Tag: Winter 2016

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Anime Reviews Reviews Simulcast Reviews

Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju – Episode 7 Simulcast Review

Shouwa7x1Now that Kikuhiko has begun to find his voice, both he and Sukeroku are in high demand. They’re even getting radio play now, which is something that Kikuhiko wouldn’t have imagined for himself just a short time ago. Behind the scenes, though, there’s a fair bit of tension between the two performers. Sukeroku has never been one to take things seriously, including his time commitments and dedication to practicing his art. He overreaches by attempting Rakugo stories that are typically outside the purview of a futatsume, and it’s Kikuhiko that has to cover for him by adjusting for time, and asking for forgiveness from their superiors. To Sukeroku, who virtually lives off of alcohol and the laughter of his audiences, things like “saving money” and “dressing properly” just don’t matter. Between acting like a parent to a man who is ostensibly like a brother to him, and working to perfect his art, Kiku is finding less and less time to devote to Miyokichi.

Read the rest at The Fandom Post!

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Anime Reviews Reviews Simulcast Reviews

Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju – Episode 6 Simulcast Review

Shouwa6x2Following his successful night in the theater, Kikuhiko becomes introspective about his childhood and some of the defining experiences of his life. As a youngster and child of a geisha, young Bon trained in traditional dance out of proximity more than in preparation for a future career. After all, a boy cannot become a geisha, right? Overhearing the whispered ridicule from the other women tore at his confidence, and attempting to learn the craft of Rakugo only seemed to make him more uncomfortable with himself. These memories cause Kikuhiko to wonder once again where he might begin to uncover “his”
rakugo – a performance style all his own.

Read the rest at The Fandom Post!

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Anime Reviews Reviews Simulcast Reviews

Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju – Episode 4-5 Simulcast Review

Shouwa4x1The young, attractive, responsible Kikuhiko has been waiting tables to make ends meet ever since leaving his master’s home. His work leaves him little time to learn new Rakugo and he finds himself stagnating. Hatsutaro, or “Sukeroku” as he’s now calling himself, has become very popular, booking theaters left and right. He’s even got radio stations knocking on his door to get him to perform. He comes across as irresponsible, but his attitude hides his secret studiousness, and his skills onstage are unmistakable. Kiku can’t seem to reach the same level, his problem being his boring flawlessness. He needs something in his life to mess things up a little bit and break him out of his shell of perfection.

Read the rest at The Fandom Post!

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Reviews Simulcast Reviews

Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju – Episode 3 Simulcast Review

Shouwa3x1Hatsutaro and Kikuhiko continue their apprenticeship, but as Hatsutaro continually improves, Kikuhiko finds himself stymied by all manner of real-life concerns. He doesn’t have Hatsuta’s natural gift to hold an audience captive, and the fact that he spends much of the day at school means that he doesn’t get nearly the same length of time to practice his Rakugo stories. He finds himself struggling to memorize his beginner’s routines while Hatsuta has moved on to more complicated tales that feature his personality more. Kiku is torn between wanting to give up, and being motivated by watching his best friend’s successes. As to be expected, though, his path begins to open as he start to add more experiences under his belt.

Read the rest at The Fandom Post!

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First Impressions Reviews

Winter 2016 First Impressions – Ajin

Ajin_Demi-Human_Manga_Cover
Ajin manga Copyright Kodansha/Gamon Sakurai

“For high schooler Kei -and for at least forty-six others- immortality comes as the nastiest surprise ever.

Sadly for Kei, but refreshingly for the reader, such a feat doesn’t make him a superhero. In the eyes of both the general public and governments, he’s a rare specimen who needs to be hunted down and handed over to scientists to be experimented on for life-a demi-human who must die a thousand deaths for the benefit of humanity.” – Vertical Inc.

Streaming at Netflix (Summer 2016)

Episodes: 12

Source: Manga

Summary of Episode 1: Kei is like many high school kids; he has a steady group of friends, cares about his family, and spends a lot of time worrying about passing his entrance exams. Unfortunately, his current life has come as the result of some sacrifices, namely his close childhood friendship with a boy named Kai. Kei’s mother disapproved of the friendship since Kai was carefree and significantly less studious; in her eyes, the road to maturity is paved in part by the cultivation of one’s relationships, and only those who exhibit positive traits are worthy of association. Kei and Kai still see each-other around town, but their interactions are strictly limited to wordless acknowledgement.

