Winter 2021 New Anime – Premieres for Friday, January 8th 2021

It’s amazing how much things can change in a short amount of time. Yesterday during the day I was all geared-up to come home and watch anime, but then before I went to bed I started to feel suspiciously cruddy. Now I’m working from home and hoping that all I have is a case of the creeping crud. Luckily I don’t feel too poorly, but I’m a little irritated that the only places I’ve been for quite a while (aside from work, which is fairly isolated) are “the grocery store” and “the other grocery store” and I still managed to catch something.

On the upside, it does mean I get to use my lunch time to watch a little anime to maybe catch up a little bit (not that I’m stressing). This group of premieres is the largest so far, but if this post gets too long I might split it in two so that I don’t overwhelm folks.

Use the links below to navigate to the review you’re interested in:

Bottom-Tier Character Tomozaki
The Hidden Dungeon Only I Can Enter
So I’m a Spider, So What?

Bottom-Tier Character Tomozaki

Streaming: Funimation

Episodes: 12

Source: Light Novel

Story Summary: Fumiya Tomozaki is a top-tier player when it comes to his favorite video game, but he feels as though the odds are stacked against him in real life. One day after playing against “No Name,” the only online opponent he respects, they extend an invite to Tomozaki to meet up in person. Tomozaki is shocked to discover that his rival is no stranger; No Name is actually his popular classmate, Aoi Hinami. Hinami’s just as shocked (and kind of disgusted) to discover her adversary is someone so unkempt, but manages to appeal to to Tomozaki’s game-oriented mind. She’ll help him master the world’s foremost god-tier game – the game of reality.

Impressions: One of fiction’s great strengths is its ability to give a voice to underdog heroes. One of its great weaknesses is that stories occasionally frame misanthropy as victimhood, elevating characters that perhaps deserve to be examined but probably shouldn’t be put on a pedestal. The first one-third or so of this episode feels an awful lot like pandering toward folks who’ve decided to base their entire personalities around their self-described unpopularity. Tomozaki complains about his outgoing, popular classmates, as if they’ve been given something he’ll never have – life on easy mode, as they say. Rather than see socializing as something that takes work to perfect, Tomozaki blames the game.

It’s not until after his first awkward interaction with Hinami that we get a better picture of what this series is supposedly about; rather than allow Tomozaki to indulge endlessly in his understandable but wrong perception of what it takes to be a person in society, Hinami offers herself as an example of what hard work and some care can do toward establishing social clout. I think it’s easy for folks like me who have been burned multiple times by shows with specifically sexist anti-social protagonists to feel a little bit wary whenever a teenage male protagonist begins to rant about the “popular kids,” because it sounds a bit like a precursor to a mean-spirited revenge story. I can’t say for sure, but I think this anime might also be a revenge story, though of a different sort. Some claim that the best “revenge” is living a successful life in spite of your perceived detractors, and I get the sense that this anime is going for that angle rather than simply banking on the rantings of an outsider.

Pros: While it’s corny, I like the analogies that compare living life to playing the ultimate game. When boiled down to it simplest parts, life kind of is like a game – if you’re lucky you get some say in your class and a choice of skills, and with practice you can grind to get better and ultimately lead a more fulfilling life (of course, that assumes you have access to certain resources and the privilege of time to better yourself). It’s silly but I can appreciate it.

I like how Tomozaki and Hinami play off of one-another. Hinami’s introduction doesn’t paint her as a very kind person, but her willingness to work with Tomozaki and help him out at least suggests a streak of kindness.

Cons: There’s an undercurrent to the show’s premise that really doesn’t sit well with me. While I agree that having confidence attracts people, I also balk at the suggestion that having friends requires molding your appearance or personality to be a certain way. One of Hinami’s first assignments for Tomozaki is for him to practice smiling by wearing a mask and smiling behind it constantly. I get that having a pleasant look on your face can allow you to appear more welcoming, yet if someone told me that I need to smile more, I’d perhaps start to believe that I was only worth being around in my happier moments. I think that’s an issue with every “My Fair Lady” scenario – it requires that someone change significant things about themselves to be loved.

One other thing that bothered me is that Hinami invites Tomozaki over, changes into sweats, and takes her makeup off. When she enters the room he doesn’t even recognize her. She looks exactly the same! They didn’t even adopt the cliché of having her wear glasses at home to make her face look different.

Content Warnings: Tomozaki’s monologuing in the first part of the episode could read as threatening to some.

Would I Watch More? – I would watch more, but I probably won’t follow the series weekly. I have the feeling that if I were to enjoy the series, I’d have to see Tomozaki improve in larger chunks, rather than slowly week-to-week.

The Hidden Dungeon Only I can Enter

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: 12

Source: Light Novel

Story Summary: Noir Stardia is the third son of a low-ranking noble family, so his job prospects are slim. He’s prepped and ready to start a job as a librarian, but is usurped by a higher-ranked noble at the last second. His friend Emma suggests that he enter the Hero Academy, which will set him up with riches for life. But in order to git gud he has to find a hidden dungeon that will train up his meager combat skills. He discovers one that’s been hiding an interesting secret – an adventurer named Olivia was trapped there 200 years ago, and when Noir arrives she transfers her odd powers to him since she’s still incapacitated. This gives him the leg up he needs to pass the Hero Academy’s entrance exam, but he’ll have many more challenges ahead.

