So, uh, yeah.

Parts three and four didn't happen due to all of our schedules being utterly wrecked, so apologies. But we can at least give you a wrap-up of all the season's highs and lows, and it was a ...good season? I guess? 2015 closed on a confused season that lacked any real high point that got a lot of attention that didn't receive an equal amount of flack (such as One Punch Man's supposed lack of depth), and many shows were completely mixed in reception. Some surprised us all with their competence or quality, and others were just so damn weird that it's hard to really suggest them to any sort of general audience. Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, was blistering with flaws of some sort, but there was always something to entertain. And strangely, that actually includes a light novel show set in a magical school. Miracles do happen.

2015 has been an absolute mess of a year, and you know things are bad when the best shows almost all released in the Winter, of all seasons. Just about every show came with an "...but" attached to it (though that was the point in Prison School's case), and some of the worst things to ever come from this medium also saw release. Seriously, Arms's new low ISUCA, the absolutely unfinished GOD EATER, and the baffling incompetent Unlimited Fafnir are all astonishing failures. About the only shows I can see with almost universal praise are Death Parade and Maria the Virgin Witch, though few watched in the latter's case. It was simply a dividing year filled with forgettable slogs and bizarre surprises. I mean, the show that was nothing but sex puns was apparently great. Nothing makes sense anymore.

As 2016 is just starting, let's take one look back and put 2015 out of its misery.


Dropped Shows

Brave Beats
David O'Neil

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy myself some goofy, ridiculous, mahou shojo nonsense on occasion, which is exactly what I got with Brave Beats. Dancing dinosaurs, random alligator attacks, out of control moonwalking, it was a bizarre twist on the genre, having a young boy and girl gain magical dance powers, and having to collect all the obligatory macguffins to protect the earth and fight the final boss. And its hard to explain, but while I enjoyed some of it, I didn't quite enjoy it enough to keep me coming back week to week. While the fights were fun and outrageous, everything else really felt flat in comparison. Dialogue was slow and trite, good gags were far and in between, and I didn't especially care for any of the characters. If you can power through all that to get to the remarkably fun Poke'mon meets Sailor Moon meets Tribe Cool Crew scenes, you'll give small bursts overflowing with campiness and creativity, and albeit briefly, have a really fun time. But everything in between was just too mediocre to keep me engaged. Four Episodes: 5/10

Chivalry of a Failed Knight
Danni Kristen

How many times do I have to say that light novels are bad before fate stops assigning me to review their adaptations? The only episode of Chivalry of a Failed Knight I watched goes pretty much how you'd expect a light novel adaptation to go. There's a cute and popular girl with exceptional magical abilities and an unimpressive, average guy whose magical abilities are ranked lowest in the school. They become roommates and he sees her undressing. She challenges him to a duel wherein we find out he actually has better magical abilities than everyone else and beats her. She starts feeling him up as he sleeps and somehow ends up straddling him. They decide to be friends. End episode and cue me immediately moving it to my Dropped Shows list. If there was one high point in the entire episode it was that the action sequences were kind of cool. Unfortunately, they dragged on much longer than they needed to because the characters felt the need to stop and monologue after every single movement. Watching more than one episode would have just been a serious waste of my time. One Episode: 2/10

Comet Lucifer
Stephanie Getchell

Since we never got the chance to use our second drops of the season, Johnathan allowed us to use them now as we see fit. In my case, I had to use mine on Comet Lucifer. From the start, the series had interesting ideas and themes that can look like a nice gift you want to open. However, once it gets going, it becomes something more generic and almost disappointing that it becomes rather boring. Concept wise, it seemed like a decent SciFi/Mech series with a more romantic element and style that could attract those who may not be huge Mech fans, such as myself, to watch such a show. I just can't get past how generic and dull the series is. It's the one show out of all the remaining series I've been keeping up with that I had been least looking forward to. This is also coming from someone currently following the broadcast dub of Seraph of the End's second season and, in case you may not remember, I wasn't a huge fan back when it started in the spring. Comet Lucifer isn't one of those so bad it's good situations, but just so bad it's boring. Certainly one of my least favorites from 2015. And I have seen quite a bit of terrible shows... Six Episodes: 4/10

DD Fist of the North Star II + Fist of the North Star: Strawberry Flavor
Danni Kristen

This was by no means a bad show. Honestly, I quite enjoyed it. There is really only one reason I ended up using my second drop on it, and that reason is because I know absolutely nothing about Fist of the North Star. Seriously, it was terribly unlucky for me to be the one to have been randomly assigned a spin-off to a series I know absolutely nothing about. Sure, this also happened with Aria the Scarlet Ammo AA this season, but unlike Aria AA, this spin-off is extremely referential to its main series. In fact, pretty much all of the show's content is referential to the main series. I imagine I would have loved this show had I already been a Fist of the North Star fan. The art style was pretty cute and the jokes I understood were for the most part pretty funny. I say for the most part because there's a constant running joke in the show where Bat plays the straight man and has to shrilly scream his reactions to every absurd thing that happens and boy do a lot of absurd things sure happen in this show. It was a joke that grew old before episode one even finished and by episode six I was constantly dreading. Also, this show probably would have functioned better as a short since I found myself getting bored as each episode went on, but that also could have been a simple result of not understanding exactly what was happening or being referred to. Regardless, it wasn't a bad show, and I'd like to see what fans of the main series think of it. Six Episodes: 6/10

Hacka Doll: The Animation
Danni Kristen

Anime that star existing brand mascots are usually just ploys to cash in on a brand's popularity that result in really lackluster shows. Though Hackadoll appeared to be an earnest attempt at making a good show, it unfortunately still ended up a lackluster series. After the first episode, I saw potential in its humor. The jokes weren't bad per se, they were just poorly executed. I told myself I would give Hackadoll three episodes to cause me to crack a smile at one of its jokes. I dropped the show after episode three, so you can probably guess whether or not it succeeded. Everything else about the show was fine - just fine. It didn't really excel at doing anything. I would have kept watching if the humor had excelled. As I already said, though, it did not, and there's really no point to watching a comedy that isn't funny. Three Episodes: 4/10

Hakone-chan
David O'Neil

Once in a while, there is a show with absolutely nothing. Nothing at all. It doesn't have any unique art style. No new jokes to offer. The premise itself is pretty unremarkable. The characters are walking tropes. And it brings absolutely nothing of substance, or even anything especially terrible in terms of its story, humor, visuals, writing, characters, anything. To a certain point, I start to wonder why this show even exists. Even the lowest trash in the garbage bin, like Bikini Warriors, I understand the audience and purpose, as terrible as it is. But once and a while, there's a show that just sort of.....happens. And I'm not sure why. It's not terrible. And it's not good. It's just.....there. Weeks later, I have to struggle to remember what it was even about. Only scattered details come to mind, in the mess of jokes and plot points copy and pasted from better, and perhaps even worse shows. But I guess that is the essence of existence. Sometimes these anomalies appear in our lives, that are so unbelievably mundane and unremarkable, there's only a brief moment questioning their purpose in the grand scheme of the universe before they fade into the void of beyond our memories. This has all been a very roundabout way of me saying I didn't like Hakone-chan very much, and it was boring. Two Episodes: 3/10

Shomin Sample
Stephanie Getchell

This series is a mix of frustrating and moments where I would say, out loud, "what in the actual f**k?!" You can't really even say that it's the same old same old as the series even uses classic visual novel troupes terribly. You would think that with a fairly decent premise that the writing would be ok, but even that is completely bad! The writing of the story and characters just makes me cringe and gives no redeeming qualities to it at all. I did, for the sake of the Dub Talk podcast I work on, tackle the first three episodes of the broadcast dub, and first time director Aaron Dismuke is actually being nice to this piece of garbage. Luckily it's this kind of show that's good for beginners and newbie voice actors to work on considering the talent who are a part of it. However, as a series in general, it's extremely bad in story and characters. Just don't bother with this one. Three Episodes: 2/10

Young Black Jack
David O'Neil

I'd be lying if I said Young Black Jack didn't get my attention right out of the gate. Vietnam war imagery, sword fighting,  shirtless and surprisingly fit doctors, gang bosses, surprisingly fit doctors tied up shirtless in chains for some reason, surgeries, and explosions, and that's all just in the Opening. Even as someone who had never read or seen any of the material this series is a prequel to, I did have fun with what little I watched of Young Black Jack. It's a strange, political, over the top medical show that does a lot of different stuff, but unfortunately it didn't do any of it quite well enough to hold my attention. For all it's quirks, on the most basic level the show felt too by the numbers, the story of some super skilled (insert occupation here) with a dark past helping people while everyone else goes "you can't do that thing it's impossible!" (spoilers, he does the thing). I was curious where the show was headed (especially with that sword fight in the Opening seriously what the hell) but after a few episodes I just didn't care enough to come back. Nothing quite grabbed me, from the underwhelming characters, to the toothless surgery scenes, to the questionable political angle, it was an interesting show, but one that couldn't keep my interest very long. Two Episodes: 4/10

Main Shows

Anti-Magic Academy: The 35th Test Platoon
Jonathan Kaharl

Well, I was expecting bad things. I was just wishing for interesting bad things. Anti-Magic may be the biggest waste of time anime series I've ever seen. It promises never to be good, but it has the potential to jump off the deep end and become Magical Warfare level idiocy. I mean, the big final arc is about the main character's sister being possessed by an eldrich god that forces her to act on her lesser impulses by turning her into a world swallowing flesh monster, and she ends up like that mainly because she wants to have sex with her brother. There's even a crazy guy with a magical weapon partner that's actively trying to make him worse by pretending to be his dead girlfriend! Every single faction in this war is run by megalomaniac villains that hire lunatics that only exist to randomly murder things and ruin all their plans! A girl who's actually a magic sword gets drunk! And it's all so boring!

It is astounding just how bad the writing in this show is. I cut the show some slack early on, but by the end of the last episode, I have to agree with the early consensuses. This is the most generic light novel story ever conceived. It's like a check list of all the usual tropes, with some tropes from other genres and mediums thrown in just to make the whole thing feel even more creatively empty (THERE'S A BEACH EPISODE COMBINED WITH AN EPISODE WHERE EVERYONE GETS DRUNK). Not even the cast can save this. I can usually find some interesting side characters in these shows to latch onto, but everyone in this series is just so flat and one note. It doesn't help at least half of the dialog between the main cast is picking on Mari for having a flat chest and everyone becoming easily angered whenever the main character obliviously shows affection to another girl. Hell, I might be undershooting that ratio.

That's not to say there aren't some salvageable characters here. Usagi and Ikaruga should have a Aria AA style gay spin-off, because the two have great chemistry and the only genuinely interesting or engaging back stories and arcs in the entire series (though Usagi's nearly falls apart by how awful the villain of her arc is). Yet even then, the series keeps trying to ruin this with bad gags or bizarre character traits. Usagi messing up so bad in the first episode gets hand waved with her being nervous, which makes no sense nor was built up as the case, while Ikaruga gets almost nothing to do and her most interesting qualities are glazed over for a lame pervert shtick. Everyone else is quite possibly the dumbest collection of human beings that ever lived. This is basically a Nasu wannabe writing style on display, trying to use personal ideals as the central element of a character and challenging those ideals to develop said characters, except where Nasu actually put some thought into character ideals and made it central to the story, this element tends to get sidelined for awful, big standard harem comedy and safely dark shock moments.

You know that Daria clip where she explains edginess as a lack of actual edge in exchange for a carefully researched marketing strategy? That's what this show feels like. It keeps throwing out character deaths and nazi style imagery and concepts, but there's no point to any of it. Most of the actual shocking moments are completely overturned by the next episode, or happen to characters that have never been introduced before. The idea that this war is just a fun little game between some of the lamest demi-gods ever created never gets fleshed out, and it just makes their decisions all the more baffling. Seriously, why the hell is this Haunted guy here? He's a crazy despair wizard with a flower motif that no sane organization would ever employ. All he ever does is either ruin simple plans or go on and on about how much of a sadist he is and how stupid heroism is. This idiot pointing out the bad tropes just reminds the audience of the bad tropes, and it makes him even more obnoxious.

But probably the worst aspect here is the team dynamic. The 35th test platoon is really just the Takaru and Otori show. Ikaruga never has anything to add besides some weapon and vehicle mods that never contribute to anything, Mari is a glorified mana tank (even the show makes a joke about this), and Usagi is only treated as an easy out for tense situations outside her little arc, Takaru might as well just be the center of the universe and the most awesome perfect fighter ever (and of course he had the personality of an empty can of peas that also happens to be a closet pervert), while Otori is the most basic tsundere imaginable. Even the one interesting part of her personality, that she's willing to give people the benefit of the doubt if they've proven themselves in some way, just feels like bad writing because we never get a situation where she has to grow into this quality. She's just an angry bigot one moment, and the most level headed member of the harem that isn't a borderline sociopath or bisexual ditz (seriously, Ikaruga and Usagi spin-off, make it happen) the next.

When I heard that the main character dies in the novel, I decided to watch this in entirety to hope I would see that moment, but it never happens. It gets teased two fucking times, but it never happens. And the end of Takaru's character arc is so incredibly stupid and devoid of any actual understanding of anything that I just ...GAH. THIS IS FATE ROUTE ENDING LEVELS OF NON-DEVELOPMENT. But I think the most damning thing I can say about this, ironically, is that it's not bad enough! It never reaches that level of awful that truly engages you, and when you think it finally has, it chickens out. Everything about this awful, awful series is a waste of everyone's time.

Except Ikaruga and Usagu. They are precious and deserve a good series with Yurika from Invaders of the Rokujyoma. Maybe invite Zest and Lars from Sister New Devil. That would be neat. But fuck Anti-Magic Academy.

Final Score: 3/10

Aria the Scarlet Ammo AA
Danni Kristen


The Asterisk War
Jonathan Kaharl

I considered this show for my top ten of the year. That is both an insult to the dire state of 2015, and a compliment to this bizarrely good light novel magical school harem show. Nothing about The Asterisk War suggests it would have been good. In fact, I wanted to give Joe something he might actually like so I traded Perfect Insider for this. But then we both realized something weird. We really like this series. In fact, most people who watched it did. This season was bloated with crappy light novel shows, so I guess the math would state that at least one of them would have to be good. But a magic school harem ...it still boggles my mind. I thought about it, though, and I think I get what Asterisk War was doing right none of its other ilk got.

When you get down to it, The Asterisk War has a very solid foundation. The cast is well defined and all have their own arcs and baggage, the villains are all generally interesting from just a scene with them, the world it builds has some thought put into it that makes it feel like its own thing and not just a collection of tropes. Really, if I had to compare it to something, it wouldn't be another anime, it'd be Star Wars. Both are collections of other ideas that create something new and engaging, carving a new mythology from all the bits and pieces that make its form. On top of that, both series at their best understand that its the characters we're here for and not lore or anything particularly complicated.

The first arc begins like most magical school harem crap, and seems to be building to a very predictable outcome ...and then it swerves. Suddenly, the show is aware of what it is, but it doesn't rub it in your face. The story swishes around expected events and little shifts in the formula, and it shows this best with its main cast. There's still a harem angle, yes, but all the girls have their own goals outside wanting to be with the male lead. Julis is a princess trying to save an orphanage with prize money, as her political power is limited and that orphanage is the only place she truly felt like she wasn't alone. Saya is mainly trying to help her father in his research and prove that his weapons were the real deal. Kirin is trying to get her father out of jail, after he was sent there for using powers on her would be assailants. Claudia is a mystery, but we know enough that she's probably the most emotionally unstable member of the cast once we find out what her weapon is. Even that male lead, Ayato, is likable and endearing. He just wants to find his older sister, while he also has an interesting subplot going on with his powers and their potential danger.

Minor characters also get treatment like this. The ugly guys you'd expect to be villains actually aren't, and the villains all have more complicated motivations. All of Asterisk is in a huge political power struggle, and it's interesting to see how all the different factions actually affect the world around them and the characters directly. Dirk, the head of Le Wolfe Black, may be one of my favorite antagonists ever, just by how much he breaks the mold. He's an overweight guy with an unattractive face, but he speaks with a lot of authority and thought. He hides his emotions carefully, even when there's a blade at his throat, and manipulates people to get what he wants. Yet, he's not entirely evil, just underhanded. He never breaks his deals and doesn't try anything particularly malicious. It's all just business to him.

There are a lot of little touches like this in the writing that gives every character definition, but never let them feel generic or too strange. It gets the balance just right, and its all backed by some fantastic production. The director of Mahouka, Manabu Ono, really gets to show off his visual eye here again, along with the help of some strong art and animation. The world of Asterisk has a really sleek sci-fi/fantasy blend, with every school having a theme to it to stand out a bit more (labs, prison, Chinese court, European fantasy, ect). It also has some damn cool fight scenes, the stand outs being Ayato and Kirin's duels. The first of them is particularly inventive, as Ayato and Kirin are both unable to block each others blades due to Ayato using one that cuts through nearly all matter, so the entire fight shows off the two's ability to dodge and stay on the offensive. It's really simple, but it's also equally gripping.

I've never seen a show quite so absent of flaws as this. It's not incredible, but it does what it needs to do so well that I was entertained all the way to the finish line once the first four episode arc showed its hand. This is what a great action show looks like, not too simple, but not too complex, keeping the excitement and discovery in perfect balance. I really hope we get a second season and I can't believe I just said that about a magic school harem show.

Final Score: 8/10

Attack on Titan: Junior High
Stephanie Getchell

Parodying one's work isn't an easy task to take on, especially if you're making fun of your own series. Such is the case here with Attack on Titan Junior High taking and poking fun at it's original dramatic self for the sake of cute chibi characters and laughs. The series takes on a slightly different premise as Eren and the gang begin their middle school days at Attack Junior High School (yeah, not so subtle naming), hanging out together and occasionally dealing with Titans from the adjoining school who tend to bully the humans by taking their lunches all the time. Hijinks ensue, of course, because comedy and stuff. Simple premise, easy to follow story lines and characters, fun moments. However, there is a large problem with the show and it's the attempts at parodying itself. This is because a lot of the references are so forced and everything is exaggerated to the extreme that it can take you out of the overall experience of the show.

As one of the few shows that I watched faithfully week to week alongside Dance With Devils, One Punch Man, Seraph, and Noragami, this show is one that just went so far out of left field that I wasn't sure if I should be loving the series or yelling at it for being so heavy handed. There were plenty of moments where the references were used in a clever way like the kawaii titan's crush on Jean or the masks we see Annie and Bertolt have in the festival episode, but there were dozens of other times where it was forced for the sake of "Oh look at me! I'm making fun of myself! Look at all the references!" with the final episode being the worst offender of this. I kid you not, Eren and the gang end up in a scale model of the city of Trost hidden away in the principal's office on the titan side of campus where they basically reenact Eren's titan form taking a rock and blocking the entrance (except this time using a key to open it). And then when the episode decides to go way out into left field and pull this little bit into the mix....

*sigh* I'm sorry, but the last episode just left me really mad. I don't know if all of this was on purpose in the Junior High manga, but I just couldn't take it anymore. By the time Levi and his band appeared, I finally said that I was happy I was watching the last episode because the show wasn't being clever anymore and was just putting in those references just to fill time and finish the story, leaving it a bit rushed by the end.

There's a clever way to handle parodies, something that Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun did with the shojou manga genre, and a bad way of handling parodies, which Attack on Titan Jr High has done. In the beginning it was a lot of fun with clever use of those moments we know and love from the original series and playing up certain traits in characters in order to satisfy the fan base. However, as time moved along, those moments kept being forced for the sake of the show and ended up executed poorly. To be fair, there were still gleaming moments of hope that I had for the series like the Annie/Bertolt episode, however there were much more sour moments that drowned out the good ones. This one is still a lot of fun to see, but I just suggest turning your brain completely off and just hanging on for the ride, because if you even start thinking and bringing any sense of logic into this series, you're only going to become frustrated by the end.

Final Score: 6/10

Beautiful Bones -Sakurako's Investigation-
Jonathan Kaharl

Troyca is going to have an interesting history at this rate. Started back in 2013, the studio only has two shows under its belt, but those shows really show off their ability to produce works to please the senses. Aldonah Zero and Beautiful Bones are both absolutely gorgeous shows with excellent sound design and breathtaking scenery, and these are easily their best elements. Now if only they could get material with knock out writing. I cannot stress enough how much I hated Aldnoah Zero by the end of season one, and the horror stories I've heard about season two make me glad I jumped ship. Beautiful Bones isn't the home run Troyca needed, but it is both a step in the right direction and an interesting swerve in how they show off their talents.

The series follows an eccentric genius who I suspect is asexual and only gets aroused by bones, the beautiful and strange Sakurako. She's an expect with bones, and her friend and assistant Shoutaro solve various cases in their spare time. Instantly, this light novel adaptation has much more down to earth focuses than the mecha epic of Aldnoah, and Troyca gets how to present that properly. All the effort is on making the world of the series feel as close to real as possible. There's incredible beauty in the most mundane details, especially the many bones Sakurako has in her home and discovers in her daily life. The scenery designers for this series need a raise, because this is absolutely masterful work and really adds life to the show that wouldn't exist without.

Beautiful Bones has some light novel style hiccups, such as the simplistic characterization passed off as more complex than it is, not to mention some weird sentences and dialog that feel like they came from a writer trying a tad too hard at times. Thankfully, the visual presentation distracts and tells an equal amount of information, and the voice acting is superb across the board. Ito Shizuka (who also played the ever wonderful Hilda in Beelzebub) does fantastic work as Sakurako, giving her both an enthusiasm and childish nature and an air of maturity when the situation calls, and it never feels wrong. The various victims and suspects of the various cases also really get to show their stuff, especially during the last major case of the series. There's a lot of drama to be had, but a lot of reserved moments too.

What makes the source material good enough to stand up, despite amateur writing issues, is the theme of death, and the staff understood this. The entire series is not about catching a killer or solving a crime, but exploring who the people involved were and trying to better understand those who have left us. The episode about an old woman's supposed suicide is especially power, giving a lot of development to Sakurako in the process. There's a lot of melancholy, but also joy, as the show is trying to help the characters accept that death is inevitable, but does not rob our lives of meaning. The bones thrown about everywhere especially add to this, as Sakurako, someone obsessed with death, treats them with incredible love and reverence. We even get multiple characters with arcs dealing with past grief - including Sakurako. The show also has some great chemistry between the cast members, especially Sakurako and Shoutaro. The kid avoids the light novel hero trap by being vulnerable and legitimately normal, but that normal point of view becomes a central element to helping Sakurako grow and contrasting with her harsh nature to help the meaning of her words and ideas be understood by those who hear them.

Everyone involved with this tried their hardest to elevate the material, and I believe they succeeded with flying colors. Beautiful Bones isn't really favorite material, but I enjoyed my time with it, and I'm so impressed with so many aspects of it. Troyca's second effort is a solid one that really shows off what they can do without the stink of god awful writing, and I hope things only improve for them from here.

Final Score: 7/10

Concrete Revolutio
Danni Kristen


Dance With Devils
Danni Kristen


Garo: Crimson Moon
Joe Straatmann

It's surprisingly difficult to figure out what to say about such a basic action anime as Crimson Moon. It originates from a somewhat long-running armored suit hero franchise yet has no direct linking points besides the basic concept. Despite being a new story, the initial episode drops in on what feels like a mid-season plot. Coming from a genre that is built on special effects and pretty fights, the final battles are easily the weakest links. That said, the lack of entertaining climactic showdowns never feel like a huge failing. We have a paradox of a standard series and an oddity, and that makes it sound more interesting than it actually is even if it does have its charms.

If you know nothing of Garo, it's pretty easy to figure out. The subtleties may be lost since this rendition takes places in developing feudal era Japan with real historical figures and utilizing much of the country's mythologies that may be literally foreign to you. Wait wait wait, don't get that glazed over look and go to the next review! It's simple, I promise! The Makai Knights are the good guys who have to fight off the Horrors, demons spawned and replicated from the evils of mankind. In this case, the Makai Knight hero is Raikou, an amnesiac who has the power to wear golden armor that is locked and unlocked by mystic Seimei. Together with Kintoki, a Horror detector who is forever stuck in the body of a child, they protect the imperial Palace of Light, which is the big place of goodness nobody wants falling to the bad guys. Like I said, simple.

Not to make it seem like it's without complexity. Raikou was discovered in the woods that are generally surrounded by Horrors, so there are a few mysteries surrounding how he survived and if he could be secretly evil. The people in charge of the Palace of Light are generally corrupt individuals and most of the threats come about because of the actions of its so-called benevolent keepers. My favorite little touch is Raikou and Seimei's bosses are inhuman creatures who look like china dolls and have constant pithy remarks to make at the nature of humanity, not giving a single damn about touchy emotional conundrums. They're here to keep order, not deal with human relations crap.

Curious how this is an armored superhero show from a genre that prides itself on spectacle and how little it really cares about all of that. Sure, Raikou has a gold armor suit that shows up in every episode to dispatch the Horror of the week and it is deliberately noticeable 3DCG because the special effects act like fireworks (Watch Karas to see how the concept is fully utilized).  However, the makers pretty much surrender to the idea that the bouts are never in doubt and the climaxes are almost always cut weirdly short. Even the villain Douman isn't a particularly active threat as he crosses paths with the heroes multiple times in social situations even though they KNOW he's the villain. He kind of shows up at the doors of people who are vulnerable to being consumed by Horrors, gives them the last push they need, and then watches the result. When it fails, as these things are wont to do, he doesn't even seem that upset. It's like if Queen Beryl from Sailor Moon just shrugged her shoulders and wandered off to bake cookies when her plans didn't work out.

As much as it may appear to make the series bad, it doesn't do that as much as make it inconsequential. Crimson Moon is built off a slowly expanding string of character relationships and they manage well enough. I imagine if you're a Japanese history and mythology buff, there's plenty to like. Most noticeably, there's an episode solely based around Princess Kaguya, who you might remember from a certain Studio Ghibli film. If you're not into Japanese history, no problem. Getting the little historical nudges isn't a necessary element for the enjoyment of this the series.

Easily the greatest character is Seimei, a gender-bent version of a real-life mystic. I don't talk about voice actors very much mostly because while they do good work, the nature of anime kind of makes it feel like they're in a factory at times, putting a proper vocal stamp on this year's model of character archetype. Romi Park, Seimei's seiyuu, is a fantastic exception. Seimei is a multifaceted character who holds great magical power and responsibility, but is also a crazed hoarder who clashes with her aristocratic past, craving the wind of freedom. Romi Park makes Seimei a fun, relatable, and fully realized character, and it never feels like there's a false note giving into excessive quirkiness.

Here's the deal: If you like hanging out with pretty good characters within a demon-fighting show that brazenly undermines its own excitement,  Crimson Moon is good for that. It's extremely hard to marathon since its forward momentum seems paralyzed at times due to its lack of urgency, yet it is certainly watchable. The people at MAPPA certainly aren't any slouches in the animation department and this is a decent effort from them. We'll just have to wait and see if the second cour can break out the jumper cables and get the series moving.

First Cour Score: 6/10

Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans
David O'Neil

Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron Blooded Orphans, the latest iteration of the long running mecha franchise helmed by the key staff behind dramas like Anohana and Toradora, began with a remarkably powerful start, moving from grand action set piece, to interesting world building, to goose-bump inciting moments with a confident pace that screamed potential and had my hopes high for what was to come. The show has now reached the halfway point to continue on in the winter anime season, and while I'm still enjoying it, the show hasn't quite maintained the effective momentum it displayed early on in the show, and feels as if its in desperate need of some sort of change.

I think the term I'd use to best describe the latter half of Iron Blooded Orphans' first cour would probably be "dawdling". Early on in the show, it never felt like there was a second wasted. Every moment, every plot point, and every character interaction felt as if it was building the story and world in a way that didn't waste any time, and moved things along at a brisk, and constantly interesting pace. Recently though, it feels as if the amount of information and story content being delivered in, say, four recent episodes could have been delivered in simply two. Story arcs feel needlessly drawn out, there are episodes where it feels as if absolutely nothing of importance actually happens. Even some of the mecha action scenes, while still well executed, end up feeling hollow because its created no real reason for me to be invested in what's going on. If that wasn't enough, a few especially contrived moments of far fetched plot convenience sour the experience to some extent as well. The show isn't bad, it just needs something to spike some life into it. Other than the members of Tekkadan growing closer as a "family" like unit, very little has actually changed or happened in the grand scheme of the series' plot. There's all this teasing of political conspiracies, and interplanetary tensions, but that all just gets put on the back burner for more loosely constructed space battles for the protagonists to get wrapped into. It does have its moments of meaningful character development, or genuinely cool mecha action, but lately its been interspersed between long intervals of characters talking about things I don't really care about and doesn't affect much of anything.

To give the show some credit, the most recent episode at the time of writing (episode 13) is by far the strongest episode the series has had in quite a long time. It starts with a great action scene, mixed with big emotional revelations for multiple characters, and goes on to move the plot in a way that feels as if its actually adding insight into the overall state of the characters and their conflicts, rather than just padding out until the next action scene. The show has its fair share of flaws I'd like to see it address in the second cour, it often relies too much on dialogue in moments that'd be better delivered purely through visuals and actions, the animation can waver in quality from time to time, and the second half of the show takes a hit in the speed of its pacing that leaves it feeling slow and meandering for a good chunk of time. But still, when the show gets going it does result in some powerful moments and some memorable characters, and as a bonus it also boasts some solid 2D animated mecha action as well (something I'm always in favor of seeing more of). Iron Blooded Orphans hasn't quite lived up to its promising start, but it has time to change that, and even with its problems is still a solid sci-fi action show worth watching.

First Cour Score: 7/10

Heavy Object
Joe Straatmann

I've staged a fake intervention for Heavy Object due to its perverted mind occasionally derailing a show that for most of its running time is dumb, zippy fun. Oh, I don't expect a show about two twenty-something knuckleheads who are somehow talented enough to become war heroes to be completely chaste. In fact, one of my favorite moments in the show where they discover a porn video in their work area that somehow makes them work harder. However, when it gets so distracting that it completely puts everyone in danger, its pervholic antics need to be addressed.

Somewhere between Shadow of the Colossus and one of those mahjong games where the reward for finishing is a picture of a naked woman is this series. War of the future has shifted from armies to Objects, incredibly expensive and heavily armored vehicles that can level cities and militaries in a matter of minutes. While putting all of your eggs in one basket has been proven time and time again to be the absolute worst military strategy, if I were to nitpick every single thing this show doesn't understand about the real world, we'd be here all day. Just take it as some kind of alternate world even if it's supposed to be Earth of the future. I mean, the Antarctic arc portrays the cold on the southern continent as a mild annoyance with a battle interrupted by a colony of baby penguins running around without their parents (Apparently, their research was Happy Feet instead of March of the Penguins). There are specific places, but all of the surroundings are generic locales with no sense of place. The politics are some weird resurfacing of nobility mixed with war economy mumbo jumbo. They say stuff exists how it exists and you have to accept it. That's the beginning and end of Heavy Object's world building broad strokes.

When it focuses on the main characters and taking down the gigantic Objects, it's enjoyable. Qwenthur and Havia are generally likable louts who act as the brains and firepower respectively. Milinda is their Object pilot and Qwenthur's love interest who acts as a decent foil to the bromance even as the series tries to take her out of the picture often as to not have an obvious solution to most of the opponents. Their commanding officer Frolaycia is the obvious sex appeal of the bunch, but she is a skillful handler the troops on the ground with a real sense of humor at times. Seeing them get together and play off each other to topple each unique Object is entertaining and works as the core of the show. Some of the supporting cast, like Havia's unexpectedly unsophisticated fiancee through nobility matchmaking also help the experience. As an aside, yes, this show is in the running for the stupidest names in anime, especially with Major Copacabana tossed into the mix.

Now about that distracting sexuality. If it didn't literally play a prominent role, I'd let it go. Yet it constantly gets in the way of the story, makes one of the main characters look awful, and probably creates awkward circumstances the series brushes under the table with its more episodic format. The one instance most people who've had a taste of the show remember is when an Object restraint goes haywire, Milinda is suffocating to death, and Qwenthur is extremely resistant to save her life because it involves touching her breasts even AFTER she gives him expressed permission. Later on when Qwenthur, Milinda, and Havia are on the run for their lives, Milinda falls on Qwenthur and in the midst of being stalked by a giant machine that can level them in seconds, his reaction is, and I quote, "WOOT! Boobs!" So boobs are a major distraction for him that almost gets people killed, and he's our everyman hero we're supposed to relate to. Goodie. That's not mention when Qwenthur and Havia both gets their hormones in harmony, it shuts down the story. Such a case involves a pilot from another country who has the nickname "Size G." Take a wild guess how she got her nickname. Finally, Frolaycia has a certain dominatrix relationship with the guys where she promises sexual acts and peeks for being good troopers. I get helping morale, but there are times where they have weird talks about their kinks over communication channels that go out to entire coalition armies. How does this not get anyone in a river of court marshals, or at least funny looks from everyone in the military? It's even weirder when we learn Frolaycia's backstory with a mass of nobles who are essentially bidding on her to become a breeder.

So it's big, dumb, and its mind is in its genitals. Does that make it bad? Not totally, but it certainly doesn't help. Despite a few quirks in animating surfaces (The water looks like it comes from the 16-bit mode 7 era and dirt being driven over looks even worse), it looks nice, the action is satisfying, and I like most of the cast even with some huge reservations. It's not quite a winner, but if you need a military action series for the season, I wouldn't steer you away from it.

First Cour Score: 6/10

The File of Young Kindaichi Returns (Season Two)
Jonathan Kaharl

There were a surprising number of mystery shows this season, but Kindaichi will always have a place in my heart. As a mystery show, it's definitely the best of the bunch (I loved Perfect Insider for very different reasons), but that's no real surprise. The first season showed me that the writing for this series is wickedly clever and perfectly handled the art of misdirection, hiding the most obvious outcomes, even when you feel like you've sniffed them out. The stories this time are also even stronger, especially with more focus on reoccurring bad guy Hell's Puppeteer. The strongest arc was easily the Rose Mansion arc, as we finally got to see some more humanity from the master of murder as he's found himself in a strange situation where his unknown past is coming back to haunt him.

It's also still very newcomer friendly, despite. Every new arc introduces so many new characters and uses Kindaichi and friends in the same way that you're almost never lost, even with Kindaichi's main nemesis playing a more central role this season. Everyone is well defined from their first lines, and you get a good sense at motives and possible suspects early. This season also has a one hour special about an early case of Kindaichi's rival detective friend, Inspector Akechi. It gives a good run down of what the character is all about, while telling a surprisingly touching tale about what is right and wrong, and the challenges of living up to those standards, and it does it with the most unexpected character.

If you like a good whodoneit, you seriously just need to start this series. Pick any arc (except the Rose Mansion arc) and go nuts. This series is looking to insanely long, but I'm in for the entire ride. I'm absolutely hooked.

First Cour Score: 8/10

Lance N' Masques
Joe Straatmann

There have been no lack of competitors for worst anime of the year. It takes a special kind of bad to win the battle of face melting horrors. You can't simply be a light novel adaptation. You can't just be a harem. A gross fixation on younger characters or a complete lack of animation budget won't cut it. You have to have a certain something or combination of elements that passes through the terrestrial body and directly punches the soul in its bathing suit area. Unlimited Fafnir is out there with its PlayStation One monsters and hot springs episode in the middle of the climax, and it will eat you and your children alive if you just come at it with lazy writing. Lance N' Masques has the mettle to be a contender.

Enough attention-grabbing grandstanding. What makes Lance N' Masques terrible? It's surprisingly a difficult question to answer, but if I were to put a finer point on it, it would be it's a changeling of sorts, constantly shifting itself from one identity to another with little soul of its own and absolutely no eye for the bigger picture. You can't watch one episode and get a firm idea of everything wrong with the series. Oh, there's a bathhouse episode that sickeningly features the naked bodies of some of the youngest characters (Even with sequences forcing the censorship of nudity out with steam, promising the Blu-ray will show you everything. I don't ever want to know if you purchase it), the generic facial expression of everyone looks like someone in the room farted and they're very upset about it, and there are extremely odd continuity issues that pop up at weird times. All of those are merely pieces. The real puzzler is how none of it fits together. Large swaths seem absent, the jumps from one genre to another come out of nowhere, and it's surprisingly large-ish cast barely have any room to navigate through it all.

At first, we have a story of Yotaro as a new member of one of the last orders of knights who don masks and have super-powered lances to maintain justice in the modern world. Yotaro is down on his luck until he rescues Makio, a little girl who has a huge mansion and only maids to fill it. Then he protects Mako from being kidnapped by a nearly dissolved yakuza called Ban, and then Mako's insanely rich father decides to recall her overseas the moment she gets friends. This becomes some kind of mix between business/gang thriller and hero's journey. After that, he becomes friends with a load of women and goes to high school to become a normal person, though he gets dragged into an after school club to create heroes. Okay, so it's a harem, but the harem is about people becoming heroes. I guess it might be good if it's handled right and the people are developed... NO TIME FOR THAT! Yotaro's kidnapped and sent back to the island of his training because his former chief, a forceful and extremely muscular woman, wants him and gets uncomfortably close to sexual assault. While Yotaro is held prisoner, the women of his life sans character arcs head to the island to save him and many of them become masked heroes, like a Tatsunoko series just got vomited into existence.

We're not even at the Bee Train villain who appears late in the game where much is made about how extremely powerful she is only for her to get fiercely shoved aside the moment we get a real sense of what she's capable of. At least she's the one person who's committed to being a villain, as the series is one to try to turn all of the villains into good guys who were just trying too hard. Yeah, Yotaro's chief used her vast manpower and resources to kidnap a former student and almost rape him.  She's good at heart though, and sometimes she loves too much, you see? Right. The only string tying all of this together is a motif of kidnapping someone whenever the storyline is about to settle down and put in some foundation.

What it adds up to is a series that has no momentum and is only memorable for when it shifts to a weird fixation on significantly older people in awkward sexual situations with younger people (With Lance N' Masques occasionally doubling down with scenes involving potential parental figures). Even when it looks nice, it doesn't enhance the experience of watching it. The open is quite intricate in color and design, yet what it's about is something that is referred to at the absolute last minute, basically making everyone watching have no idea what in Sam Hill, South Dakota it has to do with anything. I will admit when it finally gets to the bit about a woman falling in a constantly shifting room, it's the one really effective moment in the entire show. Only a drop in the bucket, alas. Also, one gets the feeling some of the artists involved weren't properly instructed, incompetent at their jobs, or just plain rebelled against this production. During one showdown, the skies in the background turn tangerine with Ecto Cooler clouds. There's not a story reason for this and there's not an artistic reason for it. Someone simply decided the sky needed to be this color even as nothing else in the rest of the episode is like this even with other fights happening simultaneously.

Messy at its best, offensive at its worst, Lance N' Masques has just enough effort put into it to feel its makers maybe should've known better. It seems like something got incredibly screwed up in planning, either trying to cram two cours of story into one, having a rush to put it together, or some kind of dysfunction that ruins a project that was already an iffy proposition to begin with. With Asterisk War sharing the season, you don't need this light novel adaptation even if your taste swings towards the guiltiest of harem trash.  Whatever you want out of it, it will likely let you down.

