one until the end, so long as I don't have to kill things with fire if it messes up hard core.

Solid Recommendation

KONOSUBA - God's blessing on this wonderful world!
Joe Straatmann

I REALLY want to get this RPG-but-for-real show on the road, and it's actually a villain who might help out. The Dullahan whose castle Megumin was blasting previously returns to the village aiming for a fight. I liked the first joke they were going with that the Dullahan was lonely after his initial contact and engaging in warfare with the town is his way of having interpersonal conversation. Sadly, they flip the script on that one and reveal Megumin was still maintaining practicing her explosive magic on the castle because she yearned for a harder target than plains (The innuendo is intentional). Yes, it fits power-loving Megumin, but it's not as good of a joke and the Dullahan being someone who'd threaten to annihilate a city to ironically have personal connections. It would make him the right kind of buffoon for this series. Add in some telegraphed payoffs that can be seen from a mile away and this episode isn't as sharp as we're used to with Konosuba.

Thankfully, the episode before it is just lovely. Like when the second Dirty Harry movie set out to provide limits on what is too far for the loose cannon cop, so does Konosuba have an episode showing what kind of asshole is too much of an asshole for the band of misfit adventurers. After a water purification quest goes the way such things go with this party, they run into one of the more legendary heroes of the land who just happens to be another poor sap Aqua persuaded into living in this world instead of death. This one took a powerful sword instead of Aqua and has found success, an entourage of two women who worship and fight over them, and a wave of respect. That they stumble upon him when Aqua is in a cage mumbling lines that could be construed they're selling her to slavery brings the two sides into a collision course. I dare not spoil every little detail, but the way they completely dismantle the supposed hero who only has any leg to stand on because he was given a sword with stacked stats is kind of beautiful in a hilarious way.

Our party of losers may be hopelessly flawed, self-centered, delusional, but at least they're honest with who they are and have some sort of bizarre kinship. Comedy is all about finding the right kind of wrong people and these are my kind of morons. Yes, they're awful and let what drives them occasionally overrun the greater good, but they're trying in their own way. Now where to next? I get the feeling the big joke is they're always going to be stuck in the first village for this reason or that, but I really hope they get to an epic Lord of the Rings journey... with a masochist and a girl who gets off on the power she wields.

Solid Recommendation

Luck & Logic
Joe Straatmann

Time to hurry and crank out this review before I forget all about what I just watched. Luck and Logic has the lasting effect of a vanilla wafer, and these spotlights on the characters don't change much. First we have Mana-Mana (Who will just be Mana for the sake of me not accidentally calling her the Mani-Mani statue), an orphan who has never really gotten along with anyone else, though she did apparently do enough to become Trance partners with Artemis. Her role as the sniper of the group is put to the test when everyone else can't get closer to the current Foreigner threat without their physical and mental powers getting drained in seconds. Saving the day may involve invoking Over Trance, a mode that will seriously enhance her powers but has the potential to scramble the human partner's brain and turn them into someone completely different. Mana has no problem with this since she sees herself as a ghost in the life of others, but bland lead Yoshichika has other ideas. Like most of this series, it's not necessarily bad as much as it's going through the paces of an individual character episode without building onto any of the experience of the work as a whole.

No, the special kind of stupid award goes to the plot focusing on Yukari. She's a trainee and considered the "manager" of the group. She supports everyone else and has a knack for knowing exactly what each team member's needs are and getting them taken care of. What she can't seem to do is be able to Trance with a god and become a successful Logicalist. She at least has a decent relationship with the jailer of the Foreigners, but that's where the dumb waltzes in. Her potential squeeze literally falls for the oldest trick in the book and gets his mind and body jacked by a Foreigner who feigns illness in order to escape prison. Not only are they leaning on a trope that is so dumb, only Uwe Boll is utilizing it these days, but they're recycling a villain on top of everything else. Even the framing mechanism of setting up Yukari's arc in the episode as wanting to be a player rather than a manager is so clumsy because it starts with her having a dream about being unable to pass a soccer ball and it leads to her ultimate moment of realizing she has to kick a rock into an explosive. As least Yukari's a charming kind of awkward and she seems to at least be having some fun with her powers.

I'll probably be bringing music a few times in my updates. Mainly it's to utilize how much the sound quality has improved on even the mediocre titles. This is the kind of show where you used get a guy with a good synthesizer to noodle around a bit and maybe get a day to rent a recording piano for the serious moments. This is more professional and polished. While I can't say much for the compositions as they don't stand out much, the instrumentation is sublime, having a more cinematic feel. Shame it's wasted on a series that takes combining with gods to get super powers in order to take down even larger gods pedestrian. Hell, when it clogs the drain with too much terminology, it even feels like homework (I'm giving you the lighter version of the terminology for your own convenience). This seems destined to be something I look back on in December and think, "Oh yeah, that existed, didn't it?"

