Category: Some Quick First Impressions

Secrets of the Silent Witch

Short Synopsis: A shy witch is assigned to go to school to protect the Second Prince from assassination.

Mario: Now, I don’t mind another witch anime, and the premise isn’t half-bad, but there are two main issues I have with Silent Witch’s premiere. Firstly (and perhaps most importantly), I find the titular girl utterly boring. Not that I have any particular issues against shyness, but she acts exactly the way you’d expect her to act, from her nervous reactions down to everything she’s about to say. At this rate I’m not sure if I have the patience to watch her for an entire season. Secondly, this episode is chock full of obvious exposition to the point you feel like the show wants to hammer all the information into your head. For a show about a girl who can do magic without chanting, maybe the best approach would be to say less and instead let us grab what’s going on with the visuals alone?
Potential: 10%

Amun: Light hearted witch anime is a subgenre that I find myself quite fond of. From way back when with Kiki’s Delivery Service to Flying Witch to even the more recent Witch Watch (which wasn’t as great but was okay), I like the magic shows that don’t take themselves too seriously. Silent Witch does a great job balancing that in the first episode. I was really reminded of Wistoria as far as overall vibe and characters – the comparison is high praise. The world is fun, the lead has a clearly defined (albeit annoying) gimmick, the supporting cast is great – this is a recipe for success. Silent Witch was barely on my radar with all the other heavy hitters this season, but I think I’ll be enjoying it all the way through.
Potential: 75%

Busamen Gachi Fighter

Short Synopsis: An ugly man isekais into another world as an even uglier man, but also as a literal God.

Lenlo: I didn’t hate Busamen, and it’s for the same reasons I loved shows like I Parry Everything. And while it doesn’t seem near as good as Parry, the lead isn’t nearly as likeable, it isn’t as well animated, and the premise is a bit to trite for my tastes, it does still have that same feeling that it knows exactly what it is, and is actively taking the piss out of itself. None of the leads are, so far at least, genuinely shitty people. Even our main MC isn’t the usual “I’m a nice guy, why do girls always go for the assholes” sort of incel. Instead they are all some manner of maladjusted shut-in trying their hand at a second life in an Isekai world, making for some fun light hearted interactions. That said, it’s still very much a weeb power fantasy, making the MC the ugliest, fattest character they could, while making him a literal God and surrounding him with at least two conventionally attractive girls, more expected to follow. To me, it feels like Busamen wants to riff on Isekai tropes, but it isn’t willing to go so far as to actually criticize the people who watch it, making it feel half-baked and shallow. Still, it was fun enough for one episode, so I won’t say it was terrible. Just… Not worth keeping up with.
Potential: 20%

Call of the Night S2

Short Synopsis: Herbivore boy must fall in love with scantily clad vampire…which is turning out to be harder than he expected.

Amun: You know, I was kind of weaning off anime a bit last season, only watching a few shows. Felt like my interest was going to gradually taper off and I’d move on to “normal adult” interests like golf or stocks. Haha, yeah right! This season brings back some of my most anticipated sequels – I’m not escaping the clutches of anime that easily! Starting off is one of my favorite shows from…a few seasons ago? (I need to look that up). Call of the Night just had the perfect vibe for me – I absolutely loved season 1 colors, music…really just the feeling it gave me. Does the first episode of season 2 continue? Yes, with some caveats. While the episode itself seemed pretty on brand, we definitely have the looming year deadline as well as the vampire hunter. Us anime onlys don’t know all the mechanics of vampires (or the secret behind the scary final form), so I get the feeling that’ll be the main plot line this season. No matter what, I’m pretty invested in the characters and world at this point, so barring any major disaster of production or plot – I’m here till the end!
Potential: 99%

WataNare

Short Synopsis: Two high school girls test out a potential romantic relationship by alternating between friend and girlfriend days.

Wooper: A few posts back, I said that attraction overcoming the language barrier was one of the romance genre’s best tropes. Well, for every good fictional trope out there, there’s an equally terrible one, and WataNare is built around one of the worst of them all: the pretend relationship. Usually these sham couples are formed to win a bet, or get pesky suitors off one or both parties’ backs, but here the motivation is slightly more novel. High school madonna Mai falls in love with her awkward friend Renako, but Renako isn’t receptive to her confession, so Mai proposes that they spend half of their time as friends and the other half as Friends of Ellen. I could see that setup appealing to younger yuri fans, for whom the margin between platonic and romantic relationships may feel slim, but personally, I couldn’t get into it. Just five minutes into the episode, these two characters who I barely knew were sitting in a tree and spilling their insecurities to each other, and the very next day one had fallen in love with the other? It was all very hasty – but then, quickness is part of the show’s presentational style, with panicked inner thoughts and occasional outbursts on top of already swift dialogue. WataNare isn’t for me, but it has a clear identity, and its hair-swapped cast members are always on model, so I’d imagine that fans of the source material are pretty happy right now.
Potential: 20%

Gachiakuta

Short Synopsis: In a world where everyone is trash, people always find a way to push someone else even lower to feel better about themselves, and Rudo has been shoved all the way to the bottom.

