2015 Q2 – Spring – Blog@Jhiday.net

Spring 2015 capsules

A few words on Vampire Holmes, first. It’s an adaptation of a… smartphone game app (!) as a series of barely-animated shorts ; the premise is that this Holmes completely sucks at using reason… not that it stops him from solving the crimes. It’s supposed to be funny, but this one joke is way too slight to support even a 3-minute short, let alone a whole season of it. Don’t bother with this one.

via [In Which I Review] New anime, Spring 2015.

Oh, frack it, I’m not doing a full review of Wish Upon the Pleiades (Houkago no Pleiades). For one thing, I already reviewed the pilot web-thingy 4 years ago, and this first episode is a slightly abbreviated version of the same story. I think Gainax reanimated the whole thing thanks to that sweet Subaru money, but I can’t be arsed to track the original version down to compare.

Anyway, it’s still as boring and utterly bizarre as a use of a sponsor’s money (the magical girls’ brooms roar like motorbikes ! The main character is named Subaru ! And, er, that’s it for product placement…) ; I can only fathom that the few people left at Gainax needed the money, no questions asked.

On Sunday aired a short called Rainy Cocoa (Ame-iro Cocoa), about a bunch of handsome dudes running a café. It’s a string of mediocre jokes and stereotypical characterization that just abruptly stops because we’ve hit the 2-minute mark. (There’s technically a cliffhanger with a dude suddenly showing up, but come on now.) Nothing to see there.

via [In Which I Review] New anime, Spring 2015 – Page 4.

A few words on a couple of shorts, first.

BAR Kiraware Yasai features a bunch of vegetables having a drink and complaining about how nobody likes them. It’s mildly cute as a concept, and at least it’s a joke that fits the “series of shorts” format, but there’s nothing particularly compelling in the execution to make me come back next week.

Urawa no Usagi-chan is *COME TO URAWA CITY* a series of shorts featuring a girl called Usagi *PLEASE COME, WE’RE DESPERATE ENOUGH TO COMMISSION THIS* who has utterly normal fri- *NO SERIOUSLY, WE NEED YOUNG PEOPLE TO COMPENSATE OUR POPULATION’S AGING* -ends *TOURISTS ARE FINE TOO*…

Excuse me, please wait a second.

/Shoots the representative from Urawa City’s tourism board.

Now, that’s better. Unfortunately, while there’s enough budget to make this look decent, the producers forgot to include anything like a plot, characters doing anything, or even the glimmer of a single joke. It’s just a scene that lasts for more that three minutes and accomplishes nothing in that duration.

via [In Which I Review] New anime, Spring 2015 – Page 4.

No full review for Saint Seiya : Soul of Gold. I’m not sure whether this is a proper sequel or just a side-story ; the premise is that a good chunk of the supprting cast sacrificed themselves in the Hades arc (which I haven’t watched), and now at least some of them find themselves surprisingly not dead (or maybe undead), in Asgard of all places. And of course there’s something nasty going on there.

This is a perfectly alright on all levels : it looks alright, it quickly establishes the premise and the first miniboss, and even takes the time to allude to the Lion Gold Saint’s origin story as a stab to make him engaging as a protagonist. There’s even a weird cliffhanger to make the viewer question what’s really going on. Quite competent all around… It’s just that unlike the Latin-American market who demands the franchise to be revived every few years, I have no particular nostalgia for Saint Seiya (easy “endless stair-climbing” jokes aside), so I don’t particularly care about this project. Not for me, I guess.

via [In Which I Review] New anime, Spring 2015 – Page 5.

Now for the final straggler… and there’s no way in hell I’m doing a full review of Ninja Slayer From Animation.

The signs should have been obvious. It’s adapted from an elaborate prank (an alleged “traduction” of an American novel, serialized on Twitter). Episodes are barely 12-minute-long, and broadcast only on NicoNico over in Japan. (They’re in a goddarn 4/3 format !) They got the Inferno Cop guy to direct it. Of course it was going to turn out to be a no-budget, no-plot “gonzo parody”.

The thing is, this is actually much worse than Inferno Cop. I may not have liked it, but that show had personality and embraced its own lunacy. It wasn’t boring like this crap, and its shorter episode length made for much better pacing. Ninja Slayer, on the other hand, has an even thinner premise (“dude who hates ninjas gets reborn as a ninja who kills ninjas”), characters with no depth whatsoever, and just piles on cliché after cliché without ever doing anything interesting with them. It doesn’t even have the guts of going all paperdoll-style like Inferno Cop, instead having random bursts of semi-decent animation that make it look even more boring.

