Winter 2024 First Blush

 New year means new anime.  Here are my initial thoughts on the handful of series' that piqued my interest that are starting this January.

Delicious in Dungeon

    If it wasn't for the fanatical responses to this series' first episode on the interweebs I would have slept on it.  This is a cute and amusing casual show about cooking up the things adventurers run into while traversing the dungeon of their world.  The show is based on a long running manga that has a lot of fans worldwide and Netflix didn't take any risks in producing it along with Trigger.  This is far from the usual course served up by that legendary animation studio and this may be the first thing to come from them that I will really enjoy.  I'm not a fan of Triggers usual design aesthetics, story styles or frantic pacing.  This amusing and darkly cute series is a far cry from the likes of Flip Flappers or Kill la Kill.

The series is being released weekly on Netflix.

Sasaki and Peeps

    Sasaki is a middle aged single man living a dead end life as a lowly wage slave.  He decides to get a pet one day, settling for a sparrow due to cash constraints and the bird speaking to him.  After he brings the small bird home he learns its more than meets the eye.  The tiny bird houses the isekai'd magic user from another world named Piercarlo.  Pi-chan makes and offer to Sasaki to better both of their lives.  Not seeing any harm does so and the bird teleports them back to its original world.  With his work knowledge and the magical abilities of Pi-chan, Sasaki quickly sets up and import/export business between the two worlds.  Then he runs into people in the real world using magic...calling themselves physics who drag him into their own hidden reality.

    I had no idea what this was going to be coming into it, but I was more than pleased with the initial double length first episode.  The premise is amusing and the main character entertaining.  It will be interesting to see how much trouble he gets himself into and how long it takes until his cover is blown in either world.  It also doesn't hurt that the voice actor for Sasaki is the same who voiced Gintoki of Gintama!

The series is being released weekly on Crunchyroll.

Solo Leveling

    I had been interested in this property since Tower of God's anime adaptation came out and its name was talked about with the same regard as this manhwa.   I never bothered to look into it though and just waited until the long fated anime was released.  Well, this is definitely not the story for me.  The artwork as a bit bland and it seemed like little more than a power fantasy shonen action story.  It's hard to say what resonated for me with Tower of God...most likely the interesting world building that the story has.  But Solo Leveling lacked all of that and I lost interest in the first five minutes of the first episode.  I can't be bothered to continue on in the hopes there may be something that attracts my attention, I have too large of a back log of shows I know I'm interested in to watch.  Not everything that catches my eye can retain it.

The series is being released weekly on Crunchyroll.

A Sign of Affection

    I am a fan of the lovely slice of live drama that is A Silent Voice, regardless of one of the main characters being deaf.  It was handled with care and attention, with a well crafted story.  Not knowing anything about A Sign of Affection and basing my interest in it purely on it being a love story with the main character being deaf.  Though, lets be honest, its a romance about college aged characters, so I am bound to be interested.  What really drew my attention though is curiosity around how the story will handle its hearing impaired protagonist and comparing that to A Silent Voice.  So far it's OK in that regard.  Our main character is a 19 year old college student, so she lives in a world where she has to be more reliant on herself than her family, even though she lives at home(maybe?).  I am not sure why she wears hearing aids though as it appears she is completely deaf.  I suspect she may use them as a flag to let people she encounters know she is deaf.  Perhaps they will explain that later in the story.  Anyways, so far it seems like her character is being treated with respect and not as a prop, but we will see how the story unfolds.  Also....I am not sure I like the newer aesthetic of romance stories where the male characters like K pop stars.  Changing times and popular sentiments will influence design so it is what it is.  I don't want to have an old man yelling at clouds moment because character designs I am familiar with are changing. I am also observant enough to understand why character designs would favor an aesthetic similar to K-pop or other current popular male trends.  This could be considered a mark of a story aimed at women/girls given the popularity in those demographics.

The series is being released weekly on Crunchyroll.

 

 Mr. Villains Day Off

    A powerful commander in a coalition of beings bent on eradicating humankind takes his work very seriously.  Due to his dedication for his groups ambitions, he also takes his down time equally seriously.  On his days off he refuses to do anything that would amount to work, holding precious his mental and physical health.  So whats an alien invader bent on destruction supposed to do on his down time?  Self care, including visiting panda's at the local zoo.  He loves panda's and hopes to return them to a glory in the wild once humans are wiped from the planet.  Not even chance encounters with the defenders of humanity on his days off will make him break his personal rules.  This is a fun and cute show, but it will be interesting to see how well it can keep up this single gag through its entire run.  Though, the gag is a bit less defined than something like The Girl I Like Forgot Her Glasses.  It reminds me more of the antics and premise of The Way of the Househusband.  But, so far, its amusing and will probably remain that way for a while to come.