Final Score: 3/10

Mr. Osomatsu
David O'Neil

To me, a comedy is only as good as its characters. Even if something has the most expertly crafted gags, or the most ridiculous slapstick, if the humor doesn't have funny characters whose personalities are able to pull off the jokes, it's all for naught. And its Osomatsu-san's characters that impressed me the most about the show. At first sight they're akin to the teenage mutant ninja turtles, six brothers with identical appearances but typically color coated for easy discernment (their faces also typically have different resting states), but the extent to which the show explores each character, and differentiates their unique personalities and styles of humor is what makes the show one of the strongest comedies of the year.

The show is filled with great humor and strong character moments, there are gags that are downright hilarious, like episode 8's Calming Detective Osomatsu, to episodes of genuine family drama like episode 5's plotline about Ichimatsu. The relationship between the brothers is especially interesting at times, feeling very real and more complex than it at first seems, while still having that light-hearted, tongue in cheek tone the show typically strives for. Episode 9 managed to take Jyushimatsu, probably the closest to purely being a "joke character" (a wide mouthed, always smiling goofball who mostly just says random nonsense) and create a heartfelt drama out of his character that dealt with some surprisingly heavy topics both subtly and effectively. It should be noted that not every episode is created equal, episode 10 especially, an episode about two characters transforming into girls, is an especially uncharacteristic low-point for the series. It's hardly anything uniquely terrible for comedies, the same sorts of bad jokes I've seen in countless other anime and western comedies surrounding switched genders, but that doesn't change that it's a really tasteless, mean spirited episode, and likely and likely insulting to any Trans or LGBT viewers. It's a string of archaic gags that aren't very funny, and are incredibly insensitive.

It's too bad that episode sticks out as such a bad turn for the series, as outside of it the show rarely dips in the quality of its humor and presentation. The visuals especially are something that only improved as the show went on. Early on it mostly relied on the unique, vibrant art style and gorgeous backgrounds provided by Studio Pablo, later on the show got much more loose and expressive with its animation, with almost Looney Tunes-esque expressive character acting for many of its over the top, cartoonish moments. At the halfway point of the series I am finding it unlikely I'll continue the show into the next season. The show's still funny, and I'll probably pick it up again eventually, but its still a somewhat formulaic gag comedy when it comes down to it, and its wearing down on me. But that isn't any reason to avoid watching it, Osomatsu-san is still a pretty, constantly hilarious, and occasionally even heartwarming series with a fantastic cast and clever gags to please any comedy anime fans.

First Cour Score: 7/10

One Punch Man
David O'Neil

One Punch Man faced the same challenge as every adaptation, to somehow boil down what made a work great and properly transfer it over to a new medium, while retaining what made people like it in the first place, and adding to it as well. It was adapting a manga that garnered most of its attention through memorable action sequences and a very unique comedic tone that may not be easy to capture, but the One Punch Man anime managed to adapt all the strengths of the manga perfectly, even if it also adapted some of the manga's flaws as well.

The Perfect Insider
Joe Straatmann

The Perfect Insider is everything I love about smart, subtle, and delicately-crafted pieces of fiction and probably a few things general audiences hate about them. Adapted from a nineties novel and taking place in the now, it's a long-form mystery where every single aspect was meticulously thought out and provides a richer experience on multiple viewings. It's also a series where the two main characters often sit in a room and spend almost half an episode trying to wrap their heads around a seemingly minute detail while spouting philosophy. The Internet has noticed the opening theme "Talking" is aptly named. There are moments of flair (Maria the Virgin Witch started the year with a scene where characters are talking as the sun sets behind them in real time and Pefect Insider bookends it with a similar moment), but its more often a steely, heady show that may be a scoch too sterile for the anime audience looking for something like Steins;Gate's brand of cerebral.

Even starting with a potential love triangle set to a funky dance tune in the world of technology and featuring an ending animation spawned from an insane amount of research into computer-generated art, its design is surprisingly most similar to an Agatha Christie novel. This is as basic a closed-circle mystery as I've seen stretch a whole season in quite some time. We have pretentious Associate Professor Saikawa and his perky student/longtime acquaintance/potential love interest Moe who are invited to the isolated island of a behemoth company in the computer industry based around genius Shiki Magata. Magata has been isolated in a permanently locked room for 15 years after an incident shrouded in mystery where she possibly murdered her parents. Saikawa is intrigued by Magata much to the annoyance of Moe, but when he finally gets the opportunity to speak to her, the supposed "perfect" computer system has a glitch, the door to Magata's room is opened, and the body of Magata with her arms lopped off glides out on a mobilized cart. Who did this? How did they get in? How did they get out? Why did they do this?

Figuring all of this out is most of the series despite some potential to head other directions. The eccentric trimmings once again only support a well done mystery. You can technically put the pieces together and the series never really cheats, but it's smart enough to keep ahead of the audience, placing the false leads to look like vital clues and seemingly aimless scenes are given strange underlining where it's unsure as to what its link is to everything. At one point, the makers decide to have a ten-minute chat with two Japanese voice actors entirely in English. What seems like an experiment in having a character who normally speaks English actually have a conversation in their native language is far more illuminating on subsequent viewings. The visuals are well planned out, emphasizing the distance and emptiness of its leads, yet it doesn't bedazzle or wow. All of it is kind of like the virtual reality rig they have sitting around the main facility. Sometimes it gets used to amazing results, but most of the time, it's kind of treated like more a piece of furniture than maybe it should.

What ultimately tips the show over to the good side is the relationship between Saikawa and Moe. At first, it seems detrimental with Saikawa as the typical insufferable professor who goes on and on about stuff he probably doesn't completely understand and Moe is a chirpy, naive girl who wants sempai to notice her and not the mysterious genius lady.  As the episodes roll on, they get a genuine personal relationship going by putting their brains together and finding respect for each other. Like everything else, it's a subtle progression that might not even be noticed. The result isn't flashy, but it does have one of the most realistic exchanges of dialogue in anime about what people mean to each other. "I hate your bad jokes, but I want to hear more of them."

Shiki Magata is the wild card. As a genius and an object of desire, much will be made about the plan she set in motion years ago, how "perfect" it is, and what it means. The episodes are bookended with recollections of Magata's past by another character, and what I see is how much they secretly suggest she doesn't have it together as a person (Or maybe not so secretly). She has obvious intelligence, but her plans are often so myopic and complicated that it points towards hidden deficiencies as a person. If there is one flaw, the series tends to let Magata off easy even though her actions are extremely questionable. I think we're supposed to get a sense of mystique all of the characters are supposed to feel for her while at the same time demystifying her and facing the reality of what she's done, but the edges are definitely softened as they maybe try too hard to give her a sympathetic side. But maybe that's them trying to show that even with people who know what she's done, she still has a certain allure.

A sizable recommendation from me probably dooms its prospects for popularity, but this is an intelligent anime that respects an adult audience and doesn't act as a copy of a copy even as it's setup is rather old fashioned. I have respect for shows that aren't clones of what sells, and I have even more for the shows that are done well. The Perfect Insider is all that, even if it occasionally suffers from the same qualities that make it respectable. Now if someone would just fund Despera already....

Final Score: 8/10

Shin Atashinchi
Joe Straatmann

I feel like I've dived into a season-long holiday Peanuts special which was made simply to cash in on the familiarity of the franchise and the success of previous specials. Adapted from a manga, Shin Atashinchi feels like a long-running comic from the funny pages that had a few bright spots of inspiration, but is merely spinning its wheels with flat comedy meant to appeal to as wide an audience as possible at this point. There were 300 episodes prior to this new series and I can't imagine there was anything left unsaid within that massive run. What exists here is little pokes at family life that stretches basic observations and minor inconveniences blown out of proportion into three seven-minute plotlets and even with its brevity, the jokes still feel obvious and run into the ground.

We have the Tachibana family with a mom and dad named Mom and Dad as well as their son and daughter Yuzuhiko and Mikan. Mother is the usual "do as I say, not as I do" matriarch who dashes to fads to improve herself yet simultaneously thinks she's beyond reproach. Dad is the salaryman who mostly has his face in a newspaper if he's there at all, though he still has a certain sweetness and understanding unlike similar fathers who mostly exist as satire (Ness' dad from Earthbound is a prime example). The kids are awkward teenagers who try too hard to be cool or have that person they like they go into over-the-top schemes to date that of course don't work the way they plan. I give credit for the family being able to somewhat learn and grow together and not being perpetually frozen in their starting point, but it's so bland that mom's constant issues with flatulence are actually a welcome flavoring. Hey, it's a piece where the mother is mostly the main character told originally by a female manga-ka. It's a kind of honestly you don't get to see every day with male authors of mothers leaning towards idealism and female authors leaning towards romanticism.

What holds the anime back is the structure. The vignettes are mostly made up of one joke where it's obvious where it's going. Mom wants to kill a bug and keeps buying more and more expensive can't-miss treatments, but she find old-fashioned cost-free swatting the way to go. There are few curveballs. Instead of interweaving what's going on with each individual family member into one episode, they're divided up to where they bang one drum until the head breaks and then move onto the next one. It has the same effect as taping together an entire "arc" from a comic strip and finding the humor flags when it's seen all at once instead of a daily chuckle.

There's an audience for these harmless family shows. I didn't particularly dislike watching Shin Atashinchi. I smiled at times and had a couple laughs. That said, it simply exists, mostly providing some positive reinforcement for the nuclear family in its wackiness. Yet so do about half of the sitcoms out there. I like its occasional candor and feel it comes from a world of truth and experience, but it's one of those shows about real life where you're probably better off living it than watching it.

First Cour Score: 5/10

STARMYU
Stehanie Getchell

I know I'm still an amateur when it comes to idol series. I've only seen a couple, those being Wake Up Girls! and Shonen Hollywood, the latter of the two you've seen me talk about on Rainy Day a good long while ago. This season there were two opportunities to have some musical fun in our lives. One was Dance With Devils which took the supernatural reverse harem and tossed in theatrics and music. The second was Starmyu, which took the typical idol series and camped it up quite a bit in order to give it such a theatrical vibe, since this is a school filled with boys training to be musical actors. The story centers around Hoshitani, a freshman in the musical department, who was inspired to apply to high school after happening upon a student practicing his dance steps. Thank to Ootori from the Kao Council, he becomes a part of Team Ootori where he joined by the shy and passive Nayuki, the manly kabouki actor Tengenji, the spoiled know it all Tsukigami, and the quiet and aloof Kuga. Together, the five train in order to pass the grueling performance tests in order to be formally accepted into the music department. Of course, this isn't an easy task for the boys as other members from the Kao Council and Star Teams stand in both their and Ootori's way.

Honestly, it's extremely hard to talk about this series, but not for the reasons you may think. Rather than having nothing to talk about, a problem I've had plenty of times in the past, there's so much I could talk about but it'd probably take all day! Not only that, but I'm still trying to get my thoughts in order since this is the last write up I'm doing and it's been weeks between watching the first and second half of the series. This is the kind of series that, on paper, should be something completely generic and boring since it's something that has been done over and over again by now. I mean, I haven't seen it yet but, Uta no Prince-sama is among those who seem to know what they're aiming for and do really well (it's had two or three seasons, if that's any indication). What helps tie this series together and keeps it from becoming the flop that it could have been was Hoshitani himself. Just as he was the glue that kept Team Ootori together when times were tough, his personality and outlook on the world is just so endearing to me that he even has me thinking all positively and cheers me up! With his energy combined with the rest of his team and, hell, the rest of the entire cast, it becomes such a great energy for me to consume as I watch the boys battle it out for stardom or see family/politics among the Kao Council. But, to be fair, some of the shifts in the final few episodes of the series were abrupt, causing a little concern. But, to be honest, I didn't pay too much attention because I was just having way too much fun with this series!

In the end, Starmyu is just a big old ball of fun that's actually well executed and written pretty well for all the camp and ham that's added in. Every member of the cast, whether in the main Star Team or not, each have their own qualities that make me fall in love, or sometimes hate, them. And let's not forget the friendships that are forged along the way. It's more of a feel good series, if anything, as all the positivity just sweeps you off your feet, all the while giving you relatable moments to experience for yourself. While this may not be one of the series that I faithfully followed week to week, it's one of the better ones I had the privilege to take on this season! It could be just the theatre side of my brain calling out to me and giving me something flashy and spectacular to see, but it would have fell flat on it's face if the story and cast didn't keep my interest. All in all, Starmyu is one of the hidden gems from the fall season that will, more than likely, go unnoticed. Don't be scared of this very out there idol series. It's much more fun then it appears to be! Hell, I already got my dub predictions for Team Ootori picked out if and when FUNimation decides whether to dub the series or not! I've got Austin Tindle as Hoshitani, Josh Grelle as Nayuki, Ricco Fajardo or Marcus Stimac as Tengenji, Justin Briner as Tsukigami, and Micah Solusod as Kuga. MAKE IT HAPPEN FUNIMATION!

Final Score: 8/10

Valkyrie Drive: Mermaid
Jonathan Kaharl

I'm still amazed by how wrong Valkyrie Drive went. It's the most simple idea imaginable. Put a bunch of lesbians on an island. Give them superpowers. Have fights and make out scenes. Done, print money. But something happened here that just caused the entire production to spiral into a mess that I'm not sure even know who its target audience is anymore. I mean, I could just say straight het otaku guys for all of its grossness, but even then, why even bother with the set-up or same sex relationships as the entire point of the series? This show was a surprising bomb, and I can completely see why. It's too gross for a yuri audience, too offensive for a general audience, and too gay for a straight guy audience. There's even some transphobic plot points mixed in there just to make everything worse. This is astounding, because Valkyrie Drive does have some merit in there, and a lot of promise to be some great queer trash, but it kept finding new ways to sabotage itself.

Mirei and Mamori building a close relationship from dire situations and quiet bonding is still here, and it works when it appears, but then the show has to work in its poor excuse for a plot. Akira being a woman dressed as a man to control the island and hide her identity makes both little to no sense in nearly every way, only makes sense if you're a sexist ass, and manages to throw in some uncomfortable queer erasure and trans violence into the mix (when she's revealed to the island as being a woman). Just making her a handsome woman in charge and having her overthrown would have been just fine. But no, how else will we have a subplot where Mirei and Mamori's relationship is threatened by a *gasp* MAN!? Which also makes no sense because Mamori is STILL raging a monster obsessive crush on Akira when she appears before her as a woman and in a wig. It's also redundant, because Mirei and Mamori are making out in the intro and are central to the marketing as being together. Of course Mamori isn't going to end up with Akira.

The actual plot that pops up around the last five episodes involves a girl from Mirei's past named Momoka, a member of the soldier organization Mirei was drafted into. She was the girl from Mirei's flashback in episode two, a weapon girl that was turned into an experiment after Mirei was secretly sent to the island, and the girl has gone mad from the experiments, her life as a soldier, and Mirei's inability to kill that ended up with her abandoned. She's a mix of good and bad for the show. She gives it a much needed shot of energy, along with her ridiculous crazy girl performance and whole affair with Charlotte, but he also ends that really terrible Akira subplot in the worst way possible.

She's a great representation for the entire show, because just about its entire run is filled with stupidly fun ideas and gay sex, but also bounces in some heterosexual fetishism and general distaste for queer characters. I mean, Akira's other reason for being here is to give the entire female cast a case of the not gays. It's a yuri action show, and the series just has to show that the girls are totally into men, guys! You're not left out! Gah. I'm bisexual, but this isn't bi representation, this is mainly gay erasure. Very few characters have outright gay relationships, and the most queer character, Charlotte, is an idiot dictator that ends up a pawn of the big bads. Only three couples really get any outright positive representation (Mirei and Mamori, Lady Lady, and the two henchwomen that Mamori meets on first reaching the island) and even then, one of them has to muck things up with the Akira subplot. But at least we got Lady Lady. Now if only they had a substantial presence in the show.

I know talking about queer politics in a show made by a man who just really loves titties seems weird, but Valkyrie Drive invited this conversation with its concept and marketing. It doesn't really manage to fully satisfy any audience, queer or not, with exception to those types of bottom feeders who will eat up any porny garbage because they haven't heard about hentai archives yet. It's an absolute mess of a series, but I don't completely hate it, nor even dislike it. Oh, I dislike a LOT of things in it, but more often than not, I can still find something to be engaged by. As far as ecchi goes, I've seen far better and far worse, but I've never seen a show so poorly defined. If you want some good lesbian fun, go watch Aria AA or Sakura Trick. If you're really interested in this series, watch only the first three episodes and the one with the giant girl, then look up the make out scenes. Maybe Meifong's episode. That's all you really need to see. Oh, and look up the score, that's the one truly fantastic part of this mess.

Final Score: 4/10

Shorts

Anime de Training EX!
Joe Straatmann

It is what you think it is. Under the guise of using idols in training to promote healthy exercise to the otaku audience, what we have is an excuse to look at underaged girls in tight outfits. The exercises are explained well enough, but it's hard to tell how to get the pose right if the camera angles insist on putting the buttocks in the way or placing breasts mostly in the frame. Strangely disturbing is their method of having the girls talk directly to the viewer, like we're a special friend to them. At one point, a hand reaches into the frame from the audience's POV and takes the glasses from one of the girls as she goes to sleep. Most horror movies don't have such spine-chilling moments. Most of the girls are a couple weak traits and a dream, and that's all there is to them. That is, except one.

Shion does not do exercises as much as pray for the revival of ancient, dark gods. She is as much of a goth as an idol show will allow, occasionally letting her true cuteness show through even though she is LORD OF DARKNESS AND GIGGLING SWEETLY IS NOT A THING THEY DO! It's played for laughs, and it's the one enjoyable element this series has. She's featured on episodes 4, 7, and 11, so those are at the very least worth watching. As for the series as a whole, just let it stay as one of the titles you ignore scrolling through Crunchyroll's selection.

Final Score: 4/10

JK-MESHI!
Jonathan Kaharl

Episode ten of this series as the characters talk about an anime called "JC-MESHI!" and describe it as something they like that's also completely hated as the lowest ranking anime out there with no production values and only three voice actresses. I'm not leading into a Teen Titans Go style rant on meta-humor here, on the contrary. If any show deserved the right to cast some shade on its critics, it's this one. Because really, who would even have any strong opinions on this show?

This is one of the most harmless little things I've ever watched, and it never really bored me. It's the most safe anime you can possibly imagine, with just enough odd moments and solid set-ups to keep it as a nice distraction. It's just a nice little comedy that throws in some cooking tips, and that's just fine It only takes up three and a half minutes an episode and benefits a lot from its solid voice cast. It's just enjoyable. There's really not much else to say ...except this series should never attempt gags with animation.

12 Episode Score: 6/10

Kagewani
Stephanie Getchell


Komori-san Can't Decline!
David O'Neil

Komori-san Can't Decline makes me kind of sad, because it's almost a good show.....almost. The show's biggest strength is probably it's protagonist, Komori. She's fun, sweet, and actually has a nice little character arc over the course of the show, learning the meaning behind why exactly she won't decline (no really, and it's actually pretty cute). It had the potential to be a decent short gag comedy series, but unfortunately it fails in nearly everything else. The frequent boob jokes are the worst offender of the series, being frequent and unfunny. Making this even worse is the actual boob slapping sound effect added in nearly every time Komori moves, and how Komori's boobs seem to be the only part of any character's bodies they ever bother to animate more than the bare minimum amount throughout the show. And even beyond that the humor isn't especially good. Very few jokes actually got a laugh out of me, with a majority of it falling flat. It doesn't utilize anime as a visual medium very well, and mostly just treads over familiar 4-kouma manga humor water without straying far from the norm. Episodes fly by, I'll give it that much. It's so short one could make the argument it at least didn't waste much of my time, but I still think that time could be better spent on funnier gag comedies.

Final Score: 4/10

Kowabon
Joe Straatmann

Isn't it great when you get to watch someone you don't know anything about get murdered or irreversibly possessed by a (I presume) vengeful spirit or spirits you also know little about for 3 minutes every week? No? Hence why I'm not so hot on Kowabon. About the absolute pervasiveness of technology and social media in our life, the shorts center on a ghostly girl or occasionally a band of evil spirits that can only be seen by electronic eyes terrorize people who Skype, text, take incessant selfies, or must obsessively document every little moment in life. For kicks, the spirits also kill random people who just happen to be on camera or whose job is monitoring cameras. These are actually the best episodes because they're the ones that mostly have structure beyond being fake snuff films and they tend to have creepier material. Personally most disturbing is a woman who has a video camera monitoring who's at her doorway and she can't seem to to shake a seemingly random passer-by who asks her nonsense questions. This would be a great 15-30 minute episode of something if it was leading up to some kind of point, but as a 3-minute short, it's okay, too.

The animation is live-action footage rotoscoped and it's no Flowers of Evil. There's little depth in the visuals and the animation feels like it's missing half of its frames (And probably is). It's obviously made the way it is because they have very little money for the project. That said, they do occasionally create a properly unhinged atmosphere and build on it in the oh-so-short amount of time in an episode. Unfortunately, it's not tethered to anything. I've watched the first 12 episodes straight through, and while there are hints at pieces of an origin story involving a beach, it's essentially watching a death of the week with no emotional resonance whatsoever.

12 Episode Score: 5/10

Magical Somera-chan
Danni Kristen


Tantei Team KZ Jiken Note
Jonathan Kaharl

This was an interesting little turn for the mystery show. KZ dials down things for a pretty simple kids solving low level crimes thing, but it works because this is just an element to necessitate the development of the cast and their relationships. Every character in this series is a cute dork in some fashion, all with their specialties, and everyone gets a chance to show how useful their skills can be. The cases are also pretty good on making them emotionally connected to the cast, like our heroine torn on telling the police on one certain case because it may hurt her new friend.

It's a very melodramatic but amusing series, never rocks the boat but entertains pretty easily. If you want a light shojo series with some sort of twist to it, I'd say give this a shot. Its not too light and not too heavy.

First Cour Score: 6/10

Second Opinions

Beautiful Bones -Sakurako's Investigation-

Joe: The first impression and the reality of this one are two very separate things. Everyone was all over the Sherlock/Watson relationship of the leads and how this is very much like Japanese Bones, but that really isn't what this is. At times, they do solve murders and figure out what happened to the bodies of found skeletons, but the end goal isn't just to create a puzzle to work the mind for a half-an-hour. It's about figuring out who these people were and celebrating their life from what's left after they die. That's a pretty unique approach and it handles it well, occasionally beautifully with a handsomely mounted production. It still is kind of standard though, and many of the episodes have 75% of runtime with necessary content, making room for plenty of treading water and stalling. For something that's 12 episodes, there's a noticeable amount of padding. Still, viewers love their geniuses who solve things others can't with gleeful eccentricity, and Sakurako is a damn enjoyable one. More than enough to pull this show to the positive end of things, at least. Final Score: 7/10

Stephanie: Watching Beautiful Bones these past few months has been an interesting experience. It's a different take on the detective drama that we typically see in anime, more because it takes a slightly similar approach to western media such as the TV series Bones. Each case has been intriguing and fun, with me trying to unravel each and every new mystery along the way. The characters also keep the story moving, with Sakurako being the obvious best character because of her personality and philosophy regarding human life. However, the final third of the series threw me for a bit of a loop when a supposed major villain is inadvertently introduced... only for that story line to become unresolved by the end of the twelve episodes... And, while we're at it, let's just bring up Sakurako's problem with Tatewaki reminding her of her dead little brother because we don't see any kind of resolution going on there. As you can probably guess, the ending of this series clearly set up a possible second season; which is no surprise since shows try to aim for that next season. However, it's hard to say if Beautiful Bones will be granted that second or if it will just stay where it is now. For the sake of the story, it needs a second season in order to resolve those unfinished plot lines. For the sake of viewership, we'll have to wait and see how it's done in Japan before finding out if it's warranted a sequel. None the less, despite the story problems, it's a pretty decent mystery series that I think more of the hard core mystery fans will get some enjoyment out of. Final Score: 7/10

Concrete Revolutio

Stephanie: It's honestly hard to say what this series has been working towards this season. Sure, there are two time lines we're working from, and some of the individual stories in each episode were interesting to see unfold, but it doesn't seem to wanna try anything too out of the ordinary. It's like it's one part comic book story mixed with Tokyo ESP, and we all know how I feel about the latter of the two. Luckily, Revolutio is moderately more interesting by adding every kind of superhuman you can find and tossing them into a single world. Part of this problem may be the large amount of characters that are in the series itself and the amount of side stories and development that seem to be rushed during this first half in order to reach the end game that we got. And, even with that, the end game still felt a little underwhelming... Jiro's motivation seems extremely off and much more confusing than what I had initially started with. I think the execution of this first half had great ideas, but also didn't fully explore them like they really wanted to, focusing on outside forces and movements, rather than looking at series internally from the main cast of characters. Without the motivations explained properly, or at least hinted at pretty well, then it makes for a messier series. This first season of Revolutio was good, but could have been better. I just hope the second season improves on the first. First Cour Score: 6/10

Dance With Devils

Jonathan: After the sadomasochist got an episode, I knew I was pretty much done. I don't have the same problems with Dance With Devils Danni had (due to being a trash loving deviant bisexual), but it is very repetitive, and not as utterly insane as Diabolik Lovers to really justify finishing it. It does not help that very few characters are likable or engaging, especially the brother. Holy hell he's awful, and I'm not sure he was supposed to be unlike the pick up artist dick of the cast. The musical aspect goes a long way, but not enough. Six Episodes: 5/10

Stephanie: There always seems to be that one series that I decide to see at the last second each season. In this season's case, that would be Dance With Devils. The series went from a possible stereotypical reverse harem that could have been terrible to something that is actually pretty well written and extremely enjoyable as it breaks the usual model by becoming a theatrical experience. As everyone knows by know, I did go to school for theatre so, of course, when Johnathan told me during a Heavy Storms recording that I have to see this series, I sure as hell gave it a try. There is more to like outside of the musical numbers and good looking demon boys, mind you, as the story and character development, while riddled with cliches, is still well done and executed! And this all coming from an original series! Not an adapted manga or game (though to be fair, a game version was released shortly after the series started airing), and it was one that I couldn't help but sink my teeth into week after week! And I'll get to enjoy it even more for weeks to come as I head into the second half of the Broadcast Dub provided by FUNimation. By the way, I can't wait for it to be released on home video, cause they will be dubbing the songs and I learned that Dawn Bennet, who voices Ritsuka, went to school at Berklee School of Music, so I wanna hear her sing damnit! Final Score: 9/10

Garo: Crimson Moon

Stephanie: Garo has been one interesting ride. Starting out with my glimpses of the live action sentai show, I thought it was a good series that I wouldn't mind sitting down and eventually marathoning. Then Garo: The Animation came around last year and, as many know, I gushed a decent amount over it while covering the series. Now we have Garo: Crimson Moon and I have some rather mixed feelings. Sure it does take the same feel and tone that the original live action show and the first animated series took, but it's been much more lighthearted about it with the occasional dark stories compared to those predecessors. To be fair, Crimson Moon has improved over the course of eleven episodes (episode 12 is a live action special with the seiyus so I skipped that one), but I do have a rather large issue that I suddenly noticed while watching the second half of this first cour. You know what sometimes will bug me? When series or franchises try using the same story lines or connections over and over again. Recall the first animated series where (and this is spoiler territory so you've been warned) we find out that Leon and Alfonso are actually related thanks to their respective mothers. Not only that, but Alfonso does inherit mekai armor from another Mekai Knight before his short stint as Garo himself after Leon basically goes balls to the walls insane and loses it. What Crimson Moon decided to do was reveal that Raikou is originally from this wealthy family and has a little brother from another mother who does not have Garo's power, but there is some bull s**t power struggle and politics involved. AND we finally have a second Mekai Knight, Zanga, whom we just met and we find out is a former noble who just doesn't wanna be a noble anymore after some early romantic/political bull. See where I'm going with this? This series is using some of the same through lines that the first anime had, and it makes it feel a little unoriginal. While the episodes and baddies of the week are fun and the main villain hasn't done too much to the story, it's almost like history repeating itself and I get the feeling that I'm going to be slightly irritated in the coming weeks like I was during the first one. But, I digress, it hasn't been terrible so far. Just kinda meh, really. First Cour Score: 6/10

Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans

Joe: I wish I had more time. I typically adore the offbeat Gundam series, and Iron-Blooded Orphans certainly has my attention with the main cast who act as family with each other but the headlining duo are also capable of unflinchingly shooting the members of their company who intentionally tried to sabotage them. Yes, potential complicated morality in a Gundam series! Anyway, I just haven't gotten around to watching most of what's out, but I'd like to. Three Episodes: 8/10







Mr. Osomatsu

Danni: I quite enjoyed the first few episodes I watched of Osomatsu-san. The reference-fest that was episode one wasn't quite my thing, but thankfully it wasn't representative of the whole series. The following episodes I watched were more of a cynical comedy about a bunch of aimless twenty-something brothers. It was funny and somewhat refreshing. After that, though, I kind of slacked on my anime watching and fell behind on pretty much every show. Then episode ten of Osomatsu-san aired and I felt nothing but bitter resentment for the series. I saw discussion of the episode from some of the trans women I follow on Twitter, and they were not happy. Reading further into their discussions, I found out that episode 10 of Osomatsu-san contained a plot device in which some of the male characters dressed up as and pretended to be women in order to con the Matsu brothers out of some money. I shouldn't need to explain what about that infuriates me as a trans woman. I live in a nation where a viable defense for someone murdering me is because I "tricked" my murderer into thinking I was a woman. There's nothing funny about Osomatsu-san using the scenario of men dressing up as women to deceive other men into thinking they're women. That kind of thing is not only harmful to trans women but also hurtful to me personally. It negates any enjoyment I had or could have had for the series. (As a disclaimer, I didn't watch the episode myself because I knew it'd only piss me off. I found out about it through secondhand accounts.) Two Episodes: 2/10

Jonathan: This is some funny shit. It's the Regular Show of Japan, but with nostalgia and optimism replaced by dark, biting cynicism, and it is fantastic the large majority of the time. Except episode ten. Episode ten might be the worst episode of anime I've ever seen. You've probably read why from David and Danni, and yes, it's really as bad as they say. Just skip that episode. Ten Episodes: 7/10

One Punch Man

Danni: One Punch Man is easily one of the best shounen action anime in years. The only other title I can think of worthy of that designation would be Jojo's Bizarre Adventure. Animation-wise, One Punch Man is definitely the best. Madhouse brought in some amazing animators to work on this show and the result is beautiful. This show might not have a lot of substance to it - literally all you need to know about the plot and gags lies there in the name - but the style more than makes up for it. In fact, the show's weakest moments are when it tried to tackle drama or insert thematic material. It just doesn't work. One Punch Man is a series about a guy punching people. Given how beautifully animated the scenes of people getting punched are, it doesn't need to be anything more than that. Not every anime has to be packed with the thematic material you'd find in an Ikuhara show. Sometimes good shows really can just be about bad guys getting punched. Final Score: 9/10

Jonathan: I knew I'd have fun with this from the start. I love the manga, I loved this, especially for the fantastic animation work. But seeing almost the entirety of the many chapters I read condensed into twelve episodes with a surprising lack of narrative context kind of made me realize this series was probably not ready for an adaptation. I love the ideas (a comedy about failure with a main character who still fails with unimaginable power) and the characters, but there's really no story here, even though it's built up in the background. Maybe we should wait a few years for a season two. Final Score: 8/10

Stephanie: If there was one show where the words "the hype is real" could be applied, than it would be One Punch Man hands down this season. Not only is it action packed from beginning to end, but the humor and characters that go along with it are just simply wonderful! You would think you would need to turn your brain off in order to enjoy this series, but you actually don't! It's rather clever in both writing and execution that not only do you get to go on a rollar coaster of a ride, but you also get some well thought out moments and ideas coming through. Mostly in the way of Saitama, but I digress. You both want to root for the heroes as well as laugh at their silliness and ham as it plays the fine line between overly serious and complete and utter ham extremely well! Saitama's character, in particular, is one of the more interesting superhero characters I've seen in a long ass time in any form of media, including the Marvel Universe! That's saying a lot right there. With the superhero genre being overly saturated, this show, as well as Saitama himself, are a breath of fresh air that was so very needed. The only question left now is, will there be more One Punch Man? We shall see, folks. We shall see. Final Score: 9/10

The Perfect Insider

Danni: I came to Perfect Insider late to the party. It had already been airing for weeks by the time I got around to giving it a try. In those weeks I got to see quite a few people gush on how amazing the series was and how it was the best anime of the fall. I like rooting for the underdogs and boosting anime that's woefully underrated, so I went into Perfect Insider feeling optimistic. I was thoroughly underwhelmed. Its OP and ED are both really good, but that's about it. The episodes I watched just felt incredibly dull and lifeless, with a washed-out color palette to match it. Maybe that's part of the "brilliance" of the series I'm somehow missing. Who knows. I didn't like it. It's a show about an annoying nihilist who's apparently really cool and gets followed around by a devoted girl who is extremely into him for some reason. I didn't completely give up on Perfect Insider though until the scene implying a middle-aged man has sex with his thirteen year-old niece. If rape is the most compelling thing in a show, it really isn't a show I want to watch. Three Episodes: 4/10

Jonathan: Easily one of the year's best, but not for the mystery element. Honestly, the mystery of this show is awful and stupid. The strength it has above all other shows this year is the dialog. It's really good at making all these characters bounce off each other, and the main three characters all develop into very interesting and likable people in their own right, even the one who murdered her parents. I also like that its core theme ended up being so simple instead of something needlessly complex. Just be warned, this is not light watching. Final Score: 9/10

Stephanie: This series may be a slow mystery that just doesn't seem to go anywhere or attempt to try something new, however what makes it compelling are the psychological elements and some of the visuals and writing that are well executed. The main trio of characters that the series uses to tell the story are each interesting in their own way with the two different story lines we see connecting to one another the more we watch the show. To be fair, the pacing can be a large issue as it does drag it's feet early on and in the middle, but when you push through it is a rather well made series and one of the more solid mystery anime I got the chance to see this year. It's not one that kept my interest in order to faithfully watch it every week, but it's also not a decent marathon either. It's kinda in the middle in terms of what I enjoyed this season, leaning toward the weaker side. But I can blame shows like One Punch Man and Noragami for that one. Final Score: 7/10

Young Black Jack

Jonathan: I don't think there was quite another show this season that entertained me so often, which is weird because I was really annoyed by the series early on. Thankfully, the show stops casting shade on an entire generation to move onto such wild plots as a man with missing limbs going on a revenge spree, and Black Jack goes to Vietnam and gets tortured. I'm okay with that. The series is perfectly paced to create solid tension and build up the lead character, and it has quite a few stand out episodes, especially the finale (though it does feel a tad rushed). Definitely an interesting entry for the year. Final Score: 7/10

Stephanie: I've probably mentioned this, but I know nothing about Black Jack aside from the fact that I guess I needed to watch it. I'm not entirely sure if Young Black Jack was a good way to introduce me to the franchise, however I will say that it introduced me to Black Jack himself prior to the name change. Using historical moments and movements in order to inspire situations and stories in order to fuel our doctor friend into becoming who he is does give some good background. Then there are the characters peppered in throughout that don't just give some background to the Black Jack franchise, but also come from other manga published by the same original author. What really hinders my thoughts on the series is that lack of knowledge I have of the franchise. Sure, having the beginnings is great, but if I don't get the references then where does that leave me? This series is clearly one for the fans of Black Jack, but it was still rather enjoyable to sit through; even if it wasn't one of my favorites from this season. Final Score: 6/10

Staff Picks

Concrete Revolutio
Jonathan Kaharl

You may not know this about me, but I'm a pretty huge superhero fan. I was expecting One Punch Man to be my favorite series of the season, and while it certainly had technical chops, seeing one of my favorite manga animated made me realize that the actual story of the series was very incomplete and really didn't warrant a series yet. Don't get me wrong, I was entertained, but I couldn't help feel that the series was missing something. That's where Concrete Revolutio came in and filled the role of what I was craving. Superhero action is all fine and good, but using superheroes for social commentary? Hell, Gatchaman Crowds is my favorite anime ever, and RE: Hamatora is in my top five. This series was already right up my alley.

The premise is simple and brilliant, so much so that American comics have already been using such a premise with series like Astro City and Grant Morrison's Superman run. It's a normal world, and then superhumans suddenly come into being, and humanity reacts. The series takes place after WWII and sometime in the 60s, portraying Japan as a troubled country with clashing between the old and new generations. Making things more complicated are the superhumans, various beings of absurd origin that fight monsters and evil-doers across the world. Magical girls, yokai, cyborgs, robots, aliens, kaiju and more are all real and not just childish fantasy, and the Superhuman Bureau is in charge of keeping these new types of beings under control. Along the way, they clash with the paranoid elite factions of the Japanese police, protesters, rogue villains, vigilantes, invaders, and all sorts of other crazy stuff. However, the series also flashes forward into the future, where main character Jiro has left the Bureau and has started a superhuman revolution in the shadows, and that revolution proves itself to be completely justified as the series reveals how the world governments reacted to the appearance of superhumans.

This series may be one of the best meta text exploration pieces I've ever come across, and that's not something I say lightly (it's in the company of Watchmen, The Filth, and Astro City). Seiji Mizushima really captures comic staging in his direction (helped by the incredible art team on board), while the script writing from Masaki Tsuji, Shou Aikawa, and the rest of the series staff pump a lot of unexpected depth into characters meant to represent simple concepts. The brilliance here is that every character represents a different genre. Jiro is the young man who wants to live up to the ideals of the heroes he worshiped, Kikko is a magical girl and see things in a mostly positive light while worrying about her crush on Jiro, Futora is the embodiment of every anime mascot character of the era in both immaturity and lack of worldliness, Emi is the very old school monster princess from a mix of legend of pulp retelling, and so forth. This isn't just to represent, but also to create a varied and divided cast that constantly argue about the events and issues before them.

Jiro's sense of justice leads him to doing questionable things as he tries to cope with the complicated reality around him, Kikko blinds herself to harsh truths for the sake of her idealism, Futora sees everything from a child's perspective and does some horrifying things because of that perspective, and Emi's possessive streak and ego from her upbringing and archetype only serve to cause more problems and fail to see the bigger picture. Everyone is littered with likable traits and massive flaws that lead them to doing questionable things, such as threatening each other for personal desires, or even carrying out a genocidal act or cheering on murderers without question. These moments never feel too jarring either, nor at least jarring without being meant to be jarring.

It's also clever how superhumans and monsters are used politically. The Magento school of extremism does come up, but that's not the focus. Most conflicts revolve around kaiju sympathizers, the shady actions of an ad agency, youth in peaceful protests on the verge of riots, and skulduggery between politicians. It mixes in how we, the audience, viewed these stories and characters through various ages with real world issues, historical events, and plausible what ifs centered around strong and simple ideology found in the material the series is playing with. Phantom Breaker Claude is probably the best example, as this late cour villain goes on and on about the conflict between the simple ideas of justice, freedom, and peace that most superhumans believe in, and he makes some frighteningly real sense that mirrors real world political movements. The series just handles this all so well with such a large and diverse cast, covering all sorts of viewpoints and people, from simple entertainers to space explorers.

