Johnny Unusual
(He/Him)
Draw This, Then Die
The Premise
A young girl grows up to be a voracious manga reader, particularly of a book about a robot student and his sidekick/conscience. As she enters her teens, she’s shocked to discover that becoming a manga creator is a possible future job. But her straight-laced and stern teacher insists she stop all this manga business… and said teacher is also the creator of her favourite manga.
It Gud?
Draw This, Then Die in many ways feels like a pretty straightforward “young person gets into a passion” story. There’s not a lot of surprises, least surprising of all the big twist which is very easy to see coming. But the strength is its strong amiability, it’s a show where I like watching the lead character feel passion. I think there are series that do a stronger job being about passions but I’ve also seen far worse, lazier ones that just assume passion on behalf of the audience can carry things through.
Yes, the twist is easy to see coming but while that twist is important for the trajectory of the series, the real key is to present this character falling in love with one series and having that grow into a love of an entire medium. Even though there are no huge laughs or big emotions in the first episode, it’s effective in setting up the love for manga that will be the engine of the series. Looking forward to see where this goes.
Goodbye Lara
The Premise
You know the Little Mermaid? It’s literally that except we actually follow up with the book’s original ending where she gets a second chance at life to rebuild her world.
It Gud?
This first episode is just the Little Mermaid. It hews slightly closer to the original Hans Christian Anderson version but even this one seems aimed at younger folk so some of the bloodier aspects are heavily toned down. Though she does sleep eat a live fish. But for the most part the whole first episode is just straight up the Little Mermaid, followed by a funny cliffhanger that sets up the real space of the series; modern day Japan.
But as a telling of the tale, the story is very well done. I think it does a very decent job in its limited time to tell the tale in a way that it mostly feels like it is done justice. I think it also gives itself room to back up (if it wants) to flashback to relevant aspects of the story, should it need to. It’s not just the structure, the animation is gorgeous. The transformation of the legs into a tail actually looks surprisingly body-horror without over doing it. More like when things transform in a Ghibli movie. The character designs are interesting and I think the set up for the “villain” is good. It’s not super clear what she’s really after and if she’s really the antagonist or more of an anti-hero mentor. I could see it cut either way.
I’m really excited to see where this one goes. The telling is actually pretty straightforward and though there’s humour, it really does make the literal punchline of the final moment (if you want to call it that) to make it feel both in line with what we’ve seen but also divergence that promises to get really interesting. I don’t know what to expect from here on in but I can tell in the first episode that we are in good hands for this one. High recommend.
Grow Up Show
The Premise
A girl who grew up in the circus ends up finding herself in a struggling circus made of your orphan girls. But she doesn’t want to help them… she HATES the circus due to her father’s irresponsible and overly enthusiastic attempts to train her to be a circus renaissance woman. Still, she finds her expertise will be used… to pay off her dad’s debt to the new circus.
It Gud?
The two things that I caught my attention in this one is the subject and the time period setting. The subject is the circus, which is kind of out of vogue with the exceptions of your Cirque de Soliel and even that feels more like an 80s/90s thing to me (I remember my parents had a big Cirque painting recreation in our house). The other is this is set in 1960s Japan. I think those factors alone make it a bit different than the usual “Cute Girls Doing A Project” shows. So I was interested in seeing what happens.
I will say, the decade mostly doesn’t affect a lot except no one has smart phones. But it does go into it’s circus setting. Overall, it doesn’t seem like a super strong outing in the Cute Girls quasi-genre where everyone has different hair. But it does have more vitality than some of the ones I’ve seen and stuck with. I think the show does a good job in introducing some good friction without taking away too much from the fun. The main character is really not into circus stuff but she’s good at it and is not afraid to show it. And there are characters who now know they need to up their game but it’s not easy to hear and kind of makes the lead character slightly persona non-grata for many of the cast (until they all improve and bond).
I’m not giving it a *strong* recommend but it’s a fun, easy watch that goes down smooth. And I like shows about a process/project/progress and I am interested in seeing what goes into making a more entertaining circus act, so I’m going to keep with it and hope it stays fun.