The series is being released weekly on Crunchyroll.

Hokkaido Gals are Super Adorable!

    Tsubasa moves to a remote city in Hokkaido and ha to adjust to the vastly different reality of far northern Japan compared to that of Tokyo.  He makes the mistake of underestimating the distances between things in this part of the world and runs up stranded with a gyaru who braves the deep cold.  His first encounter with a live long resident of the frozen north warms up his heart but things get weird for him when shes the girl next to him in his new class the next day.  The gyaru, Fuyuki, hits it off with him right away, drawn in by the mystique of Toky, not realizing he was a social outcast back home.  This fish out of water has to contend with a new environment and dealing with a cute girl at the same time.  I didn't have too high of expectations on this one, given the character designs mostly.  Unrealistic character designs, on par with a standard anime version of a gyaru.  The first episode drags out tired fish out of water tropes and the characters aren't very believable as being anything other than caricatures.  This probably won't stick around my watch list for much longer.  

The series is being released weekly on Crunchyroll.

Cherry Magic: 30 Years of Virginity Can Make You a Wizard?!

    Adachi is a 30 year old virgin salary man.  He dwells in a world of self pity and somehow his 30 years of abstinence have granted him the ability to hear peoples thoughts when he's in physical contact with them.  This new ability brings him nothing but misery and when he bumps into a coworker one morning it becomes significantly complicated.  The coworker, handsome and well liked Kurosawa is madly in love with Adachi.  He now has to navigate knowing something personal about someone close to him and reconcile if he's even capable of reciprocation.  

    This is a super cute and enjoyable story so far, it will be interesting to see how much thought is put into the progress of Adachi coming to terms with any mutual attraction to the man he initially pegged as a popular ladies man.  Beyond recognizing if he is even attached to him, he has to sort out his own internal doubts and hesitations regarding closeness to anyone, let alone a coworker of the same sex.  But, time will tell if this is a well crafted dramady or not.  So, far, I like it!

 The series is being released weekly on Crunchyroll.

Metallic Rogue

     This one was a last minute include.  Its an original sci-fi series to celebrate Bones 25th anniversary.  It deals with a future where humans live on Mars and artificial humans are a part of the landscape, but they are in mostly subservient roles and are limited by the Asimov laws of robotics.  The first episode started off pretty good.  Slick artwork, appealing character designs and the potential to be an interesting cyberpunk story.  Then in the back half of the episode it turns into a drawn out gaudy power suit combat display.  Before the fight between two characters there was scant information and the pace was quite hectic.  I figured that was fine, its not as enjoyable if everything is spelled out to the viewer like they were a ten year old.  But then the show spent five minutes with a pointless battle filled with even more pointless exposition.  What I mean by pointless is boring and disappointing.  I'm sure the dialogue and foreshadowing will be important as the series continues.  But I was so disappointed by the turn the series took I probably won't last past episode 3.  I figure, I will at least give episode 2 a watch as the first half of the episode was fun and interesting.  But I fear this will quickly turn into a disappointment.

The series is being released weekly on Crunchyroll.

Delusional Monthly Magazine

    I wasn't sure what to expect from this one either and I am not sure I will continue to watch it.  It has a weird artificial quality to its design and setting.  It's a fictional world that seems to combine modern and archaic aspects to it.  Either way...weird character designs.  The show was mildly interesting until what is possibly the main character, the editor of said monthly magazine specializing in fake stories of the supernatural and occult, transforms into a beast man.  I will give this one two more episode to make my final decision, there is something that is slightly interesting about this.  Heck, Appare-Ranman gave me the same vibes and that ended up being an enjoyable but pointless show.  But something about this one makes me think its aimed at little kids...

The series is being released weekly on Crunchyroll.

Bucchigiri

    This was way more entertaining that it should have been.  Loser kid transfers back to his childhood city, ends up going to school in the delinquent cesspit.  Caught between two rival gangs in school, he ends up stumbling upon a genie who only wants to be paired with a badass.  The kid makes a wish to get laid instead of gaining power or wealth.  The genie is stuck for the time being causing the boy to have continuously miserable time.  When he gets caught in a honey trap and starts to get the shit beat out of him, the genie is finally invigorated by the kids declaration of loosing his virginity in the face of mortal danger.  This is the kind of absurdity that I appreciate.  The plot is weird, the characters are over the top and the animation and art direction is really fun.  Yeah, this is going to be amusing.

The series is being released weekly on Crunchyroll.