「亜陣ちゃんの夏真澄」 (Demi-Chan no Natsuyasumi)
“Demi-Chan’s Summer Vacation”
Well that was an unexpected surprise! Also, did you know Yuki-onna’s don’t get brain freezes?
General Impressions
For a surprise and unexpected OVA like episode, I gotta say that episode 13 of Demi-Chan was pretty freaking awesome. Not only did we get a rare opportunity to dive back into a world that I thought was closed off for good, but we got every single thing that made the series so fun jammed into a single episode. Something that I thought was plausible, but never thought possible.
Starting off with the obvious, god was it nice to see Satou-sensei or what? As the resident succubus who has a raging crush on Takahashi-sensei, I loved how we got a (imaginary) taste of what things could be like if she could overcome her shy nature and just hook up with the guy. They already look super cute doing regular, everyday things together and I think if we’re talking about the most logical pairing, who wouldn’t get behind SatouxTakahashi? And sure, even though we had our typical “Satou-sensei ends up doing strange things to avoid abusing her powers“, I loved how she still mustered the courage to get some direct contact in with Takahashi-sensei.
Moving on to our main trio, I never realized how much I missed Hikari, Machi, and Yuuki until I realized just how empty my life was without them. The three are such a great group of friends that manage to hit every good point on the character spectrum that it’s almost amazing I didn’t notice this earlier. Specifically in this episode though, it was cool to see Yuuki get some time to actually show off just how freaking cool she is. I don’t know about you, but I’m quite envious whenever I see someone skilled at “carnival” type games (I’m a pro at UFOcatchers because of this unfortunate aliment) and watching Yuuki put that cocky water balloon stall guy in his place felt so good. Don’t get me wrong though, there were a ton of fantastic Hikari moments (I think we hit the full range of her facial expressions) as well as a handful of cute Machi scenes but I think I’ve already talked more than enough about those during the show’s original fun.
What was a little unexpected though was getting to see all the side characters make a meaningful appearance. Between Himari hanging out with Shizuka and Atsumi and Yusuke still trying to make a move on anyone, it was refreshing to know that the story cares enough about its side characters to bring them back for a bonus episode.
Overall, a great episode for a great show that deserves a lot more episodes than it currently has. While it remains to be seen whether or not our screens will be graced with a second season of Demi-chan, things like this help keep the dream alive. Oh that and the introduction of a new Demi who is completely invisible helped too.
In any case, I’ll catch you guys later once the shows for Summer start rolling out. See you then!
「魔獣、現る・・・!!」 (Majuu, Arawaru···!!)
“The Demon Beast Appears!”
Sumire’s Backstory
Mother of Hashirama Senjuu! Danzo is an even bigger scumbag than I previously thought, and it seems like his experiments went way too far. By that, I mean to disapprove of the inhumane experimentation involving the Gozu Tennō. It disturbs me how a psychopathic powerhungry maniac like Danzo was able to easily inspire faith and loyalty from many others. From my past familiarity of Sai being a complete tool, my money would be on indoctrination and brainwashing. These are the kinds of people who are hungry for power, but should not be allowed to maintain power, because their own grand designs could potentially interfere with the notion of a greater good by exercising absolute power to exploit vulnerable people.
In retrospect, the actions of Sumire’s father – Tanuki – do not differ greatly from Minato, where both sealed a monstrous abomination within their children. But here, I would distinguish Minato’s heroic intentions from Tanuki’s delusional jingoism. This parallel contrasting Minato and Tanuki can also be reflected between Boruto and Sumire, where they both proclaim about doing what their fathers could not do. Sumire’s sinister delivery heavily differs from the selfless determination exhibited by Boruto, and in both circumstances, evil and good manage to do the same thing for opposite reasons. Such a spectacular juxtaposition serves to highlight the importance of perspectives in regards to personal experience.
A noticeable emphasis is placed upon a recurrent theme in the series of children bearing a heavy burden – living up to the legacy of their parents in addition to the expectations set down by them. Some people are crushed and end up being completely defined by it, whereas others like Boruto struggle against following a path predetermined by others. In this case, Tanuki’s quest for vengeance ends up defining Sumire, causing her to facilitate an attack via the Nue upon Konoha, not dissimilar to a fully released tailed beast.
Nue Subjugation Squad
Naruto effortlessly phasing was super cool, and it feels like he’s come so far from being the lame kid constantly making mistakes, into this awesome guy who is pretty much divinity. Sadly, the moment passed all too quickly due to a logistical issue.
In this instance, his powers were limited in a fairly practical way that didn’t seem like a total asspull. Seeing the introduction of a challenge, where brute force cannot resolve the situation proves to be an interesting test of Naruto’s capabilities as Hokage. Though I’d imagine that Naruto could easily defeat the Nue in a no bars straight on encounter, where the safety of Konohagakure is concerned, he has his hands tied behind his back.
Now, I’m not claiming to be an expert but with a monster that absorbs chakra, where the heck is Rock Lee?!? If Gai could take on the Four Tails with Seventh Gate Release, what’s to stop Lee from perfectly disposing of the situation for the sake of his ninja pals? Then again, it would make the story way too easy. Guess it also allows eye candy moments for fans of the original series. Cue fangasm when Kakashi flew from the heavens, raining down Purple Lightning onto the Nue.
Confrontation
When Mitsuki’s mission turned into killing Sumire, I had to wonder when did Orochimaru start issuing orders to protect Konoha. Feels quite ironic, but I guess it does show he has turned a new hidden leaf for whatever reason. The ensuing confrontation between Mitsuki and Sumire could have had better animation, but the choreography was excellent. Not many things get me stoked like time and space jutsus, and Boruto’s ocular transportation jutsu looks like a totally amped up version of Kakashi’s kamui. I look forwards to seeing how this power will be incorporated in the future, but hopefully it will not become an ability Boruto can spam while still being so young.
Boruto’s ultimate decision actually brings him closer to Naruto, by looking for a third solution where neither the village or the class representative are sacrificed. Watching him jump into the unknown of a dangerous dark vortex spiralling out of control in order to save Sumire, outlines his convictions to uphold his ideals. Success or failure, his character will surely see positive quantities of substantial growth from these events.
Concluding Thoughts
This oncoming whiff of Talk no Jutsu smells more obvious than someone farting after eating some super spicy curry, only its far more potent in turncoating even the most hard stuck ideological extremists. Everyone from Zabuza to Obito fell for its powers, and with the exception of Gaara, pretty much everyone also ended up kicking the bucket soon after. Naruto probably would have got Madara too, if only Black Zetsu hadn’t ruined things. But that’s a conspiracy theory for another time. I just hope Sumire doesn’t die, as I’ve come to really like this newly exposed duplicity in her character.
「世界で一番幸せな女の子 -CHTHOLLY-」 (Sekai de Ichiban Shiawasena Onanoko -CHTHOLLY-)
“The Happiest Girl In The World -CHTHOLLY- “
I know I might be alone in this, but I really want more.
Seeing how I’ve said most of what I’ve wanted to say about this show, let me quickly talk about a few things that were running through my head before we leap into the final impressions.
First and foremost, god did it feel good to see Willem kick some ass. We’ve seen glimpses of his power throughout the show, but to see him finally lose it and literally kick the crap out of a timere was probably one of the best things I’ve seen. Second, can we all give a round of applause for best girl Neph who gave everything she had to protect those around her? And not only did she fight until the very end, she even sacrificed her body knowing that she could become a threat if she lost control over the venerem running through her. God, had Ctholly not been the main character of this show I would have loved to see Neph get more time devoted to her. Finally, and even though on a deep personal level I don’t like to admit it, I’m glad the show managed to stick to its guns and gave us the bittersweet ending that we all knew was coming. An ending that managed to rip my heart in half, but gave me enough closure to accept what happened.
God, what a great finale. Even with the show’s flaws and somewhat awkward pacing at times, there’s no doubting that what we were given this week was pretty amazing. Anyways, let’s hop over to the final impressions and talk a little more about what I’ve been saying about this show for the entire season.
Epilogue:
Final Impressions
Overall, I think SukaSuka succeeded in being a great show. It created a bright and brilliant world that sucked me into it while simultaneously showing us glimpses that things were far from what we saw on the surface. We had a world that is constantly facing destruction with just about everyone hiding something in order to protect themselves. it was a world where just about anything could happen, but was still bound to the reality that sacrifices must be made in order to move forward. It was, at its core, a pretty great representation of what real life could be if we were facing a similar situation.
But as I tend to say in most of my final impressions, a great world (and story) don’t make fun shows without fantastic characters and SukaSuka was probably one of the best when it came to giving us interesting characters who we were almost forced to like because of the short time budget. Main character or not, just about everyone who had a voiced line ended up becoming someone you could remember if you thought hard enough. You had cute side characters like the pacman-esque chef, you had that wolf girl whose father was in danger because of his progressive views, you even had that stupid First Grade Technical Officer who became something much more than just an inept person in power. And those were just throwaway characters who didn’t even impact the story! Throw in people like the adorably dangerous Nygglatho, the stern but understanding Limeskin, and even a baby like Tiat and it makes you wonder how we even had time for our main characters! I won’t dive into a long talk about the “main” cast since I’ve already spent a lot of time talking about them in their own individual posts, but suffice to say everyone had their own unique set of problems and struggles that truly made them feel like “real” people.
If there was one other “selling” point I had to pick (since I don’t want this post to get too long), I’d have to give a shout out to the fantastic music that this show has. Always having just the right song playing to match the mood, toward the end I think my body became trained to start unleashing tears when trademark piano song start to play (you know which one I’m talking about). Something that I had to say is a testament to how good the damn song was.
Anyways, let’s bring this post to a close. All things said and done, I think SukaSuka managed to do what it set out to do and I can forgive it for any shortcomings it may have had. There was rarely a dull moment to be found throughout the season and if anything I wish we had twice the amount of episodes to tell this show’s story since there are so many unanswered questions about the world they created that it’s driving me crazy thinking about how we may never get those answers. Its characters were fantastic and the budding romance that was cut short was probably one of the saddest-happiest moments I’ve had throughout the whole season. All-in-all, good show that I’d easily recommend to others if the material meshes with them.
In any case, I’ll see you guys around the bend once the Summer season starts. It’s been a blast reading the comments every week and I can’t wait to see you guys on whatever show I end up covering. See you then!
「マリオネットの饗宴」 (Marionetto no Kyouen)
“The Marionette’s Banquet”
Poor Yoshino. Just when she was starting to get used to her job at Manoyama, this festival did a number on her. For every step forward that came with greeting a large crowd of people at the festival, there were large leaps back to where they all started. Unfortunately for Yoshino, the fact that a majority of the crowd and the TV station saw the festival as a stepping stone towards hyping up a Ptolemaios concert made her question her sense of purpose.
The last episode proposed the idea that Yoshino would have to reflect on herself to find what sets her apart from normalcy, but from the end of this week’s troubles, her fear of being seen as average looks to stem from feeling too complacent. Whereas the other girls take the crappiness of the reality show’s emphasis on the girls booking a huge rock band with stride, the empty streets, the vacant shops, and the trash bags full of coupons shook Yoshino.
The odd thing is that it was a bittersweet affair for the rest of the townspeople. Despite the trashed coupons and the crowd’s attention towards the concert, many of the regulars didn’t mind it as much. Chitose and the vendors had some enjoyment out of gathering paying customers, Kadota was gracious to Yoshino for bringing the most guests to Chupakabura he’s seen in years, and the shop owners go back to their regular routines after the dust settled. That last part would also explain why Yoshino’s broken up about the festival’s reception; even with all the effort and enthusiasm that everyone had for the event, it barely made an impact on the town’s notoriety nor did it leave the villagers with any impression other than it being a nice distraction.
I am curious about those who took issue because Yoshino wasn’t alone on this. The tourism agency was peeved at the reality show’s focus on Plus Minus, but Amamiya was furious at the stunt. He seems to share the same passion about Manoyama that would align him well with Yoshino in the belief that Manoyama is worth elevating to something higher than being used by a reality show to cast a negative light on how abandoned it is.
Sakura Quest‘s use of the reality show does come off as self-aware of Yoshino’s character flaws. Yoshino’s having a difficult time finding her calling, but the show has also had a difficult time gauging what exactly Yoshino stands for when we’ve seen her as a relatively successful problem solver. Ultimately, that difficulty might be what she has to hone in on when she goes soul-searching next week.
「ゼロから始める魔法の書」 (Zero kara hajimeru mahou no sho)
“The Grimoire of Zero”
And with that it’s all over. Certainly not the most explosive of endings this week as Zero tied up the main conflict of warring man and witch, but enough to yield a satisfying ending with room for more if desired. Thirteen ended up surviving after all—wasn’t entirely clear if he would—Zero reclaimed her grimoire, and the land is cleansed of magic. Well, mostly. A little fast and convenient for my tastes—particularly the final “battle”—but that’s peanuts next to the ending. Zero has it in for the fur.
Particularly impressive for me even in these last few minutes was the details. Zero’s magic system was already unique for the thought put into it, but the remark about the entirety of magic being sponsored by a demon? Deliciously ironic for a high fantasy, and really begs the question just what Zero sacrificed to create magic in the first place. Sucks for the mercenary too with the merging of souls, but there’s no denying Zero will find a way to keep her end of the bargain. And then we have Thirteen actually being Zero’s older sibling—seriously, who could have guessed that? It easily explains a lot of Thirteen’s behaviour though, and shows his guardianship was more important than initially apparent. A funny time to reveal these answers, but cannot fault Zero for giving them all the same. After all, this adventure has only just begun.
Final Impressions
Barring the tongue in cheek Re:Zero sequel jokes at the start, I always anticipated Zero being a typical fantasy. The show certainly did not deviate far from this assumption either, featuring magic, conspiracies, and the usual ensemble of character types (beasts, evil sorcerers, righteous magicians), but offering enough twists to stay above the fray. Zero for example could have easily been a –dere derivative, but turned into a carefree, plainspoken girl with just a touch of cute naivety. She and mercenary got along well, teased each other perfectly, and always featured some organic—and hilarious—chemistry. Witch arms held high with waited breath? Only the mercenary would know what to do with that. It was just a unabashedly fun relationship to watch play out, particularly once Zero came to learn how much the mercenary meant to her and how he had never abandoned her. Not the absolute best character development mind you, but more than enough to keep me coming back for more every week.
What primarily helped Zero retain its strength, however, was its story. In general the plot was nothing ground breaking—banishing magic and saving a soul from its unwanted body, Fullmetal Alchemist is that you?—but its structure ensured success. Zero’s story was almost entirely self-contained, we received all necessary answers, decent conclusions for all major characters, and enough plot threads for potential continuations. Greatly assisting in this regard too was the pacing. Barring a few debatable moments in the latter half, Zero never particularly sped through its material, maintaining a consistent pace which revealed things when ready, and most importantly, when the audience was primed for the answer. The result was a show which never felt boring, something was always happening, and we received enough time to mull developments over such that rushing was never a concern. For any show this is not an easy accomplishment, it’s incredibly easy to fall into the trap of dragging things out past their time, or speeding through “superfluous” details in order to reach the good stuff. No matter the weaknesses of Zero’s story, the controlled speed of its delivery deserves some praise.
If I had to find fault with the show though, it would be in the world building. Not for the details (ex. the magic/sorcery system, Wenias’ political factions) of course—I loved them—but rather the missed opportunities. The Sorcerers of Zero felt underused at times, lacking certain details or fleshing out which would have better meshed with the moral grey tapestry the show was weaving. Thirteen’s true identity too missed out on hints being dropped earlier for fostering a better sense of conspiracy and shadowy scheming. When we got so much information on magic itself—not to mention the Zero/mercenary flashbacks and Sorena’s history—it felt strange leaving out these components when it would have helped greatly in adding to Zero’s depth. It’s hard criticising this too much, however, when noting we could have received less and with worse quality. Given how well the show worked with what it had, such complaints are relatively minor.
