Star Crossed Anime

Nil Admirari no Tenbin – Teito Genwaku Kitan

Short Synopsis: A girl joins a group of pretty boys that search for cursed books

Aidan’s review

I will give credit where credit is due and say that this certainly is better than what I usually expect from an Otome adaption. But better as in only slightly. The same problems are here, the main character is too bland, we have a boy band cast of stereotypical pretty boy Otome tropes and they all have an interest in the main character because she has some super special power that was handed to her from birth. The cursed tome aspect could be somewhat interesting but both the Opening and Ending sing a clear tune of “Look at these boys, aren’t they neat? Which of them should I get in my sheets?” I am fully expecting this to go downhill fast with the second episode.

Potential: 10%

 

Mario’s review

One thing that really irks me towards this first episode of Nil Admirari is the misfired usage of dramatic effects. Why rely on such obvious technique when you can convey the same thing more subtle? It’s an otome game adaptation so naturally we have a team of hot boys with no personality here. Gosh, this genre and boy idol shows are my kryptonite. It sucks out my energy and my ability to think clearly. Otome adaptation, on the other hand, can boost a good central female character who can think independently and if they use the tropes right, it could serve as a serviceable reverse-harem show. This show certainly has none of the latter, but the lead girl has some pretty solid development here. Her issues with her brother is nothing stellar, but what makes her character work is what comes after. She constantly blames herself and eventually comes to term with it (I particularly like the visual metaphor of her getting herself bleed by the thorn of the roses. In your face I know but it speaks right to her mentality there).  Another little thing I like about this show is the setting of old Japan in early 20th century. While I do like the concept of “cursed tomes” being the books that can possess people, although the implication so far of that neat idea is tenuous. It’s more as a basis for the team of hot guys and gals performs their cool jobs. As it turns out, I enjoy many little extra ingredients, but the main ones: the cases, the reverse-harem and THOSE BOYS turn me off. As such I think this one will turn out mild and serviceable at best.

Potential: 20%

 

Caligula

Short Synopsis: A boy finds his reality breaking apart after he listens to an idol song

Aidan’s review

Girl, Johari’s window isn’t complex psychology, it’s just that this guy sucks at explaining it. Also myopia is nearsightedness and as someone with myopia I can tell you that I don’t need a long winded analogy about a fish tank to explain that to people. Weirdly while I stated that you would be better off watching Persona instead of this, this episode was actually was much better than persona was. Up until the last few minutes I was legitimately interested. I mean sure the main character is a hipster dumbass who thinks he’s a psychologist because he looked up some wikipedia articles but the general disjointed nature of his reality was quite intriguing. Why did his female friends mother go from dangerously thin to beautifully young? Why do people act zombielike whenever the MC brings up the topic of his inconsistencies with reality? Up until the last few minutes I was considering watching beyond the first episode on personal curiosity. Then the video game part of this game adaption appeared with dumb looking RPG enemies popping up and what looks to be an evil idol singer. Got a firm feeling this show hit its peak with this episode and it will be all downhill from here but still that was a pretty good effort.

Potential: 30%

 

Mario’s review

Well, I certainly didn’t expect Caligula’s first episode turn out that way. Not that I think it will become a solid one, given the main meat isn’t that promising, but for this premiere alone I can offer 3 solid reasons why this episode is worth checking out. First, the blurred line between dream/reality is explored here, and while it goes for the Matrix route – which I am not entirely keen of – I’m glad to see it make good use of this conflict (I am a fan of Satoshi Kon’s works for a reason). Second, Caligula methodically creating a sense of disorienting, making viewers feel uncomfortable in the right way about something seems off in that world. I particularly like the use of “glitch” that for me feel much more uncanny than any pure horror (I hail Lain as one of my most favorite anime for a reason). Finally, the show has a good sense when it comes to scenes transition while jumping across many characters through the use of match-cuts or repeated dialogues. This is HOW you make your story flows well in visual medium so kudos for a show that based from video game that understand it. But then all these innovative points come crashing at the end with the full-blown action that makes me scratching my head. The main lead is one of the worst lead of this season so far, always spouting philosophical nonsense every chance he opens his mouth that it’s irritating to hear and based from the direction at the end, I feel the first episode was just one-off occurrence and the story will be more conventional from now on. Which is a real shame since this first episode totally grabbed my attention.

Potential: 60% for this episode alone and 30% for the real potential.

 

Cutie Honey Universe

Short Synopsis: An Android girl called Cutie honey fights off an evil organization

Aidan’s review

How am I to judge this show. It certainly has a lot of yuri, and not yuri undertones, more like actual yuri. This is Go Nagai at his most shameless and I find myself in two minds over it. Certainly the story has not aged well at all and is trashy as all hell. Yet it is a manga that inspired a lot of future works, most notably the famous Sailor Moon. Much like Sailor Moon there is a certain charm to this show. It’s bright, colourful, ridiculous and poppy. Though it seems a lot of people are quite angry that they changed the Opening theme that Cutie Honey has had for every single interaction of her show. Having watched that opening I admit that it’s catchy tune would have been perfect for cashing in on nostalgia. Still this seems like a warts and all kind of reboot when I feel the better option would be the route of Devilman Crybaby which took the material and adapted it for a new audience. Still I might watch this for cultural reference….I swear I am not watching for the boobs.

