Wooper: I’m long past my aniblogging prime, but I had to come out of retirement for a spring season like this one. While others may lament its lack of big name sequels or ready-made reincarnation fantasies, yours truly is having a blast keeping up with its wide variety of shows. I’ve got my criticisms where some of the following nine series are concerned, but I plan to move forward with most of them, and there are a handful more that might appear in future check-in posts, even though I didn’t write them up this time. If you were planning to sit this season out, you’d better reconsider – when it comes to anime, you’ve got to watch while the watching’s good!
Lazarus – 2-3
I’m a little perplexed as to why the tone of this show is still so chill. If humanity is set to perish in a month’s time, then why does episode 2’s shootout between various government agencies and organized crime groups have such a comedic anticlimax? Why would the cops ever let Chris and Leland into the home of the doctor responsible for humanity’s impending extinction? Why spend valuable runtime on Axel using his martial arts skills to win a one-on-one basketball game at a homeless encampment? Actually, that last scene was pretty cool – and it’s that sense of coolness that will keep me tuning in to Lazarus every week, even if its plot doesn’t make a lot of sense on a macro level. The combat animation continues to excel, and episode 3’s trip to Istanbul (reached via above-ground hyperloop) featured dozens of beautiful backgrounds. I’m not attached to any of the characters at this point, however. The show enjoys pairing off its secret agents and sending them to different locations, but I wish it would focus on one mission per episode and let the whole team collaborate. Maybe it’ll get there as they close in on Dr. Skinner’s location – assuming that ever happens.
Apocalypse Hotel – 2
Apocalypse Hotel’s premiere showcased robot dialogue that we in the audience couldn’t understand, but its protagonist Yachiyo could. In its second episode, it goes a step further by introducing the hotel’s first guest in a century, whose alien language not even Yachiyo can decipher. That’s where much of the fun of this episode lies: in trying to grasp what the guest aims to communicate by adjusting others’ hand gestures, placing objects on their heads, or tossing his freshly laundered clothes into the air. Though Yachiyo never quite lands on the same page as this tentacled, top-hat-wearing visitor (despite a near-breakthrough during an amusing tea ceremony scene), she comes away from their encounter refreshed and ready to serve any future extraterrestrial guests that may pass through the Gingarou’s doors. Those may be the only kind of guests the hotel will ever receive, as the episode’s other new character, a murder-happy environmental monitor robot, informs Yachiyo that he hasn’t received a transmission from humanity in decades. Despite being nearly 60 years old, Shinichiro Miki voices the monitor bot with gusto – he’ll be a real asset to this show’s comedic ambitions should he stick around for the long haul.
To Be Hero X – 1
China’s animation-focused Tu Bian Yingxiong (To Be Hero) franchise is anthological, meaning you don’t need to have seen any of its previous entries to jump into this one. But should you make that jump at all? If you like superhero shows, your answer should probably be yes, since that’s what we have on our hands here. The story moves at lightning speed – within the first few minutes, a bottom rung employee at an ad agency transforms into the very hero whose promo videos he used to edit – but slick scene transitions keep this premiere from falling apart. I’m not just talking about cuts within a single art style, either, since Hero X makes use of night-and-day 2D and Arcane-esque 3D animation, the latter of which also contains blobby effects work that blends nicely into the episode’s climactic fight. The characters are merely playing their roles at this point: overwhelmed role-playing protagonist, taskmaster manager, idol girlfriend, etc. I can only speculate as to whether they’ll be able to carry their weight going forward. As for this episode, though, it really levels up in its final moments, with a great twist ending and an even better Hiroyuki Sawano-composed OP to close things out. I might not do any more write-ups for To Be Hero X this spring, but I’m sure to revisit it before the year is through.
Anne Shirley – 2-3
I’m not sure I’ve ever been in this sort of position, where I don’t care to watch what I regard as one of the best anime of a given season. Anne Shirley adapts tremendous source material, has pleasant character designs and consistent animation, and boasts a Naoko Yamada-directed opening that could be described as “musical” even without its accompanying song. But I’m more than content with my memories of the 1979 anime, and if this new one moves on to events from future Anne books (as people are speculating it might), I think I’d rather read the original texts than experience the CliffsNotes provided by this fast-moving adaptation. Take these two episodes, for example; they cover Anne’s initial clash with Mrs. Lynde, the first meeting with her bosom friend Diana, the amethyst brooch debacle, and her outburst at Gilbert Blythe, all in the span of 45 minutes! That’s not an unprecedented speed for a modern anime series, but the result is that Anne’s bond with Diana feels ordinary, whereas it ought to be life-changing. But hey, I’m still an anime junkie after nearly two decades of fandom, so I may end up reversing course and watching Anne Shirley to completion. We’ll see!
The Dinner Table Detective – 2
Dinner Table Detective’s first outing wasn’t terribly impressive, but it also ended on a cliffhanger, so it seemed appropriate to pop back in and witness the resolution before writing off the rest of the show. Unfortunately, while the identical necklaces worn by Hinako and Mai in the premiere’s slideshow were a nice bit of foreshadowing, the crime ultimately boiled down to a case of mistaken identity, and the happy “I doubt the assault victim will press charges” ending was more than a little silly. Sure, DTD styles itself as a comedy, but it’s a mystery anime first, and both the motive and the resolution of this first case weren’t up to snuff. If there’s a mystery I’m actually interested in, it’s the one surrounding Reiko’s sleuthy butler Kageyama, rather than the murder of a real estate CEO introduced in the episode’s second half. Kageyama dodges the question about his real identity when Reiko asks him point blank, so there’s probably something hidden there that will complicate their partnership in the future. I won’t be going forward with this series, though, so I’ll never learn what that “something” is.
