Category: Some Quick First Impressions

Active Raid: Kidou Kyoushuushitsu Dai Hakkei

Short Synopsis: A police force uses robot suits to catch criminals.

It really is quite funny how little I care about this show. We have the director of Code Geass as chief director and yet all this show inspires from me is apathy. For you see Active raid belongs to one of the categories us critics hate. It’s not good enough to warrant praise and not bad enough to warrant hate. In other words, it’s mediocre. The humor of the series is pretty terrible and the main character has a completely predictable character arc. She starting off as this cocky, uptight, by the book policewoman who gradually going to learn that working in the field isn’t as simple as she thinks and how important it is to take it easy on the job. Chances are she will be given a choice to effectively betray the team and sides with them either after or before making the choice. The characters are all eccentric besides our straight laced protagonist and yet not really interesting. The concept is hardly new, with police making use of high tech technology to catch criminals. All and all it just lacks something to truly to catch the viewer’s attention. The action isn’t noteworthy, the comedy isn’t funny and the plot doesn’t hold any surprises. It’s just forgettable.

Potential: 0%

 

Boku Dake ga Inai Machi

Short Synopsis: A mangaka with the power to travel back in time finds himself facing an evil from his past.

Well we have the first contender for anime of the season. That was certainly a great first episode but I do have concerns. The pacing went fast by the second half and in terms of the manga this covered the entire first volume. The director has also stated that he intends to portray the original manga ending. There are currently 7 volumes to this manga and we have 11 episodes left. This is not good. The pacing didn’t kill this episode but if they continue like this I believe we may experience a adaption train wreck of the likes of Tokyo Ghoul. Due to the slow paced nature of the series this move might actually turn out beneficial but this director has his hands full fitting in that much content into such a small time frame without it feeling rushed. Still the first episode shows great promise. A good protagonist, a strong supporting cast and a fascinating plotline. Execution has so far been marvellous and the quicker pace did give a great cliffhanger to the episode.

Potential: 85%

 

Norn9 – Norn+Nonet

Short Synopsis: A girl boards a ship full of pretty boys

Why oh why does the protagonist of these things always have to be a bland dull nobody? I know the purpose of it is so you can transplant your face on to them but in practice I have found that never actually works. So we have a girl with a personality so bland that she could be replaced with a marionette and I am not sure if anyone would notice. As usual, companying the plank we call a girl is the pretty boy whose clinginess is on a very worrisome level. For one on first time meeting he saved her from falling into water by tying her up in vines. That fair enough but he didn’t untie her until someone saw him about to carry her into the ship. Less romantic and more like forced kidnapping. After that the guy practically stalks her at every turn. But my usual problems aside, why is this not engaging me? Well the story itself isn’t really all the interesting with the setting being on a ship that picks up people randomly to deliver to some place. The story is trying its damnedest to be atmospheric and surreal but I find myself disenchanted. We had some rather clunky exposition and it’s not exactly clear on the time frame. For the ship looks fairly futuristic but based on the flashes of memory from our protagonist, she’s from a Showa era setting. There isn’t much to our characters either as the few that made an impression seem rather one dimensional. One moment near the end that I found killed my suspension of disbelief was when our protagonist fell off a tree and fell hard into stone. She then rolled off and fell another 15 stories into water. Yet despite that she was perfectly fine, completely unscathed. So even if there is a threat on this ship based on that last scene, I doubt this terminator of a girl will have any trouble.

Potential: 0%

Musaigen no Phantom World

Short Synopsis: Our protagonist hunts phantoms as part of a school club.

