Category: Other:

Revisions

Short Synopsis: A school is transported to a dangerous world and a group of friends must fight off robotic monsters.

Aidan’s review:
Well an impression of this show may be needless as you can watch the show in it’s entirely due to all 12 episodes being out on Netflix. No dub as of yet though. Now as stated before this is a show from the mind that brought us Code Geass and in a way you can see his style in the episode. The animation is full CGI but they at least seem to have realised that limiting the frames per second does not make it look like seamless 2D. The CGI isn’t what I would consider on the same level as Houseki and can be a bit too distracting at times but you can get used to it. The story itself has a good setup as well with a main protagonist with a big hero complex and a group of friends who are distinct enough to potentially become good characters. The only character I found rather off would be Milo, the futuristic cyber stripperarmour lady who’s so textbook that she might as well say “Come with me if you want to live.” The setting looks like it could lead to something interesting but I kept getting this feeling that this story could very easily take a nosedive considering who’s behind it. But so far I consider this at least a good start but maybe wait for people to watch the remaining episodes and get word online before giving it a shot.
Potential: 60%

Mario’s review:
My very first impression of this show is that I can never get used to this clunky CG model. It reminds me of Ajin few years ago which was the main reason why I dropped it. As for the story itself, at least in this first episode it fares much better. Yep, the main lead has a hero complex (and his tendency annoys the hell lot from his friends) but there’s a solid reasons behind that. The 5-member cast has some solid chemistry and the flashback has some neat moments here and there. It’s also neat to see how despite the main guy prepares everything for this very day, when the moment comes he’s freezed out of scare. What I’m not too sure is the present where it evolves into some sorts of mecha battles between the good guys vs bad guys, which is a road well trodden at this point. Surprisingly to say the characters’ chemistry, and not the sci fi settings or “saving the world” premise, is what I’m interested in. I will give it some more chance.
Potential: 30%

 

Meiji Tokyo Renka

Short Synopsis: A girl who can see ghosts is transported to the past to flirt with pretty boys

Aidan’s review:
You know when it comes to writing child trauma, maybe it’s best when the trauma makes sense? I mean this girl is ostracized cause she decided to openly talk to her little spirit friends at her own birthday party. So I am sitting here wondering how the goddamn parents neglected to tell her not to talk to her imaginary friends in front of her real ones. Also how is it that this girl never noticed that no one could see them before her fifth birthday? Well realism this series certainly isn’t going for but if it was the poor animation would break it in an instant. But the soundtrack is also just sickeningly saccharine and well our protagonist is an indistinct piece of wood. And yes, the pretty boy harem are disturbing violating her personal space. The first one introduced has barely known her for a minute before he’s feeling up her legs under the pretense of “Checking for wounds” Oh and our main girl has amnesia because of course she does. For Otome protagonists always have convenient amnesia for one reason or another. Honestly this Otome anime has the same problems as any otome anime, cheaply made, a self insert protagonist, a cast of stock pretty boys and a plot that only serves as a vehicle to interact with said pretty boys. Unless you have a fondness for these kinds of shows, I would give it a pass.
Potential: 0%

Lenlo’s review:
Ah, the obligatory hot-boy harem show of the season. Meiji is definitely not the most inspired of the genre, that’s for sure. From the the amnesia to the spurned from childhood for a ridiculous reason, this show is nothing but cliches. Granted some people like those cliches, and in that respect, Meiji serves it purposes well enough. Personally, I detest this genre, which makes me a particularly poor individual to do a first impressions on it. But I am the best you got! Suffice to say, if you like Male Harem shows, Meiji isn’t bad. However if that isn’t your fare, it’s best to stay away. Just like every other harem out there.
Potential: 5%

 

Girly Air Force

Short Synopsis: A teenage boy is rescued and kissed by an attractive female pilot, then gets the sudden, inexplicable urge to join the JASDF.

