Author: SuperWooper

Ijiranaide, Nagatoro-san

Short Synopsis: A high school girl bullies a nerdy upperclassman for her own amusement.

Wooper: I expected to hate Nagatoro-san the same way I did Teasing Master Takagi-san, but the surprisingly competent animation did this show a lot of favors. The way Nagatoro bounces around the screen gives her an impish quality that softens her verbal blows – her dynamic reenactment of the male lead’s manga in particular marked her as a fun-seeker rather than a tyrant. Of course, bullying a schoolmate in your quest for entertainment is unacceptable behavior in the real world, but this is anime, where a story’s presentation makes all the difference. Nagatoro is a mean girl, but she demonstrates both a lasting interest in her target and an understanding that her behavior is wrong (“I’ve been pretty horrible to you”). She doesn’t leave as soon as she gets the pitiful reaction she wanted – she sticks around, probably because a small part of her empathizes with this loser, and she likes that new feeling of empathy. She even smiles in satisfaction after Mr. Loser works up the courage to ask her name, as though she’s been waiting for it. I think there’s more to this one than meets the eye, even if it’s obvious masochist bait.

Potential: 40%

Amun: Ah, this was pretty painful. Ijiranaide, Nagatoro-san is another rare show where I’m familiar with the source material. I previewed this show and said something along the lines of “it’ll be okay as long as it’s not too mean.” Well…it’s pretty mean-spirited, honestly. There’s a bit of a moment where our main antagonist feels bad about making the helpless lad cry, but it’s too little, too late. How should they have approached this? I think this show works if they show how Nagatoro is more clumsy, instead of cruel – how her “bullying” is just a lack of understanding how to relate. Instead, it comes off as just sadistic. Maybe I expected too much, but this is a hard pass from me.

Potential: 0%

Tokyo Revengers

Short Synopsis: A former delinquent time travels back to his middle school days right before his untimely death.

Lenlo: Revengers is a weird one. Narratively I know I have nothing to worry about. I enjoyed the manga so much I caught up on the entire thing in a weekend and the anime did a decent job overall on that. But not 2 minutes in and LIDENFILMS is already changing small character moments, the sort of stuff that informs you as to who they are. Like making the kids key the car instead of our lead himself doing it, taking away that small moment of rebellion as we get a peek at his inner self. It’s not a big deal but it leaves me asking: What else are they willing to change? Meanwhile the visuals are simply uninspired. They reek of cashing a check, of making an adaptation with minimal actual effort. Hopefully I’m wrong, hopefully Revengers comes back strong and gives me the adaptation I want. But I won’t be surprised if it doesn’t.

Potential: 35%

Wooper: Imagine for a moment that Erased, the time travel anime from 2016, had been delinquent-themed. Now strip away that show’s intrigue, nostalgia, and good looks. Oh, and replace its suspenseful soundtrack with half a dozen lukewarm electric guitar tracks. Got all that? Congratulations, you just saved yourself the time it would have taken to watch the premiere of Tokyo Revengers. I wish I could join you in spending those 20 minutes on anything else, but instead I have to quickly account for my disinterest. I suppose most of it stems from the main character, whose primary thought as he moved through his extended flashback was, “Oh yeah, I remember that.” The guy is far from an electrifying protagonist – his long-awaited reunion with the girl of his dreams was so mild that I thought he might have the wrong person. Not even the plot’s fixation on single-minded teenage punks could make him look complex by comparison. I suppose I should be grateful to Revengers for having such a lousy lead, though, since it quickly signaled that I had one less series to follow this spring.

Potential: 5%

Edens Zero

Short Synopsis: Poor preteen’s Fairy Tail.

Amun: Disclaimer: I’ve only watched the first episode for this review, and it was a fansub, pre-air. That out of the way – Edens Zero certainly gets right to it – no OP or anything. I guess I’d forgotten how…silly Fairy Tail was. This episode was certainly that – very silly. The twist was pretty telegraphed, but I appreciate what they were trying to do. The fight scene was mixed – there were some nice after effects, but I’m not sold on the choreography. I’m also a little concerned about the pace – this episode felt like we were on a schedule with places to be (despite the robots waiting something like 100 years…no big). I just wish the first episode had reminded me only of what I loved about Fairy Tail – fun characters, friendship, and bagpipes – instead of the other nagging issues as well (production, pace, and choreography). I’m still optimistic, just maybe not as much as I was.

Potential: 60%

Armitage: Preface: Amun made me do it!
To say that I am a fan of Fairy Tail is a lie. To say that I don’t judge you for liking Fairy Tail is a diplomatic lie. So, I guess Edens Zero had its task cut out when it threw its hat in the arena for trying to vie for my weekly watch time. Needless to say that it failed at the five-minute mark when we got our main 12-year-old looking protagonist fondling the main female lead’s breasts before proceeding to place himself on the ground in such a position that he could get a peek at her underwear. Going into this show, I knew that I was gonna have to overlook a lot of stuff to even be able to get through the premiere’s runtime and I did exactly that… until the high-pitched, unfunny slapstick comedy and every second sentence ending with a “desu ga?” got too overbearing that I had to tap out. But for the sake of being a professional anime reviewer, I willed myself to the end-credits. Still, I must say that I simply don’t like this show. I won’t ask you to not watch it. As art is subjective. What I might dislike, you can end up wholeheartedly enjoying. But I can give you a TL;DR which can help you decide if Edens Zero is for you: “Even Fairy Tail is better than this”.