This show started off with some examples to point out how unreliable the human brain is with optical illusions and made to point that our view of the world would be drastically altered if our brains were messed with in some way. And points out that if such a change to the brain occurs maybe we might see and feel…annoying tiny flying pixie girls. You know something is wrong when a show’s first lines are ultimately flawed logic. Yes, our vision of the world could be altered if our perception is messed with, but outside stimulus is still required to perceive something. Unless of course it was something intangible like ghosts but this series already breaks that rule by having one of these illusions pull open someone’s eyes. Of course you could make an argument for delusion or madness but I digress. So a lab is attacked which unleashes a virus on the world that allows people to perceive youkai and fictional beings. It also gives teenagers superpowers because…science. And naturally this virus has no negative side effects in the slightest despite messing with the most delicate organ in the human body. This may in fact be KyoAni’s lowest point and yes, I am taking into account the moe drivel and Free. At least those had some shrivel of creativity. One particular moment that really put the nail in the coffin was a point where the protagonist was about to do the cliched accidental pervert but realised that he was about to do the cliche. He very nearly subverted it but then then ended up doing the cliche anyway. Pointing out the cliche does not excuse the cliche. We have plenty of fanservice, particularly with the big breasted ponytail girl who apparently has the power to harness elements by feeling herself up. That isn’t the only dislikable factor as we have Ruru, a flying little mascot character who’s only purpose is poor comedy and to display the power to annoy. Everything else is just so run of the mill that it’s painful. It has very good animation and with the phantoms they seems to be trying to add in hijinks but the end result is just so cookie cutter.

Potential: 0%

 

Prince of Stride – Alternative

Short Synopsis: A girl helps restart a school club for free-running.

I refuse to call it Stride. To stride is to walk with big steps, in that regard it would make more sense to call it sprint. Let’s not beat around the bush and call it what it is, free running. Free running with a relay race aspect  With that out of the way I got to applaud the Madhouse animators. One of the hardest things in animation is a run cycle and here we have an entire animation dedicated primarily to just that. In that regards the running animation in this is marvellous. Though sadly that may be its only shining point. This show goes through the checklist of sports anime tropes. People who have an interest in a sport find club about to be disbanded and interest dying out. Revitalises the club by showing everyone how awesome it is and gathers a team of weirdos who each have their own approach to the sport. It’s pretty standard stuff. It’s not bad by any means but you do have to take into account that besides the running, you aren’t getting anything new here. The comedy is also pretty terrible. There’s also that thing where they try to make the sport as visually impressive as possible by exaggerating it to make it more interesting. But that’s more of a personal gripe, and not a Solid one considering an anime I really love, Hajime no Ippo, does the exact same thing. Lastly there’s the ever annoying trope of Otome games, the really bland female protagonist who gets all the boys. Pretty much a male harem protagonist gender swapped. So it’s fairly watchable and could make for a good in between watch anime.

Potential: 60%

 

Haruchika: Haruta to Chika wa Seishun Suru

Short Synopsis: A tomboy joins the brass band club and encounters a strange mystery.

Well my first impression of this turned out to be different to what I thought. But I like it when a show I didn’t expect much from presents something I could be interested in. What we have here seems to be a mix of Hyouka and a music anime. Now I can’t say I liked Hyouka because I find that the mundane mysteries it presented wasn’t interesting when nothing was at stake. Haruchika has a similar problem in that the mystery when solved doesn’t make much logical sense when you think of it from a human standpoint. It pretty much boils down to someone sending an innocent message by breaking into a school in the middle of the night and presenting it in the most cryptic and ominous way possible. That said the connection it had to music was interesting and it gave us a look into Haruta’s deductive capabilities. Our two leads seem interesting enough and the band aspect is done in a way that isn’t tiresome. Ultimately an enjoyable first episode but the thing I really liked was the development of the last scene. I will be vague so as to not spoil but it’s nice to see this particular thing shown in a way that isn’t overblown or in your face.

Potential: 70%

Subete ga F ni Naru

Short Synopsis: A group of people decide to visit an enigmatic genius girl living on a isolated island.

It’s a little odd to give this episode such high potential when on examination not a lot happened in it. In fact, nothing really happened in it. It was just a series of conversations between our main characters. Still for the duration of this episode I was completely spellbound. Our characters all seem quite interesting as Souhei seems like a man you would never get bored talking to, Shiki comes across as otherworldly and mysterious and Moe has a distinctive observation skills that will no doubt come to play later. Though Moe’s rather obvious attempts to catch the romantic  attention of Souhei are a little detrimental to the atmosphere but she does have good chemistry with him. This looks to be perfect for the style of mystery coming as with just ordinary conversation they can grab your full attention easily. CGI cars excluded the animation looks great and this really looks to be a return to form for a noitamina block of fuji Tv which looked to be going for shows with a more teen demographic instead of mature shows such as this. Admittedly some of the dialogue bushes on being pretentious but this show does present itself as being truly adult in nature. Once the plot really gets moving I think this show could become a great piece of entertainment and food for those like their anime with some sophistication.