Ajin01
Kei realizes with horror that he is one of the reviled Ajin. Copyright Polygon Pictures.

In school, Kei and his classmates are learning about Ajin, a new species of intelligent life that appeared during a war in Africa seventeen years ago. Ajin are unique in that they can be mortally injured but cannot die. This makes them of great interest to several world governments, and once they’re discovered (generally when they are injured by chance and are able to quickly recover), they’re captured and experiments are performed on them in captivity. Kei seems disturbed by the concept, and as he crosses the street deep and thought, he’s hit by a truck. And then, his mangled body rises up from the bloody pavement and Kei realizes – he’s been revealed as one of the most hated beings on the planet. It isn’t long before the police begin searching the town’s outskirts for him, and Kei calls the only person he can think of who might possibly not try to turn him in to the police – Kai. Kai has already begun setting things in motion, and rushes to save his friend, no questions asked. The two ride away in the dark of night, fugitives for the crime of being other than human.

First Impressions: First of all, it bears mentioning that this series is another of Netflix’s late-casts, similar to Knights of Sidonia and The Seven Deadly Sins, so it will be appearing in an official capacity at a later date (they’ve said “Summer 2016” but not given a more accurate time frame). Normally it would be my practice to watch an official version of an anime series since I really believe that anime streaming has virtually removed most of the need to watch fansubs (and now most of the sub groups are either ripping official subs and adding stuff like -san and -chan, or their translations don’t demonstrate a clear understanding of English spelling or grammar – I think all the good translators have probably gone legit). In this case, though, I was personally interested in the show from reading the manga, didn’t see a lot of other impressions of it (since it’s not easily available), and wanted to see ahead of time if it was worth checking out in full at a later time (I have a Netflix account but for some reason it’s like pulling teeth getting me to actually use the service that I pay for every month.) I think this is why I never checked out Knights of Sidonia (though I did buy the DVD and will watch it… eventually). I didn’t want a repeat self performance.

As for the first episode of Ajin, I was pleasantly surprised. I’m familiar with the general story from what I’ve read of the manga (I’m not far in but have at least read what’s covered in this first episode), and this is a good adaptation. One of the fears I had going in stems from the fact that this is both 1. the story of a teenage boy who (unwillingly) gets some special (and very violent) powers and 2. the general concept puts the series in the “edgy” category. I’ve had supremely bad luck with this sort of thing in the past – Deadman Wonderland is a good example of something that was really popular and people on the internet swore up and down was really intelligent and edgy, but turned out to be so, so violent and mean-spirited without much of a coherent message. I was worried that this would end up being another “sad teen fights violently with a bunch of people” anime.

Ajin02
Kei finds himself cornered by the police. Copyright Polygon Pictures.

I think what quelled that fear for me, in both the manga and this episode of the anime, is that the friendship between Kei and Kai seems to play such an important role in establishing the plot. Their relationship seems to represent a microcosm of what is happening out in the world – Kai is misunderstood and assumptions are made about his character because of how he looks and the way in which he disregards school, just as the entire world has made assumptions about Ajin and how “othering” them has given society at large an excuse to mistreat them and remove their rights as human beings. In a way it’s a sort of clunky allegory for race relations and the way we have treated almost anyone who is “different” – disabled folks, people on the autism spectrum, trans individuals… the list is extensive. In any case, one thing I really appreciated was that Kai was ready, no questions asked, to help his friend despite the fact that their relationship hadn’t been close for several years. It’s a level of kindness and emotional maturity that surprised me, especially since teen boys in anime tend to be given short shrift when it comes to being given any sort of sensitivity or basic humanity.

