Star Crossed Anime

City the Animation

Short Synopsis: Silly people do silly things in a silly town (while looking amazing).

Amun: I have never seen Nichijou, nor do I really know anything about it, so I came into City blind. As Lenlo says below, this looks absolutely fantastic. Like wow, that opening shot through the rain is some of the nicest animation I’ve seen this season (and we have some seasonal heavy hitters with Tensei and Dandadan). The short form sketches work pretty well, with some common characters and themes being developed. I must say some humor is lost on me, but occasionally the slapstick (especially the slow mo of getting hit in the face with a cork) did make me belly laugh, so mission accomplished! This is definitely a “vibes” show, so as long as it stays lighthearted with a joke landing here and there, I’ll probably stick with it.
Potential: 65%

Lenlo: The most visually impressive thing this season probably, it looks incredible, but I actively detest both its and Nichijou’s style of comedy. There’s nothing funny in here for me. But if you enjoyed Nichijou, this will probably be an Anime of the Season contender for you. It looks that good.

Tougen Anki

Short Synopsis: A boy with oni blood seeks revenge for the Agency that killed his father.

Mario: And at the final run, we have one of the most action-packed anime (alongside Gachiakuta) of this season. That fact, along with the fact that it airs on Netflix, means that it could reach a mass audience out there and become a modest hit. But what about the actual show’s quality? Well, based on the first episode, it’s a narrow road. Tougen Anki aims to be another shounen with violence and an “edgy” protagonist, but the big issue is that the MC himself isn’t just edgy – he’s unlikable from start to finish. He gets expelled from school the first time we meet him, where he’s in the process of insulting everyone around him, his (non-blood related) father included. What happens afterward is just a poor excuse for him having a “goal” for himself and knowing who he really is. We can see the fate of his father coming from miles away, and everything else the show has done so far has been done before more effectively in other shounen series. For example, it doesn’t surprise me one bit that in the end he gets knocked out by a fellow oni and will be put into a group of oni teenagers his age. I’d take the randomness of City the Animation anytime over this predictable plot.
Potential: 20%

Solo Camping for Two

Short Synopsis: An aspiring camper harasses a more experienced outdoorsman until he agrees to accompany her on her next camping trip.

Wooper: I’m afraid we’re ending First Impressions season on a bit of a fart with Solo Camping for Two (Futari Solo Camp), but at least the stench won’t linger, since it’s a show about the outdoors. You’ll have to forgive the dad joke – I figured it was somewhat appropriate, given that the protagonist here is an adult man (Gen), which was the main reason I wanted to check out this show to begin with. Turns out his relative maturity was wasted on this premiere, since all he did was get nagged repeatedly by its only other character, an accident-prone young woman (Shizuku) with a knack for shedding her skirt. I didn’t exactly enjoy the way the episode opened, with Gen internally monologuing about his love for camping alone, but soon after Shizuku showed up and started begging to join his party of one, I began to long for those halcyon opening minutes. The visuals aren’t anything to write home about, either, which isn’t a good look for an anime meant to celebrate the great outdoors. Instead, the only celebration happening here is mine, at never having to write about this sub-middling show ever again.
Potential: 10%

Dr. Stone: Science Future Part 2

Short Synopsis: Second cour of Dr. STONE Season 4, you know what this is about by now.

Lenlo: Look, we’re 4 seasons in at this point, I really don’t know what I can tell you that you haven’t already heard before. You know by now whether or not you like Dr.STONE, and this second cour is more of the same. Do you enjoy science based shounen shenanigans? Do you enjoy Humanity Fuck Yeah stories? Do you enjoy some of the stupid situations they find themselves in as the ridiculous science escalates further and further? If you answered yes to any of those questions, you will continue to enjoy Dr. STONE. And for those of you that have been waiting/wanting for it to get a bit more serious about addressing its many mysteries, well this season will be even better for you, because we’re in the endgame now. I legitimately only see one more cour after this one and then the whole thing is over. So if you want to be there for the end, jump on in.
Potential: 60%

The Fragrant Flower
Blooms with Dignity

Short Synopsis: A menacing-looking teenage boy forms a connection with a girl who frequents his family’s cake shop.