Impressions: The Hidden Dungeon Only I Can Enter sounds like a euphemism, doesn’t it? And in practice, the focus of this series seems not to be far from what one might expect. The skills that Olivia transfers to Noir can be recharged via one very important method – the pursuit of pleasure. While this could mean eating delicious food, in practice it mostly seems to mean indulging in sexual activities (even fairly tame ones, like hugging someone closely). It’s a corny skill point mechanism that seems well-suited to this fantasy fanservice series. While Noir seems to be a pretty decent sort most of the time, beyond a certain level he’s definitely not shy about earning those points.

And that’s really the bulk of what gets, eh, fleshed-out during this episode, which walks a tightrope between feeling a little rote and being a little pervy (in kind of a gross way at times). One scene that continues to bother me occurs when Emma is lamenting the back pain that comes with having a substantial chest, so Noir uses his powers to shrink her boobs. Even though he doesn’t directly touch her, it reads to me as a violation. Like… if someone had the ability to change what I looked like without input on my part, that would be kind of terrible. His new powers, limited only by the extent of his imagination (as well as how often he can manage to get lucky) provide the opportunity to commit some truly creepy acts; one can only hope that the story manages to stay away from more dubious-consent scenarios.

Pros: I’m amused by the way that Noir’s abilities manifest themselves in that they display stats as if in a video game. It’s definitely not a new gimmick, but so far this doesn’t seem to be a “trapped in a video game” scenario so the fact that it’s so based in RPG iconography is mildly entertaining to me.

I like that this series is, however clumsily, attempting to comment on classism. While it hits with all the subtlety of a semi truck (literally all the other nobles we see turn their noses up at Noir – a mere baronet), it’s at least a start.

Cons: As far as fanservice series are concerned, this one is (so far) pretty mild, but while it’s just the occasional upskirt shot or breast-focused camera angle, it’s more than enough to be distracting. I think that introductions often serve to tell you what the narrative deems important about a character, whether intentional or not: Emma comes bounding onto the scene chest-first (complete with sound effects) and that and other chest-focused gags are unfortunately probably what I’m going to remember about her.

Content Warnings: Fanservice (bouncing breasts, cleavage, 1 upskirt shot). non-consensual use of body-altering magic.

Would I Watch More? – No, I’m not really interested in this.

So I’m a Spider, So What?

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: 24

Source: Light Novel

Story Summary: In many isekai tales, individuals are whisked away to other worlds so that they may live out their power and revenge fantasies. However, that’s news to a certain hapless high school student who’s been reborn in another world as a helpless arachnid. She must quickly learn to navigate this dangerous spider-eat-spider world if she’s to survive. Meanwhile, most of her other classmates and her teacher have been reborn as human and elf nobility. Will our intrepid spider ever reunite with her classmates, and the more important question – what will happen if she does?

Impressions: While I would someday love a return to the older isekai style of great epic fantasy series like The Twelve Kingdoms, about the best I’ve been able to hope for lately are quirky takes on the more modern formula that eschew the genre’s seedier aspects. Rather than focus purely on the accumulation of power or vengeful acts committed by the protagonist, shows like Ascendance of a Bookworm or Restaurant to Another World are more focused on cultural education or extremely specific, smaller stories, which are more my speed. So I’m a Spider, So What? seems to exist in a space somewhere in-between these two interpretations of the genre, where our heroine may have been somewhat anti-social in school, but whose personality and knowledge base gives her reason to aim for self-improvement despite starting from a place of literally nothing. I mean, there aren’t many beings that are lower on the food chain than spiders, unless you’re talking mosquitos (except Minnesota mosquitos, which might as well be pterodactyls).

Much has already been made of Yuki Aoi’s performance, which is likely to be divisive; much of the first half of the episode or so is her freaking out at various things (I mean… I’d certainly freak out if I witnessed spider cannibalism). I happened to find it pretty funny; while I’m not normally into “yelling-style” humor, the spider girl’s dialog is pretty much an extended monologue and very stream-of-consciousness with a ton of personality, so it feels a lot different than multiple characters yelling and insulting each-other. Overall, this is a situation where the protagonist can make-or-break the show, and so far I think she’s a net positive.

Pros: The spider design is super cute. The CG model featured in an earlier trailer looked a little bit clunky, but the final design of the spider girl matches more closely with the cartoonier 2D illustrations I’ve seen. I think bugs and spiders are inherently creepy to a lot of folks, so to manage an appealing one is quite a feat.

I just generally think it’s interesting to get a story of this kind from a “monster’s” perspective; a spider doesn’t have the benefit of size, vocal cords (though that’s unclear) or thumbs, so she’ll have to learn the details of her situation quickly and adapt.

Cons: I’m much less interested in what’s going on with the rest of the classmates. I understand that the “human” story is probably meant as a different kind of anchor point for readers/viewers, but I’m here for the spider.

One character also grossly overreacts to another character’s changed sex (on Earth they were a boy and they were reincarnated as a girl) and it’s just a big sour note right in the middle of an otherwise enjoyable episode.

Content Warnings: There’s a lot of gore in this first episode, including spider-on-spider cannibalism and our protagonist’s takedown of a large poisonous frog. A gag related to a person’s different sex.

Would I Watch More? – Yes, I really liked this first episode, and I always like to have some silly anime in my diet.

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As I mentioned, there are enough series that premiered on this date that it’s probably best I split this post up. Stay tuned for the second half, coming up soon!