Jaadugar: A Witch of Mongolia
The Premise
In 13th Century Persia, a young slave girl is taken in by a family who decide to educate her. She develops a bond with the family’s son and has become quite comfortable with her life and loving of the family she serves. But over the horizon are nomadic warriors who threaten to change her life forever.
It Gud?
It’s a Science Saru joint and they rarely disappoint (I’m looking at you, Yurei Deco, you good looking pile of nothing). The Mongolia part really hasn’t yet and after reading what the comic is about, this is not even at the REAL series premise yet. I won’t spoil where things are heading but in this episode, we have a gorgeous, stylish looking series that is also evenly paced. It’s definitely a series that is trying to explore the world of Islam and is actually careful, so far, not to have any real bad guys, even when people are doing objectively terrible things.
I’m talking about slavery. Slavery in anime is largely in the realm of the worst of isekai, usually “well, in this instance, it’s OK, because my slave became my ally/I let them go and therefore they become my friend for life”. And in this series, I could understand why someone can watch this and assume it’s the same. Afterall, the slave seller is kind of presented almost like a neutral party rather than a creepy villain and the slave owning family care for the slaves and treat them well. That could ring as some sort of endorsement and the show really doesn’t take efforts to explain it’s wrong. It does take a moment near the end of the episode where one slave gives another a reality check that they are basically considered more property than human.
I think that does a lot of the work and really lets you do the work of thinking of the context of the characters’ relationship without getting in its own way to explain the nuance between the relationships between the characters. Of course, reading what the show is about, I don’t think it’s going to be about that much longer. I am hoping it grapples with it because it can be dramatically interesting to know these good people are complicit in an evil practice (no matter how good they try to be about it). What the show wants to be about is how education can be a powerful force for yourself, to protect yourself and do good for yourself. I’m excited to see where it is going and if it validates my faith that this series knows where it is going because I’m definitely invested.
Love Unseen Beneath the Clear Night Sky
The Premise
A shy awkward university student ends up meeting a fellow student who is blind. He decides to help her in the class and soon the two begins a romance.
It Gud?
OK, so from an ASMR angle, this had the vibes I was looking for. From every other angle, it really falls apart fast. Interestingly, I feel like we’ve already had two solid romance series that deal with disabilities rather well, one being… I actually forget the name except I mostly liked it and it was about a girl who is deaf and her language-interested boyfriend and the other being the Invisible Man’s Girlfriend Or Something (nailed it). This one, however, just crashes and burns because the female lead is a bit dull but the male lead is so much worse.
He’s just dumb and painful in all the worst ways. To be fair, I think it’s a good starting point for the main character to be kind of clueless about what it is to be blind. I myself certainly have areas where my privilege could leave me ignorant (trying to avoid apt but perhaps thoughtless terms here) and sometimes that comes up. That stuff is interesting. But then a lot of the time he seems too thoughtless. And also just kind of a whiny jerk. It’s been long enough since actually watching the episode I’ve already forgotten the specifics but most of the time I was just making fun of what a useless wet noodle this guy is.
It can be tricky to thread that needle. To make the lead flawed and careless while still making him sympathetic and interesting and you want to see him change. But it’s just a drag to hang around this guy. And maybe while the character gets more nuance going forward, I’m just not that interested in the co-lead. This isn’t the worst or even second worst first episode I’ve watched this season but it’s the least interesting.
Mebius Dust
The Premise
After meteors release dust that give youths superpowers, they respond by… playing capture the flag.
It Gud?
OK, so the actual synopsis I read was something about disaffected and oppressed super powered kids with resentment towards the upper class fight against them… or something? Maybe that happens. Not in the first episode. The first episode explains the premise that no one can leave the city so the super powered kids gain powers and decide to use them to play capture the flag with each other. Then some scientist gives them devices that let them use their powers better. Then they play a game. Then that’s it.
And the episode is just a series of powers attached to people. Only one of them, the ability to make anyone who watches you treat you like their idol “fave” is fun but all the rest are complete nothings. I don’t feel like I know the characters any better or why I should care that “our” team might win or lose. In fact, it’s so generic, I kept expecting a turn. For one of the kids to go mad with power and fuck things up or maybe one of the kids has a vision of a terrible future or for them to realize this game has more serious consequences than they anticipated.