Potential: 40%

 

Mario’s review

Welcome to the trashiest anime show of the season. There are two qualities of this updated version that carry on the spirit of uncle Go Nagai’s works: flashy and horny. The level of fanservice is up to the max: with horny girls kissing each other, fighting that results in Honey nearly shredding her clothes, bondage as a punishment and so on so forth. To be fair, the show embraces those fan-services so passionately and energetically that it’s hard to fault them for that. It looks exactly like the kind of entertainment came out 30 years ago, with more over the top and surprisingly well-made production. Story is told in bare minimum, the dialogues are full of nonsense (glaring example: “sure take gall to do that in the middle of the afternoon”) and even Honey is just there to fight sexy busty Thundercat copycats in her gym suit, but nevermind since we all know what we’re here for: to watch Honey fights sexy busty Thundercat copycats in her gym suit. And for that I would argue there’s inherently nothing wrong with a show that understands – and is proud of – its own DNA.

Potential: 30%

MAJOR 2nd

Short Synopsis: A kid who loves baseball is frustrated when he realizes he can never match his famous father.

Aidan’s review
I am still with the kid on this. He tried baseball but found he didn’t have the talent for it. He worked hard and it still didn’t get him anywhere. Even if he keep it on for fun he would be constantly compared to his father. So yeah why can’t he just take a different path from his father? When his sister started getting on his case about not “meeting his parents expectations” I honestly think she was way out of line. True the kid needs a new hobby to motivate him and he ain’t got to to meet his parents expectations. If anything they are the reason for his pain in the first place considering they literally groomed their children for baseball. And from the look of things people are gonna push him into baseball whether he likes it or not. Not sure what else to say here. It’s a mediocre sports series hampered by myself having no interest whatsoever in baseball. Nothing groundbreaking but some might get some enjoyment out of it.
Potential: 10%

Mario’s review
Major 2nd certainly feels old-school here. Not only the settings, or its being a spin-off of the popular franchise Major, but also in its storytelling. The main storyline is fairly predictable and straight-forward. The kid realizes that he can’t never be as good as his father so he quits sports altogether. But to its credit, that simple story is told well with confident beat. We have time to see his fire-up to come to baseball team for the first time, his disappointment and then his frustration towards the poor results and then we see how this experience shapes the way he is 2 years later. Apart from the narrative though, the production is unremarkable with little animation and bland character designs. Major 2nd also strucks me that they use the same universe and reuses many characters from its original series, down to the fact that the new kid comes at the end turn out to be the son of Daigo’s best teammate. Okay, it’s Boruto all over again here. Its notch from the original is too apparent that I wonder if this show has what it takes to stand on its own, let alone being a better version compare to its original.
Potential: 20%

 

Devil’s Line

Short Synopsis: A girl gets romantically involved with a vampire half breed.

Aidan’s review
There is something uncanny about the faces of the background characters in this. Especially the main characters friend, that girl has seen some shit. Indeed there are odd animation choices here, such as jacking up the frame rate to show super speed which just looks oh so very wrong. Well my general opinion of the source still stands here, it’s a show about vampires that does nothing new and just rethreads old territory. We got a vampire romance that pretty much starts with sexual assault and the setting is basically tokyo ghoul except with Vampires. The main character is boring and I hate the male lead for being an emo hipster. Nothing really to see here.
Potential: 0%

Mario’s review
What’s up with the ridiculous frame rate during the vampire’s action sequences? I can understand why they do that but it looks cheap and amateurish in practice. And it makes no sense whatsoever when the police’s scenes have such quick frame, too. I don’t buy this vampire’s version at all. Not only the concept of vampire amongst the human have been done to death before, this one also adds a sexual desire from vampire to human’s blood, which again makes very little sense. The show interprets the word “bloodlust’ quite literally here, but they mention the killer vampire leaves his semen to the crime scenes, I was seriously confused. So is that nutrition or is that reproduction you were aiming for, mister killer vampire? Story-wise, it isn’t good either. This episode focuses on the relationship between two characters who we literally just spend few minutes knowing them, neither of them I care about. The flashback doesn’t do anything either. If they have spent like 4 episode worth of content between the two, then this flashback can have some impact. As of this, the only thing I know about this unfortunate dude is that he’s a creep and he kills girls randomly, thus it’s only natural that I feel taken aback towards its conclusion. I can’t relate to the new formed relationship between the girl and our main guy, in addition. If your best friend that you know for a certain period of time turned out like that, how the hell could you trust this new vampire guy? Devils’ Line offers me absolutely nothing as a result.
Potential: 0%

 