Potential: 90%

 

Valkyrie Drive: Mermaid

Short Synopsis: A girl is kidnapped and sent to an island where girls use other girls as weapons by “turning them on”

This was a fascinating watch for me in ways unintended of it’s design. For you see as Valkyrie drive attempted to catch my attention with action and fanservice so blatant that you would wonder why they simply didn’t just go all the way and make it a hentai, I was concerning myself with questions about its setting. For example who decided that the best way of transporting girls to this island would be to jet them though a force field on some kind of rocket vehicle that is destroyed on impact and leaves the girls drifting unconscious in the water? Isn’t that a massive waste of funds to have to destroy one of these likely expensive vehicles every time they want to send a girl to the island? Wouldn’t most of the girls drown before being beached on the shore? Are girls send in pairs of weapon and wielder and who decides which is which? Who was the idiot that decided the weapons need to be activated through sexual foreplay? Why is it that only women can activate these weapons? Meanwhile as I think these questions, Valkyrie drive responds with a “Who cares about that, instead look at these boobies!” to which I reply “I haven’t seen mammaries that grotesque since Clotho from God of War 2.” There really is something wrong with the proportions of these girls that makes them visually alien. This is an experience, to watch a show that’s trying it’s darnedest to erotically entice and yet fail to get the slightest reaction from me. It’s like I am playing Bayonetta all over again, except without the great gameplay. As for story it’s basically along the lines of what you would expect but I really do need to make a point that they are pushing for the fanservice on this one. At one point they brought in a opponent who had a BDSM slave for a weapon and I really didn’t want it to go there but it unfortunately did. One of our main characters is a silent protagonist which outside of RPGs really is an off putting to see in animation. This girl can talk but in situations where talking would help greatly she stays silent. I guess if you want something for other purposes this might be your thing but frankly there are better alternatives. Not recommended.

Potential: 0%

 

Garo: Guren no Tsuki

Short Synopsis: A armoured man fights horrific spirits that possess people.

Somethings not selling me of this. Maybe it’s the similarity to Shingeki no Bahamut: Genesis as the artstyle of the characters are alike and it is the same studio or maybe it’s because this turned out to be a lot less seinien than I expected. In fact you know what this reminded me of? A Tokusatsu show sure enough the live action Garo tv show is indeed a Tokusatsu show. I can’t say much for Tokusatsu shows as I simply don’t have enough experience with them to form a concrete opinion but I believe I went into this show with the wrong expectations. Which could explain why I wasn’t too impressed with the show. The setting is nice but the feel of the story just feels half baked and far too simplistic. One particular thing I noted was that in the beginning the heroes only jumped in after the monsters had devoured all the people and the villain of the episode mainly became a villain because he was mocked but by one of the female heroes which really doesn’t make me want to root for them. The heroes as well don’t have much in lines of personality. I fear this show may become too formulaic and just doesn’t mesh well with me on a personal level. My recommendation is to just watch the episode yourself and decide if you would like to continue with it or not as I find this may be a case of a show just not being to my taste.

Potential: 30%

Hidan No Aria AA

Short Synopsis: A fangirl wants to be a sidekick to a Detective who does no Detectiving

