Summer 2018 Anime In Review
As I now pour over this season's list of completed titles, it's hitting me hard to realize just how mediocre Summer 2018 was for anime. Other than one or two notable standouts, which unfortunately also happen to be sequels, the offerings this time around failed to rouse more than a resounding "meh" from me. This isn't to say the majority of shows were terrible, but rather offensively middle-of-the road. This is the worst kind of bad, and it has the unique quality of being the hardest to write about. That being said, this round of reviews is going to be one hell of a slog, so forgive me if it ends up coming out ludicrously late.
Ya'll know the deal by now: ratings are done inside-genre, so don't get livid when they're a little higher or lower than what the review would entail. You can only really compare something this broad and subjective to its in-genre contemporaries, especially with something as baseless as a number value.
Like I said, most of the season was "meh". If you want to jump right to the good stuff, click here or here.
Title: Happy Sugar Life
Genre: Psychological Thriller, Drama
Studio: Ezola
Streaming: Amazon Prime
Watch out Future Diaries, there's a brand new yandere on the block, and this one is her own special brand of dark, twisted crazy. Despite the name, Happy Sugar Life is an incredibly fucked up show from start to finish, delving into a group of some of the most reprehensible and disgusting characters to grace seasonal anime with their presence in a long, long time. Satou Matsuzaka, our yandere in question, is the cold and calculating type, searching for a perfect ideal of love with a violent passion. She finds what she's looking for in Shio Koube, an incredibly young girl who's been abandoned by her family. While this doesn't sound too grotesque in and of itself, Satou performs unspeakable acts in order to protect Shio, and cares for her in a suspicious, not-quite-motherly way. Tack on to our main duo a host of equally disturbed individuals, and you have the makings of a show that will have your views audibly dropping multiple "...what the fuck"s each episode.
As the show is a thriller, I don't want to reveal many specifics about the plot of Happy Sugar Life, so I'm going to speak abstractly on my misgivings with it. While a fairly sound straight adaptation of the source manga, the anime version of this story speeds up some of the perceived less important parts of the narrative. The effect of this is twofold: the first is an improved dramatic pace for the crescendos of the plot, while the second is a lessened development in our ensemble cast of characters. The anime chooses to firmly focus on Satou and Shio, and the ensemble's interactions as related to them. Yes, a few others do get their moments in the spotlight, but the anime is structured so as to never devote entire episodes or arcs to anyone but our main two. Scenes involving others are always interspliced with more Satou and Shio moments, always pulling us back. This makes our ensemble feel more like a parade of fucked up personalities than actual characters, and do little more other than attempt to get us to sympathize with Satou more, insisting she's "not so bad". Whether or not this works is up to you as the viewer, but damn if the rest of the crew doesn't try their hardest to do so.
The other key part of Happy Sugar Life I take issue with is the sheer amount of suspension of disbelief the viewer needs to be comfortable with every single character on screen being some form of psychotic or violent criminal. There are very few characters in this story that anyone could consider sane, and this makes the attempts at drama sometimes feel sad in a pathetic fashion, or even worse come off as hilarious. When everyone is crazy, then the insanity becomes normalized, which although may have been the goal in humanizing Satou's character, doesn't produce the intended effect if the viewer isn't willing to let this bit slide. The good news is, that other than these two major points, I didn't have very many other issues with the narrative or characters. The thrills were thrilling, and the plot engaging enough to get me to read the manga up to current at about the mid-season point. The adaptation of the more powerful scenes, like the silent confrontation and the artist's apartment, are masterfully done performances by both the voice actors and artists on this project. Oh, and it's also worth noting for you manga readers that this adaptation has a (pretty damn good) anime-original ending, so no reason for concern of a "continuing manga" ending.
To close this off, we'll end with aesthetics, which are unfortunately pretty poor. I have no idea if Ezola is a new or old studio, but their definitely lacking in the character design department. Designs are flat and generic in the most uninteresting way, and the backgrounds don't help out at all here either. The only thing I can commend them on is their facial expression, but since the show regularly takes a very grotesque spin on these, there's a lot of design variance throughout thirteen episodes. There are some interesting liberties taken with the visual representations of confusion and love that the mangaka used so much in the print version, but not all of them come across that well. On top of all this, the music is barely passable, leaving Happy Sugar Life to stand on really nothing but its narrative. Thankfully, it can do that to an acceptable level, but only for those that can push past the tonal requirements of the content.
Happy Sugar Life can be at times hard to stomach, but those who can push past the nastier bits will experience a fairly well done and intriguing story.
Score: 7/10
Genre: Shounen, Superpower
Studio: BONES
Streaming: Crunchyroll
Do I really have to keep telling people to watch MHA? Really? This is the best thing to happen in shounen in such a long fucking time. If you like shounen tropes even in the slightest then this should be moved to the top of your list. I'm one of the biggest shounen haters and I am in love with this show. The writing is great, the characters are super endearing, and the action animation is consistently gorgeous. Get caught up now, and join us all on the hype train when season four starts up in two seasons.
Score: 8/10
Genre: Harem, Romantic Comedy
Studio: Xebec
Streaming: Crunchyroll
Started watching this one on a literal dare, with two of my fellow weeb coworkers egging me on to watch it. They claimed we'd watch through it together, but instead, as I predicted, I ended up being the only one foolish enough to finish the job. Yuuna is everything that's wrong with the tired, overdone harem romantic comedy that does nothing but pull in a thunderous "blech" from even the most rabid of fans. The characters are nothing more than vehicles for fanservice, along with any semblance of a plot the show attempts to have. They are husks so devoid of personality or charm, so overtly focused on doing nothing more but filling out the necessary harem archetypes, that Yuuna regularly put me to sleep while watching. Yuuna herself is pretty cute, sure, but just one character design isn't worth trudging through the rest of this trashy show.
Score: 4/10
Genre: Educational, Comedy
Studio: David Production
Streaming: Crunchyroll
What if the team behind Jojo's decided to adapt Osmosis Jones into an anime production? Well, you'd get this show, Cells at Work. While the absurdist premise and high-quality production followed through on its initial promises, the large amount of hype this series pushed upon release was mostly undeserved. Yes, there's a lot of crazy, violent action sequences and the concept is beyond novel, but the monster-of-the-week formula combined with an overdose of (often reused) stop-frame narration caused the show to bottom out more often than not. I can only watch Red Blood Cell get lost so many times and White Blood Cell stab germs so many times before it gets boring, especially when those germ and virus designs are also so frequently recycled. It's also hard to form any sort of connection with our cast of characters, and it's not at all because they're cells. Characters don't really have names or unique character designs due to the nature of the show's concept, and the show moves at such a breakneck pace because of the educational content being squeezed in that action feels rushed and (ironically) unnatural.
None of this is to say that Cells at Work is a boring or even a bad show; it can be a hell of a lot of fun, and the David Production fight sakuga sure doesn't hurt in that regard, but I just can't help but feel that this property didn't have enough meat on the bone to warrant a full adaptation. Maybe it would have been best to cherry pick some of the more interesting chapters of the original Cells at Work, and running the last six episodes as excerpts from Cells at Work: Black. The latter is a sister manga to the original, focusing on the workings of a stressed out, drunk, chain-smoking salaryman's body. Since the show seems to not focus on our characters much anyway, it would have been fairly inconsequential to swap us into a new, darker in-body reality halfway through the season. Me thinking this is probably just a bargaining attempt, as I was hopeful for Cells at Work to be more than just one big biology joke, leaving little more than a temporary seasonal impression. Still, it was, at the very least, decent and enjoyable biology joke throughout, and my personal gripes shouldn't dissuade you from watching one of the most popular shows of the past summer season. Just don't get your hopes up too high.
Score: 7/10
Genre: Drama, Action
Studio: Cloverworks
Streaming: Crunchyroll
I picked this one up because I don't own a PS4, and since the FFVII remake likely won't make it to that platform, I didn't see much of a reason to make an undue investment. That said, I don't have a platform to judge this show on much other than its own merits, which are thankfully on acceptable levels. Now, this one had one hell of a rough start, with some egregious obvious corner-cutting even from the first episode that caused a good deal of the community to drop the adaptation before it even got started. Since I never drop anything, I soldiered onward, and I'm happy that I did. Even if this adaptation isn't a perfect recreation of this award-winning JRPG, it's good enough to get someone who's totally ignorant to the source interested in its narrative.
