Fall 2022 Impressions: Bleach – Thousand Year Blood War, Chainsaw Man, Another Farming Isekai

Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War

Short Synopsis: A pair of rookie spirit fighters get bailed out by the local neighborhood watch.

Amun: It has been 3,850 days since the last seasonal episode of Bleach aired. While there have been various movies, these have really been self-contained stories that typically had no bearing on the overall storyline (we’re also not counting that weird BURN THE WITCH series that happened a few years back). Bleach’s reboot is one of the more surprising stories in the past year or so – one of the original shounen pillars back from the dead? Is this the case of a beaten dead cash cow or will it be a retelling, like Hunter x Hunter’s remake a decade after the original? Well apparently neither – looks like new ground is being broken. The verdict? ahem This is THE. SINGLE. BEST. REBOOT. EPISODE. that I have ever seen. Bar none. This episode hits all the right nostalgia notes (if you didn’t get goosebumps hearing “Center of attraction” then I’m a little worried about your anime childhood) while managing a very difficult feat: making hybrid-real backgrounds and CGI monsters look incredible. I don’t think I’ve seen another anime manage a hybrid approach this well (maybe Titan I guess?) The main characters still get plenty of old fashioned drawing love…and we haven’t even seen half the Soul Society cast yet!!! The designs, from the characters to the text don’t look dated in the slightest – this is Bleach brought into the 2020s. I don’t know how good this season’s storyline is, and I don’t care – if even a fraction of this level of effort is exerted on future episodes, then they can be fighting exiled Hollow dandelions, doesn’t matter. My hopefulness is off the charts. I did not know I wanted this, I did not know I needed this, but my goodness am I excited that it’s here.
Potential: If you have ever enjoyed any shounen anime, you should watch this. This is not potential, this is really happening. We are blessed to be alive.

Lenlo: It felt… surprisingly good to be back in the world of Bleach. The design, the sounds, the characters. I enjoyed seeing them again. Make no mistake, this show is going to live and die based on nostalgia. But so far, that nostalgia is hitting hard. Combine that with Kubo’s great designs and some more modern animation and I’m back in the 2000’s watching saturday morning cartoons and having fun. I don’t expect it to do much narratively, this was one of my least favorite arcs on that front. But it seems like the pacing has been drastically improved from what Bleach used to be like, what with the series being done and not needing much filler (We hope). I also have high hopes for the health of the production after hearing the announcement that it’s going to be 4 split cours, thus 13 episodes every 6 months. So maybe, just maybe, Bleach will be able to have a consistent production across its entire run. That would go a long way towards making it worth watching. And yes, the CGI Hallow stands out, but as monsters they suffer from it less than say… CGI humans do. Anyways yeah, it’s Bleach with a modern coat of paint. It looks good, seems healthy, if you like standard Shounen then you are going to have some fun here. Personally, I’m going to be reliving some of my childhood.
Potential: 50%

Chainsaw Man

Short Synopsis: Yo there’s a cute chainsaw doggie, and he’s a good boi.

Amun: So I come into Chainsaw Man a bit naive – I’ve heard the hype (and read Aidan’s very informative pre-season primer). I also don’t have any predispositions for or against it – I’m really a blank slate. Coming in, the closest comp I could think of was Dorohedoro, which I felt started well and then went off the rails a bit (chainsaws and crocodiles are similar, yeah?) Watching this episode…there was more emphasis on the story and less on the gore than I expected. Never thought I’d see an anime that made me a) feel emotionally attached to a chainsaw dog and b) think a chainsaw was cute, but here we are. Now the problem I have is simple: the visuals. This episode was WILDLY uneven in production quality. Zombies are an area that’s pretty forgiving for mass CGI – and even then I really didn’t think the fight scenes looked that clean. There were some parts that looked hand drawn, and those looked great – but they weren’t consistent by any means. I get a bit of flashback to last season’s Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer: I can see there’s a quality story underneath, but it’s being held back by production. This is MAPPA, so I would have expected at least the first half to come out looking sharp, but I’m worried we’re out of gas already (puns intended). I’ll keep going for a few more, but I need some better visuals for this show to live up to its potential.
Potential: 70%

Lenlo: I’m just going to come out and say it, Chainsaw Man was strictly fine. I didn’t love it. And despite what Aidan may think, I didn’t hate it. It just sort of exists for me. For every beautiful wide shot or well animated bit of action, there was a matching shot of janky CGI, dark washed out colors or poor aliasing. Combine that with taking itself way too seriously for what it’s actually about, and you end up with something neither excites or puts me off. My hope is that as the series goes on it will start to add a bit more color, embrace the levity inherent in the series more. At the very least I want them to make it look better. I suppose the long and short of what I’m saying is this: Narratively I’ve never cared for Chainsaw Man, and that hasn’t changed after seeing it animated, I simply don’t think it’s written well. But my hope was that MAPPA would at least be able to make it a production juggernaut for the season, and even that seems to have been betrayed. All that’s left after both of those is a perfectly fine, serviceable, irreverent show that I’m sure you’ll be able to get some enjoyment out of if that’s your thing. And if you want to hear “unbiased” praise? Then keep an eye out for Aidan’s posts, he’s going to be covering it. As for me? I’m surprised he even let me write this.
Potential: 50%

Noumin Kanren no Skill bakka Agetetara Nazeka Tsuyoku Natta.

Short Synopsis: An overpowered farmer cannot help but gets involved in saving the kingdom, despite his best efforts to stay hidden.

Mario: Ah here we go, isekai-kun. This show is not bad per se, rather it suffers from being toothless, harmless and unmemorable. It’s about a boy who maxes out his stats (the episode literally has the stat tabs. Why?) because he’s into farming so much, so when we meet him, the guy already achieved godlike power. The plot goes exactly like you would expect: he easily defeats bad guys to the awe of others, and he runs away from recognition…just because. I’d say that the manner in which he kills the flying dragon – with a boomerang carrot – is so absurd that I wonder why the show isn’t aiming for a comedic/satirical edge. At least then we could have some fun watching it! The show is mindless enough that I reckon it might be one of the popular shows of the season, but for me I’d rather watch Pop Team Epic – at least it tries something completely different.
Potential: 10%

Amun: Alright, this one’s a bit of a meme. We have a farmer who maxed all his mundane stats, so he gets the super rare boost of being OP from Mother Earth. Sure, I guess. But defeating a dragon with a CARROT?! Then eating said carrot. You can’t be serious. The other issue I have with this show is how bad the CG looks. I mean, that’s the opening scene – it doesn’t typically improve in quality from here. It’s kinda funny seeing him beat up his enemies with a hoe (that’s the literal farm utensil, not disparaging any of the waifus). The main bad guy is edgy and yells alot, but I strangely enjoy his character design (very Key). This show definitely has no nutritional value, but if you can enjoy something “so bad that it’s good”, then this is for you.
Potential: Meme%