Undead Girl Murder Farce
The Premise
In late 19th Century Japan where Western colonists have encouraged the mass purge of yokai and supernatural beasties, one brutish creature makes a living fighting monsters for others entertainment. One day he realizes he’s being tailed by a woman… and a disembodied head. The head she wants to be killed, as she is an immortal but without a body, her quality of life is greatly diminished. Both realize the cause of their woes might be the same man and the two end up planning to head to London to track him down.
It Gud?
I… don’t know. It doesn’t seem bad, so far. There are a few action scenes but mostly it was a very talky episode setting up the premise and the characters and their motivations. And it’s not that I wasn’t enjoying it but with such a wild supernatural premise, a lot of it was a bit dry. Don’t get me wrong, it does some good stuff, setting up the hero as disenfranchised and cynical about his fate and humanity in general. I don’t think this is going to be as conversation-based as the madness that is In/Spectre but for a series about “monsters vs. an evil human and probably more monsters”, the series is more about characters trying to get a handle on each other and establishing the world and the stakes.
Keep in mind, it’s not completely artless (we’ll be getting to that later) but I was left feeling a little cold. I feel like we have things that should be hooks and exciting elements but I don’t have anything to really cling onto yet. Our hero has a bit of a save the cat moment and he is an outsider so that’s a good starting point but by the end, I’m not excited. Maybe it’s because the stakes need to be boosted. The characters will face a formidable foe but I feel like neither of them are particularly passionate about it yet. It’s always a risk of having all the characters be very dry; sometimes it can work but it can also risk a sense of detachment from the conflict.
Senpai-Bunny Girl (I am not saying the full title) often risked that for me but it did a good job of reminding us these characters do care about what’s happening and are scared of the consequences. This feels more like something we would flash back to in episode 2 or 3 after establishing an exciting introductory adventure. But then maybe this is what this series is. If it is, I don’t think I’d dislike it. It’s witty and has some cool fights. But overall, I just don’t have “strong” feelings about the series, more that it looks good and I don’t mind hanging out with it. Hopefully it will draw me in more going forward or like Golden Kamuy, prove to be a more idiosyncratic animal than expected.
My Tiny Senpai
The Premise
A guy’s co-worker is small with big tits.
It Gud?
While there’s no shortage of isekai, another popular subgenre that seems to pop up each season is the office romance genre; low stakes love comedies with it’s leads fumbling awkwardly toward love. My Senpai is Annoying, The Icy Guy and The Cool Girl, probably another one I forgot. They don’t all land but they tap into the hope that maybe at our soul crushing job we’ll find someone in the same boat who you’d want to spend the rest of your life with.
My Tiny Senpai feels like it should be a very similar show to My Senpai is Annoying. In the latter, a lil work gremlin has a pretty wholesome relationship with a sweethearted himbo who is good at making people feel good about themselves but can’t always read the room. In the former, the small girl’s big tits are looked at a lot. To be fair, a lot of it is she’s cute and smol but the latter show, while just OK, lets it’s characters have more personality and the Tiny Senpai of the title is mostly clueless and the bland male lead is trying hard not to be inappropriately horny at work. It’s a less fun dynamic, really.
Much of it is I don’t find the cast that engaging. Neither character is particularly charming (though I have more of a problem with the male half of the equation) and the farce and misunderstandings simply aren’t very funny. My Senpai is Annoying is often middle of the road stuff but they do make the characters likeable enough (mostly, there’s some definite HR issues in that show, too) that I’m more invested in them. I’m not really interested in returning to this office, no matter how well stacked it is.
Level One Demon Lord and the One Room Hero
The Premise
10 years after the Demon Lord was defeated, she is reborn as a tiny girl. Eager to see the one man brave enough to destroy her and gloat they she’s back to reignite their war, she arrives only to learn he’s a complete wash up, living in a shabby apartment, surrounded by garbage. It turns out the last 10 years have not been kind to him, particularly shamed by scandals of cheating on women. His former enemy is now determined to build him up as a hero worth defeating once more… even if he’s not particularly interested.
It Gud?
One Room Hero is a show with a solid premise and some good laughs. If only it weren’t so horny. Gross horny. Bad horny. The second seen prominently features the Demon Lord’s assistant with her ass and groin being a huge focus. There are some other sex jokes in there two and they aren’t my favourite but at least the jokes themselves aren’t “horny”, they are about a gross dude. I’m not a fan of them but really it’s the overt ogling camera that really hurts me here, as it shows a bit of the series less savoury intents.
Now removed from that is it a good comedy? It’s ok. Some jokes get genuine laughs, like the guy trying to frame his disgrace as “society has no need for a hero” but really he’s just a loser and a creep who handled fame very badly. His former enemy who has the utmost respect for him being disillusioned is good stuff and I feel like it’s a new wrinkle in the kind of idea introduced in some of the more meta Looney Tunes: “Am I actually happy if my sparring partner is out of the game”? It works on Venture Bros logic where the act of being a villain and having an enemy is far more important than accomplishing the goal.
