Tag: First Impression

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First Impressions Reviews

Summer 2017 First Impressions – Action Heroine Cheer Fruits

The “local heroine fighter” of a certain city became popular and a national star. Because of this, “local heroines” debuted in various other places, and their action live events became a hit trend nationally. In Hinano City, high school girl Misaki Shirogane and other girls become local heroines (at the urging of Misaki’s aunt, the prefectural governor) and vow to produce action live events. – ANN

Copyright 2017 (c) diomedea

Streaming: HIDIVE

Episodes: TBA

Source: Original

Episode 1 Summary: Mikan Kise and her sister are huge fans of Kamidaio, a city heroine who’s gone on to be famous across Japan. Nowadays there are many cities who utilize these mascot heroines to promote tourism in their area, but Kamidaio is by far the most famous. Now she’s slated to come to Mikan’s hometown of Hinano during the local Sakura Festival, and she’s definitely not going to miss this chance. The day of the anticipated performance, however, brings bad news; some sort of scheduling incompetence on the part of the organizers means that the Kamidaio show is canceled without any further explanation, and Mikan’s sister is heartbroken. Mikan makes a hasty promise to bring Kamidaio’s show back to the city in a week, but she’s not quite sure how she’ll accomplish such a thing. The answer lies in fellow student An Akagi, a former rhythmic gymnast and unabashed Kamidaio fan who seems game to put together a rollicking hero show for the local kids. Mikan and An work all week, practicing stunts, building costumes, and choreographing the show. At first the audience seems highly unimpressed, but eventually get caught up in the spirit of the show. After the home-made production gets put online, the girls get an unexpected call from Misaki Shirogane, student council president at their school and action heroine enthusiast. She’d like to help give Hinano City its own action heroines – and wants Mikan and An on board.

Impressions: Action Heroine Cheer Fruits is fun surprise wrapped in an initially unappealing package. Part “working women” tale a-la Sakura Quest or Shirobako, and part tokusatsu show, the premise sounds pretty ridiculous on paper. It seems sort of as though the creators wanted to take advantage of the popularity of idol group anime like the ultra-successful Love-Live! and sprinkle in a bit of something creative to set it apart. The resulting production ultimately seems much less commercial and a great deal more kind-hearted than I would have expected.

Mikan and An have a fateful crash in the school hallway. Copyright 2017 (c) diomedea

The first episode introduces a couple of different relationships that I assume will probably maintain some degree of importance throughout the series. The first is the sibling relationship between Mikan and her younger sister. Mikan seems to go beyond simply caring for her younger sister out of sisterly obligation; she seems genuinely concerned with Yuzuka’s happiness and well-being. She’s heartbroken when the Kamidaio show doesn’t happen, not so much because she missed it, but because Yuzuka was looking forward to it so wholeheartedly. While the characters themselves are pretty typical for an ensemble series, the way that their relationship is portrayed adds an extra dimension of kindness, which I really liked.

The other important relationship is the one that develops between Mikan and An. They might be fellow students at the same school, but they’ve never really interacted with one-another aside from knowing each-other’s name and crashing into one-another in the hallway between classes, as this episode demonstrates. But as two people with different personalities, they seem fated by the anime-writing gods to mesh well in a team setting and build upon each-other’s strengths. Mikan brings the kindness, An brings the spunkiness athleticism, and together they create a winning combination. Again, on paper this all seems pretty obvious and neither character feels very fleshed-out yet (and with a promo pic crammed full of several other girls I feel like full-on characterization might not be this show’s forte, in the end), but I like how the conflict between the two is kept pretty minor and their interactions quickly turn into something very harmonious. I think it speaks well for the show so far that there’s not a lot of time spent with the characters trying to struggle and assert their big personalities; with such a goofy title and premise, I think it’s imperative that at least some facets work well from the get-go in order to keep the audience engaged.

It’s a fighting montage (montage!). Copyright 2017 (c) diomedea

It’s fortuitous that the show wastes no time cultivating a fun atmosphere and making us all feel good, because there are some other technical areas where it’s definitely not as accomplished.  The production house, diomedea, has been involved in a long list of animation projects, but mostly as an in-between studio. Of the few times it’s served as the headlining animation production studio, I’m only really familiar with The Lost Village (which was much better than most people gave it credit for; I will fight you) and Girlish Number, which I’ve watched more recently. The latter seemed particularly well-planned, and it probably had to have been; in order to portray the main character’s sour face and attitude, as well as the parody-style industry bits and the so-bad-it’s-good anime series the characters are a part of, it takes some good animation chops. This show already has more of an action-focus than either of those previous series, but the production values and animation consistency already seem kind of middling. There’s a lack of dynamic movement, as well as a few quality control problems with character animation in some of the slower-moving moments. The show seems a bit washed-out most of the time, too. Part of me tends to think that anime original series are where production studios tend to shine, even if they might often be vanity projects; in this case it doesn’t appear that that rings true.

Something worth mentioning, in the grand tradition of reviews on this website; due to the type of action being portrayed and the environment in which the characters are practicing their moves, there are a couple of up-skirt shots with underwear. I tend to think they were more incidental than anything else, but I also believe they’re always a choice in animation since someone made a storyboard and then someone else had to draw the frames. In a show where the characters read as being younger, I found it a little bit startling. Why choose to show underage girls in their underwear (or in the bath tub, hot springs, etc.) when you could choose to not show underage girls in compromising positions and potentially irritate fewer viewers? That has always been my question (and please don’t answer it for me, I realize there’s this notion that you “have to” include fanservice to love-bomb viewers into watching your show – I don’t subscribe to it).

Criticisms aside, I left this episode with a really warm feeling. I love being pleasantly surprised by an anime about which I had only very basic expectations; often times anticipated shows turn out to be duds, so it’s nice when it goes the other way! I think the show has a lot of heart and I always like the idea of girls banding together to accomplish some sort of goal, even if it’s kind of a silly one. This might be a good option for folks who enjoy magical girls, but are not as huge of fans of the “dark magical girl” trope that’s taken over in recent years. It seems very focused on its feel-good atmosphere and presenting the ideals of teamwork within a plot that’s a little bit silly, but considering Japan’s penchant for anime-related tourism, not entirely out of the realm of possibility.

Pros: The first episode is kind-hearted and feel-good; the conflicts are minor and reasonable to overcome. The character relationships are warm.

Cons: The production values are a little bit off. There are a couple of underwear shots that are made more distracting by how young the characters look.

Grade: B

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First Impressions Reviews

Summer 2017 First Impressions – A Centaur’s Life/Centaur no Nayami

Himeno is a sweet, shy little centaur girl. In her world, everyone seems to be a supernatural creature, and all her classmates have some kind of horns, wings, tails, halos, or other visible supernatural body part. Despite their supernatural elements, Himeno and her best friends, Nozomi and Kyouko, have a fun and mostly normal daily school life! – MAL

Copyright 2017 (c) Emon Animation Company

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: 12

Source: Manga

Episode 1 Summary: Himeno, Nozomi, and Kyouko are your normal, everyday high school students. In their world, however, “normal” means sporting some kind of super-human marker, whether that be animal ears and tails, extra limbs, wings, or other fantastic traits. Evolution took a vastly different course in this universe, and six-legged mammals eventually evolved into the variable humanoid sub-species that we might consider mythological. That said, Hime and her friends lead an especially average life, concerned with the things that might take up any student’s time and energy, like gym class or being in the class play during recital week. Of course, this present day scenario is downright idyllic compared to the atrocities and discrimination of the past, where centaurs were used as slave labor or were thrust into caste-like roles in society. But everything nowadays is fair and equal… or is it?

