Category: Other:

Dive!!

Short Synopsis: A boy’s local diving club is given a chance to aim for the Olympics.

This series has a very…happy vibe. Not sure how to put it but something about the dialogue has an artificial positivity to it. Still I appreciate the effort to have a story here as opposed to just having 13 episodes of manservice. Though the manservice is here, have no doubt about that. In fact I am not normally one to normally point this out but the protagonists interest in his senpai seems to border on homosexual here. Thing is I don’t quite know if it’s intentional or not. I mean they spend time showing his complete disinterest in his girlfriend and being bothered that his senpai found out about his girlfriend. The signals here make it seem to be going in that direction. If so i say go for it and don’t try to back out by dressing it up as camaraderie. Also I am not fond of the way they add a water effect to the character’s skin. Makes it look like the protagonists are made out of water and it’s off putting. I can’t say I have much interest in this as don’t really care about diving and the story so far just doesn’t really catch me.

Potential: 30%

Mario: One thing that really irks me about this series is how they set a very unrealistic and over the top goal here. Aim for Tokyo Olympics? Gosh. Remember those guys train in a local club? I mean, the whole prospect isn’t entirely impossible; but as a fellow who studied sports in uni, I can’t let it slide easily. High-performance sport is something they have to work hard, sweat, tears and blood to gain it, not some opportunity that open to them, thus I feel that the show so far is way too easy on its characters; although I’ll wait until next week to hear what the female coach has to propose. Other than that, although I’m fairly alright with the whole diving sports treatment, the main guy’s idol is wayyyy too perfect to feel like a normal human. The animation for those divings is overall solid, but characters as a whole still leave a lot to be desired. Not the best show for this noitaminA slot, but well it’s passable.

Potential: 40%

 

Saiyuuki Reload Blast

Short Synopsis:  A group of men travel across the country fighting demons.

I don’t know what it is but this is also an anime with a source from a bygone era. In this case it’s a sequel to a series that originally aired in 2004 which in turn was a sequel to a show that aired in 2003 which in turn was a sequel to an anime which aired in 2000. Can’t really say why it seemed to deserve a fourth sequel now as there was nothing in this episode that really sold me on it. In fact if this is the fourth sequel to the series it must be rather disheartening to see the characters be such one note stereotypes. Normally when your anime reaches the one hundred episode mark it’s time to get the endgame started but this seems no closer to a conclusion than from where it started. Now I am a fan of seeing demons get shot in that face, I play doom after all. But this just seems to have nothing really to offer. It’s clear the story is going nowhere and the plot is already rather dated. I don’t think many will be willing to check this one out seeing as you need to get through 3 prequels first.

Potential: 10%

 

Mario: Inspired obviously from Journey to the West with updated, throw-up overdesigned “cool” characters, who fight demons with “cool” weapons and mutters ridiculously “cool” lines. Yeah so right in the beginning the quartet doesn’t impress me at all. And it’s going to be a hard sell for me since the series is about their journey quest to fight demons so I have to care about those four. Furthermore, the actions feel so disorienting, I don’t get all the quick panning shots and blood splattering to the camera at all. As far as this first story goes it’s functional but it also leaves a lot to be desired. All the side characters are one-note for once, and I have a problem with how they treat the poor insane woman (not in term how they physically treat her, but more about her roles in this story since they’re all over the place). Make no mistake, this an action-packed road trip style-over substance one, so if you’re a fan of action, or you like the endless banters from those four then by all mean keep watching it. I will go back to my usual slice of life fix.

Potential: 10%

 

Konbini Kareshi

Short Synopsis: Young love around a convenience store.

Man, I suddenly have an inexplicable craving to get on a plane to Japan and shop in a Japanese convenience store…is likely what the creators of this anime want you to think. Pretty blatant product placement here but that aside this unfortunately is one of those anime that is completely outside my interests. The more anime mirrors reality then the less I want to watch it. Speaking purely objectively I don’t think there’s anything I would consider bad though the character designs seem on the bland side. Particularly the male character designs as they have the stereotypical tall long necked bishi look. As for personality I can’t say I find anyone here particularly unique or likeable. On top of that this feels like a shoujo romance story with all the “will they won’t they” and generally unwillingness to commit. From my standpoint it feels like a very dull show but once again this isn’t my kind of show.