Wooper: Of all the anime genres out there, the one that makes me most conscious of the new fan experience is romance. How would a teenager – or even someone a little older, but without the burden of a hundred animated love stories under their belt – feel about a first episode like Fragrant Flower’s? I can’t presume to speak for that demographic, but my intuition tells me they’d like it a lot. It’s packed with tropes that even a newcomer would recognize as such: boy and girl from different social strata, boy looks scary but has a heart of gold, boy sustains injury while protecting girl from hooligans after dark, etc.. The visuals are top shelf, though, so the characters’ words and actions could easily spark the imagination of someone new to romance anime. Expressions of disgust, boredom, and fascination are expertly drawn, making the divide between Rintaro and Kaoruko’s worlds – as well as his internalization of his bad reputation – potent weapons in the show’s arsenal. Shots of their neighboring school buildings, their detailed classrooms, and especially Kaoruko’s covert position in her favorite cake shop create confidence in the show’s overall direction. Chubby-cheeked chibi versions of various characters lend a bit of humor to a setup that might otherwise feel too serious, and they’re spaced out enough that they might charm someone who hasn’t already had their fill of the technique. To put it simply, Fragrant Flower has a lot going for it, so even though I found its first outing disappointingly familiar, I have to respect its game.
Potential: 55%

Dekin no Mogura

Short Synopsis: A dead hermit was banned from the afterlife and now collects spirits in an attempt to buy his way in.

Lenlo: I can’t quite put my finger on it, but Dekin no Mogura reminds me of something… Is it Gintama, with its mediocre physical/screaming comedy and ugly designs? I’m really not sure, but suffice to say, Dekin was not good. None of the jokes landed, the whole thing was ugly to look at, and I felt like it took me 2 hours to get through a 20 minute episode. It was so uninteresting, I can’t even write a moderate length blurb telling you not to watch it. I just want to move on and find something better.
Potential: 0%

Panty & Stocking S2

Short Synopsis: Season 2 of Panty and Stocking. Just go watch the original, it’s hard to explain, you won’t regret it.

Lenlo: I was really nervous about the Panty & Stocking revival because it had been almost a decade and a half since the original aired and I wasn’t sure they would be able to capture the same magic. And in some ways, that fear came to pass. It isn’t the same show it was 15 years ago, or I’m not the same person, at the very least the English dub has a completely different voice cast, and that’s how I prefer to watch the show. But after watching it twice, both once subbed and once dubbed, I can say with certainty that if you enjoyed the original show, you’ll still love the revival. Yes, it has a bunch of sexual innuendos, yes it’s a very horny show, yes it’s irreverent in the extreme. But it‘s also like nothing else being made right now, looks fantastic, has an incredible OST, and is really just… As weird as it is to say, it’s still a love letter to American animation and comedy, and it’s so much fun. Like Mario says below though, it’s not going to be for everyone.
Potential: 90%

Mario: The original Panty & Stocking was a sensory overload, with irreverent jokes and innuendos thrown at you every 3 seconds, and the visuals brimmed with dynamic animation and too much color. It also ended with a WTF twist that didn’t really beg for a sequel. But here’s that sequel after 15 long years, and I would say that the show still has the energy and the essence of the original. Everything is turned up to 11 as before, and it even finds a whimsical way to explain the 15-year-old twist. I would go so far to say that I find this episode’s humor stronger than the first season’s, mainly because it doesn’t entirely revolve around sexual innuendos. This show is still not for everyone – I bet many would feel overwhelmed or exhausted after this episode – but for those who yearn for the old magic this works like a charm.
Potential: 60%

Leviathan

Short Synopsis: In this alternative WW1 universe, the Prince of Austria runs away after his parents get assassinated and he’s about to meet an English common girl.

