Categories
Previews Reviews

New Anime – Winter Season 2016

IconI’ve spent the last week or so trying to finalize (at least for this round) how I’d like to handle all the new anime coming out. For those of you who were with me through S1E1’s previous incarnations, you’ll remember that I made it my goal to watch at least an episode of each new series that came out each season, offer my comments, and decide if it was worth watching or not. Occasionally I’d follow-up at the close of the season to review the anime I completed. Most of those anime were those which I was enjoying, so I didn’t have a lot of overly critical things to say about them. This approach is fine and dandy, but it’s certainly no longer unique and to be quite honest, it’s very time-consuming. It also forced me to watch a lot of really terrible stuff – anime with extreme front-loaded, nasty fanservice, gorenography, and (worst of all), unapologetic mediocrity (I’m kidding about that one). I still think it’s good to have a well-thought-out opinion on things I don’t like, but I no longer thinks it’s necessary to go looking for that kind of stuff. I know I had a lot of readers at one point who liked reading my negative reviews, but I don’t have much interest in adding to my gray hairs by watching really terrible anime just for others’ benefit.

I’m going to give something a try this time around and see how it works. I’ve had a week or so to suss out what I think are the more appealing and less appealing (to me) anime series for the Winter 2016 season. I’m going to try and focus on those for preview-writing/early impressions and end up with a list of anime I plan to keep up with on a weekly basis (probably not through weekly episode reviews as I don’t think they’re necessary for me to write, but I’ll try to keep up with watching them). I’ve used both “official” previews of early episodes (from ANN, The Fandom Post, and other “news” sites) as well as unofficial sources (friends and acquaintances, other blogs, etc.) to come to my decisions on where to focus and what to eliminate from my view outright. If anyone out there has a *compelling* reason as to why one of the shows on my dump list is at least worth checking-out, by all means leave a comment and let me know. But I think it will take a lot to convince me to take that extra time out of my day, so really think about it.

Here’s my current to-check-out list (including items from my “Some Things I’m Anticipating This Season” post from the other day):

Shorts

  • Kanojo to Kanojo no Neko: Everything Flows – details are sparse on this, including when and how it will be broadcast, so this one’s iffy for right now. The original She and Her Cat was a charming short included on the DVD for Voices of a Distant Star, Makoto Shinkai’s breakthrough OVA which was released in the early 2000’s. Shinkai has sort of a spotty record in my eyes – the way he handles visuals is beautiful and distinctive, and his background art makes great wallpapers, but the larger-scale his stories try to be, the less successful they are, in my opinion. This may be a return to something more intimate and I can definitely get behind that.
  • Ojisan to Marshmallow – I could certainly end up being wrong, but the premise of this show sounded kind of cute to me. I’m kind of a sucker for any anime that involves characters that are of an adult age, since I’m not getting any younger and it’s pretty rare.
  • Oshiete Galko-san – Anime about groups of teenage girls are all over the place, but I’m always willing to give one a try. Especially since it’s a small investment and it sounds like it might be kind of crass, which I find funny on occasion (it depends a lot on the tone and the exact subject matter, though).
  • Sekko Boys – Likewise, I’m also willing to try out shows that feature really bizarro takes on bishounen anime. The guys in this anime are literally statues (or busts, more technically). How weird! I’m hoping it’s funny.
  • Yamishibai Season 3 – This is one of my favorite little “short and spooky” anime. The quality of each episode varies widely, and some of them are downright silly, but some are also pretty darned terrifying.

