New Anime Series – Page 38

PSYCHO-PASS

(22 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Minority Report, the Anime.

Characters

Tsunemori, the newbie cop fresh from the police academy, here to be heavily traumatized by the harsh reality in the trenches. At this stage she’s obviously mostly a device to explain how the setting works, although the plot is sadistic enough to put a new spin on this well-worn police drama cliché.

Masaoka, the grizzled old veteran who explains everything to the n00b. The twist is that he’s a “potential criminal” (or so the omnipresent computer system has decided), and thus part of a group of “hounds” on a short leash who help track down the currently-at-large other potential criminals. So it’s the newbie who’s in charge of him, and can pull the trigger on him at any moment. (The special-gun-that-only-works-on-potential-criminals fortunately has a “stun” setting, although all safeties are off if the target gets too unbalanced.)

Kougami, the other hound she’s in charge of, looks like male lead potential (complete with an albino archrival !), although he mostly stays in the background this episode.

Ginoza, her senior partner, supervises his own pair of hounds (the hard woman and the joker), and has no time to babysit her. And he’s slightly disappointed she’s showing some humanity and doubts about the fairness of the system.

The case of the week demonstrates the dystopian quality of the setting with the subtlety of an anvil. The perp is just a guy who failed a random street psych scan, is now hunted down for being a potential criminal, and decided that he’s going down he might has well commit a vile crime while he’s at it. And let’s not even get into his victim’s case, who gets so traumatized that she’s now failing psych scans too…

Of course, one can play devil’s advocate for the system and say that this dude was so unbalanced already that he would have done something horrible at some point anyway, and that our protagonists’ first response is always to bring their targets down non-lethally if they can so that therapy can be done properly. Still, that’s assuming the system actually works and the computers are trustworthy. Has this ever happened in this type of story ?

Production Values

Very good. While not as gorgeous as K, this clearly has a high budget, and maintains perfect clarity despite the heavy grit filter. Nice soundtrack, too.

There’s clearly a heavy Ghost in the Shell influence at play here, from some of the directing and aesthetics to the blatantly gratuitous camo-suit scene in the beginning.

Do be warned that Gen Urobuchi is involved in writing this series, with all the deliberate cruelty and gore this entails.

What did I think of it ?

Hum. This episode is so busy with making its premise crystal clear that it becomes a bit clunky. There are even jokes acknowledging how exposition-heavy it is !

Still, there’s nothing wrong with the premise… wait, no, of course the premise is very wrong. But it’s a decent starting point, and I trust Gen Urobuchi to do more interesting things with it in the next 21 episodes. I’m giving it at least a few more episodes to find its feet.

via [In which I review] New anime, Fall 2012 – Page 6.

Girls und Panzer

What’s it about ?

Cute girls driving tanks. This is a fetish for someone, presumably.

Characters

Miho, our protagonist. For some reason she came to study in this high-school despite having no interest whatsoever in driving tanks, which is all the more ludicrous once you reach the final “twist” of where the school is located. She’s going to be roped into it anyway, if the opening flash-forward battle is any indication.

She quickly makes a couple of generic friends. There’s also an appearance by the student council who go out of their way to make sure that Miho is going to join the tank-driving courses, or else.

There are dozens of girls cameo-ing in the action prologue/fast-forward, none of them showing any trace of personality.

Production Values

There’s something that doesn’t work with the CG backgrounds in the opening action sequence ; it looks way more terrible than when the camera doesn’t move. I think it’s those ground textures that just don’t lend themselves well for animation.

Aside from this problem, this looks decently executed, and the fanservice is actually pretty mild.

What did I think of it ?

Bo-ring. Those girls are very dull and do nothing of any interest during the episode. The opening action sequence gives no indication of why the battle is happening or what the scales are, and thus no reason to care about its outcome (that we don’t even get to see, of course).

I nearly fell asleep while watching this. No way I’m giving it a second episode.

via [In which I review] New anime, Fall 2012 – Page 6.

Sakurasou’s Pet Girl (Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo)

(24 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Sakurasou is a special dorm for an “art” school, designed to keep in check the most socially-inept-but-artistically-brillant students.

