Jujutsu Kaisen

Short Synopsis: Yuji Itadori is possessed by a great curse, and must choose to use its power to exorcise even greater curses or be exorcised (executed) himself.

Lenlo’s review:

Easily my favorite premiere of the season so far. Horikoshi Kohei, mangaka of My Hero Academia, wasn’t joking when he called this the next pillar of Shonen Jump and this premiere makes me want to read the manga. Starting off, MAPPA knocked it out of the park production wise. Everything from the big action set pieces such as Fushiguro running down the hallway and the rooftop battle to the tiny, almost insignificant movements of characters in the background such as the dogs eating or Council President’s reactions. Add on to that some stellar directing with some consistently evolving visual gags, such as the kids posing with the coach in the background getting more and more absurd, and Jujutsu Kaisen becomes a joy to watch.

Beyond that though I also found it really engaging. Story wise it’s a pretty well set up Shonen; we won’t know more until it really gets going, as the MC was just taken over by the Big Bad. However I found a lot of the small characters’ motivations very compelling. Take for instance the lead’s grandfather’s death, which I found to be done very well. No over the top melodramatic screaming, just quiet shock, tears and grief. This subdued reaction made it feel so much more organic and believable to your typical anime reaction and that emotional connection laid the groundwork for Itadori’s entire character and set up the justification for him entering the conflict to begin with. I have no idea if Jujutsu Kaisen will be able to keep this up, narratively or production wise, especially because of the MAPPA curse. But as far as first impressions go, this is my favorite yet. I am all in.

Potential: 95%

Amun’s review:

Seems like every other season, a new exorcism show comes along. Some are rather low key (this year’s Toilet Hanako-kun), some more action packed (Blue Exorcist). Surprisingly, the Yokai shows don’t tend to lean too heavily into horror – Jujutsu Kaisen didn’t get the memo. While not as traumatic a premiere as Goblin Slayer (I’m still annoyed at watching that so unexpectedly), it’s clear that Jujutsu Kaisen isn’t afraid of a little blood or tentacle hands. Plus it’s MAPPA, so it at least looks amazing (and the OP is probably my favorite of the season). So if you want to see a cross between Parasyte (anime, not the live action movie) and Blue Exorcist/Hellsing Ultimate, this is your show. Only way I’m dropping it is if they start sacrificing plot quality for shock value.

Potential: 80%

King’s Raid

Short Synopsis: A knight’s apprentice and a dark elf from the medieval age find themselves involved in an interspecies war.

Wooper’s review:

I expected this to be one of the season’s worst shows, but while it’s certainly not polished or innovative in any respect, it wasn’t the trash heap I had predicted. Right off the bat, the show earns points by slowly introducing our main character, rather than putting us inside his head and treating us to a bunch of biographical voiceover. As an apprentice knight with a sad past, there’s nothing new about him, provided you’re even slightly familiar with the medieval fantasy genre. In fact, the whole of King’s Raid could be described as a patchwork of cliches: the apprentice knight, the infirmed king, the big titty priestess, the Dark Lord, the racist court advisors, etc. A band of Dark Elves who aim to overthrow Orvelia’s monarchy are the biggest draw here, since the show intends to follow them from week to week, rather than give them the Team Rocket treatment. Visually, the show falls woefully short of its subject matter’s demands, yet its commitment to traditionally-animated combat is admirable, especially during the demon attack in the last few minutes. The characters and settings, on the other hand, look like knockoffs of knockoffs, with their stylish bedhead and transparently digital assembly, respectively. There are more cons than pros here on the whole, but if you’re desperate for a new medieval fantasy anime, King’s Raid will do.

Potential: 20%

Lenlo’s review:

Thanks, I hate it. I gotta say, coming off of Jujutsu Kaisen, this just feels so… so painfully generic and incompetently structured. Visually, its generic, and looks even worse than most basic medieval fantasy anime. Narratively, it’s generic, throwing bare bones cliches such as “Dark elves bad” levels of racism and Knights in shining armor. I just don’t understand why anyone would watch this when you have so many better options out there. Not just in this season, but with medieval fantasy anime at large. Don’t waste your time with this, skip it and watch Jujutsu Kaisen instead.

Potential: Generic%

Dragon Quest: Dai no Daibouken

Short Synopsis: A young mage-in-training fends off a party of false heroes with the aid of his monster friends.