Aidan’s review:
Better call me a plane cause my mind was in auto-pilot for this one. It’s not as if I had high expectations from an anime called Girly Air Force but I wasn’t quite prepared for how inexplicable bored it made me. I quite literally fell asleep after the episode due to just having no interest whatsoever. It’s clear that the writer can’t write worth a damn with the story being so rote and cliche along with a slight undercurrent of racism. I mean the enemies a enemy group called the Xi who seem to have turned China into a hellscape where people are escaping the great and peaceful Nippon! The writer has jets pointless fight the super planes just to show how cannon fodder reguler planes are and why we need waifu power planes. Painted in shocking pink because why the hell not. But a bit of advice, if you wish to keep you super plane a secret maybe don’t just stroll it around town when it’s the most noticeable colour possible. I facepalmed when our blander than oatmeal protagonist just so happened to catch sight of the plane while he was busy moaning over that plane that saved him in the past. Plot contrivance is just all over the place with this one and whenever the author tries to inject drama he does it in the most predictable way possible. Random emotional hissy fit in the middle of an argument complete with exposition over why they be sad. On top of this the dogfight music sounds like something from a rave. Trite, predictable and boring would be the perfect one sentence review for this one.
Potential: 0%

Wooper’s review:
This is one of the worst anime I’ve ever seen. Usually, when a series is remarkably bad, I can shit on it and derive some amount of pleasure from the act, but Girly Air Force’s production feels like a cry for help. In my mind, this premiere is already a lock for Worst First Episode of 2019. Here are some things that I hated about it. The chaos at the start of the story attempts to depict the alien antagonists as threatening, but the hastily-sketched looks of confusion on their victims’ faces render the whole scene ineffective. The bedheaded main character’s obsession with the JSDF appears to spring from a kiss he shared with the female pilot who saves the day, despite the fact that they had never met before. The CG planes move through the air like they weigh as much as kites, and the interior backgrounds are lazy templates. The tension between potato-kun and his childhood friend is awful, with his petulant rejection of her concern reading like an allegory for the author’s frustration with his own mother. But the worst part has to be the minutes-long technical explanation of what recharges the magical red plane from the start of the episode. Spoilers: it’s the MC’s dick.
Potential: 0%

Yakusoku no Neverland

Short Synopsis: As an old friend leaves, two kids begin to realize the truth about their orphanage.

Aidan’s review:
Well this knocked it right out of the park. Clearly the best first episode of the season so far with a banger of an opening and a ending episode hook sure to nab anyone checking this out. The episode itself does a good job of laying out the characters and their particular gimmicks as well as alluding to small details and having are rather unnerving atmosphere. You know that something isn’t right here but you can’t quite put your finger on exactly what. Also props for not resorting to narration to explain what the setting was and instead showing enough for the viewer to figure things out by themselves. I originally pinned Boogiepop as my contender for season winner but sadly due to direction that ended up going wrong. This one the other hand is getting the care and attention it deserves so I can at least say that if you are not watching this in this season, you probably should be.
Potential: 90%

Lenlo’s review:
You know, I was really worried that I had ruined this series for myself by reading up on the manga. I can say now that even with the foreknowledge of what will happen, Neverland will hit its mark. It did a fantastic job of slowly ratcheting up the unease throughout the episode. Starting with children joking about eating each other. Games of tag and strategy. A creepy fence, to no one sending back their letters until a little girl gets walked out under a haunting tune. Slowly but surely Neverland ticked the dial forward scene by scene to really nail the ending, and nail that it did. The animation, camera angles and haunting yet hopeful vocals all blended perfectly, on to smash cut mid song. Fantastic. As Aidan said, Neverland did a great job laying out the setting and characters without a word of exposition, even managing to layout the central conflict and how it is mental rather than physical. As far as I am concerned, Neverland is a must watch of the season, of which I can only count 2 others.
Potential: 95%

 

Kemurikusa

Short Synopsis: A group of red-haired girls search for water and fight robotic bugs on a ruined island in the middle of nowhere.