I’m betting many of you are wondering about the animation in this series, and it’s definitely worth mentioning. We seem to be entering an age when 3DCG animated anime is becoming an actual thing. I have a lot of mixed feelings about that. Anyone who’s watched the anime series Shirobako (and for those who haven’t, you really should because it’s downright excellent) will probably have a greater appreciation for the role that CG plays in anime and the work that goes into making convincing 3D elements, and I really try to keep that in mind. Unfortunately, I don’t think that CG is yet up to the task of convincingly recreating the look of typical 2D anime, and in many chases the movement of the characters just seems… off. I’ve spent a lot of time trying to figure out why this is and why it’s so difficult to accept that 3DCG anime is probably an inevitability, and I think what it comes down to is consistency. One of the hallmarks of Japanese anime is just how inconsistent it is. When you see characters’ faces from different angles, the mouth positions and how they appear don’t actually make sense a lot of the time, but it’s a type of stylization that we’ve come to expect and accept as consumers of the medium. There are also often vastly different animation styles and frame-rates even within one episode of anime. Important scenes are given more attention and often certain animators are given free reign to go off-model and demonstrate their particular command of movement, and I find that these special scenes really give me a thrill and are one of the reasons why I enjoy watching anime. The use of computer animation removes that unexpected attribute.

Ajin03
Kei makes his escape. Copyright Polygon Pictures.

That said, I think what Polygon has done in this series actually looks pretty good. It took me until a few minutes into the episode to stop being distracted by the 3D models and the cell-shading and such, but much like watching Gankutsuou (which you should also go watch as soon as you have the opportunity if you would like to see why people used to like Gonzo), once your eyes have adjusted the look kind of becomes a non-issue. It’s not my favorite, but it’s admittedly a lot better than watching a show that’s consistently off-model for reasons that have nothing to do with artistic style (side note: people complaining about Ping Pong being off-model need to go educate themselves). I think people who are not married to anime’s particular aesthetic will be even less distracted and will likely not be bothered at all (this is a series I would show my parents, for example – my mom isn’t an anime fan, but she does like horror and thriller-type series so I bet it would be up her alley).

I really liked this first episode. I don’t know if I’ll keep up with it right now since now I feel kind of bad about downloading an unofficial video of something which is going to be released officially, even if the official release isn’t technically a simulcast. It’s funny how your conscience can adjust like that, isn’t it?

Pros: The show takes a concept that could easily be mishandled and injects it with enough humanity to keep it from becoming one-note. The friendship between the two male characters forms a believable core.

Cons: The 3D animation will definitely be an issue for some. It’s a Netflix late-cast, so the official release won’t be available for several months.

Grade: B+

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First Impressions Reviews

Winter 2016 First Impressions – Dagashi Kashi

Dagashi Kashi manga cover
Dagashi Kashi manga copyright Shogakukan/Kotoyama

“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

Streaming at Funimation.com

Episodes: 12

Source: Manga

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.

DagashiKashi02
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.

DagashiKashi01
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.

Grade: C-

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First Impressions Reviews

New Anime Winter 2016 – Short Form Series Impressions

IconGood afternoon! Since it’s so incredibly cold in the Twin Cities this weekend, I thought it would be a great time to sit down with a cup of hot tea and snuggle underneath a fuzzy blanket to write some first impressions of this Winter’s crop of anime. Look for several series-specific First Impression posts to appear over the next few days. I’ve gathered all of the short-form series I was interested in into this post here, sans She and Her Cat since it’s still MIA as of this writing (I’ll update this post if/when it becomes available).

I’ve been debating how to go about these impressions and how thorough they should be. For these short form series I think I’ll keep things brief, but still offer some pros and cons that will hopefully be informative enough for readers to decide whether the shows sound interesting or not. Let me know what you think!

 

OjisanOjisan and Marshmallow

  • Simulcast on Crunchyroll
  • Number of Episodes: TBA
  • Episode length – 3.5 minutes
  • Episodes viewed – 1 and 2

Hige-san is a middle-aged worker at a “Web-Related Company.” Despite his stocky, gruff appearance, he’s actually got some cute habits, the most obvious of which is that he loves marshmallows. His younger female co-worker Wakabayashi-san knows this and uses it to her advantage – she has a huge crush on Hige-san and knows that marshmallows are the way to his heart. The issue is that she’s a bit too forthcoming in her marshmallow-related advances, making both Hige-san and anyone around the two of them uncomfortable. In episode 1, she attempts to steal a kiss from Hige-san by putting the last marshmallow in between her lips, and in episode 2 she implies adult activities while Hige-san calls to let their boss that they’re stuck in the rain. Will their mis-matched personalities ever meet to light the spark of romance?