Wooper’s review:

Let’s talk about the CG Dragon Quest monster in the room: there are some ugly-looking 3D models in this show. They’re so ugly, in fact, that people are bound to make a huge stink about them, even though the show opts for 2D creatures most of the time. In general, it’s the scenes with tons of monsters on screen that suffer from that unfortunate production choice – apart from that, the show looks good. Really good, actually, which ought to be expected when Japan reboots one of its most beloved franchises. What’s awesome about DQ is that both the character and monster designs are packed with personality, and the bold linework in this series takes that charm point to the next level. There are fights aplenty in the first episode, giving both Dai and his opponents a chance to dash, slash, and magic their way across the screen in dynamic fashion. Dai’s kind spirit and hidden strength gave me serious Gon vibes, which is one of the things I liked most about the premiere – I want to see what will happen when he’s truly put to the test. The capsule system is really cool, as well, allowing for limitless possibilities in battle as early as episode one. I’ll be watching this one weekly to see whether the promising combat, characters, and story can create something special.

Potential: 70%

Amun’s review:

I vaguely know of the Dragon Quest franchise – the games were a bit before my time, and I was too young to watch the original version from Toei. In short, I think this is a remake, so I’ll treat it as such. Let’s be honest, Toei shows don’t really look that great – the designs tend to be childish/simple, pace fast, characters straightforward. I’m actually a fan of World Trigger but wasn’t as sold on Kitaro – Dragon Quest, for me, is not an automatic watch based on the studio. What about its other qualities? I think the story is too simplistic, there wasn’t anything original, character or storywise, and we’re going to have gamelike episodic plot-armor progression. Colours are all over the place too. The setting also feels like a low effort rip off of Greed Island from Hunter x Hunter (Wooper pointed out some other similarities too) – plus we have Pokeballs and Slimes. So many shows have slimes now – anime, why you do this? Next, we’ll have Slime High School! In short – if you’re ages 8-13, this show might be for you. Otherwise, nah.

Potential: 1%

Majo no Tabitabi

Short Synopsis: An apprentice witch trains under a weird witch to become a full-fledged witch.

Amun’s review:

Welcome to Kino’s Delivery Service! (I got a bit of Ancient Magus Bride/Somali and the Forest Spirit vibes too). In all seriousness, we have no idea where this show is going – episode 1 was just a backstory after all. What we can tell is that we have pretty standard character designs, some nice texture details (I liked the Stardust witch’s cloak/hat), and an open ended, dynamic world. The fight animation was nice, the writing with her parents’ instructions clever – this was as good of a prologue as you could ask for. Now the question becomes – where does Majo no Tabitabi go from here? Like Elaina, the sky – and the ground – are the limits.

Potential: 65%

Lenlo’s review:

Sadly I have a much more… mixed reception to Majo no Tabitabi than Amun. For one, I do think it was visually nice, mostly. The water effects were good, the fight was stilted but fine. The only thing that really stood out to me as looking bad were the fire effects. Oh boy the fire effects. They looked like they were applied in MS Paint, to be honest. Outside that though Majo looked fine. Story wise is where I have my big bugbear though, because I cannot stand how the parents’ story this episode was written. Not only did Elaina have absolutely no need to be taught that lesson with how Majo no Tabitabi portrayed her, but the lesson itself was incredibly stupid. I saw what they were going for with it, the idea is solid. But the way Elaina’s character was presented and with how it was led into makes it make no sense. She wasn’t shown to be arrogant or anything like that, and the Stardust Witch didn’t make any real effort to teach her anything before deciding to throw thunderbolts at her. Hopefully the rest of the season is better written, because I think there is potential here. But if this is the quality of writing we can expect it might be better to just skip Majo no Tabitabi entirely.

Potential: 45%

100-man no Inochi no Ue ni Ore wa Tatteiru

Short Synopsis: Reclusive guy gets isekai-ed to another world and starts a new life as a… powerless farmer?

Armitage’s review:

Well well well. What do we have here? An Isekai story with no gimmicks in which the player starts off at the bottom level and is forced to grind his way up instead of being ridiculously overpowered? An authentic RPG game world, complete with organic interactions with NPCs and actual care put into the game mechanics? Huh, 2 out of 3, show. Not bad. But I know where you’ll falter. Surely your MC is a Kirito clone who needs to appoint himself as the savior of every female character in the story? Wait, what!? He can actually be cruelly selfish and choose the best course of action even if it means abandoning his weaker party members? He has a… p-p-… personality?? Now that’s not very fair. You are not giving me any reasons to make fun of you, show! That’s not how it works. Sheh. Don’t ya know? You’re an ‘isekai’. Just turn back into a clichéd regurgitation of overdone tropes come next episode so I can call you trash and then feel guilty about watching you anyway. Sounds cool?