Game adaptations are tricky business for anime, but where I think P5A succeeds is that it doesn't make any attempt to "un-gameify" the parts of the show where it makes no sense to attempt it. Yes, this does devalue the narrative of the final product heavily, but when you sit down to watch P5A as some glorified version of a let's play, it ends up making the experience far more palatable. This effect runs all the way down through, so your mileage with this approach may vary; if sitting through regular montages of fetch quests and mob battles is something that sounds like a deal-breaker for you, then you should probably take a pass and just play the game. However, for those of us who don't have the hundreds of hours required to get through it, this 26-episode adaptation does a good enough job of showing the viewer what it would be like if they did indeed play it through. At the very least, the narrative and characters present themselves very well here, and in a series with such a large and varied core cast it's enjoyable to see everyone get their stint in the spotlight.
So, before I said that P5A got me interested in P5's story, but unfortunately that story isn't much more than your standard JRPG romp with a bit of a modern Ocean's Eleven flair. All the cornerstones of the Persona franchise are here in full force, so whether or not that's a positive or negative is for the viewer to decide. The production value of P5A isn't up for debate though; this show is downright ugly a good bit of the time, especially in the earlier half of the series. It attempts to cover it up with P5's supremely clean art direction, with lots of contrasting dark and light colors and comic-book style, but this can only go so far. CG crowds and bad visual affects mar every scene that they end up being used in, and the urban setting isn't doing the frequency any favors. There's a lot of corner cutting in the action, and seeing Personas regularly reduced to either CG models or slide-show frame counts is very disappointing. The more somber and calm moments of P5A regularly outshine the supposed fever-pitches, both from an acting and technical perspective. There's also the issue of the ending, as where the adaptation decides to close up shop is a massive cliffhanger, meant to be remedied by an OVA that will air later this year.
As it stands, I'm pretty torn on recommending P5A as a replacement for playing through the game. The shoddy production quality drags down an otherwise well-done execution in the straight-adapting of the game to animation, and the unfinished narrative doesn't make rushing out to watch this an attractive option for those interested. Maybe it's best to just let it sit, and see if the BD release fixes some of these earlier issues. I'm doubtful of that, but if it saves viewers the massive amount of time needed to play the actual game, then it might be worth waiting for.
Score: 6/10
Genre: Shonen, Action
Studio: J.C. Staff
Streaming: Crunchyroll
Why was this show so well liked this season? I swear, this one keeps being touted as the "hidden gem" of Summer 2018, but I can't see more in this one than just another tired shounen series. I picked this one up because I wanted another weekend show, and I've been regretting it ever since. Our entire cast of characters is just a smattering of same tired shounen tropes that we see time and time again, and they don't have any unique properties one way or the other. About the only merit I can hand out here on a narrative level is that the author really tries their hardest to write one of these "you don't really know who is the bad guy, maybe we are all bad guys or good guys"-kind of story. They try to write that. In reality, what we get is a clusterfuck of characters that switch sides at random and a rising and falling action that are so simultaneously boring and nonsensical that I just could not bring myself to care about a singular one of these characters, God forbid the plot. Oh, and top it all off with a piss-poor visual showing from J.C. Staff, littered with horrific CG and lazy animation. I cannot think of a single reason to recommend this show over the hundreds of other miserable piles of mass-produced shounen garbage. Just because Digibro (a bona fide idiot and disgusting individual) or other anime YouTuber endorses a show doesn't mean that it's automatically good and you need to agree. Think for yourselves, and please avoid trash like Planet With.
Score: 3/10
Genre: Horror, Drama, Mystery
Studio: J.C. Staff
Streaming: Crunchyroll
This is yet another show this season that hasn't actually wrapped yet, promising to finish out its story with a later-airing OVA. And coincidentally, it's also another adaptation of a video game, but Angels of Death is a little bit more of a reach. The game is a hyper-niche doujin RPG Maker title, and if that scares you off before you give it a chance, just hold on and let's run through it a bit. Unlike P5A, this show takes the usual approach to adapting this sort of medium where the game-like parts are scrubbed from existence, replaced with liberal interpretations of what those actions could have been. Angels of Death, from my cursory research, is a lot more akin to a visual novel than an actual game, so it can get away with playing the content of the game closer to the chest whilst not coming off as overtly strange. Now, the content itself is what's on the table here, and that content is so exceedingly sharp that you might just cut yourself. Edge for edge's sake is the name of the game here, and not in the near-intentionally comedic Mahou Shoujo Site way either.
At all times, Angels of Death is a dead serious affair, which does nothing but undermine its poor, overly edgy content. Our main characters are an emotionless blonde girl and a bandage-covered scythe-wielding murderer. Their conversations are rife with edgy topics that do nothing but cause a constant state of cringe for the viewer. Adversaries and plot beats are similarly a skin-crawling level of bloodied edginess at all times. In a way, this over-the-top, deadpan delivery of such an absurdly violent and grotesque piece of content is comedic even if it isn't intended. A lot of my enjoyment with Angels of Death is due to this factor, but for those that can embrace the super-serious Shadow the Hedgehog side of this anime, not all is lost. The setting is fairly interesting in and of itself, and watching Zack and Rachel ascend through this subterranean hotel or horrors can be an engaging affair sometimes. Sometimes is the key word here though, because the rest of the experience is an incredible slog. J.C. Staff brings their best showing of the season here, but even that isn't enough to drag the rest of this show out of the bloodied, razor-filled dirt.
Score: 5.5/10
Title: Chio-chan no Tsugakuro
Genre: Comedy
Studio: Diomedea
Streaming: Crunchyroll
Yet another failed comedy adaptation takes the stage this summer season. I'll be honest here: the potential for this series was pretty high based on the source. It's a charming, well-drawn series that focuses on the wacky hijinks that our protagonist, Chio, experiences on her way to school each morning. However, that charm and polish falls flat on its face with some piss-poor animation and botched comedic timing. I can't remember more than one or two times where this series actually got me laughing in earnest, a smile here or there perhaps, but nothing like good anime comedy is capable of getting out of me. At the end of the day, it's not completely devoid of entertainment value, but there are just so, so many other better comedy anime out there than this. Other than being new, there's no real novelty to this one over any other series.
Score: 3.5/10
Genre: Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Studio: White Fox
Streaming: Crunchyroll
How do you make a sequel to a well-loved series that already had a satisfying conclusion? Well, you just don't change the ending, obviously. Steins;Gate Zero is an interesting take on an after-story, even for a narrative that relies on time travel as its key focus. Before we go any further, I'm going to give the spoiler warning now; if you somehow haven't already seen the original Steins;Gate, then stop reading and go correct that mistake now. The content of Zero is dependent on the original to make any sense at all, most notably the conclusion, or rather, one of the possible conclusions. Our first exposure to Zero came in the form of an early-air ONA, taking place shortly after the events of Steins;Gate. We quickly see that things aren't all well however, as Kurisu is notably absent and her friends are all mourning. Yes, Zero takes place in the timeline where Okabe chooses to save Mayuri over Kurisu, leaving her to bleed out and die on the floor. Those who remember the original ending will immediately recall this world-line as the one that eventually becomes WWIII, and this is where the core of Zero's plot takes place. However, such impending doom ends up far removed from this sequel's content, coming off a result of our character's actions rather than a prophecy of convergence.
Zero opts to deep-dive into our character's personal afflictions and narratives rather than the bombastic, "save the girl, save the world" angle that the original series so executed so well. As a sequel, these kinds of "after stories" are expected, giving the fans looks into the futures of the previous cast and resolutions to their hanging threads, but Zero's choice to make Okabe's mental hurdles central to the core narrative is a bold and welcome one. A husk of the man he once was, Okabe has hung up the flowing white lab coat in exchange for a drab, black set of business casual clothes. He is constantly wrestling with his choice to give up on trying to save Kurisu, shifting his focus toward his college education and study of real sciences to keep his mind off the tragedy. This comes crashing down when he attends a conference, and Amadeus, an AI with the consciousness of Kurisu, is revealed. This is where Zero takes an even darker, dramatic turn, but not at all in a bad way.
Even if we are focusing on our characters a little harder this time around, Zero is still very firmly Steins;Gate. Actions and espionage to uncover hidden conspiracies and mysteries around the existence of time machines abound here, just as they did before. The tone is a far more serious and somber one, yes, but it flows well with Zero's naturally higher stakes and more intense situations. I wish I could discuss what makes Zero such a great sequel more in detail, but any farther would be spoilers for the story itself. As it's a thriller, I can't very well rob potential viewers of those twists, so you'll have to take me at my word on it. For the skeptics that ask, "Why should I watch a sequel when I already know the ending?", please be assured that even the most jaded individuals will have a hard time being anywhere other than on the edge of their seats throughout Zero's runtime.