Mario’s review:
This is basically a spiritual successor of Kemono Friends, in a season where the actual Kemono Friends sequel also airs. A near-apocalyptic settings where our cast fighting against Bugs? Check. A human appeared out of nowhere who doesn’t know why he got there? Check. Cute anthropomorphic/ non human designs? Check? Abandoned bus? Check. On that vein I’m mildly curious on how this one will go. I regard the settings in Kemono Friends where it hints that they might live within a dead world its greatest strength, so I’m more than happy to see this one further explores on that theme. The characters are hit-or-miss at the moment. I don’t mind the main cast (even the quadruplets), but the moment that human boy hits the screen everything goes for more cliche path. Of course he will become some needed brain in the group, right? It doesn’t help either that the dialogue is’t that great. The visual remains dark and grim so far, and the CG aesthetic could take some time to get used to. At the end of the day I don’t mind these shortcomings. Despite its inconsistency in both characters and story, it could offer something interesting and different than what we normally get these days.
Potential: 40%

Wooper’s review:
Kemurikusa is a mess. Its story is unclear, its would-be cute characters come off as stilted instead, and its CG visuals are incompetent. There’s a moment early in this episode where a character dips her hand into a pool of water, and it looks more like it’s phasing through a cement floor. The cast’s modeled walk cycles clash terribly with their dull, blue-gray environment, and the action scenes are handicapped by their limited range of motion. What else could you expect, though, given the look of director Tatsuki’s previous work? I’m in no mood to explain his past success by overpraising this new series, but there are a couple things about it that you might like: a watery N64-era soundtrack with a mysterious vibe, clone quadruplets in maid outfits, the sense of being totally lost as an audience member. That last one is where I struggled most with this premiere, because while I’m not a fan of needless exposition, I also need a reason to come back each week, and a story that seems to be set nowhere in particular isn’t going to provide that for me. Kemono Friends was a smash hit in Japan, but I have my doubts about Kemurikusa’s viability, especially since there’s no lovestruck penguin to provide a bunch of free publicity this time around.
Potential: 10%

 

Kakegurui xx

Short Synopsis: By the magic of Gambling God, heirs from powerful gambling families all attend this high school to fight against our main character.

Mario’s review:
This new season of Kakegurui starts off on a strong note. Its production is noticeably more polished than ever (the OP is a visual highlight, for example), and it successfully establishes the cores of Kakegurui in this premiere. The game they play this week, for example, ups its stake to an insane level. But saying that, embracing its core isn’t necessary brings out all its good aspects. There’s often the case the whoever challenges our lead girl has some sorts of “cheat” and the moments they spell out their advantages it loses all the thrills for me. Secondly, it has a totally useless recap (with the song from first season’s OP so at least there was something I can still enjoy) that in no way the new audience would understand anything except for “stuffs happened in the past”. It also introduces a whole new set of opponents that pretty much set what this second season will be about. I’m not sure if I will follow this second season, given I’m not that fond with the first, but this episode’s production is something I need to give praise for.
Potential: 40%

Wooper’s review:
Hey, it’s more Kakegurui. This episode had more lens flare and color filters than ever, thanks to the jarring music video/recap they inserted midway through the proceedings. And check out the simulated shaky cam movement during the latter portion of the guillotine game, which feels about as natural as the show’s premise. Kakegurui packs in plenty of detail where it counts, but these production techniques really snapped my strings during this episode. These gripes are personal, though; if you’ve already seen the first season, you should know whether it’s worth the trip to your favorite torrent site to get the sequel. If not, this episode actually works as a decent jumping-off point. Gambling Chicks isn’t much more complicated than, “Insane girl out-gambles student council every week,” and the closing scene spoon-feeds us the names and appearances of all Yumeko’s future opponents. I don’t feel as though Kakegurui’s simple format lives up to the ‘psychological’ tag it often receives, but if you’re down with the show’s concept, you’ll probably have a good time.
Potential: 50%

Dororo

Short Synopsis: The cursed child of a Samurai Lord must hunt down the demons to whom he was sacrificed to in order to reclaim his body and confront his father.

