Surviving high school just got a whole lot messier.
Normally I try to keep these posts free of major spoilers, but there’s no real way to discuss this show without mentioning The Reveal that happens at the end of the first episode. If you have no clue what I’m talking about and don’t want to have it spoiled for you, then go sit through the first episode (available on Crunchyroll) and come back. Otherwise hit the jump for a story I sure didn’t see coming.
At this point, My Love Story isn’t just setting the bar for rom-com excellence—it’s beating its own darn records.
About halfway through this episode, when Takeo was agonizing over how he could get Yamato to understand she didn’t need to worry about him leaving her for someone else, I scribbled in my notes: “Takeo’s problem is he keeps talking about how people feel toward HIM rather than how HE feels toward Yamato.” It’s the kind of thought I’d usually have about a rom-com that would either never get addressed in-series, or get addressed indirectly 5-10 episodes down the line after Such Drama, Very Tears.
OreMono, though? OreMono tackles it head-on within 22 beautiful minutes.
The magic is here in more ways in than one.
Lush backgrounds, slowly building stories, ever-expanding casts, romantic (sub?)plots—all in a day’s work for a fantasy anime. Hit the jump for one Mesoamerican-inspired epic and one relaxing fairy tale.
Class is in session. Er, sort of.
To say these are two series that take place at high schools is technically true but also incredibly misleading. These are no realistic YA tales à la last season’s Sound! Euphonium or SNAFU. No, one is soft sci-fi series at a corporate engineering academy; the other, a supernatural School for (Slightly) Gifted Youngsters. Both have steady hands at the helm, and both have surprised me with their charms. Hit the jump to take a walk around the campuses and see if either is a good fit for you.
You hear that? It’s the sound of whatever critical reputation I may have had flying merrily out the window.
Let’s get one thing straight: Chaos Dragon is not a good anime. It is a convoluted mess of fantasy rules, characters, powers, and political factions. A lot of those elements are at least kind of interesting and some are even pretty different from your usual fantasy fare, and if this series had had two cour instead of one, it might have been able to make all this work.
As it is, we’re having pro- and antagonists alike introduced in a flurry of special powers and absurdly complicated JRPG-style costumes, only to have them vanish again in 30 minutes or less. Similarly, important world-building details and sociopolitical schemes get explained in a blur of exposition that results in everything carrying about the same weight, which is to say, very little at all. (But hey, there is a dragon, and the writing is chaos, so give this one credit for truth in advertising at least.)
It’s all fun and games until someone gets turned into a chair.
These two shows have exactly one thing in common, which is a male-dominated cast. Okay, two things: Both are pretty visually striking. Okay, three things: They both like to put damsels in distress, although even then the way they do it is pretty dramatically different. Past that, though, Ushitora and Rampo couldn’t be less similar, so it’s no wonder my reactions to the two are kinda disparate, too. Hit the jump to hang with the guys and see whose company is most welcome.
The Takeo Fan Club really ought to have its own membership cards at this point.
Yep, our protagonist gets a new admirer this week thanks to the school’s sports festival! After the 300m runner in the co-ed Swedish relay (which we learn all about thanks to Suna’s smart phone) sprains her ankle during practice, the class has to pick one of its less-than-stellar athletes to take her place, which is how we (and Takeo) get to know Saijou Mariya.
MM Land: The happiest place on earth?
Okay, maybe not, but it does have a certain magic to it, existing in a world slightly removed from our own—much like My Love Story itself, perhaps. That’s the theme running through this episode, from Oda’s encouragement that Ai try on a goofy hat because she’s taking a break from “reality” to Suna explaining that jinxes aren’t about magic but hard facts, as it’s “more common for relationships to not work out.”
Gather round, gang. It’s time once again to meet the new crowd of anime.
As a reminder, I watch every licensed premiere and do at least a brief writeup about them. I’ll do full meet ‘n’ greets for shows that caught my interest enough to warrant it. Everything else gets a blurb explaining what I liked, didn’t like, and why the show might not or didn’t make the cut.
Happy one-year anniversary to these Panning the Stream posts! The summer season has returned, and with it a slew of new titles. It also happens to be Fourth of July weekend here in the states, which means grilling and beering and other friend-related activities, so you’ll have to excuse me if these get posted a bit later than intended. But get posted they shall, starting with our first trio, which all managed to surprise me to more-or-less pleasant degrees. Hit the jump to shake hands with our first batch of new shows!
A new challenger appears!
There are really 2-3 stories this episode, which would make it feel disjointed if they hadn’t smartly tied them all together with a through-line: Takeo enjoying his newfound financial freedom by treating his friend and girlfriend to fun times. The first story is my favorite in terms of sheer enjoyment, as Takeo and Yamato giddily take Suna to the movies and up to the mountains, a day trip which turns into a surprise birthday party and naturally ends in a Yamato-baked cake.
The Josei Next Door 