Review: Mayoiga – E.03

I should probably refer to this series as “The Lost Village” since that’s it’s English title, but I always seem to pick wrong. I refer to the English title and everyone else on the internet will use its Japanese name and like Mayoiga, vice versa. But I will for the sake of this review be using the title The Lost Village so I can make the following joke:

“The Lost Village, more like lost my interest!”

I know, I know… feel free to use that one. At any rate, that’s what has happened with this series. There are technically no confirmed deaths in this episode which means that the gore and horror of it all is probably waiting for episode five and six which is the typical formula for most anime. It’s unfortunate though because I won’t be sticking around for much more. I think by the time the shit double hits the fan I will probably be so numb to these characters that I won’t even be happy that they’re dead. Worst case scenario is that most of them live which would put off this show in a heartbeat.

It is the characters that I absolutely can’t stand. I find nothing to like about any of them. Even our little puppy dog main character is an unlikable douche. The only reason I put up with him in the least bit is because he actually shows human emotion on occasions, but then is quickly squashed by the rest of the herd. None of these people are acting realistically. They’re all still too friendly and too polite for the situation they’re in and it’s all because they think they’re going to be living with each other for the rest of their lives. News flash, you can still not like someone and spend a lot of fucking time with them. I mean that’s basically every job ever so I don’t buy all these asshole maintaining their internet façade while the story waits to surprise them so they can all drop them at once.

We do see some cracks in this episode as we learn a bit of the backstory behind the guy that’s always fucking yelling and telling everyone to be series. We learn this as he’s choking out the grad student that received a fucking email telling her where the town was. He eventually let’s go, but it was just a dumb fucking scene and what makes less sense is that the mentality he and the others are displaying is the same as the people that fucked him out of society.

The other two cracks come from Jack, still my favorite character due to lack of lines, as he attacks the guy that’s claiming that he’s stealing his “style.” This is the asshole with the eyepatch and weird fucking chin that looks like a pirate from a bad Disney animation in case you forgot one of the thirty plus characters. Jack tries to kill other Jack and gets locked up. This sets off the crazy fucking woman that wants to execute everyone and she tries to kill puppy boy by drowning him and he gets a boner because he sees her bra. Was I supposed to laugh? I didn’t, but I’m wondering if that was an attempt at dark humor?

This story should be serious and thrilling, but the art isn’t a good match for it. It’s all too bright and the characters are all too generic. I get that there’s danger because the story basically says there is, but there’s no sense of dread. I’m not scared for anyone nor am I scared watching and I really think with this type of story I should be. I should be worried that one of the characters are going to die, but I’m not. In fact, I’m hopeful that they will. I’m rooting for the bad guy and I don’t even know who they are. It’s not good when your entire bloated ass cast of characters all have go-away heat. What also tells me that the tone and maturity just isn’t there is the implied rape that happens between the second and third episode. Sure they mention it, but it’s not shocking and it’s glazed over like it’s no big deal which is probably the most distasteful thing about this episode and series to date.

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Mayoiga – E.03 Official Website

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Review: Re:Zero – Starting Life in Another World E.03

We made it. We reached the checkpoint. Finally, Subaru was able to not only get through the day, but he was also able to keep everyone alive, including himself. I guess that’s a spoiler for the episode, but if you’ve been watching the show then not really because it's the only logical outcome for the show. It couldn’t have happened at a better time because as much as I enjoyed watching this episode, I realized that I couldn’t bear to sit through this chunk of time one more episode. It needed to end and it was rewarding in the way it happened.

As we saw in the last episode our white-haired half witch that gave Subaru the name of a hated witch (still not sure why) showed up at the loot house ahead of time. Things begin playing out different and Felt attempts to flee, but the Bowel Hunter shows up ahead of time as well.

Let’s pause for a minute… Bowel Hunter.

I don’t even know what to say to that. Not The bowel hunter, but A bowel hunter. Okay let’s get back into it.

First Emilia, the white-haired half-elf (lots of hyphens), starts a fight with Felt which is then interrupted by Elsa… a bowel hunter. Due to Subaru’s heightened awareness of the situation he calls Puck to protect Emilia. No one has questioned this yet because it’s a fight for your life moment and everyone is just hyper aware of the battle going on. Emilia and Puck do some damage to Elsa… a bowel hunter, but it’s not enough and Puck has to go to sleep. Thankfully Reinhard van Astrea shows up and wouldn’t you know it he’s an amazing bad ass. I have to say, he’s actually got a pretty cool power set and what little of his personality is revealed seems different and potentially useful to the story. He didn't just come across as the polar opposite of Subaru.

The battle is great, but it’s all about the final moments of the battle and the parts that happen when Subaru is passed out. I won’t spoil that, but it’s clear that there’s a bigger story coming soon. Mostly because of Reinhard’s ominous statement about this being their last chance to calmly look up at the moon.

The animation remains great. They go all out for this episode, just like they did for the two-part first episode and the second. It’s a great looking series, but thankfully it has a story to back up that quality and isn’t a dud like Bungou Stray Dogs. I’m marking this one very high and looking forward to following it for the rest of the spring season as it’s already in my top five.

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Re:Zero – Starting Life in Another World E.03 Official Website

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Review: Bungou Stray Dogs – E.02

Did you like the first episode of Bungou Stray Dogs? Then you’ll continue to like the series with the second episode. For me, it was predictable and the attempts at humor continued to fail. White haired tiger dude, shows how little I care about learning his name, is given a place to stay and offered to join the agency. He turns it down and then the suicidal dude (who breaks his own character and is actually called on it by the way) offers to get him a job, but that there will be a test. If you can’t figure out that the very next thing that happens is part of the test, then this show is for you.