Lenlo: Gotta say, as many edgy revenge shounen as we get each year, Gachiakuta has piqued my interest. Its setting of supposedly floating islands with a ruined, trash filled Earth below, and a tiered caste system combined with a weird obsession with trash, probably getting used as a metaphor for fitting into society and the traits people see as acceptable or something, was nice. The visuals weren’t half bad either, unafraid to use some thick line work at times, as well as some nice colors. My only real complaint so far is that the writing seems very… Blunt. Gachiakuta covers a lot of ground in this first episode, introducing us to the world, the MC, his family and general life situation, and then ripping it all away and plunging us headfirst into the plot as if it doesn’t think we don’t have the patience to sit through more than a single episode of setup. That’s all well and good if the rest of the show slows down and gives the world room to breathe a little bit, after all it’s hard to care about characters I’ve only known for 20 minutes. Still, if it can do that, if it can take its time now that it’s thrown us head first into this world, I think Gachiakuta could be some good fun, something akin to the over the top edge of Ragna Crimson. If that strikes your fancy and you just want a fun edgy romp, I’d say this is worth watching at least a few more episodes to see where it goes.
Potential: 50%

See You Tomorrow at the Food Court

Short Synopsis: Two teenage girls from different high schools meet at a food court to chat aimlessly.

Wooper: I like the idea behind Food Court de, Mata Ashita: two friends shooting the breeze with no overarching story to direct their conversations. Of course, such a plotless show will live and die by the content of those conversations, and that’s where Food Court stumbles. Its main characters, the grumbling Wada and the easygoing Yamamoto, don’t have much going on in their lives, so they (mostly Wada) have to scrape the bottom of the barrel for things to talk (mostly complain) about. Their very first topic is a prime example: the netizens insulting Wada for her textboard posts criticizing a character from a gacha game. I can’t think of many subjects that interest me less, and while their choice of discussion fodder improved from there, it remained superficial enough that I had to wonder why the Food Court manga was selected for an anime adaptation. Even a professional voice actor would be hard pressed to dimensionalize Wada’s shallow gripes about error-prone cashiers or airheaded NPCs. Maybe Yamamoto, whose interest in the supernatural generated some of the episode’s better moments, will steer a higher percentage of future conversations – even if she does, though, I won’t be around to find out.
Potential: 5%

My Dress-Up Darling S2

Short Synopsis: Season 2 of Dress Up Darling, where a cosplay babe and an introverted tailor work together to make cute outfits and flirt with each other.

Lenlo: I have such a complicated relationship with Dress Up Darling. Normally I hate such overtly ecchi, pandering, fanservice focused shows. And don’t get me wrong, Dress Up Darling is exactly that, slapping Marin into a bunny suit and flashing her ass right away. It’s the way the show does it that makes it work for me though, with the leads introducing each other to their interests, using cosplay and tailoring as the vehicle for their mutual interest in each other. Not to mention how they find this place of belonging after being spurned for said interests in the wider world, I love that Gojo’s past regarding makeup/dolls is making a return. It also helps that Dress Up Darling is beautifully, expressively animated. In fact it’s easily the best animated thing I’ve watched so far, which admittedly isn’t a huge number since I’ve been out, but it’s still true. CloverWorks is knocking it out of the park, and I really hope they’re able to keep it up for the full season. So yeah, Dress Up Darling has plenty of ecchi fanservice, and if that’s a deal breaker then you should avoid it like the plague. But if you’re looking for a cute romance and are ok with some skin, especially when she’s doing it on purpose to tease/entice her love interest, Dress Up Darling should be perfect for you. I know I had fun. Plus we even got a cute couples cosplay! Sort of.
Potential: 60%

With You and the Rain

Short Synopsis: A reserved novelist bonds with an intelligent tanuki after adopting it off the street.

Wooper: The best thing about this show so far is its OP, which boasts both a toe-tapping bossa nova groove and attractive pop art color design. Its simplicity might not blow anyone away, but its assured direction is admirable – a sentiment that could apply to the rest of the show, as well. With You and the Rain (Ame to Kimi to) has modest ambitions, but its atmosphere is soothing, and what little animation it requires for its slice of life story looks nice. The main human character, a quietly beautiful novelist, has a little bit of intrigue surrounding her, too. Near the beginning of the episode, she gives her umbrella to a stranger in the middle of a rain shower, claiming that she “won’t be needing it now” (a reaction to a personal setback, perhaps), and at one point she accidentally calls her father, then ignores his cheerful greeting and hangs up without an explanation. Far more mysterious is her new pet tanuki, which frequently pulls a notebook out of thin air and writes in Japanese, allowing it to flawlessly communicate with anyone it meets. It knows enough about human society to inquire after its new owner’s occupation, so I’m wondering whether we’ll ever see it shapeshift into humanoid form (as tanuki are wont to do). Whether or not the show plans to make that transformation, its easy interspecies partnership is off to a good start.
Potential: 50%

Nyaight of the Living Cat

Short Synopsis: A pair of former cat cafe employees try to outlast a pandemic that turns humans into cats.