Weak Recommendation

Myraid Colors: Phantom World
Danni Kristen

This time around was an interesting couple episodes for Phantom World, with one episode being another really boring one and the other being the show's strongest episode yet. The boring one begins with the timid Kurumi being a somewhat nervous wreck over being asked to join Haruhiko's phantom-hunting team. Afraid of the reality in front of her, she literally falls into a phantom-induced hallucination like the one Reina had. Haruhiko is unfortunately dragged down into this world with her, with Ruru tagging along. In this world, Kurumi is a princess in a fantasy land inhabited by stuffed bears, with her own stuffed bear Albrecht serving as her loyal knight. She's being pursued by an evil bear who wants her hand in marriage, and only Albrecht can protect her. Albrecht is soon wounded, though, and the four are forced to take shelter in a small cave. In order to protect her friend Albrecht, she faces her fears and takes her pursuer head-on by turning into a magical girl whose weapon is a golden garden rake (the Japanese word for rake literally translates to "bear paw" I'm told). Having faced her fears, she's confidently able to join Haruhiko and his friends.

Now that's weird, but the next episode gets even weirder. Haruhiko is excitedly welcoming the on-coming summer break, but classes aren't over yet. Strangely enough, both students and teachers begin napping in the summer heat. Students inexplicably find themselves laying out in the grass to nap. Every single person in the school begins eating fish for their lunches. They start sitting in an odd fashion, with their legs pulled up on their chairs. In the midst of all this, Haruhiko, Mai, and Reina take on a non-phantom related job to find a lost kitten owned by Kurumi's friend. Their journey takes them to a pet store, where they find themselves craving cat food and being wildly entertained by a simple cat toy. They later head home, and after a night of lazing around and chasing bugs, head back to school. Only now students have begun sprouting cat ears and cat tails. Everyone seems to be turning into cats, and Koito believes it has to do with an abandoned mansion on the school grounds that was once inhabited by a ton of stray cats. They head there to investigate, but things start getting weird. The three-story mansion seems to have a never-ending amount of floors. Seasons come and go almost instantaneously. Time and space starts losing all meaning during a strange montage of images and events that make no coherent sense. Finally, they end up in the heart of the mansion, only to realize the mansion itself had become possessed by a phantom that also happened to have the kitten they were searching for before. Reina realizes the mansion was just trying to preserve the memories of the times when it was lively and eventful, so she promises that they'll ensure its memories live on. Also, Kurumi translates all of this into a string of "nya"s so that the mansion can understand. The phantom is sealed, everyone stops turning into cats, and the students band together to rebuild the rundown mansion.

Okay, so, there's a lot to unpack between these two episodes. The first was pretty bad. First of all, it was kind of re-treading old territory covered in the Reina-centric episode. What's worse is it didn't even do the things that made that episode so enjoyable. The art style shifted considerably in Reina's world, making everything extremely happy and cute. In this episode, though, the art style stayed the same, which just made Kurumi's fantasy world look kind of ugly. It also wasn't helped at all by the fact that Kurumi is REALLY annoying. Her character design is really stupid-looking and her personality is just shy elementary school girl who is a part of this story for some reason. The worst part about this episode, though, was that they had a magical square off against a giant mecha teddy bear and didn't even show them battling. They just cut from them facing off to after the battle. They had a chance for a really cool sequence and absolutely blew it.

Conversely, the cat episode did everything extremely right. First of all, cats are great. I'm always down for cats. Second, I loved how utterly oblivious everyone was to the fact they were turning into cats. It added a great comedic tone to the whole episode. Third, it kept throwing these changes out one after the other and never really letting up thanks to the show's quick pacing, which actually ties into my previous point. There was no time for the characters to react to what was happening to them because there really wasn't any time for the viewers to react to it either. Finally, the whole bit inside the mansion was remarkably wonderful. A lot of shows like this would normally falter in trying to portray a montage of hallucinogenic images that don't make cohesive sense so much as they reiterate repeating images from the episode and express the feelings of the individual characters. While I'm skeptical that any of it was supposed to be somehow symbolic or deep, it was incredibly visually interesting. In fact, most of the best-looking frames from that episode came from that short sequence. It obviously took a lot of work to put together, and in my opinion it was worth it. The end result of this episode was something so cute, light-hearted, and fun that I couldn't help but enjoy it. It was easily the best episode Phantom World has had so far. I really hope we see more episodes like it and less like the two that preceded it.

Solid Recommendation

Norn9: Norn + Nonet
Stephanie Getchell

Out of the three remaining shows I have to cover this season, going into this week's report, I knew I would be keeping Norn9. While it isn't the best the season has to offer, it does have the least problems between it, Haruchika, and Divine Gate. After the dream Itsuki places everyone on the ship into, relationships begin to shift and change in the real world amid the ongoing chaos. Mikoto and Sakuya seem to grow both distant and closer to each other after what one person sees appears to be something completely different to the other, creating a misunderstanding between the childhood friends. Nanami and Syukuri seem to be getting closer, but their relationship isn't blooming quite yet as Nanami still has some sort of guilt in her past that seem to be connect to both Syukuri and Senri in some way (I cheated and looked it up so I know what it is already). As for Koharu and Kakeru, because of the classic accepting the monster side plot point, theirs is the most developed relationship of the ship. But, with their journey coming to an end sooner than expected, the crew decides to make some memories of their own. But with an inside traitor among them, and now that Sorata has gone missing, everything seems to be spiraling out of control; with the end of episode seven having the viewer put the pieces together as to the traitor as he tosses Mikoto off the ship.