Thankfully, I can at least give some more notes on the production. White Fox, as they always do with their high-profile adaptations, killed it once again. The art and animation of the anime perfectly adapts the unique visual style of the visual novel without feeling disturbing or cluttered, with the well-composed music tying the experience together with some amazing background tracks. The iconic VAs from the original series all reprise their roles, giving stellar performances yet again throughout. New characters slot into the cast seamlessly, leaving you wondering about the time when they weren't part of the Future Gadgets Lab. Viewers will be happy to know of the many OP- and ED-less episodes, a classic of the studio to squeeze more and more content into every episode. The emotional highs and lows produced by Zero are nearly as good in quality as those of the original, and that's something that White Fox should be commended for not just for Zero, but for the original Steins;Gate as well.
Now, with all that praise out of the way, I have a misgiving or two with Zero that I need to get out there. The first is how a few particular aspects of the story are handled, notably related to a new character, Kagari. While I won't go too in detail (spoilers), her inclusion feels very unnecessary to the core plot of Zero, not adding much more than a few attempted emotional gutpunches near the end. These come off as a little silly, as the character herself is used as a bit of a catch-all to plug narrative holes as the writers see fit. This also may be a result of the blending of Zero's two main visual novel arcs, of which I have not played. I have heard from players that White Fox did an amazing job blending the two, but a blend is a blend, something is going to end up smudged in the process. For me, that smudge is the aforementioned Kagari, and the plot threads that come along with her.
Still, even taking into account some possible missteps in mixing the two arcs of the source, Steins;Gate Zero was a fitting sequel to an amazing original series. If you have not yet seen the original, again, please correct that mistake... And come back and marathon Zero directly after. For hardcore of both the series and anime at-large, you won't be disappointed.
Score: 8/10
Genre: Action, Drama
Studio: Wit Studio
Streaming: Crunchyroll
I'm going to keep this one short, since if you're an anime fan that somehow has avoided watching Attack on Titan for this long, then there's not much that can be done for you. Anyway, yes, the show is finally back after a decent, but largely underwhelming second season. This iteration of AoT is thankfully far more gripping and entertaining than the last, even if the focus differs greatly. The second season put a lot of emphasis on large, well-animated action set pieces that were massive amounts of fun to watch, but lacked that political intrigue and cliffhanger-filled storytelling that kept AoT fans mashing the next episode button until their Netflix boxes gave out. This new season seeks to remedy that, placing the spotlight on Krista and the political spider's web of her past. The plot also picks up a much quicker pace in finally getting to Eren's basement, and even though it might not get all the way there yet, the action feels more meaningful. Speaking of action, Wit yet again puts out an amazing production, emphasizing the gritty art style and unique world to create some damn good looking anime. If you're a longtime AoT fan, be sure to catch this in the long, cold two-season wait that we have before the fourth season will finally air.
Score: 8/10
Genre: Mystery, Drama
Studio: feel.
Streaming: Crunchyroll
Boring, uninspired science fiction time-travel story that was a rushed adaptation of a well-loved visual novel. Also, some pretty decent character designs and clean animation from studio feel.
Really nothing else to say here. Pathetically average to the point of having nothing of note to talk about. Go read a plot synopsis and then play the VN if it hooks you. Moving on.
Score: 5/10
Genre: Sports, Ecchi
Studio: C2C
Streaming: Crunchyroll
I don't normally go out of my way to watch sports anime, but when lesbian beach volleyball scrolled across my timeline during those past hot summer months, in what position was I to refuse? Harukana Receive, despite what some Anime YouTubers might profess, is exactly what it looks like from the cover: a fanservice-filled sports series. Still, while it may be more Dead or Alive Extreme 2 than Haikyuu, I can't deny that there's far more meat on the bone here than just your typical summer anime "TnA". The sports drama is a tad cliché, but well realized and executed, with some decent characters to boot. There's some yuribaiting to be had here too if you're into that sort of thing, with beach volleyball partnerships being referred to and respected as romantic relationships. However, nothing in either angle of the show pushes the envelope in the way that the community preached it was attempting to in the early episodes. I get that people can resonate with something deeply, especially in heavily "outgroup" circles like the anime fandom, but slapping some fancy labels on generic product that may only have one or two hints at novel or unique qualities does not make it then have those qualities. We call this "reaching", and it's what the anime community has been doing harder and harder every fucking season.
That aside, none of this makes Harukana Receive a bad show by any means. Like any other sports anime, it's more than capable of creating some warm character moments and hype-inducing games. It's just the show plays its game out in an incredibly safe way for the genre, never really pushing the envelope or trying anything new. This is "fine", but like, in a genre so incredibly saturated, so dense with this same song-and-dance time and time again, Harukana Receive doesn't manage to stand out in any way with its narrative. However, where it does leave a mark is in the production value. There are some superb cuts littered throughout the volleyball segments of the show, and the character designs pop off the screen with without resorting to full moé-blobness. The music is far and away the best feature of the show, mixing a surprising amount of island-style steel drum pieces with more of the classic anime faire. The final package is a consistent, cohesive experience, but whether that is a positive or negative for you is going to depend on your opinion of the show's aforementioned content.
If you're looking to watch some fit anime girls smack some balls around and maybe bait you into thinking they're gay, then I guess this is the show for you. At it's core, it's a perfectly acceptable ecchi sports anime, but don't let anyone fool you into thinking it's anything more than just that.
Score: 6.5/10
Genre: Isekai, Action, Drama
Studio: Lerche
Streaming: Amazon Prime
Take Sword Art Online and AnoHana then throw them into a blender with a heaping helping of generic sweetener. What comes out the other end is this show, Shichisei no Subaru, a lovingly crafted mediocre isekai series to pad out a lackluster summer season. This is one of those shows that is so cookie-cutter and uninteresting that I have very few realizable thoughts about it. It's exactly what you'd think it is from the "information" block on MAL, wallowing in the worst kind of dramatic genericism that gives a little pluck on the heartstrings here in there. Not a pluck hard enough to elicit even the smallest reaction mind you, but enough to piss you off that such an uninspired piece of media attempted to go for such a bold emotional gutpunch. That's the typical reaction I had to much of this show throughout its run, constantly abhorred by the gall it had to try to make me feel for such boring, lazy characters and writing. Shichisei no Subaru isn't completely devoid of merit though, since there happens to be a decent character or two and some occasionally acceptable animation spliced throughout the otherwise mountain of bullshit, but I just can't bring myself to care about any of it more than a passing interest.
Score: 4.5/10
Genre: Isekai, Action
Studio: Madhouse
Streaming: Crunchyroll
Oh Overlord, what happened to you? You used to be one of the most entertaining isekai series, and now here you are drowning in your own filth. Between this and the previous season of this series that I used to tout as one of the best and most unique isekai shows, I'm seriously reconsidering recommending even the first installment. This new third season brings with the same problem the last did: a shift in focus away from Ainz's schemes. Seeing our titular main character, an undead all-powerful lich, attempt to take over the world is the main draw of Overlord versus the sea of other similar titles, but when the successive seasons of that very same show decide to key in on a bunch of different side characters and politics instead, I began to quickly lose interest. Now, we did get more Ainz this time around than last, but the comparison is miserable compared to the first season, and likely won't get any better in the future. Overlord has now set itself up to tell a future story on a much larger stage than it appeared in the beginning, which in most cases would be a fine way to tell a tale of world domination, but here it just devalues the entire experience. Marry this with a lackluster and disappointing showing from Madhouse, and you've got a recipe for one hell of a disheartening sequel. If you haven't seen any Overlord yet, simply stop after the first season; the story is contained enough to be fulfilling. The continuations, both this and the last, will only satisfy the most rabid of fans.
Score: 6/10
Genre: Isekai, Harem, Ecchi
Studio: Ajia-Do
Streaming: Crunchyroll
Finally, an isekai anime that chooses to revel in its own ridiculous tropes. Isekai Maou is an ecchi harem to an absolute fault, leveraging its fantasy game setting to slot in a wide variety of girls for our beta protagonist to never get anywhere with. They slot into all the archetypes that you'd expect, filling out both the harem and isekai wheels cleanly and without any surprises. The series really embraces everything it is about isekai and harems that's so fucking stupid, but in a way that produces some intentional (and unintentional) comedy throughout the ride. Hell, the show opens with the main character enslaving two girls, who must then obey his every command. He, of course, never proceeds to use this for anything more than getting the two to apologize to one another, and the group of three becomes fast friends as our ripped model man waltzes around town with TWO GIRLS IN GIANT NECK SHACKLES. The absurdity of every action here is cranked to a charming level of eleven, and it's in this kind of shit that I think Isekai Maou ended up being one of the most fun shows of this season. Now, this wasn't hurt by the general feeling of "meh" everything this summer gave off, but I can't deny laughing my ass off when the solution to the penultimate problem in the series was to fingerblast a catgirl, unironically. Helping this ridiculousness along is some fairly decent production value; albeit nothing amazing or crazy, the well-drawn character designs and decent flashes of acceptable action animation help smooth over the experience.