There isn’t enough originality to this show to make me want to watch more. I can understand why others would watch it. If it reminded you of another show that you liked, then it probably fills that gap pretty well. I know I’ve suffered through shows that reminded me of a different show I liked better because in a way it carries on those strong “feels” that you have for that show. It just doesn’t do that for me. Its following a formula and not trying to stray from that, but in doing so you have to wonder why there’s an inflated cast other than to give people cosplay options.

What it boils down to is that this show doesn’t tickle my fancy. It might tickle yours and that’s okay. Even though I found this episode predictable, it was still average. I wouldn’t score it down just because of my personal taste because what’s here is a competent second episode. In the end though, being average just isn’t enough to keep me interested.

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Bungou Stray Dogs – E.02 Official Website

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Review: And You Thought There Is Never a Girl Online – E.02

Well… this is definitely a second episode. It’s not good, but it’s necessary. We stay with the scene at the restaurant with everyone getting to know each other and after a bit it’s clear that none of them really have any friends outside of the game. Then they part ways and they’re all clear that the game is the game and the real world is the real world. Meaning, they’re not going to run up to each other and just start talking at school and shit. Ako blows that up in the very next scene and the reality that this anime set up is basically broken. I tend to dislike it when that happens in a harem comedy. It’s not necessary in my opinion, but it happens more often than not. Ako finds Rusian’s class and destroys everything. They take her to the master because suddenly school doesn’t matter and she creates a club for them to play their game and this will somehow help Ako understand the difference between the game world and the real world.

The only funny, but predictable part of this was that Rusian (way easier to type so I’m going with that) can’t stop picturing his teammates as they really are. I knew it would happen, but the wardrobe switch was a nice bit of humor and fan service all at once.

I’m hard pressed to believe that everyone is going to fall in love with Rusian. I know that it can change at the drop of a hat, but it really doesn’t fit the world that’s being developed. The problem is, I didn’t see them blowing up everything they set up in the first episode either and they did. It’s why I’ll keep watching, but my hope of this being a great harem comedy has been dashed by this episode.

The animation is still really good. In particular, the scenes in which Schwein breaks from her online character and the animation follows suit. It’s a solid visual gag. Otherwise it’s at the same level as the first episode in terms of quality.

I don’t like this episode. It’s a bad episode in the way it’s constructed, paced and how often it breaks the reality of the world. It’s sadly necessary and at least they did it in one fail swoop rather than building it up which may have been terrible. It doesn’t change that this is just a bad episode and that the creators clearly didn’t really have an out after building up an interesting premise. Hopefully it doesn’t completely chase me away, but time will tell.

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And You Thought There Is Never A Girl Online – E.02 Official Website

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Review: Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress – E.02

As much as I loved the first episode of this show, my big question after watching the final moments of the episode where, “how does he continue in this world?” He being our main character of Ikoma. Spoiler if you haven’t watched the first episode, he is bitten by a Kabane and manages to stop the transformation and he's very excited about it. He stopped the spread of the virus and figured out a new weapon that will kill the Kabane. Problem is… he looks fucked up and in a civilization that makes people strip to prove their not infected, he now has a huge birthday suit problem. Meanwhile, all hell is breaking loose in the town/station. The Kabane are overrunning everything and the Princess is being asked to make decisions and she’s just stuck waiting for her father. Her right hand man is helping her as much as possible, but mutiny seems likely. Then Mumei shows up and clears a path for them and beats the piss out of the Kabane. Eventually all parties converge and wind up on the train getting the fuck out-of-town, but Ikoma is revealed for what he is and thrown off the train… after saving the people on the train twice. He doesn’t give up though and actually helps the train get clear of the station when the lock won't release because of a dead body. It looks grim for our main character, but than Mumei shows up and saves him and spoiler, reveals that she too is infected and called a Kabaneri… hence the title of the show.

Another great episode. Granted it was predictable in that everyone would turn on Ikoma even after he put everything on the line to help them because they’re afraid and that fear is the thing motivating his character. He doesn’t want everyone to live in fear of being close to each other a society of strangers in a way. There’s no empathy, only fear in this society and he can't stand it which is great character motivation. Mumei is still a mystery since some clearly knew what she was and she still has her mystery mission as well. That and why she’s able to control the virus better than Ikoma; the difference being that he had to staple a bunch of cool looking Frankenstein shit to his body and she just gets a sexy ribbon that she pops when it's time to go to work. I’m sure we’ll see the answer much later in the story.

The animation continues to be some of the best of the season. There’s a lot of good-looking anime this season, but there’s something about having a great story attached to it that really makes the art better. That and the design of this world, this steampunk, zombie samurai era world, that is just fucking cool. Even if the story tanks, I will probably still watch this anime for the art.

If you haven’t seen this anime yet, then thank Netflix for being dicks and buying up an anime that hasn’t completed yet because everyone is now competing over streaming rights and while others would simulcast this in a heartbeat we all know that Netflix does shit their way. That said, you’ll have to go with a different streaming option and I’m sure you can figure that out on your own. It’s a shame too, I think the fact that Netflix is waiting for its completion is going to hurt this series more than help it. A lot of people are missing out on what’s already proven to be one of the best of the season and possibly of 2016.

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Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress – E.02 Official Website

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Review: Twin Star Exorcists – E.01

I’ve been curious about this property for a while now. I missed the first collected volume of the manga, but received the next two for review and haven’t read them because I really like knowing how a story starts. Sometimes in manga you can skip ahead after the first volume, but starting after the first volume is always tricky. The point is, my curiosity has been building and building. Because I can’t tell the tone from the art. The art seems goofy and serious all at the same time. I mean that guy has razor-sharp teeth… and yet all the women have a blank tsundre look on their face. I couldn’t tell the tone and after the first episode… I’m still not 100% on the tone.