Lenlo’s review:
Alright Dororo, I am in. This is the first of the season that I am legitimately excited about. The episode sets up the world, the story, the characters and none of is simplistic. We have the demons/ghouls that it appears our lead must fight, slowly earning back parts of their body and ruining their father Daigo’s wish. We have Daigo himself who will no doubt hunt down our lead now that his wish is in peril and he learns his son is alive. And finally we have the cursed child who fights blind, deaf and with no real limbs, and a charismatic thief kid. Honestly I loved every second of it and was sad to see it end. The story is rich, thanks no doubt to Tezuka, and the animation is crisp and stylish, thanks to MAPPA. It also helps that Dororo, because it originates as a 1960’s manga, just feels different than everything else coming out. It is a story from a different era of the medium, with none of the modern trappings, written by one of the greats. Bring me more Dororo!
Potential: 95%

Mario’s review:
It’s a pretty solid start for Dororo. As expected from the source material of the great Osamu Tezuka, this first episode already provides some moral complexity to its world. This premiere serves more as a prologue to a story to come but it does extremely well of setting up the conflict and introduces the main characters in play. We have some memorable characters, and the main duo in particular could serve as an interesting leads to follow. Visually, it looks stylish with memorable character designs and some striking shots. This could prove to be the breakout hit of the season.
Potential: 70%

 

Watashi ni Tenshi ga Maiorita!

Short Synopsis: A college-aged woman becomes smitten with a fifth grade girl and bribes her with sweets so she’ll model different outfits for her.

Wooper’s review:
Doga Kobo is on a roll with these pedo-baiting comedies. Uzamaid went off the air just two weeks ago, and Watashi ni Tenshi has already arrived to fill the void. To be fair (if fairness is even required when talking about a show like this), Doga Kobo’s usual cutesy production works in Wataten’s favor, with softened backgrounds and an emphasis on character movement to keep things visually interesting. These elements might also create an innocent atmosphere that lessens the strangeness of the show’s premise, depending on who you ask. Since this is my review, I’m going to assume you’re asking me, to which I’ll answer, “No they fucking don’t.” No amount of conflicted internal monologuing about the “funny, squirmy feeling” in your chest can make me like your perverted character, especially not when she’s characterized with such an insultingly dumb mix of tropes: totally kawaii with no friends, baker extraordinaire, closeted cosplay geek. This is practically a Hallmark movie for lolicons. Not only does she fall in love with her little sister’s friend at first sight, but the weird level of attachment between the sisters themselves could only be considered subtle by Japanese standards. Both the series’ key visual and the ED promise more elementary school girls for the MC to creep on, so if you love this sort of anime, you’d better get down on your knees and thank Satan for the bounty you’re about to receive.
Potential: 5%

Mario’s review:
Do you find any of this funny?? Just right after UzaMaid we have another show about older woman who has strange obsessions to primary school kid. It has a nice, soft art styles and some nice animated overreactions, but apart from those it leaves the bad taste in the mouth. This older girl acts exactly like a creepy otaku who is even shyer than her 6-year-old little sister and the source of humor comes mostly from how awkwardly this little-Reina-chan behaves. It tries hard for being cute both with her several attempts of “get close” to this poor girl, and for this young girl and her love for sweets. If you find these two elements funny the you’re gonna be fine with this show, others might steer away.
Potential: 0%

 

Rinshi!! Ekoda-chan

Short Synopsis: The private life of a 24-year-old woman, Ekoda-chan.