And damn if this isn't one of the best looking aesthetics that Bones has ever used. The series looks exactly like an American comic book combined with the sensibilities of a good action manga, with all those simple contrasting colors and shapes. It switches between abstract landscapes and goofy character designs to the more grounded city shots and average people in work clothes. It creates a perfect contrast that represents this world and its people perfectly, a normal, restrained world on the verge of becoming something fantastical. Also, the insert songs. Don't even get me started on the brilliance of those.

Concrete Revolutio is one of the most ambitious and fascinating shows I have ever seen, and it drapes itself in such familiar material in so many clever ways. This isn't a show for otaku, it's a show for nerds. It's a show for the people who had Spider-Man backpacks before the movies existed, watched Power Rangers religiously, and got sucked into the world of capes and crooks. But most importantly, it's a show for those nerds who have begun to mature and create a sense of self, and this series forces you to question those ideals you learn from these childish things, and it does it while celebrating all these different genres and stories. It's like the Japanese version of a lost Grant Morrison story, and I adore it for that.

First Cour Score: 9/10

Owarimonogatari
Danni Kristen


The Perfect Insider
David O'Neil

Last season, the fantasy mystery series Rokka grabbed my attention early on, but when all was said and done left me severely underwhelmed. When this season presented me with yet another promising mystery thriller whodunnit, this time in the form of the semi-sci-fi mystery show The Perfect Insider, I was worried history was about to repeat itself. Luckily though, this wasn't the case. Perfect Insider impressed me around nearly every turn, from its visuals, to its writing, to its conclusion, and has left me thinking about it even weeks after finishing it.

The show is a slow build to be sure, many episodes consist almost entirely of nothing but characters talking, with more and more details on the characters and the details of the mystery being dripped out to the audience bit I bit. While it can drag on a bit in rare cases, most conversations are bursting with underlying motives, conflicting philosophies, and constantly shifting relationships, keeping me totally engrossed in the show even when its often just a collection of characters standing or sitting around having a conversation. Nearly no word is wasted, everything in the show is building to major developments for the characters and a conclusion that perfectly encapsulates the themes of the show, a story about relationships, love, and death, one that uses the complex differing motivations and ideals of each character to explore these ideas in some fascinating ways. While I was caught off guard by the big mystery reveal when things started coming together, what really made it so effective for me was how it provided totally new revelations and material for exploration in regards to some major characters. It's a mystery that pays off in the best kind of way, by putting the focus on the characters first and doing some fascinating things along the way.

And despite the show consisting of a lot of talking, it doesn't rely entirely on words either. The show makes fantastic use of lighting, framing, and visual storytelling, constantly expressing information through picture rather than sound. Each episode is packed full of gorgeous shots, dense with subtext and underlying meanings. It doesn't boast much in the form of impressive animation, but stays very consistent throughout, and throws in just enough moments of character acting in major emotional moments (and occasionally comedic moments) in order to get across the feelings of the characters. The Perfect Insider's slow pace may not be for everyone, but piecing together the differing mindsets of the characters, along with watching them change and grow over the course of the story, was incredibly rewarding experience that led to an emotionally satisfying conclusion. It's a well made, clever, suspenseful mystery thriller, with a heartfelt story about togetherness and isolation beneath the surface. One of my favorite shows of the year.

Final Score: 9/10

Noragami Aragoto
Stephanie Getchell


The Asterisk War
Joe Straatmann

As throngs of putrid light novel adaptations assailed my personal space this year like a crowd of zombies who all accidentally peeped on a pink-haired high school student while she was changing, I figure I might as well be fair and point out the good ones. Mikagura School Suite is a surprisingly forgotten gem from Summer that did well even with a limited budget, and this season, we have perhaps one of the most polished and well executed series of magic high school tournament fighting cliches. The first episode gives the viewer every reason to think this is an incredibly disposable work with superb wrapping paper. Perhaps it still is, but it's an entertaining one that puts in the required elbow grease to overcome the vast amount of conventions that act as its foundation.

Yes, the hero of Asterisk War is a self-insert guy with a self-insert design and his supporting cast is a harem of archetypical women who will at some points show some interest in him and by fanboy extension, you. Yes, we have a high school of students with special abilities who square off in a hugely important tournament to relate to the target audience AND have an easy setup for which to hang a plot on. Yes, there is tons of unneeded fan service, sometimes involving a junior high girl who developed quickly for her age. But I'm not mad. Not even close.

I like to think of this as how good Toonami viewers remember the original Tenchi being before they went back to it and fought the desire to gouge out their eyes. Perhaps not THAT good since nobody here is Washu levels of awesome, but almost. Main character Ayato even falls on Tenchi's level of sweetness as a student at a school of techno-magic duelists to figure out what happened to his vanished sister. He runs into literal princess Julis in one of those, "Oops, I didn't know this window led to a women's dorm room but it's an honest mistake" moments, and it is as idiotic as these scenes tend to be. Thankfully, as Ayato develops a group of elite girl fighters he surrounds himself with, their interactions are far more respectful.

What I ask of these kinds of shows is that they at least have characters who can be passed off as human and aren't just traits and kinks rolled into attractive vessels. Asterisk War is surprisingly good with developing characters and giving them quality repartee. Julis, Claudia, Saya, and Kirin aren't simply girls who fawn over the hero and just happen to be talented at their magical sword fighting (Or in Saya's case, gunplay), but they have desires, dreams, some kind of depth, and they're self-aware with how Ayato treats them and the other girls. One episode I appreciated was when Saya and her new battle partner Kirin have a day out to get to know each other because sleepy-eyed, introverted Saya has no idea how to be social. Sadly, they do share a shower and one is underdeveloped for a high schooler and the other is a junior high student. You know, you don't HAVE to do these scenes if you don't want to. Please, don't tell me if you actually wanted to do them.

The most attractive qualities of Asterisk War are easily witnessed within the first few minutes. A-1 Pictures has outdone themselves this season with this and The Perfect Insider. Everything is absolutely slick from the opening animation with constant movement, 3DCG integrated nearly seamlessly, and painstakingly involved duels. As a purely commercial venture, it settles for being skillful and clean, but I dare say there are very few corners cut in this production. The fights can be extensive, smooth, and feature plenty of action even if they do manage to tactfully sneak in speed lines now and then. This series is pretty much the textbook example of what a title with good animation is.

Look, I'm not going to say this show doesn't have some light novel stink on it. Ayato's affection is laid on too thick to the point where he's kind of being weirdly cruel in treating all of the girls all equally like his true love while every single one of them is aware of it. Yet it's a great looking series with almost perfect pacing, exciting action, and the essentials in storytelling and character building packed with the fan service. It may be a conventional school tournament fighting show with harem elements that exists just to make money, but damned if it isn't a quality one.

Final Score: 7/10

Let’s talk review-baiting.


I’m not one to normally criticize a reviewer; after all, entertainment is subjective, so you’ll always have differing takes on it. It’s like the saying goes, “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.” Regardless, I can’t always keep my mouth shut, and, in this case, it involves Hayao Miyazaki again. As if I’m not predictable enough!

Anyway, review-baiting. There’s this critic named David Nusair. He has a site called Reel Film Reviews. The idea behind it is to take a popular movie and review it in one paragraph, complete with a thesis, an image to match and a score out of 4 stars. This, theoretically, is brilliant, as few people have the time or energy to read a long-winded review.

The problem is that some of his reviews aren’t even that well-written, coming off as pretty whining. I don’t mean that in the Armond White kind of way, but more in a “why do people like this again?” kind of way. It feels like Nusair’s so fixated on standing out that he, perhaps indirectly, comes off as shallow. And nowhere is this more apparent than his on-going reviews of Hayao Miyazaki’s films.

I’ll be upfront: I’m not mad at Nusair because he doesn’t like Miyazaki’s movies. As I’ve said before, one of our staff writers on Infinite Rainy Day doesn’t either. Rather, I’m annoyed because of how he expresses his disdain. Execution, not concept, is the problem.

We’ll take a look at a few reviews to better understand where Mr. Nusair is coming from:

"Kiki's Delivery Service (December 2/15)

As tends to be the case with Hayao Miyazaki's films, Kiki's Delivery Service boasts a striking visual sensibility that is, unfortunately, slowly-but-surely rendered moot by an uneventful, deliberately-paced narrative. The storyline follows a young witch named Kiki as she leaves her home and travels to the big city to complete her training, with the character's subsequent efforts at opening a flying delivery service hindered by a number of complications (including an item that goes missing and a pie that's still uncooked). It's clear right from the outset that Miyazaki isn't in any hurry to tell this admittedly simple tale, as Kiki's Delivery Service unfolds at a clip best described as lackadaisical - with the episodic structure and absence of interesting periphery characters effectively perpetuating the all-too-subdued atmosphere. The viewer's efforts at embracing the material are, as a result, thwarted at every turn, and there's little doubt that the hands-off vibe grows more and more insistent as time slowly progresses. It's too bad, really, given that Kiki's Delivery Service possesses as bright and vibrant an animation style as one might've anticipated, while the narrative admittedly does contain a very small handful of unexpectedly engrossing sequences. (The best and most obvious example of the latter is the action-packed climax, which is far more exciting and entertaining than anything preceding it.) The film's status as a top-tier animated endeavor is baffling, to say the least, and it's ultimately difficult not to wonder what its ardent followers have embraced so passionately over the years.

2 stars out of 4 stars”

The obvious first: this is a single paragraph. And it’s a little taxing. I understand that academic paragraphs are however long you need, hence why scholarly books drag theirs’ out, but it’s not practical. A paragraph shouldn’t be intimidating, especially when reaching a large audience. My advice is to stick with 5-8 sentences, as that’s reasonable to get an idea across.

Anyway, Mr. Nusair’s argument is clear: Kiki’s Delivery Service isn’t in a hurry to tell its potentially interesting story. Instead, it trots along lackadaisically. Isn’t that the point? The movie has a premise, true, and a general arc, but it’s not supposed to be grand. It’s a slice-of-life story, one of those films that’s about the life of Kiki as a witch in training. Those moments Nusair mentions, the incident with the pie and the missing statue, are part of that.

I’m not one to usually state this, especially since Nusair’s entitled to his opinion, but I think he missed the point of the film. Kiki’s Delivery Service, like My Neighbor Totoro, embodies the specialness of everyday life. It’s not supposed to be a big story, that’s what Princess Mononoke is for. To demand that from Kiki’s Delivery Service is like demanding a liver steak not be mushy and soft: what were you expecting?

This kind of obnoxiousness that annoys me. If Nusair wanted a grand story and didn’t get one, whose fault is that: his, or the film’s? I know I’m not exactly guiltless in demanding something that wasn’t there, I was disappointed in The Wolf of Wall Street for not saying anything compelling, but I won’t demand that a movie about a witch delivering parcels be an epic. (It doesn’t need to be!)

As for the statement about not getting why people call the film top-tier, who said anyone was calling the film top-tier? I don’t consider it Miyazaki’s best, not even close! It’s a simple, fun movie. Insinuating otherwise is putting words in people’s mouths, and while some people consider it their favourite, it’s not “top-tier”.

Of course, there’s the issue of Kiki’s Delivery Service losing its “coveted” 100% Fresh status on Rotten Tomatoes because of this review, something that’ll no doubt anger purists, but that’s the least of my worries.

“Howl's Moving Castle (June 9/05)

It seems clear that Howl's Moving Castle has been designed to appeal solely to animation buffs; it's hard to imagine neophytes to the genre or even kids getting much out of this impenetrable film. The movie features a lack of compelling characters along with an expectedly baffling storyline, ensuring that only the most die-hard fans of director Hayao Miyazaki will find something here worth embracing. Set in some kind of an alternate reality where witches and warlocks are commonplace, Howl's Moving Castle follows a young girl named Sophie who finds herself magically transformed into an old lady by an ill-tempered hag, and her only hope lies with a socially-inept warlock. There's no denying that Howl's Moving Castle is quite impressive in terms of its visuals, but there's nothing here to keep the viewer engaged; Miyazaki himself has admitted that the plot makes no sense, while the scarcely-developed characters aren't even remotely interesting. The film is completely lacking in momentum, a problem that only gets worse as it progresses (that the storyline becomes increasingly esoteric and hard-to-follow certainly doesn't help matters). Adding insult to injury is the dubbed soundtrack that Disney has attached to the movie for its North American release; this sort of thing is no longer acceptable for so-called "adult" movies (eg Hero, House of Flying Daggers), so why is it okay for an animated flick?

1.5 stars out of 4 stars”

I’m not too fond of Howl’s Moving Castle relative to other Miyazaki fans, and yet I find parts of this review annoying. The biggest one is the claim that only die-hards will get anything from this movie. Howl’s Moving Castle isn’t underrated. It holds an 87% on Rotten Tomatoes, an 80 on Meteoritic and an 8.2/10 on IMDb, the latter putting it on the IMDb Top 250 list. That’s more than enough of a counter-case to Nusair’s claim that no one will appreciate the film.

Even outside of that, I hate it when people arrogantly claim that a dense and highly-acclaimed film can’t be appreciated. Stanley Kubrick made films like that all through his career, and he’s considered one of Hollywood’s greatest directors. Christopher Nolan makes films like that, yet the masses love him. Even Hayao Miyazaki pulled that off with Princess Mononoke, and it’s considered one of his best.

As for the critique of the film? I have no problem with that. I’d be a hypocrite if I called him out, as I’ve criticized its problems on threeseparateoccasions. Nevertheless, Nusair’s comment on the dub track is worrisome. He doesn’t state why it’s problematic, he merely states that it’s problematic and calls out people’s double standards. This angers me. It reeks of the nonsense that permeates the anime community, as dubbing isn’t inherently evil. Disney took their time to provide a good translation, ignoring that is a slap in the face.

I’m not even sure where the “double-standard” exists: in the quality script? In the talented actors and actress giving strong reads? In the end result that, personally, clarifies some of the plot-holes? In the fact that this was picked up and translated at all? What’s the problem here?

One more example:

“Castle in the Sky (August 4/15)

An unexpectedly thrilling adventure from Hayao Miyazaki, Castle in the Sky follows a pair of scrappy adolescents, Pazu and Sheeta, as they're thrust into a rip-roaring escapade involving pirates, secret agents, and, of course, the title locale. Miyazaki, working from his own screenplay, does a fantastic job of immediately grabbing the viewer's interest, as Castle in the Sky opens with an impressively engrossing action sequence set aboard an enormous airship - with the pre-credits set piece setting a fast-paced, Indiana Jones-like tone that proves impossible to resist. (Well, fast-paced by Miyazaki's otherwise excessively, interminably deliberate standards, anyway.) The typically overlong running time isn't, as a result, as problematic as one might've feared, as Miyazaki effectively peppers the proceedings with one exhilarating scene after another - including a fantastic bit involving an oversized robot. (It's worth noting, too, that the movie fares quite well in its smaller, quieter sequences, with the vivid characters, both good and bad, perpetuating the persistently watchable atmosphere.) And although the 124 minute running time begins to wear on the viewer past a certain point, Castle in the Sky's energetic climactic stretch ensures that the film ends on a palpably high note - which confirms the movie's place as a better-than-average effort from Miyazaki. (This is, after all, one of his few works that matches his always-gorgeous visuals with a compelling story and interesting characters.)

3 stars out of 4 stars”

This is the sole movie of Miyazaki’s that Nusair likes. Still, I can’t help but think he’s looking down, once again, on those who like these films. I mean, “unexpectedly thrilling?” “interminably deliberate?” “better-than-average effort?” Did Nusair expect to hate this film, yet was disappointed he liked it? “Okay Miyazaki, you win this time!” *Twirls villainous moustache*

But seriously, for as much as I’m pleased that he liked Castle in the Sky, even his praise is insulting. Hayao Miyazaki didn’t earn his reputation by being “better-than-average”. Any chump with basic competency can be “better-than-average”, that doesn’t automatically make them special. Hayao Miyazaki earned his reputation by pushing the envelope, such that even his critics acknowledge his talent regardless of whether or not they like him. Calling Miyazaki merely “better-than-average” implies that people blindly praise him, and that’s something I wouldn’t expect to hear from a professional.

Essentially, I’m disappointed.

To reiterate, I’m not criticizing David Nusair because he attacked one of my favourite directors. I’d be perfectly content if he acknowledged that he’s not for him. But Nusair doesn’t have the common-courtesy for that, instead coming off as a grouch who feels like he’s the only sane one. That’s why, even if I don’t mind him giving some of my favourite movies bad reviews, I think so lowly of him.

Still, at least he’s watching these movies, instead of downplaying them as “children’s fare” like someone else, so I should be grateful. And who knows? Perhaps I’m being paranoid? You be the judge.

Walt invites back David and Jonathan to talk about he first work in Jump from the creator of Black Clover, Hungry Joker. Jonathan proceeds to completely lose his shit. But before that, Jonathan tries in vain to explain what the fuck a homestuck is and everyone slowly loses their sense of what is real.

Click the title card below to listen!

As I write this, much of the manga-reading side of Twitter is blowing up over a a recent article by Vice magazine concerning the return of Tokyopop to the world of publishing.  You'd think that would be something that would thrill manga fans, yet this article is being met mostly with anger and derision from former staff, creators, and the fans themselves.  Both the article and the reaction to it begs the question: is there a place in the post-manga boom world for a reborn Tokyopop?  I think that the answer is obvious: no, there isn't.  Tokyopop had their place in time and did make an impact, but they were for the most part the architects of their own demise, and their attempts at coming back will never work because they refuse to learn from their mistakes.

Walt invites Zach and Megan to look at X-Day, a shojo manga about depression. Fun! Also, Zach talks about a time he looked at "fetish porn." Yup, it's an Infinite Rainy Day podcast alright!

Listen to the episode by clicking the title card below!

2016 is now started and wedged itself into a comfortable position of confusion. David Bowie and Alan Rickman are dead, so that's not a good sign. But on the other, it looks like we may have an absurdly strong Winter season again, though not one without its problems. Myself (Jonathan), David, Danni, Joe, and Stephanie are going to tell you what airing this season is worth a look and what can best be forgotten, along with previewing possible Heavy Storms fodder (THERE'S A SHOW THIS SEASON THAT REPEATEDLY USES THE WORD "LASERJAGD").

Everyone has two drops, except for shorts. Let's take a look at this season's offerings and see what's worth what.


Full Shows

Active Raid
Jonathan Kaharl

Japan has a really different relationship with their police than here in the United States. There's no major distrust of them, at least on the same level, so more lighthearted material tends to pop up about the enforcers of law and order. Active Raid is a great example of this, a goofy action show about a ridiculous unit of eccentric but talented officers and experts using mech suits to stop crimes committed by people with illegal or stolen mech suits. I think I might love it. The series follows newbie to the force Asami Kazari, a no nonsense, by the books trainee who wants to kick the reckless Unit 8 into shape, only to find she's learning more from them. The rest of her co-workers include the go with the flow Takeru, ultra serious Soichiro, group leader and absurdly young looking Rin, and a whole mess of loons. They're also constantly crossing paths with a hacker organization of terrorists called Logos, main member being the mysterious young Mythos, whom seems to desire a breakdown of social order for some unknown purpose.

Active Raid is instantly refreshing within the first episode, as it tosses you into a new world, gets you just familiar enough with how it works, and then tosses you right into the chaos along with Asami, as the team has to take down two delinquents in high tech and modded suits. Rather than tell you what the characters are like, it simply shows you though how they react to every new situation, the red tape they have to work around, and the dialog they have with each other. Everyone is instantly likable or interesting with little detail on their personal lives or background, especially the far too serious and easily flustered Asami. There's already a good team dynamic growing from this, as Asami is accepted by the unit, with her childish ideals and personality helping balance things among her adult counterparts. The running theme of the show is maturity versus immaturity, but the series is far more clever with it than you'd normally see. Neither is shown as absolute right or wrong, as Unit 8 has a balance of personality types in both camps to function and find outside the box solutions, helped by how easily everyone simply accepts each other. A lack of personal communication actually helps the team, but Logos seems to play by similar rules. They're immaturity run a muck, all action with no care for the consequence, indulgence over idealism, though possibly not without their own reasons. The show, at its core, is a show about adults dealing with the flawed world created by older adults but also the destructive inclinations of youth, trying to find a balance between them.

But if you don't care about any of that, no worries. The show has some fantastic action scenes and keeps each episode at a fast and exciting pace, all while working in some great gags. Episode three is the stand out so far, as it has Asami pretending to be an idol to stop an out of control otaku, with the unit manipulating the software in his suit to complete the illusion, creating a scene that's both hilarious and tense as Asami's dignity is shattered for the sake of the mission and everyone around her treats this ridiculous situation as completely serious. If that wasn't enough, the episode ends with the revelation that this was all being broadcast, and the people watching on TV have absolutely no idea what to make of what they just saw. Beautiful. The villains are equally strange, with our main one implied to have a bunch of escorts working for him so he can spit cherry tomatoes at them when they show any sort of sexual agency. It just happens and the show continues on. There are so many great moments like these mixed in with the surprisingly well handled CG mech fights and the behind the scenes support and hacking battles. The show is just plain fun, but with a layer of cleverness just hiding right under the surface. I highly recommend it.

By the way, this is from the director of Code Geass, and it shows in all the best ways.

Strong Recommendation

Ajin
David O'Neil

I've mentioned before that a noticeable trend in modern anime is the more frequent and upfront use of CGI animation in anime. I've also mentioned before that while I think CG can be used poorly or lazily, it can also accomplish a lot that wouldn't be possible in 2D animation. So as I started Ajin, a show animated fully with CG animation, I tried to keep an open mind and not immediately write it off because of the form of animation it utilizes.

The opening scene of Ajin's first episode is by far the highpoint of the episode. Following a group of african child soldiers losing a fight against a seemingly immortal soldier, it's tense, well shot, and genuinely frightening, getting my hopes high. So it's too bad that the rest of the episode was so underwhelming. Past that first scene just not all that much happens, the show so far is following a structure similar to anime/manga like Parasyte and Tokyo Ghoul, with some ordinary teen boy unwillingly getting freakish superpowers that are taboo in society at large, but so far Ajin lacks any unique hook or defining aspects to make it stand out in that crowd. The episode as a whole is just really bland, all the plot details being introduced so far are immensely predictable and I feel as if I could easily plot out the next few episodes in my head just because there's so little original going on in this show. I feel as if I should at least give the show until the first real action scene or plot event before dropping it, but so far the series is giving me near nothing that makes me want to continue watching it, with the characters, art style, and world so far all seeming totally devoid of anything to set it apart.

And then there's the CG animation. The actual movement of the characters is the animation is probably the show's biggest strength, one of the most difficult things to get right with anime-style CG is character acting but Ajin has some of the best I've seen. Characters are expressive with their movements, look natural for the most part, and their faces show a lot of emotion during big moments. I'm not a fan of the show's character models however, which not only look bland, but also quite awkward at certain angles, with faces looking strangely curved at times. Also, the show overall just does a poor job taking advantage of the unique advantages CG brings to the table as a medium. Not only does it cut the frame rate (a pointless practice in CG meant to emulate 2D animation that doesn't really work and overall just makes it look choppier), but it also does almost nothing in terms of the more dynamic camera work CG animation arounds, basically being shot like a 2D show rather than a 3D one. Throw in a dreary visual style, and the incredibly lazy use of still frames during flashbacks, and overall it's a show that fails on nearly every level visually. I'm still only one episode in so I feel I should give it at least another episode or two, but as of now I can't find any good reason to recommend Ajin. It's a tired concept, that's executed in a predictable fashion, with subpar visuals to make the whole thing even less tolerable.

No Recommendation

AOKANA: Four Rhythm Across the Blue
David O'Neil

Back in the Summer 2015 anime season, studio Gonzo caught me off guard with one of the best shows they'd put out in a long time, the informative and adorable anime on japanese voice acting, Seiyu's Life. With that in mind, I was interested Gonzo's Aokana: Four Rhythm Across the Blue since I first heard about it, wondering if they could manage to pull off a strong follow up. And while Aokana isn't one of the best shows I've seen this season, that doesn't mean it isn't worth watching.

Aokana takes place on a near-futuristic island dominated by a revolutionary technology: Grav-shoes, which allow the user to fly through the air like a bird. The show follows a group of students in this setting who get wrapped up in a competitive sport centered around these Grav-shoes, which involves flying through the air and racing for points. The flying shoes are a neat gimmick that sets it apart from similar shows, the sport based around the shoes is interesting and theatrical as well, though it is disappointing they're accomplished mostly through cutting between 2D animation and awkward looking CG animation. Despite this, the matches so far have been quite fun and show potential for some unique scenarios and visuals as far as sports-based anime goes. The strongest point of the show so far though is likely its sense of humor. It's not especially witty, but it's tongue in cheek attitude and constant use of energetic, cartoony visuals managed to win me over. In addition, the lively characters play off each other well, with all of them (other than the admittedly bland, uninteresting main guy) injecting a lot of fun into the experience.

It's weakest so far in its story, as the show is copying beat for beat countless other sports stories and anime in more ways than one. A new transfer student with a remarkable, untapped skill for something, a waining school club revitalized by this student's promising talent, a character who'd given up on the sport for some DARK TRAGIC PAST REASON being dragged back in by this new student, chances are you've seen more than one work that follows all the same beats. But still, if you can overlook the cliched material, there's some fun to be had in Aokana. I'm not sure how long I'll stick with it if the story doesn't pick up soon, but for now I'm enjoying it well enough.

Solid Recommendation

BBK/BRNK
Danni Kristen

With every new technology comes a long rough and ugly period of trying to figure out how to make things easier, more powerful, and more efficient. Computers used to take up whole rooms. Phones used to be corded wall-mounts. Yet, at this moment beside me sits my thin, handheld, cordless phone that also doubles as a computer/hentai storage device. Technology is amazing! One of the newer advancements in animation technology is the use of CG animation. It's come a long way in such a short time, and someday it'll become advanced enough to deliver high quality animations within the short, low-budget cycle of the anime industry. Unfortunately, today is not that day. For now, we'll just have to put up with it in shows like BBK/BRNK.

On a distant island in the sky there reside giant titans known as Buranki. Tasked with keeping them from falling to Earth is a woman with strange powers named Migiwa Kazuki. One day, though, the Buranki all went berserk. Fearing for the safety of her family, she sent her husband and two children down to Earth, never to see them again. Ten years later, her son Azuma is pursued by the dystopic Japanese government who have turned his mother into a criminal. They are after a Buranki's heart, which they claim Azuma has. He's rescued by a group of teenagers wielding Bubuki, which are the severed limbs belonging to Buranki. Using the heart they believe to be in Azuma's possession, they want to revive a sleeping Buranki and take their revenge on the nation of Japan.

There's an obvious glaring negative to talk about with regards to BBK/BRNK, but I'll address that later. I'm actually thoroughly enjoying this show, so I don't want it's strong points to become footnotes in a discussion about how CG sucks. For starters, there are the backgrounds. I've been collecting screenshots of some of my favorite shots from the series and posting them on my Twitter because they're just so god damn gorgeous. For that I have to thank Yuuji Kaneko, who has also been responsible for the art direction in shows such as Kill la Kill, Little Witch Academia, and Puella Magi Madoka Magica. Honestly though, I would argue that this is his best work so far, which is saying something because those were some very nice looking shows. Also, I absolutely have to express praise for the action scenes. These scenes make perfect use of the CG, delivering smooth and dynamic cuts as well as camera movements that would take much, much more time and resources to replicate in 2D animation. They're so well done in this medium that it lets me forgive the absolutely AWFUL animation in the rest of the show.

I'm sure you already know this, but if you somehow don't, BBK/BRNK is a show animated entirely in 3DCG. It's not the first show to try this - it's not even the only show this season trying this - but it's nonetheless a controversial decision. CG has obviously been used to create some amazing pre-rendered stuff. I mean, just look at video games and the most famous animated feature films of the last twenty years. CG can create some absolutely beautiful scenes. The problem is, these scenes were all created by huge teams within production cycles that lasted years. Studio SANZIGEN doesn't have near the resources these teams do, but I have to give them credit for trying. CG will never get to the point of being both efficient and well-done I mentioned before without a lot of trial and error. BBK/BRNK unfortunately is one of these errors. It's not like it's all bad. I mentioned before how well-done the action sequences are. CG technology nowadays is perfectly suited to creating action scenes that are both high-quality and efficient. However, it struggles in scenes where there isn't any dynamic movement. Scenes where characters don't do much other than converse with one another look ugly and stilted. It can be quite hard to watch.

Despite the poor quality of much of the show's CG, I stand by the studio's controversial decision. It may not be turning out very well, but the effort and ambition is obvious. No one has figured out yet how to properly use CG for this medium. Years from now, we could be seeing absolutely remarkable shows done fully in CG that just wouldn't be possible to replicate in 2D. There's this whole realm of possibility open to the animation industry in the future, and it isn't possible without people brave enough to keep trying. If forcing ourselves to watch one or two good shows a year that are weighed down by CG is necessary for CG technology and theory to advance, I think it's worth it. BBK/BRNK is worth it.

Solid Recommendation

Dagashi Kashi
David O'Neil

For a while now I've had my eyes on anime studio "Feel". After the funny, sweet, and well animated Outbreak Company, and the second season of My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU that looked so pretty it made the first season look embarrassingly mediocre in comparison, I saw a lot of potential for this studio to become something like Dogakobo in terms of putting of funny, well animated series on a normal basis. So after a brief short series about hot guys talking to you before going to sleep (I decided to pass on that one) I was excited to see them doing a full series yet again, with Dagashi Kashi.

The series follows a teen boy and aspiring manga artist named Kokonotsu whose father is trying to convince him to instead focus on taking over the family business, a small candy shop out in the country. Their lives get shaken up when an eccentric, purple haired girl who turns out to be the heir to a massive candy business shows up trying to hire Kokonotsu's father, but when he declines (citing having to run the shop), she instead turns to trying to convince Kokonotsu to take over the shop, and see the glory of candy. It's a pure and straightforward comedy with no distractions, every second is dedicated to setting up jokes, which is just fine because they're some damn funny jokes. It does keep a somewhat laid back pace, but there's always a steady flow of clever bits and over the top slapstick to make sure things never get boring. This is largely helped by Hotaru, the aforementioned candy obsessed girl, who absolutely steals the show in nearly every scene. She's loud, quirky, and a ton of fun, always finding new hilarious ways to make humor almost entirely out of the topic of different candies. The show does occasionally delve into fanservice territory, but with all the talk leading me to believe this was an ecchi comedy series, I was actually surprised to find just how little sexual material there was in the show. It's all pretty innocent and non-intrusive, other than one notable scene in the first episode.

In terms of visuals, Dagashi Kashi doesn't have subtle character acting in the same level of SNAFU's second season, but it's still a very pretty show nonetheless. The visuals constantly get cartoonishly over the top, propelling the comedy to even more ridiculous levels. In addition, the show's rural atmosphere, reminiscent of show's like Non Non Biyori, add a lot to the show's somewhat nostalgic tone. Dagashi Kashi is a simple show with a simple goal: to make goofy jokes about candy with its small cast of crazy characters. It all comes down to those characters and that humor, and luckily both these aspects are strong enough to make it worth watching. If you're looking for laughs, so far Dagashi Kashi delivers plenty of them.

Strong Recommendation

Dimension W
Jonathan Kaharl

I will be amazed if this doesn't end up on Toonami. Dimension W is a directorial work from Kanta Kamei, a very talented guy who really needed a good, meaty project to helm, and I think he got it with this manga adaptation. Taking place in the future, Dimension W shows us a world where humanity finally achieved unlimited energy with the discovery of another dimension, but the organization that found that energy seems to be hiding quite a few skeletons in it closet. Our main character, Kyoma, is a man that refuses to change with the times and makes a living as a hunter of illegal coils, the devices used to harness the energy of the W dimension. He comes across a robot girl named Mira, and ends up taking her as a partner and becoming involved in a huge cover-up by the New Tesla company that could change the entire world.

Dimension W sets itself up with these first two episodes as a sort of blend of Samurai Champloo and Space Dandy, with a strong mixture of action, comedy, and eye-catching style. The show has some of the best aesthetics this season, with lots of contrasting colors, dark and atmospheric cityscapes, and exaggerated fashions. It's a near perfect blend of cyberpunk and retro sci-fi, and it instantly breathes life into the show. It also has some of the best action scenes seen so far, with fluid animation and great shot composition that keeps everything easy to follow. The actual ideas the show throws out are also really promising, like the cost of using illegal coils when they overload, or Mira's very existence challenging the way things are. It's all familiar territory, but the series makes things feel fresh with its presentation and script. Helping is the slow burn pacing, telling you enough to know not everything is as it seems, but not going deep into specifics.

Kyoma and Mira also make for a great duo, even if it's not too apparent yet. They represent the exact opposites of one another's views and beliefs, but both have common ground in distrusting the powers that be and share similar moral codes, though Kyoma is much more cynical from his past as a soldier. They bounce off each other well, even with Kyoma barely saying anything most of the time, and I found both really endearing from their first lines. The character design also deserves special mention, as the series makes everyone feel like they just came out of a completely different series, fitting the chaotic and conflicting nature of the setting. This could easily be one of the season's best, keep an eye on it.

Strong Recommendation

Divine Gate
Stephanie Getchell


ERASED
Jonathan Kaharl

Sword Art Online may be hot garbage, but at least it was pretty damn stunning as a production. You can thank Tomohiko Ito's direction as part of why it looked so amazing, and ERASED is a testament to his talents, and one of the most promising thrillers I've seen in years. An almost 30 year old failed manga artist named Satoru Fujinuma occasionally is forced back in time by some unknown force to stop tragedies from occurring, a process he calls "revival", and the ultimate one happens to him as his mother is murdered and he's blamed for the crime. His newest revival sends him all the way back to elementary school, as his mother's death is directly tied to a kidnapping and serial killing case he was a victim of. He now has to stop the crime from occurring and reveal the true culprit.

ERASED benefits mainly from how strong the writing is, along with the sheer tension it creates out of the most simple set-ups. There isn't much about the show that's too fantastical, and mundane or human situations are treated as the most horrific. The series doesn't hide from dark subjects, even working in child abuse as a major plot element, but mixes with a beautiful optimism and stunning art direction. The series is a roller coaster of emotions and will only continue down that path as more is revealed, especially when it concerns all the pieces to the puzzle we're starting to see but not really understand. The characters really carry the story as well, especially the surprisingly mature Satoru, and you want to see them overcome their trials, while also despising the most evil people the series can muster. And trust me, it has some nasty, nasty people in it, made worse by having no real explanation for why they are the way they are.

ERASED is already looking like best of the year material, and it will probably stay in the top three of the season if it doesn't trip itself up with some poor plot turns. It's one of the most human and engaging yarns I've seen in a long while, and I want to see what its endgame is.

Strong Recommendation

Girls Beyond the Wasteland
David O'Neil

A while back, there was a little comedy series called Saekano, about a generic high school boy protagonist, who, with the help of a harem of gorgeous, talented girls who were all good friends with him for oblivious reasons, sets out to make a visual novel. Today I'm covering Girls Beyond the Wasteland, a new comedy series about a generic high school boy protagonist, who, with the help of a harem of gorgeous, talented girls who were all good friends with him for oblivious reasons, sets out to make a visual novel. In all fairness, there's a very good chance Saekano ripped this concept off something else first, but considering I wasn't very fond of Saekano I was worried going into Girls Beyond the Wasteland.

First off, I'd like to say outright I don't think I'd call Girls Beyond the Wasteland a good show. The pacing is too slow, the premise isn't all that original, story-wise it has almost nothing going for it thus far, the animation isn't anything special, the characters are pretty generic harem archetypes, so on and so forth. But despite all this, it's been something of a guilty pleasure for me. It's difficult to say how often I'm laughing with the show, and how often I'm laughing at it, but suffice it to say I found myself laughing throughout the majority of both episodes. Instead of using it's somewhat meta-narrative (being an anime based on a visual novel about characters making a visual novel) set up to pretentiously point out its own tropes and cliches like a certain other show (Saekano) as if that somehow makes it clever, it mostly just pokes fun at itself, and does some genuinely funny bits involving how the characters first meet and interact with both each other, and otaku culture when first being introduced to it. Even if the characters are all fairly simple, harem stand ins that aren't much different from dozens of other similar characters, their interactions are a lot of fun and there's been some great moments in terms of watching each of their quirks bounce off each other with some really funny ways.

I do hope the show manages to come up with some new directions to take these characters and this premise, because with the low key attitude and passive pacing the show has displayed, things could get mundane fast if it doesn't mix things up soon now that the set up is out of the way. Despite this, I was surprised to find myself wanting to continue the show after those first two episodes. It's nothing all that special, but if you switch off your brain and concede to some harem contrivances there's fun to be had with Girls Beyond the Wasteland.

Weak Recommendation

Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash
David O'Neil

I went into Grimgar of Fantasy of Ash with a sense of weariness. After all, the premise fits into a genre of anime that over the past few years has gained a somewhat infamous reputation: the "trapped in a video game" genre. Whether it be Sword Art Online, Log Horizon, No Game No Life, Overlord, or countless similar light novels or manga, it seems around every turn there's some new work about ordinary people finding themselves trapped in a video game-like fantasy world, having to fight monsters and gaining glory (and often cute girls) along the way. Hell, this very season there's another show with the exact same premise (Konosuba). While I'm not saying every entry in this genre is bad, It's a one laden with overused tropes and self insert power fantasies, so I was worried Grimgar would fall victim to the same trappings. So I was pleasantly surprised when it ended up being one of my favorite shows of the season.

There are a few key points about why it is I think Grimgar works so well. First off: It's slow. Now, normally this would come as a weakness for this sort of show, but in this case it's actually a brilliant decision, because it isn't structured like these sorts of shows normally are. This is because the series has thus far entirely focused on my second key point on the show: The characters. Thanks to Grimgar's slow build pacing, it's putting an immense amount of attention and care to characterization and character interaction. Long conversations give us clear ideas of how the characters differ, and how each one either gets along well or doesn't get along well with each other. And outside of dialogue, there's tons of visual storytelling around every corner getting across what the characters are thinking, often without anything being explicitly stated. Episode 2 especially has a five minute long span of nothing but character and relationship building devoid of dialogue, getting us better aquatinted with the characters purely through visuals. By tactfully crafting these characters, their personalities, relationships, and motivations, the show is perfectly setting up the third key point: the realism. Grimgar avoids over the top fantasy fight scenes in favor of a brutal, savage interpretation of fantasy battles. Both episodes show the full team of protagonists, exhausted, paranoid, and emotionally strained by fighting just two, or even one generic goblin enemy. One character cringes at the feeling of swords piercing bones,  another is unable to let go of his knife, hands shaking, at the conclusion of a battle, the goblin screams in pain as it bleeds out, desperate to survive. And because the aforementioned slow, low key character moments have made me invested in these characters and their struggles, these intense fight scenes feel all the more intense, and the stakes feel all the more important because I actually want these characters to succeed, and see them as human beings who could die at any moment.

As of now it's a collection of cleverly placed pieces working together near perfectly, with each of these aspects working in tangent with each other to create a thoroughly engaging show. It does have occasional dips into iffy, more light-novel-esque humor/fanservice-y moments, but by they're never especially conspicuous (and some of them I'd even argue had purpose as character moments but maybe that's me being pretentious). If all that wasn't enough, the show's also absolutely gorgeous, with vibrant, detailed backgrounds, terrific use of lighting, dynamic fight scene animation, and a meticulous attention to detail. Rather than focusing on the mechanics of the world, the mystery of their circumstances, or over the top fight scenes, Grimgar has chosen to put the focus squarely on the characters, with powerful results, adding weight to fight scenes grounded in reality, and investing me in the character's efforts to survive, setting itself apart from similar entries in this well-worn genre.