That never happens. It does end with a coda where a psychic kid sort of stares into space… but that’s about it. And you know what? A low stakes show about super powered sports could actually be a lot of fun. Unfortunately, the show assumes we are really interested in this match between thinly drawn characters will turn out instead of developing the characters. There’s some world building but it’s all pretty dull exposition that’s about where super powers come from. Maybe this is all headed somewhere interesting but after this first episode, I have very little faith.
Red River
The Premise
A teenager whose had her first kiss gets whisked away to ancient Egypt only to have her second… with royalty who intends to protect her from the sorceress who abducted her from time. Soon, she finds herself is a much bigger conflict than she could imagine in a place in history she is largely unaware of.
It Gud?
Red River was one of the series I was looking forward to. I could tell right away this was from an older fantasy shojo and while I had never heard of it, it seemed very promising. But soon, it became apparent this is something of a product of it’s time. The lead protagonist spends much of the first episode getting non-consensually kissed (BUT HE HAD A REASON! YOU KNOW, TO SAVE HER LIFE) and dragged around and things happen to her more than she does anything to make things happen.
Now to be fair, this is the first episode. I read where the series go and she straight up ends up being the strategical mind of the army due to her knowledge of modern day stuff and awareness of past historical battles the other characters wouldn’t know about. That sounds more like a series I want to see. And maybe it becomes it. But I really bounced off the first episode despite wanting to be all in to the historical drama aspect.
It’s not terrible or anything but it really does feel like a 90s shojo series and some of those don’t age as well (I haven’t read Fushigi Yugi in a while but I’m given to understand there’s a lot of stuff in it that feels not-so-great in the rearview). But more than anything, I couldn’t really make a big connection to this character who is more a target of events and at this stage does little about them. Again, I understand this goes places but overall, I just couldn’t get into this one.
Smoking Behind the Supermarket with You
The Premise
A put-upon salaryman goes to the same grocery every night to see the cashier he has a crush on. But he also visits a cool leather-jacketed women behind the store to have a smoke and chat. Unfortunately, he still hasn’t figured out they are the same woman.
It Gud?
This one I will watch but it’s not one of the ones I’m most excited about. It’s a pretty straightforward slice-of-life romance about smoking. It’s actually two smoking-themed shows this season but the other one, Chainsmoking Cat, seemed just too gross for me to want to watch. If anything, I respect it more for not being a series where the catgirl is sexy (at least in the pictures) and paints smoking as a gross habit in a way you often don’t see in anime. But this is the show I’m more willing to watch.
It is a pretty limited premise, I’ll admit. The main character kind of looks like if Phoenix Wright was defeated by life. And you pretty much have to accept that this guy seems determined not to figure out the element that would effectively end the series’ premise. But I think it does have some pleasant nighttime vibes. It is nice to see a salaryman who is having a hard time where the solution is he should meet someone who is kind to him (and vice versa) and doesn’t have to fucking die to live in a video game as the best guy ever. Still, it does seem like there’s something harsh going on in Japanese work culture that is inspiring these stories.
Rich Girl Caretaker: I’m Secretly the Caretaker of the Most Popular Girl in This Rich Kid School
The Premise
A hapless high schooler with parents who left him in debt Is hired by rich family to be a caretaker for the heir to the fortune… who is secretly a hapless disaster.
It Gud?
This is just Hayate the Combat Butler. Like, entirely. The entire first episode of this is basically the same structure. And I don’t even really like Hayate the Combat Butler. I mean, it’s perfectly mediocre. So I don’t want to watch it again. Particularly when it is clearly lesser. It also wants to be Umaru-Chan. Which I have not seen but there are enough shows that crib from that to know what it’s all about.
But Rich Girl Caretaker is very basic. The Rich Girl is an adorable disaster but she’s also kind of a nothing and kind of falls into the space of the almost childlike pretty girl who gloms onto the completely milquetoast lead. She curls up in his bed without asking and all that. It’s not-that-interesting romantic wish fulfillment. The closest it comes to funny is the voice actress who sells an almost horror movie-level of frustration with the title rich girl, a previous caretaker who just had to quit because it was too much. Frankly, I’d rather watch a show about her.