Mario’s review:
So we have 4-minute length of actual episode and the rest is a interview footage from the director and Ekoda-chan seiyuu. For that I believe it should be considered as actual part for this anime adaptation. It was frankly a joyous 4-minute short I’ve seen in recent memories with a lead that has so much “naked” personality and mature but realistic humor. The fun here is how she sees the world and people around her, at the same times feel a bit insecure about her love life and this episode nails it with its visual and its “rhythm”. The bigger chunk of this episode is about the interview with the crew involved including the director and the Voice Actress and by that we can see how their own views on Ekoda-chan, some of their personality and especially their chemistry together. It was a whole lot fun to watch, and although I would love for more actual animated content in the episode, I will definitely tune in to watch this every week.
Potential: “feel like New York”

Wooper’s review:
As Mario mentioned above, this is a short series with a lengthy real-life conversation stapled to the end. As Ekoda-chan is set to have a different director and voice actor for each episode, this could be a treat for fans of specific seiyuu or the creative process at large. Neither of those labels applies to me, though, so I bailed halfway through the real life segment. The anime itself was much more interesting, centering on a 24 year old hostess “looking for love and a better life,” in her own words. Her job is suffocating, her boyfriend is a wet blanket, and her friends are getting paired off left and right, but Ekoda-chan seems more interested in life’s mundanities than she is worried about its troubles. She’s too busy wrestling with her favorite dog, trapping house-invading lizards, and running over a horde of crabs in her family’s truck to succumb to despair over the state of her existence. I expect that her quirkiness will be peeled back in future episodes to reveal a much more neurotic young woman, but due to the revolving door of directors, there’s no way to know that for certain. This one, at least, has some snappiness to it thanks to Akitarou Daichi, whose past experience with short comedies like Sexy Commando Gaiden and Gag Manga Biyori served him well here. One episode isn’t enough to judge whether this series will be any good, but the atypical format and unique main character have me on board for now.
Potential: ???

Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari

Short Synopsis: A college student is transported to another world, where he must train to defend a medieval kingdom with nothing but an enchanted shield.

Lenlo’s Review:
For the required Isekai of the season, it’s surprisingly not a terrible fare. Shield Hero surprised me by taking the general premise where the Isekai Hero starts OP and above everyone else and throws it out the window. I like that our hero has to work from the bottom, with the potential for power in the sword, but clear deficiencies in combat and being behind everyone else in terms of gear, money and respect. He basically has to be a tank. So long as Shield Hero doesn’t try to turn him into some combat badass and keeps him in the support role, the unflappable tank who only sets up the win for other characters, I think I could really enjoy this. To address the Animal Girl in the room though, I am not inherently against the slavery aspect. The hero is already at the bottom rung of society, so he can no doubt relate and connect to the slaves. That’s basically what he is with these “Waves”. So I think the slavery aspect could make for some interesting character relationships. What bothers me is that the first/main companion/slave is an animal girl that will no doubt eventually fall for him, ala Stockholm Syndrome. I think that is an icky, creepy relationship to focus and build on and I really hope Shield Hero has more restraint than that. We will have to wait and see. Finally, visually, Shield Hero isn’t anything special. There is some smooth motion when fighting the balloon monsters, but we have yet to reach any kind of set piece. So I would call it average in this department so far. Regardless, it has my interest enough that I am gonna keep up with it for at least a few more weeks.
Potential: 45%

Mario’s review:
Why do these isekai anime love game mechanics so much? Everytime these game mechanics spelled out, they basically lost me. “Status options” on the screen; level up? For most of Tate double-length premiere it runs as a typical isekai, and that’s exactly the point because up to half-an-hour mark the show reveals its hands. It’s a good thing that our protagonist hits rock bottom and we see how he eventually becomes cynical. Has to gain the power, respect and even companion himself without any “cheat” is always a welcome. What worries me however is the end. Not necessary about the “slavery’ aspect, but more that it’s still self-fulfilling in the end: he still gets a comrade who happens to be bloody hot (demi) girl. So what makes or breaks a show is how well it makes him suffer because the more he goes through some real drama the more earned his efforts will be. Visually it doesn’t impress me but knowing this is from Kinema Citrus I have my full trust. I’m also worried that characters can fall into common tropes since aside from our titular characters, the others are quite stock characters. Considered that was the point before the “twist”, we will have to see how well-developed of this new girl in the next episode.
Potential: 30%

 

Ueno-san wa Bukiyou

Short Synopsis: A genius schoolgirl attempts to attract her clubmate’s interest via lewd inventions and situations.

