Akane-banashi
Short Synopsis: Akane Osaki learned everything she knows about Rakugo from her father. After watching him be expelled from his school on the day of his promotion, she resolves to surpass the man who did it.
Lenlo: Look, I already know Akanebanashi’s story is going to be good, I’m current on the manga and it’s one of the best things currently publishing. Akane is a fantastic lead and Rakugo is always an interesting subject to follow, with endless stories to be told. The real question to me is how well can ZEXCS adapt it to anime. Visually, Akanebanashi was pretty good! I loved the motif of the door slit effect showing/reminding us how she always watched her father, her roots as a Rakugoka, and the performances themselves, both Shinta’s exam and his overlapping performance with Akan, were great! My real concern though is with our lead voice actor, Anna Nagase. While she certainly isn’t bad as Akane, this is going to be a really really demanding role and I’m not sure “good” is going to be enough for a Rakugo-centric story that will inevitably be compared to Akira Ishida in Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju. Only time will tell here, as it’s possible Nagase will rise to the occasion just as Akane herself does and she’s holding back early to help sell that progression, her performance as Riko Amanai in Jujutsu Kaisen certainly makes me think she can pull it off. But so much of this story hinges on her being able to sell these Rakugo performances. If nothing else though, Akanebanashi did a good job of setting up and selling the story, and I think that alone will be enough to draw in new fans and show them why I love this series so much.
Potential: 70%
Snowball Earth
Short Synopsis: A lonesome kid becomes humanity’s savior after piloting a mech during a kaiju invasion, but he’s put into cold sleep after his final mission ends in failure.
Wooper: I figured this premiere would open with the frozen Earth promised by its title, then periodically flash back to how its protagonist ended up there, but this version of the story is fine, too. Most of this episode covers Tetsuo’s rise from awkward child who pilots his dad’s robot (cribbing from Gundam) to guardian of the human race, who accompanies a nautical spaceship with an Infinity Laser (cribbing from Yamato) on its mission to exterminate the kaiju threatening their planet. Along the way he pulls weird faces and slurs his words out of nervousness, occasionally referring to a self-help book about how to make friends, since he’s never had one before. That’s the aspect of Snowball Earth that was most discouraging to me – the CG was passable and the theft of Japanese sci-fi tropes was amusing, but I’ve had just about enough of debilitating social anxiety in anime. The way it’s written typically lacks credibility, even as an exaggerated version of a real world condition, and it’s the same for Snowball Earth, with the hero’s sentient mech humorously prodding him about his lack of confidence just minutes before an interstellar battle for humanity’s survival. I’m down for a post-apocalyptic series with a lighter tone than usual, but not one with this show’s methods.
Potential: 15%
MAO
Short Synopsis: What if Inuyasha was set in the Taisho-era, but instead of a demon he was a standoff-ish Ikemen?
Lenlo: So like… This is just a knockoff Inuyasha right? Or like, someone wanted to remake Inuyasha but couldn’t so decided to make their own instead? I’m being a bit facetious, MAO is set in Taisho-era Japan instead of the Sengoku period, and Mao is more of a jaded old man in an Ikemen’s body rather than a brash demon, but the spirit of it all still holds true. The one nice thing MAO has going for it is a seemingly actually powerful female lead judging by her ability to leap tall buildings in a single bound, though she hasn’t done much yet. All in all, MAO simply isn’t that interesting, it’s visually bland, and there’s nothing that engaging about the first episode, but nothing glaringly wrong either.
Potential: 20%
The post Spring 2026 Impressions: Akane-banashi, Snowball Earth, MAO appeared first on Star Crossed Anime.
