Author: SuperWooper

Spring 2026 Impressions: Akane-banashi, Snowball Earth, MAO

by SuperWooper, posted in Some Quick First Impressions

Akane-banashi

Short Synopsis: Akane Osaki learned everything she knows about Rakugo from her father. After watching him be expelled from his school on the day of his promotion, she resolves to surpass the man who did it.

Lenlo: Look, I already know Akanebanashi’s story is going to be good, I’m current on the manga and it’s one of the best things currently publishing. Akane is a fantastic lead and Rakugo is always an interesting subject to follow, with endless stories to be told. The real question to me is how well can ZEXCS adapt it to anime. Visually, Akanebanashi was pretty good! I loved the motif of the door slit effect showing/reminding us how she always watched her father, her roots as a Rakugoka, and the performances themselves, both Shinta’s exam and his overlapping performance with Akan, were great! My real concern though is with our lead voice actor, Anna Nagase. While she certainly isn’t bad as Akane, this is going to be a really really demanding role and I’m not sure “good” is going to be enough for a Rakugo-centric story that will inevitably be compared to Akira Ishida in Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju. Only time will tell here, as it’s possible Nagase will rise to the occasion just as Akane herself does and she’s holding back early to help sell that progression, her performance as Riko Amanai in Jujutsu Kaisen certainly makes me think she can pull it off. But so much of this story hinges on her being able to sell these Rakugo performances. If nothing else though, Akanebanashi did a good job of setting up and selling the story, and I think that alone will be enough to draw in new fans and show them why I love this series so much.
Potential: 70%

Snowball Earth

Short Synopsis: A lonesome kid becomes humanity’s savior after piloting a mech during a kaiju invasion, but he’s put into cold sleep after his final mission ends in failure.

Wooper: I figured this premiere would open with the frozen Earth promised by its title, then periodically flash back to how its protagonist ended up there, but this version of the story is fine, too. Most of this episode covers Tetsuo’s rise from awkward child who pilots his dad’s robot (cribbing from Gundam) to guardian of the human race, who accompanies a nautical spaceship with an Infinity Laser (cribbing from Yamato) on its mission to exterminate the kaiju threatening their planet. Along the way he pulls weird faces and slurs his words out of nervousness, occasionally referring to a self-help book about how to make friends, since he’s never had one before. That’s the aspect of Snowball Earth that was most discouraging to me – the CG was passable and the theft of Japanese sci-fi tropes was amusing, but I’ve had just about enough of debilitating social anxiety in anime. The way it’s written typically lacks credibility, even as an exaggerated version of a real world condition, and it’s the same for Snowball Earth, with the hero’s sentient mech humorously prodding him about his lack of confidence just minutes before an interstellar battle for humanity’s survival. I’m down for a post-apocalyptic series with a lighter tone than usual, but not one with this show’s methods.
Potential: 15%

MAO

Short Synopsis: What if Inuyasha was set in the Taisho-era, but instead of a demon he was a standoff-ish Ikemen?

Lenlo: So like… This is just a knockoff Inuyasha right? Or like, someone wanted to remake Inuyasha but couldn’t so decided to make their own instead? I’m being a bit facetious, MAO is set in Taisho-era Japan instead of the Sengoku period, and Mao is more of a jaded old man in an Ikemen’s body rather than a brash demon, but the spirit of it all still holds true. The one nice thing MAO has going for it is a seemingly actually powerful female lead judging by her ability to leap tall buildings in a single bound, though she hasn’t done much yet. All in all, MAO simply isn’t that interesting, it’s visually bland, and there’s nothing that engaging about the first episode, but nothing glaringly wrong either.
Potential: 20%

Spring 2026 Impressions: Dorohedoro S2, The Ramparts of Ice, Petals of Reincarnation

by SuperWooper, posted in Some Quick First Impressions

Dorohedoro S2

Short Synopsis: Season 2 of Dorohedoro, I don’t know how to explain it other than that, it’s crazy.

