A few shows are returning after the New Year programming hiatus, and some new fill-in shows have started popping up. Here are some brief reviews after the page break:
- AKB0048 – There was a one-off OVA last year that although had a rather insipid story and heavy melodrama, had pretty good artwork, a well-designed setting, and fairly good animation quality. Now as a TV series, this is the even-more-dumbed-down version with Saturday morning kids anime production values and writing. Think of it as the diluted setting of Basquash! with singing replacing basketball. It’s from Satelite (who produced Basquash!), so they’re just reusing what they learned from previous projects. Piles of CG. Since they introduced all the characters all at once already in a group setting, they will probably do character development in the form of flashback episodes while slowly advancing the main competition storyline through the series to it’s inevitible (possibly cliffhanger) conclusion at the end. Whee. The whole singing thing loses me, but the “A-Team” fighting-where-nobody-dies-or-gets-hurt thing totally turns me off. Singing idols flying around weilding energy swords and angry grimaces just doesn’t work. Is this a fighting anime or a cutesy idol anime? Even the fan service can’t save this one! C-.
- Vividred Operation – Looks like the Strike Witches crew is back in action with this various-colored-sentai anime. Right off the bat, there is a long, symmetric butt shot, letting you know that this is going to be good! The core story concept is not too far off from Strike Witches, or previous properties like Sky Girls or even Mahoutsukai tai!, but this time the whole “color ranger” thing is mixed in to refresh what is essentially highly derivitive. The setting, although terribly unrealistic and sentimentally idealized, is reasonably well realized. I say unrealistic in that they envision a future Japan where rural life has remained unchanged when even today it is highly unlikely that this kind of lifestyle will continue as the younger generations have moved to the cities to find non-farming and non-fishing jobs since the 1980’s. There are lots of US military hardware pictured, like F-22’s, F-35’s, and V-22’s. I’m not sure how far into the future this is supposed to be, so maybe these have been surplused to the Japanese after being replaced by something newer? Maybe this is an optomistic future where Japan is no longer bankrupt and can purchase these? The whole part about after the development of the energy technology that is at the core of this story, the whole world is at peace cracks me up. In any case, the fan service is enough for me to suspend belief enough to overlook the inanimate ferret and the whole geopolitical thing. Animation quality very good, and background and setting work well done. B.
- Mondaiji-tachi ga Isekai Kara Kuru Sou Desu yo? (Problem Children are Coming from Another World, Aren’t They?) – Fantasy based tournament show? Only one episode in so far, so I don’t really know if it will be “puzzle of the week”/”monster of the week” episodic in format, although it seems to be so far. Fairly pedestrian character architypes, but they get to cooperating much too easily, considering given their powers, they really should be more antisocial and sociopathic. Animation quality and backgrounds are slightly above Saturday morning kids show standards, and there is light fan service, so this is probably aimed at a younger teen audience. Potentially a little less stupid than Needless. I might give it another episode to see where this is going, but I’m not optimistic that it will be a good show. C+.
- Da Capo III – I guess it would have been good if I saw the previous seasons or played the games, but going into this cold probably allows for a more objective review of the show for its own merits. This one is obviously of the harem genre. That’s neither good nor bad. The characters are mostly interesting, but represent well-established character architypes. Animation quality and background work are very good. There is a play on what is on the blackboards in the backgrounds and characters’ shadows. Core story is interesting enough. The story is placed 100-years in the future of 1951, but the public transportation and civil infrastructure looks no different from current levels. Alternate future? It is also interesting that several characters live in public housing projects. I wonder what the backstory (if any) on this is. B+
- The Unlimited – Hyoubu Kyousuke – I really didn’t hold much hope for this one, being a spin-off of an unremarkable title, but it is not terrible. Following the villain from Zettai Karen Children, this series follows the misunderstood anti-hero rather than the “good guys”. It is more serious in tone than ZKC, but since it is all about ESPers, it is still something that exists in the physics-resistant-hair comic book world. This is what makes it more watchable than something like last season’s Jormungand and the older Black Lagoon, both which tried to be “real”, took themselves too seriously, and ended up being lame and pompous. The story is interesting enough that I can overlook the made-up military hardware that is too expensive for a second-world Southeast Asian country to afford, and the poorly drawn H&K G36’s. There is still the issue of if the Hyoubu character is so unstoppably powerful, why he doesn’t already rule the world, having been created during WWII. I still don’t know what the ending will be like, but the new henchman being a mole was fairly obvious less than halfway through the episode. Animation and background quality is passable.
- Bakumatsu Gijinden Roman – With character designs by Monkey Punch of Lupin III fame, this anachronistic, fun romp through the late Edo era uses the time tested “group of 5 secret assassins who have mundane jobs by day” formula used in several live-action TV drama series to good effect. It’s silly and predictable but well worth the watch. Definitely not as dark as last year’s Mine Fujiko series. Animation quality is good, but backgrounds are a little weak. At least some of the “real” locations are done well enough that they are somewhat recognizable. B+.
- Amnesia – Man, I got as far as the commercial break, but that’s it. The hackneyed amnesia schtick is augmented in this case by a fairy/spirit that only the heroine can see. There are apparently four bishonen characters from the opening sequence. At least they are all potential love interests for the heroine and not all out to perpetrate acts of boy-on-boy love with each other. The animation quality is actually very good, but I really can’t take this story. I’ll leave this for the bishonen-loving girls to enjoy. C-.
- Love Live! School Idol Project – More CG dancing? They did a really good job matching the character mouth movements to the actual singing in this one. The characters have a lot more personality and depth than the AKB0048 thing this season, so they are immediately likeable and even if you can’t exactly identify with them personally, you can understand them and sympathize with them. It manages to catch all the things that last season’s Tari Tari failed to with me. The first minute is totally scripted like a live-action drama. Artwork is excellent and the animation quality and backgrounds are very good. The whole “let’s become idols” thing doesn’t interest me, especially if they get into the whole process (watching White Album was more than painful enough), but seeing what happens to these characters is what interests me. This property has done what most have failed to do in a long time – make me care about these fictional characters from the outset. Granted all the characters are familiar architypes (again), but they are written well enough to trancend those character stereotypes and become quite immediately distinct individuals. A.
- Senyuu – Goofy sword-and-sorcery short featuring a skill-deprived hero and apathetic warrior sidekick. Animation production is better than most of the other short programs this season (except the mountaineering one). Actually not bad, but probably would be more appreciated by fans of the genre, which I am not. C+.
- Seitokai no Ichizon Level 2 – The animation quality and character artwork is a lot better than the first season, but that’s because it is a whole new production staff and studio. The backgrounds were better in the first season, actually placing the story in the setting, as opposed to the completely generic backgrounds in the new series. I guess the best thing though is the second series has better writing, as it didn’t put me to sleep like the first season consistently did. B+.
- Kotoura-san – I almost gave up with the over-the-top super-melodrama first half, but the second half was good. It was like watching the whole dark, death part of Kodomo no Jikan in 12-minutes. In general, the animation quality is fair, but this one is story-driven and not beautiful production quality driven. Kids are pretty perceptive, so in “reality”, if she really had this power, she would have learned very early on how to interact with others and how to use the power to her advantage. It probably wouldn’t have turned out the way it did. She probably would have become evil and manipulative, and when she had the breakdown in the park, she would have manifested some kind of externalized psychokinetic power, like making people’s heads explode or making fires spontaneously ignite. Now that would have been cool! Okay, anyway, this one looks like it will be an entertaining though shallow show worth a watch-through. B-.
Get out there and watch some!
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