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ultraericthered · 1 year

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Anime Update V2 39

Wolf’s Rain - The plot re-starts where Episode 14 left off in Episode 19 and it is maddeningly incredible just how skippable those previous four recap episodes end up being since this one gets you right back into where we were at Episode 14′s end. Not really clear on how or why Kiba ended up in what appears to be Paradise while the other three wolves come across a native tribe that honors wolves, but both plot threads gave us new information about the nature of Paradise and how deeply wolves and humans are connected in this world.

Hunter x Hunter - Not much to say here except we met a guy voiced by Kirk Thornton who looks like he could be Tonpa 2.0, Gon and Killua and the few lucky hunters have made into Greed Island after having everything set up and explained by some weird Aelita-esque digital chick, and of fucking course, Ging turns out to not be in the game ‘cause he’s a deadbeat bastard who just wanted to put his son through this to see what he’s really made of. Let the game begin!

Fruits Basket - As was built up last time, Akito strikes again, showing up at the summer home along with Shigure and Kureno to spoil everyone’s fun and make them remember their status as their possessions. Tohru continued to be overly considerate about the other Sohma’s parents and home situations that she might know about to the point of stopping herself from ever mentioning her own dead mother, leading to a talk with Kyo where he clearly omits some important details regarding his own mother’s death. That evening, as all the Zodiacs present have to go meet with Akito, Yuki stays behing along with Kyo and Tohru. He recounts his past trauma from Akito and thanks Tohru for helping to save him from that darkness. Still don’t think he opened up about the cap incident, though, Damn rat!

Date A Live S4 - So no matter how much poor Shido tried, with Kotori’s help, to make himself seem like a fictional 2D character that might appeal to Nia, she was having none of it because reality just can’t measure up to the real...er, fictional thing. She and Kotori end up making a wager with each other involving seling manga art at an upcoming convention. Got to see all the spirit girls try their hand at drawing manga art, with Natsumi of all people ending up as the best of the lot. Meanwhile, Kurumi confronts Nia, revealing herself as the one who set her free from DEM and wanting her assistance in return.

Fate Zero - Some real whammers from this one - Irisveil is actually the human vessel for the Holy Grail itself and she makes a pact with Tokiomi and the Tohsaka family with some specific terms like Kirei having to bow out of the Holy Grail War and leave the country. Kirei, whose father was recently murdered by the late Kayneth El Melloi, isn’t having that, so he conspires with Archer/Gilgamesh behind Tokiomi’s back and after having secured custody of Rin from Tokiomi just in case anything was to befall her father in the war...well, something befalls him alright, as Kirei literally stabs him in the back, killing him. With Tokiomi dead, Archer’s servitude is transferred from him to Kirei, who has come fully unbound from ethical principles.

Re:ZERO - Fully realizing his looping ability that he now refers to as "Return by Death", Subaru changes his approach from trying to meet with Satella again to trying to meet with Felt and buy the insignia from her before Elsa gets involved. This time he gets saved from the thugs by Sir Reinhardt, who he asks to find Satella and tell her to avoid Old Man Rom’s loot house. And the remainder of the episode mostly consists of banter between Subaru and Felt, which was fun.

Symphogear G - The fight against this new Finé group really got underway now, with Maria Cadenzavna Eve, in a noble gesture, setting the captive audience free so as to minamize the damages in her and Tsubasa’s fight, and it turns out her Dark Gungnir is legit. As Hibiki and Chris come to join the frey, I also knew that the two girls we suddenly meet backstage, Kirika and Shirabe, would be new Symphogears. And lo and behold, they are....for Finé, as they back up Maria against Tsubasa, Hibiki, and Chris! Was NOT expecting that, nor Shirabe’s furious tirade against Hibiki for supposedly being a privileged, sanctimonius hypocrite about her own stated cause. Even after the Noise has been dispersed of, Hibiki is still reeling from it and is reduced to tears, while behind an unseen corner we see Dr. Ver, and...no way. Is he...EVIL? Holy shit, I never would’ve guessed!

MAR - Two matches in a single episode this time - Jack VS the strange goblin jester Chesspiece named Kollecio, which was more difficut for Jack to win compared to his last fight but he managed to pull it off, leading to Rapunzel once again killing her loser teammate. The next match was a curb-stomp battle, as I’d expected seeing as Dorothy was the one fighting, but honestly, I think Dorothy should have killed her opponent like she did last time, as Ginta’s plea to her to not kill was based in ridiculously sexist non-logic (”pretty girls shouldn’t kill people!”, dude, where have you been?), and it wouldn’t be beyond Dorothy to go back on her given word. He ends up just as dead anyway, so the next fight is against this strange, happy-go-lucky water sprite, and Nanashi is going to be the one to fight her.