Wooper: It seems I overestimated Nyaight of the Living Cat based on the strength of its trailers, which had the luxury of rapidly cutting between all the show’s weirdest moments. It’s a parody, sure, but the genre it’s parodying is horror, which means that when you sit down to watch a full episode, there’s still a requirement that it slowly build tension to a moment where its human protagonists seem doomed to transform into cats. Unfortunately, Nyaight isn’t adept at generating that sort of suspense. Its environments are unimaginative, and the characters don’t look great while navigating them, acting out run cycles that hardly indicate their fear. That might not be an issue for some viewers (it might even be a plus if their favorite horror films are the shlocky B-movie kind), but it was for me. The second half of the episode explores the backstory of its main character, a hulking mystery box of a man whose brain has been drained of everything except cat facts. Despite its stupidity, the script plays this concept straight, which I think was the right call – I just wish that the siblings who took him hadn’t been so normal, since it was hard to relate to Mr. Amnesia by comparison. I might take a look at Nyaight’s second episode, but if I do, it’ll just be my way of coping for having misread the show so thoroughly.
Potential: 15%

Dandadan S2

Short Synopsis: Season 2 of Dandadan, where a young man cursed by a demon and his classmate with psychic powers go on a quest to recover his balls.

Lenlo: What is it with this author and trying to rape his female leads? Seriously, this obsession with lewd humor and sexual situations is dragging down an otherwise competent shounen. When Dandadan isn’t trying to sexually assault Momo, it actually does body horror and action really well, with interesting environments, situations and power usage, and it knows how to pace the mystery of whatever monster we’re about to fight. But then, without fail, it always interrupts it with some random testicle joke, or some old guy trying to feel up Momo for no reason at all, dragging all of the good parts of the show down. As is, I’m going to watch it, if only because last season has given me unrealistic expectations as to Dandadans production. And so long as the pretty lights continue to go brr, I’ll continue to stick with it. But if it can’t move past all this weird sex stuff? Then it’s never going to be anything more than a YouTube fight compilation generator, at least not to me.
Potential: 40%

Mario: After a 6-month break, Dandadan picks up exactly where it left, for better or for worse. It has stellar animation, great production all round, the plot that makes little sense and the characters are as plain as paper. The mystery regarding Jiji’s situation gets resolved quickly, and here we have a special kind of villain this show has to offer: the Kito Family who are not monsters but act and behave like one anyway. If you enjoyed the first season you’ll be right at home (well, not Jiji’s rent home) with this second season. It’s a real treat to look at, and it’s weird but never afraid to be a weirdo.
Potential: 40%

Betrothed to My Sister’s Ex

Short Synopsis: A neglected daughter is forcibly engaged to a handsome count after the passing of her sister, his previous fiance.

Wooper: Before watching this episode, I figured that it was merely this show’s localized title that made it sound like bargain bin teen lit. Then I watched the episode and realized that’s exactly what it was. The author of Betrothed to My Sister’s Ex must be the gorillionth writer in history to use Cinderella as a jumping off point for her own work, tweaking a bunch of the details but ultimately crafting a story of an abused young woman with whom a gallant prince (here a count) falls in love. The way that “Betrothed” heaps misfortune on its heroine Marie’s head is more blatant than any Cinderella adaptation – here it’s both her father and her biological mother who call her ugly and force her to do manual labor, rather than just an evil stepmother. Only Marie’s sister shows her any kindness, so naturally, she has to die midway through the premiere. The entire setup is quite clumsy, but perhaps there’s a bright spot to this avalanche of tragedy – with so much of it out of the way so early, the show can move on to less derivative material. As far as the production goes, I’m tempted to call it threadbare, but the show does nail its close-ups, and the moment when a beautified Marie descends the stairs of the count’s estate really sells her transformation, however cliched. This show won’t land on my summer watchlist, but it’ll be a couple thousand fans’ first shoujo anime ever, and honestly, they could do worse.
Potential: 10%

Cultural Exchange with a Game Center Girl

Short Synopsis: A Japanese-speaking arcade employee and an English-speaking customer strike up a flirty friendship.

Wooper: From a production standpoint, Game Center Girl (GaCen Shoujo to Ibunka Kouryuu) has quite a few bugs. The animation is hiccupy, the imprecise editing causes some shots to linger without purpose, and while its use of mostly diegetic music suits its arcade setting, it could have used a more robust soundtrack to smooth over some of its more awkward moments. For decades, though, the anime machine has been overcoming these kinds of limitations through sheer cuteness, and I’d say this show continues that tradition. Contrary to how it might look, its cutest asset isn’t the vertically challenged blonde girl (Lily) on the poster, but the triumph of attraction over the language barrier, which is one of the romance genre’s all time greatest tropes. All of Lily’s dialogue is in British English, while arcade employee Renji can hardly put three words together in her native tongue. Still, he tries his darndest to communicate out of a mixture of kindness and curiosity, which comes across with clarity, especially during the scene where he presents Lily with a notebook where they can exchange messages in written English. Sure, the chase scene that precedes the notebook reveal is embarrassing to watch, and all the misunderstandings that will arise from this premise already have my head spinning, but this was still a fun first episode. That counts for something, even if I’m unlikely to watch any more.
Potential: 25%

Tsuyokute New Saga

Short Synopsis: A swordsman is given a second chance to save his homeland from demons after being sent back in time by a magic gemstone.

