Animation Revelation's Animation Blog

Buddy Complex

Wow, a Sunrise robot show! Just seems like yesterday that the one last ended… (OH WAIT).

So our typical Sunrise Robot Show Hero this time is Aoba Watase, whose main defining characteristic is… he doesn’t have one. Yeah this guy is about as white bread as a bag of Wonder. Nothing about him is distinctive so it comes off as a bit of a shock when a giant robot from the future arrives to kill him… wait what?

Yes it appears somebody at Sunrise watched The Terminator for the first time, decided to flip the genders of the main protagonists, and stuck giant robots in because… Sunrise.  Otherwise the ep is just kinda average. Only the main character and his would-be girlfriend are introduced and we’re left to scratch our heads while a typically well-animated Sunrise robot battle occurs. Then main girl surprisingly dies somehow because I don’t know (best guess is lulz since they’re voiced by Kirito and Sachi respectively) and reference is made to some guy named Dio (don’t get excited).

Buddy Complex is in the end just average. Not a terrible show, but nothing I couldn’t live without. Then again I said that about Valvrave and look how that turned out =/. — Lord Dalek

D-Frag!

Another anime season, another school club anime. Look forward to a group of wacky, cute girls doing wacky, cute things yet again! Oh, and if a guy is along for the ride, then get ready for some “great” romantic comedy hijinks…at least, that’s what you’d think upon first watching D-Fragments. The truth of the matter is that while this is the season’s mandatory club anime, it manages to outshine a decent chunk of all its prior colleagues by actually being funny and having likeable characters in the insane female club students and the equally weird male student cast. From the girls embodying your classic RPG elemental roles and committing acts of torture that would have military officers at Guantanamo blush to our gang wannabe delinquents attempting to live up to their dreams of being actual badasses, there was no joke in the first episode that didn’t at least make me chuckle…and that’s all I’ve got. It’s a good comedy. Watch it. — RacattackForce

Double Circle

When I asked my comrades whether or not there was anything left over to review for this anime season, a part of me was hoping it wouldn’t be the case. A part of me was hoping they would say “No, now faff off,” so I could go and do a write up on some hentai or manga instead. But, of course, the ever altruistic Lord Dalek blessed me with one of his assignments; something by the name of Double Circle. Sadly, I was halfway done watching Nikola Tanhofer’s 1963 film before being alerted that the Double Circle that I was meant to watch was really Gatchaman Crowds 2: Toshiba Reigns. Shame, because Croatian thrillers are much more enjoyable.

A co-production between the city of Kawasaki and the car manufacturer Toshiba, Double Circle serves as an advertisement for the city’s technology and economic sectors, with superheroes and an alien girl thrown in for good measure. While that by itself isn’t bad, as shows that serve as commercials can be greatly enjoyable if done right, it is very clear that not much thought was put into crafting the story here. A minute into the first episode, and you quickly realize that you’re simply watching Gatchaman Crowds again. You can double-check to make sure you clicked the right links and starting watching the right video, but the truth is that it would be no real exaggeration on anyone’s part to say that this is the second coming of Gatchaman Crowds, just in internet series form. Double Circle shares the same character designer and the same basic setup of modern technology influencing and ultimately changing what it means to be a hero. And even though sharing two elements doesn’t mean that two programs have to be derivative of each other, that manages to be the case here. Everything about this show gives off the same atmosphere as that latest chapter in the Gatchaman franchise, to the point where it is difficult to say anything of substance about Double Circle that Lord Dalek hasn’t already said about Crowds. In fact, just go back and read some of Dalek’s episode reviews; you’ll still get an idea of what you will be in for and I’ll be able to go back and finish that Croatian film.

Let it be said that Double Circle isn’t necessarily bad. Frankly, I found it to be slightly enjoyable. However, the death knell comes in giving viewers a huge sense of deja vu for a show that finished its run just a few months prior. If you enjoyed Crowds, then go ahead and give this 7-minutes-per-episode show a watch if you don’t mind feeling as though you seen certain plot details before. As for those who didn’t, feel free to leave and watch the rest of Samurai Flamenco for your superhero action this season. — RacattackForce

Engaged to the Unidentified

Before I start let me remind (or inform if this is the first time) you all of anichart’s winter description of MikaShin (or “Engaged to the Unidentified”):

“The comedy revolves around Kobeni Yonomori, who on her 16th birthday suddenly has a young man with little presence named Hakuya Mitsumine and his younger sister Mashiro appear in front of her. It turns out that Hakuya is her fiancee, and Mashiro is her future sister-in-law. The three (and Kobeni’s older sister Benio) start living together underneath the same roof, and hilarious happenings occur.”

If your initial reaction was an eye roll and/or a groan, then congratulations, join the club.  Unfortunately I’ve tendered my resignation from it after watching the first episode, and you probably may as well.  Quite frankly this is one of the bigger pleasant surprises in the Winter crop.

For one, the show retains a very pleasing visual motif, with a bright, cheery, winter backdrop where snow implies heavy emotional baggage or anything like such (…yet).  This is bolstered by a surprisingly well-done set of characters whose interactions with one another feels fresh and not at all forced.   I do enjoy how Kobeni is really the straight foil to the craziness around her, and thankful that she retains a good presence of responsibility, sweetness, and enough composure.   The (as of yet), only male character in the show, Hakuya, treads a fine line in trying to keep his rather unspectacular presence sliding from ‘charmingly amusing’ to ‘really really creepy’, and for the most part he succeeds.  Given his sincere, if rather stoic, dedication to being Kobeni’s fiancé, I’m looking forward to seeing how the show figures him out.  The same goes for Mashiro and Benio, with the former being a downright precocious loli whose anal retentive demeanour makes for a nice break from the usual innocent young girl shtick; and the latter multitasking between being model student, hyper-doting sister, and rather playful foil to her naïve, busybody, future sister-in-law.  They’re all a lot of fun.

And I’m having fun.  Whether you get the same mileage as me I’m not quite sure, but personally I don’t think you can go at all wrong with this tale.  It just needs to keep that gregarious slice-of-life quality of it without going too overboard in either insanity or downright creepiness (given how the cast describe the arrange marriage, I worry that it may be such), and work with it to provide that kind of show where you’re just left with an amused smile at the end of each episode. — The Juude

Future Card Buddyfight

15 years in the future, all the kids in Cho Tokyo are playing Buddyfight, the latest card game that summons monsters from an alternate universe, or something. Actually the show?s pretty damn typical yielding a product that can’t tell if it’s Cardfight Vanguard or Digimon Savers. The only notable things to say about it is our hot blooded Shonen hero, Gao, is a wannabe Jotaro Kujo cosplayer and…

…its in English.