You're probably wondering how I am perfectly fine with keeping Norn9 so quickly among the remaining series I have. If you've been seeing any of these three series, then you already know that two of them are rather bad. Why I think Norn9 isn't one of them is because it doesn't make me cringe every time I watch it. Yes, the typical troupes are there from standard otome games, but it hasn't gotten to the point where I can't tolerate it any more. Amnesia is among the worst offenders as it just got worse and worse over time that when I finally reached the infamous girl cage, I kinda lost my s**t. DRAMAtical Murder ended up being boring by the end, and, while it's a guilty pleasure, Diabolik Lovers still is a very terrible series in that it makes abuse look attractive. Norn9 hasn't done anything to offend me, nor has it done anything to bore me. The story has been straight forward and the characters have been easy to understand with the unique three heroines approach being something rather refreshing compared to the one girl in her harem of men. If it was just centered around Koharu, as she is the typical heroine we see in a lot of harem series like Amnesia and Diabolik, this would be a completely different series and one I more than likely would have dropped from the start. Adding Mikoto and Nanami into the mix and giving us three possible romance plots at least makes it more interesting to watch since two out of those three heroines are already connected to their partner in some way from their past; although, from the opening theme, Mikoto's will more than likely change in the next episode or so.

While the series doesn't try to do anything too new or out of the box, it's at least not a steaming pile of donkey crap that it could have possibly started out with. To be fair, there's still plenty of time for the series to really s**t the bed, I mean girl cage didn't happen till the last third of Amnesia, but that's something I can wait and see on. At the very least, I want to see Norn9 keep the consistency that it has up until the end, without stuffing too much into it at once and also without dragging it's feet. While this is a tall order for an otome game adaptation, it's at least possible for the series to pull off. Again, it's the best out of my three remaining series. It's not saying much, all things considered, but I'm willing to get through the rest of Norn9 easier than Haruchika or Divine Gate, no matter which one I ended up dropping today (cause I started my regular reports with Norn9 before the other two).

Solid Recommendation

Pandora in the Crimson Shell: Ghost Urn
Jonathan Kaharl

Well, I wanted to keep up with this show, but after about six episodes, I've had a good fill and I desperately need more time in my schedule, so off it goes. The last episode I watched had our heroes going to the hospital for maintenance, and a little girl with new cybernetic limbs tries finding her cat with the help of BUER (who is not nearly as creepy around her as I expected, but still lets a terrible line or two slip through), and the bad guy passes by briefly with a giant invisible cyborg man who nearly punches the little girl into the pavement until Clarion stops him and nobody notices this because why would they notice?

The plot is about to kick in, but that is really, really uninteresting to me. This show works best when the creators are just doing whatever sounds fun to them and nobody else, actual plot development robs some fun out of the proceedings because that leads to them actually trying. Too little, too late. I also couldn't help but notice that the production remains embarrassing on almost every level. If not for the entire concept and the touches of the two most important people involved, his would be one of the worst shows I've ever seen.

But as it is, I had fun and will probably return to Pandora one day for shits and giggles. It's not good, but not in a bad way, I guess. Except it is, but in an enjoyable way? Well, if you like watching bad things for fun, this is an interesting specimen to look at.

Weak Recommendation, dropped at episode six

Phantasy Star Online 2: The Animation
Joe Straatmann

I know how they can get out of this. The aspects of the possibility are in the story and can easily be written in (Though with anime planning the way it is, no way it can get changed in time if it wasn't there in the first place). They need to make it so the war in the Phantasy Star Online 2 game is really happening. There's an intergalactic struggle going on and I don't know, the avatars are androids and artificial beings used as dolls by the humans. I mean, we have Aika who is obviously a life form from the game who has somehow crossed into the real world, so what if it WASN'T A GAME. Okay, maybe that wouldn't necessarily save it, but rather than having the entire show being about how great the game is and how you need to buy it, the series would have some stakes and the literal pandering would at least be hilariously overblown (If you don't play the game, the UNIVERSE DIES).

Honestly, from a technical standpoint, the show would be okay if I had any rooting interest in anything going on. If you've watched the ending credits with the totally not chocobo ripoffs dancing with Rina's avatar, you know the animation can be really good. The ending is catchy and the dance brings memories of Haruhi Suzumiya. The music also managed to scrounge up enough budget to get a small room of live musicians to properly accentuate the mood. That means nothing if nothing on screen is worth the effort. The best we have is Itsuki and Rina taking Aika to a mall and montaging through getting her clothing as she overreacts to everything because she doesn't know how to exist in this world and everyone just shrugs it off as, "Oh, that foreign exchange student...." If this were filler in a reasonably decent anime, it would be swell. As the only bit of character building, it's an appetizer trying to be an entire meal.

