The first episodes of all of the new shows for the Spring cour have been watched that I could find. Here's my initial thoughts on the ones I earmarked for interest.
Studio Apartment, Good Lighting, Angel Included
Towa is an angel inexperienced in the ways of life on Earth, god sends her down to Earth in order learn more about humans. She ends up falling asleep on the balcony high school student, Shintaro, who happens to live by himself. Shintaro is a general issue nice guy and ends up allowing the oblivious angel to stay with him as she tackles her heavenly mission.
Im not sure if this show will have any redeeming qualities. It is realistically nothing more than the fevered fantasies of a moe otaku. Towa is obliging, subservient and naive. Shintaro is the idealized good guy average man. Diligent, responsible, caring and detached from parental oversight. He goes about his high school days caring for himself and being responsible. A far cry from reality by any stretch. The only plot line that could be derived from the first episode is that Towa will continue to learn about humanity through Shintaro's caring and thoughtful guidance. The fatherly figure that could also be a soul mate. Each week will most likely introduce more moe female tropes to the group of girls the main character is friendly with but ambiguously sexual towards. It is the bread and butter dreams of a man who desires a 2.5D wife instead of interacting with complex and sometimes aggressive real people. It is sadness in motion.
This is being simulcast on Crunchyroll.
Train to the End of the World
The world turned upside-down when they switch on the 7G cell network. Reality broke and now it's a struggle just to survive. In the town of Agano every person aged 21 and older transformed into animals while still retaining their memories and personalities. Four high school girls from the village head off to the Ikebukuro Ward of Tokyo to find a lost friend of theirs, who wound up at the center of everything changing. The journey will be long and dangerous as the entire world has been twisted and reshaped.
I went into this one expecting a combination of Girls Last Tour and Hyakko, instead its like a combination of The Fire Hunter and Pani Poni Dash. The entire promise is insane and tinged with realistic 5G nutter conspiracies, but in a way that makes fun of the situation. The fall out of the event creates an open palette for the story to move seamlessly between different realities. What really hooked me though was the realistic impulsiveness of the characters and the random bits of strangeness. This is setting its self up to be a really funny and heart warming story.
This is being simulcast on Crunchyroll.
Spice & Wolf; merchant meets wise wolf
Holo, a mystical wolf, has been bound to the land of a small village for time immemorial. She is tasked with ensuring the wheat grown in the area is bountiful. Her existence is so tied to tradition that the residents of the village no longer believe she exists and view her as a tradition of superstition. Traveling merchant Lawrence arrives in the village during their annual festival, celebrating Holo and their crop, inadvertently triggering events that allow the wolf spirit to escape her bondage to the land. She appears to him as a young woman with ears and a tail and convinces him to let her join along his travels. She has been bound to this place for so long that she no longer believes she is needed and wishes to return to her ancestral homeland.
This is a remake of a series from twenty years ago and has been a on my list of anime to watch for almost as long. It's nice to have a fresh take on the series to dive into finally. So far so good. Holo's personality was not what I expected, considering her to be some naive vessel for male fantasies. Instead we see a cunning and shrewd ancient being who understands he position among humans quite well. I think that alone will keep me going with the show, knowing it is considered a classic in anime romance circles and not sure how it will pan out. Economics anime here we go!
This is being simulcast on Crunchyroll.
Bartender: Glass of God
A brand new high class hotel has opened up in Tokyo and struggles to find the right fit for their lobby bar. The hotels director has strict criteria for who to hire as the bartender and the staff have been unable to meet those expectations. Two woman for the hotel head to an exclusive establishment in the bowels of Ginza to see if a highly praised bartender is worth the reviews online. They are shocked to come face to face with a young scatter brained man they ran into previously. His attitude and appearance gives them a different impression of the disheveled man they met at a park who couldn't operate his cellphone. He proceeds to prove to them that his online praise doesn't do justice to the quality of his work. Now they have to try and convince him to work for them.
