Star Crossed Anime

Deca-Dence

Short Synopsis: Girl finds herself a new daddy while waiting for her biological father to return from fighting monsters in a post-apocalyptic wasteland.

Armitage’s review:

Damn. That was a lot of subplots. Not only does Deca-Dence throw the viewer right into its world without any warning or setup, it also keeps unveiling layers upon layers of subtext and side-plots over the course of its premiere. There’s so much going on here that if you were to not pay attention for ten seconds, you’d end up missing a potentially vital detail. Considering that a story like this relies heavily on world-building and the fact that it’s likely only going to be one-cour, you can expect that the pacing would feel a bit breakneck at times. That being said, I really liked what I saw and do find myself thoroughly invested. The direction by Yuzuru Tachikawa feels very assured, camerawork is dynamic, character designs stand out and the CGI doesn’t suck(!) The only thing that makes me a little skeptical is the writing. Tachikawa is not overseeing the screenplay and being an anime original, this can just as easily crash and burn no matter the calibre of its director. Nonetheless, it’s a promising premiere and I am genuinely excited for the direction this story might take in the coming weeks.

Potential: 80%

Mario’s review:

Out of all the shows airing this season, Deca-Dence is a wild-card for me based on the reputation of the director alone. Let’s just say I found this premiere mixed, especially the first 5 minutes were so clunky it nearly kicked me out of the story entirely. We have a textbook flashback of a young girl losing her Dad during one of the “missions”, we have a mouthful of world-building exposition fed to us, camouflaging itself as students reciting the rules – but I can’t help but feel obvious. We have most of the characters behave one-noted and unconvincingly (take that bullying girl, for example). Thankfully one our lead gets into her first job (in what reminds me greatly of Dragon Dentist’s world), the story improves tremendously as the show showcases many of its strengths. First, Natsume is a good character to follow around. She has this “loud” personality but Deca-Dence does a great job of endearing her with expressive facial expression, and her chemistry with the other lead is solid so far. The direction stands out as well, kudos to its use of match cuts (I love those) and many stunning fight choreography. On the other spectrum, the story moves a bit too fast at times and I am not really that into the CG monster designs. As it stands Deca-Dence has its ambitions but I am not totally convinced with how it plays out so far.

Potential: 40%

Japan Sinks

Short Synopsis: A 1970’s disaster novel adapted for 2020, where Tokyo is destroyed by a massive earthquake and the Muto family must do their best to survive and escape this crumbling city.

Lenlo’s review:

It should go without saying after my Eizouken review, but I am a bit of a Yuasa stan. When I heard he was doing another series this soon after Eizouken, I was pumped, even if it’s his last series as a Science Saru lead. And while other writers here might disagree with me, as far as the first episode goes, Japan Sinks did not disappoint. Visually yes, it’s a bit odd, like all of Yuasa’s works. It isn’t an animation spectacle like Eizouken or Devilman, nor is going to be as surrealist as Tatami Galaxy. But there was just enough color so as to not feel too brown, just enough expressiveness in the characters and their animation to still feel like an anime, all the while delivering a grounded tragedy/disaster tale. I have no idea if it sticks with this, as I have heard some… interesting things from friends who have already finished the series. Things that make me think that maybe, just maybe, this falls apart horrendously. But I do know that I am bingeing it later tonight, and I trust Yuasa to see me through. Might even write a review if no one else wants to blog it.

Episode 3 Update: 3 episodes in, my hype has died down tremendously. Every episode it just gets worse. I’m starting to blame the series director if only to keep Yuasa on my “Never failed me” list.