Mario: Studio Orange is one rare CG anime studio that I keep an eye out for. They are responsible for many of my recent favorites such as Houseki no Kuni and Beastars. Now there’s an entire season of their new show available on Netflix and I feel that it’s one of the reasons why this first episode is kind of uneventful. It isn’t really meant to capture your attention right away to hook you in for the next episode like a weekly airing show; it instead splits its time between two protagonists in different settings who I’m sure will cross paths in the future. As such, I found the girl’s story much more interesting than the Prince’s portion. She has a more vibrant personality, and her encounter with one of Leviathan’s “beasts” opens up the sci-fi world-building, where somehow our version of sea serpents have taken to the skies (and it’s great to look at). For the boy’s part, we have a dryer (and duller) implication of politics, mecha and explosions. I’m sensing things will escalate quickly in the next few episodes and by then, we will know more about the show’s core quality. As far as this first episode goes, it isn’t something that blows me away, but I feel it has the potential to grow from here.
Potential: 45%

Lord of Mysteries

Short Synopsis: After waking up in another world in the body of a suicide victim, a man’s life is consumed by the supernatural.

Wooper: A couple of folks recommended this donghua in our comments section, so even though I’m no great fan of Chinese animation, I thought I’d try it out, sight unseen. Having now waded my way through its 30 minute premiere, I realize that I never stood a chance. Lord of Mysteries shifts between dreams and dimensions without the slightest care for the comprehension of the uninitiated, starting in a gothic city on the verge of the apocalypse before traveling two months back in time, where our protagonist awakens in another man’s body, having transmigrated from Earth. Things don’t get any clearer from there, as his attempt to return to our world transports him to an astral plane awash in gray fog, where he forms an alliance with two Beyonders (people who obtain superpowers by drinking potions) from other realms before his consciousness is yanked back to his new body. Then he’s taken into custody by a pair of cops, one of whom is also a Beyonder, and was apparently controlling the main character’s dream for the majority of the episode… I think? I could forgive all this ambiguity if there were an emotional core to the proceedings, but there isn’t. The protagonist never appears to lament what he left behind on Earth, and the scene where he speaks with his host body’s sister does nothing to make either of them feel human. All the intricate 3DCG art direction in the world couldn’t make me stick around for twelve more episodes of this show.
Potential: Not for me

Introduction to Mineralogy

Short Synopsis: A bratty teenage girl goes gem hunting with a grad student.

Wooper: It would seem that the preferred localization of Ruri no Houseki is “Ruri Rocks,” but despite being closer to the Japanese title, as a phrase it’s a bit too punny for me. So, I’m going with “Introduction to Mineralogy” – and the show is going straight on my watchlist, as this premiere was better than I dared to hope. Coming from Studio Bind’s A team, I knew it would be well-animated, but what I didn’t expect was that the characters would have the personalities to match. Ruri is pushy, and even whiny when at home with her mom, but around her mineralogical senpai she dials it back out of respect. As for Nagi (the senpai in question), she’s reluctant to help the younger girl at first, but she clearly enjoys having someone to teach, and will even take a firm hand with her when necessary. They’ve got a great dynamic after just 20 minutes, giving me confidence that the secondary characters we glimpsed in the OP and ED will also receive smooth introductions. Speaking of the OP, one presentational aspect I liked about this episode was the choice to delay its opening credits until the midway point. It wasn’t until Ruri and Nagi had finished their first mission that we were given glimpses of their future expeditions, as though the first part of this premiere were a prologue meant to segue us into the rest of their adventures. I can’t exactly call this show a diamond in the rough (its production values are too high for that), but it’s certainly a gem.
Potential: 75%

Bad Girl

Short Synopsis: Notice me senpai, CGDCT edition.