Strong Recommendation

Haruchika - Haruto & Chika
Stephanie Getchell


KONOSUBA - God's blessing on this wonderful world!
Joe Straatmann

Those sneaky devils. They slipped in a "guy belonging to the target audience gets trapped inside a video game" plot without actually doing one. See, in this one, anime-obsessed shut-in Kazuma (Don't you dare mistake him for a NEET. He actually goes outside every few weeks. Big difference) dies thinking he's saving a girl when it turns out the girl he pushed out of the way was in front a slow-moving tractor and he actually died of shock after peeing his pants. The goddess Aqua gives him another chance to live his own life without being reincarnated in an alternate universe that just happens to run on RPG rules in order to save it. So, yeah, trapped inside a video game world. The makers are even sneakier by making one of these that is actually really fun.

The hook here is the main relationship between Kazuma and Aqua is a screwball comedy. When Kazuma is told he can bring ONE thing or power into the next world besides his track suit, he chooses Aqua much to her flummoxed protests. Kazuma is "street smart" in his new surroundings but not particularly strong in anything else while Aqua has her goddess powers, but is haughty from being worshiped by so many and knows very little about actually working through life. In a reality check, they have to survive from the ground up in the starter village, only having enough money to sleep in a barn next to horse dung. With time, they can even have a sheet that covers the horse dung! I can see why their exchanges can be seen as hateful, but I think they honestly don't realize what they're doing wrong and their only solution is each other whether they like it or not.

It's an amusing take on living within an RPG with little details on just what that entails. My favorite touch is the magic device that analyzes their abilities and spits it out on a literal character sheet they have to take with them as proof of their abilities. I would've liked a bit more of that kind of humor like just how they're supposed to carry back the giant frogs they slay for their reward, but I won't get too picky. Studio Deen is known for their cheaper look, but that doesn't really factor into here. It's standard animation trying to imitate what a generic fantasy world would resemble and it succeeds with a few flairs like some occasionally nice backdrops and and quests screens. The music is occasionally drops in with imitations of Dragon Quest composer Koichi Sugiyama's orchestral scores to set the scene and sometimes act as an ironic touch.

The journey so far is an enjoyable one. New member Megumin fits right in with the party of misfit adventurers as a mage who can only break out one the most devastating spells in the book once a day and then collapses. We'll have to see what the seemingly competent warrior Darkness adds to this batch of mixed nuts, but the much bigger test is the next episode titled "A Panty Treasure in This Right Hand." For many a previously focused anime production, panties have disrupted focus. Panties can be the mind-killer if one is not careful.

Solid Recommendation

Luck & Logic
Joe Straatmann

This is a strange loaf of a series. It's an anime developed from battle trading cards that feels like it's a light novel adaptation, but the characters skew to late 90's, early 00's conventions instead of modern pandering and have details scrounged up from various sources. When the head of the main organization, Utsutsuno, shows up and seems like Washu from Tenchi Universe and Saki Vashtal from Area 88 had a weird kid, it's the kind of visual that sums up the confusion.

It's the future and we've discovered an even more important building block to life than atoms called Logic. By unleashing the power of Logic, hidden super powers can be brought out from within humans, which is good since alternate worlds have opened up with literal gods and dragons pouring out called Foreigners that need to be apprehended and controlled. The people in charge of stopping them are Logicalists, who team with goddesses and literally become one person to combine and enhance their powers with a method called Trance. You get all that? If not, there will literally be a quiz. Thankfully, it's for the Logicalists and not you.

You'd think with all of this overstuffed light novel type terminology and world building, the hero would have to be some loser who magically has the greatest abilities for no reason. No, Yoshichika is a veteran at 17 years (The powers disappear before adulthood because of course they do) who was the ace in Hong Kong before he lost his Logic Card. However, even if he finds it, he could still be a danger for doing a forbidden OVER TRANCE. Fortunately for him, when a Foreigner is attacking his town, a goddess named Athena shows up and not only happens to have found his Logic card washed up on the beach, she offers herself as his new partner for Trancing. Ain't that convenient. Then he joins the organization to protect this dimension and we either have a super powered harem or a bunch of yuri relationships plus Yoshichika and Athena. Take your pick (It's probably the latter though since Trance partners agreements are written almost exactly like wedding ceremonies). Strangely enough, there is a Mihoshi in the group, stereotypically blonde and dumb as a post.

Like I said, Luck and Logic is a weird blend of generic. I don't really dislike it as much as I am not really invested in it so far. There are small moments that intrigue me much more than the bigger picture. For one thing, Yoshichika is a needed element at his home because if he's not there, his father will have a go at whatever random women step into his life while Yoshichika's significantly younger sister watches. It's a bizarre touch and I strangely laughed a ton when Yoshichika takes the phone call from his sibling during one of these moments. Also, the character Olga Breakchild is obviously going to be the major villain and the way everyone just lets him go about his business that's clearly the wrong road is hilariously nonchalant. "Eh, that's Olga. He's like us, but he's not like us, so he goes around talking arrogantly while not doing anything. He doesn't have a partner, but he's working on that by going into the basement and talking to the Foreigners in our prison to see if any of them want to team up. He says he's not going to stop until he's the most powerful Logicalist. It'll work out. I mean, what's the worst that could happen with a guy named Breakchild?"

Can it take the step from boringly standard to fantastically awful? It has the potential in its Logic. Time will tell if it makes use of that potential.

Weak Recommendation

Myraid Colors: Phantom World
Danni Kristen

The year is 2015. Highly regarded Japanese studio Kyoto Animation asks the world a simple question: "If we adapted a shitty light novel harem, would you fuckers still eat it up and love it?" I firmly replied "Nay! I will never enjoy a shitty light novel harem show. Never!"

The year is 2016 and I'm being forced to eat my words.

Truthfully, I have extremely conflicting feels about Myriad Colors Phantom World. Common sense tells me this is a terrible show. The fact I find myself laughing at the show itself more than I do its jokes tells me this is a terrible show. The strange breast physics and light novel harem hijinks tell me this is a terrible show. Yet despite all the mounting evidence, I don't have it in me to call Phantom World a terrible show.

But why? What exactly is preventing my conscience from tearing this shitty light novel harem a new one? Could it be the art and animation? This is a KyoAni production after all, so it looks fantastic. Their in-house style never fails to tickle my fancy, and they've actually managed to improve on their action sequences. Terrible action scenes were what forced me to drop both Beyond the Boundary and the second season of Chu2, so I'm both surprised and relieved to find the ones in Phantom World to be entertaining. They're not among the best out there, but they're surprisingly fluid and short enough to not out-stay their welcome. Despite being good, making them too long would overshadow the show's highest points: character interaction scenes.

Character interaction has always been the backbone of KyoAni shows. It's also always been the meat, the skin, and pretty much every single part of their shows. This would probably be a bad thing if their shows weren't always really good. Phantom World is certainly one KyoAni's weakest examples of good character interaction, but it's damn cute nonetheless. Haruhiko is surprisingly likable for a harem protagonist, even if he does still tend to end up involved in the perverted hijinks that come with his role. Reina is adorable and Koito has the potential to be a cool character. The friendly phantom Ruru is by far my favorite, though. She steals just about every scene with her lazy and outspoken personality. Also, I kind of have a weakness for perverted girls. The only character in need of some serious fleshing out is Mai, who is unfortunately flat and boring. Regardless, the highest points of the show all come while watching all of these characters bouncing off one another. It may often be cliche and juvenile, but it's always cute.

Ultimately, though, what sets Phantom World apart from its LN harem adaptation peers is in its pacing. Every single other one of these shows I've had to watch for seasonals has had me repeatedly checking to see how much time was left in each episode. Every single one is paced so slowly, meaning every scene drags on and on - especially the worst ones. Phantom World counteracts this with extremely quick pacing. Practically every scene flies by, leaving you sometimes unsure of what exactly just happened and how it relates to whatever is happening in the current scene. This isn't so much an actual good quality as it is a good way of preventing viewers from growing bored or tired of perverted jokes dragging on. Even the infamous scene where Mai breaks the laws of physics to get her breasts under a limbo pole flies by quickly. Phantom World isn't really a good show. As the sum of its parts, it's a pretty bad one. Hell, even if it isn't the sum of its parts it's still a bad show. And yet when next Wednesday comes around I'll once again find myself sitting on my bed grinning over this stupid show.

Weak Recommendation

Norn9: Norn + Nonet
Stephanie Getchell


Nurse Witch Komugi R
Stephanie Getchell


Pandora in the Crimson Shell: Ghost Urn
Jonathan Kaharl

From the maker of GHOST IN THE SHELL, and the manga artist who brought you EXCEL SAGA, comes the greatest science fiction masterpiece since THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL and METROPOLIS ...ANIME CAT-GIRL MAID CYBORG GETS FINGERED BY AN ANIME LESBIAN CYBORG GAMER. AND DID I MENTION THIS IS MOST LIKELY A PREQUEL TO GHOST IN THE SHELL, ONE OF THE GREATEST SCIENCE FICTION FRANCHISES TO EVER EXIST?

Masamune Shirow and Koshi Rikudo, crusher of dreams! Even if you're new to this hobby, you should at least have some recollection to the existence of Ghost in the Shell due to the popularity of a series film among movie buffs, much like Akira. Well, the series creator, Masamune Shirow, is both a sci-fi pioneer and a filthy pervert that has been indulging in his lusts since the millennium began, and he hasn't looked back. Guy draws a TON of porn, and even in his Ghost days, he made the Major a lesbian because he didn't want to draw a guy's butt during a sex scene. We really should have seen this coming. But when you throw in Koshi Rikudo, things get weird. His claim to fame was Excel Saga, a bizarre action/comedy series more known for its absolutely insane anime adaptation that completely re-writes everything, and one other series called Deathless that may as well not exist to western audiences. He's not a guy you'd necessarily expect to do something as ridiculous as ...this, but he was inspired by the turns that anime adaptation made, and that would explain so very much.

When you get the two talented gentlemen together, their intelligence completely implode on contact and only sheer, unbridled stupidity and perversion escapes. And I kind of like it.

Pandora in the Crimson Shell is really the worst thing these two have ever done, by a large margin, but it still kind of works in its own dumb way. You can tell the two had a blast making this stupid thing, and I like what director Munenori Nawa (Locoldol) has done with the material. The series follows a cyborg girl named Nene, whom has natural ability so great that she can make use of a powerful software that allows her to download various skills. She meets with an eccentric scientist, and she gives her a cat-girl maid cyborg named Clarion that has the program necessary to access the software, and she's eventually going to stop terrorism with it while not realizing it because she's too busy trying to glomp Clarion. As I said, dumb. But the show is fully aware of it and constantly pokes fun at itself, like the incredibly stupid starting villains, to the constant animation changes to bizarre, barely formed blobs for comedic reaction, like Clarion hissing at a dog. I can respect stupidity like this.

What's even weirder is that you can easily make out the marks of the two main creators. All the machines and cyborg concepts on display are ripped almost directly from Ghost in the Shell, while Excel herself keeps popping up as a failure of a reporter who keeps almost dying. Then, of course, you also have the focus on modern live mixed with out of place absurdities (like that scientist I mentioned being a huge perv who has her staff dress up in fetish outfits) from Rikudo's wheelhouse, while Shirow was probably the guy who said "hey, what if she activated her sciencigal girl mode by fingering the flat chested cait-girl maid cyborg?" It's the best and worst aspects of the two just rolled into one patchwork monster, and it's definitely going to be the series that's going to cause the most division in whomever still chooses to watch it after the first few episodes.

I would not recommend it, unless you're a Ghost in the Shell fan and want to find out what the hell happened to Shirow being a sci-fi fiction leader. You're going to find something here, probably something that will anger you. I just laughed, mostly.

Weak Recommendation

Phantasy Star Online 2: The Animation
Joe Straatmann

I left 2015 resolving to pick better anime than last year. It's been no secret I've had terrible fortune in what I've been assigned to review (Apparently, it's the biggest topic among the staff even when I'm not around). I don't want to be the guy who throws venom at everything because it gets attention. I love anime, and when things like the climax of HaNaYaMaTa happen or Maria the Virgin Witch somehow successfully mixes a drama on the Hundred Years' War with a sex comedy in the ways only anime can do, it's one of the greatest feelings in the world. I can only call them as I see them and if what I get is My Wife is the Student Council President, I do a severe disservice if I am not honest. Sadly, the first new episode I watched of 2016 was the initial offering of Phantasy Star Online 2: The Animation. To give you some perspective, during the first week of release, Crunchyroll's reviews pegged its score at 1.2/5. Keep in mind even the worst anime rarely dip below 3.0 or equivalent average (And as of writing this article, a magic army of "it's not THAT bad" supporters or people working for certain corporate interests have appeared, sending it back to near the 3.0 mark). That's one hell of an omen.

If you haven't been informed yet, this series was sold on lies. Celebrating the 15th anniversary of the Phantasy Star Online franchise, the concept was obfuscated by clever wordplay and the trailers mostly used the sci-fi action part of it. Here's the bait-and-switch: This is not a work that takes place within Sega's Phantasy Star Online universe, but it's about students at a fictional boarding school who play Phantasy Star Online 2 and are trying to keep it from getting banned on campus. Yes, it is yet another series where we're supposed to care about other people playing video games, and what's worse, it's not even one of those stories about getting trapped inside a game where the world or lives are at stake. Not to mention you can just play the damn thing in July and cut out the middle man. What you're watching is a blunt, cynical promotional tool selling you how wonderful their product is.

For what it's worth, the plot involves Itsuki Tachibana, a new student at Seiga Academy (GET IT?! If you don't, there's a ground display of Sonic in the middle of campus). He's insanely average as revealed by painful expository dialogue. He has a chance meeting with student council president Rina and within a day, is offered the position of vice president. What does the vice president of this academy do? Why, play Phantasy Star Online 2 and report on the social activities of the students playing it. With no idea how to play, he creates a new character (That somehow looks exactly like him even though he hit the randomize option in character creation) and dives head-first into the world. Thankfully, he has veteran player SORO show up instantly and help him learn the ropes. You'll never guess who SORO is. Certainly not because I've only listed two characters in this thing.

As one of the few who've braved the second episode, there is more to it. Rina is secretly using Itsuki to help her because despite her perfect veneer, she is sorely lacking in social skills. There's also a computer-like student who's been overseas and stalks Itsuki... You know what? What does it matter? As an overplayed holiday movie says, it's a crummy commercial. I willingly took this series because I am a Phantasy Star fan in general. Phantasy Star IV is one of my ten favorite games of all time, and while the first two are rather convoluted in design with terrible translations that don't help, they were way ahead of their time and unique offerings to the 8-bit and 16-bit RPG arena. I understand the online version of it is an extremely different beast and has little to do with its predecessors, but Phantasy Star is a franchise I still have an affinity for and would like to see it continue even if it's not nearly as unique as it used to be. Even so, I am not going to just give a pass to an ill-formed informercial simply due to similar interests. You are literally hit with tens of thousands of advertisements a day. Don't make it one more.

No Recommendation

Prince of Stride: Alternative
Danni Kristen

It's an unwritten rule of the anime industry that there must be one boy's sports anime per year. Since we've already had our full of basketball, baseball, swimming, ping pong, cycling, and volleyball, Madhouse has decided that 2016's sports show will be about stride, which is definitely absolutely a real sport shut your mouth. The show is Prince of Stride: Alternative and it's actually pretty good.

Prince of Stride stars Nana Sakurai, a longtime fan of stride, as she begins her high school career at Honan Academy hoping to join their legendary stride club. She meets Takeru Fujiwara, an up-and-coming star of stride, who has come to Honan for the very same purpose. The club they find turns out to be a shell of its former self following the departure of its two star members. Determined to rebuild the club back to its former glory, they forcibly recruit their classmate Riku Yagami, who turns out to be the younger brother of one of the club's former stars. With their team fully formed, they begin training to compete in and win End of Summer, one of the top stride competitions in Japan.

If you think that sounds like a very generic sports anime premise, that's because it really is. It has everything a sports show needs: cute boy archetypes and a self-insert girl that gets to watch them. I'm actually really disappointed that Sakurai isn't a runner. I wanna see the cute girl parkour. Anyways, while the premise and characters are very generic, the art direction is quite impressive. The abundance of very bright whites is offset by a lot of strong blues, reds, and yellows that add a lot of vibrance to the show. The show is also littered with sleek lines and geometric shapes, which fit well with the show's focus on the quick yet offbeat sport of parkour. This is basically turned up to ten in the ED, which may not be the best this season, but is easily the most stylish.

Heading into Prince of Stride, I expected it to be a lot like Free. While it does share some similarities, Prince of Stride seems to have no time for slice of life shenanigans. I've seen three episodes so far, and the only scene that didn't have anything to do with stride was a scene where they had to become models. Even then, though, they were only modeling so they could secure a sponsorship for their club. There may be some slice of life filler in the future, but right now the show seems to be laser focused on just their training and competitions. Personally, I'd prefer that. So far we've gotten to see two races, both of which have been riveting to watch. The animation isn't quite the best Madhouse has to offer, though, but it's by no means bad. There is a sense of whiplash going straight from One Punch Man's animation to Prince of Stride's, but the fact that they're back to back explains the gap in quality. Both shows were under production at the same time, with more resources obviously going to One Punch Man. Like the rest of the show, though, the animation is suitable. Even if it is another pretty generic sports show, there's enough to enjoy in it to keep me watching.

Solid Recommendation

Schwarzes Marken
Joe Straatmann

Light novel adaptation Schwarzes Marken (German for "Mark of the Beast") at times is on the "mark" but occasionally seems to want to have its Communist surveillance state without having a whole lot of moral ambiguity. Originality points for having a mecha fighting aliens series take place in East Germany in 1983, but it also hedges its bets by making the main cast have good excuses for all the terrible things they have to do while there is very clear villain in the Stasi, the German Democratic Republic's state security. Obviously, as one of the most brutal and effective secret police in real history, they were exceptionally talented at slamming down the iron curtain on its own citizens, but it would be nice if there was anyone in the country not the Stasi who believed in anything the country believed in to give some kind of tension between the unit. If nothing else, it would improve the character interactions that are the best animated and most intriguing parts of the series while the battles with the aliens are the blandest.

Yes, 1983 Europe has aliens. Beings of Extra-Terrestriastial origin which is Adversary of human race (BETA for short), to be exact. They're so troublesome, the West and the East need to team up to stop them. The aliens mostly look like parts of the male reproduction organ and charge humans en masse. The best unit at handling them is the 666th, demons that cut through testicles with alien eyes like a Ginsu. These are easily the blandest parts of the series because as much as they put in drama between the unit (The introductory battle starts with one of the team having a PTSD episode in the middle of battle), the skirmishes themselves look plain and the units in play will pretty much do exactly what they're predicted to (Normal units suck, the 666th is great, the Stasi will do whatever is most dickish).

Between the battles is where the most potential is. The main characters are experienced soldier Theodor and newbie Katia who willingly transferred from a UN squadron (Heh heh heh. Sorry, had my own private joke there...). Theodor tried to escape to the West with his family, but was brought back and coerced into military service while Katia is feigning reverence in the 666th unit in order to get close to information on her missing father. Unfortunately, all the information about her father has been deleted from the records (There is a rather touching parallel with Theodor whose father was killed in the escape attempt and any information on his father was completely redacted, blacking out his parent from existence), so she has to dig deeper while trying to survive the hell that is life in East Germany. Also, their unit leader Irisdina may be a Stasi informant who killed her own brother to show her loyalty to the state. Since Irisdina is supposed to be a sympathetic character, everyone makes it clear that the official story isn't what happened and the real Stasi show up to be actual bad guys, strangely taunting their best unit and poking at their most emotionally vulnerable spots.

I need a few more episodes on this one. It's odd to punt on a review after getting a decent look at an hour of it, but many of the elements aren't really moving yet. The first two episodes are mostly introductions with a few tantalizing bits on where the story could go. It seems a little too black-and-white, but we'll see if there's more complexity to the people as their screen time expands. As of right now, some of the goofy aspects feel out of place within the heavy drama (Not to mention the lack of breast support in the mecha outfits is outright distracting. Those things are literally floating midair!). The aliens are mostly like the aliens from Contra that pop from all corners waiting to be destroyed with no motivation except they're the overarching antagonists. I sincerely hope there's more to the GDR setting than a Japanese manga author thinking it would be cool to have something that took place there and throwing everything haphazardly around it. Stay tuned....

Weak Recommendation

Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinju
Danni Kristen

The art of rakugo is probably one of Japan's oldest and proudest traditions of entertainment, and I had no idea what the hell it was until I looked it up in preparation for reviewing this show. I'll briefly summarize what it is for those who don't know. In rakugo, a storyteller sits on a stag in the seiza position with only a paper fan and a small cloth as props they can work with. Without standing up, they have to tell a long and comical story to the audience involving dialogue between multiple characters. It's a tradition that originated from Buddhist monks in the ninth century, but didn't spread to the lower classes of Japanese society until the Edo period. Nowadays, rakugo is often regarded as an old man's form of entertainment. It's old, outdated, and at risk of extinction. Haruko Kumota must still love it, though, because she wrote an award-winning manga about how great it is. Thanks to her efforts, it now has an anime, and people like me get to find out what the hell rakugo is. Thank you, sensei.

Anyways, onto the actual show. Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju is about a 1960's ex-yakuza named Yotarou who fell in love with rakugo while in prison. Following his release, he tracks down the legendary storyteller Yakumo. He had seen Yakumo perform while he was in prison and wanted desperately to become his apprentice. For unknown reasons, he is accepted and invited to live with Yakumo. He then meets Konatsu, the daughter of the deceased storyteller Sukeroku. Finding Yakumo's style of rakugo hard to replicate, Yotarou is drawn to performances of Sukeroku. As he finds Sukeroku's style more suitable for himself, Yakumo begins to notice more and more how similar Yotarou is to his old friend and rival. He commissions Yotarou to fulfill the work Sukeroku set out to do: preserve rakugo in an age that would prefer to leave it behind.

First of all, I should point out that's a very brief summation of only the first episode. There is a lot more depth to this show than one might assume at first. What seemed at first glance to be a show reveling in appreciation of one of its nation's oldest traditions is actually filled with complex relationships between characters as well as an insightful look into the incredibly fast-paced change Japanese society underwent following WWII. In the show's fifty-minute first episode we see plenty of nods to the similarities between Yotarou and Sukeroku. However, the following episodes have been a long retelling by Yakumo about how he met and grew up with Sukeroku that has yet to actually finish. In these episodes, the similarities between Yotarou and Sukeroku are blindingly obvious. Both are brash and absurdly confident fools with a serious love and talent for rakugo. Sukeroku's pleading to become an apprentice as a child is extremely reminiscent of Yotarou's pleas to Yakumo, which easily explains why he would take him on as an apprentice.

Now, I would be remiss if I only talked about the plot. This show features a great soundtrack as well as some beautiful backgrounds. It's biggest strength comes through in the directing, though. There's some spectacular shot composition in this show. The environment is utilized spectacularly to illustrate specific relationships. Examples of this include Yakumo's obscured views of Sukeroku as the latter performs, illustrating his inability to match Sukeroku's talent and achieve a full view of the world he sees as a performer. One of my favorite shots though frames Yakumo as a tiny figure dominated by the setting sun as he recalls the fear and worry he felt when Sukeroku and their master went off to war. The sun's orange turns to red, bearing a heavy reference to the symbolic rising sun of the Japanese army. The war is over, though, and the sun is no longer rising. Japan has lost, and Yakumo is dominated by the thought that the people he loves most may be lost as well.

The best directorial decisions by far come during the rakugo performance scenes, though. Rakugo performances are very rarely cut in this show. This makes sense, of course, since the main purpose behind Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju is to instill a love and appreciation for rakugo in others. These do make for some long scenes, though. This would normally be a problem, but each one is so well directed that it never actually grows boring or tiring. Each performance is noticeably different depending on the skill and style of the performer. Yakumo's first performance in the show seems to bend space and whisk viewers away into his story and this is illustrated well in the animation. Yotarou's first performance is filled with dynamic framing and camera angles that show his talent in dominating the stage, but we are still anchored to reality unlike we were in Yakumo's performance. Later, when we see Yakumo perform for the first time as a teenager, we're given very flat and unexciting shots that illustrate his lack of skill and inability to capture the audience's attention. These are all also accompanied by terrific performances by the voice actors. While I still can't say I've become a fan of rakugo, I'm definitely a fan of Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju, and I'm very excited to see what else it has in store.

Undefeated Bahamut Chronicle
Jonathan Kaharl

Hey, remember when I said in a podcast that I would probably like this show better than Hungry Joker? Well, Undefeated Bahamut Chronicle has exactly one good character who has had exactly one amusing moment so far, so I was right. Also, this is possibly one of the worst anime ever created. It's only going to get worse, I'm betting. I knew this was going to suck the moment I heard the phrase "sword device," but my god, I had no idea just how terrible this was. If 35th Test Platoon was the most generic light novel show I've seen, this is the worst in execution. It is shocking how terrible the writing is. It doesn't just check off all the expected developments (tsundere princess gets show up, instantly falls in love, loser hero who is actually the best ever, magic school and bonus points for it being an all girls academy, pointless world building with video game logic, ridiculously stupid names, rapey and ugly bad guy, edgelord uber villain in the background, ect), it makes them actively worse through sheer inept execution.

Everything about this show fails so often and so strongly that I'm not even sure where to begin. I mean, the falling into boob scene being the introduction to our two main leads should be a good warning to anyone interested, but it keeps spiraling into a bigger and bigger mess as it goes. Lux (yes, this is really the name of the main protagonist) is a spineless wuss with overpowered magical bullshit powers from a black sword that makes him special, and he's made further special by not only being the worst student in the school, but *GASP* the only guy there! Oh man, he sure is out of place and a completely loser like the audience, but he's also so awesome that being nice was enough for a girl to masturbate in the bath to his memory! No, that is not something I made up! This happened! He's like every light novel self-insert lead combined into a thick puddle of obnoxious intent and silent misogyny, and what is shown of the female supporting cast is no better. Lisha suffers as well, as she exists as the top student to only be saved by the main character and become a love-struck dope because a man has never treated her nicely before. She is the GODDAMN PRINCESS OF A COUNTRY.

But what's really frustrating here is that the show has really good ideas for moving stories. Test Platoon and Magical Warfare were just bizarre messes in figuring out what they wanted to do, but Bahamut makes it pretty clear. It's a fantasy world where both the old and new kingdom are kind of awful, and our ex-prince and current princess leads are trying to find their place in this vile environment, each with their own baggage. Lisha was branded by the old kingdom and has genuine insecurities because of the trauma of that event, which is a surprisingly clever way to side-step the attempted rape scene we always get in these shows. It also works on a thematic level and the idea that shes "owned" by her kingdom's enemy makes sense because she has a mark on her body reminding her of a time where she was a victim. Lux, on the other hand, can't properly control his power, and he pleaded with his brother to prevent unnecessary bloodshed during his kingdom's fall instead of acting, which lead to a mass slaughter. He feels equally powerless, despite having power, because he doesn't have the will to truly use it out of fear of it. There are so many interesting things you can do with those ideas, but the series instantly tosses all those ideas at the wayside as we get the mandatory rapey starter villain and Lux gets the normal light novel lead treatment that the audience can wank their egos to.

All the usual sins start piling up not long after, including awful cheesecake bits and exposition dumps, somehow mixed with characters describing one another (You can't just have your characters announce the how the others feel feel! That makes me feel angry!), and don't even get me started on the utter stupidity and pointlessness that is the little sister character who we all know is just here for fetishists. The show just keeps piling and piling on the cliches and terrible delivery of its ideas that it just keeps angering me more and more. This is so bad in nearly every way possible through the writing that it keeps finding new ways to suck. The production isn't helping either, with generic fantasy castles and forests, long with the terrible CG mech battles. The entire show is just a pain to experience, and I'd drop it if I hadn't had gotten a Hulu subscription to watch it. I will finish this foul, miserable goblin out of spite, goddamn it.

The one positive thing I can say about this show without a back hand compliment is that Phi, the childhood friend character, is wonderful and desperately needs to be taken away from this horrible series for her own good. She's a possessive ditz with sexual agency who uses her spacey personality to hide her sheer determination and cunning, and she gets to eat a donut offered to her as a bargaining chip to leave Lux alone, only for her to completely ignore that part of the agreement after eating it. I like her and she deserves head pats.

No Recommendation

Shorts

Mahou Shoujo Nante Mouiidesukara
David O'Neil

Purely from an production standpoint, Mahou Shoujo Nante Mouiidesukara is actually pretty decent. It has some okay character designs, a cute art style, and it's actually pretty well animated for a series of shorts. Characters move with some weight, and rarely just stand still while their mouths flap. Over the two episodes I watched, there were even a few alright gags. It's too bad that the series is unapologetically gross and bad to the most severe degree I've seen in some time. While it's (unfortunately) not too uncommon for anime to have uncomfortable subtext involving younger girl characters, the entire premise of Nante Mouiidesukara is build around joking at the sexualization of a middle school aged girl. Which is very very very very not okay. Yes, the entire premise is built around a young girl who becomes a Magical Girl, but her outfit looks like a skimpy swimsuit. Because that suffices for a series premise these days I guess. Any glimpses at a decent show is lost in the discomfort brought by the show's skeevy as hell premise, along with the fact more than half of the jokes are just her mahou shojo sidekick being a complete creep. Mahou Shoujo Nante Mouiidesukara is gross and bad and should be avoided.

No Recommendation, dropped at episode two

Ojisan and Marshmallow
Stephanie Getchell


Ooya-san wa Shishunki!
David O'Neil

Maybe partially due to a certain other show I watched this season about a middle school girl (glances at Mahou Shoujo Nante Mouiidesukara) I was a bit worried going into Ooya-san wa Shishunki. The premise of the show overall was a bit on the iffy side, basically just being "a teenage boy lives in the same place as a middle school girl", and while the show at times references said iffiness, for the most part it has harmless, sweeter intentions. Overall it really is just a series about the girl Chie Satonaka being cute and doing cute things (which is basically a genre of its own in anime at this point). It isn't anything all that special, but it isn't bad either. The jokes are quite funny for the most part, it's well animated (especially the opening, which has a neat visual style), and at four minutes it's a fun, cute way to waste a few minutes. The main guy usually avoids being a creep despite the premise (usually), and the other female character, Reiko Shirae, is a lot of fun as well. There's a good chance this set up will wear thin after a while, considering it only has three characters and not much for them to actually do, but for now it's short and sweet enough I don't really mind.

Weak Recommendation

Please tell me! Galko-chan
Jonathan Kaharl

A show in where teenage girls talk about sex. I'm amazed this is the first time I've seen such a thing. Galko-chan already gets points for being a series where a bunch of teenagers get to have comedic but still embarrassingly grounded discussions about sexuality and puberty, but it wins more from being a genuinely funny crude comedy. It's not just by the numbers toilet humor, but humor taken from very real thoughts and ideas from the puberty stressed brain. Bodily functions are never the endgame, just a set-up or the subject to get a reaction from characters talking about it. It works really really well, and the third episode even shows a bit of heart I wasn't expecting with a little story where one of the three apologizes to the other for crossing the line into personal insult.

The designs are appealing and make for good comedic reactions, the music is fitting, and some of the gags here are hilarious. My favorite character might actually be the airhead of the group, not only because she's the most put together, but also possibly the craziest at the same time. Her explanation to why she hasn't tried cooking yet is just so perfectly timed. Where Pandora is crude for indulgence, Galko-chan is crude with a point, and it's a surprisingly clever little comedy because of it.

Strong Recommendation

Rainbow Days
Jonathan Kaharl
I think I might be getting tested with this one. Rainbow Days has had two episodes out so far, and they suggest different things. It's clear that the show is a romantic comedy about four guys and their girlfriends, and each guy and girl is different. I like the first couple introduced, between a socially inept dork and a quiet girl, and I like that the show is taking time to have them establish a relationship. If he rest of the show is more like that, I'll like it well enough. The problem is that the second couple introduced is swerving into the horror that is problematic shojo territory, and by "problematic," I mean "homophobic" and "rapey."

The series is juggling with a relationship here nobody seems equipped to deal with. The popular guy becomes interested in a girl who openly despises him (she literally spits in his face), but I've seen this enough to know that she eventually falls for him because this is how shojo writers thing healthy relationships work apparently. Does not help the guy keeps deciding to invade her personal space because he's interested in her after he steals a kiss from her. That's pretty fucking creepy. But the show decides to go with the old chestnut of the man hating girl being attracted to another girl (that quiet girl from the first episode), and setting it up to somehow not be valid because the quiet girl was the only person who was nice to her and thus her feelings will be wrong or fake in some way. Oh boy, just what I wanted from my wacky romantic comedy! Complete disregard for queer identities in exchange for the mating dance of sex offenders!

There's still hope here with the other couples, and the series still has a chance to not go down that horrible road, but holy hell this second relationship is both awful and toxic. The series is normal shojo fluff otherwise, but it's headed into really nasty territory at this rate.

Weak Recommendation

Sekkou Boys
Joe Straatmann

Good thing the second episode came along. Otherwise, I might've been the lone killjoy for this one. Most seem to be enjoying the concept of classical marble busts as boy band by itself, but that was one of two jokes from the first episode. The second is the introduction of their new manager Miki Ishimoto, a former art school student who can't stand art anymore. Why? Because her entire artistic training was sketching and painting and replicating statues and she can't even stand the sight of them anymore. This description of her college life goes on for half the episode until the irony boat finally arrives and she meets her new clients. Thankfully, it's just the first episode that cruises along on the concept alone.

One of the secrets to a good comedy is having a script that would work reasonably well without laughter. Here we have the struggles of an up-and-coming musical artists struggling to get on 4 a.m. shows to promote interest and their clash of personalities, especially with music groups. It just so happens their struggles are filtered through the fact that the artists are statues. The manager's difficulty with keeping the group moving together is literally trying to get them on a cart and move around. The problems with musicians getting roles in television or film are given a nice parody here. The show also knows it can't just have the four busts who look very similar in one location talking to to each other all the time and tries to single them out to keep scenes from getting confusing. Sekko Boys is a wild concept for sure, but it's also made by people who know it takes more than a concept to make even a short good.

Solid Recommendation

Sushi Police
Danni Kristen


Second Opinions

AOKANA: Four Rhythm Across the Blue

Jonathan: Watched one episode and that was enough for me. Very bland series, despite being about a sport mix of blitzball and quiditch. The designs are generic and the characters are uninteresting, and the majesty of flying thing has been done much better in many other shows. I like the lesbian couple, made up of a girl that makes cat puns in the afternoon and a territorial nut that declares herself the other's slave, but two great supporting characters aren't enough to carry such a boring series. Weak Recommendation

BBK/BRNK

David: I mentioned in my coverage of the fully CG Ajin anime that as of late I've tried to keep more of an open mind towards CG in anime. And while Ajin was unfortunately unable to impress me with its use of CG, BBK/BRNK (stupid title aside) has been one of my favorite premiers of the season. The show is a mishmash of a few different aspects, a bit of Kill la Kill, a bit of Ghibli-esque fantasy, a bit of Giant Robo and I wouldn't say it all meshes perfectly so far, but I'd be lying if I said it hasn't been a hell of a fun ride. Gorgeous backgrounds, lively CG character acting animation, cool effects animation, great looking character models and designs, strong framing, and a fun cast of characters have all made the show remarkably engaging so far. In addition, the action makes tremendous use of its medium, using CG's greater freedom of camera movement to create some incredibly dynamic action, that feels inspired by 2D anime action while simultaneously having its own unique spin on it. It's hard to tell where exactly the story will go, it's doing a good job setting up the team of protagonists and how they clash and work together in different ways, but it's been such a running start with all the constant action I do wonder if they'll be able to keep it this interesting once things slow down. But so far, BBK/BRNK is one of the most entertaining action shows of the season, and a prime example of CG being used well in anime. Solid Recommendation

Dagashi Kashi

Jonathan: Not nearly as wacky as I expected, but that works for it. Simple comedy with five characters and surprisingly laid back, except for Hotaru's obsession with dagashi snacks bordering on sexual. But what I liked most wasn't her, but the siblings that run the coffee shop, To and Saya. To is a filthy pervert after my own heart, and Saya's inability to properly read a situation outside anything involving Horatu's candy lust lets her bounce off Hotaru really well. Solid comedy for the season. Solid Recommendation

Stephanie: I'll admit, I originally passed this one by because I never had much luck when it came with Studio Feel, the group producing this series. It just seemed like one of those rather harem or ecchi kinds of series that would just completely make me turn the other way, and coming from the same studio as So I Can't Play H or Jinsei didn't turn things into it's favor. However, when I started hearing things about about the series, and mostly in the good way, I decided to give it a chance at the last second once again (there's always at least one for me each season...). I have to say I'm impressed! The concept may seem utterly silly like some slice of life series tend to be, it's the characters and their personalities that make all the difference! Having a female lead like Hotaru being, essentially, an utter otaku over snack foods gives the series something wonderfully refreshing for this slice of life/comedy. All the interactions with the characters have been such fun that I was never bored while watching these first two episodes! My only real concern is whether or not this one single plot will be all we get for the entire series. Honestly, this is something that can grow old rather quickly if you're not careful, but this is one series where I sincerely hope it doesn't happen. Strong Recommendation

Dimension W

Stephanie: Science fiction has never been one of my stronger areas. More often than not, they just seem to be the same thing over and over again with the same general ideas like space travel or advancing robotics. The latter is what can be said here for Dimension W, but this has much more to it than what I first expected. The world that's been created under New Tesla has kept my intrigued while the characters introduced so far have stories that will have an effect on the series. To be fair, some things are way too easy to pick up on like, for example, I am 95% sure that Albert will get to play the villain in the series later on. But what has been the strongest element in the series, this far, is the dynamic between Marubuchi and Mira. While it does have the qualities of the clichéd anime partnership we have seen, the badassary of the two as well as their personalities have the makings of something outside of that. All in all, I'm impressed! This one has an early start at being my favorite this season. Strong Recommendation

ERASED

Danni: This may have been one of the few show's this season I expected to be good, but damn, I didn't expect it to be that good. It has a very cinematic quality to it. And while the term 'cinematic' has kind of become ambiguous and basically a euphemism for 'well-directed,' I mean it in a literal sense. Watching ERASED feels like watching a feature film, albeit in episodic format. That aside, the directing is actually amazing. ERASED features some of the most skillful framing, blocking, and transitions since last winter's Yuri Kuma Arashi. If you're looking for an intriguing show and are prepared to be confronted in sometimes graphic detail with themes of child abuse and abduction, please, please, PLEASE watch ERASED. Strong Recommendation

David: I wasn't quite sure what I was getting into with Erased, but after Rokka and The Perfect Insider I was all for getting yet another prominent mystery series. The show does start out a bit on the ridiculous side, I was worried the protagonist was coming off as a bit too pretentious and the conflicts as a bit too over the top (it starting with him saving a child from a runaway truck while riding a motor scooter). But the show quickly escalates in quality and executes probably the strongest episodes of any anime so far this season. The visuals are gorgeous in every way imaginable, animation, lighting, framing, use of color, and the soundtrack by Yuki Kajiura is as good as one would expect from her (which is...very good). And from the incredible sense of tension during the latter half of the first episode, to the heartwarming nature of the second episode, it's a series packed with emotion and strong execution. I'm still curious where they're going with this mystery and all the time travel shenanigans the show hinges on, but if the series can keep up this remarkable high quality production values, writing, and visual storytelling, it could be the best anime of the season. Strong Recommendation

Joe: From the high grades this has been getting, the first thing that should be noted is that it won't excite you right away. The intro seems to be the story of a disillusioned former manga artist-turned-pizza-delivery-guy trying to get his groove back with the help of a younger co-worker. Potential to be a quality low-key affair, but nothing exciting, right? Keep watching. When it turns out he appears to have a special ability to add a little spice to the mix, still keep watching. Eventually, the little threads of the first episode come together and the payoff is stunning, skyrocketing this series to the frontrunner position in the race for best series of the season. Visually solid, emotionally resonant as hell, and surprisingly thrilling when it wants to be, Erased is something where you'll be glad I'm specifically hiding as much as I can from you. My only quibble is Yuki Kajiura at times doesn't feel like the right composer here. I LOVE me some Yuki Kajiura, but at times, her music cues feel too potent. Not something that should deter you from watching this RIGHT NOW. Strong Recommendation

Stephanie: Going into Erased, I was rather hesitant. I didn't exactly know much about the series outside of the animation studio producing it and the fact that it was some sort of mystery series or something. And, honestly, it took a little bit getting into the first episode since it was rather slow and slightly boring at times. But, as the episode progressed, there was something much more complicated going on that sent me into a bit of a tizzy; and the good kind, I might add. This takes elements of the well known mystery/detective series we've known rather well up until now, similar to Case Closed, and gives it a time leaping element a la Steins;Gate. Sure there isn't much explanation as to that time leaping part, but I'd imagine it'll be either one of those things they'll explain later or just make you go with. In any case, this is not lighthearted as pieces of the story, such as the very obvious abuse Hinazuki has been dealing with, are ever present. And while he hasn't been the best lead so far, Satoru's rather flat personality does have the chance to grow and change while reliving his younger years in an attempt to change the future for both his mother, Hinazuki, and possibly several others! There's a decent amount of potential here in these first two episodes, despite having the slog through the first half of episode one, and I'm rather happy with myself for not giving up on it right away. So long as the story and characters continue to grow from here, that's all I ask for. Solid Recommendation

Girls Beyond the Wasteland

Jonathan: This is one of those shows I watched on a whim, and I glad I did. Unlike the obnoxiously self-aware Saekano, Wasteland gets what it means to make a visual novel (fitting, as it's an adaptation of one) and finds a lot of comedy out of it, while also pushing an engaging story about fighting to do what you want to do with your life. It's pretty ugly, but the writing saves it. Also, Yuka is best girl. Solid Recommendation

Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash

Jonathan: Interesting take on the trapped in a game world premise. Grimgar is a mix of survival thriller and slice of life, about some kids not really ready for life in a kill or be killed fantasy world and taking familiar tropes in more realistic directions. At best, it's shockingly visceral, especially during the goblin killing scene, but this is still a light novel adaptation and it just has to throw in some obnoxious beats and character archetypes. Promising, still, and very beautiful. Solid Recommendation

Stephanie: Before starting Grimgar, there's one common thing that I kept hearing from a lot of people, that's strangely similar to the game Fire Emblem. As someone who has never played that game before, of course I had no clue what I was getting myself into. Right away, you can tell this is a fantasy series. It doesn't take an idiot to notice that much. It also seems to be a video game setting, of sorts, due to the strange and sudden appearance of this group of kids in this new world, and in modern day clothes, who have no memories prior to ending up in Grimgar. I say this because there are words or actions that occur that the characters don't seem to recall what they are or how they even know them. What makes this series different compared to quite a few series that are similar in nature to Grimgar is that we aren't following a ridiculously over powered human being, but rather a group of teens who are just trying to survive in this new world, with these first two episodes focusing on their first victory in having to kill a living being. It honestly has some interesting ideas and moments that have captured my curiosity. Now of only it was only paced.... I mean, did we really need a music montage of the characters wandering town for five minutes? Solid Recommendation

Haruchika - Haruto & Chika

Jonathan: This show is a mess. Not only is it surprisingly ugly, with a terrible color scheme and poor animation, but the premise itself is an utter mess. It can't decide if it's a slice of life about being in a band, mystery solving, or a love drama, and the pieces never come together. Haruto is also an insufferable dick, making for a lead you don't want to follow. The one thing the show does well is that it treats Haruto's homosexuality as valid, but that doesn't mean much when everything else is such a disaster. No Recommendation

KONOSUBA - God's blessing on this wonderful world!