Iron Wok Jan
The Premise
In Tokyo’s best Chinese restaurant, a new employee begins… the grandson of the archrival of the restaurant’s owner. Soon he and the granddaughter of the restaurant’s owner find themselves with opposing views on cooking, with her insisting that cooking is about heart and he insisting that it is about competition.
It Gud?
So I was familiar with Iron Wok Jan because I read a lot of the comics in the early 2000s. I had a great time with it and it was my entry point to the ridiculously fun genre of shonen battle manga but the battle is cooking. I remember how audacious it was an was looking forward to this. And I thought it was a decent adaptation but lacking in OOMPH. But then in the last couple minutes, this nonsense comes across the screen with the most impassioned narrator you can imagine.
…where are you going with this?
Oh… Thanks… real life tragedies.
I can very much see why you needed to mention the sarin gas attacks for the show about a culinary bully.
It’s insane how hard this goes. This is the boldest of gambits to scream in the audiences face THIS IS IMPORTANT. But the sweetest plum is saved for last.
OH NO, you think, DOES SOMEONE WEAR BLACKFACE? DOES KIRIKO HAVE WEIRD EUGENICS THEORIES? DOES OKONOGI LET FLY A SLUR?! This, of course, presupposes you know these characters names, which you probably don’t. I mean, except Jan. From context.
To my knowledge, it’s not CONVENTIONAL problematic stuff (though there may well be some stuff I'm forgetting. I vaguely remember a fairly effeminate one off chef and no one talks shit about him to my memory except dunking on his cooking by cooking better). But buckle up, because here comes a content warning. This is about WHAT is cooked. Sharkfin soup. Whale meat. Turtles. And further down the line CW cause this goes a bit harder and is also a spoiler for a big climactic match an actual pet dog. Yeah, the thing that makes this first episode a bit weak is that these first two episodes are simply “Anything you can do I can do better”. That’s not super exciting but the manga goes in crazy directions that can both make it more exciting and off-putting, depending on your stomach for depictions of butchering and cooking certain animals (The Dog happens off panel, if that helps. And also the bad guy does it.). I’m sticking with it but I am hoping the rest of the series is brave enough to be as deranged as the end narration.
The Premise
A young girl grows up to be a voracious manga reader, particularly of a book about a robot student and his sidekick/conscience. As she enters her teens, she’s shocked to discover that becoming a manga creator is a possible future job. But her straight-laced and stern teacher insists she stop all this manga business… and said teacher is also the creator of her favourite manga.
It Gud?
Draw This, Then Die in many ways feels like a pretty straightforward “young person gets into a passion” story. There’s not a lot of surprises, least surprising of all the big twist which is very easy to see coming. But the strength is its strong amiability, it’s a show where I like watching the lead character feel passion. I think there are series that do a stronger job being about passions but I’ve also seen far worse, lazier ones that just assume passion on behalf of the audience can carry things through.
Yes, the twist is easy to see coming but while that twist is important for the trajectory of the series, the real key is to present this character falling in love with one series and having that grow into a love of an entire medium. Even though there are no huge laughs or big emotions in the first episode, it’s effective in setting up the love for manga that will be the engine of the series. Looking forward to see where this goes.
Goodbye Lara
The Premise
You know the Little Mermaid? It’s literally that except we actually follow up with the book’s original ending where she gets a second chance at life to rebuild her world.
It Gud?
This first episode is just the Little Mermaid. It hews slightly closer to the original Hans Christian Anderson version but even this one seems aimed at younger folk so some of the bloodier aspects are heavily toned down. Though she does sleep eat a live fish. But for the most part the whole first episode is just straight up the Little Mermaid, followed by a funny cliffhanger that sets up the real space of the series; modern day Japan.
But as a telling of the tale, the story is very well done. I think it does a very decent job in its limited time to tell the tale in a way that it mostly feels like it is done justice. I think it also gives itself room to back up (if it wants) to flashback to relevant aspects of the story, should it need to. It’s not just the structure, the animation is gorgeous. The transformation of the legs into a tail actually looks surprisingly body-horror without over doing it. More like when things transform in a Ghibli movie. The character designs are interesting and I think the set up for the “villain” is good. It’s not super clear what she’s really after and if she’s really the antagonist or more of an anti-hero mentor. I could see it cut either way.
