Jhiday – Page 22 – Blog@Jhiday.net

The Electric Town’s Bookstore (Denkigai no Honya-san)

(12 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Adaptation of a comedy manga depicting the daily life at a doujinshi bookstore. The episode itself is split between two main skits.

Characters

Umio, our generic male lead, mostly there as a straight man and for most of the girls to fall over. Supposedly he’s the naive newcomer, but that doesn’t come off very strongly. Mostly that’s because half his role is stolen by…

Hio-tan, his bubbly senior, and de facto female lead. More than a bit clumsy and shy, she still ends up in the straight woman role somehow a lot of the time.

Most of the staff are only known by nicknames. Of particular note so far :
– Sensei, who’s always sleepy because she spends her nights drawing ; doujinshi ;
– the Director, named thus not because he’s in charge (although he is) but because he’s always filming stuff and being a bit creepy and manipulative ;
– Sommelier, the tall quiet dude who has the amazing talent of finding the manga best suited to any customer

Also guest-starring in the first half : an inspector from the Youth Office, making sure regulations about selling porn are followed to the letter ; her stealing every scene she’s in is yet more proof that Yuu Kobayashi is one of the funniest comedy voice-actresses currently active.

Production Values

It’s bright and shiny, but nothing to write home about aside from that. The title sequences are particularly cheap-looking. Still, it sells the jokes, and that’s what matters.

The episode was so tame that the next-episode preview promising tons of fanservice MUST be a joke. At least, I hope it is.

Overall Impression

A fun work-com with a geeky main topic ? I was all game for it, but unfortunately it’s average at best. Most of those jokes have been done better elsewhere, the characters aren’t charming enough to carry the show, and there are definite pacing issues.

The bottom line is that I don’t find it funny enough to be worth my time. Given how busy Thursdays always are, I’m giving it a pass.

via [In Which I Review] New anime, Fall 2014.

Tribe Cool Crew

What’s it about ?

Hey, kids ! Dancing is KEWL !

Characters

Haneru, our middle-schooler protagonist. One does not simply walk into… wherever he goes ; the little dude just has to do crazy backflips and random wallruns as he moves from place to place. His whole life seems to revolve around dancing, and he has a nice calm spot where he can practice his moves.

Kanon looks like your average top-scoring student (aside from the crazier-than-average hair), but she’s got a secret : she’s really Rhythm, an up-and-coming dancer whose uploaded videos have become viral. She takes care to keep that part of her life closeted, and dances in a discreet little room… which happens to be right in front of Haneru’s own spot. The window are mostly one-way because of the sun’s reflection, so usually she can see him but he can’t… except for today, when the jig is up.

I’m pretty sure the old dude who loans the place out set them up ; at the very least, he makes sure to chaperone them from afar until he’s made sure all goes fine between the two. And they do quickly hit it off ; they’ve both admirative of each other’s moves. Wanna team up ?

Each of them has hints of a supporting cast, and the ED sequence showcases a “rival” team that’s bound to show up soon.

Production Values

Bright and shiny, with very cartoony character designs. The dance moves are certainly well-animated, with a relatively smooth shift to full-CG animation. (This is the studio that produced Love Live!, after all.) On the other hand, it’s slightly worrying to see so much noticeable animation recycling already.

Overall Impression

Well, this is relatively fun and good-looking. It’s got energy and style, you gotta give it that.

… On the other hand, it’s also very slight in content : the extensive dancing sequences sometimes feel a bit like they’re padding the episode out. Sure, they’re the main attraction, but they look like they’re going to quickly become a bit repetitive. The recycled animation doesn’t help dispel that impression either.

I don’t know. I’m giving it another episode, but I fear I’m going to get tired of it soon. Which is a shame, as this is a perfectly fun and competent kids’ show.

via [In Which I Review] New anime, Fall 2014.

Terra Formars

(13ish episodes)

What’s it about ?

Adaptation of a science-fiction manga series.

Characters

Akari Hizamaru, our protagonist. His childhood girlfriend got infected by a deadly virus, so he’s participating in underground death matches to try and raise money for some sort of cure… which turns out to be completely bullshit. Oh, and by the time he realizes this, she’s already dead.

Shoukichi Komachi & Michelle Davis are heading a unit who do have a clue on how to cure that virus : their plan involves going to Mars and harvesting the necessary materials there. They got to Akari slightly too late, but he can still help : you see, one needs to endure some radical surgery to be space-worthy, and he’s one of the few people whose genetics mean that his survival chances aren’t crap. (So were those two, by the way.)