Lenlo: Ah Dorohedoro, you’re just as insane as when I left you. It took me all 3 episodes to figure out where the hell we were and what the fuck was happening, but once I did it felt like I had never left. Now I won’t lie, Dorohedoro is a confusing show that does not try very hard to keep you up to date. If you fall behind, if you aren’t paying attention, if you don’t watch the 90 second recap of Season 1, it will not remind you, it just jumps right in where we left off as if the finale was yesterday, and I can see that turning a lot of people off. But if you enjoyed the first second, and are ok with a little homework to remember where we are, I genuinely believe there is nothing quite like Dorohedoro’s focused insanity. It actually reminds me of Golden Kamuy in a lot of ways, where it can jump from one completely unrelated scene to another, mixing silly comedy and gore-filled violence side by side. Just instead of being set in 20th Hokkaido, it’s a mystical post-apocalyptic industrial fantasy world where literally anyone can die at any time.
Potential: 80%

The Ramparts of Ice

Short Synopsis: A frosty high school girl handles uncomfortable social situations to the best of her ability.

Wooper: I can’t help but compare The Ramparts of Ice (Koori no Jouheki) to its cousin You and I Are Polar Opposites, since it’s sandwiched between that series’ first and second seasons. The character designs make it clear that both shows are based on manga by the same artist, but based on this premiere, Ramparts got the worse end of the deal. The ice queen trope it uses to characterize the female lead (Koyuki) is bluntly implemented, and her classmates’ fear of her is equaled only by their worship of her friend Miki. Koyuki is already on her way to forming an unlikely bond with a popular guy, as well – it feels too much like a dozen other broadly-written high school anime. Then there’s the abundance of chibi scenes, which always cut away to a screentone background rather than incorporating the deformed characters into the real world. After seeing Polar Opposites successfully opt for the latter strategy last season, Ramparts’ direction feels like a downgrade. Its pre-ED flashbacks to some major drama from Koyuki’s middle school days were more intriguing than expected, but I don’t know whether I’ll watch for long enough to learn all the details there.
Potential: 30%

Petals of Reincarnation

Short Synopsis: Adolf Hitler, yes that Adolf Hitler, is reincarnated as a loli in this Fate ripoff. Hitler isn’t actually the main character, but I felt it important you know this.

Lenlo: My first thought watching Kaben was… unimpressed? It feels like a mix of Persona and Fate, except it lacks the same sort of Jungian Psychology of Persona and the gravitas of Fate. It feels like Kaben is just using their visuals and ideas slapped together into something “cool” without understanding or thinking about anything behind it. The lead is a little interesting, I’m always down for an unapologetic asshole as our main character, and this idea of stealing talent rather than honing/being proud of your own talent could actually go somewhere. But between this being Studio BENTEN’s first production, and Shun Kudou’s second ever director position, the first being Grendizer U, I can’t say I have a lot of faith in this going anywhere I want to watch.
Potential: 10%

Winter 2026 Check-In – Weeks 11-13

by SuperWooper, posted in Weekly Summary

Wooper: We interrupt your just-begun spring 2026 impressions with some final thoughts on four just-wrapped winter anime, plus one that began an unceremonious pause after a double-length premiere. There are a handful of winter shows I didn’t cover that will require a fair shake before EOY (ShiboYugi chief among them), but this is all I’ve got for now. Alright, back to the First Impressions grind!

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure:
Steel Ball Run – 1

I hadn’t tuned in to a JoJo anime since bailing on Diamond is Unbreakable nearly a decade ago, but Steel Ball Run presented an opportunity to give the franchise another spin, since it takes place in a separate universe. Its continuity is so fresh, in fact, that it places more emphasis on the titular cross-country race than any of its familiarly named characters – with the exception of Johnny Joestar, who receives a rather momentum-breaking flashback explaining his paraplegia. That scene’s blunt implementation didn’t inspire much confidence that future flashbacks will blend in well, and there will probably be many of them, since the race started so quickly that a lot of pre-race context will become necessary as the story evolves. This two-parter did keep a lot of other details close to its ridiculously costumed chest, such as the nature of Gyro Zeppeli’s Hamon-like ability and the way Sandman instantaneously developed his ultra-fast running style. I like the decision to preserve some mysteries for the future, though the lack of an airdate for subsequent episodes means that future may be far away.

P.S. Were JoJo’s fifth and sixth parts as scatological as Steel Ball Run? There were three references to poop in this premiere, which is a lot, even for a double length episode. Weird stuff!