TV Anime

  • Ajin – You can read some previous thoughts here.
  • Dagashi Kashi – I have a difficult time resisting a show that’s food-related, even if that’s likely not the actual focus. I’m hearing that this show might be a little “manic pixie dream girl-ish” but I thought it might be worth a look anyway.
  • ERASED (Boku Dake ga Inai Machi) – You can read some previous thoughts here. I’m especially looking forward to this considering the really stellar reviews the first episode has been getting. The only negative comments I’ve really seen have been from people who are familiar with the source material, but I’m the type of person who prefers that adaptations mix things up a bit so that doesn’t deter me.
  • Dimension W – This hadn’t been on my radar previously, but I’ve heard it being referred to as one of the next potential “mainstream” series and that makes me kind of curious about it.
  • Haruchika – you can read some previous thoughts here. Reactions have been mixed thus far but a lot of them have been calling it “boring” which probably means that I’m going to like it. I’m also understanding that one of the main characters is gay or bi, which makes me interested to see how they’re characterized. I’m hoping someone from the LGBT community will pick up on the show and offer their opinion on that as well.
  • Lupin III Season 4 – I was kind of wondering exactly when we’d get this over here since it broadcast in Italy back in 2015 (Spring?) and unofficial versions were nowhere to be found. So even though it’s a little out of season I wanted to include it somehow.
  • Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinju – You can read some previous thoughts here. I’ve already seen the first episode of this show and am working on my first simulcast review of it for The Fandom Post (I was busy over the weekend and it was just released on Friday with little fanfare, so I didn’t get a decent start on it until a couple days later). This is the one series I’ll be able to promise weekly reviews for. It starts with a double episode and I’m really liking what I’ve seen thus far. It offers some insight into a Japanese performance art that isn’t very well known in the West and I’m always up for something like that. Also, adult characters!

Borderline Stuff and Sequels (aka “low priority”)

  • Musaigen no Phantom World – It’s KyoAni… it’s also a pretty standard light novel premise with a decent amount of fanservice according to every account I’ve read (and seen – there are plenty of gifs already of a certain limbo scene that has to be seen to be believed). I like to give KyoAni series a chance for their animation, but I suspect that won’t keep me occupied for long.
  • Prince of Stride: Alternative – This season’s bishounen sports series. By all accounts thus far it’s pretty average, but I’m hoping that it’ll be funny and over-the-top enough to be entertaining in a fujoshi-bait sort of way.
  • Active Raid – I can’t get a read on this one. It might be a totally silly buddy cop show, it might be taking itself too seriously, the reactions are completely mixed. In those cases I think it’s worthwhile to take a stab at it if time allows.
  • Snow White with the Red Hair Season 2 – You can read my previous thoughts here. This is one of a couple of series from Summer that I want to finish but haven’t yet, so that will have to happen before I give any opinions on the second half.
  • Gate Season 2 – you can read my previous thoughts here. Similarly, I didn’t make time to finish this one either. But I want to! One day it will finally happen.
  • Durarara X2 Ketsu – And boy oh boy, I’m behind on watching this show. It’s not from lack of interest – unlike a lot of other fans, I actually enjoyed what I saw of the first new cour back in early 2015. I’ve just been lazy about making time for it, as usual. It’s so easy to get distracted by the brand new shinies!

Hopefully with this plan in place, I can check out series methodically and have constructive things to write about them. Here’s to hoping!

Categories
Previews Reviews

Some Things I’m Anticipating This Season

Normally I don’t write a lot about upcoming anime because even things that look really cool from a blurb might be disappointing, and anime that looks goofy or pointless could very well end up being totally awesome. The involvement of certain studios and staff can inform those opinions, but it’s still a guessing game that I can’t win with 100% certainty. But there are a few things I’ve been keeping my eyes on as this season has come into view, and I’d like to at least throw them out there. Feel free to offer up your most anticipated new series in the comments!

AjinAjin: Demihuman

Synopsis: Kei, a high school kid, is alarmed to learn that he is one of very few “Demi Humans” in existence. While being a Demi Human affords one immortality from injury, it also means that the Japanese government is very interested in capturing you and performing terrible experiments on you for the rest of your awful life.

Why I’m interested: I’ve read part of the manga on which it’s based, and while I feel like its subject matter can sometimes put it in the same category as stuff like Future Diary or Deadman Wonderland (by which I mean violent and gross for no good reason other than to be “edgy”), I did like how the manga gave the perspective of several different Demi Humans with different viewpoints. Some of them just want to live their lives without fear of being imprisoned for the rest of it, but there are also some who wish to respond more violently to the injustices that they’ve experienced.

