Month: July 2015

The Truth Is I Am… (Jitsu wa Watashi wa…)

(12ish episodes ?)

What’s it about ?

Adaptation of a romantic comedy manga.

Characters

Asahi, our high-school protagonist, has a recurring problem : he’s a terrible liar and can’t keep a secret. Can’t bluff for his life. So hey, since it’s obvious he’s got a crush on one of his classmates, his “friends” tell him to go and confess to ; at least he’ll have gotten it out of his system and be less awkward when ogling her. (And hey, one of them caught her glancing back at Asahi too, so maybe he’s got a chance ?)

Youko, though, is one of the most unapproachable students on campus : never talks much (and always very formally), stays out of outdoors activities, first come and last left at the school… Frankly, he just wanted to leave a love letter on her desk when he caught her stretching.

… her wings. For you see, the truth is that she is a vampire. Hence why she avoids the sun. (Er, wait, no, that’s just because she tans easily.) She doesn’t speak much in public (especially not in her natural Kansai dialect) because otherwise her fangs would be showing. And so on. Oh, well, now that the gig is up, she’ll just have to stop going to school.

Not so, objects Asahi ! He’ll be her friend, and keep her secret ! (Good luck on that, kiddo.) And then he notices he forgot to confess ; that’d just be too awkward now.

The OP & ED sequences make it clear that Youko is not the only weirdo around ; not only is the class rep obviously a robot, but there are also at least a succubus and a demon-girl with horns who should show up later on. But most terrifying is Mikan from the Journalist Club, who’s already smelling something going on.

Production Values

The manga is reputed for its quirky artstyle that makes for some great funny faces from most of the cast. Here, the character designs are much blander, but we still get a decent amount of funny faces.

Overall Impression

This is a mildly funny harem romance setup. It has some decent jokes, but a worrying tendency to stretch them for a bit too long. And the first episode hasn’t really got past the point that was in all the advertising material, so it feels a bit empty.

I’m giving it a second episode, but it’d better shape up a bit and find its groove now that the premise has been established.

Source: [In Which I Review] New anime, Summer 2015 – Page 4

Snow-White with the Red Hair (Akagami no Shirayukihime)

(12 episodes, with another season already planned for 2016)

What’s it about ?

Adaptation of a shojo manga series with a medieval setting.

Characters

Shirayuki, our protagonist. Why her parents named her “Snow-White” when she’s got the reddest hair ever is a mystery for the ages. They’re not around anymore, though. She makes a living with her herbalist’s shop, although you easily get the impression that she cares more about helping people out than really making money. But then she catches the attention of…

Raji, the local prince, and a complete twat. He sends out soldiers to inform our heroine that she’ll be his concubine, starting tomorrow. Her reaction is of course “fuck no” ; she prepares some last bits of medicine for her regular customers, cuts her hair out in a grand gesture, and quickly leaves the city (and the country just to be sure) before the day is up. She ends up sleeping next to a half-deserted isolated mansion in a forest when she’s woken up by…

Zen, a brash young man who regularly hangs out their with his two companions. He somehow manages to hurt himself when he notices her, and she nurses him back to health after she gets him to trust her. They quickly hit it off, although she’s anxious to leave once he starts probing her a bit too much about what she’s running from exactly.

Someone left out a bunch of red apples by the door, and it’s very obviously coming from Raji. Zen, being a moron, bites into one of them. And promptly gets poisoned for his trouble. Shirayuki feels she has not choice but follow the soldiers back to Raji. While she clearly tells him how little she thinks of him, she feels obligated to obey the asshole in order to get an antidote for Zen. Who promptly shows up looking none for the worse (claiming he’s been building poison immunity) and announces that this won’t be necessary. After all, Raji doesn’t want it to be known that he just poisoned a prince from the much more powerful neighbouring kingdom, right ? So he’d better forget about Shirayuki. Capishe ?

Production Values

Quite good ; studio Bones can always provide with a baseline of quality animation and scenery porn.