I'm a little light on material since they decided to skip a week, so I decided to check out the new episode that dropped just before deadline to see if it had anything I could expand on. Not only is it a hot springs episode, but Itsuki is banned from doing anything fun because his grades are down thanks to PSO and he has to do piles of prep work for his midterm under Rina's orders. A cliched episode and extensive shots of the main character doing his homework?  My cup runneth over. Despite one little morsel that could pay off later, you may continue to not care about this one.

No Recommendation

Prince of Stride: Alternative
Danni Kristen

Following Kadowaki's injury and the reveal of what exactly caused Honan's famous Stride Club to dissolve, we pick up right where we left off with Kuga joining the team for their next race. We're immediately introduced to the opposing runners and the incredible douchebag who is their relationer. After a lot of trash talk obviously meant to throw Honan off their game, the teams take their marks and begin the race. Riku is immediately thrown off his game by the opposing runner's jab about his older brother, setting Honan off to a bad start. Meanwhile, the incredibly confident relationer continues to talk down to Sakurai. Hasekura takes off after Riku, but is blocked at every point by the runner he is facing. The opposing relationer then sets off their next runner, intending for him to collide with Hasekura. Sakurai readys Kuga to take over for Hasekura, but then realizes the opposing team's strategy and warns Hasekura. To everyone's surprise, Hasekura and Kuga instead get an adrenaline boost helping them outrun the opposing team and avoid collision. Appalled that his impeccable strategy has failed, the opposing relationer loses his cool and begins yelling and insulting the runners for supposed incompetency. Finally, after neck and neck stretches led by Kuga and Kohinata, Takeru manages to land Honan a solid victory. Kuga soon receives his own uniform and is officially recognized as a Honan Stride Club member.

With both their victory and exams out of the way, the club members are soon invited to a joint training camp with the Josei Stride Club. Josei is the obligatory rich school at the top of the rankings who for some reason devote all their funds to one sports club, so their facilities are stacked with top of the line equipment, staff, and training regimens. Despite the obvious fiscal disparity between them and Honan, they're quite friendly to their rivals. One of their runners is already friends with Riku, another runner absolutely idolizes Hasekura, and the Josei prince Reiji builds a friendly mentorship with Takeru. They spend a lot of time putting Honan through their strict regimen, but they also allow plenty of time for friendly competitions of ping pong as well as healthy cookouts on the beach. Honan never manages to beat Josei during their trial races, but they vow to get stronger so they can finally overtake them.

Prince of Stride has been consistently putting out very solid episodes every week. None of them are really chocked full of plot, but every episode is incredibly well-paced so that no episode drags on or feels too light. Take episodes like the one I described in the first paragraph, for instance. Sure, there was a lot to talk about from that episode, but it feels like there shouldn't be. Most of the episode consisted of the actual race, which would only be a couple minutes long at most in real-time. Prince of Stride manages to draw out these races to take up the bulk of a full episode without making them feel drawn out. The excitement and tension remains consistent throughout these races, and it would be a disservice to make them shorter, honestly.

I mentioned last week how great the character designs of the briefly seen opposing teams have been. Not only were the designs for Honan's newest opponents still great, but also one of their runners sports what is probably my favorite character design this season (also, his name is Yuri Himemiya, which I refuse to believe isn't an Utena reference). The run cycles for the characters still look pretty awkward, but they don't do much to detract from what is one of the most enjoyable sports anime I've seen before. I'm looking forward to the next few episodes, where we'll hopefully see more of Riku's brother and possibly find out that Riku, Sakurai, and Takeru are actually childhood friends.

Solid Recommendation

Schwarzes Marken
Joe Straatmann

The face of the German Stasi leadership has been revealed as redheaded Lieutenant Colonel Heinze Axmann (And not that orange kind of red. RED) who waltzes in with quasi Nazi garb, and any subtlety that has been still hanging about is heading towards the exit. Might as well have named the guy Fuhrer Painstrudel. I suppose I shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth since the Stasi are now an active part of the story rather than this background presence that only shows up on episode bookends where they're mercilessly torturing some poor supporting character. Better still they fracture the people in such a way to actually make their conflicts more fascinating than the East Germany under secret police rule sucks drum they've been beating this whole time.

While the war with the BETA is about to reach a breaking point with one hundred thousand aliens making a beeline from Minsk to the rest of Europe, the Stasi are taking the opportunity to seize control of the military, the government, and everything else essential. The problem is even more complicated when it's revealed the Stasi who are loyal to Germany and the Stasi who are loyal to the Soviet Union are in-fighting for who will have supreme command. What this means for the 666th fresh off a victory in which the East and West celebrated their heroism is they are now the hottest political chip in the country. It's complexity and it feels like it sprouted from the story and not just need the need to make all the characters pin cushions for dramatic angst. Even bringing in Theodor's sister Lise as the obvious Stasi plant has, they're finding the right manipulative tone for each of her interactions. The detail I personally loved is Theodor and Gretel getting some romantic affection for each other  while they're in Berlin trying to see who in the military can help in the power vacuum that is building. It may come out of the blue for some, but it felt human. Even if they have goals that may oppose each other at times (Theodor tried to escape West while Gretel believes in the socialistic system despite hating the police state), it isn't an opposite attracts story and they're not targeting the easy love interests like Irisdina and Katia. It just happens and it's emotions that feel like they're out of their control. It's one of those possible romantic relationships that I can believe and more importantly, feel. The damn oboe player's been pulling too much weight in getting an emotional reaction from the audience, so it's nice something else stepped in to give the man or woman a break.