I’m really excited to see where this one goes. The telling is actually pretty straightforward and though there’s humour, it really does make the literal punchline of the final moment (if you want to call it that) to make it feel both in line with what we’ve seen but also divergence that promises to get really interesting. I don’t know what to expect from here on in but I can tell in the first episode that we are in good hands for this one. High recommend.
Grow Up Show
The Premise
A girl who grew up in the circus ends up finding herself in a struggling circus made of your orphan girls. But she doesn’t want to help them… she HATES the circus due to her father’s irresponsible and overly enthusiastic attempts to train her to be a circus renaissance woman. Still, she finds her expertise will be used… to pay off her dad’s debt to the new circus.
It Gud?
The two things that I caught my attention in this one is the subject and the time period setting. The subject is the circus, which is kind of out of vogue with the exceptions of your Cirque de Soliel and even that feels more like an 80s/90s thing to me (I remember my parents had a big Cirque painting recreation in our house). The other is this is set in 1960s Japan. I think those factors alone make it a bit different than the usual “Cute Girls Doing A Project” shows. So I was interested in seeing what happens.
I will say, the decade mostly doesn’t affect a lot except no one has smart phones. But it does go into it’s circus setting. Overall, it doesn’t seem like a super strong outing in the Cute Girls quasi-genre where everyone has different hair. But it does have more vitality than some of the ones I’ve seen and stuck with. I think the show does a good job in introducing some good friction without taking away too much from the fun. The main character is really not into circus stuff but she’s good at it and is not afraid to show it. And there are characters who now know they need to up their game but it’s not easy to hear and kind of makes the lead character slightly persona non-grata for many of the cast (until they all improve and bond).
I’m not giving it a *strong* recommend but it’s a fun, easy watch that goes down smooth. And I like shows about a process/project/progress and I am interested in seeing what goes into making a more entertaining circus act, so I’m going to keep with it and hope it stays fun.
Jaadugar: A Witch of Mongolia
The Premise
In 13th Century Persia, a young slave girl is taken in by a family who decide to educate her. She develops a bond with the family’s son and has become quite comfortable with her life and loving of the family she serves. But over the horizon are nomadic warriors who threaten to change her life forever.
It Gud?
It’s a Science Saru joint and they rarely disappoint (I’m looking at you, Yurei Deco, you good looking pile of nothing). The Mongolia part really hasn’t yet and after reading what the comic is about, this is not even at the REAL series premise yet. I won’t spoil where things are heading but in this episode, we have a gorgeous, stylish looking series that is also evenly paced. It’s definitely a series that is trying to explore the world of Islam and is actually careful, so far, not to have any real bad guys, even when people are doing objectively terrible things.
I’m talking about slavery. Slavery in anime is largely in the realm of the worst of isekai, usually “well, in this instance, it’s OK, because my slave became my ally/I let them go and therefore they become my friend for life”. And in this series, I could understand why someone can watch this and assume it’s the same. Afterall, the slave seller is kind of presented almost like a neutral party rather than a creepy villain and the slave owning family care for the slaves and treat them well. That could ring as some sort of endorsement and the show really doesn’t take efforts to explain it’s wrong. It does take a moment near the end of the episode where one slave gives another a reality check that they are basically considered more property than human.
I think that does a lot of the work and really lets you do the work of thinking of the context of the characters’ relationship without getting in its own way to explain the nuance between the relationships between the characters. Of course, reading what the show is about, I don’t think it’s going to be about that much longer. I am hoping it grapples with it because it can be dramatically interesting to know these good people are complicit in an evil practice (no matter how good they try to be about it). What the show wants to be about is how education can be a powerful force for yourself, to protect yourself and do good for yourself. I’m excited to see where it is going and if it validates my faith that this series knows where it is going because I’m definitely invested.
Love Unseen Beneath the Clear Night Sky
The Premise
A shy awkward university student ends up meeting a fellow student who is blind. He decides to help her in the class and soon the two begins a romance.
It Gud?