Continue reading “Winter 2026 Check-In – Weeks 11-13” →

Spring 2026 Impressions: Agents of the Four Seasons, Always a Catch, Ganbare Nakamura-kun

by SuperWooper, posted in Some Quick First Impressions

Agents of the Four Seasons:
Dance of Spring

Short Synopsis: A priestess of spring performs a ritual to restore her long-dormant season to a wintery region.

Wooper: Agents of the Four Seasons begins with a flashback to the main character’s bodyguard getting shot amidst a hail of automatic gunfire, which hardly reflects its seasonal theme, even if it’s snowing heavily while it happens. There are other flashes of modernity throughout the episode (the bureaucracy surrounding its lore, smart devices on display during the closing montage), which were distracting for me, but the show is quite pretty when it’s depicting snowy mountains and cherry trees reborn through protagonist Hinagiku’s ritual. She’s a human imbued by the Goddess of Spring with the power to restore plant life through song and dance, and there’s a whole government department set up to monitor her actions, as well as (presumably) those of the other Agents. Hinagiku’s halting speech pattern is certainly distinctive, but I haven’t got a real issue with it – her bodyguard’s seiyuu, on the other hand, gives an overperformance that I didn’t feel was properly supported by the flashback at the start. Agents of the Four Seasons clearly wants to tell a bigger story of conflict between man and nature (and perhaps between the seasons themselves), so you can’t judge the whole series by this one-off “restore spring to a local region” story. So far, though, the visuals are its only strong suit.
Potential: 40%

Always a Catch!

Short Synopsis: A tomboyish noble girl gets engaged to a neighboring country’s crown prince without knowing it.

Mario: We have yet another “villainess with a good heart” story set in an otome-inspired universe. Normally I’m fine with that increasingly over-saturated subgenre, but here, it fails to leave me with any lasting impact. The story hardly surprises me at all, as we have all the setups of your typical reverse-harem otome shows. The lead girl is a bit quirky and unconventional (check); despite going to school, we get to see all of her potential suitors (check); there’s a best friend girl (check) and a rival (also check) with classic blonde curls! Even though our heroine Maria is billed as “independent,” the show bends over backwards by having her join an academy to “find a husband” because she’s no longer the heir of her family. It’s kind of sexist don’t you think? With generic characters and even more generic designs, sadly this one is a pass for me.
Potential: 10%

Ganbare, Nakamura-kun!

Short Synopsis: Nakamura-kun falls in love at first sight, but with a twist.

Mario: Ganbare Nakamura-kun reminds you of an old, feel-good era that you yourself never experienced. Its retro style, both in character designs and color scheme, strongly resembles those 80s anime romcom hits like Maison Ikkoku and Kimagure Orange Road, which seems highly intentional. It’s a queer love story as well, which makes it both funny and endearing. But having said that, it still pretty much uses the same cloth with all the romcom tropes we have seen before: our boy is too shy to approach his crush, and when he does he wrecks his chance instead. The only moment that he truly acts like himself has something to do with his weird obsession with octopuses (really!). To add to that, his love interest Hirose is not that deep of a character so far, as we only see him through Nakamura’s filtered point of view. For now, I like the show’s style, but I’m not totally invested in any of the characters, let alone the central romance.
Potential: 25%

Spring 2026 Season Preview

by SuperWooper, posted in Seasonal Previews

Wooper: Having been pummeled with multiple snowstorms this past winter, I’ve been ready for spring’s arrival for a while now – and not only as a reprieve from the weather, as series after exciting series have converged to make this one of my most anticipated seasons since I began writing for Star Crossed. The headliners include a two cour adaptation of Hiromu Arakawa’s new series, a pair of fourth seasons for two isekai stalwarts (not covered here, though they hardly need the help), and the long-awaited final entrant in modern fantasy manga’s Big Three. What’s most interesting about this spring, though, is its wide range of second tier shows, which pull from classic comics about wine tasting and financial mind games, as well as next gen works about rakugo and graffiti. Both veteran directors and young hopefuls are represented in the preview below, which has me feeling uncommonly optimistic about the state of anime. Will enough of our picks pan out to justify that enthusiasm? First Impressions are just over a week away, so we’ll find out soon enough!