That was one of the most stupid things I have seen in quite some time. I took me a while to remember just how illogical the setting of Hidan no Aria is. Armoured detectives who don’t do anything related to be being an actual detective, bullet proof sailor uniforms that leave the lower body unprotected, a school dedicated to teaching kids in firearms and using them as a swat team…every aspect of this makes one wonder just how the writer couldn’t see how utterly dumb everything is. You could say it’s intentionally not taking itself seriously but the story presents itself with far too much sincerity. The animators and artists are clearly not putting there A game into this, nor should they. For anyone should have been able to tell that this was just a bankrupt concept. Actually it’s worse than that, it’s a spinoff to a bankrupt concept. Yes, this series isn’t a genuine sequel but rather a spinoff of the likes of the Railgun series is to the Index series. The male lead of the first season is barely present while the focus shifts to Aria and the Aria fangirl who is to be our main lead. Ultimatly a bad move as if there was anyone in the previous show who was at least somewhat interesting, it was the male lead but now all we have to carry the show is a Shana knockoff and a fangirl with a voice and personality that could annoy Buddha. The action scenes present some of the most mind boggling scenarios ranging from Aria dispelling electricity by controlling vibration to make it travel down a cable and vaporize a steel pillar(This isn’t how electricity works.), to a boat chase through a town river that is solved by a sniper shooting a crane on the boat, said crane swinging to the side and ripping off a railing, swinging back with railing and somehow Aria uses this to swing through a window to the Bridge of the ship and manages to perfectly balance herself needlessly between the ships wheel and a radio device. This is just laughably ridiculous and the fact that this show expects me to take this Rie Kugimiya tsundere seriously as some badass professional is just too much. Whatever here that isn’t silly is dull and uninteresting. This is hardly a surprise but this show is not recommended at all. Even you you want to watch something bad, it’s not worth it.

Potential: 0%

 

Ore ga Ojousama Gakkou ni “Shomin Sample” Toshite Gets♥Sareta Ken

Short Synopsis: An average boy is kidnaped and forced to go to a school for rich girls in order to teach them about the everyday world.

I fear Sliver link are making the same mistake that Mangalobe made with “The world god only knows” adaption. Namely adapting almost everything decently but messing up the most crucial aspect, comedy. I know this is based on a light novel but the manga had a certain punch to it. The jokes hit hard and fast which benefited the screwball nature of the situation. But the animes pace is slow with the jokes being too drawn out and lacking impact. With the main feature taken out the rest was a rather mediocre experience which doesn’t look like it’s going to improve. It’s very clear that this got the short end of the stick when it comes to budget, the character designs have gotten a fierce downgrade. One particular causality is the main protagonist whose design makes his character seem much more generic than he actually is. The show feels watered down and I felt slightly disappointed as a result. The lacking budget really hurts the show and you can truly see compromise in it’s presentation. I don’t really think I can recommend this quite as much as I did before because while the end result will likely be a little better than a no effort harem, it won’t quite be as enjoyable as it could have been.

Potential: 15%

 

Taimadou Gakuen 35 Shiken Shoutai

Short Synopsis: An elite inquisitor gets demoted into a squad of misfits tasked with preventing crimes related to magic.

Better than the manga but ultimately a very mediocre experience. The soundtrack is odd with some techno styled synthesizers. The action and animation are pretty decent and it’s seems that this was one of the shows Sliver link decided deserved a better budget than the above Shomin Sample. A pity as this show is fairly trope heavy and while not terrible like Hidan no Aria, lacks anything to make it stand out. The characters so far have dull designs and don’t have much in interesting character traits. The sniper girl Usagi in particular is far too annoying with her being used mainly for fanservice, having an irritating voice and spending most of the episode shouting at other people. There’s the old standard tropes as well like the accidental boob grope and the walking in while someone’s changing trope. It’s something that I think some could enjoy if this kinds of light novel plots are your thing but having experienced dozens of these kinds of stories I found myself getting very bored halfway through the episode. From off hand accounts I have heard that the light novels get better later but right now It just doesn’t have that factor to make me want to keep watching it.

Potential: 10%

JK-Meshi!

Short Synopsis: Three girls banter and teach you how to make Japanese snack food.

As a comedy anime this show is laughably bad and clearly produced on a minimal budget. The characters do not move and the CGI is some of the ugliest I’ve seen. The writing might be even worse…but how is the recipe? Well I gave this one a try and can honestly say that miso soup with fried tomatoes and sesame seeds is delicious. Can I recommend this anime? Absolutely not. But if you’re interested in Japanese cooking you should skip the tv show and check out the recipes.

Potential: 0% (but worth checking out the recipes)

 

Hackadoll

Short Synopsis: Inept, moefied, androids cause mayhem in their laughable attempts at assisting humans.

