Summer Season - First Blush part 2

As more titles role out here's my thoughts on the first episodes of these other new shows.

Re: Hamatora: The series starts months after the end of last series and the members of Hamatora are picking up the pieces.  They are trying their best to move on and continue work as normal, but the new public awareness of Minimum Holders is having a negative impact on their business.

    I am actually kind of happy to see the return of this series, the artwork even looks a little better too.  I'm still not sure if I will read the manga, which covers parts of the story not covered in the anime.  The comedy is back, following the serious way the original show ended, but it will be great when the action and drama kicks in again too.

Hanayamata (ハナヤマタ): A girl with an identity complex wanders through life dreaming of the day when a fairy godmother will take her away to a more fulfilling reality.  A chance encounter one evening with a kimono clad foreigner signals the change she has dreamed of, but she is reluctant to accept her fate.  When the odd girl shows up at school as a transfer student from America, with the unlikely name of Hana Fountainstand, her world becomes troublesome.  The American is 100% Japanophile and wants nothing more than to make as many Japanese friends as possible and tries to start up a traditional dance club in school, working desperately to recruit the awkward girl. 

    In the beginning I was unsure about this, it seemed annoying, the voice acting is pretty crappy and it seems like nothing but an innocuous moe show.  The introduction of the crazed foreigner added some needed comedic relief so it might not be that bad after all.  Time will tell, but I don't see this being one of the better shows this season.  For now it will stay on my watch list until it becomes bothersome.

Ao Haru Ride (アオハライド): In middle school miscommunications caused her to lose the live of her life.  He moved away before she could clear up the misunderstanding.  In high school she has changed her image to not attract boys, knowing how other girls can be vicious and petty towards popular girls.  She is always searching for her list love to return however.  When he reappears with a new identity she thinks she can make up for lost time.  Something is different with him though and his attitude towards her is cold and cruel.  Can she figure out what can be done to recapture his heart as well as be true to her?

    This is a relatively serious story with some well placed humor.  The artwork and atmosphere reminds me bit of Say 'I Love You'.  I think I will enjoy this but don’t expect or want it to be long and drawn out.

Sabagebu! (さばげぶっ!): Transferring to a new school can be rough, but getting tricked into joining the weirdest club in school is even harder.  The new girl at an all-girl’s high school is dragged into the Survival Game Club by the beautiful club president.  She grudgingly follows along and enters the world of air soft war gaming.

    This is both a war gaming fan service vehicle and an offbeat comedy.  I’m not that into the war-game aspect, but I’ll take machinegun fanservice over panty shots every 3 minutes.  The humor is goofy and even breaks the 3rd wall.  Plus, there’s a mysterious giant duck thing...
 

Maido! Urayasu Tekkin Kazoku (毎度！浦安鉄筋家族): A 2-minute per episode gag anime about a crazed family.  The first episode deals with them on their way to a vacation at a hot spring but they can't keep the body of the car together while on the freeway.

    This looks really fun!  The animation is fantastic for a cheep gag-manga anime.  The characters are classic 4koma gag style and are interpreted well in the anime form.  I look forward to more!!

 

Himegoto (ひめゴト): A high school student tries to evade debtors by dressing in drag.  He is rescued by the all female student council who recruits him due to his beauty.  When they find out his parents travel the world racking up debt in his name they decide to pay it off in exchange for him to be the student councils cross dressing dog for the rest of high school.

    This could be a rather entertaining series.  Its only 4 minutes per episode which makes it better, fast paced, straight to the point.  Even better...it appears all the fanservice will deal with the boy while dressed as a girl...nice change of pace and I will read into it as being a snub.