Must’ve been a hard winter, given how puny this spring crop looks.
We’re getting dangerously close to the end of the licensed spring premieres, and pickins remain slim. It’s not even that most of them are terrible (although Triage X very much is)—they’re just run-of-the-mill, safe, and uninspired. Still, we’ve got one that’s a little off the beaten path, so we can talk about that in some detail, at least. Hit the jump for some light potential and a trio of “no, thank you”s.
How to improve your spring anime? Just add cherry blossoms!
Two full meet ‘n’ greets in this one, huzzah! One was exactly what I expected, while the other was something of a pleasant surprise (although we’ll see if it can hold up over multiple episodes). Also, apparently if you throw an exclamation point (or two) into your title, good things happen. Take note, aspiring writers. Then hit the jump for some sweet music, some sweet cakes, and a little bit o’ bland.
This… could stand to go a little better.
I’m to the point where I’m marking anything that didn’t send me running for the hills as a “bubble candidate,” because my watch list is looking pretty darn slim at the moment. I’m not sure if I just came to expect more ambition from my anime after this past winter or if these shows are just that weak or what, but it’s slim pickings, and once again I’m left with only one series that warranted a full meet-n-greet. Hit the jump to say hello to girls who see ghosts, girls who shoot guns, girls who are robots, and girls who should be robots but aren’t anymore, those cheaters.
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before…
All three shows on this list feel a little like something I’ve already seen, whether it’s a Dark Supernatural Dystopia, a Dungeon-Crawling High Fantasy, or An Unorthodox Teacher And His Students. Of course, most stories are influenced by (and will therefore remind you of) others, and there’s nothing wrong with a tried-and-true concept as long as there’s a spark of original wit or style to go with it.
So how did this batch do? Less than stellar, though slightly better than expected. Hit the jump to see what (surprisingly) sparked, and what maybe didn’t so much.
Spring has sprung and brought with it an April shower of new anime titles.
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.
Of course the anime deluge would begin on Easter weekend, when my days are morning-till-night packed with family and friend gatherings. I’ll be playing a bit of catch-up for the next couple days, so you’ll have to forgive me if some of these are a little late to arrive. I’ve got two posts coming at you today with a trio of titles apiece. So let’s get the ball rolling with a new take on an old classic, a show that is almost as stupid as it is entertaining, and a big ol’ pile of Nope.
Hello Ikebukuro, my old friend.
There’s a flipping mountain of sequels and carryovers this season, so I won’t spend a ton of time on them all, but I did want to touch base with the shows that came back, and let everyone know what I will and won’t be watching (at least for the time being – if the new winter shows prove disappointing, it’s not impossible that I’ll finally get around to trying out Log Horizon or Fafner, but I wouldn’t put any bets on it).
Familiar faces below the jump!
So scratch my last comment about there being no “middle-of-the-road” series this season.
Because this season is so heavy on sequels and carryovers, we’re actually pretty close to the end of the (licensed) new premieres, and I was finding myself with a lot of shows that were pretty much locks and very few that were hanging out in limbo. I’d still say that’s mostly true, but we do have one hard “maybe” this time around, worthy of a meet ‘n’ greet but definitely a series I’ll be playing by ear in the coming weeks. Past that there’s a big N-O and much smaller one, as we quietly close the curtain on the first week of the winter season.
Now that’s more like it!
This season is shaping up to have very little in the middle-of-the-pack range, as it seems that I either like a premiere a whole lot or pretty much hate it, with very little middle ground. Not that this is a bad thing, mind you: It makes it easier to know what to keep and what to drop, without having to give a bunch of series 2-3 episode trials run beforehand.
The good news is that this batch has a pair of premieres I really enjoyed, which is about the only thing they share – well, that and their own unique sense of style, I suppose. They’re a breath of fresh air from all the cookie-cutter series out there, and I can’t wait to tell you all about ‘em.
Well, one of out of four ain’t… okay, actually, yeah. It’s pretty bad.
I’m watching Death Parade as soon as I add this post to my queue because I suspect (hope!) it will warrant a full meet ‘n’ greet, too, but since that first day of Magical Boy and Bear excitement, the trickle of new winter shows has been pretty uninspiring. Fortunately we’ve got some good sequels and carryovers, or I’d be getting downright depressed.
In this post, we’ve got one ball of strangeness with some potential to at least be pretty fun (and possibly more than that), and past that a whole bunch of generic, fanservice-y bores. But let’s start with the potential, so we don’t all feel too depressed going into our weekend.
Well, the Winter Season certainly wasted no time in making an impression, did it?
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.
So here we go! Magical boys, magical bears, and a boy named Thor. Oh, anime. For better or worse, this is why I love you.
The Josei Next Door 