While Zero may not be the best fantasy show to appear of late, I’m quite happy I decided to cover it. Generic sure, playing it safe yes, but boring? Not once. Zero made Mondays fun to look forward to, and I will definitely miss watching our little witch amble around with her king-sized body pillow. Sometimes you just want a simple story to experience, and for me Zero provided that in spades. Here’s hoping we haven’t seen the last of shows like this.
Every so often when a series ends what strikes me most is “that was a labor of love”. Tsuritama and Kyousougiga spring immediately to mind, but there are others – anime where it’s very clear that the full heart and soul of the staff was behind the idea that this had to be great. You can hear it in his voice when P.A. Works founder and president Horikawa Kenji talks about this show – no one at PAW was under any delusions that Uchouten Kazoku was going to be a commercial success, but everyone there loved the material and wanted it to be the signature work from the studio. And after two seasons, I think it’s pretty clear they’ve succeeded (and, just maybe, broke even in the process – if they were lucky).
I’ll confess that this finale had me a bit worried at first, because it seemed to be heading in directions I was neither expecting nor especially liking. I didn’t want a big, epic finale for this show (though it does epic very well) – it’s always the interior character moments that define Uchouten Kazoku. And I was worried for a while there that we might see both a “deathbed conversion” for Benten, turning her into a good guy, and the tossing of the Nidaime under the narrative bus.
Soon enough, though, it became clear that none of those things were going to happen. In The Eccentric Family things are both complicated and simple, and paradoxes are everywhere. As Woody Allen once said, the world would be a wonderful place if it weren’t for certain people. But of course, there are certain people – and tengu, and tanuki. In a sense I think this story could be seen as the struggle of the rest of us to have wonderful lives and of the world to be wonderful, in spite of the bastards whose greed and vanity and petty vindictiveness screw it up for the rest of us. And in true Uchouten fashion, I think tanuki are both the wisest and most foolish among us in this context.
To be sure, this episode does start out looking like going out with a bang – a kind of battle royale featuring every conflict that arose over the course of the past twelve episodes. Yasaburou and Benten manage to crash Jyurojin’s flying rail cars onto the roof and into Nidaime’s house, which leaves him seriously pissed off. Pissed off, too, is Soun – when he finds out that Kaisei has been caught up in his scheme (there’s that answered – thought so). Jyurojin directs Tenmaya to toss every tanuki onto the roof into a hot pot, further cementing his status as the closest thing this series has to an outright villain. But before that can happen, a giant hand reaches up from Jigoku and snatches Tenmaya (and Soun, who’s throttling him at the time) back down to Hell.
That’s really just the warm-up though, for the main event – one which I think we’ve all been expecting for a while. In the end, for all his exaggerated dignity, Nidaime is just a man who – like most – can be unmade by a woman. As best I can guess, it seems as if Benten looks just like the woman (a flapper) he fell in love with a hundred years or so ago, and fought (a losing one) with Akadama-sensei over. My guess is that both he and Benten were human disciples of Akadama, and if indeed he’s been at it that long, it’s not surprising he has the edge in power over her. Their battle is ugly – flames and wind, degenerating into nose-gouging and hair-pulling. But Nidaime puts an end to it by setting fire to Benten’s hair, which was a pretty dark moment to say the least.
“Do you pity me?” is the question Benten asks Yasaburou when he comes to visit her at her mystical lake retreat later, to find her curled up in bed, locks shorn. Yasaburou does – he loves her, after all – but do I? Are we supposed to? In the end I think Benten is a sad and lonely wretch, and this was a fitting way for her story to finish (for the moment). Benten is powerful, and uses her power to tease and titillate and massage her massive ego. She ran up against someone more powerful and was laid low, but in the process he also was laid low by her charms and by his own human frailty (though even in his dark despair, he had the detach to summon the rain and douse the blaze he’d started). The Nidaime may have ended up in a less disheveled state than Benten, but the both of them end up coming across as pitiable.
The B-part of the episode returns us to the Uchouten Kazoku I love best, and how I hoped and expected it would end its run – with humor, warmth and wry wisdom. Ginkaku and Kinkaku are left to reflect on their sins (Kureichirou is making sure they do) though it seems that they too were ensnared by Soun’s trickery. Dear old Yadogawa-sensei returns to his Thoreau-like life in the woods, the tanuki population seemingly safe (for now), where someone (I’m guessing it’s Tousen) leaves him care packages regularly. And Yaichirou and Gyokuran tie the knot at Heian Jingu, where Akadama-sensei comes to pay them his respects (and is no doubt thinking about Souichirou as he does so).
Finally, we have Yasaburou and Kaisei, who meet (back-to-back) at Tanukidani Fudoin, where Grandma (who apparently is literally Yasaburou’s grandmother) wanders over to pay them a visit. She’s wonderful, as she was the first time – full of mirth and kindness and wise words, and it’s clear that Yasaburou and Kaisei are indeed tied together by the red fur of fate. This really is the distillation of everything Uchouten Kazoku believes about life – have fun, have kids and make trouble. This is the true wisdom of tanuki – to always keep the child alive inside yourself, no matter how old you may be. Life is only overcomplicated when we allow ourselves to be distracted from what’s important. And, of course, by certain people…
What does the future hold for Uchouten Kazoku, then? Well, the first two seasons have more or less completely adapted the two novels by Morimi Tomihiko, so we’re certainly done for now. Morimi-sensei is planning a third, but it was eight years (2007-15) between the release of the first and second so it may be a while before we see it. Once the novel trilogy is complete, will there be a third season of the anime too? Who knows where anime will be by then – where the world will be, for that matter. I can pretty much guarantee that P.A. Works would love to complete this adaptation if there’s any conceivable way to do so, and it’s not impossible – Morimi’s novels are very popular, enough so that the anime sells a few discs and merchandise and enjoys a bit of cross-promotion (mostly in Kyoto, but also the cafe in Tokyo). If there’s any way to make it happen, Horikawa-san will make it happen.
These days every time a series like Uchouten Kazoku ends I find myself wondering “Is this the last anime like this we’ll ever see?” So far the answer has always been “no”, but it gets harder and harder to keep the faith as anime becomes more and more narrowly-focused and creatively stagnant. But this show does teach us to be optimistic, so I’ll do my best. As long as there are people in the industry willing to take the massive risks required to produce smart, challenging and subtle material like this, we have a chance – because there’s no shortage of brilliant written source material to draw from. In that sense Uchouten Kazoku isn’t unique, but it’s nevertheless exceptional in every way – brilliantly wise, funny and warm – and the anime P.A. Works has crafted from it is every bit as exceptional.
Trigger’s back at it again! Little Witch Academia ended on such a high note that it’s hard not to come away from it with a good mood. In contrast with the last episode’s dour side after Noir Fuel Spirit’s rapid acceleration manifested into a nuclear missile heading towards Britain’s soccer rivals, the final episode is consistently optimistic. A couple minutes after finding out that the missile has no way of being dismantled, here comes Akko with the steel chair of hope! And as a light-hearted series, it’s all the more fitting that the show end on such a high note with “The New Nine Witches” gathering together to dismantle the bomb.
What really pulled me in was how they used the last episode to show us how far Akko has come from here. Seeing her friends help boost her up closertothemissile, solidifies all of the bonds she’s made up to that point, though a Jasminka episode would’ve been nice. I think what impressed me was how awesome Akko’s fight was as the combat equivalent of Chariot’s show. Akko being able to pull on a showcase of everything she’s done up to that point with a flurry of transformation magic and fast-paced dodging on Diana’s part was very exciting to watch. They even scared me for a second because it looked like what the 2nd ED was foreshadowing about Akko disappearing into a phoenix was going to happen. But then she showed right back up to save Diana from a freefall! Forgive me, it’s just that this kind of colorful, fast-paced action and whimsy is what I was expecting from the TV equivalent of the Little Witch Academia films, and it came full-force for the finale.
At the end of the day, the finale really was a culmination of almost everything that the show had introduced up to that point. Along with Akko and Diana being strong enough to join forces to use the full potential of the Shiny Rod to solve the crisis, Andrew was able to gain the confidence he needed to stall any intervention on Britain’s part against the witches as he gladly cheers Akko on, mostoftheminorcharacters from the season joined in giving the witches positive energy, Lotte and Barbara are now reading Nightfall together and Yggdrasil awakened a new era of magic. I’m also glad that Croix could redeem herself by devoting the rest of her studies to finding a cure for the pollen. So many shows are dead-set on punishing antagonistic characters, but here, she is given a lot more leeway to make up for being reckless. On top of all of this, the epilogue ends right when Akko is finally able to fly her broom! It’s such a feel-good ending that it leaves me wanting to see more of Akko’s hijinks soon.
Epilogue:
Final Impressions
Looking back at all the episodes, and seeing some of the familiar faces from them in the finale, I can safely say that I really enjoyed the show. I do have some complaints; mainly that there was so much I wanted to know about the universe and characters that I felt they rushed some of the story. Personally, I would’ve liked one two-cour season about Akko getting to know her friends along with some world-building and lore about Luna Nova, and another two-cour season to focus on Akko gathering the Words as we delve into Chariot’s relationship and past with Croix. I appreciated the characters so much that having more time to be able to get familiar with some of them and their quirks, histories, and motivations would’ve been great. We barely know about Jasminka, and what Croix and Chariot were like before they fell apart. They didn’t have as much to do with Sucy after her dream world episode even with the concept art of her mom floating around the internet. However, the complaints I have about the show are because I got invested in the characters, and wanted to see more of them as they grew.
My case and point for this is how well the parallel between Akko and Chariot were. With everything they had in common, they were two worlds apart as far as their handling of stress. To see the relationship between Akko and Ursula grow further and become complicated as the season went forward was intriguing. It is touching to see Akko and Ursula follow the same trajectory, but on different paths; one as a young girl learning to find herself beyond emulating her childhood hero, and another as an older woman teaching a newer generation with hopes both to see both them and her regain their strength. To me, it felt rewarding to see the characters gradually become better versions of themselves with Akko slowly becoming more adept at magic and believing in her own strength, more rigid characters like Andrew and Diana softening up and wanting to support Akko in her journey, and her new friends having more faith in Akko regardless of how many times they’ve seen her fail. As a whole, I have no trouble saying that the Little Witch Academia TV series is another Trigger anime that I enjoyed watching from beginning to end.
Being able to blog the second half of Little Witch Academia with everyone here is somewhat of a personal accomplishment. I was deeply invested in the show during its first half, and it motivated me to write about anime on the same level I’ve been writing about film and media. Specifically, I wanted to write about Episode 7 of this show, the episode where Ursula stands up for Akko, and startles Professor Finnelan by insisting that trying to stunt her growth by expelling her is arrogance. It was very moving for me to see Akko try her hardest in the uphill battle to get some kind of proficiency from her lessons, and to see Ursula fight this hard for Akko. It were moments like the end of that episode that made me want to write further about anime even though I gave up a while ago because my writing was much cruder. I guess in a way, I saw parts of myself in the characters, and ultimately, the show accomplished it’s goal by summoning up that sense of emotion in a viewer such as myself. As the episodes kept coming, it was still entertaining, but the character relationships were well executed to the point that it compelled me to write even more about them. And here we are today, finished with the TV series. It was a long road we traveled on, but the journey and the destination were worth it all, and I’m looking forward to whatever Trigger makes of Little Witch Academia next. I also look forward to getting the game only to not be able to play it until I get a PS4 in time for KH3.
I guess if you’re going to end something, might as well give the audience everything it wants and then some.
General Impressions
Instead of typically diving straight into the final impressions, let me talk a little about this week’s “finale” where I use the word “finale” extremely loosely since this was probably one of the weakest final episodes I’ve watched if you’re using the word in a traditional sense. There was zero closure, no sense that things have progressed at all (minus Sagiri at least opening her window), and most importantly no answers why Sagiri does that adorable dance in the opening sequence. Like, do the writers who adapted the story to our screens realize the huge trust issues they’re creating?
Jokes and small criticisms aside, I would be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy this week’s episode. Because when it came to showing me all the things that I loved about the show, I think it hit just about everything with an added bonus that the show somehow managed to sneak in a surprise penis that didn’t have to be censored. Like, getting to see Elf, Muramasa, Megumin, Ayame (Muramasa’s editor) and Tomoe was fantastic but it was probably the subject matter of it all that really enhanced all their appearances. Between sexy-twister and a famous piece of art dodging the mosaic treatment, it would have been amazing had every episode been like this.
Anyways, let’s dive into the final impressions!
Epilogue:
Final Impressions
Overall, I think Eromanga Sensei was an alright show. I had high expectations that it didn’t manage to live up to, but was definitely fire during its high points. Starting out strong by throwing us straight into the thick of things, I clearly remember being really invested into the characters and the story by the third episode. We had Megumin screaming about dicks, Elf being the girl we needed but didn’t deserve, and Sagiri serving as the final boss that I think we all knew would eventually win. Unfortunately, something happened after that third episode that brought the story to a crashing halt. With Masamune being as dense as a log and three (four technically but I’ll hit on that in a second) girls chasing after him, the middle part of the season felt a little off with any progress with any girl essentially meaning nothing. I mean, I can understand the story wanting to build a harem for Masamune to deal with, but if you know he’s set on Sagiri, I know he’s set on Sagiri, and all the Sagiri haters know he’s set on Sagiri, why would you devote so much time to not Sagiri which essentially also shafted Sagiri? Fast forward to the last two episodes where we actually got to see Sagiri and you have to wonder what the show runners had in mind when they thought sidelining the titular character would be a good idea. As the last “arc”, the few episodes that Sagiri got felt rushed and if we’re being honest a little half-assed. There are still so many unanswered questions that could have been used in a way to drive the story toward Sagiri and Masamune becoming closer but we instead got a time skip that leapt straight to Masamune’s novel being published and Sagiri acting a bit more like a normal person. And don’t even get me started on Tomoe who I thought could have been best girl had the anime not completely ignored her existence.
Like I said at the beginning of that giant paragraph though, overall I think the show was okay. I had a fun time watching it and even though it may not have been what was promised, there were a lot of great moments that I got to share with my friends as we bantered about who was our best girl and whether or not Sagiri would actually set foot outside before the show came to a close.
In any case, I hope you guys enjoyed the show (and the posts) and I’ll see you around the bend once the next season of anime starts! If you already haven’t, don’t forget to take a peek at our Season Preview for Summer and shout out your favorites (or shows that we should keep out eyes on).
「名前をつけてみようの会」 (Namae o Tsukete Miyou no Kai)
“Time to Pick Some Names”
It’s not just the Izuku show anymore.
Not that it was ever all about Izuku. Other characters have always accounted for much of the appeal of HeroAca, but it’s undeniable that, up until the Sports Festival arc, the show lived or died on Izuku alone. And it lived, gloriously! But now the previously-important Bakugo and Uraraka have stepped into their own character arcs, as have Shouto and Iida in a big way. This episode is another reminder that, in an episode where Izuku is active, other characters can steal the show.
It’s those “chills up the spine” moments that I so love from shounen anime. It’s something that HeroAca has been able to do in spades. This episode, there were two of them, and Izuku’s was eclipsed. First, Izuku’s: the unveiling of his hero name. The reason he chosen Deku are touching, and meaningful to him on a personal level. It’s the combination of Katsuki (bully) and Uraraka (friend) coming together to give unknowingly give him his name, as the two sides of his development (and since he couldn’t take All Might, for so many reasons—it might give away the One For All game, to say just one). That moment of grower and gratitude (to Uraraka) that his announcement showed was a beautiful moment, and heartwarming to the core. I could have happily feasted on that moment alone.
But Iida stole the show, for reasons that probably won’t work out to his benefit. His beloved older brother, Ingenium, paralyzed below the waist. A plea to his beloved younger brother to take on his mantle. That moment, of the little brother shouldering his brother’s legacy and continuing his mission, and in doing so accepting that his shining older brother’s career was at an end. That moment, when he was writing down Ing—, got to me in a big way.
