Shin Samurai-den Yaiba

Short Synopsis: A young swordsman raised in the jungle is shipped off to live at the dojo of his father’s rival.

Lenlo: You know, there’s something almost nostalgic about an almost 40 year old Shounen. It just feels… fun, like it lacks a lot of the self-serious trappings so many modern series have taken on to fit “modern” sensibilities. Add onto that a shockingly good production, seriously these simple designs allow the animators to hog wild who cares about staying “On model”, and you have something that could be a lot of fun. The episode and OP make me a bit nervous, looks like a lot of the older and more questionable tropes from the era are along for the ride as well, I’m talking about the 80’s treatment of women/female characters and general horniness, so we’ll see how well the rest of the series goes and if the weird stuff pushes out the fun good stuff. For now though it wasn’t prevalent enough to bother me much, I was pleasantly surprised by Samurai-den and I’m looking forward to a simple, fun, well animated action series from an older era.
Potential: 50%

Wooper: I know it’s only been one episode, but based on what I saw here, Shin Samurai-den Yaiba may end up as my pick for best-animated show of the year. (Though KyoAni’s City the Animation should give it a run for its money next season.) Its excellence isn’t a surprise with key staff members from Mob Psycho 100 aboard, but it’s nice how well the Kanada school swordsmanship harmonizes with the show’s backgrounds. The colors are vivid without hurting your eyes, while the characters may be loud enough to hurt your ears, depending on your tolerance for combative personalities. That’s the thing about Yaiba – the source manga’s age makes it a cousin to Dragon Ball, and though this adaptation boasts a beautiful coat of paint, its tone (as well as its story, I suspect) will feel very familiar to folks who grew up with the Big Three and similar shounen properties. Our hero is short, naive, gluttonous, brash, and obsessed with testing his strength – thankfully, he meets his Destined Rival at the end of this episode, which will allow him to exercise that fifth trait until the Power of Friendship inevitably unites them. Personally, I think the show is good-looking enough to overcome the formula that’ll power its plot, so I plan to watch more – though probably not on a weekly basis.
Potential: 50%

Kowloon Generic Romance

Short Synopsis: Real estate workers do their best to avoid romance while corporate machines slowly rob them of their memories. The lead lady is very cute.

Lenlo: I may not know yet what Kowloon Generic Romance is selling, but I can tell you that whatever it is, I’m buying. I absolutely adore the slow romance between the two leads, the clear chemistry and longing between them, the only thing keeping them apart being some unknown mystery around lost memories and a machine built to store them. Combine that with the dense, interesting setting of Kowloon and some gorgeous visuals, both in the designs and the backgrounds, and you have what is easily my favorite premiere of the season so far. I honestly can’t wait for the next episode, it’s been a while since I’ve bought into a romance so hard so quickly, I’m looking forward to it.
Potential: 90%

The Gorilla God’s Go-To Girl

Short Synopsis: In a world where everyone gets a blessing from the gods, one girl was blessed by the god of Gorillas.

Lenlo: Do you remember that tomboy romance show from a few seasons ago, about the tall and athletic girl who just wanted to be treated like a regular girl by her crush? Take that, shove it into an OP MC fantasy show, and you have Kami Kara Kago. It’s a mix of ironic comedy, giving a small girl the strength of a gorilla, a highschool rom-com, because of course it’s set in magic highschool, and some light fantasy elements disguised as what is effectively a highschool athletics club. Is it good? No. Is it bad… Not really? It’s just kind of mediocre, filled with a bunch of elements we’ve seen before all thrown together. If you’re really itching for a reverse-harem, Kami Kara Kago should fill that void, as it’s basically a strong girl with a growing harem of male students impressed by her strength.
Potential: 10%

The Beginning After the End

Short Synopsis: Super powered king from one world dies and is reborn as a super powered baby in another world.

Lenlo: At first I thought Saikyou might have been onto something, having your MC be from the same world they are reviving into gives them a connection to the world, the opportunity to make up for past mistakes. They would have some actual investment in it, knowledge of the setting, with concrete goals from the start. By shoving him into a completely different world though, they remove all of that, making Saikyou no different from any other mediocre OP MC Isekai bullshit. The lead being an ancient king is nice enough I guess, it’s better than a petulant highschooler. But that really starts to be undermined after the like… third “He shit himself” joke. It feels like everything interesting about Saikyou’s premise was left behind for the sake of making it as easily digestible as possible, resulting in just another fantasy Isekai show. So yeah, hard pass.
Potential: 5%

