Spring 2019 Anime in Review
After a bit of a hiatus last season, I’m back with the usual crazed rants that you’d expect. I apologize for the lapse in content generation, but fall was just to “meh” to warrant a full post’s worth of reviews. If you’re really guessing as to what I’d have recommended, I’ll spoil it for you here: it’s just SSS.Gridman and Bloom into You. That’s it. Everything else was kind of boring.
Title: Boogiepop wa Warawanai
Genre: Sci-Fi, Psychological, Mystery
Studio: Madhouse
Streaming: Crunchyroll, VRV
If you’re entrenched in the anime fandom, you may have heard the name Boogiepop before, but been confused as to what it meant or stood for. A famously popular and successful light novel series with a somewhat controversial TV anime, Boogiepop received a far more polished and “straightforward” adaptation by Madhouse just in time for Dengeki Bunko's anniversary. If anything, this 2019 rendition of Boogiepop is a complete and polished package, something the previous middling 2000’s version could never stake a claim to. "Okay… but what is it", you scream, and I hear you, but that’s a question that’s not exactly easy to answer. Boogiepop is a sci-fi mystery series that utilizes unreliable narrators and non-chronological storytelling to weave seemingly disconnected arcs into fantastical stories about human nature. This kind of storytelling in anime, where an arc rarely makes sense until its final episode, has become “dated” as the medium drifts closer and closer to becoming mainstream, but Boogiepop revels in its “old-school” structure and tone. The result is an anime product that hearkens back to the golden age of mid-2000s anime while taking advantage of all the new leaps and bounds in production quality that the current day Madhouse is capable of, and it’s quite a result to behold.
Boogiepop presents itself within four loosely connected stories, all of them being presented anachronistically to some level. Thankfully, unlike the heyday of these types of stories, these arcs did release completely in sequence, keeping the storytelling contained to each individual arc. The “loose connections” between our stories are primarily our characters, most importantly Boogiepop himself. Presented as “a reaper who appears to destroy enemies of the world”, his persona inhabits the body of a high school girl, arising intermittently in the form of multiple personality disorder and a mysterious cloak. This description should be adequate in describing the tone of the series; Boogiepop takes itself very seriously and lends itself to what many would describe as “2deep4you” narratives, even if the premise and visualization of such is a bit off-the-wall or ridiculous. Even if that’s consistent with the era when it was written, it airing in the times of today’s seasonal anime landscape is a bit of a rarity, likely off-putting to some. Still, these stories are effective in what they set out to do, keeping the viewing engaged by inviting them to think and draw their own conclusions throughout each three to six episode narrative before laying bare its own take at the very end. I have heard Boogiepop be described from viewers as everything from “refreshing” to “exhausting”, so this is going to be something that you’ll have to decide for yourself. As someone who grew up watching and loving the kind of anime that Boogiepop aspires to emulate, I personally enjoyed it immensely, but I know that many won’t agree with me.
While your affinity for the type of story Boogiepop may be can be debated, what can’t be the level of presentation this series has for a TV anime. Everything from the animation to the music is perfectly crafted to elicit a feeling of “otherness” while watching, making the viewer intrigued but uneasy at every turn. The direction and score and the biggest proponents of this, with synth tracks hard cutting to silence as characters fade in and out of frame. As expected of Madhouse’s core team, the animation is superb, regularly sporting moments of intense sakuga and remaining clean throughout. The character designs are muted from what current anime watchers may be used to, but they make the differences that arise from the abominations that show up later in the series all the more visually jarring and strange. Speaking of “jarring”, Boogiepop is not afraid to show some intense body horror and gore in some of its arcs. It’s not anything of a Parasyte level, but it can be a little much for those of us that don’t handle that kind of content well. While I don’t think it should be a deal breaker for anyone, it is apparent enough that it’s worth mentioning.
All this being said, Boogiepop is unfortunately likely doomed to fly under the radar due to a confusing and slow opening arc (one of the series’ few flaws) and a general lack of familiarity and fondness for the era in which it comes from. I cannot stress to you enough that you should check this one out, even if you don’t think it’s exactly your cup of tea. In any other season, this would easily be my pick for the best of the best.
Score: 9 mindfucks / 10
Title: Tensei Shitara Slime Datta Ken
Genre: Isekai
Studio: 8bit
Streaming: Crunchyroll, VRV
In a medium so inundated with this genre, it’s crazy to me that insane authors can still find ways to innovate and revitalize isekai. That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime sounds like a fake title straight out of an animemaru post, but I’ve been blown away by just how genuinely enjoyable this series has been throughout its extended 24-episode run. Rather than be a generic isekai tale of a salary-man turned overpowered god, Slime is more like watching someone play Civilization, mixing the world-building elements of series like Log Horizon while remaining far lither and more whimsical. Even though the series provides a good deal of amazingly well-directed action animation sequences, the bevy of episodes concern how our slime-leader Rimuru wheels and deals his way into establishing his own country, uniting the monstrous races and playing political games. The ever-expanding size and influence of the Forest of Jura throughout the series acts as a returning point for each “arc”, which usually focus on gaining of a political alliance or the defeat of a common enemy. Throughout this game of Civ, Slime still manages to piece together a more traditional isekai narrative, with Rimuru being on a “quest” to defeat the demon lord that enslaved one of his companions. While this may sound like a generic narrative (and it is), it’s carried by the aforementioned world-building and a pervasive light-hearted tone that helps smooth over any eyebrow-raising moments throughout the series.
I wish I had more to say about Slime, but I think it all begins and ends with “it’s isekai but it’s enjoyable this time”. The presentation is somewhere on the scale of acceptable to superb, and I can’t give a single episode where I didn’t come away enjoying the experience. It’s really not doing anything that new, and it does have its fair share of isekai stupidity that drags down the entire package, but this is all par for the course with series of this ilk. If you are a fan of genre or find the idea of fantasy communist monster society even vaguely interesting, then be sure to give this one a look.
Score: 7 games of Civ / 10
Title: Sword Art Online: Alicization
Genre: Isekai, Action
Studio: A1 Pictures
Streaming: Crunchyroll, VRV
Oh boy, look who’s fucking back. It’s Kirito and his new blonde twin, Eugeo, and they’re ready to take on a brand new world of soul-dived virtual reality. At this point in the anime lifecycle, I’m not even sure to start talking about SAO. Everything worth saying has already been said, and the property has been critically picked to the bone for what feels like decades. I feel like I don’t need to defend my general distaste for the series, and although I recognize that lumps me into some sort of contingency of armchair anime analysts, I won’t waste anyone’s time rehashing those laments. I’m not incapable of enjoying SAO, and the production value and incredible musical score make for a clean product that even the most resolute of “pompous fuckwads” like myself can’t deny brings the hype with week after week of killer animation cuts. However, Alicization brought promises of Reki Kawahara improving his writing, bringing a new edge to a series with intriguing concepts that sorely needed a narrative kick in the ass. I wish that I could say that he learned something, but Alicization is just more of the same fucking tired garbage, barring the shiny new packaging.
I am completely sick of Kawahara relying on rapists to create villains. His inadequacy in writing conflict without relying on such an “easy out” is ridiculous. It’s like the guy can’t come with a single way that a person might be hated other than being a murderous, pillaging rapist. Look, before you flame me for calling out such a serious subject as a bad narrative device, even if you ignore how “in bad taste” these instances are, the fact that Reki has repeated this pattern, what, four times now across three different seasons’ worth of anime? The “scene” in question this time around is particularly graphic, and disturbing enough to warrant a black warning card before the episode started. It’s straight-up hard to watch, and the falling action after the fact is not at all helped from a Japanese cultural lens. Even if you get to see the offenders die in horrific pain, nothing can be done to cleanse the pallet after such a ridiculous scene. Alicization doesn’t even let up there, with later interactions between Eugeo and the Administrator also rely on similar Reki-fallback, albeit far more muted than the midseason plot climax. I just don’t have patience for this kind of stuff anymore, and none of you should either. People should really at the very least detract themselves from this aspect of Sword Art, even if they do enjoy the rest of series. I can’t stand to watch people defend and wash-over this stuff anymore.