If you can't kick back with a few beers and laugh at some trashy anime, then you should surely give this one a pass, but if you're in the camp that can appreciate a near parody-level offering mindless, ridiculous garbage, then Isekai Maou can be a whole lot of fun.
Score: 6/10
Title: Back Street Girls: Gokudolls
Genre: Comedy
Studio: J.C. Staff
Streaming: N/A
What a complete waste of a hilarious concept. I heard about this one through a friend who praised the manga for being hilarious. While I can agree that both the concept, sex-changed yakuza performing as idols, and the actual comedy are fairly decent, the adaptation is so botched that you might as well just read the manga. There is very little "animation" to speak of, with the show looking more like a PowerPoint presentation than real anime. I get that J.C. Staff is diverting resources to the new adaptation of A Certain Magical Index, and by all means, they should. That series is receiving a long-awaited sequel after a ten year hiatus into some of the most well-loved light novel arcs. However, that's no excuse for releasing a product that is literally not anime. Seriously, this is far closer to a polished storyboard or animatic than an actual production. J.C. Staff should be embarrassed by this, and hell, I'm embarrassed for them. If this sounds like a riot to you, just go read the perfectly acceptable (and hilarious) manga. There is no reason to watch something of this horrific level of quality.
Score: 2/10
Genre: Music, Drama, Magical Girl (?)
Studio: Kinema Citrus
Streaming: N/A
As is common for seasons with a fair amount of bleh, the best show of the season went unnoticed and doomed due to a lack of mainline streaming rights. Yeah, I said it: Shoujo Kageki Revue Starlight is undoubtedly my anime of the season, easily standing out amongst its seasonal contemporaries. While those more familiar with me might call out a laundry list of bias that would predispose me to this show, and even if they're probably right, this is still one of the most ambitious and well-realized original projects to grace anime in a long time. Starlight is very much an Utena for a new generation, modernizing the well-loved tale of the female prince while rounding off the edges. While Ikuhara isn't explicitly involved with this project, his protégé Tomohiro Furukawa is, and a similar flair and atmosphere helps carry Starlight into the same realms as its estranged parent. I won't get too into the staff details, as there's a lot I want to cover, but acknowledging Starlight's pedigree is important in evaluating it; much of the narrative and characterization are firm staples of Ikuhara's creed. So, without further adieu, let's talk Starlight and hope to be "reborn".
I want to key off the "modernization" aspects of Starlight first, as those elements vary heavy in their effectiveness toward the show's end goals. It's hard to say that Starlight isn't at the very least inspired by Revolutionary Girl Utena, but it's a bit more accurate to call it a retelling. In that retelling we're getting a blend of more progressive, modern ideals as well as some of the newer pitfalls of modern anime. I've spoken before about how "art house" is dead in current year, and Starlight preaches that loudly. A project bankrolled by Bushiroad with a Weiss Schwarz set announced long before the show even wrapped, there is bound to be some nasty "product" laying around. We can see this mostly clearly in "idol-style" presentation of our group of girls, especially in the earlier slice-of-life segments. Opting for distinct, loud character design and classic idol anime "one-trick" personality traits (at least initially), Starlight hopes to capture idol-tier level character worship for its eventual host of physical products. The most offensive part about this isn't that exists, but rather that it doesn't succeed; these characters just don't elicit those same "moé" reactions that Love Live or IM@S ones do, and while that's great for the story and characters themselves, it makes these flashes of "idol" all the more jarring. However, the modern influences in Starlight aren't wholly bad; more accepting and distinct depictions of the show's lesbian tendencies work directly in favor of the many classic instances of Ikuhara imagery and storytelling. Yes, the show is filled to the brim with yuri, as anything you'd expect from the student of the man who created Lesbian Bear Storm. If you aren't a fan (for some reason), don't let this dissuade you from Starlight, as reading the show as "close friendships" doesn't devalue the experience in the slightest. Yet another staple Ikuhara...-ism? Whatever.
Anyway, where Starlight's modernity shines is in its visual representation. Those character designs I was just bashing are actually fairly well done for what the show is aiming for: a blend of strikingly silhouetted yet endearing designs that cohesively slot together for group shots and the like. Your mileage may vary here, as I hear a lot of people complain about this visual design and lament it as a big reason they can't stand idol shows, but it is what it is. Our mains, Karen and Hikari, pop even further with their trademark adorable hairpins, subtly standing them above the rest of the 99th Taisho class. Overall visual composition is also strong, with supreme cinematography both at rest and during very well animated action sequences. The nature of the show's fights, or "auditions" allows for some fantastical and interpretative background art, and Starlight takes advantage of this at every opportunity. As arrows fly and sabers clash, our stage girls flip and fly through backstage hallways, high catwalks, and arid skyscapes.
While these stages are fantastical, Starlight constantly reminds the viewer that they are indeed a stage; pulleys, ropes, and plywood (literal) set pieces fly in and out of the girls' combat, giving a sense of verticality to the action that makes for some exciting fights. Utena influences shine again here in the audition outfits, making each of our nine girls into a prototypical bishoujo prince as they duke it out. I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the jaw-dropping transformation sequences (which I've linked above), where the girls' costumes are produced from scratch with some masterful hand drawn animation of an automated forging process. They use these "costumes" to fight violently with a variety of medieval weaponry until their rose is slashed and falls to the grou... Wait, got my series mixed up there for a second. Unlike Utena, this time the slashing of a pin from a combatant's raiment ends a battle, with the fall of the garment and an exclamation of "Position zero!" bringing the audition a close. The imagery here is, again, identical to that of the rose battles of Utena yore, but the emphasis on the removal of costume and the return to stage by the victor go a long way in emphasizing Starlight's theatrical focus.
Yes, Starlight is a show that revels in its celebration of theater and music, and sometimes both at once! Our stage girls audition in a joyous "revue" of song and battle, not at all dissimilar to another series I've talked about on here before, Symphogear. However, that performance is a lot more purposeful and dramatic than that of Symphogear, with Starlight using the ever-so-popular narrative device of revising character- and plot-dramatic narrative with bombastic fights. If this kind of shit doesn't tickle your fancy, you're probably going to find yourself regularly frustrated with Starlight. As much as I'd like to simply tell you that you're in the wrong camp, I have to acknowledge that this kind of stuff isn't for everyone. On top of that, dramatic tension can feel a bit forced, especially between our two leads. Hikari and Karen can will-they-won't-they with the best of them, and the levels of drag this brings to the later half of the plot can be maddening at times. This typically isn't an issue when the show dips into a steady stream of "couple of the week" episodes, but when it's time for our two mains to take the stage, I can't help but feel that it's not as impactful as it probably should be.
That's not the last of Starlight's issues either, as much as I hate to say it. For all of Starlight's leaps and bounds, there's the egregious misstep of somehow constantly appearing unoriginal. Yeah, it might be a fairly obvious retelling or reimagining of Utena, but there's more to it than that. I can pick out far too many plot beats and character arcs from other, similar dark shows, notably Madoka Magica. Hikari's progression as a character is goddamn near equivalent to that of Homura, and her similar mannerisms aren't helping that at all. I could go on with these comparisons, reaching as some of them may be, for quite a while, but I think a blanket statement here is more apt. You're going to get a fair bit of unoriginality in this "anime original" series, and if that kind of stuff really unnerves you, then you are, again, going to be frustrated. I can't stress enough here that Starlight is not a show made for everyone, despite the idol-hook tendencies of its early episodes. However, if you're a heavy fan of all the reference material I've talked about, like Utena, Madoka, and musical theater (to name a scant few), then you'll be falling head over heels for this show.
I've reserved myself from discussing specifics of the show's narrative, and I think that's for the best. Like most of these far more experimental works, I'd prefer if I can get you to check out a series without dipping into shock value and plot twists. Starlight is an entertaining and intriguing ride throughout, and even if it's a bit too specific of a product to break into the mass appeal that Bushiroad bankrolled it to be, I think the final result is better for it. If anything in this review has piqued your interest in the slightest, I implore you to give Shoujo Kageki Revue Starlight a try. Who knows? You might end up "reborn" too.
Score: 8.5/10
Again, I apologize to you all about the wait. I know not many of people read these, but that's no excuse for missing my own personal deadlines. For fall, I'm expecting to have a much easier time putting pen to paper on what's airing. There's a lot more good (and bad) to talk about. Never underestimate the difficulty of writing about lukewarm content; after all, anger and passion let ink flow most easily.
If you liked this, or think I'm full of shit, yell at me about it on Twitter (@beanwolf).