Impressions: I had every expectation that this show would be a silly, frothy, potentially (too?) fanservicey slice-of-life with some monster girls thrown in for flavor. What I didn’t expect was for there to be even the slightest suggestion of an unsettling backdrop to the story. While this isn’t an unwelcome variation on the theme, I’m concerned that the theme of the series might turn out to be a little bit too unsavory for my tastes.

Himeno and Nozomi kiss during practice for the class play. Copyright 2017 (c) Emon Animation Company

The first half of this episode is devoted to a story event already in progress. The students are putting on a romantic short play, and Himeno is tapped to play the princess. The gag is that this has been the role she’s played since she was in kindergarten, possibly due to a pun on her name (the “Hime” in “Himeno” meaning “princess”), but more than likely due to her good looks and delicate personality. There’s a vaguely comedic mix up when a male student tries to position himself in the role of the prince but is found out and one of Hime’s female friends gets the role instead (allowing for a girl-girl smooch that seems perfectly aimed at a presumed straight male audience hankering for some yuri action), as well as a moment of tension when the set piece upon which Hime stands collapses under her weight (she is half horse, after all). It’s mostly kind of goofy and dumb, and serves mostly to introduce the main characters and make a few jokes at the expense of the titular centaur.

The second half of the episode, though, has a much more sinister undercurrent. In science class, the characters learn about human evolution from their teacher. All the humanoid variants in their world are the result of fish that evolved to have six fins, which began mammals with six legs, and eventually humans with several different varieties of additional limbs, horns, tails, and other accouterments. Much like our own society, these various differences had the effect of causing discord and discrimination among the different tribes. This is all mildly interesting, and even sort of funny in that the assertion is made that four-limbed humans would only have been different in their skin color rather than their overall body composition, from which no sort of discrimination could possibly have resulted. Perhaps the creepiest part of this whole line of exposition occurs while two very shady individuals monitor the classroom from outside the door. Their faces are mostly hidden but they appear to be listening intently to what the teacher is saying. The line she speaks seems perfectly rehearsed; she proclaims that equality is ultimately more important than anything else, including civil rights. Barring the fact that those two things are pretty darned related, in my opinion, the entire scene feels like some sort of bizarre authoritarian propaganda report. And the creepy men outside the door seem pretty pleased by it.

Big Brother is watching. Copyright 2017 (c) Emon Animation Company

It’s difficult to know exactly how these statements are meant to come across. I interpret them as indicative of some kind of extremely subtle dystopian society, where personal freedoms have been traded for peace and control, and that unsettles me. I’m not sure if the creator is making these statements to criticize moves to legislate equality, as have been done via various civil rights acts in real life (to varying degrees of actual success); while I might interpret these laws as meant to protect marginalized groups via the (imperfect) legal system, others (wrongfully) might think that they’re being instituted to give some people “special treatment” (ugh). It could also be a statement about the harm that’s done when we’re made to think of everyone’s experiences as being the same, when in fact they’re very different based on a number of factors. There’s a large chance that I’m overthinking a small aspect of an otherwise goofy show, but I think there’s also the potential that the show is making an attempt to be political, and I have the feeling if it goes that route it’s going to be really ham-handed about it.

A third potential interpretation, though, might not end up too bad. The creator could have set the story anywhere, but chose to use a high school as the backdrop for the story. We always hear about how the Japanese school system trains students in conformity and emphasizes sameness and group-think in order to maintain harmony. Knowing even what little we already know about what’s going on in the background of this society, that setup sounds kind of familiar, no? There are already tons of anime, manga, and films that criticize this type of school environment, so it’s definitely not the first (and probably not the best, either). But it does result in kind of an interesting variation on “cute girls with animal ears doing stuff,” so that’s a plus.

The show wastes no time getting to the yuri bait. Copyright 2017 (c) Emon Animation Company

Of course, there’s still a hefty dose of “cute girls with animal ears doing stuff,” for good or ill. There are some errant panty shots, a few suggestive yuri situations (basically the first shot of the show is two girls kissing each-other on the lips… but it’s okay because they’re in a play together), and lots of “girl talk” that feels pretty manufactured and occasionally needlessly voyeuristic about body functions. I’m sure we all have questions about how centaurs wipe their butts after going to the bathroom, but I don’t need a fantasy anime series to go into detail about those things when I just want to watch something dumb and silly. The up side, though, is that the characters are actually pretty cute. Somehow Himeno seems delicate despite being three times the size of her friends, and that in itself is amusing.

The character designs are cute, but the animation quality is mostly just serviceable. This is another Chinese partnership anime, and while this one in particular doesn’t feel like it was transported straight from the late 1990’s, I feel sad that seeing a Chinese hand in the production still seems to mean that the show is lacking in quality control somewhere or that the show isn’t given the resources and the time it might deserve. Then again, there are plenty of Japanese (and American) shows with similar issues, so perhaps picking on China in particular is wrongheaded of me.

This show isn’t life-changing and I don’t think it’s that “holy grail” monster girl anime that I’ve been wishing for ever since Monster Musume turned out to be a horny sex-fest of uncomfortable proportions. But if A Centaur’s Life devotes some time to the issues of its broader society (I’m not sure how much the manga goes into it, either), I think it could be kind of interesting in spite of its various issues.

Pros: The story might have more depth than originally indicated. The characters are pretty cute.

Cons: There’s some fanservice that doesn’t sit well with me and seems like yuri bait. The overall visual quality isn’t great. It’s hard to say if the setting and authoritarian rules might be suggesting something worse than “the Japanese school system sucks.”

Grade: B-

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First Impressions Reviews

Summer 2017 First Impressions – Clean Freak! Aoyama-kun/Keppeki Danshi! Aoyama-kun

The handsome young soccer genius named Aoyama is a Japan representative. His play style is “cleanliness.” He doesn’t tackle and doesn’t head the ball. If he’s doing a throw-in, he’ll only do it if he’s wearing gloves. – ANN

Copyright 2017 (c) Studio Hibari

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: 12

Source: Manga

Episode 1 Summary: Aoyama is the star soccer player on his high school team. This is in spite of (or perhaps actually because of) his germophobia. He won’t touch a dirty soccer ball, he won’t get his clothing dirty, and he won’t do anything that causes him to come into physical contact with other players, including his teammates. This drives his teammate Zaizen up the wall, since he thinks that everyone else is much too accommodating to Aoyama-kun’s needs. The thing is, though, that everyone else seems to admire Aoyama’s cleanliness, and they sure as heck think he’s the best player at their school. Even members of rival high schools keep trying to poach Aoyama-kun away. After Aoyama leads the team to victory in a game against a clearly better school, Zaizen starts to gain a grudging respect towards his unusual teammate.

Impressions: This episode is a great example of a premise that could have resulted in something really terrible, but which managed to avoid becoming terribad and instead settled comfortably into being slightly above average with some hit-or-miss comedy for flavor.

Aoyama goes for the goal. Copyright 2017 (c) Studio Hibari

Speaking as someone with a history of mental illness (though of a different style than featured here), I wasn’t looking forward to watching an anime try to feature a character who seems to be someone living with one.  Anime, like other forms of media, has a very spotty track record when portraying mental illness, and more often than not it serves as the punchline to a joke. For every show like Trapeze which to my memory seemed to get a lot of the emotional side of mental illness right (despite being a comedy), there are several more like Welcome to the NHK that mix up “profound social anxiety” with “hapless otaku maladjustment” and end up becoming insulting in the process. It’s a difficult thing to get quite right and there’s a feeling of glaring falseness that’s there when it’s wrong. So you can imagine how low my expectations for this anime were, knowing nothing much beyond its premise. Surprisingly, though, I’d qualify this attempt as “pretty okay,” which might not sound like high praise but which I think does a good job of capturing the fact that the show is decent without a lot of major screw-ups.

