The Unwanted Undead Adventurer
Short Synopsis: A lowly bronze-ranked adventurer travels off the beaten path, gets killed by a dragon, and comes back as a Skeleton. Is this the beginning of his journey to greatness?!
Oops, missed this one when it aired. Unwanted Undead was… Fine? I was sort of hopeful at the start, the idea of an adventurer turned undead, the world passing them by as they decomposed, forced by their status as a monster to clash with those they once called friends, it seemed like a decent enough idea. But then Unwanted Undead sort of just… sidestepped that? Turns out he became a skeleton in only like… 24 hours? And if he kills enough stuff he can level up into greater undead, eventually gaining the ability to speak and act human, etc etc. It feels like the series is taking everything interesting, everything creative about its premise, and slowly but surely writing it off until the series becomes a rather basic OP MC fantasy series. I’m going to give it another episode or so to see if it does anything with it, but I’m not particularly hopeful right now.
Potential: 30%
Kyuujitsu no Warumono-san
Short Synopsis: Event Super Sentai villains need a day off, this one just so happens to enjoy looking at Pandas.
Do you remember that one anime from a few seasons ago about a Super Sentai ranger falling in love with a monster on the opposite side? Well imagine that, take away the romance, and swap the leading role to the villain and you have Kyuujitsu. The entire thing is wholesome interactions built on an intrinsically unwholesome/evil character. And you know what? It’s… Fine? It’s basically the same sort of genre as that Princess torture show I mentioned in the last first impression. The kind where you’re supposed to sit back, chuckle at the absurdity of the situation, and sort of just chill out while absolutely nothing stressful happens on screen. If that’s what you want I think Kyuujitsu fits the bill. Personally it’s not my thing, and even if it was the torture princess show is just better in every way I feel. Maybe pick this up if you want a male lead instead of a female one I suppose.
Potential: 10%
7th Time Loop: The Villainess Enjoys a Carefree Life Married to Her Worst Enemy!
Short Synopsis: When an engagement is broken off a princess must find her own way in life, over and over and over again as she resets to that moment each time she dies.
Where do I really begin with this… On the one hand, having a time loop OP MC with a female lead is kind of nice, it tastes slightly different, like getting vanilla bean ice cream instead of just vanilla. I like that across all her many loops she’s grown a backbone and isn’t hesitating to speak out and push back, it’s appreciated. On the other hand… There’s nothing really new here. Hell, she gets asked to marry the big bad in episode one. I imagine the whole show is going to be about them falling in love and her working to prevent whatever big war he plunges the world into, only for him to reveal the war is necessary for some vaguely good reason that she has to struggle over. I feel like I can already map out all of the arcs it will have. And on top of that? It just doesn’t look very good. I don’t know, something about the lighting, the faces, the hair textures, it all looks off to me. Maybe you can get something out of it, it’s certainly better than a lot of the other stuff I’ve seen in the season and isn’t aggressively bad in any way, it just doesn’t stand out is all.
Potential: 20%
Hey now, those little black specks of vanilla “bean” make all the difference. That’s gourmet.