Makeine: Too Many Losing Heroines!
Premise
A girl advises her best friend who she has a crush on to go with the girl he loves and… she is not happy about it. A random student witnesses her humiliation and ends up becoming the only person she can vent her spleen to on how it all falls out.
It Gud?
Despite my description, this is a series that is laying up to be… *maybe* a quasi-harem series about girls who lose in love who find this guy but I feel (and hope) more that it’s this guy who weirdly finds himself where people who lose in love rely on him for friendship and guidance. But for now, it seems to be mostly this one guy and one girl. And even if they characters don’t fall in love, this could be a fun series.
Though a few jokes fall flat, most of the episode is quite funny! It’s a funny show were a sort of everyman ends up being bothered by this hot mess of a girl who really needs a friend as she watches the one guy she’s always loved walk off with someone else. She’s a weirdo, a mooch and generally not very thoughtful but the show is good at balancing her worst quality (played for laughs) with some sympathetic ones. This will make an interesting pairing with Love is Indivisible by Twins this season, that’s for sure.
Mayonaka Punch
Premise
An internet content producer is dumped by her friends program after a violent outburst and her attempts to gain a following online end up merely reflecting her own failings back at her. Things take an unexpected turn when request for a partner on streaming projects result in an unexpected candidate; a vampire who is convinced she’s somehow chosen to be her victim. With a streaming gimmick like a vampire there’s no way to lose so a deal is struck; get a million subscribers and she’ll let the vampire drink her blood.
It Gud?
It can be tricky when the premise of the series is about someone cancelled for bad behaviour. In this case, it isn’t sexual impropriety, it is being violent and have just a toxic personality. I am wondering how the show will deal with that. It really puts us in the bad feelings this character has but it also seems very much like some shit she brought on herself. And based on what I’ve seen so far, it feels a little more like a way to get the character to start from the bottom. That’s not to say that it won’t deal with it somewhat, but I suspect it won’t be nuanced.
With that out of the way, the other promise of the show seems like it could be fun; a vampire youtuber. And more specifically, the opening makes it seem like the entire coven will get in on the streaming game. I’m not that into youtubing but the premise yields promise. I will say I was worried we were in for some “wacky” nonconsensual touching but despite the chase scene, it really backs off before we get there and the vampire seems to be open to consent rather than an eat and run. I could see this as just a so-so series but the animation looks pretty good (most shows were fairly solid looking this season). I’m going to give it a chance.
My Deer Friend Nokotan
Premise
A former delinquent tries to reinvent herself as an honour student but that doesn’t matter because DEER GIRL!
It Gud?
I was genuinely worried on this one. The preview came in hot in a good way. Gag manga that is highly absurdist can really bounce off me. There’s still stuff I love. I have big soft spot for Sexy Commando Masaru which had great direction. Then there’s stuff like Bobobo which can occasionally be very funny when parodying shounen tropes and is fascinating in merging the gag and shounen battle genres in a way I’ve never seen anyone else do (which is to say the idea is what if villain’s values are deconstructed with wacky sketches until they lose) but is often… much. And that’s it, sometimes the comedy culture divide and simply poor direction of realizing gags can hurt.
I didn’t like all of Nokotan and sometimes it really did have gags that fell flat. But far more of it worked than I feared. And some I can tell it’s really realized the gags from paper well with great direction and wonderful use of really bizarre CG deer (including a screenwipe that is also a deer). I think like a lot of gag heavy series, there’s probably a “your mileage may vary” element to me. But overall, even going in knowing the wacky premise, it managed to get me some great laughs. Here’s hoping it is consistently funny to me.
Narenare -Cheer for you!-
Premise
A cheerleading club is dealing with one of their own being in the hospital and one member struggles with the guilt that she put her in there when – PARKOUR!!!!
It Gud?
This one is a but of a bore. It’s not super sedate like some of the show’s weirdly are but it does not to a lot that interesting. Except for the unintentional comedy of parkour. See, there’s just this character who is just doing parkour all the time. ALL THE TIME! I think it is supposed to be a quirk but I think it’s much funnier than I intended. Possibly because the character who does it is an introvert but parkour is some of the most “LOOK AT ME!” shit imaginable.
And hey, I don’t want to make fun of parkour. It’s an easy target but as a sport you could make a good show about it. I see it now, a character who discovers the freedom and joy of it. But this feels like the character is doing parkour just… all the time. Never stopping. Its very funny and I don’t think they meant the character to seem this ridiculous. It doesn’t help that a character imitates it and gets, like, a good 20 feet of air under her own power. If the tone was constantly outsized like, say, Eyeshield 21, I’d be willing to buy it but the reality of this series doesn’t reflect that.