Characters

Sorata is the one “normal” guy in Sakurasou ; he’s there because he likes taking care of stray cats and the dorms for normal people don’t allow pets. As the only person with a head on his shoulders, he’s often tasked with helping out with the other residents’ idiosyncracies.

The current students attending the dorm include : Misaki the energetic artist/animator with no sense of decency ; Jin the casanova writer, and some programmer dude who only communicates through his maid-avatared answering machine.

And also Mashiro, the newest arrival, incidentally the teacher-in-charge’s niece. Very un-energetic indeed.

Sorata’s also got a kinda-girlfriend patiently waiting for him with the normals, although I’m not sure he’s noticed.

Production Values

Perfectly okay.

What did I think of it ?

Hum. I heavily dislike the “guy takes care of socially-inept girl” genre on principle, and even this series mostly playing it for comedy doesn’t manage to overcome that. There are some decent jokes, but it mostly degenerates into “ahahah she can’t dress herself that’s so funny” fare by the end of the episode.

Maybe in less busy a season I’d give this more time to find its feet, but no thanks. (Especially as it’s going to last for 6 months.)

via [In which I review] New anime, Fall 2012 – Page 6.

Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic

What’s it about ?

A fresh take on the Arabian Nights.

Characters

Alibaba is our point-of-view character through most of the episode. At this stage, he’s a snivelling coward barely ekking out a living. (Yuuki Kaji should voice more snivelling cowards, as he’s very good at it.) Still, he’s got some shreds of decency left under the smarm.

One day he meets Aladdin, a strange kid who was eating his merchandise. Kiddo’s got an awesome flute that summons a giant powerful djinn, but he only uses it when Alibaba shows some spine and does the right thing.

Our villain of the week is Budel, a generic evil merchant and slaver Alibaba is initially working his debts off for. Of more interest is his boss Jamil, who exudes more charisma in a single minute of screentime than his underling over the whole episode. Presumably he’s going to be important.

There’s also a redhead slave that our heroes make token efforts to break free throughout the episode. In a dark bit that I hope is intentional, they completely forget about her at the end as they ride towards the sunset.

The overall plot involves “Dungeons”, big inexplicable towers full of traps and treasure that are sprinkled all over the place. Aladdin found his flute in one of them, and wants to “free” more of those djinn containers. Alibaba’s perfectly happy to tag along with the kid, because treasure ! (And it’s probably safer to stay with the kid who managed to successfully infiltrate one of those.)

Production Values

I’m not too keen on the way our heroes’ face contort round when the show goes for comedy, but it can’t be denied that it’s not afraid to use distinctive character designs.

What did I think of it ?

This is fun. It takes a while to hit its stride, but there are some nice gags, the stakes are reasonably high, and Aladdin’s use of his deus-ex-machina djinn feels appropriate enough.

I’m game for more.

via [In which I review] New anime, Fall 2012 – Page 5.

Ixion Saga: Dimensional Transfer

(24 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Loser gamer is somehow sucked into a fantasy RPG world. The usual jokes ensue.

Characters

Kon, an avid MMORPG player who suddenly gets sucked into the game (or something) after falling for a honey trap. The guy is a despicable moron, and only survives the episode from a combination of dumb luck and dumb luck.

He stumbles upon the adventuring party of Ecarlate, very young princess chased by the baddies ; Sainglain, badass sword-wielding knight ; and Mariandale, gun-wielding maide… wait, that’s a dude ? HOW ?

It’s never properly explained why the baddies want to prevent Ecarlate from reaching her destination and marrying the prince of whatever, but it’s not like this series cares about the details much. It seems much more concerned about making horribly bad puns, such as the Big Bad’s initials being short for “erectile dysfunction”. (Also, the “DT” series acronym is apparently also short for Kon’s virgin status.)

Production Values

Remember how I said before that Brain’s Base bring a baseline of quality to every project they touch ? Well, this is the exception. It looks like crap throughout, and the fact that it’s probably on purpose isn’t an excuse.

What did I think of it ?

