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Some Quick First Impressions: Kakegurui, Hina Logi – From Luck & Logic and Katsugeki Touken Ranbu

by AidanAK47, posted in Some Quick First Impressions

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%

Announcement Time – Writers Recruitment Results

by AidanAK47, posted in About, Special Articles

Ladies and gentlemen it is I, your resident anime blogger AidanAK47 and I bring with me news. As those of you who visit our little abode might know, we have been running a recruitment drive to get more writers so that we can cover more shows each season. Thank you to all that applied for the position. It is great to see those who wish to contribute to this site and help keep it strong. But alas you could not all be chosen. The results are in and we have decided to take on two new writers: Lenlo and Superwooper.

Lenlo:

Hello everyone! I want to take this chance to quickly introduce myself and tell you afew things about me, so lets get started. I am a recent University Graduate with a degree in Computer Science, my personal focus being Machine Learning. I currently live in Texas in the United States but expect that to change soon. My hobbies include Fencing at the regional level, gaming with my current addition being Final Fantasy 14, and now writing. As far as anime goes, my tastes are pretty simple. I enjoy drama’s, things with a meaty story, and darker pieces with no guarnteed happy ending, things such as Monster, Mushishi, Sword of the Stranger and more recently Rakugo. I also enjoy a good romance such as Ore Monogatari and Your Lie in April, though those are harder to come by. Finallly, for this season I will be covering Stan Lees The Reflection and Katsugeki Touken Ranbu. Im looking forward to writing for you all!

Superwooper:

Hey there! I’m Superwooper, a 27 year old Education student and recently-minted anime blogger. When I’m not at school or working as a tutor to pay the bills, I’m usually attending Smash Bros Melee or Pokemon TCG tournaments. My list of favorite anime includes Cross Game, Mushishi, Seirei no Moribito, and Usagi Drop. I’ll be writing about Ballroom e Youkoso and Shoukoku no Altair this season, along with Space Battleship Yamato 2202 if the next few episodes appear online soon. I’m grateful to be writing for a blog that’s been a personal resource for years now. Thanks for having me!

So what does that mean for you? Well it means that more shows will get covered each season and this site will be significantly more active with content. Now I must ask for you readers to be kind to our new writers. Constructive criticism is welcome but blatant abuse will be met with the reception it deserves from yours truly. Now I doubt such a scenario will come to pass as I like to believe our little reader community has a little more class than others…well, mostly. Thus I hope this change will result in a more positive direction for this site. Our two new writers will be starting with us in this new summer season so we will be covering quite a lot from this point forward. May you enjoy reading our written musings on anime to come.

Some Quick First Impressions: Fate/ Apocrypha, Battle Girl High School and Keppeki Danshi! Aoyama-kun

by AidanAK47, posted in Some Quick First Impressions

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%

Tsuki ga Kirei (Spring 2017) Review – 88/100

by SuperMario, posted in Anime Reviews, Reviews by SuperMario, Tsuki ga Kirei

It’s hard for me not to go overboard on Tsuki ga Kirei: out of all the show I’ve followed this season, I resonated the most to this one; but even when I’m judging this show objectively, Tsuki ga Kirei is one of the most perfect one, in a way that it achieved exactly what it set out to do, and achieve it flawlessly most of the time. The story that they tell – detailing the first love relationship of our young Kotarou and Akane – is decidedly simple, mundane but honest that it feels more like a love story taken from young best mates. It has that “sincere” quality, something that the anime medium often cranks it up to the max with “moe” and exaggeration everywhere. Not here. Tsuki ga Kirei has great flair of visual storytelling (something that benefited from being an original show, they don’t tie up to your usual LN and manga visual cliché), using show-don’t-tell approach that often focus on small moments and little gestures than big emotional melodramatic scenes. The characters never play off their roles, they’re the most natural group of kids that feel exactly kids their age: naïve, inexperience and pure. This show ends up at top of its genre as I consider it the most effective romance anime out there. In short, I freaking love almost everything about this show.