David: Konosuba is the other big "trapped in a video game" airing this season, and as with the other one I went in with the tribulation that's come from so many of these shows being pumped out as of late. So imagine my surprise when the second anime of this genre this season ONCE AGAIN turned out to actually be quite good (though in a totally different way than Grimgar). In fact, Konosuba feels to the "trapped in a video game" genre what Nozaki-kun felt like to the shojo genre. The series revels in playing with the audiences expectations in terms of what usually happens in these sorts of shows, and constantly pokes fun at the conventions of the genre in some truly brilliant ways. It's a show that's fully aware it's jumping into a flooded pool, so is having a blast tearing apart everything that pool stands for with a wry smirk on its face. Despite this it's not mean spirited, the characters for the most part are actually pretty likable, and I've found myself genuinely looking forward to seeing more of these characters and their misadventures. It suffers from some unpolished animation, but makes up for it with that animation having plenty of movement, and suiting the cartoonish humor very well.
So overall, Konosuba is a fun and charming show that has a lot of fun with its somewhat tired premise. Solid Recommendation

Jonathan: Unlike Grimgar, Konosuba decided to take familiar concepts and turned it into a comedy in the vain of something like The Venture Brothers, in the respect that both are about failure. Kazuma and Aqua are genuinely terrible people that deserve each other, and their task to defeat the demon king in a fantasy world is simply their karmaic punishment, and their other party members are hilariously inept. This could be a major surprise for the year. Strong Recommendation

Luck & Logic

Jonathan: I don't think I've ever seen a show so lifeless and average in every possible regard, which is amazing because it sounds wild on paper. The art direction is fantastic as well. But once you watch it, it just feels like generic action sludge with no sense of style or personality anywhere. There has never been a show that has been so undeserving of existing. No Recommendation

Stephanie: Ehhhhhhhh, generic show is generic. Honestly the concept seemed moderately interesting, but it just didn't catch my interest compared to many of the other shows this season. It's like of you mix Nobunagun (another series I dropped early on while it aired) with some other typical shonen action series. I don't know, but I wasn't a huge fan of the first episode. And I can always use the extra time to focus on other things. I think I'll save myself the headache... Weak Recommendation, dropped at episode one

Mahou Shoujo Nante Mouiidesukara

Jonathan: See, the joke is that the underage girl has to wear a two-piece swimsuit, and the mascot thing find it hot! Oh man, I've never fucking seen that joke a million times before in porn doujins, no sirree! Bleh. No Recommendation

Myraid Colors: Phantom World

David: I almost feel bad that I've found myself enjoying Myriad Colors Phantom World. Because, make no mistake, it is a bad show. Very bad even. It's a trashy fantasy school light novel adaptation that just happens to have the immensely talented Kyoto Animation making it, but all the pretty animation in the world can't cover up how stupid the show is. And despite being stupid, the show is pretty full of itself as well, spouting psychology concepts left and right as if if means anything, at times being borderline pretentious in its delivery. The characters are boring, the humor isn't very clever, and there's no real story to speak of. And yet....it's just fun. This is a really unfair compliment, as it's hard to explain, but for all it's stupid nonsense KyoAni has injected it with so much energy and flair it prevents it from ever getting boring. It isn't good, it's still trashy nonsense devoid of substance, but when I switch my brain off it's a mildly entertaining way to waste a half an hour. Which is a compliment. I think. Weak Recommendation

Jonathan: KyoAni made light novel garbage and I like it. The show has a lot of the usual problems, mainly self insert wanking and failure to match ambition, but it has a lot of interesting ideas and fantastic art direction. It never gets offensively terrible, and it has some pretty inspired moments and fun characters. Want to hate it, but I can't. Weak Recommendation

Nurse Witch Komugi R

Jonathan: I kind of like this one okay for the little touches, like the girl in yellow who raps badly and says "yo" randomly, and the magical gimmicks are ridiculous (there's a magical nun, for fucks sake). The problem is that the comedy is so by the numbers and tired. We've seen this sort of parody dozens of times before, and there's just not enough changes to the formula to make it spark. Weak Recommendation

Ojisan and Marshmallow

Danni: I was kind of disappointed by this show. I went into it having heard about how hilarious it was, but I didn't quite expect the whole series to only have one joke that just keeps getting reused. Like, I get it. The girl wants to fuck Paul Blart while Paul Blart just wants to fuck the bag of marshmallows. That's really all there is to it. Weak Recommendation

Jonathan: Weirdly funny. The series has a big joke in that an attractive girl is insanely attracted to an older fat guy, which could have easily been obnoxious and mean-spirited, but that moment never comes. Check out the first episode, you'll know if it's for you from that. Solid Recommendation

Please tell me! Galko-chan

Danni: Finally I have found anime girls whose conversations I can actually relate to. Fuck your KyoAni girls talking about which end of a cornet to eat first. From now on I'm only watching shows about cute girls talking about their ass hair. Strong Recommendation

Prince of Stride: Alternative

Stephanie: I will admit that I have gotten really into sports anime recently, mostly because the characters are what make it so much fun! Haikyuu, Yowapeda, and Free! are all sports shows that have such a fun cast of characters that it's hard not to enjoy myself. This season's Prince of Stride is no exception to this. Our main Stride team is a great mix of personalities that just mesh together well, despite using character stereotypes that I've seen many times up until this point. Sure there's nothing all that ground breaking for this sports anime right now, but that's not something I'm too concerned with. MadHouse is one of my favorite animation studios since making Paranoia Agent, Death Parade, and several others, so I trust them in making Prince of Stride into a fun and energetic series! That or I just may have become sports anime trash. Could be either one at this point. Strong Recommendation

Schwarzes Marken

Jonathan: Laserjagd Laserjagd Laserjagd Laserjagd Laserjagd Laserjagd Laserjagd Laserjagd Laserjagd Laserjagd Laserjagd Laserjagd Laserjagd Laserjagd Laserjagd Laserjagd Laserjagd Laserjagd Laserjagd Laserjagd Laserjagd Laserjagd Laserjagd Laserjagd Laserjagd Laserjagd Laserjagd Laserjagd Laserjagd Laserjagd Laserjagd Laserjagd Laserjagd Laserjagd Laserjagd Laserjagd Laserjagd Laserjagd Laserjagd Laserjagd Laserjagd Laserjagd Laserjagd Laserjagd Laserjagd Laserjagd Laserjagd Laserjagd Laserjagd Laserjagd Laserjagd Laserjagd Laserjagd Laserjagd Laserjagd Laserjagd Laserjagd Laserjagd Laserjagd Laserjagd Laserjagd Laserjagd Laserjagd Laserjagd Laserjagd Laserjagd Laserjagd Laserjagd Laserjagd Laserjagd Laserjagd Laserjagd Laserjagd Laserjagd Laserjagd Laserjagd Laserjagd Laserjagd Laserjagd Laserjagd Laserjagd Laserjagd Laserjagd Laserjagd Laserjagd Laserjagd Laserjagd Laserjagd Laserjagd Recommendation

Sekkou Boys

Jonathan: I think I might love this. It's a comedy about a manager trying to keep her idol clients happy and working, except the idols are famous sculptures and somehow alive. Way more comedy gets squeezed out of this set-up than should be possible, helped by the personalities of the cast. It's definitely one of the best shorts this season. Strong Recommendation

Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinju

Jonathan: Best of the year material right here. A drama about rakugo (think a sort of one man show in Japanese theater) sounds boring, butt the writing is so sharp and the acting so good that it sucks you in almost instantly. The first episode has a ten minute scene that perfectly sums up the show's strengths, as you watch the main character tell a story about an inept thief and it's just masterful. I was sucked in from beginning to end. Sometimes, less is more, and this show is a perfect example of that. Strong Recommendation

Stephanie: Why did I think this was going to be similar to House of Five Leaves? The promotional art and the character design are rather similar so I kinda made the assumption. This is what happens when you've been busy doing a million other things and not paying too much attention. Now, I actually only had the chance to see the first episode of this series because Crunchyroll premium is a thing I don't have. However, the first episode was actually double in length so that more than makes up for it! This is, once again, one of those kinds of series that I know I'll just fall in love with as it is rather arts oriented; this time taking on the Japanese performance of Rakugo, or comic storytelling, that almost resembles a radio drama due to the set up of the actor's shows. While this is what initially draws me in to Shouwa Genroku, it's the characters that give much more life to the drama of the story itself. Sure, the stereotypes are there, however, they are in a rather different setting then what I've seen before as I'm able to connect and relate to this series even more as a performer and artist. I want to see Yotarou succeed in his pursuits even if he's a loud mouth idiot at times (Yotarou is the perfect nickname for him, by the way), because he's the kind of character I can root for because of his dedication and enthusiasm. This one is a bit of surprise for me, this season, and I'm willing to give it more time in order to completely captivate me in it's story. Solid Recommendation

I've on occasion said something along the lines of "A mystery is only as good as its reveal". When I say "reveal" though, I don't necessarily mean that a mystery is entirely dependent on the answer or culprit itself being surprising, though this can help in making a mystery reveal successful. But typically what I get more enjoyment out of in mysteries is less the who or what, and more the why. The motivations and meaning behind a mystery can often propel what would've otherwise been a fairly simple or unremarkable mystery to greater heights. I've found myself enamored with twists and reveals that were complete cop outs, or not all that surprising, simply because it provided meaningful insight into the characters or themes of a work. At least for me, I'm always more interested in the characters over the plot points, and find great enjoyment thinking about why they do what they do.



I bring all this up because I'd like to spend some time exploring the characters, motivations, themes, and conclusion of the recent anime The Perfect Insider. The show gained some attention early on for its slow build pacing, strong visual direction, and mystery focus, but reactions to the show after the conclusion were mixed. After completing the series though, I personally felt as if I got a lot from the ending and the show as a whole. So, I decided to sort out my thoughts on the show into this post, and try to get across what I saw in it. Now keep in mind, this is just my interpretation, and it's entirely possible I'm off base in some areas. Hell, maybe the show really was just pretentious gobbledygook after all and I'm just reading too much into it. But I'd like to make some attempt to convey the meaning that I drew from it, and hopefully I can piece together what I thought the show was all about.

Also, it should be noted that this post will contain major spoilers for The Perfect Insider, as I will be discussing twists, themes, character backgrounds, and so on from throughout the show, from beginning to end. If you don't want surprises and plot points ruined for you, please refrain from reading.


Before I discuss how the show ended, I'd like to go over what the characters went through during the bulk of the series. At the center of The Perfect Insider are three characters (and to a lesser extent another fourth character, who I'll get to later). These are Shiki Magata, Souhei Saikawa, and Nishinosono Moe, and to begin putting together what exactly the show was trying to get across, I'd  first like to cover each of these characters, and more importantly, where they stand on the humanitarian scale the show's themes hinge on.

The first, and possibly most important character in the show is Doctor Shiki Magata. Dr. Magata acts as the focus for the entire plot, not only as the victim of the murder case the other two characters are trying to solve, but also as the moral baseline by which the other two characters will be compared and contrasted to, in addition to being a driving force behind much of the said character's internal conflicts. Doctor Magata is a genius, or so everyone had always told her. She's a celebrated programmer, has an off the charts IQ, and made a major impact on the scholarly community both before and after she was accused of murdering her parents in cold blood. But more significant than her brilliance is her philosophy, her way of thinking. Doctor Magata's viewpoint on the world, society, and existence is one that runs contrary to society in general, believing that bodies as nothing but a vessel for the soul that only restricts the abilities of the human mind. She sees morality as nothing but something constructed by human society, a farce devoid of any actual meaning. And she sees human relationships as restrictive as well, tying people down so they can't be truly individual and reach their full potential. From what I can gather it's a mindset most similar to the philosophy of Solipsism, the belief that the self, one's own state of mind, is all that is sure to exist, and everything else can't be known for certain, and therefore isn't actually important. Magata had felt this way ever since she was a child. She was fascinated by death, avoided people, and eventually, was driven to murder by her desire for freedom from the confines of the material world, her relationships, and obligations.


"Everyone convinces themselves that life is an enjoyable thing. (Shiki Magata), however, was always thinking about how much of a burden it was. And about how much our freedom was lost by the conviction that we had to stay alive." -Seiji Shindou (Episode 1)

Because of this belief, this desperate obsession with an unattainable freedom from human reality, Doctor Magata was incapable of forming genuine human relationships, or at least made every attempt to avoid doing so. Even when she formed a romantic relationship with her own uncle, she appeared to show no real love towards him. It's frequently implied that she was merely using him to expand her knowledge of the human experience, trying to find some meaning in her existence. And because of this mindset, this aversion to what it is that makes us human, Magata Shiki grew up very alone, slowly becoming more and more distant from reality. Losing touch with the standards and ethics that make a person human. She killed her parents in order to obtain freedom from their rules, and then cut herself off from the world, locking herself in a windowless, isolated set of rooms, never leaving, never communicating with anyone for a long time. The kind of world she'd always wanted, without anyone to restrict her, to hold her back, to question her. For a long time, despite being surrounded by family, and people calling her a genius, she had been alone. But then, she wasn't. (but we'll get to that later)

With that, I'd like to move on to the next major character of The Perfect Insider, Souhei Saikawa. At first glance, Saikawa is that pretentious, know-it-all college professor that everyone has probably encountered at one point or another. Nearly everything he spouts is pseudo-philosophical nonsense, and he's constantly saying things that sound smart on paper, but don't really mean much when you think about it too hard. He's also the love interest of another major character, Nishinosono Moe, having known her ever since she was a child. The show quickly establishes that Saikawa idolizes Shiki Magata and her ideals. He obsesses over her, aggrandizing her as a genius, someone who's on a whole different level from the rest of humanity. Someone who has retained the immense mental freedom that he believes humans slowly lose with age. In a sense, Saikawa is like Magata "Lite". He's a less radical incarnation of many of Magata's ideas, whose ultimate goal, whether he believes he can obtain it or not, is to eventually reach the same level as her. He claims to believe many of the same things as Magata, about the restrictions brought by human material existence, about the inconvenience of human relationships, and most of all, her desire for freedom. When Moe asks Saikawa why it is he's so eager to meet Doctor Magata, he replies:

Tama and Joe form a dynamic duo this episode for a discussion of one of the most famous anime films of all time, but not entirely for it being good or revolutionary. More for how it's a giant middle finger to nerds and once and for all showing why Shinji getting into he fucking robot is a bad thing. Its time to talk about End of Evangelion! Also, Tama talks about a show so uneventful that it makes K-ON!"look like a Micheal Bay film."

Click the title card below to listen!

Did you hear? The Boy and the Beast is coming to theatres in March!


I’m not sure if you’re aware of this, assuming my Beginner’s Guide entry wasn’t a dead giveaway, but I’m a huge Mamoru Hosoda fan. He’s my favourite anime director next to Hayao Miyazaki, and the vacancy in my heart that exists from the latter’s retirement has been replaced by him. The styles of the directors are quite different, Hosoda deals with more grounded fantasy, but since The Wolf Children’s currently one of my favourite animated films of all-time…yeah, it’s safe to say that I love his work. I’m incredibly excited aout his latest film, The Boy and the Beast, coming to theatres in dub-form on March 3rd, exactly one week after Only Yesterday makes its own debut after 25 years.

Sound like great news, right? Yes, but I’m actually baffled by one detail surrounding this film’s theatrical release: why now?


To give context, Hosoda’s been in the industry for a while. He got his start working for Toei Animation on Digimon Adventure in the late-90’s, even directing two short-films and an episode. He’d go on to direct a One Piece film as well, before being given the opportunity to tackle Howl’s Moving Castle. The latter didn’t pan out for…reasons, leading Hosoda to team up with Studio MadHouse for The Girl Who Leapt Through Time in 2006. And that’s where he really became a household name in Japan, with three more films, Summer Wars, The Wolf Children and now The Boy and the Beast, since.

Sufficed to say, Mamoru Hosoda’s no slouch when it comes to showcasing his prowess. Not only has he been nominated for several awards in his home country, but he’s even started gaining notoriety over here, albeit via cult following, through the efforts of FUNimation Entertainment. The company's dubbed his previous two films, and by the looks it The Boy and the Beast will be too; after all, here’s the cast:

“Kyuta (Young)-Luci Christian.
Kyuta (Teen)-Eric Vale.
Kumatetsu-John Swasey.
Kaede-Bryn Apprill.
Chico-Monica Rial.
Hyakushuno-Alex Organ.
Tatara-Ian Sinclair.
Iozen-Sean Hennigan.
Ichirohiko (Young)-Morgan Berry.
Ichirohiko (Teen)-Austin Tindle.
Jiromaru (Young)-Brittney Karbowski.
Jiromaru (Teen)-Josh Grelle.
Kyuta’s Mother-Jessica Cavanagh.
Kyuta’s Father-Chuck Hüber.
Lord-Steve Powell.”

That’s quite the powerhouse list! But, again, why now? Why, of all the movies to pick for a wide-release, did it have to be Mamoru Hosoda’s fourth film? FUNimation could’ve easily done that with his last two works too. Judging by the reception they’ve received from fans and critics alike, why they didn’t is mind-boggling. Were they afraid of the movies not selling? Considering how ticket sales have helped Studio Ghibli with their films in the West-

Okay, that’s not fair. Yes, Studio Ghibli’s movies have been released in theatres on numerous occasions. But that’s because their library already had a fan-base prior to Princess Mononoke debuting in North America in 1999. They’d been around since the 80’s, giving them more than a decade head-start. Comparing them to Hosoda is like comparing a sirloin steak to a cheap hamburger in that regard.

But you know something? Part of what made Studio Ghibli so big here was the theatrical releases. Prior to 1999, Studio Ghibli was known, but mostly by underground Otaku. Post 1999, the fan-base was small, but it wasn’t as underground anymore. These days, many non-fans of anime know of the studio, even if not by name.

So to start advertising Hosoda’s work in theatres early on is good. It might not generate great returns, that’d be unrealistic, but it’d allow for long-term word of mouth. With theatrical releases, the chances of “Hey, that looks cool!” or “Why don’t we go see that?” or even “I saw that recently, and it’s well-worth your time!” happening are that much greater. With a straight-to-DVD release, however, it’s less-likely.

To use a personal example, last Summer I invited some of my co-counsellors from camp over for a movie night. We watched The Wolf Children, which they’d never heard of. When I initially tried explaining what it was, the first response I heard was, “The only anime I’ve seen is by that guy who made Spirited Away. What’s his name again?” Everyone ended up enjoying the film, but that kind of response shows that FUNimation had missed an opportunity by not releasing the film theatrically.

They missed an additional opportunity to have the film submitted for an Oscar for Best Animated Film that year. For the record, The Wolf Children was released in Japan in 2012. It came over here in December of 2013. The opportunity was there, as The Academy’s guidelines allow for submissions within one calendar year of their original release. But since it went straight to video, the opportunity was lost. I guess FUNimation realized that too late…

If I sound bitter, I’m not really. If anything, I’m excited about a Mamoru Hosoda film being released in theatres. With Studio Ghibli no longer making new movies, and their only release this year being too old, The Boy and the Beast stands a chance to score an Oscar nod for next year. Perhaps not a win, Disney or Pixar’ll probably get the trophy, but a nod nonetheless. And nods are good enough press for a movie, trust me!

And the film? I’m down! I don’t think I’ll pre-order my ticket, I don’t need to with a film like this, but I’m planning to see it as soon as possible. And I’m sure, judging by its reception and my past experience, that I’ll love it to bits. How much remains to be seen, but Hosoda's earned my trust, and that counts for something!

Walt gathers together Jonathan and Danni for another round of crazy supernatural stalkers with Ibitsu, which is like Zashiki Onna but for people with incest fetishes. We also brought in Lamar, an old On The Dark Side of Things writer and good friend, to discuss bears, real, and I'm. We also talk about some interesting manga we're reading (Catch-22 is a manga, right?) and Jonathan tells us about two more webcomics that thankfully don't involve time travel or warnings about the stairs bro. One of them does involve shitposting and clowns, though.

Listen to the episode by clicking the title card below!

The Winter rolls on, and it's proving to be a weirdly mixed season all in all. We're still struggling through and enjoying the gems of the season, among the terrible videogame shows and the generic messes. Drops are still out for staff, so what will be cut from the chaff this installment?

Let's find out!


Dropped Shows

• Mahou Shoujo Nante Mouiidesukara (David, one episode)
• Nurse Witch Komugi R (Stephanie, one episode)

Full Shows

Active Raid
Jonathan Kaharl

I fucking love this show. After fighting a dance mech with some hacking and making Asami pretend to be an idol to trick the otaku inside it, the team has moved onto dealing with an attempted bombing and a game of life and death with an expert gambler. We have a better idea of who Sena is through the bombing plot now, as its revealed that he's a dropout of the Self-Defense program and is very focused on the mission before him. He wants the unit to be a well oiled machine, but he realizes he needs the ability to think outside the box as Takeru saves his hide during the mission. He finally feels like a character, helped by how he sees Asami and wants to work with Takeru, one of the few people he trusts despite his feelings towards him, to train her into a proper member of the unit. I can't be the only guy who got the two dads raising a daughter vibe here.

The gambler episode helped flesh out more of the supporting members of the team, including the section chief revealing he used to be a bit of a wild kid. But the bigger surprise is Madoka, the quietest member of the team and resident hacker, who is revealed to be a gambling legend who's now working with the police despite her criminal past. She quickly became one of my favorite characters with just one episode, helping to save the day and showing off some of the old ways that the world has forgotten. There's a major theme in this series of people failing to evolve along with technological progress, and this gambling plot combined with Logos' involvement is really highlighting this. Logos and Unit 8 are polar opposites, young and old, and treat technology differently. However, Unit 8's unorthodox methods also don't fit with the established order. They're a middle ground of the two approaches where imperfections among people are important to doing what's needed for the greater good, but they also succeed in that because they don't fully fit into a ideal of some sort. This really is mainly a job for them, and they don't think hard on why they help people in crisis. Asami's importance can't be stressed enough, as her idealism is needed to give the team greater unity and order among themselves, as her presence helps strengthen bonds between the entire team. She's a youth who believes in old ideas, and goes at them with an energy the old lack. Really, she is the ultimate counterpoint of the chaotic Logos, the overly structured system the police work under, and Unit 8's lax attitude.

The character dynamics in this show are so good. They're all very simple and easy to understand, but they don't spell everything out and move a lot of themes and ideas around alongside the absurd situations and fun comedy and action beats. It really captures the energy of the director's famous work Code Geass, but strips away some of the more misogynistic elements and dramatic flair for a hot blooded action flick style mixed with the same sense of humor and character as that series. Honestly, this may end up being the better written show out of the two, and a big surprise for the year. I have a lot of faith in Active Raid, and I can't wait for the next episode. It just so perfectly captures the flow of the world we live in, but makes it a joy to explore.

Strong Recommendation

Ajin
David O'Neil

The first episode of Ajin was one of my least favorite premieres of the season. It was a substance-less slog where not much of anything interesting happened other than generic set up. But still, it was only one episode, and I felt it was unfair to drop it when I didn't even feel I had a good idea of what exactly it was trying to be. The first episode gave the impression it was walking in the footsteps of shows like Parasyte and Tokyo Ghoul, but without any action, or much known about what exactly an "Ajin" was, it felt like I'd been given the intro and none of the meat. So, I gave the next episode a go. And I still just can't get into it.

It's clearly a slow build show, as yet another episode went by purely setting things up without any action or major shifts in the plot. And for some shows this can work, but it just isn't doing anything for me with Ajin. The characters, the premise, and the world just aren't strong enough to carry this show moving at this kind of pace. The main character is uninteresting, and seems to be holding back any elements of his past that may help to better characterize him, his best friend is bland, and the villains are a mix of generic government higher ups who are clearly hiding things and random rapists (because we need people who can die brutally without the audience feeling bad). The visuals were more interesting than that of the first episode, with more movement overall, no use of still frames, and more appealing use of lighting, but there were still moments (especially close ups) where it really just looked like still action figures staring off into space. The plot is moving along, but considering all it has to show for it still comes down to "teenager gets mysterious powers that put him on the run from the law" routine that's already been done in more inventive ways, and lacks anything in the form of character motivations or world building, the show just isn't giving me much reason to stick around.

There are glimpses of a good show here and there, similar to the first episode the second does have a single stand out scene that really got my attention. The climax of the second episode is creepy, and genuinely intense, and I thought it was really cool. Unfortunately, to get to it you'd have to slog through 20 minutes of slow, uninspired build up to actually get to that brief moment. After that, I felt pretty much done with the show. It still wasn't showing off enough to keep me interested to keep coming back week to week. In the end Ajin is a show that feels empty, lacking any real selling points to cling onto other than neat concepts other shows have already done better.

No Recommendation, dropped at episode two

AOKANA: Four Rhythm Across the Blue
David O'Neil

Right out of the gate Aokana: Four Rhythm Across the Blue presented an intriguing gimmick, an island where nearly everyone wears special technologically advanced shoes that allows them to fly, and are commonly used in a sport which has contestants flying through the air and trying to both tag each other and outpace each other. It certainly got my attention, but after that it was up to the show to keep me sticking around after the initial pitch, and so far, its done a pretty good job of that.

By far the biggest thing the show has going for it is the flying sport in the center of it all, called the Flying Circus (not to be mistaken with the Itano Circus- I apologize for the animation nerd joke). The more I see of it the more it becomes apparent this concept is no one trick pony, and the've already done a great job doing a lot of interesting stuff with the sport. It's intense, surprisingly complex, and new techniques and strategies are constantly thrown into the mix to keep things interesting. One match in episode 3 was especially intense, with two people zipping through the sky at immense speeds trying to tag each other, which is a sight to behold. The use of CG is disappointing, but you get used to it pretty quick and they make sure never to use it in close ups, exclusively using it for farther out shots, assuring the switch between 2D and CG is never very noticeable. I'd like to see them do even more with creating dynamic chases and match ups using the CG, but what we've gotten so far is still really solid. The strongest episode so far, though, is probably the fourth. It choses to focus entirely on one of the side characters, Mashiro, whose fallen behind the two leads in terms of skill in the sport, and teams up with a girl her age from a rival school to help her improve. Its a really nice standalone vignette that expands on the character well, and leads to some sweet moments. I'd love to see the show try to pull of these sorts of more contained, character driven stories more often.

Outside of all that, the show is still just a lot of fun. Gonzo continues to keep the animation and visual gags constant and full of energy, any fan of goofy anime faces is guaranteed to have a good time with this show. It does feel as if the narrative overall could use a bit more focus, with it being unclear whether it intends to focus more on the protagonist and his past, or Asuka learning to be a better player. Especially considering the male protagonist has barely even been around as of late (then again, he's the most boring character so I can't complain much). But still, with charming characters, and an interesting, exciting sport at its  center, Aokana is still a show very much worth checking out.

Solid Recommendation

BBK/BRNK
Danni Kristen

Following their brutal defeat at the hands of Reoko Banryuu's terrifying buranki named Entei, Azuma and his fellow bubuki users retreat to rest and recover. They head to the hideout of a friend of theirs named Horino, a bubuki user who ran from the battlefield. They can't rest for long, however, and are soon tracked down by Matobai, the first of Reoko's famous Four Kings. As the wielder of Entei's right hand, he challenges Oubu's right hand to a Bubuki Battle. In a Bubuki Battle, only wielders of the same type of buranki limb can fight one another. The fight doesn't end until one user either dies or admits defeat. Once a user loses, they can no longer wield their bubuki. As the wielder of Oubu's right hand, Kogane is chosen to fight Matobai. It's a fitting matchup considering he killed her father and she's sworn revenge against him. Since no one else can interfere in a Bubuki Battle, the others prepare for their journey to return to Treasure Island and find Azuma's mother. Horino lends them a train they can transport Oubu with, and it soon comes in handy. Kogane's fight against Matobai is only won because he's hit by the train and forfeits to prevent getting crushed.

As it turns out, though, the Bubuki Battle isn't over yet. Once a Bubuki Battle is initiated, it's not over until all of the users controlling a buranki have fought the users of the other buranki. Following their train escape, they're immediately attacked by another one of the Four Gods. He challenges Kinoa to a battle, and we soon find out they have a suggestive history together. It turns out that years ago he had saved her from the bubuki police and given her the courage to accept the bubuki her mother handed down to her. They became romantically involved before he disappeared. Sometime between his disappearance and the present, she found out he had been lying the whole time. In actuality, he was spying on her to ensure she did in fact have her mother's bubuki. Kinoa defeats him in the end, rendering his bubuki unusable. Once again, though, they're immediately attacked by another of the Four Gods. This time, their enemy is none other than Horino, who had been working undercover for Reoko. She challenges Hiiragi, and the two prepare to battle.

For the most part, these were some of BBK/BRNK's weakest episodes. The moments that the show's CG looks the worst is during the quiet moments, which was pretty much all of episode three. Episode four was better in this respect, but it spent a little too much time telling Kogane's backstory and not enough time battling. Episode five did this even more, showing hardly any battling during the actual battle. Instead, it dwelt on the creepy backstory between Kinoa and the guy she was battling. At the time of their meeting, Kinoa was a younger teenager, given that she's presumably in her upper teens now. Meanwhile, the other guy was obviously an adult, yet manipulated this young girl into a romantic relationship. It's also heavily implied they had sex, which adds a whole new layer of creepy to the mix. It really did not help get me more interested in BBK/BRNK, which I was gradually losing interest in. I wouldn't say that the show is bad, per se, but rather that I don't have much interest in taking the time to watch it when I already have a busy schedule. The battles are cool, but they aren't granting much time to those battles. Additionally, the show's best-looking aspect - its backgrounds - haven't been utilized well in the past few episodes. It's best aspects are being tossed to the side in lieu of really subpar substitutes. I'll give this show another episode or two to keep me interested, but it'll take some really good episodes to succeed at that.

Weak Recommendation

Dagashi Kashi
David O'Neil

For the second time since I started covering shows for Seasonal Anime Reviews on this site (at least from what I can recall) I'm going to do something I'm not especially fond of. Typically, I save my drops for the shows I like the least, because it feels somewhat like a punishment, or a declaration that I no longer want to watch it. But this time around, I'm using a drop on a show I like, quite a lot in fact. The show in question being Dagashi Kashi.

My reasoning comes down to the same reason I dropped Denki-Gai a whiiiile back. It's a gag comedy that's static and consistent to a point I've covered nearly everything about it at the halfway point. Keep in mind this isn't a really a bad thing, and Dagashi Kashi isn't a bad show, its an incredibly funny comedy where the focus is purely on the gags and a tight, 5 person cast of characters playing off each other in new situations every episode. At the same time though, all these situations pretty much revolve around candy, and things involving candy appearing vaguely sexual. The show continues to put out solid gags based on this concept, but because the show revolves purely on this single type of gag, this set cast of characters, a plot that has no intention of going anywhere, and has in no way particularly increased or decreased in the quality of its humor, visuals, or overall execution, I'd much rather drop it then one of the more interesting, constantly shifting, lesser quality shows I'm watching this season. Every episode of Dagashi Kashi delivers exactly what I expect, and nothing more or less: Hotaru being a goofball, some implied sex jokes, crazy characters reactions, and well timed punchlines.

Dagashi Kashi is a simple show that is a huge success at what it does best. It makes me laugh, it has a calming rural atmosphere while also delivering energetic, inventive humor, it has a small but memorable cast of characters, good animation, and overall consistently strong execution in its pacing and comedic timing. This hasn't changed since the show has started, nor has just about anything about its format, story, characters, or jokes changed. And this is perfectly fine, as someone who enjoys this sort of goofy, tongue in cheek fare, I'm glad to see a show dedicating itself to that tone and not showing any signs of letting up on the laughs. At the same time though, with a show so strict to its goal and unwavering in its delivery, it leaves me with little motivation to continue covering it week to week. A great comedy, but one that appears to have played all its cards and gotten into its groove very early on, to the point I feel I have nothing left to say about it. But still absolutely worth watching.

Strong Recommendation, dropped at episode five

Dimension W
Jonathan Kaharl

Now that the mess with Loser is dealt with, we get an episode with Mira getting used to her new living arrangements with Kyoma, using her earned funds to rent his trailer (though it lacks a bathroom, which she does need to keep her systems running properly). It's a cute episode that builds on some of the back story and direction of the plot proper, but it doesn't develop Mira or Kyoma too much. Episode four is similar in this regard. It's a bit weird that nothing of particular interest has happened with either since episode one outside their place in the larger plot, but we do get a bit more definition for Mira at least. She's treated as a sort of contradiction, a powerful machine that acts with the personality of a normal girl, which is a tad interesting and a tad obnoxious. She doesn't really have much to do besides cause problems for Kyoma, despite her having incredible combat ability. This is where episode four starts to frustrate me.

The two head to a supposedly haunted hotel and are trying to figure out who killed a famous writer staying there, while Mira ends up becoming entranced by the writer's horror stories and starts to see the world as one. The idea is good, but to make it work, the show has to depower Mira and make her into a damsel. There are so many more interesting directions this plot could have gone, but they went with the most tired option. On top of that, Kyoma remains as static as ever, as some whispers about him being an anti-coil super soldier are stated again and he continues being quiet and easily annoyed. What makes stuff like Samurai Champloo or Cowboy Bebop engaging is that the cast have lively personalities and bounce with the ridiculous story being told every episode, but neither Kyoma or Mira is quite interesting or lively enough to work in the same context, despite being in a series with a similar format.

These problems were present in the first two episode, but I forgave them because the show was just starting and I expected some development for the two shortly. However, that hasn't happened. I'm still enjoying the show a good bit, especially for its style, but it needs to really do something with its characters and feel like its going in an interesting direction. The coils plot is a mix of interesting and very drab, and I'm wishing it doesn't stay on its current path for too long. For a series with so many cool ideas, it needs characters to match.

Solid Recommendation

Divine Gate
Stephanie Getchell

I know during the first report I couldn't really give a specific recommendation and was kinda caught in the middle of a weak and solid recommendation. With three more episodes under my belt this go around, I have a better idea of where Divine Gate lands... And it's not good. Each of these three episodes gave more focus on our main trio, Akane, Midori, and Aoto, as we get to know a bit more about them along with add more to Aoto's mysterious past. Midori, we learn, has a strong yet strange motivation for reaching the divine gate and that is her old friend Elena who's wish to be Midori's number one friend forever, brings her to the point of creepy stalker chick as she heads for the gate. For Aoto, we learn about an incident from three years prior to the series, Blue Christmas, where Aoto's brother and another individual was involved in the mass mall murder of over 600 people. Finally, during a special training session for Akane's team along with additional character Ginji, Hikari, and Yukari, Akane's naiveté is explored when he learns about and encounters what is referred to as Defiers; a group of individuals that are seen as expendable to the World Council and are kept in hiding for their misdeeds.