We meet a few of the other candidates for the unit ; they’re so carefree I’m pretty sure at least one will die in surgery.

Now, obviously going to Mars is more trouble than just the trip. Back in the 21st century, we tried to terraform the place by sending some algua and cockroaches. The latter have evolved drastically, and are very hostile indeed. (This is at least the third recent Mars mission, and both of the others got wiped out.)

Production Values

Dark, dark, dark. This show is very devoid of colour, and quite murky indeed. It’s also got some heavy censorship for the ultraviolent scenes, making them pretty much unwatchable. It’s not too bad here, as it only affects a gratuitous underground wrestling match where the details don’t really matter, but this doesn’t bode well for the inevitable future “slaughtered by cockroaches” scenes.

Overall Impression

The manga has quite a reputation of the cockroaches being horrible racist caricatures. Well, it’s too early too tell how the anime fares on that front ; the bad news is that it’s got other prominent issues already. The exposition is very clumsy (so many infodump scenes, and the narrator still needs to barge in at the end to explain the premise properly ?) ; the characters are either quite bland or already annoying ; and the overall attempt to build atmosphere just doesn’t manage to raise enough anticipation for the main event.

By the end of this first episode, I still don’t really care about any of the characters, or the overall premise. The series may manage to salvage this false start later on, but the signs are unpromising. I’ll pass.

via [In Which I Review] New anime, Fall 2014.

Summer 2014 capsules

But before all that, a few words about Sword Art Online II : well, so far, it’s not doing a bad job of not rubbing me the wrong way, like Alfheim Online did. The writing is still pretty poor (go, go, tepid exposition !), but the setup of bringing in Kirito to investigate a bizarre murder spree in a new game setting is a decent one. (Also, anything that marginalizes the absence of chemistry he’s got with Asuna is welcome.) I might still watch this after all.

via [In Which I Review] New anime, Summer 2014 – Page 3.

A couple of shorts before moving on to the full Monday shows…

Mobile Suit Gundam-san is yet another of those comedy SD skits Sunrise puts out occasionally. (This one adapted from a 4-panel gag manga.) It starts off by an Austin Powers-style naked dance by Char, which should give you an idea of the high level of humour we’re dealing with here. It’s mildly funny, but nothing to go out of your way for.

Secret Princess Himegoto adapts a manga about a pretty boy being blackmailed into crossdressing by the student council. It’s got a main character called Unko (“Poop”). That kinda sums up my opinion of it.

via [In Which I Review] New anime, Summer 2014 – Page 4.

So, Persona 4 The Golden Animation. I reviewed the original series back in 2011 ; this is a weird spin-off that adapts an updated rerelease of the game.

The selling point here, apparently, is a new character being added to the main cast, Marie. The script thus chooses wisely to fast-forward through a very bare bones version of the plot (skipping all the business related to Konishi), so that Marie can get 5 minutes or so of screentime after the end credits. To say that her introduction feels very forced an unnatural is an understatement ; she’s just dropped in without any explanation by the gamemaster. The core problem here is that this series is at its best with deadpan weirdness, and Marie’s way too melodramatic to fit in. So, well, it doesn’t quite work.

(By the way, the whole thing seems to have been reanimated from scratch, with a somewhat higher budget ; every single scene is slightly different from the previous series.)

via [In Which I Review] New anime, Summer 2014 – Page 5.

Black Butler – Book of Circus spends its first episode re-establishing the premise with a “Day in the Life of Sebastian Michaelis”… Not that there’s anything wrong with that, as it’s a charming setup, and the script does get to play a bit with clever ellipses. I’ve got no clue where this would fit in continuity, but it’s not like this franchise ever sweats this kind of fine detail.

Anyway, this is good fun, and I’m glad it’s back.

(Also, no Grell whatsover for now, which is a definite plus in my book.)

via [In Which I Review] New anime, Summer 2014 – Page 5.

Hey, someone finally fansubbed the first episode of Fran♥cesca : Girls Be Ambitious, more than a week after it aired !

… Having had a look at it, I can easily see why nobody bothered to do it for so long.