PERSONA5 the Animation

Short Synopsis: A kid inherits the blood of a super-thief

Aidan’s review
Unlike Mario below I was able to follow the goings on of this episode though that was likely helped by my familiarity with the series. For someone with no experience I can certainly see how this anime could be rather confusing. There is a definitely a sense that the pacing is moving too fast and we are given little time to warm up to the characters before being tossed into one of Persona’s levels. The main character has the problem of being a blank stale for the player and I would hope they at least give him the level of snark Persona 4’s protag had in his aadaption. Overall I am reminded of Persona 4 the animation where it felt it was making compromises in order to make the story work as a anime. I am curious to the story and this odd phantom thief motive but I plan on experiencing those through the game so this isn’t on my watch list. For fans of the game I would say it could be a decent watch but for those unfamiliar with it I would say the game is a much better alternative.
Potential: 30%

Mario’s review
What an incoherent mess this episode was. The narrative is all over the place that even the first episode focuses on one character, I still can’t figure out the timelines this character is in. I know it’s a video game adaptation and so it’s hard to translate the game format to the more straightforward narrative such as anime, but jumping up and down through multiple timelines like this make it extremely hard for first-time viewers (like myself) to care. And I don’t have any reason to care, either, given the main protagonist is as bland as unseasoned chicken, moreover his personality is pretty inconsistent during this first episode. The visual style is admittedly strong and stylish. You can see its strong grasp of visual execution during its first five minutes and this version of “The Velvet Room” has a lot of personality there (the Velvet Room has been a motif of the Persona Game franchise, but this particular version reminds me a lot to David Lynch’s universe – “This is a girl” I heard someone whispered faintly). In general, these stylish visuals couldn’t save this show from its confusing story and weak characters. Another skip for me.
Potential: 10%

Gurazeni

Short Synopsis: A relief pitcher is unexpectedly called on to be a starter in a money-obsessed baseball league.

Lenlo’s Review:

Gurazeni’s word of the season is, budget. A budget One Outs for the modern day. The first episode of Gurazeni is an info-dump and fails to establish anything about the main character or the series conflict. It goes to lengths to try and show how everything revolves around money, how desperate the main character is for it and the cutthroat world of baseball. Yet the bright colors, the music and general style takes away from that completely. Compare that to One Outs from ~10 years ago, where you knew the value of every pitch. Where the lead had an established personality, motivation and relationships in the first episode. Where even the lead’s design informs you to his personality. Really, what I am trying to say is this. Skip Gurazeni, watch One Outs instead. Go find it on YouTube. To this day, it is one of my favorite sports anime and without a doubt my favorite Baseball one.

Potential: 0%

 

Wooper’s review

The going is still early, but this will probably finish as the most disappointing of all the shows I watch this spring. Gurazeni is a well-respected baseball manga, but Studio DEEN clearly lost some kind of reverse bidding war and were forced to animate this show at gunpoint. The OP takes the time to portray merchandisers, groundskeepers, commentators, and fans, hinting that the series will be about the culture of baseball, rather than just the sport. DEEN accomplished something similar with Giant Killing at the start of this decade, but their approach for this series is too narrow in scope. More than half the premiere is eaten up by the main character’s narration, most of which revolves around how his salary compares to those of other players. We hardly see him pitch, or even talk to other human beings. He does go out for drinks with an ex-teammate, but that guy’s career woes dominate the show from that point on. And when we’re actually treated to some baseball, it’s with CG players and sweeping helicopter shots of PS2-era stadiums. The show’s lousy appearance and botched first episode might be tolerable if I could tell you anything about the main character’s personality, which I can’t (other than the fact that he likes money). Just read the manga.

Potential: 0%

 

Hinamatsuri

Short Synopsis: A young girl with supernatural powers and a porcelain-collecting yakuza learn to live together.

Aidan’s review

Not quite as funny as I would have though but still a really enjoyable start for the series. Hina certainly seems like a more likeable character here, whereas in the manga she was a lot brattier. Animation is actually quite impressive and comedic timing is on point so later events and characters should work well. I somewhat miss the jokes that the scantilators of the manga would put in like “Norway!” but well there was absolutely norway they would put those in the anime. Got to wonder why they bothered to put that action scene at the beginning as it really isn’t going to become relevant for quite a while but maybe the joke is just how inconsequential it will be. Really loving the dynamic between Nitta and Hina here and the emotional scenes actually work well despite them being misleading buildups to the absurdity that happens afterwards. My big concerns for this one is that there may not be enough time to get to the really great moments of the manga though the pacing of this episode burned through three chapters. Looks great, sounds great and I had a smile on my face the whole time watching. Most definitely one to check out this season.

Potential: 80%

 

Wooper’s review

Unlike Aidan, I haven’t read the Hinamatsuri manga, so my impressions of the show’s comedy will be based not on whether it’s as funny as its source, but whether I found it funny at all. Happily enough, I did! Studio Feel did a fine job of making the show seem vibrant and kooky, though it’s clear that much of their effort was concentrated in the opening fight scene. As for the story, it centers on an Odd Couple relationship between a gentle yakuza (Nitta) and a young girl (Hina) who manipulates him with her special abilities. I’d have liked their “getting to know you” phase to have been extended a bit, but with 12 episode orders being the industry standard at this point, narrative shortcuts are expected. The show’s biggest comedic strength thus far is the injection of strange gags and visual moments into a familiar story template (adult and kid are thrust together, butt heads at first, then learn to appreciate each other). Hina’s arrival in a giant metallic egg is so strange that you can’t help but laugh at it, especially after Nitta’s attempt at ignoring it fails so horribly. The show also underscores its most heartwarming scene with a comically violent one in which Hina uses her powers to help her new friend – it’s a ridiculous set piece moment, but it comes from an earned sense of understanding between the two leads. Despite feeling a bit hurried, this is one of the better premieres of the spring thus far, and it’s certainly the funniest (intentionally, anyway).