Gintama - Starting now, I’ve retired the AMC format and instead will be watching Gintama regularly along with another anime each week. This was the one that introduced the literal cat burglar and gave further development to Otose, with some more little hints to Gintoki’s backstory and some really funny exchanges between Odd Jobs, particularly Shinpachi with the silent Gintoki dummy. But I just hate that it’ll be 10 episodes ‘til we properly meet Sacchan. I wants her!

AND

Don’t Toy With Me Miss Nagatoro: 2nd Attack - Have seen the three episodes of this that are out so far. The first was a bit weak, just Nagatoro and Senpai doing typical shtick for them, but the following two were really solid and reminded me of how fun and silly but cute and wholesome this show and these characters are. The first season got its dub last year and while Kimberly Anne Campbell and Erik Scott Kimerer are perfect matches for their roles in English, there’s really just a certain magic to Sumire Uesaka and Daiki Yamashita’s performances playing off each other that can’t be exactly replicated.

#Anime Update V2 #Anime Update

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niconiipls · 6 years

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Delinquent!AU Headcanon Pt 2.

[Link to Pt 1]

It’s pretty lengthy so I put the rest of the members under the cut!

Delinquents

Nico

Unspoken leader of the delinquents though she doesn’t think of herself as one; the delinquents followed her on their own accord

Doesn’t come to school often

Dislike maki for picking on her; What does she even mean that her grades “can’t be rounded up to a pass”? she’s only 4 marks away! that damn Nishikino

Initially hated Maki for making her sit in the front row, but now she’s secretly happy about that (After all, what’s there to hate if it makes it easier for her to annoy Maki?)

Because of her constant back and forth bickering with Maki, students got to see more (adorable) sides to their teacher. As a result, Maki became increasingly popular among the students which made Nico somewhat irritated

Tried to get Maki to call her “Nico” but nope, not happening Yazawa-san

When it comes to fights, she’s known for her stealth. Not only is she quick in dodging attacks, she’s also great at seizing the perfect moment to strike her opponent

Got badly injured once while trying to shield Rin from a sneak attack

Her family struggles financially. Nico’s mother who is the sole breadwinner is often not home because she has to take on many odd-jobs

Was bullied when she was younger but she endured them all. However, when she found out that her brother became a victim of bully too, something in her snapped. She started fighting back, realizing that she needs to be stronger in order to protect the people that matter to her

Rin

Youngest among the delinquents

She’s fast but usually acts before she thinks, landing her into trouble frequently

Skips class whenever there is a ramen promotion (except for home economics class which she has full attendance for because of food and hanayo sensei)

Loves hanayo sensei because she is kind to her (many teachers insist Rin drop the ‘nya’ in her speech with the exception of a few teachers, including hanayo who finds it adorable)

Owns a motorcycle (because according to her, “it’s SUUUPER COOL NYA~!”). Both Honoka and her would take turns to try out dangerous stunts which drives Umi mad if she catches them

Uses bat as her main weapon though she is skilled in hand-to-hand combat too

Always brings her bat along when dining at her favourite ramen place ever since the time where Nico and her were ambushed right after their meal

Subconsciously drops the “nya” in her speech when she’s serious

Honoka

Cheerful and energetic

She’s very strong, almost no one is of her match when it comes to raw strength. Besides strength, she also has monstrous stamina. Her opponents usually realized this too late as they end up slumped on the floor, heaving in defeat

Holds the title “Queen of Arm Wrestling” after her numerous, unbeaten record. Before she earned that title, she used to go around making bets with people that she could beat them in under 3 seconds. Everyone that took up her challenge suffered from a rather “crushing” defeat. From this, she has won a considerably large sum of money which she spent all on food. Now, no one dares to take up her challenge

Shares an unlikely friendship with Umi. Was impressed by Umi when she saw her singlehandedly taking down a bunch of thugs and has been following her around ever since

Nozomi

Love to tease Nico and Maki

Does an almost flawless job in “cleaning up” any traces of their delinquent activities

Knew that Eli was tracking her down and decided to “play along” with her by setting up misleading “evidence”. Soon, it just became a battle of wits between them

