Summer 2021 First Impressions: Getter Robo Arc, Tantei wa Mou Shindeiru, Genjitsu Shugi Yuusha

Getter Robo Arc

Short Synopsis: An irradiated human being teams up with a part-dinosaur pilot to defend Earth from an alien invasion.

Wooper: Arc is the fifth installment in Ken Ishikawa’s Getter Robo series, starring the son of a major character and a pilot from the original series who now plays the role of brilliant scientist. You need some prior Getter knowledge to make these connections, but they aren’t vital to understanding what’s going on, because what’s going on is simple: aliens are attacking, and they have to be stopped. There’s a crudeness to the art in this new series that makes it look like a cheap Saturday morning cartoon, but it’s synergistic in a way – most of the characters are the rough-and-tumble sort (especially Takuma), and the ruined future where the series takes place doesn’t exactly require a polished rendering. The biker gangs and junkyard mafias who populate this new Earth might have some facial features out of place, but since their faces exist to get punched, that’s no big loss. Even the CG used for the Getter mechs is a step up from what we saw in the original PV. It’s weird to see Ryoma’s son say that something looks “jank as hell,” but liberties in translation aside, Arc is still the Getter you remember – for better and for worse.

Potential: 50%

Mario: I honestly wasn’t aware of the Getter Robo franchise before watching this, but the old-school artstyle and designs and its epic battles remind me a good deal of Giant Robo. Had it stuck to the “old-school” all the way, the episode would fare much better than this. One of the first issues with Getter Robo Arc is that the obvious CG alien design doesn’t mesh very well with the rest of the story. It feels as if we are watching two different shows altogether. The second issue lies in its pacing. The show assumes the audience has basic knowledge of the characters and their abilities beforehand (I presume?), because it proceeds almost incomprehensibly. Many things are unclear: the main characters’ relationship is unexplained, the reason why they have to fight the aliens is never explained, and what the heck is the mecha that they pilot? All these make it a premiere that is epic in concept, occasionally interesting to watch, and totally unattached when it comes to emotional connection. Too bad!

Potential: Too bad!

Tantei wa mou, Shindeiru

Short Synopsis: An extremely unlucky middle schooler is conscripted into being a now-deceased detective’s assistant.

Armitage: I must really be losing my ability to overlook how juvenile LN writing can be at times because I lost count of the number of times I rolled my eyes at the screen in this premiere. The fact that it was an hour long special didn’t help its case either as so much of it felt like needless padding. The show tries to make its lead into a “quirky” detective with deadpan quips like she’s the anime embodiment of RDJ from those sub-standard Sherlock movies, but it just doesn’t work. The very few times I laughed during most of the runtime, I was left wondering if it was a joke that the characters played off as or were they being deadly serious?? And most of the time, they are being deadly serious. This is a show that makes you feel dumb by pretending to be wayyy smarter than it is. While in reality, it’s kind of a poor-man’s Elementary with almost none of the charm. Either way, I personally would not be watching any more of it.

Potential: 15%

Amun: Ah. This is familiar ENGI studio fare. If you’re worried about the opening quality – you should be, it’s a bad sign. I see all the hallmarks of animation overambition and shortcuts to try and make it work. The result is an almost passable episode that I have no faith in going forward. I will say that the premiere itself was handled pretty well in terms of direction and adapting sub-par source material. The dialogue didn’t drag on like in the manga and the banter was halfway decent. The problem is the chemistry between the leads will be entirely gone next episode as, well, the detective is already dead. I’m normally pretty optimistic, but this is a sinking ship, no two ways about it.

Potential: 30%

Genjitsu Shugi Yuusha no Oukoku Saikenki

Short Synopsis: High Schooler who read half of “The Prince” is better at ruling a country than a 13th generation monarch.

Amun: (I will not mention Amagi Brilliant Park, I will not mention Amagi Brilliant Park…). So I have actually read some of the source material here…and truthfully, it was better than this premiere. I mean, it didn’t really make sense in paper form, and it sure doesn’t make a lot of sense in moving pictures (what on earth does finding a family have to do with running a country?). That said, this should be pretty hard to screw up – a studious, overly serious Japanese man brings order to a bunch of idiots and accidentally gets a harem on the way. You won’t win any points for originality, but there are worse ideas for a show (like, this season. There are worse ideas this season). It doesn’t look that bad either – some of the character designs have some rough moments, but overall I think this level of quality should be doable for thirteen episodes. The bar is just set so low, that I think if it can manage this level of animation and maybe a slightly more interesting plot (just throw new characters at it, it’ll be fine), then I’ll see this one through. Goodness, this season is terrible.

Potential: 60% (any other season would be 20%)

Wooper: Do you all ever stop and think about the consequences of all these isekai adaptations for anime fandom as a whole? Most people who still read text blogs are on the older side, meaning we formed an image of what anime was in our youth, but there are thousands of kids coming to anime every day without any such preconceptions. They’re not going through the Toonami gauntlet or watching whatever gets dubbed in their native language – they’re typing “watch anime” into Google, settling on the most operable pirate site they can find, and clicking on whatever looks cool. And really, what’s cooler than a thumbnail of a normal-looking guy surrounded by cute girls in appealing fantasy outfits? What choice could be safer than a show whose title makes it sound like a gamer’s dream? For some of these teenage newcomers, this subgenre is not just a corner of the anime market; it’s the cornerstone of their pop culture diet. Ask them what anime is, and once you get past its country of origin and general aesthetic, words like “reincarnation” and “summoning” are likely to crop up. There’s a potential future out there where isekai supplants shounen as top dog, which would result in a lot more Genjitsu Shugi Yuushas – and given how unspeakably dull this one was, I’m not eager to see that future realized.

Potential: None for me