Potential: 60%

 

Mahou Shoujo Site

Short Synopsis: A girl who is horribly bullied is given magical powers

Aidan’s review

When I sat down to watch this show I prepared myself for a rough ride. Yet despite knowing what was coming it was still a hard watch. Take note that does not mean that it was a hard watch because of some skilled writing of troublesome subject matter but instead imagine an author of poor skill trying to write a Madoka clone and shoving pure visceral contempt into his story. The characters in this show are unbelievable or at least I wouldn’t want to believe people so utterly unsalvageable would exist in reality. I mean we have bullies here who literally shoved so many razor blades and pins into this girls shoes that it defeats the purpose of the act. Geniuses! The point is to put a sharp thing she wouldn’t notice into her shoe so that she hurts herself putting it on! So filling the shoe full of razor blades defeats the goddamn purpose! Not to mention you actually wasted money getting all those. Considering the number of blades you literally wasted a significant amount of money for shock value. Also, beating her up, drowning her, killing her cat and even calling a guy to literally rape her wasn’t going over the line, but putting a knife to her throat, woah suddenly too far! God it’s just so stupid and stupid it needs to be if it must push the authors agenda for more darkness. Believe me when I say this only gets stupider. Unless you really love watching this kind of trash, avoid it like the plague.

Potential: 0%

 

Mario’s review

Boy, this is one of the most painful 20 minutes I’ve ever experienced for this first impression. Forget what I said about 3D Kanojo Real Girl being forced, this one pushes all the buttons of misery and bully bullshits to the lead girl that, for once, I wish the person who write it could experience the same. It’s no fun whatsoever to see a girl gets repeatedly beaten, nearly raped, has her one source of happiness taken away because “life is cruel” message. Even if all this was just a set-up for her becoming a dark magical girl who kill people, I just wonder why they need to overplay her circumstance to this extent. It might help if those bullies say something about the show own’s nature, which it doesn’t. It might help that the show has some love to its characters, but so far I don’t think that’s the case. This show’s message seems to be cruelty happens everywhere and the weak will receive a miserable life. I actually like the visual style when the girls are in these freeze-time zones, but other than that I will avoid this one like a plague. I do enjoy bleak shows but I won’t take ones that insult our emotions plus intelligence like this.

Potential: 0% or PURE CRAP

Comic Girls

Short Synopsis: A timid high school girl moves into a dorm for manga artists and makes new friends.

Wooper’s review

I wasn’t expecting much from this series, given its moeblobby promotional art and studio Nexus’ small portfolio, but this premiere was charming in some spots. Our pink haired protagonist spends most of this episode in various states of panic, so Comic Girls takes frequent trips into her overactive imagination, turning her into quite a sympathetic character in the process. She’s not especially creative or talented, but I found myself rooting for her all the same (probably because she’s small and cute). Despite her constant freakouts, the show maintains a playful air for much of its first half – check out the multitude of sunny exterior shots that combat Kaos-chan’s gloomy mood, or the soothing guitar/marimba/accordion trio that plays around the five minute mark. It’s the stuff that came later that took the wind out of my sails – the conversations between manga artists at the dorm didn’t have a speck of originality to them. Topics included obsession with senpai, breast sizes, and ganbare-ing until you just can’t ganbarou no more. The line, “You think I’m cool? Even though my boobs are small?” is uttered here, probably not for the first time in anime history, but certainly for the first time in a show that had me kind of interested. After a while, the overwhelmingly positive vibe between the four girls wore thin, and my attention was lost. If CGDCT is your favorite genre, I’d give this one a look, but otherwise, don’t bother.

Potential: 20%

Mario’s review

Just like Saredo show down there, I’m on the fence on whether I will give those shows some more episodes. With Comic Girls, it’s a cute-girls dose of this season, this time with them being an aspiring mangaka. Although this one doesn’t offer much for viewers outside of its intended market, I enjoy the self-awareness of the characters in Comic Girls. Most of the humor comes from its ability to poke fun of the mangaka life, like how many of them don’t have any real friend, and that Kaos theatre gags nail it on the playful and imaginative of a girl who makes drawing as her living. These other girls have some nice quirks and they bounce off each other well but that’s all about it. Don’t expect them to grow or anything since this type of show focuses more on laid-back atmosphere than any meaningful development. One thing this show does have some edge though, is there is a potential of yuri elements here. Overall, this is a mild and inoffensive offering with some playful (but totally unrealistic) depiction of mangaka life, so for those who into cute-girl shows, this one is a solid recommendation, otherwise you won’t see much point here.

