Kemono Jihen
Short Synopsis: A spirit detective travels to a quiet country town and meets an immortal half-ghoul child.
Wooper: This was better than I thought it would be. Kemono Jihen’s first episode was a pretty straightforward adaptation of the manga’s prologue, but it did manage to elevate itself in a couple ways, the most obvious of which was the music. I liked SK8’s melodic pop punk tunes quite a bit, but this show one-upped it with ease, drawing on chimes and woodwinds to create a traditional soundbed that matched its country setting beautifully. This is a modern production, so synths and strings came crashing in at the usual points, but the more subdued or playful moments were highlights for sure. The solidity of the character art was quite pleasing, as well, though there was a lack of harmony between people and backgrounds during some wide shots. The narrative setup itself is nothing impressive, and the twist at the end doesn’t carry nearly the impact that the author likely intended, but some good voice performances and a blessedly quiet shounen protagonist have me interested in the series’ future.
Potential: 60%
Mario: There’s something about Kemono Jihen that I’m not sold on yet. Maybe it’s because I am never too hot on shows based on supernatural procedures. Or it could be because I still find the relationship between Inugami and Dorotabo to be weak despite how this premiere tries hard to build up their relationship. Or maybe the characters’ dead eyes just bug me. In any case, the show doesn’t grab me the way it should. All that negative assessment doesn’t disregard many elements that Kemono Jihen did excel at: the production is strong, the show’s themes are intriguing and the twist in this episode mostly works. This is just a prologue for the main story, so the true test will be in the next few episodes. Let’s see if it manages to win me over by then.
Potential: 30%
Idoly Pride
Short Synopsis: A manager at an idol production agency flashes back to his first job.
Mario: Guess what? Another idol show that doesn’t suck. It really says something when the first episode of an idol show doesn’t feature many actual performances (for better and for worse). The bad thing about it is that it’s undeniably cutting corners. As smart as that method is I’m still afraid about its production values, and the ED further confirms my worries with the glaring CG model dance. On the bright side though, it means that its focus isn’t just on the idol industry – they delve more into character development and motivation, which for me is a plus, as by the end I did care about the MC. If Idoly Pride carries the same level of details to its 10 (!) idol characters then we have ourselves a winning show here. For now I remain optimistic.
Potential: 40%
Wooper: During first impressions season, I tend to watch anime with my fingers on my laptop’s pause and screenshot keys. It’s become something of a reflex to capture images I like from new premieres, which is why I was surprised to find I’d taken zero shots of Idoly Pride by the end. Then I thought back on what I’d just watched, and my surprise evaporated. This is a drab-looking show with discount Bunny Girl designs, still montages in place of dance routines, and the same closeup of the main dude’s face repeated around ten times in the span of twenty minutes. The main type of scene between him and Idol Girl involved him being a stodgy realist, then getting taken aback by something cute or inspiring that she did or said as the camera held on his confusion. I know that anime regularly leans on that trope, but Idoly Pride used it with alarming frequency, as though the protagonist’s brain were running a program that couldn’t decode cuteness or inspiration. At least it had a story, though, instead of running wild with all the idols that appeared in the first minute. That has to be worth something… right?
Potential: You tried
Mushoku Tensei: Isekai Ittara Honki Dasu
Short Synopsis: A pervert loser dies and is reborn as a…pervert magical baby.
Amun: Ah…everyone okay over there, Mr. Anime industry? Just wanting to check in and make sure. Is there some childhood trauma that you guys need to talk about? Something you need to get off your chest? I’m here for you guys, and I’m just getting a bit worried – imouto infatuation is weird, but we’re starting to branch out to parents now. This has been the kink of a few TV anime, and I’m sure some “niche” ones as well. We’ve got a hentai hikikomori who has full consciousness as a baby and is ogling his mom…Sorry, I’m just going to be stuck on that. That’s a bit far for me. The show’s characters are definitely made with love, and the plot is perfectly generic, so that’s as advertised – I’m just a bit concerned about the childhood trauma of this author and his particular tastes. So the short and long of it – a cookie cutter, decently animated isekai with a mother complex.
Potential: 10%
Mario: There was a thought that was constantly on my mind while I was watching this episode: “why wasted so much effort for this?” Mushoku Tensei’s visuals are better than at least half of the shows I’ve sampled so far this season, and it all amounts to nothing with a generic story like this. The MC’s death in “real life” couldn’t be more stale, the world-building is overly familiar and the ecchi (to put it very mildly) couldn’t be more creepy. But what is worst for me is the “life lesson” the protagonist comes to learn after all this: he appreciates life and gives it another chance. WHAT? By escaping his very real life and living in this wish-fulfillment fantasy? That message is pretty problematic, doesn’t matter how I slice it up. Plus he gains OP power within the first episode, so what more is there for him to gain except for a harem of girls and recognition that he would never have in his previous real life? It’s just sad, really.