And then it didn’t happen. He wrote Tenya instead. He wasn’t yet ready to accept that his brother was done, and that he would have to take up his mantle, with the Ingenium name or otherwise. That the overly-stiff class rep character is able to steal the limelight from Izuku is a sign of good writing, of good characterization, and of a struggle that touches a livewire in the human psyche. We’re going to see Iida-kun go down some dark paths—it sounds like he’s going Stain hunting to me. Not smart. But compelling, certainly.
The rest of the episode was fun. Just good fun! Seeing all the different characters toss out their names, some silly, others fitting, some just fine. It was a break of sorts, though the undercurrent of drama with Iida, Shouto, and others kept it from being fluffy. What I would like to draw attention to, though, is a few things that characters said. First:
“The stronger I get, the more possibilities I’ll have! If I only do what I want, I’ll have a narrower Perspective!”
I’m practically old by the standards of the medium’s fanbase, so if we have any younger readers (teens/early 20′s) around here, pay attention to what Uraraka just said! Seriously, if I have any regrets about my younger years—and I have a ton, but then again, who doesn’t—it’s that I didn’t spend enough time learning different things, experiencing different things, and generally filling up my database with as many disparate experiences as I possibly could. The age of specialists is over; it’s the jack-of-all-trades time to shine once again. (Note: in reality, there’s need for both. The world is vast, and we need some people to be ultra-specialized in their fields. But not most of us, and probably not you.) Uraraka’s idea to intern with a battle hero even though she wants to become a rescue hero in the future is super wise. It will give her more options, and if she should get in a situation where a rescuse requires defeating a villain, she’ll be able to assist in ways other rescue heroes won’t be able to. Follow her example, young’uns (‘cept with, like, books and stuff. Don’t go all vigilante justice on me).
Here’s the other:
“He who follows two hares catches neither.”
Or, to put it another way:
“Don’t half-ass two things, Whole-ass one thing.”
Those two pieces of advice might seem contradictory, but trust me. They’re not. When you’re doing something, go ALL IN—learn an instrument, study a subject, do a job, be in a relationship, whatever. When you’re in it, give it 100%, and if you can’t give it your fully attention, quit something else you’re doing. But don’t go so deep into one thing that you become no better than an ant. (In my experience, that equals out to about 60-65hrs of “work” a week—so, one full-time job + 2-3 serious hobbies or interests. You can do a lot with that.) I love that shounen anime can give out real life lessons, if only we accept that silly Japanese cartoons can speak to important things, even though they aren’t “serious art.” What nonsense. One could do a lot worse than living by the ethos of Izuku and crew, believe you me.
Next time, more life lessons, as Izuku gets schooled by a crazy old man. The Sports Festival arc was a good one, but it’s time to move on and shake things up. Let’s see what the old man’s got.
Random thoughts:
Kaminari got the fifth most offers?? This world is mad too. Burn it all down.
One thing I really like about HeroAca in general: none of the characters with really strange physical features seem to be bothered by it. Take Ashido, who offered up the hero names Alien Queen and then Pinky. It wouldn’t be strange for her to have a complex about her looks, and ditto for someone like Tokoyami. That doesn’t seem the case. That’s a fertile narrative vein that could have been mined, but choosing to make it a non-issue says volumes about the story Horikoshi-sensei wanted to tell. Sometimes, it’s the things you don’t do that are most important.
All Might has some things in common with Deku, too. Like student, like teacher.
「エンドロールには早すぎる Be desperate and draw something fascinating.」 (Endorouru ni wa hayasugiru)
“Too Early for End Roll Be desperate and draw something fascinating.”
Hmm what’s that quote about insanity everyone and their mother uses, doing the same thing over and expecting a different result? Whether attributed to Einstein or not (hint, it’s not), I think it’s agreeable that Re:Creators has fully embraced the concept. Besides filling in the remainder of Setsuna’s now verified suicide, the focus was—once again—on building up towards that big battle at, well, some later date. I might be a patient lad, but hell Re:Creators would it be so hard to break these moments up better? A little more action here or there, showing instead of telling as you so excellently handled last week? Especially when everything points to even more info dumps once Magane and her plans re-enters the picture.
Before I start tasting too much salt though, what Re:Creators discussed this week was structurally necessary. Confirming Setsuna’s death removes any “gotcha I didn’t actually suicide!” shenanigans, and Meteora—bless her sagely being—verified the idea that permanently codifying creation rewrites is the next story step. Nothing particularly ground breaking, however it is interesting noting both Altair and surprisingly Blitz continue raising more questions than answering them. Altair’s power of instantaneously and permanently adopting fan-made abilities may explain her strength for example, but where does that leave Celestia and co. with their currently ephemeral rewrites? If Altair’s ability is actually co-opting—which begs the question just what Setsuna wrote in her bio—sure it makes sense, but that’s awfully convenient for a creation in this world. Unless Altair isn’t exactly a creation of course. That Altair is Setsuna hypothesis is starting to look very plausible.
As for Blitz, his function continues remaining stubbornly elusive. I could believe he simply wants to change his world (boring, but understandable), but his supposed lies to Alice and his backstory heavily suggests something else is going on. We all know Altair wants to destroy all worlds, fine, but what comes after? Somehow I doubt Blitz would ally with her just for sake of annihilation, even with a dead family; it doesn’t fit with his known personality. No I suspect we still only possess half the picture here, with no hints yet of what the rest could be. World recreation, nihilistic nothingness, euphoric rainbows/butterflies, and Miracle Maid world domination? Who knows. At least the answers should start rolling on in once Magane saunters back for some fun and games. No matter how powerful Altair may be, my bets remain on shark teeth being the big bad and proving too much for even our military princess to handle. Anything else would be an insult to crazy.
Before we get to the climactic revelations, however, first comes preparations. With Souta now properly on board with the program and creators now having a use beyond moral support and fatherly advice, the actual showdown should not be long coming. Another info dump or twelve two are probably in our future, but at least an endpoint is now firmly in sight. Once the nagging problem of Alice is dealt with of course. With our knight’s self-reflection and her seeming discovery of Mamika’s true killer, I have a sneaking suspicion she’s not long for this world. Considering Celestia’s partner just appeared, Alice’s antagonistic role has, quite literally, run out of time.
It’s summertime! You know what that means, right? Sun, surf, fizzy drinks on the beach, and a brand new season of anime! (Note: RandomC does not promise readers sun, surf, or fizzy drinks. You’re on your own there.) There are a ton of new adaptations this season, including the high-stakes school gambling drama Kakegurui, an adventure in the mysterious depths of Made in Abyss, a historical grand epic set in fantasy-Ottoman Empire with Shoukoku no Altair, and I’d better stop because I could go on for a while. Of course there’s also Fate/Apocrypha, the next entry in the Fate series and something between a sequel, a spin-off, and an adaptation. We all know we’ll be watching it anyway. Speaking of sequels, they’re uncharacteristically light this season, though we are getting more moe work drama in NEW GAME!!, another season of the over-the-top music/battle series Senki Zesshou Symphogear AXZ, and the return of old stalwarts like Saiyuuki RELOAD BLAST and Jigoku Shoujo: Yoi no Togi. Originals are in much the same boat, though I’ve got my eye on a few of them, such as the running-and-gunning espionage thriller Princess Principal and the Stan Lee-produced superhero action of The Reflection. In every season there are gems to be found, and it’s our job to suss them out for you. This is Random Curiosity’s Summer 2017 Preview!
As a quick reminder, most entries are divided into two paragraphs:
A brief introduction to the series and its premise, often with the starring cast of characters.
The writer’s impressions, expanding on the plot and highlighting specific points of interest.
This season we’ll continue with our Expectation Levels. Remember, these reflect our own subjective excitement level for each show, and do not necessarily reflect how shows will pan out. How could they? We’re not mind readers. (To your knowledge…) For more information, check out the Overall Impressions section at the bottom, which includes an expanded explanation of each category and a list of all shows by expectation level.
Disclaimer: Back in ye olde year of 2012—which is a joke that’s starting to wear thin, since that was half a decade ago—previews were done by a single writer, Divine. Since none of the current writers have his Terminator-like focus and/or masochism, we’ve divided everything up among our staff (Cherrie, Choya, Guardian Enzo, Pancakes, Passerby, Stilts, Takaii, Zaiden, and Zephyr) in order to maintain the quality of this preview. We will try to point out what appeals to us in each series, in the hope that it will help you determine if it coincides with your tastes.
Disclaimer #2: Please note that this list does not reflect all the series airing this coming season. It is meant to be as comprehensive as possible, but omissions have been made for shows that stray from the anime norm or seem to be oriented toward young children. Please check out MOON PHASE for complete listings, syoboi for specific air times, and Fansub DB for a list of potential sources for each series.
As is custom, thank you to the entire Random Curiosity family—and those two dirty street urchins we let inside the house this season, love you kouhais!—for helping with this preview. Special thanks go to Divine and Xumbra, who encoded all the PV’s; Zephyr, who compiled the OVA/Movie list; Stilts (that’s me!), who managed and edited and yelled at people; Passerby, who proofread and wrote the shorts section; and Cherrie, who did formatting, links, pictures, and basically everything else. (Also, the scrubs who wrote previews, I guess.) We couldn’t have done it without you. For a more Enzo-centric point of view, check out the LiA summer preview where you can find a second opinion on many of these shows.
Last but certainly not least, thank you to each and every one of you, the citizens of RandomC nation. (That means you, dear readers. I’m trying a thing out.) Thank you for your patience, your support, your love, your tedzukuri choco? As we always say, we wouldn’t still be doing this if it weren’t for you. Which is true! That’s why we always say it. You make shouting out into the void so much more fun, and talking with y’all in the comments is one of the best parts about writing here. Thank you, and continue being the amazing people you are.
TV Series
Technical Note: The chart below is ordered by the date and time that the shows premiere. The links in the schedule will take you to a series’ corresponding entry and the “Top” links on the right will bring you back. You can also use the back/forward buttons in your browser to jump between links you’ve clicked. All times are given in a 24-hour, relative-day format where times are extended to show which day they belong to. For instance, Friday morning at 1:30AM would become Thursday at 25:30 to show that the episode aired late Thursday night.
If spirits could live among men, it probably wouldn’t take long for some to fall in love with each other. Only natural, right? Such romance is commonplace in Enmusubi no Youko-chan’s world, although spirits—being longer lived than humans—often suffer seeing their loved ones die of old age. At least until the Fox Spirit Matchmakers get involved. In exchange for payment, the Matchmakers seek out the reincarnations of former lovers and help then regain the memories of their past romantic lives, all in the hope that spirit and human both can continue their relationship anew. As a novice Matchmaker, little Tushan Susu (Asumi Kana) tries living up to this duty, but hilariously fails more often than not. Escaping from an angry clan head Yaya (Yonezawa Madoka), Susu runs head first into the young demon hunter Yuechu Bai (Hatano Watari), who in exchange for her candy stash keeps her safe. It’s a strange pairing, but hunter and fox soon find out they have more in common than meets the eye.
Well we certainly have an interesting one here. Based off the Chinese manhua Huyao Xiao Hongniang, Enmusubi is the latest Chinese series seeing Japanese adaptation. Normally that would immediately induce concern—remember Bloodivores or Hitori no Shita?—but Enmusubi has one key thing going for it: prior adaptation. This show is condensing four ONA seasons into a two-cour run, meaning beyond the new Japanese dub, everything else largely stays the same. This is actually a good thing believe it or not, because Enmusubi is probably the best Haoliners-made anime of late. Barring a chaotic first season of comedic character introductions, Enmusubi settles into an entertaining romance tale once the main plot gets going. Besides the intriguing reincarnation theme, food junkie Bai and his money grubbing really make this show, particularly his depraved interactions with airhead Susu and her cute, naïve assumptions. If the Japanese dub can keep the same feeling and retain the comedy—which shouldn’t be too hard with Asumi pulling airhead duty—Enmusubi could be one of summer’s hidden gems. With all the fun I had binging the ONAs, I got my hopes up here.
The scions of the rich and powerful do not attend normal schools in Japan. They are sent to Hyakkaou Private Academy, where the core curriculum is neither reading, writing, nor arithmetic. It’s gambling. Yes, there millions of yen are wagered over playing cards and roulette wheels, and one’s status is determined solely by one’s proficiency in games of chance. The heirs of business empires and political dynasties have no need to demonstrate ability in the academic or the athletic, so they engage in powerplay instead, honing their skills at reading opponents, building alliances, rigging rules, and manipulating vast fortunes to crush their peers. But along comes mysterious transfer student Jabami Yumeko (Hayami Saori), and she has different ideas about gambling. Gambling is all about risk. Bets that are hedged are investments. Games that are rigged are scams. The thrill of gambling is in the highest stakes and the possibility of losing everything. True gambling is irrational. True gambling is madness. And Yumeko is a true gambler, for she is utterly, deeply mad.
So, high school Kaiji? Something like that. There’s plenty of stories about gambling, much in the sports drama vein—after all, how much more direct can a thriller be than with literal wagers and risky bets? In this adaptation of Kawamoto Homura‘s manga Kakegurui (Compulsive Gambler), though, there are no plucky underdogs to root for, nor sparks of human compassion that triumph. Instead we have a full cast of sociopaths, split between the evil and the wretched with no sympathetic middle ground, and it’s about finding the least unlikeable one to stand behind. It’s the same reason why one might root for Hannibal Lecter or Dexter; sure, they’re homicidal maniacs, but they’re our homicidal maniacs, and we count on them to murder all the other ones. The end result for Kakegurui is a twisted psychological thriller where our protagonist basically has to out-crazy all comers, for the less crazy is the one who breaks. I have no doubt Garo’sHayashi Yuichirou directing and skilled veteran Kobayashi Yasuko writing can work together again to deliver a gripping watch, and studio MAPPA is always a good sign. There’s not much competition in the dark, psychological thriller department this season, and those are never for everyone, but I take nothing away from Kakegurui by saying it’s the one to look out for.
I won’t mince words here: I didn’t get far through the original Luck & Logic series, and I’m pretty open to most things. That said, I think the decision to follow a slightly different path when it comes to the whole Luck & Logic world may be the thing that’ll be able to rope me back into the series. Dropping any attempts at a serious tone, it looks like we’re going to get a slice-of-life story that revolves around Liones Yelistratova (Asahina Madoka), a princess from a small nation who is attending the ALCA in hopes of becoming a successful Logicalist. (For the uninitiated, a Logicalist is someone who’s made a contract with a Goddess from the “other” world and can go into a “trance” where their contracted Goddess temporarily bestows upon them great powers they use to protect the world from “foreigners” that are coming over from that “other” world.) Along the way, we’ll meet a ton of different Logicalists, all of whom have their own unique personalities as well as their own reasons for attending the ALCA.
To put it simply, it feels like Hina Logi: From Luck & Logic is going to be something along the lines of a school-life/slice-of-life show that integrates magic and magical-looking girls to spice things up. Toss in a more relaxed character design that seems to (based on promotional material) jump from clean and heavy lines to chibi and deformed and I think you have a winning combination for a really fun show that’ll liven up anyone’s summer anime fare. For some light housekeeping, Hina Logi: From Luck & Logic will be animated by Doga Kobo where Akagi Hiroaki (episode director for Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu, GJ-bu) will be directing and Sugawara Yukie (Sword Art Online) will be handling the series composition. Sure, some of those shows may tip the scale in either direction for some people, but with the over-the-top nature of SAO and the head behind some amazingly fun slice-of-life series, I think we’re in for something good with this show. That said, if you’re looking for a serious show that tries to tackle the idea of unknown entities invading our world and the people in charge of protecting us, Hina Logi probably isn’t that.