Mario: After an entire episode, I still don’t really get the main premise of this show. We have the lead girl who wants to be a delinquent to get herself noticed by her senpai crush, but that is hardly the show’s main focus. The whole plot, so far, is just an excuse for four Bad Girls to act cute together with many, as expected, exaggerated reactions. Even the character designs, while charming, are the same faces you would see in other cute girls anime. This one is strictly for CGDCT fans. If you prefer simple characters’ chemistry (this episode has plenty) and are amused by the yuri bait, then this one could sit comfortably on your watchlist. Others won’t find much to enjoy here.
Potential: 10%

Hotel Inhumans

Short Synopsis: Two concierges at a hotel for hitmen assist a guest in reuniting with his estranged sister.

Wooper: This marks the third season in a row where an anime with “Hotel” in its title has aired, following winter’s “Tasokare” and spring’s “Apocalypse.” I don’t know about the former (which I plan to sample before year’s end), but “Inhumans” certainly doesn’t stack up to the latter. It’s an action-adjacent show with underwhelming action scenes – not just on a technical level, but from a believability standpoint. I can think of three moments from this episode where the villains of a week had an opportunity to shoot their targets at point blank range, and opted to spend that time talking instead. Hotel Inhumans isn’t the first series to have that issue, but since its structure seems to indicate that its concierges will serve a new guest every week, I can see that problem cropping up on a regular basis. As for its first guest, the premiere began by focusing on him in isolation, only revealing the hotel as its central location after a while. Despite the show’s middling looks, I was initially interested in the story of how he became an assassin, but eventually his fight for survival and the search for his sister (held hostage by the crime family he was forced to serve) were settled by the actual protagonists: the concierges. Perhaps their problem solving will feel less magical in future episodes, but this one didn’t give me a clear reason for optimism.
Potential: 10%

The Summer Hikaru Died

Short Synopsis: One summer Hikaru went into the mountains on a hike, but what came back down wasn’t the same person.

Lenlo: I really enjoyed Hikaru. It perfectly straddled that line between Iyashikei about grieving and processing the death of a friend, and Invasion of the Body Snatchers horror. The first half almost tricks you into thinking there won’t be anything sinister, that it really is just about learning to let go and move on after someone’s passing. But through some fantastic camera work and direction, the horror slowly starts to bleed more and more into Hikaru. Suffice to say, this is exactly what I’ve been looking for, and as much as I’ve been enjoying the Umamusume game recently, I’m glad to see CyGames putting their incredible talent towards something a bit out of their usual wheelhouse. Hopefully it holds up, because right now it’s definitely my favorite thing airing this season.
Potential: 80%

Fermat no Ryouri

Short Synopsis: A failed math genius turns his hobby into cooking.

Mario: One thing I didn’t expect from watching this cooking show: the cook staff designs are right at home with badass heroes in My Hero Academia. Perhaps it’s an apt comparison given how cooking in this show is like a battle itself: you fight or you die. If you think of it that way, you can forgive the unsubtleness of the unfair treatment the principal gives to our leading man. This show does offer something different than your usual cooking anime, as our main character has a math background, so it’s more likely he would find unorthodox ways to experiment with the food. As he is at the bottom of the pack with low self-esteem, it’d be interesting to see how he picks up from here. It’s just too bad that the episode just kind of ends without us seeing how well he makes his assigned noodle dish. So far, I’m interested to stick around just to see the reactions of the guests regarding the Napolitan and how the principal will react.
Potential: 35%

Turkey!

Short Synopsis: A five girl bowling team nearly gets downgraded to a quartet due to its members’ differing priorities.

Wooper: Turkey’s premiere contains a major twist that I’ll be spoiling in just a few sentences, so if you want to go in blind and all you’re looking for is a yes or no recommendation, it’s a no from me, dawg. There’s a bit of visual interest to the show, as it occasionally engineers bursts of semi-detailed motion or thickens its linework for emphasis’ sake, but it’s by and large a second tier effort, especially during the numerous quarrels between its teenage bowlers. I don’t know which was more damaging: the stiffness of some of their body language during those arguments, or the repetitiveness of the most talented girl’s complaints. The aforementioned twist was surely the most notable thing about this episode, since it transported the five major characters from a modern day bowling alley back to the Sengoku period. That makes Turkey a twofer in anime bingo terms – not only does it feature cute anime girls in an attempt to make bowling marketable, but it also sends them to what might as well be another world, even if it’s more time travel than isekai. Maybe it’s the cynic in me, but I imagine the producers of this show (an anime original) didn’t have much confidence in the project if this is the direction they landed on. Perhaps I’ll be proven wrong, but I’m expecting mostly gutter balls from this one.
Potential: 10%

Secrets of the Silent Witch

Short Synopsis: A shy witch is assigned to go to school to protect the Second Prince from assassination.

