January brings all new TV anime. Here are the initial impressions on the handful of new series I thought looked interesting.
Active Raid: Kazari is a young and up coming civil servant. She is assigned to a rogue police military division called Unit8 in order to help straighten them out. Unit 8 is a rag tag group put together to combat increasing crimes using body augmentation systems called Willware. Unit 8 uses unconventional methods and outright blackmail to proceed as they want to in apprehending criminals. Their procedures lead to poor public opinion and large collateral damage.
This series won't be in my cue for very long. In truth it felt like a modern rendition of Patlabor. I love Patlabor but its a thing of its time and this seems like the wrong era to recreate it. But saying its a recreation of Patlabor is misleading. Its like someone took the rough concept of Patlabor as the frame work then crammed the story full of every conceivable style and genre is currently popular based on market research. Its Patlabor re-imagined as if designed by a marketing committee...and its a mess.
Oji-san and Marshmallow: This is a short slice of life comedy about an over weight middle aged man named Hige-san and the young nubile 20-something office lady who torments him through marshmallows. It appears Wakabayashi, the OL has a thing for middle aged men and wants Hige-san to give her a baby...she also appears to have a feeding fetish. Time will tell, but the first episode didn't exactly deliver what I was anticipating...strange show.
Boku dake ga Inai Machi (Erased): Satoru is a 29 year old single man who works as a pizza delivery driver and is a failed manga artist. He has an uncanny ability he calls revival in which he uncontrollably goes back in time a few minutes. He has learned that the revival happens when he is presented with an opportunity to avert an accident around him, he just needs to notice the clues. When a revival lands him in the hospital his estranged mother comes to nurse him back to health. Her arrival stirs memories of a tragedy in his home town that seems to have far reaching implications.
This first episode had me almost at the start, I greatly enjoy good time travel stories and I think this one is going to be one of the best series of the season. Here's to a fantastic and engaging mystery series with a slight super natural twist.
Please Tell Me! Glako-chan: Glako is a big busted air-head who shows up late for class and doesn't take crap from her idiotic male classmates. She and her friends spend their free time at school discussing personal problems and debunking idiotic sexual and bodily rumors.
This one is odd and may just end up being a guilt pleasure. Its crude, overly sexual and every bit realistic in how teenagers act and think, like idiots with too much knowledge for the own good and not enough experience to do anything with it. It somewhat reminded me of the spirit of Colorful.
Active Raid: Kazari is a young and up coming civil servant. She is assigned to a rogue police military division called Unit8 in order to help straighten them out. Unit 8 is a rag tag group put together to combat increasing crimes using body augmentation systems called Willware. Unit 8 uses unconventional methods and outright blackmail to proceed as they want to in apprehending criminals. Their procedures lead to poor public opinion and large collateral damage.
This series won't be in my cue for very long. In truth it felt like a modern rendition of Patlabor. I love Patlabor but its a thing of its time and this seems like the wrong era to recreate it. But saying its a recreation of Patlabor is misleading. Its like someone took the rough concept of Patlabor as the frame work then crammed the story full of every conceivable style and genre is currently popular based on market research. Its Patlabor re-imagined as if designed by a marketing committee...and its a mess.
Oji-san and Marshmallow: This is a short slice of life comedy about an over weight middle aged man named Hige-san and the young nubile 20-something office lady who torments him through marshmallows. It appears Wakabayashi, the OL has a thing for middle aged men and wants Hige-san to give her a baby...she also appears to have a feeding fetish. Time will tell, but the first episode didn't exactly deliver what I was anticipating...strange show.
Boku dake ga Inai Machi (Erased): Satoru is a 29 year old single man who works as a pizza delivery driver and is a failed manga artist. He has an uncanny ability he calls revival in which he uncontrollably goes back in time a few minutes. He has learned that the revival happens when he is presented with an opportunity to avert an accident around him, he just needs to notice the clues. When a revival lands him in the hospital his estranged mother comes to nurse him back to health. Her arrival stirs memories of a tragedy in his home town that seems to have far reaching implications.
This first episode had me almost at the start, I greatly enjoy good time travel stories and I think this one is going to be one of the best series of the season. Here's to a fantastic and engaging mystery series with a slight super natural twist.
Please Tell Me! Glako-chan: Glako is a big busted air-head who shows up late for class and doesn't take crap from her idiotic male classmates. She and her friends spend their free time at school discussing personal problems and debunking idiotic sexual and bodily rumors.
This one is odd and may just end up being a guilt pleasure. Its crude, overly sexual and every bit realistic in how teenagers act and think, like idiots with too much knowledge for the own good and not enough experience to do anything with it. It somewhat reminded me of the spirit of Colorful.
Dagashi Kashi: Kokonotsu has his heart set on being a
manga artist. But everyone around him wants him to take over his
fathers small town candy store. He faces a challenge from a woman who
works for a major candy manufacturer that wants to recruit his dad.
Will he succumb to everyone pressuring him to continue the families
small town store?