It starts off with a really dark and gruesome scene. You can tell that everyone is dead, with the exception of one of our main characters Rokuro. He’s the dude in case you’re wondering. Then we meet Benio as she’s summoned to meet some exorcist bigwigs that have finally acknowledged her power and skill as one of the best exorcists out there.

From there we learn that demons or whatever they call them in this series, have their own plane of existence that looks like a flesh version of our world. Stuffs in the same spot, just red and flesh-colored. Exorcists can flip to this other side to take care of the demons. The two characters’ paths cross when Benio drops from the sky and Rokuro catches her… only to fall into the water below. Their meet-cute continues as he tries to help her find where she’s going and buys her food and they fight a demon together even though he’s sworn off of exorcising.

That is all there is to this first episode which is a shame because the hook of the series is part of the reason I’ve been wanting to read the manga. They’re fated to marry and be “the best” at their jobs. Rokuro doesn’t accept this which can only mean that Benio does.

Unfortunately, I think that this anime adaptation is suffering from the same problem My Hero Academia is suffering from in which it’s following the anime too closely. It worked for something like One-Punch Man because they adapted it to work. That and the story was just better. While both Twin Star Exorcists and My Hero Academia have good stories and interesting worlds, their anime counterpart needed stronger pacing. There’s a lot of meh stuff in this episode and while I don’t have the perfect solution to fix it, this wasn’t the best start they could give the show. It’s slightly better than MHA, but not by much. You need that hook introduced, even if it was just supporting characters mentioning it when Rokuro wasn’t there.

The animation is strong. Not the strongest, but it’s enjoyable. I really liked the costume designs as it was almost a Tron inspired overlay on their clothes. Benio’s cat mask was very cool looking, but Rokuro’s arm was too over the top. That and the goofy parts didn’t mix well with the serious parts which could hurt the animation and story going forward.

It’s a good anime, but it’s far from great. It and others are trying to follow the One-Punch Man formula, which is a good outline to follow; but also one hell of a challenge. Now that I’m kind of caught up on this I might just switch over to the manga and read that before continuing with this anime.

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Twin Star Exorcists – E.01 Official Website

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Review: Re:Zero – Starting Life in Another World E.02

The second episode of Re:Zero is interesting. I don’t know if it’s as strong as the first episode because it had the benefit of being twice as long. That kind of worries me a little because it almost seems like this idea can’t properly be developed in the twenty-ish minute time frame. Time will tell on that. The episode does pick up right where we left it which isn’t surprising, but it kind of is. It’s something you think would happen more often, but it tends to get dropped to tell the story differently or because the team has written themselves into a corner. Subaru finds himself getting chewed out by the white-haired witch and not really understanding why. He unknowingly helps Felt pick her pocket as well which is more confusing to him because he still hasn’t figured out what's happening to him. He runs after them to help, but instead runs into the three dudes yet again. He still doesn’t get it and ends up getting stabbed and dying right there in the alley. What cues him into it, is the fact that the chips that Old Man Rom ate… are back in his bag. I mean, there should have been some other stuff, but whatever.

He starts over in front of the appa stand and figures out that he’s starting over. Finally. Subaru decides he doesn’t owe anyone shit and to just do whatever. But then he remembers the white witch’s death and he runs to try to help. This puts him head of schedule in reaching the loot house, but not by much. He still runs into the three dudes, a new character is introduced and he learns that knowledge is dangerous.

What I find particularly interesting about this story is that Subaru can’t just shout out that he knows the future. He does that to an extent at the very end of this episode and it makes him look really crazy. That’s the challenge for this story. How do you beat whatever event you’re trying to beat when you have all the cheats, but can’t use them? It’s just like Groundhog Day in that regard, but because lives are on the line it’s far more interesting. The villain in particular has another great scene when Subaru bumps into her (he actually physically bumps into her) and nearly shits himself.

The animation continues to be really strong. I know usually shows don’t dip from episode one to two, but sometimes they do. And sometimes they finish looking like shit when they started wonderfully, so I’m just glad to see that for now the quality is really in control and this world continues to feel alive no matter where it goes. The slums, the streets, it’s constantly moving.

Now that Subaru knows what is happening to him the story is going to shift again. If it can keep adapting and changing like that it’ll set itself apart from the rest of the run of the mill anime this season. For now, it has my attention and I’m looking forward to more.

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Re:Zero – Starting Life in Another World E.2 Official Website

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Review: Tanaka-kun is Always Listless – E.01

Don’t laugh, but I actually liked this show. It’s dumb. I mean it’s really dumb and yet it’s like a better version of what Haven’t You Heard? I’m Sakamoto is doing. The main character does nothing. I mean that. His goal is to just nap and lay down. His friend carries him to school. His hands routinely fall asleep in class because of leaning on them for naps. He needs a cool breeze to fall asleep sometimes. He’s so fucking delicate that a piece of bread cuts his mouth and he loses his appetite. This is the entire episode. Things like this.

The main character Tanaka is what they call listless which I would assume would better translated to having no direction in life. Whatever though. It works and you get the idea after his friend calls him “listless” over and over. His friend is the opposite, but he does everything for him. There’s a hint of yaoi there, but nothing that would actually push it fully into that category.

This episode and show does nothing. I shouldn't like it, but I do. It was fun and the humor hit. The humor relied on more than one gag and it didn’t always center around Tanaka. Though I shouldn’t count the opening song as part of the story, it’s anime and it counts. It actually shows me that there’s going to be more and more characters involved and so it’s just a slice of life high school show, but goddamn it works.