Overall Impression

Well, this is a perfectly entertaining shojo romance show. It’s got the benefit of a heroine with an actual backbone and agency, and a male lead who’s quite likeable and offers no rape overtones, which is always welcome. It’s got decent comedic timing, and some fun dialogue when Jun Fukuyama has a hoot playing the villain. (“Mirror, mirror, tell me who is the fairest in the land ?” “Sir, there is no mirror, this is one of your informants.”)

If there’s one flaw here, it’s that it’s a bit bland, even as it plays around with the Snow-White tale. And there’s the question of what happens next once Shirayuki starts leaving at Zen’s castle ; how will the story proceed ? Presumably something more dramatic than mere slice-of-life romance ?

But hey, this is likeable enough for me to give it at least a second episode to gauge its direction, if not more.

Source: [In Which I Review] New anime, Summer 2015 – Page 4

Chaos Dragon: Red Dragon War (Chaos Dragon: Sekiryuu Seneki)

(12 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Remember how Records of Lodoss War got its start as transcripts of RPG sessions ? Well, similar deal here, but with some rather prestigious players : Kinoko “Fate” Nasu, Gen “Madoka/Psycho-Pass” Urobochi, and Ryohgo “Baccano/Durarara” Narita, among others.

Too bad none of their characters make more than cameos in this episode.

Characters

This introductory episode is all about Ibuki, last Prince of Nil Kamui. (Played IRL by some doujinshi artist/light novel author I’ve never heard of.) His country has the unenviable position of being stuck between the evil demon kingdom of Kouran and the standoffish “good guys” of Donatia, so basically it’s a battlefield for the other two to duke it out. He’s the last survivor of the royal family, and has been laying low helping out in orphanage.

So of course the evil soldiers of Kouran show up one day and start conquering the place and killing at random. It’s time for Ibuki to step up and inherit his legacy ! With his legendary family sword getting empowered by the blood of one of his orphan friends that just sacrificed herself in front of him, of course.

We get short glimpses of the other main party members, including most prominently a bouncy catgirl. We don’t get much of an impression out of them, though.

Production Values

Hey, studio Silver Link are playing around with colour again ! And it does end up looking quite good.

Overall Impression

Wow, this is incredibly cliché-ridden and unengaging. The melodrama is rote and unimpactful, nobody has any depth, and the plot is generic as all heck. Even its prettiness can’t save it.

The only reason I’m giving it a second episode is that I’m curious what the other characters are like, given the pedigrees of their creators. But there’s only so long my patience will last.

Source: [In Which I Review] New anime, Summer 2015 – Page 4

Rokka – Braves of the Six Flowers (Rokka no Yuusha)

(12 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Adaptation of a heroic-fantasy (with slightly Atzec flavour) light novel series.

Characters

The titular Braves of the Six Flowers are the chosen heroes of the world to fight the Demon Lord resurfacing every few hundred years. Since its agents have been resurfacing as of late and assassinating potential Braves, it’s high time to gather a new set. So the most major kingdom has organized a big ceremonial tournament to select some of them. The semi-finals are what really matters, since whoever wins is bound to lose against…

Nashetania, First Princess of the Kingdom, who’s so badass she got seeded directly to the finals. She’s an obvious lock for being one of the new Braves ; her powers involve something not too dissimilar to Unlimited Blade Works. And for some reason she’s wearing bunny ears.

Adlet, “Strongest Man in the World” (or so he claims) crashes the semifinals from nowhere and easily takes out dozens of guards, as well as both semifinalists. While he is strong, he mostly wins because he cheats like a mad bastard, using neat little gadgets to take out his opponents by surprise. Eh, whatever works, really.

While he’s immediately thrown in jail afterwards (and then into an oubliette), he’s convinced he’ll be selected as a Brave down the line. So he’s just bidding his time and keeping in shape. He also gets a visit from a “maid” (with the cunning disguise of not wearing bunny ears), which is the occasion to provide much background about the setting and the origins of the Braves. Frankly, I’m amazed he’s got no clue who he’s talking to.

Eventually the Demon Lord starts manifesting openly, and both Nashetania & Adlet mystically get their Brave tattoos. She immediately frees him from his oubliette (ignoring the objections from her entourage), and they both head to the legendary rendezvous point to meet the 4 other Braves. Whom I’m presume we’ll meet in the next few episodes ; we’re shown glimpses of them from the OP & ED.