Wooper: They should have called this adaptation Tsuyokute New Shortcut in honor of its cheap production. The identical fire.gifs slapped on top of its world map during the opening narration, the 3DCG feathers that filled the frame after Kyle defeated the demon king (yes, the protagonist’s name is actually Kyle), the way the animation cratered after he was sent back in time and there were no more effects-laden fights to be had. Perhaps I should be glad that Tsuyokute’s production is so poor – its time travel premise is such boilerplate fantasy fodder that even world class animation wouldn’t push it past mediocrity, so why make the attempt? Guy goes back in time and writes a journal of everything he remembers so he can change the future, wowee. He’ll likely pick up a bunch of anime babes along the way using his foreknowledge of their personalities and preferences – he’s already gotten to work on his childhood friend Liese (at least she has a suitable name for a fantasy series), whose butt he gropes just one minute after being transported into the past. And oh god, the OP’s vocaloid-esque vocal treatment makes for some of the worst music I’ve heard so far this year – give it a listen if you’re ever in the mood to punish your temporal lobe.
Potential: 0%

Onmyo Kaiten Re:Birth

Short Synopsis: A delinquent is isekai’d to an alternate reality version of Tokyo filled with demons, as well as gains the ability to return from death.

Lenlo: Look, this is just a budget Re:Zero, and that’s saying something because Re:Zero is just budget Re:Zero at this point. But where Re:Zero uses Subaru’s ability to return from death to highlight his weaknesses and generally terrible personality, forcing him to try to accomplish impossible tasks again and again, here Takeru is just an OP Shounen MC gifted super powers, an incredible body, and now can’t even pretend to lose, because he comes back to life to try it all over again. It’s obvious that Onmyo Kaiten is just cashing in on whatever’s popular at the moment, trying to combine Re:Zero’s success with the recent outbreak of delinquent anime like Bucchigiri, Wind Breaker, and Tokyo Revengers. But where all of those have some degree of heart, something the author clearly wanted to make even if the results were questionable, Onmyo Kaiten is bland, uninteresting, and boring to watch. Do you want return by death or isekai shenanigans? Just go watch Re:Zero again. Do you want delinquents? Just go watch anything else I listed. Because this is not it.
Potential: 0%

The Water Magician

Short Synopsis: A reincarnated teenager uses his water manipulation powers to settle into his new life in a fantasy world.

Wooper: For a “slow life” isekai anime, The Water Magician (Mizu Zokusei no Mahoutsukai) sure is interested in combat – and sure is bad at depicting it. Not only is its animation frequently amateurish, but the protagonist’s running commentary sometimes makes it seem as though he’s reading a novelization of his own life. At one point he was forced to flee from a monster called an assassin hawk, and rather than concentrate all of his energy into running, he dedicated half of it to reciting what sounded like the creature’s Pokedex entry. I can’t blame the guy for talking to himself, since he lives in total isolation, but both the content and the timing of his monologues had me raising my eyebrows at multiple points. Visually, there were more lowlights than highlights here: off model character animation (for the episode’s one principal character), several PNG trees falling at 90 degree angles, a canvas filter selectively applied to the least attractive bits of background art. The red dragon who appeared to the protagonist in the last few minutes looked derpy as hell, too. This show isn’t all bad, as it seems poised to avoid the worst of its subgenre’s cliches, and the Dullahan who granted the main character his water sword is a point of interest. There’s a lot of room for improvement, though – so much room, in fact, that I doubt much of it will be utilized.
Potential: 10%

Lenlo: The OP is kinda pretty though, sometimes.

Takopi’s Original Sin

Short Synopsis: An octopus-like alien searches for a way to save the life of the miserable human child he has befriended.

Wooper: I typically omit major spoilers when writing these impressions, but since this episode was prefaced with a content warning concerning its most traumatic scene, I’ll address it here. This series deals with themes of bullying and suicide, and not lightly. The moment when alien protagonist Takopi discovered his human friend hanging from the ceiling of her house was engineered for maximum impact: the girl’s disheveled appearance, the dangling animation, the marks around her neck. Worst of all, those marks had been left by a magical ribbon given to her by Takopi himself, transforming his cutesy ignorance of human nature into an inadvertently lethal blind spot. From there, the story progressed into Takopi’s time-traveling campaign to rescue his new friend from despair, balancing humor, sadness and cruelty with a deft touch. There were moments where the show shifted into simulated cutout or diorama animation to highlight its main character’s naivete, and moments where he was assaulted by hatred and violence – a frightening and entirely foreign experience for him, given his origins on Planet Happy. I found this premiere’s psychological approach to be very effective, but if I have one criticism, it would be how often music can be heard throughout its 37 minutes. The soundtrack was fitting, but it occasionally played during scenes where I’d have preferred the cry of cicadas to the sound of musical instruments. That quibble aside, I’m very happy with what we got here, and I look forward to cheering on Takopi as he harnesses his inherent goodness in order to save an innocent life.
Potential: 85%

