The IdolM@ster Side M
Short Synopsis: An independent male idol group consider going pro.
AidanAK47’s review
Considering the amount of male idol shows I have had to subject myself to, this actually comes out better than most. I guess because this feels like it’s actually trying with it’s story. Most Male Idol shows just throw you into the thick of it and introduce all the characters at once. making them just feel like they came of a production line to appeal to as mainstream an audience as possible. This story instead focuses on three of the idols to join the studio first and I appreciate that. The characters themselves are basic stereotypes (The tsundere hot headed one, the childish playful one, the older responsible one) but at least have a bit more going on for me to consider them actual characters instead of fetish placeholders. Again the biggest problem with judging these shows is that I am not the target demographic but this one didn’t make me want to bash my head against a wall or bore me out of my skull so it must be pretty alright by boy idol anime standards.
Potential: 20%
Mario’s review
You might think that episode 00 serves as a prequel for this series, while part of it was true, this 00 episode is a standalone story about one of the Idol group, Jupiter. One little detail that pique my interest is this is a story when Jupiter was an indie idol band. While it’s overpowered to have a band as young as they are, can manage all the deals, the band’s schedule, dealing with fans all by themselves, the spirit of “DIY” is there. There are some decent interactions here and there between the group and the agency guy, but everything else is mild and forgettable. This main lead is annoying though that he can’t even take simple criticism and I don’t get why they are half an hour length because they can easily cut the performance part and the story is still intact. With this season that is heavily on male idols (we have 2 more coming, along with girl idols Love Live Sunshine), I don’t even think this one can stand out as the best of that pack, and already that bar is pretty low to begin with.
Potential: 20%
UQ Holder! 2
Short Synopsis: The Grandson of Negi tries to earn the right to go to the capital city.
AidanAK47’s review
You know it’s a Ken Akamatsu work when the protagonist is getting beaten to death by the main heroine for little reason. Author of not only this but also Love Hina and Negima, there is a certain nostalgic charm to this. However there are problems, one is a reason I was not that interested in this manga and that’s because at the end of this episode they confirm that our main protagonists cannot die. In other works that more or less a given but in this case they literally cannot die. Which kind of drains away any tension from battle when they can recover from any wound no matter how grievous. The second thing that put me off this series is that I never really liked the cast of UQ holder that much. And the third is the fanservice, the kind of fanservice that was in the beginning of this episode and the large amount of fanservice to come. Not to mention lots of fanservice of characters of rather questionable age. A while back there was a law that was trying to be put in place to outlaw nude lolita depictions of anime characters due to it possibly being considered pedophile pornography and you can bet that Ken Akamatsu was right in the crosshairs due to his series having a large amount of that. Still if you can look past the fanservice there is some good action to be had and this is looking to be the strongest adaption of his work to date so there could be something watchable here.
Potential: 30%
Mario’s review
We have a generic shounen story that neither original nor ground-breaking, but for what it worth it’s still a serviceable one. Although billed as a sequel you don’t really need the knowledge of the original to follow this. It ticks pretty much on the boxes of tired tropes, and the story of a young boy who turn immortal is something that done countless time before in anime, even how this little episode turns out is by-the-book so in terms of plot, this episode fails hard. What it makes up is the chemistry between the boy and his guardian and the confident pacing that thankfully hold our attention till the end. What happens next is pretty predictable though, they going to the city, meeting new friends while the young boy hones his skills. At that I don’t get why she can grow her body despite being a vampire and the fanservice is way too blatant. Should provide a fun, mindless ride with some emotional attachments if you’re lucky but don’t expect anything serious about it.
Potential: 20%
Black Cover
Short Synopsis: A boy without magic in a world filled with tries to gain a magic grimoire.
AidanAK47’s review
A good anime is like programing code. You need it all to work in harmony and all it really take is one small mistake, one tiny aspect, and the whole thing can fall apart.I thought the main protagonist of this series could be annoying but reading the manga I had the joy of not having to listen to him. But here they decided to hire a terrible voice actor for him who shouts his every line. Good god, it’s annoying. He has this way of drawing out the end of his shouts as well as inflection and once you notice it, it grates on your nerves. Hopefully the SimulDub tones down this as other than this horrible voice actor this episode was fine. Pierrot is changing some things unnecessarily but other than that it’s a solid first episode for a shounen. If you are a shounen fan and can bear the shouting the protagonist then I say you could have fun with it. If his shouting is too annoying you can always try the dub to come soon. Animation was fine as well so this could be something watchable
Potential: 40%
Mario’s review
We have a generic shounen story that… Wait? Déjà vu? Despite having different settings Black Cover and UQ Holder share the same DNA – the plot is full of cliché and general tropes; the characters are one note and that cheap one-time antagonist. How many times before do we see a main hero who has no power turn out to be the best?? Black Cover has a more realized setting than UQ Holder, depicting the fantasy world that rely on using magic. But the main character… boy, is he annoying brat. Overact and loud all the time, he’s the lead that helps me greatly in dropping this series without hesitant. Moreover, this show also teach me a valuable lesson that animating iron chain is the kryptonite of CG animation since it’s jarring consider how out of place the iron chain with the rest. The relationship between the two leads will be what ride the story forward, although I admit that I’m not too interested to follow either the plot or their rivalry. An easy skip for me.
Potential: 10%