Potential: Pass

Amun: Wait, why the heck would you watch this if you didn’t even like Fairy Tail?! It has the same characters!

Slime Taoshite 300-nen

Short Synopsis: Salarywoman dies of overwork and comes back committed to doing the minimum. And accidentally becomes overpowered.

Amun: For whatever reason, some anime recently have been on a crusade against Japan’s overwork culture. Which strikes me as odd, since it’s well known that animators are overworked. Bit of a disconnect between the medium and the message, you know? Anyways, Slime’s message is “slow and steady wins the race” – which is fine if you’re immortal. Oh yeah, and there are no important males in this world. That’s not saying any particular male is unimportant, there just aren’t any present in this world. I guess those are the points I’m neutral or slightly negative on – the show is otherwise nicely chill. The main character is consistent and committed to taking it easy – no complaints here on that. The introduction of the dragon maid is, well, expected – but not horrid. If you’re looking to turn off your brain (say, as you catch up on the last season of Titan), this is the show for you.

Potential: 65%

Lenlo: I was wondering when I would get to the Isekai of the season. And what do you know, it’s exactly what I expected! Video game logic, stats, levels, slimes, drops and absolutely 0 world building or meaningful character work. Oh there might be something novel in following the “Wise Old Witch” character of the story. See some adventurers visit and ask for guidance, do some Gandalf shit then go to bed. But I don’t expect that to be interesting for more than an episode or 2. Meanwhile any “Save the world” plots are automatically invalidated since our lead is literally an overpowered max level immortal witch. If you want some popcorn entertainment you can turn on and not have to actually engage with, Taoshite is probably up your alley. If you want anything other than to be bored out of your skull though then this is probably a pass.

Potential: 10%

86: Eighty Six

Short Synopsis: Army Management Simulator – The Anime.

Lenlo: I’m getting some serious Ender’s Game vibes from 86 and let me tell you what, I’m in. It’s incredible how much information 86 packed into a single episode. By the end it felt like I had watched 40 minutes instead of 20. Yet the pacing didn’t feel rushed either. It managed to convey just as much information through visuals as it did through its dialogue. Whether it be the homogenized hair/eye color of the citizenry, the debaucherous and trashed “Military HQ” or how District 86 and its inhabitants starkly contrasted both. Combine that with some clever cuts and information dense dialogue and you have more world building in a single episode than a lot of anime get in their entire season. The one way I could see 86 going wrong would be if it abandoned its serious take on war. I need this to be in the same camp as OG Gundam, not Space Battleship Yamato.

Potential: 90%

Armitage: This is damn good stuff right here. 86 was one of the most high profile adaptations of the season, based off of a light novel series that’s highly acclaimed even by people not big on LNs, and being adapted across two cours by A1 Pictures. Safe to say that it does deliver on its promise by presenting us with a gritty war-torn world brought to screen through lush backgrounds and actual good 3D-models not rendered by Studio Orange for once. Outside of the 3D designs too, the animation is nothing to scoff at, with characters having detailed expressive movements even during regular conversations. Coupling all that with some impressive quick-cuts and an uncharacteristically low-key but fitting soundtrack from Hiroyuki Sawano, and 86 just about supplants Vivy as the most technically impressive anime of the season, even with A1’s rather generic character designs. Another aspect in which 86 betters Vivy is the way in which it handles its world-building. While the latter has a better premise overall, 86’s necessary info-dump feels more natural and never gets overwhelming, as it lets its visuals and themes take centre-stage instead. If it can deliver a story along the lines of the very similar and highly impressive Iron-blooded Orphans, we’ll surely end up having one of the highlights of the season on our hands.

Potential: 86% >.>

Shadows House

Short Synopsis: A living doll begins her service as an attendant in a mysterious mansion.

Wooper: Boy, that opening montage was a lot more sinister than anything I read in the manga’s first ten chapters. I like it! There’s all sorts of stuff we can infer from those first few minutes – the train that arrived at the Shadows estate was carrying human slaves, those slaves were served a liquid that likely tampered with their memories, members of the Shadows family are created using humans as models, etc. It’s an interesting premise to be sure, but apart from that early foreshadowing, most of this episode provided more character introduction than intrigue. I’m fine with that, since likeable characters are something every premiere ought to strive for, but it does make it hard to judge just how strong a central pillar Emilyko will be for this story. If you like genki blonde girls, you’re sure to find her an adequate guide, and if you like the ‘dirty canvas’ look of the backgrounds, you’re probably hooked already. I’m mixed on the aesthetic myself – it’s great in concept since it underscores the series’ Victorian influences, but it was clearly achieved with a preprogrammed filter, rather than a human hand. Even though I feel like the art director made the right call here, it’s still a minor distraction – modern anime’s curse to bear, I guess.

