01.22
22/7
I don’t know what to make of a first episode where a girl with crippling depression forced out of her job has to join an idol group to have her emotional needs met. It’s almost like someone taped the scripts to two completely different shows together. One minute, she’s off on a rant about adults and their lies. The next, a scene all about gorillas. 22/7 really tries to have it both ways by portraying how much teenage life sucks in dreary detail but then showing a magic wall that grants girls idol powers. It’s very YA novel, and not in a “YA novel that transcends generations” way, but “YA novel that seemed profound when you were 16 but turns stupid when you reread it a couple years later”. I don’t even know what the show’s stance on idols is either. They make the idol business look as nebulous as any detractor would, but the series is ultimately part of a multimedia idol franchise in real life. – BloodyMarquis
A Destructive God Sits Next To Me
I was almost fooled by the opening that the show might actually be worth something, but then it turned out to be every other anime about a kid in school who thinks he’s a JRPG character and wacky hijinks ensue from the fantasy/reality clash. Can we stop doing these shows? Please? Chuunibyou was funny, but I don’t want more of that show. Stop making more shows like Chuunibyou. I beg you. I know all the jokes. The kid is going to say he has an evil eye that activates his inner demon or something, but ends up embarrassing himself because magic powers don’t exist in his show. Then another joke about that. And another joke about that. They remind me of the wacky Disney/Nick kidcoms with all the mugging, overacting, and recycled jokes. – BloodyMarquis
ID: Invaded
So Natsu from Fairy Tail wakes up with all of his body parts all over the place like Lego blocks, and he has to solve a murder mystery while figuring out just dimension he’s in, except these cops are watching him the entire time in his virtual reality, while they’re solving their own murder mystery. But then, they start yapping about Johnnie Walker because you can’t make anime these days without gratuitous advertising. Not just that, but you need Johnnie Walker to get yourself through watching the show. But then, power drills. But then, you find out this is just Satoshi Kon’s Paprika but without anything that movie cool or fun to watch, so you turn off the episode and force yourself to formulate the apathetic reaction you just had.
Ei Aoki has the innate talent to take something I should be way into like Re:Creators and Aldnoah, and make them dull or infuriating. Even with his good works like Fate/Zero, you almost have to meet them halfway at first. And his new show proves to be no different. I like the concept. I like seeing detective cases within detective cases like a labyrinth of puzzle boxes, even if few stories like that deliver in the end. But the direction’s somehow too straightforward yet too meandering. Get it? The main character’s cut up into pieces because puzzle pieces are also in hundreds of pieces until you put them together? Isn’t that clever? The show doesn’t sell the ideas so much as slowly churn them out in a production line. You could have the best story in the world, but if the storyteller’s half asleep most of the time, then what’s the point? – BloodyMarquis
In/Spectre
Cripes, that was boring. Even when the girl beats up a yokai with a fire extinguisher, I was bored. Maybe I shouldn’t expect much from an episode that spends most of its time on two characters talking on a bench, but it also wants to be a fantasy battle series on top of philosophical conversations about goats. Except the two don’t mesh so you’re stuck with the cast talking about vapid shit. There was a part in the conversation where the girl insists she’s old enough to date a 22-year-old even though she’s 17 and looks younger, which isn’t even the most awkward thing coming out this season, but indicative of how much these characters have nothing interesting to talk about even though the girl has a pretty weird backstory.
Other reviewers attest this show has witty banter and chemistry, but I didn’t see it. The conversations are all out of nowhere, but not in a funny way, more a weird stream of consciousness choice that goes on while you’re waiting for something to happen. And it’s not Nisioisin dialogue that tries to be obtuse as possible, the talks here were just dull and lifeless. – BloodyMarquis
Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!
Well, here’s the Yuasa show. I’ve always been on the fence on him. I liked Tatami Galaxy, but then there are his other shows like Ping Pong where I have to look away thanks to the artstyle. This show’s no different. I like the background art, and the scene where the cast are designing a ship, but the character designs are not this show’s strong suit. They’re distinctive and give everyone their own signature, but the tall girl with the teeth, Sayaka, is off-putting. They remind me of the character models from the fourth episode of Gurren Lagann. Can’t blame Yuasa this time though because it’s adapted from a manga, but I digress.