I'm not ready to say Schwarzes Marken is out of the woods yet as far as only being so-so. It took six episodes to get to a point where they're actually using the setting for more than a melodrama mixer and the characters acting as more than the sum of their backstories and philosophies. I still am not particularly sold on the aliens as they are right now. What do they want? Why are they so intent on destroying humanity? They're nutsacks with faces that show up whenever the series needs a slight change of scenery. I'm not satisfied with the major threat to humanity surviving simply being a backdrop. What this does add up to is I am somewhat looking forward to seeing how this plays out and I am far more hopeful than when I was four episodes in.

Weak Recommendation

Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinju
Danni Kristen

With the play out of the way, Yakumo can't shake the feeling that overtook him during the performance. After years of performing mediocre rakugo to little praise, he has finally experienced the feeling of truly capturing an audience. He realizes he's well-suited for telling stories that have very erotic and sensual roles, so he begins performing them with much success. He receives glowing praise from his masters and his audiences, who are somewhat baffled as to how he suddenly improved so much. Sukeroku soon points out to him that he had advised Yakumo to tell erotic stories years ago, and Yakumo is once again jealous of his friend. Sure, they were now basking in the same spotlight, but Yakumo is obviously still struggling to catch up to him. Sukeroku asks him who his rakugo is for, and after much thought, Yakumo decides to do his rakugo for himself.

With his newfound purpose in place, Yakumo begins devoting himself almost entirely to his rakugo, leaving him little time for a social life. This deeply bothers Miyokichi, who was already vying for his attention alongside Sukeroku. Yakumo begins going from one performance straight to practice and onto yet another performance. His free time is almost entirely spent taking care of or simply humoring Sukeroku, even if he it means missing a date with Miyokichi. His hard work pays off, though, and it is he - not Sukeroku - who is invited by their master to go on a performance tour with him. After accepting the invitation, Yakumo's master awkwardly asks how he and Miyokichi are getting along. Yakumo gives him a guarded and impersonal answer, and the two part ways. On his way home, Yakumo appears to be chastising himself for avoiding Miyokichi, but it turns out he's simply reciting another rakugo piece for practice. Miyokichi soon begs him to come spend some time with her, to which he gives a non-committal answer and leaves without telling her about his coming tour.

In the last installment, the tension had begun pressing down on Yakumo and his relationships. In this installment, the cracks began appearing. Having tasted success, Yakumo becomes consumed by the desire to surpass his friend and rival Sukeroku. His abrasive personality had already provided an obstacle in his relationship with Miyokichi, but now he's begun outright avoiding her. She's become a distraction to him, and to make matters worse she can't understand why he always puts Sukeroku before her. Outsiders are even noticing problems within their relationship. Yakumo's own master awkwardly inquires whether things are really okay between them, but is unable to bring himself to press the issue. Meanwhile, Sukeroku questions Yakumo's care for her since he won't even walk her home at night. The preview for next week's episode involved what appeared to be Yakumo rejecting Miyokichi, followed by Sukeroku comforting her. It was already a matter of time before the two of them had an affair, so it appears the pieces for that will finally fall into place next week.

These were another couple of great episodes from Rakugo Shinju. These are some fantastic characters, and watching their intertwining relationships come together and unfold is a real treat. The show's soundtrack remains beautifully fitting, and the show's shots are clear evidence that this is the best-composed show this season. The only thing I can find to criticize about this installment's episodes is the fact that the facial animations in the newest one were a bit off-model. They appeared cheaper and more rushed the farther away they were in frame, which made them funny to look at. Fortunately, this didn't affect any major moments. Rakugo Shinju likes to make sure the audience can see what a character is thinking or feeling through subtle facial animations, and thankfully none of the off-model moments happened in the most important scenes. The off-model animations are merely a nitpick and - as far as I'm concerned - don't really affect the episode's quality. We've finally passed the midway point for Winter, and I can confidently say that Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju is my season favorite.

Strong Recommendation

Undefeated Bahamut Chronicle
Jonathan Kaharl

Krulcifer's arc comes to a close as we get no closure on her status as a survivor of the ruins and just get some sad back story where her adoptive family didn't love her and thus she doesn't connect with people well and needs to be saved. Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. What a whole lot of nothing, even for this show. Does not help the noble douchenozzle she's being forced to marry was such an ass in the most paper thin way imaginable. The episode after moves on to a story about the school's top student, and it's going into trying to explain away the gay territory because of course. The top student hates men and that's bad! But she doesn't actually hate men! Isn't that great, people self-inserting into Lux!? Your masturbatory fantasies remain unchallenged! This character also having a good friend that clearly sees them as more is also bound to lead somewhere that pisses me off, I'm sure.