Potential: 50%

Lenlo: I’m not sold on Shadows House yet. As Wooper says, the opening montage was very sinister, very different from the rest of the show. If it can fulfill the promise of a mystery that it has made then I can see it being successful. But so far I’m not very engaged by Kate or Emilyko. It was cute enough I suppose and I like what it’s doing with the “Shadow” characters’ designs. I’m just… I’m not interested in a girl playing house for 20 minutes. I’m going to keep watching in the hopes that these “Bodysnatcher” vibes I’m getting pay off. I’m not convinced they will yet though.

Potential: 40%

Fruits Basket: The Final

Short Synopsis: A zodiac-themed family’s infighting results in tears, physical assault, and slumber parties.

Wooper: Here’s your yearly reminder that the Fruits Basket reboot 1) exists, and 2) is highly dramatic. These people can’t go one day without crying, though that’s hardly their fault, as most of them are victims of either tragedy or abuse. This episode carried the burden of catching Tohru up to speed on the Soma clan’s darkest secrets, which is sure to make this the most emotional season yet, given how empathetic she is. The list of things that might upset her is endless, but the headline item has to be the psychopathic tendencies of Akito’s reclusive mother. Now the series has two major villains, whose war with each other is certain to cause untold suffering for everyone around them. If that sounds like your ideal anime but you’re not already watching Fruits Basket, you’ve got plenty of time to catch up before the final season ends in September. Just be sure to pick up a mega-pack of Kleenex on your next Costco run.

Potential: ;_;

Amun: Fruits Basket, Fruits Basket. This show is world class in providing feels. And feels are sure to abound with the new villain’s arrival – but, in true Fruits Basket fashion, you now have feels for our previous main villain! Bah. I can’t believe you’ve done this all in one episode, Fruits Basket. I’m really going to miss this show when it’s done. Also, it seems like every OP is trying to one-up the previous one – I’m loving the use of real backgrounds with anime characters superimposed. But anyways, yeah, if we’re starting the season off with an episode like this, strap in – tear jerker alert for sure.

Potential: 100% sniff

Seijo no Maryoku wa Bannou Desu

Short Synopsis: Wrong girl gets summoned to another world and takes up magical essential oils.

Mario: I’m still not buying what Seijo no Maryoku is selling after its first 20 minutes. It has many trappings of the isekai genre: we know next to nothing about the main protagonist as a person before she’s transported to this fantasy world; she takes that fact too well and does nothing to return to her original world; and most importantly, things go a bit too smoothly for the girls so there’s little conflict to watch. You can argue against me on the last point, given that our protagonist is labelled “worthless” and gets dumped by the arrogant Prince, but still, she has her life conditions sorted out rather easily. And isn’t it obvious that our girl has more magic mana than others? I find it hard to believe the others couldn’t figure that out already. Lastly, the final scene is supposed to be the emotional payoff, but I would have believed it much better if our girl had used her healing powers, instead of using a magic potion to immediately heal a critically-injured hero? Now that’s a stretch. For now, the show feels like an otome-isekai with a bunch of handsome boys (akin to Hamefura last year but not half as good), but I really do hope the show doesn’t go the romance route. For audiences that enjoy slower, female-centric isekai (Hamefura, Bookworm), you can have a crack at it.

Potential: 20%

Amun: Unlike Mario, Seijo exceeded my expectations. As with Hamefura and Bookworm that he mentioned, Seijo is putting a little twist on our typical Isekai. Where Hamefura was gardening simulator 3000, Seijo will probably be more “magical essential oils” – fine by me, as long as I don’t have to buy any. There are plenty of generic isekai – and I watch most of them – so I appreciate a show that gives me something a little different. Sure there wasn’t that much conflict, but this was a setup episode – give it some time. Obviously, we’re not looking at “anime of the season” material here, but it should be serviceable enough. Seijo will probably be a less intense Rising of Shield Hero: the characters are fun, the overall story direction is pretty clear – I think we’re in for a nice gentle ride.

Potential: 75%

Super Cub

Short Synopsis: A sad high school girl buys a motorcycle.

Wooper: This show doesn’t just feature product placement – it IS product placement. This first episode is a 20 minute ad for Honda’s line of Super Cub motorcycles, which are the only cure for the female lead’s boring life. The first time she sits on one, the show cranks up the saturation to demonstrate that Honda products restore color to your world. It lingers shamelessly on logos and ends on a line of dialogue so blatantly engineered to sell bikes that my eyes nearly fell out of my head from rolling so fast. And yet, Super Cub is quite restrained in every other area of its presentation. It opens quietly, with scenes of early morning trains rolling gently into their stations and the sun rising on countryside landscapes. Instead of dialogue, the show places a premium on character animation – moments where the main girl butters her bread or scoops rice into a bento box create a placid mood that you rarely get from anime. The series even manages to find interest in a scene where she reads the owner’s manual for her bike, which is probably its biggest accomplishment. I’ve got no interest in watching a weekly advertisement, but I’ll give Super Cub this: its first episode was more artful than I had expected.

