Some Quick First Impressions: Otome Game no Hametsu Flag, Shachou, Battle no Jikan Desu! & Gleipnir

Otome Game no Hametsu Flag

Short Synopsis: Reincarnated little girl hits her head, gets engaged, and breaks down a door like a boss.

Amun: Wait what’s this?! Isekai is evolving!! And…it’s now become chibi isekai! (patent pending)  As the third show this season to feature a person from our world who came back as someone younger, Otome is a decently fresh take on a stagnating genre.  Not only are we back as a little kid, we’re back as an EVIL little kid – well, one that will be eventually. Our heroine is determined not to be evil though – to the extent where she gets sick of everyone’s nonsense and fireman-axes a door.  That pretty well sells this series for me.

Potential: 70%

Armitage: Oh-My-God-This-is-the-most-adorable-thing-ever-I-can-feel-my-poor-harth-meltin’-because-of-this-wholesome-goodness *coughs* *composes herself* Right, so the Otome Isekai. Do we really have to do a proper review of this? I mean, come on! Can’t we just let precious things be, for once? Why do we need to dissect every tiny detail and pinpoint minor flaws that stop us from seeing how perfect things are? Ughhh, fine! I’ll give it to ya straight, a’ight? This is a show about a 17-year-old girl trapped inside the body of an adorable 8-year-old princess who has the tough tough job of stopping equally adorable 8-year-old boys from confessing their love to her. And she goes about that job with the help of the many different emotions who hold a roundtable conference inside her head to discuss prospective strategies for preventing said fated declarations of love, ‘Inside-Out’ style. There you have it. That’s all I have to say about the premiere unless you’re interested in reading about the wide variety of reactions I had to various parts of the episode. To sum them up, there were a lot of ‘aww’s, melodramatic swoons and general unintelligible words whenever something cute happened on screen (which was like, every 10 seconds). So, as a TL;DR, this show is cute, heartwarming and the best thing since sliced bread. Go watch it. Bye.

Potential: All the %

Shachou, Battle no Jikan Desu!

Short Synopsis: Potato-kun gets asked by his childhood friend to be a President of a company that does quests for money.

Lenlo: Basically everything Mario said down below is correct. Shachou is an unremarkable light-fantasy show, with average production and nothing to really set it apart. Yet somehow, someway, that is enough to make it one of the better Isekai of this season. So if that’s your jam, you could do a lot worse. Unlike 8th Son for instance it actually seems to care about its mediocre setting, going so far as to hide its info-dump in an everyday work tutorial or actually explaining why people adventure and showing that technology has actually advanced. Of course there are still no guns, and it isn’t exactly clever. But there is a bare minimum level of effort here that isn’t present in a lot of other Isekai’s. And that alone at least makes me not hate it. It won’t be good. But I don’t hate it.

Potential: 15%

Mario: This show is another lame light-fantasy adaptation that doesn’t have any ambition and is not funny or entertaining enough to secure its place for another try. Just look at the main male: plain, surrounded by cute girls (and a boy) who are more efficient than him, and has the CEO position handed to him without any sweat. It certainly doesn’t help that most of this premiere focuses more on tutorial and side quest than establishing the cast. In addition, the production is unremarkable. The budget must be tight, as whenever the show does a wide shot, they skip the details in characters’ faces. The side quest itself isn’t that exciting, and since we all know the outcomes it fails to offer any thrills. The supporting cast has their own quirks but I doubt that they develop much in later episodes. If you like DanMachi then you might find this enjoyable, otherwise steer clear from it.

Potential: 10%

Amun:  There seem to be some heretics among us, one of whom even said some fighting words like “If you like DanMachi” – so the defender of DanMachi has arrived!  That being said….I’ll admit this premier was a bit thin. And, yeah, this is my genre, but…it seemed pretty low effort. The positives are: I like the tension with childhood-friend-turned-secretary (that’s like a second-gen fetish or something right there).  There also seems to be a lot of nice little side stories like the talking backpack and whatever’s going on with the promo video (please note, that says promo) star. The negatives are pretty much centered on the MC, his hair, the mismatched CGI, and the puddle depth plot.  I give this another episode or two, but I’m not that hopeful. Also, I love that they give him the title of CEO, but it means less than nothing – apparently someone’s worked in a startup before.

Potential: 25%    

Gleipnir

Short Synopsis: Furry boy teams up with a girl to collect golden coins while constantly appreciating how nice she smells.

Armitage: Ladies and Gentlemen, lo and behold! The edge-fest of the season. Like always, we have people raring to have a go at each other’s throats while striving to reach a common objective, plot threads tied together by the bare minimum of logic and well, everyone just being a complete dick. Though this time around the differences being that there’s no ‘Game’ in the title, there are furries! (the creepy kind but still) and well, it’s actually pretty good. I love how Studio Pine Jam understands the absurdity and stupidly fun nature of the concept and just runs with it, presenting the already over-the-top story from the source material with even more bombast (I mean, there are guitar solos backed by EDM beats playing in the background as a giant teddy bear carries a scantily-clad teenage girl out of a burning barn. Ah, the CAMP!). And let’s just be honest here, if you aren’t already sold on this show because of the premise or just hate stories that serve as nothing more than popcorn entertainment, nothing I can say will probably change your mind. If you do give this story a chance, you know what you’re in for: elaborate excuses in the name of plot for the next action set-piece to begin so that we get to see some teens go batshit insane, all with some fanservice thrown in for good measure. If that doesn’t sound like your usual cup of tea, fair enough. Though, there’s always room to try out some cinnamon spiced chai latte :3

Potential: 85%

Amun: Uh huh.  Are you in the mood for a fanservice filled, high school death tournament version of Gangsta…with the younger version of Rock from Black Lagoon?  Who can turn into a sorta strong, somewhat cute mascot? Also, did I mention fanservice? It’s gritty, it’s edgy, it has really detailed CGI coins – it’s Gleipnir! (whatever that means).   That being said, I don’t actually hate it – I’m just a little shell shocked from whatever it was that happened in that first episode. Come to think of it, I actually liked Gangsta quite a lot.  I’m open to seeing how the highschool edition turns out – fair warning, you might feel like you need some hand sanitizer after each episode.

Potential: 75%

Mario: Hmm, I’m throwing my two cents here to contrast these two glowing positive reactions above. The fanservice is uncalled for… why does the girl have her bra exposed in the first place? Plot jumps at a brisk pace, and the only hook for me is the “monster” transformation that is both bizarre and cute at the same time. I would put this show in the same “trashy-edgy-and-fun” category as “Future Diary” and “Deadman Wonderland”, and consider how this first episode is pale compared to these two, and how these two crash and burn after the hook, I have my worries towards Gleipnir.

Potential: 25%

Amun: First Mario challenges DanMachi, then bashes Mirai Nikki and Deadman Wonderland (which went downhill a bit, I’ll admit)? It’s on now! That said – I think those are some valid points about Gleipnir, having read a bit more of the manga.