Extremely protective when it comes to her friends (especially Nico); also, often shows her affection through her bear hugs which Nico DEFINITELY doesn’t appreciate

Became friends with Nico because she was the first person who was upfront with her

Had some form of training in aikido so she knows how to defend herself really well

Student Council Members

Umi

Others think of her as a role model student

Is part of the student council

Not a delinquent though she is extremely skilled at different forms of fighting because her family owns a dojo

However, she dislikes fighting. The only time she does so is for self-defense

Holds the "Sonoda" title. The Sonoda family is considered to be influential and powerful among the Yakuzas. Although it is a name that is typically unheard of among commoners, Umi is extremely guarded and tries to keep her identity hidden. However, this can prove to be quite difficult as she has no lack of challengers that would jump at the opportunity to take her down

Shares an unlikely friendship with Honoka after Honaka saw her taking down a few thugs. Despite trying to escape from being seen, Honoka caught up with her and fawned over how cool she was. After multiple failed attempts to shake Honoka off, she gave up but made her promised to not tell anyone what she saw in exchange for letting her follow her around

Honoka tried to make Umi join the delinquents but she refuses

Doesn't feel that her strengths are meant to be utilized in unnecessary fights, though Honoka thinks that it's a waste of her skills

Also, Minami sensei is so pretty and elegant… wait, what? s..shhameless!!

Eli

Student council president

Clears up trouble caused by the delinquents

Though initially, all that’s on her mind is to get the delinquents expelled so that they don’t tarnish the school’s name

Tried to obtain evidence of the delinquents’ activities but never succeed in doing so (Nozomi is always one step ahead of her)

Suspected that Nozomi has something to do with everything and tailed her on one of the days where she was rushing off to somewhere after a call

Without being noticed by Nozomi, they reached a site where there was a fight that involved Nico and Rin against a group of students

Eli jumped at the chance to record a video of the fight, ready to submit to the higher-ups as evidence and get rid of them once and for all

But when she saw Nico taking a critical blow from a metal bat, she hesitated. Nico didn’t get back up from the floor like she did before

Before Eli even realized it herself, she was already running towards them. Everyone fled upon seeing her (except for Nozomi and a worn-out Rin who were busy attending to an unconscious and bleeding Nico)

Helped to call the ambulance. At that point of time, Eli thought she heard Nozomi whispered to her a “thank you”

Deleted the video footage of the fight afterwards

Teachers

Kotori

Teaches English

No one has ever seen her angry but everyone somehow got the feeling that they wouldn’t ever want to

Love to tease Umi subtly just to see the usually stoic and serious student council member turn into a blushing, stuttering mess

Occasionally, complimenting Umi for answering the question correctly is enough to do the trick. The one method that never fails though, is to simply smile at the poor girl whose soul probably leaves her body and ascends to heaven every single time

Hanayo

Teaches home economics

Doesn’t mind if her students call her hanayo sensei

Gets the “most caring teacher award” every year because she’s so loved by her students

Can’t bear to scold Rin even though she always messes up in her class (especially when Rin deploys her “round kitten eyes” look)

Together with Kotori, they will always listen to Maki complain about the 1001 things Nico did to irritate her

Maki

Young and new teacher-in-training

Already has a degree in medicine so she teaches science, but chooses to teach music as well

Increasing popularity among students (she has absolutely no idea as to how it happened)

Does a background check on all her students. Because of this, she found out about the tight financial situation Nico’s family is in

Can’t help but worry whenever Nico comes to class with serious cuts and bruises, and even more so when she doesn’t see Nico in class

Tries to contact Nico’s family through her home number to enquire her whereabouts but no one ever answers the line; Nico wouldn’t tell her anything either

@oumiyuki Thank you so much for giving me suggestions on ways to organise this better! Also, writing this took me much longer than I expected so I’m really sorry about that!! I had been really busy since school started, but mainly I’m just stuck with a massive writer’s block. I’m glad I managed to write it out though! I hope you’re still around to see this ^^;

#muse #delinquent au #headcanon #I didn't mean for it to become so plot-dependent #oh well...

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rainbow-galaxy-supernova · 7 years

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Zexal Month Day 22: Word Prompt

Fits in with my Yuma is a Girl AU, follow up to day 21. A rewrite of episodes 11-12.

