Winter 2012 Anime Season: First Impressions

Winter 2013 Anime Season

It’s time for my first impressions on the new anime season! There are a lot of just short, 5 minutes or less series this season, and it is getting kind of weird. I remember when a show that was three minutes was a novelty, and something special. Now they are a dime a dozen, and I can’t really tell if they are going down in quality, or if I am just getting bored with the genre of a whole. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. This is the 2013 winter anime season.

Boku no Imouto wa Osaka Okan- This is the first of those short series I was mentioning, though not the worst this season. It is actually quite simple. A brother sister duo has been separated for many years, and now the sister moves back home for school. The twist is that she was from Osaka, and now has all the mannerisms of an Osakan. The meat of the series is basically making fun of people from Osaka, or at least showing how they are different from the rest of Japan. Also there is an undercurrent of incest, which while nothing new is still negative. It isn’t bad, I like the lessons about the culture differences between two cities in Japan, showing that Japan is not just one homogonous country, individualism still exists. I also like the art design. While low quality, for a show as short as this one I like it, it is simple. But the incest is really random at times, and feels as if it is there just because they are siblings. I am pretty sure not all siblings want to bone each other. At the end of the day this show is harmless, and because of its run time I might just keep up with it for a chuckle here and there.

Ai Mai Mi- The next of the show series I was mentioning earlier. And this one is just bad. It is a lol-random humor/gag series about three high school girls that draw manga. Then things happen. They killed a kappa in the first episode. I am pretty sure I am going to just drop this one. The humor is incredibly hit or miss, and is really trying to just be random to be funny, which it isn’t. There are good short run time series out there. This is not one of them. They really need a genre name don’t they, these short series. I think I shall go with micro series. That sounds good, right? Right.

AKB0048 Next Stage- I liked AKB0048. I liked the music, I liked the story, I loved the characters, and I just thought it was a really good show over all. And so far the second season seems to be continuing this trend of just being a good show. I really can’t say much about it, it is honestly more of the same. But that is exactly what I wanted, more of this show. I look forward to enjoying the continuing adventures of the guerrilla pop idols.

Ore no Kanojo to Osananajimi ga Shuraba Sugiru- A high school boy, abandoned by his deadbeat parents, strives to become a success in life and to do this he decides to completely abandon love and romantic relationships. One day, the new, most popular girl in school confesses her undying love for him, but this is just a rouse you see, for she herself does not believe in love and romance, and black mails him into the relation with an old journal he had chronicling his days when he had 8^th grade syndrome. Basically it is a mostly generic harem show, where the main couple will learn to love each other in time, but he will be surrounded by other women, and we have all seen this before. They made a bunch of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure references in the second episode. That was kind of cool. But I just don’t care about the characters. The main girl is completely unlikable, and the old best friend who is in love with the main is just boring, though a bit of her back story would be really interesting if this was a slightly different show. You know what would improve this show? For the main character coming out of the closet at the series end, completely ruining the main couple. God I want that to happen in a harem series, just once.

Senran Kagura- This show is boob ninjas. That is all there is to this show, boobs and ninjas. I feel like a 14-16 year old would get a kick out of this show for a couple of seconds, because it is all about boobs and ninjas. But it is not for me. or for most people with a working brain. I do admit, I liked the mentor character for the girls. He was honestly funny and I would like a show about a character like him. But no, instead we get boob ninjas. God this show was awful.

Bakumatsu Gijinden Roman- From the creator of Lupin the Third this is a series about a theif who steals from those who are evil and gives to the good. So it is Lupin the Third, but this time it takes place during the Bakumatsu. It is also horribly anachronistic at times. Also Lupin is a Kamen Rider. Wait, I’m sorry, Roman is a Kamen Rider. But in all seriousness the show isn’t bad. I like the characters, and some of the side characters so far are just hilarious, like the German doctor who makes zombies in his spare time, or the priestess who is also a master of disguise and seduction. And I am sucker for both phantom thieves and really cool anachronistic weapons. The Kamen Rider bit makes a bit weary of the series as a whole, but I am going to be optimistic, and hope that this show will turn out to be good. At worst, I think it will be Lupin with more samurai. At best, it will be a really cool story.