Mario: Damn. At the moment, Takopi walks a very fine line between silliness and straight-out cruelty. The mismatch in tones, together with the extremity it’s willing to go (you’ve been warned) can turn some viewers off. But for now, the premise holds up as it deals with abuse and depression with nuance, and at the same time still provides a more optimistic outlook in the eyes of Takopi. He might be too oblivious to notice the trauma until he experiences it, but his fear of taking a step forward is totally real. The episode also ends on a hell of a reveal, as it shows how even the bully is just a victim of her own emotional abuse in her domestic life. The Doraemon-esque charm from Takopi works extremely well in that context as it displays just how out of touch he is. I’m certainly intrigued to see how the show goes from here.
Potential: 60%

Detectives These Days Are Crazy

Short Synopsis: An over-the-hill P.I. and a teenage wannabe detective harass each other until they reach a reluctant partnership.

Wooper: I was already mildly interested in this show before watching the premiere, since its original author also wrote Senryu Shoujo, a romcom whose short adaptation charmed me a few years back. Detectives These Days is a lot different from that series – for one thing, Senryu Shoujo’s female lead was mute, while Mashiro (Detectives’ teenage tagalong) is played with gusto by none other than Kana Hanazawa. Rather than fitting the sort of cute role for which her actress was once typecast, Mashiro veers from aggravated to cloying to badass throughout this episode, culminating in her takedown of a yakuza group in its closing minutes. Honestly, it’s a bit much. The show’s stony reaction faces and weird visual gags (including Mashiro stashing impossibly large objects down her shirt) clearly indicate its fondness for absurdity, but not much about it feels fresh. There are jokes about the older private eye being an out of touch Luddite, him perving on his younger partner, and both of them ignoring their clients in favor of doing whatever the hell they want – all a bit too familiar for my liking. The animation may be serviceable, and the performances may be ballsy, but I can’t see Detectives These Days surprising or amusing me week in and week out.
Potential: 20% (mostly for HanaKana’s rapping during the ED)

Clevatess

Short Synopsis: An all-powerful dark beast decides to raise a humanoid child in order to get a sense of its race’s potential.

Mario: I still do not think this episode deserved a double-length runtime, especially after the moment when it revealed what the show is actually about. In fact, I’m leaning more towards the first half than the second half, where the story is more serious and where you start to learn Clevatess’ point of reflection. After reaching the point where the new baby arrives, however, the show’s tone shifts into more silliness, some of which I could very well do without (Alicia!). To the show’s credit, I’m fine with the worldbuilding it displays and I figure that eventually this gang of three will have to cross the border to see the other kingdoms. Not sure that alone would guarantee a second watch for me, though.
Potential: 30%

Wooper: Do my eyes deceive me? Have we been blessed with a competent dark fantasy anime in the year 2025? Even though there’s a particular element of Clevatess’ story that ought to be banished to the shadow realm, I’d say the answer to that second question is yes. The animation was a fair sight better than I expected for a LINE manga adaptation, especially during an early scene where 13 heroes (each wielding a different weapon) staged an attack against the titular dark beast, whose restless horn-capped tails must have posed a real challenge for the animators. There wasn’t that much additional combat during this double length premiere, but with multiple fantasy races occupying a single continent, further conflict is inevitable, and I’m interested to see how it will arise. For now, the show’s primary concern is Clevatess’ goal of raising a Hidenean baby, whose maturation he’ll use to answer the question of whether the continent’s humanoid races should be spared. There are parts of this plot that wink too obviously at the audience, especially the sexualization of the woman that Clevatess recruits to raise the child. I’m not wild about the character designs, either, or the low resolution and chromatic distortion used for flashbacks and dreams, respectively. But there was certainly some care put into the creation of this show, so I’ll give its story a couple more episodes to evolve.
Potential: 45%

Teogonia

Short Synopsis: A young boy sets off on a journey through a fantasy world after memories of his past life awaken within him.

Lenlo: It’s a bit sad, but the biggest thing holding Teogonia back has to be its production. The designs and what not are fine, but the whole thing moves like a half-assed powerpoint presentation. For a series built around combat, around the defense of a village against the endless hordes of monsters, that’s a real problem. And I don’t think the narrative is enough to overcome that, despite the early hints that the monsters aren’t what they seem and that those in charge may not be as benevolent as they would have you believe. There are some bits here and there I’m curious about, the “flashbacks” to our world, the use of magic, these little seeds filled with energy they eat to get stronger. There’s bits and pieces here, hints, as to something interesting. But the way it’s presented could make anything dull.
Potential: 20%

Hibi wa Sugiredo Meshi Umashi

Short Synopsis: A shy college student who loves to eat joins a fraudulent Food Culture Research Club on campus.