I also think that it’s weird because I’m pretty sure this is not a parkour series. But the way parkour is introduced it feels like it’s the story of a girl who leaves behind cheerleading to do parkour. I’m positive this isn’t the case. The little cheerleading we do see (I say little, we start with a solid three minutes of cheerleading without dialogue and then it disappears) looks like the CG idol anime stuff. So, yeah, this isn’t that interesting to me. Now excuse me while I crawl up a brick wall and shimmy down a drainpipe.
Pseudo Harem
Premise
A girl in a new school goes into an acting club and gets a crush on some guy who is into harem girl tropes. So she decides to play the role of harem archetypes for him.
It Gud?
I don’t need to explain to anyone why the harem genre is in decline. Most of them feel like skeevy male fantasies. But there’s no reason why there can’t be a good series with multiple potential love interests. And there are definitely series that are trying to revive harem, sometimes somehow as or more toxic as before and some trying different things. I’ve heard that 100 Girlfriends Who Really Really Like You has managed to thread the needle thanks to it’s comedy (I cannot say how beyond that, I skipped it). And there’s actually a good idea here; a girl and a guy are playing this cute little game. It’s not an actual harem but it gets to engage with archetypes in it’s own way. This could work.
But as I’m cueing this up, you can tell I don’t think it worked. It didn’t. Part of it is simply it’s not very funny. The other is the male lead kind of sucks. And even if he didn’t I have no idea why this girl is immediately into this guy. He’s got nothing going on. He jokes with her that the club is in danger and it isn’t and… that’s about it. If they were both charming, I’d be more cool that it’s zipping past “will they/won’t they” to clearly give them a thing but really this dude kinda sucks. “I wish I had a harem” is his opening line and she immediately starts doing harem characters.
I think if the male co-lead was more likable and the female co-lead was more well-drawn, this dynamic could work. But the series is poorly written and this is actually one of the more blandly animated series this season (even some of the series I didn’t like this season looked pretty good). But this is a boring show where the leads are weak and their games just don’t land. They have a good set up for romcom fun but the characters are all wrong.
Quality Assurance in Another World
Premise
When a small village is attacked by dragons in a fantasy world, one man claims to be sent to study them. He manages to stop the dragons but it turns out no matter what happens everyone in the village will die burning. It turns out the man is a quality assurance checker and the world is an RPG VR. But one girl manages to be a survivor, a glitch that wasn’t supposed to happen.
It Gud?
Nothing makes my heart sink like seeing “in Another World” in a title. It’s not even my frustration with the bizarre ubiquitousness of the super-specific isekai genre, it’s giving titles that blend in with all the other titles. It’s the lack of ambition and originality that get me. But I wanted to give this one a chance; the beefy character design for the lead and some REALLY good monster designs (dragons that look like bemused frogs? Yes please!) looked kind of fun.
When I watched it, it was… fine. The main character wins by gaming the monsters attack patterns and figuring out a slow but steady way to destroy it. Frankly, I’m kind of bored with the power of “I know how the rules of this universe work” kind of narratives, the idea that having played video games a lot have given you the secret gifts to be a special hero. Now this is far from this power fantasy at it’s worse or most smug or pandering. So for most of this, I knew I wouldn’t continue but I was fine with it.
What I really appreciate is the last beat of the story. It goes in a dark direction that isn’t edgelord but sort of tragic and sad as a character who has been abandoned by the game’s creators. There’s an existential horror in the last act that often isn’t in these kinds of narrative or when it is, it can be in favour of an unpleasant story with focus on tits and “I’m a bad guy but I’m the protagonist the world needs”. This is appropriately sad. Now, it’s unfortunate because I feel as good as this is, it wasn’t enough for me to change my opinion on staying with the show. It’s an interesting one to check out but I feel like it will be a lot of the same of the first two acts; fine but not that exciting to me.
Ramen Akaneko
Premise
Cats run a noodle shop.
It Gud?
These cats, though not sexualized, are weirdly thicc. This probably isn’t meant to be my takeaway. It’s a cute little series about a lady who takes care of the cats who run a noodle shop. It’s fine and pleasant. So much so… I genuinely don’t remember if I agreed to watch it or not. I could really go any way. The one thing is I will say it feels like a show that should be 12 minutes rather than 24 but I don’t MIND it at 24. It’s cure fluff but that’s kind of it.
Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin
Premise
A nepo-baby god of the rice harvest living off of her mother’s storehouse finds trouble when trying to get humans to leave the heavenly plane, she ends up burning it down. Too redeem herself, she is forced to accompany the human family to the land of demons to grow more rice.
It Gud?
This was OK but not remarkable. It does have a “based on a whimsical game” look for sure but the animation isn’t as dire as a lot of games-based anime. But this won’t be a “throwing energy swords” kind of series but what I must assume is a farming series about rice. And it’s not a bad journey; bratty rice god finds out the kind of hard work and sense of real achievement that goes into making rice.
So, it’s not making any wrong moves. But I’m not really excited by it. The characters are cute and I like the designs but it feels more in the vein of “quirky character designs for characters who tell you what to do next in the game”. That’s not to say it’s boring but I’m also not really jazzed to find out what the characters are up to next.
I also get the family has BEEN THROUGH SOME SHIT and I don’t know if the family is going to get into it in a way that’s satisfying. I don’t think it needs to have real teeth but I think their plight needs to have some power behind it to actually make us shed a tear and I don’t think that’s going to happen. I’d love to be proven wrong but I won’t take that journey, I’m afraid.
Senpai is an Otokonoko
Premise
A girl confesses love to a fellow student but the other student reveals he isn’t another girl but expresses his gender by dressing femininely. She doesn’t care and is immediately even more into him, following him around. He tries to avoid her for fear that she’ll be ostracized for hanging out with him but she won’t be deterred.
It Gud?
This was one where it was a bit of a mixed quality sandwich. When it started, it doesn’t dance around it or make a joke of it except this girl is pretty thirsty for this guy. It starts with the male lead admitting who he is and being accepted by someone who thinks it is super awesome. The middle lost me a bit because it was mostly the female co-lead following him around and I found the more humourous middle lost me a bit as it set me up. But by the end, it really did win me over. It made the three leads (the main character’s best friend clearly loves him but struggles with those feelings) pretty sympathetic and it was far less of a farce than I was afraid.
If anything, I was really surprised it seems willing to go quite sad. At the end of the episode, he puts the clothes in a locker and says “see you tomorrow” and you realize this is not a happy parting. He will have to hide something until tomorrow. I’m curious how much this will be a heartbreaker but I am really interested to see this character pan out. Someone who is willing to do this in school where he IS bullied but for him home is too much. Oh, my heart.
This is a show I was afraid could have well-intended but misguided takes. Instead, I was really won over and am interested to see where this sweet series is going and how it will navigate some of the heavier stuff it is promising to get to. I also see that the three leads have chemistry and though there’s a love triangle, it seems even after some animosity they are quick to bond and care for each other.
Shoshimin: How to be Ordinary
Premise
Two teens try very hard to be “normal” and get away from some mysterious past… but one of them can’t help but solve a mystery.
It Gud?
I really wanted to like Shoshimin. I really did. It’s holding stuff close to its chest but it doesn’t feel quite coy about it, trying to let things breathe. There’s a mystery with twists and turns but it is refreshingly low stakes. The animation was quite nice. I like the idea of characters who just want to learn how to be “normal” and struggling. It’s a bit sad but also promises a mystery of the week. So why doesn’t it work for me.
It’s perhaps TOO low key and TOO withholding of what it is. I like the idea of having a mystery about what EXACTLY the show is about but the show plays everything so I’m not that interested in these characters. The mystery is a bit wonky too. I’m willing to admit, perhaps I missed the finer points and I think there are elements I liked (mainly that a lot of it was accidents and poor judgment rather than a proper conspiracy) but by the end, I’m not really interested in the larger mysteries the show is teasing out.
And it’s a shame because it has a lot going for it. It lookss good, it has a summery tone and overall I think the production itself is top notch. The problem is it’s a story I’m not interested in. Part of my wonders, this being based on a book series, if they simply chose the wrong story to start with. It’s possible there’s a better introduction to this series. I’ve seen it happen before (Oshi no Ko had…. Problems). But I think I’ll let this one lie.
No Longer Allowed in Another World
Premise
It’s an isekai except this time it’s Osamu Dazai, the famous Japanese author who committed suicide with his lover.
It Gud?
There are two solid ideas and one good (albeit in poor taste and certainly upsetting to some) ideas in this thing. But before I get to those, this show is garbage. It’s a very bad show. The comedy is largely unfunny and it’s the kind of isekai where you get to see a tree grope a big tiddy cat girl. And of course, immediately the two female leads are obsessed with the sucky main character. It’s absolutely the most basic version of this kind of anime comedy I don’t have time for.
