Star Crossed Anime

Eighty-Six S2

Short Synopsis: Five survivors of genocide find themselves in a new country while the woman who once guided them plans to change her own.

Lenlo: First up to all the doubters or critique-ers from my first review: I WAS RIGHT. Those of you who read it know what I’m talking about. Personal victories aside, this premiere was alright. It’s picking up right where we left off with the same team and all the same strengths and weaknesses of the first season. The show is pretty, the shots and direction are good and the narrative is pretty straight forward. I am a bit interested in this new Republic and its President that we’ve met, I think Eighty Six could do some fun stuff juxtaposing that with Lena’s nation, assuming it doesn’t paint it as a black and white, good vs evil sort of thing. I don’t think it will though, as the President seems to have his darker secrets. Whatever the case, the first season of Eighty Six was fun, so I’m expecting the second to be too.

Potential: 60%

Wooper: I caught up with the last few episodes of 86’s first season recently, and my expectations for S2 had actually risen by the end. The deftly-handled time jumps that left the audience to situate themselves in the story, the beautiful opening minutes of episode 10, the effective cliffhanger of the finale… They had me looking forward to this new cour. Did its premiere live up to my expectations? Of course not, but it didn’t fall too far outside of them, either.

86 is back on its “subtlety is death” bullshit, with the ultra-racist military drunks at HQ making a repeat appearance that was almost endearing in its clumsiness. They made sure to comment on Lena’s hair and uniform, too, in case there were any blind viewers in the audience. I did like one scene set in San Magnolia, where General Karlstahl silently noted Lena’s closeness with Annette (who probably won’t escape this season alive based on that tipoff), but the bulk of the cool stuff happened in the Giad Federation, where the Eighty-Sixers found themselves embroiled in a new political bog. President Ernst was about as convincing as a Gucci street vendor in his diplomatic friendliness – the show even put stark two-tone lighting on his face in one scene – but whatever’s happening with the child empress and Giad’s squabbling military chiefs could bear some interesting fruit in the coming months. 86 is talking down to its viewership once again, but judging by its runaway success, it’s also speaking their language, so I can’t fault it.

Potential: 50%

Tsuki to Laika to Nosferatu

Short Synopsis: Alternate USSR doesn’t want a PR nightmare of having a human cosmonaut die going to space, so they do the logical thing…and send a vampire.

Amun: For a show with such a meme premise, Tsuki to Laika to Nosferatu played the first episode straight. The biggest takeaway I got was…this is going to be a pretty standard, one season anime. Wide-eyed human and cold-hearted vampire train, grow closer, some political nonsense, “you’ve gotten too close”, disaster, blah blah, cute science girl, whatever. I wouldn’t say we’ve seen this exact iteration, but we’ve seen all these ideas played out before (plus if you want that secondhand guilt about exploiting minority groups, go watch 86). Nosferatu doesn’t look bad, and it doesn’t seem like it’ll be adapted badly, it’s just…I don’t really see anything special that’ll go the distance. I think the astronaut otakus who are particularly interested in the Soviet Union era space race will be enthralled, but us casuals will probably bail out halfway.

Potential: 45%

Wooper: I’ve liked all of the astronaut-themed anime I’ve seen – Wings of Honneamise, Planetes, and Space Brothers – so Tsuki to Laika had a leg up coming into this season, at least in my view. Unfortunately, the premiere approached its vampiric twist on the genre with a noncommittal blend of solemnity and camp that turned me off. There were some things I liked about the episode, especially Megumi Hayshibara’s halting, skeptical performance as Irina. She sounded decidedly alien, as though she’d studied human language extensively but had rarely spoken it, so hats off to the legendary seiyuu for another bullseye performance. I thought Lev’s character was flat by comparison, like a far less personable Jinto (there’s no doubt in my mind that Tsuki to Laika’s author was inspired by Crest of the Stars). Another thing I liked: the mild food fetishism of the scene where Irina tried salmon roe for the first time. Her strange eating habits emphasized both her nonhuman tendencies and Lev’s attraction to her in spite of them. Another thing I didn’t like: the lighting, which was dreadfully plain, even for a series that spends a lot of time in prison. Ultimately, I think the show’s second episode (when Irina’s astronaut training will begin in earnest) will be a far better barometer for its watchability, so I’ll give it another look next week. I’m not feeling super optimistic after this one, though.

