Author: Lenlo

Isekai Yakkyoku

Short Synopsis: A medical researcher dies and is reincarnated in the body of a young mage.

Wooper: Seeing as I’m forbidden from complaining about this sort of anime for another 18 months, I’ve got to muster what few compliments I can about Isekai Yakkyoku. Let’s see… I guess I “liked” the POV flashback to the main character’s sister in the hospital, asking whether she’ll get better if she takes some medicine and goes to sleep, which was immediately followed by a scene of her funeral. I appreciate when an anime tells me how to feel, and this is one series that will never stop helping in that regard. The newly reincarnated protagonist’s quest to discover his magical powers was another bit I “liked,” especially nifty tricks like cutting to a silver platter (both literal and metaphorical) bearing an assortment of chemical compounds that he’s just generated off screen. What a hard worker our young hero is! The dinner scene where his new father quizzes him on the ingredients of an obscure ointment while his mother and sister sit around and look cute was also “good” characterization – you love to see it. “Best” of all, though, was the revelation that he has unlimited magical power, courtesy of a magical power-ometer that his sexy tutor happened to have on hand during their training session. Could anything be more promising? (Apart from a believable premise or a distinctive visual style, I mean.)
Potential: 0%

Amun: Okay, a former medical researcher is reincarnated with the name “Farma”…that’s a little on the nose, don’t you think? This lad also unironically firehosed out a window all over his maid. Lots of, erm, “symbolism” going on in this episode – Freud would have a field day. While I’m not in love with the character designs, the story itself is pleasant enough. Just don’t look for too much substance or you might hurt yourself. I wonder when a garbageman is going to get reincarnated and somehow use garbage collection to save the word. Still, it’s a passable enough isekai if you’re into that sort of thing – I certainly am. Also, I too recommend not grasping a veiny, throbbing “Divinometer” in front of anyone else…
Potential: 40%

Shine Post

Short Synopsis: A new manager with truth-o-vision partners with an unsuccessful idol trio.

Wooper: Idol shows have been a fixture of seasonal anime schedules for about a decade now, so at this point, unless they have “Love Live” or “Idolmaster” somewhere in their title, they typically need a noteworthy gimmick in order to stand out. We saw Kami Kuzu Idol go the ‘idol doesn’t want to be an idol’ route about a week ago, and now Shine Post is sort of taking the same approach, only instead of illustrating that concept with spirit possession, it’s going with lie-detecting eyesight. I don’t know about you, but I’d much rather watch a show about a ghost possessing a guy during his dance sequences than one about a stodgy-looking manager who can see when people aren’t telling the truth. The hook is that one of the three girls in his new group isn’t lying when she says she wants to become a successful entertainer…and that’s it. She actually wants to be an idol, shock of all shocks. What does it say about Shine Post that the unfeigned enthusiasm of its would-be star is the basis of the show’s appeal? For me, it says that I’m entirely comfortable skipping its remaining episodes.
Potential: 0%

The Devil is a Part-Timer S2

Short Synopsis: Mortal enemies Hero and Demon King receive an unexpected Apple Baby to raise.

Amun: It’s been a decade of waiting. The OG reverse-isekai. And after all that time, the premiere…was alright? It was kind of weird, honestly – I watched this a decade ago, and while I’m quite different, their world is exactly the same. Well, not quite exactly – it’s pretty obvious that the visuals are being handled very differently. I’d say the character designs fall into the uncanny valley of similarity – close enough to tell who is who, but just slightly off enough to be jarring. I also was reminded of what I didn’t like in the original: Chi-can. Every second she’s on-screen, the show wanders away from the more interesting dynamic of Hero vs. Demon king. The new season’s premise is interesting enough – joint custody of mysterious portal baby. I’m just surprisingly worried about production and if there’s enough content here to carry an additional season. All in all, I guess I’m underwhelmed, but still happy Devil is back!
Potential: 60%

Mario: Can’t believe that it had to wait this long for a sequel, considering how popular the first season was. For me, I consider the series has one big joke, and the rest kinda repeats the same joke over and over. That is why the appearance of this new kid in a block (literally) is a much welcome change of pace. Not only it steers the show into a direction it has never ventured before (the Devil Lord and the Hero raising a child), the reaction of Yuusha and Maou will have new sparks as well. Visually it looks just standard, but the facial expressions are done fairly well. I’m looking forward for more to come.
Potential: 30%

Call of the Night

Short Synopsis: A disaffected middle schooler resolves to become a vampire by falling in love with one.