On paper, this series sounded really cute. I’m always happy when anime series star adult characters, and candy and romance are things that usually lead to sweet ends. Unfortunately the first couple of episodes made me feel really uncomfortable. There’s a sort of unsettling train of thought that, if someone of lesser power in a traditional power relationship is doing the sexual-harrassing, then it’s supposed to be funny rather than disturbing. In this case, Hige-san is older and also a man, giving him some definite social advantages in the traditional-looking office setting he and Wakabayashi-san share. And it’s Wakabayashi-san who’s being really sexually forward with him. The problem is that it’s all completely inappropriate behavior for the environment they’re in and also their current relationship (as coworkers) and it’s decidedly not funny to me. What’s worse is that the other employees don’t really seem to care that she’s acting this way. I didn’t necessarily expect this to turn into a discussion of sexism in the Japanese workplace system, but seriously? This show gave me kind of a knot in my stomach just because it’s very casual with its employment of sexual harassment humor.

Pros: The series stars adult characters, which is a rarity in anime.

Cons: The humor seems to hinge on a lot of uncomfortable sexual situations and outright office sexual harrassment.

 

GalkoPlease Tell Me! Galko-chan

  • Simulcast on Crunchyroll
  • Number of Episodes: TBA
  • Episode Length: 7.5 minutes
  • Episodes Viewed: 1 and 2

Galko, Otako, and Ojou are three friends with very different personalities. Galko is a “gal,” a popular, stylish girl who gets a bad rap for coming to class late. Otako is an otaku through-and-through. Ojou is a wealthy girl who can be lacking in life experience. The girls spend their days discussing some of the questions that many people would probably like to ask but might not be comfortable with, including periods (tampons versus pads), bathroom habits, pubic hair, breast size, and other stupid myths about the female body that the boys in class seem to pull out of thin air.

Just to get this out of the way, the subject matter in this show is pretty crass and focused on bodily functions and oddities of the human body. This is not subject matter that bothers me, really, but I think it might be off-putting to others (though if hearing about girls’ periods in even the most abstract sense squicks you out, you need to grow up). What I really liked about this show is that the characters themselves tend to defy expectations. Gals can be reviled because of the stereotype that they’re shallow, lazy, and sleep with a lot of guys. Galko (who was my favorite character of the three) is stylish and can be concerned with her looks, but she’s also smart, caring, interested in literature, and has her own hobbies. She also gets kind of embarrassed when it comes to romantic things, which is kind of a fun character trait. I don’t think it’s negative for a woman to want to have a broad range of sexual experiences, but the fact that Galko defies that expectation is kind of cute, too.

I don’t know if it’s a good thing or not, but I kind of like the portrayal of the guys in this show. What actually makes me kind of happy is that their ignorance of women and their complete unwillingness to interact on a normal-person level with the girls is met with an attitude of eye-rolling disdain, which I think is warranted. Anime would likely be a lot better in general if some more of the male leads got some of this kind of feedback (at least it would be in my fantasy world).

Pros: The discussions are really straightforward and I laughed quite a bit out of identification with the things that the girls were talking about. The guys are also called out for being willfully dumb towards girls.

Cons: This is not a clean, cute series about cute girls having a cute slice-of-life time. If you don’t like bathroom humor, best move on.

 

Sekko1Sekkō Boys

  • Simulcast on Crunchyroll
  • Number of Episodes: TBA
  • Episode Length: 7.5 minutes
  • Episodes Viewed: 1 and 2

Art student Ishimoto Miki got so sick of drawing still lives of busts and statues throughout her high school and college career, that she vowed never to draw another statue again. Instead, she decided to enter show business and become a manager for stars and idols. Her first big break comes as a manager at Holbein Entertainment Inc. where’s she’s put in charge of a hot new boy idol group. This could be her dream job, if not for the fact that the group calls themselves the Sekkō Boys and they’re actually the busts of famous saints, gods, and famous people from history – Mars, Hermes, St. Giorgio, and Medici. The boys are heavy, hard to transport, and they get mistaken for props wherever they go. It’s only after acknowledgement by another famous female idol that they begin to feel better about themselves.

