transported to another world

Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World- (Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu)

(25 episodes, the first one double-sized)

What’s it about ?

Adaptation of a light-novel series about a loser shut-in who gets to start a new life in a fantasy world… but without any of the protagonist perks those stories usually entail. Wait, doesn’t this feel awfully familiar ?

Characters

Subaru, our shut-in protagonist, somehow went from buying groceries at night to finding himself in a med-fan world with just his tracksuit, some pocket change nobody here accepts, a cellphone without reception, a bag of chips and some instant noodles. There’s nobody around to explain to him how and why he’s been brought here (and certainly no cute and helpful girl). He doesn’t suddenly know any magic. And he’s wandered off into a dark alley where he’s immediately mugged by three toughs.

“Satella” (totally not her real name) is the girl who saves him (after a fashion). She’s really after a thief who stole her badge, but she’s got chronic tsundere hero syndrome, and thus can’t stop herself from taking the time to heal Subaru up. (She’s an half-elf with ice and healing magic, plus a catlike familiar.) And then she helps a random lost kid to find her mom. On the one hand… there’s no way she finds her badge back at this rate, right ? On the other hand, Subaru is much of the same mold, and thus insists on helping her track it down.

Felt, the thief, is a smart kid who knows that it’s better to hold sale negotiations with the backup of a half-giant with a big stick who lives in the slums. She’s going to hold a tough bargain when they finally get there.

Production Values

Wow, pretty ! I’m not so sure about the rough CG passerbys in the background, but this is otherwise gorgeously animated and pops out full of life.

What did I think of it ?

Oh, nice one. At first it indeed feels a lot like a gentler KonoSuba, with characters who are actually quite likeable and don’t feed off each other’s misery. But that’s only to lull the audience into a false sense of security ; the show is much darker (and bloodier) than the heroes’ easy-going hijinks initially let show. There’s something quite sinister going on in the background, and the swerve is handled rather well. Indeed, this is a very good use of the first episode’s double-length.

It was already quietly growing on me, but now I must keep watching to learn what the heck is going on here. Well done, show.

Source: [In Which I Review] New anime, Spring 2016 – Page 2

Endride

(24 episodes)

What’s it about ?

“Original” show about a teenager being transported to a medieval-fantasy land. That’s never been done before !

Characters

Shun, our teenage high school protagonist has one passion : gems (and assorted pretty rocks). That’s all he ever thinks about. Well, that, and being a bit angry at Dad for being so busy at his vaguely futuristic lab that he forgets his own birthday. Hey, what’s that pretty gem in that case near Dad’s desk ? *WHOOSH*

Emilio is the son of the former king of the land of Endora. He learned years ago that the current king had his father killed, has been training for years to achieve his vengeance, and now he ruins it all on a half-baked assassination attempt that fails very predictably. (I’ll note that the “usurper” is surprisingly chill about all this and seems intent on keeping Emilio alive for some reason.)

Shun conveniently pops up right in front of Emilio’s cell, somehow dispatches the guards by summonning a ridiculous sword (the big gimmick of the show, it seems), and then both are off getting out of dodge.

Production Values

Ouch. At best, it looks painfully generic and uninspired. At its worst, we get nonsense like whatever the new king is wielding. Also, the “epic” score probably should be applied more delicately ; a montage of Shun doodling at school or going to the library isn’t quite the most appropriate moment for it to be blaring at full volume.

What did I think of it ?

Well, this is certainly an aggressively bland show indeed. The characters are one-dimensional, the plot is wafer-thin and an excuse for uninspired sword-fights, and every element of the show feels utterly painted-by-numbers.

I just don’t care. Next show, please !

Source: [In Which I Review] New anime, Spring 2016 – Page 2

KonoSuba – God’s Blessing on this Wonderful World! (Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo!)

(11 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Adaptation of yet another light novel series about a gamer dude being transported to an heroic-fantasy world with RPG-ish mechanics.