What Tsuki ga Kirei will be remembered the most for lie in real depiction of first love relationship. The more you watch romance anime, the more you surprise at how simple, yet distinctive achingly honest this show aim for. Ordinary romance anime would spend its entire time on how boy gets girl, throw in some other love interests that make them realize how much they mean for each other, and if we’re lucky we might actually see they confess to each other in the end. Tsuki ga Kirei is an entirely different beast, we got the confession right at the end of episode 3, and from there we follow every stage of that relationship and see their love progressing. Moments like Kotarou had to search the internet on what people do when they’re dating, finding a way to spend time alone together, or thinking how to continue their love after graduation – all feels so real and progresses so naturally that I suspect anyone who have been in relationship will find a thing or two from this show that speak directly to their experience.

Moreover, they understand that in order to make this relationship work, we have to relate to Akane and Kotarou and they did a damn fine job at that. Both have their own lives and their own troubles to deal with, so we can see them as characters who have distinctive personality, with well-defined goals and struggles. In one of the episode, they both reach a new low in their personal dreams, as Akane underperformed her track competition and Kotarou got a call from a real publisher just to receive an advice that he had no talent in serious writing. Then in small moments when those characters act without much thinking, it’s a treat to see how their personality plays out: I love how every time Kotarou get excited he will punch the light’s chord in his room, or Akane whenever she gets nervous she will press that pushie hard. Their circle of friends also adds to the naturalism of the story and although they aren’t developed much, they clearly belong to this universe.

The visual storytelling is another great strength of the show. As both Kotarou and Akane are introverts and tend to keep their feelings inside without saying out loud, it’s showing their subtle gestures, their glances that we get to know a lot about them. As a result, this show is decidedly quiet, there’s not much monologue going on but that is the reason why this show feels just like in real life. The designs are simple, again emphasizing on subtle over excessive details. Great shot compositions everywhere. This is one of the rare show where I can argue that the visual components play as an important part of the show and they achieved it almost exactly what they’re aiming for.

Another factor that feel like a character itself that I feel the need to acknowledge, it’s LINE. Just like kids their age, Kotarou and Akane’s main communication is through LINE and we witness a huge chunk of amount that they exchanged through LINE, as they are, no shortcut. It’s just like how real kiads would do and to achieve this effortlessly is no small feat at all, so congrats to Tsuki ga Kirei for its respectful use of social chatting. The shorts in the end also a part of this show’s identity, as they depict the love relationships from Kotarou and Akane’s friends with more bawdy and comedic tones, which in turn made that world so inviting to watch.

Although the show succeeds most of the time in term of production values, I can still see some production troubles from the show and the delay in airing in later half further reflected that. Tsuki ga Kirei does suffer from that as in one of the episode the production values just fall apart. But I’m genuinely surprised that after that disaster episode they managed to keep up a consistent quality and the more I know about their trouble backstage, the more I’m in awe about their efforts. It’s obviously a product of many sleepless nights from the production team so I thank studio Feel for their outstanding performance.

And all of what I was written above was just how I access the show objectively and that kinda demerit one of Tsuki ga Kirei’s most appealing factor: it’s right down charming that touch the hearts of viewers with its bright and delightful portrayal of pure love – I don’t deny I fall under its spell, actively care for the couple and goddamnit I just want them to be happy together. Tsuki ga Kirei is breathtakingly intimate in narrative scope and I know I will remember the show and its characters very fondly. Arigatou.

Seikaisuru Kado Review 51/100

by AidanAK47, posted in Anime Reviews, Reviews by AidanAK47, Seikaisuru Kado

Seikaisuru Kado was a title which caught my attention for a number of reasons. For one it’s visuals showed not a single teenager in sight and a cast mainly consisting of working adults. Another is that it deals with a premise not often tackled in anime, Philosophical Science Fiction. The story features an alien being who lands on earth and gifts humanity with revolutionary devices which could throw the economic, social and political climate into pure chaos. Our main characters are a Japanese Negotiator by the name of Shindo and an Alien being from something known as the anisotropic who refers to himself as ZaShunina. While I wouldn’t call the cast great, I do say they perform the needs of the plot well and are interesting enough to engage the viewer. Well up until the point where there characters are forced to change due to the direction of the story. There are examples of anime tropes which only cheapen the serious atmosphere of the stories tone such as a scientist girl who eccentricity is at a far too unbelieveable level. Though sadly anime tropes show up in other parts of the show as well, mainly in the rather rushed romance of the second half.