Yes Bushiroad, the makers of the Buddyfight cardgame seriously want this to make a killing in the US apparently. So much that they’ve resurrected the long dead Ocean Group Blue Water to do the dialogue track and recorded hilariously bad Engrish versions of the OP and ED (WHICH ARE STILL SUBTITLED) with the original singers. The question is… why? This show is just average. True the CGI is actually surprisingly good but otherwise there’s nothing to remember about it.

Well its nice to have the effort I guess? — Lord Dalek

Go! Go! 575

This is a three minute short comedy about two friends writing haiku together, and it’s actually pretty cute. It’s cheerful in a relaxing way instead of just being boring like how a lot of similar anime end up. Sadly, it’s only going to get four episodes total, which makes me wonder why they even bothered. I’d much rather watch this than many shows that get a full season order, so I’m disappointed it won’t be lasting very long. — Foggle

Hozuki no Reitetsu

I’m a bit sad now, because I know this show will probably languish in obscurity. Not for any demerits in writing or anything, but simply due to how Japanese this series is. The cultural barrier’s too thick for many of the jokes to make much sense, like that scene where Hozuki smacks down those animals. He probably used witty comebacks, but to others, they come across as non-sequiturs that somehow brought him to victory. For that and other reasons, this is a surreal experience. I mean, it’s about this government agent or something tending to all the districts in Hell combined with Shinto and Edo mythology. It demands at least a bit of research before going right in.

Another reason for why this show could prove daunting is because, well, the second part of the episode is just two characters talking about animals until the ending credits begin. I guess the closest comparison to this experience would be watching someone play Animal Crossing for twenty minutes, which would be enjoyable for some commentary but not much for those wanting a straight and narrow narrative. Hozuki even reminds me of Isabelle in that regard, as this secretary who does the real work while his superior dodders all day. The similarities end there though. — Bloody Marquis

Inari, Konkon, Koi Iroha

Well, this was a pleasant surprise! This is exactly the kind of show I wouldn’t usually care for, – shoujo romantic comedy with supernatural elements – but I found the first episode of Inari, Konkon, Koi Iroha to be extremely endearing with its cute character interactions and light-hearted sense of humor. Inari, the protagonist, is very easy to relate to, and I greatly appreciated how the show never went out of its way to paint any of the cast members as bad people. Nearly all of them are likeable in their own little ways, and it was nice to see an embarrassing misunderstanding played with some realism and decency in an anime for a change. Hopefully they don’t go too overboard with Inari’s ability to transform into other people in the subsequent episodes, though; I’d hate for everything I liked about this installment to be ruined should this concept be handled without tact (which is often the case). Still, I’m hopeful that IKKI won’t squander its potential in the coming weeks.

There’s something about the art style of this series that I really like. It’s not excessively different from any other show out there right now, but it’s noticeably… softer? I think that’s the word. It’s easy on the eyes and all around very nice to look at. The characters are cute, but not annoyingly so like in so many other anime. It’s just pleasant. The animation itself is pretty good as well. It’s not the most beautifully smooth or fluid series around, but it has a lot of little touches that make it feel more natural when it comes to the character movements. The vocal performances and music were also quite good, I thought. Overall, even if this doesn’t seem like the kind of show you’d enjoy, I still recommend giving it a shot anyway. It’s inoffensive at absolute worst, and easily one of the more delightful anime out right now. — Foggle

Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions! Ren

My memory of the show is blurrier than telesnaps, so I can’t really say much about how this compares to the first season’s premiere. But watching this, I’m wondering if Rikka developed at all the past season. If anything, she’s more of a delusional twit. It’d be okay if this was just played for comedy, but the episode expects us to care about her situation. It’s like trying to care for a Key girl, except even Nagisa had a more realistic view on life than Rikka ever could. Speaking of Nagisa, Rikka and Yuta fulfill familiar archetypes to the regular KyoAni show without much deviation. They’re just like Mirai and Akihito from last season’s show, respectively. I guess Rikka’s more ready to fight, but they’re all the same characters but just in a faux-fantasy setting than an actual one. And Yuta’s just a more idealistic Kyon, so it all feels a bit regurgitated. But then again, I’m probably spitting out the same problems I had with Kyoukai no Kanata.

So while it’s too much of a stretch to call this Slow Children at Play: the Animation, every scene with Rikka makes me wonder. I like Shinka though. Everyone complained about her new design, but what’s wrong with long, black hair and a nice uniform? I mean, wait. The other characters kind of suck though, like Sanae and other girl whose name I couldn’t bother to remember. Somebody throw those two characters out of the show, give Rikka an average IQ, and maybe this show could be enjoyable. Probably not, but when KyoAni was losing money last season, there’s a chance that they could step their game up. — Bloody Marquis

Maken-Ki! Two

I knew I was in for a treat when one of the opening moments of this show was a scene in which the main character gets attacked for being a pervert. Oh, sorry, did I say “treat?” I meant “turd.” The keys are, like, right next to each other. For about 30 blissful seconds, I stupidly believed that this would – at worst – be a typical battle shounen (I’d never seen the first season), but no. It’s a panty fighter/ecchi comedy with disproportionately humongous breasts. Imagine Eiken with 2014 production values. Go on, imagine it. That’s Maken-Ki!.

Music aside, there is nothing good about this episode. The fanservice is nauseating, the characters are obnoxious, and the jokes are stale. The basic plot idea, about an underwear thief at the magical high school, has the potential to be funny in a Full Metal Panic! kind of way, but it’s mostly just boring and kind of gross. The main character keeps accidentally perving on his sister, and there’s a scene in which a discussion about who has the largest breasts at their school is held (it’s the doctor, with a K cup, by the way). Also, the ED quite literally features a straight line of all the characters’ boobs at one point. Unless you really, really like unrealistically-sized breasts, stay far away from this shit. — Foggle

Minna Atsumare! Falcom Gakuen

I love Ys. I love Dragon Slayer. I love Falcom. This show makes me wanna massacre small animals. — Lord Dalek

My Big Sister Came!