Also, for the princess of the fucking country the characters live in, Lisha gets jack all to do besides not get what kissing is and getting flustered because some sad fucks find this hot. It's kind of amazing how pointless the cast feels in this series, even Lux at points, who's only role seems to be the wall girls can get their feels off of that they eventually gain the desire to fuck. Only three things of any real interest happen these past two episodes, though to my surprise, one of those things involve Krulcifer.

Despite how pointless and empty her overly long arc was, the girl has become surprisingly entertaining in the events after, being another one of the girls hitting on Lux via trying to emasculate him at every turn. It's kind of funny in a way, because the only scenes she feels like a person are when she's trying to start up a femdom power play or fucking around with Lisha's feelings. Lux's brother also seems to be making a return this new arc as well, entering the school's prison to explode that noble dick from earlier into a pile of guts and gore. I expect him to be a super GRIM DARK MATURE #12YEARSOLD villain at this rate and I need something like him to laugh at in this mess. But of course, the only other things of interest are all Phi related.

Phi is revealed to be the reason Lux is the way he is today. Her family took him at, seemingly at her request, and the two have shared a bond ever since. It's kind of astounding this has been so glossed over so far, because it's a central element to Lux's empathetic nature. Phi acts a lot like an older sibling in a subtle way, guiding Lux along a proper path while letting him make his own mistakes. Phi's arc is coming, and I hope it's the first outright good arc of this mess, because she's being built up as a surprisingly layered character with what little we see of her, and the only girl in the cast who seems to truly understand Lux because she saw him at his most vulnerable and protected him when he needed it.

But part of me also hopes we never reach that arc because I'm sure they'll ruin it somehow.

No Recommendation

Shorts

Ojisan and Marshmallow
Stephanie Getchell

Alright, I am slowly beginning to see this show's appeal. It could just be because I have to put up with it regardless so I may as well try and enjoy it, but I actually didn't have as many issues this go around compared to previous weeks. The humor, while simplistic, is actually endearing and can be adult at times; the latter being something that I have talked about before. Meanwhile we have added two additional characters to the mix, one Wakabayashi's little brother and the other a rival for her to fight over Hige with, while he remains he oblivious self. The series is slowly winning me over after a rather rough start seven episodes ago, and that is saying something about a series like this. But, it could be a little too late for it since we are at that half way mark. We won't find out until the end, though.

Solid Recommendation

Ooya-san wa Shishunki!
David O'Neil

Ooya-san wa Shinshuki has fully settled into its groove, and for better or for worse it doesn't appear to be moving a muscle forwards or backwards from what it currently is. What it is, more precisely, is essentially two minute spans of pure concentrated moe fluff to the nth degree. The last two episodes haven't been quite as funny or well animated as the show has been in the past, but they were still solid two minute bursts of fun that kept me entertained as they flew by in an instant. At times the way the voice actors/actresses speed read the hell out of there lines can be overwhelming, at this point I'd probably prefer they just get less done over the span of the cour rather than sprint from line reading to line reading like they're going for an olympic medal, and butchering proper comedic timing in some instances in the process. All in all the show is still just bite sized anime junk food, if you're on the look out for shorts to turn off your brain for and waste some time on (I know I am sometimes) you could do much worse than Ooya-san wa Shinshuki. Its cute, funny, and fast paced, even if it has about as much substance as a youtube playlist of contextless K-On clips.

Solid Recommendation

Please tell me! Galko-chan
Jonathan Kaharl

Something I'm surprised to find with this show every week is that Galko proves herself to be just a really nice girl. She doesn't follow any of the expected gyaru traits, which one episode directly brings up as a kid mistakes her for trouble because of her appearance. In the end, she teaches him a lesson about treating his mother with respect instead. That's nice. The show is also keeping up with its relatable dirty gags, like Galko has issues finding bras or swimsuits in her size. It's just a delight with every episode and I highly recommend it, as always.

Strong Recommendation

Rainbow Days
Jonathan Kaharl

I'm very close to dropping this mess. Rainbow Days is bugging me because it's pure shojo romance, but always subtly in the bad way. The characters are all stock, which would be fine for gags, but its also used for more dramatic moments with their strained relationships, and it rarely ever works. Only one relationship in this entire show feels like it may be healthy on some level, and not enough focus is put on it. Gotta make time for BDSM jokes! And man, I defending that before, but now that guy wanting to whip people is a constant running gag and it needs to die in a fire. Like, right now.