Episode 5 Update: Dear god why

Potential: 80%, I trust in Yuasa to carry this through
40% Yuasa please fix this before my next update
1% Hope is almost all lost

Wooper’s review:

Despite its depiction of a nation-shattering earthquake, Japan Sinks might be Science Saru’s most down-to-earth project yet. There are no genius dogs, no supernatural water physics, and no ultra-stylized table tennis matches to be found here – just ordinary shots of extraordinary environmental damage, and the people devastated by it. The loose character designs remind me of Devilman Crybaby, but that series’ uncompromised freedom of movement isn’t the goal in Japan Sinks. It’s a straightforward disaster drama with a family of four at its center – which makes me wonder whether a stricter style might have clarified their emotional burden. As a matter of fact, that thought nagged at me the whole way through this episode. Still, it managed to connect with me by the end, when survivor’s guilt caught up with the teenage daughter and she wept for her fallen teammates. The backgrounds were prettier than I’d anticipated, and appropriately stark in their portrayal of a ruined and fiery Tokyo. Other things I liked were the small narrated inserts about life before the earthquake, Kensuke Ushio’s forlorn, piano-based accompaniments, and the sunlight-flooded OP. The character art and straightforward story are lagging for me right now, but assuming the latter factor improves, I’ll be content.

Potential: 60%

No Guns Life S2

Short Synopsis: Tough guy with a literal revolver head has to babysit an idiot who can take over other people’s bodies (only if they are robotic amputees).

Amun’s review:

If you read the weekly summary from a couple seasons ago, you’ll know NGL S1 was my darling overachiever. I love the characters, 3D generated setting, the world – everything. NGL S2’s first episode is an unmitigated disaster. First off, you know the one thing that didn’t make Season 1 great? Characters standing (or sitting) around talking. Secondly, the animators have forgotten how to draw their main characters – mostly Mary. But the background characters as well. I guess Juzo looks about the same, but even then there are wonky shots – when he reaches his arm back, it’s completely out of perspective. The backgrounds still look pretty good, but that’s not enough – the most action in this episode is getting shocked by a doorknob. Victor just looks weird and the 3D CGI chain tentacles are not appealing or frightening. The OP is okay, and the ED is kind of fun (twerking giant Mary is really the only redeeming part of this show), but in between is a big problem. My hype is severely dampened.

Potential: 25%

Wooper’s review:

As an extended homage to the noir detective genre, No Guns Life relies heavily on its detective MC to maintain a clear point of view. Without Juzo’s dry humor and reluctant do-goodery to filter incoming information, the plot would read like a load of quasi-political conspiracies and nothing else. That’s exactly what happened in this episode, as our favorite gun-headed investigator took a backseat to Mary, Tetsurou, and season 2’s new rogues gallery. Hell, he received only slightly more screen time than his heavily stereotyped trans landlord, who was kidnapped by a fanatical anti-modification faction. There’s little time to flesh out that story, though, because we’ve got to learn about Mary’s Doctor Octopus-esque brother, the blond bowl cut villain who appears in the final scene, the well-mannered agent who’s after Juzo’s data chip, etc. It doesn’t help that a good portion of the story revolves around that data, since it was acquired during a glorified side story during the previous season. Ultimately, this is a premiere that tried to do too much, and failed pretty badly.

Potential: 15%

The God of High School

Short Synopsis: Tournament Arc – The Anime.

Armitage’s review:

Pure, unadulterated dopamine. 

No premiere which has aired in 2020 has been this enjoyable a watch for me. Remember how last season we saw the first overlap of Korean Webtoons with the anime realm? Now, a lot of people were impressed by the visuals and fights of TOG but its lore and power mechanics left many viewers scratching their heads. So, taking a lesson from that, The God of High School takes all the subtext & world building and throws it right out the damn window. This is mano-a-mano winner-takes-it-all combat and nothing more. You are here for the brilliantly choreographed fights and that’s what you get, with a fittingly upbeat soundtrack (and a banger of an OP) to back up all the physics-defying action. It’s a prime example of how sometimes, a story which doesn’t take itself too seriously can be all the better for it. 

Potential: 95%

Amun’s review:

Finally, an anime soundtrack that I can really get behind. “Contradiction” is a banger song for a bangin’ show.  First half was anime Fast & Furious…with a bike and wooden sword.  That’s about how this show looks to be going.  Unlike last season’s Tower of God, God of Highschool starts out fast and fun.  The characters are troll, the action is great….but I’m just a little concerned with how fast we’ve started that things might fall apart in the back half.  Regardless, I’m along for this ride!