The first episode’s point-of-view character is Zaizen, who shortly becomes very frustrated by the fact that Aoyama seems to require so many special accommodations and his classmates and fellow team members seem unruffled by this and are even willing and able to deal with them without pulling their hair out. I think that Zaizen, despite being a pretty outspoken jerk throughout the episode, is use well throughout. Though I tend to stick with people online and in real life who understand the need to celebrate diversity, including neuro-diversity, I think there are many other people who are unfortunately not in the frame of mind to give others what they think of as “special treatment,” and showing Zaizen having that kind of reaction acknowledges that. That said, the point is that Zaizen isn’t shown a lot of sympathy, and in fact there are several people who try to get him to adjust his attitude by showing Aoyama’s good points as a player and a person – he’s an excellent soccer player with an incredibly accurate and focused playing style that’s the direct result of his needs as a player, after all. I think by the end of the first episode we’re all on board with who Aoyama-kun is.

Zaizen watches Aoyama’s post-game cleaning of the soccer balls. Copyright 2017 (c) Studio Hibari

One downside to this setup, though, is that Aoyama doesn’t get much of an opportunity to speak for himself. We’re positioned as outside observers who learn about Aoyama through the eyes of the people who know him. There are the gaggle of girls who have crushes on him because of his spotlessly clean hands (when in fact, all the hand washing would probably be more painful than anything else, but I suppose there has to be some element of fantasy), the other players and team manager who seem to be admirers rather than close friends with Aoyama, as well as the rival school members who know all about Aoyama’s skill on the field, but not really anything else about the way he operates as a person. It may be too much to ask for a comedic series to provide a lot of deep insight into a character, let alone from their own perspective. But that doesn’t make we want to stop asking for it.

Something I made note of while watching this episode was the fact that it exists somewhere in between a straight sports anime and a true gag series, and the juxtaposition of the two without a strong focus on either is actually a little bit disorienting. One shared trait of many of the best sports anime I’ve watched is that they do a good job of being funny while also portraying the seriousness and intensity of the sport. Hinata and Kageyama of Haikyu!! are quite the odd couple, and the comedic tension that arises due to their opposing personalities is really entertaining. But the show is also great at portraying exciting volleyball action and knows when to forgo the humor and bring that to the forefront. Clean Freak! Aoyama-kun seems to be just slightly uncomfortable focusing too much energy on exploring either side of the equation; there are a couple of good visual gags (Aoyama cleaning his classroom window got a chuckle out of me) and some heartfelt moments, like Aoyama working on the soccer balls after the game, I didn’t get the impression that the show was really committed to either piece. Unfortunately, I didn’t feel like the first episode left much of an impact (aside from a repeating gag focused on a rival character’s abs – many people might find this kind of non-sequitur obnoxious, but it’s honestly so stupid that I actually laughed every time the character appeared with his shirt pulled up).

Aoyama is admired by his team’s manager. Copyright 2017 (c) Studio Hibari

Thankfully, the anime does seem to have a stronger visual style than its blander storytelling might suggest. During goofier moments, the characters do switch into kind of a funny “chibi” mode that, while not lending a lot of extra strength to the humor, does at least notify the viewer when things are meant to be comical. This is sort of a classic technique that might feel a little bit overbearing to some, but I found it kind of cute. The animation is fairly serviceable when portraying the sports action as well; the opening scene where Aoyama scores an important goal during the All-Japan championship is really well-done, as is the match that caps this episode and proves Aoyama’s prowess as a player (and his ability to be less-stringent about cleanliness depending on how far into the match he is – sometimes a little mud is tolerable, as long as it’s less than five minutes to the end of the game). The lines are clean (har har) and the animation is consistent throughout this opener.

Ultimately I don’t know if this show will satisfy sports anime enthusiasts or fans of comedy anime, but it does have the distinction of being significantly less offensive to me as someone with mental health issues than I would have expected, and its heart seems to be roughly in the right place, so that might be a decent starting place.

Pros: The animation serves its purpose well. The premise could have skewed in a much more offensive direction, but instead the bulk of the characters seem to be supportive of Aoyama’s needs.

Cons: The comedy and sports aspects seem to be at odds with one-another. That guy’s abs are like their own character.

Grade: B-

Categories
First Impressions Reviews

Summer 2017 First Impressions – Restaurant to Another World/Isekai Shokudou

A restaurant called “Yōshoku no Nekoya” (Western Cuisine Cat Restaurant), which is located on the first basement floor of a building at a corner of a shopping district near an office area. While it normally feeds salarymen, there is a secret in Nekoya. Every Saturday when the shop takes a day off, Nekoya is teeming full of “special customers.” For the office workers, it is a familiar place with familiar dishes, but for these Saturday customers — “people from that world” — it is nothing but cuisine never seen or heard before. – ANN

Copyright 2017 (c) Silver Link

Streaming: Crunchyroll, with Simuldub on Funimation

Episodes: TBA

Source: Novel Series

Episode 1 Summary: Nestled somewhere in the city is a mysterious restaurant serving “Western” cuisine. What Western really means in this context is anyone’s guess; generally anything not “Japanese” in origin, coming from somewhere across the ocean, might be considered Western. What’s special about this restaurant, a little hole-in-the-wall with a cat on the door, is that one day a week its door opens into the “other world,” and fantastic creatures including elves, demons, werewolves, and even dragons enter to taste Earth’s delicacies. On one of these special days, a young demon named Aletta wanders into the restaurant and, hungry from not having any money or a place to stay, eats an entire pot of corn potage before falling asleep. Rather than punish her, the restaurant’s chef lets Aletta shower and then gives her a job as a waitress for the customers from another world.

Impressions: As a fan of both relatively-plotless low stakes anime series and anime revolving around food and drink, Restaurant to Another World is a rare instance of something that seems perfectly constructed to scratch multiple itches. The show also puts a bit of a twist on the popular Isekai fantasy anime subgenre by bringing the “other world” into ours, rather than allowing yet another character-less teenage guy have all the fun in a fantasy world of his imagination and invention. There’s a lot stacked in this show’s favor, and so far I’m having mostly positive feelings.

Delicious, glistening teriyaki chicken. Copyright 2017 (c) Silver Link

The dishes featured in this episode aren’t necessarily anything out of the ordinary; within the first few minutes we get to see restaurant customers ingest teriyaki chicken, curry rice, katsudon, and beef stew (while also arguing about which goes best with white rice). This might seem like a fairly typical conversation to be had among friends, but the twist is that, to the individuals sampling these dishes, these relatively commonplace foods are strange, delicious delicacies from our world that aren’t easily obtained in their own. There are times where I’ve daydreamed about what it might be like for someone from our distant past on Earth to be brought suddenly into the present day; what might they think about our technological progress or the strangeness of our popular culture as compared to our own? What’s fun about this episode (and by extension, likely the series as a whole) is that it speculates on the reactions of people to whom our world, customs, and favorite foods are completely foreign. It’s difficult to say exactly what a lizard man might think about the ways in which we prepare chicken, but I appreciate that someone has tried to speculate.

