Author: SuperWooper

Spring 2021 First Impressions: Jouran, Shaman King, SSSS.Dynazenon

by SuperWooper, posted in Some Quick First Impressions

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%

Spring 2021 First Impressions: Koikimo, Godzilla SP, Mars Red

by SuperWooper, posted in Some Quick First Impressions

Koi to Yobu ni wa Kimochi Warui

Short Synopsis: A womanizing salaryman harasses a high school girl after she saves him from falling down the stairs.

Wooper: Spring 2021 is setting the bar very low with Koikimo as its first premiere (not counting a HeroAca filler episode). Its adult male protagonist isn’t just a pervert – he’s a straight-up psycho. After one of his past sexual partners embarrassed him in front of his underage crush, he shoved a napkin in her face and smeared her makeup, then threatened to pluck out her eyelashes. How anyone could find him tolerable after that display is beyond me – not that he was charming beforehand. The little moans he made after getting a phone call from Ichika (the high schooler) were fucking weird, and his indifference toward her discomfort gave off major predator vibes. Ichika got in a few good jabs as she rejected his advances, but she also called him and left a record of her cell number at one point, so defense clearly isn’t her strong suit. I’d want this show scrubbed from my memory even if it were lavishly produced, but it isn’t – the animation is a notch below competence, and the backgrounds are so poorly conceived that they violate basic architectural principles. Stay clear of this one unless you have a May-December fetish.

Potential: 0%

Mario: In order to make an engaging romance story, the leads need to be likeable enough and you need to sell the chemistry between them. Sadly, based on this first episode Koi to Yobu fails on establishing these factors. While I’m not as salty as Wooper, the male lead is unlikable. Even if you look past the age gap, the fact remains that he has absolutely zero regard for the girl’s feelings, which gives off an off-putting vibe. Real life has taught me that when a person can’t take “no” for an answer, they are the most dangerous. On top of that, his sister and Ichika’s parents have no reservations about their relationship, so it looks like an easy route for her coming to “accept him”. The plot so far doesn’t elevate the romance, sadly – the first episode relies too much on “coincidences” to put these two together. It’s not offensively bad (when it comes to romance anime I’ve seen much worse), but if you, like me, are turned off by this “psycho” boy, or by the alpha-male-eccentric perspective, then it’s best to steer clear of this.

Potential: 20%

Godzilla SP

Short Synopsis: A pair of scientists investigate a string of unnatural occurrences that have something to do with Godzilla… probably.

Mario: Such an intriguing mess this first episode was. If it didn’t say it in the title, I wouldn’t have known that it is from the Godzilla canon, and in this instance that ambiguity works for the show’s benefit. This premiere takes its time building suspense by following our leads investigating strange phenomena, as it’s usually the case that monsters lurk beneath abandoned military buildings like the ones here. The characters sound too smart for their own good but for now the expressive character designs are keeping me engaged. Moreover, I am genuinely impressed by the background art, which looks very textured and detailed. So production-wise, this new version of Godzilla looks pretty good. The story is intriguing but feels uneven at times and I have doubts that it can stick the landing safely. As far as the first episode goes, though, you can bet that I am interested.

Potential: 50%

Lenlo: Mario calls this a mess and he’s right, but it’s not one I take kindly to. Not only did we go an entire 23 minute episode of a show named Godzilla without hide nor hair of the titular monster but instead we got saddled with a bunch of technobabble vomiting pieces of cardboard. That might be a bit of hyperbole however I honestly wasn’t engaged by anything they said or did nor any of the mystery-like premise. Maybe it’s my fault for expecting something else but it really feels like Godzilla has found a way to make giant robots fighting monsters boring. I figured that would be Dynazenon’s territory but someone beat it to the punch. Still, Mario is right that character designs are good and the backgrounds are detailed. Maybe Godzilla will stop feeling like a B-movie monster flick now that the monsters are actually arriving.

Potential: 30%

Mars Red

Short Synopsis: It is the 12th year of the Taisho era and vampires stalk Tokyo, both foreign and domestic. Only Code Zero, Japan’s first vampiric task force, can protect the country and find out where these vampires are coming from.