The only kind thing I can say here is that it’s got good colour design, and an okayish soundtrack. Everything else about it is pure, unadultered crap. Congratulations, Ninja Slayer ! You’re easily the worst show this season, and by far.

via [In Which I Review] New anime, Spring 2015 – Page 6.

Yamada & the Seven Witches (Yamada-kun to 7-nin no Majo)

(12 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Adaptation of a comedy manga series, the first episode of which features a conspicuous lack of witches. Hm.
Apparently it also got a short-lived live-action TV adaptation back in 2013.

Characters

Yamada, our protagonist, is nearly the platonic ideal of the “delinquant” high-schooler : a barely-contained ball of anger who’s rude, violent, and terrible in his studies. Fortunately, before he can get onto my nerves, he suddenly swaps bodies with…

Shiraishi, the best student in his class. Who doesn’t have much of a clue how this happened either, but wants him to wait until after school for them to sort this out, as she can’t afford to miss any more classes. So Yamada spends the rest of the day as her… and learns that she has more depth than the “boring honor student” he’s always dismissed her as : he now sees the creepy harassment from some of the boys, the intense bullying by some of her female classmates, and the fact she has no friends whatsoever. And you can clearly see his own personal growth that comes with this nascent understanding. Also, he has to deal with the fact that Shiraishi refuses him to resort to his go-to answer to everything (i.e. violence), especially as he’s still in her body.

Miyamura, the student council vice-president, who quickly guesses what’s going on and seizes this opportunity to revive the Supernatural Studies Club (of which he was the only member left). Yamada & Shiraishi had already figured out they switched bodies whenever they kissed ; Miyamura is the one leading the experiments that led to the discovery that Yamada could apparently do it with anyone. (One guess how. Shiraishi was surprisingly enthusiastic at the prospect.) Anyway, this lets everyone have a room where they can discreetly swap bodies, provided they occasionally help the student council out.

As I wrote earlier, no witches in sight. The OP sequence goes out of its way to try and frame Shiraishi, the head bully, a tentative applicant to the club who shows up at the end, and four other girls as the titular seven witches, but that feels more symbolic than implying any actual witchcraft at play here. (And if they do turn out to be real witches, that’d be a really surprising twist.)

Production Values

Quite good. It’s a show that relies on comedic timing and a good understanding of body language to sell its central concept, and it handles that well. The exaggerated way Yamada walks may be a bit too much, though.

Overall Impression

This is way better than I expected it to be. The core reason is that it spends very little time dwelling on the obvious jokes, and instead focuses on building everyone into stronger characters and finding fun ways for them to abuse the strange premise. That’s quite refreshing, really.

It’s also an impressive performence showcase. Admittedly, not really from Ryota Osaka ; his Shiraishi-as-Yamada is just kinda flat. But Saori Hayami really gets to stretch herself here ; her Yamada-as-Shiraishi is hilarious, either as a hoarse default-mode or as a parody of feminimity ; and even her normally flat Yamada can turn out to be surprisingly playful and fun. Between this and the 2:15-minute rant, I’m getting more and more appreciately of her range.

This show had me laughing non-stop nearly throughout its first episode. It must be doing something right. Anyway, I’m sure I’ll keep watching it to the end. (And probably catch on that OVA episode that got released a few months ago.)

via [In Which I Review] New anime, Spring 2015 – Page 5.

Punch Line

(11 episodes)

What’s it about ?

“Once he sees underwear, humanity is destroyed!?” is the tagline for this project. It’s as good a description as any of the plot of a series that also features sentai super-heroes, ghosts, and time-travel. And panties, of course.

Characters

Yuuta, our protagonist, is in a bit of a pickle. He had a near-death experience in the course of his bus being taken hostage, and unfortunately something has taken over his body. So he’s stuck as a ghost, looking for a way to retake his body.

Chiranosuke is a friendly neighbouring cat-ghost who gives him a lengthy explanation about this, and gives him some pointers about a book that could help him. (Nope, I don’t trust him either.) Also, he informs Yuuta that while seeing underwear and getting excited will super-power him, doing it twice in quick succession will doom humanity immediately. Like, meteor falls and everyone dies. Fortunately, as a ghost Yuuta can tell causality to take a hike, and go back in time to retry a better path as many times as he needs. Since that involves navigating through an apartment complex with a number of female tenants, that’s going to take more than a few tries.