Lenlo’s Review:
The only short I have really finished to completion was last season’s Honda-san. And even then, I found myself not all that enthused by it at the end. That puts Ueno-san already at a disadvantage, because I find it visually and thematically inferior to Honda-san in every way. The topic of a middle-schooler trying to get a boys attention is dull, the dialogue is dull, the visuals are washed out. At least Honda-san had an interesting style, it generated colorful and engaging screens, even if they didn’t move much. Ueno-san though is just… dull. I keep saying that word, but it’s the best way to describe it. It took me 30 minutes to finish a 10 minute short because I had to force myself through it. Suffice to say, this is a hard pass for me.
Potential: 0%

Wooper’s review:
I’m a fan of half-length anime comedies, but given how cheaply produced and one-note they tend to be, what counts the most is often their subject matter. In Ueno-san’s case, we’re dealing with a girl who wants a boy to notice her, but can’t think of a way to attract his attention apart from using him as a guinea pig in her perverted science experiments. This isn’t a bad premise in isolation, but the series is so invested in the shy, unable-to-confess -dere trope that it dominates the proceedings. Ueno-san’s inability to tell her crush that she likes him doesn’t offer any commentary on young love beyond, “It’s hard to admit that you like somebody.” Her red twintails and white-pupiled eyes make for an attention-grabbing design (the one redeeming feature of this episode), and if the ED is any indication, plenty more girls will be introduced in the coming weeks. If that’s your bag, Ueno-san might be worth 11 minutes every week, but based on this premiere, it isn’t worth mine.
Potential: 10%

 

Pastel Memories

Short Synopsis: Four girls working in a manga cafe try to find a collection of lost manga.

Lenlo’s Review:
Pastel Memories managed to successfully draw me in, get me interested, and then lose me completely all within the same episode. I was all for the fluffy concept of bringing back Otaku culture one series at a time. Scouring a dead series or genre to bring it back, because it meant something special to someone. That is an interesting, episodic concept to me and gives them a lot of freedom to play around with. They could animate different or present each story differently, in the style of the manga or series they are hunting down that week. But then at the end they randomly become magical girls fighting some virus? And this virus is no doubt responsible for the death of Otaku culture no doubt I am sure. It’s like a completely different show and it confuses the shit out of me. Not to mention that this supposedly failing cafe run by children somehow has enough revenue to not only support 10 employees, but to have them running around looking for manga all day. Pastel Memories had the base for a fun, wholesome, episodic series about Otaku culture and proceeded to completely ignore it for the lowest common denominator magical girl tripe. Color me surprised with a healthy dose of pastel, cause I am done and not coming back.
Potential: 0%

Mario’s review:
It’s another anime set in Akihabara that aims squarely on the otaku culture. While I can safely say that I’m not within the target audience, the very concept of reviving a lost culture is an interesting one for me. So the part where the team searches for the full collection of the manga works well enough for me. Sadly though, I’m never sold on the setting itself. The cast works in an otaku cafe where they hardly have any customer, but I counted like 10 people working there. There isn’t a clear time set (how many years since it loses its fandom?), and I find it strange that these manga stores don’t have some sort of network before. But the most head-scratching part comes down at the end, where supposedly the girls have to go the another dimension to destroy virus? Where the heck does that part come from? It feels like another show entirely. It’s jarring no matter how you look at it.
Potential: 10%

Boogiepop wa Warawanai (2019)

Short Synopsis: A teenage boy meets his crush’s costumed alter ego, Boogiepop, as rumors about disappearing girls spread through their high school.