Lenlo: Well I found the seasonal waifu y’all, and this time I can say she’s actually kinda hot. People just need to let Kotoyama design all of their characters, or at least the women, because the guy is damn good at it. Beyond Nazuna being a choice cut, the rest of the show doesn’t look half bad either. I’m a fan of the neon color palette of the city night, and the angular features of all of the characters. On top of that, it’s just well directed in general. Lots of interesting camera angles and well paced shots. This is probably, visually, one of the better shows of the season for me. As for the story, I honestly have no idea what’s going on. Not why the night is so off limits, nor the whole seemingly hikikomori deal with our MC, not even the vampire nature of our lead girl. None of it makes sense, we just kind of get thrown into the middle of it. For a first episode that’s amusing enough, the dialogue especially was entertaining. I just have no idea where it’s going to go from here or what it’s going to do. Is this going to become a classic battle series with vampires? Or play it straight as a full on romance between our leads? Or maybe something else entirely?! I don’t know. But I’m intrigued enough to find out.
Potential: 70%

Wooper: There have been (and will be) a lot of disappointments this season, but I allowed myself some hope for Call of the Night (Yofukashi no Uta) upon seeing its Noitamina intro. Plenty of duds have emerged from the programming block over the last decade, but it was something for my optimism-starved brain to latch onto – and wouldn’t you know it, the episode turned out pretty well! I think my favorite thing about it is the restless storyboarding, which pitches a curveball at least once a minute. Claustrophobic fisheye lens shots, ultra wide angles, pushing characters to the edge of the frame – if Yofukashi could use it to depict the protagonist’s perplexity, it did so with abandon. Why was he so perplexed? Oh, romantic troubles at school, having his shoes vomited on by a middle aged man, being dragged back to the house of a strange woman who ended up being a vampire – the usual middle school stuff. I didn’t think I’d like the relationship between the human and vampire leads as much as I did, but he’s strange enough and she’s human enough that I enjoyed their back and forth. She loves the taste of his blood, sure, but she also enjoys the company of a fellow nightcrawler, as evidenced by her willingness to fly him around the city at night – a great final sequence for one of the few successes of the summer thus far.
Potential: 60%

UNCLE FROM ANOTHER WORLD

Short Synopsis: An older man wakes up from a coma, having been a hero(-ish) in another world.

Lenlo: It absolutely pains me to say this but… Isekai Ojisan wasn’t that bad. In fact I dare say I kind of… enjoyed it. The entire premise of the show is riffing on Isekai and their protagonists. Mocking the way they advertise other worlds as being ideal fantasy lands, how deadbeat losers suddenly become suave chads after being hit by a bus, and all the tropes that come with it. Even directly calling out how Tsunderes weren’t an established trope in the 90s, or how the uncle came back probably even worse than he left. Combine that with some clever direction and an artstyle that I really like. I love the thicker, sketchier line work and stark difference in color palette between the fantasy world and our modern one, and you have what might be the best Isekai of the season. That’s a low bar I know, but I’ll take what I can get. I kind of wish the uncle didn’t have magic in our world and the main joke was that he actually imagined it all, but the youtube channel setup with his nephew works too. Isekai Ojisan probably won’t be able to keep this up for its entire season, it’s probably going to screw it up around halfway through and become the very thing it’s mocking. But for now? I actually had fun here.
Potential: 50%

Amun: Isekai Ojisan is a different take on the titular genre. I certainly respect the unique angle, even bringing magic improbably into this world. I just didn’t have that good of a time – I felt bad for everyone involved. From the misunderstood tsundere to the torn apart family – combined with the dreary palette and harsher character designs – Isekai Ojisan felt sad. A bit like squandered youth, I suppose – a world that’s passed the lead character by. Painful nostalgia, I guess. While the subject matter is certainly fair game for anime, I can’t help but feel a bit of a mismatch between the media and the message. I’m interested in seeing where the story takes us, but unlike Lenlo – I didn’t have any fun here.
Potential: 50%

Extreme Hearts

Short Synopsis: An aspiring singer-songwriter trains to participate in a sports-themed variety show… with EXTREME GEAR!

Wooper: This show has some of the most throwaway character designs I’ve seen in ages. They may have some competition for the worst of the year, but they’re almost certainly the worst of the summer. Seriously, can you detect any life within these eyes? Then again, maybe I shouldn’t be so harsh – I’ve got no reason to expect the characters to look conscious when they were drawn by people who don’t care about the story they’re animating. How could they? It’s an original show with a flimsy-ass premise, directed by Junji Nishimura, the Snoop Dogg of the anime world (I’ll leave it to the music fans reading this post to pick up on my meaning). A wannabe singer signs up for an extreme sports tournament in a desperate bid for relevance? And the extreme sports in question are just soccer and baseball with reality-breaking equipment? The only way this could get stupider is if the script were largely made up of people explaining their sappy backstories – which it is. Extreme Hearts did rouse me from my stupor when it introduced a quartet of robot practice partners during one of its training scenes, but that flash of interest was the only thing I felt during its time-warping 24 minutes.
Potential: 0%