Potential: 90%

Amun’s review:

100-man writers had a brilliant idea: let’s take components from all the past Isekai that did well and put them together. Goblins (Goblin Slayer – I actually had PTSD on that first shot, to be honest), Resurrection (Re:Zero), and the Main character is a farmer (Hamefura) – Armi pointed out the similarities with Kirito above. I guess slimes are getting their own show later this season, so those weren’t available. 100-man is a bit of an isekai amalgamation…but it worked pretty well. Really, it’s the characters having some depth and some glaring weaknesses that makes this an interesting show – the visuals and designs are passable at best and this episode, at least, felt really rushed. How does this show succeed? By being more than the sum of its parts. How does it fail? By regurgitating worn-out tropes with subpar animation (and overdone CG). So far though, it looks pretty promising.

Potential: 65%

Tonikaku Kawaii

Short Synopsis: Mysterious girl saves an idiot’s life then shows up 3 years later with marriage papers.

Amun’s review:

I got some serious Kaiki in the snow flashbacks at the start of this episode (I forget which Monogatari that was – if you know, you know). I was confused why what I thought was a romcom started with a shot of a dying kid. But nope, this is the right show after all – definitely a strange premiere, looks like a modern Princess Kaguya (as Mario mentions). The MC is a bit nuts, the girl is 1000% sketchy (and superpowered?)…but for some reason, it’s a bit endearing. Like you know it should be a trainwreck, but you’re hoping it will somehow work out. This seems like a slim cast version of the Quintessential Quintuplets – if that’s not your cup of tea, this should be a pass. Also, this OP is actually hilarious – you have to listen all the way through.

Potential: 50%

Mario’s review:

Structuring itself as a modern spin on Princess Kaguya’s tale, this slapstick romance has a bit too much anime logic that makes it enjoyable (for us), but I don’t see it breaking any ground here. Structure-wise, it’s a typical setup of a romance: boy meets girl and falls for her at first sight, with a little twist that they are married and now we see how this relationship develops. The humor is a bit of a hit-or-miss for me, it works when our MC meta-acknowledged how easily a boy falls for a girl. But at the same time we have to endure lots of MC screaming out of shyness and it just gets more annoying by the minute. That girl is a perfect manic pixie dream girl from the moment that she enters and hijacks his poor lonely life, so we need to see more sides of her. For now, I am okay with the premise but I will decide if I am going to follow it through after 3 episodes.

Potential: 30%

Higurashi no Naku Koro ni

Short Synopsis: Bunch of completely sane kids hang together while playing perfectly non-threatening games, non-threateningly.

Armitage’s review:

As someone who’s a fan of the OG Higurashi and who wasn’t a fan of what I saw from PVs of this latest iteration, I went into this remake with more caution than excitement. And well, I came out of it feeling that way too. Look, if this is your first exposure to this series, I can totally see you like the first episode and even really enjoy it. But while comparing it with the beloved original, this just feels like a watered down rehash instead of a ground-up remake. The art style is bland as can be, making the show look like every other generic rom-com out there; the color scheme is almost sickeningly sweet and vibrant, especially for a horror show; and the VAs sound nothing like the personalities of each character. Higurashi is a show that lives and dies on its meat cleaver. And if the opening shot leaves you feeling… nothing, please DO NOT watch this adaptation. Go see the original. The animation is dated and takes a little getting used to. But that in turn, amplifies the creep factor of the series. Just watch that premiere and see how much better it is in comparison. The only positive and the one reason that I would give this remake a few more episodes before deciding to drop it is the production staff’s choice to bring back the original’s OP. And I hope against my better judgement, that the coming episodes are able to bring back some of its charm too.

Potential: 30%

Lenlo’s review:

As someone who has not seen the OG Higurashi and this is their first exposure to it… I don’t get the hype. Despite what Armitage said I think its looks are its strongest part, but that isn’t saying much. It’s very bright, yes, but the lines are clean and though some of the girls redesigns look like knock-off Monogatari Girls with that silly ‘3’ mouth thing, I think it largely looks fine. And looking at images/clips of the original, I can’t say that looked very good either. Neither the old nor the new series have very strong production but at least the old has the excuse of being 15 years old. Meanwhile story wise I am… slightly engaged? I’ll be honest and say that horror anime have never really grabbed me. As a medium, anime just doesn’t do horror well in my experience, not this sort of horror anyways. Some manga such as Junji Ito’s work can pull it off, and more psychological pieces like Perfect Blue/Lain/Mononoke can pull it off. But so far Higurashi doesn’t seem to nail that. Maybe it will turn into a sort of Children of the Corn, in which case I’ll be down. But at this point I am pretty desensitized to anime characters murdering anime characters.