So apparently this show is an ad for a Japanese news app, which is ironic, because this is frankly some of the best animation I’ve ever seen in a TV short like this. Of course Trigger are known for front-loading their work, both in terms of animation budget and writing quality, so I’m guardedly optimistic about this show. But the first episode was a lot of fun, both visually and comedically. I will definitely be following this.

Potential: 75%

Komori-san can’t decline 

Short Synopsis: A school girl is unable to refuse requests and develops special skills as a result.

I found this show to be lacking in both humor and taste. Which is a shame because I love the art style and the voice actors seem to really be trying. But the comedy is just not very funny and what makes this show truly repellent is the overdone breasts fanservice that borders on fetish material. Maybe someone else will like this style of show but I found it dreadful.

Potential: 15%

Hakone-Chan 

Short Synopsis: A shrine deity revives in the form of a child.

This is a pretty bland narrative about a shrine deity and a boy who is of course in unrequited love with the girl of his dreams. But I like how direct the narrative is and how capriciously Hakone-chan behaves. This is nothing ground-breaking but for the most part well-executed. But of course the creators have to go and throw in a stupid fanservice joke, which doesn’t bode well for the future but I think I will keep watching.

Potential: 45%

Magical Somera-Chan 

Short Synopsis: Somera and her sister endure random acts of violence.

This is a screwball comedy, which I usually like, but I guess this just isn’t my thing. The animation and voice acting are great and I can’t point to anything specifically that I found problematic about the writing but this just didn’t make me laugh. The again, unlike some of these other comedy shorts, I definitely think this show will have a following. It’s just so bizarre that I think some people are bound to love it.

Potential: 35%

Sakurako-san no Ashimoto ni wa Shitai ga Umatteiru

Short Synopsis: A boy and a girl who loves bones come across a skeleton on the beach.

One thing I think anime should take note of is that if you plan to have intrinsic photorealistic environments then you should try to blend the character art styles to match said environments. The anime characters of this episode present a disconnect similar to that of the cartoon characters of Who framed Roger Rabbit. While the characters are present, it doesn’t feel like they belong. More like they are standing in front of an overly decorative set. The soundtrack is very bombastic, presenting a score more suitable for a high fantasy adventure rather than a mundane mystery show. It’s far too intrusive, with high pitched violins while the detective is explaining her theory. The story of the episode itself is decent but suffers from over-presentation with heavy visuals to show the explanations of the main detective. My previous assumption about a Sherlock and watson relationship turned out correct and sadly the main character is as bland as his design suggests. Our main girl is mildly interesting but possess far too few likeable traits, and her gimmick of loving bones is already wearing thin. This is a mystery show when essentially solves itself without any viewer speculation which is disappointing. One particular annoying aspect is the show portraying the police as deeply incompetent in order for our main detective to seem more brilliant and I find her deductions to be far too based on assumption. I admit to being overly harsh on this show and there is still some potential as the cast branches out and more interesting mysteries appear, but the first episode is lacking a hook to catch me.

Potential: 40%

 

Dance with Devils

Short Synopsis: A girl gets targeted by a student council of boys and cloaked burglers

Well that’s one way to start an anime. I must admit I rather liked the chanting and the gothic atmosphere of those first two minutes. But then I realized….it’s a musical. A musical reverse harem with supernatural elements. A fascinating combination but I am certainly not the target audience of such a show. Musicals are something I find a little too cheesy for my tastes, I remember having a firm hatred of the songs in disney movies. The second half shows there might be more effort put into this than a regular reverse harem but it still suffers from many of the tropes that plague the genre. Our protagonist is still a blank slate who has a bunch of hunky boys going after her who fall into the usual lineup.This is bound to be better than Diabolik Lovers for those looking for this kind of show but well being the man I am, this doesn’t appeal to me in the slightest.

Potential: 10%

 

Osomatsu-san

Short Synopsis: Old Showa anime characters try to make themselves relevant again.

