This season defied all kinds of initial expectations, for better and for worse.
tokyo esp
Panning the Stream: Summer 2014 Midseason Review
If I had to pick a single word to describe this season, it would have to be “eclectic.”
While this past Spring was dominated by very good sports series, and this past Winter was dominated by, uh… kami, I guess? (it was a pretty weak season), this Summer seems to have taken a cookie out of every genre jar. Action flicks, thrillers, rom-coms, satires, school dramas, period pieces, mysteries, Gothic horrors… you want it, this season has got it. And while none of them have been quite as jaw-droppingly perfect as Spring’s Ping Pong or Mushishi, on the whole I’d say there are a lot of solid, B-range shows on the schedule. It’s made it very hard to trim titles off my watchlist, that’s for sure.
And now that we’re six (or five, in Nobunaga Concerto’s case) episodes into the season, I figured I’d pop back in with some quickie reviews to talk about what’s still working, what reeeally isn’t, and everything in between.
Rule of Three Review, Bubble Digest: Tokyo ESP, Magimoji Rurumo – Episodes 2-3
Pop goes the watchlist?
Both of these shows barely made the cut during Premiere Week, and they remained on my bubble after their second episode. This doesn’t usually bode well, and yet… well, I suppose there’s a reason we call it the “Three Episode Rule” and not the “Two Episode Rule,” after all. When all was said and done, one show jumped up my interest list while the other continued to hover in an uncertain gray area. Which is which, and how do we proceed from here? Your answers and more beneath the jump.
Panning the Stream: Tokyo ESP, Rokujyouma no Shinryakusha!?, Magimoji Rurumo
This trio brought to you by… boobs! (Sigh.)
As Premiere Week winds down (admittedly, there are still seven premieres I have yet to watch, but that’s a whole lot less than there were five days ago), we’re treated to a trio that’s a bit lower down the totem pole in terms of originality, and a lot higher in terms of fanservice. Yaaaay (-_-;). Still, a couple have some potential, at least. Hit the jump to see who’s out and who’s getting a second chance.
The Josei Next Door 