The high concept is that this is a series of 11-minute episodes built around a recently-created mascot character for Hokkaido, the titular Francesca. Who happens to be some sort of undead idol or something. But she barely shows up at the end of the first episode ; in practice, it mainly features the head of the anti-undead Hokkaido forces (of course a cute sassy girl) ~~investigating~~ killing the shit out of a recent surge of zombies rising from the ground. Also, tons of jokes that probably make sense to people who know of Hokkaido’s culture, but are completely impenetrable to me.

As far as promotional vehicles from tourism boards go, this one at least has the merit of originality. But that’s pretty much it ; it looks badly-animated (is this Flash-based ?), and at its core it’s comedy where I don’t get most of the jokes. (Which don’t look that funny, anyway.)

I’ll pass.

via [In Which I Review] New anime, Summer 2014 – Page 8.

Nobunaga Concerto

(12ish episodes ?)

What’s it about ?

Adaptation of yet another manga where a random Japanese teenager travels to the past and switches places with Nobunaga Oda.

Characters

Saburou, our lead character. Not very bright, shallow, terrible at Japanese history (he vaguely remembers about this Nobunaga dude) : the perfect protagonist for this kind of story ! How he travels to the past is refreshingly unexplained (it just happens suddenly).

Nobunaga himself happens to be passing by, on the run from servants who want him to stay at home. Hey, random weird lookalike, want to take my place for a while ? I’ll give you this cool sword. Saburou’s all “hey, cool sword” (after a bit of “where’s the camera filming this, anyway ?”), but quickly realizes that Nobunaga’s early life was a bit prison-like, and wants to go home.

Kichou, Nobunaga’s wife. “Wait, he had a wife ? She’s cute !” And so Saburou decides to stay around a bit more. She’s all too happy from the attention, after him seemingly having forgotten all about her. (“I know it was an arranged marriage, but still…”)

Nobunaga’s servants are baffled by their master’s bizarre new behaviour, despite his renewed healthiness. Has he lost his mind ? One of them lets himself be convinced it’s better to just kill him off, but Saburou somehow manages to deflect this. And hey, he can’t die now ; this would totally wreck history and stuff ; after all, Nobunaga’s supposed to conquer Japan or something. The servants then marvel at their master’s “hidden ambitions”.

Noboyuki, Nobunaga’s younger brother, sees the occasion as his chance to get rid of him. After manipulating that servant failed, he tries something against Kichou… but it doesn’t work out ; he winds up being sent off to an asylum for his trouble.

From now on, Saburou is taking this a bit more seriously. He’s started reading his history book (although it’s way too imprecise to be of much use). Anyway, he’s going to try his best ; Nobunaga totally conquered Japan and lived happily after, right ? (Ahah, no. We even had the history lesson at the episode’s beginning reminding us how it’s supposed to end ; Saburou didn’t pay attention, as usual.)

Production Values

Cell-shaded CG characters everywhere ! You ever love it or hate it ; I think it works quite well, giving the anime a bit of an “historical painting come to life” look. It helps that the CG backgrounds are gorgeous. And there are some nifty stylistic touches here and there.

Overall Impression

For a premise so well-trodden, this is a surprising breath of fresh air. Part of it is that it’s played entirely straight by most characters, with the comedy resulting from the clash of cultures. But the real selling point here is the sheer charm of Mamoru Miyano’s performance, perfectly convincing as this little git way out of his depth. It’s impressive how you end up rooting for a character so punchable.

It’s fun, it’s charming, and it looks great. I didn’t expect to enjoy this at all, but it turns out I did. I’m in.

via [In Which I Review] New anime, Summer 2014 – Page 8.

Blade Dance of the Elementalers (Seirei Tsukai no Blade Dance)

(12 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Adaptation of a fantasy light novel series.

Characters

Kamito, our generic male lead. He’s the second guy to ever manage taming an elemental spirit, and the first one was known as the Demon Lord or somesuch. Subtle foreshadowing ! Anyway, he’s a complete anomaly in a world where Elementalers are usually female.

Greyworth, headmaster of the Elemental Academy of the same name, has specifically headhunted him so that he can participate in the next Blade Dance tournament.

Claire Rouge (sic) is the first student he meets on the grounds, and it’s irritation at first sight. Impulsive, reckless, she feels humiliated by their first contact, and is bent on having him contract with her as her slave to offset this.

Other major characters introduced here include the head of the Student Guard Corps, the archer who also wants him for herself, and the teacher irritated by everyone’s antics. (He’s been put into the problem student class, because of course.) Also, a maid. “Why is there a maid ?” Wise words, Kamito, wise words.