Alright, so other than that garbage, what does Alicization bring to the table as a long awaited sequel to the most popular new series in the anime fandom? The truth of the matter is that it’s not much. While Eugeo and Alice are relatively stronger characters than their previous SAO cohorts, and the unremembered childhood angle of the story is as novel as any other generic light novel plot device, Alicization is content to rest on the laurels of its popularity rather than try to push the envelope with anything even remotely interesting. The new soul-dive VR technology that this season presents is rich for some actual meaningful commentary, but the series fails to utilize it to create any significant content with it. Like, it’s fine to just ride out the wave and rake in mountains of cash. Hell, Marvel does it over here in the west every 3 to 4 months, and it’s totally fucking fine. But Marvel doesn’t show up with a new reboot or sequel and try to claim that it’s a brand new philosophical take on the series, rich with meaning and thought. Alicization was espoused by both fans and Kawahara himself to be a brand new era for the series, meant to say something more relevant and unique. Well, news-flash, this is just more of the same old shit. If me claiming that makes you mad, that’s totally fine. I’m not saying you’re wrong for enjoying SAO, as there were parts of Alicization that I enjoyed as well, but the product overall is tired, played-out, and washed. I can only take so many shallow scenes with Kirito and Eugeo, or dumbass bullshit about how “small trees can hold so much power”. I cannot fathom how Reki manages to write 26 more episodes-worth of content after that train-wreck of an ending either, but God knows I’ll be back here in nine months to tell you how much I hate that too. Hell, maybe he’ll finally learn how to write himself out of a fucking paper bag.
Score: 5 Kirito/Eugeo fanfics / 10
Title: Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai: Tensai-tachi no Renai Zunousen
Genre: Romantic Comedy
Studio: A-1 Pictures
Streaming: Crunchyroll, VRV
Where do I even begin with this show? I’ve been excited for this anime adaptation since the first panel I read from this series, and I’ve been current with the manga for as long as I can remember. I’m far too in love with everything about Kaguya to come anywhere close to being impartial about it, so you’re getting nothing but my full bias from this point forward. Kaguya is the most I’ve been invested in a romantic comedy since Nisekoi, and for good reason. The art has been consistently amazing, the jokes have hit nonstop, and the characters are some of the most relatable, lovable, and hilarious that the genre has had in such a long, long time. The series sidesteps a lot of the narrative “bleh” that most of this type fall to by clearly establishing that both Shinomiya and Shirogane, our two mains, are hopelessly in love with one another from the very beginning. What follows is a never-ending game of cat and mouse, each party trying to bait the other into confessing first so that they can preserve their massive amounts of pride. That might sound like it would quickly become a tired bit, but the series does a great job of keeping the “chase” interesting through novel challenges, great side characters, and a strong structure emphasizing “wins and losses”. To make things even better, Kaguya features actual romantic progress and satisfying narrative conclusions that are an ever-increasing rarity in the genre, so readers have never had much to complain about through all (to-date) 144 chapters.
But hey, that’s the manga, so does this anime adaptation ever stand a chance of holding up? The answer to some will be a bit of a mixed bag, but to manga readers, the answer is an undeniable “yes”. Kaguya unfortunately has a bit of a weak start, prioritizing the initial set-up of the narrative structure while sprinkling in small instances of characterization. It had been so long since I had read these opening chapters, that the slower pace of the anime’s first three or four episodes caught me by surprise. For those that dropped Kaguya because of this gripe, I implore you to give it another try; the pace set by episodes from the middle to the end of the show’s run are far more indicative of Kaguya than the opening few. That being said, even those slower openers do an amazing job of adapting Akasaka’s work. Not once was a joke butchered in adaptation, with the rookie cast of voice actors putting on an amazing performance, particularly that of Shinomiya herself. The casting was so unbelievably on-point that I can no longer imagine any other voices for these characters while reading the manga. You’d think that animation would suffer as it normally would in this kind of genre, but Kaguya's adaptation keeps things interesting with a very SHAFT-like visual aesthetic, utilizing colorful, trippy cut-aways to enhance what would otherwise be nothing but conversations occurring in the same room across multiple episodes. A-1 pulled out all the stops to ensure that this adaptation would knock the socks off its watchers, and even if they never had included that now-viral dance, they still succeeded tremendously.
Basically, I can’t shill for this series enough. Go watch the anime, then go and get current with the manga. If you find anime romcoms even remotely enjoyable, then I guarantee that you are going to love this show.
Score: 9 Chika dances / 10
Title: Taoru Majutsu no Index III
Genre: Action, Fantasy, Light Novel
Studio: J.C. Staff
Streaming: Crunchyroll, VRV
I consider myself to be a fairly well-entrenched fan of the Raildex series. I’ve watched everything that’s been adapted and have gone out of my way to do deep dives into the many wikia to familiarize myself with all the crazy backstory and un-adapted light novel content that the series is known for. With that being said, let me be the first to tell you that Index III makes little to no sense and I did not have a good time. I am more than capable of “turning my brain off” and having fun with this crazy show, but this was just a nonsensical romp through set piece after set piece with no thought to how they would connect. Part of me wishes that I could defend this show based on adaptation alone, but I’ve been told by LN readers that no, this is “just how the story goes from this point”. Throughout these twenty-six episodes, even though I can surely recall events, I can’t synthesize a reason for any individual one to occur, let alone relevance toward the loosely overarching plot. Characters both new and old drop in and out of the story at random, with the show presenting them as if I should already be intimately familiar with not only the character themselves, but also all their associations. This “parade” structure of Index III's narrative is even more unfortunate when you consider the massive amount of production value that was dumped into it. J.C. Staff’s A-team does some impressively clean work when they want to, and this may be their most well-done to date. Action is clean and well-choreographed, and there’s no lack of impressive cuts throughout the series. Characters are ruthlessly on-model at all times, and there’s not even an inkling of animation “melt”, even in zoomed-out frames.
Unfortunately, good looks aren’t enough to save Index this time around. If you are a massive fan of the series and have a high tolerance for stupid bullshit, you can probably have fun with this sequel. For me, it was a little too much to take, and a distinct lack of screen-time for my favorite electrically charged railgun didn’t do it any favors.
5 Touma punches / 10
Title: Endro~!
Genre: Comedy, Fantasy, Slice of Lice
Studio: Studio Gokumi
Streaming: Crunchyroll, VRV
Take Mahoujin GuruGuru from a few seasons ago and mash it together with Yuru Yuri! and out the other end would pop Endro~!. Let me clear, that’s not a criticism in the slightest: this show is one of the most enjoyable slice of life shows I’ve seen in long time. It’s not a genre that I usually ascribed a lot of praise to, as the enjoyment that I get from the genre is relatively minimal and entirely dependent on a need to “be in the mood” for such slow and directionless lack of narrative in exchange for comfy cuteness. What’s unique about Endro~! is that it sidesteps this gripe by having not only a firm basis for an overarching narrative, but delivering engaging and hilarious one-shot stories every episode, keeping you engaged from a flavor-of-the-week perspective while continuing to deliver on the comfy comedy that shows of this type always do. Most of this comedy is rooted in absurdist fantasy world-building and parody of the fantasy genre, and just like the aforementioned GuruGuru, these jabs are much more clever than they have any right to be. I was surprised to be laughing at this show as much as I did, with the antics of the Hero’s party never failing to bring a smile to my face. To support such stunning execution is a very solid production from Gokumi. While these kinds of shows rarely have any sort of action to speak of, Endro~! does leverage its fantasy setting to have a few good sakuga battle moments, but the primary efforts are the typical slice of life faire: character animation and funny reaction faces. Release the Spyce had me longing for more of Namori’s iconic and adorable character designs, so those efforts are a welcome enhancement to what already looked great at rest. Top the whole package off with a satisfying conclusion and a heartfelt message, and you have a product that can warm even the most jaded watchers’ hearts.