Potential: 20%

Mario:  This show ends up being a mixed bag for me. On one hand, it has many elements that I greatly enjoy, but then other factors just actively push me away from the show. Since what this show loves to do most is to pair up, I will pair its pros and cons to strengthen my point. First, the character designs are attractive all around, but they are just way too perfect, moreover look much older than their age that most of the time I have an impression that I was looking at some fake models than actual characters. The music has some memorable moments, but other aural parts like dialogues feel unnatural. I find myself mildly care to the main’s romance, but when there’s going to be 4 or 5 pairs like that (revolving around a convenience store no less) my mind just stop caring. And, one thing that I love the most from this series; when two characters have a conversation but they don’t show the characters conversing, they show montages of their activities instead – great visual storytelling that focus on small, observant details, but then it all goes to waste since the show cares much more about romance and hooking up than developing their characters. Frankly, if the character designs are more “humble” I would give it another chance, but since they already look like supermodels AKA THE PERFECT HUMAN SPECIES that most of the time stare blankly and smile creepily, I believe I’ve reached my limits.

Potential: 40%

Nana Maru San Batsu

Short Synopsis: A boy is scouted to join his school’s quiz club.

At this point I think the anime sports formula could work for practically everything. Though what makes it work here is that competitive quizzing is actually an interesting topic. I previously thought that all you needed to succeed in a quiz was a high knowledge base but it seems that being able to predict the questions is something of a higher priority. The quiz aspects of this episode made good entertainment but as for everything else it was rather typical. We really didn’t need that recurring panty joke. Overall the subject material could make it a decent watchable show though it does have the same problem every sports anime does. The fact that we are only going to get barely stated by the time the ending comes around to throw in a life goes on ending that’s never to be continued. So it could be fun while it lasts.

Potential: 40%

 

Mario: Man, whatever this show tries to sell me, it sure has succeeded. Function like a sport series, they have to sell the unique appealing of fast-buzz quiz and now I WANT MORE. Not only you need to know the answer, you have to predict the question and respond it before anyone else. So the stake is there, and I’m digging how the show depicts even a millisecond could make a difference. Apart from the quiz itself, everything else is just below par. Most cringe-worthy is that panty recurring jokes. No reason to be there, no reason to be repeated at all. The animation is quite limited and the character designs are simple, too simple. The plot does hint that they will play in some sort of competition and honestly I’m looking forward for it. Could be a good in-between watch between big shows.

Potential: 30%

 

Youkai Apartment no Yuuga na Nichijou

Short Synopsis: A student moves into an apartment which is filled with Youkai.

As a adaption of a novel that started in 2003 it’s no wonder that this series feels a bit old fashioned.  To some that might be a benefit that it harkens back to the days of old anime but it does feel a little dated. Having read further on in the manga adaption I can say that I found the story more engaging in that format. Something here feels rather lifeless and it lacks the story weight of the manga adaption, though I have yet to read the original novels. I am hoping that in later episodes it could do something to remedy that as I do think that the source story was actually rather interesting. Though the comedy was rather flat in both adaptations. For those that like shows like Natsume or crave a more classic style of anime storytelling this could your thing.

Potential: 40%

 

Mario: I think I get the main appeal of Youkai Apartment; it’s a throwback anime that reminisce the older style anime with simple character designs and even simpler plot; like how this show reminds me a great deal of Maison Ikkoku with a supernatural youkai twist on top, but compare this show with that giant classic would do it a disservice. So apart from that, how do I feel about this premiere? Well, mixed. The premise has some potential here as I can see the main guy learn and become acquainted to the Youkai monsters in his everyday life, and an ongoing romance with the girl (for how there happened to be a girl his age that attractive live under the same roof with him, I just… shake my head). But other factors fall flat: Comedy falls flat. Horror/ thriller falls flat. The friendship between him and his best friend falls flat. I don’t really hate what I saw here but it doesn’t have any lasting impact for me at all, sadly.

Potential: 20%

 

Tsurezure Children

Short Synopsis: A series of shorts about various romantic couples.