A positive aspect of this series is that it has some of the best CGI integration I have seen to date in a anime. In most series CGI is jarring and breaks immersion but here the CGI is included well enough to keep things looking natural. It does use a combination of 2D and 3D visuals and it is noticeable when it changes between the two. However I never had a moment watching this series where I was just taken out of the experience completely by shaky 3D work. The CGI also works wonders in displaying ZaShunina’s alien nature as his cube structure is a pure prism of visual marvel. The music likewise processes a grandiose and majestic feel which illustrates how this is the turning point of mankind. On the technical side of things I would consider Kado to be a success.

But when it comes to a storytelling standpoint this is where Kado fails. At first things look good as there is a focus on the diplomatic systems reaction to the sudden arrival of an Alien entity, while the Alien itself is slowly growing accustomed to human ways and learning about human culture. From the outset it feels like Kado is revving up to really dive into some deep topics but as the series continues you will find that these topics continue to get pushed into the background and not addressed. The series focuses more on ZaShunina introducing the amazing device and then implementing it. But when it comes to the long term ramifications to integration of such advanced technology, then this series instead decides to ignore it and move on to the next gift. You see the introduction and integration of the device, but never the conclusion. It appears as though the writer was never interested in these ramifications but instead in pushing some generic themes of humanity instead.

In the end Kado is a story that starts with a lot of potential and looks to bank on that potential within its first six episodes. However it moves away from a multifaceted issue to have a more black and white conflict instead. The story and characters suffer for it and it concludes in an ending that’s nonsensical, disappointing and terrible. As a result Kado is a series which most would likely regret watching as you see great ideas tossed aside to portray a stereotypical good vs evil conflict. Ultimately Seikaisuru Kado is evidence that just because someone is writing the story does not mean they know the best road to take it and in the future I hope there are those who see just what this series could have been so that they can fulfil its lost imaginable value.

ID-0 (Spring 2017) Review – 81/100

by SuperMario, posted in Anime Reviews, Id-0, Reviews by SuperMario

Here comes one of the most under-appreciated anime of this Spring season. ID-0 has many hassles that keeps viewers away from watching it: Netflix exclusive, full CG animation and a plot that just plain weird and a bit incomprehensive at first view. I originally took it as nothing more than fun spooky little-seen show until I realized that ID-0 is a well-crafted one. Both in terms of productions, worldbuilding storytelling or characters’ development, they’re all above par. ID-0 also succeeds on introducing their main concepts that not only plausible on the surface, it hints on deeper implications regarding those concepts and the show handles those issues competently. The discovery of the Orichalt – the red crystalline mineral that floating in space – has allowed humanity to travel through space and live outside other planets. In order to look out for more Orichalt, human creates “I-Machines”, the giant robot that is functioned by transferring human consciousness into robot’s operating systems – a robot body with human mind. It’s important to remember those two details since the show explores its theme from there.

The first implication from the show’s concept, which perfectly aligned with the lead Ido’s main character arc – is how much of this I-Machines version independent from its host? Are they the same identity with the host body, or are they their own selves? Normally, it shouldn’t be a problem since human uses I-Machines as a means to perform work in harsh environments. Loose the I-Machines and they will trance their mind back to their original body. No big deal. The Escavate team, a team of Orichalt-pirate, contain many exceptions to that rules. They lost their physical body forms due to different circumstances, thus the I-Machine bodies are their owns now, called Evertrancers. Ido has no recollection of his past, and his ID was erased (hence ID-0). Throughout the series, it’s his personal journey of finding out who he was, and whether or not he’s still Ido the Excavator or the embodiment of his past real self. Another member of the group, Rick – another Evertrancer, adds some more layers regarding this “self-existent” theme as well. His current soul is a copied version of his original consciousness, meaning he has no “real” body and no “real” soul, he’s Rick yet he isn’t Rick. He carries the same personal traits as the original Rick, has the same memory but he’s ultimately his own individual now. Their current I-Machine versions are who they are now, with the consciousness that run totally independent from their former host.