Our show starts with a black and white cartoon talking about how this show is a return of a anime made over a decade ago and even has one of the characters pointing out that it may be too old for the current generation to enjoy. Certainly hit the nail on the head with that one. So they…turn it into a generic boy band idol anime. So I sat there, clearly seeing that this was a joke and waited for the joke to end. And it didn’t. The joke went on and on to start referencing everything from attack on titan to shounen anime. I got the joke by the first minute and even then I didn’t find it all that funny. I have said many times that anime comedies are something I can’t really appreciate but I feel that there is just far too much “Shout till it’s funny” and “Look at the anime we are referencing” going on for my to consider this good comedy. Admittedly I find the idea of old showa anime characters trying to be relevant by copying popular threads to be somewhat amusing but from what I can tell this isn’t going to be the actual show. Instead the next episode looks to be the genuine first episode. I find the black and white segments of the show to be a prime example of just how far anime has come along and thank god for that because the old Osomatsu show looks to be pretty terrible. I think this is one you have to make up your own mind about, if this first episode gets you laughing then maybe the humor of the rest of the series might be your thing but for me what’s presented hasn’t sold me on this show.

Potential: 20%

One Punch Man

Short Synopsis: A superhero is bored because all his fights end with one punch

This one truly is set to be shoe in for one of the hits of the season. The only major concern I had regarding it was whether Madhouse could live up to the art of the manga and they certainly did not disappoint. The animation in this episode was perfect, that last scene with Saitama fighting the subterraneans was a marvel to look at. The art on the other hand may have people torn, I personally have no problem with it but I do think it looks rough at times. But other times it looks beautiful, channeling the style of american comic books more so than anime. The story itself is a dilemma that likely faces every shounen protagonist once they reach the pinnacle of power. Namely the absolute boredom of being so overpowered that no one presents a challenge any more. Saitama’s transformation from salaryman to powerhouse is sudden but it really gets across just how empty he feels with his status of being the strongest. Humor in the episode managed to make me smile, in particular the giant man’s accident and Saitama’s smirk nearly got a chuckle. If you are watching anything this season, chances are this should be on your list.

Potential: 95%

 

Shingeki! Kyojin Chuugakkou

Short Synopsis: Attack on titan without titan’s getting attacked

When the only joke you have is referencing a much better show you could be watching instead of this then maybe you should rethink making an anime out of it. This is pretty terrible and they are milking the Attack on titan name for all it’s worth. Even parodying the famous Opening with there own version but the joke essentially is just referencing Attack on titan scenes. Even the most diehard of fans would find this lacking. If there are any other jokes in this show, it’s of the juvenile kind that a four year old wouldn’t even laugh at.

Potential: 0%

 

Utawarerumono – Itsuwari no Kamen

Short Synopsis: A man finds himself in a land of animal people with no memory

This certainly is taking its time but I appreciate that at least it’s letting the viewer in on the story without being too expository. The humor is hit or miss, it has it’s charm sometimes but can fall flat hard. The amnesia trope is overused but at least with this character he’s not dwelling on it too much. Amnesia characters tend to get caught up in getting their memory back but our main here is shaking it off pretty well which is good because this trope is too common. Animation has some still frames though for the most part it’s a decently animated anime. The setup here is pretty solid and our two mains are fairly likable but the story hasn’t really started yet so it’s still a question on how good this anime will be. From what is presented so far I say this is looking to be a satisfactory watch that should at least keep people entertained in between other shows.

Potential: 55%

Comet Lucifer

Short Synopsis: Our main and a girl fall into a chasm and recover a girl born from a gem.

Well now, it seems like 8 bit are channelling the spirit of old style Bones animation. Which isn’t a bad thing. This episode felt a lot like Xamed or Eureka Seven in tone. It’s not doing anything new but there’s signs of real effort and the episode was pretty engaging throughout. One thing I loved was the design of what looks to be the main Mecha which is reptilian in nature. It just looks great, I loved seeing it fight at the end of the episode. Though there is a pretty big plot with two main characters falling into a giant chasm and yet end up perfectly fine. The setting looks good and characters are decent so far though the main is a little bland. That ending does give me a bad feeling that things may get worse later but from what I have seen so far I am interested to see how this goes.

Potential: 70%

 

Concrete Revolutio: Choujin Gensou

Short Synopsis: A agent and a magical girl try to prevent the theft of scientific research.