One positive consequence of the uptick in okay-to-mediocre male idol anime lately has been the appearance of male idol parody anime. Probably one of the most recently famous occurred in the now-censored first episode of Osomatsu-san last season, but this show continues somewhat in that vein by taking all the tropes of male idol and reverse-harem shows and applying them to completely ridiculous characters. Look at how “chiseled” their features are! They’ll never age-out of being idols! It’s a little like personifying countries in Hetalia, only in this case you don’t have to consider the truly icky implications of making moé-moé jokes about WWII (people do feel bad about that stuff, right?). Anyway, as someone who’s pretty fed up with the real-life screwed-up Japanese idol culture and how it gets romanticized in anime and other media, this is a great deal of fun.

Pros: The choice of characters really proves that Japan has jumped the shark on idol anime – in the good way. The characters are also voiced by famous male Seiyuu, so if you’re into that fandom it’s a nice bonus.

Cons: I question how many new and humorous situations the boys can get themselves into; it seems like gags about their weight and composition will run out of steam pretty quickly.

 

YamishibaiYamishibai Season 3

  • Simulcast on Crunchyroll
  • Number of Episodes: TBA but probably 13
  • Episode Length: 5 minutes
  • Episodes Viewed: 1

On his way home, a young man notices a public bath house that he’s not seen before. Since it’s hot and he’s sweaty, he decides to stop in and freshen up. The bath is run by an old woman who looks ancient, and there’s not another customer in sight. As he’s washing his hair, he hears a voice from the women’s bath on the other side of the barrier. “Could I borrow a bar of soap?” she asks, and he tosses her his soap. “Could I borrow a bucket?” she asks later on, and he warily gives her the one he was using. “Could I borrow a razor?” but he doesn’t have one. She becomes frantic and speaks as if possessed before finally revealing herself and stealing the young man away.

Yamishibai has always been kind of a mixed bag. A lot of the short stories are really goofy and tend to steer away from cultivating any true sense of horror. But when the show is on its game, it tends to be pretty good. This episode was enjoyable and I think it’s because it fit really well in to the formula of “three;” it upped the dread with each repetition of “could I borrow…?” by making each request less and less logical. The sense of being alone in what would normally be a bustling public place is also one of my personal fears – I have had nightmares where I was with friends, and then turned around to find the environment gone dark and no one around me (I blame the opening scenes of Silent Hill 3 for that). It’s still not as terrifying as that episode with the hair inside the copy machine from season 1, but that one will be difficult to top.

Pros: The episode stayed away from corniness and did a good job of cultivating a sense of impending dread.

Cons: The show overall has been a mixed bag and I expect not every episode will be as good as this one.

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Anime Reviews Reviews Simulcast Reviews

Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju – Episode 2 Simulcast Review

Shouwa2x3All performers have to start somewhere. Young Shin seems to have a natural knack for drawing attention to himself, whereas Bon is withdrawn and sullen. The two boys who become apprenticed to a famous 7th generation Rakugo performer are like night and day, but it becomes evident quickly that the two are more like two sides of the same coin. Bon, the son of a geisha, lost his ability to dance after an accident and now walks with a noticeable limp. It’s Shin’s constant prodding and goofball personality that allows him to come out of his shell a bit – in fact, Shin’s the only person with the ability to really make him smile and open up.

Read the rest of the review at The Fandom Post!

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Reviews Simulcast Reviews

Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju – Episode 1 Simulcast Review

Shouwa Genroku Rakugo ShinjuuKyoji is a convict fresh out of a stint in prison. With nowhere to go and no family to speak of, he’d normally be in a bind, but something life-changing happened to him while he was in the slammer – Yakumo, the most famous Rakugo performer in Japan, gave a rousing performance of “Shinigami” at the prison, and Kyoji was instantly smitten. It’s been a year now, but that rendition of the story left its mark and Kyoji makes it his first order of business to seek out Yakumo and become his apprentice. Having spent the last of his money on a brand new suit, he seeks Yakumo out and the master seems so amused that he agrees to take Kyoji on, giving him the new name “Yotaro,” or “Fool.”