Senyuu- Oh look, another micro series. But this time it is really good. In a pretty standard fantasy world, the evil demons have once again risen, so the king sends out the descendent of the great hero from the last time this happened. Unfortunately that was a thousand years ago, so it is really hard to determine who exactly is that descendent. So instead of one, they send out 75. We follow the 45^th in this line, alongside him is a snarky palace guard, and comedy ensues. I always love a good fantasy world, and to mix comedy into it is like mixing chocolate with mint, just a good combination when done correctly. I was hoping this would be a full length series when I first heard about it, something that was mostly comedy but could bring out the action when necessary, but I am surprisingly ok with this show as a micro series. Let’s hope it stays good.

Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai NEXT- This is the second season of I Don’t Have Many Friends, and like the first season I still like it. I like the characters, I like the character interactions and I can’t help but like this show. Yes, it is a fan service filled harem anime, but the characters are so good, and how they interact is just perfect. I love this show; it is such a guilty pleasure. I am really looking forward to this second season.

Sasami-san@Ganbaranai- I don’t know what to say about this show. It was just insane. Alright, the first half the episode is a really creepy piece about a brother sister duo, where the sister is a complete shut in who never leaves the house, and her brother is completely in love with her and is basically there to cater to her every need. And their relationship is mutual; it is shown that she loves her brother as much as he loves her, getting jealous when other girls talk to him or when she gave him valentines chocolate. So it is creepy from both directions. Oh, also she has camera’s everywhere to follow her brother where ever he goes. Creepy. But then the world turns into chocolate, the three other females in the series fight to save the day, reality itself warps and changes from chocolate and back, and what the hell did I just watch? Seriously, this show is bananas, and I kind of like it. The frankly creepy fan service in the beginning and the incestuous coupling almost put me off this show, but then the world turned into chocolate. I feel I must complete this series to actually figure out what the hell just happened.

Problem Children are Coming From Another World, Aren’t They?- This show is either going to be very good, or very bad, and I think I am going to like it either way. This series follows three children with extraordinary powers that are all swept away into a world of magic and gambling. They are asked to play games for a guild of sorts, using their powers to win anything from land, money, food, pride, or whatever else is offered by the game master. The world they enter is very varied, with gods, demons, vampires, and cat girls all hanging out in one place. This show is essentially, from what I can tell, a tournament anime with supernatural elements. But that is not why I want to watch this series. I want to watch this series because of the main three characters. The main three introduced in the first episode just all seem like complete assholes, and yet are so endearing that I want to follow them. I want to learn more about these characters, their powers, and the world they are dumped into. This is looking like an interesting show that I want to watch more of.

Chihayafuru Second Season- Chihayafuru is back, yay! The show about old Japanese card games and drama makes a return and I couldn’t be happier. I loved the first season and I am hoping the second one will continue the trend. Already they have introduced a new female character and it looks like there will be a new male character as well. I just really can’t wait to start watching this show in its fullest, it will be awesome.

Hakkenden: Touhou Hakken Ibun- I’m going to be honest I really don’t care about this series. The first episode had something to do with the church, and magic, and people dying and getting attacked, and a talking crow, and I just couldn’t care about it. The show felt poorly paced, the characters were ultimately flat and boring, and I just didn’t like the show. I will fully admit, someone might love this show, and it might turn out to be something really interesting. But right now, I don’t care, and I plan on dropping it.

Cuticle Detective Inaba- A detective series about a half dog ex-police dog with a hair fetish who clashes against an evil goat who wants to eat Japanese currency. This show should have gone one of two ways, that it was so dumb that it is hilarious, or that it is just plain bad, and instead it falls somewhere in the middle. It is a comedy series, but shoots jokes like a machine gun, and less than half are legitimately funny. But the ones that are have me rolling on the floor laughing. I really don’t know how to feel about his series. I want to like it, it is really funny sometimes. But most of it is just meh. It’s not bad, but most of the time it isn’t funny and that can be worse. I might drop this series, but I think I will give it one more chance at least.

Ishida and Asakura- Another micro series, this time about an idiot high school student who wants to become a teacher at an all girls school so that he can look at boobs. Everyone else though has their own plans for the simpleton, including opening up a flower shop, a bookstore, and marriage with him. For some reason everyone loves the idiot, and that is the joke of the series. In a weird meta way I do like this series. I find it funny that just everyone seems to be in love with this perverted idiot, it is like a weird satire on Haruhi Suzumiya. But the jokes are stale, and I really don’t find anyone likable in the series. I am probably going to drop this one.

