Shiroi Suna no Aquatope
Short Synopsis: A failed idol and an overworked highschooler collide in a quiet, mystical…aquarium?
Mario: Ahh P.A. Works, how conflicted my love for you. Watching Aquatope, I have two conflicting trains of thoughts toward it: as the quality of the episode itself, and as an input towards the studio’s canon. As far as the former goes, they deliver an overall excellent episode. There’s an air of melancholy from the way the main character navigates this new world, or to be more exact, runs away from her own that I found believable, and the two main girls’ interaction so far sparkles with great chemistry. On top of that, it’s these side characters (don’t know if they reappear) that the main girl interacts with steal the scene they are in – special shoutout to the cheeky fortune teller. On the flip side, however, Aquatope has the same “feel” as P.A. Works other works, and the fact that most of their works start out strong, then crumble in the last half (last year’s Kamisama, the director’s last effort’s Irozuku just to name a few) doesn’t bring me much confidence in this. I’m afraid this is gonna be another case where there’s little plot to move forward, so the characters retreat to the variations of the same themes. Time will tell on that front, but my point remains that I keep my expectation reasonably medium so that it won’t let me down, hard, like their previous efforts.
Potential: 60%
Amun: I like most P.A. Works projects – well, more accurately, most of each P.A. Works project – and Aquatope is a welcome sight for sore isekai eyes this season. This episode looked great – wonderful settings, great atmosphere, just a wholly enticing package. I would be incredibly hopeful….except we just had Kamisama ni Natta Hi start exactly like this. However, I’m seeing parallels to the more successful projects with the characters here – so far, it’s a pretty tight crew. That’s good. There’s also some mystical nonsense taking place – that’s bad. Director Shinohara worked a good amount on Hanasaku Iroha, and I feel a very similar vibe from this opening, so there’s some real potential here. Plus I’m enough Japanese to feel spiritually connected to fish and the ocean, so I’m really this show’s to lose here. Come on Aquatope, you can do it!
Potential: 75%
Tsuki ga Michibiku Isekai Douchuu
Short Synopsis: Highschooler gets reincarnated into another world in Isekai’s latest shallow attempt at humorous meta-commentary on the genre.
Lenlo: Let’s be honest: This is just a crappy Konosuba/Cautious Hero/”Insert Isekai Deconstruction here”. Like these other shows Tsuki wants us to believe it’s different. That it’s aware of the tropes, that we are all in on the joke and that by acknowledging that fact we can all laugh at the meta-humor that is Tsuki’s main shtick. But like the rest of these Isekai Tsuki fails to realize that acknowledging the tropes and the jokes is not the same as deconstructing them. There are still levels, the MC is still powerful, there’s still a harem/waifu’s, etc etc. Tsuki falls into all the same traps on purpose but fails to do anything remotely interesting with them. Instead it approaches all of them with an on the nose and obvious sense of humor. And if you ask me? The humor sucks. There is nothing in Tsuki that you haven’t seen done better before. I don’t even like the other shows I listed here but at least they had the novelty of trying to do it first.
Potential: Watch anything else instead.
Mario: There are two contraction ideas that run through Tsuki isekai’s first episode that kind of negate each other’s power: that the show is meant to be a parody of the genre so it has the main boy character who can predict what will happen to him (mostly off the mark though), but at the same time, it sticks by the rules conveniently (as much as he proclaims otherwise, he’s still OPed as heck). The fact that despite all these it remains funny kind of speaks to its strengths. The satire humor is present there, where our man serves as a straight man that serves as good foil against his mean Goddess, the Dragon and the situation he ends up with. Should he remain helpless and have no clue how the new world works, it would bring something more interesting to the table. The ability he acquired – that he can speak other races’ languages – is interesting but yet to reach full potential. It’s a better isekai (which admittedly a low bar to begin with), and potentially a better show out of this underwhelmed season.
Potential: 30%
Meikyuu Black Company
Short Synopsis: Financial-bro gets reincarnated and has to do manual labor.
Amun: So this is a strange trend I’ve noticed gaining some traction: anti-heroes. Not like “shades of grey” – no, these are just terrible human beings who we have to follow around for a story. Sometimes, it’s funny. Last season was Sentouin, Hakenshimasu! which had a few bright spots. No such luck with Meikyuu Black Company – this is a drab 20 minutes. Animators’ wrists were worn for the creation of this. Can you believe that? They could have done another season of Heaven’s Memo Pad (never going to give that up), but nope – we get this instead.
Potential: Please make it stop.
Armitage: Okay, yeah. This is bad. This is Isekai satire done so black that its stains never wash off. Or at least I think it’s a satire? Though I might very well be giving the show too much credit because on face value, this is a story focusing on a downright hateable character. The protagonist, a self-made, high-functioning, multi-billionaire NEET feels like he’s always looking down on everyone including the audience. Instead of trying to make him stand out as much as possible the show goes so over the top with his mannerisms and monologues that it makes you want to quit watching this premiere after 5 minutes of maniacal screaming. But I am a professional who does her job judiciously, so I stuck with it to the bitter end. See, lovely reader? This is the kind of thing we put ourselves through so you don’t have to.
Potential: Advil needed.
Thank you both.
You’re welcome! ^.^