And I just barely touched the ice-tip of ID-0 themes, so let’s dig in further. Now looking back, I really love the concept that Orichalt is already something irreplaceable and invaluable for the humanity from Day 1. Everyone keeps talking about it, all their activities aim to get more of those Orichalt to begin with. It just shows how humanity has taken Orichalt for granted, so that when the Rajeev (the wandering planets) appear, we can sense the high stake of the situation. I also enjoy the philosophy behind this Rajeev. Just like how Joker was inspired to challenge the very concept that Batman has built, for everything that too good to be true for our human race, there will be some sort of drawback, a kryptonite that attack directly to the advancement that we gained. These wandering planets’ main purpose is to consume Orichalt, and they have developed their own intelligence on top of that – a worthy enemy to destroy the human kind. Although the solution come a bit far-fetch as best: teaching them the love of humanity so that they can learn about humanity and leave us alone (Yes, you heard it right), I still firmly believe this is a well thought-out main conflict for this series.

ID-0 also suggests a far darker implication to this Mind-Trance system, albeit a bit under-developed as they don’t have time to progress that angle. It’s the “immortality” theme. A secret organization, using the techniques as a mean to transport their mind to their younger clone to archive living immortally. For me, this actually sounds very intriguing because it’s entirely possible. If there is a second season of ID-0 I would love if the show goes darker and focus on these themes like this. Seriously, there is many interesting variables to the concept that I really want to explore more. All of that jut to highlight how well-crafted the world settings are. Well done, ID-0.

Now, I realize that I have delved too much on its themes without giving you an actual critique, so I will do just that below. ID-0 is a prime example of having a great pacing. The story almost never drags, while still allowing many of space for the characters to breathe and all the developments progress quite naturally. In other words, top-notch. The cast’s overall chemistry is another highlight for me. They have easy chemistry and they bounce off each other extremely well. It helps that each of them has their own voices so when the show putting them altogether, their diverse voices are more than enough to shine through. They’re not the deepest bunch by any mean but nearly all of them have enough development to work with. I’m a bit sad that Maya isn’t given enough spotlight in the end (this is, after all, Ido’s story), she serves more as our lenses to that brand-new world more than a flesh-out or deep character, but I am fine with that. In other spectrum, the main antagonist of the show, Adams, unfortunately is one of the worst character that brings the show down a note. Apart from his obvious inferior-complex to Kane and his eight-grade symptom of the world has to revolve around him, he has no real personality to speak of and he terribly overacts all the time that it’s hard to take him seriously. The sequence where Adams reveals Ido’s past is a kind of convenient and way to-your-face approach that personally turned me off, but other than that obvious misstep ID-0 manages to maintain its beat thoroughly.

The CG animation does feel stiffs at times and it takes some time to familiar with the animation, due to its mecha robots that floating in air- premise, but this is one of the few series that not only the CG animation is done right, it has its purpose; as robots and space, and spaceships are all components that CG can be used the most effective. In addition, the character designs are attractive, characters look their ages and even the I-Machines versions have so much personality for each member of the team. Sanzigen continues to be a studio that has its firm grasp on making convincing CG anime so thumb ups for the studio for this amazing anime. This is a solid anime offering, a firm 8/10 rating for me. Definitely the best show that no one watch this season. Now, I just hope that Netflix knows what to do with this little gem.