That’s about all I have to say here. The conclusion is absurdly simple: if you’re into this genre, then Endro~! is an absolute must-watch. It’s not perfect, and falls to some of the same pits as nearly all non-K-On shows, but I’d hazard to say that you’d be hard pressed to find better new slice of life to come out for the remainder of 2019.
Mei best.
Score: 8 cartado / 10
Title: Date-A-Live III
Genre: Harem, Comedy
Studio: J.C. Staff
Streaming: Crunchyroll, VRV
While I might not be one of the long-waiting hopefuls that likely popped off to the moon when this third season was announced, I can appreciate an older series finally getting an anime continuation. Was Date-A-Live really worthy of such hyped-up praise? It’s a harem series, so surely not, but I have to say that the series is at the very least far above average for the genre. It walks the line between tongue-and-cheek parody of both visual novels and harems themselves, while retaining a relatively generic but passable overarching plot. I can see why the series was popular back when it aired in 2013, but with how “meta” anime has become today, especially in respect to comedy, a lot of the show’s “bits” have become a bit tired. I really only watched the third season for more Kurumi, and although the show delivered on that front with its final arc, it was hampered by the exact same production problems that the last two seasons had. The character designs are regularly drawn off-model and the animation is lackluster throughout. Characters literally translate through the air while flying around and faces melt off the screen in every other dialogue. This is even more unfortunate this time around, as Origami’s arc is some pretty good stuff when compared narratively to the rest of the series, but is dragged down by J.C. Staff’s lackluster B team.
This is really just a sequel for massive fans, and if that doesn’t apply to you, then there’s no reason for you to rush out and watch all the old Date-A-Live stuff just to experience this.
Score: 6 Kurumi clones/10
Title: BanG Dream! Second Season
Genre: Idol, Music
Studio: SANZIGEN
Streaming: Crunchyroll, VRV
Ugh, this is rough, even for a new convert to Bushiroad’s idol pantheon of BanG Dream like me. This new second season brings a whole new meaning “CG idol shows”, and that’s far from a good thing The first season was nothing great, being at best a shitty rip-off of K-On!, but at least Xebec put forth enough effort to hand draw the whole production. These new CG models are quite frankly grotesque to look at (other than the staple BanG Dream gorgeous eyes), and the show doesn’t even have the self-respect to at least lean into the aesthetic with some fluid computer animation. Movement is incredibly rigid and lifeless, making me resort to relying on alcohol just to make it through some individual episodes. Also, and this is a very specific gripe, but lack of any musical integrity when it comes to the girls playing instruments. I’ve been spoiled and ruined by stuff like Hibike Euphonium, but this shit really grinds my gears. If you’re going to have characters playing guitars, at the very least place their hands somewhere in the correct placement to fret the notes that are playing through my speakers. Anyone with even a minutia of musical knowledge will be driven up a wall by shit like this, and it’s unfortunately a very common occurrence in this second season. For the trash fire that Xebec’s attempt was, it was at the very least a little bit more musically accurate.
All this being said, I did guiltily enjoy this show as a newly christened fan of BanG Dream. This is very much an advertisement for the mobile game, with members of all the bands being constantly paraded across the screen, dropping their “bits” randomly in sometimes at more rapid and offensive pace than even Girls Band PICO. It’s effective at appeasing the gacha slaves, but will likely confuse and annoy the (very) few anime-only watchers. To further add to the pandering, there’s a constant slew of cringe-inducing “musical performances” that occur as insert pieces throughout every single episode. These would be unbearable… if the BanG Dream music wasn’t legitimately good most of the time. I mean, it’s still j-pop idol trash to most, but compared to anything from the Love Live! lot, Bushiroad does a good job of delivering a high level of variance between all the different bands, delivering a fairly unique sound with all of their original tracks. I would have liked to see some covers (a massive reason for the explosion in popularity of the mobile game) a la the ending of Saekano's first season, but the show opts to push originals instead. Maybe they’ll work some into the coming third season that’s announced for winter of next year, but it’s likely too late to hook anyone new into the property with the anime at this point. BanG Dream is too busy appeasing its current loyal and rabid fanbase, and even if that makes for a relatively weak anime product, I think that’s a perfectly acceptable angle to pursue. If you think you might like this show or the characters, just go watch Girls Band PICO on YouTube instead.
Idol Trash Score: 6 PasuPares / 10
Score for Everyone Else: 3 PoPiPas / 10
Title: Mahou Shoujo Spec Ops Asuka
Genre: Mahou Shoujo, Action, EDGE, Yuri
Studio: LIDENFILMS
Streaming: Crunchyroll, VRV
This is a “dark” magical girl show with military aspects and lots of yuri. There are oodles and oodles of blood and gore. The music is ripped straight from Sonic Adventure 2 Battle, the art and animation look like absolute shit, and it has offensive levels of overly-edgy content. It is best enjoyed when under the influence of alcohol.
This is the best show of 2019. A perfect masterpiece.
Score: 4 yuri sex scenes / 10
Title: Yakusoku no Neverland
Genre: Thriller, Sci-Fi, Horror
Studio: CloverWorks
Streaming: Crunchyroll, VRV
I got this manga pitched to me maybe six months ago as “the next big thing” from Jump, which initially made me disinterested. I don’t care much for shounen, especially things that come from large serializations. Say what you will about that, and feel free to call me a hipster, but I’m always ready to admit that my biases are wrong when something great comes along, and damn, was I wrong about The Promised Neverland. A lot of the enjoyment from watching a thriller for most people is in being unspoiled for the experience, so I am going to tread very lightly here in terms of specifics. In the spirit of that, if all you need is a quick recommendation, know that this show gets my full one; The Promised Neverland is one of the best thrillers to come out in the past five years, and might be one of the best horror anime out there, period.
Horror in anime is very different from what you’d expect if you aren’t familiar with it. Since this is animation, the medium has to rely on either overly grotesque images or psychological horror rather than your typical jump scares. Because of this, it’s rarely attempted and even more rarely executed well, but this show delivers a heartpounding week-to-week thriller with great execution and a killer aesthetic that drives the whole package home. If I had any gripes with it, they’d be rooted in a general distaste for overly-smart, philosophical children and a seeming over-reliance on end-of-episode cliffhangers throughout, but these are overwhelmingly minor gripes on a very well put together and executed show. Add in a satisfying conclusion and you have my vote for one of the best anime of this season, and likely this year.
I am really struggling to write about this show without delving into specifics, so I am just going to end it here. This is something that is better off experiencing for yourself, and you likely already know from my vague descriptions if this is something you will enjoy. Do not miss this one if anything I have said above has peaked your interest; you will not regret it.
Score: 8 livestock / 10
Title: KakeguruiXX
Genre: Game, Gambling
Studio: MAPPA
Streaming: Amazon Prime
God, this was just more of the exact same shit we had in season one if you removed all the charm and absurdity from it. They tried to “raise the stakes” with the whole gambling election concept, but ended up just making a fun, crazy show into something stupid and annoying. Oh, and the banger OP got replaced with a woefully shitty one and the animation got more inconsistent. I can’t tell how many gross CG hands popped up throughout this iteration of Yumeko’s Crazed Gamble-gasm ™, but it was a lot. If you were a really big fan of the first season of this show, then I guess you can find something to like here, but as someone who was already on the fence, this was just something I couldn’t really take. It’s not wholly without merit, and it was entertaining for maybe a few select episodes, but it’s probably one of the most forgettable sequels to come out in a long time. Not worth.
Score: 5 gambling orgasms / 10
Title: Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari or The Rising of the Shield Hero
Genre: Isekai (Another World)
Studio: Kinema-Citrus
Streaming: Crunchyroll, VRV
So yeah, I know this isn’t finished yet, but with how much controversy has been drummed up by this dumbass show, I had to say something about it. Let’s address some of the elephants in the room before we dive into Shield Hero proper: Yes, Shield Hero is blatantly sympathetic to internalized misogyny and generally revels in what I’d call “incel apologism”. Yes, it’s also not fair to view Shield Hero's source content without the foreknowledge that it was written five years ago. To go even further, I’d argue to say that none of this even matters; Shield Hero is still a boring, offensive isekai that does nothing to innovate within its genre, and is content to peter out into a mediocre product that people won’t even remember in a few years.