Everything I disliked about I’m Sakamoto, this was the opposite. I would watch this show because it does nothing, because it’s doing that nothing very well. A huge part of this is the animation quality and style. Its budget is much larger than the aforementioned anime and you can tell. The backgrounds are lush and beautiful. Every character is detailed and there’s plenty of background characters that are all sharply illustrated. This world feels alive. The coloring, for me is the reason why the art is better than a lot of other anime that would fall in this category because it doesn’t look cheap. It looks like a full range of colors were used. This means a lot of lighting effects which is the big difference because otherwise it would just be a bunch of filled in frames.

I will likely continue watching this anime all the way until the bitter end. It’s not amazing, it’s not a game changer, but it has my attention and it’s animated really well. At the end of the day, I’m here for visual storytelling and Tanak-kun is Always Listless does that masterfully.

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Tanaka-kun is Always Listless – E.01 Official Website

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Review: Mayoiga – E.02

If people aren’t dead by the third episode, then I have no fucking clue why I would continue watching this show. All of the characters with the exception of the main kid are either A) dicks or B) so underdeveloped it’s pointless to care about them. The guy who’s super aggressive about "starting over" tells the bus driver to keep going until the bus slides off the side of the road and gets stuck below the road. Some other dick says they should all give him their money since they won’t need it anymore and call it a day with the shitty bus driver. Who I happen to think is right about everything he’s said, but chicken shits out when he joins them later. From there they walk with their shit to what they suspect is the town they're looking for which just looks abandoned, not really hidden. Difficult to get to? Yes. Made by people with the resources of the area? Fuck no.

Because one of the thirty fucking characters worked as a maid once, she determines scientifically that the place hasn’t been dusted in a year. I wish I was making that up. They continue to search the town and find it empty. We do see someone or something watching them and find a print that’s not big enough or deep enough to be a bear… probably someone dressed as a fucking bear. Also the guy with the pedo mustache is a rapist and we’re left wondering if he victimized the girl who the main dude likes. That's the cliffhanger.

I can’t even begin to care about these characters. I really don’t even know if I’m supposed to care about them or just wish for their deaths that will hopefully happen in the next episode. Otherwise, this is just some bad fucking writing and a poor concept. Putting a bunch of annoying internet users that want to start over in life by moving to a shitty small town that would require a ton of work to survive, seems like a bad idea for a bunch of people who can’t face regular old life head-on.

“You mean over in this town I can pick a different name, not pay taxes and shit, but I have to work morning until night so I can have something to eat and running water?” "...Sign me the fuck up."

The main kid is super annoying and they just let him ramble which is part of his character, but annoying none the less. One of the women tries to be mean to him because he reminders her of an ex, but then he fucks it up by saying he’s not attracted to her like he has been with the last six women that talked to him. I know he won’t… but I still kind of want him to die first (Lion second for sure). That would be shocking in a way that would wake up the audience because right now I’m bored. There’s nothing creep or thrilling about this story, but man is it laying it on thick in an attempt to be either or both. Mayogia translates to “The Lost Village”, but I think it should be “Lost My Interest.”

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Mayoiga – E.02 Official Website

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Review: Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress – E.01

Talk about leaving an impression. I’m going to get this out of the way since I know that the obvious comparison for Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress will be Attack on Titans meets zombies. But isn’t that okay? I mean, aren’t we all waiting for AoT? And if you’re going to do it… do it like this!

Kabaneri starts off on a train. A train that looks like something out of Death Race 2000. The conductor tells them to sound the alarm and not to slow down… because shit is about to get wild. They train is attacked by zombie esque creators, but they’re incredibly difficult to kill. The use steam powered guns which is cool, but the effects are limited. One dude gets bit and they throw him a suicide bag… after a little bit he pulls it and it kills his heart before he can turn.

Inner cut with this amazing opening is our main character working on a new gun that will penetrate the heart of the Kabane (the zombie creatures). He’s very clever as we soon see. He works on repairing the trains, but his goal is actually to pick up and examine Kabane parts for his gun.

After the train arrives to the station/town, the people onboard are forced to strip down and prove their not injured. One man has a cut that seems completely unrelated and everyone overreacts forcing our main character Ikoma to get involved because he’s tired of everyone living in fear of the bushi (protectors and such) and the Kabane. The show really picks up when a second train overrun by Kabane collides with the station and the Kabane have their run of the place. The ending is sick as fuck.

I was already enjoying the premise and the characters when the train wreck happened. It thrusted the story forward much faster than I expected, but that turned out to be a very good thing. Like I said, this is going to be compared to AoT whether anyone likes it to or not. It cut out a lot of the slow build in order to just get the story going. Sure that was the charm of AoT, but the charm here is the crazy world being overrun by zombies and Ikoma. He’s… he’s awesome. The scene at the end is just incredible. You’re like, “give this guy his own show” and then you remember that you’re watching it.

The animation is top notch. I’ve noticed that all of the TV Tokyo shows have been (that must be a rebranding thing because they’re everywhere this season). Particularly with this show it needed to have great animation. The Kabane are intense looking, but more importantly the world feels alive and looks great. I dug the character designs as well, they stood out a lot, especially compared to the rest of the anime airing this season.

Between this and Kiznaiver, they’re the savors of the season. A lot of the other anime is so generic, too early to tell or just bad. These two shows aren’t pulling any punches and I will anxiously wait to see the next episode of Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress.