Lenlo: Mars Red started off much stronger than I expected. The animation is choppy and the whole show being made for ultra wide screen, meaning those bars are coming back, are a concern. But the direction was on point. It’s like Director Kouhei Hatano has taken the words “show don’t tell” and tattooed them on his chest. Whether it be clever recurring use of the plays poster, snappy cuts such as on the bridge implying violence without showing it, or a well placed timelapse. For a show where the animation itself can best be described as “rough” I thought Mars Red looked pretty good. Add on to that some stellar VA work, that “Jokanaan” was chilling, and you have a recipe for something good. My major concern at this point is that this was not in the manga, this entire first episode was anime original and so I don’t think it’s going to be indicative of the final product. If they can keep this tone, this directorial style, as Mars Red shifts to a more stereotypical narrative then I will be happy. I’m just not sure it can.

Potential: 60%

Amun: Mars Red is a show I’m cautiously optimistic about – I mean, Violet Evergarden Vampire Edition sounds pretty good, right? Well….there are some problems. For starters, this first episode was a wee-bit contrived; I’m happy to suspend my disbelief a bit, but come on now. I’m also not entirely sure who the main cast is – probably the blonde dude is the vampire, the journalist girl might be the replacement love interest, but it’s unclear yet if the colonel is going to be the lead or if he was just an introductory vehicle. We might see these characters the rest of the season or one more time in passing. Hard to say – wouldn’t be surprised either way. The animation is overly ambitious for the resources available – there were some particularly rough panning shots. I know what they were going for, but they just don’t have the animators for it. If that’s apparent in episode one, I don’t feel great about the prospects for episodes 7-13. That said, the world looks amazing and the episode’s direction and pacing were spot on (plot holes aside). Unfortunately, too many shows start strong only to fall apart halfway (Wonder Egg Priority, anyone?) – and I smell blood in Mars Red’s waters already.

Potential: 40%

Winter 2021 Summary – Week 12

by SuperWooper, posted in Weekly Summary

Wooper: March is nearly in the rearview mirror, so it’s time for one last recap post before we flood the blog with our first impressions of the spring season. Allow me to go over a few housekeeping items before we commence with winter’s last rites:

–  Spring 2021 is massive, so we won’t be giving our thoughts on all ~45 premieres, just the 30 or so we’re most interested in. Apologies in advance to fans of SAO clones and ikemen showcases.
–  Armitage will be joining us for those first impressions (and hopefully covering a full series starting in mid-April, but don’t quote me on that second part).
–  For Wonder Egg Priority fans, we’ll finish covering the show one way or another. If Mario doesn’t continue with his writeups, I’ll do a mega-post on episodes 8-12 in the coming weeks.

That’s about it! Let’s get this winter wrap-up on the road.

So I’m a Spider, So What? – 12

Amun: Spider-Hero (yes, I’m going to call her that from now on; no I don’t care that it’s a bad pun) concludes her epic battle with Mr. Earth Dragon Arba. By the way, thank you to the kind reader who pointed out that she killed a bunch of people last episode with some rather flimsy justifications of self defense. I think it’s a little unsettling that she’s more upset about Arba than killing a bunch of humans, but whatever. The animation this episode was….meh. I think CG limitations are painfully obvious during these large fight scenes. I don’t think you can avoid them, but they’re not a selling point by any means. Looks like the next season will take place outside the Labyrinth, which will be nice – I’m expecting more credit’s girl and probably that Spider-chan saves the world or something. I’m still having a good time, and if you’re watching it – I hope you are too!