Sleep deprivation must be making strange things to my taste, because I don’t immediately want to drop this, despite the shoddy production values, the lame story and the stale jokes. Am I so easily amused by Jun Fukuyama playing a drag-queen with gusto ? Or is it just the basic lampooning of RPG clichés as our “heroes” beat up everyone in sight so that they can take their stuff ?

Despite my better judgment, I’m at least giving it a second episode.

via [In which I review] New anime, Fall 2012 – Page 5.

Say “I Love You” (Sukitte ii na yo)

(13 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Our third shoujo romance show of the season ; this one is introvert chick X unbelievably-nice guy.

Characters

Tachibana, our protagonist. She’s very distrustful of people, and her gloomy disposition certainly doesn’t help matters. (There’s a rumour among her classmates that somebody may have heard her speak recently, but that isn’t confirmed.) Her widowed Mom tries to be supportive, to little avail.

Kurosawa, the guy everyone admires. Nice, good-looking, and impossibly perfect in every way. He starts taking a liking to our female lead after she kicks him down the stairs (she was aiming at his mandatory perverted best friend, who was taking a peek under her skirt).

They come together after he chases off an adult dude who was stalking her at her part-time-job.

Production Values

Average.

What did I think of it ?

I’ve got to give it credit : the show managed to make me like its male lead despite his obvious wish-fulfilment status. The guy is so nice it’s hard to resent him. I also like that the situation isn’t entirely black-and-white : however serious the bullying and the stalker incident Tachibana suffers from are, her asocial behaviour isn’t helping. I’m not used to shoujo heroines being so unlikeable on purpose, and it being played for drama, and I’m kinda interested in seeing where it goes from here.

via [In which I review] New anime, Fall 2012 – Page 5.

CØDE:BREAKER

(13 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Magic-wielding teenage vigilantes.

Characters

Sakura, out point-of-view character. She’s the perfect idol of her high school (good-looking, great at studying, beats dudes twice her size in the Aikado dojo, etc.), cares for the homeless, and has enough charisma to pull off not being annoying.

Rei, the new transfer student. The bad news is that Sakura is pretty sure she saw him burning five people to death the night before in a park. She’s initially very distrustful of him, although he behaves so nicely throughout the episode that she’s starting to doubt whether she had hallucinations. This is despite the multiple warning signs, such as him never actually denying he killed those guys, and stating that he has a part-time job as a sanitation worker (is the phrase “taking out the trash” ever used straight ?).

Our baddies are the Falcon Gang, a big gang who are in cahoots with the police and doing random evil such as killing the homeless. Rei’s first set of victims were members, and he sets even more of them on blue fire at the end of the episode.

… just before doing the same thing to Sakura, because who needs loose ends ?

The OP/ED feature prominently four other magic-wielding teenagers who obviously share some connection with Rei, and have a cameo at the end to comment on how “it’s begun” after Rei’s outburst is visible from several blocks away.

Production Values

Not very good.

Overall Impression

I’m usually not one for hardcore vigilante shows, but this one isn’t without its charms. There’s some nice comedy in Sakura & Rei’s interactions, especially when their initial confrontation is mistaken by everyone else as a rejected love confession. It’s exactly the right kind of levity to avoid the series being too grim and gritty to be watchable.

Also, I don’t believe for a second that Sakura really dies at the end, but that’s one heck of a cliffhanger and I’m watching at least the next episode just to see how she gets out of this pickle. (If she does die… well, way to lose my interest, show. But I hope it’s better than that.)

via [In which I review] New anime, Fall 2012 – Page 5.

Little Busters!

(26 episodes)

What’s it about ?

A group of close-knit childhood friends try having one last fun adventure together before graduating from high school. By playing baseball.

Surprisingly for a Key visual novel adaptation, there isn’t any real romance or gut-punching melodrama. (Yet.)

Characters

Riki, the normal, nice guy. A bit of a pushover, he was the last addition to the group ; that’s why he’s so keen on keeping the magic going and having the Little Busters still do stuff together. (As he’d never have had so much fun on his own.)

Kyousuke, the group’s leader. He’s the one with the big, crazy ideas, and despite none of the others being able to follow his reasoning for why baseball, they’re still game because it sounds like fun.