This series has garnered a lot of controversy from its one-hour-long opener, with the central conflict of the show arising from a false claim of sexual assault. Naofumi, our hero, is taken advantage of by the princess of this otherworld nation, ending up ostracized by the entire kingdom for his apparent misdeeds. My issue with Shield Hero at this point isn’t the story itself. Fiction is fiction, and in fiction, characters can perform terrible, heinous, ridiculous acts. What doesn’t sit right with me about this adaptation is how these events and characters are framed from the very beginning. Never once are Myne (the princess) or the royal court’s objectives foreshadowed in a significant way until the accusation occurs. Yes, Myne buddy-buddies up to Naofumi and gets him to buy her equipment, but in the context of general isekai fiction and the self-aware nature of the world, these all seem relatively normal. All it would have taken was one cut suggesting some sort of foul play, or any slight visual clue that things weren’t all correct.
It could have been as small as smirk from Myne at any point before the accusation, or some sort of slipped comment from the king. The composition of Shield Hero's entire first episode frames Naofumi as abused and oppressed by the literal matriarchal society of Shield Hero's world, even if it tries to backpedal on it later. Not even two episodes after the accusation, the government of this fantasy nation is revealed to be prejudiced against the Shield for yet-unrevealed reasons, confirming that there has been a conspiracy in place against Naofumi from before he even appeared in this world. The first episode doesn’t even stop there, with the icing on the cake being Naofumi buying a slave to round out his party at the end of the opener, because at least a tanuki-girl servant is magically bound to obey his every command. All of these plot points are easily tweaked to give a far more story-accurate telling of Naofumi’s excommunication, as well as more readily establish him as the kind-hearted, heroic character that the remainder of Shield Hero insists that he is. You cannot convince me for a second that this was not written, or at the very least directed, from a similar place that “r/braincels” comes from. That being said, later episodes do back off on this content to an extent, but the bad taste from this opener lingers heavier than I can stand to bear.
So, I get it, spicy openers in the today’s realm of seasonal anime are commonplace. Studios have to do something to get viewers to keep with their new glorified advertisements for longer than three weeks, and a shocking first episode with heavy foreshadowing is par for the course. Goblin Slayer did the exact same thing just two seasons back, and it too tricked people into watching twelve episodes of a mediocre gore-fest with a far more ham-fisted attempt at viewer shock. In a similar vein, Shield Hero leverages its opening steam into nothing more than a flurry of tired isekai tropes. The whole “bit” here is Naofumi being hated and misunderstood despite being the “nicest guy” in our quartet of heroes, which is something I’ll let you all draw your own conclusions on. Even though I hate to say it, this is really the only thing that the show manages to do well. When it’s not relishing in Raphtalia fanservice, Shield Hero clearly establishes that Naofumi is a far more righteous than the other three heroes despite his social status. These other “heroes” exemplify a misunderstood or warped ideas of what a hero should be, and it’s cathartic to see Naofumi slap them down to Earth every few episodes. Other than that, there isn’t much to say here. The art and animation are generic and unpolished, the story and characters are flat and boring, and there are many episodes that feel like shounen filler, where nothing much of importance happens at all.
All this said, at our current halfway point in the series, I’m extremely frustrated with Shield Hero, and I think I would be even if it was able to chill with the “incel” stuff. It’s not doing anything new while having middling presentation at best, content to throw the same old isekai-action bullshit at you week after week with no signs of shaping up. The fact that such a generic and continually offensive series can be so popular today, especially in a community that is so regularly hell-bent on being inclusive and welcoming, is absolutely insane to me. I apologize if this rant is just an echo of things that everyone has heard before about the show, but I just had to get something out there. Shows like this make me really wish I could drop stuff.
Score: (Not Completed)
Title: Kimi no Suizou wo Tabetai or I Want to Eat Your Pancreas
Genre: Drama, Romance
Studio: Studio VOLN
Streaming: N/A
So it’s been a while since I went to see this movie, but it did technically have its theatrical run during the winter season, so that means it’s fair game. Forgive me if I’m dicey on some of the details here, as it’s been quite a few months, but I think that statement alone should reveal most of my general thoughts on Pancreas. I don’t typically forget things about media that leave a profound impact on me, nor do I scrub from my memory so aggressively anime that I find artistically important or valuable. That’s a little unfair to Pancreas; the movie is not offensively bad (cough cough FIREWORKS couch), but commits regular sins that pile to a conclusion that ultimately falls flat in eliciting the heart-wrenching gut-punch that it tries to deliver. If you’re someone who really connected with and enjoyed this movie, I want you to know full well that I don’t mean to offend in any way. Emotional dramas that deal with such grim content resonate more deeply with those that have had similar experiences, but this is a review blog and I don’t like to make a habit of mincing words.
In the spirit of being blunt, I’ll start with that the visuals and music in Pancreas were some of the worst I’ve had the displeasure of sitting through in an anime movie. The character designs and art style were unbelievably generic, and the near nonexistent motion throughout the movie did nothing to help. The backgrounds, which are big part thing that really set apart productions from TV anime for me, were also generic computer-generated garbage. Hell, I even caught glimpse of a few CG crowd shots. This low level of production really pulls me out of the experience, and while I may be a far more aesthetic-oriented watcher than most, I can guarantee you that I’m not the only one with this gripe. As for the story, I find myself echoing the general critic of many, in that the entirety of the plot is both predictable and overly convenient for trying to punch you in face with “the feels”. These sorts of stories can be easily forgiven with good execution and deep characters, but Pancreas is content to simply display events on screen rather than present them in any meaningful way. “Me” and Sakura are decent enough romantic protagonists, and their voice actors put on some really standout performances that slam emotion into your seat even through a language barrier. However, their actions are so predictable and flattened by poor execution that I really couldn’t find myself being heavily invested in either of them by the end of the movie’s inflated runtime. The final kick in the face is the final-hour emotional ass-pull, which although I won’t spoil, ended everything for me.
If I had to describe my gripes with Pancreas in a single line, it would be “overly ham-fisted”. I think that the story and characters of this movie had the potential to be great, but when something just tries to beat you over the head with the cry hammer over and over for nearly three hours, I can’t help but feel frustrated. If it wasn’t for one of the final scenes, or honestly, one singular line from “Me”, I don’t think any part of Pancreas would have landed on me emotionally at all, and even that nearly ruined by a terrible CG cherry-blossom sequence. If you are someone who can shrug off these issues with presentation and direction, you are likely to really enjoy this film, but for someone like me who has so many favorite movies and shows that fall within this same genre, I can’t help but only feel frustrated and disappointed.
Score: 5 failed cries/10
Title: Mob Psycho 100: Season 2
Genre: Action, Drama, Comedy
Studio: Bones
Streaming: Crunchyroll, VRV
I don’t make it a habit of frivolously scoring anime at “10/10”. If I put something at this high of a rating, then it’s something that I think is significant, powerful, or too important to ignore. Never in my wildest dreams did I think that something this incredible would come out of this past spring season, but damn, was I proven wrong. Sure, I was excited for the second season of Mob Psycho, as the first was one of my most loved shows in the past few years, but I never thought it could ever be this good. Mob has never strayed away from heavier and more character-focused content, unlike its parody-laden brother One Punch Man, but this season came in swinging particularly strong with some downright gut-wrenching emotional arcs. Getting to see Mob grow as a person, as well as helping to grow everyone around him, is a never-ending joy to watch, and this second season does nothing but deliver episode after episode. While keeping the same episodic flair as the first season, Mob also works in a cleverly executed overarching story, tying all of our characters’ narratives together in the final hour to beautiful effect. Bones delivers one of the cleanest TV anime productions I have ever seen in my life, and that is not at all hyperbole. Yet again, the simplistic art style is leveraged for dramatic and sweeping action scenes with insanely polished fight choreography, with stunning character animation during instances of dialogue to polish it all off. I have never seen a crispier, cleaner anime be produced for television. Ever.