Tamoko Market- This is the most moe series this series, and also a really good one. The show is about a girl who lives and works in her family’s mochi shop which is part of a large market place. One day she finds a strange talking bird, and comedy ensues. The bird is fabulous; the way it interacts with everyone is priceless. And the entire cast is just so colorful and interesting. You get the feeling that every person in the market is just one big family, and you become connected to the characters more so because of that. The main lead herself is just perfect. She is a perfect balance of all the moe traits over the years without her becoming some abomination against god and man. I am really digging this show, and I look forward to watching more of it. But seriously that bird.

Maoyuu Maou Yuusha- Now this is an interesting show. In n standard fantasy world the Demons and the Humans have been fighting for years, maybe even generations. The Hero decided to go fight the Demon King all on his own, abandoning his party. When he confronts the Demon King, he learns that the King is really a Queen, and then they discuss the political, economic, and agricultural impacts the war is having, how there are many positives that come out of this war, and that if the war were to end right then and there it would mean even more deaths and the possible collapse of the human and demon worlds. So the Demon Queen and the Hero decide to go out into the world and make it a better place, preparing it for the inevitable time when war has ended and peace my reign. This show is awesome. The political philosophical discussions are amazing, and the intelligence put into it is fabulous. The worst this show can do at this point in time is a worse Spice and Wolf, and a worse Spice and Wolf is still a pretty awesome show. I will like this show this season.

Kotoura-san- Starting off this show has the most depressing first 10 minutes I have seen in anime in quite the long time. It is just breaking the main character, putting her through hell for being special, for having the ability to involuntary read minds. You just feel terrible for all everything happening to her, and then you meet the main male protagonist and I am guessing love interest, and you feel hope, you feel happy for her, you know everything will be ok. This show so got into my head that I don’t think I can rewatch the first half of the first episode again. But form the offset this show is looking to be really good. The character pieces in it went from really sad to laugh out loud funny, and both really worked. The emotions that this show can produce are prolific. I plan on finishing this little show, and hopefully enjoying every second of it.

Yama no Susume- Another micro series, this time about two girls who plan to climb mountains. There is more to it than that of course. The show follows two friends who in their youth once climb a mountain and saw a sunrise that was seared into their memories. Years later though, and one of those girls is kind of an introvert with a fear of all things tall. One day the other girl reappears, her family moving back into town, and want sot rekindle their friendship with more mountain climbing, much to the protagonist’s dismay. I actually really like this show. It is utterly simple, but plays to its strengths. If the show was full length it might have run out of steam by episode 3 or 4, but with its short episode run time I think it can keep a steady pace, and maybe even end with a climatic climb of Mount Fuji. I plan on seeing this one through.

Mangirl!- the fifth, and last, of the micro shows I have seen this season, this show is about a team of girls who all look to be about 12, but are apparently adults, who want to start their own manga magazine in Japan. Dumbness ensues. Mangirl was just boring. I would actually love to see a show about the behind the scenes work in making a manga, but that is the reason Bakuman exists. If this was a full length series that was about the triumph of human determination against all odds, where a ragtag group of editors, artists, writers, and producers made a big splash in the manga world, I would watch it. But as it is, I am giving this show a skip.

 Love Live! School idol project- This show shouldn’t be half as good as I think it is. It is about an all girl’s school that is closing down once the current classes have all graduated, unless they get a large number of students for the upcoming year. So a small group of girls decide that they can’t let their beloved school close down, at least not without a fight. They decided to draw in as many new students as possible by becoming school idols. We watch as they progress, starting as a three girl band and growing to a nine girl group. We see them train, learn to dance and sing and hopefully save their school. I really love the heart in this show. You understand the passion and drive of these girls, and you want them to succeed. I also really like how the girls are not doing this because the school closing will in any way affect their lives. They will still graduate and be able to do what they want in life. They are doing this mostly selflessly. Out of the goodness in their hearts, they will save this school with singing and dancing. I am really digging this show, and while I don’t think it will become the next AKB0048 or anything, I think it will be an enjoyable ride none the less.

So there are the shows this season. There are just way too many micro series, but some are worth it. And a bunch of the other first episodes I saw were just amazing, or just really boring. Let us hope that this season gives us plenty of good to watch. So until next time, have fun watching.