Production Values

Quite good, although there’s some obvious CG graphics for the landscape long shots. I quite like the different artstyle for the mythical flashbacks.

On the other hand, there’s no escaping that Nashetania’s outfit is bizarrely fanservicey and looks completely out of place, even considering the very PC-esque designs for the other Braves. Oh, well ; at least the camera isn’t stuck in pervert mode.

Overall Impression

This was actually quite entertaining ; it’s a generic heroic-fantasy premise, but executed well-enough (especially the Atzec-like stylings) to feel somewhat fresh. Adlet & Nashetania are quite charismatic, although I’m slightly worried by the way she lets him take the lead at the end. (Surely she has more experience and knowledge about all this ?)

It depends a bit on whether the other Braves are entertaining or annoying, but I’m at least giving it a second episode.

Source: [In Which I Review] New anime, Summer 2015 – Page 3

Ushio & Tora

(26 episodes, + another season already scheduled for Spring 2016 after a break)

What’s it about ?

Calvin & Hobbes, shonen style ! Well, kinda.

Adaptation of a manga series from the early 90s that already got a few OVAs at the time. I have no clue why the franchise is seeing new life now, nearly 20 years after it ceased publication.

Characters

Ushio, our protagonist, is the young heir of a temple that supposedly hosts an enchanted lance that can drive out demons and other mystical nasties. Not that he cares ; he’s mostly concerned with playing around and leading a normal life. Your typical jock kid, really : good at sports and athletics, terrible in other school subjects.

Daddy, the current priest, isn’t the best role model anyway. He keeps droning on and on about the temple’s legacy, but never actually explained it properly to Ushio. Also, his sudden island vacation this morning (“the third time this month, Dad ?”) means that he’s not around to provide any exposition when the plot actually kicks in.

Today Ushio discovers that Sacred Spear is indeed hidden in one of the temple buildings’ basement ; it’s trapping there an ancient, powerful demon who would really like him to remove the spear and free him. He would me more convincing without the mwahahah-ing and his promises to kill the kid afterwards. So Ushio just leaves him there and goes to school.

Asako (standard issue tsundere, and maybe as strong as Ushio himself) and Mayuko (more open about liking him) are the two of his classmates we get to know a bit. And they happen to be visiting just as a number of small-fry demons, attracted by Ushio unearthing the trapped monster, start roaming around. Well, crap.

So Ushio frees him to get his help… and promptly gets backstabbed for his trouble. Fortunately, he’s still got the lance, which makes it clear who’s in charge here. He nicknames his new familiar “Tora” (because it vaguely looks like a tiger) and has it dispatch most of the small demons, finishing them off with the lance. (Which somehow gives him super-long hair while wielding it. I have no clue why.)

Ushio forces Tora to stick around, as more minor demons are bound to show up for a while ; they’re both obviously planning to backstab each other. (Ushio sealing Tora back for good, and Tora killing Ushio somehow for the humiliation.) And of course, since only Ushio can see Tora, it looks to the likes of Asako & Mayuko that their friend is talking to his imaginary pet. Eh.

Production Values

Wow, early ’90s character designs ! But hey, they’re decently animated, so no complaints from me.

Overall Impression

Well, this is kinda fun, in a very dumb way. The retro style works. And it’s amusing how everyone is terrible as hiding how little they think of others.

But I think I’m done. It’s a rather generic shonen show all told, and I’m not in the market for those, really. Especially as it’s going to be running for a while.

Source: [In Which I Review] New anime, Summer 2015 – Page 3

A Boring World Where the Concept of Dirty Jokes Doesn’t Exist (Shimoneta to Iu Gainen ga Sonzai Shinai Taikutsu na Sekai)

(12 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Adaptation of a light novel series going for political satire.

Characters

This is set in an impossibly sanitized Japan where have been outlawed dirty words and any public display of obscenity ; every citizen wears a collar detecting forbidden words and calling the Public Morals shock-troops on them. It goes without saying that it’s a very oppressive dystopia.