I am so deadly serious about this, I’m just going to leave it here. I don’t want to risk saying anything that even remotely sounds like criticism. This is, for all intents and purposes, a perfect sequel. Whatever you do, please do not miss Mob Psycho 100.
Score: 10 / 10, Anime of the Season
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Title: Boogiepop wa Warawanai
Genre: Sci-Fi, Psychological, Mystery
Studio: Madhouse
Streaming: Crunchyroll, VRV
If you’re entrenched in the anime fandom, you may have heard the name Boogiepop before, but been confused as to what it meant or stood for. A famously popular and successful light novel series with a somewhat controversial TV anime, Boogiepop received a far more polished and “straightforward” adaptation by Madhouse just in time for Dengeki Bunko's anniversary. If anything, this 2019 rendition of Boogiepop is a complete and polished package, something the previous middling 2000’s version could never stake a claim to. "Okay… but what is it", you scream, and I hear you, but that’s a question that’s not exactly easy to answer. Boogiepop is a sci-fi mystery series that utilizes unreliable narrators and non-chronological storytelling to weave seemingly disconnected arcs into fantastical stories about human nature. This kind of storytelling in anime, where an arc rarely makes sense until its final episode, has become “dated” as the medium drifts closer and closer to becoming mainstream, but Boogiepop revels in its “old-school” structure and tone. The result is an anime product that hearkens back to the golden age of mid-2000s anime while taking advantage of all the new leaps and bounds in production quality that the current day Madhouse is capable of, and it’s quite a result to behold.
Boogiepop presents itself within four loosely connected stories, all of them being presented anachronistically to some level. Thankfully, unlike the heyday of these types of stories, these arcs did release completely in sequence, keeping the storytelling contained to each individual arc. The “loose connections” between our stories are primarily our characters, most importantly Boogiepop himself. Presented as “a reaper who appears to destroy enemies of the world”, his persona inhabits the body of a high school girl, arising intermittently in the form of multiple personality disorder and a mysterious cloak. This description should be adequate in describing the tone of the series; Boogiepop takes itself very seriously and lends itself to what many would describe as “2deep4you” narratives, even if the premise and visualization of such is a bit off-the-wall or ridiculous. Even if that’s consistent with the era when it was written, it airing in the times of today’s seasonal anime landscape is a bit of a rarity, likely off-putting to some. Still, these stories are effective in what they set out to do, keeping the viewing engaged by inviting them to think and draw their own conclusions throughout each three to six episode narrative before laying bare its own take at the very end. I have heard Boogiepop be described from viewers as everything from “refreshing” to “exhausting”, so this is going to be something that you’ll have to decide for yourself. As someone who grew up watching and loving the kind of anime that Boogiepop aspires to emulate, I personally enjoyed it immensely, but I know that many won’t agree with me.
While your affinity for the type of story Boogiepop may be can be debated, what can’t be the level of presentation this series has for a TV anime. Everything from the animation to the music is perfectly crafted to elicit a feeling of “otherness” while watching, making the viewer intrigued but uneasy at every turn. The direction and score and the biggest proponents of this, with synth tracks hard cutting to silence as characters fade in and out of frame. As expected of Madhouse’s core team, the animation is superb, regularly sporting moments of intense sakuga and remaining clean throughout. The character designs are muted from what current anime watchers may be used to, but they make the differences that arise from the abominations that show up later in the series all the more visually jarring and strange. Speaking of “jarring”, Boogiepop is not afraid to show some intense body horror and gore in some of its arcs. It’s not anything of a Parasyte level, but it can be a little much for those of us that don’t handle that kind of content well. While I don’t think it should be a deal breaker for anyone, it is apparent enough that it’s worth mentioning.
All this being said, Boogiepop is unfortunately likely doomed to fly under the radar due to a confusing and slow opening arc (one of the series’ few flaws) and a general lack of familiarity and fondness for the era in which it comes from. I cannot stress to you enough that you should check this one out, even if you don’t think it’s exactly your cup of tea. In any other season, this would easily be my pick for the best of the best.
Score: 9 mindfucks / 10
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Title: Tensei Shitara Slime Datta Ken
Genre: Isekai
Studio: 8bit
Streaming: Crunchyroll, VRV
In a medium so inundated with this genre, it’s crazy to me that insane authors can still find ways to innovate and revitalize isekai. That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime sounds like a fake title straight out of an animemaru post, but I’ve been blown away by just how genuinely enjoyable this series has been throughout its extended 24-episode run. Rather than be a generic isekai tale of a salary-man turned overpowered god, Slime is more like watching someone play Civilization, mixing the world-building elements of series like Log Horizon while remaining far lither and more whimsical. Even though the series provides a good deal of amazingly well-directed action animation sequences, the bevy of episodes concern how our slime-leader Rimuru wheels and deals his way into establishing his own country, uniting the monstrous races and playing political games. The ever-expanding size and influence of the Forest of Jura throughout the series acts as a returning point for each “arc”, which usually focus on gaining of a political alliance or the defeat of a common enemy. Throughout this game of Civ, Slime still manages to piece together a more traditional isekai narrative, with Rimuru being on a “quest” to defeat the demon lord that enslaved one of his companions. While this may sound like a generic narrative (and it is), it’s carried by the aforementioned world-building and a pervasive light-hearted tone that helps smooth over any eyebrow-raising moments throughout the series.
I wish I had more to say about Slime, but I think it all begins and ends with “it’s isekai but it’s enjoyable this time”. The presentation is somewhere on the scale of acceptable to superb, and I can’t give a single episode where I didn’t come away enjoying the experience. It’s really not doing anything that new, and it does have its fair share of isekai stupidity that drags down the entire package, but this is all par for the course with series of this ilk. If you are a fan of genre or find the idea of fantasy communist monster society even vaguely interesting, then be sure to give this one a look.
Score: 7 games of Civ / 10
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Title: Sword Art Online: Alicization
Genre: Isekai, Action
Studio: A1 Pictures
Streaming: Crunchyroll, VRV
Oh boy, look who’s fucking back. It’s Kirito and his new blonde twin, Eugeo, and they’re ready to take on a brand new world of soul-dived virtual reality. At this point in the anime lifecycle, I’m not even sure to start talking about SAO. Everything worth saying has already been said, and the property has been critically picked to the bone for what feels like decades. I feel like I don’t need to defend my general distaste for the series, and although I recognize that lumps me into some sort of contingency of armchair anime analysts, I won’t waste anyone’s time rehashing those laments. I’m not incapable of enjoying SAO, and the production value and incredible musical score make for a clean product that even the most resolute of “pompous fuckwads” like myself can’t deny brings the hype with week after week of killer animation cuts. However, Alicization brought promises of Reki Kawahara improving his writing, bringing a new edge to a series with intriguing concepts that sorely needed a narrative kick in the ass. I wish that I could say that he learned something, but Alicization is just more of the same fucking tired garbage, barring the shiny new packaging.
I am completely sick of Kawahara relying on rapists to create villains. His inadequacy in writing conflict without relying on such an “easy out” is ridiculous. It’s like the guy can’t come with a single way that a person might be hated other than being a murderous, pillaging rapist. Look, before you flame me for calling out such a serious subject as a bad narrative device, even if you ignore how “in bad taste” these instances are, the fact that Reki has repeated this pattern, what, four times now across three different seasons’ worth of anime? The “scene” in question this time around is particularly graphic, and disturbing enough to warrant a black warning card before the episode started. It’s straight-up hard to watch, and the falling action after the fact is not at all helped from a Japanese cultural lens. Even if you get to see the offenders die in horrific pain, nothing can be done to cleanse the pallet after such a ridiculous scene. Alicization doesn’t even let up there, with later interactions between Eugeo and the Administrator also rely on similar Reki-fallback, albeit far more muted than the midseason plot climax. I just don’t have patience for this kind of stuff anymore, and none of you should either. People should really at the very least detract themselves from this aspect of Sword Art, even if they do enjoy the rest of series. I can’t stand to watch people defend and wash-over this stuff anymore.