Characters

Kazuma, our protagonist, was your typical obsessive and reclusive teenage gamer, barely getting out of his flat once in a while to buy the one store-exclusive special edition of a game. On one such fateful day, he saw a female classmate of his about to be run over, and jumped to push her out of the way. And died. Well, technically she was in no actual danger from the slow-moving tractor, and he died of cardiac arrest, so it was a really stupid and pointless death. Nethertheless, he wakes up in the afterlife in front of…

Aqua, one of the goddesses dealing with triage. Once she can stop sniggering at his totally lame death, she mentions the standard deal : either he goes to heaven (really boring, with no games), or gets reincarnated as a blank slate. Or he can take the special offer : see, there’s this one heroic-fantasy world under the threat of a terrible Demon-Lord, to the point that few of the locals want to reincarnate there. So the offer is for Kazuma to reincarnate there, with his memory and skills intact, PLUS a special bonus ; here’s a list of possible talents, he can choose anything in here.

Being a rules-lawyering gamer to the extreme, Kazuma choses to take Aqua with him. Cue hilarity as it’s technically a valid choice, and she gets shanghaied with him against her will. Her only way back is for them to defeat the Demon Lord. And hey, a goddess is bound to be useful, right ? As it turns out, not much, actually. She’s got no combat skills, knows next to nothing about the world because she never bothered with the small stuff (Kazuma barely gets by on genre savviness alone), and she didn’t have time to get any money. Also, INT and LUCK were her dump stats, if it wasn’t already obvious. (In contrast, Kazuma has very puny stats asides from INT, and a super-high LUCK which is actually said to be useless in this setting.)

The OP sequence playing at the end suggest our heroes are going to be joined by a Paladin and a Mage in their quest very soon.

Production Values

This is another Deen show that looks much better than the studio’s reputation would have you think. It’s especially good at body language and facial expressions, which is essential to selling the jokes.

On the minus side, the camera seems to be quite obsessed with Aqua’s crotch and ass. Especially her half-see-through skirt.

Overall Impression

Hey, this was really funny ! The two leads have amazing chemistry together, and there were actually a few jokes I hadn’t seen before (such as the starting town having no weak mobs to grind with anymore, as they were wiped out ages ago). Even the usual ones are sold by the very good comedic timing.

This looks like a ton of fun ; I’m in.

Source: [In Which I Review] New anime, Winter 2016 – Page 4

Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash (Hai to Gensou no Grimgar)

(12 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Adaptation of yet another light novel series about teenagers being trapped in a videogame-like heroic-fantasy world.

Characters

Haruhiro, our point-of-view character, woke up one day in the land of Grimgar, without any memory of his past (or why he sometimes thinks of meaningless words like “mobile phones”). Together with the dozen or so teenagers who were with him in the same situation, he’s quickly brought up to speed by the predatory gay (sigh) innkeeper : they’re now all new adventures, here’s your starting package with your license and just about enough money for room and food while you get basic training. Have fun grinding the mobs !

Renji, the most strong-headed of the group, takes with him the most competent-looking half of them, and they apparently are making a pretty good start. But this show isn’t about them. Instead, it’s about the leftovers :
– Manato, the level-headed guy who seems like the oldest of the bunch by a bit, becomes the de facto party leader and suggests they all take different Jobs so they’ll have a balanced team. Cleric seems like the perfect match for him.
– Ranta is the brash jerkass who always gets into futile spats with everyone, but isn’t that bad a dude really. Of course he’d take Black Knight, although of course the level-1 armor must have been a disappointment.
– Moguzo, the big guy who’s really a softie who loves cooking, got to be a Warrior (i.e. the tank of the party).
– Yume, the tomboy, became a Hunter despite being unable to hit the broad side of a barn with her arrows.
– Shihoru, the shy big-breasted girl, got to be a Mage. Now, he only she could manage to actually finish an incantation…
– and Haruhiro became a Thief, as Manato figured they’d need one, and that didn’t sound too bad.