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Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress – E.01 Official Website

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Review: Kiznaiver – E.01

Whether you were a fan of Trigger’s last animation Kill la Kill or not, Kiznaiver is probably for you. It’s kind of everything that Trigger is. Strange and yet iconic character designs. Beautiful animation and oh yeah a concept that is extremely over the top and yet manages to dissect anime, fandom and society all at the same time. This go around Trigger takes on the complexity of pain. Really it’s empathy that they’re taking on, but they’re using physical pain to show this. That one part of the story as the other takes on the “seven deadly sins” that have been updated for the anime generation. These sins… character architypes.

Just one of these alone would make for quality storytelling, but the fact that they’re intermingled and balanced, makes for a story that’s interesting on many levels. Because the thing about Trigger is when they say “hey we’re making fun of fan service” and then they do, they also provide amazing fan service, but use it in a way that it helps the story rather than hurting it. For that reason, I’m extremely interested to see what they’ll do with the acknowledged character types they’re using and making commentary on.

The story… is of course complex and not the easiest to explain without recapping the entire episode. I don’t particularly want to do that so I’ll condense it as much as possible. We meet Kacchon as a little boy and he looks like he’s just escaped some kind of lab. He’s running towards a faceless female child who is talking to him before she jumps. From this point on we learn that Kacchon doesn’t feel pain. He’s bullied because of this which then leads to him meeting another character and another. He wakes up on top of a building with a girl who is basically running their school (cough a bit too similar) and she goes into a lot of exposition until we see all of the characters we’ve meet in the same room. There she explains that they’re a part of an experiment and that all of their pain is connected. They share their pain, but rather than it being a forced empathy, it’s their physical pain which they learn when one of them gets kicked in the head.

By the end of the episode I knew that I was watching one of if not the best anime of the season. Even if Trigger decided to just be typical with this idea, it’s still interesting enough to continue watching. I know they won’t because they love being over the top and the commentary is already thick in this first episode.

The animation is beautiful. It’s not a re-hash of Kill la Kill even though a few of the characters have similar designs. I chalk that up to being the same studio and really that’s all anime. There’s a lot more detail in Kaznaiver because of the setting, a lush metropolis. It’s very futuristic looking with a clean white aesthetic. What’s interesting about the animation to me is that emotions seem to be a big part of the story and yet the two main characters are basically void of emotion. Which was probably challenging to illustrate since they “no sell” everything going on.

There’s only one other animation that might beat Kiznaiver, but we’ll see how it goes. I’m just happy to have two anime to be excited for and that Trigger was able to follow Kill la Kill up with something that wasn’t re-hash or worse… bad. If anything, Kiznaiver is off to a better start.

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Kiznaiver – E.01

Official Website

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Review: Haven’t You Heard? I’m Sakamoto – E.01

I can’t for the life of me figure out what the point of this show is and where the story is possibly going. The premise is that Sakamoto is amazing in everything that he does. The men hate him, but secretly love how cool he is and the women just love him. There’s three short stories for the first episode. The first is Sakamoto being bullied by three classmates, but the fail miserably. In the end, they start a fire and he tricks them into making a lot of noise for a teacher to come, but then doesn’t let them take the blame. One of them takes a picture of him and decides to make it his phone’s background. The best part was watching the same animation of the three thugs playing volleyball and talking over and over, but only because they admit that Sakamoto stole their heart and the animation was on a bad loop.

The second story is Sakamoto versus the wind and a sparrow. The sparrow ends up getting hit by something and he saves the bird in a ridiculous manner. The third story is another boy that’s jealous of Sakamoto and decides to become the class clown since he can’t compete… but his jokes suck. He too, falls for Sakamoto’s charms.

Again… I have no idea what this show is doing and where it’s going. If it’s just going to continue with stories like this, boredom is already setting in. This was a fun episode, but I didn’t learn anything about the character that wasn’t explained to me within the first two minutes of the episode. He’s always “on”, I get that. He’s the best and can never be fooled. He’s cool no matter what which makes him completely made up and un-relatable.

Where is the story going? I find a lot of anime fails to answer this on the first episode. The expect you to just enjoy the ride and come back for the first six episodes which is usually one story arc. The problem is, when you don’t answer that question or at the very least tease the answer… I don’t want to come back for more. For example, Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress doesn’t specifically answer this question, but it gave enough info that you’ll come back for the second episode to get more. That and the premise and world building is tremendous… with I’m Sakamoto, the world is built-in the opening and the character development is done there as well. It’s just wacky jokes that while fun, wear thin after a few minutes. It would work as a weekly manga because you’d only get a small portion of it and never really get tired of it, but never really look forward to it either.

I’ll check out the second episode, but only to see if it’s going to even attempt something with the story or if it’ll just be the first episode with different situations over and over again.

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Haven’t You Heard? I’m Sakamoto – E.01 Official Website

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Review: Bungou Stray Dogs – E.01

This first episode is a bit of a burn. It’s used to introduce the world and put our characters together while not really doing anything at the same time. It doesn’t set up the plot for the series and we’re hammered with the main character’s backstory the entire episode. I for one wish anime and manga would find a balance between the two types of main characters that dominate these “I reluctantly have powers” storylines. They’re either bold and unstoppable with a heart of gold or frightened and clueless, but all powerful. I personally have grown tired of them being frightened and clueless. It’s just a cheat to have them no nothing and so everyone has to explain everything to the character which in turn explains it to the audience. Find a better way. There’s smarter ways. That’s some low hanging fruit there.

Our main character is dying of starvation after being kicked out of an orphanage. He looks twenty, but whatever. He decides he’s going to jump the next person he sees and that becomes a comedic gag. One that I enjoyed as it let me know that this series wasn’t going to be serious. Eventually he finds a dude trying to kill himself. Why? He’s quirky and that’s what makes him different.

