Seitokai ni mo Ana wa Aru!
Short Synopsis: A teenage boy is asked to join a student council full of weirdos.
Mario: This show is proof that doesn’t matter how trashy and edgy your premise is, all that matters is the delivery. Yes, this episode is raunchy and it might very well turn off certain viewers with its humor, but so far the comedy lands well (and it’s a gag-a-minute show). Its jokes are well-timed, off kilter but with purpose, and they are supported by its sheer energy and solid visuals. I am not sure if the show can retain this high energy throughout the rest of its run, but as far as this first episode goes, I had a great time with it.
Potential: More please!
Wooper: Ecchi has never been a favorite subgenre of mine, but Seitokai (the lewdly localized “Even the Student Council Has Its Holes”) was forecasted to have some real production chops. Given that visuals are an increasingly important personal factor when shaping my seasonal watchlists, I decided to give it a try, but it turns out I’m still too square for fanservice of this magnitude. There’s something odd about introducing a seemingly female character, giving the audience a peek down her shirt, then revealing she’s actually a boy. But whatever – anime has been playing fast and loose with sex and gender for longer than I’ve been alive, so how was the rest of the premiere? Well, it did go big with its comedy, putting a rabbit mating video (not a euphemism) on screen during a high school assembly gone wrong, and utilizing Nichijou-style violence against one of the robotics club’s creations at an early point. The smaller stuff was packed together between eyecatches, hinting at the source material’s 4-koma format, and the resulting rapid pace did work pretty well. Smart background art choices were made from scene to scene, including detail when necessary and stripping it away when not. At the end of the day, though, groin shots, bloody panties and topless teachers aren’t what I want from an anime, especially when it falls back on cute designs rather than committing to its crudeness.
Potential: 80085
From Far Away
Short Synopsis: A high school girl gets transported to a new world where she is “the one” and gets rescued by a handsome boy.
Mario: Right after Red River last season, we have yet another adaptation of a 90s manga with a very similar premise. To be fair, I regard From Far Away’s first episode as much stronger than Red River’s, however, some of their issues remain the same. Our main girl Noriko spends the entirety of this episode crying, fainting and finding herself out of her depth, plus the boy who rescues her is way too powerful. I also like the way that these two don’t know each other’s languages but can still understand each other anyways, but damn if the show doesn’t repeat that fact like 30 times during this episode. On the bright side, the fantasy world is intriguing, and the show’s pacing so far is snappy enough to move things along nicely. One thing that piques my interest is that Noriko can seem to shift back and forth between the two worlds, so it could be interesting to see how she balances that, and how her actions in one world can affect her life in the other.
Potential: 20%
The Seven Knights of the Marronnier Kingdom
Short Synopsis: A general’s seven sons are made ambassadors to a kingdom’s seven neighboring countries.
Wooper: Insomniac, Fraternity, Feverish, Chilly, Beast-Tamer, Swordsman, and Hungry. These are the names of the seven knight siblings of Marronnier, at least according to the subs provided by Amazon, whose translations are notoriously subpar. If I were covering this show week by week, I might write out the brothers’ romanized names (Nemukunai, Hakuai, etc), but Marronnier doesn’t have quite that level of promise. It’s one of the more interesting anime of the fall from a tonal perspective, at least – even though its main cast is about to be dispersed among their birth kingdom’s surrounding territories, the mood is light and the focus is just as much on the natural world as on their mission. Chilly spends an afternoon helping a disguised princess gather nuts for her massive pet squirrel, and several of his brothers must prune grapevines before they can attend combat training. The tone is so easygoing, in fact, that I’m not sure when Marronnier will see its central siblings off. Characters like the aforementioned princess, her motherly attendant, the overworked Castellan and his tomboyish daughter Ellie seem just as important to the show so far, and there was no glimpse of a foreign landscape in the next episode preview. How this series’ larger story will unfold remains to be seen – I wouldn’t want to rush anything, but right now it’s airy enough that broadening the setting will be key to filling out Marronnier’s remaining 19 episodes.
Potential: 35%