Oh thank God, this is a three-minute show. The animation kind of sucks, and making an otouto show instead of an imouto show is still kind of creepy. Also, Tomoya’s a lame name for a little brother. Good night, everybody. — Bloody Marquis

Nisekoi: False Love

At this point, when it comes to Studio Shaft, all bets are off and expectations are exceptionally low to non-existent. I have not seen a full series from this studio since Madoka aside from random episodes of Monogatari and few others. They just seem to stuck in one mode: anime with art-house style animation and rambling on dialogue that does nothing to encourage me to continue watching. So, hopefully Nisekoi will change that for me. Maybe….

Well, the story of this series centers about a dude named Raku who is the son of a yakuza boss, who doesn’t want to be one and be successful in civil service and seeks a quiet, peaceful life. However, one day, a run-in with a new girl and stock standard tsundere half American Chitoge at school propels him into a rather awkward situation. Though, Chitoge may be the key to his most prized possession-a locket that some girl gave to him when he was little. Then, he is forced into a ‘false’ relationship with Chitoge, who’s the daughter of a rival gang. Oh my, I can hardly contain my excitement, not really.

It seems to me that Shinbou’s career is like a curve bell graph. He has hit his peak with Madoka Magica back in 2011, and now is slowly but surely in a state of inevitable decline. This has all the trademarks of Shinbo style animation techniques but without any of the charm or innovation that they used to do. Further, the Shaft tricks actually intrude what should be a straightforward story. Heck, trot out the Shaft bingo sheet when watching this and you’ll understand. It is very telling when the other two shows that I’ve covered (No-Rin and Sakura Trick) pull off the same tricks and techniques but with far more success, and those were made with the .

Honestly, I don’t know what make of this show. And coming from a former Studio Shaft fanboy (at least when I was in college), that’s saying something. I have seen this all before, and then some. I’ll give it 2 more episodes at least, before relegating it to the bin. It isn’t as bad as certain Monogatari episodes, but its not really good, rather middle of the road meh. — The Eclectic Dude

No-Rin

Ok, who here thought combining Moyashimon and Idolmaster was a good idea? Apparently, someone at Silver Link thought ‘yeah that sounds like a great idea’. Thus, No-Rin (or Nourin) was born.

Of course, the series (based on a light novel series) starts with a quite colorful and well done animated concert, which is where most of the budget went for the episode I am sure. Then surprise, its only the wild dream of Kosaku, our main male lead, or MML. Kosaku is a young guy going to an agricultural school, and I get flashes from Moyashimon. Then some wacky chase sequence involving a loose cow occurs, because this is a school comedy and sets the tone for the show. Kousaku is just a bland but easy going male lead character with big aspirations but is a bone-headed idol otaku with a few friends-the stern-faced smart nerd Kei and female classmate/potential love interest Minori. Though he is a big fan of idol Yutakan, who he adores immensely.

There’s also the haughty ojou-sama who brings a cow to class and has big udders herself, along with some other wacky characters including the perky and yet manic-depressive teacher named Becky (Pani Poni Dash reference?). But not much time for that, for a new development happened: Yukatan has retired from the idol business, putting Kousako the sad sack in a slump. Oh but plot convenience fairy, it turns out that Yukatan has transferred to his school in secret, for some reason that escapes me. Hope they explain that later.

For me, its quite a good and entertaining show. Granted, it seems to take pages from Pani Poni Dash, Idolmaster and Moyashimon. Pani Poni Dash and Moyashimon especially come to mind quite a lot, since the director for this also did work on PPD. For this slice of life romantic comedy, the gimmick seems to be a combination of agriculture/farming stuff, idol stuff I’m sure and wacky school hijinks. Settle in, its going to be a bumpy hay ride! — The Eclectic Dude

Nobunaga The Fool

Shoji Kawamori, the “80’s Mecha God” ™ who created the classics Macross and Vision of Escaflowne, has been having something of a creative lag as of late. Churning out crud like Aquarion Evol and the AKB0048 shows has really taken its toll on my faith in the guy.  And now we have his latest attempt at a return to legitmacy, Nobunaga The Fool. While happily not nearly as unbearable as those other shows, Its opening was… weird… to say the least.

The series centers around two characters, both of whom should sound awfully familiar to some people. The first is Nobunaga Oda, a man who will eventually, with his ally Ieyasu Tokugawa, unify Japan under the Shogunate, defeat his longtime rival Shingen Takeda, and then get killed by his long time subordinate after they were both kinda dicks to each other. The second is St. Jeanne d’Arc, the famous Maid of Orleans who’s prophetic visions from god led to the rise of Charles VII to the French Crown, and ended up with her getting sold out by her own country and burned at the stake by the English for heresy.

…None of this matters of course because this is Kawamori, so ITS PSUEDO HISTORICAL SCIENCE FICTION TIME BITCHES! Nobunaga, accompanied by his (also real-life historical) sidekicks Mitsuhide Akechi and Hideyoshi Toyotomi, seeks to defeat Shingen but can’t due to the Takeda Clan’s legions of giant robots shipped in from the set of Samurai 7. Jeanne is rescued from her fate by a passing spaceship piloted by Ferdinand Magellan and built by some guy named Leonardo from a town called Vinci. And there’s all this bs about destiny and the light of the chosen ones and oh fuck it.

Obviously when one is watching this show, the series that comes to mind the quickest is the many properties of Type-Moon’s Fate/Franchise with various historical characters who never met interacting with each other in a different context. The difference here is we’re in a fantasy alternate planet Earth with giant robots and space ships. That said, it still feels like Fate most of the time with a slew of references to King Arthur and divine rights (doesn’t help that Jeanne in her battle armor looks like a dead ringer for Saber). It also wasn’t anything particularly memorable with a plot that’s so complicated that all the details immediately get lost on you. Not a bad start, not a great one either. — Lord Dalek

Nobunagun

Once again, space aliens are invading the Earth because why the hell not. Humanity, however, is, for once, NOT defenseless as we apparently have been secretly cultivating individuals with special DNA called E-Genes passed down from various historical figures. The first attack hits Taiwan and the Japanese government is forced to send their elite agent Jack The (yes that) Ripper in to save the world. However he fucks up utterly, but not before a innocent bystander on school vacation named Shio Ogura uses his transormation thingy to turn into Nobunagun, a representation of that guy from that other show with a large arm cannon because why the hell not.

This, like Space Dandy, is clearly the textbook definition of turn your brain off entertainment. What little plot there is pretty stupid and contrived. The animation really sucks and is full of weird coloring choices ala Devil Survivor 2 (no surprise, its from the same production team). And the ultimate pay off is a combination of confusion and bewilderment.