I still can’t say that I’m fully onboard with the full-CG treatment, though. I’ve got Knights of Sidonia from the same studio on my “to-watch” list (I didn’t catch it on Netflix but I ended up just buying the disc during the recent Rightstuf holiday sale) so it’s not that I’m totally opposed to the idea, but it still looks really weird to me. I like the look of hand-drawn anime precisely because there’s just such a variance in look and quality throughout the episode – yes, I’m congratulating inconsistency here. When everything is animated smoothly and consistently, it takes away the opportunity to be “wow-ed” by a moment of really great animation.

 

Snow White With the Red HairSnow White with the Red Hair 2

Synopsis: Shirayuki left her home and her job due to the advances of an uncouth local prince, and has taken up residence in the neighboring country of Clarines. She’s in the service of Zen, the Second Prince of that country, as a court herbalist. In this role she gets to have many shoujo adventures with a lot of dreamy dudes.

Why I’m interested: I think what I like about this series so far is that it’s differentiated itself from the pack by just being a very solid, classic shoujo fantasy. A lot of the entertainment created for the ladies lately has involved either groups of male idols, or groups of vaguely-creepy supernatural guys (or guys on sports teams, but I’ll let everyone keep pretending that Haikyuu, Kuroko’s Basketball, and Yowapeda are actually shounen anime).

Shirayuki is just well-made with an interesting heroine and, yes, cute guys. So I’m definitely looking forward to this continuation of it! More seriously I appreciate that the main character is hardworking and gets to have a job rather than just taking on a purely “princess” role in the story following Zen’s introduction. There’s more of a partnership dynamic, and Shirayuki gets her own character progression as she learns her job role and interacts with other denizens of the upper-class/royalty. And I really have to mention the animation/color scheme, which, while not over-the-top amazing, is truly polished and shows the care that went into bringing the anime series to life.

 

Boku Dake Ga Inai MachiBoku Dake ga Inai Machi

Synopsis: A manga author has the ability to go back and time and prevent deaths from happening. When he himself is framed for murder, he tries to go back and time in order to stop the death from occurring, thus clearing his name in the process. Instead, he goes back as far as grade school, one month before a classmate of his goes missing. He chooses to use his talent to prevent her disappearance.

Why I’m Interested: This is one of those cases where I just don’t exactly know why I’m drawn to the show, I’m just really interested in seeing this story unfold and I think it’s a unique way to try and tackle a mystery (and I do appreciate that – I was one of maybe three people in all of anime fandom who didn’t hate Subete ga F ni Naru, so a mystery not quite being a “mystery” doesn’t bother me).

Besides that, the director (Tomohiko Itou) is pretty hit-or-miss for me (he’s been involved with shows I like, like Silver Spoon, and shows that I really didn’t like at all, such as Sword Art Online) and so I can’t really make any predictions as to how his influence will affect the quality of the show itself. But I do know that I appreciate series with adult characters, and despite the main character returning to his life as a child I feel like he’ll likely retain his perspective anyway (at least, that sounds like what the mechanic is), so that’s another plus.

 

GateGate Season 2

Synopsis: Itami Youji, an otaku, is on his way to a doujin event when a huge gate opens in Tokyo and all sorts of fantasy creatures, as well as a foreign army, pour through and attack the populace. Youji, who is also a member of the Japanese Self Defense Force, uses his skills to help defend the public. Several months later, he is chosen as a member of a military recon squad sent through the gate to make contact with the other world.

Why I’m Interested: The first season of this show was far from perfect and had a tendency to get a little bit too silly and fanservicey at times. Through it all, though, what I appreciated was its ability to even make any sort of assumption as to how the appearance of this gate and this entire other world would affect our real world. One of the things that stuck out to me was a discussion between some diplomats or politicians from another country commenting on the fact that now Japan would have access to an entirely new source of natural resources, putting the country at a distinct advantage which it might not otherwise have. That kind of thing is really intellectually stimulating to me, and I can overlook some irritating side characters and such for the opportunity to indulge in the show’s good qualities.

I’m not quite done watching season 1 (split-cour shows tend to go on the backburner for me and I’ve been busy otherwise), but I expect that I’ll dive right into season 2 when that finally occurs.

 

HaruChikaHaruchika

Synopsis: Haruta and Chika are two members of a foundering wind instrument club that is in danger of being shut down. Their days are spent practicing together and also trying to recruit new members so the club can stay in business. One day something happens in their school, and the two childhood friends decide to work together to solve the mystery.