Grimoire of Zero (Spring 2017) Review – 77/100

by SuperMario, posted in Anime Reviews, Reviews by SuperMario

I remember, back in our first impression of this series, Aidan remarked that Grimoire of Zero isn’t your typical LN-adaptations, but he didn’t know what to make of it. To be honest, after watching an entire cour, I’m still unsure what to make of it myself. This show has some serious flaws, yet despite all that I never find myself losing interest in it. I guess the biggest strength this show offers is the rock-solid chemistry between Zero and the beastfallen Mercenary, and in the end, I do get out of it wanting more of these two’s adventures. They also put some serious thought into its sorcery world building and overall while Grimoire of Zero can never raise above exceptional level, I have quite a good time watching it.

One of the first head-scratching factor about this anime is the decision to adapt the whole full season for a single first volume. I watched a fair bit amount of Light Novels-adaptations anime so I know that usually it’d take between 6 to 8 episodes for one volume AT MOST. Here they intentionally stretch out to 12 episodes, meaning some of the time the plot has too stretch a bit thin; and for my money with all the developments, they could condense the story into 6 episodes – half of its actual length. For example, Grimoire of Zero took quite a bit of time until we get to meet Thirteen (episode 5), then it took 3 whole episodes for Mercenary and Zero to finally reconcile. On the other hand, stretching the story enhances the slice-of-life feel in the first few episodes, and making the show much more room to breathe. That decision of adapting only first volume, to sum it up, has a fair share of good and bad points, but that was one of the reason that made Grimoire of Zero different from its LN fantasy offerings.

Second factor that baffled me is the show’s tones. I don’t know how to explain this clearly, but I always feel this series is mono-tone. When they try to mix with other tones, it’s embarrassing. They failed miserably at comedy because of that mono-tone. For the most glorious example, the sequence where Zero and Thirteen stopped in the middle of the fight for lunch break was so off-putting it was actually (unintentionally) hilarious. Or when it wants to tackle seriously about the dark, cynical side of human (part when the girl using the Mercenary to protect herself from other beastfallens) or the true flesh-lust nature of beastfallen, it didn’t leave much of an impact. Other times, when the show tries to amp up the romance (“what is Kisssss?), it falls completely flat. Yet, despite all that, the tone the show usually goes for – not quite slow, methodically but not action-packed either – is always strong and engaging that it still holds my interest till the end. Weird, since I can’t still put my finger on what exactly the show’s general tone is.

Then the characters, which are decidedly a mixed bag all around. All the main players are developed smoothly throughout its run. Apart from the amazing chemistry between Mercenary and Zero (which for me light up the screen every single time), Albus, Holdem, Thirteen and most notably Sorena all have their time to shine. Other characters, unfortunately, are quite plain and sometimes quite offensive (I’m looking at the guy who has a fetish for Zero’s clothes) and this is unforgivable considered that the show has so much time to develop those characters if they really want to, but they just didn’t give a damn. There are inconsistencies at the end for example: the Sorcerers of Zero attack the kingdom to kill Thirteen, and the guards fight back. After Zero negates the use of magic, you expect them shaking hands in peace immediately? *you might say I’m a dreamer – but I’m not the only one lala*. Albus and Holdem are a good addition to this arc, strong enough for me to care about them, but just about enough so that when they gone I don’t miss them much. This, after all, is the adventures of Zero and the Mercenary.

The sorcerer and witch backdrop is an intrigued world building itself and at first I enjoyed seeing there are many races from completely different backgrounds that live independently in this world. Not sure if this is just this arc, but later on the show goes heavily on those sorcerer’s themes which detail the division amongst the witch’s world: the Sorcerers of Zero, the Rouge witch and Sorcerer of the State; it doesn’t bring much impact. Moreover, I do feel that the final reveal revolving Thirteen’s role is a bit of a convenient one, and despite the whole witches’ war just don’t do much to me, I still find it provides some great details regarding its world settings. So, great details, but shaky development.

In term of production, this show is slightly above-average. There nothing exceptional to speak of, although the animation quality is rather consistent. In the end, one thing for sure that Grimoire of Zero never fails to be intriguing, whether or not it is intentional is up for debate. Despite its uneven approach, I’m still looking forward for its sequel, as the main catch of the series, the chemistry between Zero and Mercenary, will become more prominent in later volumes. And honestly that is more than enough to get me on board.