The original story has received a lot of love and praise in the community, but I am not sure I see why with the first episode. It was rather disappointing and uninteresting. The 'bartender' is literally the seinen drama version of Naruto, full of all sorts of plot armor and unassuming ability. They felt it necessary to painfully explain everything to the viewer, from the initial test set up to the way the 'bartender' overcame those initial failures by others. Plus it had the most ridiculous and disconnected from reality definition of the term bartender. The art and atmosphere was pretty enjoyable though but I'm not sure there will be enough quality substance to the show to make it worth watching.
This is being simulcast on Crunchyroll.
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Laid Back Camp season 3
We return once again to the quiet and calming world of Nadeshiko and her school friends as they obsess about the love they have for camping, particularly in colder months of the year.
There is little to say about whats going on, viewers of this lovely series know what to expect and the first episode does not disappoint. The first half goes into detail about how Rin came to love camping as a child with her grandfather. The second half shows the member of the outdoor club experimenting with making gas stoves with used cans. It wasn't all that long ago I re watched the original two seasons and the movie, but season 3's artwork appears to be of a higher quality. This is such a lovely show, I am really happy its back. I was hoping it would pick up from the movie, as the girls are all adults, but winding back to them in high school is good too. Now to find that fluffy oversized scarf and a cup of hot cocoa.
This is being simulcast on Crunchyroll.
A Condition Called Love
After a gesture of kindness is extended to Hananoi-kun, the most desirable first year students, he has decided that an unassuming girl from a different class is his one true love. Hotaru Hinase is that girl and she doesn't know how to approach his sudden and intense affection. She has gone through her entire life not understanding why people fall in love or what the desire to do so represents. Hananoi is convinced that she is the one he has been searching for and will go to any length to show her his sincerity and honesty. She is taken aback by his persistence and struggles with his attention and her own feelings for it, but something in her makes her want to see where it leads.
The premier episode of this cute show is both promising and terrifying. Hananoi is creepy in a way that seems innocent enough. The premise for the first episode, when he outright confesses to her in front of her class, is to change anything and everything about himself in order to appease her. He doesn't understand that at the moment she has no feelings of affection for him or anyone else and struggles with the idea of love. I doubt the story will pivot into him being a sadistic stalker, but damn, boys got some severe issues and desperation. I'm looking forward to watching this show as it is cute and innocent and lovely, but there's something itching in the back of my head about its characters. The art work seems to struggle with consistency in quality unfortunately, so we will see how it does as we progress. I think I'm going to enjoy this show though and it may be the best romance out of the season.
This is being simulcast on Crunchyroll.
A Salad Bowl of Eccentrics
Sara escapes death at the hands of rebels bent on over throwing her family by throwing herself into a mysterious portal to another world. She ends up in modern day Japan, breaking her fall by landing on an under employed private detective named Sosuke. Reluctantly he allows her to stay at his house for the evening while she gets her bearings. The following day, as he tries to kick her out, she threatens to erase his memories to protect her identity and ability to wiled magic, suggesting it may go wrong and make him brain dead. He relents, allowing her to stay with him for the immediate future. She quickly adapts to the new world around her and offers to help him with his work, using her super natural abilities. Sosuke isn't sure what to do but for the time being he has to put up with this freeloading kid from a fantasy world.
This was far more amusing than I anticipated and presents its self as a story very similar to the fantastic Hinamatsuri. Sara's character is fantastically irreverent and works well as a foil to Sosuke's straight man. This is pretty much a reverse iseki manzai. Based on the preview its only going to introduce more and more idiotic characters as it progresses and if the writing and absurdity can hold that pace we are in for a treat. Also, speaking of Hinamatsuri flavor, a soldier from Sara's realm followed close behind her and is currently living it up among the unhoused and thriving.
This is being simulcast on Crunchyroll.
Miyasaki Takumi, unemployed chef, applies for a promising position he finds in a help wanted ad. The position turns out to be less than expected as it is only to provide breakfast five days a week to the residents of a run down shared house called Astro Note. After falling for the house's landlady, Mira, he decides to take up the job while still looking for proper work as a chef. The residents of the house have larger than life personalities and Takumi, blinded by his infatuation, is unaware of the weirdness he is getting himself into.