This show was kind of sweet. Plenty of other anime have already done stories about aspiring artists trying to make it big, but this series’ premiere seems more interested in the imaginative process behind making art. The shipbuilding scene in particular is more out there than you’d expect from other anime about animators. I’m throwing a foul ball here, but it reminded me of something out of Rugrats whenever the babies made up scenarios in their heads. It sounds stupid to compare a Yuasa series to fucking Rugrats, but that’s where my mind was going when that happened. The first episode had that wide-eyed head in the clouds sensibility, and I can admire that. On the other hand, I wasn’t that impressed by the voice acting. The main girl sounded too, I don’t know, old? She sounded more like Masako Nozawa than a teenager. Everyone else was good, but that voice in particular wasn’t so hot. – BloodyMarquis
Nekopara
Nekopara is the story of anthropomorphic catwomen who work in a Cat Maid Cafe. Its a hard life for them but every night after work they gather at the local scrapyard to dance in the night ball. Once a year, a catgirl will be chosen to go to the “Tengoku Reiya” where they can persue a new and far better line of work, possibly in an office or voice acting. However the forces of evil such as マーカーバヂ, バーストバ・ジョンズ, and ラム・タム・タガー seek the prize as well. And thus a bloody struggle for superemacy begins.
The strange thing about Nekopara is its actually one of those idol shows but everyone’s singing these weird songs by some fake englishman. Also the CGI is notably worse than Aikatsu. I except more from my singing cat idol shows. Hollywood Mew Mew was far better than this.
And now if you excuse me, I have apparently put in the wrong dvd. – Waldorf Q. Banderstack XII
Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story: Magia Record
I remember the first time I watched Madoka Magica just like it was yesterday. I was sitting on the bathroom floor in a Motel 6 in Indianapolis, Indiana on Black Friday, 2012. Having had it shoved down my throat by a certain Bloody Marquis, I questioned what was so great about it. Being a fansubbed copy the animation was terrible (the infamous “Meduca Meguca”) and it just seemed like a regular old shojo. Episode two was no better and as my legs continued to lose blood circulation I begged to be released.
…and then THAT scene happened.
Long story short… I binged the rest of the show two days later after recovering from the SAO tentacle episode that aired that same weekend. …good god I don’t miss doing audio commentaries.
So why am I taking a visit down memory lane instead of talking about Magia Record? Well the reason is simple…there is no point to this show’s existance. Madoka was bold and revolutionary in 2011. It took risks. It surprised you. It compelled you to watch. Magia Record, on the other hand, is just a rehash. We know all the secrets, we know all the tricks. Whereas the original Madoka pulled the rug out from under you and became legendary, there is a set path that seems to be leading to one sort of anticonclusion. Its not fun anymore. Its not entertaining anymore. Its not emotionally impacting anymore. Its just another “dark magical girl show” to add the pile. Another Madoka ripoff. No surprise then that its a cheap cash-in with a mobile phone game. A fitting punnishment. – Lord Dalek
Sorcerous Stabber Orphen
The first thing noticable about Orphen is how bloody cheap it looks. Characters frequently go off-model. Framerates are even lower than normal. Everythings looks flat and undetailed. Its like a 90s anime from the late-90s/early 2000’s. Which is funny when you consider the fact that this is a remake of an anime from the late-90s/early 2000’s…and the older show actually looked better.
It was also a lot funner to watch with a sense of endearing silliness to it that balanced what was kind of a dark revenge fantasy. This? Its just another paint by numbers fantasy shonen. The kind you would normally see as an RPG on the PSX. Which makes sense because there was a video game on, you guessed it, the PS…2. HA! Cike!
Anyway…Orphan its…a show….that exists. Watch the old one. It has Spike Spencer annoying David Mataranga for 48 episodes. Well worth the price of admission. – Lord Dalek