Potential: 30%

Assault Lily: Bouquet

Short Synopsis: Teenage girls attend magic school and fight robots using transforming weapons and yuri (sub)text.

Lenlo’s review:

Alright, so you remember all the previous highschool magical girl schlock we have gotten this year like Lapis Re:Lights and such? Well this may sound hypocritical, but Assault Lily ain’t any of those. I can’t tell if it’s because Shaft is making it or the FLCL director is… directing it, but something about this just works. Visually the show looks good, the characters are very emotive and even 1 episode in it feels like a lot of work has been put into how they move. Meanwhile the CGI fight scenes are actually uh… good, somehow. Some were obviously CGI, but flowed really well, while others were framed in such a way I could barely tell there was CGI involved. It’s good shit yo! And to top it all off it feels like there is something deeper and darker underneath, something akin to the last Mahou Shoujo Shaft made, Madoka Magica. Tack on a KyoAni animation director in Nagahara and it’s a recipe for some good production. So yeah Assault Lily has a lot of good things going for it and I am looking forward to it this season for all the previously mentioned reasons. Or the thigh-highs. It could also just be the thigh-highs.

Potential: 70%

Wooper’s review:

Assault Lily: Bouquet reminds me less of Madoka Magica, which I’m sure it would love to be compared to, and more of Houkago no Pleiades, Gainax’s final TV anime. Sure, they’re both magical girl shows, but their status as death knells for their respective studios is the more interesting parallel. Shaft may have another project in the works for 2021, but the lack of creativity behind Bouquet says all you need to know about the studio’s future. It opens with a solid three minutes of narration explaining the setting and the main girl’s place within it, and new girls feed her factoids about more important characters by way of conversation. The character art seems to have been ripped from a D-tier gacha game. The animation is stilted during conversation, and CG models dutifully take the place of traditional drawings during all the interesting cuts. The script makes no attempts to hide its by-the-numbers construction; mere seconds after the major character relationships have been established, a plain-looking upperclassman materializes and instructs the main trio to hunt down the enemy of the week. This thing is amateurishly written and plainly produced, not to mention insulting in its yuri-baiting (“I’m not really a loose woman!” swears a redheaded girl, by way of apologizing for hugging her new crush). If this is the level at which Shaft will be operating going forward, then the studio is dead.

Potential: 5%

Haikyuu!! To The Top S2

Short Synopsis: Sweaty high-school boys fondle some balls on a national level.

Lenlo’s review:

Let me preface this by saying, I am a Haikyuu stan. I have read and own the entire manga series along with all the BD’s. I think the first 3 seasons are incredible, and I love me some volleyball bois. So it comes from a place of love when I say that something just feels… off about To The Top S2. Something about its production just feels flat visually. I can’t tell if it’s the colors, the occasional stiffness in the animation or the direction but it feels like Haikyuu is only 70-80% there. Like the last cour of To The Top, outside of the BIG MOMENTS it just feels off. Don’t get me wrong, I love the BIG MOMENTS, I love how malleable Hinata’s character model gets on his jumps and how expressive they can be. It’s just not happening often enough for me. Regardless, the first cour picked it up in the 2nd half and I am expecting the same here. I know the story is good, the manga is proof of that. The only thing in question is if they can nail the production and I am willing to bet they can.

Potential: 75%

Armitage’s review:

I need this show right now. 2020 has been a shitty year with every second anime being marred with production difficulties and delays in air schedule. The current Fall season is the last straw of hope our rapidly expanding community seems to be holding on to in this terrible year. And Haikyuu is the closest you can get to a guarantee in quality. It’s consistent as any multi-season series can be and for fans of the show, myself included, it’s simply comfort food. Which is something we all can do with a generous helping of.

Though, compared to its previous three iterations, To the Top has been… uneven. While the art style change has taken some getting used to and the animation’s budget cuts have been rather apparent, narratively it’s still been strong. It seems like we’re building towards some big narrative payoffs and this series has earned its reputation by delivering a sizable amount of those; episode in, episode out. There is still clear room for improvement here. And it seems like this second cour will be spread across one single match which is a format that lends itself to many such moments of catharsis. Pair all that with a revamped soundtrack and a killer new OP (those high notes!) and you have the perfect recipe for a sumptuous meal. And I would like mine jumbo-sized!

Potential: 85%