Potential: 40%

Mario: Super Cub took me by surprise there. I was expecting a dumb CGDCT entry but this first episode is anything but dumb. There’s no trace of fan-service or girls trying to be cute (well, if you don’t count their Cub-fetish); the show instead communicates with us visually on how a girl gets to meet her titular scooter. The restrained direction is surprisingly well done and we get to know the girl’s personality through her actions, not by her personality quirks like other lesser shows tend to do. This is a show that is comfortable with negative space. There’s little dialogue in this first episode, it’s instead interested in quiet moments like her sitting alone in the classroom while her classmates chit-chat around her, or how she takes her rice from the rice cooker. That’s the reason why we sort of feel precious when she rides the Super Cub or reads the freaking manual, because it does feel like a big step forward. While I have doubts that it has enough juice for the whole season, Super Cub’s first episode is no fluke.

Potential: 40%

Odd Taxi

Short Synopsis: One snarky taxi driver boi faces off with corrupt cops, nostalgic doctors, viral wannabes, plus his own demons. And maybe a teenage girl he kidnapped.

Amun: Wait, what?! On paper Odd Taxi looked like an episodic, character-driven, B-tier comedy with the taxi as the stage and some vague connections tying it all together for the season’s last two episodes. That is not what happened here. This is all killer, no filler – forget some overarching plot, this premiere had more substance than Jujutsu Kaisen’s entire season (yeah, I said it). The character building in such a short time is intense – our leading man is blunt, jaded, and just barely holding on to reality. This is a quiet depiction of someone on the edge of psychosis unlike anything I’ve seen in anime. All the supporting cast have their own stories and struggles, the environment is spot on, the backgrounds look amazing – where did this show come from?! I went back and looked and this studio is best known for Pokemon, the staff are no-names and rookies, and it’s an original work (no public source material). On-screen and off, Odd Taxi is mysterious in all the right ways, and it certainly has my attention.

Potential: 90%

Lenlo: ODDTAXI is weird. I had no idea what to expect going into it. I have no idea what to expect leaving it. Is it another Aggretsuko? Beastars? BNA? What is with Japanese authors and anthropomorphic animal people lately? I can’t answer any of those questions but what I can say is this: I connect with this taxi driver on a spiritual level. He is done with the world and its bullshit. Maybe he turns out to be a psycho murderer, maybe ODDTAXI turns into a Bruce Willis movie, I don’t know. But I’m in and I love it.

Potential: 80%

Dragon, Ie wo Kau.

Short Synopsis: After being disowned, a cowardly dragon sets off in search of a new home.

Wooper: This show’s premise is its greatest, and perhaps only, weapon. A massive yet feeble-hearted dragon wandering a fantasy world in search of a suitable dwelling place? There’s all sorts of comedy built into that idea, especially on the visual end, which this series did its darndest to incorporate. Despite his towering stature, the titular dragon ended up in captivity multiple times, pouting helplessly as his tiny jailers rejoiced around him. There were cute shots, too, like the one of the leaf he used to shield his head during a rain shower (see above). Unfortunately, while a dragon makes for a suitably ironic protagonist in this sort of story, they aren’t the easiest creatures to animate, and this series is proof – any time the big lizard was on screen, the series’ limitations were evident. The fantasy environments were colorful and varied, which was nice, but you’d have to be married to this show to overlook how poorly the dragon moves within them. As a result, I can’t give ‘Dragon, Ie wo Kau’ an honest recommendation, but if your favorite genre pairing is fantasy/comedy, there might be something here for you.

Potential: 30%

Amun: Bah, I’ve been tricked. Dragons have had a string of wins recently – most notably Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid – so I expected something similar in terms of comedy. What “Dragon, Ie wo Kau” brings instead is…magical home shopping when broke. The show’s background art looks great, but the characters’ art doesn’t quite fit. I get the dragon isn’t supposed to be majestic, but he just feels off, visually. The premise doesn’t do it for me either – I’m just not interested in a season long excursion with a magical realtor and a loser dragon.

Potential: 5%

Hige wo Soru.

Short Synopsis: A salaryman gets drunk and picks up a high school girl runaway. And manages not to commit any felonies but gets miso soup for his troubles.

Mario: Hige wo Soru is a show that wants to have it both ways. On the one hand, it realizes that the girl’s behavior is spoiled and unhealthy and the MC rejects her advances simultaneously. The premise of her growing independence is the show’s strongest asset so far. On the other hand, the setup is still obvious romance bait – all of his preachiness about her will amount to nothing if he falls for her at the end, and I’m pretty sure the show is heading that way. And guess what action he takes to fix her men-dependency behavior? You guessed it, having her become a domestic housewife. THAT doesn’t bode well to me at all; it’s still better than the other age-gap show but if it leans too much on the romance side it will lose its impact. Isn’t it better to make the MC the parental figure for the girl instead of the love interest?