Word Prompt: Hope

Yuma expects Tetsuo and Kotori to be mad at her. It’s fine, she knows losing on purpose was a mistake. She walks past them on Monday with her head down, and she silently takes her seat. At lunch she wanders the hallways until a hand lands on her shoulder and she jumps, turning to come face-to-face with Tetsuo.

“I don’t even care that you threw the duel,” Tetsuo tells her. “I’m mad because it did nothing but make you miserable. He may have been your friend, but do you think Shark lost any sleep over that duel? Look at you, you’re a mess. You’re stringing yourself out for someone who doesn’t even care.”

Yuma knocks his hand away. “He does care!” She hisses. “The Ryoga I know would lose sleep over that duel and it did do something!”

“Yeah?” Tetsuo asks. “Well he’s not Ryoga anymore, he’s Shark.”

“And he has no parents, no sister, and no friends to watch his back,” Yuma snaps. “I’m lucky, I have something, and goddamnit all if I don’t remind him that he’s got me, I’ll never forgive myself!”

“I hope you don’t die of sleep exhaustion before then,” Tetsuo snaps, and he stalks off.

“That would take at least six months!” Yuma yells after him, “I looked it up!”

Kotori ends up speaking to Yuma again by the end of the day, but neither of them talk about what happened during the duel. As they leave school, a lanky boy with a black eye runs up to Yuma.

“You’re one of Red’s girls, right?” He pants.

“Not anymore,” Yuma says.

“But you’re a friend of Shark?” The boy asks.

Yuma nods slowly and the boy grabs her arm. “They’re gonna do something to him, Rikuo and Kaio. Shark warned me off, he said he could handle himself, but I don’t think he can. They haven’t been the same since, since they found those cards.”

“Cards?!” Yuma asks, grabbing the boy by the shoulders. “What cards?”

“N-numbers something?” The boy says.

Astral materializes by Yuma’s shoulder. “If Shark is with two Numbers holders, it could indeed mean he’s out of his league.”

“Where are they going?” Yuma demands.

“The museum, tonight,” the boy says. “They’re planning a heist!”

Yuma curses under her breath and moves the guy over to Kotori. “Get this guy to the hospital, will you? I gotta go help him.”

“Yuma, wait!” Kotori yells.

“I failed Rio once already!” Yuma calls as she runs away, “I’m not going to fail her again by letting her brother get hurt!”

Yuma had seen the report of a new installation at the museum, she kind of figures that there’s no way a couple of thugs and Shark can get away with the treasure thievery, but she doesn’t trust the judgement of two guys possessed by numbers either.

“What do numbers do to people’s heads?” Yuma asks Astral as she runs.

“They unleash their deepest fears and desires,” Astral answers, “And magnify them tenfold.”

“How come they don’t affect me?” Yuma asks.

“That is the question, isn’t it?” Astral says.

Yuma ends up at the museum, and she spots the trio of idiots not bothering to look inconspicuous in the least. She cups her hands around her mouth and screams, “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!”

The three of them turn to look at her, and Rikuo and Kaio scowl while Shark looks like he wants to die.

“What’s Red’s pet doing here?” Kaio asks.

“I’m not Red’s pet,” Yuma snaps, “I’m Yuma, and I’m my own person. I know what you’re up to and I’m here to stop you.”

Rikuo laughs. “You and what army?”

“Who says I need an army?” Yuma asks. “I can take you on alone, I’m not afraid.” She stands with her arms folded. “Are you afraid of me?”

The two gang leaders laugh. “You’ll be easy pickings for us, girl,” Rikuo says with a leer. “We’ll destroy you.”

Yuma activates her duel disk, as do Rikuo and Kaio, but Shark steps out from behind them and crosses the gap between them and Yuma.

“Where are you going?” Rikuo demands.

Shark turns and give him a cold look. “I’ve done a lot of things I’m not proud of,” he says. “I draw the line at letting you hurt Yuma.”

Rikuo gives Shark a dismissive look. “Then you’re weaker than I thought.”

Shark activates his duel disk. “Actually, I’ve never felt stronger.”

Yuma almost wants to cry. There’s the boy she remembers.

“I can’t take much more of this,” Tetsuo says flatly, turning his back on Kotori. “I’m not watching Yuma jump in front of a bus for that guy.”

“She’s not—she’s just trying to be a good friend!” Kotori says, stomping her foot. “She was right the other day, neither of us would stop if it was Yuma who needed help!”

“Yuma would never be like Shark,” Tetsuo says.

