Go away hot weather.
Lengthy anime post ahead...
Apparently this studio is experimenting with an anime app and released the whole season at once a la Netflix-style. It'll be interesting if this release model pans out for them..I think the anime pirates like it.
ReLIFE 1-13! the end. Initially thought that this would be a time-travel anime, but it's more of a science experiment that turns a young, jaded adult, Kaizaki Arata, from a 27 year old adult into a 17 year old high school student. He will redo a year in high school, but in his current time period. His appearance is the only thing that changed which becomes apparent when he comedically struggles in gym class. It's a cute anime with some comedy and shoujo-esque drama. The minamalistic background piano music is pretty fun to listen to. I also thought it was a nice nostalgic touch that every episode ended with a jpop song that would have been popular 10 years ago. ~8/10 rating The show spent a bit of time on Kariu's problems which slowed the pace down, and there was a drop in production quality. As a warning, the anime just ends after everyone becomes friendly. I guess viewers can read the manga to see what happens to Arata. Anyway, it was a cute shoujo anime.
Orange 1! a group of high school friends get letters from their future selves telling them something in regards to a new transfer student. Girl falls in love with boy within the first episode...cue the eye roll. The show already reveals that Kakeru isn't with the group of friends in the future and that his (we can predict) death is preventable. Dropped because well, I spoiled myself below...
Orange jmovie! saw that this was made into a live-action movie last year, and decided to check it out. As the anime hinted, the main female character, Naho, is a bit of a wimp. Even with a letter from her future self with a list of regrets and telling her what to do to save Kakeru, she stumbles with the letter. As a side note, a class in time travel and parallel worlds would have been awesome in high school. ~6/10 rating~ for a fairly predictable, sweet shoujo story. The movie was about 30 minutes too slow, but well-cast. Apparently giving your past self a note with a list of regrets doesn't help when your past self is a moron most of the time. She could have made the movie last 5 minutes if she pointed out that regret #1 was the most important step. It was predictable that the group was going to save Kakeru at the very last possible moment.
Saiki Kusuo no Psi Nan 1-15! is a funny 4 minute show airing during the week and then compiled on Sunday. Episodes 1-2 introduce us to Kusuo Saiki, a young high school boy with psychic, telepathy, telekinesis powers and his laid-back, kooky parents. Episodes 3 and on introduce us to his classmates and other people who are unaware of his powers.
Mob Psycho 100 1-3! is another anime about a young high school boy with strong psychic powers. It is implied that he will explode or go 100% psycho one day. Unlike Saiki, Mob doesn't know how powerful he is. He is taken advantage of by a young adult who runs a exorcism business. His boss pretends to have powers and pretends to be teaching Mob. This anime has a fairly unique animation style that is very raw in its drawings. The mangaka is ONE who also wrote One Punch Man, so the humor is fairly fun to watch. By watching Mob and Saiki, you can see how two authors approach the same type of main character differently, but still humorously.
Fukigen na Mononokean 1-2! also not on my list but looked cute. A young boy, Ashiya, starts high school by finding a fluffy animal on the side of the road that seems to suck out his energy to the point where he is missing days of school. He sees an ad for an exorcist, Abeno, who is hiring and calls him for an exorcism. The exorcist in a fashion similar to xxxHOLiC coerces the student into working for him. Episode 2 emphasized the fact thtat the Abeno prefers to work for money while the Ashiya has a soft heart. It's not quite that fun, so dropped.
Servamp 1! is about a young, motherless boy (story didn't say anything about the father), who grows up to be good at everything. His classmates tend to pawn off school projects on him since he feels it's 'simpler' to do them on his own. He picks up a cat on the street who turns out to be a vampire. Another vampire attacks, the boy and cat form a 'servamp' contract. I think I would have liked this when I was 12. Dropped.
91 Days 1-3! Ah ha, a mafia story. A young boy witnesses the murder of his parents and younger brother and years later, seeks revenge during the Prohibition era. Style and characters remniscent of Baccano, but there's no humor.
Tales of Zestiria the X 0-3! Not on my initial list but I'm a sucker for big budget anime shows and ufotable's production. There's a sword in a stone, 'LadyLake', mysterious mist, a badass-looking dragon, a badass princess, swords and guns. The prologue episode with Princess Alisha won me over.. Episode 1 introduces the main character, Sorey, and his seraph friend, Mikeo, who explore old architecture and find the princess who wanders in after the dragon destroys her comrades and the nearby town. Not sure what's going on and not really interested in the rpg game, but it's very Final Fantasy-like, and still very well-made. The last 'Tales of' series was decent, and this looks pretty good. The original game opening has a catchy rockin' opening by Superfly. The anime has a decent opening by Flow, but the original is more badass.
Arslan Senki: Fuujin Ranbu 1-4! continues that tale of Arslan. Gieve and the man in the silver mask hunt down a legendary sword that belongs to the true king, but a group from the evil Church steal it away. Arslan and his army win another battle, but in episode 2, the king, Arslan's 'father', is able to escape on his own and tracks Arslan down. He orders him to raise an army of 50k which is supposedly a banishment. No worries as Arslan's friends decide to help him. This really needs a bigger budget.
Bananya 1! is a 3-minute show. The banana cat bounces around looking cute.
Magi: Sinbad no Bouken 9-13! the end of this season. In episode 9, Sinbad and his crew are trying to trade with a country that has precious metals. After technically defeating the king who also has a dungeon weapon, Sinbad gains another companion in the form of the king's enthusiastic son. Episode 11 starts their adventure in a country run by women. He is also able to draw up an alliance with them. Thus, the season ends with Sinbad trading with three elusive countries, and gaining a good number of new companions. ~7/10 rating for a good-natured adventure anime.