This show really triggered nothing in my to want to continue to watch it. I will give it one maybe two more episodes but I'm not holding my breath.
Bubuki Buranki: Twin siblings, Kaoruko and Azuma, live in a post apocalyptic world with their parents. The world is filled with giant machina that sleep with foreboding doom. When Kaoruko inadvertently awakes them their mother sends them away while she battles them. Their escape is from their home, isolated high in the atmosphere, to the surface of Earth. The story picks up 10 years later and Azuma is returning to Japan after being away for some time. Security forces capture him with hopes of discovering an item of his families that can control the silent monsters. A group of magic wielders come to his rescue.
This series really had me for the first half of the show. A cool, Miyazaki like natural world over the remains of a destroyed civilization. The family with the ability to counter the sleeping giants of destruction. Then it turns into a magic cyberpunk version of Kill la Kill. I will give it a few more episodes but it quickly turned into something that doesn't interest me. Characters with complicated costumes geared for cosplay repetition who follow strictly ingrained archetype personalities. Disappointing, the show would be much more interesting if it didn't take place in an totalitarian near-future Earth.
Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash: A group of kids suddenly find themselves in an unknown fantasy world, with no memories of their past or how they got there. Having no choice but to immerse themselves into this new reality they begin down the harrowing path or 'adventurers'.
Normally I dislike fantasy anime and I really dislike the current crop of 'normal people sucked into MMORPGs'. But for now, something about this series is OK and I am willing to give it 5 episodes to convince me either way. There is some un-needed fanservice but I sense something in the background of the story that speaks of maturity and interest. So for now, it sticks around.
Oya-san wa Shishunki: This is a short slice of life comedy about a middle school who works as a landlord for a small apartment building. I really have no idea where it could go. It seems like an insipid moe otaku thing. It's super short so for know I'll watch a few more episodes but I don't see much coming out of the show.
Dimension W: Mabuchi Kyoma is a man resisting change in a world where unlimited power is available, but controlled by a less than friendly public/private corporation. While resisting using the technology himself his job is to hunt down people who use and trade illegal energy technology. On a routine job he ends up running into an robot girl who knocks him out and runs off with the tech before he can secure it. He tracks her down but before anything can happen her creator unleashes a technology that destroys energy tech through out the city. His employer revives the girl who asks to join their efforts in gathering the illegal tech.
For some reason this show makes me think of a hybrid between Cowboy Bebop and Riding Bean. So far its not bad, artwork that fits the style and interesting, off bat characters. Time will tell how the series fares as the story progresses and the secrets unfold.
This show really triggered nothing in my to want to continue to watch it. I will give it one maybe two more episodes but I'm not holding my breath.
Bubuki Buranki: Twin siblings, Kaoruko and Azuma, live in a post apocalyptic world with their parents. The world is filled with giant machina that sleep with foreboding doom. When Kaoruko inadvertently awakes them their mother sends them away while she battles them. Their escape is from their home, isolated high in the atmosphere, to the surface of Earth. The story picks up 10 years later and Azuma is returning to Japan after being away for some time. Security forces capture him with hopes of discovering an item of his families that can control the silent monsters. A group of magic wielders come to his rescue.
This series really had me for the first half of the show. A cool, Miyazaki like natural world over the remains of a destroyed civilization. The family with the ability to counter the sleeping giants of destruction. Then it turns into a magic cyberpunk version of Kill la Kill. I will give it a few more episodes but it quickly turned into something that doesn't interest me. Characters with complicated costumes geared for cosplay repetition who follow strictly ingrained archetype personalities. Disappointing, the show would be much more interesting if it didn't take place in an totalitarian near-future Earth.
Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash: A group of kids suddenly find themselves in an unknown fantasy world, with no memories of their past or how they got there. Having no choice but to immerse themselves into this new reality they begin down the harrowing path or 'adventurers'.
Normally I dislike fantasy anime and I really dislike the current crop of 'normal people sucked into MMORPGs'. But for now, something about this series is OK and I am willing to give it 5 episodes to convince me either way. There is some un-needed fanservice but I sense something in the background of the story that speaks of maturity and interest. So for now, it sticks around.
Oya-san wa Shishunki: This is a short slice of life comedy about a middle school who works as a landlord for a small apartment building. I really have no idea where it could go. It seems like an insipid moe otaku thing. It's super short so for know I'll watch a few more episodes but I don't see much coming out of the show.
Dimension W: Mabuchi Kyoma is a man resisting change in a world where unlimited power is available, but controlled by a less than friendly public/private corporation. While resisting using the technology himself his job is to hunt down people who use and trade illegal energy technology. On a routine job he ends up running into an robot girl who knocks him out and runs off with the tech before he can secure it. He tracks her down but before anything can happen her creator unleashes a technology that destroys energy tech through out the city. His employer revives the girl who asks to join their efforts in gathering the illegal tech.
For some reason this show makes me think of a hybrid between Cowboy Bebop and Riding Bean. So far its not bad, artwork that fits the style and interesting, off bat characters. Time will tell how the series fares as the story progresses and the secrets unfold.
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