The next chapter of the Fate franchise arrives in the form of Fate/Apocrypha. Set in a parallel world to Fate/stay night, the series takes place shortly after the events of the Third Holy Grail War. Rather than leading to the Fourth and Fifth Wars as we saw in Fate/Zero and Fate/stay night respectively, the series diverges from the original timeline with the sudden disappearance of the Greater Grail. Following an extended period without Grail Wars, a family of magi called the Yggdmillennia secedes from the Mage’s Association and reveals that they are in possession of the Grail. With a mysterious servant at hand, they slaughter all but one of the fifty magi sent by the Mage’s Association to reclaim it. But the remaining mage manages to activate an underlying system within the Greater Grail, triggering the summoning of fourteen servants and the start of the Great Holy Grail War. Summoned by the grail to be the war’s mediator, Ruler (Sakamoto Maaya) oversees the conflict between the Black Faction (with members from Yggdmillennia) and the Red Faction (representatives of the Mage’s Association). The series will be directed by Asai Yoshiyuki (episode director of Star Driver,UN-GO, Zetsuen no Tempest), with series composition by Higashide Yuichiro (Fate/Apocrypha’s original creator).
With the success of Fate/Grand Order in Japan, its imminent arrival in the U.S., and the tremendous reception recent Fate anime have received, the Fate franchise is arguably at the apex of its popularity. As such, a new adaptation wasn’t surprising, and Fate/Apocrypha is a fitting choice given the presence of Ruler, a servant we’ve seen cameos of but have yet to see in any official capacity aside from Grand Order. Interestingly enough, the series is a product of A-1 Pictures rather than ufotable—likely due to the latter’s work on the Heaven’s Feel movie trilogy—and a new studio brings both questions and a chance to see something stylistically different. It’ll be hard to trump the excellence ufotable brought, and it can be worrying seeing a first-time director in the hot seat, but the inclusion of Fate/Apocrypha’s original creator will go a long way toward helping this adaptation. The fact that we’re getting to see a large cast of characters we haven’t seen before makes things even more exciting, and it’s always great having GARNiDELiA and EGOIST performing themes for a series. Still, it’s a Fate series through and through, and whether that’s a good or bad thing for you will determine if this’ll be worth a watch or not.
For those of you who didn’t catch Touken Ranbu Hanamaru, which focused on the more slice-of-life side of swords who have been turned into Ikemen-personifications, Katsugeki looks like it’s going to focus on the grittier side of swords that must defend the present from demons and monsters trying to change the past.
This time around we have a whole new studio heading the ship, and completely different swords leading the story for this iteration of Touken Ranbu’s adaptation from online game to anime. With ufotable behind the animation—the studio who handled, among other things, the recent adaptations of the Fate/stay night and Fate/Zero series—it’s not too hard to guess that there’d also be amazing people working behind the scene. With Shirai Toshiyuki (Fate/Zero) directing, Fukasawa Hideyuki (Unlimited Blade Works) handling music, a handful of people dedicated to weapon animation, a historical researcher, and even a swordsmanship expert, I think you’d probably be underselling the show if you said it had a packed staff. What gets me excited about this adaptation,though, is the plot’s central focus. Instead of giving us lots of different moments (and in turn, swords) to pick and choose from, it looks like we’ll be focusing around Kunihiro Horikawa (Enoki Junya) and Kanesada Izuminokami (Kimura Ryohei) as they lead the charge to save the past from being changed by beings from the future. Overall, I don’t think you have to look any further if you wanted a show based on the Touken Ranbu IP that focuses on all the serious aspects. With a studio and people who have experience bringing a story to life through the use of pretty good storytelling and amazeballs animation, I don’t think there’s anything to worry about, especially if you’re feeling a little nervous after what Hanamaru became.
In the years prior to the original series, humanity found itself suddenly under attack from aliens known as the Noise. Capable of turning humans into dust on contact and impervious to weapons, the Noise drove humanity to the brink of destruction, and were stopped only by those wielding armor known as Symphogears. Having acquired a Symphogear after the death of its previous wielder, Tachibana Hibiki (Yuuki Aoi) found herself fighting to protect humanity from the Noise, coming together with other Symphogear users in Kazanari Tsubasa (Mizuki Nana) and Yukine Chris (Takagaki Ayahi) to stop their advance and prevent the moon from colliding with the earth in what became known as the Frontier Incident. Joined by former enemies of previous seasons, the group awakens to new powers just in time to prevent alchemists from breaking the planet into pieces, ultimately setting up for this year’s new series in Senki Zesshou Symphogear AXZ. Pronounced “Axis” and led by Ono Katsumi (the director of Symphogear G and GX), the newest iteration will see our Symphogear users thrust into another life or death fight to save the planet.
And so, the Symphogear train keeps on going. You’d think they’d slow down after releasing three seasons in just over three years, but it seems like Mizuki Nana’s desire to continue the series is all that’s needed, and we’re getting not only a fourth season in AXZ, but also a fifth one in the near future. As I mentioned in my last Symphogear preview, having more Mizuki Nana is always welcome, and this is the rare series that makes use of both her acting and singing talents. Unfortunately, masterful writing and great character development aren’t exactly part of the package, and Symphogear is a series that ultimately caters to those looking for entertainment and great music more than anything. There have been notable improvements across the board since Ono Katsumi took over as the franchise’s director following the first season, and with the destruction of entire mountains just to prevent a shuttle crash in the first episode, the third season brought the franchise to another level in terms of over-the-top action scenes. Last I checked, the BD sales across seasons have also increased correspondingly, and this is certainly one of those series that is worth watching provided you go in with the right expectations. One would do well to catch up to the previous three seasons before watching AXZ however.
Poor sod gets hit by a car and dies. But wait, there’s more! Who else is ready for transported-to-another-world anime meets mecha? Dying was possibly the best thing that could have happened to our mecha-otaku protagonist. Reincarnated as Ernesti Echevarria (Takahashi Rie), he finds himself thrown into a fantasy world where giant humanoid machines called Silhouette Knights rule the skies. Providing magic as their energy source, only pilots qualified from the academy are allowed to operate these behemoths. Accompanied by Archid (Sugawara Shinsuke) and Adeltrud (Ohashi Ayaka), the ever faithful Walter twins, Eru signs up for the academy and sets his sights on becoming the youngest Knight Runner – those deemed worthy enough to pilot the Silhouette Knights.
Yamamoto Yuusuke will be bringing his experience from Aquarion Evol to this adaptation. Though Knight’s & Magic enjoys a highly fascinating premise built upon a promising fantasy world, it has a few shortcomings. Firstly, Eru is pretty much your standard light novel protagonist, other than his enthusiastic obsession for mecha. Aside from that, he is a charismatic and eccentric genius who values friendship above all else. You could really say that mecha are his one and only true love, given how he shows no care for the various girls fawning over him. Although crises and war primarily drive the story, don’t expect to find any deeper meaning. These themes mostly lack substance and are merely used to flex Eru’s capabilities at every opportunity. But there are still many things about Knight’s & Magic that are enjoyable, and well worth your while. If you like isekai (transported-to-an-alternate-world) stories, mecha, and highschool battles, then Knight’s & Magic is exactly the show you are looking for.
Keppeki Danshi! Aoyama-kun (or Cleanliness Boy! Aoyama-kun) is the story of a young first year high school student named Aoyama (Okiayu Ryotaro) who is amazing at soccer. So amazing in fact that he is the international representative for Japan’s youth league. However, such amazing skills don’t come for free, and in Aoyama’s case his balancing feature is that he could be used to define the word cleanliness. Refusing to head the ball or slide in for a tackle, he’ll go as far as refusing to throw the ball back in unless he’s wearing a pair of gloves. Alongside him are Zaizen Kaoru (Seki Tomokazu), a second year who was the previous shot caller on the high school’s soccer team, and Gotou Moka (Haruno Anzu), a female first year who carries around a spiked baseball bat who just happened to meet Aoyama-kun back in elementary school.
I have conflicting feelings about this show. It has a fairly unique premise that tries to tie together two totally different genres, but I’m not sure how well the idea of a clean freak being a fantastic soccer player goes together. I do have a soft spot in my heart for characters who are a little crazy, and when the subject matter is a soccer player who refuses to do things in order to stay “clean”, I can only imagine what kind of hilarity could ensue. Toss in the fact that there is the possibility that the show could also run with the whole playing soccer element and I can honestly say there’s a small fire slowly growing in me the more I think about this show. In terms of the people behind the scenes, not much stands out, though we do have a veteran studio (Studio Hibari) handling the animation. All-in-all, I have pretty decent expectations for Keppeki Danshi! Aoyama-kun and I’m hoping it can deliver.
It just wouldn’t be a proper season without a battle academy show, and here to fill that illustrious void is Battle Girl High School. Based off of COLOPL’s popular mobile RPG, BGHS centres on an invasion by the mysterious Irousu, an alien presence responsible for contaminating most of the known world. With humanity increasingly contained to small segments of land, it falls to the Star Guardians of Shinjugammine Girls Academy to help save the day. As Star Guardians are the only individuals capable of fighting against the Irousu, the Academy’s sole duty is to train ordinary girls into these dangerous, yet essential, weapons of war. It’s not an easy life protecting the world, but the Star Guardians will do what it takes to see their job through.
It’s hard denying the deck appears stacked against BGHS. It’s a game adaptation—and mobile at that—running the same battle academy alien invasion shtick seen countless times before. Sure, BGHS is not exactly Schoolgirl Strikers or Ange Vierge, but having those as family is not conducive toward optimistic thinking. Not helping matters is the likely adaptation route. BGHS plays a lot like Kancolle, where the player is a (male) teacher responsible for training—and head patting—a class of girls. With an in-game story structured around this relationship, BGHS’ adaptation will likely also go the way of Kancolle’s and create something anime original for the sake of simplicity. No guarantee of failure of course, but we saw how well ship girls worked for those unfamiliar with the game. BGHS’ success will boil down to target audience. If only aiming for game fans we may not get much, but if the show goes for broad appeal we could see something amazing. Considering the stacked voice acting cast (Sakura Ayane, Yuuki Aoi, Amamiya Sora, oh my) and Silver Link’s recent track record, it’s definitely possible, particularly if BGHS yields an enjoyable story. The concept may sound generic and the show here only for advertisement, but there’s nothing stopping BGHS from being entertaining all the same.
Inaba Yuushi (Abe Atsushi) lives an unhappy and lonely life, Hase Mizuki (Nakamura Yuuichi) being his dearest and only friend. Yuushi’s parents died when he was young, and although his extended relatives looked after him without complaining, he could tell he was an unwanted burden. Eager to move out after graduating middle school, the scheduled student accommodation burns down before Yuushi can take up residence. Problem is, Yuushi is desperate to move out of an oppressive home environment but is faced with reluctance from his relatives to pay for more expensive accommodation. He finds a deal which seems too good to be true – the catch being that his new accommodation is located within a haunted house. Here, regular humans and supernatural creatures live in harmony, something that disturbs an initially unaccustomed Yuushi. Fellow human resident Kuga Akine (Sawashiro Miyuki) helps Yuushi gradually ease in. In fact, she can even exorcise evil spirits! An eventful high school life awaits Yuushi, predominantly consisting of character development gained through interactions with his newfound youkai friends.
I’ve read plenty of the monthly manga releases and know I would definitely enjoy an anime adaptation of Youkai Apato no Yuuga na Nichijou. My slight concern would be over the choice of director, Hashimoto Mitsuo, who has mostly worked on action-packed stuff under Toei Animation. The key visuals have me worried that Hashimoto may adhere to his usual directorial style, which may be to the detriment of any focus on character development – something I value the most in this series. Seeing the protagonist come of age while being shaped by his supernatural encounters really puts his struggles with life into perspective. Having lived a long time, his supernatural friends are often wise and approachable in providing moral guidance or emotional support. So it’s no wonder that Yuushi comes to prefer their company over that of most ordinary people. You also slowly learn about how the youkai lived their humans lives, the circumstances of their deaths and what keeps them anchored to the world of the living. There are some pretty chilling stories, but they are often accompanied by heartwarming ones too. This might be one to watch if you really liked Natsume Yuujinchou, that is to say coming-of-age stories set in a high school context involving the supernatural.
Imagine a world where you are not free to fall in love, and where your marriage is arranged by the government once you reach sixteen or older based upon genetic compatibility. This is the world of Koi to Uso, where star-crossed lovers Nejima Yukari (Osaka Ryota) and Takasaki Misaki (Hanazawa Kana) cruelly find out they are not meant to be. Despite having loved each other since elementary school, a government notice arrives just as Yukari confesses, assigning him a marriage partner. You may be thinking, why not just ignore the notice? The problem is that ignoring the notice carries a heavy penalty, equivalent to having a stigmatic mark of shame within society that ruins all your future prospects. Left with no other choice, Yukari acquaints himself with his equally reluctant marriage partner, Sanada Lilina (Makino Yui). So begins the tale of a love triangle, set in the backdrop of a fictional world where lies are forbidden and love doubly so.
The characters are what you would typically expect of love triangle stories, with Yukari being quite a generic protagonist as the nice guy with a flat personality who has everyone falling for him. But he functions completely fine as a tool utilised for exploring conflicts and injustice inherent to the fictional work’s speculative society. His interactions between his original love interest Takasaki and his arranged marriage partner Lilina are what drive this series. Being the creative force behind Yamada-kun to 7-nin no Majo and Udon no Kuni no Kiniro Kemari, I’m fairly confident director Takuno Seiki will do a good job conveying the more lighthearted moments in the series. The question will be whether he can capture the heavier exploration of societal issues resulting from such an intriguing premise, namely state-sanctioned erosion of free will and self-determination. A deep level of engagement is required to flesh out these ideas, and it would be a shame if they ended up becoming oversimplified for whatever reason. It could be very hit or miss, but if the idea of a love triangle with an unconventional premise is something that piques your interest, be sure to check out Koi to Uso.
If you wander off main street, slip away from the crowd of the shopping district, and walk down to the basement of a nondescript building on the corner, you’ll find a door with a picture of a cat on it. Inside, you’ll find a quaint little eatery called the ‘Youkosho no Nekoya’. With a respectable fifty-year history, Nekoya prides itself on its Western-style cuisine, which has groomed a steady clientèle of office workers looking for food both appetising and affordable. There, at the glazed oak tables amid the dim mood lighting, you can indulge in dinner with class, open a bottle from the chef’s personal cellar, and have a pleasant chat with the friendly staff. If you visit on a Saturday, though, Nekoya’s door will not open. It’s closed for business. But rumour has it that Nekoya still serves on those days, just to a different set of customers. For the restaurant sits not only on the corner of the shopping district, but on the corner between worlds. And on Saturdays Nekoya prepares a special menu—for diners from lands beyond imagination, from all walks of life, each with their own story to tell.
I don’t know if ‘food anime’ can be considered a genre unto itself, but we certainly have anime that make it their main appeal to show off delicious food like, say, Koufuku Graffiti. In that sense, Isekai Shokudou (Other-World Restaurant) is definitely a food anime. Every chapter of the source web-novel-turned-light-novel by Inuzuka Junpei features a different dish described in detail down to the sensation of every bite, and I’m sure the anime adaptation will seek to rouse our appetites as well. What separates Isekai Shokudou from other shows is not the food served—which is fairly familiar (though delicious) Japanese cooking—but the people eating it. The ‘Other World’ part of the title involves folks from a fairly standard sword-and-sorcery, Tolkien-based fantasy world crossing over into our mundane one to sample our cuisine. If there’s one thing humanity can boast about in the modern age it’s food, and watching people from a pre-industrial, feudal society taste the fruits of 21st century culinary science and be floored by it makes one appreciate all the good things we may have taken for granted. It’s the happiness that only a warm meal can bring. And honestly? I got hungry just researching this show. Watching it will be simply delectable.
From Hiroyuki, the mangaka behind Doujin Work and Mangaka-san to Assistant-san to, comes an anime about a very stupid girl. Aho Girl stars Hanabatake Yoshiko (Yuuki Aoi), a high school girl who is an idiot in everything. Academically, socially—you name it. She’s as dull as a sack of hammers. This leaves her studious, serious, and constantly pissed off neighbor Akutsu Akuru (Sugita Tomokazu) to look after her, often with violent results (for Yoshiko). Add in level-headed best friend Sumino Sayaka (Harada Sayaka), the Public Morals Chairwoman (Uesaka Sumire) who’s a closet pervert, and more zany characters down the line, and life is never boring when Yoshiko is stupiding around.