Uchoten Kazoku Review – 94/100

by SuperMario, posted in Anime Reviews, Reviews by SuperMario, Uchoten Kazoku

(Note: Since psgels didn’t give his final review to the first season, this review is for the entirety of Eccentric Family. If I had to grade the second season alone, it’s 90/100).

Doesn’t matter how you look at it, the Eccentric Family is a unique show, in a way it feels and tastes like no other shows out there, both in and out of itself. Everything surrounding it feel magical just like its world: the series is the only anime show that promoted as a city ambassador (Kyoto Special Goodwill Ambassador), the second season that no one see coming (especially at the time the first season ended the second book hasn’t even written yet), P.A Works studio became the leading unit in production committee of this second season, meaning they are passionate about this series and they have total artistic control over it (as for how influential the anime studios usually have over the decision of their work. Nil. Most of the time they are slave who draw and deliver what were told. Sad fact). This is one of few series where I can see a lot of love was put into those details, from the love of their characters to its rich world settings, to Yasaburou’s various adventures. Of course P.A Works does a magnificent job to visualize that world, but I also credit the success on Tomihiko Morimi’s adept writing. Eccentric Family is at heart a character-driven series, and he’s simply one of the best in this industry when it comes to character writing: eccentric cast of characters who distinctive, whimsical but always insightful and intriguing. I have a lot to say about this world so let get right down to it.

The Eccentric Family’s first and foremost strength comes from its magical-realism Kyoto world where human, tengu and tanuki live together in harmony. I am not at all exaggerating when I say that this setting is my personal favorite anime settings ever. Magical-realism has always been right up my alley: the mundane, ordinary world that mixed in with magical elements that serve as a normality to their world. And sure, in this world a lot of strange things happen: tanuki who transform into human shape and fool around until they get caught and turn into a hot pot tanuki, human who float in the air in broad daylight, a tiger (and bear) appear in the middle of the city. Just by the look of it, this world promises to provide a lot of fun, but this show even goes much more further than that: all the settings that not only gorgeous to look at, they all have strong sense of personality that feel like they get stuck in that specific moments: when you see the rooftop you immediately link to Benten, Yasaburou and the moon; when you see a flying house you would think right back to the Daimonji Festival and the stupid fights between Shimogamo and Ebisugawa’s family.

And to support for both its sense-of-wonder attitude and its magical-realism settings, The Eccentric Family is a masterclass at portraying an impossibly huge interior space that looks much grander than it supposed to be***: the Painting of Hell that literally pull you through hell with Onis doing wrestling and eating ramen; the 3-stories bus that has an upper floor of open air onsen and bamboo pathway; or a shogi board that can suck you into a secret room. Not only that warped sense occurs in space, it happens in time as well. There is a 2-epsiode worth of playtime that dedicated to Yasaburou’s various adventures in a span of a single day, where he enjoyed a public bath, went through hell, watching Oni wrestling, enjoyed mixed onsen, having crazy dinner party and witnessing his uncle got shot. See, those events feel much longer than it supposed to be. This is on purpose, of course, since what is a better way to highlight the enjoyment of busy carefree life by crazy events one after another?

In addition, the Eccentric Family’s greatest strengths come from its characters. The first season contains a great diversity of cast, but that quality really shines through in the second season as the new additions not only fit very well with the old cast, they even outshine them in many moments. Each of them has their own voice, has great arc to develop and their chemistry are natural, warm and insightful. Here comes one of the decision from the P.A Works that I find worth applauding, they never probably introduce a new character to us. Most of the time the new characters just walk in and have a normal conversation with our main casts and we have to work out their name and their role to the story. It helps that nearly every single one of them has their own way of speaking and their own personalities, so it’s not that hard to differentiate one from another, despite a relatively huge cast. It also helps that through we can tell so much about their characters through subtle gestures, so much as the Eccentric Family is one rare show that I can fall for new characters within the first few minutes (I remember you very fondly, Seiran). Our main protagonist, Yasaburou, is an interesting character to follow, throughout the course although all we see about him is having as much fun as possible with no consideration for responsibility, he takes care of everyone arounf him in his own way and in the end, he reaches a personal grown on balancing between those two factors. It’s up in the air if he’s constantly thinking of everything or constantly thinking nothing at all being led by his fool’s blood; but for him anyway, these are the same goddamn thing.