Potential: 90%

Lenlo’s review:

Out of all of the premieres I have seen so far this season, which admittedly isn’t many, God of High school was the best. It’s pure, unadulterated stupid fun. Want health bars and power levels? Nanomachines son. Want a bunch of fights? The entire series is one big tournament arc. Juvenile comedy? We are equal opportunity with the underwear here, with jokes about both panties, briefs and elephant trunks. All around, God of Highschool is just stupid fun that doesn’t take itself seriously, has no deep or philosophical plot (so far) and just wants us to enjoy the ride. The fights were fun, well animated, and reminded me of old kung-fu flicks with characters flying through the air, even if the camera got a bit too wild at times. I only really have 2 concerns. The first is MAPPA, who are notorious for falling apart in the 2nd half of a show. Considering they are working on the final season of Attack on Titan right now as well as how many fights a series like God of High school will have, I am predicting the same thing here. I can only hope they prove me wrong. The 2nd though is whether or not GoH can keep the fun loving attitude or if it will attempt to shift into something more serious. Both of those might not happen though, so until they do, I’m just going to keep watching and enjoy the ride.

P.S. I am apparently the only writer here who doesn’t like the OP. Go figure.

Potential: 80%

Mario’s review:

Sorry to be that guy who bring this overwhelming reception back to the ground again, but I just found the characters too loud for my poor taste and I already have issues with the story. Why does every battle tournament start with the battle royale style where you have to defeat fellow participants? Why do you need to establish the main characters’ bonds by some random chase? I guess it all comes down to the fact that neither the story or the characters engage me much, and that makes this whole ride fun but utterly unmemorable for me.

Potential: meh

Re:Zero S2

Short Synopsis: Modern anime’s most celebrated simp cries a lot and dies a lot: Round 2. 

Aidan’s review:

So how does the new season of Re:Zero kick things off after our boy Subaru is fresh off the victory of the last season? Well it starts by kicking him in the balls and removing his victory of most of its weight. Indeed, you may have thought that after last season Subaru’s life could only go up but this season pushes you right down into the mud and a depressing outcome for all to make the happy sunshine before seem like a dream. Some detractors who stated that this series has no stakes due to Subaru’s ability to do the time warp again have been vetoed as even return by Death can’t undo the damage that has been done. I do think that Re:Zero is still damn strong but admit that as a season starter this episode is rather weak. It was never meant to be that of course with the nature of webnovels being continuous storylines so the source doesn’t really take into account that we viewers waited four years for this.

For anyone binging the series in the future this is unlikely to be a problem but even I with my love for this show, had a bit of an adjustment period to this first episode. I also think that for some extra context and despair, reading the Re:zero Side story novel ex 1 can give some much needed context as to why Crush losing her memories is far, far more sad than it might appear. I also admit that the design of the Gluttony Archbishop is just far too silly. I will also note that the first few minutes of this episode was the same few minutes added to the final Re:Zero director’s cut episode shown previously.(On that, the only piece of new content within the director’s cut. The rest was just small tweaks) It’s a bit of a lukewarm start but I am most definitely ready for the story to come and Subaru’s ever continuing journey of pain and suffering.

Potential: It’s about damn time

Armitage’s review:

Huh? That was… a premiere, I guess. Though, to be very honest, it just felt like an immediate continuation of the last season of Re:Zero. The show flat out assumes that we would remember all the characters & their relationships with each other and just dives right into the nitty-gritty without no recap or nothing. Now, that isn’t a bad thing in itself but it does catch the viewer a little off guard. As for the episode itself, it was fine. Nothing too remarkable. Barring a brief fight between Rem and two newly introduced Sin Archbishops, it consisted mostly of people talking. Since the original production staff has returned, the show has kept its look but the animation wasn’t anything to write home about. Here’s to hoping the coming weeks bring a lot more death and suffering with them!

