Spring 2021 First Impressions: Shakunetsu Kabaddi, Mashiro no Oto, Vivy: Fluorite Eye’s Song

Shakunetsu Kabaddi

Short Synopsis: Guy gives up on his dream to be a Livestreamer to find joy in touching other guys instead.

Armitage: How about that! I was not expecting this to be anywhere near as good as it was. I’m still left here grinning even after finishing the premiere a while ago. Most of you might not be aware of the existence of this sport called Kabaddi but over here, we all basically invented it. Like literally, look it up, we did. While I have never played it myself (for some reason, most other girls my age were not thrilled by the idea of being grabbed and pulled to the ground. A shame, indeed), I did see the boys at my school play it during recess. And though it was and never has been the most aesthetically pleasing of sports, you gotta admit that there is a great deal of skill required to excel at it. And Burning Kabaddi manages to bring that out so charmingly well. Obviously, this is still a traditional sports anime where a group of guys are gonna learn the value of friendship through team sports but what could have been a sub-standard premiere bogged down by the evidently minimal budget and genre trappings is turned into a fun, light-hearted romp mainly because of a very lovable protagonist in Yoigoshi. The banter between him and the other members of the club forms the heart of the premiere and yes, even with the Kaiji narrator voice yelling StRuGgLe every 2 mins, I just couldn’t help but be on board with what’s on offer here. This one’s a keeper for me.

Potential: 75%

Mario: Like most anime fans, my experience with the rules of Kabaddi games comes purely from a Chio-chan segment, but this premiere did a decent job of introducing the game, with fun, albeit stock characters to boot. So the subject is fun to explore, but judging the show purely from a sports show’s lens it’s as typical as you can get. The main kid gets introduced and then “forced” to join the club, which I didn’t take very well. Everything else is fun (and educational) so I will spend at least another episode to see if I’m up for some kabaddi in my life.

Potential: 30%

Mashiro no Oto

Short Synopsis: A shamisen prodigy moves to Tokyo and gets involved with a cast of eccentric characters [or, Your Lie in December].

Wooper: This premiere isn’t a good litmus test for the series as a whole. Mashiro no Oto is an extracurricular club show, but this prologue never set foot in high school, or any school for that matter. Instead, it followed a wandering teenage dropout through Tokyo as he became embroiled in a bunch of other people’s lives – people who may not reappear on screen for quite a while. There’s a good one-cour anime to be made about that premise alone, but since Mashiro no Oto has to jam so many betrayals and romantic developments into a scant 20 minutes, its first episode left me feeling underwhelmed. The main character involves himself in other peoples’ affairs too easily (despite his otherwise reserved personality), and the background of the cabaret girl who houses him is disappointingly derivative (aspiring actress with a heart of gold). The contrast between them is interesting: he has incredible talent but no drive, while she fails countless auditions but stays motivated, at least at first. If the show had taken things more slowly, their stories could have run in parallel for quite a while, and something intriguing may have come of it. I’ve got no interest in heading back to high school, though, so one hyper-condensed episode is enough for me.

Potential: 30%

Armitage: Man, that is a whole lot of subplots. We have Arima Kousei ver. 2021 grieving over the death of his grandpa, Emma Stone from La La Land, a womanizing guitar player. I mean, slow down show, you’re just getting sta— anddd we’ve got a SWAT team. Brilliant.

Still, even with its million miles a minute approach to storytelling, I actually quite like Mashiro no Oto. And a lot of the goodwill it gets from me is owed to the way it sounds. The soundtrack in itself is fine but all the performance pieces featuring the Shamisen are simply incredible. Maybe a lot of it is due to the fact that I am unfamiliar with the instrument but the show does make its beauty carry through. So, props for that. Secondly, the voice acting. Arima #2 comes from a rural town and the way it shows through in his mannerisms and the influence of the dialect in his voice was a really nice touch which reminded me a lot of Barakamon. Another plus. Lastly, the direction in which the show is headed seems to involve the guitarist boyfriend playing a central role. And while I personally despise infidelity more than anything, I would be interested to see if the show is able to make me care for someone clearly painted in a negative image from the start. So, yeah, I’m intrigued enough to keep watching. But seriously show, slow the hell down!

Potential: 60%

Vivy: Fluorite Eye’s Song

Short Synopsis: An AI aspiring to be an idol thinks it’s a good idea to trust a talking teddy bear who says he’s from the future.

Mario: If the personnel involved hasn’t suggested this to you already, Vivy is certainly one of the most ambitious anime of the season so far. From Re:Zero author Tappei Nagatsuki and collaborator Eiji Umehara, the double-length premiere establishes a strong hook with urgency and a morally grey premise of an android that has to destroy her kind to save humanity. Diva appears a bit of a wet blanket at first as the robotic version of Violet Evergarden, but by the second half she’s sufficient enough to carry the story. It’s the dynamic between her and the “Bear” that proves to be the most interesting aspect as we can see the difference in how they approach their “missions”, and the tension between them because they have different sets of values in mind. While the world-building suggests many potential plot threads, the main quest is so far strong and inviting, and the production is gorgeous with rich animation. Vivy has a lot of potential to become a breakout hit this season.

Potential: 50%

Armitage: Robot good, Hooman bad? Well, that seems like a disingenuous reduction of the message Vivy seems to be going for but we’ve just had far too many iterations of stories which handle this theme. Though, thankfully, Vivy does manage to stand out and then some. A lot of it boils down to Studio Wit’s stellar production in creating a world that feels like a cross between Guilty Crown and Psycho Pass. The one thing that especially stood out to me is the contrast in movement and how slightly robotic the motion of all the AIs (even the futuristic ones) feels as compared to all the humans. A small touch but impressive nonetheless.

Coming to the story, our lead AI, Vivy, has been chosen by a “Professor” from the future and tasked to kill all of her kind to save the lives of all of his kind. But the catch here is that she has a messenger from the future who’s to accompany her along this noble journey of mass genocide. But what this teddy bear shaped messenger also serves as is the world’s most sadistic history book where the recorded past hasn’t happened yet, and some of it cannot be changed no matter how painful it may be. Therein lies the story’s main hook and frankly, it’s a damn good one. My only gripe so far is that the writing feels a bit too expository but granted that it’s Re:Zero’s writer at the helm, you just gotta make your peace with it. All in all, after the end of the second episode, I like Vivy way more than I did after the first. And if the show manages to keep up with the trend, we might be in for one hell of a ride.

Potential: 80%