But by all mean, even 95 percent of the time this show treats their characters thoughtfully, the remaining 5 percent whenever the idiotic twins and Soun appear, they unfortunately drag the show down. These characters are the type that we all love to hate, so they possess their annoying traits… all the way, being annoying for the sake of annoying. I have since warmed up to Soun, but the way he came back to life kind of demerit his meaningful death. Another factor that happen in second season, is that sometimes they reprise the events of the first season (the Daimonji festival, the Nise-emon election), and whenever they do that they can’t bring the same impact as the first and seem like they rely on the beaten path.

While the first season focus more about familial bond, the responsibility one would strive to do versus the fun one has to experience through life, the second season follow that freedom sense, but touch on other themes such as self-identity (in term of Nidaime and Benten: one is a tengu who refuse to be one, the latter is a human who wants to become a tengu. None of them are happy), and the fate of love. The romance part is what surprise me the most as I would never expect I would ship for almost all the lovey cute little love here. I also give my hat off to the character designs, as each of the tanuki have human and tanuki counterparts, and we have such huge cast here but nearly every one of them is distinctive and attractive. The animation is thoroughly consistent and the music is really, really well done. In term of production value, I really have no complain.

The Eccentric Family has a lot to recommend on, I would argue that distractors can read the show as un-focus at times, because it feels like they set up for one crazy set-piece after another without a central conflict; but take heed that the majority of its 2-season runtime is about Yasaburou wanders around his city, tries to live the life to the max so it has its merit. I just say this simply; this show is brimming with love in every scene and with shows like this I know why I fall in love anime medium in a first place. The Eccentric Family already has a special place in my heart.

 

***If you want a real-place equivalent to this, I’d say it’s like the Old Quarter in Hanoi. From the outside you can only see a small pathway between 2 old houses that only wide enough for a bicycle to get in, then you get through that pathway, turn to some small alleys, go up-stair, pass through some small apartments and TADAH: a bookstore, a store and a café located inside all that maze. I was utterly amazed but there’s no chance an outsider would know such a place without the help of the local. And I do worry what going to happen if there is a fire there?

Little Witch Academia TV Review – 80/100

by AidanAK47, posted in Anime Reviews, Little Witch Academia, Reviews by AidanAK47

The Little Witch Academia series has been something that’s a long time coming. Ever since Studio Trigger made the original Anime OVA back in 2013 I have been hotly anticipating the time when it would be fleshed out into it’s own anime series. I love both the original OVA and the enchanted Parade so this series was one I was really looking forward to. So the question remains. Is Little Witch Academia a good series? Absolutely, out of the 25 episodes of it’s runtime I only didn’t enjoy one episode. This series was very fun and a worthwhile watch. However, is Little Witch Academia a great series? And therein lies the greatest problem with this series as a whole. For you see my friends, Little Witch Academia holds the potential for greatness and very closely skirts the line to becoming a truly great series. There are standout episodes which show a small glimmer of what this series could have really been. However instead the series plays it safe and sticks to a rather cartoonish format of episodic stories. It’s excellent character cast is unfortunately underutilised aside from some single episode stories and the main plot it develops within it’s second half more or less fizzles out into something more tame.

So to those watching it can be frustrating to see how this series opens up roads to great storytelling possibilities only to take the road of least resistance. Thus my greatest advice to any viewer is to not let yourself be fooled into thinking that this show will have a dynamic shift into a greater story arc. Throughout it’s run this is a simple story with simple objectives. Thus if you can come to accept that then you can enjoy what Little Witch Academia has to offer. Again, this really is a good show and has the kind of fun sensibility that very few anime can pull off. It’s a show that wouldn’t look out of place if put in a Saturday morning cartoon block and for those that woke up on mornings to tune into these kinds of shows as kids it will certainly hit that sentimental spot. If you aren’t part of that demographic then this may be a harder sell as I could see others get tired of the inconsequential episodic stories and a general lack of character development. Some characters get small changes but for the most part have simple characterisation. Akko in particular tends to have sporadic development as she tends to waver between growing as a person and then falling into her old ways.