Potential: 0%
On Mushoku Tensei, I am skeptical of the quality of this show given that Rudeus used an eroge pick-up line in an attempt to cheer Roxy up coupled with an awkward grin and that it actually worked. This is not my idea of quality writing because such a thing would be cringeworthy in real life.
I actually posted this exact post at Random Curiosity, and a source reader informed me that in the novels, Rudeus also mentioned before acting on the matter that it was silly to try to cheer somebody up with eroge lines, but since he doesn’t really interact with people, he has no idea what else to say. So basically, Studio Bind for its anime adaptation presented that scene as if using eroge lines to cheer someone up is unironically effective instead of being something nobody would ever seriously attempt. The studio essentially made the scene worse than what the novels had intended even though there were plenty of other scenes that the studio could have slimmed down the runtime of to make room for Rudeus’s acknowledgement that it was a silly thing to do.
Even though on most anime sites, Mushoku Tensei has become instantly loved, I believe the quality of the show is seriously lacking. I guess the anime fandom is really that degenerate and don’t mind Rudeus saying he enjoys sucking on his mom’s breasts.
Man, the amount of fanservice and wish-fulfillment apologia has really reached a boiling point for me this season. Hidden Dungeon, Mushoku Tensei, and Redo of Healer all have all kinds of people coming out of the woodwork to defend them. I’m tired of anime alienating female fans by insisting on including this kind of fanservice. It’s pandering, and in the case of Redo of Healer, it’s blatantly misogynistic as well. It’s depressing that people are willing to accept this as the status quo.
If you view Mushoku Tensei as a satire it’s pretty damn entertaining (and it helps that the main characters voice actor also voiced Gintoki from Gintama, which parodies everything pretty much), in a “so bad it’s good” sort of way. But of course in no way is it intended as a satire and the strangest thing is why so much talent is being used for this of all things.
Mushoku Tensei is supposedly one of the “greats” of isekai that helped kick off the recent isekai boom and (for better or worse) inspired many of its tropes. So that’s probably why the production values are so high despite its seemingly very generic premise and unlikable MC: it’s a very popular, and historically significant, series. And it’s also known for its relatively competent execution of the isekai tropes: the MC grows as a person throughout the series (which is admittedly not that difficult given the depths of his starting point, but still) and the world building is supposed to be better than average too.
In any case, I’ll probably give it a few more episodes to see if it really does have more to offer, beyond its historical importance to a flawed genre. If you’re not at least a little bit fond of the genre (if only as decent junk food), dropping it is probably the right decision, though.
(By the way, I personally thought the show’s sexualization of Roxy – who seems to be in her early teens, when the MC is, mentally, in his thirties – was far more problematic than the MC getting aroused by his mother. I mean, sure, he’s a pervert, but if you had to suck on your isekai mother’s breasts with the mind of an adult, when she’s basically a stranger to you and is around the age you were before you reincarnated … it might not be that strange to feel a bit aroused? At least, having the hots for a little girl is far worse in my eyes.)
That’s one of the greats?! I wondered why such a crap story had quality animation and characters, but wow.
And I guess this isn’t even the most collar-tugging isekai of the season (Healer is apparently yikes).
Yeah, it might have been more original back when the story first came out, but in our isekai-saturated times it feels very bland. I’m still holding out hope it’ll get better for now, though: as I said, I’ve heard some good things about the series, and its score on MAL (8.53) is quite promising too. I guess we’ll see.
Yeeeeeah, I’m not going anywhere NEAR Mushoku Tensei. No way. That MC is just…awful. His actions and dialogue make him come across as a potential pedo/sex criminal or some shit! He’s a friggin scumbag waste of a human being and the show seems to be glamorizing creepy behavior. NOPE!
No, it’s fine because he’s a kid and apparently kids in anime have complete immunity to do all sorts of wild things to adults xD
But seriously, yeah. This is advanced cringe for me.
Mushoku Tensei is one of those stories that the fans of it will swear that it gets better, and I wouldn’t doubt that it does, but I doubt it ever gets good enough that I would want to keep reading/watching.
I can’t remember if I dropped it after the first volume or second volume of the novel, but it was really bad and one particular detail that made me stop was that at one point it glossed over/whitewashed a rape scene, and since I’ve never seen anyone ever mention that scene adressed I’ve never had a wish to keep reading.
That scene was part of the backstory for the parents though so not sure if it will be included for the anime.
Having read a few volumes of Mushoku Tensei a while back, all I can say is… it gets worse. Reading it as a woman, I found it utterly despicable. Anyone that says it gets better are probably either lying through their teeth or utterly deluded.