Kotori lets out a scream of frustration. “She was Shark!! I was there, I saw her! She was him and she came back, that’s why she’s so invested in him! And she needs us now!” She spins on her heel and marches off. “I’m going to go cheer Yuma on, and if you’re really her friend, you will too!”

Tetsuo hesitates for only five seconds before he groans and turns around. “Wait up!” he calls after Kotori.

Shark closes his eyes as Rikuo and Kaio taunt him about his disqualification from the championship duels.

“Oh my god, will you shut up?!” Yuma screeches. “Who cares if he was afraid of losing? Everyone is afraid of losing, isn’t that why you two have given yourselves to the Numbers cards? Even I’m afraid! I know what’s at stake, and…!” She breaks off, choking back sobs. “And I know that it was a mistake, and he regrets it every day of his life, because the last thing he wanted to do was let anyone down…”

Shark stares at Yuma in disbelief as she turns to him with tears streaming down her cheeks. “I’m sorry,” she gasps. “I know I said I wouldn’t bring it up anymore, but…you know she’s proud of you, right?” She sniffles, and gives him a shaky smile. “I think she’d be proud of both of us, right? Working together again, trying to do the right thing.”

Shark takes a deep breath, and he actually smiles. “Yeah…yeah I think she would be.”

Yuma looks over Shark’s shoulder and sees Kotori and Tetsuo running over. She smiles at them and waves. “Hey, look!” She shouts, “I finally got through his thick skull!”

“OYE!” Shark yells, and Kotori laughs and pumps her fist in the air.

“Way to go, Yuma!” She cheers. “I knew you could do it!”

Somehow, Yuma manages to get through the rest of the duel without crying. They win, she and Shark—Ryoga—they win together, and Yuma is so happy that even as their opponents are running away and Astral is absorbed in a new memory, Yuma has eyes only for Ryoga.

She’s doubled over, hands on her knees, but she looks up at Ryoga and smiles. “That was fun,” she says, tears spilling over once more.

“You cry too much,” Ryoga tells her.

Yuma sniffles. “I meant what I said.”

Ryoga glances down at his feet. “Yeah, I know. And…you’re right.”

Yuma sobs and launches herself at Ryoga, hugging him tightly. Ryoga pats her back, and Yuma hears Tetsuo say, “Jeez, he didn’t apologize, what’s the deal?”

Yuma takes a step back, wiping her cheeks, and she asks, “C-can we go see her? I haven’t been since…”

Ryoga even starts to look a little misty eyed. “Yeah. I’ll…find you after school tomorrow.”

Yuma is officially a blubbering mess, crying so hard that Kotori comes over and dabs at her face with tissues, and then she starts crying too. Yuma and Kotori sob on each other’s shoulders while Ryoga makes his escape, and Tetsuo announces that he doesn’t understand girls.

“I’ll be back to my salty self soon,” Yuma assures him.

Tetsuo shakes his head. “You’ve got snot on your chin.”

Yuma wipes her chin and shrieks when she realizes that he’s right. “Gross!” She whines, rubbing her face off on her vest. “Ugh, why am I such an ugly crier?”

“You’re an ugly everything,” Tetsuo says.

Yuma staggers to her feet and raises her fists. “Oh yeah? You w-wanna say that to my f-face?” She asks, shaking with a combination of sobs and laughter.

Tetsuo slings his arm over Yuma’s shoulders and puts her in a gentle headlock. “Brat,” he says.

“I’m older than you,” Yuma fires back.

Tetsuo lets Yuma go and helps Kotori to her feet.

“I still think Shark’s a jerk,” Tetsuo says. “He didn’t actually apologize to you, and he sped out of here real fast.”

Yuma shrugs. “Eh, he’s always been like that. He’ll get better.”

“If you say so,” Tetsuo says, handing Kotori more tissues. “Now how about we get out of here?”

Yuma nods, and she wraps one arm around Kotori’s waist and the other around Tetsuo’s back as the three of them make their way back to town. It’s funny, she used to walk with Rio and Ryoga like this, and where the thought once may have hurt her, now it makes her feel all soft and warm.

#Zexal Month #gender bend #Mimi writes things #Yuma is a Girl AU

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deltaengineering · 7 years

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summer anime 2017 part 3: welcome to die

Well guess what, I ended up putting posts off for a week.

Again.

So don’t expect a lot of detail here, but do expect a lot of shows.