Ya'll know the deal by now: ratings are done inside-genre, so don't get livid when they're a little higher or lower than what the review would entail. You can only really compare something this broad and subjective to its in-genre contemporaries, especially with something as baseless as a number value.
Like I said, most of the season was "meh". If you want to jump right to the good stuff, click here or here.
Title: Happy Sugar Life
Genre: Psychological Thriller, Drama
Studio: Ezola
Streaming: Amazon Prime
Watch out Future Diaries, there's a brand new yandere on the block, and this one is her own special brand of dark, twisted crazy. Despite the name, Happy Sugar Life is an incredibly fucked up show from start to finish, delving into a group of some of the most reprehensible and disgusting characters to grace seasonal anime with their presence in a long, long time. Satou Matsuzaka, our yandere in question, is the cold and calculating type, searching for a perfect ideal of love with a violent passion. She finds what she's looking for in Shio Koube, an incredibly young girl who's been abandoned by her family. While this doesn't sound too grotesque in and of itself, Satou performs unspeakable acts in order to protect Shio, and cares for her in a suspicious, not-quite-motherly way. Tack on to our main duo a host of equally disturbed individuals, and you have the makings of a show that will have your views audibly dropping multiple "...what the fuck"s each episode.
As the show is a thriller, I don't want to reveal many specifics about the plot of Happy Sugar Life, so I'm going to speak abstractly on my misgivings with it. While a fairly sound straight adaptation of the source manga, the anime version of this story speeds up some of the perceived less important parts of the narrative. The effect of this is twofold: the first is an improved dramatic pace for the crescendos of the plot, while the second is a lessened development in our ensemble cast of characters. The anime chooses to firmly focus on Satou and Shio, and the ensemble's interactions as related to them. Yes, a few others do get their moments in the spotlight, but the anime is structured so as to never devote entire episodes or arcs to anyone but our main two. Scenes involving others are always interspliced with more Satou and Shio moments, always pulling us back. This makes our ensemble feel more like a parade of fucked up personalities than actual characters, and do little more other than attempt to get us to sympathize with Satou more, insisting she's "not so bad". Whether or not this works is up to you as the viewer, but damn if the rest of the crew doesn't try their hardest to do so.
The other key part of Happy Sugar Life I take issue with is the sheer amount of suspension of disbelief the viewer needs to be comfortable with every single character on screen being some form of psychotic or violent criminal. There are very few characters in this story that anyone could consider sane, and this makes the attempts at drama sometimes feel sad in a pathetic fashion, or even worse come off as hilarious. When everyone is crazy, then the insanity becomes normalized, which although may have been the goal in humanizing Satou's character, doesn't produce the intended effect if the viewer isn't willing to let this bit slide. The good news is, that other than these two major points, I didn't have very many other issues with the narrative or characters. The thrills were thrilling, and the plot engaging enough to get me to read the manga up to current at about the mid-season point. The adaptation of the more powerful scenes, like the silent confrontation and the artist's apartment, are masterfully done performances by both the voice actors and artists on this project. Oh, and it's also worth noting for you manga readers that this adaptation has a (pretty damn good) anime-original ending, so no reason for concern of a "continuing manga" ending.
To close this off, we'll end with aesthetics, which are unfortunately pretty poor. I have no idea if Ezola is a new or old studio, but their definitely lacking in the character design department. Designs are flat and generic in the most uninteresting way, and the backgrounds don't help out at all here either. The only thing I can commend them on is their facial expression, but since the show regularly takes a very grotesque spin on these, there's a lot of design variance throughout thirteen episodes. There are some interesting liberties taken with the visual representations of confusion and love that the mangaka used so much in the print version, but not all of them come across that well. On top of all this, the music is barely passable, leaving Happy Sugar Life to stand on really nothing but its narrative. Thankfully, it can do that to an acceptable level, but only for those that can push past the tonal requirements of the content.
Happy Sugar Life can be at times hard to stomach, but those who can push past the nastier bits will experience a fairly well done and intriguing story.
Score: 7/10
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Title: Boku no Hero Academia Season 3
Genre: Shounen, Superpower
Studio: BONES
Streaming: Crunchyroll
Do I really have to keep telling people to watch MHA? Really? This is the best thing to happen in shounen in such a long fucking time. If you like shounen tropes even in the slightest then this should be moved to the top of your list. I'm one of the biggest shounen haters and I am in love with this show. The writing is great, the characters are super endearing, and the action animation is consistently gorgeous. Get caught up now, and join us all on the hype train when season four starts up in two seasons.
Score: 8/10
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Title: Yuragi-sou no Yuuna-san
Genre: Harem, Romantic Comedy
Studio: Xebec
Streaming: Crunchyroll
Started watching this one on a literal dare, with two of my fellow weeb coworkers egging me on to watch it. They claimed we'd watch through it together, but instead, as I predicted, I ended up being the only one foolish enough to finish the job. Yuuna is everything that's wrong with the tired, overdone harem romantic comedy that does nothing but pull in a thunderous "blech" from even the most rabid of fans. The characters are nothing more than vehicles for fanservice, along with any semblance of a plot the show attempts to have. They are husks so devoid of personality or charm, so overtly focused on doing nothing more but filling out the necessary harem archetypes, that Yuuna regularly put me to sleep while watching. Yuuna herself is pretty cute, sure, but just one character design isn't worth trudging through the rest of this trashy show.
Score: 4/10
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Title: Hataraku Saibou
Genre: Educational, Comedy
Studio: David Production
Streaming: Crunchyroll
What if the team behind Jojo's decided to adapt Osmosis Jones into an anime production? Well, you'd get this show, Cells at Work. While the absurdist premise and high-quality production followed through on its initial promises, the large amount of hype this series pushed upon release was mostly undeserved. Yes, there's a lot of crazy, violent action sequences and the concept is beyond novel, but the monster-of-the-week formula combined with an overdose of (often reused) stop-frame narration caused the show to bottom out more often than not. I can only watch Red Blood Cell get lost so many times and White Blood Cell stab germs so many times before it gets boring, especially when those germ and virus designs are also so frequently recycled. It's also hard to form any sort of connection with our cast of characters, and it's not at all because they're cells. Characters don't really have names or unique character designs due to the nature of the show's concept, and the show moves at such a breakneck pace because of the educational content being squeezed in that action feels rushed and (ironically) unnatural.
None of this is to say that Cells at Work is a boring or even a bad show; it can be a hell of a lot of fun, and the David Production fight sakuga sure doesn't hurt in that regard, but I just can't help but feel that this property didn't have enough meat on the bone to warrant a full adaptation. Maybe it would have been best to cherry pick some of the more interesting chapters of the original Cells at Work, and running the last six episodes as excerpts from Cells at Work: Black. The latter is a sister manga to the original, focusing on the workings of a stressed out, drunk, chain-smoking salaryman's body. Since the show seems to not focus on our characters much anyway, it would have been fairly inconsequential to swap us into a new, darker in-body reality halfway through the season. Me thinking this is probably just a bargaining attempt, as I was hopeful for Cells at Work to be more than just one big biology joke, leaving little more than a temporary seasonal impression. Still, it was, at the very least, decent and enjoyable biology joke throughout, and my personal gripes shouldn't dissuade you from watching one of the most popular shows of the past summer season. Just don't get your hopes up too high.
Score: 7/10
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Title: Persona 5 the Animation
Genre: Drama, Action
Studio: Cloverworks
Streaming: Crunchyroll
I picked this one up because I don't own a PS4, and since the FFVII remake likely won't make it to that platform, I didn't see much of a reason to make an undue investment. That said, I don't have a platform to judge this show on much other than its own merits, which are thankfully on acceptable levels. Now, this one had one hell of a rough start, with some egregious obvious corner-cutting even from the first episode that caused a good deal of the community to drop the adaptation before it even got started. Since I never drop anything, I soldiered onward, and I'm happy that I did. Even if this adaptation isn't a perfect recreation of this award-winning JRPG, it's good enough to get someone who's totally ignorant to the source interested in its narrative.
Game adaptations are tricky business for anime, but where I think P5A succeeds is that it doesn't make any attempt to "un-gameify" the parts of the show where it makes no sense to attempt it. Yes, this does devalue the narrative of the final product heavily, but when you sit down to watch P5A as some glorified version of a let's play, it ends up making the experience far more palatable. This effect runs all the way down through, so your mileage with this approach may vary; if sitting through regular montages of fetch quests and mob battles is something that sounds like a deal-breaker for you, then you should probably take a pass and just play the game. However, for those of us who don't have the hundreds of hours required to get through it, this 26-episode adaptation does a good enough job of showing the viewer what it would be like if they did indeed play it through. At the very least, the narrative and characters present themselves very well here, and in a series with such a large and varied core cast it's enjoyable to see everyone get their stint in the spotlight.