Mario: Now, I don’t mind another witch anime, and the premise isn’t half-bad, but there are two main issues I have with Silent Witch’s premiere. Firstly (and perhaps most importantly), I find the titular girl utterly boring. Not that I have any particular issues against shyness, but she acts exactly the way you’d expect her to act, from her nervous reactions down to everything she’s about to say. At this rate I’m not sure if I have the patience to watch her for an entire season. Secondly, this episode is chock full of obvious exposition to the point you feel like the show wants to hammer all the information into your head. For a show about a girl who can do magic without chanting, maybe the best approach would be to say less and instead let us grab what’s going on with the visuals alone?
Potential: 10%

Amun: Light hearted witch anime is a subgenre that I find myself quite fond of. From way back when with Kiki’s Delivery Service to Flying Witch to even the more recent Witch Watch (which wasn’t as great but was okay), I like the magic shows that don’t take themselves too seriously. Silent Witch does a great job balancing that in the first episode. I was really reminded of Wistoria as far as overall vibe and characters – the comparison is high praise. The world is fun, the lead has a clearly defined (albeit annoying) gimmick, the supporting cast is great – this is a recipe for success. Silent Witch was barely on my radar with all the other heavy hitters this season, but I think I’ll be enjoying it all the way through.
Potential: 75%

Busamen Gachi Fighter

Short Synopsis: An ugly man isekais into another world as an even uglier man, but also as a literal God.

Lenlo: I didn’t hate Busamen, and it’s for the same reasons I loved shows like I Parry Everything. And while it doesn’t seem near as good as Parry, the lead isn’t nearly as likeable, it isn’t as well animated, and the premise is a bit to trite for my tastes, it does still have that same feeling that it knows exactly what it is, and is actively taking the piss out of itself. None of the leads are, so far at least, genuinely shitty people. Even our main MC isn’t the usual “I’m a nice guy, why do girls always go for the assholes” sort of incel. Instead they are all some manner of maladjusted shut-in trying their hand at a second life in an Isekai world, making for some fun light hearted interactions. That said, it’s still very much a weeb power fantasy, making the MC the ugliest, fattest character they could, while making him a literal God and surrounding him with at least two conventionally attractive girls, more expected to follow. To me, it feels like Busamen wants to riff on Isekai tropes, but it isn’t willing to go so far as to actually criticize the people who watch it, making it feel half-baked and shallow. Still, it was fun enough for one episode, so I won’t say it was terrible. Just… Not worth keeping up with.
Potential: 20%

Call of the Night S2

Short Synopsis: Herbivore boy must fall in love with scantily clad vampire…which is turning out to be harder than he expected.

Amun: You know, I was kind of weaning off anime a bit last season, only watching a few shows. Felt like my interest was going to gradually taper off and I’d move on to “normal adult” interests like golf or stocks. Haha, yeah right! This season brings back some of my most anticipated sequels – I’m not escaping the clutches of anime that easily! Starting off is one of my favorite shows from…a few seasons ago? (I need to look that up). Call of the Night just had the perfect vibe for me – I absolutely loved season 1 colors, music…really just the feeling it gave me. Does the first episode of season 2 continue? Yes, with some caveats. While the episode itself seemed pretty on brand, we definitely have the looming year deadline as well as the vampire hunter. Us anime onlys don’t know all the mechanics of vampires (or the secret behind the scary final form), so I get the feeling that’ll be the main plot line this season. No matter what, I’m pretty invested in the characters and world at this point, so barring any major disaster of production or plot – I’m here till the end!
Potential: 99%

WataNare

Short Synopsis: Two high school girls test out a potential romantic relationship by alternating between friend and girlfriend days.