See also:

• part 1: we can rebuild it

• part 2: bunch of fools

18if

18if is a really weird show about a guy who hangs around people’s dreams and fixes their personal problems - sort of like Persona 4 meets Madoka’s witch mazes. This might have some visual potential if nothing else, and it tries, but what mostly sticks in the mind is that it’s very cheap and also extremely clunkily directed, with a lot of spinning camera tricks that end up looking more desperate than cool. While that does lend it a certain nightmarish weirdness, I doubt it’s entirely intentional and more importantly it makes the show not very entertaining.

Action Heroine Cheer Fruits

So someone made a Love Live clone only with solo tokusatsu performance (?) instead of idols and saving the town instead of saving the school. And the main character is Kotori. Well, silly things happen all the time, but what I didn’t expect is that an anime called Action Heroine Cheer Fruits is actually pretty damn good. Shows of this type aren’t very complicated, but Cheer Fruits nails it where it counts: The characters are likeable, their misadventures are amusing, and the writing is good enough to make me care more about what happens to this town than Sakura Quest managed in half its two-season run. It’s a bit on the cheaper side, but I don’t mind if the fundamentals are this convincing. It also helps that this is written by Naruhisa Arakawa, who previously failed to convince me with active raid but definitely knows a thing or two about tokusatu. Charming and with an appropriately light touch on its silly conceit, this is the surprise of the season.

Ballroom e Youkoso

It’s a sports shounen! About ballroom dancing...? Well, the manga is fairly well known so the shock factor wasn’t that high here, but I have to say that Ballroom e Youkoso nails the formula, the unusual sport in question makes it less boring than said formula would normally end up being, and it looks pretty amazing. I’m willing to take that chance, if everything goes right this might end up delivering on what Yuri on Ice promised for its first three episodes. Minus the gay of course, but I’m willing to give that up for a show that’s actually consistently entertaining instead. Fingers crossed.

Centaur no Nayami

Yay, it’s another monstergirl manga. This particular one ends up splitting the difference between Monster Musume and Demi-chan, meaning that it only has weird fetish undertones some of the time. Apart from that it ends up mostly boring, because the monster stuff doesn’t really matter, yet the show spends an inordinate amount of time explaining the specific evolutionary circumstances that made this universe possible. Uh, at this point I think I can just accept monstergirls at face value, thanks. The most interesting parts are some hints of this society being not as innocent as it seems, but the other 99% of time it doesn’t seem overly concerned with that: The actual content is just rather boring slice-of-life scenarios of the kind you can get elsewhere easily. I do have to say that opening with girls actually kissing for real is a new one, even if that doesn’t really go anywhere. And that’s really the long and short of it: This seems like a show that doesn’t even really aim to go anywhere, and just isn’t good or interesting enough to make the here and now worthwhile.

Clione no Akari

This is a 1/3 length short that mostly seems like an anti-bullying PSA. The most tragic girl in the world (sick, orphan, shy, prone to tripping over obvious buckets in the middle of hallways, etc.) gets bullied on top of everything and some other guys feel bad about not helping her. The opening makes it look like everyone will learn a lesson about tomodachiship eventually. I will be nice and say that its heart is in the right place and it’s not actually bad (only extremely hamfisted), but it’s just neither well made nor unusual enough to earn back the time spent watching it; Koe no Katachi has me covered for life on anything this could possibly do.

Dive!!

Do you like ripped dudes glistening in the sun? Sure you do, that’s why you all watched Free! and that’s why we now get another show about pool sports with too many exclamation marks in the name. High diving seems to be a pretty poor choice though, because a single dive takes seconds and this show doesn’t pretend otherwise. The filler around it isn’t very promising either; main dude mostly memorable for being a dick to his girlfriend and admiring his cool senpai instead, no homo. Oh yeah, Yuri on Ice is a thing too, you know. Otherwise you learn more than you’d care to know about the spectacularly uninteresting financial structure of the high diving club, and get to watch the water surface reflecting the sun on to toned abs. Too bad that this particular effect just ends up looking like an unfortunate skin condition. All in all Dive!! is just a poor man’s version of other homoerotic sports anime for fujoshi, and I wasn’t too fond of those to begin with.

Hitorijime My Hero

Speaking of manlove, this one starts out as a fairly engaging character study of a highschooler who hangs out with street thugs because his mother is a prostitute, until the brother of his BFF beats them all up. But then the OP happens and after that it’s pretty much just straight up yaoi tropes because now the dude’s in high school and the cool guy is a teacher, I wonder where this is going. There’s a lot of unfunny komedy and so on. Yeah nah, even a toned down Super Lovers is not what I’m looking for, and laudable opening aside this brings nothing new to the table.