Why I’m Interested: P.A. Works has a sort of spotty record (I’d say more good than bad, but I’m sure there would be people who’d disagree with me), but their more recent anime seems to have sat well with me, so that was one reason I was keeping my eye on this upcoming series. One of the other reasons is that I’m a former band geek and had a very good time with Sound! Euphonium so I’m hoping at least some of that same music drama will show up here. And, of course, I’m also interested in the “mystery” aspect. I don’t exactly know how prominent or straightforward that will be, but I’m curious to find out. I’m hoping there might be a bit of a Hyouka vibe to it, if I’m lucky enough.

Also, I have a friend who works as a translator for Funimation, and she’s working on this simulcast, so I’m definitely excited to watch it for that reason, too (I like her translations a lot!).

 

Shouwa Genroku Rakugo ShinjuuShouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu

Synopsis: A convicted criminal has served his time, and upon release from prison knows exactly what he wants to do; after seeing a rakugo (traditional comic storytelling) performance, he seeks out that performer and asks to apprentice with him. Named “Yotaro” by his master, he learns the art of performance and also meets his master’s acquaintances, including a woman who is a great performer in her own right, but cannot perform as the profession is not open to women.

Why I’m Interested: Adult characters? Interesting time period? Weird subject matter? Potential discussion of gender discrimination? It’s like someone reached into my mind and constructed a series just to appeal to me alone. Seriously, though, I’ve had my eye on this anime since it was announced at some point last year, and anytime I learn something new about it I get more and more excited to watch it. In fact, assuming it is picked up as a simulcast (c’mon, Crunchyroll!), I’ll be writing weekly simulcast reviews of it over at The Fandom Post.

I’ll be interested to see what the director brings to the table as he’s a former member of SHAFT and worked on a few things I liked as an episode director (Arakawa Under the Bridge, Madoka). In my opinion, any time someone can work their way up and leave their mark somehow in anime, it’s a good day.

 

So that’s about it. I’m sure some of these will suck and others that aren’t listed will rock my entire world, but that’s always the fun of a new anime season, right? Let me know in the comments if there’s anything you’re really looking forward to!

Categories
News Site News

Site Relaunch

IconWell, this has been quite a while coming, but welcome back to Season 1 Episode 1!

If you’re reading this, you might be wondering exactly what happened to me and why the site was defunct for so long. The obnoxiously vague answer is that I went through a lot of depressing personal stuff and didn’t have the bandwidth to keep up with my hobbies, one of which was writing about anime. It took me quite a long time plus a heavy dose of introspection and professional therapy to get back to where I wanted to be, and it took me even longer to feel confident enough to set up this website again. Previously I’d had help from others to bring this blog to life; this time I’m doing it on my own.

Prior to this relaunch I’d made it my duty to post lengthy impressions of all the new anime being released each season. While that type of writing has its benefits, it’s also incredibly exhausting and takes up a huge chunk of my time. This time around I’m making a point to prioritize posting about things that I like and think are worth celebrating, including things which fall outside of the umbrella of Japanese media (even American television and movies, which I do enjoy to some extent despite still being kind of a weeb). That doesn’t mean that there won’t be a rant every once in a while, but most of the time it’s just more satisfying to talk about stuff you like (and it draws a lot less abuse – the other reason I abandoned blogging for a while was the tone and frequency of some of the comments I was getting).

So what can you expect to see here? There will definitely be reviews, including those written specifically for this blog and those posted elsewhere. I’ll also talk about my broader interest in Asian pop culture including films, music, manga and fashion. I’m hoping to eventually have a regular column about cooking, especially common food items and treats we see all the time in anime and manga.

Additionally, I’m hoping to branch out and write a bit more about American TV and films, as well as Western graphic novels that I happen to be into (I’m a bit more choosy there, but I do own a decent selection of graphic novels). I also occasionally play video and computer games, so those might pop up from time-to-time as well. And, as always, I will continue to be informed by my history as a fan, a feminist, and a woman.

I hope that there are some of you out there who will have the chance to rediscover the site, and I’m excited to meet all the new readers who stop by! I hope you find something to like here.