Tsurezure Children likely broke a world record here as the first episode has not one, not two but four successful confessions of love in one 12 minute episode. Boy is that satisfying to watch. This is pretty great as the shorts are quick enough to not overstay their welcome. There is a good mixture of romance and comedy with the romance being delightfully fluffy while the comedy is witty. Personal favorite of this episode was the student council president and the delinquent girl. Harem protagonists, take notes for this guy is a master alpha. I don’t often recommend short series but in this case if you happen to need some healing after a long day then this would be perfect for you.

Potential: 80%

Mario: Can’t believe the first real hit of this season for me is a romance short anime takes place in high school with 4-koma format; but it is and it makes me feel glad that I give every show a chance for this first impressions. The first episode hits right off the mark with 4 confessions from different pairs and they manage to make all of them compelling. And funny. And heartfelt. Witty dialogues everywhere but they manage to make them much deeper than their apparent traits. Usually the biggest problem with 4-koma adaptation in general is the skits doesn’t connect to one another, yet in Tsurezure Children this is its biggest strength. Furthermore, this show isn’t your typical sweet romance either, it isn’t afraid to get weird or extreme and boy do I love its guts. As far as short series go this one has my highest recommendation.

Potential: 70%

Knight’s & Magic

Short Synopsis: A programer dies and is reincarnated into another world with robots and magic.

Wow this is a pretty terrible adaption. I mean I don’t really care because I wasn’t fond of the source material in the first place but they really are not approaching this in the right way. This episode burned through 9 manga chapters and about half the novel at my estimate and it really hurts the story. The side characters had some development in the novel and manga but here they are pure side dressing to make the main character look good. But yeah, consider this the playbook of every Isekai cliche you can think of. Might be fine for some but stories like this lose their appeal quick once the protagonist becomes an unbeatable god that no villain can possible even threaten. Thus a story where a self insert character steamrolls over enemies while having every woman in the vicinity fall madly in love with them is just weak power fantasy. Pass on this.

Potential: 0%

 

Mario: Well, Knight’s & Magic is much more functional than I initially give credits too, as the pacing maintains its beat and there could be a decent story out of this. But it has many issues too, the main character, beside his enthusiasm for Silhouette Knight (a mecha robot), has very very bland personality. It embraces all its isekai cliché so far, like how he took advantage of knowledge from his previous life to make a magic gun. The characters are nothing stand out, but we aren’t for characters, we’re here for some (magic) action and as far as that goes, it does a decent job. This show will have nothing deep to say but it will give you some reasonably entertaining action, although I suspect the plot will get dull later on.

Potential: 30%

 

Koi to Uso

Short Synopsis: A boy decides to confess to his crush before the government assigns him a marriage partner.

I get that the theme of this show is to point out the artificiality and lovelessness of having an authority figure decide who you will spend the rest of your life with. After all doesn’t a marriage of convenience pale in comparison with true love? Oh I get it alright. It’s just that I have a hard time siding with our doomed lovers here. For one these two just sat on their feelings for over ten years until it was too late. And another, they feel in love because the boy lent her half his eraser in kindergarten. That’s all it took huh? Oh and wow you both kept the eraser because it was such a precious memory and…I’m sorry. I am having a hard time buying this as true love here. Well this show is a good bit trite and contrived as the writing tries to make the situation as tragic as possible. The protagonists phone glitches out and somehow shows his crush as his arranged marriage partner(Um…somehow.) Right then the government lackeys show up to hand him the form for his real marriage partner. Delivering it to the park…wait how did they know he was there? Also why go out of their way to send two people to deliver an envelope? At the stroke of midnight? Yes, I figure we aren’t supposed to think about it too much. Oh tragic love, torn apart by the evils of society and our protagonist chained to a women he does not love. Forever to never follow his heart…up until she lends him a pen or something and then everything will be fine and dandy.

Potential: 20%

 

Mario: Forbidden fruits are always the sweetest huh? I’m glad that I watched Tsurezure Children before this because we have another confession episode here, albeit drags longer and with overblown melodrama tone. The plot feels really contrived and forced when you get down to it: the guy confesses his crush the day before his 16th birthday, which also a day he will have a government’s assigned partner. Wait for 5 hours for a girl, until the minute he decided to leave, she appears. The girl happens to love him all along, and of course fate can’t allow them to be together. When the time comes that they have to separate, tears awaited. The main guy isn’t interesting at all, make me question how any girl would fall for him, let alone this attractive one. This show’s central theme is right on your face: a love triangle between true love and lust/physical/ whatever, but I do enjoy my time here. The triangle will become more apparent as the next episode will feature the other girl, so I’m still sold to watch the next one to check her character out. Scum’s Wish probably is the king about melodrama dark triangle love and while I don’t think Koi to Uso can reach that level, fans of romance will have something to shout at here in this series.