No Recommendation

Sekkou Boys
Joe Straatmann

Most comedies have their episode that doesn't quite fire, and the Dandy 2 Men episode here is the dud. Its a long episode building up to a payoff that is just a knockoff of the main joke. The theme of the episode seemed to be a generational gap between musical favorites and I can certainly understand that with a dozen Boyz II Men references that would be wasted on the audience. It's so hard to say goodbye to yesterday.... Anyway, it never really does anything with that and switches to in-fighting between the Rockies, and there are few things worth less than weightless bickering in a light comedy. Oh, don't worry, your sculpture idol boy show is still entertaining and charming, and the story discovering what exactly Hermes is doing with his life is satisfying, even if the introduction to Dionysus is a bit creepy. Nothing's changed about my opinion. Sometimes people swing and miss. If you're me, that happens frequently.

Solid Recommendation

Sushi Police
Danni Kristen

At the beginning of this installment's episodes, the Sushi Police track down the location of a Chinese restaurant using a miracle elixir to revive expired sushi and sell it to customers. The manager of the restaurant defends his actions, citing the fact sushi began as a preserved dish in China. He ultimately escapes, leaving a cryptic note about an event in Berlin. When the Sushi Police arrive, they find their Free Sushi friend leading a rally against the Sushi Police. After getting compared to Hitler by an old German man, Honda orders Kawasaki to launch wasabi napalm bombs on the crowd. The protesters are wiped out, and Honda's care for human life is called into question. Sushi Police is exploring some deep themes this week. Themes such as: is it okay to kill people for making inauthentic Japanese sushi? Who even cares about this shows ugly animation and terrible writing? This show dares to question the morals of inauthentic sushi, a subject no one else in the anime industry is brave enough to tackle.

No Recommendation

Second Opinions

Dagashi Kashi

Stephanie: While there have been fun moments during this series, the story has become such a simple wash, rinse, repeat method that I think there isn't much to really talk about anymore. Sure, episode five gave us a little bit more for Hotaru's character, but it doesn't seem like something all that exciting of a development. The gags don't change all that much and the entire cast remains in their cookie cutter forms. Personally, I don't have a lot more to say since it's giving me the same thing over and over, just done slightly differently. I will say that the Broadcast Dub that recently started from FUNimation is a mixed bag. While I applaud Sara Ragsdale as Saya so far as well as Jeremy Inman's performance are Kokonatsu's dad, Tabitha Ray's Hotaru is still weak and Todd Haberkorn does not fit as lead Kokonatsu regardless of how much I do like his work currently. Not the strongest dub from newbie director Kyle Phillips; it needs some improvements. I'll stick to the dub from this point on as I am a faithful watcher of the Dubble Talk block every week, and this is one of the shows on there this season. Saves me some time rather than watching it twice. Solid Recommendation

Dimension W

Stephanie: It can sometimes be hard to tell what a series plans on doing. Dimension W kinda falls into this area since this time around we're finishing up the two parter that started during the previous report and are now starting a second on by the time this one goes up. I have a feeling that this series may end up with a second part that could air later this year, or it could continue as a two cour series into the spring season. Considering how the series has been progressing as of late, it would be hard to say whether or not the animation studio will be able to give it a final and proper end by the time we reach the final episodes. I mean, the next episode we FINALLY get to learn more about Kyouma's dislike of coils after waiting for over half the season. There is no way this series is just going to be one cour... If it does go with just one cour, the writers have some work to do because there's a strong possibility it could fall flat on it's face with how the story is moving right now. Oh! And for those interested, there is going to be a broadcast dub of this series from FUNimation, but it is going on run on Toonami starting next weekend. For those who have cable... I hate you... I have to wait at least two more additional weeks after the Toonami run starts to even see the dub. But, based on the press release with the casting, it seems like it may be a solid sounding series. I'll be interested to hear how it sounds... eventually. Strong Recommendation

ERASED

Danni: After a dip in quality that brought the show down from great to good, we're steadily seeing the quality from the first few episodes come back. It's still not quite as good as it has potential to be, but it's getting there. Regardless, it's still one of the best shows this season, really only outdone by Rakugo Shinju. Strong Recommendation

Joe: This is a return to form for some as the time-twisting story has gotten back to the past and out of the occasionally ham-fisted fugitive portions of the 2006 timeline. Despite some dubious choices in foreshadowing and editing, I really didn't have much problem with the content. Maybe it's because I have ten years on most people here, but life gets weird in ridiculous ways and I wouldn't be surprised if that candy bar story so many have trouble swallowing comes from a real life experience. Anyway, we're back in the sweet spot with Satoru in 1988 with his wide-eyed optimism sharpened into focused vigilante mode, and everything sweet, endearing, and tragic here is in full force, so I hope everybody's happy. I want more things like this. All of the pandering shows won't disappear because you watched one anime trying to be seriously great drama. Please support this. Strong Recommendation

