Kami Kuzu Idol
Short Synopsis: A money-grubbing idol allows himself to be possessed by the spirit of a former starlet.
Wooper: Fifteen seconds into the summer 2022 season and I was already bracing for the worst, as Kami Kuzu’s narrator spoke about idols shining on stage and bringing joy to their fans. Turns out it’s not as bad as all that, since there’s a humorous angle to the show – main character Niyodo hates his occupation and is only able to avoid being fired by giving control of his body to the ghost of a former idol. The ensuing CG musical number was inoffensive enough, and the promise of spirit possession-related hijinks isn’t a bad comedic hook, but I do wonder how many episodes this premise is truly worth. You’ve got to assume that the lazy protagonist will slowly be won over by the enthusiasm of his ghostly benefactor, and that in the end, he’ll drink the idol Kool-Aid to create the illusion of a completed character arc. Will the series be able to justify nearly a dozen more episodes before that point? Probably not, but there is one thing about it that gives me hope: the trio of fangirls who obsess over Niyodo both before and after his supernatural personality change. The post-credits scene of them chatting about their favorite entertainer reminded me of Oshi ga Budokan, a fandom-oriented idol show that pleasantly surprised me a couple years back. Kami Kuzu isn’t on its level, visually speaking, but it shares a little bit of its DNA – maybe it’ll muster a handful of decent episodes before its inevitable compromise.
Potential: 20%
Mario: “This is not a mere idol show, it’s a romance show with an idol setting” was initially my thought until it goes full-blown with the musical performance and ends the episode with the comedy bit about 3 fangirls fangirling about his sudden personality change. The very fact that it mixes with other genres make this show fresh and charming at places. Add to that, we have the main character Niyodo who is unlike any idol protagonist we’ve seen before (he hates idols) and that can be an instrument to the show’s humor. On the other hand, I’m a bit nervous that the show’s premise could wear thin afterwards. The production looks shaky for an idol show, with the musical number being absolutely forgettable. Ultimately, Kami Kuzu Idol is uneven across all tables, but it’s the messiness that makes it different from your typical idol fare. Give it a try at least!
Potential: 30%
Engage Kiss
Short Synopsis: Anime original anime borrows ideas from other successful franchises and is bad – also has a high school not-vampire waifu.
Amun: I’m actually a bit angry at this premiere. There are talented animators who worked hard to make this 20 minutes of good looking garbage. Everything about this show is a pale imitation of something better. This is a trashy vampire storyline without the blood sucking. The weird love triangle is Darling in the Franxx, just with financial irresponsibility instead of ED (and no mechs). The fight scenes are good – maybe not great, but I’d say good. For example, the back-to-back ex-gf/jailbait fight was nicely done and had proper tension. There were definite momentary shots that looked good in a vacuum (mostly involving flying poker chips). The final scenes with falling glass really reminded me of Guilty Crown’s first episode – just not quite as good looking. It would be all fine – except whoever wrote this was thinking with the wrong head. And didn’t even do a good job at it. Wait, I looked this up….this is an anime original. A-1, why do this?! There are so many better light novels or manga or napkin ideas to be adapted! Final verdict – too many good resources of animation were spent on this crap writing.
Potential: 1%
Lenlo: Engage Kiss is… Run of the mill. Demons/Monsters/Whatever in the modern day in a made up city? Check. Kirito look-a-like? Check. Looking like every other show A-1 Pictures has made in the last few years? Check. Though maybe that one is a bit unfair, there were some nice first person PoV shots in there. About the only thing I’m interested in is this PMC setup and how the MC is actively seeking out the conflict, possibly getting in trouble with the politics of the city. I think it could do some interesting stuff with that kind of setup. I just wish that for once we could get this kind of show without this weird needy/creepy relationship with whatever waifu-of-the-season bait the show could come up with. It’s just so… forced in. There’s no actual chemistry there, and it’s like the premise of the show exists just for love triangle three way, a graphic kissy-face scene and gratuitous ass shots. Like yeah, it was a well animated kissy-face, tongue and all. But at that point just make the high-budget hentai we all know you want to make and don’t try and bait me some action.
Potential: 10.1%
Shoot! Goal to the Future
Short Synopsis: A boy with a traumatic past refuses to play soccer anymore.
Mario: Yes, you don’t really need any knowledge of the original Shoot to follow this sequel, the same way Mix: Meisei Story works without knowledge of Touch. But the new Shoot series is one of those shows that I’m more than happy to cross off the watchlist. First, it’s really weird to start off with these POV shooting scenes as it doesn’t mesh with the rest of the show. The characters are downright unlikable (almost all of them) as the show tries to push for melodrama. While melodrama has always been in Shoot’s DNA (the original show has a player who passed away after a match. It’s hinted right there in this episode), you can see all the tricks for full-blown impact here: MC with traumatic past, shouting in frustration, freeze shots for all its conflicts. Its sense of self-importance threatens to suffocate the characters, and us viewers. The plot leaves no room for subtlety at all, given how the source of MC’s trauma appears right at the end of this first episode. While I’m glad the franchise is back, I have zero interest in following it any further.
Potential: 0%
Wooper: I’ve seen a few episodes of Aoki Densetsu Shoot (the prequel to Goal to the Future) and it didn’t appeal to me very much, so it’s not a big surprise that its next-gen spinoff failed to capture me. What did surprise me, though, was the edginess of this premiere. One of its first scenes sees the main character monologuing about the uselessness of his high school’s soccer team and smirking at their defeat. He and the team’s captain get into multiple shouting matches throughout the episode, with a couple moments getting so overdramatic that I imagined both boys with Super Saiyan hair. They attempt to settle their differences with a PK shootout, but that only serves to enrage the loser, then a potential coach (an aged-up character from the original series) calls the team “terrible” and threatens to turn down the job if they don’t live up to his expectations. I can understand the decision to create animosity within the cast, but taking it to this extent results in skepticism rather than audience investment. On the plus side, this episode boasts one wonderfully animated scene – a flashback to the old member weaving through defenders as a teenager. My advice is to watch that moment in isolation (it starts at 17:33 and lasts about ten seconds), then put this show out of your mind forever.
Potential: 5%
If there’s one word I can use to describe Engage Kiss, it’s “content”. There’s no love, no engagement, no proper storytelling structure or shape, and no soul to be had here, just the demand to keep coming back weekly to consume the next piece of “content” that features the bare minimum of what people expect to keep them satiated. And when that’s done, you move on to the next piece of “content” because it left absolutely no impact in the memory, either through another series the following season, or the next piece of media from this would-be franchise.
I’m not falling for this, like I unfortunately had with Takt op last year.