Lenlo’s Review:

Ah, a new year, new season, time for a new first impressions post. What’s this, a mystery thriller about an urban legend and an angel of death? Why I would love to! A full explanation on what the Boogiepop is from an unreliable narrator? A split personality that appears in women, and then proceeds to murder or kill the thing murdering other young women? Social gossip? Well sure, sounds good I- wait, what’s happening? This is a lot of talking and not much really happening. Why does this entire episode suddenly feel more like a standalone than a series introduction? What is even happening anymore? Suffice to say, Boogiepop intrigued me at the start and then, over the course of 25 minutes, proceeded to completely lose my interest. It raised a bunch of questions, answered them unsatisfactorily and then basically shoved off. Its like Boogiepop thinks throwing you straight in the deep end of psychological disorders, myths and legends, and murder is a good way to start a show. I like it enough to give it another chance with the next episode or two, but as is, my interest in the series is lower than it has been since it was announced. Here’s hoping that’s just first episode blues for a notoriously hard genre to pull off though.

Potential: 40%

Wooper’s review:

I never got into the original Boogiepop adaptation, which first aired 19 years ago. Based on the first few episodes, my impressions were that it was gloomily lit, oppressively moody, and quite difficult to follow. For fans of the 2000s series who loved that challenging atmosphere, the fear surrounding this newer version must be that it will become too accessible. Those fears can be put to rest, however, since this first episode was an understated, non-linear collection of conversations that promised no easy answers. Though the premiere offers an explanation for who or what Boogiepop is, it’s not a complete one – in fact, it seems downright misleading. There are quick cuts to bits of murderous violence at several points throughout the episode, which echo the gossip swirling throughout the school where the episode plays out. The desired mood here is clearly unease, and the show does a few things to achieve it: hiring Kensuke Ushio to compose a droning electronic score, setting many of its scenes during the late afternoon to give its characters an odd glow, etc. Some of these efforts are hamstrung, though, by jerky animation, instances of muddy dialogue, and character designs (immediately recognizable as Parasyte knockoffs) that don’t seem to fit the series’ mystery-laden mood. Word on the street is that the second episode (which is already available online) is an improvement, so seek it out if you’re interested. As for me, after just one go, I’d say the series has my interest, but not my enthusiasm.

Potential: 50%

Aidan’s review:

Boogiepop started this season with a double episode premiere and as you likely seen from my preview, I walked into this one with great expectations. The first episode was slow, the animation of was surprisingly underwhelming(I don’t understand why it was decided to make extras faceless.) but at least it was fairly accurate to what I read from the novel and considered the double episode premiere to be a good move considering how the story works as a slow burn. Then I walked into episode two and just what in the holy hell happened here? What was supposed to happen was that we would see events from the new protagonist but instead it appears they opted for a different method for showing the rest of this story. Which is by chopping up the rest of the novel and rearranging in a manner to make it as confusing as possible. Truly I am flabbergasted. I don’t see the artistic expression of making your narrative harder to follow and in many ways it kills the story as characters are no on screen long enough to grow attached to, the story leaps back and forward in time with no abaddon and it’s hard to become invested when you are too busy figuring out just what the hell is going on. The focus should have been on showing the inner thoughts of the characters through animation, not on this ridiculous editing for the sake of…whatever they are trying to accomplish. I am hoping that this was a one episode thing or that once a new arc starts that they come to their senses and realise this is idiocy. And maybe I can see that beautiful animation that the first PV showcased appear.

Potential: 30%

 

Egao no Daika

Short Synopsis: A 12 year old princess ascends to the throne of a prosperous country, not knowing that it’s at war with the neighboring Empire.