Aho Girl is a manga best enjoyed in small doses. It’s novel for the female lead to be the victim of the male lead’s vicious punches, but Yoshiko is so damn stupid that she’s not compelling. That means it’s up to Akkun and the secondary characters to carry the day, with Yoshiko as the chaos around which their lives revolve, and only some of them are up to the task. I’m quite fond of Sayaka, but it’s only later when characters like Akkun’s sister, their homeroom teacher, the playground kids, and the dog appear that Hiroyuki’s gags really start hitting. (The dog is the best.) Hiroyuki is still a great comedy writer, so he’s making good use of a sub-par setup, but I worry the anime will be too much at one time of what I only enjoyed in small doses, even though each episode is only 15-minutes long. The cast and staff is sick though: director Kusakawa Keizou has a huge resume, series composer Aoshima Takashi has a ton of experience writing comedy series in particular (Gabriel DropOut, Himouto, Minami-ke, Mitsudomoe), and the seiyuu slate is stacked with comedic powerhouses. Heck, I’d watch a show just to hear Yuuki Aoi, Sugita Tomokazu, and Uesaka Sumire be silly. If you’re looking for a comedy, go into this with appropriate expectations and you just might enjoy it, idiots and all.
Tsurezure Children is an adaptation coming from Wakabayashi Toshiya’s 4-koma collection, depicting various scenarios of high school love. The result is a fun, lighthearted romance series, showcasing little snippets of how different couples respond to developments in their respective relationships. These delightful stories range from a shy guy with self confidence issues to a socially awkward otaku being infatuated with a girl who takes the same bus as him. Off the crazy end of the scale, there is also that girl who mingles her own blood into some homemade chocolate, hoping to win over a guy’s affection. The spring time of love blossoms as we are treated to many loveable characters, partially defined through their unique relationship dynamics.
The diversity of perspectives is what makes Tsurezure Children feel so refreshing. I feel it really adds to the humor, when certain couples resort to asking for advice from other couples, who may even have similar problems themselves. You can be sure to expect different problems or unexpected developments, that aren’t just the same old run-of-the-mill formula. There’s so much I can go into detail about, but I wouldn’t want to spoil anything for anyone. Just expect a cute and fluffy romance, told in a sequence of short story-style arrangements! While I have my doubts about Kaneko Hiraku, who has an illustrious directorial record consisting of nothing but extreme ecchi or straight-up hentai, Urahata Tatsuhiko is in charge of both the script and series composition. As the man behind the scripts in the latter seasons of ARIA, Haganai and Hanasaku Iroha, I feel there’s actually a pretty high ceiling here, depending on whether Kaneko-san can take full advantage of the resources he has been provided. If a balance is found, a work that is exceedingly interesting may result! I really look forward to seeing how their creative talents mix. Sure to be a harmonious mélange of blossoming love, Tsurezure Children will be a definite treat for those who find themselves easily engaged with love stories of any kind.
Quiz shows, they’re the sort of oddball thing you might catch grandparents—or embarrassed girlfriends—watching on occasion. But competitive quizzes do actually exist outside of evening television, and at Bunzou High the Quiz Research Club is wholly devoted to playing these games. After entering into the school, Koshiyama Shiki (Horie Shun) is quickly pressured to join the club by its suspicious and overeager president Sasajima Gakuto (Satou Takuya), but manages to escape with only a promotional flyer. Unfortunately for Shiki though, his quiz club problems are far from over after accidentally catching a glimpse of fellow classmate Fukami Mari’s (Kawashima Umika) precious undergarments. Blackmailed by Mari into joining the club with her in exchange for her silence, Shiki is about to discover what the hidden world of competitive quizzes is all about.
Oh Japan, may your quirky premises never cease. With competitive sport club-life shows all the rage right now, it was just a matter of time before we got something like this, but really, competitive quizzes? Nanamaru Sanbatsu certainly gets points for thinking outside the box. The manga is your typical paint by numbers club setting—timid, loner protagonist, a group of eccentric club members who slowly become good friends, club retention challenges—but using quizzes as the thematic glue offers some unique and interesting possibilities. Much like wildly popular Jeopardy!, Nanamaru’s emphasis on knowledge over physical prowess allows for a degree of audience “participation” just not possible from more traditional sports stories. Hate exercising but like answering questions and wracking the mind? This is the show for you. Helping Nanamaru in particular is its fun starting arcs and confirmed one-cour run, meaning the show—for better or worse—should not noticeably slow down or stumble over time. If you have a thing for facts or simply enjoy a good, adventurous club-life series, consider giving Nanamaru a try. With such a wild premise, it could easily be one of summer’s biggest surprises.
Remember that famous piece of ancient Chinese literature, Journey to the West? Don’t you think it needs a dieselpunk spin-off sequel? Well, mangaka Minekura Kazuya sure did when she wrote the original Saiyuuki, and now the sequel of the sequel of that manga is getting an anime adaptation in summer 2017. The story goes something like this: the setting of Journey to the West has moved to something resembling the modern age, and in the land of Toungenkyou, humans and youkai (the Southeast Asian supernatural bogey variant) live in peace. But one day, the youkai suddenly turn on the humans, slaughtering them as if gripped by insanity. Turns out, someone is trying to unseal an evil demon lord via forbidden techniques, and the reverberations are driving the youkai to madness. And it’s happening in the west. Maverick monk Genjou Sanzou (Seki Toshihiko) must get the band back together again, and he and his entourage of misfits are charged with journeying westward once more, to the source of this incident, battling assassins and strange phenomena as they go. Now, they’ve finally arrived in India, where the chaos is only more intense, and the four are forced to face the pasts they left behind 500 years ago.
The first thing to note about Saiyuuki: there sure is a lot of it. Just as the original Journey to the West has inspired countless variations, so too has Saiyuuki. The first manga was a creature of 1997 (so, 20th anniversary, I guess), and despite the mangaka’s health issues she’s just kept on drawing since then, and now we have dozens of volumes as well as movies, OVAs, musicals, and, of course, TV anime series. For those of you thinking about jumping into Saiyuuki for the first time this season, attracted to Journey of the West reimagined with badass pretty-boys going on Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure (and who can blame you? I strongly recommend that you catch up on some of the previous material first. Although Saiyuuki is largely episodic action adventure, at least flip through the manga to get a sense of the overarching plot. For returning veterans of the series, I’m not sure what to tell you to expect. The Reload Blast edition of the manga hasn’t actually gotten very deep yet, so it’s unclear how much will be adapted in what way. The staff is also mostly new, although some voice roles do return. Hopefully, this fresh series will be able to capture the central appeal of Saiyuuki: an old-school action romp, with a dark Chinese folklore twist.
The Mizuki Diving Club (or MDC) has fallen on hard times and is on the verge of collapse from the combination of financial troubles and the threat of losing sponsorship. However, a new coach, Kayoko Asaki (Nazuka Kaori), persuades the club’s parent company to give them another year of support on one condition: One of their divers must have a position on Japan’s Olympic diving team in a year’s time. The story is told from the point of view of Tomoki Sakai (Kaji Yuuki), a diver whose potential had been wasted during his time on the diving team. However, when he starts receiving Kayoko’s supervision, a new world is opened before his eyes alongside his teammates.
I was skeptical about whether this was coming out to capitalize on the popularity of Free! when I first saw the poster. After all, there’s a cast of buff swimmers and exclamation points!! However, what sets this series apart from KyoAni’s smash hit is its long history. DIVE!! began as a set of novels released from 2000 to 2004 by Mori Eto, the original author of the award-winning Colorful. The series also had a live-action film adaptation in 2008, and a manga around the same time. I admit that what piques my interest the most about the new adaptation is knowing that it’s an older story from a talented writer, and the noitaminA label, but the story sounds like the makings of an engaging sports drama. A high-stakes gamble with the careers and passions of a diving team on the line, tension between divers fighting to remain relevant on a team that’s only starting to improve, a coming-of-age story of a teenager tasked to handle the pressure of thinking beyond the future to continue diving, a determined coach fighting tooth and nail to make sure her team on the verge of collapse can rise from the ashes as Olympians—sounds like a thrilling uphill battle for survival! For those who are in it for the manservice, you should be in for a treat, but there is also a lot of promise to DIVE!! that should be on your radar if you’re looking to scratch that sports anime itch.
For the average person, a trip to the convenience store is a quick, easy way to grab food and sundries. For the students in Konbini Kareshi, the convenience store becomes a special meeting ground they can meet, relax, and make small memories. While first-year students Mishima Haruki (Terashima Takuma) and Honda Towa (Suzumura Kenichi) anticipate their upcoming school life, Sanagi Nasa (Kaji Yuuki) continues his club activities as the sole member of the cooking research club, and Asumi Natsu (Kamiya Hiroshi) opts to remain alone during his second year as his older friends Nakajima Mikado (Tachibana Shinnosuke) and Sakurakouji Masamune (Sakurai Takahiro) watch over him. Whether it’s to grab snacks or magazines, the six boys pay the convenience store a visit during significant moments in their lives. The anime follows them as they fall in love with girls at school, tracking their emotional state and personal lives up through the moment of their confessions.
As strange as it sounds, this romantic slice-of-life show might just be one of the more fascinating shows this season. The anime comes on the heels of the end of Date Hayato’s tenure as the director of the entire Naruto anime, making it the first project he’s directed since the anime ended this year. That alone makes this anime highly anticipated to see what he can do after spending fifteen years with Naruto, but the fact that he gravitated toward an original romantic high school story is very intriguing. It also helps that there’s an all-star cast with Koshimizu Ami, Tamura Yukari, Sawashiro Miyuki, Kugimiya Rie, and Horie Yui joining the guys. Although there’s a lot of anticipation on the staff, the premise itself is gearing up to be a refreshing series of love stories. I like how the convenience store becomes the center of the story as a hub for the students’ lives, and am curious about the role it will play in getting the couples together. Will they come together by their own fruition outside of the store, or is there something in the store’s onigiri? Regardless, I’m already thinking about how Konbini Kareshi will turn out.
This original anime stars nine girls on a quest to revive their fruit-growing home town. Action Heroine Cheer Fruits is set in a time when local heroines have debuted all across the country, and whose action live events have become a hit trend. In Hinano City, high school girl Shirogane Misaki (Ichimichi Mao) and eight other girls decide to become local heroines (at the urging of Misaki’s aunt, the prefectural governor) in order to revitalize their flagging town through their exciting action shows.
Love Live and Sakura Quest meets Samurai Flamenco, maybe. I’m sure there are more parallels I could draw, but I don’t want to be reductive. Pulling inspiration from other stories is fine! What matters is if the results is good. This is an original series, though, so there’s only so much we can know before it airs. The staff at Diomedea doesn’t look too shabby, and the seiyuu cast are all up-and-comers who should be up to the task. The nine girls are varied in their interests and personalities, as is expected from a cute-girls-doing-cute-things show. The promo videos don’t reveal much, save that the animation looks fine and the humor will probably be soft and fluffy. I make a habit of previewing shady originals, but this one doesn’t look shady. It could be nice! Though it could also be a boring disaster if the execution isn’t there. I give it the benefit of the doubt though, so if cute-girls-doing-hero-show-things sounds like fun to you, give this one a try.
Nearly two thousand years ago, in the south sea of Beloskur, a gigantic hole was discovered. The titanic pit became known as the Abyss, and nobody knows how deep the enormous cave system goes, nor why it’s inhabited by strange and wondrous creatures and full of mysterious ancient relics whose uses remain a mystery. The Abyss has drawn in generations of adventurers, all looking to make their fortunes in the cryptic depths. They became known as Cave Raiders. In Oosu, the town on the edge of the Abyss, there lives a group of orphans, among them a troublemaker named Rico (Tomita Miyu). She dreams of becoming a great cave raider like her mother. One day, while exploring the murky depths, she’s nearly killed by a monstrous snake known as the Bloody Maw, but is saved by a little boy who turns out to be a robot…
It’s always a good sign when I don’t want to stop reading the source material. This is a story that thrives on wondrous mystery, striving optimism, and outrageous world-building beauty. Seriously, look at the key visuals, the manga, or any of the promo videos. See those backgrounds? Look at those! Stunning is too meager a word. The very idea of the Abyss calls to the explorer in all of us, for we humans have a hard time leaving stones unturned. Add on the fantastic creatures and an enigmatic robot boy who doesn’t know who he is, and I’m already salivating for the series to start. This series presses so many buttons, and they’re not even my buttons. I’m not an explorer type, and world-mysteries aren’t my go-to. Even then, this is a show I have a hard time not recommending to everyone. So I won’t resist. I recommend this to everyone! I don’t promise it will be fantastic—I could only read so far in the manga, and stories like this always have trouble living up to the hype their first few episodes create—but for the beauty of the backgrounds alone, and the wonder of the setting, it’s worth a shot. This could be something special.
18if is part of “The Art of 18″ multimedia project that currently includes a mobile game and a VR game. The anime stars Tsukishiro Haruto (Shimazaki Nobunaga), a young man who wakes up in a dream world and meets a mysterious girl called Lily (Nazuka Kaori). Professor Kanzaki Katsumi (Koyasu Takehito) takes an interest in Haruto and his ability to see Lily, and recruits him for his research on the dream world. When in his diver form (in the dream world), Kanzaki appears as a gentlemanly cat. What else, if anything, is going on in the dream world, or in this anime, remains a mystery for now.
I don’t honestly know if 18if will be a mystery, or if that’s just the tone mobcast’s and Gonzo’s marketing blitz is opting for. The best thing you can do to see whether you’re interested in this anime is to watch the promos, because if you read the first paragraph, you know almost everything else. To me it feels like they’re going for a dream world mystery that’s more cryptic than sinister, though the red hue suffusing the promos begs to differ. It could go either way. I really wish there was more information, because what we have isn’t enough to grab a hold of; it’s not enough to even potentially rouse my interest. That doesn’t mean it won’t be good, though. It just means we don’t know until the production team coughs up more info, or the anime begins.
Miracles and divine acts may seem out of vogue in the modern world, but for many people the supernatural retains importance as proof of faith. Investigating the validity of miracles, however, is no small task, and for this purpose the Catholic Church employs the Assembly of Saints. Based out of the Vatican, the Assembly consists of an array of priestly “miracle investigators” wholly responsible for determining whether a miracle is in fact a miracle. As part of the Assembly’s investigations, the brilliant cryptanalyst and paleographer Robert Nicholas (Suwabe Junichi) is partnered with good friend and genius scientist “Joseph” Hiraga Kou (Okamoto Nobuhiko) to research a claim of stigmata and tears falling on a statue of Maria. While the job is already difficult as is, things only become more challenging when an eerie incident upends the entire investigation.
If one did not know better, one would think we are looking at the anime Dan Brown. Acts of God, threats to the Church, copious use of archaic Christian history, hell we even have Robert Langdon in the form of Robert (heh) Nicholas—stubborn penchant for knowledge and all. It’s an unusual premise for anime, particularly when thematically similar series (ex: Trinity Blood) enjoy veering the way of the vampire. Given Vatican Kiseki Chousakan—like The Da Vinci Code—prefers passing over strict historical accuracy in favour of story, the strength of this show will primarily rest on the adaptation of its intriguing mystery plot. If it can spin us a good, religiously-infused yarn and maximize the suspense, it could quickly become one of summer’s top shows. Director Yonetani Yoshimoto is certainly up to the task given his fantastic work with Shokugeki no Souma, and J.C. Staff is easily capable of keeping the visuals up to par. Considering the Vatican does actually investigate miracles in real life, Vatican Kiseki Chousakan could prove quite interesting for more than one reason.