Potential: 30%

Mushoku Tensei S2

Short Synopsis: A pedo is reincarnated and grooms a thirteen year old, as they travel with a mass murderer (who is the least morally repugnant character in this show).

Amun: I believe the rest of the authors are boycotting this series due to its unapologetic degeneracy. And I fully respect that sentiment – I just can’t deny this is a quality production, no matter how despicable the characters are. Because one episode into the new season….these tigers haven’t changed their stripes. We now have the obligatory goth loli making an appearance – is that going to be anime’s “jumping the shark”?. The animation and characters still look amazing – one subtle aspect of the character design is the growing children do look different (as they would in an actual year). It’s a small thing, but it’s well done. This is clearly a passion project – and its high quality reflects that. My complaints: aside from the despicable lead (actually most of the characters are pretty terrible come to think of it), I really don’t like “missed connections” – as the next episode is titled. That feels like a lazy plot device to me. I think this season will focus on transporting and be a primarily urban setting, but I’m hoping for more Roxy and less Eris (although she’s grown – very slightly – on me). And freaking kill anyone named Greyrat.

Potential: 69% (har har – Rudeus made me do it)

Lenlo: Amun would be correct (about the boycott, anyway).

Mieruko-chan

Short Synopsis: High school girl plays “You can’t see me” with spooky ghosts (or, perpetual poker-face screams internally.)

Amun: I don’t normally do horror – I think the only horror/guro shows I’ve seen are High School of the Dead, Shiki, and Another…true fans will probably disagree with my classifications of those. However, the first half of Mieruko-chan’s premiere played as I would expect from good horror setups: subtle tells, spooky foreshadowing, plenty of passed opportunities for jump scares. The big reveal: spot on, great stuff. It’s the falling action where I start to scratch my head a little – what is this show, really? I’m just concerned about the overall point of the story – if it ends up as an oddly specific fetish to seeing scared girls act brave, I’m out. As expected from the genre, there is some service, but it’s quite manageable; not quite what I would call tasteful, but not overboard. General verdict: pretty good start, but the overall direction of the show remains to be seen.

Potential: 55%

Armitage: In contrast to Amun above, I love all kinds of horror media. I know the tropes inside out. I also know that it’s categorically difficult to make anime come off as genuinely scary. I understand that the shlocky nature of this genre leads to crossover with giallo tropes like the fetishization of female characters. But again, in slight disagreement with Amun, I feel that this show overindulges in its perversion – a character’s boobs basically get more screen time than her face, we get a gratuitous shot of the MC taking off her underwear in a restroom and we also get a couple of crotch shots from below and behind. It’s too much, honestly. But I would still be willing to look past all that, if this show actually utilized the other half of its runtime doing what should be its main objective: scaring the viewer. And it does try but really, everything just falls so flat. The monster designs are not scary, the lighting and color palette are too bright, the setups are so generic, it all just feels like a slog that has you wishing for even a jump scare or something. Yeah, that’s how desperate I got. And would not be putting myself through more of this.

Potential: 10%

Muteking the Dancing Hero

Short Synopsis: A new kid in town transforms into a dancing hero to save Neo San Francisco from the evil Taco Tacos corporation.

Mario: Yes, Muteking is as silly as it sounds. It takes advantage of every opportunity to be over the top, be it the quirky designs, scream-until-it’s-funny humor, bizarre sense of logic, and a lead character who literally dances away evil and saves the world. Its nonsensical but bright tones remind me of series like Akiba’s Trip – dumb fun shows that match the energy of a teenage market more than the old me now. The show occasionally rises above the average when it depicts colorful backgrounds – the city Neo San Francisco looks dazzling – but it’s bogged down by the silliness of the plot and characters that are… I’ll be honest, kind of insulting to the audience. Muteking is like the first sip of a soft drink: it overwhelms you at first but only leaves you with an overly-sweet aftertaste. If you don’t mind all that, though, you’ll be fine with it.