Potential: 30%

 

Isekai Shokudou

Short Synopsis: A restaurant in our modern world serves meals to beings from a fantasy land.

It’s an alright watch. I appreciate the animes efforts to give this anime more of a story as the original source material was basically people ending up at the restaurant and being amazed over the food. Judging from the second episode preview however it looks like thats whats coming in later episodes. It is a better take on Isekai than most but I really wish the other worlds wasn’t so uninspired and stereotypical. I do appreciate that this show didn’t going for the so called “Foodgasm” much like other food porn shows like Shokugeki no Soma. But story wise I don’t see it offering more than it already has. A fantasy outlander comes in for a meal, gasps over how good it is and thus thinks it’s some mythical meal of outstanding quality. When really it’s just an ordinary restaurant in our world. Where can it really go from here? Still the characters are likable and the first episode was entertaining enough to keep my attention for twenty five minutes. Plus the girl with the goat horns is rather adorable. At the moment this is a good inbetween show to pass the time. Though how it fairs from this point will determine just how memorable this will be.

Potential: 60%

Mario: This is so nerve-wrecking… you know, the suspenseful feeling in Master Chief or My Kitchen Rules when the judge tastes the food and contemplates – the foods that we never have a chance to taste to begin with – thus why should we care. There’s so much foods in this show that it borders on the level of your regular cooking show. The fantasy mix is another catch, so far it’s a miss and hit as they never really explore the people from other worlds’ origins, save for the main girl. On the other hand, I absolutely love the designs of the two leads and the restaurant. They’re so attractive that I can’t get my damn eyes off. The girl’s backstory though, told in a flashback fashion, isn’t great to be honest. Just a few lines of explanatory would be sufficient enough but they decide to drag them out. One more questionable factor I noticed while watching this show is despite (or maybe because of) its premise, there are a fan-service undertone here: the customers’ “satisfied” face, the girl taking showers… They’re not blatant so I can let it pass for now. Lastly, the chemistry between the leads are quite good so far. So in the end we have a show with solid main components: (great) food-porn, likable cast that have good chemistry together, and a hint of fantasy on top. Not all of them work well together but it’s good enough for me.

Potential: 50%

Kakegurui

Short Synopsis: A girl transfers to a school where students engage in high stakes gambling.

This series has one of the worst cases of unnecessary school setting that i have ever seen. By all accounts it makes no sense whatsoever for a school to approve itself turning into a gambling den as soon as classes are over or that anyone would tolerate kids gambling real money and getting reduced to a slave. It’s honestly funny that when a gamble is declared they pretty much transform the room to match. Still this isn’t supposed to make any real sense and the ridiculous nature is part of the overall fun. The death note director was perfect for this show really, he can bump even the most mundane actions right up to 11. I must ask though, why is there so much fanservice in the opening and ending? I may be mistaken but I don’t remember the manga being all that fanservice heavy. Well anyway if you happen to like shows with mind games then this is most certainly your jam. However I will say that what you see here is the only thing you are going to get for the rest of it’s run. That could be fine for some but let me say not to expect much else from this show. This is the only trick it’s got so it’s lucky that it’s a damn good trick.

Potential: 75%

 

Mario: “Ridiculous” is a word of the day. Kakegurui embraces its premise of gambling wholeheartedly that I don’t think you’d have hard time figuring out if this series is your thing or not. To add more dark effects to the topic of gambling and how characters lose themselves for the game: creepy smiles, red eyes, deranged faces are all featured frequently here, coupling with cheating, game manipulating and slavery and you have quite a no-hold-bar, cynical beast of anime about the thrilling of gambling – play with the devil as they say. I did notice there are more still frames than necessary so I hope the animation quality won’t drop too jarring on coming episodes. Characters here are decidedly love it or hate it so don’t expect any real development from the cast save maybe the love interest between the two leads. We’re here for gambling and whatever bets and games they come up with so if you find those intriguing then it’s your thing. I certainly expected more than “Rock-scissor-paper” variations but as an introduction it did its job. Take it or leave it Kakegurui sure leaves its mark boldly.