So, before I said that P5A got me interested in P5's story, but unfortunately that story isn't much more than your standard JRPG romp with a bit of a modern Ocean's Eleven flair. All the cornerstones of the Persona franchise are here in full force, so whether or not that's a positive or negative is for the viewer to decide. The production value of P5A isn't up for debate though; this show is downright ugly a good bit of the time, especially in the earlier half of the series. It attempts to cover it up with P5's supremely clean art direction, with lots of contrasting dark and light colors and comic-book style, but this can only go so far. CG crowds and bad visual affects mar every scene that they end up being used in, and the urban setting isn't doing the frequency any favors. There's a lot of corner cutting in the action, and seeing Personas regularly reduced to either CG models or slide-show frame counts is very disappointing. The more somber and calm moments of P5A regularly outshine the supposed fever-pitches, both from an acting and technical perspective. There's also the issue of the ending, as where the adaptation decides to close up shop is a massive cliffhanger, meant to be remedied by an OVA that will air later this year.
As it stands, I'm pretty torn on recommending P5A as a replacement for playing through the game. The shoddy production quality drags down an otherwise well-done execution in the straight-adapting of the game to animation, and the unfinished narrative doesn't make rushing out to watch this an attractive option for those interested. Maybe it's best to just let it sit, and see if the BD release fixes some of these earlier issues. I'm doubtful of that, but if it saves viewers the massive amount of time needed to play the actual game, then it might be worth waiting for.
Score: 6/10
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Title: Planet With
Genre: Shonen, Action
Studio: J.C. Staff
Streaming: Crunchyroll
Why was this show so well liked this season? I swear, this one keeps being touted as the "hidden gem" of Summer 2018, but I can't see more in this one than just another tired shounen series. I picked this one up because I wanted another weekend show, and I've been regretting it ever since. Our entire cast of characters is just a smattering of same tired shounen tropes that we see time and time again, and they don't have any unique properties one way or the other. About the only merit I can hand out here on a narrative level is that the author really tries their hardest to write one of these "you don't really know who is the bad guy, maybe we are all bad guys or good guys"-kind of story. They try to write that. In reality, what we get is a clusterfuck of characters that switch sides at random and a rising and falling action that are so simultaneously boring and nonsensical that I just could not bring myself to care about a singular one of these characters, God forbid the plot. Oh, and top it all off with a piss-poor visual showing from J.C. Staff, littered with horrific CG and lazy animation. I cannot think of a single reason to recommend this show over the hundreds of other miserable piles of mass-produced shounen garbage. Just because Digibro (a bona fide idiot and disgusting individual) or other anime YouTuber endorses a show doesn't mean that it's automatically good and you need to agree. Think for yourselves, and please avoid trash like Planet With.
Score: 3/10
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Title: Satsuriku no Tenshi
Genre: Horror, Drama, Mystery
Studio: J.C. Staff
Streaming: Crunchyroll
This is yet another show this season that hasn't actually wrapped yet, promising to finish out its story with a later-airing OVA. And coincidentally, it's also another adaptation of a video game, but Angels of Death is a little bit more of a reach. The game is a hyper-niche doujin RPG Maker title, and if that scares you off before you give it a chance, just hold on and let's run through it a bit. Unlike P5A, this show takes the usual approach to adapting this sort of medium where the game-like parts are scrubbed from existence, replaced with liberal interpretations of what those actions could have been. Angels of Death, from my cursory research, is a lot more akin to a visual novel than an actual game, so it can get away with playing the content of the game closer to the chest whilst not coming off as overtly strange. Now, the content itself is what's on the table here, and that content is so exceedingly sharp that you might just cut yourself. Edge for edge's sake is the name of the game here, and not in the near-intentionally comedic Mahou Shoujo Site way either.
At all times, Angels of Death is a dead serious affair, which does nothing but undermine its poor, overly edgy content. Our main characters are an emotionless blonde girl and a bandage-covered scythe-wielding murderer. Their conversations are rife with edgy topics that do nothing but cause a constant state of cringe for the viewer. Adversaries and plot beats are similarly a skin-crawling level of bloodied edginess at all times. In a way, this over-the-top, deadpan delivery of such an absurdly violent and grotesque piece of content is comedic even if it isn't intended. A lot of my enjoyment with Angels of Death is due to this factor, but for those that can embrace the super-serious Shadow the Hedgehog side of this anime, not all is lost. The setting is fairly interesting in and of itself, and watching Zack and Rachel ascend through this subterranean hotel or horrors can be an engaging affair sometimes. Sometimes is the key word here though, because the rest of the experience is an incredible slog. J.C. Staff brings their best showing of the season here, but even that isn't enough to drag the rest of this show out of the bloodied, razor-filled dirt.
Score: 5.5/10
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Title: Chio-chan no Tsugakuro
Genre: Comedy
Studio: Diomedea
Streaming: Crunchyroll
Yet another failed comedy adaptation takes the stage this summer season. I'll be honest here: the potential for this series was pretty high based on the source. It's a charming, well-drawn series that focuses on the wacky hijinks that our protagonist, Chio, experiences on her way to school each morning. However, that charm and polish falls flat on its face with some piss-poor animation and botched comedic timing. I can't remember more than one or two times where this series actually got me laughing in earnest, a smile here or there perhaps, but nothing like good anime comedy is capable of getting out of me. At the end of the day, it's not completely devoid of entertainment value, but there are just so, so many other better comedy anime out there than this. Other than being new, there's no real novelty to this one over any other series.
Score: 3.5/10
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Title: Steins;Gate Zero
Genre: Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Studio: White Fox
Streaming: Crunchyroll
How do you make a sequel to a well-loved series that already had a satisfying conclusion? Well, you just don't change the ending, obviously. Steins;Gate Zero is an interesting take on an after-story, even for a narrative that relies on time travel as its key focus. Before we go any further, I'm going to give the spoiler warning now; if you somehow haven't already seen the original Steins;Gate, then stop reading and go correct that mistake now. The content of Zero is dependent on the original to make any sense at all, most notably the conclusion, or rather, one of the possible conclusions. Our first exposure to Zero came in the form of an early-air ONA, taking place shortly after the events of Steins;Gate. We quickly see that things aren't all well however, as Kurisu is notably absent and her friends are all mourning. Yes, Zero takes place in the timeline where Okabe chooses to save Mayuri over Kurisu, leaving her to bleed out and die on the floor. Those who remember the original ending will immediately recall this world-line as the one that eventually becomes WWIII, and this is where the core of Zero's plot takes place. However, such impending doom ends up far removed from this sequel's content, coming off a result of our character's actions rather than a prophecy of convergence.
Zero opts to deep-dive into our character's personal afflictions and narratives rather than the bombastic, "save the girl, save the world" angle that the original series so executed so well. As a sequel, these kinds of "after stories" are expected, giving the fans looks into the futures of the previous cast and resolutions to their hanging threads, but Zero's choice to make Okabe's mental hurdles central to the core narrative is a bold and welcome one. A husk of the man he once was, Okabe has hung up the flowing white lab coat in exchange for a drab, black set of business casual clothes. He is constantly wrestling with his choice to give up on trying to save Kurisu, shifting his focus toward his college education and study of real sciences to keep his mind off the tragedy. This comes crashing down when he attends a conference, and Amadeus, an AI with the consciousness of Kurisu, is revealed. This is where Zero takes an even darker, dramatic turn, but not at all in a bad way.
Even if we are focusing on our characters a little harder this time around, Zero is still very firmly Steins;Gate. Actions and espionage to uncover hidden conspiracies and mysteries around the existence of time machines abound here, just as they did before. The tone is a far more serious and somber one, yes, but it flows well with Zero's naturally higher stakes and more intense situations. I wish I could discuss what makes Zero such a great sequel more in detail, but any farther would be spoilers for the story itself. As it's a thriller, I can't very well rob potential viewers of those twists, so you'll have to take me at my word on it. For the skeptics that ask, "Why should I watch a sequel when I already know the ending?", please be assured that even the most jaded individuals will have a hard time being anywhere other than on the edge of their seats throughout Zero's runtime.
Thankfully, I can at least give some more notes on the production. White Fox, as they always do with their high-profile adaptations, killed it once again. The art and animation of the anime perfectly adapts the unique visual style of the visual novel without feeling disturbing or cluttered, with the well-composed music tying the experience together with some amazing background tracks. The iconic VAs from the original series all reprise their roles, giving stellar performances yet again throughout. New characters slot into the cast seamlessly, leaving you wondering about the time when they weren't part of the Future Gadgets Lab. Viewers will be happy to know of the many OP- and ED-less episodes, a classic of the studio to squeeze more and more content into every episode. The emotional highs and lows produced by Zero are nearly as good in quality as those of the original, and that's something that White Fox should be commended for not just for Zero, but for the original Steins;Gate as well.