Continue reading “Winter 2021 Summary – Week 12” →

Horimiya – 10-11 [Until the Snow Melts/It May Seem Like Hate]

by SuperWooper, posted in Finished Series: Romance, Horimiya

Sometimes it feels good to be anime-only. Everywhere you look, people are complaining about the cut content in Horimiya’s adaptation, and I’m just sitting here in blissful ignorance. The anime has never saddled itself with a particular schedule that must be followed at all costs – it tells short stories about whomever it wants, whenever it wants. That’s been evident in plenty of past episodes, but it was also clear in these two most recent ones. Miyamura’s reconciliation with a former bully, which was the show’s main focus two weeks ago? It only surfaces in episode 10 long enough to support a gag about his potential bisexuality. Remember Sawada, Miyamura’s neighbor from week six? She wasn’t given another appearance until this latest airing, and even that was frivolous in comparison to the tragedy of her brother’s passing (which was revealed over a month ago). Apart from the trajectory of its two protagonists, Horimiya has never been a particularly disciplined series on a narrative level – that patchwork feel is part of its charm. It did manage to fix its gaze on a small set of characters last week, though, in the resolution (?) of the Ishikawa love triangle.

Continue reading “Horimiya – 10-11 [Until the Snow Melts/It May Seem Like Hate]” →

Winter 2021 Summary – Week 11

by SuperWooper, posted in Weekly Summary

Wooper: Having just published a beefy Spring Preview, some of us had no words left to dedicate to anime this week. Lenlo and I still had a bit of gas in the tank, though, so we teamed up to create a short and sweet recap post. If you’re still keeping up with winter’s mid-tier shows despite the distraction of a brand new season, this one is for you.

Heaven’s Design Team – 8-10

Lenlo: I know I’ve missed a few weeks of this but I promise it wasn’t due to a lack of interest in the show. If anything, Design Team continues to impress me with just how many ideas it has. Not all of those ideas are good mind you. For instance I wasn’t a fan of the “Honey I shrunk the kids” cross-episode skit. But for every failed reverse-aging storyline we have a tyranny of the mole rats or Whose Penguin Is It Anyway. And even then regardless of the skits’ quality the lessons they teach are always interesting. Whether it be explaining concepts of generational diversity and societal health through aging or the heat-sink purposes of penguin bone structure, Design Team delivers. And for what I considered to be a C-Tier show that I would probably lose interest in after 3 episodes, that’s pretty damn impressive.

Continue reading “Winter 2021 Summary – Week 11” →

Spring 2021 Anime Season Preview

by SuperWooper, posted in Seasonal Previews

Armitage: Allow me the opportunity to be the resident hype-monger this time around and say that, in terms of the quality on offer, Spring 2021 is looking to be the biggest season of anime in almost a decade. Which I know sounds like a clickbait-y exaggeration and a notion that gets thrown around every other season just so fans can feel better about the sheer number of shows we end up watching each year and justify it by saying that “s’all good man!”.

But I have personally never subscribed to that notion. I have always held my head up high and never fallen so low as to put an anime season on the pedestal occupied only by the mythical spring seasons of 2007 and 2011. But you know, what?! This time, I’m doing it. And you couldn’t stop me even if you tried! Because this is my intro paragraph! Hmph!!! [composes herself]  Sorry about that. Fell into a tangent there. But yeah, the rest of the writers here on Star-Crossed and I are hella hyped for the upcoming season of anime. And if you’re not, then maybe reading about some of the shows we are looking forward to would help change your mind. Come get a taste of the good stuff!

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What will you be watching this spring?
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Middling Expectations

Zombieland Saga: Revenge

Studio: MAPPA
Director: Munehisa Sakai
Series composition: Shigeru Miyakoshi
Source: Original

Mario: Zombieland Saga’s first few episodes got off to a quick start by satirizing both the idol and zombie genres, but then it lost its footing just as quickly by becoming the very thing it poked fun at (and then there’s Koutarou). I certainly don’t think it has enough meat on its bones for a second outing, and while some plots remain open you could just as easily leave them as they are. From the look of the trailer, this second season promises to offer more of the same: shenanigans from the group with some interactions between the idol girls and some character-focused episodes. I’m actually waiting for more backstory for Tae (the one idol who still hasn’t awakened yet). If you’re a fan of the first season then there’s nothing that should stop you here, but others might want to approach it with caution.

Continue reading “Spring 2021 Anime Season Preview” →

Winter 2021 Summary – Weeks 9-10

by SuperWooper, posted in Weekly Summary

Wooper: Spring fever has gripped us prematurely here at Star Crossed. We all blanked on this column last week, and I nearly forgot to post it today – our anticipation for the upcoming spring season is starting to overshadow our attentiveness to this winter’s offerings. We managed to throw a little something together for today’s column, so consider it an appetizer for the final thoughts we’ll offer in a week or two.