Now, after a week of training at their respective guilds, they’re ready to adventure and finally loot some mobs ! Or, er, be driven away by a couple of goblins, aka the weakest monsters around. Despite outnumbering them three to one. They completely suck, both individually and as a team. But, er, surely they’ll get better with trying, as well as better picking their fights ? (Like, maybe only the one goblin, if they can find such a loner ?)

Production Values

Wow, pretty backgrounds ! The animation ain’t bad either. The fanservice level was relatively tame until (1) the Thieves Guildmaster showed up and (2) Ranta started to rant about Shihoru’s huge knockers, which hopefully won’t be a regular occurrence.

Overall Impression

You know what ? I quite enjoyed this, despite not being a fan of the genre. Maybe it’s because it’s discarding most of the “power fantasy” aspects, with the heroes starting at the bottom level and having yet to win a fight by this first episode’s end. This also gives quite some room for world-building and laying out the team’s dynamic ; aside from Ranta, they’re a rather pleasant bunch I could see myself wanting to watch more of.

I’m giving this a few more episodes to see where it goes.

Source: [In Which I Review] New anime, Winter 2016 – Page 4

Norn9: Norn+Nonet

(12ish episodes)

What’s it about ?

Adaptation of a sci-fi “otome” visual novel. Interestingly, according to the Wikipedia description it seems to have switched point-of-view characters from the very young dude (who’s yet to show up) to one of the girls (which feels much more conventional).

Characters

Koharu is a girl who’s forgotten nearly everything about herself (it takes the whole episode for her to remember her name), who one day feels to compel to head for a shuttle that leads her to THE WORLD. Not the stand, but a huge ship (big enough to host a town and some bits of lands inside) that travels across the globe… and maybe spacetime, if the appearance of Koharu’s hometown is any indication (The World looks much more futuristic).

The only crew (and inhabitants) of The World are about a dozen teenagers, who seem to have been recruited similarly. (The big difference is that Koharu somehow got her hands on an uniform before she even got inside.) They spend most of their time on the chores required to living on The World (fishing, growing crops, etc.), and frankly I have no clue how they do this with so few people given the sheer size of the thing. On the other hand, The World appears to be self-driving, randomly relocating itself to whatever crisis they are meant to solve. (The show remains mysterious as to what those are yet.)

Oh, and a tower explodes at the end. Good way to keep my interest up, show !

(It’s apparently called “Norn9” because there are 9 dudes aboard, and somehow the three girls – including Koharu – don’t count. Whatever)

Production Values

Quite sharp-looking ; it’s certainly very good at selling The World as a setting with a huge scale and on a completely different technological level from anything else.

As you’d expect for the source, there’s a decent amount of manservice, mainly in the form of a bunch of the guys spending noticeably more time than narratively necessary swimming around.

Overall Impression

Usually I’m not in the audience for otome adaptations, but I have to give points to this one for sheer ambition. Sure, it spends most of its time faffing around with nothing particularly interesting happening, and the main characters don’t deviate much from the usual archetypes, but it almost feels like there’s an actual plot and purpose to the show.

I’m probably going to be disappointed, but I’m giving this a second episode.

Source: [In Which I Review] New anime, Winter 2016 – Page 2

OverLord

(13 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Adaptation of a light novel series with the novel premise of “player stuck into a MMORPG that became real”. Never seen that one before.
From what I can gather, it has nothing to do with the various videogames of the same name.

Characters

So, Yggdrasil. One of the big full-immersion MMORPG of its time. But it’s been 12 years, the player base had been dwindling down considerably for a while, so its editor has decided to call it a day and shut the servers down tonight.