Now, with all that praise out of the way, I have a misgiving or two with Zero that I need to get out there. The first is how a few particular aspects of the story are handled, notably related to a new character, Kagari. While I won't go too in detail (spoilers), her inclusion feels very unnecessary to the core plot of Zero, not adding much more than a few attempted emotional gutpunches near the end. These come off as a little silly, as the character herself is used as a bit of a catch-all to plug narrative holes as the writers see fit. This also may be a result of the blending of Zero's two main visual novel arcs, of which I have not played. I have heard from players that White Fox did an amazing job blending the two, but a blend is a blend, something is going to end up smudged in the process. For me, that smudge is the aforementioned Kagari, and the plot threads that come along with her.
Still, even taking into account some possible missteps in mixing the two arcs of the source, Steins;Gate Zero was a fitting sequel to an amazing original series. If you have not yet seen the original, again, please correct that mistake... And come back and marathon Zero directly after. For hardcore of both the series and anime at-large, you won't be disappointed.
Score: 8/10
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Title: Shingeki no Kyojin S3
Genre: Action, Drama
Studio: Wit Studio
Streaming: Crunchyroll
I'm going to keep this one short, since if you're an anime fan that somehow has avoided watching Attack on Titan for this long, then there's not much that can be done for you. Anyway, yes, the show is finally back after a decent, but largely underwhelming second season. This iteration of AoT is thankfully far more gripping and entertaining than the last, even if the focus differs greatly. The second season put a lot of emphasis on large, well-animated action set pieces that were massive amounts of fun to watch, but lacked that political intrigue and cliffhanger-filled storytelling that kept AoT fans mashing the next episode button until their Netflix boxes gave out. This new season seeks to remedy that, placing the spotlight on Krista and the political spider's web of her past. The plot also picks up a much quicker pace in finally getting to Eren's basement, and even though it might not get all the way there yet, the action feels more meaningful. Speaking of action, Wit yet again puts out an amazing production, emphasizing the gritty art style and unique world to create some damn good looking anime. If you're a longtime AoT fan, be sure to catch this in the long, cold two-season wait that we have before the fourth season will finally air.
Score: 8/10
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Title: Island
Genre: Mystery, Drama
Studio: feel.
Streaming: Crunchyroll
Boring, uninspired science fiction time-travel story that was a rushed adaptation of a well-loved visual novel. Also, some pretty decent character designs and clean animation from studio feel.
Really nothing else to say here. Pathetically average to the point of having nothing of note to talk about. Go read a plot synopsis and then play the VN if it hooks you. Moving on.
Score: 5/10
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Title: Harukana Receive
Genre: Sports, Ecchi
Studio: C2C
Streaming: Crunchyroll
I don't normally go out of my way to watch sports anime, but when lesbian beach volleyball scrolled across my timeline during those past hot summer months, in what position was I to refuse? Harukana Receive, despite what some Anime YouTubers might profess, is exactly what it looks like from the cover: a fanservice-filled sports series. Still, while it may be more Dead or Alive Extreme 2 than Haikyuu, I can't deny that there's far more meat on the bone here than just your typical summer anime "TnA". The sports drama is a tad cliché, but well realized and executed, with some decent characters to boot. There's some yuribaiting to be had here too if you're into that sort of thing, with beach volleyball partnerships being referred to and respected as romantic relationships. However, nothing in either angle of the show pushes the envelope in the way that the community preached it was attempting to in the early episodes. I get that people can resonate with something deeply, especially in heavily "outgroup" circles like the anime fandom, but slapping some fancy labels on generic product that may only have one or two hints at novel or unique qualities does not make it then have those qualities. We call this "reaching", and it's what the anime community has been doing harder and harder every fucking season.
That aside, none of this makes Harukana Receive a bad show by any means. Like any other sports anime, it's more than capable of creating some warm character moments and hype-inducing games. It's just the show plays its game out in an incredibly safe way for the genre, never really pushing the envelope or trying anything new. This is "fine", but like, in a genre so incredibly saturated, so dense with this same song-and-dance time and time again, Harukana Receive doesn't manage to stand out in any way with its narrative. However, where it does leave a mark is in the production value. There are some superb cuts littered throughout the volleyball segments of the show, and the character designs pop off the screen with without resorting to full moé-blobness. The music is far and away the best feature of the show, mixing a surprising amount of island-style steel drum pieces with more of the classic anime faire. The final package is a consistent, cohesive experience, but whether that is a positive or negative for you is going to depend on your opinion of the show's aforementioned content.
If you're looking to watch some fit anime girls smack some balls around and maybe bait you into thinking they're gay, then I guess this is the show for you. At it's core, it's a perfectly acceptable ecchi sports anime, but don't let anyone fool you into thinking it's anything more than just that.
Score: 6.5/10
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Title: Shichisei no Subaru
Genre: Isekai, Action, Drama
Studio: Lerche
Streaming: Amazon Prime
Take Sword Art Online and AnoHana then throw them into a blender with a heaping helping of generic sweetener. What comes out the other end is this show, Shichisei no Subaru, a lovingly crafted mediocre isekai series to pad out a lackluster summer season. This is one of those shows that is so cookie-cutter and uninteresting that I have very few realizable thoughts about it. It's exactly what you'd think it is from the "information" block on MAL, wallowing in the worst kind of dramatic genericism that gives a little pluck on the heartstrings here in there. Not a pluck hard enough to elicit even the smallest reaction mind you, but enough to piss you off that such an uninspired piece of media attempted to go for such a bold emotional gutpunch. That's the typical reaction I had to much of this show throughout its run, constantly abhorred by the gall it had to try to make me feel for such boring, lazy characters and writing. Shichisei no Subaru isn't completely devoid of merit though, since there happens to be a decent character or two and some occasionally acceptable animation spliced throughout the otherwise mountain of bullshit, but I just can't bring myself to care about any of it more than a passing interest.
Score: 4.5/10
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Title: Overlord III
Genre: Isekai, Action
Studio: Madhouse
Streaming: Crunchyroll
Oh Overlord, what happened to you? You used to be one of the most entertaining isekai series, and now here you are drowning in your own filth. Between this and the previous season of this series that I used to tout as one of the best and most unique isekai shows, I'm seriously reconsidering recommending even the first installment. This new third season brings with the same problem the last did: a shift in focus away from Ainz's schemes. Seeing our titular main character, an undead all-powerful lich, attempt to take over the world is the main draw of Overlord versus the sea of other similar titles, but when the successive seasons of that very same show decide to key in on a bunch of different side characters and politics instead, I began to quickly lose interest. Now, we did get more Ainz this time around than last, but the comparison is miserable compared to the first season, and likely won't get any better in the future. Overlord has now set itself up to tell a future story on a much larger stage than it appeared in the beginning, which in most cases would be a fine way to tell a tale of world domination, but here it just devalues the entire experience. Marry this with a lackluster and disappointing showing from Madhouse, and you've got a recipe for one hell of a disheartening sequel. If you haven't seen any Overlord yet, simply stop after the first season; the story is contained enough to be fulfilling. The continuations, both this and the last, will only satisfy the most rabid of fans.
Score: 6/10
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Title: Isekai Maou to Shoukan Shoujo no Dorei Majutsu
Genre: Isekai, Harem, Ecchi
Studio: Ajia-Do
Streaming: Crunchyroll
Finally, an isekai anime that chooses to revel in its own ridiculous tropes. Isekai Maou is an ecchi harem to an absolute fault, leveraging its fantasy game setting to slot in a wide variety of girls for our beta protagonist to never get anywhere with. They slot into all the archetypes that you'd expect, filling out both the harem and isekai wheels cleanly and without any surprises. The series really embraces everything it is about isekai and harems that's so fucking stupid, but in a way that produces some intentional (and unintentional) comedy throughout the ride. Hell, the show opens with the main character enslaving two girls, who must then obey his every command. He, of course, never proceeds to use this for anything more than getting the two to apologize to one another, and the group of three becomes fast friends as our ripped model man waltzes around town with TWO GIRLS IN GIANT NECK SHACKLES. The absurdity of every action here is cranked to a charming level of eleven, and it's in this kind of shit that I think Isekai Maou ended up being one of the most fun shows of this season. Now, this wasn't hurt by the general feeling of "meh" everything this summer gave off, but I can't deny laughing my ass off when the solution to the penultimate problem in the series was to fingerblast a catgirl, unironically. Helping this ridiculousness along is some fairly decent production value; albeit nothing amazing or crazy, the well-drawn character designs and decent flashes of acceptable action animation help smooth over the experience.