Mario: I guess it strikes me how plain the whole episode is. Down to the title, it presents itself as a rip-off of “Beyond Journey’s End”. Its premise reminds you of a tame version of “Jobless Incarnation”, and even the world has elements that you’ve seen somewhere else. And even though I prefer this MC more than the one in “Jobless Incarnation”, the production just can’t hold a candle to that show. And because we are stuck in his head and his narrative the whole time, other characters like his father and mother don’t feelmulti-dimensional at all. I guess we will get more to the meat of it once he gets older and travels around, but for now there is nothing exceptional in this show that would keep me coming back. For hard fans of isekai only.
Potential: 10%

Wind Breaker S2

Short Synopsis: High school delinquents get into turf wars and talk about friendship, S2

Lenlo: As expected, Windbreaker escalated to mortal combat pretty damn quickly. Metal baseball bats and wire wrapped wood? That can legitimately kill somebody. Don’t get me wrong, the fights, the choreo, the OST, all of that’s still good. The production of Windbreaker is still just as it was before, so if you’re just in it for the action I think you’ll get what you want. I just worry that Windbreaker is going to lose what made it work for me in the constant escalation all Shounen have. Some of it was here, the short glimpse into how flawed an organization ruled by fear can be was nice, and I liked how it pushed Sakura away from the leader since Windbreaker’s focus should be more on the community and what these fights represent, rather than the fights themselves. But I can’t help this nagging feeling that the series is going down the classic shounen rabbit hole. Hopefully it proves me wrong, I’ll definitely be watching it to find out.
Potential: 50%

From Old Country Bumpkin to Master Swordsman

Short Synopsis: A swordmaster from a country village is summoned to the big city to serve as its knight corps’ instructor.

Wooper: Country Bumpkin to Master Swordsman opened with the adult hero’s elderly father pestering him about potential grandchildren, which made me wonder what kind of show it might be. Would it treat the experience of being middle aged in a youthful fantasy world with some amount of realism, or would it surround this barely-greying sword instructor with potential mothers for his offspring? I needn’t have wondered – it was the latter, of course, and shortly after that initial conversation with his dad, the first of the series’ cast of cute anime girls showed up at their door. Then he was whisked away to the city where he met another, and another, and there will doubtless be more beyond this episode. The show frequently trots out a gag where he doesn’t pick up on any of the female lead’s obvious signs of attraction, as if that makes its intentions any less transparent. Maybe he’s just distracted by the fact that she and the other prominent women’s outfits are designed strictly for sex appeal, despite the fact that they’re all accomplished swordsmen in their own right. Some props are due for the slick 3D models used during the duel between Mr. Bumpkin and the knight corps’ second in command – positioning the camera between them for most of the fight made it more intense than expected – but as for the story and characters, there’s nothing here to recommend.
Potential: 10%

Rock wa Lady no Tashinami deshite

Short Synopsis: A former rock guitarist discovers that the most popular student at her elite girls’ academy is secretly a top class drummer.

Mario: Just like the disorientation of its first scene, Rock wa Lady is a clash of two extremes – a splash into a perfect lady society if you will. Appropriately, the style is that mix of shoujo drama you would normally associate with this setting, and crazy, wild expressions from our duo that don’t stray so far from insanity / yandere tropes. But that alone doesn’t make this a promising premiere, so it helps that we have two other factors that also work quite well. First, Lilisa’s pent-up anger about this strict society is easy to root for. The way she feels she has to put on a mask to become a perfect lady, plus her lost rock passion (which she learned from her father) create the perfect fuel to just blaze out. And second, the rock performance at the end is a feast for the eyes and a roar for the ears. So far, its formula works, adding another solid recommendation to the girls’ rock band genre.
Potential: 50% – just for the hair alone.

Wooper: Rock is a Lady’s Modesty certainly makes a big first impression, both in its opening scene and its opening episode as a whole. That first scene’s abrupt cuts between the polite, piano-backed introduction to Oushin Girls’ Academy and the pounding drumbeat played by its star student quickly lay out the show’s main theme: conflict between societal expectations (respectable ladies shouldn’t play rock music) and personal desires (hell yes they should). Our main character isn’t this reclusive drummer, but rather a peer with impossibly styled twintails who discovers her secret and picks up a guitar to reveal one of her own – and thus a musical partnership is born. Aside from their restrictive setting, there are a handful of wrinkles that lend some interest to the story, the biggest one being the drummer’s curse-laden critique of Miss Twintails’ six-string skills. Glimpses of the guitarist’s backstory also reveal that she once quit playing music in dramatic fashion, likely when her mother got remarried to her rich-ass husband. She still loves to shred, however, as evidenced by the premiere’s closing musical duel, which combines hard rock instrumentation with both 2D and 3D animation to strong effect. All we have so far is Rock wa Lady’s debut single, but I’d say it shows more than a little promise.
Potential: 60%

Anne Shirley

Short Synopsis: An excitable orphan girl experiences the highs and lows of the adoption process in late 19th century Prince Edward Island.

