Mahoujin Guru Guru
Short Synopsis: A JRPG hero and mage sets off to defeat the demon king
From what I see it seems that those familiar with the original show that this opening episode was a bit fast and not as funny. However even if it was funny, to me anime comedy rarely works. There are exceptions of course. For one I think that the ongoing manga “Grand Blue” or “Kaguya wants to be confessed to” would be a hilarious anime. This however seems like the comedy is well…dad jokes. For example when the girl receives money and then tries to equip it like armour. Alright the JRPG visual aesthetic is neat and I do find it charming. However I was stone faced throughout this episode, not even a smile. The isekai genre has abused the standard dragon quest setup to the degree that it’s no longer novel. Personally I think something like Konosuba has surpassed what this is trying to achieve. However it does have it’s enjoyable points and could be a good watch for some.
Potential: 30%
Mario: Colour me surprise. This is the one title that I nearly skipped since it’s a reboot of what appeared to be an adventurous children show. Well, at heart it is but Guru Guru also provides a non-stop slapstick fun from start to finish. There are rapid fire jokes that come at us like corns popping, and the humor is on silly and irrelevant side, so you know… lowbrow humor. But most of the time the jokes land well because they embrace their goofiness to heart, making the show an absurd endless fun. Not only the silly banters, but the animation also converts to reflect the humor: at time 8-bit, then like cut-out animation… and they’re actually creative and on-point. And I can’t deny I’m thoroughly entertained watching this and in one moment I laughed out hard. Can’t believe it before checking it out but it might be one of my favorite comedy show of this year. I won’t blog it but I am sure follow them to see what hijinks the two leads gonna end up with.
Potential: 40%
Hajimete no Gal
Short Synopsis: A guy begs a girl to be his girlfriend and surprisingly succeeds
Ah yes that’s right. We haven’t had our fanservice harem yet in this season. Boy, we nearly went through a anime season without gravity defying tits, panty shots and flat chest jokes. Now this may be a shock to some but despite media commonly depicting this, men actually don’t think about sex 24/7. Hell even when reminiscing over my teenage years I don’t think I put that much thought into it. Not saying I never did but if you were going to spend every waking moment considering how much you want to copulate then anyone would get bored of it. So when I see these strange creatures who consider getting laid their lives ambition I can’t help but think that they might be disappointed if they ever managed to do it. It’s just sex lads. Anyway we have another one of those strange abominations of a girl whose breast size doesn’t correlate with the rest of her body making her look like some weird beanie baby. Plus fanservice galore as our protagonist keeps imaging how he’s gonna cross the final line before he’s even entered the race. Sorry to break it to you protag but you are in a harem so that means you are damned to be cockblocked for eternity. Lastly any time this guys friends were on screen made me want to quit the episode then and there. So if you want anime that’s not quite but almost porn then this has you covered.
Potential: 0%
Mario: Gosh, I stepped into someone’s wet dream yet again, but this one is even more mean-spirited. At least Smartphone doesn’t offend anyone, this on stoops so low begging on the ground that I can’t help but feel appalling and disgusting. First off, that main guy is pure one-dimensional pervert with the only goal in mind is to bang. It’s already low bar but he manages to make it into cringeworthy level when begging the girl so that he could see her panties. Creepy as fuck. Second, high school girls who have boobs that defy gravity have no personality and somehow all fall for that pervert. And guess what, he gets away with it because… girls are hormonal creatures too. All that and I haven’t mentioned the awfulness of his wet fantasies, panty shots, hair-raising voice over. The show wants to make our hearts feel dokidoki with its fanservice, but painful is what I get instead.
Potential: 0%
Youkoso Jitsuryoku Shijou Shugi no Kyoushitsu e
Short Synopsis: New students get a nasty discoverly when they find out that the high class school they entered has a totalitarian rules.
Got to say that with the pacing sped up and time outside of the mains head to minimum that this series benefits greatly. In truth the actually story only came out in the last few minutes but I much prefer this to the light novels which spent half the first volume building up to this point. Got to say that watching it is a much better experience as it looks like this will be less the false ideal high school life presented in anime and more along the lines of Snafu’s cynical overlook. Our protagonist certainly shares Hachiman’s outlook of interpersonal relationships and I find his rather deadpan voice and exterior to be rather refreshing when compared to mister average blush on command. I actually enjoyed this more than thought I would and perhaps this could turn into something interesting after all. Not expecting a masterpiece but maybe like SukaSuka it could prove to be an intriguing watch. Might even blog it if the second episode continues to engage me.
Potential: 60%
Mario: Youkoso is a show that has strong, interesting premise but dang it’s way too slow to get into that. Doesn’t need a whole episode for setting up to be honest and I suspect it’s the next episode that they reveal their true nature. I certainly feel a SNAFU vibe around this cast, most notably our main guy, like Hachiman, is an observant social outcast and the other girls so far fall neatly into SNAFU’s counterparts, but the similarity isn’t too jarring to write them off. The argument on the bus, while address boldly to the overall theme of “equality” – whether or not unequally action need to be made to assist those who are already disadvantaged – but sadly they overplay that scene so it comes off as forced development. Judging by this episode alone, it comes as just merely passable, but it does have potential and I guess when the plot kicks in, we will have a real treat from this one. People who unconvinced by this first episode need to check out the second one because the real meat will be there.
Potential: 40%
Gamers!
Short Synopsis: A boy is invited to a gaming club by the most popular girl in school.
Points to the MC for going against the grain and turning her down. It is rather nice when you see things moving in a predictable pattern only for it to get turned on it’s head. However I have read on in this story and found that the gaming aspect just gets overshadowed by romance nonsense. Really weird to see the show throw out spoilers like nothing but it was rather clever. This first episode was decent and had some good comedic moments. however I really dislike how gaming is portrayed here. Why are they treating it like playing games for fun is weird? Like the MC is special because he just wants to enjoy video games? I am a heavy gamer myself and I never really felt the need to master a online shooter or fighting games. I just find the idea of devoting myself to just one game to be dull. Variety is the spice of life and I would rather be good at many games than the master of one. There are those of us that value single player experiences over online competitive ones. Anyway my point is that videogames are my domain and I don’t like a story half assing it with its representation. Lastly, the main character got tired after only two hours of gaming? Filthy casual.
Potential: 10%
Mario: Gamers runs like your typical school club anime: we have main character get dragged into one specific school club, he’s being a “perfect one”, get introduced into the most attractive part of said club, and make friends with eccentric club-mates in the process; you know, all that dandy. Except this one builds those up for some twist – he rejects the club, not once, but twice. It does feel like he decided not to join in is how the show’s messing with us, but get into his reason and you see the moment of truth. They are both game maniacs, but they approach games differently and that main guy feels like he doesn’t belong to the competitiveness gameplay by the club. It happens all the time in other sports or media as people who share the same love for some medium doesn’t mean that they approach them the same. Apart from that, I like the way the show gives some witty foreshadowing texts and the animation sometimes resembles that of game to hide its constraint budget. Still, the romance or whatever isn’t that good and the main concept of gaming doesn’t really catch me. Could be interesting to see how it goes from here but I admit this isn’t my cup of tea.
Potential: 20%
There is something very wrong about an ecchi anime, when the censored version is more fun(ny) to watch than the uncensored one…as long as you have both voice and subs disabled. I’m so sorry I didn’t do that.