Stella no Mahou
Short Synopsis: A girl decides to join an indie game making club at her school.
Quite frankly what you see is what you get. We got cute girls making games so it’s last season’s “New Game” in a high school. I am sure you all know my intense love of seeing a school setting shoved into every premise imaginable. There’s jokes, there’s girls being cute, implied lesbianism, it’s all here. If you are into these kinds of shows I can say this is likely the best of it’s kind in the season. There might be some interesting trivia on making games but hardly anything all that deep. It’s nothing offensive nor individually distinct, it’s everything you would expect. It bores me but if this is what you are into I say knock yourself out.
Potential: 20%
Mario: Every season when you check out new shows, you’re guaranteed to encounter shows that have this formula: school settings, cute high school girls, club activities… This show cuts out for that formula so in that regards, you know exactly what you would get. Being said that I actually enjoy this throughout, partly because I am myself also interested in making indie games. We had show that covered anime game just last season (New Game), but I kinda like this setting more as they are just amateurs who do it for their hobbies. The group members have their easy-going chemistry with each other, but I have to say relying on new freshman to do all the hard works is kind of bullying. Joking aside, the show has the most simplistic art styles out of every shows I watched so far this season (on a par with shorts to be honest), but it works for its own charms. In this world, everything is bright, girls have nothing to worry about except making new games, and pink is dominant in every corner. I know in the end of the day this show is unremarkable at best but I had quite a good time with it.
Potential: 30%
gi(a)rlish number
Short Synopsis: A young seijuu is given an opportunity to star in a lead role for a light novel adaption.
If there is one thing I think really turns me off any cute girls cute things show, it’s the sense of optimism that the girls have. Be it ping pong or indie games the girls always seem to hold a viewpoint of meeting things head on and everything turning out alright in the end. Call me pessimistic but this brand of optimism is something I find rather childish and shortsighted. So a show like this which looks at the anime industry with a layer of cynicism is really to my tastes. As a working adult I have come to see that no matter the job, be it something you love or not, will always come with it’s own frustrations and contemptuous aspects. So I like it when a show comes to peel of the veneer and show it for what it really is. Shirobako did this to a degree but I think bringing in the author(SNAFU) who’s best at cynicism to critique the less attractive aspects of the industry is a pretty good idea. Though I do wonder if this fellow has some sort of thing for brother sister duos as we have another one here. It’s nice to see a show point out how trashy light novel adaptions can be and that seiji’s are hardly paragons of virtue. That really is the selling point of this, that the anime industry is still an industry and if it means making money then they will feed the populace whatever trash they want to eat up. The characters seem alright and it does look like this deal given to the Seijuu is poisoned as it’s birthed from a producer who clearly is just trying to milk trends and things are bound not to turn out well. I am rather interested to see how this turns out.
Potential: 60%
Mario: Kudos this show for having a satire outlook on the saiyuu industry. Granted, many shows (most notably, Shirobako) has depicted the mundane viewpoint of this industry, the one job that we, of all people, are too familiar with but never really understand the behind the scene working conditions of these people. I like the sarcastic tone when it comes to their half-ass decision to make a profitable hit anime: combining Light Novels + Idol, then hire a fresh face inexperienced saiyuu on top. The show doesn’t have a high opinion in any of these factors either (there are more than one instance where other cast trashed LN author), and they focus a slightly bit negatively on the relationship between those saiyuu (well, but maybe it’s the truth after all). Based on this first episode, I’m sure the show knows the things the making fun of. If you want to have a deeper look on an anime industry with that light-hearted and a bit of mockery tone, this is the one for you.
Potential: 20%
Watashi ga Motete Dousunda
Short Synopsis: A overweight girls favorite anime character dies and after starving herself thin for seven days she comes back to school a cute girl who all the boys want.