This series is not exactly the most creative thing in the world; even right down to names of characters. Akane means deep red, while Midori is green, and Hikari means light. Now Aoto, Ginji, and Yukari are a different story as Yukari means affinity and Ginji is two beginnings; meanwhile I couldn't really find anything for Aoto. Unless those meanings come into play a bit more later on, it's still kinda meh either way. But honestly, my larger problem is that each of these characters have some kind of tragic backstory and someone in their lives that is basically bat s**t insane! Aoto has his younger brother who is the true murderer of their parents, while Midori has crazy creeper Elena as some kind of motivation for her search for the gate. Akane, there hasn't been a lot yet, but it's clear that his father is a strong influence, who is also dead from what I can tell, so that may be what comes into play here down the line. This is as if the series is trying way too hard to be complex and edgy when over half the things it's doing have been done in some form or fashion before. That and, because it's trying to do so much, there's way too much going on for me to really follow the show properly or even get into. I took a small break smack dab while watching these three episodes to catch up on Snow White with the Red Hair's season two simulcast just because it was getting drawn out and boring to see. It has so much potential to be a good series and it actually looks pretty decent, visually, but it's just taking itself and crashing into the ground over and over again...

While I do have one more drop this season, I'm holding off on using it for now. Not because I'm hoping this series will get better, I've pretty much given up on it; but because I'm going to have the hardest time deciding which show to use this drop on. Admittedly, this is the weakest set of shows I've been assigned to cover, yet, and I've got ti really consider which ones I'm willing to suffer through for the rest of the season. In Divine Gate's case, I know it's a mess, and it's boring as all hell. There are a few things that are interesting concepts, but, with it being so overloaded of a series, it isn't able to focus on those ideas. It's not as generic as Luck and Logic, thank goodness, but it's not the best thing right now. Probably won't be for it's entire run. I guess it would be fun to see how much it runs itself into the ground for the next several weeks... Always an idea.

Weak Recommendation

ERASED
Jonathan Kaharl

Well. That was a step in the wrong direction. I wish I could keep singing the praises of this series forever, but we've reached the point where we're starting to get a clearer picture of everything that's happening and the cracks in the writing are starting to show. The episode before last is more of the good, though. Satoru is finally managing to cause a divergence in the timeline, and we get some truly sweet and heartfelt moments between him and Hinazuki. It's a perfectly paced episode that ends on a fantastic cliffhanger. And then the inevitable finally happens.

We return to the present, as Satoru is wanted by the police and tries to hide out and figure things out. With the mom dead at this point of time, Satoru ends up trying to hide with his manager ...who rats him out almost instantly. Which is understandable. What isn't understandable is that Airi, his high school age co-worker, takes him in after. You need to give a good reason for this to make any sense (they barely know each other and he's suspected of murder), and the reason given is that Airi's parents got a divorce because her dad was accused of stealing a chocolate bar and her mom thought he did it too and so his entire life fell apart and he disappeared forever. Thus, she wants to believe in others when no one else will.

Yes. You read that correctly.

That is the dumbest single story I have seen this season, and I'm watching Pandora in the Crimson Shell. This entire episode is a massive drop in quality, not helped by outsourcing from a no name studio that ruins the cinematic punch of earlier episodes, and some far less interesting characters. Airi's entire purpose for being in this show is for plot reasons and so we have another woman stuffed in the closet (I am totally counting on it), while the manager just comes off as so slimy and pathetic that I can't see him as a real person at all. The humanity the writing had just disappears this episode, and the cliffhanger is really too normal. Also, it's starting to become clear what exactly is happening with the murder cases, and the answer its going for is way too easy. The warning signs are presenting themselves, hopefully things don't stumble too much.

Solid Recommendation

Girls Beyond the Wasteland
David O'Neil

I'm not sure where to even start with Girls Beyond the Wasteland, because honestly I'm surprised I'm even still watching it. But I am. And I'm looking forward to watching more. This is all despite that the show is pretty dumb, and fits into a lot of the tropes and contrivances that typically come with any harem or dating sim adaptation, even if to a less severe degree. It's actually pretty light on fanservice, but its still very clear the story hinges on a collection of girls admiring, and likely falling for the bland, self insert protagonist at the center of it all.

And yet, boy is it a lot of fun. I guess it's just my guilty pleasure this season, despite slogging through some pretty basic plot developments and genre conventions, the show never bores me. A lot of this is thanks to the characters, who, while appear pretty straightforward at first, have a lot more to offer than they seem in terms of humor and entertaining character interaction. Even the protagonist, as bland as he is, has more personality and fun moments than similar characters often do. The show has done fairly well moving past its initial set up as well. Having shown the group first coming together as a team, its now focusing on their early attempts to keep that team together and functioning, while making sure they don't end up all hating each other in the process. Any conflict so far has been shallow, the artist girl overworks herself, the protagonist has a writing block, the programmer nearly quits over creative differences. I'm in no way actually invested in these characters or their goal of making this project so far. Yet, even if I don't care all that much for the story itself, I'm still rarely bored when watching the show, which I believe is worth something. It's just funny, and while it occasionally delves into dumb, self referential jokes (wow, this is almost like some kind of anime-) for the most part these characters are genuinely funny and unique.

A major weakness of the show is its presentation. It's not an ugly show, while on very rare occasions I've noticed slightly off model faces, for the most part its very visually consistent. It just lacks any sort of style, energy, or stand out animation to make it more than just "good enough" visually. The pacing is similar, not especially slow or fast, but sort of average all the time. While when the show is most entertaining this is fine, when less is going on I do often feel speeding things up to get back to the stuff that matters would be appreciated. So far Girls Beyond the Wasteland is an above average, if pretty typical harem show. It can make me groan at times, but more often than that its making me laugh.

Weak Recommendation

Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash
David O'Neil

Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash is one of those rare shows that operates almost entirely on its characters. There isn't much of a plot outside of the cast trying to survive, it tells us very little about the world other than what's circumstantially needed for the characters (and by connection the audience) to know at that time, there isn't much in the form of romance, mystery, and even the action, while present, isn't front and center. Grimgar is a show about watching a cast of multifaceted, believable characters grow as people and grow as a group, and so far its fulfilling this goal wonderfully.

Grimgar continues to build its world and its characters slowly and inconspicuously. Other than one bit in the most recent episode that was a bit too on the nose in straight up listing new attacks they had learned, the show for the most part choses to let the world speak for itself, and let the audience figure out what they need to know as they go along. The same goes for the characters, as the show is terrific at showing how relationships shift and evolve purely through how characters act towards each other the more they get to know each other. I mentioned before that crafting these down to earth, fleshed out characters would make the battles all the more intense, and this has held true. The weighty, brutal, and well animated battles are just as strong as they've always been. And in the most recent episode, this came with the first big emotional moment in the series. Astute observers will probably see it coming from a mile away (if there's one thing the show isn't subtle about, its foreshadowing), but the moment still hits hard and is an effective way of increasing the stakes, along with throwing the band of characters into an even more vulnerable situation than they were before. From a character perspective, this show is still remarkably strong, managing to show development and personality through small details and careful writing, that makes for a show where I care about the characters and I'm engaged entirely through watching them struggle to survive.

The show does come with some caveats that's become more apparent lately though. For instance, unfortunately the series does on occasion border on being fanservice-y, or delving into stupid typical Light Novel humor. It's fairly rare, and on occasion even serves a purpose, but there are still certain moments I feel like they could've done without, like the main character imagining how none of the girls are probably wearing undergarments. In addition, while the music isn't bad by any means, it at times doesn't feel especially fitting to the tone of the show. Its soundtrack is an often loud, and energetic mix of jazz, pop, and rock, which doesn't quite mesh with the laid back low fantasy setting. A tense fight with a goblin is one thing, but an emotional moment being accompanied by electric guitar just doesn't quite feel right. But still, the flaws don't bog down what's one of the strongest character driven shows of the season. So far its meticulous attempts slowly but surely build its characters has payed off, and I can't wait to see where it goes next.

Strong Recommendation

Haruchika - Haruto & Chika
Stephanie Getchell

Remember during the first report when I was gushing over this series and the two episodes I saw? Well, I'm sadly doing a complete 180 on Haruchika because it's not as good as I thought it was... With these three episodes, we have a rather set pattern that's continued from the beginning. Episode three introduces use to saxophone player, Maren, an adopted Chinese-American whom Haruta and Chika try to recruit for the brass band club, but have to get past the drama club first in order to do so. Next we have an episode that takes place on Christmas Eve and after Haruta is evicted from his apartment because it's being torn down. The episode takes Haruta, Chika, and the others, including Haruta's eldest sister, as they help him find a new apartment as well as solve the mystery of a ghost priest haunting one such apartment complex. The third episode introduces trombone player Goto, as she asks for Haruta's help in solving a riddle regarding her amnesic grandfather involving three elephant paintings and an unknown color called 'Elephant's Breath'.

While I got caught up in the story of the second episode, going into episode three and beyond, I noticed the pattern; one that is pretty similar to Divine Gate. Each of the characters we get introduced to has some kind of problem or past that needs to be resolved, which Haruta and Chika seem to do flawlessly every time... Well... It's mostly Haruta, anyway. And none of these stories are sugar coated, by the way. One of them involves PTSD from the Vietnam War... No, I'm not joking here. As for our leading duo, while their personalities do compliment each other, they are also taken to extremes at points. For Chika, she can be the biggest tsudere to the point of being overly obnoxious; while Haruta's apparent genius is something that is never explained as he is just the slightly more gay version of Jimmy Kudo from Case Closed. While with Divine Gate, my main problem of it doing way too much in order to seem cool, Haruchika has the problem of making it's characters overly complex when it doesn't need to. Having one or two would be fine, just to spice things up a bit, but having every character outside of the main pair have the most traumatic of problems come during every single episode just gets to be a total buzz kill; regardless of the happy ending we get by the end of each episode. Some of which, we don't even see a happy ending play out! So, we get depressing stories that, while we do solve the problem and save the day, there's no real satisfying end to these; which makes me only semi satisfied.

Going a complete 180 on a series is something I never like seeing happen. I've seen series lack consistency and drop a little bit on my personal scale of enjoyment, but this is too much... Everyone else didn't like this one from the beginning, but I did, so I did hold out hope that I can prove everyone else wrong on this one and that it's a decent show. But it's going to constantly be such a damn downer every time, then I'm the one who's going to be proven wrong. And it doesn't help that I'm now having a hard time liking our main duo, causing that drop in enjoyment to further go. Yeah, like I said in my Divine Gate coverage, I've been stuck with my weakest crop of shows yet during seasonal and I'm only going to suffer more for the rest of the season. Haruchika has the chance to turn things around, as I did like it more in the beginning than Divine Gate, but I'm not so sure it's going to be able to lighten up rather than be the debbie downer of the winter season. While there are worse things out there, right now, Haruchika has dropped to the weaker end of the winter anime scale. I'm pretty sure Joe and I got the shaft this time around, but I'm glad to be taking the brunt of the bad shows this season. Cause, lord knows, Joe needs some kind of break every once in a while from covering purely awful seasonal shows.

Weak Recommendation

KONOSUBA - God's blessing on this wonderful world!
Joe Straatmann

Konosuba’s humor has become more according to taste. The sexual vibe that has been limited to random jiggles when one of the female NPCs appears has come bubbling to the surface with party member Darkness. You see, she’s a tank party member who can’t hit the broad side of a barn, so her best quality is acting a shield for the rest of the party… which turns her on. Yep, Darkness’ “thing” is that she’s a masochist. This opens the floodgates to Kazuma gaining the thief ability and only being able to steal panties as well as Megumin being a bit too attached to her new staff.

Don’t get me wrong, this is still an amusing comedy about a loser RPG party, but it’s definitely getting that otaku-bait bend. However, it’s aware of how slimy it can appear and at least keeps everyone in tolerable boundaries of pervyness. When Kazuma tries to take advantage of his panty stealing skills, he is brought back to earth by public shaming. Comedy allows for a certain amount of lechery as long as the character dynamics work, and they do. Kazuma’s a good foil for each of his party members, though we’ll have to see how the characters work with each other now that they’re all together.

One joke that’s rather telegraphed is the latest episode where Megumin starts practicing her devastating explosive magic at an abandoned castle same time a leader of the Devil King’s army moved into the area. No points for guessing where the Devil King leader moved. Nevertheless, it’s the proper prodding the party needs to move out of the town and get to the whole epic journey thing. I want to see how this party saves the world.

Solid Recommendation

Luck & Logic
Joe Straatmann

It’s weird to watch Doga Kobo as it tries to find itself. The studio has a few good ideas to hang a series on, but their work always seems to be missing major components to break through. Mikagura School Suite was one of my favorites from last year, but you have to forgive plotlines mostly triggered by Eruna randomly stumbling into them. Plastic Memories builds a decent foundation for a story and then drops all the world building it spent half the series on for the bland romance. With Luck and Logic, I can’t pinpoint one thing horrifically wrong except there’s no compelling reason to watch it.

The anime is like vapor from a hot spring. It swirls up and vanishes into the cold darkness almost immediately after it appears. I’ve watched the latest episode less than five hours ago, and I’m struggling for details. It develops the dumb blonde Chloe as an ultra athletic overachiever who clashes with leader Yurine because she’s not a team player. It’s mostly okay and inoffensive, but it’s on autopilot so much, they don’t even properly explain the clown villain-of-the-week in which its thousands of minion turn into gravestones when they’re defeated. If the makers shrug at that, what do they care about?

At least Lucifer has some potential to spice things up. Yes, in a universe where alternate dimensions hold gods, dragons, and the like, THAT Lucifer comes to town, and he’s a 9.8 level foreigner threat to boot (That’s Egon Twinkie bad for those who don’t speak Luck and Logic technobabble). He hasn’t done much but hit on a girl-as bishounen named Lucifer are wont to do-but maybe having a previous connection with currently trite female lead Athena will give her some dimension. We all know generic anime guy Yoshichika’s not going to bring it. We have a series that can look decent when it steps up and the music is actually quite nice. It just lacks anything to drive it past the doldrums of a terminally average series.

Weak Recommendation

Myraid Colors: Phantom World
Danni Kristen

Following our foray into Mai's backstory of being a violent prick to some phantom girls she met, it's time to delve into the backstories of both Reina and Koito. We'd already seen that Reina was insecure about her status as a member of the group's family dynamic, but this time we get a deeper look into it as she's possessed by a phantom that makes a person's deepest fantasy come true. Reina's fantasy, as it turns out, is to live out in the country with some furries (too much Undertale perhaps?). Mai and Haruhiko attempt to free her from her possession, but they end up sucked into the delusion as well, joining their little family. That is, until Haruhiko goes to take a shit and realizes that something isn't right. For some inane reason, walking into a bathroom frees you from a phantom's possession. So, he takes Reina into the bathroom and hugs her so that she instinctively assaults him, snapping her back to reality. Since the delusion has been realized, her phantom bunny parents tell her that they can no longer exist and must be sealed away. They invite Reina to come with them, but Haruhiko successfully pleads with her to hold onto reality. As it turns out, Reina comes from a very cold, distant family. She hides her phantom-hunting activities from them because she knows they would not approve. What eats at her the most though is that the older sister she loved deeply ran away from their stifling home and hasn't been seen since. Haruhiko pulls Reina back into reality by convincing her she should try to mend her family back together so that her sister can come home again.

Next, we get some insight into Koito's mind and personality. After being assigned the job of hunting a phantom who's been harassing animals in the area, Koito overhears someone talking with Haruhiko about her unflattering cold personality. Haruhiko follows after her to apologize, but interrupts her battle with the phantom. She shields him from one of the phantom's attacks, but ends up being sprayed by a gas that leaves her unable to use the power derived from her voice. Feeling responsible for her injury, he tags along with her in her continued hunt for the phantom. Eventually, he finds out from their teacher that Koito's power awakened when she was attacked by that very same phantom as a child. Her powers frightened her friends, her teachers, and even her parents. In the end, she was sent away from her home and transferred to a new school. Ever since then she's defaulted to alienating and avoiding people so that she can't get hurt. She finally confronts the phantom again, but is quickly defeated. Fortunately, she's saved by Mai, Haruhiko, and their fan Kurumi who all seal away the phantom. Then they find out it wasn't actually the same phantom that attacked her as a kid, just a similar type. No personal vendetta was actually relevant. Oops.

These were some very mixed episodes. On one hand, I thought the Reina episode was actually pretty good. It had the absolute best usage of colors so far in the series, and the storybook art style used for Reina's delusion was absolutely adorable. It doesn't hurt that this cute cast of KyoAni characters don't look half bad in bunny ears, either. It's only real flaw I could see was that the episode's emotional climax didn't connect well due to the show's incredibly fast pacing. All things considered, it was definitely the best episode so far. On the other hand, the Koito episode was extremely dull. The fast pacing was thrown out for more normal show pacing, which didn't work well considering very little actually happened that episode. Koito is a pretty boring character from what we've seen so far. If there was one episode that should have shown us more personality from her, it's this one. Yet, we never really saw any side to her we haven't seen before aside from a brief tsundere thanks directed at Haruhiko. Adding to the episode's dullness is the fact that there was more gray in that episode than in the previous four episodes combined. Phantom World is usually very bright and colorful, which helps disguise the fact it's not actually a good show. Hopefully there'll be more episodes like Reina's episodes in the future. That was a very fun and very cute episode, aka Very KyoAni. As long as this show stays noticeably KyoAni, I won't be able to help enjoying it.

Solid Recommendation

Norn9: Norn + Nonet
Stephanie Getchell


Pandora in the Crimson Shell: Ghost Urn
Jonathan Kaharl

This is a very, very poorly produced show. Like, ISUCA levels of bad. There are some really cheap close-ups done by just enlarging the image and making the quality drop significantly, animation is stilted and filled with shortcuts, and the coloring of the characters and backgrounds feels lifeless and unfinished. Even the opening isn't free of this, and the openings are almost always given the best or most solid animation. It's kind of astounding. And yet I still enjoy this show for some blasted reason.

Knowing this is the brainchild of the guys who made Ghost in the Shell and Excel Saga is really want makes it so enjoyable for me. It's the two at the most indulgent, and it's equal parts pathetic and entertaining because I can't believe this was really made by either of them. This is an adaptation of a published, running manga, meaning an actual human being read it and thought to themselves "yes, people want to read this." They thought the people wanted little robot flower/lion pervert things to crack boob jokes and a girl gain incredible powers such as juggling by fingering her cyborg cat maid girlfriend. It's like we're living in a parody world. And even more amazingly, nothing has really happened in this show since it started. It's safe to say the pervert scientist from the starting episodes is still alive and will appear again, so we're waiting for her to return with the plot as some bad guys with vague, undefined plans do things and sometimes Nene and Clarion sort of get involved but not really. It's mainly cute girls doing cute things, with some very childish talk of world peace thrown in and explored in the most simplistic, idiotic way imaginable. It's not a good show by any stretch.

Weirdly, it's the sense of humor that remains the one element that can be considered good on any level. Nene and Clarion get some great expressions and gags, while the loose animation actually benefits Clarion as we just see her as a weird, judgmental blob at random moments. It's far more amusing than it should be, and I even liked that weird flower/lion/robot thing because of just how completely out of place it is in the show. Hell, EVERYTHING is out of place. Pandora's world is very grounded and real in its most base form, but the people running it and the ones we follow are all straight out of either a Saturday Morning anime, a gag manga, or a sex comedy. The show has a strange atmosphere no other series has ever captured, and I think it works on some strange level. Despite everything, I'm enjoying Pandora, but it's definitely a bad show. Just not a bad bad show, I guess?

Weak Recommendation

Phantasy Star Online 2: The Animation
Joe Straatmann

If you were frozen in 1999, do I have a series for you! Not settling for copping out of animating a full-scale science fiction anime and going for a weekly infomercial instead, this series now is a mediocre introductory class in nerdom filtered through Sega’s marketing department. Our subjects for the recent episodes are dealing with Internet trolls and showing off the world of conventions in the most benign fashion possible. If this intrigues you, there’s a cat that desires approval to consume cheeseburgers that might be up your alley.

Hey, did you know some players in online RPGs will occasionally bail on their duties and berate fellow party members? This issue is dealt with in a vanilla, naive fashion as the troll is one of the main character’s best friends who merely lacks outlets to express himself. Did you also know that sometimes, people in online games want to meet offline and have things called conventions to facilitate such things? Main character Itsuki sure finds out when he thinks student council President Rina is asking him on a date when she’s really just finding a +1 for a PSO offsite meet. Oh, and did you know people in real life act differently than they do online?

There is one spot where I think this series might be actually helpful. At one point, the main character’s best friend gets depressed by himself at the convention and doesn’t know how to reach out to strangers. As an anime nerd with social anxiety issues, this is a real issue worth addressing. Of course, this is Phantasy Star Online 2: The Animation and it doesn’t even want to be about itself most of the time. The best friend disappears because he follows a mystery girl to a dark corner of the convention, loses her, and gets caught in the bathroom without toilet paper, too embarrassed to ask for help. Uh… huh.

This is all supremely goofy and I can’t hate on it as it has made itself extremely clear what it is. I really have nobody to blame but myself for going forward with reviewing the show. Still doesn’t make it any less of a dim-witted infomercial, though.

No Recommendation

Prince of Stride: Alternative
Danni Kristen

After their first match resulted in a loss, the Honen Stride Club has only one more shot at making it into the End of Summer event. Still blaming himself for their loss, Kadowaki resigns to improve at vaulting. He doesn't have much time to practice, though, and the team soon sets out to their next match. After a brief dose of hot springs fanservice, the boys go face to face with another school's stride club. We're soon introduced to a whole new stride mechanic: bluffing. Bluffing is when one school's relationer purposefully makes an unexpected call to throw off the opposing relationer and goad them into setting off their runners prematurely. Sakurai falls for the bluff at first, but thankfully the boys are able to avoid missing the takeover zone. The opposing relationer tries to bluff again, but this time she doesn't fall for it. Honan's problems aren't over yet, though, as Kadowaki finds himself once again falling behind. Determined to not let the club lose again because of him, he takes a risky shortcut. He doesn't make the jump, and ends up breaking his clavicle. Despite his injuries, he finishes his run and collapses at the takeover zone. By this time, Honan has fallen far behind, but Kohinata manages to pull out a victory for Honan at the final stretch. Kadowaki is taken to the hospital, and the club returns home worried for their friend.

With one of their club members sidelined by injury, the club now has to either recruit a new runner or forfeit the End of Summer. Riku suggests a third year he met before, who turns out to be Kuga, a former member of the stride club who was kicked out after assaulting and injuring Hasekura over lost race. Kohinata refuses to let him in. According to him, after Kuga was kicked out, all the club members besides him and Hasekura left the club, forcing him to recruit Kadowaki. Kadowaki never had any interest in running, but now thanks to Kuga's actions had been injured during a race. Kohinata tells the first years he won't let Kuga come back after injuring Hasekura and being the reason Kadowaki got hurt too. Hasekura then steps in and decides that all the Stride club members deserved to know the truth. He had never been assaulted by Kuga. Instead, he had gotten hurt during the race due to the team's relationer falling for a bluff. Trying to protect his own ego, the relationer blamed Hasekura for getting hurt and tried to injure him further. Kuga stepped in and defended him from the assault, but by the time the other team members arrived at the scene it looked as though Kuga had been the one to hurt Hasekura. He took the blame for the incident since the club could've been shut down had the school found out about a brawl between teammates. He was kicked out of the club, and the other members besides Kasekura and Kohinata left. After finding this out, the club decides to invite Kuga back in, and he eventually accepts their offer.

Almost halfway through the season and Prince of Stride remains a solid show. The animation remains suitable for the most part, though the running animations look kind of awkward and slow compared to the incredibly quick parallaxing backgrounds. Despite that, it's still a very nice show to look at thanks to it's strong visual style. It's also a lot of fun to just watch these characters play off each other, which is most of the show. It'll be interesting to see what Kuga will add to the group. Also, Riku's older brother Tomoe will be returning soon, and I'm looking forward to see how that shakes things up. One particularly cool thing I've noticed recently about Prince of Stride is the effort put into all of the side characters. There are 30+ total characters in this show with at least 20 of them being from rival schools' stride clubs. Normally I expect shows to get lazy with characters like these that get hardly any screen time, but for the most part they have cool character designs and good characterization during their brief screentime. It makes me excited for Honan's next race thinking about the new characters we'll get to see. Hopefully we see some girls running soon.

Strong Recommendation

Schwarzes Marken
Joe Straatmann

Melodrama isn’t as bad as the critical community would have you believe. If I get the right characters, I can travel through most of the overly contrived claptraps the writers come up with. The key that separates the people who make good melodrama and those who make soap operas is the characters are not their circumstances. They may be molded, twisted, and tweaked by circumstances, but it’s a very hard road ahead when the characters are their circumstances. It is this which makes Schwarzes Marken more like Days of Our Laserjagd.

Take our hero, Theodor. What we know about him is almost entirely what has happened to him. An orphan from an East German kinderheim (Hopefully not from the same one as Johan from Monster. Strangely enough, the head director of this was an episode director on Monster), he gets adopted by relatives of his real parents where he becomes as close to his adopted sister as a real sibling. His family becomes disenchanted with East Germany and tries to escape, getting captured or killed by the Stasi in the process. After much torture and questioning, he is forced into military service. Maybe it’s East Germany squashing individuality, but there’s not much on who he is. Even the scene that flashes back to the good times with his sister is just there to point out the ribbon he bought his sister was important and nothing more.

The show’s mostly like this. It expects what happens by itself to be sufficient. I imagine when they go to the serious plot twist well and bring a particularly tricky new member of the 666th, it could really work if it had any emotional punch. As it is, everything feels like a bald manipulation. When Katia is injured, taken to a fort outside Berlin, is constantly told she’s more important than all the soldiers in the fort despite her Western sensibilities refusing to believe that, it’s pretty much a given what happens when aliens swarm the place.

How plain the action is doesn’t help. At one point, the 666th is on a supposed training mission and then suddenly, a coalition force to wipe the aliens out of Europe appears. Some soldiers knew about it and some didn’t because preparing your troops for a major operation is for soft Westerners, apparently. When the attack is on, they bombard a seemingly empty patch of land and then say that decimated a large portion of the aliens. I guess I have to take their word for it. Sure, having the jet fighters of the era be translated into mechs is cool and all, but this project is otherwise full of underwhelming elements. It’s not so much bad as it could be so much better. I have to give props for a good joke about if the aliens are edible, though.

Weak Recommendation

Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinju
Danni Kristen

Having graduated from apprentice to futatsume, Yakumo and Sukeroku are no longer able to live with their master and must set off on their own. They end up renting a small apartment together, with Yakumo working to pay all of the bills and buy all of the necessities. This leaves him with little time to practice his rakugo or have a social life. Meanwhile, all Sukeroku does is drink, have fun, and perform rakugo in the theater. With this dynamic set firmly in place, the gap between Yakumo and Sukeroku's skill widens even further. However, according to their master, Yakumo is getting too much practice. Supposedly, his strict adherence to practicing form is making his rakugo stiff and unoriginal. He recommends that Yakumo loosen up a bit and have some fun. So, he takes his former apprentices out to the theater for a fun evening. There, he introduces them to Miyokichi, who is both a geisha and his mistress. Miyokichi takes a liking to Yakumo instantly, and pesters him relentlessly to spend time with her at the geisha house she works at. He eventually gives in and finds himself smitten with her, and they end up spending more and more time together. Despite his popularity with local women, Sukeroku is noticeably jealous.

Lamenting their lack of steady performances, Sukeroku devises a plan to boost both his and Yakumo's popularity. They decide to perform a play with other rakugo futatsumes and apprentices. Yakumo is skeptical at first, but Sukeroku is serious in intentions, and the two move forward with the planning. Sukeroku ends up starring as a common samurai, while Yakumo ends up in the leading role as the samurai's brother who disguises himself as a high class woman. Yakumo is nervous and embarrassed by the role, but changes his tune once he ends up on stage. For the first time, he experiences the feeling of having the audience enthralled by one of his performances. He latches onto and dwells on it throughout the whole play, fulfilling him in a way he hadn't felt before. Thanks to Miyokichi drawing him out of his shell, it seems he's finally hit the turning point that leads to his becoming the future of rakugo.

These were some fantastic episodes full of some wonderful character building. Watching the close bond between Sukeroku and Yakumo is genuinely heartwarming, while the rivalry growing between them underscores every scene with tension. Yakumo obviously loves Sukeroku since they grew up together like brothers, but he can't ignore or hide his jealousy that his rakugo isn't near as good as Sukeroku's. Meanwhile, his relationship with Miyokichi offers us a lot of scenes involving Yakumo allowing himself to be vulnerable around someone else. There are some very touching moments in these interactions, and it becomes tragic to watch knowing where it's all leading. It's all but explicitly stated that Konatsu is Miyokichi's daughter, and given that Sukeroku is her father, it means that at some point Miyokichi will betray Yakumo with his greatest friend and rival. We also know that Sukeroku ends up dead, and according to Konatsu it was Yakumo who killed him. All of these pieces work together fantastically to offer scenes that are genuinely human: heartwarming, vulnerable, and ultimately tragic.

The writing in this show is incredibly well-done, with one of its strongest points being how it completely trusts the audience to make their own connections and callbacks. A character who showed up briefly in episode one also shows up in the latest episode and happens to be the key to piecing together that Konatsu is Miyokichi's daughter. While Yakumo mentions Youtarou's similarity to Sukeroku in the first episode, the full extent of those similarities are never stated outright, yet there are many parallels between the two. All of this information and more is delivered in ways that merely hint at their importance within the story. There are no flashbacks or moments accompanied by sharp changes in the score so that the viewer is bashed over the head until they realize that these are important moments. Instead, the audience is assumed to be perceptive enough to take note of these things. I absolutely love when a show treats its audience like this. When they don't, it can taint what is an otherwise great experience to watch (*coughERASEDcough*). Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju had a very strong start and has only built upon it further. At this point, it's definitely my favorite show this season, and I'm waiting extremely impatiently for the next episode.

Strong Recommendation

Undefeated Bahamut Chronicle
Jonathan Kaharl

With the tsundere of the harem introduced, Bahamut is wasting no time to bring in the last girl and explain what the deal with her is, and it's just as badly handled as one would expect. This character's name is Krulcifer, and if you guessed she's not human based off her name being just a few letters away from describing old scratch, then you have working brain cells. She's that quiet girl with the hidden agenda that's been acting differently around Lux than the other cast members, and it turns out that she's the princess of another country and needs Lux to help her buy time to avoid her political marriage to another dickpunch misogynist noble who might as well be named Objectifier McAbusive The 3rd. She has a goal to fulfill, and it's related to those dungeons those abyss monsters come from because she apparently came from one and is therefore not human and will probably cause some bad magic stuff to happen before Lux saves her and she spends the rest of the series wanting to jump his bones.

Krulcifer is easily the least interesting character of the series so far, and by a large margin. The attempts to make her mysterious leave no impact, and the actual reveal of who she really is just comes out of nowhere and doesn't feel meaningful in any way. She also has a very reserved and guarded persona, giving her no method to express any sort of actual personality. The most interesting thing about her is that her loyal servant is a cute girl in a suit and that is it. I can't even get frustrated at her or her story, but Lisha has more than enough annoying to make up for that. There's an actual joke where she has absolutely no idea what sex is and that she believes babies come from kissing. I'm not making this up. Someone wrote this in modern times and thought it was funny. Also, obnoxious romantic misunderstandings and Lux is a closet pervert. Hardy har har.

Phi remains the only good thing in this series, simply because how little of a shit she gives about all the wacky or dramatic going-ons around her. While a bad joke is going on, she just stares blankly and shoves a bit of sandwich in her mouth. Phi is good. Her second cheesecake scene even works, as she gets in the bath with Lux and does absolutely nothing but just take a bath as Lux freaks out, points out she shouldn't be here for obvious reasons, and she just replies that she has no problem taking a bath next to Lux. She's had feelings for Lux for a long time, but she doesn't go nuts over it and manages to get some good reactions from the little twerp without making herself out as a dope or sad little girl. It's refreshing. Hopefully her arc won't be a complete boner like the two we've had so far. But I'm sure the series will find a way to fuck it up.

No Recommendation

Shorts

Ojisan and Marshmallow
Stephanie Getchell


Ooya-san wa Shishunki!
David O'Neil

Since I last covered it, Ooya-san wa Shinsuki has continued to walk a fine line between adorable and uncomfortable. The show still for the most part luckily remains in the former rather than the latter, with the hijinks of Chie and the other characters making for some cute jokes scattered throughout the two most recent few minute long episodes. At the same time, a few bits (like Chie having to sleep beside the older male main character) borders on being iffy, though for the most part even the parts that sound bad in concept are for the sake of setting up jokes that subvert your expectations. In addition, it continues to be possibly the best animated comedy series of the season. It should be kept in mind that only having two minutes worth of content to animate each episode puts it at an unfair advantage over full shows, but that doesn't change that the amount of lively character acting animation put into this series is beyond anything else airing this season. At the same time though, the two minute runtime also comes at the cost of the show's pacing. At this point the VAs are basically speed reading their lines to be able to jam pack as much content as they can into each episode, and while I get why they're doing it, the breakneck speed does make the show come off as slapdash. Despite this, the series still shows brief bits of well animated fun, and works as nice little distraction, even if its right on the border of pandering towards some uncomfortable fantasies.

Weak Recommendation

Please tell me! Galko-chan
Jonathan Kaharl

I seriously love this show. Where so many lewd and rude comedies make the mistake of being sexist or objectifying, Galko-chan treats its entire cast fairly and comes up with a lot of cute gags, like one guy trying to figure out how big breasts feel after hearing a conversation on neck pain, or Galko realizing that her sister borrowing her uniform is probably for foreplay of some sort. I was expect the show to come up with a silly actual reason, but nope, it's exactly what the girls thought and the sister is just so open, it's hilarious.

I also like that all the teenage cast react to anything sexual with either curiosity or embarrassment. It just all feels so natural and real, finding good-natured humor out of a subject most people wouldn't consider good-natured at all. Just for that, Galko-chan deserves a look if you still haven't done so. it's good stuff.

Strong Recommendation

Rainbow Days
Jonathan Kaharl

Things are getting a little better, I think, but not much. The quiet guy of the cast has his girlfriend introduced, and in a very clunky way. When you see the two interact, it works. His girlfriend is so lively and likable that she can actually see through the guy's public persona. Unfortunately, we're introduced with her with false info that the guy may dump her, and he gets upset that she died her hair for a cosplay without ever really explaining himself earlier. And he really did talk about dumping with friends in private. The relationship works until you hear this bit of info, and it makes him come off as a controlling ass who's prone to envy. Thankfully, we don't get much of the popular guy and the love/hate things with him and the bi girl, but the show is already taking a step in the right direction there. It's a small moment, but when he threatens to kiss her again after she insults him, he backs off and you can tell he has genuine feelings growing beyond just base attraction. There may still be hope for this one.

The final guy also ended up being much more interesting than I expected. He's a sadist that has trouble forming relationships because he can't find someone who's sexually compatible with him, and while there are the usual stock sadist jokes that don't have a good understanding of what real sadists are like, this is a major part of his character and he's not treated as weird or lesser by his friends for the way he is. That's refreshing, and even him shooting down a love confession by revealing his tastes in detail works because you get the feeling that he's reached the point where he outright expects rejection and just speeds up the process, not wanting to open himself up emotionally to only be shot down. It's a nice idea, and though the execution is messy, he's easily the second best part of the series. The main reason to watch is still our socially messy lead and his crush, and they definitely make a cute couple. Still, the series has too many problems for me to give it a really positive thumbs up. I need to see where it's headed first.

Weak Recommendation

Sekkou Boys
Joe Straatmann

Here’s a weird compliment: I’m completely okay with details here that would drive me nuts otherwise. A big part of Sekko Boys is how awkward a boy band of sculptures are to transport from gig to gig. Yet they can still somehow suck down smoothies and use their touchpad computers whilst they don’t even have arms, aren’t mobile, and probably don’t even have stomachs. My completely over logical mind should be ringing off the hook, but it somehow makes the experience more amusing. Repeat to yourself it’s just a show, I guess.

Meanwhile, episodes are finding ways to be consistently funny, utilizing most of the potential angles the concept has to offer. Mars is not only a classical bust, but a god. Gods in Greek mythology are not the most politically correct creatures, leaving throngs of bastard children in their wake. Let’s see what happens when a famous Japanese talk show host brings it up. It’s those kinds of situations that make this anime worth your eight minutes every week.

Solid Recommendation

Sushi Police
Danni Kristen

To no one's surprise, Sushi Police hasn't gotten any better. Previously we left off with the information that a stowaway had been captured on the Sushi Police airship. This time we get to meet her and her gross CG torpedo breasts. Turns out she's a spy and Free Sushi advocate who is intent on taking down the Sushi Police. Honda tempts her using her love of authentic Japanese sushi against her, but she holds fast. Authentic sushi may be the best there is, but it doesn't mean it should be the only kind allowed. She escapes and the Sushi Police move on to deal with an English company who teleport their sushi instead of delivering it. Suzuki turns into a hybrid of sushi and man while Kawazaki finally realizes he's an android and questions his existence. The animation is still terrible and the premise stupid in the worst kind of way. I'd drop this show if I could, but I'm stuck with it. At least it's ending theme is pretty damn good.