Wooper: A few posts back, I said that attraction overcoming the language barrier was one of the romance genre’s best tropes. Well, for every good fictional trope out there, there’s an equally terrible one, and WataNare is built around one of the worst of them all: the pretend relationship. Usually these sham couples are formed to win a bet, or get pesky suitors off one or both parties’ backs, but here the motivation is slightly more novel. High school madonna Mai falls in love with her awkward friend Renako, but Renako isn’t receptive to her confession, so Mai proposes that they spend half of their time as friends and the other half as Friends of Ellen. I could see that setup appealing to younger yuri fans, for whom the margin between platonic and romantic relationships may feel slim, but personally, I couldn’t get into it. Just five minutes into the episode, these two characters who I barely knew were sitting in a tree and spilling their insecurities to each other, and the very next day one had fallen in love with the other? It was all very hasty – but then, quickness is part of the show’s presentational style, with panicked inner thoughts and occasional outbursts on top of already swift dialogue. WataNare isn’t for me, but it has a clear identity, and its hair-swapped cast members are always on model, so I’d imagine that fans of the source material are pretty happy right now.
Potential: 20%

Gachiakuta

Short Synopsis: In a world where everyone is trash, people always find a way to push someone else even lower to feel better about themselves, and Rudo has been shoved all the way to the bottom.

Lenlo: Gotta say, as many edgy revenge shounen as we get each year, Gachiakuta has piqued my interest. Its setting of supposedly floating islands with a ruined, trash filled Earth below, and a tiered caste system combined with a weird obsession with trash, probably getting used as a metaphor for fitting into society and the traits people see as acceptable or something, was nice. The visuals weren’t half bad either, unafraid to use some thick line work at times, as well as some nice colors. My only real complaint so far is that the writing seems very… Blunt. Gachiakuta covers a lot of ground in this first episode, introducing us to the world, the MC, his family and general life situation, and then ripping it all away and plunging us headfirst into the plot as if it doesn’t think we don’t have the patience to sit through more than a single episode of setup. That’s all well and good if the rest of the show slows down and gives the world room to breathe a little bit, after all it’s hard to care about characters I’ve only known for 20 minutes. Still, if it can do that, if it can take its time now that it’s thrown us head first into this world, I think Gachiakuta could be some good fun, something akin to the over the top edge of Ragna Crimson. If that strikes your fancy and you just want a fun edgy romp, I’d say this is worth watching at least a few more episodes to see where it goes.
Potential: 50%

See You Tomorrow at the Food Court

Short Synopsis: Two teenage girls from different high schools meet at a food court to chat aimlessly.

Wooper: I like the idea behind Food Court de, Mata Ashita: two friends shooting the breeze with no overarching story to direct their conversations. Of course, such a plotless show will live and die by the content of those conversations, and that’s where Food Court stumbles. Its main characters, the grumbling Wada and the easygoing Yamamoto, don’t have much going on in their lives, so they (mostly Wada) have to scrape the bottom of the barrel for things to talk (mostly complain) about. Their very first topic is a prime example: the netizens insulting Wada for her textboard posts criticizing a character from a gacha game. I can’t think of many subjects that interest me less, and while their choice of discussion fodder improved from there, it remained superficial enough that I had to wonder why the Food Court manga was selected for an anime adaptation. Even a professional voice actor would be hard pressed to dimensionalize Wada’s shallow gripes about error-prone cashiers or airheaded NPCs. Maybe Yamamoto, whose interest in the supernatural generated some of the episode’s better moments, will steer a higher percentage of future conversations – even if she does, though, I won’t be around to find out.
Potential: 5%

My Dress-Up Darling S2

Short Synopsis: Season 2 of Dress Up Darling, where a cosplay babe and an introverted tailor work together to make cute outfits and flirt with each other.