The first episode also devotes a little time to the subject of prejudice, and how even a world about which we might fantasize could still have some of the same types of discrimination that we’re still working hard to identify and mitigate. The way that this is approached is pretty obvious and somewhat ham-handed; Aletta is a demon, and so the humans of her world don’t want to be around her or let her have a job despite her harmlessness. It’s the type of situation that pretty much anyone, aside from the most fervent racists, would identify as being wrong, so there’s a definite lack of nuance that doesn’t result in the type of meaty commentary that the creators might think that they’re providing, but I’d be curious to know if it’s a subject that comes up again and if so, whether it’s examined in more depth.

Aletta starts her new job at the restaurant. Copyright 2017 (c) Silver Link

I’m a bit amused by where the show’s staff seems to have devoted the most visual resources. Most of the character animation is functional but unremarkable. Even the depiction of what seems to be a relatively important (and incredibly sexy) character, the female dragon who seems to own the magic restaurant door as one of her many treasures, is mostly serviceable rather than eye-popping. But when it comes to the food, I can’t say I have any complaints. The glistening, darkened skin of the chicken, the crunchy fried katsu coating, the fluffiness of the fried eggs… almost all the food we get to see throughout the episode is incredibly appetizing and makes me want to pull out the pots and pans and cook up a feast for myself. I may not have been hungry before I started watching, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t develop a bit of an appetite after getting an eyeful of juicy deliciousness.

Unfortunately (and along those same lines, to some extent), this anime suffers from something that I’ve refrained from commenting on too much as of late (because of reasons). Though the show’s focus isn’t exactly on the humanoid characters for the most part, it seems like there’s an exception when it comes to the women of the show. Both Aletta, one of the few named characters, and the powerful dragon who seems to have ownership over the restaurant, are both subject at various points in the episode to the camera leering over their questionably-necessary nudity. I’ve gone from a near zero-tolerance policy on this kind of material to something of a more grudging acceptance of it in certain small amounts (believe me, when you’ve seen some of the vile anime I’ve seen throughout my time as an amateur reviewer of anime, there are a lot of things that suddenly become tame in comparison), but there’s never a point at which it doesn’t rankle me a little bit, and in this case it feels really out of place. The narrative doesn’t seem constructed to appeal to a primarily straight male audience otherwise; on the contrary, it’s these types of iyashi-kei series that I often think of as being almost universal in their potential appeal. So why waste multiple camera shots lingering over nude bodies when there isn’t otherwise a focus on titillation? It’s frustrating and jarring in a way that it wouldn’t be if this were just another in the endless string of fanservice vehicles.

All of our faves are problematic, though, and while I can’t quite place this premiere among my favorites yet, I do think the basic setup allows for something mostly pleasant and kind of unique to come. If the show can play to its strengths and stick to the food rather than the fanservice, I think this could be a nice low-key addition to my Summer queue.

Pros: The food looks delicious – it’ll whet your appetite! The show might have something to say about prejudice (albeit in a simplistic way).

Cons: There are several lingering shots over female nudity that are distracting and don’t serve a purpose.

Grade: B-

Categories
First Impressions Reviews

Summer 2017 First Impressions – Magical Circle Guru Guru/Mahoujin Guru Guru

The seal that confined the evil monster Guruguru for hundreds of years has worn off. A young boy named Nike is chosen (against his will) as the hero. He sets off with Kukuri, a girl who is the lone survivor of a tribe that uses black magic for good, to save the world, RPG style. – ANN

Copyright 2017 (c) Production I.G.

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: 24

Source: Manga

Episode 1 Summary: After 300 years, the seal on Demon King Giri has worn off, and it’s time for a new hero to go on a journey to defeat him. As a kid, Nike might seem like the least likely choice to deal Giri a smack down, but his parents have been raising him to take up the mantle of hero for his entire life. Despite Nike’s protests, he’s sent off to Magic Granny’s house to obtain a traveling companion. There he meets Kukuri, the last of her line of magic users, and a start-struck 12-year-old to boot. She considers her meeting with Nike her destiny as a magic user, and the two journey to the Anshient Castle to meet with the king. Though there are hundreds of other hero-wannabes already there, Nike demonstrates some elusive inner potential and is sent on his way (along with a modest monetary payment to purchase supplies). They meet their first monster on the road, but due to its bad case of monologuing and Kukuri’s innate talent (luck?) with magic, they’re able to defeat it.

Impressions: Magical Circle Guru Guru is a surprise in both tone and style; in an age when anime (even humorous anime) takes itself very seriously, this show seems to hearken back to a simpler time of rapid-fire gags and outright parody, and is ultimately stronger for it.

Nike doesn’t want to be the hero. Copyright 2017 (c) Production I.G.

The anime reveals itself as a parody of 8-bit style RPG’s right from the get-go with its use of pixel art and dialog boxes straight out of classics like Dragon Quest or the original Final Fantasy. As Nike is thrust into the role of protagonist, the show wastes no time in pointing out the inherent ridiculousness of so many video games in establishing the hero’s role and purpose. Who in their right mind would assume that a tween kid still living with his parents would make a suitable hero. Of course he holds some mysterious unnamed power – all the tropes say that he has to! The way in which the show employs each and every one of those time-worn cliches belies the fact that the creators of the story truly have a lot of love for these kinds of scenarios; many of us geeks of a certain age have a shared experience in playing these types of games, so while we might not exactly what’s “supposed” to happen, seeing it unfold gives us a chuckle and a warm case of the nostalgia fuzzies.

Another nostalgic aspect of the episode is evident right from the get-go; the show channels other classics like Kodomo no Omocha in its way of presenting the story through non-stop visual gags and hyperactive dialog. This barely gives the viewer a chance to take a breath and regroup before tackling the next item on the story agenda, but this is definitely where familiarity with the structure and pacing serves another purpose; when you already know what’s supposed to happen and have already accepted that it will do so without question, it leaves enough time for your brain to latch onto the fact that one of Kukuri’s magic circles is the “laughing man” symbol, or that the home-cooked meal made by Nike’s mother is the perfect visual representation of an RPG world map. It’s a bit like the way in which moé characterization can, in some cases, serve to provide a good character baseline so that additional character development can occur within the relatively protracted time period allowed for in most TV anime these days. It definitely doesn’t occur that way successfully in all cases, but when done right it can help make the most of limited resources.

Don’t draw your magic circle incorrectly! Copyright 2017 (c) Production I.G.

Speaking of characterization, though, I feel like that might be one area where this episode happens to fall short. It can be easy to underestimate the importance of character development in a comedic setting, especially with a gag-comedy focus. In the end, the most important thing is that most if not all of the jokes were successful in entertaining the audience. I’ve found that a lot of viewers (and some creators) tend to underestimate the potential value added when competent comedy is coupled with sympathetic characters with whom the viewer can form a connection. Jokes that harp on one person’s primary defining trait often grow tiresome, but jokes that escalate as we learn more and more about a character’s inner self make for some of the most transcendent, memorable laughs in anime (one series that does this surprisingly well is Nichijou, which is a must-watch as far as I’m concerned).

My main complaint with this episode in this regard isn’t as much with Nike, who’s kind of your crabby “everykid” hero and seems fairly self-aware, but with Kukuri who stands out to me as being more ill-defined. She’s introduced as a character who’s cute but ineffectual but for her streak of dumb luck. She’s worshipful of Nike, her “hero” who serves some sort of important role in her life as an ideal rather than a friend or equal; it’s this piece of it that grates on me a little bit. Kukuri toes the line between someone who could eventually become aware of her own potential and someone who’s purpose in the narrative is to provide Nike more obstacles to overcome due to her clumsiness and lack of awareness. For now their dynamic is kind of funny, but it’s something to keep my eye on.