So what does it do right? Not a lot but it’s in there. The basic idea is good; instead of taking a character aware of all the RPG/isekai tropes, the lead is not only someone who doesn’t care but would much rather be completely uninvolved and is deeply disinterested in the plot. I’ve seen this before and it’s not a BAD move but it’s always a risky one. I’ve seen it fail far more times than it’s succeeded, sadly, like recently with Bucchigiri where it made the character so trying not to be involved with anyone he just seemed like a complete asshole with an unearned emotional turn. The other decent idea is the concept that isekai worlds are a home for outcasts but by trying to grant their power fantasies, they immediately become entitled. That seems like a potential exploration of the issues with the genre. And the one good gag is the main character popping pills like candy in an effort to kill himself. Yeah, it’s a very dark joke but it makes for an amusing visual.
The problem is it just rests on the laurel of those ideas. Immediately, the priestess is head over heels for the main character who is a real pill (no pun intended), there’s groping, the main character does actually have a power (his body being dosed in poison. I would much rather it being people into his prose or something or just straight up nothing) and it all feels like they tried to inject a different kind of character in the most generic series and rather than have that wacky idea warp the series, the genericness assimilates any potentially interested stuff, transforming it into generic anime sludge. Easily the worst show I watched this season.
The Elusive Samurai
Premise
Young heir to the Hojo family Hōjō Tokiyuki is destined to be a samurai but he seems to have only one talent; hiding and running. When his family is slain by charismatic samurai Ashikaga Takauji, to start his own rule, what once was a dishonorable quality is now the only way to save himself as he seeks to escape death at the hands of Takauji and perhaps seek justice.
It Gud?
This is a really promising series. It’s from the creator of Assassination Classroom so expect some wild quirky characters with weird facial expressions and maybe the female members of the cast aren’t fleshed out that well. But despite that, it had a very strong introductory episode. One thing I noticed is most of the series looked pretty good this season but The Elusive Samurai might look the best.
I think it also helps that its starting point is skills you usually don’t see in a protagonist. A lot of them value smarts over strength but you don’t see a lot who have the merit of merely escaping death. The first episode sells it well and I think it does a good job hinting at future stuff while not overstuffing the prep work and world building of this alternate history series. It keeps the action centered on characters we can understand and quickly and concisely sets up the relationship between the hero and villain before the other shoe drops.
I also expect this series to be a bit of a two hander. The end credits set up a lot of characters for the bad guy’s camp and while it could just be a series of people for the hero to be, I’m getting the vibe we are going to spend a lot of time in Takauji’s camp as he builds power. Yusei Matsui, the creator, also likes unhinged but charismatic villains so I’m expecting him to make the historically “merciful and generous” Takauji as someone who can manipulate others. Here’s hoping he’s a compelling antagonist.
The Magical Girl and the Evil Lieutenant Used to Be Archenemies
Premise
I mean… the title.
It Gud?
I feel like this idea was mined heavily for Love After World Domination but there are definite differences. It seems less horny (at least so far, though it wasn’t a high bar to clear), it’s about a magical girl rather than a super sentai hero and the genders in the hero/villain dynamic are flipped. The personalities are a bit different with the male lead being flustered and the girl sort of unflappable. Unfortunately, they commit to the girl being so deadpan and non-demonstrative, a trope that can work, that the series itself feels a little too muted.
It’s far less wacky and farcical than Love After World Domination, which COULD be refreshing, but sadly, it’s just a bit dull. It’s not without cuteness but the thing that won me over about Love is that though the show was horny, the characters themselves were likable and strangely wholesome. Magical Girl and Evil Lieutenant aren’t that interesting and charming to me. They aren’t unlikable either but it really does seem to be missing a spark.
On the plus side, it is a short. I find being a short can (though doesn’t guarantee) make me more amenable to slow TV. There’s longer forms that work for me, like Super Cub (especially the first episode) but that sort of luxuriated in it’s quiet in a refreshing way and this feels like a less fun version of a fun rom com idea. That I’ve seen before. It’s another one that isn’t bad but doesn’t grab me.
Dead Dead Demon's Dededededestruction
Premise
Girls in the city deal with a giant spaceship flying overhead.
It Gud?
The funny thing is I read a lot of this series back in the day (the day being 6 years ago) and really really liked it but can’t tell you much about it. I remember the young girl protagonists and the aliens but I never got to the end. But I know watching episode zero this is a side story and one tied to the show’s mythos but not the main plot. It must be a side story. Episode zero is about a character’s father wandering a post apocalyptic landscape.