I think it’s becoming a pet peeve of mine when an anime makes no effort to include the audience in the story. Shoveling exposition isn’t the best way to start an anime but at the very least ensure that the audience knows the setting, timeframe and what’s at stake. In other words do not jump between two different time frames without informing the viewer that they are two different times, do not toss out random terms that mean absolutely nothing to those uninformed and do not jump into an action scene without making sure the viewer knows why it’s happening. I am not asking to be spoon fed, but some clarification would be nice. It’s difficult what to make if this show, I am not sure if it’s trying to parody magical girls and old school Mecha anime or if it’s playing it straight. The backgrounds use a minimalist comic book style which takes some getting used to. The animation is pretty good but again my main problem here is that it’s confusing presentation. One minute a waitress is talking to a man in a cafe in daylight, the next minute she’s chasing him down at night in a train for some reason. We can’t even be certain if this place is earth. But most importantly of all, am I supposed to take this seriously or is it tongue in cheek? We have a magical girl and transforming robots fighting between the folds of reality levels of absurd but the episodes end tried to push for a more serious tone. This is going to need another episode to get a better evaluation but so far it’s passable.

Potential: 40%

 

Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans

Short Synopsis: A ragtag group of boy soldiers try to fend off an attack with inferior equipment.

Take it from me when I say I am not much of a Gundam fan, there is just something about it that never quite caught my attention. So for this Gundam to catch my attention it’s doing something right. From the Gundam series I have seen the first episode often goes the same formulac way. But Gundam Orphans starts off very different. Sure there’s a Gundam reveal but the setup is very unlike any other Gundam. So far I am loving the cast being oppressed underdogs against a superior force as well as the naive princess attempting to understand the state of Mars by integrating with the boy soldiers. My eyes may glaze over when they start talking space politics but this setting has huge potential. A Mars like a third world country, protests calling for it to be an independent state, a ragtag group of abused teen soldiers in possession of a great weapon while guarding a princess possibly subject to a political assassination attempt? Sign me up. I must say as well that it’s so nice to see genuine animated mecha instead of CGI robot. Nobody can animate bipedal robots quite like Sunrise. Though two things are off. One is that the designs of some characters are more cartoony than others making them look odd when placed beside one another. The second is that there quite a lot of male fanservice going on with the cast showing off six packs and seem to require being topless to operate a Mecha. Truthfully that isn’t all that bothersome but I would prefer if it remains minor and doesn’t get too intrusive. If Okada can keep this up then this may be a Gundam series I could hold highly and certainly one I can say is leagues above Reconguista. One last thing, that soundtrack is glorious.

Potential: 85%

K Return of Kings

Short Synopsis: Gangs are fighting each other and something, something, video game, something.

The best word to describe this is obnoxious. The story is pretty incomprehensible and the anime isn’t making any effort to explain itself. I watched the previous season of K but maybe that movie had some vital information that would help me understand just what everyone is talking about. From what I can gather this green king is hiring lackeys through some video game and making them annoy the blue and red kings so the silver king would get drawn out. And believe me it was hard to get that from the amount of utterly useless dialogue that seems to be not saying very much. What also doesn’t help is the giant fight scene at the start that lasted 8 minutes was in fact a flashback which is never addressed as such. GoHands here’s a tip, a fight scene without context is nothing more than white noise. No matter how much good animation is in it, or at least there might have been good animation underneath the lens flares, horrible Photorealistic CGI backgrounds and that blue hue overlay that you place over everything that makes all the colours washed out and annoys the hell out of me. Forgive me if I sound angry but that blue hue truly ruined the episode for me, nearly in every single shot, sometimes so overpowering that it’s like watching anime through a blue stained window. It’s just horrible. There’s the Highschool of the Dead level of fanservice with that big breasted blond girl that is just downright insulting. I make no joke when I say that this womans breasts and ass had more screen time than her face. So to summarize, story is impenetrable as well as insufferably smug about itself, visuals are horrible and fanservice is just too blatant. Not recommended.

Potential: 0%

 

Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry

Short Synopsis. A clearly mentally unstable girl challenges a boy to a fight after he sees her naked.

