Review:This review may contain spoilers for the series.
Everyone’s life experiences are different, but if I could name one thing that’s been relatively consistent among the people I know, it’s that they all have some experience working in customer service. Whether, like me, it’s something they did during high school and college to help pay for school or other needs, or whether it’s work they do today, it’s an experience we can all bond over.
When I was in high school thinking of applying for a part time job, I had a mental hierarchy of what I’d like to do. I definitely wanted to avoid food service if I could; I have a weird aversion to getting greasy and wasn’t keen on slinging fries. I ended up working for nearly 7 years at a big-box discount retailer which, like just about any service job, was a good learning experience that taught me the joys and challenges of working to help customers.
Naofumi Iwatani, an uncharismatic otaku who spends his days on games and manga, suddenly finds himself summoned to a parallel universe. He discovers he is one of four heroes equipped with legendary weapons and tasked with saving the world from its prophesied destruction. As the Shield Hero, the weakest of the heroes, all is not as it seems. Naofumi is soon alone, penniless, and betrayed. With no one to turn to, and nowhere to run, he is left with only his shield. Now, Naofumi must rise to become the legendary Shield Hero and save the world. – ANN
Episode Summary:Note – the first episode is double-length (45 minutes).
Naofumi leads a relatively comfortable life, which he lives while indulging his otaku habits. One of his favorite activities (after spending all his money, that is) is checking out light novels from the library. On a particular day he discovers a book he’s never seen before, which describes 4 legendary weapon-wielding heroes. As he’s paging through it, a glowing light envelopes him and he finds himself drawn into another world. He’s joined by three other young men and discovers that they have taken on the mantle of the 4 Cardinal Heroes described in the novel. They learn from the local king that they were summoned to stop the prophesied “waves” of malevolent attacks that have already begun.
The four Cardinal Heroes enter the picture. Screencap from Crunchyroll.
Naofumi’s three companions seem to have familiarity with this scenario whereas he does not, and he soon discovers that they hail from alternate versions of Japan in which this story is part of a video game environment. Another bit of bad news is that the shield hero, which Naofumi represents, is generally reserved for poor and inexperienced players, since all the character class is good for is defense. Worse yet, word of Naofumi’s naivete has quickly spread, and no experienced adventurers want to join with him to form a party. After some protests he’s eventually joined by Myne, an attractive young woman. She shows him the ropes, helps him kill some low-level monsters, and even eats dinner with him. But the relationship turns out to be a set-up; Myne uses Naofumi’s trusting nature to rob him blind and frame him for a terrible crime.
Left without resources and essentially exiled without aid, Naofumi begins to learn more about the specific power of his legendary shield while contemplating his revenge. The experience has hardened him and he stops trying to make nice with anyone, including vendors to whom he sells his meager earnings. Without a partner on the offensive, leveling-up his powers is essentially out-of-the-question. Learning of his plight, a mysterious man offers him a way to gain a party companion, though it’s a particularly distasteful method of doing so.
On a planet far from Earth, there is a kingdom full of smiling faces. Princess Yūki is 12 years old, and about to enter a sensitive age in a person’s life. Everyday, she cries, laughs, and sometimes, her heart throbs with excitement. All the while, she lives merrily in the royal palace. Filling her days with color are her loyal vassals: her tutor Reira, Izana who assists in political affairs, the leader of the chivalry Harold and then, there is her childhood friend and aide Joshua. Stella is 17 years old and a capable, reserved soldier. However, she is always smiling for smiling is essential to living. – ANN
Episode Summary: Princess Yuki, at the age of 12, has come of age and can now take a more active role in running her country in the place of her late parents. She’s a kind-hearted person and the new, expanded workload is taxing, but she seems to have a knack for decision-making that relies on her kindness and fondness for the people around her. One day she’s challenged by a member of the military order named Yuni. Though the questioning turns out to be a set-up and Princess Yuki impresses with her answer, her aide and childhood friend Joshua steps in and asks Yuni for a duel.