I was hooked with the previews alone. I have long sought for a companion to the amazing romantic comedy Maison Ikkoku and this quirky original anime seems to be heavily influenced by that seminal work. Its not an exact carbon copy but there are way too many similarities for it to be a coincidence. The first episode really served to introduce out cast of oddballs and tip toe a little bit into an actual plot, but there is still a lot to be unpacked and I wonder if the show can do it over the span of a single cour or not. No word yet on how long the show will run, but I don't expect it to be two seasons.
This is being simulcast on Crunchyroll.
The Fable
Fable is a name given to a legendary and feared freelance hit-man. His success has lead to a high level of notoriety and his boss has decided to put him one ice for a year. After a busy period of contract killing, the boss wants to minimize his exposure and forces him to move to Osaka with his handler and lay low under the protection of a small Yakuza group. He's trained himself to kill or incapacitate anyone in a matter of seconds and facing an entire year where he has to fight against his trained instinct will prove a challenge for him. His handler and the Yakuza are concerned with his ability to turn off his murder switch for the next twelve months.
I'll be honest, not knowing anything about the source material, I was hoping for something a little more comedic. The Fable is a strange character but not in a comedic way, more in a concerning and embarrassing way. He has definitely grow up or transformed himself in a way that would make normalcy challenging. The artwork is a throw back to the styling of Ikegami Ryuichi of Crying Freeman and Sanctuary fame. My tastes have changed over the decades of anime and I am not sure I have any interest in entertaining this series as it looks to not deliver what I as hoping for. I will give it another episode or two but it doesn't look promising.
This is being simulcast on Hulu.
Jellyfish Can't Swim in the Night
Mahiru struggles with her place in the world as she stares down college entrance exams. In middle school she found a small amount of success with her artwork but rejected it when her friends at the time derided it. After running into a strange girl on the streets of Shibuya who praised a mural she did years ago, Mahiru finds her self dragged into a world she thought was locked away from. A world where people can stand out and create their own path. The girl who is forcing her into the light is failed idol and aspiring singer Kano, who wants to prove her doubters wrong.
Its hard to say what type of story this will be from the first episode, but I'm leaning into a pop industry based drama. A quick synopsis on Wiki talks about how the two girls join with two others to form an artist collective as a collaborative expression of their own desires to be seen. The artwork is mostly fantastic and has some fun directing that resists sticking with static shots. I wonder how dark this will get as the story unfolds, but its great to see so many high caliber original shows this season. This is one part of a larger media mix as well, a manga published in tandem with the first episode of the anime and a light novel is dropping in May. It will be interesting to see where this all leads.
This is being simulcast on Hidive.
Grandpa and Grandma Turn Young Again
Grandpa and Grandma Saitou eat a golden apple from a tree they planted at the beginning of their marriage, some 60 years earlier, and discover they have been restored to the health and vitality of their youth. Time to take advantage on the renewed lease on life and life their golden years to the fullest, making up for time wasted away in poverty and work.
While this is amusing, fun and cute, I wonder how long the gag of the elderly couple suddenly being young again will last. The first episode was pretty good, introducing a variety of characters and establishing their personalities. The artwork was rather lack luster, sometimes little more than a motion comic. Yet the characters are cute and fun...if a bit perverted in a normal way. I'll stick with it for now, but I wonder if they can really cram as much interesting content into a full cour of half hour episodes. It feels like it could have been a 5 minute show instead.
This is being simulcast on Crunchyroll.
Tadaima, Okaeri
Masaki and Hiromu have moved to a new home in the suburbs with their young son Hikari. They had decided to move after Hiromu faced harassment in their old neighborhood, but not because they're men, but because Hiromu comes from a different classification and his husband. The young family tries to make a happy and safe home form themselves even in the face of adversity in the world around them.
The potentially sci-fi twist to this story was totally unexpected. Initially one would expect it to take place in the Japan of reality, which confused me for a minutes, knowing that gay marriage is not yet legal there. Instead this is a version of the real world where same sex marriages are fully accepted in society but there is prejudice between those that are considered alpha and those that are considered omega. Beyond that, something allowed Hirumo to carry their son during gestation...so there's a bit of sci-fi background that the show is going to have to unpack as the series progresses. There is drama waiting in the wings and it is intriguing as to why people classified as omega are socially frowned upon. Will this fantastical representation of modern day homophobia translate well in the story?
