Several shows are on hiatus over the new year holiday, but a few new shows have sprung up on CR. Nothing outstanding though, but a few are not terrible. Read about them after the page break!
- Ishida to Asakura – odd gag BL anime short. It doesn’t outwardly scream BL in the first episode, but just wait (if you really want to). The variation in character design from heta to old-school-real is funny for about 5-seconds. Lame. Won’t watch more. D.
- Ore no Kanojo to Osananajimi ga Shuraba Sugiru (“Oreshura”) – A-1 Pictures new product for this season. Good animation quality and BG artwork as is to be expected. Character design by Ohtsuka Mai who did the animation character design for such properties as the Shakugan no Shana and Astarotte no Omocha TV anime adaptations. Story is somewhat derivitive, and the story progression and final outcome is somewhat predictable, but the quality of the work will probably make this one of the “ones to watch” this season. Girl-next-door versus transfer-student-who-was-overseas semi-haremesque anime. Can’t say I dislike the genre. I just hope there is no uninteresting, overused story filler like Sakura-sou no Pet na Kanojou’s whole school festival thing (consider how well Onii-chan dakedo Ai sae Areba Kankeinai yo ne! worked without any sidetracking like that). A-.
- Boku no Imouto wa “Oosaka Okan” – Horrible flash animation short with oversaturated pastel colors. Story is derivitive, but some of the cultural stereotypes might be interesting. Probably worth a watch-through with the understanding that there is really not much content beyond the Oosaka gags. C.
- Cuticle Detective Inaba – Former-police-dog-turned-private-eye versus anthropmorphized goat gangster bishonen comedy. Get all that? It’s not serious. It’s full of bishonen stereotype characters. There’s a goat. It probably won’t get too close to the BL level, but it is aimed at that viewer demographic. Sort of like Tantei Opera Milky Holmes for bishonen lovers. Not at all interesting to me at all – I’m done with this. D.
- Maoyuu Maoh Yuusha (“Maoyuu”) – Sword-and-sorcery love comedy. This is one of those culturally-shifted and anachronistic “gateway drug” properties into the whole S&S genre that uses characters who act like contemporary characters, but in a fantasy setting, like Sacred Blacksmith and Magi. This kind of thing sort-of works when you have a character from “our world” drawn into the fantasy world (Astarotte, Ixion Saga), but when it is supposed to be “all over there”, it doesn’t really make sense. I guess it is for unimaginitive kids who can’t really imagine a fully different world and culture. Looks to be a predictable “nameless human hero marries queen of the misunderstood demon realm and comedy ensues” story. The only somewhat interesting aspect is the introduction of economic and political concepts in the narrative where the demon king attempts to educate the hero on why the conflict between realms is taking place and why it will not end. I guess if this gets through to a few viewers, then it is all worthwhile. Don’t think I’ll watch any more of this. C-.
- Ai Mai Mi – low-budget gag short about three girls in the school manga club. Awkward character designs, almost flash-poor animation quality (or lack thereof). About the same level of comedy as Teekyu. Brought to you by the same people who burdened us with Morita-san wa Mukuchi and Recorder and Randoseru. I might give this one another episode or two before deciding to quit or not. Leaning toward quitting after the first episode. C-.
- Yama no Susume – I’ve seen the first two tankobon of the original manga at Toranoana and gave them a cursory read-through. The manga is incredibly slow, with no actual outdoor activity taking place within the first book! Sort-of funny when it is a manga about hiking/trekking! They do actually cover equipment, but there tends to be more of a concentraton on fashion and “the look”, like in the drama Summer Rescue. The anime has better artistic quality than the original manga and looks promising. I’m somewhat surprised it is running as a short though, but I feel less ripped off with the first 5-minute episode than I did after watching the first 20-minute episode of Upotte! I’ll give it a chance. B.
- Mangirl – Okay that’s “mangirl” as in “manga” and “girl”, not the more frightening “man” and “girl”. Still, it is a somewhat uninteresting trip into the unseen side of manga production from the publishing standpoint. If you couldn’t get enough of the inner workings of the doujin industry with older properties like Comic Party and Genshiken, then knock yourself out with this short. I’m done with this after the first episode. D.
- Uusaa no Sono-hi-gurashi (“Wooser’s Hand-to-Mouth Life”) – This odd CG short anime actually started before the end of last year. It follows the fairly static existences of four anthropomorphized animals and four girls. Nothing really happens. It is not really a cute show although the character design might have been intended to be cute. About the only funny thing that has happened so far is Wooser’s narrative that the dot in the middle of his face wasn’t a mouth. I’ll keep watching just in case something interesting happens. C.
Alright, I’ll add my thoughts. Ishida, weak gags, lame. Thankfully it’s 2 minutes with a 30 sec opening theme. Even then, it’s 2 minutes I’d rather do something else with.
Oreshura looking pretty decent. Undecided on the colors, but it’ll do. Story seems like can see where it’s going, but hey, it can still be good.
Oosaka was okay, but not enough to really want me to keep seeking it out. Will watch to fill time.
Cuticle Detective, the goat was the most interesting thing, and even that was pretty weak.
Maoyu I found not bad. Being a fan of Spice & Wolf, mostly for Horo, there’s no accident that there is a fair amount of the same feel here. Once again, the female character is the fun one here, although this one isn’t tsundere.
Ai Mai Mi fairly weak. Lacks the manic pacing of Teekyu which managed to sometimes get in some amusing gags. Pretty sad when the 8 bit game graphics inspired ED was the best animated part of the show.
Yama, a hiking anime. Shouldn’t be surprised, there is a manga with everything. Another super short format and nothing gets done. Although maybe its better than 20 minutes and still nothing gets done? I’ll watch some more to see how it goes.
Mangirl, unfortunate title brings thoughts of ManFaye. Thankfully it’s not that, but maybe that might have been more amusing and interesting? Can’t even compare this to Genshiken.
Wooser, I think I watched the first ep, but I don’t remember.
The Unlimited Hyobu Kyosuke – spinoff of Zettai Karen Children from a number of seasons ago. Decidedly darker as it focuses on the Esper super villian and his story. Not bad, but doesn’t really captivate me. I’ll watch more.
Bakumatsu Gijinden Roman – from Monkey Punch, of Lupin III fame. Can’t help but see the similarities, feels almost like a Meiji era Lupin III. Main character, Roman, looks & feels like Lupin with a beard. There’s a secret band of disparate characters who Roman leads as noble bandits, the steal from the rich give to the poor kind of thing. That said, the show is fun and pretty good looking.
I gave Maoyuu another go. It’s not terrible, but I think it will end up getting preachy.
I also gave Mangirl another chance. The animation quality is actually rather nice, but the story is so dull.