Not looking too great this season but we’ll see what we have as more shows come out.
Ojisan to Marshmallow – Mini show about an old office guy who loves marshmallows and another office girl who loves him and tries to tease him with said fluffy treat. The old guy is pretty well, old looking, fat, has mustache and is kind of jolly and humorous in the same way Santa clause is. The girl is pretty decent looking and super aggressive in coming on to the guy, ends her sentences with some ending phrase. Comedy, humor, mild jokes. Decent premise, designs, flow. Ok, will probably watch more.
Musaigen no Phantom World – Kyoto Animation’s offering this winter is pretty interesting in that despite the questionable faggot level of the main character, I am liking pretty much everything else in the show. Basically some shit happened and now people can see spirits and monsters and shit, some are good, some do nothing, some make trouble and the like, I suppose think of pokemon or mushishi. So like main guy and main girl are in school club that tries to resolve ghost problems by doing a variety of things to appease the spirits and or beat them up. Main girl feels herself up and then gets elemental magic and then beats them up with fist fighting while the guy draws them on paper and then they are “captured” I think. Main guy has a spirit friend with looks like a little magic genie girl that floats around with green hair and slightly tanned skin, pretty cute. Main girl is nice, big boobs and orange hair, standard normal good girl. Other girl they meet in the episode reminds me of Shigure from kantai collection and she can eat ghosts, yea, I knoe. Great animation as usual, good character designs, interesting enough concept, mild slice of life, comedy, mild action etc. This is a good show, probably will watch more for sure.
Prince of Stride – Alternative -Prince of gay running basically. Not sure if this is some kind of spin-off or alternate reality version because of the word “Alternative” in the title but yea, this is a show for women about the sport known in their world as “Stride” which is basically parkour where people race around urban obstacles to get to where they are going, think the game Mirrors Edge. So yea, for what it is I guess this is pretty good for it’s demographic. Has main girl and a bunch of pretty boys surrounding her. Good animation, designs, concept. Comedy, sports, gay, not for me. Whatever.
Norn9 – Norn+Nonet – ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ. Whatever, this is pretty boring bait otome bullshit. So we got this girl with pink hair, standard weak main girl archtype on the world, world is pretty shit. Some guy with a space plane comes does and invites her to live in the floating ship where all of the other privileged rich bitches with powers live or something to help determine the fate of the world. Girl doesn’t know who she is, weak. By the end of the episode she remembers her name. Far too serious for it is, obviously this is not for me but even then, it’s pacing is so slow and mundane I had a hard time keeping attention. Ok designs, animation, concept is zzzzzzzz. Whatever.
Shoujo-tachi wa Kouya wo Mezasu – At the onset of this show I wasn’t really sure what to expect even after Op sequence and not until the very end did I realize what this show was really about/for. So we have this main guy, he’s main guy, whatever, slightly undesirable but nothing too bad but what’s more is this guy’s name; BUNTA. Fuck yea, BUNTA. +1 Already. Anyways BUNTA has a gay bro and a few other friends, including default win tomboy girl/childhood friend. They do standard school shit until around midway of the episode, kind of slow, not sure what this show is trying to pull. Then some girl which was hiding in he shadows for a while asks BUNTA in the bathroom to meet, long black hair, silent kuudere kind of girl. Said meeting/date happens with BUNTA and girl, they do bait date things. Have decent time. Later, long black hair girl then tells BUNTA her true intent, basically, wants him to be the scenario writer for bishoujo/visual novel game she is trying to make. And that’s when I knew what this type of show was. Main girl is alright, default win girl is alright, main guy is tolerable. Character designs is pretty solid, animation ok, concept has been done to death but characters interesting enough to be watchable. Mild funny, story. Will probably watch more, we’ll see.
Haruchika – Basically tries to headfake you thinking it is another Euphium or other pure school band anime but in reality it’s something else entirely hidden within that framework. So we got main girl, she is pretty cute, purple hair, nice shiny eyes with nice pupils, she does school things and wants to play flute in the school band. Joins school band, not many members, meets old middle school friend, boy, pretty boy, they do shit. Main girl used to be tomboy sports girl in middle school but trying to get away from that type in highschool, clubs all try to recruit her for sports etc. Some kind of mystery unfolds on the band chalkboard, red paint hidden message to band instructor, who looks kinda gay but she likes him. So some shit happens and her middle school friend and others in the band try to decode the message to teacher. Puzzle is like hardcore smart music numbers riddle thing, shit I don’t even know. They solve puzzle, they happy, find out message is a love message to teacher, ok whatever. Next day main girl rushes to school to practice, middleschool friend in class, basically says he’s gay and only joined because of gay teacher and won’t lose to main girl. lololol wut. Character designs are pretty good, especially main girl and the 2 girl twins in the band but I don’t think it’s enough for me. Too gay too smart puzzles. Nope, too bad.