Wooper: Classic revivalism has been a consistent force in recent years, from Rumiko Takahashi adaptations to reimaginings of manga like Devilman and Trigun, but I’d argue that Anne Shirley has more to live up to than any of those series. Not only was the original show (Anne of Green Gables) a landmark work, but the novel from which its story is derived is beloved the world over. With that in mind, I was prepared for disappointment upon double clicking this first episode – but even though I have one major nitpick, I came away from it feeling quite pleased. The animation is modest, but it works in harmony with the character designs to make Anne’s mood swings intimidating and her intelligence charming. The character most charmed by her is Matthew, who’s a lot more upfront about his affection for her in this version, which is a change I liked. Marilla comes across as suitably stern, and the way she softens ever so slightly during that pivotal carriage ride she shares with Anne had me smiling. Full marks for the characters, then, but my big criticism is the art direction, especially the textures applied to the sky, which try and fail to mimic the look of canvas. The splendor of nature is one of Anne’s biggest fixations (both the character and the series itself), so I wish the team had taken another path there. Still, I’m happy with all the initial positive signs for this series, and I hope it will be enjoyed by plenty of children across the Pacific.
Potential: 75%

Guilty Gear Strive: Dual Rulers

Short Synopsis: The muscleheaded son of a human hero and a magical android sets out to confront his parents’ would-be assassin.

Wooper: Dual Rulers opens with a stained glass “the legend so far” lore dump before transitioning into a metal opening theme with blast beats for days. I know nothing whatsoever about Guilty Gear, but this shit still made me feel like I was back in high school. Uncanny nostalgia aside, this episode was a little weak, but its exaggerated weirdness made up for some of that. We’ve got guys named Leo Whitefang and Sol Badguy starring in the same show as the president of the United States – oh, and there’s a smug U.S. senator who shows up to a party looking like this. The narrator introduces new characters in the most pompous tone imaginable, and sometimes interrupts the story to explain what they’re thinking, since some of them are so dumb it’d be hard to tell otherwise. The dumbest of them all has to be protagonist Sin Kiske, who’s introduced during a fight with a bear and whose catchphrase is, of course, “I’m hungry!” The battles here are a mixed bag; they’re full of sick poses and bold effects work, but the triple take camera moves and occasional split screen shots wore on me after a while. I don’t know if I’ll watch another episode, but the show certainly has style.
Potential: 25%

Kijin Gentoushou

Short Synopsis: A 19th century swordsman trains to defeat demons in an effort to protect his village’s priestess.

Lenlo: Honestly, Kijin had me in the first half. I was invested in this cast, the setting, the leads conflict between personal love/desire and his duty to the village, all of it. Sure, the hour-long premier felt really slow. I agree with Wooper that it probably didn’t need to be this long, despite the fact that it actually used that hour pretty well, showing us the cast’s entire history and setting up the rest of the show. But I was bought in, Great Value Kimetsu no Yaiba had my attention by actually spending time with and focusing on the cast’s relationships with each other. But then it got into the fighting and overarching conflict, which it definitely doesn’t have the production to support if this big special hour long premier is anything to go by, I sort of just… lost all interest? It killed off half the cast, removed one of the most interesting relationships to me, and turned into this “Journey across the country to hunt a demon” story we’ve seen dozens of times before. Maybe it can do something interesting with the antagonist and their relationship with Jinta as it goes, but with how bluntly Kijin is written and how black and white their conflict is, I’m not interested enough to stick it out.
Potential: 25%

Wooper: Kijin Gentoushou is the latest anime to receive a one hour premiere, and I have to say, it used those additional minutes effectively. That’s not to say I personally enjoyed its whopper of a prologue, because I didn’t, but the extra time spent on the characters’ histories should alleviate the series’ need for disruptive backstory going forward. Those histories involve the sword-wielding protagonist Jinta and his two sisters, one biological and possessed by a demon, and one adopted and sworn to protect their village from demons. That’s not a bad setup by any means, but the storytelling is so stark that it ended up losing me halfway through. Whether its characters are meeting for the first time, confessing their love, or betraying one another, they act as though they’re mere agents of fate, giving the story an inhuman feel. The premiere’s climactic moment sees its major villain deliver the line, “Screw this world! AND SCREW YOU!” which should give you an idea of how blunt things can get. With its overarching conflict established, Kijin Gentoushou is now free to tell the tale of Jinta’s 170 year journey to the present day, which could result in some worthwhile individual episodes. I can’t say that I’m interested in the story as a whole, however.
Potential: 20%

Once Upon a Witch’s Death

Short Synopsis: A young witch learns she has only a year left to live, and to lift this curse she must travel the country collecting tears of joy for the ritual to undo it.