Funnily enough… I kinda liked it.

I think the main strength of Nobunagun is how it pulls the rug out from under you not once, not twice, but THREE times during the course of its first episode. It starts out like a traditional historical show before suddenly turning into a slice of life about Japanese school girls on vacation in Taipei, only to then abruptly turn into a balls to the walls shonen action show. That inability to keep expectations in check makes Nobunagun a lot more unpredictable for me as a viewer and generates interest. Not gonna call this a great show by any stretch due to its many other deficiencies but its better than average. — Lord Dalek

Second Opinion!

So you mean to tell me that there’s this anime where monsters are wreaking havoc in the world, and our only hope is a mysterious organization run by a weird goat man and a cadre of reincarnations of various historical figures, with the primary focus being the reincarnation of Japanese warlord Oda Nobunaga as a 16-year old military otaku high school girl?

…Neat.

Thankfully the first episode helps to intrigue quite readily with a very well-paced shift from historical drama to slice-of-life then to absurdist action.    This is helped exponentially because of our heroine.   Ogura Sio is neither waifu, not badass, nor moe, but a rather plain-looking introverted military otaku who doesn’t have much for friends but seems to maintain a chipper contentment with life.  Although she doesn’t realize her role in the anime until the very end, the moments beforehand did a very good job making her endearing.  She has that balance between not being too withdrawn, not being too awkward, and not being too eccentric, a welcome potpourri instead of just one extreme trait.  It helps immensely in that it makes for a good climax where she’s trying to save people when she isn’t noticing what type of tank or airplane fell out of the sky.

Other than that, nothing much to say.  Animation’s alright, there’s nothing really spectacular about it, even the fight scenes.  Designs are fairly unique and the use of jarring colours, (is Taiwan THAT colourful though?) whether it’s a peaceful daytime or Hell on Earth provides an aesthetic that gets you to notice it.  Supporting characters we barely get to know, but I guess that’s for later.

In the end all that mattered here was getting the plot moving and revealed and letting us get behind the protagonist.  Suffice to say its aim was true and now I’m struck down with interest on how it’ll all pan out.

That last sentence is funny because it’s a show about a girl with a gun. — The Juude

Noragami

This is the show Bones is working on alongside Space Dandy, and it’s safe to say which show is the B-material this season. So some girl gets hit by a bus and becomes a ghost like that Yaya Hockey Show. After that, lots of scenes pop up that probably would’ve been interesting if they were in something else. It says a lot when this series can have a teenage girl fight a giant ghost frog, and the only reaction I can muster up is that I saw something like this from another show but with better choreography. This series really wants me to think it’s original, when it really isn’t. Like oh my God, the main girl is into wrestling? How dare a woman want to be the strongest in the world? A guy who claims to be a god? Stop the presses, because this is such an exotic concept in my fiction.

I’m definitely being cynical, but by the end, I could count a dozen anime and two Kamen Riders this show was copying. I guess it was original how the girl’s cattail was explained as her soul leaking out of her ass. It was neat how they used the wrestling as foreshadowing for the frog fight, even if it was about as subtle as the other Bones anime out now. Overall, it’s mediocre. Speaking of mediocre, when was the last non-Dandy Bones show that hit radars? Brotherhood was four years ago. Even before this season, the last show they made was that toy shill Tenkai Knights. Times change, I guess. — Bloody Marquis

Second Opinion!

To digress from my opinion on the first episode for a bit, I don’t really want to refer to this show as Noragami.  I wanna call it “The Exciting Adventures of Hobo God and Catgirl.”

It’s kinda true really.  All Yato really wants is to be a top-tier god with his own shrine and a large set of followers.  Unfortunately he’s that very Hobo God in my new title, and one who probably has a very high turnover rate in the Sacred Weapons he employs to get the job done.  During a search for a missing cat, he gets saved by an oncoming bus by full-time schoolgirl and MMA fanatic Hiyori Iki.  Well, unfortunately that rescue has caused a rather… interesting change in Hiyori’s lifestyle, and after some paranormal altercations gets sucked into the world of gods and monsters (sans any gay sex between Ian McKellan and Brendan Fraser), and thus starts the beginning of some kind of friendship.

For all intents and purposes doesn’t seem like much.  However the show makes up for it through a sharp presentation and the eagerness of its two main characters.  Seriously the show is so crisp in its visuals, with a very appealing colour palette that makes them standout whether its Hobo God’s piercing blue eyes or the whiteness of Catgirl’s school uniform.  The animation is markedly fluid with some fairly tense scenes of action against the unknown, and hopefully it still retains such in later episodes.  Hobo God and Catgirl are not exactly the most dynamic and unique of characters, but they have enough unique quirks and foibles to make them an interesting duo, from the former’s aforementioned eagerness of climbing the Celestial Ladder (with the possible threat of a Celestial Glass Ceiling) and the latter trying to live a normal life while managing her parents’ expectations, her newfound spiritual life, while finding time to watch some good old MMA.  Possibility of a Haywire-esque future for Catgirl?  Who knows, but hey it is kinda neat.

Either way, you can’t really go wrong with this one.  It’s also another show that FUNi is currently simulcasting apart from that Dandy show.  So if you have a half-hour to spare (or are tired of admiring the wonderfulness of that other show), click on the title “Noragami” on the FUNi streaming site and enjoy the adventures of Hobo God and Catgirl.  You probably won’t regret it. — The Juude

The Pilot’s Love Song

The Pilot’s Love Song, or that mouthful of a Japanese title that I whittled down to ToHiENoKo, comes off on its first episode intriguing if a bit dull and disjointed.  There’s something to enjoy with the rather endearing concept of a group of young kids going to flight school on a floating mobile island towards “The End of the Sky”.  The visuals make for a rather soft, airy, feel (hur hur), and the constant reminder by the presence of clouds that they’re on terra floating firma, gives off a sense of charming otherworldliness.  Mix that with a couple of intriguing asides established in this, from implications of class division, a potentially star-crossed romance, a lingering sense of a doomed voyage, plus the beginning scene, and you’ve got yourself a recipe for a potentially compelling tale that may accomplish wonders.

