Maesetsu!
Short Synopsis: A comedy duo struggles to make it big, or even to stay funny.
Mario’s review:
Out of all the shows I watched for this First Impressions, Maesetsu hands down has the worst production values. Everything looks stiff, to the point where they didn’t bother to animate the whole stadium of fans in a concert – not a single one of them. Then, it’s the subject matter that is going to be a hard sell for anime viewers: this is a cute girls show where girls do comedy – and the comedy bits are on the “missed” side of the spectrum. When the main girl fails multiple times to make people laugh for her routine, I get the same sense about this show as a whole. Still, the way the main duo struggles with what they love and tries best to do what they love is grounded and believable. If this is the story about underdog groups who break out then I still have reasons to follow it.
Potential: 20%
Ochikobore Fruit Tart
Short Synopsis: A small town girl moves to Tokyo to become an idol.
Wooper’s review:
It’s been a long couple of weeks, but we’ve finally reached the end of preview season, where all the trash gets dumped. Ochikobore is perhaps the least inspired show of the fall, though it’s not the worst – it’s far too competent at its cutesy idol shtick to earn that distinction. Instead of outright badness we’ve got unavoidable deja vu, including a cast of characters who slot nicely into each of the major otaku food groups: nice girl, genki girl, loli girl, and Tits McGee. Their manager announces that they’re forming an idol group, and thus they proceed with the singing and “dancing” and distribution of flyers. You’ve seen this before. Fruit Tart looks alright – the performance scene near the end is animated entirely by hand, which is notable for an idol series. The characters spend about half of the episode in silly chibi mode, so if that’s your favorite thing in the world, this is the show for you. Interior scenes make dreadful use of pre-existing digital assets, but that’s par for the course in modern anime – even Jujutsu Kaisen, arguably the season’s biggest production, has the same problem. Alright, I think I’m done writing about this tiresome premiere. Time to go make dinner.
Potential: 10%
Mario’s review:
We can’t never truly escape them huh? Idol anime is here to stay – not for the better though. Despite having a rather pleasant aesthetic, the story of 4 unlikely idol members forming an idol band is an easy but ultimately plain and unmemorable watch. Characters are the kind that have 1 or 2 significant traits and they would max it up to 11, and the plot of getting them into an idol group is terribly contrived, except that they gloss it up as a joke – and not very funny at that. And worst of all, I’m kinda tired of the big boobs trope that frankly exists for fan-service. If they try their hands on parodying the idol industry or these character types, it would work way better, and there are moments where the show touches slightly on that, but then it reverts back to celebrating the genre anyway. It’s not a total waste of time as I find myself enjoying the episode through and through, it’s just harmless and unassuming.
Potential: 20%
Magatsu Wahrheit: Zuerst
Short Synopsis: A novice soldier has to fight the extremist group on his first day and witnesses his best friend killed.
Mario’s review:
The last premiere of the season is a surprise one. When I heard that Magatsu Wahrheit is based on a mobile game I had given up all hope, but at least this first episode featuring multiple perspectives have its merits. While you can easily point out the plot progression and the generic settings, what sells me so far is that they manage to form separate narratives into the big chase at the end – so that by that point we are in both the army and the extremist group. Well, the show actually goes a bit busy for my taste as it introduces a bigger plot threat (the monsters) that has little to do with this cop chase this week. The production is overall inconsistent, there are a couple of nice shots but the rest looks uninspiring and uneven. I’ll be checking more episodes to see how this show progresses.
Potential: 30%