Potential: 30%

 

Megalo Box

Short Synopsis: an underground illegal boxer is ordered to throwing matches.

Lenlo’s Review:

Finally, an anime with style. Megalo Box reminds me the likes of Cowboy Bebop or the original Ashita no Joe, but more modern. The rough and unclean lines give it this aged feel. While there are a lot of still shots that look eh at best, in motion I love it. The lack of smooth, clean lines, mean the animators don’t have to clean it up as much so I am expecting some beautiful boxing, ala Hajime no Ippo. Especially as, from the short match we got in this episode, the fights follow a rhythm. Just look at the shot of Ghetto Hachiya beating on Junk Dog, the rhythm of his fists striking our lead was great. Combined with the, so far, stellar music tracks and I just love everything about Megalo Box. So long as it keeps the story small, a personal grudge match kind of thing, then I think Megalo Box will flourish. Just, please, don’t get too complicated. Don’t try to be a big world affecting story. You don’t need it, Megalo Box.

Potential: 90%

Mario’s review
I admit that I wasn’t too optimistic about this show before it’s airing. Boxing isn’t my favorite (anime) sports and the promotional arts feature a character with cyborg parts completely turned me off. Thankfully, this premiere explains its world well, and gives us an underdog character worth spending time for. Who doesn’t love an underdog boxer to take the trophy, right? Its premise is what I consider straight-forward but right to the point. Junk Dog is going to participate in that mega-boxing tournament and I sure am on board to see this through to the end. It helps that Megalo Box has a distinct retro visual flair, with gritty lines and those bumping musical beats that engrave so well with its gritty, washout world. Junk Dog is the right kind of protagonist for this show and so far, his character is complex enough for us to root for him and so far, the production and animation are both excellent. It has been quite a while (I can’t recall the last good one on top of my head) but finally, a sport series that can be a highlight of a season.

Potential: 75%

 

Saredo Tsumibito wa Ryuu to Odoru

Short Synopsis: dragon hunters hunt dragons.

Lenlo’s Review:

If Megalo Box in a word is style, Dances with the Dragons would be tedious. It’s filled with techno-magic-babble, meaningless fights with no stakes and a generic “magic knight” concept. It’s like every terrible fantasy anime trope rolled into one. Stupidly long character names, no real magic system. In a world with machines and knowledge of Planck’s and Nuclear Energy, we are given screaming men with big swords and flashy lights who clearly have an edgy attitude problem. There is nothing memorable in Dances with the Dragons, with even the magic coming off like what we have seen in every other generic fantasy anime. The fact that the MC is a proper adult is a pleasant change of pace, they have a life and relationships. But that is about all it has going for it. I have seen people call it the “LN version of Berserk” and that its fans “can’t believe it got an adaptation” because it’s so dark. But so far Dances with the Dragons just feels like a “2edgy4you” generic fantasy series that I don’t expect to go anywhere interesting.

Potential: 5%

Mario’s review

Saredo’s first episode feels too busy with setting up many plot threads that the whole thing is an incoherent mess. On the one side, we have this duo who both love to step on each other’s mouth but somehow realize that they’re invincible together. On another side, there’s a whole conspiracy thing going on that for now it’s hard to figure out what’s all the deal is about; and then there is a string of murders going on. The magic and fight parts are by far my least interested elements. I do like the fact that this world contains of many characters from other races, like the glassed dude’s girlfriend is apparently an elf, and its world-building is intriguing enough to develop some interesting scenarios here, serious mature ones to boot. Not to say I am fond with these two leads but I can tolerate them for a while longer. I will stick with it for another episode just to see the clear picture regarding where it will head. Otherwise, if you’re not already a fan of its LN or you aren’t a hardcore fantasy action buff, then you might just skip it.

Potential: 20%

Gundam Build Divers

Short Synopsis: Some kids buy some Gunpla figures to play with in a virtual reality game

Aidan’s review

Once upon a time there was a show called Gundam which was made with the intent to sell toys but the animators decided to make a serious story about war, hence kickstarting it’s legacy. Now in the future, a Gundam show takes that legacy and uses it to sell toys. We have gone full circle here people. Anyway as for the show itself it’s basically one big advertisement for Gunpla models that happens to have some rather well animated mecha battle scenes. Storywise though this is about a bunch of kids taking a virtual reality game way too damn seriously. No stakes and it looks like it’s just gonna be about this kid becoming the best Gunpla pilot, like no one ever was.

Potential: 0%

 

Mario’s review

Words can’t even describe how little I care about this Gunpla universe. This first episode plays like some promotional material for Gunpla, as a consequence there’s little to no identity regarding the show itself. Characters have little personality besides “Gundam models are A-mazing” and the only real story this show has so far involve the mysterious amnesiac girl that somehow I thought she was muted (despite have some talking lines now that I recall it), just to show how forgettable all those characters are. It’s a kiddie show so I’m not going to be harsh on it, but it still remains a forgettable kiddie show at best.