Apparently this studio is experimenting with an anime app and released the whole season at once a la Netflix-style. It'll be interesting if this release model pans out for them..I think the anime pirates like it.
ReLIFE 1-13! the end. Initially thought that this would be a time-travel anime, but it's more of a science experiment that turns a young, jaded adult, Kaizaki Arata, from a 27 year old adult into a 17 year old high school student. He will redo a year in high school, but in his current time period. His appearance is the only thing that changed which becomes apparent when he comedically struggles in gym class. It's a cute anime with some comedy and shoujo-esque drama. The minamalistic background piano music is pretty fun to listen to. I also thought it was a nice nostalgic touch that every episode ended with a jpop song that would have been popular 10 years ago. ~8/10 rating The show spent a bit of time on Kariu's problems which slowed the pace down, and there was a drop in production quality. As a warning, the anime just ends after everyone becomes friendly. I guess viewers can read the manga to see what happens to Arata. Anyway, it was a cute shoujo anime.
Orange 1! a group of high school friends get letters from their future selves telling them something in regards to a new transfer student. Girl falls in love with boy within the first episode...cue the eye roll. The show already reveals that Kakeru isn't with the group of friends in the future and that his (we can predict) death is preventable. Dropped because well, I spoiled myself below...
Orange jmovie! saw that this was made into a live-action movie last year, and decided to check it out. As the anime hinted, the main female character, Naho, is a bit of a wimp. Even with a letter from her future self with a list of regrets and telling her what to do to save Kakeru, she stumbles with the letter. As a side note, a class in time travel and parallel worlds would have been awesome in high school. ~6/10 rating~ for a fairly predictable, sweet shoujo story. The movie was about 30 minutes too slow, but well-cast. Apparently giving your past self a note with a list of regrets doesn't help when your past self is a moron most of the time. She could have made the movie last 5 minutes if she pointed out that regret #1 was the most important step. It was predictable that the group was going to save Kakeru at the very last possible moment.
Saiki Kusuo no Psi Nan 1-15! is a funny 4 minute show airing during the week and then compiled on Sunday. Episodes 1-2 introduce us to Kusuo Saiki, a young high school boy with psychic, telepathy, telekinesis powers and his laid-back, kooky parents. Episodes 3 and on introduce us to his classmates and other people who are unaware of his powers.
Mob Psycho 100 1-3! is another anime about a young high school boy with strong psychic powers. It is implied that he will explode or go 100% psycho one day. Unlike Saiki, Mob doesn't know how powerful he is. He is taken advantage of by a young adult who runs a exorcism business. His boss pretends to have powers and pretends to be teaching Mob. This anime has a fairly unique animation style that is very raw in its drawings. The mangaka is ONE who also wrote One Punch Man, so the humor is fairly fun to watch. By watching Mob and Saiki, you can see how two authors approach the same type of main character differently, but still humorously.
Fukigen na Mononokean 1-2! also not on my list but looked cute. A young boy, Ashiya, starts high school by finding a fluffy animal on the side of the road that seems to suck out his energy to the point where he is missing days of school. He sees an ad for an exorcist, Abeno, who is hiring and calls him for an exorcism. The exorcist in a fashion similar to xxxHOLiC coerces the student into working for him. Episode 2 emphasized the fact thtat the Abeno prefers to work for money while the Ashiya has a soft heart. It's not quite that fun, so dropped.
Servamp 1! is about a young, motherless boy (story didn't say anything about the father), who grows up to be good at everything. His classmates tend to pawn off school projects on him since he feels it's 'simpler' to do them on his own. He picks up a cat on the street who turns out to be a vampire. Another vampire attacks, the boy and cat form a 'servamp' contract. I think I would have liked this when I was 12. Dropped.
91 Days 1-3! Ah ha, a mafia story. A young boy witnesses the murder of his parents and younger brother and years later, seeks revenge during the Prohibition era. Style and characters remniscent of Baccano, but there's no humor.
Tales of Zestiria the X 0-3! Not on my initial list but I'm a sucker for big budget anime shows and ufotable's production. There's a sword in a stone, 'LadyLake', mysterious mist, a badass-looking dragon, a badass princess, swords and guns. The prologue episode with Princess Alisha won me over.. Episode 1 introduces the main character, Sorey, and his seraph friend, Mikeo, who explore old architecture and find the princess who wanders in after the dragon destroys her comrades and the nearby town. Not sure what's going on and not really interested in the rpg game, but it's very Final Fantasy-like, and still very well-made. The last 'Tales of' series was decent, and this looks pretty good. The original game opening has a catchy rockin' opening by Superfly. The anime has a decent opening by Flow, but the original is more badass.
Arslan Senki: Fuujin Ranbu 1-4! continues that tale of Arslan. Gieve and the man in the silver mask hunt down a legendary sword that belongs to the true king, but a group from the evil Church steal it away. Arslan and his army win another battle, but in episode 2, the king, Arslan's 'father', is able to escape on his own and tracks Arslan down. He orders him to raise an army of 50k which is supposedly a banishment. No worries as Arslan's friends decide to help him. This really needs a bigger budget.
Bananya 1! is a 3-minute show. The banana cat bounces around looking cute.
Magi: Sinbad no Bouken 9-13! the end of this season. In episode 9, Sinbad and his crew are trying to trade with a country that has precious metals. After technically defeating the king who also has a dungeon weapon, Sinbad gains another companion in the form of the king's enthusiastic son. Episode 11 starts their adventure in a country run by women. He is also able to draw up an alliance with them. Thus, the season ends with Sinbad trading with three elusive countries, and gaining a good number of new companions. ~7/10 rating for a good-natured adventure anime.