Alright, so other than that garbage, what does Alicization bring to the table as a long awaited sequel to the most popular new series in the anime fandom? The truth of the matter is that it’s not much. While Eugeo and Alice are relatively stronger characters than their previous SAO cohorts, and the unremembered childhood angle of the story is as novel as any other generic light novel plot device, Alicization is content to rest on the laurels of its popularity rather than try to push the envelope with anything even remotely interesting. The new soul-dive VR technology that this season presents is rich for some actual meaningful commentary, but the series fails to utilize it to create any significant content with it. Like, it’s fine to just ride out the wave and rake in mountains of cash. Hell, Marvel does it over here in the west every 3 to 4 months, and it’s totally fucking fine. But Marvel doesn’t show up with a new reboot or sequel and try to claim that it’s a brand new philosophical take on the series, rich with meaning and thought. Alicization was espoused by both fans and Kawahara himself to be a brand new era for the series, meant to say something more relevant and unique. Well, news-flash, this is just more of the same old shit. If me claiming that makes you mad, that’s totally fine. I’m not saying you’re wrong for enjoying SAO, as there were parts of Alicization that I enjoyed as well, but the product overall is tired, played-out, and washed. I can only take so many shallow scenes with Kirito and Eugeo, or dumbass bullshit about how “small trees can hold so much power”. I cannot fathom how Reki manages to write 26 more episodes-worth of content after that train-wreck of an ending either, but God knows I’ll be back here in nine months to tell you how much I hate that too. Hell, maybe he’ll finally learn how to write himself out of a fucking paper bag.
Score: 5 Kirito/Eugeo fanfics / 10
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Title: Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai: Tensai-tachi no Renai Zunousen
Genre: Romantic Comedy
Studio: A-1 Pictures
Streaming: Crunchyroll, VRV
Where do I even begin with this show? I’ve been excited for this anime adaptation since the first panel I read from this series, and I’ve been current with the manga for as long as I can remember. I’m far too in love with everything about Kaguya to come anywhere close to being impartial about it, so you’re getting nothing but my full bias from this point forward. Kaguya is the most I’ve been invested in a romantic comedy since Nisekoi, and for good reason. The art has been consistently amazing, the jokes have hit nonstop, and the characters are some of the most relatable, lovable, and hilarious that the genre has had in such a long, long time. The series sidesteps a lot of the narrative “bleh” that most of this type fall to by clearly establishing that both Shinomiya and Shirogane, our two mains, are hopelessly in love with one another from the very beginning. What follows is a never-ending game of cat and mouse, each party trying to bait the other into confessing first so that they can preserve their massive amounts of pride. That might sound like it would quickly become a tired bit, but the series does a great job of keeping the “chase” interesting through novel challenges, great side characters, and a strong structure emphasizing “wins and losses”. To make things even better, Kaguya features actual romantic progress and satisfying narrative conclusions that are an ever-increasing rarity in the genre, so readers have never had much to complain about through all (to-date) 144 chapters.
But hey, that’s the manga, so does this anime adaptation ever stand a chance of holding up? The answer to some will be a bit of a mixed bag, but to manga readers, the answer is an undeniable “yes”. Kaguya unfortunately has a bit of a weak start, prioritizing the initial set-up of the narrative structure while sprinkling in small instances of characterization. It had been so long since I had read these opening chapters, that the slower pace of the anime’s first three or four episodes caught me by surprise. For those that dropped Kaguya because of this gripe, I implore you to give it another try; the pace set by episodes from the middle to the end of the show’s run are far more indicative of Kaguya than the opening few. That being said, even those slower openers do an amazing job of adapting Akasaka’s work. Not once was a joke butchered in adaptation, with the rookie cast of voice actors putting on an amazing performance, particularly that of Shinomiya herself. The casting was so unbelievably on-point that I can no longer imagine any other voices for these characters while reading the manga. You’d think that animation would suffer as it normally would in this kind of genre, but Kaguya's adaptation keeps things interesting with a very SHAFT-like visual aesthetic, utilizing colorful, trippy cut-aways to enhance what would otherwise be nothing but conversations occurring in the same room across multiple episodes. A-1 pulled out all the stops to ensure that this adaptation would knock the socks off its watchers, and even if they never had included that now-viral dance, they still succeeded tremendously.
Basically, I can’t shill for this series enough. Go watch the anime, then go and get current with the manga. If you find anime romcoms even remotely enjoyable, then I guarantee that you are going to love this show.
Score: 9 Chika dances / 10
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Title: Taoru Majutsu no Index III
Genre: Action, Fantasy, Light Novel
Studio: J.C. Staff
Streaming: Crunchyroll, VRV
I consider myself to be a fairly well-entrenched fan of the Raildex series. I’ve watched everything that’s been adapted and have gone out of my way to do deep dives into the many wikia to familiarize myself with all the crazy backstory and un-adapted light novel content that the series is known for. With that being said, let me be the first to tell you that Index III makes little to no sense and I did not have a good time. I am more than capable of “turning my brain off” and having fun with this crazy show, but this was just a nonsensical romp through set piece after set piece with no thought to how they would connect. Part of me wishes that I could defend this show based on adaptation alone, but I’ve been told by LN readers that no, this is “just how the story goes from this point”. Throughout these twenty-six episodes, even though I can surely recall events, I can’t synthesize a reason for any individual one to occur, let alone relevance toward the loosely overarching plot. Characters both new and old drop in and out of the story at random, with the show presenting them as if I should already be intimately familiar with not only the character themselves, but also all their associations. This “parade” structure of Index III's narrative is even more unfortunate when you consider the massive amount of production value that was dumped into it. J.C. Staff’s A-team does some impressively clean work when they want to, and this may be their most well-done to date. Action is clean and well-choreographed, and there’s no lack of impressive cuts throughout the series. Characters are ruthlessly on-model at all times, and there’s not even an inkling of animation “melt”, even in zoomed-out frames.
Unfortunately, good looks aren’t enough to save Index this time around. If you are a massive fan of the series and have a high tolerance for stupid bullshit, you can probably have fun with this sequel. For me, it was a little too much to take, and a distinct lack of screen-time for my favorite electrically charged railgun didn’t do it any favors.
5 Touma punches / 10
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Title: Endro~!
Genre: Comedy, Fantasy, Slice of Lice
Studio: Studio Gokumi
Streaming: Crunchyroll, VRV
Take Mahoujin GuruGuru from a few seasons ago and mash it together with Yuru Yuri! and out the other end would pop Endro~!. Let me clear, that’s not a criticism in the slightest: this show is one of the most enjoyable slice of life shows I’ve seen in long time. It’s not a genre that I usually ascribed a lot of praise to, as the enjoyment that I get from the genre is relatively minimal and entirely dependent on a need to “be in the mood” for such slow and directionless lack of narrative in exchange for comfy cuteness. What’s unique about Endro~! is that it sidesteps this gripe by having not only a firm basis for an overarching narrative, but delivering engaging and hilarious one-shot stories every episode, keeping you engaged from a flavor-of-the-week perspective while continuing to deliver on the comfy comedy that shows of this type always do. Most of this comedy is rooted in absurdist fantasy world-building and parody of the fantasy genre, and just like the aforementioned GuruGuru, these jabs are much more clever than they have any right to be. I was surprised to be laughing at this show as much as I did, with the antics of the Hero’s party never failing to bring a smile to my face. To support such stunning execution is a very solid production from Gokumi. While these kinds of shows rarely have any sort of action to speak of, Endro~! does leverage its fantasy setting to have a few good sakuga battle moments, but the primary efforts are the typical slice of life faire: character animation and funny reaction faces. Release the Spyce had me longing for more of Namori’s iconic and adorable character designs, so those efforts are a welcome enhancement to what already looked great at rest. Top the whole package off with a satisfying conclusion and a heartfelt message, and you have a product that can warm even the most jaded watchers’ hearts.
That’s about all I have to say here. The conclusion is absurdly simple: if you’re into this genre, then Endro~! is an absolute must-watch. It’s not perfect, and falls to some of the same pits as nearly all non-K-On shows, but I’d hazard to say that you’d be hard pressed to find better new slice of life to come out for the remainder of 2019.
Mei best.