Potential: 20%

Amun: I actually think Hige wo Soru’s first episode was as well done as possible – that’s the highest compliment I’m able to give. This is one of very few shows whose source I’m familiar with, so I’m a little biased by knowing what’s to come. Unfortunately, for the clever production and excellent voice acting, Hige wo Soru suffers from an incurable disease – a fundamentally flawed premise. In many ways, this is the spiritual successor to Rental Girlfriend, which was a flub. The problem here is a show that can’t decide between two genres – is this a maid comedy or is this a societal commentary? Even more of a problem is that neither route is embraced fully. Without the innocent charm of Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid and without the provocative commitment of Scum’s Wish, Hige wo Soru is destined for a journey of mediocrity. A journey I won’t be joining on.

Potential: 1%

Megalo Box S2

Short Synopsis: Seven years after his victory at Megalonia, “Gearless” Joe has become a shadow of his former self.

Lenlo: My biggest gripe with the first season of Megalo Box was that it was just a retread of Ashita no Joe. The entire narrative between Yuri and Joe was just Rikiishi and Joe but in the future. Instead of weight management it was shedding gear, instead of Japanese Championship it was the World Championship. Small changes but overall the anime commemorating the 50th anniversary of Ashita no Joe was, shocker, a mimicry of it.

So imagine my excitement when Season 2 gets announced and it breaks from the Ashita no Joe mold. Gone are the championship bouts, gone are characters such as Sachio, Yuuri and Shirato that are just renamed and reskinned versions of older characters. Now we get Joe’s story and what a sad one it is. The bleak desert landscapes, the dimly lit backroom rings and empty parking lots. Drugs, alcohol and suicide. A lot has happened in 7 years for Joe and Nomad doesn’t shy away from that. I’m engaged, I’m intrigued, I want to know what happened. How did we get here from being at the top of the world? Will we ever get back up? If Nomad can deliver on that then I expect it will be even more successful than the first season.

As for my gripes? Well the weird upscaling is back. I seriously don’t understand why they do this. They downscale the show only to upscale it back again, trying to fake that “older” anime look but all it does is make things fuzzy. It’s a Megalo Box aesthetic but I wouldn’t call it a good one. At least the OST is still fantastic.

Potential: 90%

Armitage: I liked Megalo Box’s first season. It was an exciting albeit by-the-books underdog boxing tale with some crisp animation and a killer soundtrack. From what I can surmise after this premiere, Nomad is more of the same but better. Gone is the hype for an ominous fight, the engaging hook of a climactic battle, the thrill of hard-fought victories. All of that was lost long ago. Now, the place is just sad. Everything dies here. A wolf that refuses to move forward eventually gets trampled on by someone speeding on. You stop running and eventually your past catches up with you. Just like everyone else who lives in this place, Gearless Joe is also tired. His is a journey that has no end-goal in sight and he is unable to let go of all the baggage he carries. A tragic fate. As that seems like such a heavy weight.

Megalo Box is forging its own path away from the one laid out by its previous season and it’s one that I personally believe to be the natural progression for Joe’s story. The only thing about this premiere that had me very briefly concerned was the slight over-reliance on still images outside of the scenes not featuring a fight. I mean, we even get a song performed for a minute to nothing but stills panning about. But there seems to be no signs of the production as a whole being anything less than competent. The world of Megalo Box has always been an utterly fascinating one and something I absolutely felt transported to the first time I watched it. If anything, this premiere reminded me of what I have missed. Welcome back, Champ.

Potential: 95%

Thunderbolt Fantasy S3

Short Synopsis: Ornately-dressed warriors journey through a cavernous lair in search of a sentient sword.

Mario: That was a rushed start up. Even I, who have been following the franchise from the beginning, found it difficult at first to follow the storyline. This third outing still feels like a “Best of” collection as all the favorite characters from previous seasons return, with some fresh faces right at the beginning. For me, the fun of Thunderbolt Fantasy is the set-up stage where big-ass characters get introduced, then seeing how they get to the main thread and witnessing them bouncing off each other. That fun was cut short in this episode as I felt it rushed through the plot. In addition, the grey morality of these characters is undermined as in this season (and season 2), there are clear divisions between the good guys and bad guys. I’m still following this but I really hope it does something different, something fresh like its usual self.