Wooper: HibiMeshi (or “Food for the Soul,” if you prefer the localized title) doesn’t offer a whole lot to get excited about in its first episode. It’s set at college rather than middle or high school, but the trademark P.A. Works character designs make the girls feel no different than any old extracurricular club-bound quartet. Several of them do have part-time jobs, which I’d say is the show’s best chance at building something concrete for itself, since their restaurant work ties into their food-focused circle. Jobs aside, all we’ve got is yet another socially anxious protagonist who joins a club to push herself outside her comfort zone, along with sadly mediocre meal prep animation. That last item might be the real killer here, as food porn in anime has taken some huge strides over the years, and this show doesn’t seem to have kept up. And it’s explicitly about food, too – or it seems to be at first glance. The twist at the end of this premiere informs us that the Food Culture Research Club was created under false pretenses, as its founder simply wanted a dedicated space to goof off, but it seems obvious that the series will be a culinary one in some capacity. I mean, the opening scene sees the main character watching a video about a Hokkaido chicken ranch. As of right now, I’m not sure what the point of that twist was, or why I ought to watch another episode of HibiMeshi other than its general pleasantness.
Potential: 20%

Ranger Reject S2

Short Synopsis: Season 2 of Ranger Reject.

Lenlo: It’s back and I’m loving it. Ranger Reject ended the previous season on an awkward note, with a dead Keeper, an escaped Boss, and a mediocre exam arc, so I was a bit concerned about how this new season would go. Aside from the weird sister-complex though, as well as the annoying boob jokes, I was pleasantly surprised. I love getting to see the slowly collapsing/fracturing Rangers, how the Keepers are falling apart due to interpersonal conflicts, and the confirmation that there are multiple Boss monsters still at large in the city. It feels like Ranger Reject is starting to expand its plot, like it’s getting into the secrets of the setting now that D is finally in with the Rangers. Even the production has appeared to improve, with some good looking scenes both in and out of combat. All things considered, I’m happy with Season 2, and I hope it’s able to take this strong start and continue it for the rest of the season.
Potential: 60%

Moonrise

Short Synopsis: The wealthy heir to a global tech company travels to the moon to avenge his parents’ deaths.

Wooper: Ever heard the phrase “too many cooks spoil the broth?” I’m thinking that’s probably what happened with Moonrise, whose nearly 30 minute premiere was so packed with familiar ideas that it feels like the show was written by committee. Rich playboy protagonist, unified world order governed by artificial intelligence, tensions between the Earth and moon, a battle set on a moving train with one faction doing acrobatics while wearing capes (we Attack on Titan now), an antagonist’s massive holographic likeness delivering a rousing speech, etc. Despite the flashy opening fight scene, the main character’s glamorous lifestyle, and the carnage of the anti-Earth terror attack toward the end, this first episode left no impact on me – except for a few moments of unintentional humor. The protagonist’s father springing, “Are you upset about being adopted?” on his adult son made me burst out laughing, and some of the character names are hard not to giggle at (Jack Shadow, Bob Skylum). There’s also a moment where the hacking of a train’s computer system is represented by glowing red lines snaking along its ceiling, which gave off extreme ‘early 2000s police procedural’ energy. Moonrise has a lot of big staff names attached to its production, so some people might not find it funny that its first outing was such a bust. Fortunately, all 18 episodes are already streaming online, so they can discover for themselves whether there’s something worthwhile beyond the first one.
Potential: 15%

Ninja to Koroshiya no Futarigurashi

Short Synopsis: A naive, helpless ninja meets a high school girl assassin and they start living under the same roof.

Mario: I signed up to review this episode totally blind, so imagine my pleasant surprise when I learned not only that my fave studio Shaft handles this project, but also how hilarious it is and how quickly these 20 minutes go by. The jokes start early, as we begin the show with an 80s-retro aesthetic look about how this ninja girl unintentionally defeats everyone before it reverts back to the present day with a modern look and moe character designs. These designs work well in this context, as it probably catches viewers by surprise when such cutesy girls actually murder someone and expose the bodies. Well, it’s played for laughs so it’s pitch black humor we are talking about here. The jokes so far are snappy and don’t overstay their welcome, although I would say that the main ingredients (those being the ninja girl’s clumsiness and the assassin girl’s stoicism) are a bit thin at the moment. That doesn’t matter too much, as long as the first episode gets my attention, and this one did.
Potential: 45%

Mono

Short Synopsis: A pair of high school photography club members meet a manga artist who uses them as inspiration for her new series.

Wooper: If you’re a CGDCT fan, this show has all the necessary ingredients to become your new drug of choice. It boasts cartoony character animation, fun seiyuu performances, a gentle soundtrack (with a bit of slide guitar mixed in to create that Yuru Camp connection), and a genuine interest in its subject, photography. There’s not an information overload where that last topic is concerned, thankfully, as Mono keeps its attention on the characters. It goes so far as to include a prologue about one of the current club member’s attachment to her now-graduated senpai, just so we understand why she’s down in the dumps at the start of the new school year. The dour mood doesn’t hang around for long, though, as the girls’ excitement over their new cameras and their discovery of an old school candy store (complete with a cute cat who wanders in and out) is quite infectious. I think the reason the whole thing works so well is that the two primary characters are committed to their hobby mostly as a way of connecting with other people – Satsuki to honor her departed senpai, and An to stay close to Satsuki. Even when the climax of the episode faltered a bit due to an unremarkable bit of nighttime scenery, I was already so attached to the main cast that I wasn’t bothered in the least. The show may not be as pretty as Yuru Camp (I keep bringing it up because they share an author), but it looks to have just as much heart.
Potential: 75%

Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX

Short Synopsis: A red-haired girl throws herself headlong into the cockpit of a mobile suit to fight against her space colony’s military police force.