OK, so from an ASMR angle, this had the vibes I was looking for. From every other angle, it really falls apart fast. Interestingly, I feel like we’ve already had two solid romance series that deal with disabilities rather well, one being… I actually forget the name except I mostly liked it and it was about a girl who is deaf and her language-interested boyfriend and the other being the Invisible Man’s Girlfriend Or Something (nailed it). This one, however, just crashes and burns because the female lead is a bit dull but the male lead is so much worse.
He’s just dumb and painful in all the worst ways. To be fair, I think it’s a good starting point for the main character to be kind of clueless about what it is to be blind. I myself certainly have areas where my privilege could leave me ignorant (trying to avoid apt but perhaps thoughtless terms here) and sometimes that comes up. That stuff is interesting. But then a lot of the time he seems too thoughtless. And also just kind of a whiny jerk. It’s been long enough since actually watching the episode I’ve already forgotten the specifics but most of the time I was just making fun of what a useless wet noodle this guy is.
It can be tricky to thread that needle. To make the lead flawed and careless while still making him sympathetic and interesting and you want to see him change. But it’s just a drag to hang around this guy. And maybe while the character gets more nuance going forward, I’m just not that interested in the co-lead. This isn’t the worst or even second worst first episode I’ve watched this season but it’s the least interesting.
Mebius Dust
The Premise
After meteors release dust that give youths superpowers, they respond by… playing capture the flag.
It Gud?
OK, so the actual synopsis I read was something about disaffected and oppressed super powered kids with resentment towards the upper class fight against them… or something? Maybe that happens. Not in the first episode. The first episode explains the premise that no one can leave the city so the super powered kids gain powers and decide to use them to play capture the flag with each other. Then some scientist gives them devices that let them use their powers better. Then they play a game. Then that’s it.
And the episode is just a series of powers attached to people. Only one of them, the ability to make anyone who watches you treat you like their idol “fave” is fun but all the rest are complete nothings. I don’t feel like I know the characters any better or why I should care that “our” team might win or lose. In fact, it’s so generic, I kept expecting a turn. For one of the kids to go mad with power and fuck things up or maybe one of the kids has a vision of a terrible future or for them to realize this game has more serious consequences than they anticipated.
That never happens. It does end with a coda where a psychic kid sort of stares into space… but that’s about it. And you know what? A low stakes show about super powered sports could actually be a lot of fun. Unfortunately, the show assumes we are really interested in this match between thinly drawn characters will turn out instead of developing the characters. There’s some world building but it’s all pretty dull exposition that’s about where super powers come from. Maybe this is all headed somewhere interesting but after this first episode, I have very little faith.
Red River
The Premise
A teenager whose had her first kiss gets whisked away to ancient Egypt only to have her second… with royalty who intends to protect her from the sorceress who abducted her from time. Soon, she finds herself is a much bigger conflict than she could imagine in a place in history she is largely unaware of.
It Gud?
Red River was one of the series I was looking forward to. I could tell right away this was from an older fantasy shojo and while I had never heard of it, it seemed very promising. But soon, it became apparent this is something of a product of it’s time. The lead protagonist spends much of the first episode getting non-consensually kissed (BUT HE HAD A REASON! YOU KNOW, TO SAVE HER LIFE) and dragged around and things happen to her more than she does anything to make things happen.
Now to be fair, this is the first episode. I read where the series go and she straight up ends up being the strategical mind of the army due to her knowledge of modern day stuff and awareness of past historical battles the other characters wouldn’t know about. That sounds more like a series I want to see. And maybe it becomes it. But I really bounced off the first episode despite wanting to be all in to the historical drama aspect.
It’s not terrible or anything but it really does feel like a 90s shojo series and some of those don’t age as well (I haven’t read Fushigi Yugi in a while but I’m given to understand there’s a lot of stuff in it that feels not-so-great in the rearview). But more than anything, I couldn’t really make a big connection to this character who is more a target of events and at this stage does little about them. Again, I understand this goes places but overall, I just couldn’t get into this one.
Smoking Behind the Supermarket with You
The Premise
A put-upon salaryman goes to the same grocery every night to see the cashier he has a crush on. But he also visits a cool leather-jacketed women behind the store to have a smoke and chat. Unfortunately, he still hasn’t figured out they are the same woman.
It Gud?