Long story short, the kid turns into a white tiger when the moon is full or just out… or just convenient to the story. Eventually this is revealed along with the rest of the team’s powers. They’re an agency of some kind, which basically means they don’t have to worry about money and can take on weird cases. That’s really it.

The animation is actually really good. The character designs are pretty average for the most part. Sure they’re distinct, but they’re distinct in a way that’s trying really hard to be so. Like, he’s the guy with bandages on his arm. He’s the one with his hair too long on one side and wears high waters. Etc, etc.

My main thing is that this seems like a watered-down version of Blood Blockade Battfront, minus Nighttow’s art design. Also I mean the manga not the anime which was subpar to the book. It’s okay, but this first episode is completely pointless. It’s just a set up and not a true window into what the series will do or even be about. You could skip this episode and start with the second and I’m sure you’ll be fine, that’s how pointless this episode is to the overall story. With that said, I’ll give it one more, but I didn’t find it funny enough to struggle through the lack of plot just to hear jokes.

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Bungou Stray Dogs – E.01 Official Website

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Review: And You Thought There Is Never A Girl Online – E.01

I’m sure that title sounds better in Japanese and not as sexist as it seems. That’s probably my one and only gripe with the anime is the title. I mean the main character doesn’t even really bring up that “everyone is a dude online” outside of the mention of his hilarious backstory. The premise is pretty simple for this anime. Our main character Nishimura Hideki aka Rusian, plays a free MMORPG that’s basically WOW, but works off the free to play, nickel and dime you as you go system. He turns down one of his clan member’s marriage proposals multiple times because he previously proposed to a guy… ripped from the headlines… like years ago. Now he doesn’t care as long as it stays in-game and they’re a cute girl… like video game girl.

After we see him play with his clan, accept a marriage proposal and go to school; we get to the part that of course changes everything. The clan meets in public… kind of like The Guild I guess. There Nishimura discovers that everyone he’s been playing with A) goes to his school and B) is a girl. Not only that, but his Waifu, online wife, is actually super pretty and cute… of course.

Do you like harem comedies? Or as I prefer, male driven rom coms in which nothing happens and there’s no consequences to your choices because you never have to make one? Then you’ll love this, you’ll eat it up with a spoon… just like me. I like harem comedies. They’re not the best. The stories are kind of whatever at times, but there is a simplicity to them that I enjoy. Yeah a bunch of women pinning after the same dude seems a bit sexist, but it does in actuality happen to both genders during those tender grade school years. I can tell you the name of the girl and boy that everyone had a crush on all the way through middle school at every school I attended. It’s just how that shit works.

We’ll see how the story goes since this first episode was basically used to reveal the twist and the second episode will show exactly how the story is going to proceed. After two seasons of anime without a decent harem comedy to watch, I’m actually looking forward to this one.

The animation was really strong, particularly when inside the game which I liked. I hate when they phone it in on shit like that and then make the rest of the world look really good. In particular I liked when the story shifted when they talked about “Normies” and how deranged the characters both in the game world and real world looked.

Is this the most original or amazing story? No. Can some people relate to one aspect of it, ie, a guy proposing to a guy? I guess, I mean that’s real right there, but man is it a weird premise for a harem comedy. Either way, I’ll be watching this one, maybe not reviewing it, but watching it at least.

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And You Thought There Is Never A Girl Online – E.01 Official Website

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Review: Re:Zero – Starting Life in Another World E.1A-1B

After just a few minutes of watching Re:Zero I had the impression that it was a lot like Kono Subarashii Sekai Ni Shukufuku Wo! Both are about a shut-in boy in a track suit that’s whisked away to a fantasy land and both are under the impression that it will somehow be like a video game. Where Re:Zero differences itself is in its tone… and production. KonoSuba made it clear early on that it was a comedy through and through and while not the most amazing it was enjoyable. With Re:Zero, it had lighthearted moments and some comedy, but it was clearly a darker story.

The main character Subaru finds himself in this new world and follows the rules of MMORPG’s and begins to find information about where he is. This goes worse than expected and he soon finds himself drying in an alleyway. Three thugs come his way and he decides to test his skills and actually makes short work of two of them. He apparently works out. The third dude has knives and this sends Subaru cowering which leads to a boot party that only he’s invited to. At this point we meet Felt, a thief, as she’s fleeing from a victim and instead of asking the thugs to stop, she asks them to move out of her way. This leads to the victim arriving and helping Subaru because she can’t just let it go.

After the rescue she and her spirit creature, a cat, stay behind to make sure he wakes up and such. After a lot of talking he finally convinces the girl to let him help her find her stolen goods. Everything seems typical right? Sure we had a real world element of the city and the thugs, but we’ve introduced magic and had our meet-cute moment. Hold on to that feeling for a moment because that's what the story is counting on, you feeling all warm and fuzzy inside.

Eventually our main characters, through their good deeds, find the thief and head towards her neck of the city. Subaru decides to go inside the place where she’ll be and finds a dead body. He hears a woman’s voice and suddenly his stomach is cut up and he’s bleeding out. Our silver haired half-elf is quick to follow. You are no longer warm and fuzzy.

But Subaru doesn’t die. He doesn’t know what’s happened, but he finds himself in the same spot he started at… a little like a video game. He failed the level and must start over, but he doesn’t know that. The second episode then shows him going directly to the house that he was killed at. He for some reason, after being portrayed as smart, thinks he’s somehow survived the day and doesn’t piece together what’s happening… even after he dies again.