Attention female anime characters, I wish to let you know of a truly powerful and useful device that we of the modern world make use of everyday. Now it’s function may surprise you but with the right training even you can be a master of it. And this glorious and revolutionary tool is…a door lock. Trying using it before you start changing. Mind blowing, I know. Though if your choice of underwear is that risqué I would wonder if you actually want to be seen. There’s not much to say here. Boy meets girl, boy sees girl naked, girl attempts to kill boy, is beat, falls in love with him and in a hypocritical turn of events molests him in his sleep. It’s at least pretty watchable though the animation isn’t anything noteworthy. Seeing as its Silver link who made some rather impressive fight animation for the Prisma Illya series, I was expecting something a little more exciting. If you are looking for a pretty standard show that wont require much brain cells then this is the one for you.

Potential: 20%

 

Gakusen Toshi Asterisk

Short Synopsis: A clearly mentally unstable girl challenges a boy to a fight after he sees…whoa. Déjà vu.

Rakudai and this do start off exactly the same but to give Rakudai some credit, at least it’s trying. Asterisk just feels lazy in all regards, so much so that almost every line of dialogue is a variation of a line from a similar show. The setting just seems ridiculous. For what possible benefit would there be to build six schools right beside each other? I mean it it was branch’s of the same school that would make more sense but the anime points out that they are indeed six separate schools. This is as by the numbers as it gets, generic to a T. If it was the only standard light novel show this season I would say it would scratch someone’s itch but there’s the better alternative Rakudai for that. This anime just seems pointless.

Potential: 0%

Lance N’ Masques

Short Synopsis: A boy has a huge lance and a tendency for acting like tuxedo mask.

I will admit that this episode wasn’t as terrible as I was expecting but it has all the ingredients to become terrible by episode 2. The biggest problem however is not in the story but in the art. Whoever is doing the character art for this show, either step up or step down because the character art is downright ugly. Proportions are off, shading is blocky with no regard to light source and it’s just not pleasant to look at. What makes this most evident is the heavily detailed backgrounds which cause a huge disconnect with the far too simplistic character designs. The soundtrack has some interesting pieces of music Celtic vibes that I rather like. The main problem I have with the story is the very young age of the heroine. Its very creepy to see the show push for a romantic mood between the two. The setup has mildly intriguing aspects like the order of knights but there’s a harem, there’s most certainly a school coming and a large number of common cliches. The animation is quite limited and from the looks of things they blew most of their budget on the first fight scene. There’s not any hope for this one.

Potential: 0%

 

Heavy Object

Short Synopsis. The world now conducts wars by pitting Metal Gears against one another.

When watching the first few minutes of this episode I found myself wondering, why was it that I wasn’t all that impressed with this story when I read the Light novel? I mean the setting is great with huge potential and while the science is spotty, the Metal Gears are pretty awesome. So why was it I wasn’t sold on this? Then the main characters are introduced with two male leads talking exposition and the third female lead taking a shower because…because. On seeing that I suddenly thought “Ah yes. Now I remember.” This is Kazuma Kamachi after all. The man prone to creating settings with unlimited potential and squandering it by using it for the lowest common denominator of storytelling. The man potentially responsible for every overused Light novel trope under the sun. The parts regarding objects in this episode were decently engaging but was inter cut with some bad comedy and even more awful cringe inducing fanservice. The scene with the girls belts acting as bondage ropes and the main agonizing over undoing the belts while she was getting choked to death by them because to do so he would touch her breasts was quite painful to say the least. If these parts of the show don’t bother you as much as they did me then chances are you will enjoy this show. Me however, I will just lament  the death of an idea that could have been great in someone elses hands.

Potential: 30%

 

Young Blackjack

Short Synopsis: An intern doctor performs a risky operation on a young boy.

So far very promising though it’s old school sensibilities are a bit intrusive. It’s very on the nose about its story with not much subtlety and highly dramatized but the story itself is quite good. The main mature cast has potential with a drug addict doctor who can’t stand the sight of blood and the enigmatic blackjack. Though it wasn’t quite as dark as I was expecting and reminded me a lot of the Trauma center video game series. Very nice touch at the end of the episode which goes to prove that even if you do someone a huge favor, their are types who will weasel their way out of a deal. The next episode preview looks to be putting forth more moral dilemmas which is a massive plus in my book. I think this will be a show to keep an eye on.

Potential: 85%