The characters travel in 8-bit mode. Copyright 2017 (c) Production I.G.

I briefly mentioned above how the show utilizes visual parody in addition to other forms of humor, and this is probably one of the more entertaining aspects of the episode. There are several 8-bit overhead view interludes (in 4:3 aspect ratio, no less) that occur when characters travel, or something is occurring that seems particularly ripped-off from any of several classic RPG video games. This breaks up the episode nicely and the technique isn’t overused which lets it keep being funny rather than repetitive and tiresome. There’s also a similarly funny effect that occurs in some instances during character closeups, where they’ll be portrayed as they are in the anime, but highly pixelated in close-up. It’s difficult to describe why it’s so amusing to me; I tend to think that extreme close-up shots of people’s faces are inherently pretty funny for whatever reason, especially if the zoom slowly increases in intensity. The added effect of the pixels only enhances that. Overall these cute additions really serve to emphasize the tie that the show has to a particular era of video-gaming; while I believe that the show is made for younger viewers, this aspect makes it entertaining for those of us who played the first Dragon Quest on cartridge, too.

I have to say, this show really came out of nowhere for me. As a re-make of an older series, it definitely looks pretty unassuming. There wasn’t a lot of energy put into making it flashier for a new generation of viewers, and I think that was the correct decision. Considering that anime comedies tend to be mostly-miss for me, I really didn’t have a lot of reason to pay attention as this was coming down the pipeline. After finding myself highly amused by episode 1, I feel like I might have to add it to my queue. At the very least, it seems like it might be a fun distraction.

Pros: The visual and parody humor work well together. There is judicious use of visual gags like 8-bit style and pixelation.

Cons: The characterization is a bit lacking so far.

Grade: B

Categories
First Impressions Reviews

Summer 2017 First Impressions – 18if

One day, Haruto wakes up on a round bed in a strange room, with the only familiar things around being his smartphone and headphones. After encountering a strange girl in white named Lily who claims to be his sister and a man who looks like a cat, Haruto learns that he is in a dream belonging to Yuko, a girl stricken with Sleeping Beauty Syndrome. Yuko is the Witch of Thunder, an all-powerful woman who makes the dream world bow before her to ensure she’s known the strongest, the best, and the most fun person around. Haruto’s sister tells him that he must wake Yuko up by killing her in the dream in order to break the “spell” she’s under, but Haruto’s got some other ideas about what might be keeping Yuko asleep. – ANN

Copyright 2017 (c) Gonzo

Streaming: Crunchyroll with simuldub on Funimation

Episodes: TBA

Source: Multimedia Franchise

Episode 1 Summary: The Witch of Thunder rules her dream world with an iron fist, turning its denizens into avatars of cuteness and destroying anything that she doesn’t like. Enter Haruto, a sullen teenage guy who seems unaffected by the inherent strangeness of the dreamscape around him. He’s the only person who can see the elusive “Lily,” a legend of the dream world and a white whale of sorts to Professor Kanzaki, a researcher who appears in dreams as an anthropomorphic cat. As the two chase after this mysterious girl in white, the Witch of Thunder clues into their location and begins the process of bending the two interlopers to her will. Kanzaki is quickly dispatched, but Haruto refuses to see what is happening as anything other than a strange dream. It’s through this skepticism that he’s able to distinguish the Witch for who she is – the dream persona of a girl named Yuko, whose feelings were hurt by a group of bullies. Haruto releases Yuko, who then awakes again in the real world. But Haruto’s job seems far from over as he awakens and finds himself still within a surreal setting.

Impressions: Having been an anime fan for so many years, it’s difficult to avoid comparing a current anime to ones with similar ideas, especially if the earlier examples were executed more successfully. At first glance, 18if seems to be about a mysterious young man who encounters women with problems, and due to some inherent talent on his end is able to heal these women and release them from their suffering. Another anime that immediately came to mind was one of my favorites, the horror drama Mononoke. For those who are unfamiliar, Mononoke follows a character known as the Medicine Seller, who identifies and exorcises malevolent spirits. The show is fairly episodic, but one common thread between all the stories is that they shine a light on the injustices done to women throughout history (mostly Japanese history, but with some minor variations I think many of the experiences could be interpreted as fairly universal); the titular mononoke are based around various Japanese yokai and spirits, but are colored by how they originate from things like forced abortion, abusive relationships, and workplace sexism. I’ve seen some reviews that interpret the show as being terrible for women, in that the stories are built entirely around women’s suffering. For me, however, I found a lot of personal meaning in how the stories were presented – each story arc revolves around uncovering the truth, specifically the truth of the life lived by women and how their poor treatment represents an illness within society.

The Witch of Thunder surveys her dream kingdom. Copyright 2017 (c) Gonzo

Having seen one of the very best representations of this kind of storytelling, it’s difficult to overlook a situation in which the structure of the show seems similar but the execution feels lacking in depth and nuance. Whereas the Medicine Seller’s otherworldly presence in Mononoke and his ability to uncover subtleties and details allows the truth of each situation to be exposed on its own (usually out of the mouths of the people who caused the problem in the first place), Haruto’s sarcastic disinterest and unaffected nature runs contrary to the fact that he seems to be naturally able to navigate and control aspects of the dream environment. He seems more alarmed by the fact that Lily, a girl only he seems able to see, calls him her brother than the fact that he’s about to be squashed by giant teddy bears or hacked-up by a vengeful witch. None of his actions seem purposeful, and while this might be typical for an anime hero getting oriented to a new and strange environment, the lack of any consequences for the character and his lack of focus, direction, or even personality leads directly to a lack of tension throughout the episode.

The episode itself attempts to bank on its presentation of the dream environment as disorienting and weird. Much of the first half of the episode is short on dialog and seems more focused around the various environments that Haruto encounters as he wakes up multiple times from within some sort of dream-ception. One thing that I love about animation is that it can be utilized fairly readily to create settings that cannot exist as easily when portrayed in live-action film. In this case, though, a problem arises from the fact that dreams, while often strange, still often have some element of reality to them. One of the most affecting things about the animated movie Paprika was that Satoshi Kon was able to capture both the reality and the strangeness of dreaming so completely. The dream settings were often mundane, or drawn from film imagery that wasn’t especially extraordinary; when pieced together with representations of the dream-specific feeling of being unable to run quickly or seeing faceless background “characters” however, the experience felt very genuine. 18if represents dreams as wacky abstract environments and characters that seem visually complete but purposely out-of-place, which definitely provides for something zany, but doesn’t give the same unsettling impression of a genuine human dream.

It’s okay because it’s just a dream. Copyright 2017 (c) Gonzo

This, I think, is where the concept falls apart. Ultimately we learn that the dream world is something of a witch’s labyrinth a-la Madoka Magica; Yuko falls asleep in the real world as the result of some cruel bullying from her classmates, and a malignant dream in which she has sovereignty and has the luxury of being pampered and given total attention is the result. That set up seems fine except for the fact that there are literally zero visual connections between that reality and Yuko’s dream prison, and the attempt to connect the two conceptually through her need for control is pretty pasted-on. Add to that the fact that there’s the potential for some garbage gender dynamics between the “hero” – a typical teenage anime guy – and a bunch of girls(?)* with problems, and I’m very hesitant about where this show is going.

As much as the first episode attempts to present a visually engaging setting, there’s a major setback in the fact that the animation is merely functional rather than striking. Not every anime series enjoys the benefits a lot of lead time and great planning; I have no idea what the turnaround time on this show was and so it’s difficult for me to be too judgmental, especially when anime, despite being a visual medium, is almost always more about the story and characters for me. Sadly, though, it’s difficult to ignore the fact that the character animation in this first episode is kind of shoddy and underwhelming for a first episode and I’m concerned that, if it looks like this now, it will probably look even worse later on.

