Rokuhoudou Yotsuiro Biyori
Short Synopsis: An office worker finds a cafe full of hot guys
Aidan’s review
Oh sure. There is definitely a cafe in the middle of a Japanese city with a prefect scenic view, a staff full of hot guys who are passionate about their work despite being paid diddly squat, the sells five star food and to top it off is mostly quiet and deserted. Certainly this cafe isn’t the product of pure wish fulfillment and pandering to a female audience. Alright the obvious lengths this show goes to ignore that it’s premise is utterly unrealistic aside this is a decently watchable show. Considering I generally tap out on these kinds of shows due to having no interest whatsoever, I at least found I was able to watch it and not be too bored. But honestly how the hell was that guy able to randomly pick up some kid to help out a woman? Attempt that in real life regardless of your looks and I am certain first response would involve the police. The story is nothing new seeing as it has no real story and is just about people coming to this cafe to chill out. I say for those who take a liking to these kinds of shows this could be something worthwhile but otherwise I say this isn’t really worth your time.
Potential: 10%
Mario’s review
Shows about hot boys are my eternal nemesis, plus the fact that Rokuhoudou sets in a cafe that provides good food and give people good time and I’m certain stepping in that it isn’t the show for me. It’s a healing show and not a terrible one all things considered, but one where I personally can’t connect to on an personal level. The four guys are all archetypal characters and they’re just way too perfect in the way that make them unreal. The shop has a nice kind of atmosphere, but again, when the food, the coffee, the sweet and the service are all top-notch, it’s hard to take it at face value. For those who – similar to the appeal of this titular cafe – prefer a relaxing and comforting time, this might be a good breather. Strangely enough, healing anime is one of my favorite genre, but this type of healing doesn’t attract me at all. Not one bit.
Potential: 0% or Not one bit
Shiyan Pin Jiating
Short Synopsis: A dysfunctional family of mutants goes out for a meal.
Wooper’s review
A lot of modern anime cut corners by using CG animation for complex objects or heavy scenes. Shiyan Pin Jiating takes a more honest route – it cuts corners by including fewer frames than any other spring series. Part of that is its shorter runtime, but based on what I saw in those 15 minutes, full-length episodes wouldn’t prevent it from looking cheap. Even the simplest actions, like a sigh or the wave of a hand, are jerky and unnatural. There’s a fair bit of hitching during dialogue-heavy scenes, as well, where characters take pauses that don’t fit the conversation. A premiere this technically deficient needs to excel elsewhere to make up for its shortcomings, and while I wouldn’t say this show really excels in any department, it has one redeeming quality: its character designs. This is a show about siblings who functioned as their parents’ science experiments, so the way their quirks are physically portrayed is important, and this episode delivered with a nice blend of cute and strange designs. The half-dog older brother best exemplifies what I’m talking about, but Spider Girl and Ms. Photosynthesis are plenty charming, as well. The family drama in this premiere was boring and badly-acted, so if you’re looking for something meaningful I’d dodge this one, but if you care more about nice-looking characters than anything else, you might dig it.
Potential: 10%
Mario’s review
Shiyan Pin Jiating is another output from our neighbor China, so your first instinct should be approach it with caution. This looks a bit promising than the other Chinese titles, consider that the core members have some sort of characteristics… at least on paper. In practice though, I’m still not convinced about this cast. Each of them has their own unique personality and features, yes, and the core concept about the band of misfits try to live a normal life as a family has some potential, but so far I see little chemistry between them. We follow these siblings’ antics through the eye of the only “normal” character – a la straight man’s trope, and its fault is that it focuses too much on him that the other characters don’t have time to interact with each other. Might be that’s the show’s point, but when it tries for more serious tone, the manner lacks subtlety and fails miserably. The production is lackluster, with some off-model moments despite being shorter than normal-length episode and speaking of that, was that just my screen or they change the aspect ratio towards the end? If so, why? It serves no purpose whatsoever. Still feel a long way until Chinese products can get my seal of approval, it appears.
Potential: 20%
Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online
Short Synopsis: Teams battle with guns in a Sword Art Online game.
Lenlo’s Review:
One might think that, with SAO in its name, SAO Alt would have all the same problems as its prodigal parent. However there is a key difference between SAO and SAO Alt. Namely, the writers. This more than anything else gives me hope for SAO Alt. We replace Jesus-kun with LLENN who treads a fine line between cute and dangerous, who is also the avatar of a soft-spoken housewife and has an actual personality. We replace screaming and meaningless stats with 20 minutes of careful planning and well explained tactics. And most of all, since this isn’t a death game, characters are allowed to fail and lose, because its not permanent. It all comes together to make me, for once excluding the Mothers Rosaria arc, care for SAO. So far, one episode in, SAO Alt is what I wanted the original SAO to be. An anime about gaming, with characters who game and actual rules that need to be followed. The only thing that makes me even a little nervous about it, is the SAO in the name.
Potential: 70%
Mario’s review
I am not much a fan of the original SAO. For me it got dull fast after the first arc, so I came to this Alternative with mild expectation. Turned out I enjoy this Alternative version with gun and shit way better than the original. This episode reminds me the fun of planning out, using all sort of strategies in FPS games, in particular. LLEN is a fun main lead to follow, both because of her remarks and because she walks the fine line between moe girl and badass (something that 3Hz studio is specialize of, previously handled Flip Flappers and Princess Principal). I’m not entirely sold on the dynamic between her and M yet, mostly because all they talk is about strategy, but I expect that there will be more members joining this team and let’s see what is the overarching arc of this series. Maybe this spin-off will focus more on real-life vs game aspect and I’m all on it if that’s the case. Production-wise this one is pretty solid: nice sound editing (the bullets blasting around never sound better) and when it counts, the animation is a delight to watch. I’ll be down to watch few more episodes of this, mostly because I can’t get enough of LLEN cutey pink outfit in a freaking battlefield.
Potential: 50%
I’m gonna give a chance to the Chimera Family, though it has pacing problems.
I’m tolerant since transformation stories is what I like, but, it was an odd first episode. The relatives are grouped aside from the protagonist, and I hope we get an episode for each one, since the sister with flowers and the mind reading one, had very weak introductions, which is why in the demi and monster musume shows each character is introduced individually. The cut to the news was odd, mentioning a great animator and the cutting to what’s apparently the lab incident. Also the restaurant scene with the water could have been cut. Still I like the notion of this story wanting to tell the relationships of brothers and sisters who happened to lost their parents. Several anime take this into a harem quasi incentuous route, so it’s nice there are not only sisters. All in all I have my expectations on check since chinese anime are like foreign movies, they’re not measuring to the same standards as the most commercial studios.