The other thing I know is the series is written by the author of the bleak Goodnight Punpun, about a young boy (depicted as a crudely drawn bird doodle) as he grows and matures, enduring trauma and living a life of failure. This is very much a “I was going through a hard time when I made this” series and the author admits fan backlash when he took the cute bird series down another dark road caused him to double down sometimes.
But this manga, while also dark, is also favourite of fans and critics. And it’s a really promising start. Though things look dark, it doesn’t feel “edgelord”. It will be also interesting going forward because one of the things I remember is how it starts mundane with fantastic elements before taking turns to revealing just what the aliens are. I’m excited to revisit this one.
Rising Impact
Premise
A pro-golfer meets a child who loves baseball purely on being able to hit the ball as far as he can. When he realizes a golf ball can be hit even further, he quickly switches to golf and a surprising gold talent emerges.
It Gud?
Yeah, this sounds in many ways similar to last season’s Tonbo. Now this series is more overtly shounen-y and less slice of life. Now Tonbo was a show I would never give a hard recommendation to. It’s hokey, weakly animated and it has no strong hook to it. Rising Impact feels like it is trying to be a more dynamic series and seems likely to dive head first into higher stakes competition while Tonbo basically leaves that as a promise for a future season (which I’m somewhat surprised to see it actually got).
The funny thing is I think both series are “generic” in completely different ways. There’s something flat about Tonbo’s feel while Rising Impact feels like what you imagine shounen character designs to look (though the main character’s hair isn’t that spiky). Tonbo’s animation could be from 20 years ago but while Rising Impact looks better, it doesn’t really stand out. But somehow Tonbo’s earnestness won me over. And I could see Rising Impact’s formulaicness not working.
But I will also say sometimes I DO like formula. It just has to be done well. So, I’m definitely giving this a chance. I do hope that it manages to become clever or exciting. I also know this is based on an early work from the creator of Seven Deadly Sins, a show I never watched but know it was famous for kind of being bad horny. Hopefully that won’t be a part of this… (he also did a lesser-known series Kongo Bancho, that I would like to see an adaptation of.)
Kinnikuman: Perfect Origins Arc
Premise
In a world where superheroes are also pro-wrestlers, the one who is considered the greatest was once most famed for being a loser and a coward. Since defeating his enemies, he’s left for his own planet and the world is at peace. But when the three superhuman factions (Justice, Devil and Perfect), sign a peace treaty, 7 Perfect superhumans arrive to declare they don’t recognize the treaty and FUCK THIS IT’S TIME TO WRESTLE!
It Gud?
Kinnikuman is totally my jam but it’s also something hard to recommend to newcomers. It’s a series with a rich history but I also feel like the gag manga origins don’t age well (not even just being problematic, though often was. A lot of it was simply unfunny). Still, even in that era, there was a real upstart quality to it; the creators sold the series while in high school and they managed to endear themselves to their fans by asking them to create monsters to include in the story that the creators would credit the fans with (interestingly some major characters were based on fan drawings and the creator of One Piece made his own that sort of became his mascot/injoke character.
But more than that, those chapters, despite being eye rolling also establish the underdog status that makes the character endearing; a loser superhero no one likes and is a coward who sometimes wins but sometimes ends up humiliated. The series slowly makes the journey of having the character not only win seemingly unwinnable battles but also has him find his own heroism in the face of cruel and seemingly superior foes. It’s also a series that got weirdly bloody, belying its goofy designs.
All of these characters literally get better. Thankfully, there is a built in fanbase when the sequel series, Kinnikuman Nisei (better known as Ultimate M.U.S.C.L.E.) arrived on American shores via a surprisingly solid dub from the mostly abysmal 4Kids Entertainment. That’s how I initially got into it then started reading the old series online. So I can’t be completely objective, I really like Kinnikuman, warts and all.
I will say there’s episode 0 and episode 1. Neither do favours of newcomers. Episode 0 speedruns the original series arcs but without context, it’s kind of weird and nutty and sort of drops the underdog element that makes the character endearing. Then episode 1 starts a new story but there’s no Kinnikuman or fighting. It’s really under the assumption you are into this popular franchise. It’s mostly 10 minutes of complaining about a peace treaty of space monsters and then monsters with wild character designs show up, like an edgelord Dalmatian and a weird baby man.
So I’m into this. But I think if you don’t know this, your mileage will definitely vary.