Isekai wa Smartphone to Tomo ni.

I’ve been very mad at smugly ironic genre shows that wallow in the cheapest clichees while “deconstructing” them (i.e., just pointing them out as if that’s an excuse). But the alternative is, of course, just not doing that and playing it all straight without a hint of irony, and it turns out that that is significantly worse. So here’s your 24 minutes of isekai light novel: dude dies, goes to JRPG world and gets to keep his smartphone in complete working condition. Ha ha, I too wish my completely ordinary household item would make me the coolest dude in the universe. But this show goes the extra mile, because while a smartphone might get you some chicks in fantasy land, to get all the chicks you also have to have:

• literal god mode stat boosts

• ability to use all magical elements, an exceedingly rare feat

• access to an even rarer additional magic element on top of that

• the ability to create the irresistible potion “ice cream”

So yeah, this is the isekai power fantasy at its most naked, and apart from making our shitter in chief the most hax guy ever and dropping a huge instaharem on him, he goes beat up trash mobs because that’s what you do. Again, all of this without the slightest hint of self-awareness. Absolute garbage for garbage people from top to bottom, and completely fails to make said garbage fun.

Jikan no Shihaisha

This one at least has the looks down: When it’s an action show, the visuals are really, really cool. Honestly. However, upon further inspection it becomes apparent that this “Chronos Ruler” here is so poorly written that it cannot be ignored. You guessed it, a lot of exposition and poorly conceived comedy ruin the eyecandy pretty quickly, and it’s all so dumb and dull that I barely remember anything but a vague stink of disappointment. It’s two guys that fight monsters, only not very well? Something about trying to turn back time but that turning out to be a bad idea? It’s all just slush. There's a twist in here that's kind of funny (probably unintentionally) so I won’t spoil it, but it’s by no means worth it.

Konbini Kareshi

Konbini Kareshi is an anime about some highschoolers that have relationship problems and hang out in a konbini, and that’s pretty much it. It’s extraordinarily slow, but somehow I did not end up finding it completely dull - possibly because “nothing happens” also means that nobody talks in this case. A lot of the episode is just awkward, silent situations, with information imparted visually (body language, expressions, etc) instead. Imagine that. Now I don’t want to praise it too much because nothing pays off and, well, nothing happens - but it is actually something markedly different from what you usually see in anime and that’s got to be worth something. I am not sure if I want to give this more chances, but that’s better than being quite sure I never want to see it again, right?

Made in Abyss

If you want to have a master class in how to start a fantasy adventure anime, check out Made in Abyss 01. It just drops you into an utterly beautiful world, sets up a couple of endearing characters and their general situation without boring you with the details, and the explains just enough about the world to answer a few pressing questions that can’t be ignored at the end. It’s beautiful too, great design, great animation, lush backgrounds, the whole shebang. Now it’s essentially a story about a bunch of very young orphans that go spelunking, and the character designs remind me of Ichigo Mashimaro of all things, but I detect no sketchiness here. Obviously it now has a tough act to follow over a whole season, but for the type of show it is you couldn’t ask for a better layup.

Nana Maru San Batsu

Also known as “Fastest Finger First”, this show asks the question: How do you make watching a trivia quiz interesting? Well, the answer is that you don’t. It seems to be a very basic school club show and the topic of the school club is buzzer quizzes. And somehow this fictional story manages to be less engaging than your average actual TV quiz show. Buzzer quizzes don’t have a lot of strategy involved (the show tries to pretend otherwise, but mostly fails), just watching people in quiz-o-vision trying to answer fairly mundane questions is hardly riveting, and besides that it’s just a decidedly subpar comedy. This could have worked if it went full ham like Kakegurui, but it neither has the means nor even much of an inclination to try that.

Netsuzou TRap - NTR

So here’s the long-dreaded adaptation of the yuri manga that’s so full of bullshit drama that even actual fans of bullshit yuri drama hate it to the point where it became a running joke. And yeah, this sure is bullshit yuri drama about two girls who casually make out while boyfriends aren’t looking too closely. One feels bad about it, the other is a troll. All in all it’s reminiscent of Kuzu no Honkai, except that KnH at least was fully aware that its entire cast was awful people; I can’t even make out what I’m supposed to think about these shenanigans. Now I could say that episode 1 shows potential if it develops properly, but the manga is such a known quantity of bad writing that that’s not a smart idea. It will probably just be Girl A feeling conflicted and Girl B trolling her forever.