Now… this show has nothing on Erased from last season, but the Groundhog Day element to the story is interesting. Especially since Subaru’s not even remotely grasping the concept of what’s happening to him. This is very clear when on his third day he tackles the situation differently and things go completely awry again.

The ignorance of the characters is what works for this story. Subaru doesn’t know the world and so he makes simple mistakes that others take for common knowledge. After all, how are they to know he’s from another world when he doesn’t even know where or why he’s there. When the silver hair girl shares her name in the first episode it seems innocent enough with the exception of Puck’s response (that’s her spirit cat animal). In the second episode, the reason for the response becomes clear and it complicates the story even more. Subaru’s knowledge and yet ignorance is constantly shifting the story because he doesn’t have a clue how to keep everything in order and what can and can’t be said and done. More importantly he's trying to shortcut story and the story is making him pay. You can't just rush to the end because you know the end, it'll change you'll end up dead a different way.

The animation is by far the best I’ve seen this season. I’m sure there will be others that rival it or surpass it, but for now, it’s really good looking. The city is alive and not some empty area that’s only presented as being alive when its relevant to the story. There’s always someone or something going on which is perhaps the biggest difference between it and KonoSuba. There’s nothing particularly new about the style, but it’s an aesthetically pleasing anime to view with character designs that are familiar and yet really sharp to look at. The coloring for the anime is vibrant and gives it a movie feel. I hope that this doesn’t change or fade and that the high level of colors maintains throughout the series.

I’m curious to see what happens in the next episode which I guess will technically be the second episode even though there were two episodes for the premiere. None of these elements are that original as I’ve pointed out other properties that have used them, but it’s the combination of the elements, the characters and the presentation that have caught my attention. This one is definitely worth checking out and we can only hope that it will continue to balance the humor, light-hearted moments and the gore as it goes on.

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Re:Zero – Starting Life in Another World E.1A-1B Official Website

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Review: Mayoiga – E.01

I had no expectations going into Mayoiga, but part of me wanted something creepy and strange to watch this anime season. This wasn’t it. I don’t know what this is. It’s trying to be creepy. It’s trying to be dark. It’s trying. That’s the point. It’s trying.

Thirty people are on a tour bus going to a hidden town to start their lives again. They introduce themselves by their internet message board names… and right about then I was done. When a character introduced themselves as Soy Latte I laughed and wondered what was really happening.

That’s the gist. They all want to start over and none of them are really being honest and no one knows what to expect from this new town. Some are taking it too seriously and others not enough. The bus drivers goes nuts listening to them all and gets puked on. Making me wonder why the fuck their going to a hidden town with a hired bus driver…

My favorite character was Jack… until he talked again. At first he just said his name and that was it. He won me over because of that. Which highlights the problem of their being too many fucking characters on the show and instead of taking a Lost approach and using the characters as needed, they introduce them all and then use way too many of them.

None of them do shit and we tend to follow on main guy and he seems normal, but as one character that’s weird and assholish points… he’s probably the one to look out for. Which I didn’t care about because I think we’re stuck following him no matter what.

The animation is fine, but the character designs are really uninspired. There’s a character you’ve seen from any other anime like this ever. Some of them are unusual looking and that made them stand out in a bad way, like the guy with the crazy chin and the eye patch… no joke.

The story is going for a Silent Hill vibe, but it fails miserably. There’s no atmosphere to the anime and every time there’s a chance it might build some it crushes it under the weight of its characters. It might get good when they all turn on it each other, but right now it’s so generic from its story to voice acting that it’s kind of a predictable mess.

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Mayoiga – E.01 Official Website

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Review: Hundred – E.01

Oh Hundred… you were basically doomed from the start. Have you watched Chivalry of a Failed Knight, The Instructor of Aerial Combat Wizard Candidates, Asterisk War, The Freezing or Absolute Duo? Then you don’t need to see Hundred. It is a watered down version of all of those things and since none of what I listed is any good it makes the Hundred that much worse. The plot is aliens/monsters/take your pick, with a cool codename attack the planet. Special kids that can handle the one and only type of weapon that can defeat them are chosen to train and use their weapon, but lo and behold… they can train against each other and not hurt each other so that they can be ranked! Our main character is rated off the charts and for some reason everyone at this school, new and old, want to welcome him because of this. He runs into a stranger that is a woman, looks like a woman and acts like every female character in this type of show, but is pretending to be a man. She jumps on him and hugs him. There’s two jokes about them both being men, one of which comes after the main character walks in on her getting out of the shower and putting on women’s underwear… he later headbutts her. Also he gets into a duel with the best student in the school because of rules.

Really he gets into a duel because we need to establish him as the strongest and like all male fantasy stories of this nature we have to put down the woman that’s the strongest. I don’t even know why the other main character is pretending to be a man, possibly to room with each other, but then she acted like she didn’t know she had a roommate and wasn’t very cautious about changing and shit in the room. The simplest and overused explanation is an uneven amount of boys and girls and that’s really what this story should have done.

The animation is good until you get to the weapon part and then it’s generic and CG. It’s sucked and I have a feeling we’re going to see a lot of it, well not me, I won’t be watching any more. Otherwise it clearly has some money backing it and I’m sure that the people who love and support the numerous examples I gave before, will also like this one.

I personally don’t care for this storyline. Dress it up however you want, it’s the same fucking story and they spend more time making the dude look cool than they do fighting this global threat that’s plaguing the planet every minute of the day. We’re likely to spend six episodes of him fighting others or just meeting people when really it should be a footnote to the rest of the story. Boring, uninspired and worst of all it cherry picks other series, but fails to deliver any real personality. It’s so overloaded with every trope possible that it fails to do any of them right, because if it did you might actually watch it.