Because nudity = vulnerability. Really! Copyright 2017 (c) Gonzo

Having been an anime fan through Gonzo’s heyday with properties like Gankutsuou, I always kind of hope that they might somehow end up involved with another artful classic close to that level. While this show seems to want to make an attempt at visual uniqueness and the cultivation of intrigue via the route of confusing and disorienting the viewer, it falls short in establishing a story (or protagonist) that feels genuine, and that’s really a shame. Yes, things might get better later on and yes, all the sexist undertones may at some point be subverted in favor of something better, but I don’t have a lot of faith.

*I’m just speculating due to the use of the term “witch” which normally suggests some kind of malignant, aggressive, or otherwise contrary femininity, unfortunately.

Pros: Gonzo, you tried?

Cons: Visually disjointed. I interpret the set up as having some sexist undertones.

Grade: C-

Categories
First Impressions Reviews

Summer 2017 First Impressions – Chronos Ruler/Jikan no Shihaisha

The story centers on “Chronos Rulers,” those who fight the time-eating demons that appear when people wish they could turn back time. The Chronos Rulers fight a time-manipulation battle against these demons. – Wikipedia

Copyright 2017 (c) project No. 9

Streaming: Crunchyroll with upcoming simuldub by Funimation

Episodes: TBA

Source: Manga

Episode 1 Summary: Koyuki and her friends are about to graduate from high school. Koyuki wants to put on a musical performance at their graduation ceremony, but regrets that her brother won’t be able to attend. He passed away rescuing her from being hit by a car, and she still carries that regret with her. When other students begin muttering about a clock tower in town  where one can make a wish a turn back time, Koyuki is greatly tempted by it. Unfortunately, conducting the ritual only attracts the attention of a “Horologue,” a demon who feeds on human beings’ time-related regrets. Luckily, she’s protected from harm by Kiri and Victo, individuals with some control over the speed that time progresses. They’re able to dispatch the horologue, but at the cost of some of Victo’s memories. Victo himself is the victim of a horologue; though he appears to be a young man, he’s slowly becoming younger and younger, losing time and memories of his past life in the process.

Impressions: Note: Contains a spoiler for the major revelation at the end of the first episode.

Kiri looks out over the city after his battle with a Horologue. Copyright 2017 (c) project No. 9

Chronos Ruler is kind of an oddity in my eyes. What starts as sort of a typical early-2000’s-style buddy cop urban fantasy series a-la Descendants of Darkness turns weird (weirder?) when we learn that the two main characters, who’d normally probably be assumed yaoi couple and primary draw of an otherwise straightforward TV anime, are actually father and son. Due to some weirdness related to the flow of time (basically the entire mechanic that makes up the plot), the youthful, twerpy protagonist is suddenly made to be a tragic figure and his “brother,” actually his son, is the one who gets to watch him slowly fade into nothingness. Fun times! It’s kind of a unique situation, a surprise for me as a viewer; for a medium that relies a lot on copying what came before, I think that’s something to be lauded. I just wish that the concept had been a part of a show less workmanlike and a bit more interesting in other ways.

As an action vehicle, this episode does some good things using what it has to work with. I thought that the opening scene was especially exciting and well-executed; Kiri chases a horologue through the streets of the city and there are lots of dynamic shots with some slow-motion pauses that ramp up the “cool” factor a bit. They also emphasize, without outright saying anything, the nature of the character’s time manipulation ability, which I thought was a nice touch. There’s also some surprisingly good CG integration in these scenes; the moving backgrounds and the horologue enemy are both accomplished using primarily CG animation, and the character animation goes between 2D and 3D in this and later scenes, depending on the complexity of the camera movement and distance from the camera. Obviously it’s noticeable since I noticed it, but I think it works well and isn’t so jarring as to become distracting. As compared to something like Hand Shakers, my low-bar for diarrhea dumping CG elements into an anime, Chronos Ruler is relatively judicious with its CG and the resulting product is very watchable.

A horologue is produced from Koyuki’s regrets. Copyright 2017 (c) project No. 9

The episode does have a glaring problem, however. Like many anime before, there is an overriding tonal conflict that takes away from the meat of the show. Overall I’d peg this as a relatively serious action/fantasy series with kind of a classic feel to it; there’s an opportunity for contextual humor with a sarcastic, cynical edge, but for the most part the story seems to lend itself to being straightforward and a little dark or melancholy. But several times throughout the episode, the character interactions devolve into something out of a manzai routine, with Kiri as the exhausted straight man and Victo as the goofball. These moments serve to heighten the tragedy of the characters’ situation when it’s revealed later, but in the midst of the exposition these moments are distracting and irritating. This episode deals with a regretful death, albeit in kind of a melodramatic way. There’s an overall sadness to it that isn’t well-served by this type of intrusive goofiness, and to be honest I’d rather be ham-handedly manipulated into feeling sad for the characters than jerked-around between feeling bad and feeling irritated over the immaturity of the production.

Time travel and time manipulation are two subjects that are rarely examined in a way that’s comprehensible, because due to the nature of time itself, messing around with it creates every manner of logical conundrum and paradox one could imagine. I doubt that this anime series, which seems to operate entirely under the guise of the “rule of cool” has the chops to really follow through on that front. And as a bishounen vehicle, well, I’m sure there are many fans who won’t worry about the father-son dynamic in the protagonists’ relationship (nor should they: people can like what they want), but for me that kind of removes all that would have attracted me from the “hot guys doing action stuff and being hot together” angle. Ultimately I’d expect this show to unfold in way that’s mildly entertaining but probably pretty forgettable.

Pros: The action elements in the first episode are pretty well done. There’s good integration of CG elements.

Cons: The comedy stuff sticks out like a sore thumb. The relationship between the protagonists could be weird/squicky for some.

Grade: C

Categories
First Impressions Reviews

Summer 2017 First Impressions – Fox Spirit Matchmaker/Enmusubi no Youko-chan

In a world where Spirits and Humans coexist and can fall in love with each other, many Spirits see their human loved ones die before them due to the Spirits’ much longer life expectancy. Even when that human is reborn, the previous memories of their past life is erased from their memory. However, it is said among Spirits that a certain “service” is spreading. This “service” is provided by the “Fox Spirit Matchmakers” who can revive the lost memories of their former lover. When a Spirit loses their lover, they can purchase the service of the Fox Spirit Matchmakers to attempt to restore their former lover’s memories, and continue their love story together. This story follows a young Fox Spirit Matchmaker who tries her best to restore lost memories and spread love. – ANN

Copyright 2017 (c) Haoliners

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: 24

Source: Chinese Web Manga

Summary of Episode 1: Fox spirit Suusu comes from a prestigious clan of matchmakers – individuals whose job it is to locate reincarnated humans in service of the immortal spirits who love them. Unfortunately Suusu is young and hasn’t yet completed a match. Her clan is about ready to kick her out, though she’s determined to complete her next mission and prove them wrong. It’s in pursuit of this possibly fruitless dream that she runs into shameless monk Haku Gessho, coincidentally the human man to whom she’s been betrothed. Somehow these two misfits decide to work together, not realizing that they’re meant to be together.

Impressions: It’s been an awfully long time since I’ve watched something that so thoroughly gave the impression that someone had thrown a bunch of sad old tropes into a bag, shuffled them around, and then dumped them out and used them as-is to make a profoundly mediocre end produce. During the best episodes of anime, I often find myself pausing each episode multiple times to absorb what’s going on; during this episode of anime, my mind wandered to the point that I was nodding off.