Potential: Cloudy, with a high chance of pain. 

Amun’s review:

Okay, now hold on just a second here.  I’m seeing some detractors to what I consider an outstanding start to a marquee show’s second season.  Why is Re:Zero great?  It’s not the action, character designs, or weird magic cats – Re:Zero is head and shoulders above in depicting realistic reactions to trauma and human emotions.  There are no stakes?  Subaru’s PTSD is the darn best depiction of fighting through personal demons and fears I’ve ever seen in anime.  Most shows maybe kill off a main character in the finale or something for some feels – Re:Zero manages to do it every week and still hit hard (even when it’s the same character).  So there was no recap, so Gluttony looked a little silly – this episode still delivered the emotional gut punch we’ve come to expect (and maybe even started to like).  I am ready to be hurt again!

Potential: Oh yes.

The Misfit of Demon King Academy

Short Synopsis: A demon lord is reincarnated as a douchey teenage boy with murderous magical combat skills.

Wooper’s review:

Some anime are so structurally and artistically inept that they serve as case studies for How Not to Make a Show. Other anime are so laughable in execution that they read as comedies in the eyes of their disbelieving audiences. Both of these categories have value, but unfortunately, The Misfit of Demon King Academy fails to meet either of those already low bars. This premiere was not merely bad; it was stupid. It was not merely silly; it was ridiculous (that is, worthy of ridicule). Its mission statement was to place its protagonist in flattering situations, then allow his effortless strength and charisma to carry each scene. This strategy failed due to his lack of humanity, but the reality of this episode is far more troubling than that mistake would indicate.

This is a protagonist who has the ability to kill people multiple times by reviving them between deaths, and he takes advantage of this power to repeatedly and gruesomely murder his enemies. What’s worse, his reward for this behavior is the loyalty of his victims, because they’re the Demon King’s subjects, and he was the Demon King the whole time! That episode-ending twist is intended to re-frame his cruel behavior, but I have to wonder what sort of person it could possibly convince. This reads like a series for the bullied middle school kid who aspires to be a bully one day, or an adult with an animated blood fetish, or whatever the magical equivalent of a future school shooter is. If you fall outside of those categories, watch anything – ANYTHING – except this show.

Potential: 0%

Mario’s review:

Questions: Is it fun to watch an overpowered character do nothing but display how awesome he is an entire time? Is it fun to see him mercilessly abuse another opponent just because that opponent acts like an asshole? Is it fun to see a girl’s still fallen head over heels for him and describes him as “kind” despite all his egotistical actions?  Answer: No, Not at all. Get me out of here.

Potential: 0%

Dokyuu Hentai HxEros

Short Synopsis: Literally Horny Power Rangers.

Wooper’s review:

If you’re opting not to watch this show because it has “Hentai” in the title, you should be aware that there’s no sex in this first episode. Instead, there are dozens of better reasons to avoid it, including a stupid premise, insipid character designs, thinly-veiled sexism, and a Mad Libs-tier script. Most of the establishing dialogue plays out along the lines of, “Hey [main character], what’s your opinion on [antagonist]?” or “Still, it’s too bad that [character] has been [personality trait] since [backstory].” These long stretches of conversation play out across slow panning shots, usually of the female lead, whose sexiness is of particular concern to the series. It wasn’t enough for her to be hot – she had to be so horny that an evil alien who tried to absorb her sex drive exploded as a result (she was around 12 years old at the time). In the present day, she fights aliens with her repressed eroticism, which naturally dwarfs her male counterpart’s libido, because women are sexy devils. The only reason I can think of to watch Dokyuu Hentai HxEros is if you think I’m exaggerating and you want to confirm how dumb this thing really is.

Potential: 0.69%

Amun’s review:

This is somehow worse than Shimoneta (props to Aidan for remembering the name off hand).  This…is not good.  Like….why?  Is good source material that scarce these days?  Project No 9 has adapted silly shows well before – do a second season of The Ryuo’s Work is Never Done or Heroes have it Tough.  Those were good.  HxEros is a misfire any way you look at it.  And you really should only look at it once – at most.

