Double Decker! Doug & Kirill
Short Synopsis: A police officer finds himself working together with a special agency.
Lenlo’s Review:
Double Decker surprised me with this first episode. Starting off, the CGI and overly moody lighting had me worried it was going to be a grimdark, I’m-so-serious fare. The quick jump to light hearted action romp was a pleasant surprise though. Kirill, the lead, is a real character who after I got used to his special brand of stupid, was pretty entertaining. If nothing else, he’s not your usual bland MC. He has style, however ridiculous it may be. It also kept the exposition to a minimum, which I am thankful for. I feared a lot of drawn out narrator BS about Anthem and how the world worked, but Double Decker seems content to take it slow. A good sign. My one concern is the CGI and how heavily it will be used, because the constant jumping between it and 2D really bugged me. Still, not a bad start to a season I had pretty low hopes for.
Potential: 70%
Aidan’s review:
This certainly is reminding me a lot of Tiger and Bunny which is good considering it’s a spinoff. The buddy cop nature of the main duo and the way the show doesn’t take itself too seriously is quite reminiscent of it. But I feel that part of the appeal of Tiger and Bunny was the commercialised nature of the superheroes which doesn’t appear to play any real role here. In fact this show is pretty much like any anime OVA about cops taking on supernatural threats which can be nostalgic for some but rather derivative in itself. That said I found it a decently enjoyable watch though I don’t have much incentive to continue. The characters are fun and it makes for decent entertainment but it doesn’t really excel in any way, just being passable. I would say if you are looking for something with a saturday morning cartoon feel or a buddy cop dynamic then this could make for a decent time waster.
Potential: 60%
RErideD: Tokigoe no Derrida
Short Synopsis: A scientist finds out about a bug in his robots that contribute to the end of the world. Also, birthday party, conspiracy and time-travel throw in to the fun.
Lenlo’s Review:
You know, maybe it was a bad idea for me to touch on a time travel series so soon after Steins;Gate 0, because I am burnt out on them. It doesn’t help that RErideD starts its season by just throwing exposition and information at me from the get go. It doesn’t help that, as Mario said, the birthday that is no doubt supposed to make me care about these characters just fell flat. The most interesting part was the corporate conspiracy aspect for me. Yeah, the hallucinations were curious to say the least, but with nothing to really go off with them they are kinda just… there for me. As far as characters go, I barely remember a single one of them after watching, barring the lead Derrida. They all just feel… bland. Overall it looks like a series that will make it or break it by the 3rd episode once the story gets going in full. If you have an interest in time travel, stick it out. If you’re burned out like me, then it’s probably not worth it.
Potential: 35%
Mario’s review:
RErideD has some neat ideas, but this first episode feels the need to feed us its worldbuilding a bit too much. This first episode clearly serves as a prelude, where we get to know where our main character comes from, its universe and its premise… so far, it’s a hot mess. We learn a bit too much, although it raises more question than clarity. We know about its descend to hell near-future when the robots basically overloaded and take over the world. We know about the project being Derrida and his father’s brainchild, then we learn about another project of leaping time and then characters that would be important later on (in a birthday party that feels superficial at best), and I haven’t gotten to the main catalyst of the episode. It doesn’t help that Derrida’s motivation and personality are an open book, which makes him feel more like a first-person device than a real character. Being said that I’m sure interested to see what the hell this world is now, and the current characters and how they fit in to all this. Also, when it hits it can produce some inspiring moment (I’m referring to the hallucination image, which might or might not be real). The story really starts in the second episode, so until then we will have a better idea how well this story is going to pan out.
Potential: 50%
Akanesasu Shoujo
Short Synopsis: A ritual-obsessed girl travels to another world and meets her warrior doppelganger.
Lenlo’s Review:
Everything about Akanesasu leads me to believe that, had it gone the horror route, it could have done quite well. It opened with some interesting, possibly sinister, tones. The lighting did wonders setting a mood. And then it went full mecha-magical-girl on me and I lost what little interest I had. I will say, the CGI is pretty good and it’s nowhere near the worst premise for this kind of show I have seen. Really Akanesasu’s biggest fault is that it’s just not my cup of tea. For those that enjoy some “sit back and relax, no moralizing fun” I think Akanesasu will fit in fine for them. So long as the monster of the week stays interesting it shouldn’t have a problem.
Potential: 40%
Wooper’s review:
There’s a point in this premiere where a supporting character complains, “If they’re just going to play boring old music, they might as well play nothing at all.” In addition to being a terrible perspective on art, this seems to be the general philosophy of Akanesasu Shoujo – if it’s not modern, the show wants nothing to do with it. That means we need a group of five girls with different hair colors and personality traits, another world for them to visit, and a soundtrack that never strays too far from Yuuki Hayashi’s work on My Hero Academia (apart from one piano/synth track early on which I swear was inspired by the Gen IV Pokemon games). The girls are mostly forgettable, so I started mentally referring to them as though they were dwarves: Quirky, Quiet, Brainy, Proper, and Trendy. The dwarves travel to the land of CG snakes and meet the main character’s doppelganger, who somehow accompanies them back to Earth. What happens afterwards was the only part of the show to interest me, as Quirky I offers Quirky II a place to crash for a short time, and their distinct personalities begin to inform you about the differences in their worlds. In the era of 12 episode series orders, though, the show won’t have the luxury of peeling back any layers, and Q II returns to the land of perpetual twilight by the end of the premiere anyway, so if you plan on picking this up, expect an info dump sooner rather than later.
Potential: 30%