No Recommendation

Second Opinions

Dagashi Kashi

Jonathan: I really wish this show was actively funny instead of just occasionally funny and kind of charming. I'm really busy this season, but I wanted to keep up with this one for the characters. I'm finding that I can't do that after the past few episodes. There's just not enough there for me. But it is a good show, and I'd still recommend it whole-heartedly. Solid Recommendation

Stephanie: I'm bugging to have mixed feelings about this series. It just repeats the weekly hijinks involving snacks and it can grow tiring every once in a while. While some of those hijinks are entertaining and creative in the comedy department, it's the actual story that concerns me. Is this really all we're going to be getting from this series or will there be to this established central plot? Being four episodes in, I would hope there would be something else going on, but it's just been sun shine and rainbows and snacks all day with this one. I want something more from this series, and I honestly hope that wish will come true because I only have some many hours in a day and if this isn't worth some of those hours, then I'm willing to let it go. Solid Recommendation

Dimension W

Stephanie: The world of Dimension W is ever growing and changing as we learn more and more about it. To be fair, the third episode doesn't go too much more in depth and just decides to give us a tiny bit of a breather after the very action heavy and info dumping that was the first two. Depiste that, we do get some bits of development for both Kyouma and Mira which makes for a nice substitute. The fourth episode gets back into the action fold and looks to be our first two part arc involving other dimensions and some classic horror fun that makes the horror fan girl in me a little too happy. The goal, I would assume, is to learn much more about these number coils that were introduced, but we'll see what happens from here. All I can say is, it's been a very consistent series so far and I can't wait for more as well as the Broadcast Dub to start up because my goodness do I have some casting predictions! Strong Recommendation

Erased

Danni: This show started off so well. It's such a shame the most recent episodes haven't been able to match the kind of quality the first few episodes had. They're still pretty good episodes, but their big important moments have all been way too heavy-handed in their delivery. The worst of which being the most recent episode, which - to no surprise - had been outsourced to a more inexperienced studio. Hopefully this will be just a small blemish overall and ERASED will return to its former quality. Strong Recommendation

Joe: There was recently a laughably heavy visual metaphor showing the painting “The Last Supper,” foreshadowing somebody about to get betrayed. That is the only bad thing I can say about Erased as of late. It is enthralling television for us post-twenties people who would love nothing more to reset life and fix the shit that went wrong. It knows how to play with every nostalgic button right down to talking Dragon Warrior (In this case, Quest) before class. For everyone else, it’s an effective, time-hopping thriller with a world of one man’s youth surrounded by people who feel real and don’t act like they’re cogs in a machine. Please watch this. You won’t regret it. Strong Recommendation

Stephanie: There are two series that I believe to be the best of the winter season thus far, Rakugo and Erased. Both had extremely strong starts, surprising a hell of a lot of people including several from the seasonal staff here on IRD. But, while it had that surprising start, Erased's story seems to have claimed down in quality. This doesn't mean the story is terrible, but more like it hasn't remained at that high of a level since episode one. It does have amazing visuals and actually some rather interesting symbolic pieces such as the children's writing of the kanji "hope" hanging up on the board in back of the classroom in 1988. And the cinematic view to distinguish between 1988 and 2006 actually goes with the film reel view that Saturo's power takes form in. There's a lot of great aspects going on in this series, but now it's just the story needs to get itself back to where it was in the beginning and keep a better consistency. Because, going back to Rakugo, if it doesn't then it's pretty much lost the title of best of the season to Rakugo. Solid Recommendation

Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash

Stephanie: I'll admit, I was ready to drop this show this week because it had been had slow going from the start. Not much has been done to progress the story along aside from our motley crew just living their lives in this new world and trying to find their way. But then episode four happened and a rather decent sized game changer that I honestly didn't expect! Sure, the signs were there thinking about it now but I choose to ignore them. And it also brings in a rather large subject that the series had yet to really talk about, that being death. It's interesting that it's occurring so early on, and because of this I'm going to keep trying with it. It's such a surprising part of the story and how our crew will be able to handle this change from this point forward will be a true test of the writing for this series because it could be handled well or very badly. That's something I do want to see play out. Strong Recommendatio

KONOSUBA - God's blessing on this wonderful world!

Jonathan: Darkness and Megumin are so good. Like, so good. They're so perfect for this show and round up the terrible people quotient quite well. I like that the show is giving more genuine moments of heart between the characters, especially Megumin and Kazuma, but I also like that it drags them back down rather quickly. They're not completely irredeemable people, but damn if they aren't trying to be failures and degenerates. Also, I love that one of the main jokes is that the general for the demon king got mad that those darn kids kept blowing up his castle and he tries to go ask them to stop and suddenly he has to deal with four of the worst people who have ever lived. Beautiful. Strong Recommendation

Myriad Colors: Phantom World

Jonathan: Minase finally gets her own episode and it does a good job at defining who she is and why she is the way she is. The character writing is improving, and the ideas at play are still wild and fun (such as mind-controlling bunny ears), but the production remains the star. This show is seriously gorgeous at times, and the pixel effects just give the series a feel unlike anything else out there. ALSO MAI AND MINASE SHOULD MAKE OUT Strong Recommendation

Ojisan and Marshmallow

Danni: As someone who has been a longtime defender of the stupid and weird, I'm angry that this season has set before me two shorts I can only accurately criticize as "needlessly stupid." This show took an extremely dumb premise and ran it into the ground completely before the first episode even finished. It's continued to do the same thing every episode since. No Recommendation

Please tell me! Galko-chan

Danni: I'm still thinking about their ass hair conversation. Strong Recommendation

Prince of Stride: Alternative

Stephanie: With this second report, I am fully caught up on all shows. Some have one plot going on, and others are still in the works. In Prince of Stride's case, we have a couple stories this time. One being the team's first competition, one where we establish the rival team, and the third giving us more into the brooding Kuga who rejoins after Ayamu sustains a major injury. Sure, we're following all the same sports anime troupes we have gotten so used to lately, I mean Haikyuu did a similar Kuga plot line with Asahi in season one, but it's still a great big ball of fun! I've come to realize that it always comes down to the characters in sports anime to help make it way more enjoyable. If you don't have that likeable of characters to root for, then you're gonna lose people's interest. Prince of Stride has a fun batch of characters, despite the troupes they each represent, and it's still something I enjoy a lot! Fujiwara is my favorite by the way. That goof ball has an even bigger muscle fetish than Gou from Free! and it's hilarious! Solid Recommendation

Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinju

Jonathan: Still the best show of the season, to the shock of nobody who's watching. This prolonged flashback arc is well handled, so I can't complain that it's taking time away from our wacky tanuki of a main character. It also really cements the show's themes of creative passion, while offering great character drama at the same time. Writing wise, no show comes close this season. Strong Recommendation

Stephanie: I'm pretty sure that after seeing three more episodes that I have found my hidden gem of a series this season. After the double length first episode I saw, we are now taken to the beginning of Master Yakumo's story as a child with his rival and friend Sukeroku, as they both learn rakugo together. The distinction between the two is very clear as one has the strict and more controlling personality and the other a much more relaxed and fun side that compliments each other very well! It's like you have a sort of Odd Couple mentality brewing here. This is what the core of this series is, the odd friendship between these two men with their love of rakugo being what ties them together. The story and our characters are developing nicely! And I'm not even mad about missing our two other characters from the first episode! We have found the core of the story, folks! Strong Recommendation

Welcome to another edition of “The Anime Greats”, where we discuss legends in the anime industry. We started this series with Hayao Miyazaki and moved to Isao Takahata, so it seems fitting that we end the Studio Ghibli trilogy with another individual. And no, I’m not referring to producer Toshio Suzuki, but rather the great maestro himself, Joe Hisaishi:


Born Mamoru Fujisawa, on December 5th, 1950, in Nagano, Japan, Joe Hisaishi has garnered a reputation during his tenure as being “The Japanese John Williams.” Though little is known of his family history, Hisaishi was influenced heavily by music as a child. At the age of 5 he began taking violin lessons, eventually attending the Kunitachi College of Music in 1969 and majoring in musical composition under the tutelage of legendary anime composer Takeo Watanabe. His earliest work can, therefore, be found in the 1974 anime short Gyatoruzu. Hisaishi would use his legal name for his early works before adopting his current pseudonym from the Japanese transliteration of African-American musician Quincy Jones.


In 1983, Hisaishi was approached by Tokuma Shoten to score an upcoming film by Hayao Miyazaki, which’d later be known as Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. Hisaishi took up the task with ease, and to say the end result was a success is an understatement. It also helped him develop a long-term friendship with Miyazaki, one that’d ensure him scoring the remainder of the director’s work. Some notable highlights include Castle in the Sky, which he’d re-score in the 90’s for the film’s Disney dub, Princess Mononoke and, most-recently, The Wind Rises. Hisaishi would also compose Isao Takahata’s The Tale of the Princess Kaguya in 2013, making this the only time he’d do so.

Despite their collaborations, Hisaishi didn’t limit himself to one director. In nearly 42 years, Hisaishi’s also done work for various shows and films, anime and non-anime alike. Amongst these are 1983’s Mospeada, 1986’s Arion, the 2005 Korean film Welcome to Dongmakgol and 2001’s Brother. Hisashi also recorded medleys for his now-famous album Piano Stories, from which the main theme for Howl’s Moving Castle originated. Yet Hisaishi’s work is well-renowned outside the anime community, earning him seven wins at the Japanese Academy Awards and an invitation to join The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science’s voting committee in 2013.


Perhaps Joe Hisaishi’s most-noticeable trait, even before his transition to a full-orchestra in the 90’s, is his fondness for the piano. Ignoring Piano Stories, Hisaishi is famous for his piano solos. There are clear instances in his compositions where he’d stop his orchestra and play the piano, or even have a piano track to himself. It’s a weird quirk that highlights his dedication to the craft and showcases his multi-musical talent.

Another distinct trait of Hisaishi is his ability to reuse tracks and make them feel fresh. This is especially apparent in Howl’s Moving Castle and The Wind Rises. In the case of the former, the entire film’s soundtrack, save one or two exceptions, recycles The Merry-Go-Round of Life. And with the latter, it’s worth nothing the constant usage of the same two or three tracks to contrast the highs of Jiro Horikoshi’s life with those of his crushing lows. On one hand, this reuse of leif motifs is easy to criticize as “laziness”, something I’ve, regrettably, done in the past. On the other hand, it’s executed so well that it’s hard to criticize without feeling guilty.

Perhaps the real testament to Hisaishi’s career is the knowledge of his existence outside the anime community. Like I said, Hisaishi’s no stranger to classical music enthusiasts. It’s ironic that both anime fans and non-anime fans know he exist, yet neither group knows he’s worked in the other’s field of interest. If you don’t believe me, here’s proof of his diversity:

Overall, Hisaishi’s influence is undeniable; after all, not only has he composed some of the best anime film scores, he’s also composed some of the best scores period! And he’ll most-likely continue doing so in the decades that follow. So domo arigato, Hisaishi-san! May your talents continue gracing the world of music for years to come!

I'm an otaku. This is something I will fully and confidently admit to. I've loved anime and manga since I've been a kid and never even realized it. Yes, I was one of those children who watched Pokemon, Digimon, Yu-Gi-Oh, etc, etc. As I've grown older and learned more about anime, and Japan's culture in general, there's one fact that seems to still be misconstrued in the west and that is the label that I so confidently had given myself. While the term "otaku" places a label on western fans of anime and manga, Japan uses the term in a rather different, and almost insulting, context. Let's also not forget how otaku tend to be portrayed in the very same anime and manga that we love so dearly as there are two sides to that spectrum as well. Today, I wanted to clear up those misconceptions and discuss how Japan tends to portray the otaku stereotype that we've seem to come to know so well.



Now this may not be the best example here, but considering director Satoshi Kon's well known themes of humanity and the fine line between reality and fantasy, this can subtlety portray the more freakish side of an otaku's nature without having to be over the top insane in order to do so. This otaku is obsessed with the Lil Slugger victims, even making figures of them to add to his collection. It's doesn't help that Maniwa has lost his own mind by this point in the series, but this quiet character doesn't help give much of a good image of otakus in the heads of others.

The concept of the otaku and the way it's viewed in this day and age seems to be ever changing. While the core meaning stays the same, the context that society has given the type of person that falls into this area has deviated drastically in the past decade or so. Some, such as myself, see it as a way to classify their interest in the anime field as well as their interest in other hobbies; while others see this as a reason for someone's antisocial personality and odd behavior. Even though the term labels anime and manga fans, the same sides of the definition can be used to talk about anyone with some kind of obsessive interest, both the good and the bad. Is it honestly fair to keep that negative connotation just for otaku when the same can be said for those with interests in other fields that can become just as unhealthy as any other hobby? Quite frankly, I don't think so. In the geek and nerd community, all otaku are typically seen as these obsessive weeaboos that are the most antisocial of the bunch. In reality, while some may be like that, the majority of otakus just love the medium they love and are the same as any other kind of nerd. I don't care if the label is nagative and gives off the sense that I'm antisocial! I'm an introvert to begin with, despite what people may think. All I can really say is,

Jonathan, Stephanie, Megan, and Walt decided to do something special for Valentines day by looking at one of the most romantic anime ever. After all, how can you possibly love someone if you don't threaten them with violence, call them a sow, drug them, or throw them into a pool? It's time to talk about Diabolik Lovers, a show so bad that it used black magic to sabotage our recording multiple times.

Listen to the episode by clicking the title card below!

(TW: Abuse, suicide, sexual assault, other horrible things that I have lost count of)

We may be currently caught up in the dark, cold, bitter depths of winter, so what better way is there to pass the time than to stay in and read some digital manga?  After all, Crunchyroll added a few more series before the end of last year, so maybe we’ll get a chance to look at some of them! 

















Once again, the selection was kind of weird as far as genres go, but the quality of the books was a bit more even than many of the previous Manga Samplers.  Will this trend continue?  Who knows.  We’ll have to see what’s up for sampling next time.

Walt, Megan, and Stephanie do things a bit different this episode by looking at a manga by the late and great Satoshi Kon. Also, Stephanie needs to accept that she's just as much a pervert as Johnathan or Walt.

Click the title card to listen to the episode!

part three yadda yadda yadda im tired intro wee john cena



john cena


Dropped Shows

• Ajin (David, two episodes)
• Dagashi Kashi (David, five episodes)
• Mahou Shoujo Nante Mouiidesukara (David, one episode)
• Nurse Witch Komugi R (Stephanie, one episode)

Full Shows

Active Raid
Jonathan Kaharl

If it wasn't clear before that this was a directorial work of Goro Taniguchi, it sure as hell is now. The older generation saving the new? Check. Homage to old school giant robots? Yup, it's here. Sudden swerve from wacky running joke to fuel for a surprisingly dramatic tone shift? Of course! We finally get to see Yasuhara and Haruka's episodes, along with Haruka's willwear. Yasuhara's being built up as a dork who is way out of his league in most cases, such as in the gambling episode, but the giant robot episode finally gives him some much needed development as we see where his dream to be a protector of the people came from. His innocence and enthusiasm is really needed for the unit, and it ends up saving the day. Haruka, on the other hand, is revealed to be a train otaku, obsessed with the Japanese railways and making that central to her episode in a way I honestly didn't expect.

Logos uses another random person to raise chaos in a stolen willwear, this time a member of a minor political party who's tasked with killing the governor. The episode plays out with a battle of red tape with Unit 8 and the governor, who wants to use a specially designed missile weapon that will destroy the willwear's barrier system, but will still lead to significant damage for the perp. As this is figured out, the team also has to work within the restrictions from other departments to come up with a plan to deal with the situation. I was expecting Haruka's knowledge of trains to come into play to give her a way to contribute, but what I didn't expect was her knowledge of those connected to the railway industry would be even more important.

Haruka's train obsession isn't handled as well as it could have been. I get that the show is trying to show that her obsession is what got her to form her world view, but its poorly explained because of all the other pieces at play. However, the fight at episode end manages to come to a shockingly tragic conclusion, making good use of her words and and attempts to talk down the perp. We're seeing more holes in the relationship between Logos members, the selfish in-fighting of the Japanese political system ends up destroying lives, and our heroes are starting to have their views and desires challenged. Active Raid is filled with promise, and I hope it does what it set out to do and more to be the big surprise of the season.

Strong Recommendation

AOKANA: Four Rhythm Across the Blue
David O'Neil

Aokana: Four Rhythm Across the Blue continues on its somewhat strange premise of a sports anime surrounding a fictional sport involving people flying around with jet shoes with dating sim elements. And just as before, it actually manages to pull off this oddly specific premise quite well. The last two episodes saw the series entering a brief tournament arc, and while not all that much has changed, slight shifts in focus certainly change what elements of the show are in the spotlight.

As the protagonists of Aokana participate in their first qualifier tournament against rival schools, each character finds themselves facing off against Flying Circus competitors more determined to win than ever before. With the show being in a tournament arc, the show puts full attention on the Flying Circus sport and the matches that occur throughout said tournament. On the one hand, this does mean any of the show's drama and character development takes the backseat to action, as only glimmers of anything other than sports talk manages to slip through the cracks of constant competition. This isn't a huge issue though, as the show manages to make up for this with how exciting and interesting it manages to keep the Flying Circus matches. The array of matches allows for a varied display of the sport's cleverly constructed layout. The rock paper scissors approach to the sport's three classes (one for speed, one for power, and one in between) allows for both tense high speed chases, almost Dragon Ball Z-esque dogfights, with people smacking each other around through the air, and matches that constantly switch between the two at a rapid rate. It makes for a sport that constantly stays engaging, and this is coming from someone who absolutely loathes all sports (even in anime form for the most part).

The show is by no means impressive production-wise, but it continues to be just well executed enough to get the job done. CG is used sparingly enough in the Flying Circus matches, never being too up close or intrusive to distract from the action. Episode 7 does have iffier animation than usual, with some awkward looking cuts of animation and off model faces in low key scenes, but makes up for it with surprisingly good use of 2D animation when the big match of the episode came around. For those looking for a one of a kind sports anime that continues to use its unique gimmick in interesting ways, Aokana is still worth watching.

Solid Recommendation

BBK/BRNK
Danni Kristen

After finding out their friend was actually Zetsubi, one of Reoko's Four Gods, in disguise, Hiiragi is locked into a bubuki battle with her. However, he is swiftly dealt with thanks to her bubuki's power to briefly stop time, Before she can finish him off, though, their fourth and final challenger, Akihito Tsuwabaki, arrives and challenges Shizuru. Everyone watches in silent awe at the powerful battle between these two geniuses. It's soon revealed that Akihito is none other than Shizuru's uncle and has been a source of comfort and encouragement ever since she was a child. In a flashback to her childhood, Shizuru recalls her own mother being terrified of her enigmatic and compulsive habits. She asks for Akihito's help and he gets to the heart of Shizuru's feelings. She doesn't feel like a human. She feels like a stone. So, Akihito tells her she is a stone - the most brilliantly shining stone he's ever seen. Back in the present, however, he berates her. He tells her she's no longer shining because she's being held back by her friends. Hiiragi gathers his composure after being made a fool of, and is soon able to catch Zetsubi off-guard with an attack, destroying her bubuki and winning the battle. With three of the Four Gods having lost, the battle between Shizuru and Akihito is automatically forfeited. Defeated, they make their retreat.

Azuma and his friend's aren't quite out of the woods yet, though. While they were fighting, a headless buranki was making its way towards their location. It arrives and attacks Azuma just as the bubuki battle ends. Using their bubuki, the five awaken Oubu and launch an attack on the buranki. They're defeated in a single hit, though, and Azuma is injured. The Four Gods retrieve substitute bubukis from Reoko's vault and begin launching an attack on the buranki. Unfortunately, the buranki has already awoken, so their attacks have no effect. Reoko soon arrives in Entei and begins attacking the buranki, but even she can do no damage to it. Fearing for her misstress's life, Zetsubi commands the four wielding Oubu's limbs to give them to Reoko. According to her, the buranki has begun the process of terraforming the earth, and will ultimately wipe out all life on the planet if Entei can't beat it. Reluctantly, they give up their bubuki, and Reoko destroys the buranki after a hard-fought battle. After an ominous jab at Azuma's inability to last in battle, Reoko returns the limbs to their rightful owners and withdraws. In the end, Azuma inspires his dejected friends to continue on their journey to finding Treasure Island.

These episodes were certainly better than the ones from the previous installment. Shizuru's backstory was neither drawn out or creepy like the others had been, and was in fact one of the best moments from the episode. It was also incredibly entertaining watching her and Akihito fight. Shizuru is a bit of an enigmatic wild card. In the show's more relaxing moments she's a spaced out source of comedic relief, but in battle she's a precise machine. We also saw a bit of character development this time around from Hiiragi, so hopefully he won't be as annoyingly arrogant and headstrong as he has been. There were also a few small moments in these episodes that will certainly grow into bigger plot points later in the show. At one point, Reoko's personality suddenly shifts to one more fitting of the child-like body she's trapped in, leaving Matobai bewildered. At another point, we see a mysterious girl in a mask and top hot. If I had to guess, I would say she's Azuma's twin sister whose absence has somehow gone unmentioned this entire time.

Overall, these were probably BBK/BRNK's best episodes. There was a lot of action in each, and the battles were very well-animated. While previous episodes had dragged out the talking and expository backstories for too long, these episodes handled those moments perfectly. The backstories were concise and interesting, while the more talky conversations were usually delivered while watching action unfold nearby. I still can't say it's a particularly beautiful show, but it does have its moments that make you love everything you're seeing despite the CG. However, it definitely still has its ugly moments as well. If you couldn't stand the animation in the first episode, then I doubt you'll find the payoff from these episodes to be worth watching the rest. If you've been enjoying or simply putting up with BBK/BRNK so far, though, you'll definitely like what it has to offer now.

Weak Recommendation

Dimension W
Jonathan Kaharl

Since last installment, Toonami announced they would be airing Dimension W with a downright terrible ad (they need to stop making ads) and I'm not surprised. But I am annoyed. The haunted mansion two-parter has concluded, and it comes up with a rather neat idea related to time and how the W dimension affects it. Both Kyoma and Mira also play a role in solving the mystery, and we see a genuine bond start to form between them. It's not much, but it's something. The following episode introduces the prince of a united Africa, and he's a warlord because of course he would be (though to be fair, his actual design is really good). He's here to pick fights with advanced androids and robots, and Mira and Kyoma become involved by meeting the prince's prized creation under odd circumstances.

I'm starting to see a father/daughter relationship forming between Kyoma and Mira, but there's a huge problem. Kyoma sucks. He is a downright bad character. Just awful. I was expecting him to develop and open up a little by this point, but no. He's just proving himself to be a very boring, cliches character. Not even his sad soldier past is terribly interesting, because it comes down to amnesia and a fridged women he loved. It does not help that he keeps treating Mira in such a harsh manner. She is an android and that causes him some negative emotions, it makes sense for his character, but there's a limit to how far you can go with this before he just starts to become unlikable. Mira has been perfectly pleasant and kind to him and everyone around her, and yet he constantly treats her like crap and even strikes her at one point. Being cold is one thing, but this is crossing into outright hatred and the current development between the two implies otherwise.

It's the ideas and characters around the show that make it spark ...sometimes. There's a growing trend of victimized women in this show that leaves a bad taste in my mouth because it's so constant. Multiple wives and daughters killed in back stories, the haunted mansion arc includes an attempted rape scene that makes absolutely no sense because it's actively detrimental to the plan of the bad guys at that point in time, and the latest episode makes you know the prince is evil because he goes on about slavery and has modified his lady bodyguard to be his kink slave that orgasms when he commands it. I'm dead serious. Female characters get shafted pretty bad in this show, with exception to Kyoma's badass boss. Yes, even Mira, the most important character in the series, gets little to actually do to help. She has no real role in the Loser episode, rendered helpless in the mansion arc because of reasons, and I'm sure she's going to get similar treatment soon, unless that hinted super mode pops up and this character dynamic between her and Kyoma actually grows into something that feels like a proper dynamic and not an abusive relationship.

Dimension W is starting to test my patience, and I'm not sure where it plan to go, but it's not exciting me as it once did. All these tired male power fantasy cliches just drag it down far too much to consider this more than a solid sci-fi romp, and I may end up hating it if things don't improve fast.

Weak Recommendation

Divine Gate
Stephanie Getchell

This report comes with a rather tough decision for me; which of my three remaining shows will I use my second drop on? After some thought, or not much at all, I came to the decision of dropping Divine Gate after watching six episodes of the simulcast. With Arthur preparing to head out and search for the Divine Gate, he invites his knights as well as six students from the academy: Akane, Midori, Aoto, Ginji, Hikari, and Yukari. The majority of episode six is just seeing Akane, Midori, and Aoto's resolve to go and help find the Divine Gate; while, in the mean time, we see some plotting on Loki's part and get a tid bit more about Arthur's past with his friend Santa Clause... No I am not joking, these names are really dumb. That's really all the episode was. Don't even bother asking about episode seven, cause I'm not bothering with it.

While my main issue the past several weeks has been the amount of info dumping and terrible pacing that I've talked about before; this time, the episode was just absolutely boring. I can't even remember half of the stuff that went on during it, because I just wanted to do other things like text people and look at anime I want to buy and bills I need to pay... That's right, folks, paying bills was more interesting than watching this series! It doesn't help that it's so generic, but the fact that it's extremely inconsistent to the point where it turn boring just doesn't sit well with me anymore and I am tired of having to put up with it. This is one of those situations where I know it's bound to be a train wreck by the end, but am fine with watching it in english as a kind of background noise; fairly similar to what I did with Seraph season one last year. Oh yeah! By the way, Divine Gate has a broadcast dub going on! It's the only series out of my remaining coverage that has one, and why are these amazingly talented voice actors being stuck on this one? Hell, while we're at it, why is Clifford Chapin the director? I know it's good for him to gain more shows as one of the newbie directors in FUNimation's pool, but his talent is being wasted here... Even one episode of the Daimidaler dub was a lot more fun than this one! At the very least, this dub is tolerable thanks to Joel McDonald, Alexis Tipton, and Chris Burnett taking on the three leads as well as a variety of other actors giving some solid work. I just blame the show at this point.

Divine Gate was one I was honestly hoping would be good. I placed it on my list of series I wanted to see this season because of that. Now that I've reached the half way mark, I am gravely disappointed in it. It's a mess of a series, and I don't expect it to improve by the end. It's been made clear that it's going to stay stuck in it's ways, and that's something I just don't want to bother myself with... At least in terms of the simulcast. The dub is at least decent enough that I'm willing to drudge through it, and I'm curious to see the kind of directing style Chapin will use throughout. The series is among the weakest of the winter season, there's no doubt about that. As a series, it's not really worth your time. I'm just going to put up with it a bit long because of my morbid curiosity of the dub. Otherwise, you won't be seeing me talk about this series here again until the final report where I talk about why I dropped it.

Weak Recommendation, dropped at episode six

ERASED
Jonathan Kaharl

After that whole stupid chocolate bar situation, Erased is finally back on track as Airi is nearly killed by the killer in an arson attack, but is saved by Satoru and the manager, who manages to finally feel like an actual character with this one act and how he responds to Satoru. The tension is still high as the police believe Airi is an accomplice and Satoru contacts a friend of his mother from her journalism days to get some information on the old case. He's captured, but he does one more leap back to try and stop the crimes from ever happening, hiding Hinazuki in an old bus with the help of Kenya. The goal now is to completely upset the current set of events and keep Hinazuki away from her abusive family and avoid the events that lead to her death, but of course, things may not be going as planned.

These last two episodes are a huge step in the right direction. The pace is back up and the story is focusing on tension and trying to avoid terrible outcomes again, and we're seeing this all wear on our cast. Satoru nearly kills Hinazuki's mom before Kenya stops him, really selling how desperate the guy has become to save Hinazuki and those he cares about. That said, there's still moments here and there that bug me, like Airi's mom helping her escape the hospital. They feel too contrived and are there simply so the story can keep moving, but don't mesh with the more real feeling situations the show deals with at its best. It's a necessary evil, but it keeps happening and it annoys me a bit. But it's also a pretty minor complaint in the grand scheme of things.

Most of my worries are over what I think may happen, not what's actually happening in the show so far, but for a mystery thriller like this, the ending is paramount. If it can't land properly, it's going to crash and burn. I'm starting to think that a "read the manga" ending may be the best way to go at this point, just so we can avoid any really unnecessary time travel explanations or trying to give the villain justification for their seemingly evil for evil acts. Erased works best as Satoru's story, and that's where the focus should remain from here on out. Everything else doesn't matter to me, I just want this to be Satoru's story and end on a satisfying note, but after the last episodes, I think the staff may just pull that off.

Strong Recommendation

Girls Beyond the Wasteland
David O'Neil

I won't lie, I was a bit worried in not using one of my drops on Girls Beyond the Wasteland, despite it being the worst of the shows I have remaining. It was a guilty pleasure, but I worried the novelty of my enjoyment would wear off quickly if the show didn't keep things interesting. Luckily, the show has (mostly) continued to keep me entertained, and even has shown some promise of better things to come, that I may be able to enjoy in more than just a "ahahaha this is so dumb" kind of way.

My worry of Girls Beyond the Wasteland losing my interest reached its peak with the fifth episode, as it was easily the worst episode of the series so far. It's nothing more than a bland retread of old material, as Ando (the programmer girl) acts like a completely unreasonable jerk for no good reason, arguments spark between her and Kuroda, and Ando ends up quitting the team. Again. And it's up to the main character to track her down and convince her to come back and see the project through to the end. Again. It starts dragging on fast, not helped by the lack of any especially funny jokes or gags throughout the whole episode, other than one somewhat entertaining scene towards the end involving fishing. The sixth episode is the beach episode, and the show makes sure to remind the viewer around every corner "Hey, we're doing beach episode cliches! Take that fourth wall!". Despite this annoyance, and the abundance of shameless fanservice, it was actually a pretty fun episode (especially in comparison to the previous one). Sure, I was laughing AT it for the most part, but I had a good time with it nonetheless, and there were a few scenes that did a decent job playing with audience expectations, like Kuroda trying to spark the typical "boob size comparison conversation" that seems to come up in every single anime, as the girls just kind of act perplexed at her behavior (even if it immediately delved back into dumb fanservice-y stuff immediately after).

And finally, on the complete opposite side of the spectrum from the fifth episode, the seventh was likely the best episode of the series thus far, following the protagonist as he struggles to write a love confession scene when he's never been in love himself. For one thing, it was one of the most consistently funny episodes, and unlike many previous ones, due to genuinely clever jokes rather than how easy it was to mock. It also provided the best drama the series has ever had, as Yuka continues to struggle with her feelings for the main character, paralleling his inability to cope with what it means to be in love. Considering how much I loathe love triangles, I'm surprised how well the romantic subplot of this show has been handled, at least in this first episode focusing fully on it. Here's hoping this increase in quality from the most recent episode continues, and it doesn't sink back into the drop in quality that briefly occurred.

Weak Recommendation

Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash
David O'Neil

Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash has yet to cease impressing me week by week. Remaining my favorite show of the season, it's an excellent example of letting characters drive a narrative, and being able to build and develop said characters through small, interpersonal moments that slowly build up to big emotional pay offs. It's slow, quiet, and meticulous approach to storytelling continues to keep me fully engaged in these characters and their interactions episode to episode, and at the end of every one I'm left excited to more. I should note, that to be able to discuss the last few episodes I pretty much have to spoil one of the episodes I covered last week, more specifically the events of episode 4. So if you don't want spoilers, don't read on.

Episode 4 of Grimgar left the show's team of volunteer soldiers in a state of disarray. Their leader, Manato, was gone, leaving them without direction or any idea what to do next. Episode 5 explores the team's attempts to hold themselves together without a leader, both tactically, and emotionally. Each character is left broken in a slightly different way, and watching how their varied emotional states clash off each other makes for a fascinating episode. Haruhiro finds himself confronted with the prospect of leading the group, despite being terrified by the idea, Ranta as usual tries to bottle up his emotions, Yume and Shihoru find themselves unable to communicate with the men of the group, and even the typically calm and collected Maguzo finds himself snapping under the pressure of his comrades arguing. It's a heartwarming episode about dealing with loss, that culminates in an emotional climax that hits harder than any moment in the series thus far.  The next episode focuses on a new character to the series, the group's new Priest, a quiet and cold girl named Mary. Even as the team starts to pull themselves back together, Mary ends up being an outsider, as the characters try to figure out why she acts the way she does, and whether they could ever call her a proper member of their team. Mary ends up being a character just as interesting as the rest of the cast, her past explains well why she is the way she is, and the show's done a great job showing all the character's differing reactions as they both conflict with, and try to become closer closer with Mary, throughout the episode.

I may adore this show, but it still has some issues. It does still on very rare occasions (like, once or twice an episode maybe) devolve into some immature, Light-Novel-y humor, such as the most recent episode having a brief bit where Ranta and Yume argue about her breast size. It's not too distracting, nor is it even THAT bad, but the show would be better off without it. In addition, the show's framing can be a little iffy at times, whether its simply not using visual storytelling as effectively as it could be, or sneaking a questionable side-boob into an emotional moment. Though I'd also like to mention, my complaint last time I wrote on the show about unfitting use of more energetic music at more low key dramatic moments has been noticeably improved. The last two episodes have been much more tactful in this regard, using slower, more retrained music in such moments. Overall, Grimgar continues to be an emotionally powerful character driven fantasy action show that's absolutely worth watching.

Strong Recommendation

Haruchika - Haruto & Chika
Stephanie Getchell

The troubled character a week scenario continues on this week with Haruchika. First, while on spring break, Chika and Haruta encounter a mysterious girl who seems to come and go from the music room and has actually repaired a broken clarinet for no apparent reason. Her name is Serizawa, and her dream is to become a professional musician who plays the clarinet. However, Chika and the rest of the brass band notice that she has slowing been losing her hearing over time, even needing a hearing aid, which ends up lost in the music department and how she ended up back there in the first place. After some heart to heart and the classic walkie talkie method using cups and string, Serizawa tells them she won't join the brass band club as they are right now; giving the group hope that, if they improve, she'll join them later on. Episode seven brings us the start of a new trimester, and some budget problems to go along with it. The student council president tasks the brass band with finding the geological research president, Asao, with which the brass band will be rewarded with an additional money for their budget. Through happenstance, Chika, Haruta, Asao, and Kusabake make the trek to the home of Hiyama, a shut in like Asao who is actually a well known radio host along with seven elderly people who give advice to others. This that and the other thing happen, and we end the episode with the seven sages, as the elders are referred to, tell Hiyama to go back to school; mentioning maybe he can go back to playing drums again. This connects Hiyama back to Serizawa, as she explains that she had been looking at the drums to see if they were in working condition for him to play as an attempt to convince him to return to school. Of course, Chika and Haruta both for out of their homes with the intent of convincing him to join the brass band club.

Now that we all know that I've dropped Divine Gate, that means you get to read my ramblings about this series instead! Here's the thing, compared to Divine Gate, Haruchika at least had given me a strong start compared to Divine Gate. While the previous report had me see a dip in quality, this time it improves only slightly. This is more than likely due to my getting used to the kind of series it wants to be. But episode seven does do something a little different as we are not directly dealing with a possible brass band member, and instead opting to interact with someone completely outside of music. While we don't know why Asao wants to die, it's a bit more refreshing to see someone else rather than the people Chika and Haruta try and recruit all the damn time. However, adding Hiyama as a kind of "oh by the way, this guy that was hinted at in the previous episode? Here he is now!" was also extremely lazy considering the pattern the series has had up until now. Meanwhile, with episode six, a person with a complex problem NOT joining the brass band club is also a welcome change! To be fair, she's more than likely going to join later, but for now I don't mind having her not be a part of it. The series is, at the very least, not trying to be 100% of a wash, rinse, and repeat situation; and I appreciate that.

Haruchika is not at the same level as it was when I first started the series, no way in hell. But it also isn't in the rut that I saw a couple weeks ago either. It's slowly improving, but I won't be surprised if it just dies once again by the time I finish the show. It's gone up and down so much that I could get some kind of whiplash or something. It's not all that strong in story and character development for our two leads, but, similar to my third and final show I'm covering Norn9, I can at least tolerate it a lot more compared to some of the other series this season. There are much worse things lurking out there, but, while this one does get close at points, Haruchika is at least trying it's best not to be a complete screw up. I'm fine with keeping this one until the end, so long as I don't have to kill things with fire if it messes up hard core.

Solid Recommendation

KONOSUBA - God's blessing on this wonderful world!
Joe Straatmann

I REALLY want to get this RPG-but-for-real show on the road, and it's actually a villain who might help out. The Dullahan whose castle Megumin was blasting previously returns to the village aiming for a fight. I liked the first joke they were going with that the Dullahan was lonely after his initial contact and engaging in warfare with the town is his way of having interpersonal conversation. Sadly, they flip the script on that one and reveal Megumin was still maintaining practicing her explosive magic on the castle because she yearned for a harder target than plains (The innuendo is intentional). Yes, it fits power-loving Megumin, but it's not as good of a joke and the Dullahan being someone who'd threaten to annihilate a city to ironically have personal connections. It would make him the right kind of buffoon for this series. Add in some telegraphed payoffs that can be seen from a mile away and this episode isn't as sharp as we're used to with Konosuba.

Thankfully, the episode before it is just lovely. Like when the second Dirty Harry movie set out to provide limits on what is too far for the loose cannon cop, so does Konosuba have an episode showing what kind of asshole is too much of an asshole for the band of misfit adventurers. After a water purification quest goes the way such things go with this party, they run into one of the more legendary heroes of the land who just happens to be another poor sap Aqua persuaded into living in this world instead of death. This one took a powerful sword instead of Aqua and has found success, an entourage of two women who worship and fight over them, and a wave of respect. That they stumble upon him when Aqua is in a cage mumbling lines that could be construed they're selling her to slavery brings the two sides into a collision course. I dare not spoil every little detail, but the way they completely dismantle the supposed hero who only has any leg to stand on because he was given a sword with stacked stats is kind of beautiful in a hilarious way.

Our party of losers may be hopelessly flawed, self-centered, delusional, but at least they're honest with who they are and have some sort of bizarre kinship. Comedy is all about finding the right kind of wrong people and these are my kind of morons. Yes, they're awful and let what drives them occasionally overrun the greater good, but they're trying in their own way. Now where to next? I get the feeling the big joke is they're always going to be stuck in the first village for this reason or that, but I really hope they get to an epic Lord of the Rings journey... with a masochist and a girl who gets off on the power she wields.

Solid Recommendation

Luck & Logic
Joe Straatmann

Time to hurry and crank out this review before I forget all about what I just watched. Luck and Logic has the lasting effect of a vanilla wafer, and these spotlights on the characters don't change much. First we have Mana-Mana (Who will just be Mana for the sake of me not accidentally calling her the Mani-Mani statue), an orphan who has never really gotten along with anyone else, though she did apparently do enough to become Trance partners with Artemis. Her role as the sniper of the group is put to the test when everyone else can't get closer to the current Foreigner threat without their physical and mental powers getting drained in seconds. Saving the day may involve invoking Over Trance, a mode that will seriously enhance her powers but has the potential to scramble the human partner's brain and turn them into someone completely different. Mana has no problem with this since she sees herself as a ghost in the life of others, but bland lead Yoshichika has other ideas. Like most of this series, it's not necessarily bad as much as it's going through the paces of an individual character episode without building onto any of the experience of the work as a whole.

No, the special kind of stupid award goes to the plot focusing on Yukari. She's a trainee and considered the "manager" of the group. She supports everyone else and has a knack for knowing exactly what each team member's needs are and getting them taken care of. What she can't seem to do is be able to Trance with a god and become a successful Logicalist. She at least has a decent relationship with the jailer of the Foreigners, but that's where the dumb waltzes in. Her potential squeeze literally falls for the oldest trick in the book and gets his mind and body jacked by a Foreigner who feigns illness in order to escape prison. Not only are they leaning on a trope that is so dumb, only Uwe Boll is utilizing it these days, but they're recycling a villain on top of everything else. Even the framing mechanism of setting up Yukari's arc in the episode as wanting to be a player rather than a manager is so clumsy because it starts with her having a dream about being unable to pass a soccer ball and it leads to her ultimate moment of realizing she has to kick a rock into an explosive. As least Yukari's a charming kind of awkward and she seems to at least be having some fun with her powers.

I'll probably be bringing music a few times in my updates. Mainly it's to utilize how much the sound quality has improved on even the mediocre titles. This is the kind of show where you used get a guy with a good synthesizer to noodle around a bit and maybe get a day to rent a recording piano for the serious moments. This is more professional and polished. While I can't say much for the compositions as they don't stand out much, the instrumentation is sublime, having a more cinematic feel. Shame it's wasted on a series that takes combining with gods to get super powers in order to take down even larger gods pedestrian. Hell, when it clogs the drain with too much terminology, it even feels like homework (I'm giving you the lighter version of the terminology for your own convenience). This seems destined to be something I look back on in December and think, "Oh yeah, that existed, didn't it?"