Middling Expectations

Agents of the Four Seasons:
Dance of Spring

Studio: Wit
Director: Ken Yamamoto
Series composition: Ayumu Hisao
Source: Light novel

The Premise: The Agent of Spring and her trusted guardian embark on a journey to usher in Yamato’s first spring in ten years.

I typically avoid using series’ in-universe terminology when summarizing their premises, but there’s no way to do that for Agents of the Four Seasons, a modern fantasy with a plot entirely defined by its worldbuilding. There’s a creation myth setup, with a personified Winter creating Spring, Summer and Autumn, each of whom grant their power to humans called Agents (hence the title), who usher in their respective seasons through song and dance. This sounded pretty good to me until I honed in on the “modern” in modern fantasy – the technology here is so contemporary that the PV features a fight scene set at an airfield. I can’t really envision a story this folkloric taking place in a world with central heating, but I’ll still give Agents a shot, as it’s directed by Ken Yamamoto, who demonstrated a mastery of winter scenery in his Pokemon short series “Hisuian Snow.” The major selling point for most people here will be the author of the source material: Kana Akatsuki, who also wrote Violet Evergarden. I wasn’t a big fan of that show, but this is a separate work by a different creative team, so it may offer some surprises.

Continue reading “Spring 2026 Season Preview” →

Winter 2026 Check-In – Weeks 7-10

by SuperWooper, posted in Weekly Summary

Wooper: I don’t know why I said I’d write a first impression for Rooster Fighter in the intro to the last check-in post. Maybe I was on drugs – though certainly not as big a dose as I’d need to enjoy the show itself (as befitting an Adult Swim series). It’s just the three regulars plus Ganglion, then, with thoughts on a bunch of episodes crammed into only a handful of paragraphs. The Spring Preview takes priority, I’m afraid – it ought to go up in four days or so, so be on the lookout for that as the winter season begins to wind down.

You and I Are Polar Opposites – 7-9

I’m beginning to get fatigued of all these socially anxious anime characters who find a friend group and learn to express themselves. Polar Opposites’ representative in that field is Nishi, Tani’s co-worker in the library after school – she’s twice as quiet as he is, so the show’s primary strength (conversation) hardly applies to her. Of these three episodes, Nishi only appeared in number 7, and it was a warranted appearance, resolving her encounter with Yamada during the previous episode’s culture festival. Still, she’s my least favorite of the show’s otherwise fun cast – thankfully, the other two weeks in this batch were primarily concerned with our main couple, especially when Tani’s birthday rolled around. Teenage staples like falling asleep on a phone call and celebrating with store-bought cakes brought a smile to my face, but the funniest moment of all came at the very end of episode 9, when Suzuki terastallized in excitement after kissing her boyfriend goodnight. As for the show’s secondary couple, their non-relationship underwent a bit of a stress test the week beforehand, as Taira insisted that Azuma discard her nonchalant persona and “get angry” over her middle school friends’ poor treatment of her. I’m still not sure how I feel about his phrasing, but it made for a sharp change of pace.

Continue reading “Winter 2026 Check-In – Weeks 7-10” →

Winter 2026 Check-In – Weeks 4-6

by SuperWooper, posted in Weekly Summary

Wooper: I know this column is about currently airing anime, but have you all seen the surplus of cool shows set to debut next month? Our spring season preview is going to be packed (by my standards), and that’s without counting mid-March premieres like Steel Ball Run and Rooster Fighter (which should show up in a future post this March). Ikoku Nikki is holding me down this winter, and I can easily envision a future where it retroactively outclasses every new spring series, but I’ve got to say, I haven’t been this optimistic about an upcoming crop of anime in a long time. That’s not what you’re here for, though – read on for my thoughts on the usual suspects, plus one new show before the jump.

