Seth is a boy who seeks to become a great magician, and a group of witches who seek to travel to the Radiant. Radiant is a mythical land that spawns monsters called “Néméses” which fall to the world from the sky. While traveling, they are also hunted by The Inquisition – ANN
Episode Summary: The demonic “Nemesis” have mysterious origins; they might be Heaven’s punishment or they could be monsters ejected from Hell. Those who encounter these beasts, should they survive, are forever changed by the experience. Most become “cursed” by magical power, which they in turn use to defend the rest of Humanity against the Nemesis. Seth is one of these cursed sorcerers, or at least he aims to be one; currently he’s just an apprentice to Alma, an experienced magician and Nemesis-hunter. His enthusiasm for magic is not matched by his actual skill, and this tends to cause friction between Seth and the rest of the local town.
One day, Seth and his friend Tommy witness something horrific streaking across the sky – Seth recognizes it as a Nemesis egg and he sends Tommy to evacuate the townspeople. Seth decides to take on the challenge of defeating the Nemesis on his own since Alma is off fighting elsewhere. The task soon proves overwhelming as the monster rebukes every one of Seth’s tricks and weapons. Just as he’s about to be crushed, the monster is blasted away by a group of 4 wandering sorcerers who’ve arrived just in the nick of time.
Yuta Hibiki awakens with amnesia and the ability see things that others cannot. He first encounters a Gridman in the reflection of his friend Rikka Takarada’s computer and it tells him to “Remember his calling,” but Yuta doesn’t understand what this means. Later, in the distance, he sees an extremely large monster but it doesn’t move. It’s only when Yuta gets to school that the two sightings make sense: a monster attacks and the hero Yuta saw in the computer screen pulls him within the computer and transforms Yuta into a giant hero named Gridman. – ANN
Episode Summary: Yuta Hibiki wakes up in his classmate Rikka’s living room remembering nothing about who he is or why he’s there; he learns that Rikka discovered him collapsed on the street outside her home, and is a bit irritated by his continued presence. What’s more worrisome is that Yuta has started to hallucinate; he sees an image of a costumed hero called “Gridman” on a monitor of one of Rikka’s mother’s old computers. No one else can see the mysterious Gridman, so Yuta decides to play it off as well as he can. After Rikka does some detective work to find out where he lives, she walks Yuta home.
Yuta learns that his parents are out of the country, so tries to take care of himself as best he can. His friend Utsumi picks him up the next morning and makes sure he gets to school. All seems relatively well considering the circumstances. But Yuta senses the shadow of a beast lurking around the town’s horizon; yet another image that no one else sees or acknowledges. As the day turns to evening, though, the beast awakens and begins to tear into the city. Yuta hears a voice in his head and he makes his way back to the old computer in Rikka’s home where he sees Gridman. Yuta is pulled into the computer and joins with Gridman to fight the kaiju, ultimately tearing the robotic creature apart. This unorthodox way of defending the city appears to be Yuta’s destiny, but the workings of this partnership, as well as the roles Rikka and Utsumi might play, are still a mystery to all.
The usual mornings. The usual music. The usual self. For seven girls, a peaceful life was all of a sudden destroyed. All at the hands of zombies, dead things that somehow remained moving. Now they step into a new world, whether they liked it or not. A “zombieworld” that represented both the best and the worst. The seven girls had only one wish: “We want to live.” – ANN
Streaming:Crunchyroll and Funimation (Simuldub premieres Oct. 28th)
Episodes: 12
Source: Original
Episode Summary: Sakura loves watching idol performances and is looking forward to submitting her application to become an idol. Unfortunately, on her way out the door to mail it in, she’s hit by a truck. She wakes up in unfamiliar surroundings during a raging thunderstorm, and is soon pursued by other frightening figures in the darkness. Sakura escapes the house and encounters a police officer, but his reaction to her appearance isn’t encouraging. When she sees her own reflection, it becomes clear; she’s in the same state as the zombie-like creatures who chased her away.
Sakura is collected by Tatsumi, a flamboyant and eccentric man who claims to be putting together an idol group. The other threatening creatures are undead women from throughout idol history, brought back to life for this very purpose. Aside from Sakura, all the others behave as typical zombies would, mindlessly shuffling throughout the room and occasionally biting one-another. Considering these unusual circumstances, Sakura believes this whole “idol” business to be complete folly. Nevertheless, Tatsumi has signed them all up for a live performance at a local death metal festival. Having never practiced any songs or routines the performance is still an unlikely success; it seems that the zombies still retain some inherent sense of rhythm, and their horrifying death screams fit right into the atmosphere. The performance also seems to have had another benefit – the mental stimulation has “awakened” most of the other girls, who are now able to function like Sakura.
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
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.
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
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.