Rin, his sister. Perfectly able to handle her own in their frequent fights. Sent to a mission in the girls’ dorm to get more players, although it’s not working out quite well.

The last two members are Masato, the moron, and Kengo, the kendo guy, who are regularly feuding on ridiculous pretexts for the heck of it.

Also in this episode : the bitch squad (whose leader is in the actual softball team), and a clumsy girl who looks like the perfect love interest for Riki.

Production Values

Not very good. It sells the jokes and that’s it.

Overall Impression

There’s a weird, manic energy to the Little Busters’ antics. The characters themselves are pretty one-note and the plot has no stakes whatsoever, but the crap they do is so random and creative that their energy is overpowering. It helps that Rin’s recruitment run has perfect comedic timing and is hilarious throughout.

Is it lightweight fluff ? Oh, sure. But it’s fun enough to be watchable.

via [In which I review] New anime, Fall 2012 – Page 5.

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure (JoJo no Kimyou na Bouken)

(26 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Ridiculously hot-blooded family feuds in late 19th-century Britain.

Characters

Jonathan Joestar, aka the titular “JoJo”. The teenage heir to a rich family, he’s mostly a nice guy, but a bit of an entitled brat (and has his fair share of “what the hell, hero ?” moments).

Dio Brando, son of a man who “saved” (i.e. “was about to steal the gold teeth of”) Mr Joestar Sr’s life more than a decade ago, and thus is welcomed like a second son after Daddy dies. He’s much more liked than JoJo, in part because he does outwardly behave better than the true son, but mostly because he’s an EEEE-VIL conniving bastard who does everything he can to undermine JoJo’s reputation. This includes alienating his friends, stealing his kinda-girlfriend, and burning his dog down. Just in case you had missed that he’s supposed to be EVIL.

Production Values

Wow, old school ! The original manga got published in 1987, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it was already looking retro by then. The quality is kinda crap, but since it’s a parody anyway it doesn’t matter.

Overall Impression

It’s hard to explain exactly why this show is so mesmerizing. It’s not subtle, and very stupid indeed, but the joke works. Can it support 26 episodes ? Maybe if it lives up to the “bizarre” of the title, and gets to be weirder than the very pedestrian plot we get this episode ; which is fine for a setup episode, but I was kinda expecting more, you know ?

Still, I’m giving it a couple more episodes to find its feet.

via [In which I review] New anime, Fall 2012 – Page 4.

Just because you’re my brother doesn’t mean there can’t be love ! (Onii-chan Dakedo Ai Sae Areba Kankeinai yo ne)

(12 episodes)

What’s it about ?

The title says it all, doesn’t it ?

Characters

Akiko, our protagonist, has just moved to her brother Akito’s high school dorm after six years living apart. (The reason why they’ve been separated for so long, or indeed whether they have any parents at all, is left unstated.) For some reason she’s madly in love with him, and tries to sex him up at every opportunity.

To Akito’s credit, he’s completely baffled by this, and tries as tactfully as possibly to push her advances away. Well, until ten minutes into the show, where he stops being subtle.

Because this premise gets annoyingly repetitive already by the halfway point, the show spices things up by adding three other female roommates : the brash tomboy with an inexplicable eyepatch, the emotionless deadpan snarker, and the nice one. Because lazy storytelling, all five of them are somehow make up the student council.

Production Values

It’s a shame Silver Link get wasted on animating this crap, because at least they’re making it look decent. Well, aside from the numerous close-up on female thighs. (Boobs aren’t forgotten either.)

Overall Impression

Oh dear gods please shoot me. Akiko is thoroughly annoying within mniutes of showing up on screen, and stays that way throughout. I suppose this show is slightly better than its ilk for making its central point that everyone thinks that Akiko’s obsession is ludicrous and unhealthy. The problem is that the joke is barely funny to start with, and certainly isn’t anymore by the hundredth time it’s hammered home.

A comedy show that’s dreadfully unfunny. Avoid.
(But then, as someone who actually has a younger sister, I get the feeling I’m not in the audience for those siscon/brocon shows and just shouldn’t bother with any of them.)

via [In which I review] New anime, Fall 2012 – Page 4.