Suusu’s sibling(?) wants her out. Copyright 2017 (c) Haoliners

I don’t want to pigeonhole these Chinese co-productions (or just productions? I’m still not entirely sure) too much, but of those I’ve sampled so far, they seem to have several things in common. They often feel like the generic versions of genre pieces that were popular about ten – or more – years ago. They seem to be made without much care given to aesthetic appeal and don’t seemed to be planned or directed with much intention. And there’s really something indescribable about the dialog, especially when it’s supposed to be funny; it’s like the jokes have been run through three or four different translations, and the cadence just doesn’t seem right even if the words kind of make sense. This show seems to suffer from all of these things, with the added setback of having two extremely unlikable protagonists.

Suusu’s characterization seems to be banking mostly on her cuteness and utter ineptitude. While this isn’t the type of character I’m drawn to anyway, set against some of the other major problems this episode has (including its disjointedness and inscrutability), it turns something that’s boring into something that’s kind of infuriating. Gessho is your typical skeezy dude looking to shirk his responsibilities, and being such he’s in the company of so many other dismal anime protagonists from really mean-spirited ecchi shows his presence here just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. There’s zero chemistry between the two leads and I’m not sure that anyone involved with the production could do much to make me feel anything about their relationship at this point. It’s been a while since I’ve been so unconvinced by a couple that’s ostensibly fated to be with one-another.

Gessho strikes a pose. Copyright 2017 (c) Haoliners

While I don’t normally enjoy harping on things like this, I feel I really have to mention that this is one of the clunkiest and visually-unappealing series I’ve watched lately (and I watched an entire episode of Hand Shakers so I’m pretty sure I know what I’m talking about). If the show had great writing or something other hook I might be more inclined to overlook the workmanship aspect, but there’s truly not much to distract one from the fact that the characters are all lacking in detail, barely move (even during “action” scenes), and look like they don’t actually exist within the backgrounds that they’re slapped on top of. The background art is also incredibly generic and doesn’t give the impression of any particular time or place. It mostly seems to exist just because someone had to put something there.

Though I mentioned it earlier, it bears repeating that there’s just something a little bit off about the dialog. Much like the events of the episode, which keep occurring one-after-another with very little rhyme or reason, people keep talking and talking without saying anything substantial and their lines are translated awkwardly, almost too literally in some cases. I’m reminded of a Perd Hapley line from Parks and Recreation, altered and paraphrased – the lines have the cadence of a joke, and that’s really the only way I know that I didn’t laugh when I was meant to. If I were more inclined I’d go re-watch the episode in order to provide an example, but I’m not inclined to put myself to sleep at 7:30pm a second night in a row (yes, this happened; after I watched the episode I wandered out to the couch and fell asleep for two hours. I know what I’m doing the next time I have a bout of insomnia!).

Part of me really wants to see a breakthrough anime-style hit from somewhere other than Japan. Considering that Japan farms out a lot of its animation work to Korea, China, and places in Southeast Asia, it seems long overdue that these other countries should have a share in the success of the anime aesthetic. I’m positive that it will happen at some point. But not right now and not with this stinker of an attempt.

Pros: I like the Haoliners intro animation, but I couldn’t find a video to link to so you’ll have to take my word for it.

Cons: The protagonists are unlikable and their relationship isn’t believable. The animation is clunky and flat, with little personality. There’s something goofy about the dialog and/or translation.

Grade: C-

Categories
First Impressions Reviews

Summer 2017 First Impressions – Knight’s & Magic

A Japanese mecha otaku dies in a car accident and his soul is reincarnated into another world as Ernesti Echevarria. Eru inherits memories and interests from his previous life, and aims to be a pilot of a Silhouette Knight, a large humanoid weapon that really exists in his world. – ANN

Copyright 2017 (c) 8-Bit

Streaming at: Crunchyroll

Number of Episodes: TBA

Source: Web Novel/Light Novel

Summary of Episode 1: Kurata is a programmer who always gets the job done, even when it’s crunch time and it doesn’t look like his team will meet their deadline. He’s also a big fan of mecha anime and has an entire room in his apartment devoted to his model collection. Unfortunately, once he’s killed in a hit-and-run on a rainy night, his model-making hobby is over for good. Or is it? As luck would have it, Kurata’s spirit is reincarnated into the body of a child noble named Ernesti “Ernie” Echevalier. Better yet, the world in which Ernie lives is one filled with magic, as well as mecha-like apparatuses called “Silhouette Knights.” With his adult-like maturity and interest in mecha, Ernie manages to work his way into the top of his class and eventually positions himself to become a pilot. But demons are starting to run amok. Will Ernie’s cleverness and penchant for inventing things be the factor that turns humanity’s luck around?

Impressions: First of all, let’s get this out of the way and then never speak of it again: what is up with the apostrophe in the show’s title? It’s been causing me a lot of heartburn. Maybe Japanese creators could just agree to employ the services of a native English speaker from now on so that we can all avoid any future hair-pulling punctuation flourishes.

Kurata’s last moments. Copyright 2017 (c) 8-Bit

Just like every other storytelling trend, the fantasy subgenre of “Isekai,” in which a modern day individual is transported from their home into another world (the word literally means “another world.” It makes sense!) has been expressed in so many variations lately that it’s beginning to seem a little bit stale. More often than not, it feels like the trope is used solely in the service of stroking the male ego – “I’m an otaku who knows how these alternate worlds work through my extensive knowledge of fantasy media and games, so the elves, demi-humans, and other female denizens of this realm will certainly fall in love with me!” There are obviously many variables in both specific details and relative quality, and it’s not like this is a new phenomenon or one solely limited to male characters (in fact, some of the earlier examples I can think of featured young women drawn into worlds with groups of hot bishounen suitors), but it’s been very one-note as of late. So what does it take for something with a stock premise to stand out?

One good example I watched some of within the realm of recent memory was The Saga of Tanya the Evil, which reincarnated its adult male protagonist into the body of a young girl and turned its story into a philosophical debate about the existence of God. For every high-minded and creative attempt, though, there are several Sword Art Online clones, as well as wildly-popular but ultimately unsatisfying and problematic examples like Re:Zero. More often than not the genre is used as a setup to portray a teenage male power fantasy, paving the way for the protagonist to experience undeserved privilege (due to his knowledge of fantasy and/or video game tropes) and the adoration of an endless parade of cute but vapid female suitors. So where does this example seem to fall?

Ernie gets the opportunity to see a cockpit up close. Copyright 2017 (c) 8-Bit

The answer, for now, seems to be that it’s somewhere in between. There are several good things going for the show from the get-go, the primary one for me being the protagonist’s seemingly bottomless enthusiasm regarding his new and strange situation. Kurata/Ernie, for his part, seems to be so thankful to have been reincarnated into this brand new world that the loss of his previous life, job, and faithfully-curated mecha model collection, doesn’t haunt him too badly. It’s presented as if whatever deity running the universe has presented Kurata with some kind of consolation in exchange for cutting his life short. Rather than be all entitled about it, he interprets this chance as a gift to live a life that he’s dreamed of. Ernie might be unnaturally talented for his age due to his soul’s fortuitous foreknowledge of technology and ability to solve problems quickly and creatively, and this could easily have been used to portray him as arrogant and superior. But he’s so gosh-darned thrilled to learn about the Silhouette Knights and to study magic that it’s difficult not to get caught up in the whirlwind of his joy. His relationship with the Alter siblings and their shared penchant for learning, increasing their magical skills, and using them to aid others is nice as well.