Stephanie: Erased still is a captivating mystery series now that the half way mark has been reached. Bouncing between the present day and the past would normally lead a series to become a jumbled mess; however the show doesn't do this on a constant basis. Rather, it has only jumped back in time twice, giving the series small arcs in order to see what Satoru attempts to do to change the present, and then giving us that result. While the first time didn't yield the result he wanted, now that he has a vague idea as to the true culprit, it's time to head into the climx of the series as Satoru makes one last desperate attempt to save any and all victims of these serial murders. This is one of those series that I can't find the right words to say because it's one that I'm rather impressed with. The story, while having a few rough patches here and there, has been very strong and consistent while the characters in both time periods play active roles; with Airi and Kenya being the two on each end having the most involvement. How the series will end, I'm not all that sure. I would not be surprised if some kind of twist gets tossed in at the last second, because it does seem like the kind of series that would pull something like that. So long as it doesn't ruin the strong aspects of the series overall, and it resolves itself as naturally as possible. Cause, while I am rooting for that happy ending, whether or not the happy ending will occur is not clear; which makes the series all the more enjoyable to watch. Strong Recommendation

Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash

Stephanie: Dagashi and Grimgar were the two series that I had been debating on dropping, just to follow the broadcast dub from here on out. While Dagashi, I dropped because there wasn't much more to talk about, Grimgar, I think, I'm willing to keep around a bit longer. With the bombshell of a fourth episode we had a couple weeks back, I wanted to see what direction the series decided to go in; and while it is a natural direction for the anime, it also is handled very well. With Mary's introduction into our main group and a very real connection she has to them, that our remaining five members find out about her; I do want to see how that connection will help their relationship grow. It should also come to no surprise to anyone that the broadcast dub is among one of the stronger ones this season; partly because Mike McFarland is directing it. But what really makes it nice is that relative newcomers are having more of a chance to shine as Ricco Fajardo, Justin Briner, Jeannie Triado, Sarah Wiedenheft, Jason Greene, and Orion Pitts make up our main party for the series. While Ricco and Justin have been gaining a lot of ground thanks to Heroic Legend of Arslan and Seraph, respectively, I have been keeping my eye on the other four actors and am thrilled to see them getting larger roles. As much as I want to save myself some time by dropping the simulcast and just following the dub, Grimgar is keeping my attention. I honestly don't think I'd be ok with waiting for several weeks to get up to this point and then seeing the new stuff after that. Good on you for preventing me from doing that, Grimgar! Strong Recommendation

KONOSUBA - God's blessing on this wonderful world!

Jonathan: Is it bad that the character I relate to most is Darkness, the perverted masochist? This show just keeps making me burst out laughing every episode, especially when the generic light novel protagonist comes by and the main character steals his sword, knocks him out with it, and then pawns it off for cash. I'll take terrible and mostly aware of it over terrible and conceded any day. Strong Recommendation

Myraid Colors: Phantom World

Jonathan: Minsae was turning into a cat girl, slept on a bench, woke up, and thought that was pretty good. I think I love this stupid show. Creativity goes a long way, and this show has that in piles. It's my favorite watch this season, despite it not really being best of the year material by a long mile. If you want something simple and ridiculous, give it a shot. Solid Recommendation

Please tell me! Galko-chan

Danni: This is quite possibly the funniest show this season, which is an odd thing to say about a show lacking a lot of laugh-out-loud qualities. What it lacks in those it more than makes up for in earnestness. It's a show about different types of teenagers being insecure about their bodies and their sexuality. It's all played for laughs, but I'm sure most people can recall those same questions and discussions popping up among their peers or in their Google search history. Most comedy involves laughing at the characters, but I find myself laughing with everyone in Galko-chan, because I've been right where they are. Strong Recommendation

Prince of Stride: Alternative

Stephanie: I'll keep saying this, probably, every week from now until the end of time; Prince of Stride is just one big sports anime cliche and I love every single second of it! That's because it isn't even trying to be inventive and new. Instead it takes the common sports anime troupes we see and just uses them very well, which tells me it knows it's a sports anime and is highly self aware of itself. I mean, come on, episode seven is the cliche training episode that ends with the guys taking their shirts off and going swimming in the ocean for no damn reason what so ever! If that doesn't say "I know what I am and I don't give a s**t!" than I don't know what is... It keeps the high energy and campy tone pretty well, giving me something wonderfully entertaining to watch amide some of the more dull of series this season. And speaking of wonderfully entertaining, the broadcast dub is very solid after having seen the first two episodes! With Austin Tindle, Ricco Fajardo, and Natalie Hoover taking on the three freshman leads while adding in Jason Liebrecht, Clifford Chapin, and Micah Solusod for good measure; director Caitlin Glass has a fun one on her hands! And we even have a newcomer coming into the role of Kuga, that being Ivan Jasso who will be an interesting one to keep an eye on. While we're at it, we may actually have a role that Garret Storms (the VA the Dub Talk podcast will tend to refer to as the male Garmin) is actually pretty decent in! THERE'S HOPE FOR YOU YET! Solid Recommendation

Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinju

Stephanie: If there was one series I would tell everyone to watch this season, then Rakugo would be that series. It still has the best story and set of characters that I've seen in a good long while and is executed masterfully! I don't want to sound like a parrot every time I talk about this series, so I'll just tell you to go and watch it. You just need to. Strong Recommendation