Fall 2020 First Impressions: Senyoku no Sigrdrifa, Iwa Kakeru! Sport Climbing Girls, Munou na Nana

Senyoku no Sigrdrifa

Short Synopsis: Odin’s daughter helps save humanity but gets all of her allies killed in the process. Every time. It’s become a thing. So she goes to a laid back Japanese base to try and avoid team-killing her yuri-bait copilots for a change.

Amun’s review:

Recent years have seen just a rash of hobby or profession specific anime. From trains to tanks to WW2 planes – if there are otaku for it, it’s getting a show. Senyoku no Sigrdrifa is obviously made for aircraft enthusiasts of all eras (there are biplanes, Mustangs were in the ED, there were Vulcans for the Cold War era, even some of the modern Raptors. B-2 bombers? Sure. Even a futuristic Superfortress? Why not.) Even the main characters’ plane selections are rather clever – each being vintage but having different strengths and weaknesses; I especially like the inclusion of an aquatic plane – that leaves some room for interesting fight sequences. Anyways, as I’m sure you can’t tell, I do NOT typically go for these kinds of niche shows. My biggest complaint is if you’re not fanatical about the gimmick, then the show has no other legs to stand on. But Senyoku no Sigrdrifa just might have something else worthwhile – the character dynamics held off (mostly) on the yuri bait and actually portrayed a semblance of emotional depth. The announcement over the loudspeaker about the new Valkyrie’s Shinigami nickname was baller – I’ll watch another episode just for that. If we keep up an interesting storyline without devolving to the author’s otaku tendencies, this is definitely watchable.

Potential: 50%

Mario’s review:

Penned by the man behind Re:Zero, this double length episode has a big hurdle to clear. So far it does the job for me. While the setting is a bit generic at this point (military girls with exotic jet/ tank/ ship are a dime a dozen in the last few years), it delves more into the main girl’s psychology and how she finds herself at home in this new environment with a set of quirky cast members. There’s still more than meets the eyes too, with the unclear nature of Pillars. Although a tad bit generic I still enjoy the setting well enough and I like how Claudia bounces off with other characters. Does it justify its 45-minute runtime? Maybe not as it feels like 2 regular episodes put together, but I will definitely check back on it to see how dark things will become (yes, IT DEFINITELY WILL).

Potential: 60%

Iwa Kakeru! Sport Climbing Girls

Short Synopsis: An empowering story which doesn’t portray girls as sensitive, touch-me-not stereotypes and shows that we can also be just as competent in sports involving physicality. (Genre: Ecchi)

Lenlo’s review:

Look, you have to try really hard to fuck up a show about muscular women doing muscular women things with me. But somehow, some way, Iwa Kakeru achieved it. Now I don’t have the same issues with production Armitage has. For instance, that’s just how climbing walls look, the different colored holds and all that. I could do without the Candy Crush puzzle metaphor but uh… It isn’t the worst thing I’ve ever seen? No, my big issue is just as Armitage pointed out, the over sexualization of it all. Don’t get me wrong, I like fit women. But I like fit women doing things rather than the wall or the rope or whatever other weird fetish Iwa Kakeru is making up. And because of this, it just doesn’t manage to land anything. The hot girls part is ruined by the characters actions and them being some of the least appealing muscular women I’ve seen in awhile, while the actual narrative is ruined by… well, being an ecchi show.

Potential: Go watch actual women’s rock climbing out of 100.

Armitage’s review:

Just when you think you’ve seen it all, anime throws at you “High-school girls getting horny while watching someone climb a wall”.
Sighs
Are we gonna start lewding inanimate objects now? I mean, we could have had a good show here. We really could’ve. We could have had something close to an anime equivalent of the ‘Free Solo’ documentary. But, NO! Instead, we get crappy character motivations, an abhorrent sense of pacing between subsequent events, random camera shots of boob-shakes and ass-clenches and WALLS MADE OF UGLY M&Ms. Oh, and of course, none of this is well-produced, even. Because why do that, when you can have a girl make erotic noices while holding a rope instead?? The characters are stereotypical, their motivations are stupid, their conversations robotic. Nothing works like it was intended. Actually, I don’t even know what the intention was. Like, what is the demographic for this show?! Why, humanity? Why ya gotta let me down time and again?

Potential: of birthing a new ‘Wall’ fetish.

Munou na Nana

Short Synopsis: The class punching bag befriends a mind-reading transfer student at a school for superpowered kids.

Wooper’s review:

This premiere springs a twist on you near the end of its runtime, hoping to recontextualize the previous 18 minutes and hook you for the rest of the season. Ordinarily I’d refrain from drawing attention to that strategy and let the show do its thing, but my issue with Talentless Nana is that the twist doesn’t make up for the exceedingly dull prologue. It’s about students at a superpower-themed high school, where the teachers hope to train leaders in the fight against the Enemies of Humanity. The show wastes no time in wasting this already-tired premise; the best way to describe its vibe is “My Hero Academia without the wide scope,” or perhaps “Iruma-kun without the interesting setting.” The main dude is a wimp whose status as a Nice Guy is confirmed by a girl with mind-reading powers, so you know he must be Extra Nice (he even likes cats!). MC-kun and Miss Mind Reader grow fond of each other over the course of a painfully simple story (he’s suspicious of her kindness, but then she does something Extra Kind and he’s completely won over), and then the tweest drops in the final minutes. It’s a big one – maybe even a good one – but it doesn’t make me hopeful that the show will be any less lame going forward. Your mileage may vary.

Potential: 20%

Mario’s review:

This is one of these premieres where I’d suggest going into it as blind as possible (and be patient not to drop it before the end of the episode). Just like Ore wo Suki a few seasons back, the fun of watching this show lies in how it establishes some well-worn, tired cliches and then spins the hell out of them. For me at the end the twist works. It clicks as it asks the very nature of “who is the real villain here” as all we hear from the kids so far is that they have to fight something as vague as Enemies of Humanity – could that be humans without any special abilities? While the twist does not necessarily mean “better”, it more than establishes the direction the show is going forward – and I’m all for it.

Potential: 50% or “he even likes cats”