Potential: 30%

Wooper: I’m not caught up on Thunderbolt Fantasy, but even if I were, the amount of exposition in this premiere would have been a slog. Gen Urobuchi still hasn’t taken that screenwriting class, I guess. Not that he needs one to find success – the man has an army of fans who will defend dialogue along the lines of: “Remember when I told you about [W]? Specifically, the three obstacles surrounding it?” “Oh, the three obstacles surrounding [W]? You mean [X], [Y], and [Z]?” That was the gist of over half of this episode, including a five minute explanation of what was essentially a video game’s fast travel system. Just as my sanity was about to expire, though, we cut to a kickass fight scene featuring flashy effects, impossible acrobatics, and a talking pipa who transformed into a sword. The fast cuts and dramatic zooms during these brawls give Thunderbolt Fantasy a style like nothing else on TV, but the question each viewer must answer is whether they justify the show’s copious dialogue. For me, the answer is “not quite,” but hey, at least the show looks cool in motion.

Potential: 50%

Sayonara Watashi no Cramer

Short Synopsis: A high school girl looks for other girls to create a soccer club.

Lenlo: Cramer is such a weird show. On one hand it’s a very interesting subject. Women’s soccer, and women’s sports in general, are indeed looked down on by many, wrongfully so. There’s this belief that the competition is less fierce, that the difference in physicality makes it a “lesser” version of the sport and Cramer seems intent on challenging that. Yet on the other hand the whole premise is that our lead isn’t “good enough” to play with the boys and so should raise the level of girls soccer higher. It reinforces the idea that women’s sports are at a lesser level compared to men’s while at the same time trying to combat that. Cramer is written by Naoshi Arakawa, who also created Your Lie in April, so my hope is that it will find its emotional core before too long.

As for the production I don’t have much nice to say here. Lidenfilms clearly isn’t able to support Arakawa’s designs the way A-1 Pictures did for Your Lie in April and it shows. In close ups they look fine, I especially like the way Arakawa designs lips, but in medium and wide shots they look scratchy and flawed. Similarly the animation is rather lacking. They go for these quick soccer movements, and they occasionally work, but by and large they feel like the ball is magnetized when going from point A to point B. Like it’s snapping into place. Maybe the production can stabilize as it goes but for now I don’t have much hope for Cramer.

Potential: 40%

Mario: Despite being one of the shows that I most anticipated this season, after the first episode I am mixed about Cramer. Writing-wise, Cramer is both daring and contrived in equal measure. It’s a show that tackles women’s sports, a topic that I care about, but then its message towards the participants is that “strong players are allowed to be selfish” and I’m at loss. For every “join the girls’ team because I don’t want to see your talent rot in the boys’ team”, we have conflicting arguments like “if you don’t like the girls’ team you can always leave.” Sigh… The story so far is gathering the core team so there’s nothing about it that stands out. Production-wise, I also consider Cramer as both a beautiful and an ugly show. It keeps the characters’ designs akin to Your Lie in April (a big plus), but the choice of having the fence blurred to highlight the girls’ faces backfires as it looks really off (see one of the screenshots). The animation is sloppy, too – it’s at the level of a slice-of-life show, which has me worried. I will keep watching but there are many elements that I don’t think will work out too well.

Potential: 30%

Shakunetsu Kabaddi

Short Synopsis: Guy gives up on his dream to be a Livestreamer to find joy in touching other guys instead.

Armitage: How about that! I was not expecting this to be anywhere near as good as it was. I’m still left here grinning even after finishing the premiere a while ago. Most of you might not be aware of the existence of this sport called Kabaddi but over here, we all basically invented it. Like literally, look it up, we did. While I have never played it myself (for some reason, most other girls my age were not thrilled by the idea of being grabbed and pulled to the ground. A shame, indeed), I did see the boys at my school play it during recess. And though it was and never has been the most aesthetically pleasing of sports, you gotta admit that there is a great deal of skill required to excel at it. And Burning Kabaddi manages to bring that out so charmingly well. Obviously, this is still a traditional sports anime where a group of guys are gonna learn the value of friendship through team sports but what could have been a sub-standard premiere bogged down by the evidently minimal budget and genre trappings is turned into a fun, light-hearted romp mainly because of a very lovable protagonist in Yoigoshi. The banter between him and the other members of the club forms the heart of the premiere and yes, even with the Kaiji narrator voice yelling StRuGgLe every 2 mins, I just couldn’t help but be on board with what’s on offer here. This one’s a keeper for me.

Potential: 75%

Mario: Like most anime fans, my experience with the rules of Kabaddi games comes purely from a Chio-chan segment, but this premiere did a decent job of introducing the game, with fun, albeit stock characters to boot. So the subject is fun to explore, but judging the show purely from a sports show’s lens it’s as typical as you can get. The main kid gets introduced and then “forced” to join the club, which I didn’t take very well. Everything else is fun (and educational) so I will spend at least another episode to see if I’m up for some kabaddi in my life.

Potential: 30%

Mashiro no Oto

Short Synopsis: A shamisen prodigy moves to Tokyo and gets involved with a cast of eccentric characters [or, Your Lie in December].