Mikatan is one of his neighbours. He’s been introduced to her a few months ago as just a semi-famous singer, but secretly she’s Strange Juice (sic), defender of justice ! And she doesn’t do that bad a job of it in that bus hostage crisis the series opens with.

Meika, who seems to run the building, also helps her out as mission control. Which might explain why Mikatan’s got a secret entrance to an underground base in her flat.

There’s also Lovera, the dodgy medium (who by a suspect coincidence was also on that bus), and Ito, the NEET.

And then there’s this cocky dude who seems to have orchestrated the bus hostage-taking, and is already at it again that night. I wonder how he fits into all this.

Production Values

WOW. Studio MAPPA have become known for drowning their latest projects in budget and producing impressive animation, but they’ve outdone themselves here. The bus hostage crisis is by far the most gorgeous and well-paced action sequence of the season so far. And then there’s the camera loving to move around in any shot to convey Yuuta’s disorientation, an effect that can’t be cheap to animate.

Also, kick-ass soundtrack. Apparently that’s from the most successful music producer in Japan.

Of course, there’s no going around the fact that much underwear is on display here. At least it’s varied and never boring.

Overall Impression

Well, that was weird. But it’s utterly manic in a way that agrees with my sensibilities : it knows how to use each and every second of screentime to display something awesome, funny, or both. And it’s got great comedic timing. (Best joke of the episode : Chiranosuke turning to his laptop to complete his exposition, and having to shut down a window with cat porn before resuming without missing a beat. Second best joke : Mikatan doing an elaborate transforming dance, only to finally put on her Strange Juice costume the old-fashioned way, while Meika just rolls her eyes.)

After a while, the underwear fanservice even becomes a portent of DOOM rather than actually titillating… Which is of course the central joke of the series. It a show that wants to eat his cake and still have it, while having the audience cheer it on. For me, it works.

This is just as good as I was expecting. No way I’m skipping it.

via [In Which I Review] New anime, Spring 2015 – Page 4.

EtoTama

(12 episodes)

What’s it about ?

A comedy show about the the cat being left out of the Chinese zodiac… Wait, Wikipedia claims a manga adaptation of this started publication in 2013. How long has this TV show been stuck in the pipeline ?

Characters

Takeru, our male protagonist, found a cheap house to inhabit. Unfortunately, it’s haunted by…

Nyaa-tan, the personification of the Cat zodiac sign. Which doesn’t exist in the Chinese zodiac, of course. (She blames the Rat.) She intends to reclaim her rightful place by… actually, I fell asleep halfway through this, so I have no clue what her zany plan entails. The only thing I can see is that the house is no longer standing by the end of the episode.

Takeru is also harassed by all 12 of the other zodiac signs. There’s a running joke of nobody remembering those past the Snake, so I’ll take that as a cue not to bother listing them all. The only one with a degree of distinctiveness is Chuu-tan (ie the Rat), who smirks in the background while wearing a dominatrix outfit. Of course she does.

Production Values

Nothing to write home about. It’s okay, I guess, although some of the signs’ outfits are more than a bit fanservicey (especially Moo-tan !).

Overall Impression

Ah, the token series that completely puts me to sleep in spite of its hyperactivity. But then, those one-note characters are unengaging, the central joke isn’t particularly funny, and I just can’t bring myself to care.

Next show, please !

via [In Which I Review] New anime, Spring 2015 – Page 4.

Mikagura School Suite (Mikagura Gakuen Kumikyoku)

(12 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Adaptation of a comedy light novel series, itself based on a series of vocaloid songs. Is this starting to become a thing ?

Characters

Eruna, our protagonist, does her best to be as irritating as possible. She’s lazy (to the point of playing around instead of choosing a high school to attend after her graduation), shallow (she picks the school her cousin suggests because it’s got nice-looking uniforms and dorms), and more than a bit of a pervert. Also, she’s clearly attracted to girls, if her dating sims and the way she slobbers over any pretty girl in sight are any indication.

Fortunately for her, the entrance exam is a joke. She gets a ridiculously easy special test (“1+5 = ?”), and a nonsensical interview that she passes just for seeing the magical mascot interviewing her. (There’s noise in the background that she got fast-tracked because of her bloodline or something like that.)

The school’s gimmick is that there are a number of cultural clubs competing in battles, and the standing of your club determines the quality of your accommodations ; as someone in no club yet, Eruna gets barely any food, 5 minutes of water in the shower, and a sleeping bag in a corridor. This gives her strong incentives to join a club, any club. She just has to find one that’ll accept her. Given her obnoxious personality, that’s no easy feat.