Oneechan Gokko – 1

I’m not exactly tapped in to the world of indie anime, but the YouTube series Oneechan Gokko (produced at the fledgling Studio Gohan) still found its way onto my desk somehow, and I’m glad it did, as its first episode was much more polished than expected. It doesn’t move at the same speed as a mainstream seasonal anime, but scenes of the main character Akane jogging home from school or riding a bike are still plenty immersive thanks to detailed lighting and autumnal background art. Given the season, red, yellow and brown are the dominant colors here, with Akane’s green-haired sister Sui serving as an exception to the series’ visual palette. That nonconformity makes sense on several levels, because she may be more (or less) than she seems – at several points during this episode, Akane receives phone calls from someone claiming to be the real Sui, who claims that the girl in her house is an impostor. Oneechan Gokko is set in the future, with service robots having been partially integrated into society, so we may be headed toward a “machine supplanting man” theme – one with spooky overtones, as Gokko’s presentation takes that tack at several points (especially in its closing minutes). You can watch the first episode [here] to see whether it sucks you in – just know that the follow-up won’t be out for several months.

Continue reading “Winter 2026 Check-In – Weeks 4-6” →

2025 Anime Awards and Top 10 List

by SuperWooper, posted in Yearly Summaries

Mario: It’s amazing to think that we are more than halfway through this decade, and even though each of us writers is swamped with our current busy lives, here we are with another year of anime under our belts. As if to reflect the current anxiety of the real world, 2025 produced several shows with “Apocalypse” or “End of the World” in their titles or premises. We also received many sequels from heavy-hitting franchises, some of which we’ll be giving our thoughts on below. Anime that debuted this year didn’t fare too badly either, and surprise, surprise, isekai was still as popular as ever (though there’s not much of that after the jump). Come sit at our table where we voted, discussed, broke some ties, and delivered to you our thoughts on the state of anime in 2025.

Continue reading “2025 Anime Awards and Top 10 List” →

Winter 2026 Check-In – Weeks 2-3

by SuperWooper, posted in Weekly Summary

Wooper: It’s a little late to be reviewing just two episodes of a handful of new series, but that’s what I’ve got for you here. Between AOTY writing that’s progressing in the background, my growing interest in non-animated films, and some personal stuff happening in my life, I’ve been slow to keep up with anime this winter. Shibou Yuugi, whose double length premiere greatly intrigued me, was going to be part of this post, but I decided to just publish what I had and not wait around. It probably won’t show up next time either, but there’s a YouTube series that might make the column in a couple weeks if I end up liking it. We’ll see!

Ikoku Nikki – 2-3

Why was there a hybrid Japanese-English grammar lesson in the first act of episode 3, and why did it make me tear up? I guess that’s the strength of Ikoku Nikki, a grief-themed josei drama composed almost entirely of natural conversations between two or three characters. That third episode has received a lot of praise online, likely because it marked the first major emotional moment for its orphan protagonist Asa, and while it surely deserves the acclaim, I found the second to be exceptional as well. In that sophomore episode, Asa’s aunt and legal guardian Makio invites her friend Daigo over to their apartment, and maybe it’s just because I’m in awards season mode, but Daigo is already my frontrunner for Best Supporting Character of 2026. Her hiccupy laugh, warm yet patient personality, and teasing relationship with Makio made her an object of fascination for Asa, whose unfamiliarity with adult friendships hints at a past frigidity between her deceased parents. In episode 3, Asa was more active and less observant, but Makio still got some nice scenes, including one where she mistakenly addressed the specter of her sister while retrieving Asa’s belongings from her previous apartment. The show’s psychological breadcrumb trail is longer for Makio than it is for her new ward, but I’m enjoying the pace at which it’s following both paths.

Continue reading “Winter 2026 Check-In – Weeks 2-3” →

Winter 2026 First Episode Awards

by SuperWooper, posted in Uncategorized

Wooper: Pardon me for starting out on a tangent, but I just had a look at the upcoming spring anime chart and discovered nearly 15 shows that I’m looking forward to, which makes this newly initiated season less appealing by comparison. I’ve got high hopes for three or four new series, though, one of which was our pick for Best First Episode and Season Sleeper, and it truly does qualify for both in my opinion. It’s not just my assessment that matters, though – Lenlo and Mario also voted for these categories, and I hope to convince them to pop in for a biweekly column or two this winter, as well. Either way, we’ll all be collaborating on 2025’s Anime of the Year post next month. Until then!

Continue reading “Winter 2026 First Episode Awards” →