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Hundred – E.01 Official Website

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Review: My Hero Academia - E.01

My Hero Academia is unfortunately one of those anime’s that just isn’t quite as good as the manga. Which is a shame. There have been a few anime that have really managed to bring the manga to life in a great way like Food Wars or One-Punch Man, but so far My Hero Academia feels a bit stiff. It’s not entirely it’s fault and it is still a good episode, but in trying to follow the pacing of the manga it really shoots itself in the foot. Without knowing what comes next in the story I don’t really see why you’d come back for more of this series after the ending of the first episode. In fact, knowing what comes next really makes me want to skip the second episode altogether and come back for the third.

The story, as I explained in my review of the first volume, is that the new norm is superpowers or quirks as they’re called. This opens up the job market for people to be superheroes. Our main character is quirkless, he has no powers, but he wants to be a hero. That’s the thing that sets him apart from everyone else. He wants to be a hero. Not have power. He knows that he basically needs the power to be a hero in this world and that’s the only reason he wants a quirk… to be a hero. To save people. To do it with a smile like his hero All Might.

We see how miserable and picked on Izuku is as one of his classmates not only makes fun of him, but physically challenges him as well. Here’s where that clear difference comes into play. Katsuki, the bully, only cares about power and being better than others with power. He wants to be a hero for purely selfish reasons. The simple fact of the matter is that he’s got “villain” written all over him, but for now he’s the other side of the coin to Izuku.

The comedy is spot on. It’s one of the few things that rings true for this, but the emotion is a bit stiff. Granted, I feel that in the comic the creator hits you over the head with how pathetic and sad Izuku is and how no one steps in to help him when Katsuki physically threatens him numerous times, but here it’s just stiff. I didn’t feel for Izuku the way I did in the manga because as much as the pacing struggles it’s also trying to cram as much as possible into this first episode.

The animation was solid and clearly this has a budget. It's getting the big push which makes sense since it's one of the few ongoing manga that's been adapted into an anime. It kind of needs to succeed and I don't see it failing.

Ultimately it’s an okay first episode. The reason for that is that the source material is really strong and I have a feeling that once we get to the school we’ll be fine. That was kind of the same for the manga as well. It’s a rough opening in either format, but if you stick with it, you’ll be pleased that you did. That and there’s a character called Mt. Lady which is just funny on multiple levels.

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My Hero Academia – E.01 Official Website

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Review: Endride – E.01

Endride should be called crystal swords or something better than “Endride” which currently makes zero sense with the story. Here’s the gist, we meet a dude that is obsessed and I mean obsessed with crystals and shit. The problem is, he doesn’t know dick about them. Sure we see him studying them at one point, but it’s after he’s gone to a shop that just has boxes of rocks and shit and looked at them like “Man there’s like a world inside.”

That’s called foreshadowing folks. Bad foreshadowing, but foreshadowing none the less.

Eventually he goes to find his dad at his dad’s lab because his dad missed his own birthday. There he types in the code to a special case (that later teleports to the other side of the room thanks to lazy animation) and picks up a floating crystal which goes inside him and then he goes inside it and you’re left wondering what the fuck anyone was thinking with this show.

Inside the crystal world it’s medieval fantasy. There’s a king that killed the former king and the former king’s son is looking for revenge. He fails and gets locked up where he meets the other dude as he comes teleporting above the stairs. There’s a fight, more fights, the new guy to the crystal world has a badass weapon that pops out of his chest whenever he’s in trouble and we meet our first female character at the end of the episode who informs fucking everyone that she knew the prince would run away.

I have seen this type of story done before and done better. It’s not a new formula, but this was by far the worst I’ve seen using it. It just goes to show how tired it is. I know that the new guy from our world is supposed to be our window into this new world, but figure out a different way. I mean it’s not like anime is a new thing, it’s not like storytelling in general is new. We don’t need something is generic and simple to explain why we’re in this world and really you could have waited and done a flashback and that would have been better. Instead, you bored me.

The art was whatever. It wasn’t good, it wasn’t bad. The CG on the weapons was pointless because it’s only for a second. That and the weapons themselves were pretty uninspired. My last gripe with this show is the fact that the fucking kid knew his dad’s secret code to his secret fucking container in his office and just started touching shit. WHO THE FUCK DOES THAT!!! If my kid did that and got transported to another world, he would be dead to me even if he came back alive. I couldn’t hate this fucker faster.

If you liked this show, don’t tell me, tell the comments. That’s where other people who liked it or didn’t will likely be.

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Endride – E.01

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Review: Ace Attorney – E.01

Well the Spring Anime season has kicked off and what a bunch of shit I’ve seen so far. I figured I would just start getting these out of the way rather than waiting for all of the first episodes and instantly losing motivation to write anything. Welcome.

Have you ever played or watched a YouTube video of the Ace Attorney game franchise? Then don’t watch this anime. This show is like watching someone play the game only with commercial breaks. It’s clearly geared towards kids which hey… maybe it’s popular with little kids in Japan… it’s not here and that’s on me for even bothering to watch this one.

The show is dumbed down for kids in an insulting way. If a kid can’t figure out the clues before the characters it’s probably because like me they got bored, hated the voice acting and hated how much the animation was imitating the game.

Here’s a scene so that you know what I mean…

It’s just like the fucking game… only you’re not playing it. Also the voice acting was generic as fuck and all the characters sounded like sub characters from better animes. I will never watch this again or deal with this franchise in any capacity. It’s not for me and if it’s for you please explain why, I won’t read the comment, but maybe someone else will.

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Ace Attorney – E.01

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