Okuma, our protagonist, is mostly trying to lay low (what with his father being an indecent terrorist), wishing to lead a normal life and attend the purest high-school in the country. Okay, his motives may not be entirely pure ; he’s very admirative of…

Anna, the student council president of said school, who makes big speeches about upholding morals and stuff. She’s a charismatic figurehead, I’ll give her that. And she does invite him to help out ; since he comes from a low-morals background, he could be better at identifying terrorist acts. Because yeah, she’s so sheltered that she has little clue what obscenity actually looks like. Which makes it hard to fight the likes of…

Blue Snow, a major indecent woman, who wanders around half-naked while giving out tons of naughty pictures and spouting out dirty jokes. Also, she’s obviously Ayame, the quiet vice-president, avenging her falsely-accused father with the help of a device jamming the cuss-word-detectors for three minutes a day that he gave her.

She outs herself to Okuma, thinking he infiltrated the student council like her. When he refuses to help, she just blackmails him to do it anyway. (And hey, it’d be a massive scandal that could damage Anna’s reputation if the truth became known, eh ?)

Blue Rose’s point, beside the free speech argument, is that education (and entertainment) has become so sanitized that the current generation of teenagers (who’ve lived their whole life under the law) have no clue how sex and reproduction even work anymore. They still think and gossip madly about it ; they’ve just lost the vocabulary and practical knowledge. And that’s how she wants to help them, despite lacking actual picture references herself.

Other characters include Fuwa, a very obsessed biology student who searches madly for any clue of how reproduction works (even Ayame finds her creepy), and Gouriki, the treasurer, whom Okuma saves from being falsely accused as a train molester (and is heavily hinted to be gay).

Production Values

Decent enough. And given the subject matter, the fanservice level is quite moderate.

Overall Impression

Wow, someone has a bone to pick with the Tokyo Youth Ordinance. And, well, there are less deserving targets of ridicule, so why not.

The big question if whether the writer has managed to channel his outrage and contempt into satire that’s actually funny. And, er, I’m not sure it works. It’s got some interesting ideas and clearly something to say, but the hit-or-miss ratio of the jokes is lower than I’d like. (It doesn’t help that most of the dirty jokes don’t carry well from Japanese, however valiantly the translators are trying to convey them.)

Still, it’s not often you see actual political satire in anime, so I’m willing to give it some rope to find its legs.

Source: [In Which I Review] New anime, Summer 2015 – Page 2

Charlotte

(13 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Oh, it’s our old pal Jun Maeda of Key, once again collaborating with studio PA Works to produce something that’s not an adaptation of his visual novels ! And we’re clearly closer to Angel Beats territory than the likes of Clannad, as it’s all about the madcap comedy and looks very unlikely to go too much into melodramatic tragedy.

Characters

Yuu, our protagonist, has got a limited but surprisingly useful superpower : he can possess the body of anyone in his line of sight (with his own body slunking down in the meantime) for a maximum of 5 minutes seconds. He takes advantage of it to cheat at exams, get into the best high school of the country, and woo the prettiest girl there. He barely has the self-control to avoid mwahahah-ing all over the place. He’s a despicable sleazeball, but quite an entertaining one.

Nao is the student council president from another school altogether who gathers enough evidence to blackmail him into transfering there. (Her own “invisible to one person” power makes it rather easy.) She’s made a personal mission to gather all the super-powered teenagers causing mischief, and enrols Yuu into her crusade. His power should make it quite useful indeed.

Takajou, the stern vice-president, has harnessed his own limited teleportation powers to become quite good in a fight, so it’s not like Yuu can escape.

To complete the humiliation, Yumi, the pretty girl he had wooed, makes it pretty clear she has no wish to pursue him halfway through the country if he can’t give an explanation, and dumps him.

The one person who is happy about the sudden transfer is Ayu, Yuu’s younger sister, who’s excited about getting into a new school too. To his great displeasure, she hits it off immediately with Nao.

Production Values

Very nice indeed ; you can always rely on studio PA Works to provide scenery porn and an impressive attention to detail with body language. Given Yuu’s power, the latter is key to selling the jokes.