Potentially is the key word, since as was said above there is dullness and disjointedness to be had.  The first episode for all its world building was a might bit slow on the uptake, with many a scene relying on a very clichéd anime visual trope: the mysterious, probably evil, young, silent loner who gets everybody’s attention because he’s all those above with the silver hair.  Sheesh, it gave me flashbacks to the awful Hiead Gner (pronounced Hy-ayd Nuuuuuuuuuuuuuhr) from Pilot Candidate, and mostly long, winding, if beautiful flying shots that make me thankfully flashback to Crimson Skies.  The disjointed part comes from the protagonist’s rather off-putting flip-outs.  It sows the seeds of interest to be sure, but the really insane look in his eyes when he’s all flustered (like when he sees some silver-haired chick) just makes me go “Yeesh!” and hope that his flip-out doesn’t turn him all cray-cray.

Still, we shall see.  It’s inordinately charming; the characters seem okay for the most part (the sibling dynamic between the protagonist [I refuse to say his name, I have already made an allusion to it however] and his sister is welcome in its originality), it looks nice, it sounds nice, it animates nice.  It does… nice.  Maybe as it continues we’ll eventually see it go all ‘neat’ on us as well. — The Juude

Pupa

So last season, a series called Pupa was advertised that didn’t premiere because nobody in their right mind wanted to air it. After sitting through the entire four minute run time of the first episode, the reasons speak for themselves. — Lord Dalek

Second Opinion!

This episode is… nothing. It’s three minutes of barely connected imagery, 30 seconds of still frames, and 30 seconds of the camera panning over cover art from the manga. The storybook feel to the artwork is kind of nice, I suppose, but there really isn’t anything here. Deen being Deen, they took a highly anticipated horror anime and turned it into a series of three minute horribly abridged web shorts with heavy censoring. Then again, the source material wasn’t really worth adapting in the first place.

In lieu of trying to come up with a full paragraph about the anime, I decided to check out the first 12 or so chapters of the Pupa manga. Now, it may seem like I read so many because I got invested in the plot and characters, but nothing could be farther from the truth; I kept reading because it just kept getting progressively stupider and more insipid with each turn of the (internet) page. First off, it’s purportedly about some girl with a history of physical abuse who turns into a creepy monster that eats humans because of a virus spread by butterflies, and her brother who helps her survive by letting her feast upon his regenerating flesh. That plot is kind of dumb, sure, but it’s also fairly intriguing. Sadly, Pupa does nothing with its setup, instead opting to focus more on incest shipbait, graphic violence for graphic violence’s sake, and really bad attempts at humor. Seriously, this “horror” manga has more awful light novel-style jokes than some light novels.

Now let’s talk about the violence for a minute: indeed, this is all Pupa has to offer in any capacity, and is likely the sole reason anyone reads it or cared about the anime back before it aired. The gore is extremely graphic and disgustingly detailed – well-done from an artistic standpoint, but also potentially disturbing for anyone with a weak stomach. It has a habit of zooming in on a person’s entrails when their body is ripped apart (a frequent occurrence), and the scenes of the main characters being abused by their father are lovingly drawn. It’s perverse. Now, I have no problem with this level of violence, as long as it ultimately amounts to something more and serves a purpose, but Pupa‘s does not do this. For instance, there’s a chapter where the male lead gets dissected repeatedly just because the artist wanted to draw that. The story seems to only exist for the purpose of guiding the reader to the next scene of gory depravity.  There is no reason to care about the main characters unless you really wish this was a straight incest story instead of a fetishy cannibalism violence extravaganza. In fact, that one word describes Pupa‘s execution perfectly: fetishistic. Do not read this manga unless you love pointless gore, cannibalism, or incest. And don’t watch the anime unless you only love those things when they’re so censored you can barely even tell they’re there in the first place. — Foggle

Pupipo!

In another four minute gag anime, Wakaba, a little girl who is constantly hounded by grey phalluses with human heads, attempts to make friends with a female Melvin who won’t shut up, and then gets a Kirby.

…I got nothing. — Lord Dalek

Recently, My Sister Is Unusual

This is a show where the girl almost wets herself because of a chastity belt ghost. Good night! But seriously, whether or not you like this show depends on how you reacted to that sentence. This show is for the people who are too lazy to watch actual hentai, preferring T&A as dictated by S&P. It’s sleazy, but always cops out before getting too sleazy. But by deterring from that route, the show becomes so insanely insipid. The main guy’s class just happens to be about incest when talking about his new stepsister. Even as he looks out the window, one can hear the teacher rambling on about how siblings fucked in the old days. This is the kind of scene that sticks in your head for the rest of the episode, wondering what the hell was up with the teacher’s incest lecture. I would commend this show if that was an attempt to make fun of how contrived all of these series are, but that would be a happier world if I could do that.

Instead, you get something about a ghost-fairy-angel-whatever possessing the main girl in an attempt to feel an orgasm for the first time in ages. At the very least, this show isn’t pretending to be anything but Sankaku Complex bait. It knows that it’s the show sold to guys with enough figmas to stock their own toy store. In a sense, I actually admire that upfront behavior. With side characters named Neko and Tori, promises of future episodes where the characters can’t hold their piss in, and a pastiche on eroge, I just love how this show simply does not care about anything but trying to get you to buy the Blu-Rays. There is not one cliche it doesn’t shamefully use to entice whatever people would buy this show. They even use the “parent goes to a business trip so the siblings can live alone” ploy. It is simply masterful in how cynical this approach is. — Bloody Marquis

Second Opinion!

I have to wonder if this show was intended to be seen by viewers as an “endurance challenge” of sorts. Female protagonist Mitsuki has to suffer through some fairly horrible things in this first episode, including sexual assault and holding in her urine for an hour, and it’s absolutely excruciating to watch. Perhaps the director intended for we, the audience, to “feel her pain” by watching an anime that constantly alternates between boring and disgusting, but I feel that would be giving him far too much credit. This is a fetish show, plain and simple. If you’re turned on by the idea of your little sister (not related by blood, of course) being forced into an inescapable chastity belt that fills itself with some sort of fluid when she orgasms and prevents her from being able to pee normally, you’re in for a treat with this one!

Thrill as Mitsuki is molested by a ghost! Laugh as she squirms uncomfortably on the toilet! Cry when she refuses to let the ghost have sex with her brother while it possesses her! Recently, My Little Sister Is Unusual does not have a single redeeming quality. The nicest thing I can say about it is that the art and animation are of standard quality. Everything else is truly horrible. The story is little more than an excuse to put the main female character in humiliating situations. The voice acting is indistinguishable from any other half-hearted comedy anime. The naughty bits are quite literally locked behind a graphical overlay, urging you to shell out the cash necessary to potentially see multiple pixels of an adolescent girl’s vagina. Even the audio mixing seems to be messed up, with certain characters’ voices, sound effects, and songs being louder than others. Don’t watch this show. Just… don’t. — Foggle

Robot Girls Z

Whelp… looks like Ol Man Nagai is off his meds again… either that or Toei has stolen said meds to get inspiration for fucking Tokkyoger. We may have done surprisingly well last time with the terrific Impact Z, but its clear from the first few minutes of Robot Girls Z that not nearly as much good will is going to be afforded for this show.