Weak Recommendation

Myraid Colors: Phantom World
Danni Kristen

This time around was an interesting couple episodes for Phantom World, with one episode being another really boring one and the other being the show's strongest episode yet. The boring one begins with the timid Kurumi being a somewhat nervous wreck over being asked to join Haruhiko's phantom-hunting team. Afraid of the reality in front of her, she literally falls into a phantom-induced hallucination like the one Reina had. Haruhiko is unfortunately dragged down into this world with her, with Ruru tagging along. In this world, Kurumi is a princess in a fantasy land inhabited by stuffed bears, with her own stuffed bear Albrecht serving as her loyal knight. She's being pursued by an evil bear who wants her hand in marriage, and only Albrecht can protect her. Albrecht is soon wounded, though, and the four are forced to take shelter in a small cave. In order to protect her friend Albrecht, she faces her fears and takes her pursuer head-on by turning into a magical girl whose weapon is a golden garden rake (the Japanese word for rake literally translates to "bear paw" I'm told). Having faced her fears, she's confidently able to join Haruhiko and his friends.

Now that's weird, but the next episode gets even weirder. Haruhiko is excitedly welcoming the on-coming summer break, but classes aren't over yet. Strangely enough, both students and teachers begin napping in the summer heat. Students inexplicably find themselves laying out in the grass to nap. Every single person in the school begins eating fish for their lunches. They start sitting in an odd fashion, with their legs pulled up on their chairs. In the midst of all this, Haruhiko, Mai, and Reina take on a non-phantom related job to find a lost kitten owned by Kurumi's friend. Their journey takes them to a pet store, where they find themselves craving cat food and being wildly entertained by a simple cat toy. They later head home, and after a night of lazing around and chasing bugs, head back to school. Only now students have begun sprouting cat ears and cat tails. Everyone seems to be turning into cats, and Koito believes it has to do with an abandoned mansion on the school grounds that was once inhabited by a ton of stray cats. They head there to investigate, but things start getting weird. The three-story mansion seems to have a never-ending amount of floors. Seasons come and go almost instantaneously. Time and space starts losing all meaning during a strange montage of images and events that make no coherent sense. Finally, they end up in the heart of the mansion, only to realize the mansion itself had become possessed by a phantom that also happened to have the kitten they were searching for before. Reina realizes the mansion was just trying to preserve the memories of the times when it was lively and eventful, so she promises that they'll ensure its memories live on. Also, Kurumi translates all of this into a string of "nya"s so that the mansion can understand. The phantom is sealed, everyone stops turning into cats, and the students band together to rebuild the rundown mansion.

Okay, so, there's a lot to unpack between these two episodes. The first was pretty bad. First of all, it was kind of re-treading old territory covered in the Reina-centric episode. What's worse is it didn't even do the things that made that episode so enjoyable. The art style shifted considerably in Reina's world, making everything extremely happy and cute. In this episode, though, the art style stayed the same, which just made Kurumi's fantasy world look kind of ugly. It also wasn't helped at all by the fact that Kurumi is REALLY annoying. Her character design is really stupid-looking and her personality is just shy elementary school girl who is a part of this story for some reason. The worst part about this episode, though, was that they had a magical square off against a giant mecha teddy bear and didn't even show them battling. They just cut from them facing off to after the battle. They had a chance for a really cool sequence and absolutely blew it.

Conversely, the cat episode did everything extremely right. First of all, cats are great. I'm always down for cats. Second, I loved how utterly oblivious everyone was to the fact they were turning into cats. It added a great comedic tone to the whole episode. Third, it kept throwing these changes out one after the other and never really letting up thanks to the show's quick pacing, which actually ties into my previous point. There was no time for the characters to react to what was happening to them because there really wasn't any time for the viewers to react to it either. Finally, the whole bit inside the mansion was remarkably wonderful. A lot of shows like this would normally falter in trying to portray a montage of hallucinogenic images that don't make cohesive sense so much as they reiterate repeating images from the episode and express the feelings of the individual characters. While I'm skeptical that any of it was supposed to be somehow symbolic or deep, it was incredibly visually interesting. In fact, most of the best-looking frames from that episode came from that short sequence. It obviously took a lot of work to put together, and in my opinion it was worth it. The end result of this episode was something so cute, light-hearted, and fun that I couldn't help but enjoy it. It was easily the best episode Phantom World has had so far. I really hope we see more episodes like it and less like the two that preceded it.

Solid Recommendation

Norn9: Norn + Nonet
Stephanie Getchell

Out of the three remaining shows I have to cover this season, going into this week's report, I knew I would be keeping Norn9. While it isn't the best the season has to offer, it does have the least problems between it, Haruchika, and Divine Gate. After the dream Itsuki places everyone on the ship into, relationships begin to shift and change in the real world amid the ongoing chaos. Mikoto and Sakuya seem to grow both distant and closer to each other after what one person sees appears to be something completely different to the other, creating a misunderstanding between the childhood friends. Nanami and Syukuri seem to be getting closer, but their relationship isn't blooming quite yet as Nanami still has some sort of guilt in her past that seem to be connect to both Syukuri and Senri in some way (I cheated and looked it up so I know what it is already). As for Koharu and Kakeru, because of the classic accepting the monster side plot point, theirs is the most developed relationship of the ship. But, with their journey coming to an end sooner than expected, the crew decides to make some memories of their own. But with an inside traitor among them, and now that Sorata has gone missing, everything seems to be spiraling out of control; with the end of episode seven having the viewer put the pieces together as to the traitor as he tosses Mikoto off the ship.

You're probably wondering how I am perfectly fine with keeping Norn9 so quickly among the remaining series I have. If you've been seeing any of these three series, then you already know that two of them are rather bad. Why I think Norn9 isn't one of them is because it doesn't make me cringe every time I watch it. Yes, the typical troupes are there from standard otome games, but it hasn't gotten to the point where I can't tolerate it any more. Amnesia is among the worst offenders as it just got worse and worse over time that when I finally reached the infamous girl cage, I kinda lost my s**t. DRAMAtical Murder ended up being boring by the end, and, while it's a guilty pleasure, Diabolik Lovers still is a very terrible series in that it makes abuse look attractive. Norn9 hasn't done anything to offend me, nor has it done anything to bore me. The story has been straight forward and the characters have been easy to understand with the unique three heroines approach being something rather refreshing compared to the one girl in her harem of men. If it was just centered around Koharu, as she is the typical heroine we see in a lot of harem series like Amnesia and Diabolik, this would be a completely different series and one I more than likely would have dropped from the start. Adding Mikoto and Nanami into the mix and giving us three possible romance plots at least makes it more interesting to watch since two out of those three heroines are already connected to their partner in some way from their past; although, from the opening theme, Mikoto's will more than likely change in the next episode or so.

While the series doesn't try to do anything too new or out of the box, it's at least not a steaming pile of donkey crap that it could have possibly started out with. To be fair, there's still plenty of time for the series to really s**t the bed, I mean girl cage didn't happen till the last third of Amnesia, but that's something I can wait and see on. At the very least, I want to see Norn9 keep the consistency that it has up until the end, without stuffing too much into it at once and also without dragging it's feet. While this is a tall order for an otome game adaptation, it's at least possible for the series to pull off. Again, it's the best out of my three remaining series. It's not saying much, all things considered, but I'm willing to get through the rest of Norn9 easier than Haruchika or Divine Gate, no matter which one I ended up dropping today (cause I started my regular reports with Norn9 before the other two).

Solid Recommendation

Pandora in the Crimson Shell: Ghost Urn
Jonathan Kaharl

Well, I wanted to keep up with this show, but after about six episodes, I've had a good fill and I desperately need more time in my schedule, so off it goes. The last episode I watched had our heroes going to the hospital for maintenance, and a little girl with new cybernetic limbs tries finding her cat with the help of BUER (who is not nearly as creepy around her as I expected, but still lets a terrible line or two slip through), and the bad guy passes by briefly with a giant invisible cyborg man who nearly punches the little girl into the pavement until Clarion stops him and nobody notices this because why would they notice?

The plot is about to kick in, but that is really, really uninteresting to me. This show works best when the creators are just doing whatever sounds fun to them and nobody else, actual plot development robs some fun out of the proceedings because that leads to them actually trying. Too little, too late. I also couldn't help but notice that the production remains embarrassing on almost every level. If not for the entire concept and the touches of the two most important people involved, his would be one of the worst shows I've ever seen.

But as it is, I had fun and will probably return to Pandora one day for shits and giggles. It's not good, but not in a bad way, I guess. Except it is, but in an enjoyable way? Well, if you like watching bad things for fun, this is an interesting specimen to look at.

Weak Recommendation, dropped at episode six

Phantasy Star Online 2: The Animation
Joe Straatmann

I know how they can get out of this. The aspects of the possibility are in the story and can easily be written in (Though with anime planning the way it is, no way it can get changed in time if it wasn't there in the first place). They need to make it so the war in the Phantasy Star Online 2 game is really happening. There's an intergalactic struggle going on and I don't know, the avatars are androids and artificial beings used as dolls by the humans. I mean, we have Aika who is obviously a life form from the game who has somehow crossed into the real world, so what if it WASN'T A GAME. Okay, maybe that wouldn't necessarily save it, but rather than having the entire show being about how great the game is and how you need to buy it, the series would have some stakes and the literal pandering would at least be hilariously overblown (If you don't play the game, the UNIVERSE DIES).

Honestly, from a technical standpoint, the show would be okay if I had any rooting interest in anything going on. If you've watched the ending credits with the totally not chocobo ripoffs dancing with Rina's avatar, you know the animation can be really good. The ending is catchy and the dance brings memories of Haruhi Suzumiya. The music also managed to scrounge up enough budget to get a small room of live musicians to properly accentuate the mood. That means nothing if nothing on screen is worth the effort. The best we have is Itsuki and Rina taking Aika to a mall and montaging through getting her clothing as she overreacts to everything because she doesn't know how to exist in this world and everyone just shrugs it off as, "Oh, that foreign exchange student...." If this were filler in a reasonably decent anime, it would be swell. As the only bit of character building, it's an appetizer trying to be an entire meal.

I'm a little light on material since they decided to skip a week, so I decided to check out the new episode that dropped just before deadline to see if it had anything I could expand on. Not only is it a hot springs episode, but Itsuki is banned from doing anything fun because his grades are down thanks to PSO and he has to do piles of prep work for his midterm under Rina's orders. A cliched episode and extensive shots of the main character doing his homework?  My cup runneth over. Despite one little morsel that could pay off later, you may continue to not care about this one.

No Recommendation

Prince of Stride: Alternative
Danni Kristen

Following Kadowaki's injury and the reveal of what exactly caused Honan's famous Stride Club to dissolve, we pick up right where we left off with Kuga joining the team for their next race. We're immediately introduced to the opposing runners and the incredible douchebag who is their relationer. After a lot of trash talk obviously meant to throw Honan off their game, the teams take their marks and begin the race. Riku is immediately thrown off his game by the opposing runner's jab about his older brother, setting Honan off to a bad start. Meanwhile, the incredibly confident relationer continues to talk down to Sakurai. Hasekura takes off after Riku, but is blocked at every point by the runner he is facing. The opposing relationer then sets off their next runner, intending for him to collide with Hasekura. Sakurai readys Kuga to take over for Hasekura, but then realizes the opposing team's strategy and warns Hasekura. To everyone's surprise, Hasekura and Kuga instead get an adrenaline boost helping them outrun the opposing team and avoid collision. Appalled that his impeccable strategy has failed, the opposing relationer loses his cool and begins yelling and insulting the runners for supposed incompetency. Finally, after neck and neck stretches led by Kuga and Kohinata, Takeru manages to land Honan a solid victory. Kuga soon receives his own uniform and is officially recognized as a Honan Stride Club member.

With both their victory and exams out of the way, the club members are soon invited to a joint training camp with the Josei Stride Club. Josei is the obligatory rich school at the top of the rankings who for some reason devote all their funds to one sports club, so their facilities are stacked with top of the line equipment, staff, and training regimens. Despite the obvious fiscal disparity between them and Honan, they're quite friendly to their rivals. One of their runners is already friends with Riku, another runner absolutely idolizes Hasekura, and the Josei prince Reiji builds a friendly mentorship with Takeru. They spend a lot of time putting Honan through their strict regimen, but they also allow plenty of time for friendly competitions of ping pong as well as healthy cookouts on the beach. Honan never manages to beat Josei during their trial races, but they vow to get stronger so they can finally overtake them.

Prince of Stride has been consistently putting out very solid episodes every week. None of them are really chocked full of plot, but every episode is incredibly well-paced so that no episode drags on or feels too light. Take episodes like the one I described in the first paragraph, for instance. Sure, there was a lot to talk about from that episode, but it feels like there shouldn't be. Most of the episode consisted of the actual race, which would only be a couple minutes long at most in real-time. Prince of Stride manages to draw out these races to take up the bulk of a full episode without making them feel drawn out. The excitement and tension remains consistent throughout these races, and it would be a disservice to make them shorter, honestly.

I mentioned last week how great the character designs of the briefly seen opposing teams have been. Not only were the designs for Honan's newest opponents still great, but also one of their runners sports what is probably my favorite character design this season (also, his name is Yuri Himemiya, which I refuse to believe isn't an Utena reference). The run cycles for the characters still look pretty awkward, but they don't do much to detract from what is one of the most enjoyable sports anime I've seen before. I'm looking forward to the next few episodes, where we'll hopefully see more of Riku's brother and possibly find out that Riku, Sakurai, and Takeru are actually childhood friends.

Solid Recommendation

Schwarzes Marken
Joe Straatmann

The face of the German Stasi leadership has been revealed as redheaded Lieutenant Colonel Heinze Axmann (And not that orange kind of red. RED) who waltzes in with quasi Nazi garb, and any subtlety that has been still hanging about is heading towards the exit. Might as well have named the guy Fuhrer Painstrudel. I suppose I shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth since the Stasi are now an active part of the story rather than this background presence that only shows up on episode bookends where they're mercilessly torturing some poor supporting character. Better still they fracture the people in such a way to actually make their conflicts more fascinating than the East Germany under secret police rule sucks drum they've been beating this whole time.

While the war with the BETA is about to reach a breaking point with one hundred thousand aliens making a beeline from Minsk to the rest of Europe, the Stasi are taking the opportunity to seize control of the military, the government, and everything else essential. The problem is even more complicated when it's revealed the Stasi who are loyal to Germany and the Stasi who are loyal to the Soviet Union are in-fighting for who will have supreme command. What this means for the 666th fresh off a victory in which the East and West celebrated their heroism is they are now the hottest political chip in the country. It's complexity and it feels like it sprouted from the story and not just need the need to make all the characters pin cushions for dramatic angst. Even bringing in Theodor's sister Lise as the obvious Stasi plant has, they're finding the right manipulative tone for each of her interactions. The detail I personally loved is Theodor and Gretel getting some romantic affection for each other  while they're in Berlin trying to see who in the military can help in the power vacuum that is building. It may come out of the blue for some, but it felt human. Even if they have goals that may oppose each other at times (Theodor tried to escape West while Gretel believes in the socialistic system despite hating the police state), it isn't an opposite attracts story and they're not targeting the easy love interests like Irisdina and Katia. It just happens and it's emotions that feel like they're out of their control. It's one of those possible romantic relationships that I can believe and more importantly, feel. The damn oboe player's been pulling too much weight in getting an emotional reaction from the audience, so it's nice something else stepped in to give the man or woman a break.

I'm not ready to say Schwarzes Marken is out of the woods yet as far as only being so-so. It took six episodes to get to a point where they're actually using the setting for more than a melodrama mixer and the characters acting as more than the sum of their backstories and philosophies. I still am not particularly sold on the aliens as they are right now. What do they want? Why are they so intent on destroying humanity? They're nutsacks with faces that show up whenever the series needs a slight change of scenery. I'm not satisfied with the major threat to humanity surviving simply being a backdrop. What this does add up to is I am somewhat looking forward to seeing how this plays out and I am far more hopeful than when I was four episodes in.

Weak Recommendation

Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinju
Danni Kristen

With the play out of the way, Yakumo can't shake the feeling that overtook him during the performance. After years of performing mediocre rakugo to little praise, he has finally experienced the feeling of truly capturing an audience. He realizes he's well-suited for telling stories that have very erotic and sensual roles, so he begins performing them with much success. He receives glowing praise from his masters and his audiences, who are somewhat baffled as to how he suddenly improved so much. Sukeroku soon points out to him that he had advised Yakumo to tell erotic stories years ago, and Yakumo is once again jealous of his friend. Sure, they were now basking in the same spotlight, but Yakumo is obviously still struggling to catch up to him. Sukeroku asks him who his rakugo is for, and after much thought, Yakumo decides to do his rakugo for himself.

With his newfound purpose in place, Yakumo begins devoting himself almost entirely to his rakugo, leaving him little time for a social life. This deeply bothers Miyokichi, who was already vying for his attention alongside Sukeroku. Yakumo begins going from one performance straight to practice and onto yet another performance. His free time is almost entirely spent taking care of or simply humoring Sukeroku, even if he it means missing a date with Miyokichi. His hard work pays off, though, and it is he - not Sukeroku - who is invited by their master to go on a performance tour with him. After accepting the invitation, Yakumo's master awkwardly asks how he and Miyokichi are getting along. Yakumo gives him a guarded and impersonal answer, and the two part ways. On his way home, Yakumo appears to be chastising himself for avoiding Miyokichi, but it turns out he's simply reciting another rakugo piece for practice. Miyokichi soon begs him to come spend some time with her, to which he gives a non-committal answer and leaves without telling her about his coming tour.

In the last installment, the tension had begun pressing down on Yakumo and his relationships. In this installment, the cracks began appearing. Having tasted success, Yakumo becomes consumed by the desire to surpass his friend and rival Sukeroku. His abrasive personality had already provided an obstacle in his relationship with Miyokichi, but now he's begun outright avoiding her. She's become a distraction to him, and to make matters worse she can't understand why he always puts Sukeroku before her. Outsiders are even noticing problems within their relationship. Yakumo's own master awkwardly inquires whether things are really okay between them, but is unable to bring himself to press the issue. Meanwhile, Sukeroku questions Yakumo's care for her since he won't even walk her home at night. The preview for next week's episode involved what appeared to be Yakumo rejecting Miyokichi, followed by Sukeroku comforting her. It was already a matter of time before the two of them had an affair, so it appears the pieces for that will finally fall into place next week.

These were another couple of great episodes from Rakugo Shinju. These are some fantastic characters, and watching their intertwining relationships come together and unfold is a real treat. The show's soundtrack remains beautifully fitting, and the show's shots are clear evidence that this is the best-composed show this season. The only thing I can find to criticize about this installment's episodes is the fact that the facial animations in the newest one were a bit off-model. They appeared cheaper and more rushed the farther away they were in frame, which made them funny to look at. Fortunately, this didn't affect any major moments. Rakugo Shinju likes to make sure the audience can see what a character is thinking or feeling through subtle facial animations, and thankfully none of the off-model moments happened in the most important scenes. The off-model animations are merely a nitpick and - as far as I'm concerned - don't really affect the episode's quality. We've finally passed the midway point for Winter, and I can confidently say that Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju is my season favorite.

Strong Recommendation

Undefeated Bahamut Chronicle
Jonathan Kaharl

Krulcifer's arc comes to a close as we get no closure on her status as a survivor of the ruins and just get some sad back story where her adoptive family didn't love her and thus she doesn't connect with people well and needs to be saved. Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. What a whole lot of nothing, even for this show. Does not help the noble douchenozzle she's being forced to marry was such an ass in the most paper thin way imaginable. The episode after moves on to a story about the school's top student, and it's going into trying to explain away the gay territory because of course. The top student hates men and that's bad! But she doesn't actually hate men! Isn't that great, people self-inserting into Lux!? Your masturbatory fantasies remain unchallenged! This character also having a good friend that clearly sees them as more is also bound to lead somewhere that pisses me off, I'm sure.

Also, for the princess of the fucking country the characters live in, Lisha gets jack all to do besides not get what kissing is and getting flustered because some sad fucks find this hot. It's kind of amazing how pointless the cast feels in this series, even Lux at points, who's only role seems to be the wall girls can get their feels off of that they eventually gain the desire to fuck. Only three things of any real interest happen these past two episodes, though to my surprise, one of those things involve Krulcifer.

Despite how pointless and empty her overly long arc was, the girl has become surprisingly entertaining in the events after, being another one of the girls hitting on Lux via trying to emasculate him at every turn. It's kind of funny in a way, because the only scenes she feels like a person are when she's trying to start up a femdom power play or fucking around with Lisha's feelings. Lux's brother also seems to be making a return this new arc as well, entering the school's prison to explode that noble dick from earlier into a pile of guts and gore. I expect him to be a super GRIM DARK MATURE #12YEARSOLD villain at this rate and I need something like him to laugh at in this mess. But of course, the only other things of interest are all Phi related.

Phi is revealed to be the reason Lux is the way he is today. Her family took him at, seemingly at her request, and the two have shared a bond ever since. It's kind of astounding this has been so glossed over so far, because it's a central element to Lux's empathetic nature. Phi acts a lot like an older sibling in a subtle way, guiding Lux along a proper path while letting him make his own mistakes. Phi's arc is coming, and I hope it's the first outright good arc of this mess, because she's being built up as a surprisingly layered character with what little we see of her, and the only girl in the cast who seems to truly understand Lux because she saw him at his most vulnerable and protected him when he needed it.

But part of me also hopes we never reach that arc because I'm sure they'll ruin it somehow.

No Recommendation

Shorts

Ojisan and Marshmallow
Stephanie Getchell

Alright, I am slowly beginning to see this show's appeal. It could just be because I have to put up with it regardless so I may as well try and enjoy it, but I actually didn't have as many issues this go around compared to previous weeks. The humor, while simplistic, is actually endearing and can be adult at times; the latter being something that I have talked about before. Meanwhile we have added two additional characters to the mix, one Wakabayashi's little brother and the other a rival for her to fight over Hige with, while he remains he oblivious self. The series is slowly winning me over after a rather rough start seven episodes ago, and that is saying something about a series like this. But, it could be a little too late for it since we are at that half way mark. We won't find out until the end, though.

Solid Recommendation

Ooya-san wa Shishunki!
David O'Neil

Ooya-san wa Shinshuki has fully settled into its groove, and for better or for worse it doesn't appear to be moving a muscle forwards or backwards from what it currently is. What it is, more precisely, is essentially two minute spans of pure concentrated moe fluff to the nth degree. The last two episodes haven't been quite as funny or well animated as the show has been in the past, but they were still solid two minute bursts of fun that kept me entertained as they flew by in an instant. At times the way the voice actors/actresses speed read the hell out of there lines can be overwhelming, at this point I'd probably prefer they just get less done over the span of the cour rather than sprint from line reading to line reading like they're going for an olympic medal, and butchering proper comedic timing in some instances in the process. All in all the show is still just bite sized anime junk food, if you're on the look out for shorts to turn off your brain for and waste some time on (I know I am sometimes) you could do much worse than Ooya-san wa Shinshuki. Its cute, funny, and fast paced, even if it has about as much substance as a youtube playlist of contextless K-On clips.

Solid Recommendation

Please tell me! Galko-chan
Jonathan Kaharl

Something I'm surprised to find with this show every week is that Galko proves herself to be just a really nice girl. She doesn't follow any of the expected gyaru traits, which one episode directly brings up as a kid mistakes her for trouble because of her appearance. In the end, she teaches him a lesson about treating his mother with respect instead. That's nice. The show is also keeping up with its relatable dirty gags, like Galko has issues finding bras or swimsuits in her size. It's just a delight with every episode and I highly recommend it, as always.

Strong Recommendation

Rainbow Days
Jonathan Kaharl

I'm very close to dropping this mess. Rainbow Days is bugging me because it's pure shojo romance, but always subtly in the bad way. The characters are all stock, which would be fine for gags, but its also used for more dramatic moments with their strained relationships, and it rarely ever works. Only one relationship in this entire show feels like it may be healthy on some level, and not enough focus is put on it. Gotta make time for BDSM jokes! And man, I defending that before, but now that guy wanting to whip people is a constant running gag and it needs to die in a fire. Like, right now.

No Recommendation

Sekkou Boys
Joe Straatmann

Most comedies have their episode that doesn't quite fire, and the Dandy 2 Men episode here is the dud. Its a long episode building up to a payoff that is just a knockoff of the main joke. The theme of the episode seemed to be a generational gap between musical favorites and I can certainly understand that with a dozen Boyz II Men references that would be wasted on the audience. It's so hard to say goodbye to yesterday.... Anyway, it never really does anything with that and switches to in-fighting between the Rockies, and there are few things worth less than weightless bickering in a light comedy. Oh, don't worry, your sculpture idol boy show is still entertaining and charming, and the story discovering what exactly Hermes is doing with his life is satisfying, even if the introduction to Dionysus is a bit creepy. Nothing's changed about my opinion. Sometimes people swing and miss. If you're me, that happens frequently.

Solid Recommendation

Sushi Police
Danni Kristen

At the beginning of this installment's episodes, the Sushi Police track down the location of a Chinese restaurant using a miracle elixir to revive expired sushi and sell it to customers. The manager of the restaurant defends his actions, citing the fact sushi began as a preserved dish in China. He ultimately escapes, leaving a cryptic note about an event in Berlin. When the Sushi Police arrive, they find their Free Sushi friend leading a rally against the Sushi Police. After getting compared to Hitler by an old German man, Honda orders Kawasaki to launch wasabi napalm bombs on the crowd. The protesters are wiped out, and Honda's care for human life is called into question. Sushi Police is exploring some deep themes this week. Themes such as: is it okay to kill people for making inauthentic Japanese sushi? Who even cares about this shows ugly animation and terrible writing? This show dares to question the morals of inauthentic sushi, a subject no one else in the anime industry is brave enough to tackle.

No Recommendation

Second Opinions

Dagashi Kashi

Stephanie: While there have been fun moments during this series, the story has become such a simple wash, rinse, repeat method that I think there isn't much to really talk about anymore. Sure, episode five gave us a little bit more for Hotaru's character, but it doesn't seem like something all that exciting of a development. The gags don't change all that much and the entire cast remains in their cookie cutter forms. Personally, I don't have a lot more to say since it's giving me the same thing over and over, just done slightly differently. I will say that the Broadcast Dub that recently started from FUNimation is a mixed bag. While I applaud Sara Ragsdale as Saya so far as well as Jeremy Inman's performance are Kokonatsu's dad, Tabitha Ray's Hotaru is still weak and Todd Haberkorn does not fit as lead Kokonatsu regardless of how much I do like his work currently. Not the strongest dub from newbie director Kyle Phillips; it needs some improvements. I'll stick to the dub from this point on as I am a faithful watcher of the Dubble Talk block every week, and this is one of the shows on there this season. Saves me some time rather than watching it twice. Solid Recommendation

Dimension W

Stephanie: It can sometimes be hard to tell what a series plans on doing. Dimension W kinda falls into this area since this time around we're finishing up the two parter that started during the previous report and are now starting a second on by the time this one goes up. I have a feeling that this series may end up with a second part that could air later this year, or it could continue as a two cour series into the spring season. Considering how the series has been progressing as of late, it would be hard to say whether or not the animation studio will be able to give it a final and proper end by the time we reach the final episodes. I mean, the next episode we FINALLY get to learn more about Kyouma's dislike of coils after waiting for over half the season. There is no way this series is just going to be one cour... If it does go with just one cour, the writers have some work to do because there's a strong possibility it could fall flat on it's face with how the story is moving right now. Oh! And for those interested, there is going to be a broadcast dub of this series from FUNimation, but it is going on run on Toonami starting next weekend. For those who have cable... I hate you... I have to wait at least two more additional weeks after the Toonami run starts to even see the dub. But, based on the press release with the casting, it seems like it may be a solid sounding series. I'll be interested to hear how it sounds... eventually. Strong Recommendation

ERASED

Danni: After a dip in quality that brought the show down from great to good, we're steadily seeing the quality from the first few episodes come back. It's still not quite as good as it has potential to be, but it's getting there. Regardless, it's still one of the best shows this season, really only outdone by Rakugo Shinju. Strong Recommendation

Joe: This is a return to form for some as the time-twisting story has gotten back to the past and out of the occasionally ham-fisted fugitive portions of the 2006 timeline. Despite some dubious choices in foreshadowing and editing, I really didn't have much problem with the content. Maybe it's because I have ten years on most people here, but life gets weird in ridiculous ways and I wouldn't be surprised if that candy bar story so many have trouble swallowing comes from a real life experience. Anyway, we're back in the sweet spot with Satoru in 1988 with his wide-eyed optimism sharpened into focused vigilante mode, and everything sweet, endearing, and tragic here is in full force, so I hope everybody's happy. I want more things like this. All of the pandering shows won't disappear because you watched one anime trying to be seriously great drama. Please support this. Strong Recommendation

Stephanie: Erased still is a captivating mystery series now that the half way mark has been reached. Bouncing between the present day and the past would normally lead a series to become a jumbled mess; however the show doesn't do this on a constant basis. Rather, it has only jumped back in time twice, giving the series small arcs in order to see what Satoru attempts to do to change the present, and then giving us that result. While the first time didn't yield the result he wanted, now that he has a vague idea as to the true culprit, it's time to head into the climx of the series as Satoru makes one last desperate attempt to save any and all victims of these serial murders. This is one of those series that I can't find the right words to say because it's one that I'm rather impressed with. The story, while having a few rough patches here and there, has been very strong and consistent while the characters in both time periods play active roles; with Airi and Kenya being the two on each end having the most involvement. How the series will end, I'm not all that sure. I would not be surprised if some kind of twist gets tossed in at the last second, because it does seem like the kind of series that would pull something like that. So long as it doesn't ruin the strong aspects of the series overall, and it resolves itself as naturally as possible. Cause, while I am rooting for that happy ending, whether or not the happy ending will occur is not clear; which makes the series all the more enjoyable to watch. Strong Recommendation

Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash

Stephanie: Dagashi and Grimgar were the two series that I had been debating on dropping, just to follow the broadcast dub from here on out. While Dagashi, I dropped because there wasn't much more to talk about, Grimgar, I think, I'm willing to keep around a bit longer. With the bombshell of a fourth episode we had a couple weeks back, I wanted to see what direction the series decided to go in; and while it is a natural direction for the anime, it also is handled very well. With Mary's introduction into our main group and a very real connection she has to them, that our remaining five members find out about her; I do want to see how that connection will help their relationship grow. It should also come to no surprise to anyone that the broadcast dub is among one of the stronger ones this season; partly because Mike McFarland is directing it. But what really makes it nice is that relative newcomers are having more of a chance to shine as Ricco Fajardo, Justin Briner, Jeannie Triado, Sarah Wiedenheft, Jason Greene, and Orion Pitts make up our main party for the series. While Ricco and Justin have been gaining a lot of ground thanks to Heroic Legend of Arslan and Seraph, respectively, I have been keeping my eye on the other four actors and am thrilled to see them getting larger roles. As much as I want to save myself some time by dropping the simulcast and just following the dub, Grimgar is keeping my attention. I honestly don't think I'd be ok with waiting for several weeks to get up to this point and then seeing the new stuff after that. Good on you for preventing me from doing that, Grimgar! Strong Recommendation

KONOSUBA - God's blessing on this wonderful world!

Jonathan: Is it bad that the character I relate to most is Darkness, the perverted masochist? This show just keeps making me burst out laughing every episode, especially when the generic light novel protagonist comes by and the main character steals his sword, knocks him out with it, and then pawns it off for cash. I'll take terrible and mostly aware of it over terrible and conceded any day. Strong Recommendation

Myraid Colors: Phantom World

Jonathan: Minsae was turning into a cat girl, slept on a bench, woke up, and thought that was pretty good. I think I love this stupid show. Creativity goes a long way, and this show has that in piles. It's my favorite watch this season, despite it not really being best of the year material by a long mile. If you want something simple and ridiculous, give it a shot. Solid Recommendation

Please tell me! Galko-chan

Danni: This is quite possibly the funniest show this season, which is an odd thing to say about a show lacking a lot of laugh-out-loud qualities. What it lacks in those it more than makes up for in earnestness. It's a show about different types of teenagers being insecure about their bodies and their sexuality. It's all played for laughs, but I'm sure most people can recall those same questions and discussions popping up among their peers or in their Google search history. Most comedy involves laughing at the characters, but I find myself laughing with everyone in Galko-chan, because I've been right where they are. Strong Recommendation

Prince of Stride: Alternative

Stephanie: I'll keep saying this, probably, every week from now until the end of time; Prince of Stride is just one big sports anime cliche and I love every single second of it! That's because it isn't even trying to be inventive and new. Instead it takes the common sports anime troupes we see and just uses them very well, which tells me it knows it's a sports anime and is highly self aware of itself. I mean, come on, episode seven is the cliche training episode that ends with the guys taking their shirts off and going swimming in the ocean for no damn reason what so ever! If that doesn't say "I know what I am and I don't give a s**t!" than I don't know what is... It keeps the high energy and campy tone pretty well, giving me something wonderfully entertaining to watch amide some of the more dull of series this season. And speaking of wonderfully entertaining, the broadcast dub is very solid after having seen the first two episodes! With Austin Tindle, Ricco Fajardo, and Natalie Hoover taking on the three freshman leads while adding in Jason Liebrecht, Clifford Chapin, and Micah Solusod for good measure; director Caitlin Glass has a fun one on her hands! And we even have a newcomer coming into the role of Kuga, that being Ivan Jasso who will be an interesting one to keep an eye on. While we're at it, we may actually have a role that Garret Storms (the VA the Dub Talk podcast will tend to refer to as the male Garmin) is actually pretty decent in! THERE'S HOPE FOR YOU YET! Solid Recommendation

Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinju

Stephanie: If there was one series I would tell everyone to watch this season, then Rakugo would be that series. It still has the best story and set of characters that I've seen in a good long while and is executed masterfully! I don't want to sound like a parrot every time I talk about this series, so I'll just tell you to go and watch it. You just need to. Strong Recommendation

In celebration of Mamoru Hosoda’s newest film, The Boy and the Beast, hitting theatres in dub form in March, I though it only fair to celebrate. I’m a huge Hosoda fan, after all, so it was bound to happen eventually. The only problem was figuring out how: a review? A retrospective? An in-depth analysis, even?

I thought long and hard about this, but nothing seemed to materialize. I even tried writing a list about his brilliance, but that failed too. Then I realized I was going about this the wrong way. Reviewing or discussing Hosoda wouldn’t do his talents justice, so instead I’ll be focusing on the one element that makes him truly special: character movement.



I’ve made it no secret that I love Hayao Miyazaki for many reasons, one of them being his attention to detail in his characters. His models have overlap, true, but the characters themselves are so fine-tuned there’s no mistaking them. Chihiro’s no Satsuki, and Satsuki’s no Kiki, and even the side-characters of Yubaba and Zeniba, who are twins, don’t behave the same. Miyazaki, like many great artists, understands that no two people are alike, and this is prevalent in his films.

So it should come as no surprise that Mamoru Hosoda, who’s filling the void left from Miyazaki’s retirement, understands that too, but in a different way. Where as Miyazaki focuses on the minutiae of character behaviour, Hosoda focuses on that of character movement. It might not seem it, but by zoning in on movement he’s emphasizing behaviour. How we move speaks volumes about who we are as people, and while Person A might be still when inactive, Person B might be incapable of sitting still when sedentary. It’s this level of subtle behaviour that makes Hosoda’s work so distinct.

Makoto Konno, for example, is stubborn, lazy and selfish. Despite being sweet-natured, she’s not immune to temptation, even using her time-travelling powers to further her own goals at the expense of others. She sleeps in, redoes tests based on the mistakes she made previously and even goes back in time to enjoy the pudding she’d purchased before her sister eats it. This makes the lesson about learning to be responsible that much more satisfying, as we see the results of her selfishness play-out. This, after all, is to be expected of a teenager who’s suddenly received such a powerful gift.

All the above is shown mostly in the way in which Makoto is drawn. She’s stubborn, hence she’s pouty. She’s lazy, so she rolls around in bed and slugs around aimlessly. She’s selfish, hence her territorial behaviour. Even amidst her time-travel Makoto remains clumsy, constantly bumping into objects and landing face first. All of this is shown through body language.


In contrast, Kenji Koiso is shy, introverted and easily-flustered around girls. He’s exceptionally bright, perhaps even too bright, which gets him into trouble when he hacks OZ’s mainframe by accident. Like Makoto, Kenji’s most-defined traits are demonstrated through movement: he’s scattered, easily-flustered, nervous and uncomfortable in big crowds. He’s embarrassed by his intellect and doesn’t like bragging, but when the time calls for it he’s not afraid to take charge in his own way. The animation templates of Makoto and Kenji are similar, but the subtleties of their movement are the difference between night and day.

Of course, comparing two different movies from the same director is almost moot, but it highlights Hosoda’s style. Like I said, Mamoru Hosoda gets character movement. He understands the nuances of behaviour, and it shows. Each of his characters moves so uniquely that it’s impossible to not tell them apart. Hosoda’s characters are, therefore, unique, as they’re still discernible even when they’re sedentary.

That’s another element that makes Mamoru Hosoda stand out. I often find with anime, even those with high-budgets, that the animators cut costs by not animating background characters. Not that I fault them, anime is never allocated the resources animators get in the West, and strong character writing can’t compensate for that, but it leads to missed opportunities for environmental depth. Film is about movement, and animation, which is about a unique form of movement, allows for the most filmic results. To not capitalize on that is criminal, and that’s something I can never criticize Hosoda for. Because his characters are always in flux while stationary, making it really easy to know their thoughts.

Perhaps the best example is in Summer Wars, shortly after Granny Jinnouchi’s death. The death scene is shocking on its own, but it’s what follows that lets the situation sink in. As the film tracks from right to left, we see each member of the Jinnouchi family grieving in their own way:


The different family members are all in different positions. Some are huddled up, others have hands over their faces, a few even look lost in thought. But all of them are upset about their matriarch’s passing. It’s that level of framing that adds to Hosoda’s skill as a director and animator. It also respects the audience by trusting that they can understand what’s going on.

Hosoda’s greatest achievement in movement, however, is understanding the anxiousness of children. Not only in their mindsets, but also how they move. Yuki and Ame are half-wolves who embody childhood: Yuki is the wild kid, while Ame is more quiet and insecure. They never feel like stock characters, but rather real children. As someone who’s worked with kids, it’s refreshing to see them written and drawn so realistically.

Does this mean Hosoda’s style isn’t open for improvement? No. Aside from the occasional uses of Manga Iconography, something he’s cut down on significantly in recent years, his characters look blobby and generic from a distance. This could be a budget issue, but scenes like Hana digging up furrows for gardening are so zoomed out that you can’t see her facial expressions. You can see her movement, hence getting a rough sense of what she’s feeling, but a little insight into her eyes and mouth would be nice. But this is all minor, as Hosoda’s work is effortlessly engaging because of the aforementioned points. And, at the end of the day, isn’t that what really counts?

Jonathan, Joe, David, and Danni take a look at the show Silver Link tried to use to put themselves on the map. Also, they talk for way too long about it and currently airing anime, resulting in the longest episode we've ever had.

Oh, and John Cena.

Click the title card below to listen!