If you could turn back time for any reason, would you? It’s certainly an option in Jikan no Shihaisha’s world, where time-eating demons offer those seeking reversal of time the means to do so: simply sign a contract to see past mistakes corrected and senescence reversed. Well, until the demon is done consuming their “time” and erasing them from existence. Combating this issue is the sole purpose of the Chronos Rulers, time manipulators whose mission is stopping demons before they can contract with desperate people. At least that’s their intended objective. For Victor Putin (Fukuyama Jun), being a Chronos Ruler means tracking down the demon whom he contracted with and defeating it before he himself runs out of time. With his memories slowly disappearing and his age constantly reversing, Victor fights alongside his partner Kiri (Kugimiya Rie) to ensure that no demon and human can ever make his same mistake again.
I must admit, Jikan no Shihaisha really captured my interest. Besides its origins as a Taiwanese manhua, Jikan’s premise feels a lot like D. Gray Man took Curious Case of Benjamin Button’s premise and fused it with Bungou Stray Dogs. Weird abilities and comedic characters interspersed with moments of seriousness and crazy boss fights, yielding a story as much entertaining as it is intriguing. Victor in particular exemplifies the style, comically failing at gambling and popping up in unexpected places before busting out an eccentric repertoire of time-sensitive card tricks. And that’s before touching on his infamous last name. The components are definitely here for a decently fun shounen adaptation, but there are some noticeable concerns. Matsune Masato’s sole directorial experience comes from Chaos Dragon, and Project No.9—barring its work on NetoYome—is not a studio one particularly looks on with glee. It’s an honest crap shoot what we end up with, but I’m cautiously optimistic so long as the manga is faithfully adapted. With time already being such an ubiquitous theme, any series willing to venture outside that box deserves a little support.
Imperial calendar, 451. The Turkiye Devleti, a stratocracy in what we might know as Anatolia. Rumours of war are brewing. The neighbouring Balt-Rhein Empire has grown increasingly belligerent of late, and there are those in its ruling circle who will jump at any casus belli to leverage its superior military against Turkiye. And within Turkiye itself, civil unrest stirs. Long has it been ruled by the Diwan, a council of generals or ‘Pasha’, but long has its politics been calcified and now two factions have entrenched themselves in deadlock. There are the doves, who are paralysed with fear of provoking powerful rivals. But the hawks are all too eager to lash out at any perceived aggression with swords drawn and a taste for blood. Tensions are high, and into this fray steps Tughril Mahmut (Murase Ayumu), a newly appointed Pasha and the youngest to ever earn the title. He has seen the ravages of war first hand, and is willing to fight to maintain the peace. And fight he will—not just enemies on the battlefield, but also conspiracy, intrigue, betrayal, and historical grievances that threaten to engulf the entire world in violence.
It sounds oxymoronic that there can be such a thing as ‘historical fantasy’, but Shoukoku no Altair, while not exactly ‘history’, is definitely ‘historical’, and so that’s what we’ll call it. The setting of the original manga by Katou Kotono is based on one of the less explored territories of history, especially in anime: Turkey. How the Ottoman Empire, conquerors of Byzantium, heirs of Rome, sprang up then got to where it is today is fascinating stuff, and while Shoukoku no Altair isn’t actually about that (again, not actual history), it does a remarkable job portraying the broad-stroke context of an older time: culture, governance, geopolitics and all the strife that occurs when they clash. There’s no question of the material being engaging, so it’s only an issue of how the adaptation goes. I don’t think we need to worry much about that, though, as director Furuhashi Kazuhiro is an old hand, and screenwriter Takagi Noboru is no slouch either. Everything looks good so far, and we’re set for at least two seasons of this thing so we’re going to be in for a ride. If you at all enjoy history, politics, or, I dunno, baklava, then you should definitely check this one out.
A spin-off of the author’s previous work Hitorijime Boyfriend, Hitorijime My Hero follows the lives of high school teacher Ooshiba Kousuke (Maeno Tomoaki) and delinquent Setagawa Masahiro (Masuda Toshiki), both of whom also appeared in Hitorijime Boyfriend. When it comes to the story itself, it typically ends up with Setagawa in a losing battle trying to understand the actions of his beloved teacher Kousuke while struggling to understand and accept the emotions he feels within himself. Through it all we get to see the evolution of two people as they both grow and learn from one another.
After diving pretty deep into the source material, I think I can safely say that if the subject matter resonates with you, Hitorijime My Hero won’t disappoint, especially if you’re a fan of romances and romantic comedies. However, for those who don’t know, the yaoi undertones are strong in this one and may detract from the actual story if that type of character interaction isn’t for you. However, as someone who isn’t into that genre (but has friends who are super fujoshis and involve me sometimes), I must admit that the story was compelling enough to keep me reading. With the perspective revolving around the delinquent Setagawa and his struggles of self-acceptance, it almost feels like an underdog story where you’re never 100% sure what may happen. In terms of its transition into an anime though, I’m not sure how things will go. With animation, story, and characters the driving factor for a show like this, the thought of a newbie studio (Encourage Films) with a newbie script writer doesn’t assuage my worries. Still, even with those reservations, I feel like this show could be a scrappy fighter that manages to do something special with the limited resources it has.
Sweat glistens and flies through the air. Bodies energetically twist and turn, coordinated by tapping feet keeping time to the music programme. Ladies and gentlemen, prepare to get your dancing shoes on, because mangaka Takeuchi Tomo’sBallroom e Youkoso is receiving an anime adaptation! The story follows Fujita Tatara (Tsuchiya Shinba), a listless high school student struggling to find purpose. His life is turned upside down after a fateful encounter with professional dancer Sengoku Kaname (Morikawa Toshiyuki), who rescues him from bullies. After a taster lesson and having watched videos from a dancing competition, Tatara resolves to recreate his personal image. Thus, lacking any prior experience or knowledge, he wholeheartedly embarks on a foray to pursue competitive ballroom dancing. Although competitive dancing is an important aspect of the plot, the main character’s relationships form the primary focus – intimate connections and heated rivalries alike.
There are parallels between Tatara’s journey and the ones we see in series like Hajime no Ippo or Baby Steps. All three protagonists work incredibly hard to make up for their late start and lesser experience, as they aspire to become the best in their respective sports. In addition to these similarities to Ippo and Maruo, there is something deep and disturbing about Tatara I can’t quite put my finger on. While certainly a nice kid, Tatara is quite possibly a latent psycho, though I’m not too certain if this will get covered in a single cour adaptation. If you like seeing a protagonist slowly but surely working their way up, Ballroom e Youkoso will definitely tickle your fancy! Although Production I.G.’s inexperienced director Itazu Yoshimi is an unknown variable, the quality of the source material means this adaptation is brimming with so much potential. If the dancing animation sequences can be done to at the very least a level similar to the choreography Mappa used in Yuri!! on ICE, Ballroom e Youkoso can potentially contend for anime of the season.
Kimihara Himeno (Fukagawa Seria) is a shy but friendly girl who lives an ordinary life as a high school student in Japan. She’s also a centaur, a mythological being with the top half of a human and the lower half of a horse. Luckily for her the rest of the world is inhabited by various mythological creatures, allowing her to fit in well with fellow humanoid classmates who have wings, tails, horns, halos, and animal ears. Himeno enjoys hanging out with her friends Naraku Kyouko (Shiraishi Haruka), a cool and composed half-Satyr, and Gokuraku Nozomi (Kuwahara Yuuki), a hot-tempered demon. Together, they aim to live a fun, relatively normal school life as they interact with other classmates, worry about falling in love or overeating, and learn more about those around them.
One aspect of the series that could make or break the adaptation is what tone the anime will go with. Early chapters of the manga center around Himeno’s daily routine and friendships, but the slice-of-life tone isn’t always prevalent. The series doesn’t take long to invest time into fleshing out the different races of humanoids, the history behind supernatural race relations, and how laws adapted to a predominantly supernatural society. After reading through many of the chapters, it was an interesting read that got me excited me about the potential of monster girl stories that explore the deeper nuances of their lore. The only thing that makes me uncertain about the show is the staff behind it. Director Konno Naoyuki’s best known directorial efforts were 009-1 and Togainu no Chi. Additionally, the adaptation will be helmed by Haoliners Animation League, the Chinese animation company who created Bloodivores. It’s that skepticism that makes me worried the adaptation will drop the ball on much of what made the manga special. Still, I’m mostly optimistic from the initial previews that the anime will be able to capture the essence of the manga. It’s a cute monster girl slice-of-life, so that triples the chances of it working out smoothly, right?
London, 1872. But it’s not that London, and it’s not that 1872. Rather, the 19th century London of Princess Principal is more akin to Berlin 1963; it is a city in the fictional Kingdom of Albion, currently under occupation, and is divided between east and west by a great wall. On one side of this wall is the Queen’s Mayfair School, a perfectly ordinary educational institution for upstanding young ladies across the country. For five of the students there, though, this is all just a cover, and they are in fact professional spies, planted in the city as part of a larger ring. Meet: Dorothy (Taichi You), the driver; Beatrice (Kageyama Akari), the muscle; Angie (Imamura Ayaka), the protagonist material; Princess (Sekine Akira), the… princess; and Chise (Furuki Nozomi), the obligatory Japanese character. Together, they engage their unique abilities in the dangerous business of national espionage, a business that just happens to be filled with plenty of guns, fast cars, and explosions.
I was first drawn to Princess Principal in the hopes that it would be a gender-flipped Joker Game, because there is no time when I don’t need my espionage anime fix. Looking further into it, I’ll say: probably not. Princess Principal is definitely not historical fiction of any sort, and their spies are more Hollywood spies, running and gunning and crashing cars in pyrotechnical ways. Or at least that’s how I think it’ll go, because one can never be entirely sure with original anime. This one is a collaboration between studios 3hz and Acta as well, and they both seem to delight in hiding what their original shows are actually about. One thing I can say with some conviction though: Princess Principal has the potential to actually be pretty good, just judging by the staff. Just to start: Tachibana Masaki (Tokyo Magnitude 8.0) on direction, Okouchi Ichiro (CODE GEASS) on series composition, and Kajiura Yuki (that Kajiura Yuki) on music. That’s a lot of talent lined up for Princess Principal to be just girls with guns. While one can never be entirely sure about original anime, I’ve got high hopes for this one.
Due to a traumatic past, first year high school student Nukui Kyou (Inoue Yuuki) has become a hikikomori. His sole source of solace in life comes from secretly producing Vocaloid songs and uploading them onto the internet for fans to enjoy. One day he receives a fan message, asking to meet up at a certain location. Touched by the gesture, Kyou decides to meet his fans in spite of his hikikomori misgivings. At the meeting place, three elementary school girls await him: the crybaby Gotou Jun (Oono Yuuko ), the headstrong Momijidani Nozomi (Endou Yurika), and the somewhat sleepy Kaneshiro Sora (Koga Aoi). These three girls want Kyou to help them break into the music industry. Kicking off a symphonic ballade of little girls making great songs together, watch how Kyou guides them to fame, recognition and stardom.
Fans of Ro-Kyu-Bu, roll up, roll up. It’s time for you to get back to jail! The appointment of Yanagi Shinsuke, director of Ro-Kyu-Bu SS, all but guarantees your daily dose of sweet underaged justice. Seiyuu stars like Iguchi Yuka, Kana Hanazawa and Itou Kanae all provide assistance from supporting roles, but Hidaka Rina leads an otherwise rookie lineup, being the only veteran seiyuu among the main cast. I’m not too concerned about the lack of experience because, if the PVs offer any indication, the voice acting and music seem pretty promising. Note that enjoying Tenshi no 3P does not default you to lolicon status. After all, why shouldn’t you be able to like awesome music in conjunction with cute girl antics? As someone invested in Vocaloid songs, it would also be interesting to see how the Vocaloid industry functions behind the scenes.
Mochizuki Touya (Fukuhara Katsumi) is just your average high school lad. Unassuming and well-mannered, for him life is but an adventure to experience. At least until God throws a wrench into things by accidentally electrocuting the poor boy with lightning. God, making mistakes? Even the divine creator is shocked, and thus chooses to give Touya a second chance out of atonement for His error. Resurrecting Touya in a fantasy world, God also grants our lucky winner one wish for anything to help him in his new life. Deliberating fast, Touya chooses only one simple item: his smartphone. Sure it might lack internet and phone calls will prove troublesome, but Touya is a forward thinker and knows the information stored on the device will help tremendously. It’s a big new world, and Touya aims to learn about it all.
Let’s get the obvious out the way: Isekai wa Smartphone is not KonoSuba. Yes, the premise sounds the same, and sure, Touya looks like Subaru reincarnated, but these are completely different shows. Unlike KonoSuba’s parody/satire mix, Isekai veers into slice-of-life territory and fully commits to the harem route. Touya travels around, meets girls, and builds the harem before repeating the whole process. It’s a bread and butter concept, although Isekai gets brownie points for at least running a literal harem—no joke, Isekai’s world allows polygamy. The more contentious issue, however, will likely be Touya himself. The kid is Kirito-level (i.e. SAO) overpowered, he solves all the problems, gets all the girls, and hardly runs into a threat he cannot easily beat. And that’s before involving the magical smartphone and God’s continuous support. No beating around the bush here, Isekai is your typical wish fulfillment show, albeit with a quirky new look. While these series are a dime a dozen now, they can still prove entertaining with proper execution, particularly if the harem girls become memorable in their own right. Should Isekai rein in the worst excesses of it premise and keep things lighthearted, there’s no reason it cannot become one of summer’s better fantasy-esque shows.
New Game! tells the story of one Suzukaze Aoba (Takada Yuuki), a recent high school graduate (though you wouldn’t know it by looking at her) who landed her dream job at a game development company! At Eagle Jump, not only does she get to work for the company that made Fairies Story, the series that got her interested in 3D model design and graphic work, but she gets to work with the character designer she so admired, Yagami Kou (Hikasa Youko)—and on a sequel to Fairies Story to boot! That was the first season. Now Aoba and co are back, including shy character designer Takimoto Hifumi (Yamaguchi Megumi), who communicates through instant messenger; relatively sensible monster designer Iijima Yun (Takeo Ayumi); boisterous animator and figurine collector Shinoda Hajime (Toda Megumi); orderly (if easily flustered) art director Tooyama Rin (Kayano Ai); irresponsible company director who brings her cat to work Hazuki Shizuku (Kitamura Eri); short-tempered gun nut of a programmer Ahagon Umiko (Morinaga Chitose); and Aoba’s even more childish best friend Sakura Nene (Asahina Madoka). Join back in for a moe look into the game development industry as the girls of Eagle Jump keep striving (and working overtime) together.
This is a cute-girls-doing-cute-things anime of the highest order. New Game! delves into some true elements of working life, and occasionally one of them will hit a working stiff (like yours truly) on the nose—overtime is bull$*&#—but mostly everything it does is mined for cute. It does that infantilizing thing moe moe shows often do, where adult women act like blushing middle school maidens, so if that annoys you, steer clear. If you’re looking for something light, fluffy, and pretty darned funny—and as tooth-achingly sweet as a chocolate eclair buried in a mound of sugar—this will do the job. It’s a breath of fresh, moe air after a long day, and as far as CGDCT anime, it’s just aboutat the top. With all the staff and cast returning, and a few new characters being added, I expect all the same and more from season two.
The story of Mahoujin Guru Guru follows Nike (Ishigami Shizuka), a strong and overly confident 13-year-old boy and Kukuri (Kohara Konomi), a witch, as they try and save the world from the evil demon named Giri. In this universe, there exists a type of magic known as “Guru Guru” which is the same type of magic which Kukuri wields – but to Nike’s dismay, not very well. They start their story by marching towards Kodai Castle (along with many other heroes) as the Kodai King has promised 50K gold coins to anyone who can defeat Giri. As they reach the Castle and meet the King, Nike manages to pull this peculiar sword from this special chest box which marks him as the Master Hero. And thus, this is the start of their adventures as the King sends them on their way to fulfill their mission of protecting the kingdom.