The duel takes place within a VR simulation, so nothing tangible is at stake; still, Joshua and Yuki prove that their close relationship is worth more than the number of soldiers on their side. After this, Joshua and company leave on a diplomatic mission to the border with Yuki’s message of friendship. But what Yuki doesn’t realize (and what the delegation hopes to keep from her) is that there’s a violent conflict raging. Can the delegation protect the Princess’s precious smile?
There is an urban legend that children tell one another about a shinigami that can release people from the pain they may be suffering. This “Angel of Death” has a name: Boogiepop. And the legends are true. Boogiepop is real. When a rash of disappearances involving female students breaks out at Shinyo Academy, the police and faculty assume they just have a bunch of runaways on their hands. But Nagi Kirima knows better. Something mysterious and foul is afoot. – ANN
Episode Summary: Keiji Takeda is in the city, waiting for his date, Touka Miyashita to arrive. She does, in fact, drop in, though dressed in black robes, ignoring Takeda completely, and aiding a disheveled, crying man while scolding the rest of the crowd for their insensitivity toward him. The next day, Takeda can’t get a hold of Miyashita at all, and with word of several runaways from their school, Takeda’s mind starts traveling to dark places. As the sun begins to set, he notices a figure up on the roof.
This rooftop presence has Miyashita’s face, but speaks with an awareness that feels otherworldly. They call themselves “Boogiepop,” an entity that only appears when needed and when the world is in danger. They warn Takeda of a monster, a “man-eater,” that poses a threat to humanity; it’s coincidental that Miyashita is the conduit through which Boogiepop was able to manifest. As Takeda wrestles with his ability to accept Boogiepop’s presence and Miyashita’s absence, he also becomes concerned that another student at the school may be the embodiment of the horror that Boogiepop has arrived to oppose.
Hello, friends! While I’ve decided not to tackle sequels this season for various reasons (lack of time being one of them, relative difficulty being another; I’d also rather not get Index or SAO fans after me), I wanted to poke around this season’s short anime.
Shorts are always kind of a mixed bag. While there are some shorts I’ve really enjoyed, their short run-time often feels like a sample rather than a meal. For the purposes of this post, I’ll be watching 2-3 episodes (or more) of each, so that I can ensure I’ll have enough material to work with. Though some anime series are accompanied by more gag-focused shorts, I’ll only be watching original short-form anime for this post.
Summary: Tae is about to experience one of her dreams – living in Tokyo as an adult. In order to make this dream a reality, she’s sharing a living space with three sisters and another former classmate. Tae is outgoing and has no trouble settling into the home, but there’s one minor detail that she didn’t know about ahead of time – in addition to their different personalities and style-sense, all of her new roommates also harbor within them special abilities. One can stop time, another can shoot energy beams, and there’s even a young woman who can duplicate the abilities of other powerful individuals. Tae feels like the odd-one-out… until she discovers a special ability of her own.
Hu Li is a poor but talented high school boy. He is a “ghost” singer/songwriter for the popular and narcissistic boy idol Kong Que, who is very handsome but can barely sing. Hu always wears a fox mask to hide his large facial scar caused by a traffic accident. He also uses a screen name “Mr. Fox” to publish his music online. – ANN
Episode Summary: Hu Li is a typical, unassuming young man. He holds down several odd-jobs to scrape by and watches those with fame and fortune from afar. But Hu Li has some interesting secrets. He’s a talented singer and songwriter who posts his creations online under a fox-masked pseudonym. He’s also the voice of a popular idol, the attractive Kong Que – a man with a pretty face but without the talent to go along with it.
Kong Que and Hu Li have an arrangement – Hu Li provides the live vocals for Kon Que, and together they create the perfect idol. A clause in Hu Li’s contracts is that no one can find out the nature of this secret, but after receiving a mysterious email one night, Hu Li realizes that someone is watching his every move.
Suzuka Nagami is a beautiful third-year middle school student who has excellent grades and is the student council president. She wrote a novel about a little sister who dotes on her older brother, and the the novel wins a light novel award. After they discuss the matter, her older brother Yū is the one who debuts as a proxy light novel author instead of Suzuka, under the pen name Chikai Towano. – ANN
Episode Summary: Yu has aspired to be a light novel author most of his teenage life, but his contest submissions never seem to make it to the finalist stage. After another rejection email, he looks up the winning entry – a story about a sister who harbors feelings for her older brother. Yu files the information away for later use (it might be a decent read, after all).