Potential: 60%

 

Hina Logi – From Luck & Logic

Short Synopsis:  The daily cute adventures of magical girls in school

You know maybe I should make a special test like the bechdel test wherein if a anime throws it’s female characters in a hot spring in the first episode when it doesn’t have a hot spring setting that it will automatically be terrible. Off the top of my head I can’t think of shows that could be the exception. So I am still wondering why this exists, for I don’t remember luck & logic being smash success but apparently now it’s magical girls doing cute things and stuff. Oh joy. Full disclosure, I did start skimming through the episode when I found my attention span ebbing away. I don’t normally do that but it was getting late and I will be damned if i lose shut eye over this show. So what I could summarize of the appeal of this show is yuri undertones, girls talking about stuff I really couldn’t care less about and some girl with plant powers trying to assault one of the main heroines. I admit that maybe I should have given this a fairer shot but let’s be blunt, it doesn’t deserve it.

Potential: 0%

 

Mario:  Well, Hina Logi is a magical girl slash cute girl doing cute things anime, so right off the bat you know what you’re getting into. The show details the everyday school day of those girls before graduating into a magical girl, and there’s some hints that they will have to fight off monsters at the end of the season. Although based on its cheering tone I’d think the monsters are your typical bad guy, no grey moral here. Other thing I did notice from those kinds of shows is where all the male gone? Even that mascot is a female for Peter sake. I like the design of the academy though, and I think they know it as well as they show the academy multiple times from different views. Girls are your typical character stocks here so there’s nothing to write home about. I believe if you skip this one you won’t miss out much.

Potential: 0%

 

Katsugeki Touken Ranbu

Short Synopsis: Time traveling samurai in the edo period try to stop monsters from altering history

Why would you invent a story with time travel and then restrict to just one time period? What a waste. So this story feels familiar as I certainly remember an anime about a bunch of samurai protecting time. Though this is more likely the original story based on the quality. My first impression of it was correct. It’s pretty but not much in terms of substance. I thought we might get something interesting when one of our two leads starts lecturing his partner on how they cannot alter historic events. However that is really undercut when literally minutes later they save a child and brush it off easily. I also wonder why no one in the past is questioning the giant weird fox thing that’s following our main characters. Also on that front why are they using swords instead of guns? I originally thought it was due to some prohibited law or something up until another character arrives with a gun. So I just don’t get why they are making their job more difficult. Action scenes are great, frankly the production is more than this series deserves. Character though are very bland and the cast feels like Bishi bait. Overall it’s a fairly watchable piece but the story lacks anything to truly grip the viewer.

Potential: 40%

 

Mario: The animation here is seriously great, you can’t go wrong with ufotable huh. Story-wise, I must compare this show to Touken Ranbu: Hamanaru few seasons back to see how this one works while the other didn’t. Hanamaru starts off with introducing most of the main cast (about dozen of them) before picking some for the battle; as a result we don’t remember most of them and the light tone doesn’t mesh well at all with the battle in latter half. Here in Katsugeki it’s the opposite, we focus on 2 guys with various missions before other swordmen showing up. Doing it this way allow us to know more about these 2 main characters (although the moping guy is a dead weight), their chemistry and the difficult level their jobs are. Honestly I prefer it this way, and this show also back up by some truly outstanding animation and mostly great character designs. They say it’s a shame that ufotable choose this project rather than Fate franchise but maybe doing it this way we gonna have 2 solid shows in our hands. Definitely recommended.

Potential: 50%

Fate/ Apocrypha

Short Synopsis: Masters gather to fight in a great holy grail war.

You know sometimes I think I will not get into a new Fate franchise when I start it, only to get deeply invested by the first few minutes. I was worried about A-1’s animation here and while the character designs are not the best, the animation was great. Now Apocrypha is more of a standalone though some Fate knowledge would be preferable. I say anyone watching this likely knows the deal by this point and the anime does fast forward through the usual basic info dumps. Seven Masters, Seven servants, holy grail, go nuts. This episode has me very hyped for the rest of the series and it’s confirmed to be two cours which means the light novel will be covered to completion. I hope A-1 can keep the quality consistent throughout it’s run. Loving the new servants, love the setup, love the Waver and Flat cameo(Strange Fake adaption foreshadowing?) and well…I love it all. Anyway I am following this journey right to the end so let’s hope Apocrypha manages to live up to the Fate monikar.