Production Values

Very cheap indeed. The character designs are especially bad and generic. And of course, tons of lame fanservice : it starts with a “caught bathing naked” scene and goes on with multiple panty shots throughout the episode.

Nice score, though.

Overall Impression

Oh, dear. This is by far the worst thing I’ve watched this season. Even Momo Kyun Sword and Akame ga Kill weren’t this irritating and facepalm-inducing. The beyond-generic plot is merely an excuse to string along a series of cliché harem antics, with characters who grow more and more annoying as the episode goes.

This is awful on just about every level. Avoid like the plague.

via [In Which I Review] New anime, Summer 2014 – Page 7.

Tokyo ESP

(12 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Adaptation of a manga series about ~~mutants~~ ESPer terrorists trying to take over Japan.

Characters

The Brotherhood of Evil Espers have launched an attack against Tokyo, which involves multiple bombing and stuff like stealing the Diet. You know, the whole building housing the Parliament. (And obviously that makes a lot of hostages.) The Doctor, our Magneto figure, has illusion powers ; his right-hand-woman teleports around, which makes her swords even deadlier. They have various other members in the building and on the ground.

The authorities’ reaction is rather lackluster. All those tanks deployed everywhere beforehand ? Completely useless. The attempts to parachute special forces onto the flying Diet ? The copter can’t even get close enough. Section Four of the Anti-Esper forces are the only one shown as remotely badass (yay bike-fu !), and they can barely manage a fragile draw against one esper.

It’s thus not surprising that most people are pining their hopes on the return of the White Girl, who apparently showed up in previous crises to save the day. It’s just too bad that the anti-Esper ban covers her too. But come on, like that’s going to stop her.

The episode does a good job of building suspense around her arrival. Instead, most of it is devoted to her band of usual associates stepping up to help out, however little they can. (It’s not like the psychometric and precognitive kids can go hand-to-hand against the baddies.) They haven’t been in contact with her, but surely she’s coming any moment now, right ?

This is apparently set in the same universe as Ga-Rei: Zero, and its heroines have a gratuitous cameo right before the shit hits the fan. I’ve not watched that series, but their one minute of interaction and the overall writing quality at play here have bumped up my list.

Production Values

Very impressive. A lot of budget is spent on making the superpowers look cool, and it shows. (They really didn’t need to make the teleporting effects look so elaborate, but I’m glad they did.) It’s a big spectacle show, and it delivers.

Unfortunately, this is also the kind of world where super-powered women have their suits’ zippers down to their navel for no good reason. Oh, well.

Overall Impression

Well, that was fun. It’s not exactly high art, but it’s well-filmed superheroics with some strong atmosphere and a decently-rounded cast. Good soundtrack, too. Sometimes it gets a bit too stupid for its own good (lol the normal dude who wields two guns at once, like that ever works), but most of the time it looks cool enough to get away with it.

I’m game for this.

via [In Which I Review] New anime, Summer 2014 – Page 5.

Invaders of the Rokujyouma?! (Rokujouma no Shinryakusha!?)

(12 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Adaptation of a supernatural romantic comedy light novel series.

Characters

Koutarou, our male lead, wants nothing more than starting a generic high school life. Sure, Mom is gone, and Dad is always away trying to earn some dough, but he’s not going to let that get him down. He’s got the mandatory perverted best friend, a budding relationship with the president of the knitting club, and is on good terms with his new houselady. (Who happens to be his own age.) He can’t believe his luck on this place being so cheap.

Sanae, the ghost girl haunting the room, might be part of the reason why. Anyway, she doesn’t want to share, so will he please go away ? (Koutarou starts rummaging through his stuff for religious charms.)

Yurika, the inept magical girl who crashes in the middle of their battle to warn them that there’s dangerous amounts of magical energy here, so they need to evacuate immediately. Er, please ?

Kiriha, the envoy from an underground race who just so happens to emerge into this room, and wants to use it as her base to CONQUER THE WORLD !

Theiamillia, a princess from an alien race who wields Nanoha-like magitek devices, and seems able to summon just as much firepower. Fortunately she comes with a supervisor in tow, immediately chiding her on the fact that destroying the planet would go against her mission of making its people submit to her will.

I’m surprised the walls are still standing by the end of the episode.

Production Values

Well, it seems studio Silver Link have finally surrendered and are now making anime that look just like everything else. Oh, well. It still looks quite good, with good effects for the battle sequences.