In the meantime, his sister Suzuka (with whom he has a strained relationship) begins to act as though she has some news to share with him. Finally he gets her to cough it up – she was, in fact, the winner of that writing contest, having submitted a manuscript that she just happened to write on a whim. With that blow to his confidence out of the way, Yu ends up undertaking a difficult challenge; Suzuka can’t make public appearances as an author for various reasons, so she ropes Yu into becoming the public face of her writing.
Itsuki Yūge is a high school student who finds out on the day of his graduation ceremony that his cousin and childhood friend Mahiru is pregnant. Immediately afterward, Itsuki and Mahiru are taken to a magical world called Granvania, which is currently being invaded by monsters. The only people who can fight and exorcise the monsters are the “Star Children,” and the Star Children can only be produced by the 12 “Star Maidens.” In order to defeat the monsters and return to his own world, Itsuki must father the Star Children with the Maidens. – ANN
Episode Summary: Itsuki’s cousin Mahiru has some news for him, and it’s a surprise to them both: Mahiru is pregnant, though having never had intercourse the mechanism is truly a mystery. As she reveals the news, both the teens are drawn unwillingly into a magic porthole that connects to another world. After battling with a demon, they’re met by someone from the royal court who escorts them them to the castle.
As the King himself explains, Itsuki was brought to their world to be its savior, and Mahiru is one of twelve zodiac priestesses who play an important role in the world’s survival. It’s not Itsuki himself that’s destined to purify the world, but instead the offspring he creates with each of the priestesses have the power to save them all. As a relatively innocent guy, this weighty task seems somewhat daunting though perhaps a little fun, too. When his potential coupling with Mahiru is set to become a reality, it’s then that Itsuki is under the gun to prove what kind of man he is.
Yuu, a young healer with the power to heal the hearts of monsters, receives a mysterious bottle from his father as a gift. When Yuu touches the bottle, Merc, a girl made of liquid, appears from it. Merc has no memories from before she met Yuu and wants to learn more about who she is, so the two of them set out on a journey through various countries. – ANN
Episode Summary: Yuu is a young man with a developing ability to heal agitated beasts and monsters. His adventuring dad brings him home what looks like just a weird bottle of water, but inside is a magical water fairy named Merc with a snappy personality and a desire to lead Yuu out on his own adventures.
As Yuu and Merc plan to embark on a quest (since Merc’s horoscope leads her to believe that it’s the best time to do so), they get involved with a small, fluffy monster who seems insistent that they follow him. Their fluffy friend leads them to a large monster in need of healing. Though Yuu’s abilities may be somewhat untrained, his natural talents are able to calm the beast. To show thanks, their fluff ball companion elects to join them as they adventure into the unknown.
Mullin lands his dream job with the demon king he’s always held in awe, but when his tenure begins, it turns out the demon king isn’t quite what he expected. Beelzebub is a hardworking female demon but her dedication to her job is only rivaled by her love for everything fluffy. – ANN
Episode Summary: Though human beings have many myths about Hell, in truth it’s a very pleasant place, populated by demons who don’t appear as sinister as expected. In fact, they’re actually fallen angels who still (in some ways) serve God, and they’re led by the intelligent, powerful, and cuteness-obsessed demon Beelzebub. Beelzebub’s assistant, Mullin, has always looked up to his leader (and might even have feelings for her), but can’t reconcile the image he had of her with the reality of her personality. In truth, Beelzebub is very capable, but her comfort around Mullin manifests as laziness and continued expression of her love of soft and fluffy things.
Their relationship is a bit of a tug-of-war, which blows up when Beelzebub wanders off in Hell Ginza and gets lost. Mullin worries that, in spite of her battle prowess, she’ll end up getting mugged – or worse. When he finds her, he lets his emotions show, and Beelzebub doesn’t know how to react. The real problem is that she’s started to feel feelings she doesn’t have the experience or the vocabulary to define, and it seems to be Mullin’s fault.