Potential: 20%

Lenlo: Muteking is… it’s… I don’t… This is certainly a show. As a reboot of a franchise from the 80’s it makes sense why it has the energy it does. And as what is, effectively, a Tokusatsu show the tropes and structure it has are familiar. But I’m not really a fan of Tokusatsu. So while the 80’s aesthetic is nice and the wackiness is amusing I just can’t get into it. It’s like this season’s Back Arrow, a show trying to revel in absurdity to hide the fact that it doesn’t have anything else going for it. If wacky popcorn fun is your way to relax then I think this will be great for you. But for me it’s just going to be a waste of my time. The OP is pretty fire though, I’ll give it that. Absolute jam.

Potential: 20%

Tesla Note

Short Synopsis: Ninja girl trains for her whole life to become a spy and investigates Nikola Tesla’s crazy inventions.

Amun: I didn’t know anything about this show before watching the first episode, except that I really like Teslas (the cars). However, that positive word association isn’t nearly enough to carry me through this drag of a first episode. Oh look, high school ninja girl whose training to save the world (although, the best part of this episode is when she was worried her grandfather was nuts – I can’t complain just because of that). Aside from Shinigami Bocchan from last season, I don’t normally stomach 3DCGs, and Tesla Note isn’t going to add to those exceptions. What’s weird is there are some conventional background characters, but the mains are crappy 3DCG – I would have preferred it the other way around. The action is as good as it could be (some spotty animation here and there), but the plot and the characters just feel so generic, I struggled through. Pass from me.

Potential: 0%

Mario: Gosh, this thing looks abysmal, and I can totally see where the compirasion to Ex-Arm comes from. Just look at this cut to see how bad the production looks. In its defense, the show is still competent at displaying goofy facial expressions, but its 3DCG looks amateurish in every other department. The writing is not good either. As spies, the main character and her partner have James Bond levels of subtlety and Shinji levels of stubborness. As far as the plot goes, it’s mildly intriguing as they used the real figure Nikola Tesla, but it still feels generic by the end of this episode. I won’t mince words here, Tesla Note is terrible. Its story is nothing to speak of, its characters are loud and the visuals remain the “talk” of the show, albeit for a rather embarrassing reason.

Potential: 0%

Blue Period

Short Synopsis: A high-functioning delinquent falls in love for the first time.

Lenlo: If I’m being honest, I don’t think Blue Period needs or benefits from an adaptation. Oh it looks fine. So far we are getting the colors I wanted, something to set it apart from the bright moe-blobs of every season. And as Armi says below the score and VA work are nice. But in its transition to an anime Blue Period has lost what I think is one of its greatest strengths (and manga’s as a whole): Self pacing. The ability to decide how fast, or slow, you consume a story. The option to sit and linger on a single page for 10 minutes soaking in the art and narrative. And Blue Period is a series that benefits from that more than most. The way it uses art and the expressions of its characters, these things I always want to look at for minutes at a time. But I can’t do that with an anime. Instead I get the Director’s pacing, I’m forced to move through the story at a rate that I don’t necessarily like. So yeah. I like Blue Period, I think it’s an acceptable adaptation so far and that should be enough to get what is one of the stronger stories of the season across well. But I honestly recommend anyone that enjoys the anime to go read the manga afterwards, at your pace.

Potential: 70%

Armitage: On the surface, Blue Period is the kind of story we have seen every possible iteration of in all forms of media. It’s an underdog story about a guy starting from the bottom and trying to succeed against insurmountable odds. Well, that’s what the core premise would have you believe, at least. Still, Blue Period is one story that so many people who are familiar with it have the deepest connection towards and that’s because they see themselves mirrored in it. Their dreams, their aspirations, their self-doubt, their constant yearning to belong. This is a story that channels all these feelings within its narrative and it does so without a hint of pretense. There are no shounen clichés here, no overpowered protagonists and no malicious villains. Blue Period wears its heart on its sleeve but it’s also a rather erudite narrative. It is no exaggeration to say that I have learned more about artistic expression through this one series (and by researching the various concepts it introduces) than I have from all previous instances of my exposure to art, combined. So, yeah, basically this is as accomplished as modern source material for an anime can possibly get.