Wooper: This premiere isn’t a good litmus test for the series as a whole. Mashiro no Oto is an extracurricular club show, but this prologue never set foot in high school, or any school for that matter. Instead, it followed a wandering teenage dropout through Tokyo as he became embroiled in a bunch of other people’s lives – people who may not reappear on screen for quite a while. There’s a good one-cour anime to be made about that premise alone, but since Mashiro no Oto has to jam so many betrayals and romantic developments into a scant 20 minutes, its first episode left me feeling underwhelmed. The main character involves himself in other peoples’ affairs too easily (despite his otherwise reserved personality), and the background of the cabaret girl who houses him is disappointingly derivative (aspiring actress with a heart of gold). The contrast between them is interesting: he has incredible talent but no drive, while she fails countless auditions but stays motivated, at least at first. If the show had taken things more slowly, their stories could have run in parallel for quite a while, and something intriguing may have come of it. I’ve got no interest in heading back to high school, though, so one hyper-condensed episode is enough for me.

Potential: 30%

Armitage: Man, that is a whole lot of subplots. We have Arima Kousei ver. 2021 grieving over the death of his grandpa, Emma Stone from La La Land, a womanizing guitar player. I mean, slow down show, you’re just getting sta— anddd we’ve got a SWAT team. Brilliant.

Still, even with its million miles a minute approach to storytelling, I actually quite like Mashiro no Oto. And a lot of the goodwill it gets from me is owed to the way it sounds. The soundtrack in itself is fine but all the performance pieces featuring the Shamisen are simply incredible. Maybe a lot of it is due to the fact that I am unfamiliar with the instrument but the show does make its beauty carry through. So, props for that. Secondly, the voice acting. Arima #2 comes from a rural town and the way it shows through in his mannerisms and the influence of the dialect in his voice was a really nice touch which reminded me a lot of Barakamon. Another plus. Lastly, the direction in which the show is headed seems to involve the guitarist boyfriend playing a central role. And while I personally despise infidelity more than anything, I would be interested to see if the show is able to make me care for someone clearly painted in a negative image from the start. So, yeah, I’m intrigued enough to keep watching. But seriously show, slow the hell down!

Potential: 60%

Vivy: Fluorite Eye’s Song

Short Synopsis: An AI aspiring to be an idol thinks it’s a good idea to trust a talking teddy bear who says he’s from the future.

Mario: If the personnel involved hasn’t suggested this to you already, Vivy is certainly one of the most ambitious anime of the season so far. From Re:Zero author Tappei Nagatsuki and collaborator Eiji Umehara, the double-length premiere establishes a strong hook with urgency and a morally grey premise of an android that has to destroy her kind to save humanity. Diva appears a bit of a wet blanket at first as the robotic version of Violet Evergarden, but by the second half she’s sufficient enough to carry the story. It’s the dynamic between her and the “Bear” that proves to be the most interesting aspect as we can see the difference in how they approach their “missions”, and the tension between them because they have different sets of values in mind. While the world-building suggests many potential plot threads, the main quest is so far strong and inviting, and the production is gorgeous with rich animation. Vivy has a lot of potential to become a breakout hit this season.

Potential: 50%

Armitage: Robot good, Hooman bad? Well, that seems like a disingenuous reduction of the message Vivy seems to be going for but we’ve just had far too many iterations of stories which handle this theme. Though, thankfully, Vivy does manage to stand out and then some. A lot of it boils down to Studio Wit’s stellar production in creating a world that feels like a cross between Guilty Crown and Psycho Pass. The one thing that especially stood out to me is the contrast in movement and how slightly robotic the motion of all the AIs (even the futuristic ones) feels as compared to all the humans. A small touch but impressive nonetheless.

Coming to the story, our lead AI, Vivy, has been chosen by a “Professor” from the future and tasked to kill all of her kind to save the lives of all of his kind. But the catch here is that she has a messenger from the future who’s to accompany her along this noble journey of mass genocide. But what this teddy bear shaped messenger also serves as is the world’s most sadistic history book where the recorded past hasn’t happened yet, and some of it cannot be changed no matter how painful it may be. Therein lies the story’s main hook and frankly, it’s a damn good one. My only gripe so far is that the writing feels a bit too expository but granted that it’s Re:Zero’s writer at the helm, you just gotta make your peace with it. All in all, after the end of the second episode, I like Vivy way more than I did after the first. And if the show manages to keep up with the trend, we might be in for one hell of a ride.

Potential: 80%

Jouran: The Princess
of Snow and Blood

Short Synopsis: Emo magical-girl show set in period Japan.

Lenlo: Everything about Jouran screams that it’s trying too hard. It has this futuristic Tokyo reminiscent of Osaka in last year’s Akudama Drive. But where that leaned into its campy sci-fi setting and story, Jouran is taking itself way too seriously. Everyone is stiff backed and talks as if showing emotion is a cardinal sin. Meanwhile the story throws us right into the middle of some kind of monster espionage, something the Mars Red premiere did far better I feel. At least the background and world building itself is good. Jouran makes good use of bright, rich colors to offset the dark outfits of the leads and dreary outside world. And as janky as it sometimes looks in motion, I do like the breath effect on the monsters’ faces revealing their skulls, it helps sell their otherworldly nature. I just wish… I just wish Jouran knew that it was an alternative history steampunk monster show as much as we did. Because it would really benefit from toning down the grimdark and toning up the characters.