Read the rest at The Fandom Post!

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Previews Reviews

Some Things I’m Anticipating This Season

Normally I don’t write a lot about upcoming anime because even things that look really cool from a blurb might be disappointing, and anime that looks goofy or pointless could very well end up being totally awesome. The involvement of certain studios and staff can inform those opinions, but it’s still a guessing game that I can’t win with 100% certainty. But there are a few things I’ve been keeping my eyes on as this season has come into view, and I’d like to at least throw them out there. Feel free to offer up your most anticipated new series in the comments!

AjinAjin: Demihuman

Synopsis: Kei, a high school kid, is alarmed to learn that he is one of very few “Demi Humans” in existence. While being a Demi Human affords one immortality from injury, it also means that the Japanese government is very interested in capturing you and performing terrible experiments on you for the rest of your awful life.

Why I’m interested: I’ve read part of the manga on which it’s based, and while I feel like its subject matter can sometimes put it in the same category as stuff like Future Diary or Deadman Wonderland (by which I mean violent and gross for no good reason other than to be “edgy”), I did like how the manga gave the perspective of several different Demi Humans with different viewpoints. Some of them just want to live their lives without fear of being imprisoned for the rest of it, but there are also some who wish to respond more violently to the injustices that they’ve experienced.

I still can’t say that I’m fully onboard with the full-CG treatment, though. I’ve got Knights of Sidonia from the same studio on my “to-watch” list (I didn’t catch it on Netflix but I ended up just buying the disc during the recent Rightstuf holiday sale) so it’s not that I’m totally opposed to the idea, but it still looks really weird to me. I like the look of hand-drawn anime precisely because there’s just such a variance in look and quality throughout the episode – yes, I’m congratulating inconsistency here. When everything is animated smoothly and consistently, it takes away the opportunity to be “wow-ed” by a moment of really great animation.

 

Snow White With the Red HairSnow White with the Red Hair 2

Synopsis: Shirayuki left her home and her job due to the advances of an uncouth local prince, and has taken up residence in the neighboring country of Clarines. She’s in the service of Zen, the Second Prince of that country, as a court herbalist. In this role she gets to have many shoujo adventures with a lot of dreamy dudes.

Why I’m interested: I think what I like about this series so far is that it’s differentiated itself from the pack by just being a very solid, classic shoujo fantasy. A lot of the entertainment created for the ladies lately has involved either groups of male idols, or groups of vaguely-creepy supernatural guys (or guys on sports teams, but I’ll let everyone keep pretending that Haikyuu, Kuroko’s Basketball, and Yowapeda are actually shounen anime).

Shirayuki is just well-made with an interesting heroine and, yes, cute guys. So I’m definitely looking forward to this continuation of it! More seriously I appreciate that the main character is hardworking and gets to have a job rather than just taking on a purely “princess” role in the story following Zen’s introduction. There’s more of a partnership dynamic, and Shirayuki gets her own character progression as she learns her job role and interacts with other denizens of the upper-class/royalty. And I really have to mention the animation/color scheme, which, while not over-the-top amazing, is truly polished and shows the care that went into bringing the anime series to life.

 

Boku Dake Ga Inai MachiBoku Dake ga Inai Machi

Synopsis: A manga author has the ability to go back and time and prevent deaths from happening. When he himself is framed for murder, he tries to go back and time in order to stop the death from occurring, thus clearing his name in the process. Instead, he goes back as far as grade school, one month before a classmate of his goes missing. He chooses to use his talent to prevent her disappearance.

Why I’m Interested: This is one of those cases where I just don’t exactly know why I’m drawn to the show, I’m just really interested in seeing this story unfold and I think it’s a unique way to try and tackle a mystery (and I do appreciate that – I was one of maybe three people in all of anime fandom who didn’t hate Subete ga F ni Naru, so a mystery not quite being a “mystery” doesn’t bother me).