Boy this episode was painful to watch. In anime the Fujoshi archetype is a relatively new caricature but it’s already worn out it’s welcome for me. It only has one real joke to this stereotype and that’s a girl getting all excited over shipping boys together. While watching this episode I could actually feel my face muscles cringe as this girl started foaming at the mouth over guys standing next to each other. I find the main premise to be problematic as it pretty is a testament that it really doesn’t matter that you are terrible on the inside as long as you look cute. Admittedly it may be somewhat true but it’s really not something to be shown in positive light. Though I will get this show credit for at least giving the girl some proportions instead of just having her be the old wooden plank of many a shoujo heroine. That always did kind of bug me in how they always seems to be afraid of giving a girl any kind of chest or curves in case it would kill the immersion of the ones wanting wish fulfilment. I will say this is better than the other reverse harems this season as at least it does some things different. But it’s really not good.
Potential: 0%
Mario: The premise for this show is certainly troublesome, it does feel like a wish-fulfilment from a girl to suddenly become hot and center of the universe and form her own harem circles. The problem with such premise, besides being ridiculous, is that those boys who get interested in her was just because of her look and not what she really is. That is exactly what this episode tries to address, as she can’t hide her otaku plus fujoshi at heart and the boys eventually warm up with that. The humor so far occasionally works for me (especially when it comes to pairings), while it’s not my cup of tea humor it still delivers its jokes quite hilariously. Still those moments when she’s overly gorgeous or when everyone making that ‘so cute’ face sticks out like a sore thumb. At those moments, it does feel like the show buys too much into its own crap. The lead is charming in her own twisted way, because we follow her thoughts and sometimes it’s hilarious to see how she loses herself to self-indulging world and completely overlooks what happened in front of her. The four guys unfortunately are just bland and besides good-look, they feel more like faithful servants who followed their master. I still have heaps of fun with it but I know that this ridiculous misguided premise alone could turn off many people from enjoying it.
Potential: 30%
ClassicaLoid
Short Synopsis: Beethoven and Mozart are freeloading at a house and hijinks ensue.
I have seen Beethoven make breakfast so I guess I have now seen it all. I am going to be blunt and say I just don’t get this show. I mean for one we have a Beethoven who isn’t deaf and has a complete obsession with making gyoza. That’s gyoza part really baffles me, I mean what’s the joke exactly? Pretty certain that the real Beethoven would have no idea what gyoza even is so why does this character have this tendency? Is it some kind of random humor to have Beethoven frying gyoza? Because it really isn’t funny. Mozart is at least somewhat relatable to his counterpart as Wolfgang was considered somewhat immature and childish. He did after all write a song telling people to lick his ass clean.(I am not joking on that by the way. Google it.) This show does seem to be trying to be a comedy but it just really isn’t funny as I find myself puzzled over the humor rather than amused by it. When a house is about to be demolished Beethoven conducts music, everyone dances, construction machines turn into robots for no apparent reason and the workers decide to go home and not demolish the house after all. Well…ok then. I don’t know where this is going and frankly I don’t think this episode gave me any reason to care where this is going. Keijo is my dumb comedy of the season, this on the other hand is just odd and unappealing.
Potential: 0%
Mario: One of another original anime entry this season, ClassicaLoid uses its real historical figures (this time musical genius of Beethoven, Mozart, Bach) for its insane and slapstick comedic world. In this world, the abandoned mansion with musical instruments-related designs suddenly become a busy place overnight where many failed attempts frying gyoza, rolling around the house, clean up the stuffs and demolishing the house go completely in vain. The show more focus on putting quirky remarks and having fun as they go more than having an actual plot. The music, as relevant to the theme of the show, is mostly classical and I personally think it’s in great use, especially the first few minutes when we have an orchestra playing and montages of the cast doing crazy stuffs. The humor, while a bit random, is still better than most awkward jokes other shows have. When all the construction machines turn into a mecha robot so it could dance with an organ-mecha robot, I know that I can’t take this show seriously. This show might be lacking in any deep message, but if you’re looking for a fun, absurd and bright show, this is your title.
Potential: 20%
Woahwoahwoah! Why so hard on Motete x)