Reincarnated As A Spider – 11

Amun: This outing of Reincarnated As A Spider is mostly a flashback…about another spooky spider: the Nightmare of the Labyrinth. Biggest takeaway is that our spider hero-chan (pun intended) isn’t the first spider to use magic and be super strong – this is apparently not that uncommon in the new world. This episode felt a lot like busy work, as it sets up the season for the finale. Still, it handled it adequately, so I have no complaints – I also don’t have any heaping praises either.

Back Arrow – 9-10

Wooper: This show moves so fast that it’s constantly catching up with itself, or else abandoning all hope of doing so. At the start of these episodes, only a handful of people in all of Lutoh are aware of Princess Fine’s split personality; by the end, the entire kingdom has seen her evil alter ego. She phases in and out of it as though someone were flipping a switch, which makes about as much sense as the origin of her duel personas: the transfused blood of a morbidly obese puppetmaster named Rudolph, who selected her to be Lutoh’s ruler. There’s so much explanation required to coordinate these sorts of developments, and since the series is full of them, that means its scripts are bursting with expository dialogue. Back Arrow is so absurd that its attempts at rationalization are usually pretty funny, but I actually prefer when the show breaks its own rules with no explanation at all. Arrow’s Briheight growing wings and turning into a sword at various points throughout episode 10 are prime examples. It doesn’t make sense on a mechanical level, but neither does anything else, so we’ve got no choice but to accept it and move on (or else drop the show, which I suspect most people have done already).

Continue reading “Winter 2021 Summary – Weeks 9-10” →

SK8 the Infinity – 09 [We Were Special Back Then]

by SuperWooper, posted in Finished Series: Sports, SK8 the Infinity

When I heard that SK8 would be getting a mid-cour recap episode, I figured I’d just delay my viewing of “We Were Special Back Then” and blog it during the show’s off week. Waiting may have been the wrong decision, though, as my interest in the series has dulled significantly since the last time I tuned in. This episode didn’t do much to change that, even with its array of crazy moves: wall kicks, handstand planks, steel beam surfing, and skateboards used as blunt instruments. To be fair, that last one did leave me grinning in disbelief, but there was a predictable air to the entire ‘Joe vs Snow’ race that sorely disappointed me. Whenever Joe pulled ahead via some feat of physical strength, Langa caught up as a matter of course, meaning that only the final minute of the race maintained any sort of tension. At one point Langa was trailing by a huge margin, having lost interest in the competition, when who should appear on the sidelines but his best friend Reki, screaming his name – and thus the gap was closed yet again. I’d be glad to see a nail in that trope’s coffin, but SK8 won’t be the show to put it there.

Continue reading “SK8 the Infinity – 09 [We Were Special Back Then]” →

Horimiya – 8-9 [The Truth Deception Reveals/It’s Hard, but Not Impossible]

by SuperWooper, posted in Finished Series: Romance, Horimiya

It makes sense that Horimiya would follow a heavy episode (like the one we got two weeks ago) with a lighter affair, so I was prepared for “The Truth Deception Reveals” to be a fluffy side character piece. What I wasn’t prepared for was how much I’d enjoy it – we’re talking ‘make the squeaky-voiced twintailed girl likeable’ levels of enjoyability here. The girl in question is Remi, and though she’s had a mostly benign impact on the show thus far, anime girls who sound like they’ve inhaled helium tend not to be my favorites. The flashbacks to her first few conversations with Sengoku, however, were pretty charming. Her interest in him stemmed from both his equal treatment of others and his obsession with reading, two things that an average teen girl might be attracted to. Not every teenager would provide such a gracious window for their crush to confess their feelings, though. “What would you do if the world were ending tomorrow?” practically begs a romantic answer when asked in an intimate setting, so good on Remi for snagging her man with such a foolproof trap.

Continue reading “Horimiya – 8-9 [The Truth Deception Reveals/It’s Hard, but Not Impossible]” →