Which leaves us with the adaptation. And honestly, it’s pretty damn solid. See, all I wanted from this premiere was for it to just have consistent animation, art pieces that do not look uninspired, voices that fit the characters and a general color palette that feels like it understands the manga’s ethos. And we get all that. Add to that a fantastically understated background score and you have got a classic in the making.

Though, as a disclaimer for potential viewers, I would say that if the somewhat uneventful pace or its naturalistic approach to dramatic storytelling that you saw in the premiere was something you didn’t like, you might not enjoy Blue Period by the end. This is not a story that will ever get your blood pumping with exhilaration but it might just build a new home for itself along the least visited roads of your heart, if you let it.

Potential: To be what you need.

Selection Project

Short Synopsis: American Idol: Anime edition (or, The Goddess of Idol School).

Armitage: This show basically shoots itself in the foot by starting off with a first half that’s basically 200 characters thrown at the viewer without any build-up. Like really, the only thing you can get from the first 10 minutes of this premiere is that this show has pretty character designs, which is to be expected from Doga Kobo. But credit where credit is due, the actual production of Selection Project is really solid. Detailed backgrounds, great attention to detail like the smart TV connected to the tablet and an actual ‘korean heart’ symbol for the reality show’s ‘Like’ icon make the world feel modern and lived in while the impressive character animations bring the characters to life. It’s a shame that the show barely focuses on all our lead to have us make any connection to her goal of becoming an idol. Which is a shame because the scene in which she has a panic attack on screen is masterfully done without a hint of melodrama. All in all, I did see enough positives here to believe that if Selection Project can narrow down its focus to a manageable amount of characters, it can be a very watchable show.

Potential: 50%

Mario: Selection Project combines two popular formats (singing competitions and anime) into one and for me, those are the two pop culture mediums that I have spent the most time watching when I want to relax and shut down my brain. So far it’s not entirely successful – the main girl does not particularly stand out, the supporting cast is so broad that we only see their dominant (read: stock) traits so far, and the singing competition has some questionable rules. But there are two things that make Selection Project different from your normal idol show. First, Selection Project is more about individual competition than forming an idol group so the dynamic is going to be different – the cast doesn’t have to work together but sees each other more as rivals. Second, the decision to drop our lead character from the competition at the end is a welcome one, not because she won’t be back (she will), but more because the show pulls no punches on having the character experience failure and hurt. This is good enough to guarantee a second chance from me.

Potential: 30%

Isekai Shokudou 2

Short Synopsis: A blonde demon waitress begrudgingly shares some leftover corn potage after a hard day’s work.

Wooper: I’d only seen the first episode of Isekai Shokudou 1 before jumping into Isekai Shokudou 2, so you’ll have to pardon me if I’m missing some critical lore, but this premiere was just as average as the first. That’s not a damning indictment or anything (more than half of anime are well below average, in direct violation of mathematical principles), but given the concept behind the series, it could aim a lot higher. Imagine a version of this show where the focus stays on the patrons at the restaurant, rather than the Goody Two-Shoes demon who works there, and over time we develop a roster of regulars who discuss current events and swap stories over delicious food. I’d love to see a more topical version of this show, or watch as a mage and a druid strike up a romance after a few dates at the restaurant, rather than listen to the show extol the virtues of cheese at multiple points per episode. I know I’m criticizing the show for what it isn’t, rather than what it is, but that’s because the show is neither good nor bad – it’s merely a competent, low-stakes fantasy series to throw on after work. It doesn’t need to be anything else, but that also means it’s not my bag.

Potential: 50%

Amun: …Wooper, you gotta watch more than the first episode if you’re going to ask for something, because that’s basically what the first season was. The mistreated demon and the dragon telepath get maybe one more episode than the other patrons, but the regulars do get the lion’s share of the focus – seeing them here four years later, I still remember all their favorite dishes. However, everything in this episode isn’t hunky dory. The animation was a little suspect, especially in the early action sequences. Isekai Shokudou has, and will always, suffer from a cast that grows exponentially. Watching someone experience commonplace human food for the first time can get old. But it’s a light hearted show that doesn’t get hung up on delusions of grandeur (looking at you, Sonny Boy) – Isekai Shokudou is the OG of the isekai small business simulators, and – in my opinion – the best.

Potential: 70%