Trickster
Short Synopsis:
Edogawa Ranpo certainly was a man before his time. At least if this series is to be believed he was writing about mecha, hacker loli’s, boob jokes and superpowered emo teenagers before light novels were even a thing. Or at least if this series is to be believed to be based on his actual work. I for one am absolutely certain that this has about as much to do with the Boy Detective novels as Shakespeare has with “The Shining”. As someone who is interested in Rampo’s work i find this to be quite insulting to rob his name just to get people to watch an otherwise unremarkable anime show. So I doubt our boy detectives will be doing any actual detective work and this will be mainly more of an action show. The writing isn’t good but it certainly isn’t the worst I have seen all season. If pushed I would say this was rather mediocre but just barely above bad. I like the nature of the emo boys superpower but it bugs me at just how woe is me he is about having superpowers. Why not take what that other kid says into account and stop getting all depressed about not being normal and instead appreciate that you can chop stuff with your mind. Or at least take a page out of Mob’s book and try to better yourself instead of crawling into a ball to be a whiny little Shinji. Maybe this might be your thing but I will say there are likely better alternatives to what this show will likely end up being.
Potential: 35%
Mario: I have my worried when it comes to Edogawa Ranpo’s inspiration as Ranpo Kitan: Game of Laplace last year was terrible. Trickster seems to follow the same path because the writing is its weakest component. I have an issue with shows that display random crimes for no apparent reasons; not that they don’t happen in real life but casual crimes like these just to show the bad side of people, or in this case just to show off how amazing our main character is (the schoolgirl is kidnapped by two thugs just to be rescued by our boy), is heartless and lazy. The dialogues are contrived; characters speak with their one-note tones throughout this episode. The twists are half-baked and the characters themselves are not all that interesting. The shot compositions and the use of strong color, on the other hand, are flawless. The scene in the fire sequence for example, everything is just bathed in red and black that resonate to the theme of isolation and the dark, gritty world. But those alone cannot save the show and if you can’t get pass the lousiness of the monologue in the very first sequence, chances are the rest of Trickster ain’t going to change your mind.
Potential: 10%
Shakunetsu no Takkyuu Musume
Short Synopsis:
These girls take ping pong way too seriously. Anyway I am a bit disappointed with this one, not because it’s cute girls doing cute things because that was a given. It’s because I thought that ping pong would make for some pretty interesting animation. But the animation of this episode was bare bones. It’s passable for the story though it’s clear with the number of still frames and shots aiming to present the least amount of animation on screen as possible. The character designs are a bit miss here as well as the girl’s eyes are freakishly huge. I haven’t seen eyes like this since Kanon. My original point in my season preview still stand but it seems like the anime actually toned down the fanservice. A good point for it but sadly negated because we still have the terrible boob jokes and it still is what it is. With the lacking animation I am afraid the ping pong loses a lot of it’s appeal and what remains is a sports show that’s bound to go nowhere and the always overdone cute girl antics. Chances are the other cute girls type shows this season would be a better alternative. Though I believe I did hear word that long bikers was no longer airing this season.
Potential: 10%
Mario: We get to the first “cute girls doing cute things” show of this season. This time it’s all about ping pong. For those kinds of show there are 3 words that best described their quality: cute but inoffensive. This goes the same for this one. It’s nice (and make my job easier I would say) to just watch the first episode, you could tell right away the show’s direction for the rest of the season (playing National Championship), their conflict (first the main girl has to fix her attitude problem, then her, the new girl and two other girls will form a school team to compete regional-wise, then head out to national tournament), their main opponent (the creepy smiling girl). Everything is as clear as daylight so you don’t have to think too hard. The cuteness aspect is all there and sadly it doesn’t offer anything distinctively. I also found the ‘new girl stuck on a gate’ joke a bit overused and those boob jokes are certainly not gain you any fan. This is a harmless little show and I’m pretty sure it’s content to be just that.
Potential: 10%
Soushin Shoujo Matoi
Short Synopsis:
This show really wasn’t quite was I was expecting. i was anticipating either a straightforward magical girl show or a dark magical girl show in disguise but this episode was a kind of mix between the two with much more comedy. The opening scene had military commencing an attack on a mysterious beast and was so vastly different from the promotional material that I was wondering if I mistakenly picked the wrong show. Then some girl with a giant mecha shows up and I wonder where the genre from the first few minutes went. After this came a light hearted and comedy driven antics and I finally started to see the show I was intending to watch. Judging based on the first few minutes I would say this show was dull and tonally awkward but the remainder of the episode fared better. There is still a bit of a tonal problem as anything dealing with the monster was deathly serious but when it came to Matoi the tone became pure slapstick comedy. The scenes with Matoi were almost studio Trigger-eqe in a way. My opinion on this is rather mixed as some things I liked here but there were also things I hated quite a bit. That last joke about her father mistaking her for his wife when she was in Magical girl form and then him feeling her up was in bad taste. Also if mecha girl from earlier is joining the cast I can see this getting a bit bland. I say wait maybe one or two more episodes to see how this show pans out
Potential: 55%
Mario: Matoi has its messy first episode, but ultimately a rewarding one. This is an original show from White Fox right after the success of Re:Zero. This originality explains the tonal issues as this show tries to be many things, and they might not work together as a whole. On one hand they attempt to go for a bright, coming-of-age story of Matoi as she gains her magical power and how she both manages to control her power and fits in with her normal, mundane life. On the other hands those supernatural monsters are dark and fearsome, and the plot goes much darker and more intense. At some points the show just doesn’t quite sure which side it’s going to be. But to say that this show has a lot of potentials to be a good (but uneven) show. The fighting sequences are fresh and creative, the fundamental theme of exorcising evil spirits is promising; the characters have great chemistry to each other (most notably, Matoi and her dad and Matoi with her friend Yuma). Still, that awkward groping gives a chill down my spine and I hope this joke is just one-off. I have a feeling that this show will take 3,4 episodes before it can find its own footing, but I sure respect shows that willing to try than majority of shows that just content to be harmless.
Potential: 60%