Potential: 0%

 

3D Kanojo Real Girl

Short Synopsis: An otaku boy falls for a girl after they clean a pool together.

Aidan’s review

Yeah, this really isn’t for me. The developments are just contrived and the romance is forced as best. Boy isn’t it romantic when the guy you ask out rejects you in front of the class and then proceeds to stalk you after school? We had several situations that broke suspension of disbelief completely for the sole purpose of making one of them look good in front of the other in order to sell that their relationship was “Real” Thing is that examining all there intereacts I don’t see these two having anything in common or a drop of chemistry. I can’t even imagine what these two would talk about when the relationship drama dies down. But of course it won’t die down because this is shoujo and here someone will always have something to get their knickers in a twist over. Some may get something out of this but honestly a better romance anime is coming.

Potential: 0%

 

Mario’s review

This is a story of a boy meets girl and through many trials and tests they come to like each other. Happy ending. Except that this show wanted to be a realistic portrayal of nerdy otaku who find love in real life and boy, “realistic” is never in its DNA. First, the boy is a pitiful mess, not because he’s a nerd with weird hobby, but because he holes up into his shell and blames others for making him feel that way. The show, in its defense, understands that but it overplays that insecurity too many times within this first episode. They make it worse by making side characters act like true asshole to bring up that point. A boy physically abuses Iroha at school because he thinks she’s a slut? An ex-classmate meets the main character after many years and her first reaction was: “You’re still gross!”. Or later the event at the bookstore when Iroha reacts to the shoplift accusation by… undressing herself. It’s a ham-fisted way of storytelling that I just feel every development is so contrived. The main leads at the end have some good bonding (hence the 10%) but even with the girl, I don’t find her character that much appealing so there’s little in this show that makes me want to watch more here.

Potential: 10%

 

Tada-kun wa Koi wo Shinai

Short Synopsis: A teenage boy continually runs into a pretty foreign girl around town, and eventually brings her to his family’s coffee shop.

Wooper’s review

This is another romcom from the same studio and director that did Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun in 2014. While that show was more focused on the “com” part of the genre, though, Tada-kun will probably be heading deeper into “rom” territory – at least, that’s the route I’d take, since I don’t find it the least bit funny. The humor in this show mostly comes from its characters acting wacky, like the craaazy gaijin girl who’s constantly getting lost, or the flamboyant best friend who thinks he’s God’s gift to women. That would be fine, except that there’s nothing comical about the situations depicted in the show, which are just a series of coincidental meetups between the two leads. Think back to the premise of Nozaki-kun: a girl tries to confess her love for a boy (who is secretly a shoujo manga artist), but he mistakes her confession as an offer to work as his assistant. Even if you think that’s the dumbest idea on earth, there is at least a potential for comedy there. In Tada-kun, there’s nothing of the sort, unless you count the hints that Teresa is of royal descent. Even that idea would be more appropriate in a romance than a comedy, though, so let’s hope the show gets there eventually.

Potential: 30%

 

Mario’s review

An original anime from the team behind Nozaki-kun should tell us a bit on what to expect about this show. As it turns out, Tada-kun’s premiere has its fair shares of ups and downs. On the good side, the blonde lead girl – which might or might not be a princess of little unknown Europe country which is “Larsenburg” (my sub), and I really hope the show trolls us there – comes off as quirky charming (chief among them is her passion about a Japanese TV drama: Rainbow Shogun, which brings me many good laugh) and she sure brightens the screen with her presence here. She and the male lead also share some moderate chemistry and I can see the romance between them has some potential to grow. I also enjoy the visual timing of Tada-kun, in addition. My favorite visual gags from this show, for example, is how Terasa miraculously appears on the male lead’s camera multiple times. The titular male lead, on the opposite side of good, is rather bland and feel much like an self-insert type protagonist. It could benefit the show if they spend some times instead fleshing out him before he met Teresa. Moreover, I have a mixed feeling regarding the supporting cast. His male friend, Mitsuyoshi with his over the top antics was so off-putting that he could be a make-or-break point for me. The same can be said for that Nyanko Big cat (geez, he’s annoying) and the plot so far is generic and fairly routine (the leads happen to run into each other too many times, they happen to live close together, she happens to be a transfer student who study on the same class. NO). I will continue watching it as the parts I enjoyed, I did really enjoy, so I hope the show just tone down all the unnecessary and tonal-whiplash antics from certain supporting cast.