Lenlo: I don’t understand the need for the whole “Death curse” portion of the show. Do you really need an excuse for a teenage witch to travel around a fantasy world, getting involved with all manner of trouble and exaggerated cast members? How am I supposed to take this seriously when everyone treats it so relaxed, not even bothering to tell/prepare her until a year before it goes down. Maybe if Aru Majo took a Frieren approach, focusing on appreciating your life and all the people that make it what it is, this could work. We could have gotten almost the thematic flipside of Frieren, seeing how someone young interprets the world rather than an elf. I guess it tries to do that with little Iris, but it feels very surface level. I spent almost the entire runtime looking at my watch marveling at how slowly time moved when watching something with no passion or interest behind it. If you’re really desperate for a cute witch show, maybe Aru Majo will be of service? Personally though, this feels vapid even for that.
Potential: 1%

Catch Me at the Ballpark!

Short Synopsis: A concession worker and a pair of security guards go about their days at the baseball stadium where they’re employed.

Wooper: Every once in a while a show will debut that reminds me of Giant Killing, which is still (15 years after its initial airing) the sports anime with the widest ever scope. That soccer series centered around a manager and his team, as you might expect, but it also made time to tell stories about their fans, the team’s ownership, and the sports media. Ballpark de Tsukamaete takes an even less common path, to the point that it’s not really a sports anime at all, but a workplace comedy starring a beer girl that happens to be set at a baseball stadium. Its premiere tells of her flirtatious, cringe-inducing quest to secure her first regular customer, along with a slightly better side story about a pair of security guards who help her handle a lost child. It could go the Giant Killing route and deepen its cast to cover multiple aspects of its sport, but even if Ballpark pulled that off, its poor visuals would keep it at the bottom of the league. Bargain bin animation is one thing, but if your story is set at a baseball stadium and you can’t manage to make it look remotely appealing, nobody is going to pay your ticket price. And just look at the second screencap above – I don’t think an art department has ever struck out harder in their attempt to depict a baseball field in an anime.
Potential: 0%

Lenlo: Wooper basically hits the nail on the head. Ballpark fails in basically every area a sports show usually excels in. The flirtatious beer girl is a miss, neither cute nor fun to watch, and the baseball is so dull ugly that I’d honestly rather watch actual baseball, because at least then I’d have something moving on my screen.
Potential: 0%

Sakamoto Days

Short Synopsis: A legendary hitman falls in love, retires, has a kid and grows fat. But what will he do when his old life comes looking for him once again?

Lenlo: I remember reading Sakamoto Days back when it was a newly released manga. It was a clever enough comedy series in the vein of One Punch Man, all about putting an absurdly OP lead in comically everyday situations, occasionally juxtaposed with a serious look into how sad and empty the life of an assassin truly was. Most of that is successfully carried into the anime, with the combat especially getting a glow-up with decent animation. The soul of the series is all here, complete with recurring bad guys from the underworld so we can constantly jump between wholesome family time and underground serious time, similar to SpyXFamily in a way. The issue is that, much like how the manga fell off for me, I don’t expect the anime to be able to keep the premise fun and interesting for the entire run. You can only watch the same thing, the same basic formula, so many times before you get bored of it. And that’s my main concern for Sakamoto Days. I’ll watch it for a bit, see if it manages to work better as an anime than it did as a manga, but as fun as it is for now I don’t expect to keep up with it for the entire season.
Potential: 40%

Giramasu

Short Synopsis: An overworked Guild Receptionist is actually the strongest hero in the kingdom, defeating monsters after hours so she can clock out on time.

Lenlo: Giramasu is… fine? It’s another classic OP MC fantasy show, but instead of an edgy boy you get an overworked register employee beating up monsters to go home on time. Is it unique? Enough I suppose, the lead is definitely more interesting than our usual fair and her motivations are understandable. But that’s really all it has going for it, the side cast are basically non-existent and this shtick of “I want to go home early” won’t stay novel forever. Meanwhile everything else about it is still a basic OP MC “Special skill no one else has” premise. There’s a chance the show does something interesting with her identity being found out so quickly, and Rie Takahashi’s vocal is pretty good. For me personally though, I’m just not interested.
Potential: 25%

Übel Blatt

Short Synopsis: Rumors stir throughout the land: when the wielder of the black sword draws his dark blade, all who stand in its path are torn asunder

Lenlo: Do you like edge? Cause that’s exactly what Ubel Blatt is, through and through. Think Ragna Crimson, except without the self-awareness to know what it is and what it’s doing. On its own that wouldn’t be so bad, there’s nothing wrong with enjoying some edge. But it also has this weird focus on a little girl’s body, dressing her up in a lewd outfit and having the villains get… weird around her. It sort of does this to everyone to an extent, so I guess it isn’t that weird, but it’s still unnecessary and when combined with the barely restrained edge the whole thing ends up feeling like a 14 year olds first “Dark Fantasy” story. Maybe it goes somewhere, but I’m not interested enough to find out.
Potential: 5%