So in the near-future, Nerima-Ward is a one-stop shopping center for Photon Energy. Said product being schilled by three school girls cosplaying as famed 70’s Toei/Go Nagai super robots Mazinger Z, Great Mazinger, and UFO Robo Grendizer (surprisingly Getter Robo isn’t in this show…yet). Opposing them is the dreaded Subterranean Empire’s “Mechanical Beasts” (actually just more little girls with severe mental handicaps given super weapons). It all ends with massive collateral damage due to the problems encountered when giving middle schoolers 70s robot show weaponry, and a shit ton of underaged fanservice.

Now I ended up watching three episodes of this since ToeiCh.jp’s upload stuck them together (this is a ten-minute show for those who don’t know). The first episode was just annoying and predictable as hell (the place not the Dr.), the second was a little bit of an improvement, and the third was just eh. I wanna say this show is pandering trash in the same way Otomedius is pandering trash, but that would imply that there was something or someone to pander to. The show is not particularly funny for the most part and it just gets pretty annoying pretty quickly. Now if you excuse me I’m off to watch Panda Z. — Lord Dalek

Saki: The Nationals

For a show as energetic as this, it sure is boring. The characters are colorfully designed, loud, and high-spirited, but they’re in no way interesting. A lot happens in a short time within this first episode, but it feels like almost nothing happened in a span of time twice as long. It’s not that I don’t like mahjong – I actually quite enjoy it when I can wrap my head around the rules – it’s more that Saki just can’t seem to make me care. It’s competently made from a technical standpoint (though some of the voice acting grates), and the music is actually pretty good, but I could never shake the feeling that I’d rather be watching Akagi again. I struggle to write any more than this because to be honest my brain completely tuned out during the group bath scene. I really have nothing to say about this episode except that it bored me out of my mind. — Foggle

Sakura Trick

Well, Studio DEEN is bringing us a yuri series to start off this new year. At first, I wasn’t exactly impressed. But when I saw it was a yuri, I said woot bring it on, but I am sure that all of the yuri fangirls (and fanboys) all went ‘KYYYAAAA’ all over tumblr and the interwebs for sure. Anyway, Sakura Trick is about Haruka and her relationship with Yuu-chan, a perky blonde girl who she has a crush on. Of course, judging from the opening, this show goes out of its way to say ‘YAY YURI ALL THE WAY PLZ’. Sakura Trick is basically a slice of life school comedy has been done to death  by this point, but with yuri as the gimmick. So, it is much like Sasameki Koto in that respect.

It is very amusing to say the least. Haruka’s fantasy sequences are out of this world funny. The art work and animation seems at times to be taking pages out of Hidamari Sketch; Not a coincidence based on who’s directing/writing it. Sure its cheap looking, but then again being a slice of life comedy that’s par for the course. I find it all so ”D’AWW’ and ‘so adorable’.  The episode has two parts: Part One introduces our main couple and they even kiss at the end of it and kiss a few times more through the course of the episode. Part II introduces us to some other secondary couples, as apparently despite being a co-ed high school, most of the other girls are in lesbian relationships as well. There’s Yuzu and Kanade paired together along with Kotone and Shizuku paired off as well. This episode wastes not much time in establishing a very ‘in your face’ tone and attitude and I respect that a lot. Of course, they seem to balance out the straightforward approach with just so much cuteness (both in the yuri and moe).

Overall, Sakura Trick is comfortable and amusing. If you are expecting something more,  then prepare to be sorely disappointed. However, if you like your yuri sunny side up, then you can’t go wrong here. Now excuse me, while I go find a tissue; I got a rather nasty nosebleed… — The Eclectic Dude

Second Opinion!

If you’ve seen me on forums, or follow me on twitter, then you’d know that I’m pretty big on yuri. So when this season was slated to have a yuri show, I took the offer to do a write up for it in a heartbeat.

Adapted from a 4-koma comedy manga, Sakura Trick follows friends Haruka and Yuu as they enter their first year of highschool. As they make more friends on their first day, the pair decide to do something to make their relationship seem more special- by kissing each other. Episodes seem to consist of two segments, the A segment whose plot I described above, and the B segment, which has Haruka and Yuu get trapped in a classroom while making out when they were supposed to be getting lunch for a friend, and concerns their attempts to get out. I felt this was the better of the two segments, since it was focused more on humour and less on character introductions. Plus, the ending got a genuine laugh out of me, it’s very rare an anime does that.

This show was a lot more hyper than I was expecting, with a lot of SHAFT-like imagery and direction, combined with a good amount of slapstick this is one show anime full of energy. It also has more kissing than most other anime with romance I’ve ever seen. It honestly feels rather refreshing.  Haruka and Yuu may not be winning any “most well-written couple” award anytime soon, but at least they aren’t afraid to show their affection for one another. Character-wise Haruka seems like your general “clingy and ditsy” character, which are usually annoying and unbearable, but she has yet to make me reach for the knife and practice self-harm, so that’s a relief. Yuu is the more “mature” of the two, and plays off Haruka decently. Other than our main couple, there’s 4 other characters that I’m going to assume will eventually hook up. Their personalities are pretty generic, but so far likable. The characters are the most important part in any comedy, arguably more so than any other genre, and ST’s cast seems decent and likable enough as far as first impressions go.

At the end of the day I  was pleasantly surprised. Never having read the manga, I was expecting a melodrama typical of most high-school yuri that get an anime adaptation.  While there are other yuri manga I would rather see get an anime, Sakura Trick doesn’t seem too bad and has a lot of cuteness and charm to it, despite the stuido’s track record. Maybe DEEN can do something other than bad adaptations of good Visual Novels and creepy incest shit after all? — Rynnec

Seitokai Yakuindomo*

How funny is the above image to you? If your answer was “hilarious,” stop reading this review and go watch Seitokai Yakuindomo* right now (the asterisk represents that it’s season 2). Don’t worry, it doesn’t need context, because none is given in the episode proper.