Momonga, our protagonist, was the leader of one the biggest and strongest “monster” guilds of the game. Max level, tons of stuff and unique items (including his super-wand that can wish nearly anything and even bypass some programming), their own giant demon castle lair, dozens of custom NPC servants, the works. By now, of course, most of the guild members have left, with barely a few of them making an appearance on this last day. But Momonga has decided he’s going to stick around until the end, reminisce, and let the system log him out when the servers shut down.

When he wakes up after midnight, he notices with shock that he’s still in the throne room. The HUD and menus are gone, and he can’t raise anyone (be them other players or GMs) through voice chats. On the other hand, the NPCs now act a lot more real than their previous AI-constrained selves, and obey to all his casually-phrased orders (instead of needing specific commands).

And well, there’s Albedo, his NPC demon secretary, whom he had just rescripted to be in love with him, on a whim. This might have been a poor decision…

What’s going on here ? Has he slided into another world that’s identical to Yggdrasil somehow ? Can he get back to the real world ? Does he even want to ? Will the NPCs keep obeying their very confused master ?

Production Values

Quite good ; there’s some obvious CG work on some undead battle sequences, but it looks okay. And the animators have really managed to make Momonga expressive, with a body language belying clearly a benign middle manager disguised as an over-the-top overlord.

Overall Impression

Well, there’s a reason the cliché premises are still being recycled : they caught on our imagination and offer numerous variants. And hey, I don’t think I’ve seen any of these stories take the point of view of “the bad guys” (who are actually punch-clock villains more than anything else), so that’s something new for this show to explore. And it does so quite well ; Momonga truly feels like a MMORPG guild leader, and a very sympathetic protagonist. The NPC supporting cast also feel like they could grow into interesting characters (or at least entertaining ones).

If there’s one thing that’s lacking here, it’s a clear notion of where the story is going ; we don’t even know whether there’s anyone outside the lair at this point. But hey, that’s something for future episodes to explore ; this one has accomplished its job of selling me on the premise, at least for now.

Source: [In Which I Review] New anime, Summer 2015 – Page 5

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

SHOW BY ROCK!!

(13 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Adaptation of a smartphone rhythm videogame (with some raising sim elements).

Characters

Cyan, our highschool protagonist, spends the first five minutes of the show thinking she’s in a K-ON! clone : so shy she agonizes for ages over joining the light-music club, and moping over her guitar every evening that she couldn’t find her nerve. Sorry, girl, that’s the wrong show : so witness your phone suddenly crapping out and suddenly transporting you into a psychedelic digital world. As a gothic lolita catgirl, of course.

She lands in the middle of a concert by super-star band Trichronika, who were completely rocking it out until some monster showed up and shifted them to a parallel combat world. Apparently that’s a thing that often happens ; at least bystanders are safe, since only people with musical ability are affected… How, wait, Cyan was also standing there, right ?

… And that’s a good thing, as Trichronika were completely overpowered and she totally saved their bacon.

Amazingly, Cyan is then recruited not by Trichronika (who are grateful), but by the far less successful band Plasmagica, who nabbed her first after the battle. They’ve got a bunny girl, a dog girl and a sheep girl. Their manager is an egg.

So Cyan’s lost in bizarre world she has no clue about… but hey, she’s in a band now ! Score !

(There’s also a stinger another rival band showing up, and another with a mastermind plotting evilly and cryptically.)

Production Values

It should be pointed out that for the battle sequences, the musician characters are shrunk in size and rendered in CG ; it looks all the more weird as they have no mouths. They return to more humanoid designs for the more mundane scenes… well, aside from the egg with a moustache.

Overall Impression

What is this I don’t even…

Well, I have to give it to this show : it fooled me completely over what genre it was going to be, and it’s a well-executed swerve. It’s also bursting at the seams with weird ideas and designs. That Cyan’s character arc doesn’t get lost in the shuffle is a near miracle.

… But there’s only so far energy and sheer weirdness can carry it ; I fear it’s going to collapse into a unholy mess very quickly. I’m pretty sure I won’t stick with it, but I suppose I’ll at least give it a second episode just to be sure. It’s at least earned that.