Overall Impression

I always approach Maeda’s works with trepidation, as his penchant towards contrived melodrama can be a bit tiring. So I was quite glad to see this seems to be nearly entirely drama-free, instead focusing on his other strength : very well-timed absurdist comedy. This is filled with laugh-out-loud moments, and I’ve enjoyed it from start to finish.

If it can sustain this level of energy for the whole season, then this could be one of the funniest shows of Summer.

Source: [In Which I Review] New anime, Summer 2015 – Page 2

Blue Spring x Machine Gun (Aoharu x Kikanjuu)

(12 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Adaptation of a manga series about survival games (although it takes some detours before getting to that point)… wait, it was published in a shonen magazine ? Odd, as this is clearly targetting a female audience.

Characters

Hotaru Tachibana, our highschool protagonist. The student council president, and a flamboyant Hero of Justice ! The kind who jumps down three stories to beat up a bunch of bullies. Now, Tachibana is quite short an unimposing at first sight, but more than makes up for it with ridiculous athletic and fighting skills. As well as getting into the face of anyone that remotely looks like an Ennemy of Justice !

The twist being that Tachibana is a girl, and identifies as such, despite coming to school in a male uniform. Very few people are aware of this, and you get the sense there’s an intriguing story behind her attitude. But we’re not getting into that yet.

Kanae is, for the lack of a better word, her best friend, and one of the few people in the know. She’s a bit too eager to try and get Tachibana to put on a skirt for my tastes. Anyway, she kickstarts the plot by telling her friend she’s broke after that humiliating time at this male hostel club… and Tachibana is already off to avenge her before she can add that it was because they turned her away (for being a minor, obviously), and she spent all her money on comfort food. But hey, Tachibana never misses an opportunity to go half-cocked to fight imaginary villains.

Masamune is the MVP of this host club : not only one of the most popular hosts, but also having a good eye to please the customers and avoid faux-pas from his colleagues. He was the one who turned Kanae away, and as such the object of Tachibana’s misguided wrath. It helps that he’s also her new neighbour, and they got off to a very bad start earlier in the day.

If you’re wondering what any of this has to do with survival games… Well, that’s Masamune’s hobby, and he insists on his duel with Tachibana being with toy guns. Yes, in the middle of the host club. (Cue all the hosts & customers cheerfully putting on safety glasses. Clearly this isn’t the first time.) While he takes on a handicap and Tachibana shows off some nice althletic and tactical skills, she makes the rookie mistake of not counting her ammo. Oops. Now she’s his.

So of course he wants her to join his Survival Game team, as a way to repay for all the needless damage she caused while jumping around in the club. He still hasn’t picked up on her being a girl, by the way.

(The third member of this team makes a cameo at the end.)

Production Values

Very good indeed. The action sequences are entertainingly over the top and get ridiculously fluid animation. There’s also a lot to like in the soundtrack.

Overall Impression

You know what they say : you can make any premise more interesting by dropping in a crossdressing girl as a protagonist. (Okay, I have no clue if anyone ever said that, but it’s true.) It helps that the show turns out to be way more entertaining than it has any right to. The sense of fun is pervasive, and Tachibana’s dumb antics are more amusing than irritating once you get to know her better.

Sure, there’s a bit of the characteristic rapey subtext of shojo romances (seriously, how is this manga shonen ?), but that stays as a low enough level to avoid being more than slightly annoying.

Besides this, the show turns out to be quite fun, so I’m strongly considering keeping with it.

Source: [In Which I Review] New anime, Summer 2015 – Page 2

GATE: Jieitai Kanochi nite, Kaku Tatakaeri (“The Self-Defense Forces Fight Like This in That Place”)

(24 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Adaptation of a light novel series about Japan being attacked by heroic-fantasy forces coming from another dimension, and fighting back.

Characters

Oh, dear.

Look, I can see why the show concentrates on setting up the core premise instead of developing the actual cast. Selling the high concept is important, after all. It may go a bit too far in overstating the novelty of it, especially with this amazingly tepid “cliffhanger” revealing that the access point between the two dimensions is called “the GATE”. Never would have guessed that.

And we do have an actual protagonist. Itami, off-duty lowly JSDF soldier who was at the right enough place during the initial attack to provide vital direction to the first responders and prepare the way for the actual defense forces. As a result, he gets a promotion, medals and much publicity he doesn’t really care for, as well as being part of the first serious wave being sent through the Gate and to try and occupy the neighbouring dimension.