This installment begins with a bizarre non-sequitur of already-dated CG and graceless sexual jokes being spouted randomly in broken English on an airplane, but the majority of it is just graceless sexual jokes being spouted randomly in Japanese at a high school. This anime is exactly what an 80-year-old who’s never seen an episode of South Park thinks South Park is: nothing but pitiful innuendo after tired masturbation reference. Rarely do these jokes have any sort of build up or comedic timing to them, instead coming across more like middle-schoolers who giggle uncontrollably at the mere mention of the word “penis.” Sex comedy can be very funny when done well, and not every adult humor series needs scripts as witty or layered as Archer‘s, but this episode’s attempts at humor are downright depressing. I know that comedy is one of the most subjective things in existence, but it really doesn’t feel like the writer(s?) put any effort in at all.

On the plus side, the music is very good, and the animation during the action scene near the end of the episode was surprisingly nice. In fact, the presentation in itself is actually quite appealing outside of the gratuitous CG. It carries an air of light-hearted eccentricity throughout, especially in the first half, to the point where I really wanted to like this show. Unfortunately, the delightful weirdness is ruined almost immediately by the writing. The characters are barely distinguishable from each other outside of physical traits like hair color and height. Their personalities range from “girl who thinks dirty things a lot” to “girl who says dirty things a lot.” I must confess that, while I have seen pictures of the cast before on many occasions, I was completely unaware of the existence of SYD’s first season or manga until just now. Perhaps the characters are fleshed out a lot more in those and will return to being more interesting later on in this series. I’m not sure I can stomach another episode’s worth of this brand of humor, though. — Foggle

Space Dandy

I can’t believe I had to watch a raw for this show. With commercials. Absolutely disgusting. And what is this horrible TV station it aired on? Adult Swim? Never heard of it. Where’s my Tokyo MX goddamn it!?

Ahem. If you’re a fan of classic anime, you’re probably aware of the “laid back guy does silly and/or cool things while groovy music plays” sub-genre of action-adventure shows. Space Dandy is precisely that kind of series, only with 2014 production values and a lot more self-awareness. Indeed, your enjoyment of this show will probably depend on how much you like series such as Lupin III and Space Adventure Cobra; in many ways, it hearkens back to those good old days when the best anime mainly consisted of episodic nonsense that was fun for the sake of being fun. Take away the slick visual design and smooth frame rate, and you’ve got a show that could easily be mistaken for something from the 70’s. In the best way possible.

That said, Space Dandy differentiates itself a bit by laughing at the protagonist rather than with him. Never once is Dandy made to look cool – instead, the episode tends to revel in his stupidity by way of visual gags and even entire plot points. He travels through space searching for aliens solely because he wants enough money to buy the chain of a Hooters knock-off. He lives his life haphazardly, failing to keep his equipment up to date and rarely thinking about anything before doing it. His lack of care for the well-being of himself and those around him is humorous and incredibly fun to watch. Though the first half of the episode spends a bit too long on meta jokes about how all anyone cares about these days is fanservice, the writing is fairly solid and features lots of nice character-based comedy throughout. It’s not laugh-out-loud hilarious or anything, but at least a couple of lines and the absolutely brilliant ending are bound to get a chuckle out of anyone. Also, the English dub is fantastic, with every voice actor fitting their role to a tee.

The animation is amazing, as is the music. This first episode sports multiple madcap chase scenes, both of which are a sheer joy to behold. The colorful aesthetic is very pleasing to the eyes, and the way everything energetically moves never fails to bring a smile to my face. The soundtrack, composed almost entirely of funk and jazz songs, is compulsively listenable even with all the rest of the audio layered on top of it. It’s telling that I’ve already re-watched several of the best moments on many occasions – sometimes for the animation, sometimes for the music… they’re both just that good. Space Dandy is a high-class production on all fronts, and while it may not be to everyone’s taste, it would be a shame for any anime fan to miss out on a series this enjoyable. — Foggle

Super Sonico The Animation

The new Gen Urobuchi show seems a bit different from Madoka and Fate/Zero in terms of tone and content. How many episodes until this turns into a gritty, nihilistic look into the shockingly bleak underworld of the Japanese idol busine–oh. This is just a mascot show for Nitroplus and ol’ Butchie isn’t even involved. Damn.

I honestly thought this was going to be a series of four minute shorts from the plot synopsis; God knows it would have worked better like that than Pupa does. But no, somehow, some way, someone decided Super Sonico The Animation deserved 12 full length episodes. I mean, shit, who even cares about Super Sonico? I always figured Nitroplus’ mascot character was Saya. Now there’s something I would watch: Saya no Uta no Animation. But I digress, SoniAni is yet another entry in the already tiresome genre of cute idols doing cute idol things. This episode contains nothing you haven’t seen before, and probably better, elsewhere. Well, except for the fact that Sonico wears a gigantic headset throughout the entire thing. Is it surgically attached to her head? Does she have to wear it to hear properly like in Killer Is Dead? None of these questions and more are sure to be answered in future installments!

Everyone loves Super Sonico. In the show, I mean. I know this is little more than a glorified ad for visual novels, but the overblown hero worship of the protagonist gets grating around the halfway point and never lets up. Yeah, she may be clumsy, but she sure is smart and talented and hot and nice to everyone! Now, of course, there are people exactly like that in real life, but this is perhaps the most blatant waifubait wish fulfillment character I’ve seen in some time. Laugh as her five cats wake her up in the morning after four alarms fail to! Thrill as advertisers take pictures of her in her underwear! Smile as she dutifully waits tables at her grandma’s restaurant! And finally, rock out to the nondescript ending theme song played by her band. Or don’t. Maybe don’t do any of those things. — Foggle

Wake Up, Girls!

In 2011, some plebeian named Akiyuki Shinbo directed a disastrous abomination of anime named Puella Magi Madoka Magica. It paled in comparison to the timeless classic, Fractale, directed by esteemed artiste Yutaka Yamamoto and released around the same period of time. For 11 all-too-short weeks, anime actually managed to surpass classical literature as the world’s finest storytelling medium. And it is with great pride that I can safely say our hero, the almighty Yamakan, has finally returned to save the industry once again, this time from the likes of such talentless hacks as Hiroyuki Imaishi and Shinichiro Watanabe, with his latest masterpiece, Wake Up, Girls!.