Boku Dake ga Inai Machi – Show starts off as main guy saying he’s scared, thus slight montage of recent past events of his life. Failed manga author and ends up working as a pizza delivery guy. Voice really melancholy and apathetic sounding, just doesn’t give a shit anymore, ideal “whatever” kind of voice. Goes to deliver pizza at work on his mini bike with co-worker girl, pretty high energy girl, cute. While he is driving he feels something strange as he drives past a truck; repeat sequence again; with a second glance and being more aware he realizes the truck driver is dead and was going to hit a kid. Saves the kid but ends up getting hit and wakes up in hospital. Ends up explaining he has a weird ability to reverse time/go back in time for a few seconds, a la steins gate and or any other time/time-stop kind of anime. After that you get the general premise of where the show is heading; more bad shit happens to him. His mom comes over to stay at this apartment and take care of him out of the hospital, asks him about past days and trauma as a kid and how it maybe has something to do with his actions today, guy doesn’t really know, some shit about child abductions and murders in the neighborhood; his friends were killed as a child. Basically after more bad shit happen to him, his mom is killed and he uses his power to try and stop it but ends up going back in time to when he was a little kid but with memories intact from the future. Fuck. Guess it’s time to change history and save my childhood friends. While the whole time thing has been done to death, this is a really excellent take on the whole genre. Ok character design, excellent concept, pacing, storytelling and top notch mystery/suspense level drama going on here. This is a good show, will watch for sure.
Active Raid – I am not sure who is this for. Women, men, it’s kind of unclear to me. So we got main girl, looks pretty good, is a newbie cop of some sort on first day of work. Future world Tokyo, main girl kinda looks like the main girl from Haruchika, ok. Introductions to others on her police team, bunch of girls and some guys, both girls and guys pretty good looking. Basically some shit happen and one of the main guys suits up and becomes like a iron-man self contained mech power suit. Guy in suit gets sent off for mission to stop some gay guys with mech. Fighting ensues. Guy needs help, call in other guy on team not originally present, suits up, fight off bad guys. Boss sends main girl to where the 2 guys are fighting to do something. After they win, energy on their suit runs out and armor comes off/guys become naked. Main girl assigned to cover the scene and hide their bodies, standard wtf reaction from main girl and such. They then go to a pub and have food/drinks laugh more of funny times. At the bar is some cute idol robot girl, nice. The end. Wtf did I watch? It’s hard. Hard to determine who is this for, I would normally say this is for guys because mech/girls/cute robot girl but with the presence of gay main guys in suit, with transformation sequence/clothes coming off and all, I just don’t’ know anymore; I guess something for everyone?. Definitely an original animation. Decent character designs, forgetable/ugly mech/suit designs, boring concept, use of 3d cg for fighting scenes. Ok but not really my kind of thing, whatever.
Sekkou Boys – Mini show about guy idols and the girl who manages them. Will watch for sure. Why? Fucking idols are roman/greek statue busts. Lolololollol fucking jokes. Yea, base standard concept but because the “Idols” are statues makes it so humous and funny; plus they have voices. Main girl used to be art student but wants to get away from drawing/painting statues; ends up working with statues none the less. lolol. Good shit, excellent concept, pacing, character designs, statues; will watch for more.
Oshiete! Galko-chan – Mini show about three girls talking about girl shit. This is good. Go into such questions such as “Is it true that people with big boobs have big areolas, as well?” and “If you have thick eyebrows, does that mean your pubic hair is also thick?” lolol wut. Main girl is like popular/lazy girl with the whole garruu schoolgirl look, her friend is glasses girl which is smart/otaku and third friend is lady-like student counsel kind of girl. Good character design, ok animation, great concept, excellent for a mini show. Watch more for sure.
Tabi Machi Late Show – Mini show which I am assuming tells short stories of daily life or heartwarming sentimental tales. This first episode is about some chef and him learning how to make spaggetti for his teacher, they talk and chat. He leaves for a journey to pursue his life and whatnot. For what it is, it’s not bad, but the animation is non-existent, it’s basically a powerpoint/flash animation with fading stills and voice acting on top. The story itself is nice and the character designs are very simple, like a child book, which is what I think they are going for/based off of. Not bad, we’ll see maybe watch more.
Koukaku no Pandora – Basically world has technology to have super smart robots that look human-like, but main girl is different; she is an android, human but all/almost all robot mechanical parts, kind of like Genos from One Punch man; a very rare phenomenon in this world. Main girl is on a boat riding to some city to meet someone, semi-futuristic, meets some scientist women which notices her because she is so unique, she has a robot-android girl too, looks like a cute cat-girl maid. Hmmm. Main girl gets all clingy and shit to maid cat girl. Hmm. Some shit happen and scientist and maid girl get attacked later on in the city, main girl is worried so goes to check out/help them. Maid girl is fighting some other robot shit, remote-controlled by a bunch of costumed girls such as bunny-girl, gym clothes girl, tracksuit girl, china-dress girl, shrine-maiden girl, basically every kind of costume moe fetish really. Hmm… Lol wut. Scientist women says that she knows who she is looking for, gives her upgrades and shit, suddenly knows how to fight and fire guns and shit, but later wears out. More funny battle ensues with maid cat girl and the such, episode ends. Based on a generic anime description you would read online, you would think this could actually be a serious show, but make no mistake, this is a jokes, moe comedy with gags and occasional fighting. Good character designs, I like the maid cat-girls and the main girl is ok too although a bit plain, they draw ball-joints for the robot girls which I am not really fond of but I can get over it. Done before concept but interesting and fun enough for me to watch more of. Good shit, watch more for sure.
More to come…