Animation can have hiccups but is pretty stellar and charming throughout the board. You can really tell that a lot of heart went into this series production, even if it likely drove the animators to exhaustion. This show has it’s fair share of Sakuga sequences that show there is some real talent at Trigger. There are also references galore throughout the series from callouts to old cartoons(Hanna Barbara, Disney, Dexters lab) to previous trigger works and to even oddballs like 1984, Pawn Stars, Hellboy and Dinotopia. Keep a keen eye and you can spot dozens of callouts within the framework. OST is suitable but has some great versions of the main theme and a very good opening theme. Overall I do recommend this series. It isn’t what it could have been but what it is is hardly anything to scoff at. It’s one of the surprisingly few anime you can show to a young child without worry and maybe even blossom another fan of this medium. If you feel burned out by current anime and need something that’s a bit of a change of pace then LIttle Witch Academia is a fine recommendation indeed.

Summer Season 2017 Preview

by AidanAK47, posted in Seasonal Previews

Come one, come all, it’s time for the usual Anime season Preview and let me say this one took a lot more out of me than previous seasons. Maybe I am getting old or maybe it was the fact that I wrote a preview for a series and researched it only for to end up a short series. Making my efforts a waste of time. That would be the reasoning why there are previews of short series below when I usually disregard them. Either way, with holidays, moving to a new house, Dies Irae and just a general listlessness I found this season harder to write for. Looking at it overall I think this may be the weakest season of the year so far but we do still have a few standouts and some potential surprises that could save it.

So you know the drill. I check out every source I find from light novels to manga and give you a rundown on what looks to be great or terrible. Naturally peaking at the staff as well just to give a vague estimate on a series quality. Below we have a poll where you can rate what you want to be blogged this season which us writers will use as a reference when picking out shows. Whatever’s top of the list is guaranteed to get blogged. You have more than one vote so vote as many shows as you like.

This poll is no longer accepting votes

What will you be watching this fall?
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Once again thanks to Mario for gathering the images, chipping in his two cents and helping with the format. Honestly makes this task a whole lot easier. Let’s get started,

 

The sequels/Shorts I don’t care about

Ikemen Sengoku: Toki o Kakeru Koi (Short)

Jigoku Shoujo Yoi no Togi [Hell Girl Season 4] (Sequel)

Kaito x Ansa (Short)

Musashino! (Short)

New Game! 2 (Sequel)

Nora to Oujo to Noraneko Heart (Short)

Seizei Gambare Mahou Shoujo Kurumi (ONA)

Senki Zesshou Symphogear AXZ (Sequel)

Skirt no Naka wa Kedamono Deshita. (Short)

Teekyuu 9 (Sequel)

 

Series I don’t care about

Action Heroine Cheer Fruits

Studio: diomedea

Director: Keizou Kusakawa

Script/Series composer: Naruhisa Arakawa

Source: Original

Set in Hinano City, a tranquil area that cultivates fruits, but has lost its vitality. For the town she loves, high school girl Misaki Shirogane and other girls become local heroines (at the urging of Misaki’s aunt, the prefectural governor) and vow to produce action live events. The teen story depicts their strenuous efforts to revitalize their town.

 

Honestly sounds like an effort to merge Love Live with Kickass. We got the director of Sekirei, Fuuka, Dog Days, Campione, Asura Cryin’….Oh god it only gets worse and worse. Well he did Nanoha’s first three seasons so I guess that’s something. Series composer worked on more bad than good but well I thought Nadesico and Outbreak company where alright. I don’t see any real hope for this. I say the hero aspect won’t play much of an active role and this will just be a bunch of cute girls in homemade hero outfits. I have had enough of cute girls being all cute and stuff but give me a call if we got cute girls in insane asylum.

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