Potential: 50%

Legend of the Galactic Heroes – Die Neue These

Short Synopsis: A young upstart General overturns a space battle to his favor

Aidan’s review
Comparing this to its older OVA predecessor I actually find this a very strong start to the series. With the old series I only truly got engaged with the third episode while the space battle that took up the first two episodes failed to grip me. It could be my foreknowledge but the presentation in this new series worked better due to focusing on only one side of the conflict instead of jumping between the two. Besides minor elements this is looking to be a pretty faithful adaptation which isn’t rushing the source material and I am actually gaining some hope for this series. Only flaws I found is a rather intrusive piano theme in the middle of the episode which I hope they don’t overuse and that some of the character designs still throw me off a bit. kircheis just looks so strange to me. I am still a bit wary and feel that won’t go away until episode three or beyond but so far I would consider this something worth keeping an eye on this season.
Potential: 80%

Mario’s review
Unlike Aidan, I’m a complete LoGH novice here so I can offer my thoughts without any prior knowledge from the original. I was inherently worried that this show might turn out like last year’s Kino Journey, a reboot that look prettier but with much less impact. This episode sets a nice hook that not only underline the tactical aspect of this space opera, but also set up the great rivalry between Reinhard and Yang Wen Li, both of them proved to be smart, awesome and ambitious. If you’re looking for an action show or a pure sci-fi show, you’d end up disappointed because the closest thing this show reminds me of is watching two talented person playing chess. As far as I concern, this is a great start for what would be an epic battle, but there are some issues remain. First, the updated part, the CG animation doesn’t do a good job at animating the characters (they look on par in battleships, though), as I feel the animation for the parts with human involved pretty wonky. And second, with only 12 episodes how the hell this new show can fully adapt the scope of this epic war? Only time can tell I suppose.
Potential: 80%

 

Mahou Shoujo Ore

Short Synopsis: A girl is scouted to become a magical boy

Aidan’s review
Here’s how to come up with the idea of this show. Write a standard magical girl synopsis, then use find and replace to switch words with more outlandish counterparts. Then sit back and pray people find it funny. Unfortunately this kind of comedy isn’t really my thing and only gets less funny when animated as everything seems to follow a Boke and Tsukkomi routine. The meta jokes are just trying too damn hard and the references are the kind that would go over most viewers heads. I can see it maybe being a guilty pleasure for some but it’s pretty poor as a parody, satire and a comedy.
Potential: 0%

Mario’s review
There is a difference between good and mediocre satire. A good satire not only makes the twist fresh and unpredictable, it also addresses the issues behind the subject they are making fun of (for a good example you can check out the premiere of Osomatsu-san few years back). Mahou Shoujo Ore does neither of these. While I can see where those jokes (especially the meta-joke in the beginning) come from, the jokes are fairly predictable and the show is more happy just to twist around mahou shoujo’s genre tropes than have any concrete thing to say. What is the significance behind turning them in a boy for example? Why idols again? Jokes without substance like this get dull fast and I find myself bored watching this. It doesn’t help that the production is below par and the characters all have paper-thin personalities. Stay far out from this.
Potential: 0%

 

Captain Tsubasa (2018)

Short Synopsis: A soccer prodigy moves to a new town and challenges the local hotshot goalkeeper to a match.

Aidan’s review
This is a throwback in more ways than one with the series being nearly forty years old and the general writing of the show. But it seems that David production have not only done a throwback with adapting such and old property but even animating it like one too. There are an abundance of animation saving techniques in this one with the abundance of still shots and event the return of anime speed lines. To some it may be a charm point but to me it just looks like a slightly cleaner version of a 80’s anime. The events of the show go to ridiculously levels with a goalkeeper deflecting javelins and a kid somehow surviving getting hit by a truck because it was cushioned by a soccer ball? I say this one is for fans of the original or those feeling rather nostalgic.
Potential: 10%

Wooper’s review
It’s reboot o’clock once again, this time for the 1980s franchise Captain Tsubasa. Though Gegege no Kitarou is the older of the two series, Tsubasa’s legacy far surpasses it, having developed a worldwide following since it burst onto the scene 30-some years ago. Even professional soccer players have credited Captain Tsubasa with kindling their childhood interest in the sport, so it can scarcely be imagined how many other kids it inspired. With that in mind, it doesn’t seem appropriate to nitpick the show too harshly. Something I will note, however, is the inclusion of bombastic sound effects by David Production, which you’d assume were from JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure if you had your eyes closed. I wonder whether those bassy, bone-crunching noises will be attractive to young soccer enthusiasts, rather than manchildren hopped up on caffeine and Transformers films. Some of the directorial tricks from JoJo (most notably a speaking character’s translucent face imposed on top of a still shot) make an appearance here too, but they aren’t nearly as distracting. On balance, the show doesn’t look or sound very good, and there are moments of utter nonsense sprinkled throughout its first episode. But it’s about a boy who loves soccer more than anything in the world, and for some viewers, that’s all it needs to be.
Potential: 25%

Gegege no Kitarou (2018)

Short Synopsis: A young girl enlists the help of a youkai expert to cure her city’s Vampire Tree epidemic.

Aidan’s review

Not particularly special in its own right but I found this show to be decently enjoyable and far more comprehensible than its manga counterpart. Its biggest flaw is that it suffers from the Seinfeld is unfunny trope. Namely that everything done here has been done again and done better. Making this show as standard as you can get. I also could never truly get into shows about Youkai as I find the concept of them to be too silly to take seriously. So far it’s decently fun to watch but I feel it will lose a lot of its appeal once the nostalgia peels off and you are left with an episodic run of the mill show with nothing to offer.