Perhaps I’m being unfair. WUG is not a bad anime by any means; in fact, out of all the idol shows I’ve seen, this is probably the one I hated least. It’s missing a lot of the silly antics and over the top cutesiness of past efforts like The Idolmaster, which makes it work better for me, but will probably turn off the kind of people who’d actually want to watch an idol anime in the first place. Indeed, while WUG is far from terrible, it’s depressingly lacking in charm. The characters are fairly grounded – which is a nice change of pace – but the art is ugly, the pacing slow, and the tone very cynical. Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if this was intended as a “deconstruction” (oh, how I am loathe to use that word) of the standard boilerplate idol show. Hell, maybe the title is supposed to refer to how the main girls are all living in a fantasy world if they think they can make it as idols and need to “wake up.” I mean, this is the Fractale guy, after all.

But for now, this is just a more realistic take on the concept. It’s not cute, it’s not funny, it’s not over the top, and it’s not particularly interesting. “Realism” is a double-edged sword in this case; sure, a bunch of people sitting around a coffee table worrying about if they’ll get paid or not is closer to fact than fiction, but that’s not what people watch anime like this for. When one of the central characters is belittled by people online for being “past her prime,” it’s terrible instead of intriguing, because that’s how actual fans treat actual idols in the real world. When the group’s boss runs out with all the money and their new employer turns out to be a yakuza, it’s depressing rather than interesting, because that’s how this kind of thing generally tends to work out in real life. You know these poor girls are going to be exploited by everyone around them, and that doesn’t make for the kind of escapist entertainment audiences are looking for. Personally, I couldn’t care less about idol anime in the first place, and am always open to series that challenge the standards and preconceptions of a specific genre. But Wake Up, Girls!, while more watchable for a non-fan like me, just comes across as unnecessary and cynical. — Foggle

Witch Craft Works

So this is one of those “boy meets magical girl” shows that were big in the early 00s. I would describe this show more, but that’s basically what it is. Characters don’t offer any explanation for why they do things. When the girl saves the guy’s life in one scene, and the guy asks why, she doesn’t elaborate beyond a “because I have to”. I guess the ending will reveal she’s a childhood friend he just forgot, but this show just does not give a fuck. People act the way they do because the plot calls for it instead of any real sense of urgency.

The main characters in this show seem so stoned throughout the episode. Even when he’s on the brink of dying several times, the main guy always acts so chill, thinking “Oh hey, I’m gonna die. Maybe this is a dream, I guess.” He seldom expresses any emotion besides “Huh” no matter what happens. Even when giant CG rabbit soldiers appear to kill him, he acts all nonchalant like this is just another school day. The show’s trying to make him like Kyon with all the narration, but he’s too emotionless to offer any kind of commentary. Catatonic war veterans have more expressions than this guy.

Also, the ending song is like brown noise. — Bloody Marquis

Wizard Barristers

For some reason the title “Wizard Barristers” makes me think of an aged Rumpole of the Bailey using magic powers to dispense Common Law justice on Fleet Street.  Instead we have a Yasuomi Umetsu (of Kite and Mezzo fame) production.  Given my apathy to his work, especially after being rather underwhelmed at the first episode Mezzo TV, wasn’t expecting much from this one.  There’s this girl, she’s a Wudo (a person with magical powers) who is also a wizard barrister who defends other Wudo in wizard court against a Muggle populace and police force who don’t trust them.  Yawn.

Then that first scene happened.  You know?  The one where the train veers off of the tracks and the criminal uses that Bioshock Infinite tonic that collects and redirects bullets with the exploding helicopter and the shooting and the violence.  Yeesh, that was awesome, but yeesh.  If the later run of the series continues like this, with all its elegant violence and over-the-top spectacle, then it is probably worth a watch just to see how much magic wreaks wanton destruction in the world.

Yes of course it doesn’t mean much without good characters, but it seems Wizard Barristers has them if they’re rather procedural.  Peppy all-powerful outsider, playful older sister, enigmatic lady boss, stoic asshole, by-the-books rival, you name it, the show gots it.  However they thankfully don’t do anything TOO wrong, and given the rather frayed nature of the setting the show is taking place, there may be room for some rather exhilarating and perhaps amusing interactions, especially with the rather endearing if dour police force maintaining a constant presence.

So yes, as long as it stays pretty, likable, and alluring in potential growth, Wizard Barristers may be nice escapist fare if you want what is essentially a humdrum concept animated in a unique, frenetic, and beautiful kindof way.  If not?  Then let me say that opening sequence was still awesome though wasn’t it?  Wasn’t it!? — The Juude

World Conquest Zvezda Plot

For this round, masked girls in their underwear fight other masked girls in their underwear with world domination at stake. That’s the closest I could get to interpreting the plot. The whole time, I was confused and a bit annoyed. Kate was the most annoying little shit throughout most of the scenes, and I was hoping the Hogan’s Heroes cosplayers would kill her before finding out they were on her side. Then there was the squid in the background, and I wondered what the hell that was about while Kate was gallivanting on about conquering the world.

I’m so flabbergasted by this show that it’s taken me an hour after watching to comprehend what was going on. In fact, I still don’t know. Most of these words you’re reading right now are just me rambling in order to get minimum word requirement. This show just drives one to be speechless. However, I’m reminded that this is from the creator of Darker Than Black. That’s the one thing stopping me from marking this show off as a mess. With a guy like that on board, you have to wonder if something’s up with the show’s plot. — Bloody Marquis

Z/X Ignition

After Z/X (rhymes with sex) Ignition, I feel I’ve discovered a new sense of maturity about myself. No longer do I feel I need to know what good and bad anime are like because Z/X Ignition transcends such things. It becomes an entity unto itself free of total criticism because how can a below-average internet blogger such as myself adequately exfoliate  on the allure of such a series. That is the power of Z/X Ignition.

The story is ostensibly based on a children’s card game, but Z/X Ignition has far greater ambition, deriving its inspiration from the Bible and many fine works of cinema by Kirk Cameron. Small children use giant monsters and/or summoned warriors in a war between the Red and White Universes three years after the apocalypse occurred. The power of heaven has apparently made Kobe its chosen city and evil forces from Hell (i.e. the Americans probably) seek to conquer it. The events are actually told out of order, making the narrative far more palatable to the audience through its sheer wonderful incomprehensibleness with characters who are not properly introduced.

Obviously words fail me when discussing Z/X Ignition, so let me use a more common tongue…

THIS SHOW IS FUCKING HORSESHIT DON’T WATCH IT. — Lord Dalek