Even more new anime
This is the second-to-last post with reviews of the new anime this season!
Ryuuou no Oshigoto!: Yaichi became the top shogi player while he still is in highschool. So now he is a professional, and he lives on his own, making his living by playing shogi and training in between. And then one day, a young girl turns up on his doorstep. She reminds him of his promise to be her shogi master - and she definitely has talent. But Yaichi is not equipped to deal with having a student like this.
It’s everything that Sangatsu no Lion isn’t: it’s whimsical and shallow, and it has a worrying amount of lolicon front and center. Best left untouched.
Karakai Jouzu no Tagaki-san: Tagaki sits next to Nishikata, who is always thinking of ways to get her into trouble with the teacher. But Tagaki, who obviously has a thing for Nishikata, is much too clever to fall into his traps - rather, she consistently turns the tables on him, much to his annoyance!
It’s kind of cute on one hand, but on the other hand, it’s a long sequence of two kids playing tricks on each other, and that gets kinda old fast.
Basilisk: Ouka Ninpouchou: Second series of a much older series. We’re introduced to many super-powered ninja, with the idea that we should know these people from before, so the introductions are very sparse indeed. A noble sets out to Edo, to see his dying mother one last time, and he is waylaid by a group of ninja. Luckily for him, our “hero” ninja are there to save his bacon!
At the end of the episode, I was left wondering who all these people were, and why we should care about them. The character designs are kinda weird too. And it has all that “fight in the rain because that makes us look edgy”-thing going on that I’ve grown tired of a long time ago.
Dame x Prince Anime Caravan: Ani, the princess of the small kingdom of Inaco, gets sent to the neighbouring country of Selenfalen, in order to sign the peace treaty with the kingdom of Milidonia. She meets the princes of these kingdoms and their knights, and they’re all super dreamy and… odd. She’s happy to be back home after all that, but then she gets sent out again…
Reverse harem anime with lots of pretty boys that all seem to have a few screws loose. The character designs are quite nice and I really liked how Ani is weirded out by the people she meets - she seems to be the only character in the whole series who has any kind of common sense. Other than that, it’s just like many other reverse harem series, only this time there’s a thin layer of fantasy setting.
Violet Evergarden: Violet was raised as a soldier, and the only person she looks up to is a major. But then she loses her arms during a battle, and the war is over while she is in the hospital getting cyborg arms. The major’s fate is not known (but it didn’t look to good), and one of his associates comes to get her. They quickly find out that Violet is not suited to play the part of a young well-to-do girl that is being adopted by the Evergarden family, and she ends up working as a mail sorter in the associate’s private mail company. In that role, she connects with people in a way that she never did.
Very high budget: everything is so detailed! And the setting is very interesting too, in a 1920’s kind of way. We don’t see much of Violet’s military life, but I am interested to see more of how she discovers to live like a civilian.
Märchen Mädchen: Hazuki is a total bookworm, retreating into stories to escape her not-so-great life. Then she gets a magic book that allows her to enter through a bookcase in the school library, and she ends up at a magic school in the magical land inside!
There’s not much substance, apart from some gratuitous nudity… It’ll probably turn into some kind of magic academy series, but this bland first episode already lost us.
Death March Kara Hajimaru Isekai Kyousoukyoku: Ichirou is a programmer for a studio that cranks out those trashy, short-lived MMORPGs. He’s constantly overworked, needing to offer quick fixes to all kinds of issues etcetera. When he sleeps at the office, he finds himself in one of ‘his’ games - including the game menu. He uses the extra items that they put in that day to make the game easier for starting players, and the three super-powerful spells kill a large mob of monsters, increasing his level immensely. So now he’s quite powerful, and he starts off in the direction of the nearest town to see what’s going on.
So this is very much like “Isekai wa Smartphone to Tomo ni”, which was, frankly speaking, bad. I don’t quite understand why we’re giving this one a chance since it’s so similar, but I guess we’re optimists.
Koi wa Ameagari no You ni: High-school student Akira works at a family restaurant after having to drop out of the track & field team when she hurt her ankle. The restaurant manager, an awkward middle-aged man, showed her compassion when she was at her lowest point, and she has fallen in love with him - even though he is a bit of a slob, and only Akira sees his good points.
This could turn weird and awkward and creepy, but so far the manager is oblivious, and the two main characters are portrayed with a lot of empathy and compassion. It’s funny at times too. The character designs have a bit of a retro feel to them too, which I find very attractive. It only takes half an episode to feel like you want the best for Akira, and I want to see how it develops.
Crossposted from my blog. Comment here or at the original post.