Lenlo’s Review:

Ah, the lolibait of the season. This time with a princess idol who battles in robot mecha chess. I’ll be perfectly honest, I have no idea what I just watched. Egao no Daika is trying to do… everything really. Mystery plot over this “incident” and her parents, romance between her and her bodyguard, action with giant mecha battles. It’s all over the place. That said, the mecha battle itself actually… wasn’t terrible. If you can ignore all of the context around everything that happens in this show and just enjoy the mecha battles, you may have fun with it. If not though, just skip it. Egao no Daika’s author just shoved every trope they could find into one story, so I am sure you can find something you like better elsewhere in the season.

Potential: 5%

Wooper’s review:

Why is a 12 year old princess entrusted with the fate of an entire country just because her parents died?
Why does her first address to the nation look like an idol concert, complete with glow sticks and ridiculous crowd reactions?
Why are all the outfits and hairstyles so needlessly elaborate (and therefore difficult to animate)?
Why are there twin characters whose last name is literally “Vanquish”?
Why does one of them oppose the princess’ rule on the grounds of her naiveté, only to be charmed by that same trait fifteen seconds later?
Why do two high-ranking, ostensibly well-informed members of the government suddenly explain their country’s history to each other, complete with a holographic display that looks like a video game menu screen?
Why was there a need to refer to a futuristic-looking game with a green 6×5 board and pushpin-looking pieces as “chess”?
Why doesn’t the princess have anything better to do than to watch her bodyguard engage in a CG simulated mech battle with the Vanquish twins?
Why does she suddenly become a strategic genius midway through the battle, despite having lost horribly to her advisor at “chess” (and then questioning whether strategic thinking was “really something she needed”) just thirty minutes earlier?
Why are anime characters still vowing to “protect her smile” in 2019?
Why did I watch this show?

Potential: Why?

 

W’z

Short Synopsis:  A middle-school boy moonlighted as DJ in the virtual world and attracts fair share of enemies who are Hand Shakers

Lenlo’s Review:

I just got tricked into watching a sequel to Hand Shakers. What the hell.

I won’t even say watch this if you liked Hand Shakers, because no one liked Hand Shakers.

Potential: 0%

Mario’s review:

So this is indeed a sequel of HandShakers. It features the new cast so you don’t need any prior knowledge to watch it. Although the question remains: why bother watching it? As you might aware HandShakers is a rare anime that fails in arguably every single department (it fails so hard that it belongs to so-bad-it’s-good camp, but that’s another matter), and so far with W’z it doesn’t look like they’re gonna change. It has the exact same aesthetic as the screen in bathed in bluey filter. Characters look the same and they never talk like real human. We haven’t gotten into the fights yet so I’m not commenting on the CG battles yet, but the CG background characters stick out like a sore thumb. Even the main plot now is nonsensical. The only way you can enjoy this show is to set your expectation to be as low as HandShakers.

Potential: high chance of becoming the worst anime of 2019 by a landslide

Aidan’s review:

Honestly this is truly impressive. GoHands, never have I seen a studio so utterly full of confidence in their own style…and so utterly oblivious to their own failings. Try searching for my old impression of a series called K that they made before. Everything I said there applies here. They are repeating, every single failing. The pointless starting fight scene, the crap CGI, the BL baiting, the utter overuse of filters and lighting that washes out the screen along with characters so stock they still got the wrapping paper on. At this point a studio would learn, if they didn’t then they would at least learn after making one of the worst anime trainwrecks in Hand Shakers. But not only have they learned nothing…they made a sequel to Hand Shakers. What should be a complete black mark on their history and they made a bloody sequel to it. I don’t understand. Do they not want to be successful? Do they not want to make money? Are they under some mistaken impression of being animation visionaries? Because under all the scum of this series it does feel like there is genuine effort being put in but it’s all for naught when the package is an utter disaster such as this.

Potential: When are you declaring bankruptcy GoHands?