And of course, notable amounts of fanservice.

Overall Impression

Okay, I have to admit, the joke is pretty funny, as more and more ludicrous invaders keep barging in and making the previous ones go lulwat. (The next episode’s title suggests that even more are due to come, but they’re not on promotional materials.) But once you’ve introduced such a premise, what do you do with it ? Now that a non-aggression pact has been signed, we’re already back to a more conventional harem romantic comedy setup, and that’s not really promising.

I’ll go with my gut instinct and give it a pass. We’ve got better comedies airing this season.

via [In Which I Review] New anime, Summer 2014 – Page 5.

Love Stage!!

(10 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Adaptation of a yaoi romantic comedy manga.

Characters

Izumi, our main character, is drifting through college. He’s got delusions of becoming a manga artist, but his art’s worse than mine. He’s basically just an otaku, fanboying over this one magical girl series.

His parents would very much like him to follow in the family business, i.e. show business. Mom’s still acting, while Dad has moved on to running a talent agency. (Bro is fronting a famous rock band.) But Izumi just won’t have any of this. He just feels too awkward on set.

A decade or so ago, Izumi did act in a wedding agency’s commercial with his parents ; he was a last-minute replacement for the child actress catching the bouquet. (Yes, actress. Izumi looks so feminine that it wasn’t hard to wing it.)

Ryouma, who was the boy playing opposite Izumi in that commercial, is very interested in the wedding agency’s project of making a sequel. His one condition is reuniting the whole original cast. The parents are delighted, as he’s now a very famous actor/model. Izumi’s way less enthusiastic, but they eventually managed to bribe it into participating.

Sagara, the uptight manager, is one of the few people on set who knows Izumi’s not a girl (the others being his personal makeup/costuming squad, who’ve been sworn to secrecy). You can see him obviously having little patience for Izumi’s apathy, but damn it this is his job and he’s going to do it well. What he didn’t anticipate : somebody changing the script at the last moment to include a kiss between Ryouma and Izumi. Uh oh…

Production Values

Not very good ; the standard yaoi character designs are rather ugly.

Overall Impression

Well, it’s yaoi. I was all prepared to write it off as “not my thing”, especially as it looks rather shabby.

… And then the jokes start hitting a homerun, and it turns out I’m actually enjoying this quite a lot. This is fun. That the premises seems devoid of the rape subtext so endemic to the genre is a big plus, but it’s just got charm. Izumi’s parents are ridiculously entertaining, the little pokes at show business are quite funny, and the whole thing is quite well scripted overall, with good comedic timing.

I’m surprised to say this has a good chance of staying on my watchlist.

via [In Which I Review] New anime, Summer 2014 – Page 5.

Magimoji Rurumo

(12 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Adaptation of an ecchi comedy manga series.

Characters

Shibaki, our generic high school protagonist… no, scratch that, he’s a complete pervert. His terrible reputation at school might be slightly overstated (he does have moments of white-knighting, or just plain misunderstandings), but let’s be frank : he’s a horndog.

Rurumo, a deadpan witch who shows out of nowhere to claim his life. Well, not exactly out of nowhere ; he did make a half-assed summoning ritual with the occult club earlier that day, but had not clue it would actually work. (The show loves to put explanatory flashbacks like this just a bit too late, which makes him look like he has a two-minute attention span.) Anyway, they eventually find a loophole to avoid such unpleasantness… Except she comes back a few months later.

Chiro, her cat familiar, eventually explains the score in private to Shibaki. Rurumo has been demoted for her previous failure and needs to recomplete her training, which takes the form of single-use magic coupons Shibaki can use to direct her. (She can’t do magic of her own initiative anymore.) What she doesn’t know is that those coupons are tied to Shibaki’s life : once they’re all gone, he’s toast…

Production Values

About average, with just about as much focus on fanservice as you’d expect.

Overall Impression

Well, that was unpleasant. The jokes are mildly funny, but there’s an overall sadistic atmosphere that leaves a bad taste in the mouth. Sure, a lot of comedy in general revolves around terrible stuff happening to people who don’t (or do) deserve it, but this show pushes it too far into gratuitously malicious territory. It’s all the worse when it tries to make a bid for audience sympathy at the end with the dramatic twist : it doesn’t work, as the protagonist is too much of a jerk for me to care.

There are much better comedies this season ; I have no time to bother with this one.

via [In Which I Review] New anime, Summer 2014 – Page 5.