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)
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.
“Kokonotsu Shikada is the son of a dagashi snack shop owner. Although he wants to become a manga artist, his father, Yo, wants him to take over the family business. One day, a girl named Hotaru Shidare shows up at the shop and challenges Kokonotsu.” – Funimation
Summary of Episode 1: It’s difficult when your own aspirations conflict with your family’s expectations. Kokonotsu “Coconuts” Shikada just wants to draw manga, and his art skills are actually pretty good, but his father wants him to take over the family business – becoming the next in line to run the family sweets shop. It’s not just tradition informing this opinion; when an outgoing and snack-obsessed girl named Hotaru shows up at the shop one day, Kokonotsu learns the truth – Hotaru’s candy company wants Yo, Kokonotsu’s father, to join with them because of reasons. Kokonotsu will have to commit to running the shop before Yo is free to follow his own dreams. Kokonotsu isn’t keen to give up his own goals, but Hotaru is very insistent. She plans to insinuate herself into Kokonotsu’s life and use anything in her power to convince him to change his mind, including becoming friends with his sort-of girlfriend and spreading candy throughout town.
First Impressions: I wanted to check this show out because I have a certain interest in Japanese cuisine, and obscure Japanese snacks fall under that umbrella. While I can’t really eat most of these goodies anymore since sugar makes my brain feel like it’s about to burst out of my skull, I can still stand having them paraded around in front of me. As I feared going in, however, the snacks are probably the most interesting things about the episode and the characters who eat them are somewhat hard to tolerate.
Hotaru Shows up at the dagashi store.
I’ve seen several reviewers describe Hotaru as a “manic pixie dream girl,” and to some extent I think that’s accurate. Kokonotsu is faced with a life decision that’s likely to take the length of the series to resolve, and Hotaru shows up as he stands at a crossroads and promises to make big changes in his life. She’s a very weird human being, defined so far by her sweets expertise and weirdly regal bearing. She also looks almost exactly like a manga character that Kokonotsu was drawing as the episode opened, which helps contribute to an eye-rolling introductory scene. She’s a male fantasy, an unrealistic woman who is more plot device and catalyst than equal partner. It’s not the worst of sins that a piece of fiction can commit, but it makes things a lot less interesting.
Something else the turned me off was the constant over-acting and forced comedy that peppered the episode. There’s a lot of yelling, goofy behavior, and immaturity on the part of several of the characters, especially Hotaru and Yo. As far as I can tell, the majority of the characters are young adults, and at the very least Yo is, but the humor is incredibly juvenile and Yo especially is a complete goofball. One of my least favorite tropes is parents who act less like adults than their own children, and while I’ve probably seen this trope expressed more by some anime mothers or female authority figures it’s just as irritating when dads do it. The jealousy exhibited by Saya, Kokonotsu’s childhood friend and likely romantic interest, is extreme. To be perfectly blunt, Kokonotsu really hasn’t proven himself to be a man worth giving a crap about, so Saya’s reaction upon hearing that there was merely a weird city girl in his family’s shop just makes her look bad. It’s difficult to get invested in a story when all the of the characters range from irritating and unrealistic to completely intolerable.
Yo is a grade-A doofus.
The show’s saving grace is the minimal amount of attention that it pays to the “dagashi” (traditional snacks) that are referenced by the show’s title. like I’ve mentioned, I really like learning about food even if it’s technically food that I can’t eat anymore (sugar and simple carbohydrates make my brain feel like it’s about to leap out of my skull). Possibly my favorite scene in the episode occurs when Hotaru challenges Kokonotsu to create a delicious culinary combination of different Umai-bou flavors. I had coincidentally watched a Youtube video earlier in the week in which the person making the video took different flavored Umai-bou and combined them with various actual foods to create new taste sensations. It fascinates me that such a culture exists around what are essentially large, diversely-flavored Cheetos, and these are the things I really like to learn about. It amuses me that there are more desirable ways of eating the “fries” that the characters snacked on, or that you can buy what are essentially mini-donuts in cute little packages (they look way yummier than the dusty powdered-sugar “Donettes” that are ubiquitous at American gas stations). And now I’m really craving something sweet and doughy to spoil my dinner.
I didn’t have especially high expectations for this show, but I thought it might be an amusement worth checking out. I could conceivably see myself watching another episode or two just to gain some more trivial knowledge about Japanese treats, but the characters themselves make doing so feel like more of a chore than an amusement.
Pros: It’s fun to learn about Japanese cultural tidbits, and Japanese treats and snacks are one of those obscure areas that don’t get a whole lot of coverage in the West.
Cons: The characters are irritating in various ways and the women especially get the short end of the character development stick. The comedy is heavy-handed.
Streaming: Crunchyroll and Funimation