Potential: 100% (Yes,it’s Bias. But I don’t care)

 

Mario: Unlike that Fate fanatic up there, I am unfamiliar with the Fate franchise in general so I can only talk from what I saw in this episode. It was a setup episode which info-dumps everywhere, but they manage to propose the main conflict really quickly. The great Holy Grail War? Sounds good to me. Many Servants and Masters are introduced, yet we only reach about one third of them, I guess? Anyway, the animation is solid and I’m already intrigued in the red Master and his servant. This gonna be epic battles so if you’re already a Fate fan you know what to expect and I know there will be a lot to talk about later on as the plot thickens. I will give this series a 3-episode rule.

Potential: 50%

 

Battle Girl High School

Short Synopsis: Watch our anime! Buy our songs! Play our mobile game! Give us money!

A wise man once said and several hundred thousand people repeated that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Not too long ago, an anime aired that promoted a mobile game and tried to capitalise on the popularity of love live, kantai collection and Symphogear. That anime was called Schoolgirl Strikers. It made about as much impact as a cotton ball thrown at a steel drum. Thus here we are again, with an anime promoting a mobile game which is trying to capitalise on the popularity of love live, kantai collection and Symphogear again. Which is going to fail, again. After all, it’s a derivative of a derivative of likely another derivative. So what’s the problem? Too many characters who all have such stock personalities that they could be literal body swaps of other characters from other series. Pointless idol inclusion which is clearly there to sell songs. Lackluster battle animation and music. A plot so phoned in that you most likely have literally seen it all before. Do yourself a favor and just save yourself 25 minutes. We go through this pain so you don’t have to.

Potential: 0%

 

Mario:  Anime industry, I know you will find a way to cash out as much as possible, but this is just way too blatant. Battle Girl High School shoots in every direction in hope that some of its bullets can land, but none works. In essence, this show is another magical show of good girls fight bad monsters, then they dress it up with high school, outdoor activities, idols and everything is all over the place. The action and the slice of life doesn’t work well at all for example. Then we have about dozen girls and each time the show switches to different girl’s groups they all seem just the same to me. I don’t even know what kind of show we are looking forward to the next episode since they end with the appearance with the new girl, but I’m sure that no one really care about this world or the characters or anything going on. An easy skip.

Potential: 0%

 

Keppeki Danshi! Aoyama-kun

Short Synopsis: A talented football player is also an obsessive germaphobe

There is an inherent problem with a comedy series when you base the entirely of your comedy around one joke. In this case each character introduced has there one gimmick which grows tiresome fast. Aoyama is a clean freak, another footballer is the straight man and the enemy footballer likes to show his abs randomly. Plus I don’t really like the concept of mocking someone for a personal phobia though in this case that phobia somehow has him be really popular? I mean girls are fawning over him washing his hands in the sink. Comedy I guess? The animation is also very limited as while the opening scene displayed so rather good animation, the rest of the episode had a number of animation shortcuts and artstyle deforming to try to emboss the comedy. I never liked that. It didn’t work in Drifters, it doesn’t work in shoujo anime and not even fullmetal alchemist brotherhood pulled it off. I originally thought this might be a pretty watchable show and there are those that might get a kick out of it. As for me though, I pass.

Potential: 10%

 

Mario:  Like Tanaka-kun is always Listless or Haven’t You Heard, I’m Sakamoto before, Aoyama-kun show has only one main joke: this guy is a clean freak who happen to be genius at football. Everything revolves around that joke and its humor already wears thin at the end of this episode. I know that this is supposed to be ironic: because he’s a clean freak he won’t let anyone near him, hence his super-fast move that no one can touch. But here’s the thing: football is teamwork sport, having one great guy in a team can’t make the team excellent. This episode does reflect some of that but when the main guy is overpowered it’s rather boring to see. The animation is not great with too many still-frames and the characters so far aren’t memorable at all. I don’t see this joke funny in the first place so I’m pretty sure I’m not an audience target for this one.

Potential: 10%