Rock wa Lady no
Tashinami deshite – 2
I figured Rock wa Lady’s first episode without a jam session would be a major hurdle, but the show cleared it without much trouble last week. Kurogane’s desire to play with the standoffish Suzunomiya for the second time formed the core of the story, and things branched out from there; for me, the highlight was a montage of Suzunomiya sneaking around campus, avoiding her admirer like the plague so she wouldn’t be outed as a rock music lover. Despite her abundance of caution, though, she couldn’t avoid boasting about the method by which she became such a fluent Engrish speaker: listening to the Red Hot Chili Peppers. She and Kurogane, an undercover Linkin Park lover, would have gotten on famously with some of my high school friends. I was a classic rock purist in those days (which were long enough ago that RHCP weren’t yet considered “classic rock”), but I like to think I’d have been cool enough to keep their secret, had I stumbled upon it back then. Speaking of secrets, did anyone else get the vibe that the student council president is another closet hard rock aficionado? No part of her appearance matches either of the two remaining band members from the OP, but something about her too-perfect demeanor makes me think there’s more to her character than what we saw here.
Kowloon Generic Romance – 2-3
Unlike my experience watching Anne Shirley, where my perception that it moves too fast comes from familiarity with a past adaptation, I’ve got no frame of reference for Kowloon Generic Romance – yet its third episode still seemed to move at breakneck speed. Beginning with the scene where two maids gossipped about their boss at the Hebinuma estate in Hong Kong, the show blew through one major development after another. The most damaging of them were Kudo’s despondent claim not to have feelings for Reiko in the office, and the following rooftop conversation where she confessed her love for him in spite of her amnesia. There was a sunflower motif planted earlier in the episode to strengthen Reiko’s attraction, but that wasn’t enough to justify its sudden dominance, especially when so much of the show so far has seen its romantic leads cautiously feeling each other out. On the plus side, both of these episodes were dense with symbolism and intrigue, and I really liked the decision to reveal details about “Kujirai B” (Kowloon’s name for the “other” Reiko) through Kudo’s flashbacks – details that were then matched or contrasted with the present version of the character.
Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX – 2
This is the episode that will either throw new viewers for an irrecoverable loop or hook them into one of anime’s preeminent fictional timelines. It presents an alternate version of the original TV series where Char (its antagonist), rather than Amuro (its protagonist), takes command of the iconic RX-78-2 Gundam, and alters the course of the One Year War as a result. I saw GQX’s prologue film in theaters a couple months back, and I remember its version of these events being about 30 minutes long; a quick Google search confirms that some of the details surrounding this parallel reality were cut to fit the length of a standard TV episode. That’s fine by me, as I’m more interested in getting back to the new characters, but as someone who’s seen a bunch of U.C. Gundam entries, I enjoyed the twisty trip down memory lane. Char’s invasion of Side 7 yoinked a ton of cuts from the original show and gave them a fresh coat of digipaint, while the eyecatches used the exact music tracks from 46 years ago (“Shaa!”). Seeing the RX-78-2 painted red was bizarre even on second viewing, but stranger still was seeing the Earth Federation attempt to flatten a lunar city beneath the Solomon military base, since that’s straight out of Zeon’s playbook. The tail end of this episode was hit hardest by whatever cuts GQX had to make compared to its film version, as Char’s disappearance was merely mentioned, rather than shown, but the anime’s imminent return to the present day should take the sting out of that omission.
Shin Samurai-den Yaiba – 2
After an explosively animated premiere like Yaiba’s, it’s a good rule of thumb to keep your expectations in check until you’ve seen the second episode; if it’s as well-drawn as the first, only then should you get your hopes up. Well, now I’ve seen the second episode, and it was, in a word, spectacular. Of course, the contests between Yaiba and Onimaru were the most eye-catching moments, with snappy timing and just the right amount of deformation to highlight the younger boy’s wildness and the older boy’s technique. But this show’s good looks extend beyond its One Punch Man-caliber battles – the animation direction as a whole is extremely efficient. During Onimaru’s morning training, for example, his practice swings are made three-dimensional by the fuzz of his bamboo sword’s padded tip (in the close-up), as well as his hakama’s shifting pleats (in the medium shot). There’s even some great cartoon animal animation granted to Yaiba’s pet tiger and vulture at various points throughout this episode. This is a truly special adaptation, to the point that I didn’t even roll my eyes at the “ancient evil artifact hidden on [character]’s property” scene when it cropped up toward the end here. Given the age of the Yaiba manga, it was probably one of the first series to employ that trope, and thanks to Onimaru’s visceral dislike of his new rival, his embrace of this mysterious new power source didn’t strain credulity. I don’t know if I’ll end up watching the entirety of this adaptation, especially since it’s likely to be multi-cour, but after this week, I’m signing up for at least 12 episodes.
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