This one I will watch but it’s not one of the ones I’m most excited about. It’s a pretty straightforward slice-of-life romance about smoking. It’s actually two smoking-themed shows this season but the other one, Chainsmoking Cat, seemed just too gross for me to want to watch. If anything, I respect it more for not being a series where the catgirl is sexy (at least in the pictures) and paints smoking as a gross habit in a way you often don’t see in anime. But this is the show I’m more willing to watch.
It is a pretty limited premise, I’ll admit. The main character kind of looks like if Phoenix Wright was defeated by life. And you pretty much have to accept that this guy seems determined not to figure out the element that would effectively end the series’ premise. But I think it does have some pleasant nighttime vibes. It is nice to see a salaryman who is having a hard time where the solution is he should meet someone who is kind to him (and vice versa) and doesn’t have to fucking die to live in a video game as the best guy ever. Still, it does seem like there’s something harsh going on in Japanese work culture that is inspiring these stories.
Rich Girl Caretaker: I’m Secretly the Caretaker of the Most Popular Girl in This Rich Kid School
The Premise
A hapless high schooler with parents who left him in debt Is hired by rich family to be a caretaker for the heir to the fortune… who is secretly a hapless disaster.
It Gud?
This is just Hayate the Combat Butler. Like, entirely. The entire first episode of this is basically the same structure. And I don’t even really like Hayate the Combat Butler. I mean, it’s perfectly mediocre. So I don’t want to watch it again. Particularly when it is clearly lesser. It also wants to be Umaru-Chan. Which I have not seen but there are enough shows that crib from that to know what it’s all about.
But Rich Girl Caretaker is very basic. The Rich Girl is an adorable disaster but she’s also kind of a nothing and kind of falls into the space of the almost childlike pretty girl who gloms onto the completely milquetoast lead. She curls up in his bed without asking and all that. It’s not-that-interesting romantic wish fulfillment. The closest it comes to funny is the voice actress who sells an almost horror movie-level of frustration with the title rich girl, a previous caretaker who just had to quit because it was too much. Frankly, I’d rather watch a show about her.
Iron Wok Jan
The Premise
In Tokyo’s best Chinese restaurant, a new employee begins… the grandson of the archrival of the restaurant’s owner. Soon he and the granddaughter of the restaurant’s owner find themselves with opposing views on cooking, with her insisting that cooking is about heart and he insisting that it is about competition.
It Gud?
So I was familiar with Iron Wok Jan because I read a lot of the comics in the early 2000s. I had a great time with it and it was my entry point to the ridiculously fun genre of shonen battle manga but the battle is cooking. I remember how audacious it was an was looking forward to this. And I thought it was a decent adaptation but lacking in OOMPH. But then in the last couple minutes, this nonsense comes across the screen with the most impassioned narrator you can imagine.
…where are you going with this?
Oh… Thanks… real life tragedies.
I can very much see why you needed to mention the sarin gas attacks for the show about a culinary bully.
It’s insane how hard this goes. This is the boldest of gambits to scream in the audiences face THIS IS IMPORTANT. But the sweetest plum is saved for last.
OH NO, you think, DOES SOMEONE WEAR BLACKFACE? DOES KIRIKO HAVE WEIRD EUGENICS THEORIES? DOES OKONOGI LET FLY A SLUR?! This, of course, presupposes you know these characters names, which you probably don’t. I mean, except Jan. From context.
To my knowledge, it’s not CONVENTIONAL problematic stuff (though there may well be some stuff I'm forgetting. I vaguely remember a fairly effeminate one off chef and no one talks shit about him to my memory except dunking on his cooking by cooking better). But buckle up, because here comes a content warning. This is about WHAT is cooked. Sharkfin soup. Whale meat. Turtles. And further down the line CW cause this goes a bit harder and is also a spoiler for a big climactic match an actual pet dog. Yeah, the thing that makes this first episode a bit weak is that these first two episodes are simply “Anything you can do I can do better”. That’s not super exciting but the manga goes in crazy directions that can both make it more exciting and off-putting, depending on your stomach for depictions of butchering and cooking certain animals (The Dog happens off panel, if that helps. And also the bad guy does it.). I’m sticking with it but I am hoping the rest of the series is brave enough to be as deranged as the end narration.