If you can't kick back with a few beers and laugh at some trashy anime, then you should surely give this one a pass, but if you're in the camp that can appreciate a near parody-level offering mindless, ridiculous garbage, then Isekai Maou can be a whole lot of fun.
Score: 6/10
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Title: Back Street Girls: Gokudolls
Genre: Comedy
Studio: J.C. Staff
Streaming: N/A
What a complete waste of a hilarious concept. I heard about this one through a friend who praised the manga for being hilarious. While I can agree that both the concept, sex-changed yakuza performing as idols, and the actual comedy are fairly decent, the adaptation is so botched that you might as well just read the manga. There is very little "animation" to speak of, with the show looking more like a PowerPoint presentation than real anime. I get that J.C. Staff is diverting resources to the new adaptation of A Certain Magical Index, and by all means, they should. That series is receiving a long-awaited sequel after a ten year hiatus into some of the most well-loved light novel arcs. However, that's no excuse for releasing a product that is literally not anime. Seriously, this is far closer to a polished storyboard or animatic than an actual production. J.C. Staff should be embarrassed by this, and hell, I'm embarrassed for them. If this sounds like a riot to you, just go read the perfectly acceptable (and hilarious) manga. There is no reason to watch something of this horrific level of quality.
Score: 2/10
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Title: Shoujo Kageki Revue StarlightGenre: Music, Drama, Magical Girl (?)
Studio: Kinema Citrus
Streaming: N/A
As is common for seasons with a fair amount of bleh, the best show of the season went unnoticed and doomed due to a lack of mainline streaming rights. Yeah, I said it: Shoujo Kageki Revue Starlight is undoubtedly my anime of the season, easily standing out amongst its seasonal contemporaries. While those more familiar with me might call out a laundry list of bias that would predispose me to this show, and even if they're probably right, this is still one of the most ambitious and well-realized original projects to grace anime in a long time. Starlight is very much an Utena for a new generation, modernizing the well-loved tale of the female prince while rounding off the edges. While Ikuhara isn't explicitly involved with this project, his protégé Tomohiro Furukawa is, and a similar flair and atmosphere helps carry Starlight into the same realms as its estranged parent. I won't get too into the staff details, as there's a lot I want to cover, but acknowledging Starlight's pedigree is important in evaluating it; much of the narrative and characterization are firm staples of Ikuhara's creed. So, without further adieu, let's talk Starlight and hope to be "reborn".
I want to key off the "modernization" aspects of Starlight first, as those elements vary heavy in their effectiveness toward the show's end goals. It's hard to say that Starlight isn't at the very least inspired by Revolutionary Girl Utena, but it's a bit more accurate to call it a retelling. In that retelling we're getting a blend of more progressive, modern ideals as well as some of the newer pitfalls of modern anime. I've spoken before about how "art house" is dead in current year, and Starlight preaches that loudly. A project bankrolled by Bushiroad with a Weiss Schwarz set announced long before the show even wrapped, there is bound to be some nasty "product" laying around. We can see this mostly clearly in "idol-style" presentation of our group of girls, especially in the earlier slice-of-life segments. Opting for distinct, loud character design and classic idol anime "one-trick" personality traits (at least initially), Starlight hopes to capture idol-tier level character worship for its eventual host of physical products. The most offensive part about this isn't that exists, but rather that it doesn't succeed; these characters just don't elicit those same "moé" reactions that Love Live or IM@S ones do, and while that's great for the story and characters themselves, it makes these flashes of "idol" all the more jarring. However, the modern influences in Starlight aren't wholly bad; more accepting and distinct depictions of the show's lesbian tendencies work directly in favor of the many classic instances of Ikuhara imagery and storytelling. Yes, the show is filled to the brim with yuri, as anything you'd expect from the student of the man who created Lesbian Bear Storm. If you aren't a fan (for some reason), don't let this dissuade you from Starlight, as reading the show as "close friendships" doesn't devalue the experience in the slightest. Yet another staple Ikuhara...-ism? Whatever.
Anyway, where Starlight's modernity shines is in its visual representation. Those character designs I was just bashing are actually fairly well done for what the show is aiming for: a blend of strikingly silhouetted yet endearing designs that cohesively slot together for group shots and the like. Your mileage may vary here, as I hear a lot of people complain about this visual design and lament it as a big reason they can't stand idol shows, but it is what it is. Our mains, Karen and Hikari, pop even further with their trademark adorable hairpins, subtly standing them above the rest of the 99th Taisho class. Overall visual composition is also strong, with supreme cinematography both at rest and during very well animated action sequences. The nature of the show's fights, or "auditions" allows for some fantastical and interpretative background art, and Starlight takes advantage of this at every opportunity. As arrows fly and sabers clash, our stage girls flip and fly through backstage hallways, high catwalks, and arid skyscapes.
While these stages are fantastical, Starlight constantly reminds the viewer that they are indeed a stage; pulleys, ropes, and plywood (literal) set pieces fly in and out of the girls' combat, giving a sense of verticality to the action that makes for some exciting fights. Utena influences shine again here in the audition outfits, making each of our nine girls into a prototypical bishoujo prince as they duke it out. I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the jaw-dropping transformation sequences (which I've linked above), where the girls' costumes are produced from scratch with some masterful hand drawn animation of an automated forging process. They use these "costumes" to fight violently with a variety of medieval weaponry until their rose is slashed and falls to the grou... Wait, got my series mixed up there for a second. Unlike Utena, this time the slashing of a pin from a combatant's raiment ends a battle, with the fall of the garment and an exclamation of "Position zero!" bringing the audition a close. The imagery here is, again, identical to that of the rose battles of Utena yore, but the emphasis on the removal of costume and the return to stage by the victor go a long way in emphasizing Starlight's theatrical focus.
Yes, Starlight is a show that revels in its celebration of theater and music, and sometimes both at once! Our stage girls audition in a joyous "revue" of song and battle, not at all dissimilar to another series I've talked about on here before, Symphogear. However, that performance is a lot more purposeful and dramatic than that of Symphogear, with Starlight using the ever-so-popular narrative device of revising character- and plot-dramatic narrative with bombastic fights. If this kind of shit doesn't tickle your fancy, you're probably going to find yourself regularly frustrated with Starlight. As much as I'd like to simply tell you that you're in the wrong camp, I have to acknowledge that this kind of stuff isn't for everyone. On top of that, dramatic tension can feel a bit forced, especially between our two leads. Hikari and Karen can will-they-won't-they with the best of them, and the levels of drag this brings to the later half of the plot can be maddening at times. This typically isn't an issue when the show dips into a steady stream of "couple of the week" episodes, but when it's time for our two mains to take the stage, I can't help but feel that it's not as impactful as it probably should be.
That's not the last of Starlight's issues either, as much as I hate to say it. For all of Starlight's leaps and bounds, there's the egregious misstep of somehow constantly appearing unoriginal. Yeah, it might be a fairly obvious retelling or reimagining of Utena, but there's more to it than that. I can pick out far too many plot beats and character arcs from other, similar dark shows, notably Madoka Magica. Hikari's progression as a character is goddamn near equivalent to that of Homura, and her similar mannerisms aren't helping that at all. I could go on with these comparisons, reaching as some of them may be, for quite a while, but I think a blanket statement here is more apt. You're going to get a fair bit of unoriginality in this "anime original" series, and if that kind of stuff really unnerves you, then you are, again, going to be frustrated. I can't stress enough here that Starlight is not a show made for everyone, despite the idol-hook tendencies of its early episodes. However, if you're a heavy fan of all the reference material I've talked about, like Utena, Madoka, and musical theater (to name a scant few), then you'll be falling head over heels for this show.
I've reserved myself from discussing specifics of the show's narrative, and I think that's for the best. Like most of these far more experimental works, I'd prefer if I can get you to check out a series without dipping into shock value and plot twists. Starlight is an entertaining and intriguing ride throughout, and even if it's a bit too specific of a product to break into the mass appeal that Bushiroad bankrolled it to be, I think the final result is better for it. If anything in this review has piqued your interest in the slightest, I implore you to give Shoujo Kageki Revue Starlight a try. Who knows? You might end up "reborn" too.
Score: 8.5/10
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Again, I apologize to you all about the wait. I know not many of people read these, but that's no excuse for missing my own personal deadlines. For fall, I'm expecting to have a much easier time putting pen to paper on what's airing. There's a lot more good (and bad) to talk about. Never underestimate the difficulty of writing about lukewarm content; after all, anger and passion let ink flow most easily.
If you liked this, or think I'm full of shit, yell at me about it on Twitter (@beanwolf).