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

#31 : Strange Dawn

(13 episodes)

What’s it about ?

The old “teenagers transported to a parallel world” classic.

Characters

Our two protagonists, Yuko and Eri, are ordinary highschoolers who have no clue how or why they’re now suddenly in these semi-desertic lands. Eri is the quiet one, and a bit of a wet blanket ; Yuko is the archetypal “bad girl”, superficial and rude. I get the impression they weren’t particularly close before this.

The world is inhabited by a number of “little people”, divided into clans waging guerilla warfare against each other. One clan we see is outright aggressive, while the other welcomes Yuko & Eri as the Big Saviours that will surely help tip the war into their favour.

At least, that’s what Shall, their MVP, strongly believes ; a good chunk of the tribe are more skeptical, especially as the girls are bemused and not very cooperative.

And let’s be honest : aside from being several sizes taller than the locals, it’s not like our girls hold any particular advantage, do they ? Sure, they can frighten an unaware enemy commando team by just screaming and waving their arms around, but I doubt those smoke and mirrors going to be effective for long. What is it the little people see in the Big Saviours, really ? Where do their legends even come from, anyway ?

Production Values

Lovely. There’s some quite good animation for the action sequences, and I like the rather distinctive designs for the little people, with proportions quite unlike real human beings.

Overall Impression

This was quite a lot more enjoyable than I expected it to be. A lot of it owes to Yuko & Eri feeling so real ; they’re not even particularly likeable (Yuko is a brat and Eri would apologize to her own shadow for bumping into it), but they behave like actual teenagers and have some good chemistry together. I’m also intrigued by the choice to start off with them already there, with no flashback yet as to how they got transported or what their life was like before. (And their personalities are strong enough for some guesses to be made by the audience.)

The little society is also interesting to watch, and I’m always up for fantasy politics. So I’m definitely coming back to this show later on. It’s a nice surprise.

Source: [In Which I Review] Anime series from 2000 – Page 8

Death Parade

(12 episodes)

What’s it about ?

Remember Anime Mirai / The Young Animator Training Project ? It started as a way for the Japanese government to subsidize the training of a new generation of animators through series of of random high-concept one-shots. But by the third year of it, you could see that studios were using it to test the waters for pilots of longer stories. (Especially obvious was Arve Rezzle, which didn’t have a proper story at all.) Now, for the 2012 edition everyone was focused on Little Witch Academy, to the point of overshadowing the other high-point of the year : Death Billiards. Which is now getting a TV series, two years later.

Characters

The unnamed Barman of the Quin Decim is our recurring host. He’s here to deadpanly lay out the rules to whoever enters what is clearly some sort of purgatory : you must play a random game as though your life was on the line ; and only after that are allowed to move on. He wouldn’t advise refusing to play. (Cue shot of many bodies hanging in a back room.)

Our “clients” this week are a newlywed couple who died in a car accident. As they play a bizarre game of darts (with each hit on the target hurting their partner), it turns out that he’s a jealous asshole who had strong suspicions she only married him for his money, and is pregnant with somebody else’s baby.

There are a couple of waitresses who’ll round out the regular cast, but they barely appear yet.

Production Values

Rather good ; it can certainly sell the atmosphere, and make even a game of darts epic.

Overall Impression

Uh oh. Death Billiards was a perfect introduction to the premise, to the point I’m wondering why they didn’t just re-broadcast it. Instead, they’ve produced a whole new “let’s explain the concept slowly” first episode, and it really suffers from the comparison. It covers most of the same beats with more histrionics and less subtlety (including the bemusing decision of clarifying the final fate of the couple), as well as drastically reducing the screentime of that fun sardonic waitress.

This is a bit worrying. Hopefully this was a one-off misfire, and the next episode will hit the ground running now that the exposition’s out of the way. There’s a lot to like here, but it can’t just tell the same story again and again, with diminishing returns.

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