This is being simulcast on Crunchyroll.
Rinkai!
After watching a women's keirin event, a group of five girls decide to all try and apply as racers in the following year, invigorated by the performance. Keirin is a form of bike racing that developed in Japan and has gone on to be a popular format in the track racing discipline. Part of its popularity in Japan stems from the ability to bet on it, as one would in horse or dog racing. The five girls have a years to train themselves physically and mentally for the grueling admission tests to join the woman's keirin league and compete on the track.
This is very much a guilty pleasure pick for me. I am a huge fan of track racing and even dabbled in it years ago when I started out working as a bike messenger. The sport is intense and requires a lot of strength and fortitude to do it. I didn't last long as a track racer. With all the long hours each week I put into training coupled with nervousness while out racing i conceded that it wasn't for me after half a season. It was quite harrowing to be speeding along at 30+ miles an hour, mere inches away from several other racers understanding that if one of them wobbled just a little bit a bunch of you were going to go down hard and hit the track. I digress! Rinkai! isn't going to be a good anime, the artwork is quite simplistic, with a heavy reliance on clunky CG animation for the racing motion...its not the cleanest looking thing I've seen by a long shot. It will be interesting to see how the story progresses for the five girls, as training for keirin is incredibly grueling. But...this isn't for everyone and its also not commercially available in the West for English speaking audiences.
This is being simulcast in Spanish via Jonu Media and in Asia outside of Japan by Ani-One Asia.
The Many Sides of Voice Actors Radio
Sato Yumiko is a struggling voice actor, going under the performer name Utatane Yasumi she has done a few notable roles in the three years of her career but has struggled recently to find work. Watanabe Chika is a far more successful voice actor going under the name Yugure Yuhi, who also does work as an idol. Both girls have cultivated public persona's that hide their true identities, to the point they don't know who the other is, even though they are classmates. The truth is revealed when they are cast together in a new radio program, playing on the idea that they go to school together in real life. They ae both professionals and can appropriately present the idea that they are comrades in school via their performance personas. In reality they hate each other in school and don't share any interest, Sato being a flashy gyaru and Watanabe being a gloomy loner. Can these two girls overcome their differences to provide their audience with a believable fictional relationship.
Not sure what to expect from this. On the surface its a typical odd couple slice of life with some comedy aspects. After viewing the first episode any hope for some dark drama underpinnings like in Oshi no Ko are pushed the the side. This may just be a rote story with an industry focus. I'll stick with it for the series but it probably won't make much of an impact on me. While I'm at it...whats up with the horrific design for the characters heads!!!!
This is being simulcast on Crunchyroll.
Whisper Me A Love Song
Himari falls in love with the singing of the girl fronting the student band during the entrance ceremony. When she runs into the order girl, Yori at the shoe lockers at the end of the day, she can't contain her excitement. Yori misunderstands what the enthusiastic girl means when she says she loves her, taking it to be a confession. Yori is encouraged by the members of the student band to go for it with the first year student. Himari learns that she goes to the rooftop after school to sing and play her guitar. When she surprises her the older girl tells her that she likes her too...unfortunately, Himari didn't mean her love to be in the way Yori did. Yori realizes her mistake but suspects the energetic under classman doesn't understand what she means. Instead, she welcomes the companionship of the younger girl in hopes that she can reach out to her heart.
At first I thought this was a bit...much. The first few minutes of the show weren't exactly the best. Some of the character designs, or more specifically the hair, remind me too much of some mid oughts galge. Things moved rapidly even if the confession was a false flag. The road ahead it sets for Yori to try and get Himari to fall for her like she has her singing will be interesting to watch. Its also great that Himari is an energetic and uncompromising character, instead of some flighty uncertain sub. This should be a nice chance of pace from a lot of the subdued and almost painful yuri series' that have come out recently.
This is being simulcast on Hidive.
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