The age of the primary characters also helps to set the tone of the show – the protagonist and his cohorts are all about middle-school aged, which is helpful in keeping them from seeming too self-important. They’re not yet concerned with looking cool and pretending that the issues of the adult world are somehow also their burdens to bear. They’re just kids – precocious ones, certainly, but also enthusiastic and guileless. They’re not yet concerned with the opposite sex in a way that makes many anime feel skeevy. Cool toys and friendships are paramount; other responsibilities can wait.

A Silhouette Knight puts down an evil creature. Copyright 2017 (c) 8-Bit

The show’s attitude and presentation could definitely carry it forward for a while, but it will certainly need to be coupled with other compelling elements and whether that part will be successful is difficult to predict from this episode alone. The building blocks of the story seem pretty typical so far – monsters are starting to show up more often, in greater groups, and much closer to human civilization than is comfortable, and our heroes will likely play some part in finding a unique way to put them down and thus save humanity. The show takes place in a vaguely medieval fantasy setting, its one distinguishing factor being that this world is inhabited by giant magical sets of armor – ambulatory due to magic and a human pilot inside, of course – that resemble the mecha that the protagonist is so fond of. Obviously one unique feature does not a memorable TV anime make, so while the mecha twist is kind of fun in and of itself it will have to reach further eventually.

I do like the overall look of the show so far, even the extreme shininess of Ernie’s hair (seriously, so shiny…). At this point it seems almost a given that mecha elements will be created through the use of CG, and I’m okay with that; the CG elements mesh well with the 2D portions pretty well. There are also some examples of really good traditional animation in the character acting during the episode’s fight scene between the evil creatures and students. Going in I had expected this to be a more simplistic and generic production, so it was a pleasant surprise to me that it was well put-together.

I might sound a little curmudgeonly at times when it comes to popular anime and anime trends, but one thing I like about myself is that I’ll still give something new a try even if I might not expect it to be all that interesting. Sometimes I’m pleasantly surprised when I do. I don’t think this is AOTS-material, but it might be something fun to watch and it seems to have its heart in the right place, at least.

Pros: The show has a good visual presentation. The enthusiasm of the protagonist is infectious. The show puts a slight spin on the isekai model.

Cons: The majority of the building blocks are pretty typical; it will have to do everything really well to stay compelling.

Grade: B

Categories
First Impressions Reviews

Summer 2017 First Impressions – Hina Logic: From Luck & Logic

Liones Yelistratova is the naive princess of a small nation, who goes to Hokkaido to enter ALCA, an educational institution dedicated to teaching Logicalists who uphold world peace. Liones enters Class S, and encounters many unique classmates, including Logicalist Nina Alexandrovna. – ANN

Copyright 2017 (c) Doga Kobo

Streaming at: Crunchyroll and Funimation (Simuldub not yet available)

Number of Episodes: 12 plus a special

Source: Multimedia Franchise

Summary of Episode 1: Liones, a princess from an unnamed nation, arrives at her new school having stowed-away on a freight ship and hitchhiked in the back of dirty farm carts to make her way through Hokkaido. She’s a total mess when she arrives on the doorstep of ALCA, an academy dedicated to taking talented individuals and training them in the ways of contracting with individuals from “foreign” dimensions, a role referred to as a “logicalist. Lion, as she prefers to be known, doesn’t seem to have any inherent talent, and in fact most people who meet her peg her as an airhead. But she’s assigned to class-S, meaning that she’s already formed at least one contract (even if she might not remember actually doing so). During lunch on her first day, Lion demonstrates some aptitude with the process, though whatever being with whom she contracts seems a little bit malevolent. Classmate Nina knocks Lion back to her senses; Lion is just happy that she truly belongs in class-S now.

Impressions: Over the last couple of years there have been a few anime series that have drawn their narratives at least in part from the real-life world of anime voice acting. Shirobako, Girlish Number, and Seiyu’s Life! all feature scenarios in which actresses lend their voices to anime series of somewhat questionable quality, though only the latter two really put the situation front and center. These meta “anime-within-an-anime” are typified by their one-note characters, defined more by tropey archetypes than any sort of actual humanity. These shows also tend to be built by committee, with product tie-ins and other commercial concerns given more weight than creating something that can stand on its own. These situations are humorous and relatable because at some level as anime fans we know them to be true; not every anime creation can be a piece of art for the sake of art – sometimes it’s just meant to make money and give people a quick dose of something goofy and simple.

Liones arrives at school. Copyright 2017 (c) Doga Kobo

Hina Logic is like the purest real-life expression of this idea. The visual presentation is competent, the heroine is stupid and sort of likeable because of it, and her friends all run the gamut of moé archetypes – there’s a strong, emotionless girl, a snaggle-toothed goofball, a set of twin sisters with opposing temperaments, and a snooty ojou-sama who’s the class rep. There’s a little bit of a magical girl element, a little bit of clunky fanservice, and an incredibly thin plot that revolves around magical cards (product tie-in!). It’s all just kind of frothy and vapid, without much of anything to grasp onto and seriously be critical about. While it may just be me projecting, I almost feel as though I can hear from within the workmanlike performances the strained smiles and forced enthusiasm of the actresses as they try to talk up this show at a press event, internally aware that “hey, it’s just a paycheck after all.”

This was my poor attempt at being funny about something that used to make me very irritated. Toy commercial cartoons aren’t scarce in the West by any means (I mean, dear lord, G.I. Joe and TMNT were almost nothing if not a mechanism for getting kids to beg their parents for cool toys, and I used to eat both of those up), but I used to get really bent out of shape whenever my chosen form of media entertainment would deem it necessary to waste its time and mine churning out cash-cow advertisement entertainment rather than hoity-toity high art aimed directly at me. I’ve definitely gotten over it at this point, and now I’m just sort of fascinated by the anime production system itself and how adver-tainment is just one of its many facets.

The class rep and her cronies grill Liones about her situation. Copyright 2017 (c) Doga Kobo

As for this episode’s actual merits, the entire thing is much the same as the acting – workmanlike. Adequate. Mostly inoffensive. There’s some trashy fanservice that didn’t sit well with me; in one case, the mascot creature burrowed into a character’s blouse wreaking havoc for an uncomfortable length of time while the camera focused on her chest, which felt par for the course. There was also at least two and I think three bathing scenes with a lot of steam and light beam censorship, the issue being that the characters are rather young and look even younger, which makes it all feel extra gross. While I think really heinous and upsetting fanservice has mostly gone out of style since the previous incarnation of this website, which I’m extremely thankful for, I still find that most of that kind of content doesn’t make the show more appealing. It mostly just feels like a band-aid hastily-applied to a show that doesn’t have much of merit.

In any case, aside from the few sad attempts at pubescent sexual humor, Hina Logic is the type of anime that doesn’t prompt a lot of thought or reaction, because none of it stands out and it’s not really meant to be thought-provoking or unique. It’s these types of anime that are always so difficult for me to write about, mostly because I want readers to know whether they’d be interested or not but I can never really find an angle to latch onto. I will say that, while Katsugeki! Touken Ranbu gave me the impression that the game on which it’s based might be kind of interesting and fun, Hina Logic doesn’t do anything to flatter its associated game properties. And that’s perhaps the most damning thing one could say about an anime meant to sell something.

Pros: The show is exceedingly inoffensive.

Cons: This episode feels strained in several different ways. There are a couple examples of fanservice that are very shoehorned in.

Grade: C-