Potential: I have never seen a first episode interest me less.  And that includes Arifureta and Plunderer.

Fire Force S2

Short Synopsis: Devil Boy, Idiot Knight, Workout Fanatic, Hot Witch Gorilla, Sister Nun, Catgirl, and Lack of Fashion Sense work to uncover why people randomly catch on fire.  And do a (lads) nude calendar.  

Amun’s review:

Ayyyyyyy – that’s how you start a second season.  This episode was everything right with the first season…and had none of its problems: catgirl was kept to a minimum (and actually showed her personality and not “personalities”), the fight was FLUID AND BEAUTIFUL AND NOT CHOPPY – plus the second half had me rolling with laughter.  I mean, man, if the rest of the season is even half this good – we’re in for a treat.  Okay, there is a really weird perv shot in an otherwise amazing OP so we still have a bit of immaturity infecting from the source material.  But that premiere definitely has me nice and hyped.  Props to Tatsuma Minamikawa for starting off his tenure on the right foot!  Latom!

Potential: 100% (I think I’m going to blog this)

Wooper’s review:

This comeback has me unsure whether to clap my hands or roll my eyes. There’s an extended fight scene against an infernal in the middle of the episode, but it’s disrupted by nearly ten “remember the characters’ names?!” title cards. There’s a strong sense of fun about the episode, but a lot of it is airy to the point of irrelevance. The animation in the OP is eye-poppingly cool, but it’s backed by Aimer’s best impression of early 2010s uptempo J-rock, which is decidedly not her lane (girl’s gotta eat, though). Assuming the series keeps growing its character tree and doubles down on the metaphysical combat from last year, I’d say it’ll be the same decent, off-kilter shounen as before. A largely untested director and an initial avoidance of narrative drive are reasons to be wary, though.

Potential: 50%

Lapis Re:LiGHTs

Short Synopsis: a girl who joins a Magic Academy and meets up her teammates, plus 20 other girls while she’s touring the school.

Lenlo’s review:

In anime’s latest “Cute Girls Doing Cute Things” we have a new multimedia franchise that is making an anime, game, manga and LN all at the same time. That seems ambitious to me, especially considering the quality of the show itself, but I can’t tell Tokyo execs what to do with their money. As for the show itself, all I really have to say is that it isn’t for me. The background’s clean, especially the night shots, but do little to really inspire. We haven’t seen enough of the animation to judge that since this episode was 90% walking around the school. Meanwhile for the cast, we spent this whole first episode meeting all of the important ones at such a fast pace, they really didn’t have much time for any more than “I’m the Genki one! And I’m the [insert dere here] one!”. All in all, Lapis is shaping up to be another standard seasonal series without much to offer. It’s entirely possible it will try to pull the rug out from under me, the ED hints at some conflict to come. But as far as first episode impressions go, I am not impressed.

Potential: 25%

Mario’s review:

You know, without what it says in the premise and the OP clues, I wouldn’t have figured that Lapis Re:LIGHTS as an idol show based on this first episode. That plays mostly to its advantage, as the premiere concerns more about establishing its light-fantasy magic academy, its system and the characters. In fact, it has high-school fantasy flavour all over it, this time excluding any horny male character who accidentally encounters girls changing clothes. On that front, I appreciate its paying attention to various magic classes, and we have a serviceable protagonist to boost. It’s the supporting cast that does nothing for me so far, as the show introduces a lot of them in the first 20 minutes and so far they are stock characters with different hairs at best. The turning point for me is when Tiara bursts out and sings out loud. Yes, the combination of CGDCT, light fantasy highschool and idol is something of a selling point for me, and I still am interested to see how the show cooks up these ingredients. So I reserve my comments until the “idol” part or whatever twist plays out to see if this show is for me or not.

Potential: 30%