Lenlo: I have such a complicated relationship with Dress Up Darling. Normally I hate such overtly ecchi, pandering, fanservice focused shows. And don’t get me wrong, Dress Up Darling is exactly that, slapping Marin into a bunny suit and flashing her ass right away. It’s the way the show does it that makes it work for me though, with the leads introducing each other to their interests, using cosplay and tailoring as the vehicle for their mutual interest in each other. Not to mention how they find this place of belonging after being spurned for said interests in the wider world, I love that Gojo’s past regarding makeup/dolls is making a return. It also helps that Dress Up Darling is beautifully, expressively animated. In fact it’s easily the best animated thing I’ve watched so far, which admittedly isn’t a huge number since I’ve been out, but it’s still true. CloverWorks is knocking it out of the park, and I really hope they’re able to keep it up for the full season. So yeah, Dress Up Darling has plenty of ecchi fanservice, and if that’s a deal breaker then you should avoid it like the plague. But if you’re looking for a cute romance and are ok with some skin, especially when she’s doing it on purpose to tease/entice her love interest, Dress Up Darling should be perfect for you. I know I had fun. Plus we even got a cute couples cosplay! Sort of.
Potential: 60%

With You and the Rain

Short Synopsis: A reserved novelist bonds with an intelligent tanuki after adopting it off the street.

Wooper: The best thing about this show so far is its OP, which boasts both a toe-tapping bossa nova groove and attractive pop art color design. Its simplicity might not blow anyone away, but its assured direction is admirable – a sentiment that could apply to the rest of the show, as well. With You and the Rain (Ame to Kimi to) has modest ambitions, but its atmosphere is soothing, and what little animation it requires for its slice of life story looks nice. The main human character, a quietly beautiful novelist, has a little bit of intrigue surrounding her, too. Near the beginning of the episode, she gives her umbrella to a stranger in the middle of a rain shower, claiming that she “won’t be needing it now” (a reaction to a personal setback, perhaps), and at one point she accidentally calls her father, then ignores his cheerful greeting and hangs up without an explanation. Far more mysterious is her new pet tanuki, which frequently pulls a notebook out of thin air and writes in Japanese, allowing it to flawlessly communicate with anyone it meets. It knows enough about human society to inquire after its new owner’s occupation, so I’m wondering whether we’ll ever see it shapeshift into humanoid form (as tanuki are wont to do). Whether or not the show plans to make that transformation, its easy interspecies partnership is off to a good start.
Potential: 50%

Nyaight of the Living Cat

Short Synopsis: A pair of former cat cafe employees try to outlast a pandemic that turns humans into cats.

Wooper: It seems I overestimated Nyaight of the Living Cat based on the strength of its trailers, which had the luxury of rapidly cutting between all the show’s weirdest moments. It’s a parody, sure, but the genre it’s parodying is horror, which means that when you sit down to watch a full episode, there’s still a requirement that it slowly build tension to a moment where its human protagonists seem doomed to transform into cats. Unfortunately, Nyaight isn’t adept at generating that sort of suspense. Its environments are unimaginative, and the characters don’t look great while navigating them, acting out run cycles that hardly indicate their fear. That might not be an issue for some viewers (it might even be a plus if their favorite horror films are the shlocky B-movie kind), but it was for me. The second half of the episode explores the backstory of its main character, a hulking mystery box of a man whose brain has been drained of everything except cat facts. Despite its stupidity, the script plays this concept straight, which I think was the right call – I just wish that the siblings who took him hadn’t been so normal, since it was hard to relate to Mr. Amnesia by comparison. I might take a look at Nyaight’s second episode, but if I do, it’ll just be my way of coping for having misread the show so thoroughly.
Potential: 15%

Dandadan S2

Short Synopsis: Season 2 of Dandadan, where a young man cursed by a demon and his classmate with psychic powers go on a quest to recover his balls.