Mahoujin Guru Guru will be a reboot of the original series which started in 1994 and aired for 45 episodes. Remember the good ol’ days when anime used to be longer than 12 episodes? Man, I miss those days. Anyway! What appears to be a kiddie show, is actually a comedic, fantasy series featuring a young boy and girl as they travel around the world killing monsters. The artistic style reminds me a lot of 90′s anime aimed at children, but the story and content itself is probably better suited for older audiences. Back when the manga first released (in 1992), the jokes and plot parodied the stereotypical shounen/adventure manga that you saw out there… but nowadays, I daresay that this type of comedy and series is not uncommon. However, it is rare to see a 90′s anime getting a remake – unless it’s expected to do very well. As a 10+ year running manga, I certainly anticipate a strong following for this anime and since it’s coupled with Production I.G, I expect nothing short of a well done adaptation for this series. After following a lot shounen anime, it’s always refreshing to see how some shows try and break some tropes.
Hashiba Junichi (Asanuma Shintaro) is just your average male otaku, and a high school student who dreams of losing his virginity to a hot girl. Pressured and forced by his friends, Junichi asks out Yame Yukana (Nagaku Yuki), a gyaru who seems completely creeped out by him. So you would think M. Night Shyamalan wrote the script when Yame actually agrees! Romantic comedy ensues, as Junichi tries to figure out whether Yame is serious about him or whether he’s just her plaything. Maybe even both…?
Packed with fanservice of a kind that posterior connoisseurs might find lacking, Hajimete no Gal is definitely a load of silly fun, containing sprinkles of cuteness here and there, especially where the interactions of the characters are concerned. Despite being a desperate guy, Junichi frequently bails out on steamy situations, the reason constantly shifting between cowardice and virtue. Seeing his internal conflict play out is part of what makes the story interesting. On the other hand, Yame herself undeniably steals the show – she’s a charming character with a really amazing personality to boot(y). Since the manga showcases things from Junichi’s perspective, we are mostly left guessing about Yame’s thoughts and motives. I can’t wait to see Yame teasing Junichi to pieces, and I reckon she will put up a fight for the title of Best Girl Summer 2017. Make sure to keep your eyes out for this show!
Adapted from the light novel written by Kinugasa Syougo, Youkoso Jitsuryoku Shijou Shugi no Kyoushitsu e follows the perspective of protagonist Ayanokouji Kiyotaka (Chiba Shouya after he enrolls into Kodo Ikusei, a prestigious high school divided into social hierarchies completely defining your worth. Superior students receive better treatment, while the inferior students are openly discriminated against by the staff and faculty. What’s worse, the entire academy system is run off a merit system where points are allocated based upon variety of factors including academics and good behaviour. These points are precious, especially since they are extremely limited for the students of Class D, so they suffer an unprecedented points crisis after being penalised for disrupting classes. Accommodation and canteen food are provided free of charge, but Class D would be unable to enjoy any sorts of luxuries. Although Ayanokouji is cynical in his reservation and apathy, he begins to slowly change after getting to know his classmates, particularly Horikitai Suzune (Kito Akari) and Kushida Kikyou (Kubou Yurika). Noticing that Class D actually has a lot of potential, if not for the personal issues holding some back, it will be up to our trio as they work to help solve everyone’s problems. If they can overcome the first hurdle, what’s stopping them from rising to compete against the other classes?
Having recently read a bit of the original light novel, I was quite surprised at the quality of writing. Think Oregairu, especially when it comes to the interactions between our main trio, but with a far more generous serving of story in addition to the ample character development. There was enough to make me wonder how this didn’t receive an anime adaptation earlier. Classes based upon social hierarchy is a concept reminiscent of Ansatsu Kyoushitsu and Baka to Test, and like them our main cast are mostly from the bottom class that is struggling hard in seeking promotion. Since Kishi Seiji also directed Ansatsu Kyoushitsu, he should be able to replicate this premise, though I’m expecting some distinguishing influence from co-director Hashimoto Hiroyuki. I suspect this will be a dark horse of summer 2017, so make sure you don’t miss the opportunity to jump onto the bandwagon before it becomes mainstream!
“Do you think love can bloom, even on a battlefield?” This question is one of many that are explored in this comical story about the bonds created from the hobby that has destroyed controllers and ruined relationships. Amano Keita (Han Megumi) is a high school student who is terrible at video games, but he enjoys playing them regardless. He has no friends other than Uehara Tasuku (Toyonaga Toshiyuki), an outgoing student who keeps the facade of being satisfied with his life, but secretly loves video games. Then one day, Keita meets Tendou Karen (Kanemoto Hisako), the most beautiful girl in school who happens to be the president of the school’s games club. After she invites him to join the games club alongside the shy, unkempt Hoshinomori Chiaki (Iwami Manaka), Keita is thrown into a romantic comedy full of misunderstandings and wacky hijinks. Will Keita be able to trigger a flag for the romance options, or will he go home and be a family man? Only time will tell!
The show bills itself as a chaotic romantic comedy about gamers, which sounds like a neat combination. I assumed that it was going to be similar to Genshiken since that too was a show about a club that played a lot of video games. However, this show looks like it wants to explore the comedic potential that the character dynamics have, especially when some characters are more outgoing or open about playing games than others. I’m curious about the romantic aspects too, and if they’ll play a bigger role in the series as time goes forward. There’s room for Keita to have a love interest as he bonds with the almost too perfect Karen, and fights with Chiaki enough for them to be seen as the odd couple. When it comes to love comedies, especially light novels, it’s hard to gauge whether the show descriptions are embellishing their comedic chops, or if they strike a good balance. Those who are yearning for a lighthearted comedy about gaming with a twist of love will find Gamers! to be a charming, humorous take on gaming with friends.
Jigoku Shoujo:Yoi no Togi is the fourth season of the Jigoku Shoujo or Hell Girl series that first aired back in 2005. The premise is simple: do you have someone who has wronged you so badly that you’d do anything to make sure that they’d get the favor returned tenfold? What if you could literally send them to the depths of hell where that person would be forever tormented and tortured? Would you do it? Even if it meant you would be dooming yourself to the same fate once you’ve died? For this fourth season, a few things to keep in mind. There will only be six new episodes, with the other six being pulled from older seasons as throwback episodes. Also, director Omori Takahiro who handled seasons one and two will return to handle this season. In addition to Omori, all the original seiyuu will be reprising their roles as well. All in all, sounds like an exciting time to be alive for old and new fans alike!
There are very few anime that have been able to go on for four seasons and even less that have also inspired live action television adaptations, multiple manga adaptations, and a live action stage play. But if you were looking for a series that has managed to resonate well with its audience, look no further than Jigoku Shoujo. With its plot following a rather simple formula (at least simple at first), most arcs follow a pattern of someone sending a request to the Hell Correspondence website asking for their tormenter to be eliminated. From here our titular character Enma Ai (Noto Mamiko) (AKA the Jigoku Shoujo or Hell Girl) appears and offers a straw doll to the requester stating that the tormenter’s soul will be taken to hell if they pull the string off as well as warning them that the requestor’s soul will also be marked to go straight to hell once they die. Creepy right? But what really makes Jigoku Shoujo more than your typical thriller is the way the story dives deep into Enma’s back story. Between exploring how she became the Jigoku Shoujo to what she’s learned and experienced after hundreds of years of actually running the Hell Correspondence service, you sometimes unexpectedly find yourself drawn more to the story than the thrill of the horror.
From the minds of Nagahama Hiroshi (Mushishi) and American comic book legend Stan Lee (yes, that one) comes a brand new anime. One day, and all of a sudden, people all over the world discovered they had superpowers. In a moment that became known as the Reflection, some people become heroes (a handful), and others became villains (rather more than a handful). How did the Reflection happen? What caused it? With these mysteries yet unsolved, the world is plunged into turmoil as these superpowered humans clash.
While Stan Lee getting involved with another anime is certainly worthy of note, the name that interests me most is Nagahama Hiroshi. The driving force behind all the Mushishi anime, doing a superhero show? I don’t know if it’ll mean anything, but it’s an intriguing thought. While the premise seems well trodden, with HeroAca most recently exploring the superhero world, that comparison might not be fair. The focus here seems to be more on the chaos at the time when superpowers suddenly appear, and what that means for the world—more like the flashback scenes in Strong Female Protagonist, highly suggested by the way. That could be fertile soil to till, even if I have a suspicion it’ll turn into an orgy of action scenes real fast. Not that action scenes aren’t fun! This is an original series, so we won’t know much until it airs, but I’m at least more interested after researching it than I was after reading the minimal promo text. Why so coy, The Reflection? You nearly lost me. Silly The Reflection. Now let’s see what you’ve got.
Technical Note: As of the Fall 2016 Preview onward, short one-cour series that are being broadcast with irregular duration times (under the 24 minute per episode norm) have been separated from the main preview into their own section. This is to account for the increasing number of short series and to allow for ease of viewing for those who have a preference for one type of series over another. While the list should be complete, there are short series that have been announced very close to the start of a season, in which case they may not have made it onto the list. If you notice an anything missing, incomplete, or incorrect, please feel free to point it out in the comments or e-mail Zephyr directly. (Write ups by Passerby.)
Japanese horror
Spun out of urban legends
Told with still pictures.
OVA / Movie
Technical Note: OVAs are sorted by the date they are released. For series that have multiple episodes coming out over the course of the season, please refer to the Notes column for additional dates. More information on each OVA can be found on their respective websites, including promotional videos in some cases. Movie premiere dates are not included since they don’t mean a whole lot to viewers outside of Japan. DVD/BD movie releases are, however. This list is likely incomplete and will be updated as more titles surface. If you notice anything missing or incorrect, please feel free to point it out in the comments or e-mail one of us directly (Stilts, Zephyr).
Sword Art Online Movie: Ordinal Scale 劇場版 ソードアート・オンライン -オーディナル・スケール- http://sao-movie.net/
BD/DVD Release.
Overall Impressions
Along with winter, summer is traditionally thought of as one of the weaker anime seasons. Recent summers have been bucking this trend, but this doesn’t appear to be one of ‘em. While there are still a bunch of shows I’m excited for, there just seems to be fewer truly top-tier offerings, which is reflected in our expectation levels. Though I wonder how much of that is due to the lack of sequels and originals in favor of a slew of new adaptations? That means fewer sure-hits or potential break-out stars, in favor of a bunch of shows that could be good-to-great but have known weaknesses. So maybe this will be a better season than it first appears, even if the peaks don’t reach quite so high. I suppose we shall see, which is part of the fun!
Onto the levels. Our rubric remains the same, with the five main expectation levels ranging from High to Low, plus Niche and Established for special cases. Hopefully this guide will help those of you with limited time understand which shows to try first, based on our preliminary examination of each show’s staff, seiyuu, and source material. Failing that, it’ll give you another reason to call us the hacks that we are when we invariably peg one or two wrong.
We arrived at these levels by convening our regular (and reliably shady) “anticipation council,” which still consists of Passerby, Zephyr, and yours truly, Stilts. While we’ve gone to great lengths to be as objective as possible, perfect objectivity isn’t a real thing, and even the most well-considered predictions can prove themselves wrong in a hurry. Take these with a grain of salt.
Note: Lists are sorted in alphabetical order.
The Rundown:
High expectation shows give us reason to believe they have the makings of a very good series that should appeal to the widest audience in their given genres. If you consider yourself a “casual” fan who only gets your toes wet every season by watching the “best” shows (i.e. popular ones that generate the most buzz), then these are the ones we feel you should keep an eye out for. We’re also expecting good things from these shows, so if they fall short, disappointment is understandable.
Moderately High expectation shows are ones that came close to joining the High expectation crowd, but missed out due to one or two elements that gave us concern. The series underpinnings are generally strong, but there is just something that keeps us from putting all our hopes and dreams on these shows. They still have most of the makings of very strong series, so if you watch only the “best” shows but want more than what the High category provides, keep an eye out for these as well.
Moderate expectation shows, also known as “True Moderate”, don’t provide any immediate indication that they’ll be amazing in retrospect. This is often the case with shows that fall into one of anime’s overused plot devices, which most people, particularly self-proclaimed critics, will perceive as mediocre at best. However, in many of our experiences these shows still provide a great deal of entertainment and may turn out a lot better than they appear. They’re good for “regular” fans who are aware of all these tropes and don’t mind seeing them used in different settings. Personal tastes come heavily into play, so your mileage will vary.
Moderately Low expectation shows don’t seem to be aspiring to much, but it’s hard to call them bad exactly. They might focus on senseless humor or fanservice, but there’s often at least one element that elevates them above other members of their genre. Once again, personal taste comes heavily into play with these shows, because if they’re part of one of your favored genres then chances are you’ll enjoy them no matter what. Just don’t expect them to break the bank with originality.
Low expectation shows don’t seem to be striving for much and choose to focus on more frivolous aspects such as senseless humor and fanservice. That doesn’t mean they’re the bottom of the barrel and shouldn’t get any consideration, but simply that you need to keep in mind what kind of show it is. Generally only “avid” fans will be interested in seeing what these have to offer, because they’re already watching all the better shows.
Low Expectations: N/A
Niche shows break away from the norm by being slower-paced, extremely dark/grotesque, or even controversial. In most cases these shows are oriented towards older audiences or those who feel that anime has become far too repetitive and want something different. Shows of this category tend to be highly under-appreciated, but can turn out to be hidden gems for that very reason. Includes some works oriented toward younger audiences.
Niche: N/A
Established shows are generally long-running manga/anime series, geared toward younger viewers who are already fans of them. A commonality is that they all air early morning on weekends or well before midnight on weekdays so that “normal” people can watch them. They aren’t very dependent on expectations, but a love for never-ending shows and a willingness to get into all the material that’s out if they’re completely new to you. Shounen series fall into this category, hence why we treat them differently.
Chicks dig guys (and gals) who dig Japanese traditional arts
I’ve got more to say of course, but to sum it up? It’s all good – every bit of it.
I wrapped up my preview of Kabukibu! by saying the following:
Kabukibu! seems like a good bet to be this season’s “that really good show nobody watches”.
Well, I hardly think I could have been more right – though to be fair, the latter was going to be pretty much a given. It wasn’t a given that Kabukibu! was going to be really good of course, especially given that it’s based on a light novel. But I just had a gut feeling – the stars were aligned. Kabuki is an interesting topic, Deen has proved itself quite savvy at attaching itself to good source material, and they brought in an outstanding director and writer (both of whom were willing to take on the project when they surely had options).
I love covering shows like Hunter X Hunter and Boku Dake ga Inai Machi, because the main enjoyment factor for me comes in writing about shows I love, irrespective of whether they’re popular. But it’s with the under-appreciated gems like Kabukibu! that my pride in being a blogger really wells up – I’m glad there’s a group of readers out there who appreciate anime that’s widely ignored. I wish more of the wider audience did too, but at least shows like Kabukibu! can find an audience – however small – thanks in part to aniblogging.
I had a pretty strong feeling that we were going to be treated to an outstanding finale here, and I certainly wasn’t disappointed. The staff here know how to do an ending, and this series has been trending unidirectionally upward for most of its run. This episode delivered pretty much everything you could have wanted – apart, perhaps, from (not to beat a dead horse) Kurosu actually appearing on-stage. But it delivered up some satisfaction in that area in the way I hoped it might, and everything else about the performance of “The Five Bandits” was a masterpiece. I can totally understand the look of rapt awe on the faces of those incoming first-years.
The first order of business was to get Ebihara as part of the Kabukibu’s production, but he didn’t make it easy. It was only on the way home after being rejected (I loved Shin growling at the dog) that Kuro was struck by inspiration – play dirty. He threw the fact that Jin had likely gotten Riri sick in his face, and pretty much shamed him into appearing with the kabuki group. But dirty or not, he’s actually got a pretty decent point – and besides, Jin was pretty much being a jerk about the whole thing at that stage anyway.
