TOO CUTE CRISIS
Short Synopsis: Upon visiting Earth, an alien inspector is stunned to discover how cute cats and dogs can be.
Wooper: Kawaisugi Crisis is just about the simplest anime I’ve ever seen. The first minute or two, which showcased its conceit of an alien who must decide whether to vaporize all life on Earth, tricked me into thinking that the show would make use of that idea going forward. Instead, the alien (Liza) visits a cat cafe and becomes so enthralled with the kitties that the chance of anything getting atomized is reduced to zero – she may as well be an interstellar tourist for all the relevance her background has to the story. Sorry, did I say story? What I meant was “pattern of cute animals prompting exaggerated displays of emotion,” which is all that this episode boiled down to. Future installments will introduce new animals, and more of Liza’s shipmates will likely get beamed down to Earth to experience the cuteness for themselves, but this show isn’t built for anything beyond that. The ED even throws in the towel and features a slideshow of real life animals, just to be as transparent as possible. This should have been a series of five minute shorts, not a full length anime.
Potential: 5%
Lenlo: Ok so this show is just… An alien discovers cats? Is that the level we’ve stooped to? Just throwing cute girls in shows about cats? Except the girl isn’t even cute because the show doesn’t have the production ability to draw anything cute at all, despite it being in the show’s very name? Yeah no thanks. We’ve reached the point in impressions where I’m tired and have nothing funny to write. The show doesn’t deserve to be a show, like Wooper says.
Potential: 0%
The Legendary Hero is Dead!
Short Synopsis: Idiot farmer tries to lure a monster to a spike fall and instead kills the hero.
Amun: Hmmmm. This is a tricky one for me. The humor didn’t land at all for me (Is anyone else randomly reminded of Blood Lad for some reason?). The characters, especially the main girl, are not great. But I think this premise has a ton of potential, and I tend to like this general story style. It’s just…the radish fetish is where I start to check out. I guess it comes down to animation, and I really don’t think there’s enough horsepower there to make this worth watching. Pity, I was hopeful for this too.
Potential: 10%
Lenlo: Ok I’ll give Hero is Dead one thing, it has an absolutely fire OP. That, plus the premise of the great hero being dead, had my interest for a bit. Then the OP went into a montage about putting thigh-highs on girls and had the MC practice on a radish. Imagine with me, for a moment, an Isekai that attempted an actually serious story without any of these ecchi jokes and perverted characters. One that killed off the Hero and then forced some random shmuck to do the job instead, all the while carrying said hero’s corpse along for the ride. There could be some good stuff! Some good crisis of identity and shit! Instead I get thigh jokes, scantily clad women and a harem but 12 minutes in. Maybe… Maybe I don’t actually like anime anymore.
Potential: 0%
MASHLE: MAGIC AND MUSCLES
Short Synopsis: It’s LITERALLY One Punch Man x Harry Potter.
Lenlo: Welcome to Mashle everyone, a Harry Potter x One Punch Man fanfic. What does that mean? It’s a comedy about an overpowered muscle bro in a school of wizards. Is it funny? Sometimes. Some of its jokes are actually pretty good! Stuff like Mash fixing coins with his hands, or the reactions of animals are kind of amusing. And these stick around for a while until Mashle gets a bit too serious. Other jokes though… Stuff like Mash being to stupid to remember which way to open a door, or his obsession with cream puffs… These are the lowest common denominator jokes that just don’t work. And it’s those, combined with the mediocre dramatized story that eventually comes, where Mashle falls short. Oh and I guess the production is fine too. Nothing terribly impressive, but it’s certainly not a detriment to the show either.
Potential: 20%
Amun: Lenlo’s being a little harsh here – I had a pretty good time. Alright, forgetting how the door on your house works is pretty dumb (“haha, musclehead dumb, amirite”). That’s pretty lazy writing, but the rest of the episode was decent. I don’t think we’ve seen the real meat of the show yet, but I think there are good pieces to work with here! Animation was good, the doting father was fine, and the main stage was set. Basically, Mashle boils down to “can a genius in an underestimated area overcome the world’s common sense?” That’s a good premise, and door jokes aside, I think Mashle did a good enough job showing the potential for me to watch some more.
Potential: 50%