Score: 8 cartado / 10
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Title: Date-A-Live III
Genre: Harem, Comedy
Studio: J.C. Staff
Streaming: Crunchyroll, VRV
While I might not be one of the long-waiting hopefuls that likely popped off to the moon when this third season was announced, I can appreciate an older series finally getting an anime continuation. Was Date-A-Live really worthy of such hyped-up praise? It’s a harem series, so surely not, but I have to say that the series is at the very least far above average for the genre. It walks the line between tongue-and-cheek parody of both visual novels and harems themselves, while retaining a relatively generic but passable overarching plot. I can see why the series was popular back when it aired in 2013, but with how “meta” anime has become today, especially in respect to comedy, a lot of the show’s “bits” have become a bit tired. I really only watched the third season for more Kurumi, and although the show delivered on that front with its final arc, it was hampered by the exact same production problems that the last two seasons had. The character designs are regularly drawn off-model and the animation is lackluster throughout. Characters literally translate through the air while flying around and faces melt off the screen in every other dialogue. This is even more unfortunate this time around, as Origami’s arc is some pretty good stuff when compared narratively to the rest of the series, but is dragged down by J.C. Staff’s lackluster B team.
This is really just a sequel for massive fans, and if that doesn’t apply to you, then there’s no reason for you to rush out and watch all the old Date-A-Live stuff just to experience this.
Score: 6 Kurumi clones/10
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Title: BanG Dream! Second Season
Genre: Idol, Music
Studio: SANZIGEN
Streaming: Crunchyroll, VRV
Ugh, this is rough, even for a new convert to Bushiroad’s idol pantheon of BanG Dream like me. This new second season brings a whole new meaning “CG idol shows”, and that’s far from a good thing The first season was nothing great, being at best a shitty rip-off of K-On!, but at least Xebec put forth enough effort to hand draw the whole production. These new CG models are quite frankly grotesque to look at (other than the staple BanG Dream gorgeous eyes), and the show doesn’t even have the self-respect to at least lean into the aesthetic with some fluid computer animation. Movement is incredibly rigid and lifeless, making me resort to relying on alcohol just to make it through some individual episodes. Also, and this is a very specific gripe, but lack of any musical integrity when it comes to the girls playing instruments. I’ve been spoiled and ruined by stuff like Hibike Euphonium, but this shit really grinds my gears. If you’re going to have characters playing guitars, at the very least place their hands somewhere in the correct placement to fret the notes that are playing through my speakers. Anyone with even a minutia of musical knowledge will be driven up a wall by shit like this, and it’s unfortunately a very common occurrence in this second season. For the trash fire that Xebec’s attempt was, it was at the very least a little bit more musically accurate.
All this being said, I did guiltily enjoy this show as a newly christened fan of BanG Dream. This is very much an advertisement for the mobile game, with members of all the bands being constantly paraded across the screen, dropping their “bits” randomly in sometimes at more rapid and offensive pace than even Girls Band PICO. It’s effective at appeasing the gacha slaves, but will likely confuse and annoy the (very) few anime-only watchers. To further add to the pandering, there’s a constant slew of cringe-inducing “musical performances” that occur as insert pieces throughout every single episode. These would be unbearable… if the BanG Dream music wasn’t legitimately good most of the time. I mean, it’s still j-pop idol trash to most, but compared to anything from the Love Live! lot, Bushiroad does a good job of delivering a high level of variance between all the different bands, delivering a fairly unique sound with all of their original tracks. I would have liked to see some covers (a massive reason for the explosion in popularity of the mobile game) a la the ending of Saekano's first season, but the show opts to push originals instead. Maybe they’ll work some into the coming third season that’s announced for winter of next year, but it’s likely too late to hook anyone new into the property with the anime at this point. BanG Dream is too busy appeasing its current loyal and rabid fanbase, and even if that makes for a relatively weak anime product, I think that’s a perfectly acceptable angle to pursue. If you think you might like this show or the characters, just go watch Girls Band PICO on YouTube instead.
Idol Trash Score: 6 PasuPares / 10
Score for Everyone Else: 3 PoPiPas / 10
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Title: Mahou Shoujo Spec Ops Asuka
Genre: Mahou Shoujo, Action, EDGE, Yuri
Studio: LIDENFILMS
Streaming: Crunchyroll, VRV
This is a “dark” magical girl show with military aspects and lots of yuri. There are oodles and oodles of blood and gore. The music is ripped straight from Sonic Adventure 2 Battle, the art and animation look like absolute shit, and it has offensive levels of overly-edgy content. It is best enjoyed when under the influence of alcohol.
This is the best show of 2019. A perfect masterpiece.
Score: 4 yuri sex scenes / 10
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Title: Yakusoku no Neverland
Genre: Thriller, Sci-Fi, Horror
Studio: CloverWorks
Streaming: Crunchyroll, VRV
I got this manga pitched to me maybe six months ago as “the next big thing” from Jump, which initially made me disinterested. I don’t care much for shounen, especially things that come from large serializations. Say what you will about that, and feel free to call me a hipster, but I’m always ready to admit that my biases are wrong when something great comes along, and damn, was I wrong about The Promised Neverland. A lot of the enjoyment from watching a thriller for most people is in being unspoiled for the experience, so I am going to tread very lightly here in terms of specifics. In the spirit of that, if all you need is a quick recommendation, know that this show gets my full one; The Promised Neverland is one of the best thrillers to come out in the past five years, and might be one of the best horror anime out there, period.
Horror in anime is very different from what you’d expect if you aren’t familiar with it. Since this is animation, the medium has to rely on either overly grotesque images or psychological horror rather than your typical jump scares. Because of this, it’s rarely attempted and even more rarely executed well, but this show delivers a heartpounding week-to-week thriller with great execution and a killer aesthetic that drives the whole package home. If I had any gripes with it, they’d be rooted in a general distaste for overly-smart, philosophical children and a seeming over-reliance on end-of-episode cliffhangers throughout, but these are overwhelmingly minor gripes on a very well put together and executed show. Add in a satisfying conclusion and you have my vote for one of the best anime of this season, and likely this year.
I am really struggling to write about this show without delving into specifics, so I am just going to end it here. This is something that is better off experiencing for yourself, and you likely already know from my vague descriptions if this is something you will enjoy. Do not miss this one if anything I have said above has peaked your interest; you will not regret it.
Score: 8 livestock / 10
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Title: KakeguruiXX
Genre: Game, Gambling
Studio: MAPPA
Streaming: Amazon Prime
God, this was just more of the exact same shit we had in season one if you removed all the charm and absurdity from it. They tried to “raise the stakes” with the whole gambling election concept, but ended up just making a fun, crazy show into something stupid and annoying. Oh, and the banger OP got replaced with a woefully shitty one and the animation got more inconsistent. I can’t tell how many gross CG hands popped up throughout this iteration of Yumeko’s Crazed Gamble-gasm ™, but it was a lot. If you were a really big fan of the first season of this show, then I guess you can find something to like here, but as someone who was already on the fence, this was just something I couldn’t really take. It’s not wholly without merit, and it was entertaining for maybe a few select episodes, but it’s probably one of the most forgettable sequels to come out in a long time. Not worth.
Score: 5 gambling orgasms / 10
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Title: Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari or The Rising of the Shield Hero
Genre: Isekai (Another World)
Studio: Kinema-Citrus
Streaming: Crunchyroll, VRV
So yeah, I know this isn’t finished yet, but with how much controversy has been drummed up by this dumbass show, I had to say something about it. Let’s address some of the elephants in the room before we dive into Shield Hero proper: Yes, Shield Hero is blatantly sympathetic to internalized misogyny and generally revels in what I’d call “incel apologism”. Yes, it’s also not fair to view Shield Hero's source content without the foreknowledge that it was written five years ago. To go even further, I’d argue to say that none of this even matters; Shield Hero is still a boring, offensive isekai that does nothing to innovate within its genre, and is content to peter out into a mediocre product that people won’t even remember in a few years.