Lenlo: So this is… wizard sports? Basically? But they aren’t wizards because they use technology, not magic, but the technology is so advanced that it’s basically indistinguishable from magic? And we are going to tackle every sport at once, because we can’t content ourselves with just one? And they are simultaneously idols? Or is that whole singing bit not going to come back around at some point? This is… fine… I guess? There’s just nothing about Extreme Hearts that I would call interesting. It’s competently animated, and its narrative is so by the books I half think it was written by committee. But that’s kind of the problem. Extreme Hearts feels like a show made to checkboxes, created to sell, rather than because of any one creator or author’s vision and passion. It’s easily one of the most forgettable things I’ve watched so far, despite being nowhere near the worst produced or worst story told. Hell, even as I’m writing this I struggle to think of anything the show did that’s different, beyond the magic sports equipment.
Potential: I can’t even remember what I watched /10

Harem in the Labyrinth of Another World

Short Synopsis: A young man gets teleported to another world with enough equipment to be a hero and earn some money, only to spend it on slaves, whores and sex.

Lenlo: Dear god, it looks like Vermeil has some real competition in the trashy bullshit department. As the title suggests, this is just your regular isekai with sex thrown in, with absolutely 0 effort put in to separate it from any of the others. I’d say it’s trying to be a less edgy Redo Healer or Shield Hero, but even there it fails. It doesn’t even have the bravery to show full on T&A like Reviewers did. Just… don’t watch this. Find a better Isekai. One with decent production, or at least a community and fanbase large enough to find other people to enjoy it with. There’s nothing here of value.
Potential: -10%

Amun: I was actually so bored watching this episode that I quit before it got trashy.
Potential: None

My Stepmom’s Daughter is My Ex

Short Synopsis: A day in life of new step-siblings who used to date each other.

Mario: My mission here is to find out if the show itself is better than what the title suggests (so the bar isn’t exactly high) and it was… for a while. The episode plays out different scenarios of the main characters flirting with their new relationship status: from trying to get the upper hand, to how their peers consider them, to their own romance. It’s clear to me that the second segment works best and the last segment is just trashily bad. The characters don’t harbor any wit in their exchanges, so most of their forth-and-back falls a bit flat, but sometimes you can feel their emotions come through – the kind of hate / love dynamic that is understandable for 15 year olds to have. This show isn’t downright terrible, but it’s not memorable either, making it a bland romance. Rather unfortunate for a title this bold.
Potential: 10%

Lenlo: Whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy. Why is Japan so god damn obsessed with incest. Even when it doesn’t have the balls to actually have them be related, it just says “Step-siblings”. Is it every kid’s dream to screw their sister over there? Is this the only kind of cliche romance they can come up with? Is Japan’s grand plan to solve declining birth rates to make everyone want to have a sister? I just don’t get it. And at the very least if you were going to force a sibling romance into a story, you could at least make it good. Instead we get a trope filled, “Kyaa he touched my boob when we hugged”, piece of garbage. There’s nothing authentic or passionate in this story. It’s just someone cashing in a pay check with “They aren’t blood related” incest bait.
Potential: 0%

Smile of the Arsnotoria the Animation

Short Synopsis: Five students at a magical boarding school have tea and scones. Elsewhere, a squad of swordsmen commit genocide.

Lenlo: It took me way too long to figure out why Arsnotoria felt familiar: It has the same character designer as Re:Zero and Granbelm. It’s not a bad look, the designs are good! Now if only the show was remotely interesting to back it up. Arsnotoria took 20 minutes to do absolutely anything, the rest of the time being filled with slice of life fluff that had me constantly checking to see how far I was. When a first episode feels twice as long as it actually is, that’s not a good sign! If that’s supposed to be their hook, their opening salvo where I spend 20 minutes with 5 little girls sitting around eating biscuits and drinking tea, then why should I bother with the rest? Now maybe the show picks up, maybe that ending means something interesting will actually happen. Personally though? I wouldn’t count on it.
Potential: 5%

Wooper: I’ve got no idea how the quaint first 20 minutes of this episode (in which five girls meet for afternoon tea) and the murderous final three minutes (in which hooded swordsmen set fire to a town and kill its European-looking residents) are connected. I do know that my curiosity about that connection is supposed to drive me to watch the second episode next week, but unfortunately that’s not going to happen. There were things I liked about Arsnotoria’s premiere, including a vague sense of mystery surrounding its magical dormitory, bolstered by translucent figures walking along its hallways and references to activity “on the surface,” as though the dorm existed on its own plane of reality. There was some good character animation throughout the episode, and the detail that went into the school cafeteria (staffed by fire and forest sprites) displayed some real imagination. I even liked one or two of the gags that recurred throughout the girls’ tea time – black-haired Alberta sinking deeper and deeper into her pile of cushions springs to mind. Ultimately, though, too many of their discussions failed to support the show in any meaningful way. It was all either pleasantries or banter, with almost no detail or context about their characters being supplied, and the script wasn’t nearly sharp enough to support that approach. The show is sure to become more exciting in future weeks (the action-driven OP is evidence of that), but its premiere didn’t do much for me.
Potential: 5%