Potential: 35%

Armitage: Sigh. I was so excited for this one. It had all the ingredients for success I look for in a series: Strong female lead, an interesting world brimming with personality, gorgeous character art, yet the whole thing doesn’t ever come together. The story of Jouran takes place in a lovingly crafted Meiji era setting, featuring all the period accurate umbrella-crossbows, lightsabers and shapeshifters. Yet, it somehow manages to make its world feel so very hollow. There is some anti-shady organization, going about some anti-shady mission to stop some shady people from doing some shady thing. You are never given a reason to care for anything. No matter how stylized and pretty the characters look, they just come off as empty husks solely present for plot progression. Jouran is setting itself to be a monster-of-the-week action show but it doesn’t boast the animation chops to back it up and ultimately, its decision to sacrifice on character writing turns it into the last thing you’d expect from a show featuring said umbrella-crossbows, lightsabers and shapeshifters: a generic slog.

Potential: 25%

Shaman King

Short Synopsis: There’s a tournament for spirit mediums to control the fate of the world or something [or, JoJo’s Basic Adventure].

Armitage: Man, them skittles just keep tumbling down on their own. So far two of my highly anticipated premieres from the season have managed to disappoint me. And not in the same vein as shows from last year which were let down by the production difficulties. My main issue with Shaman King (and Jouran) is that it’s built up on a premise and characters so generic that not scrolling aimlessly on your phone during its runtime becomes a monumental achievement. From the talking bobble-head of a sidekick to the run-of-the-mill delinquent baddies to the tediously unfunny comic relief, everything is so drenched in a salad dressing of mediocrity that it’s near impossible to see the healthy stuff underneath. I mean, I really want to like this show as its entire atmosphere just feels so reminiscent of the good ol’ days of early 2000s shounen staples but unfortunately, this premiere just feels like a mere regurgitation of those very tropes. For now, I am going to stick with it since I was informed by the manga fans that this was expected to have a rocky start. But it better git real gud, real soon.

Potential: 15%

Amun: I’ve never seen the original Shaman King, but I heard it was a shounen OG. I came in hoping for the next Hunter x Hunter. What I got was…a worse DragonQuest? The biggest similarity to Hunter x Hunter was the anatomically incorrect humans – missing was the charm, adventure, or, well…fun. Let’s stay with character designs for a moment: these were really bad – even worse than Gee Gee no Kitaro, somehow. The main character is completely devoid of personality….wait, that’s on purpose?! That’s terrible. The comedy is shout until it’s funny…except I’m not even sure it could have been funny. Underneath all of these glaring problems is an insidious, but fatal flaw – the animation was not good. If you’re going to have a weak plot or mediocre characters, you need something visually interesting – Shaman King had nothing. This is a stinker. But I will keep watching until chibi-Winry Rockbell shows up, so you have until then to get it together, Shaman King!

Potential: 10%

SSSS.Dynazenon

Short Synopsis: Random people need to save the world from monsters by using giant, toy-looking mechs!

Amun: Disclaimer: I don’t know this franchise that well – I’ve only seen the modern SSSS.Gridman, so that’s all I have to go off. As with Gridman, the human story here in Dynazenon is fantastic. And the mech battle scene is so incredibly childish, you wonder how they ended up in the same show. Gridman kept me engaged by exploring the characters and the mystery of the show (even if some viewers didn’t feel fulfilled by the conclusion) – I suspect Dynazenon is going the same route, just with a different quirk or cause. But it’s such a tale of two shows – maybe the human element requires the absurd backdrop, who knows. All that to say – I liked Gridman for the characters and writing, and I see quite a bit of that here in Dynazenon. I just scratch my head at the integration of Dinosaur transformer mechs into a serious story.

Potential: 60%

Mario: All I can say is everything about Dynazenon’s premiere just clicked with me. It reminds me of all the best qualities of its spiritual predecessor, Gridman, while still having confidence enough to be its own thing. The show utilizes visual storytelling that drops hints about the interpersonal lives of our main characters before throwing them together to pilot giant mecha and I absolutely love both halves. We see a glance of these characters coping with their inner struggles through smart yet minimal images: Yomogi slips the cash gift from the guy his Mom dates to the donation box, Yume looks at the calendar from her deceased sister’s room, a shot of a messy room more than informs us on the status of shut-ins Koyomi and Chise. In a show where there is always doubt if the world they are inhabiting is real or not, these characters’ insecurities remain both real and relatable. The complete lack of BGM in the opening, the naturalism of the conversations and the smart visual storytelling set up for a bombastic climax that is pretty much in sync with Gridman’s DNA – if you’re a fan of that show (like I am) then this is a must-see. For once, Dynazenon’s premiere is the product of a team at the top of their game. Here’s hoping they can carry this level of quality throughout its run.

Potential: 80%