The show is horny but I do have hopes for the dynamics of the two leads and can see potential for some big laughs and even some sweetness between the leads. I’m going to keep going and hope that it doesn’t double down on its worst instinct. I don’t trust it to abandon them but I am hoping it’s comedic sense will make the elements I don’t like easier to swallow.
The Girl I Like Forgot Her Glasses
the Premise
I guy sits next to a girl he has a crush on. One day she forgets her glasses and Mr. Magoo’s around all day, which he is even more into.
It Gud?
Well…
So it’s a GoHands production and if you are unfamiliar, they are a studio making fantasy sci-fi adventure series that would be unmemorable save for their bizarre incompetence and decision making. In this series, there’s less incompetence (the direction actually gets decent at points, though their hair animation remains befuddling) but it doubles down on madness, at least for the first few minutes. The madness ISN’T in the storytelling but in the presentation. The series starts with these bizarre super-low angles making the characters legs super long. It sounds like it could be a foot or leg fetish thing but it doesn’t feel like it. It just seems like “impressive, no?” and it is only in that it’s impressive that someone thought this was sane direction (and at such a weird frame rate).
But what substance is there beyond this? Not a lot. That’s not necessarily bad. It’s a romcom, which is different for the studio. It’s not poorly directed but few of the jokes land. Though I think a lot of that also has to do with the fact that maybe the source material also wasn’t that good. It lacks substance, laughs, the characters aren’t terribly charming and any time it tries to wow, the show becomes completely unhinged.
So it feels like GoHands is evolving. It still isn’t a good studio. In fact, it might be the worst studio in terms of show quality around right now. I’ve seen a lot of piss-poor animated shows, many of them light novel adaptations that are banking on the overflow of the genre spilling from good studios into their own. But as bad as GoHands is, I will compliment it on this; it has an identity. It’s making choices, as misguided as they are and I won’t forget them. I can’t even hate them at this point. I can only look onto them with an awe at them following their muse straight off a cliff and I kind of admire that dedication.
My Happy Marriage
the Premise
A young girl is made a servant of her abusive family and even the boy who loves her ends up marrying her abusive sister due to familial commitments. Soon she is set up to be married to a man known for driving all of his other fiancées away.
It Gud?
My Happy Marriage is a well-made show. The direction is not super showy but it works for this low-key story and is very even measured. The animation looks quite decent. Overall, it is a show with some real talent behind it. But I don’t think I liked it. It’s a melodrama where the lead has to suffer a lot and that’s not necessarily a deal breaker for me. After all, we often want characters to be able to overcome hardship and it becomes more satisfying when at first the deck is stacked against them.
But none of these characters work for me. Her abusers are just ridiculously sucky, especially her dad who just stands back and lets it all happen. It’s very unsubtle. That doesn’t mean you can’t do that and have it work but really, the show keeps going into it and I’m not getting more emotional returns. There’s the boyfriend who is the closest to being interesting, a well-meaning guy who probably lacks the proper fortitude and is too molded by his environment to actually stand up for someone who loves. The main character is the classic trope of the young girl who won’t complain even though life keeps dumping on her. She’s emotionally muted and the show isn’t subtle enough to make that work for me. And then we end with the introduction to the Hot Stern Fiancée who is probably going to suck too much for me to be invested in the relationship. Like the kind where it’s “he sucks but he means well at heart.”
The weird thing is the preview also implies there’s… supernatural adventure in this? It’s very weird if that’s correct because there is NO hint of that. Very weird. It might make sense for a novel but for the show to not even allude to that in the first episode (there’s something about a cherry tree that probably ties in but everything seems like a metaphor) is weird for TV. Now in many respects, I think My Happy Marriage is a good show but I’m not sure it’s one that I’m going to be into.
Reborn as a Vending Machine, Now I Wander the Dungeon
the Premise
A guy dies and comes back as a vending machine in a fantasy world.
It Gud?
Look, if you are going to have an isekai, at least make it more interesting than “I’m an asshole with New Game + cheats”. And thankfully, while awfully “paint by numbers” at least this series differentiates itself with the absurdist logline. Really, though, it’s a traditional take on that, with a character finding they can level up in ways other characters can’t and can introduce mundane items to a fantasy world and making people happier.
The isekai genre as it exists now is tiring to me and this show doesn’t rejuvenate it but not falling into some of the worse instincts makes this pretty tolerable. The lead is a bit bland but at least he isn’t some entitled asshole. The “jokes” are kind of pablum level but they aren’t cringey or eye-rolling in their delivery. In fact, all the characters are broad archetypes but in terms of turn off your brain entertainment, you can do a lot worse.