This series has garnered a lot of controversy from its one-hour-long opener, with the central conflict of the show arising from a false claim of sexual assault. Naofumi, our hero, is taken advantage of by the princess of this otherworld nation, ending up ostracized by the entire kingdom for his apparent misdeeds. My issue with Shield Hero at this point isn’t the story itself. Fiction is fiction, and in fiction, characters can perform terrible, heinous, ridiculous acts. What doesn’t sit right with me about this adaptation is how these events and characters are framed from the very beginning. Never once are Myne (the princess) or the royal court’s objectives foreshadowed in a significant way until the accusation occurs. Yes, Myne buddy-buddies up to Naofumi and gets him to buy her equipment, but in the context of general isekai fiction and the self-aware nature of the world, these all seem relatively normal. All it would have taken was one cut suggesting some sort of foul play, or any slight visual clue that things weren’t all correct.
It could have been as small as smirk from Myne at any point before the accusation, or some sort of slipped comment from the king. The composition of Shield Hero's entire first episode frames Naofumi as abused and oppressed by the literal matriarchal society of Shield Hero's world, even if it tries to backpedal on it later. Not even two episodes after the accusation, the government of this fantasy nation is revealed to be prejudiced against the Shield for yet-unrevealed reasons, confirming that there has been a conspiracy in place against Naofumi from before he even appeared in this world. The first episode doesn’t even stop there, with the icing on the cake being Naofumi buying a slave to round out his party at the end of the opener, because at least a tanuki-girl servant is magically bound to obey his every command. All of these plot points are easily tweaked to give a far more story-accurate telling of Naofumi’s excommunication, as well as more readily establish him as the kind-hearted, heroic character that the remainder of Shield Hero insists that he is. You cannot convince me for a second that this was not written, or at the very least directed, from a similar place that “r/braincels” comes from. That being said, later episodes do back off on this content to an extent, but the bad taste from this opener lingers heavier than I can stand to bear.
So, I get it, spicy openers in the today’s realm of seasonal anime are commonplace. Studios have to do something to get viewers to keep with their new glorified advertisements for longer than three weeks, and a shocking first episode with heavy foreshadowing is par for the course. Goblin Slayer did the exact same thing just two seasons back, and it too tricked people into watching twelve episodes of a mediocre gore-fest with a far more ham-fisted attempt at viewer shock. In a similar vein, Shield Hero leverages its opening steam into nothing more than a flurry of tired isekai tropes. The whole “bit” here is Naofumi being hated and misunderstood despite being the “nicest guy” in our quartet of heroes, which is something I’ll let you all draw your own conclusions on. Even though I hate to say it, this is really the only thing that the show manages to do well. When it’s not relishing in Raphtalia fanservice, Shield Hero clearly establishes that Naofumi is a far more righteous than the other three heroes despite his social status. These other “heroes” exemplify a misunderstood or warped ideas of what a hero should be, and it’s cathartic to see Naofumi slap them down to Earth every few episodes. Other than that, there isn’t much to say here. The art and animation are generic and unpolished, the story and characters are flat and boring, and there are many episodes that feel like shounen filler, where nothing much of importance happens at all.
All this said, at our current halfway point in the series, I’m extremely frustrated with Shield Hero, and I think I would be even if it was able to chill with the “incel” stuff. It’s not doing anything new while having middling presentation at best, content to throw the same old isekai-action bullshit at you week after week with no signs of shaping up. The fact that such a generic and continually offensive series can be so popular today, especially in a community that is so regularly hell-bent on being inclusive and welcoming, is absolutely insane to me. I apologize if this rant is just an echo of things that everyone has heard before about the show, but I just had to get something out there. Shows like this make me really wish I could drop stuff.
Score: (Not Completed)
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Title: Kimi no Suizou wo Tabetai or I Want to Eat Your Pancreas
Genre: Drama, Romance
Studio: Studio VOLN
Streaming: N/A
So it’s been a while since I went to see this movie, but it did technically have its theatrical run during the winter season, so that means it’s fair game. Forgive me if I’m dicey on some of the details here, as it’s been quite a few months, but I think that statement alone should reveal most of my general thoughts on Pancreas. I don’t typically forget things about media that leave a profound impact on me, nor do I scrub from my memory so aggressively anime that I find artistically important or valuable. That’s a little unfair to Pancreas; the movie is not offensively bad (cough cough FIREWORKS couch), but commits regular sins that pile to a conclusion that ultimately falls flat in eliciting the heart-wrenching gut-punch that it tries to deliver. If you’re someone who really connected with and enjoyed this movie, I want you to know full well that I don’t mean to offend in any way. Emotional dramas that deal with such grim content resonate more deeply with those that have had similar experiences, but this is a review blog and I don’t like to make a habit of mincing words.
In the spirit of being blunt, I’ll start with that the visuals and music in Pancreas were some of the worst I’ve had the displeasure of sitting through in an anime movie. The character designs and art style were unbelievably generic, and the near nonexistent motion throughout the movie did nothing to help. The backgrounds, which are big part thing that really set apart productions from TV anime for me, were also generic computer-generated garbage. Hell, I even caught glimpse of a few CG crowd shots. This low level of production really pulls me out of the experience, and while I may be a far more aesthetic-oriented watcher than most, I can guarantee you that I’m not the only one with this gripe. As for the story, I find myself echoing the general critic of many, in that the entirety of the plot is both predictable and overly convenient for trying to punch you in face with “the feels”. These sorts of stories can be easily forgiven with good execution and deep characters, but Pancreas is content to simply display events on screen rather than present them in any meaningful way. “Me” and Sakura are decent enough romantic protagonists, and their voice actors put on some really standout performances that slam emotion into your seat even through a language barrier. However, their actions are so predictable and flattened by poor execution that I really couldn’t find myself being heavily invested in either of them by the end of the movie’s inflated runtime. The final kick in the face is the final-hour emotional ass-pull, which although I won’t spoil, ended everything for me.
If I had to describe my gripes with Pancreas in a single line, it would be “overly ham-fisted”. I think that the story and characters of this movie had the potential to be great, but when something just tries to beat you over the head with the cry hammer over and over for nearly three hours, I can’t help but feel frustrated. If it wasn’t for one of the final scenes, or honestly, one singular line from “Me”, I don’t think any part of Pancreas would have landed on me emotionally at all, and even that nearly ruined by a terrible CG cherry-blossom sequence. If you are someone who can shrug off these issues with presentation and direction, you are likely to really enjoy this film, but for someone like me who has so many favorite movies and shows that fall within this same genre, I can’t help but only feel frustrated and disappointed.
Score: 5 failed cries/10
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Title: Mob Psycho 100: Season 2
Genre: Action, Drama, Comedy
Studio: Bones
Streaming: Crunchyroll, VRV
I don’t make it a habit of frivolously scoring anime at “10/10”. If I put something at this high of a rating, then it’s something that I think is significant, powerful, or too important to ignore. Never in my wildest dreams did I think that something this incredible would come out of this past spring season, but damn, was I proven wrong. Sure, I was excited for the second season of Mob Psycho, as the first was one of my most loved shows in the past few years, but I never thought it could ever be this good. Mob has never strayed away from heavier and more character-focused content, unlike its parody-laden brother One Punch Man, but this season came in swinging particularly strong with some downright gut-wrenching emotional arcs. Getting to see Mob grow as a person, as well as helping to grow everyone around him, is a never-ending joy to watch, and this second season does nothing but deliver episode after episode. While keeping the same episodic flair as the first season, Mob also works in a cleverly executed overarching story, tying all of our characters’ narratives together in the final hour to beautiful effect. Bones delivers one of the cleanest TV anime productions I have ever seen in my life, and that is not at all hyperbole. Yet again, the simplistic art style is leveraged for dramatic and sweeping action scenes with insanely polished fight choreography, with stunning character animation during instances of dialogue to polish it all off. I have never seen a crispier, cleaner anime be produced for television. Ever.
I am so deadly serious about this, I’m just going to leave it here. I don’t want to risk saying anything that even remotely sounds like criticism. This is, for all intents and purposes, a perfect sequel. Whatever you do, please do not miss Mob Psycho 100.
Score: 10 / 10, Anime of the Season