Potential: 20%

Wooper’s review

Gegege no Kitarou is a franchise that dates all the way back to the 1960s, and it certainly shows its age in this newest reboot. Despite the focus on cell phones as a way of modernizing the series (the episode opens with a Youtuber ignoring traffic while filming himself, then turning into a cursed tree in the middle of an intersection), the whole production feels bog standard. There are bullies who pick on the weird kid who believes in youkai, a main character who uses special attacks (several involving his hair or finger guns) to defeat evil spirits, and a monster of the week format that contains not a whiff of a larger story. If you’ve been watching anime for any length of time, you’ve probably seen all of this before. There’s a cliffhanger at the end of the episode that I won’t spoil in case you’re a Kitarou devotee, but if you’re not, this incarnation of the franchise is unlikely to convert you.

Potential: 10%

 

Uma Musume – Pretty Derby

Short Synopsis: Our sparkly-eyed main character attends a horse race, a horse idol concert, and a school for other horse girls.

Mario’s review

Aussie culture has a strong and proud tradition when it comes to horse-racing. Let’s just say we’re crazy about horse racing and even I am not a proactive guy when it comes to the sport, the atmosphere of dozen of horses preparing to kick off always makes my heart pouncing. And that was the only aspect I remotely like in Uma Musume (oh, and the names. Since you’re horse girl, you’re allowed to have some crazy names like Special Week and Vodka and in case you don’t know: these girls are modelled after real racing horses). First, I still can’t comprehend why the heck they include idols part into the show, the one that clearly feel out of place. Then, the only male character in this first episode is badly portrayed that he leaves a bad taste in the mouth. And somehow our innocent girl falls for it??? The settings doesn’t have anything special enough to stand out and the main lead girl can get to your nerve at any time. I have zero interest between her yet-to-come chemistry with Silence Suzuka or anyone else in her team. Which actually can be appropriate since all I can do now regarding this show is fall silent.

Potential: 10%

Wooper’s review

Within the first five minutes of this premiere, a man with a ridiculous haircut and a lollipop in his mouth sneaked behind our main character and started massaging her legs, commenting on what a perfect horse girl she was. Embarrassed and violated, she kicked him in the head and he flew backwards ten feet or so, knocked unconscious by the force of the blow. When she trotted over and asked whether he was still alive, I was struck by the realization that a handful of people must die from getting kicked by horses each year. This was the show’s big chance to sell me on the concept of horse girls. If Ponytail McMolester would just stay down for the count, I’d swallow every other contrived, pandering bit of bullshit this script had to offer. The seconds wore on, and he still wasn’t getting up. P.A. Works was just moments away from becoming the most subversive studio of the season. Please just kill this useless character, I prayed, and rescue your godawful production from the growing trash heap of instantly forgettable 2010s TV anime!

Then he sprang into a standing position, apparently uninjured, and started wiggling his fingers and eyeing her boobs. Generic character designs, ass shots, and an idol concert followed. Don’t watch this series if you value your time or life.

Potential: Horse shit/10

 

Kakuriyo no Yadomeshi

Short Synopsis: A woman who can see spirits finds a job in another realm to avoid marrying a mask-wearing ogre.

Mario’s review

I figure you’d call this a Mahoutsukai no Yome that set in the world settings of Spirited Away, although I admit that if you put it that way then this show just looks pale in comparision. It’s simply on a lower caliber here. The main girl experienced a childhood just like Chise, albeit without the self-hatred. Just like Mahoutsukai the romance part gives a lot of head-scratching development and it is easily my least favorite part of the show. That oni master is just… unbearable from his character design to his attitude. We have quite a strong female lead this time, which I’m glad and the concept of her finding job in an inn of the spirit world has some potential, although towards the end it comes to the light food-porn that generally turn me away. The world building of this spirit world is another part that the show done well so far, with the world is vivid and different from the normal world in the first few minutes. Not a fan at all of the character designs, however, and the romance saga including the “selling off my sweet granddaughter” subplot will need to some serious improvement to get me hooked again. Overall not a bad start, but I don’t see myself coming back for it.

Potential: 30%

Wooper’s review

How many anime have there been where the main character “can see things that other people can’t?” What percentage of those have given their protagonists tragic backstories because of their abilities? And what percentage of those have included a sexy love interest who wants to marry the protagonist right off the bat? We’re still talking about thirty or forty series, I’d wager, and this must be one of the cheapest attempts at telling this ultra-specific story. The unlucky girl in this particular yarn was sold to a bishounen ogre (or, to use the technical term, bishogre) to pay off her grandfather’s gambling debt, but she negotiates her way into a cooking job at an otherworldly inn instead. Here’s where I’d typically say that the usual assortment of youkai made their appearance, but the majority of the spirits in this show are human-looking, with only a mask or horns or a pair of fox ears to distinguish them from each other. What’s worse, the tracks that play behind the characters’ conversations are somehow such boilerplate throwaways that they stand out like sore thumbs. There’s just a general lack of care to be found in every aspect of this episode, which doesn’t bode well for the next 25. If you want to watch something similar, but with improved visuals and more personality, try Kamisama Hajimemashita instead.

Potential: 0%