Besides that, the director (Tomohiko Itou) is pretty hit-or-miss for me (he’s been involved with shows I like, like Silver Spoon, and shows that I really didn’t like at all, such as Sword Art Online) and so I can’t really make any predictions as to how his influence will affect the quality of the show itself. But I do know that I appreciate series with adult characters, and despite the main character returning to his life as a child I feel like he’ll likely retain his perspective anyway (at least, that sounds like what the mechanic is), so that’s another plus.

 

GateGate Season 2

Synopsis: Itami Youji, an otaku, is on his way to a doujin event when a huge gate opens in Tokyo and all sorts of fantasy creatures, as well as a foreign army, pour through and attack the populace. Youji, who is also a member of the Japanese Self Defense Force, uses his skills to help defend the public. Several months later, he is chosen as a member of a military recon squad sent through the gate to make contact with the other world.

Why I’m Interested: The first season of this show was far from perfect and had a tendency to get a little bit too silly and fanservicey at times. Through it all, though, what I appreciated was its ability to even make any sort of assumption as to how the appearance of this gate and this entire other world would affect our real world. One of the things that stuck out to me was a discussion between some diplomats or politicians from another country commenting on the fact that now Japan would have access to an entirely new source of natural resources, putting the country at a distinct advantage which it might not otherwise have. That kind of thing is really intellectually stimulating to me, and I can overlook some irritating side characters and such for the opportunity to indulge in the show’s good qualities.

I’m not quite done watching season 1 (split-cour shows tend to go on the backburner for me and I’ve been busy otherwise), but I expect that I’ll dive right into season 2 when that finally occurs.

 

HaruChikaHaruchika

Synopsis: Haruta and Chika are two members of a foundering wind instrument club that is in danger of being shut down. Their days are spent practicing together and also trying to recruit new members so the club can stay in business. One day something happens in their school, and the two childhood friends decide to work together to solve the mystery.

Why I’m Interested: P.A. Works has a sort of spotty record (I’d say more good than bad, but I’m sure there would be people who’d disagree with me), but their more recent anime seems to have sat well with me, so that was one reason I was keeping my eye on this upcoming series. One of the other reasons is that I’m a former band geek and had a very good time with Sound! Euphonium so I’m hoping at least some of that same music drama will show up here. And, of course, I’m also interested in the “mystery” aspect. I don’t exactly know how prominent or straightforward that will be, but I’m curious to find out. I’m hoping there might be a bit of a Hyouka vibe to it, if I’m lucky enough.

Also, I have a friend who works as a translator for Funimation, and she’s working on this simulcast, so I’m definitely excited to watch it for that reason, too (I like her translations a lot!).

 

Shouwa Genroku Rakugo ShinjuuShouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu

Synopsis: A convicted criminal has served his time, and upon release from prison knows exactly what he wants to do; after seeing a rakugo (traditional comic storytelling) performance, he seeks out that performer and asks to apprentice with him. Named “Yotaro” by his master, he learns the art of performance and also meets his master’s acquaintances, including a woman who is a great performer in her own right, but cannot perform as the profession is not open to women.

Why I’m Interested: Adult characters? Interesting time period? Weird subject matter? Potential discussion of gender discrimination? It’s like someone reached into my mind and constructed a series just to appeal to me alone. Seriously, though, I’ve had my eye on this anime since it was announced at some point last year, and anytime I learn something new about it I get more and more excited to watch it. In fact, assuming it is picked up as a simulcast (c’mon, Crunchyroll!), I’ll be writing weekly simulcast reviews of it over at The Fandom Post.

I’ll be interested to see what the director brings to the table as he’s a former member of SHAFT and worked on a few things I liked as an episode director (Arakawa Under the Bridge, Madoka). In my opinion, any time someone can work their way up and leave their mark somehow in anime, it’s a good day.

 

So that’s about it. I’m sure some of these will suck and others that aren’t listed will rock my entire world, but that’s always the fun of a new anime season, right? Let me know in the comments if there’s anything you’re really looking forward to!