First impressions for the Fall of 2023 anime season

The first week of October has come and gone and with it the introduction episodes for most of the new anime I had on my watch list.  Here's a run down of the initial impressions.

Dekoboko Majo no Oyako Jijo (The Family Circumstances of the Irregular Witch)

    This series fooled me and/or I wasn't paying close enough attention.  But the initial gag of the anime is that the buxom witch looking character is the teenage adoptee and the little girl looking character is the couple hundred years old witch mother.  This series focuses way to much on boobs...bu there are some other qualities that make it enjoyable.  The series definitely comes from yonkoma origins as the episodes have no over all narrative.  It will be interesting to see if the humor can remain interesting enough to keep my interest and how much time is going to be spent on world building in general.

Under Ninja

    I went into this one only based on my enjoyment of the original authors previous work and so far I am intrigues.  The animation is what I expected based on his style and the preview.  You can ignore the awkward CGI in the opening segment, the rest is pretty good.  The first episode does very little to explain whats going on.  The story flips back and forth between two different time frames, establishing a baseline of the world and the main characters situation and personality.  It feels like there is an active amount of subterfuge in the anime its self, which is fitting for a show about ninja.  I look forward to more of this weird story.

A Girl & Her Guard Dog

     This show has a very strong pedophile aspect to it...but that aspect is subtle.  Consider that Keiya is 26 years old in the current time of the show, he was made Isaku's guardian at the age of about 16 or 17.  Isaku is in love with his stoic protector and it sure seems like Isaku is attracted to the girl he raised who is currently 14 or 15.  Not a problem right?  But Isaku's character is fun, shes a clutz and quite socially awkward even though she looks like a traditional shojo princess.  Keiya and the rest of the yakuza clan they have shown so far are boring and stereotypical.  There is some potential for this to be a fun slice of live story if the creepy romance portion stays at a subdued level.  Though it is no Yakuza's Guide to Babysitting.

 

 Yuzuki-san Chi no Yon-Kyodai (The Yuzuki Family's Four Sons)

     Subtitle kerfuffle aside I am not sure this show is worth my time.  The family dynamic of the four brothers is more than predictable and it seems that dynamic is the entire basis of the plot lines, at least it is for the first episode.  Not a fan of the artwork as well, it doesn't really have any soul to it.  I'll give it a few more episodes to try and turn things around but I'm not too optimistic about it in the end.  Why was Minami-ke never released in English!!!!?????

You Were Experienced, I was Not: Our Dating Story

    The cold opening for this one made it out to be way more of an otaku wet dream story than it appears to be.  The premise is rather shaky but Runa's character appears to to have more substance than just a pair of boobs and dyed hair.   Her entire justification for deciding to date our MC Ryuto is an angle not normally taken, but she has some thought into her approach to dating.  She doesn't appear to be as shallow as you would assume and it feels like she may be the character with depth in the series.  There was enough reason in the way the first episode to keep me interested to see how it develops.  What has the outward appearance of little more than a shitty fantasy of what a relationship could be, might turn into a well done human relations piece as the two main characters begin to learn about themselves.  I got caught in this trap in the beginning, trying to be super critical of the show, calling out the idea that Ryuto only likes her for her looks and doesn't no anything about her.  She points that out, saying he approach to dating is to get closer to someone to learn about them in the hopes that honest feelings could develop as the she starts to learn the real person behind the declaration of love.  I am truly surprised by how this development caught me off guard.

Ancient Magus Bride season2, part 2

    Not much to say here, it is picking up where the last episode in the Spring left off with the Alchemist College now being sealed off to help prevent further attacks on the staff and students as they try to understand who stole a dangerous grimore and why.  Chise is trying to understand her classmates more as she gets closer to them, but there are definitely secrets that will begin to reveal themselves as the danger persists.

Spy x Family, season 2

    The misfit fake family returns for continued adventures!  The first episode was a great welcome back to this amusingly odd story.  Yor spends the entire episode trying to hide a fresh bullet wound to the butt and Loid thinks shes angry with him, threatening to compromise his mission.  Only Anya knows the truth and helps to thwart an attempt on her new mamma's life.  The show keeps up its energy and form right out of the gate...can't wait for more!!

My New Boss Is Goofy

    The artwork is a bit crude but this is a cute and amusing slice of life comedy.  I'm still low-key rooting for this to turn into a Bl anime, but I suspect that won't come to be.  Its nice to just turn your brain off and enjoy something pointless and cute for a while and this does that well enough, even with the terrible animation.

 

Pluto....sadly this does not premier until the end of October as its a Netflix series not a TV broadcast anime.  I also need to finish up the first season of Kaina of the Great Snow Sea before picking up season 2.