Lenlo: What is it with this author and trying to rape his female leads? Seriously, this obsession with lewd humor and sexual situations is dragging down an otherwise competent shounen. When Dandadan isn’t trying to sexually assault Momo, it actually does body horror and action really well, with interesting environments, situations and power usage, and it knows how to pace the mystery of whatever monster we’re about to fight. But then, without fail, it always interrupts it with some random testicle joke, or some old guy trying to feel up Momo for no reason at all, dragging all of the good parts of the show down. As is, I’m going to watch it, if only because last season has given me unrealistic expectations as to Dandadans production. And so long as the pretty lights continue to go brr, I’ll continue to stick with it. But if it can’t move past all this weird sex stuff? Then it’s never going to be anything more than a YouTube fight compilation generator, at least not to me.
Potential: 40%

Mario: After a 6-month break, Dandadan picks up exactly where it left, for better or for worse. It has stellar animation, great production all round, the plot that makes little sense and the characters are as plain as paper. The mystery regarding Jiji’s situation gets resolved quickly, and here we have a special kind of villain this show has to offer: the Kito Family who are not monsters but act and behave like one anyway. If you enjoyed the first season you’ll be right at home (well, not Jiji’s rent home) with this second season. It’s a real treat to look at, and it’s weird but never afraid to be a weirdo.
Potential: 40%

Betrothed to My Sister’s Ex

Short Synopsis: A neglected daughter is forcibly engaged to a handsome count after the passing of her sister, his previous fiance.

Wooper: Before watching this episode, I figured that it was merely this show’s localized title that made it sound like bargain bin teen lit. Then I watched the episode and realized that’s exactly what it was. The author of Betrothed to My Sister’s Ex must be the gorillionth writer in history to use Cinderella as a jumping off point for her own work, tweaking a bunch of the details but ultimately crafting a story of an abused young woman with whom a gallant prince (here a count) falls in love. The way that “Betrothed” heaps misfortune on its heroine Marie’s head is more blatant than any Cinderella adaptation – here it’s both her father and her biological mother who call her ugly and force her to do manual labor, rather than just an evil stepmother. Only Marie’s sister shows her any kindness, so naturally, she has to die midway through the premiere. The entire setup is quite clumsy, but perhaps there’s a bright spot to this avalanche of tragedy – with so much of it out of the way so early, the show can move on to less derivative material. As far as the production goes, I’m tempted to call it threadbare, but the show does nail its close-ups, and the moment when a beautified Marie descends the stairs of the count’s estate really sells her transformation, however cliched. This show won’t land on my summer watchlist, but it’ll be a couple thousand fans’ first shoujo anime ever, and honestly, they could do worse.
Potential: 10%

Cultural Exchange with a Game Center Girl

Short Synopsis: A Japanese-speaking arcade employee and an English-speaking customer strike up a flirty friendship.

Wooper: From a production standpoint, Game Center Girl (GaCen Shoujo to Ibunka Kouryuu) has quite a few bugs. The animation is hiccupy, the imprecise editing causes some shots to linger without purpose, and while its use of mostly diegetic music suits its arcade setting, it could have used a more robust soundtrack to smooth over some of its more awkward moments. For decades, though, the anime machine has been overcoming these kinds of limitations through sheer cuteness, and I’d say this show continues that tradition. Contrary to how it might look, its cutest asset isn’t the vertically challenged blonde girl (Lily) on the poster, but the triumph of attraction over the language barrier, which is one of the romance genre’s all time greatest tropes. All of Lily’s dialogue is in British English, while arcade employee Renji can hardly put three words together in her native tongue. Still, he tries his darndest to communicate out of a mixture of kindness and curiosity, which comes across with clarity, especially during the scene where he presents Lily with a notebook where they can exchange messages in written English. Sure, the chase scene that precedes the notebook reveal is embarrassing to watch, and all the misunderstandings that will arise from this premise already have my head spinning, but this was still a fun first episode. That counts for something, even if I’m unlikely to watch any more.
Potential: 25%