Wooper: There are two major categories of Gundam series: Universal Century (the long-running timeline established by the original anime) and everything else. GQuacks is neither; it’s set in a parallel version of the Universal Century, where Zeon (the bad guys) prevailed in the all-important One Year War. This first episode offers scant details about that world-altering change – and somehow provides even less background on its red-haired protagonist. I don’t even think we got her name, much less anything that would explain how she so easily ditches her responsibilities and throws in her lot with an illegal mobile suit battle team. The unanswered questions about who she is and what motivates her to defy the military police were my biggest source of struggle while watching this premiere, though GQuacks certainly isn’t the first Gundam series to withhold crucial context at its start. I’m not wild about the ultra-modern musical direction, either, especially during Machu and Nyaan’s first meeting (thanks for providing their names, Wikipedia!) and Machu’s first time piloting the titular white Gundam. In my mind, those insert songs dominated their respective scenes in unhealthy fashion, since the visuals are the real star of the show here, and the more time we get to admire the youthful character designs and sci-fi infrastructure in isolation, the better. I’m interested to learn more, but this isn’t the start I’d hoped for.
Potential: 55%

Lenlo: I won’t lie, I don’t know a whole lot about Gundam. The only Gundam I’ve watched at all actually was the recent Mercury one and Gundam Wing back on Toonami, so a lot of the history and mentions like “Captain Char” and “Zeon” that I’m sure are exciting for long time fans are lost on me. That said, I still enjoyed GQuuuuuuX quite a bit. The designs were great, I enjoyed how simple and expressive they were, reminding me of Sun and Moon I think it was. The Gundams themselves aren’t bad either, the CGI is definitely noticeable in most shots but they get plenty of 2D animated ones as well. Story wise I liked the lead, she’s a bratty spitfire who isn’t afraid to go out and pick fights if she sees a reason to, very different from Suletta in Mercury. Do I understand everything that’s happening? Not really, there’s some obvious national tensions with refugees and spacians and such going on, but it seems like the series will be more about underground giant robot battles than intergalactic wars. Either way though, I had fun, the OST was a bop, I’m down to make this my third ever Gundam.
Potential: 65%

Apocalypse Hotel

Short Synopsis: The manager of a robot-operated hotel tries to keep her head on straight 100 years after humanity’s abandonment of Earth.

Lenlo: I was not… enthused by Apocalypse Hotel. The premise seems good, the last hotel in the world after an apocalypse because it’s run almost entirely by robots? That’s a solid idea, and the opening few minutes where it juxtaposes a hotel ad with news footage of the end of the world was a great intro. But much like last year’s Shuumatsu Train, it feels like that setting/idea gets dropped rather quickly for a very different show. One centered on the absurd comedy of a bunch of robots going about their daily lives after the apocalypse rather than any kind of exploration on humanity and how/why we ruined the planet as we did. Like… Did the concierge really need to be a cute girl while all the rest of inhuman machines? There is a moment halfway through with the discovery of the Driller Robot, and the reveal of the pile of other “deceased” staff, that gives me a bit of hope for the show, like it’s taking the long route to some kind of Wall-E sort of story where they find connection with each other and all that. But I’m not sure I can sit through another Shuumatsu Train where nothing really happens and the outside world is just set dressing for a mediocre slice-of-life.
Potential: 20%

Wooper: The post-opening-montage shot of the Gingarou Hotel’s robotic doorman overheating and collapsing in front of his station was a great indicator of this show’s M.O. What we have here is a comedy underpinned by existential dread – as the doorman later explains, despite recognizing the futility of his primary function, he wouldn’t be who he is if not for doors to open. The hotel’s humanoid acting manager succumbs to a similar horror partway through this episode, as the absence of a shampoo hat in one of the rooms sends her into a humorous spiral of negativity regarding her reason for existing. One by one, the robots who have kept their workplace guest-ready have ceased to function over the last century, leaving only the small team we meet in this premiere. Their designs are very cute (the quasi-sentient luggage cart is my favorite, but I also love the competitiveness of the two cleaning robots), and the concept of their electronic chatter going untranslated is a great one, as it creates room for the manager to interpret and then bossily override their thoughts. They’re fun enough that I’d have followed the show even without any guests to populate the story, but we get one right at the end, and not the sort for which the hotel was designed. I’m in for a full season, so I look forward to seeing how the Gingarou’s staff adapts to their new clientele!
Potential: 70%

Uchuujin MuuMuu

Short Synopsis: An alien cat comes to Earth to study Earth’s technology in order to save its planet.