Each representative of a club we see lugs around a giant symbol of their club, for some reason. So far, we have :
– the enthusiastic head of the calligraphy girl (giant paintbrush)
– the super-shy and apologetic member of the astronomy club (decent-sized telescope)
– the member of the painting club with the face of a thug (and merely some paint on his face)
– …I’m not sure I want to know what the club of the guy hanging around in the background with a big scythe is about.

Seisa, the headmistress’s granddaughter, heads the “going home club” (of which she is the only member), which is apparently a polite excuse for her to stay in her room most of the time. She goes out of her way to offer Eruna potential membership in her club. Eruna is delighted (she’d been drooling over the beauty posing in the school’s leaflet for a while), although she’s slightly more worried when Seisa asks her to take her place in the club battle… next week.

I have no clue what’s going on in the prologue.

Production Values

Quite good. It can sell the school as a place of wonder and weirdness, and it’s got decent comedic timing.

Overall Impression

Well, that was certainly baffling. Still, I’m a bit intrigued ; and while Eruna is a terrible excuse for a human being, she’s at least entertainingly so. I’m as curious as her as what the heck is going on with this school ; provided some answers come at a decent pace, this could prove to be fun. On the other hand, if it keeps on being gratuitously random and goes nowhere, it’ll wear on my patience very quickly.

This could turn out either way ; still, I’m willing to give it a second episode. Don’t waste it and please get to the point.

via [In Which I Review] New anime, Spring 2015 – Page 4.

My Love Story!! (Ore Monogatari!!)

(24 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Adaptation of a shoujo romantic comedy manga series.

Characters

Takeo, our protagonist, is a hulk of a kid. Despite just graduating middle school, he’s about twice as tall as his classmates. He’s brusque, not good at schoolwork and a bit dumb, but he’s a good kid at heart.

Makoto, his best friend, has nothing in common with him ; he’s a handsome kid all the girls around fawn over. Including just about every girl Takeo liked ; they all tend to confess to Makoto before Takeo can make a move. Makoto rejected every single one of them, and Takeo didn’t have the heart to push things any further.

If you’re wondering why they’re friends… well, they’re neighbours and have known each other forever. Takeo is the only person who makes Makoto laugh through his bumbling ; and somehow, it doesn’t feel mean-spirited. They just feel like they’re comfortable with each other.

Yamato is a girl Takeo saves from a groper in the train. The joke is that while she seems genuinely attracted to him, he assumes she’s just interested in Makoto standing just behind him, like all the other girls. Cue long series of misunderstandings. (By the way, while Makoto does find her nice – apparently the first time he said that of a girl ever – he’s also eager to get out of the way so that Takeo can romance her without obstacle. Unfortunately, he doesn’t quite manage to.)

Production Values

Well, shojo adaptation, so expect bright shiny colours and tons of sparkles. The contrast with Takeo’s frightening appearance is the whole point, of course.

On the other hand, there are often some gag asides that are just written in the background ; that must have worked better in the original medium.

Overall Impression

Well, that was fun. It’s a simple setup, but with charming enough characters and a slightly unusual protagonist that its feel fresher. Hopefully the 2-season length of the show means that they’ve planned it so that it can have a decent conclusion (although you never know, as the manga is still ongoing).

Anyway, I don’t need much incentive to watch a shojo romantic comedy, a genre I always find at least decently entertaining ; and since this seems to be the only such offering this season, I’m not going to be picky. Especially as it’s certainly good enough.

via [In Which I Review] New anime, Spring 2015 – Page 4.

Triage X

(10 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Adaptation of a very fanservicey manga series about hospital-themed vigilantes.

Characters

Arashi, our brooding protagonist, and pointman of the vigilante team. Also a high-schooler, because fuck plausibility. His tragic backstory : both him and his best friend Ryu were caught in a terrorist attack, and the only reason he’s the lone survivor of that is that the surgeon used parts of Ryu’s body to piece him back together. So now he’s regularly having visions of kid!Ryu, acting as a sort of moral compass.