I’ll give Ebi-chan credit for this – once he decided to perform, he clearly took it seriously (for his own sake, if nothing else). He insisted that he’d be playing the part as a high school student, not as the heir of the Shiroganeya Clan (that’s an interesting philosophical distinction if you think about it), and proceeded (after a read-through) to give everyone on the cast one point to try and fix in their performance (apart from Kaoru, who he knew could handle more). Most interesting here, of course, was that Jin gave Akutsu-kun no pointers – he claimed it was because “I don’t like you”, but one suspects it was more likely that Shin was already pretty good. Or perhaps, that his strength is in his raw energy and magnetism – and anything Jin tried to do to tame that in one day would do more harm than good.
And that performance – wow. It took up almost half the episode, and well it should – it really made me want to see “The Five Bandits” live myself. Everything clicked (starting with Tonbo’s smile and assertion that he was having fun) – the subtitles, the gymnastics, the backgrounds… It was a perfect marriage between brilliance and believability. This performance didn’t look like a professional kabuki production – it looked like a kabuki production put on by exceptionally talented and creative enthusiasts who had everything go just right. And boy, did it ever.
There were a lot of tidbits I could single out from Kabukibu!’s take on “The Five Bandits” – each of the five character introductions was pretty riveting, for starters. But most interesting to me was that moment when Jin stole a quick look at Jin as he was introducing himself as Nango Rikimaru. I love the fact that Yoneda-sensei doesn’t dissect that, but rather lets us ponder on it. Just what was the significance of that for Ebihara? For me, I think it was an acknowledgement – a recognition that for all his dismissive derision, there was a genuine prodigy at work here, a potential star. And so much of that comes down to Ohsaka Ryouta, who – it must be said again – is superb in this role. He’s really good at kabuki for starters, and clearly that makes a huge difference.
In the end, though, the moment that hit me the hardest was when a the end of the performance, as the cast was taking their bows with Kuro way off in the wings, Shin introduced him and the entire club saluted him (and the audience, too). Kurosu teared up a little and frankly, so did I. If we weren’t going to see Kuro actually take a bow as a performer, it was critical to a satisfying conclusion that we see his efforts acknowledged and applauded. People like Kuro do exist in the world – they make things better for those around them with their tireless enthusiasm, work ethic and positivity (and talent, too). He was the perfect protagonist for Kabukibu! – he matched its personality in the same way Onoda Sakamichiu and Oota Shou matched that of their respective series.
In the final analysis, we’re back where we started – it’s all good. Kabukibu! ended up being a wonderful, uplifting experience – straightforward and optimistic and full of the joy that comes from watching characters you like do something they love. As terrible as most light novels are, this is a good reminder that exceptions do exist, and that they deserve to be recognized. The problem of course is that it’s not LN adaptations like Kabukibu! that end up making money, so they’re almost non-existent. But that doesn’t take anything away from the accomplishments of this series, which ended up being one of the best of the season.
I was half joking when I talked about Seikai Suru Kado being a JRPG now, but… well, I guess the results speak for themselves. The convenient super-metal that episode 00 spent all its time setting up is finally in play (let’s call it, say, orichalcum) and it’s time for our hero to forge the ultimate gear with which they can seal the evil god! Meanwhile, the evil god in question is having a grand ol’ time with his soliloquy and, er, making clones? Murdering clones? Wait, why did we need so many Shindous? Doesn’t the current just have a bit more knowledge about Za’s plans than the others? Is the original special in some way? In any case, there can only be one, I guess, so perhaps Za is just cleaning up the loose ends before we get to the finale. I would love for the final showdown to be a Shindou vs Shindou’ negotiation; it would have given more dimension to his character, and highlighted that even reasonable minds can differ (with itself). Alas, it’s probably going to be Link vs Ganon instead. Oh well.
Thankfully, violence is not the only solution, as there are hints that Za may be amenable to doubt now. I’m assuming that this is the first time he’s managed to dream, and as we’ve been taught by fiction everywhere, dreaming is a fundamental part of what makes us human. Let’s ignore questions about how dreaming works with the Sansa and believe he can reasoned with before he—what’s he doing?—eats the world. Shindou believes that negotiation should be about every side getting what they want (which presumes that there’s enough available to satisfy everyone and it’s not a zero-sum deal, but let’s set game theory aside since Kado doesn’t seems interested in it). Perhaps that’s still possible? Maybe Za can be satisfied with only some human volunteers, not all of them? What Shindou believes Za really wants, though, is a surprise, but is that the same as craving information? It doesn’t feel exactly right to me. Surprise is more like when information you already have turns out to be false, no? Like, if you were expecting no party, but suddenly, a party! That’s a surprise. To use a metaphor, needing more information vs needing a surprise is like being hungry vs being bored with food. It’s a quantity vs quality thing.
Well, no point thinking about it too much at this point—who thinks things through on this show anyway? Instead, let’s look forward to the big showdown, which should be an exciting moment of puny humans managing to reach the height of gods (or maybe flies too close to the sun, this parable goes both ways). In particular, I want to see what the grand scheme involving Hanamori. As a character, his main use has just been to handwave away all the paperwork that Shindou would need to do, and his supposed fast friendship with Shindou doesn’t have much flesh to it, so it’d be great if he manages to do something interesting. In a similar vein, I hope Tsukai manages to end up as a more impactful character than being plot grease/girl who cries. What I most want, though, is for Za to be a bit less hung up about his ‘right answer’. When someone gets so tunnel-visioned about their one true direction for humanity, when they approach population reform with such zeal, when they talk about ‘solving’ it, I get worried. No, I’m not saying he’s Hitler. I’m just saying he may need to work on his messaging.
「学問のすすめ」 (Gakumon no susume)
“An Encouragement of Learning”
Kotarou and his Mother
“I must live up to my promise. That is all that matters to me now” – Dazai
Episode 8 remains my personal favourite episode. Kimonos, wishing by the wind chimes and a first kiss… you’d be insane not to like all of that! However, this episode comes in a very close second, the focus on family making it particularly special. My favourite anime ever is Clannad: After Story, a sentiment that outlines my appreciation for focus on familial themes. This also means that I will be referring to Clannad at length within this particular area of discussion, so please avoid clicking the links if you want to avoid getting spoilt.
I don’t know squat about raising kids, and imagine I won’t for another decade or two. However, as a teenager in the process of being raised, I’ve been nagged at fairly recently so I can say a thing or two about that side of the experience. In that heat of the moment, you don’t really appreciate the things your parents have done for you and easily relent to an angry outburst. Yes, parents can be irrational and naggy, but most parents really do mean all the best in their own way. Human nature is to be inherently flawed.
A hormonal teenager’s volatility usually doesn’t make a great case for rationality either. That’s not to say everything should be calculated based purely on logic and reasoning, since it doesn’t consider emotional inclinations. So, part of being a parent calls for balancing these two aspects. I found it really touching, when Kotarou’s mother fought to give him a chance at chasing his dreams, despite her initial misgivings. Not quite Akio Furukawa, but I think her actions gave across a similar sort of vibe to his inspirational speech from Clannad – that a child’s dream coming true is one of the biggest dreams that can come true for their parents.
Going back to another similar vein to Clannad: After Story, the scene that spoke the loudest for me was the moment of reconciliation, as parent and child quietly came to a mutual understanding. Seeing Kotarou’s mother prepare him onigiri, and watching him eagerly chow down with a mixture of regret and gratitude (FOLLOWING LINK CONTAINS HUGE SPOILERS FOR CLANNAD) somehow takes me all the way back. Anyway, I think it might be a universal thing for mothers to just know best. Mine is already onto the fact that KFC Hot Wings are my ultimate comfort food, capable of calming me down after almost any kind of fight.
From the shy girl dependent on her sweet potato plushie, Akane’s growth since the start of the series has been absolutely astounding! She’s much more straightforward and confident, her puckering motions towards Kotarou indicating that she’s the one now asking for kisses! The two have definitely come a long way, as sadly the end is nigh.
Concluding Thoughts
“To decide I’m hopeless before I even begin is nothing but laziness” – Dazai
Here’s to holding out for a completely happy ending without drawbacks, but I’m still wary of getting Shinkai’d. If you want to avoid the terminal depression of being smacked unawares, I would suggest you follow me on this one. Kotarou worked hard and has done me proud with his steadfast persistence. However, it would be something of a miracle if he pulled off a pass.
Even then, his difficult path would only continue. Ayane makes a poignant remark on Akane bearing a huge responsibility. If the two broke up, Kotarou would be stuck with 4 hour commutes, potentially in the same class as his middle-school ex-girlfriend for hours upon end. For a single choice, the way it can affect their lives cannot be understated. Regardless, the dreamer in me denies these possibilities. I refuse to stop rooting for Akane and Kotarou, because apart from Hira and Chinatsu (as well as their sympathisers), who wouldn’t want to see these two make it all the way?
「再起と新規のゲームスタート」 (Saiki to Shinki no Geemu Staato)
“Resume and Start the Game”
And so ends Saenai Heroine no Sodatekata or, How to Train a Hopeless Boyfriend or, The Rehabilitation of Aki Tomoya. As we’ve noted time and again throughout this series, the ‘Boring Girlfriend’ is actually fine, and rather it’s her job to reform her male co-lead. And hence this finale and, for us, Katou Megumi’s final operation. Perhaps it’s to buck the usual dating sim formula, where the noble protagonist would assist a heroine in solving whatever deep personal problem she has and, through his selfless actions, win her heart. But it wouldn’t do to just have a simple role reversal, and just have the heroine be a crutch for the hero instead of the other way around. No, this isn’t just about Tomoya, and Megumi isn’t his fairy godmother. Megumi is heartbroken too, but she’s the stronger character and knows what she wants: she wants Cherry Blessing to live on, and needs to move Tomoya to keep it so.
Perhaps it would have been enough for Megumi to let Tomoya have his catharsis, and then take him into her arms and let him weep into her breast, as per another tried tradition. It would also have sealed her ‘victory’ quite handily as well. Evidently part of her wants to, but she doesn’t. It’s not her role. Megumi is not the fallback girl. And she’s not here to console Tomoya. She’s here to inspire him. She’s his muse. Tomoya may find another writer, or another illustrator, but Megumi is irreplaceable. And so, once more into the breach. But it’s different, this time, to the first time Tomoya noticed her on the hill. As Megumi notes, the hat may be mostly the same, but it’s not identical. To find his passion, Tomoya needs to fall in love. The first time, though, Tomoya fell in love with a fiction, with a chance encounter on a hill, falling in love with the idea of falling in love. Now, he needs to fall in love with a person. To make a better game, he needs to move outside of the game, to learn the joy of just spending time with someone normally, for romance to bloom not from some dramatic gesture, but from just connecting with a human being on a personal level. One day, Tomoya will understand how Megumi managed to worm her way into his heart, and then he will make a great game.
Saekano is pretty sure it wants to be a comedy first and foremost, though, so it doesn’t end with a grand confession or heartfelt cherry blossoms. So, one last round of hijinks, more fanservice, and a final kick to the fourth wall. I did want a more conclusive sort of ending to Saekano, and am slightly disappointed that we didn’t—it can’t be wrong to only want a story to close the curtain when there’s no more story left to tell, no? But I got my satisfaction still. Saekano may be very coy about it, dressing up Megumi and Tomoya’s romance in metaphor, but there’s no mistaking that they have the strongest relationship. They’re just brilliant together. And when I watch Megumi look on all her rivals, who have gained a powerful second wind, arrayed before her and still retain her easy confidence, I think that maybe this is right. This is her way. There’s a reason why Megumi is the one to bid us farewell at the end there. Let none mistake it: Saekano is her story through and through. Megumi’s got it under control. She’s the main heroine, after all.
ED2 Sequence
ED2: 「青春プロローグ」 (Seishun Prologue) by 妄想キャリブレーション (Moso Calibration)
Final Impresssions ~ We can, and did, do better
I’ve watched a lot of anime. That’s not a brag or anything, I’ve been at it for a long time and I blog the damn stuff, of course I’ve watched a lot of anime. It does mean, though, that I’ve watched my fair share of harem comedies, and by now it should be well within my rights to be complete sick of them. Many harem comedies—and indeed, many genres of anything, let’s not kid ourselves—follow very familiar formulae and if you’ve seen one you’ve seen a dozen. They’re not really the area where anime does much innovation, and that’s saying something in an industry where innovation is expensive and uncommon. So when Saenai Heroine no Sodatekata came along and managed to do something a bit different with the genre, and in the cheapest (and arguably most interesting) way—the writing—I fell in love on the spot.
While innovation is good and all, the side effect of growing old watching anime is that I also crave the familiar (as one does more as they get older, sadly). And thus Saekano was doubly interesting in that, for all it’s self-deprecation and poking at the fourth wall and general meta-humour, it’s still very much a harem comedy still. It’s end goal is not to deconstruct the genre, but to reconstruct it, and the latter is much more difficult than the former. Pure deconstruction, by its very nature, leaves nothing. It’s in the taking the pieces and putting them back together into something better that is the most rewarding, and takes most work because oftentimes it’s a matter of simply doing better. And that’s the goal of Saekano, as it explained itself—I assume Maruto-sensei surveyed the field of light novels, dating sims, and harem comedies and thought to himself that this can’t be the best we could do. Then he went out to try to prove it.
Hence the character of Megumi. Saekano is, at its core, a character study. In a medium that too often falls back on paint-by-numbers, template-based character design (the tsundere, the childhood friend, what have you), here we have a character presented to us with no preconceptions whatsoever. She’s not a grab-bag of features and personality stereotypes, sold to us as one might be sold a used car. She has no dramatic history, no secret powers, no special destiny. And she’s the female lead. Take that and run with it. And through the journey that follow we can see clearly that ‘character’ is not something for viewers to associate with patterns of behaviour; rather, it’s the other way around, and it’s patterns of behaviour that determine character. And that’s how it was with Megumi; everything we learn about her we do through her interactions with other characters and the actions she takes. We slowly build a picture of who she is, instead of deciding she’s such and such a person from the outset and attributing all her actions to that. It should never be, ‘She’s a tsundere, therefore she’s dishonest about her feelings.’. It should be, ‘Oh, she’s dishonest about her feelings. I wonder why?’.
How did the genre get into such a rut anyway? I think Saekano tries to address that through the other lead, Tomoya. He wanted to make this game that’s very character-driven, where one would fall in love with the heroine. But he had a very warped view about falling in love, and indeed about interacting with people in general. How can he make a good game about those things when he’s gotten everything so very wrong? The implication is that he’s an awkward otaku, who’s only learnt about writing dating sims from playing dating sims. But that begs the question: why does learning about love from fiction result in a warped view of love? And here’s where the meta of Saekano plays out: it seems that Maruto-sensei is saying that one can’t learn about good characterisation just from these harem comedies. And there’s something wrong with that. Stories are powerful tools for implicit teaching. The oral tradition gets passed down from parent to child for generations. Stories are supposed to enrich our knowledge of the world, to expand our understanding of the human condition. When it does the opposite, when they reduce our understanding, when they implant in us, as they did in Tomoya, a warped view of how people are and how relationships function, then something has gone very wrong. Maybe Saekano was simply an attempt, in a small way, to reverse course.
Or maybe I’m reading into it, but part of the fun of Saekano is reading into it. It delights in meta-humour, and dialogue is always rich with innuendo, so there’s always more to every scene than face value. I welcome any show that invites me to get more out of it. Then again, I blog Saekano on a weekly basis, and am forced to sit down and think about what each episode meant to me, and indeed have been forced to sit down and think about what this show meant to me in order to write these final impressions. A lot of viewers may not do the same level of inspection, and while a shame, is a valid and probably more common way of looking at the show. I hope, though, that even those of you who just watch Saekano in passing, can tell that there’s more to it than your average rom-com. Many praises to the entire production staff on managing to make such an interesting show in such an engaging way. No matter Maruto Fumiaki’s credentials as a writer, all anime are team efforts, and I’ve no doubt Saekano does the script justice. Now, where’s my Classroom Crisis sequel?