Mario: Let me start by saying what I like about this episode the most: the background designs are easy on the eyes. It’s not showy – this show falls into a low-budget territory – but it’s nicely integrated to the series. It has an alien cat who wears a tie and likes to take apart appliances to see how they work (and has no idea how to put them back together). It’s a nice enough idea, but I have a hard time caring for any of these cast members. Their theory that “cats are the owners of the Earth”, likewise, is amusing in concept but doesn’t really have an impact. It’s that kind of show, inoffensive but also plain and forgettable as well.
Potential: 5%

Shoushimin Series S2

Short Synopsis: Season 2 of Shoushimin, where a bunch of kids solve mundane day to day mysteries around town.

Mario: After the bitter end of the last season, which I feel more like a midpoint anyway, we are back with more mundane mysteries to solve. I really enjoy how this second season starts by introducing the new case not from our protagonist Kobato’s POV, but from the perspective of Osanai’s new boyfriend Urino. The structure of this episode is much stronger than Shoushimin’s usual fare. It does take a while until we reach the crux of a new mystery (serial arson), but even before that we get a chance to see how Urino is determined to make something worthwhile, and where our main duo are at this stage of their lives away from each other. The stakes are much higher this time compared to the usual cases as there is an escalation of severity (the fires are more extreme each time) and it ends on such a strong note that finally brings Kobato into this picture. Maybe things will get more interesting now that the two are not together – that way we’d see how the story unfolds from multiple perspectives instead of Kobato explaining his findings to the audience through Osanai. This is a solid (re)start for Shoushimin Series.
Potential: 40%

Zatsu Tabi: That’s Journey

Short Synopsis: An up-and-coming mangaka decides to go on a short trip on a whim.

Lenlo: In a lot of ways Zatsu Tabi reminds me of Barakamon. A gifted youth with a creative block goes on a retreat into the country to get inspiration for the work, learning life lessons and growing up along the way. I’m sure future episodes will branch out, some might head to more metropolitan areas or what have you, but the core of it seems the same. Where it starts to lose me though is the use of social media, and how much of the trip seems more caught up in that rather than what it means for the lead. The episodic nature of the trips also make it really difficult for me to care/get caught up in the idea that our lead even needs to grow, because I know she never will in any meaningful way because to do so is to remove her need for more trips. At least in Barakamon the growth became the reason he wanted to stay out in the country, meaning when it was time to leave he had changed and was now fighting to stay. I guess what I’m saying is, Zatsu Tabi has a very similar idea to a lot of travel shows, and if you want to see rural Japan without actually traveling there yourself (You should, it’s nice), then this could work. For me though, there are better shows about this subject out there, and I’d rather rewatch them.
Potential: 30%

Mario: In a lot of ways Zatsu Tabi reminds me not of Barakamon (it’s a nice show) but of the more recent Yuru Camp. This episode juggles two main themes: 1) traveling as a way of getting out there, away from your normal busy life, to appreciate your surroundings and 2) the actual sightseeing – edutainment travelogue type stuff with (I assume) photorealistic backgrounds, which sometimes feels like its main purpose is to support the tourism industry. The fact that this episode leans more on the latter for me is a bit of a letdown. It’s still something that I enjoyed (hence the rating), but at various points protagonist Chika’s narrative gets sidelined just for the sake of scenery overload. I was actually expecting her to bump into that lady or the locals and get more of their perspective through conversation, and then get inspiration for her script, but ah well… It has a slow, calm, soothing quality so maybe it’s my fault for expecting more from its plot.
Potential: 40%

Summer Pockets

Short Synopsis: A teenage boy goes to stay on an island during summer breaks and meets a wide range of local girls there.

Mario: It’s interesting – I wasn’t sure I knew how to handle this episode until I saw Key’s name pop up during the end credits and it hit me. Yes, Key. The studio responsible for multiple popular visual novels back in the day such as Clannad and Air. And “back in the day” are important keywords, as Summer Pockets feels like it comes from the same era as those shows. On this island, a self-proclaimed “wounded bird of passage” boy meets several eccentric girls at different times / settings and sort of builds a relationship with each of them (in game mechanic fashion). The main issue with this episode is that it makes you wait for a twist that never comes. It takes its time as the protagonist drives around town and meets different people, we “kind of” sense there is something unusual going on (the way the main protagonist is not totally in sync, his “nostalgic feel” for this island), but it just… ends there. As it stands, there just aren’t too many hooks that grab viewers’ interest.
Potential: 20%

Lenlo: I dunno, this seems like a solid enough sort of summer romance. It’s not particularly great looking, not ugly either, and the premise is a tad dull, the biggest mark against it is that I’m just not interested in highschool romances anymore. But it’s not like… bad? The island location is a nice break from actual highschools, and the whole thing about managing his deceased grandmother’s estate adds a nice dash of tragedy/bitterness to help the sweet romance stand out a bit more. All in all, while my romance of the season is covered by Kowloon Generic Romance, I think you could do a lot worse than Summer Pockets.
Potential: 25%