By the way, the surgeon was Ryu’s father, and is the one who founded and directs the vigilante team Black Label. (They need to excise the cancers of society ! he exposits with a completely straight face to a team that must have heard that speech dozens of times already.) Other members include :
– Mikoto, Arashi’s direct partner, who drives him around on a motorbike, if possible with crazy stunts. Such as erupting into a room from a window… on the fourth floor. (How she managed that is left refreshingly unexplored.)
– Oriha, the bomb maniac, who also does stuff like an impromptu musical idol number in front of utterly bemused goons. The camera does its best to ensure we know she wears panties.
– Yuuko, a spotter who shows up sunbathing in a bikini during the opening mission. Her boobs are the first thing the episode opens with.
– And several more boring members. All of them in some kind of nurse/doctor-themed outfit.

Together, they fight crime ! Their initial target was the corrupt head of a construction company ; the other half of the episode is devoted to his son, who is intent on inheriting the family business, and kidnapped an accountant about to talk to the cops, as well as his daughter. Why his daughter ? Because he needed someone to gratuitously torture, and the accountant just wouldn’t do !

Tatara is a grizzled cowboy cop who showed up slightly before the heroes in that second case, and without the backup needed to handle the dozens of goons in the building. Frankly I have no clue how he hoped to arrest the son on sheer bravado… which really doesn’t work here. I think we’re supposed to believe his interference fucked everything up, with the accountant getting shot and the right-hand-man managing to escape, but frankly I’d rather blame our “heroes” for being more showy than effective and bungling this on their own.

Hinako is a schoolmate of Arashi’s who’s got a crush on him, but clearly her flat D-cup has no chance against the likes of Mikoto (who also attends the same high school). Poor girl.

There’s a stinger with a bunch of other villains (most of them female) plotting something in some room where they forgot to put on the lights. Since they’ve got distinctive character designs and some behaviour quirks, I presume they’re gonna be important ; but it’s left to future episodes to give us a clue as to what they’re actually up to.

Production Values

This is the kind of show where the adverts promise that the DVDs & BluRays won’t have any of that pesky steam or random white light. On the other hand, the gratuitous shower scene is the only point where that comes into play ; and it’s only the tip of the iceberg for the fanservice here, with most of that uncensored.

Overall Impression

What makes me roll my eyes here isn’t the obnoxious fanservice. It’s how drab and serious this tries to look despite how ridiculously exploitative everything is. Arashi is drowning in angst, Ryu’s father seems to actually believe in his rants, and I’m apparently supposed to take Tatara’s feelings of impotence somewhat seriously. Ahah, no. Alas, there is such a thing as being too deadpan, and the show crossed the line. I really hope the manga author had his tongue firmly planted in cheek ; unfortunately, that nuance is lost in adaptation.

One episode of this trainwreck was enough, thank you.

via [In Which I Review] New anime, Spring 2015 – Page 4.

RIN-NE (Kyoukai no Rinne)

(25 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Adaptation of the latest manga series by Rumiko Takahashi (Ranma 1/2, Inuyasha). Okay, it started publication in 2009, but you know what I mean.

Characters

Sakura, our heroine, is an ordinary high school girl with the one quirk : she can see ghosts and spirits. (Apparently someone thought it was a good idea to bring her to the spirit world when she was young.) She’d rather not have that gift and live a normal life, though, so she’s trying to ignore and avoid eye contact with the various ghosts she crosses paths with daily.

Rinne is supposed to be the guy sitting next to her in class, but there’s clearly something off with him. There’s the bright red hair. There’s the fact he didn’t show up at all for a month, making everyone wonder whether he even existed. He’s also apparently so poor he can’t afford a proper school uniform… or so he claims, since he also got his hands on an expensive-looking robe that makes him invisible to everyone but Sakura. (It also works the reverse way : people can see ghosts wearing it inside out.) Also, he’s set up a donation box so that people can ask him to solve their supernatural problems ; this mostly involves him guiding ghosts to the next step of the Circle of Reincarnation so that they stop harassing humans.

Two small cases this week, mostly as a way to introduce the premise : a prank caller, and that ghost dude who was stuck in the middle of Sakura’s way to school.

Production Values

Remember when studio Brain’s Base used to produce some of the most interesting series in any given season ? Well, it seems their star has fallen a bit, as they’re not involved anymore with the new seasons of Durarara!, or even Teenage Romcom SNAFU. Instead, they’re doing this… which I don’t think is going to put them back on the map either.

This show looks decent, but there’s something in the transition to modern animation and coloring techniques that seems to smother Takahashi’s original style a bit.