Vending Machine isn’t a great defense of the genre but neither is it something to point to and say “don’t be that”. It sits in a comfortable middle ground that feels like watching someone else play a weird RPG. Thing is, a game where you are playing as this vending machine sounds like genuine fun and I would in a heartbeat. As a show… I don’t mind watching it but it’s also not much to recommend. If the show’s premise speaks to you, give it a try but I won’t spend a lot of time talking people into this one.
Reign of the Seven Spellblades
the Premise
Six kids go to a magic school for magic.
It Gud?
Not an isekai, as far as I can tell, but another boring “magic school” series. And clunky. Most of the first episode is characters sitting around establishing who they are, where they are from and what their deal is. This is as organic as it gets; “OK, let’s discuss who we are and where we are from.” My favourite part is a flying map is present whenever they are discussing their origins but people aren’t pointing to the map, they are indicating flags floating above the map with no clear indicators of location. The floating map did nothing.
It decides to get a bit horny at the end with a cliché “I don’t care, where I’m from, everybody can look at my tits” and also an indication that the bland lead is a bland lead with a secret (I actually think it said his deal but I was really checked out by that point). But any attempts to get me interested are crying into the void, I really have no interest in these characters. As far as I can tell, they are all the background players in Mashle that aren’t interesting enough to get beaten up.
Overall, Reign of the Seven Spellblades lays things out that might be easier to accept in a video game; characters establishing stuff about themselves and one quick fight. I really can’t see much difference hear between this and a lot of the other bland magic school series that popped up in the wake of Harry Potter (and Fire Emblem: Three Houses probably also plays a role here). I’m not excited to visit this school where only 80% of the students survive (making it better than an American school) because despite the promise there is danger here, there is little sense of urgency.
The Masterful Cat is Depressed Again Today
the Premise
An office worker owns a cat. Which is 6 feet tall and does all the cooking and cleaning.
It Gud?
This is, as far as I can tell, the best series that GoHands has released. It’s… watchable. I can definitely tell it would be a BETTER show from another company but aside from bizarrely 20 years ago-style CGI cars and just… atmosphere for the first four minutes, it’s a mostly watchable gag comedy about a giant cat and her owner…. Or an office lady who is owned by a giant cat. There’s definitely a lot of smaller things to nitpick about it but as a whole, it is not terrible.
Keep in mind, yes, that is damning with faint praise but faint praise is a BIG step up for GoHands. Because before it was bemusement and boredom. And despite this being just an OK slice of life fantasy, I didn’t hate this. Where there choices I would have preferred? Sure. I think they shouldn’t have put a voice to the cat’s inner thoughts which I feel should be read. The colour, like all Gohands things, looks weird (but better than it used to be). And there are a few bizarrely animated moments.
But I can watch this. I don’t hate the relationship between the two leads; a perfect “domestic” cat and a hot mess single lady who just wants to be spoiled by her cat. The series doesn’t look like it’s going to bother the premise, nor should it. I suspect that the manga this is based on probably could have gone to a much better studio but GoHands is doing better hear than The Girl I Like Forgot Her Glasses, probably because it’s attempts to wow are less confounding (though unsuccessful).
The Gene of AI
the Premise
In the future, transhuman technological augmentations are becoming more commonplace. A young doctor working a private practice straddles dangerous legal and ethical lines for his patience as they all discover and navigate the consequences of alternating what it means to be human.
It Gud?
The Gene of AI is a hard sci-fi show in the classic sense. Not to say that all of the tech is right around the corner but it’s very much about the logical consequences of the introduction of revolutionary technology being introduced into the world and asking bigger questions about humanity. Now, the first one is a little more obvious and not as thorny per se; a man discovers his wife’s brain is dying but it dies, there’s a back-up brain. But that is not the same person. It looks to the idea that having a back up doesn’t mean she dies.
But it succeeds in a lot of other ways. It’s a very talky series but the series is also good at not coming out and saying a lot of this stuff. It’s more emotionally devastating for us to watch a character think it and too react than for them to come out and explain it and Gene of AI knows that. It’s interesting because it is humanist but it also runs a little cold. It’s a series that wants to take the emotional consequences seriously but there is some detachment, particularly in the clinical lead character.
Overall, we have a series that is well-written and does want you to think but I also find it something I’m not… excited about. I’m not really invested in the lead that much. It seems though he does have a story, the end credits sequence makes me hopeful that it will explore a variety of characters grappling with ethical questions about changing their minds (so to speak) and their bodies and what that means with their relationship with the world. Does it advance their humanity or simply make them less special? It’s kind of dry, but despite that, I think it’s a promising first episode.
Noble Farmer
the Premise
The creator of Full Metal Alchemist shares what she knows about farming based on her personal life.
It Gud?
This is a niche one but it isn’t bad. It’s, as mentioned, Hiromu Arakawa explaining farm production and milk and stuff in little 4 minute shorts. The animation is nice and it explains it well so it really comes down to whether you find it interesting enough to keep going. I did enough watching it and I wouldn’t mind watching more but I don’t have a strong desire to seek it out. Usually, it’s nice to have something that fits into a short four minute slot.