Princess Principal

Steampunk is pretty much a laughingstock these days, but I will say that Princess Principal nails the aesthetic if nothing else. It is made of steam and punk; you get your top hats, you get your gears, you get your airships. It’s all pretty cool looking and it also has some nice action. What it’s actually about is some sort of Cold War in divided London, and our protagonists are a crew of schoolgirls that talk about being spies a lot. This is where it becomes apparent that the writer of this was previously convicted of having committed Code Geass (yeah, that guy again), so a certain degree of schlock is to be expected. And really, who else could come up with Steampunk Cold War Berlondon featuring murderous gothlolis? So overall, it’s quite a bit more trashy than I would like but it could be able to pull it off reasonably well on production value alone, and hopefully the writing won’t shit the bed too hard.

Saiyuki Reload Blast

Saiyuki is an old shounen property that adapts Journey to the West. Not to be confused with Dragonball, because this is spaghetti western instead of wuxia. Or so it seems, I’ve never watched one of the anime adaptations that keep getting made every decade or so before. But hey, Reload Blast being a sequel to an anime last made when the ostensible target audience wasn’t even born yet at least has the benefit of not having to deal with tiresome origin stories, we just get to watch the characters do their thing and it’s reasonably easy to figure out anyway. It’s just that it’s not actually all that good; fans of a time when shounen heroes generated a lot of blood spray may get something out of it since it’s pretty violent, but otherwise this iteration of the JttW party are just a bunch of dicks that are trying hard to be cool but aren’t. It’s probably alright for fans of the source material and people hankering for throwback anime, but I don’t think it’s for me.

Shoukoku no Altair

As far as fantasy settings go, a Ottoman-themed one isn’t the most common. So the hero of Shoukoku no Altair hails from fantasy Turkey, which is embroiled in some sort of diplomatic brouhaha with fantasy Germafrance. And that’s really where I start tuning out because this is one of these fantasy epics that start by introducing a million characters that surely will become important eventually, but give me little reason to care about anything otherwise. Exotic locales aside, Altair seems to be mostly setup and the rest of it, the characters, the intrigue, the politics, everything, just don’t motivate me to find out more. It’s possibly not a bad show, but it’s a barely memorable show in a genre I am not particularly fond of.

Tenshi no 3P!

Sometimes it really helps going into random new anime without any previous knowledge. Like here: Tenshi no 3P starts out with a moderately well thought out character sketch of a hikkikomori that spends his day making music and uploading it to the internet. More than a bit tired, but not bad. He then gets a message by “a guy” that wants to work with him. Well, surely nothing bad can come of this. The “guy” turns out to be a primary schooler (girl) from an orphan primary schooler (girl) band that is actually super good but nevertheless needs the services of a music otaku schlub for vague reasons. And then in the end the primary schoolers offer sexual favors in exchange, possibly as a joke but I wouldn't count on that. See, I had been making Ro-Kyu-Bu (i.e., ”Rock-Yu-Bu”) jokes way before that, but as it turns out 3P is by the same author and oh boy can you tell. So it’s this season’s Eromanga-sensei, only somehow worse. I have to admit that I am not even above watching something like this if it’s legitimately great, but thankfully Tenshi no 3P is not even close to being legitimately great. Dodged a bullet there, for sure.

But hey, maybe we will at least get another very embarrassing T-shirt out of it.

Vatican Kiseki Chousakan

And finally, we have a show about some priests from the Vatican that travel the world to examine miracles. Well, one miracle at least, in Guatemala. The concept is somewhat intriguing and could make for a nice horror/detective hybrid with a twist, but I wouldn’t trust anime to pull this off properly, and so it’s no surprise that it doesn’t. For starters we get a pair of very pretty leads that seem primarily intended to bait yaoi doujins, and while it admirably tries for an off-kilter (literally, hope you like dutch angles) horror atmosphere, it is more concerned with out main character’s angst. Yeah I don’t know, the intrigue doesn’t seem particularly intriguing either and the horror just doesn’t quite click - it’s trying for gothick ostentatiousness, but doesn’t quite pull that off. I’d be willing to give this a chance if it was a miracle-of-the-week kind of thing, but considering the amount of characters they introduced for this first case that doesn’t seem to be how this show operates. Or at least I’ll wait until more information becomes available.

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