For maximum audience identification, he’s also a massive otaku (who missed Comiket because of this). And he’s also having random visions of girls of assorted fantasy races who are probably going to be future love interests. The pandering, it hurts. And that’s the core problem with Itami as a character : he never feels like a coherent whole, but instead like a collection of traits the audience should like. He doesn’t feel like an actual person, you see ?

It doesn’t help that everyone else in this episode is amazingly one-note and forgettable. There’s some fuss about the Prime Minister driving much of Japan’s reaction dying before they get to the “invade the other world” part, but we’re given little reason to care about why that would matter. Please focus a random crying orphan girl instead !

Production Values

Nice enough ; you can always count on A1-Pictures to produce competent animation that’s not very flashy but does the job. And hey, the very generic designs for the heroic-fantasy armies may be part of the point.

Overall Impression

I’m sure there are many people ready to pounce upon the “JDSF, fuck yeah !” jingoism that constitutes the backbone of this show. And on some level, it is indeed a bit problematic. But that really wouldn’t matter if the series made a much better effort at making me care. Featuring some actual characters instead of paper-thing cutouts would help. As would a bit of world-building beyond the obvious.

But this first episode leaves me with very little confidence that it can deliver anything on that front. Everything here was by-the-numbers and obvious. There’s no twist (aside from the JSDF actually winning a fight for a change), no particular insight, the “enemy” have no depth whatsoever, and the blatant emotional manipulation showing up here and there gives me little hope on the plot suddenly becoming more even-handed between the various factions.

I just don’t care. Pass !

Source: [In Which I Review] New anime, Summer 2015

Classroom☆Crisis

(12ish episodes ?)

What’s it about ?

Er… A weird science-fiction/work-com/school thing ?

Characters

So, the future. Like many other countries, Japan has set up a colony on Mars where they focus on building awesome stuff. “Tokyo-4” seems to be mainly administrated by the Kirishina Corporation. They own an elite technical Campus called A-TEC, where they’ve gathered the most promising youngsters and seems to function as a glorified R&D lab.

Nagisa, a new transfer student to A-TEC, has been kidnapped by terrorists before he even showed up. The Kirishina board scramble madly to find a way to get him back. The 7,5 million ransom is of little concern, given that this guy is apparently more important than it seems, but the deadline is very strict indeed.

Under the guidance of their mellow teacher Kaito, the A-TEC students start looking into a way to mount a rescue operation. And since this is going nowhere soon, matters are taken into their own hands by…

Iris, the daredevil of the group. The kind who drives to school on a bike that can’t be street-legal and disregards any safety advice. She “borrows” the small shuttle prototype A-TEC had been working on, and gamely aims for the terrorists’ hideout. There’s little left of her vehicle by the time she gets there, but she does reach the place mostly unhurt.

The punchline is that there were never any terrorists ; Nagisa merely wanted to prove a point. Namely, that A-TEC spent about a billion on a rescue mission (to say nothing of wrecking a 15-billion prototype), despite the ransom being several orders of magnitude lower. In other words, the Kirishima Corporation is wasting billions on a money sink that’s far from delivering anything in proportion. So, as a member of the board and a relative to the CEO, he’s here to downsize A-TEC, or maybe even shut it down entirely.

Since there would be no story otherwise, I presume we’re going to get a “Save Our School” narrative next.

Production Values

I’ve never heard of studio “Lay-Duce” before, but they do a good job here. The opening scene with the board’s panicked meeting being intercut with scenes of Iris driving to A-TEC is in particular very well-paced.

Overall Impression

Well, this is certainly trying something different. And it does have its good points, such as the well-structured opening scene, or the final reveal. The problem is what’s in between : Kaito is asked to carry the plot, and his utter lack of charisma drains a good chunk of energy from the show.

I’ll be honest : without the sudden twist, I would have been too bored to continue. Nagisa’s impressive villainous scenery-chewing buys it another episode. Don’t waste it.

Source: [In Which I Review] New anime, Summer 2015