Overall Impression

Well, this is perfectly watchable, there’s some decent comedic timing… but why does this feel so generic and rote ? This is drowning in stock elements (half of them pilfered from Takahashi’s other, better series), and lacking any kind of personality. That it’s a daytime show not even getting a full year doesn’t feel like the producers have that much confidence in it. (And it’s not like like anyone expects a Takahashi series to have a satisfying conclusion within only 25 episodes.)

This is mildly entertaining, as even Takahashi on autopilot still has a perfect control of the basics, but I’m afraid that won’t cut it in a season with much more distinctive shows available. I’m giving it a second episode to see how the supporting cast is introduced, but I don’t expect to stick with it.

via [In Which I Review] New anime, Spring 2015 – Page 3.

Sound! Euphonium (Hibike! Euphonium)

(12ish episodes)

What’s it about ?

No, this isn’t KyoAni revisiting their past glory of K-On!. After all, instead of a slapstick 4-panel manga, it adapts a novel featuring what looks like a “save our club” dramatic storyline.

Characters

Kumiko, our heroine, used to play the euphonium (a sort of smaller tuba) in her middle-school’s brass band club, but she’s more ambivalent about it right now. For one, she’s clearly trying a bit too hard to reinvent herself for her high-school debut. For two, this school’s band club sucks. And for three, she kinda wants to avoid the likes of…

Reina (trumpet), one of the most serious members of her middle school’s brass band club, and the one most broken up by the club narrowly failing to qualify for the national gold prize. Things got a bit awkward between her and Kumiko after the latter blurted out the wrong thing while trying to console the former. Anyway, for some reason she’s in this mediocre high school too (despite Kumiko thinking she could have aimed for better), and she joined the band club in a heartbeat.

That Shuuichi (trombone), Kumiko’s childhood friend with whom she just had a nasty break-up (despite him trying to play it like nothing happened), also joined the club doesn’t help. She really doesn’t want to revisit that drama.

What changes her mind are her new friends : ~~Sapphire~~ Midori (contrabass), who hates her embarrassing name, and Hazuki (an enthusiastic newbie who’s apparently going to take up playing the tuba). Both of them manage to remind her enough of her initial enthusiasm at playing an instrument to convince her to give the band club a try.

There’s a dude wandering awkwardly while listening to music in a few scenes that have no connection with anything else (aside from him having the same taste in music as Kumiko) ; I presume he’s going to be the club’s new advisor or something.

Production Values

It’s KyoAni ; of course it looks gorgeous, with impressive attention to detail. No shortcuts while showing people playing music here. And hey, brass band music is awesome.

Overall Impression

Well, it’s the tried and true “Save Our Club” formula, mixed with a strong narrative focus on Kumiko herself. There’s nothing wrong with that, and she does come off as having some hidden depths, but it’s not exactly earth-shaking either. It’s perfectly okay and watchable, but that’s it.

On the other hand, I like this kind of music, and it’s not like there’s anything else to watch on Tuesdays, so I’m probably going to stick with it.

via [In Which I Review] New anime, Spring 2015 – Page 3.

The Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-chan

Again, no full review for the Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-chan ; it’s a show that makes no sense if you’re not familiar with the parent franchise.

If you are familiar with it, then you’ll be even more baffled, as it completely misses the point.

A running thread in the Haruhi franchise is how protagonist Kyon is in complete denial over Haruhi being his type, as his narration instead keeps lusting over super-submissive moeblob Mikuru. The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya is all about Yuki misunderstanding his feelings by creating an alternate reality that keeps Haruhi out of the picture and turns herself into a moeblob. And the whole point of that story is that it was a mistake, a horrific perversion of reality that Kyon couldn’t decently let stand.

And yet, here we are, in a version of this perverted universe with the added wrinkle that Kyon seems none the wiser, and is thus having a generic romantic comedy with Yuki as the main love interest, and Ryoko as the pushy friend who nudges the two of them together. I find it rather telling that Kyon’s character design is horribly off-model in this, making him look way more generic than the KyoAni version. (Yet, Tomokazu Sugita still somehow voices the same Kyon as always.)

The problem here is that while Yuki’s wet dream originally had a narrative purpose, it’s completely boring once stripped of that context. The links to the original franchise only underline by contrast how empty and dull the characters have become. You’ve basically removed everything that made the original story interesting.

I can’t imagine what the effect of actually bringing back Haruhi into this will be (she only gets a cameo in this first episode, but it looks like she’s going to actually feature in the future), but I’m not masochistic enough to stick around until it happens. I’m done, thank you.

via [In Which I Review] New anime, Spring 2015 – Page 2.