Fluggyboi's Blog

Anime Relations: Wizard Barristers: Benmashi Cecil

DISCLAIMER:
This Post will contain Spoilers for the show up to and including episode 8, but considering the nature of the show itself, I don’t feel like knowing about some of these plot points I’m describing here will hamper your enjoyment in any meaningful way. Besides, this show can use any promotion it gets, considering how unpopular it is. I’m sure Umetsu-sensei will be pleased lol. No, seriously, give that man more work again, he’s a really unique and talented voice in the industry.

Throughout the second episode I remained skeptical as I had been from the beginning (read the original blog entry for context) but by episode three I began to be really engrossed in the well done court case situations the show threw its characters into.
And while my prediction about the visual production values turned out to be true, I became more and more engrossed by the characters and the well done writing and competent direction.
Episode two turned out to be the low point of the show so far. whenever the climax of barristers episodes relied on their big diaboloid mecha doing all the fighting, I became immediately disinterested. not because I dislike mecha or anything like that, quite on the contrary, but instead because those sections felt shoehorned into the story & magic system to have mecha like battles. And besides, the things themselves don't look nearly as good as the rest of the show, being way over designed. The cgi itself wouldn't even be the problem, it's mainly how its implemented, the composition.

And speaking of the shows artstyle & aesthetic, it really remained consistently serviceable so far (I’m writing this after finishing ep8 which seemingly just lead into the final arc of the show).
Speaking of arcs, ep 7-8, the north america tour, was by far the greatest highlight for me so far. Not only am I a massive sucker for road trips like that, but the character dynamic with hotaru starting out as a moody bitch and then later on warming up to cecil and subsequently turning into her biggest friend felt very well developed and the anime showed great heart in this arc.
And while I’m still a bit iffy on the seemingly final arc of the series, it's all in how the last four episodes will flesh out the background of this situation that will determine if I will be down with it or not.
These last six episodes really took me by surprise after I went into episode 2 with such a cynical mindset and, even worse, when I was initially validated by said episode to have these concerns.

Of course the mal score being that low didnt give me a confidence boost either in that regard.
It can't be that low just because of those few out of place ecchi scenes in episode one, right?
Do I have to brace for the inevitable final arc to make this whole house of pretty cards that the show built up so surprisingly competently collapse? Here’s on hoping I won’t have to. Cheers!
See you next time.

Anime Relations: Mezzo Forte, Mezzo DSA, Elfen Lied, Ikkitousen, A Kite, Kite Liberator, Queen's Blade: Rurou no Senshi, Hyakka Ryouran: Samurai Girls, Sekai de Ichiban Tsuyoku Naritai!, Hagure Yuusha no Aesthetica, Maoyuu Maou Yuusha, Wizard Barristers: Benmashi Cecil, Gokukoku no Brynhildr, Isuca, Valkyrie Drive: Mermaid

Studio Arms Corporation started out mostly producing hentai when they were still known as Dandelion (and later Triple X) around the turn of the millennium but they also produced two high quality OVAs, A Kite and Mezzo Forte. I won’t cover the aforementioned hentai here.
In the mid 00s Arms shifted their focus away from hentai productions and towards longer running mainly ecchi tv series, probably due to the success of a certain show of theirs. They also produced Genshiken Season 2 in 2007. I haven't seen any Genshiken stuff yet but I felt compelled to mention that somewhere. Nowadays, Studio Arms is mostly known for one thing: Elfen Lied. That show also is the main reason why I'm writing this blogpost here now.
I had watched Elfen Lied first about 10 years ago, because of a friends’ recommendation based on the idea of wanting to "see something radical". It ended up being the first anime series that I watched, that was not running on german TV (like One Piece, Dragonball, Naruto and many others). I found the show online, on the now defunct german video streaming service MyVideo. These days I can't remember how I felt about the show and since Elfen Lied is quite the cultural cornerstone of 00s anime, I decided to rewatch it. For some reason during that rewatching process I felt the need to check out other anime by this studio and one thing led to another.

What follows now is a quick breakdown of some of Studio Arms work, which were chosen purely based on my curiosity but I feel like they represent a good portion of their output, at least of the non-hentai kind.
For most of these entries I will only have first impressions to show for now, but I'm planning on releasing a follow up post whenever I finish these shows I actually decided to watch. Suppose that the big Elfen Lied take will have to wait until next time.


1998: A Kite


This is a very dark and depressing OVA. It features brutal kills, plenty of gore and explicit sex scenes. There is nothing light or fun to be found here, and that's arguably a plus as A Kite's atmosphere is thick as hell! A Kite is beautifully animated and takes its time with the setting. The plot is nothing you haven’t seen before: an orphan is trained to be an assassin and turns on her masters. But who cares about plot anyway.
One of the most interesting aspects of this OVA production-wise is that it received a HD remaster in 2017 based on the old tapes. It looks crisp as hell. Some scenes couldn’t be redone for certain reasons however, so sometimes old VHS shots are still edited in to maintain the full OVA. Those shifts might be jarring for some but are simply fascinating for me personally, seeing that difference really makes you appreciate both versions more, mainly the new one of course, but it also highlights that VHS tape charm of olden days.
So yeah, track down that new version and watch this if you can stomach the content, it's well worth it!


2000: Mezzo Forte


Mezzo Forte is quite a bit more lighthearted and humorous than A Kite, meaning it has humor at all since A Kite had none of that frivolous shit. Mezzo Forte has a likeable cast of three dumbos, one badass short haired ass kicking girl named Mikura, an old run-down ex cop, mostly just called Pops by Mikura and last but not least (but actually least) an android mechanic with spiky blond hair and abs for days named Tomohisa. Each episode has at least one big action set piece which is absolutely stunning and makes these two 30 minute OVAs worth watching for this alone. The other element which we are already familiar with from A Kite is extended sex scenes of the rapey kind, even more explicit and lovingly rendered.

Spoiler: Both of those scenes are cop outs to keep our heroine clean, the first later on revealed as just a wet dream of hers and the second one turns out to be a threesome with a conveniently switched out android version of her.

These two scenes are probably the most blatant blemishes in these otherwise entertaining and action packed OVA episodes.
Sadly, Mezzo Forte didn’t get the remaster treatment A Kite received, at least not yet.


2004: Mezzo DSA


Well here we go, will this be the first turd on the list? Possibly. At least the first episode of this show is arguably on the same quality level as its OVA original, great fluid fight animation and inventive action ideas. It’s just a shame that the production completely fell apart by episode three at which point I had no nerve left for watching the same four shots of that one car karaoke scene for like two continuous minutes. This production collapse situation strongly reminded me of last years Cop Craft, it’s just sad to watch.
Oh and they also introduced supernatural elements into the story here which didn’t fit the setting well in this birbs opinion. Dropped.


2004: Elfen Lied


She went through like four rows of guards just to show more gruesome splatter.
I vaguely remember being shocked and excited by this when I was like 15.
Now I feel nothing except a mild notion of disgust.
The other thing I noticed was the stylistic divide between the gorgeous hand drawn backgrounds and the crudely drawn digital character models. This was an interesting transition period between the two methods, nowadays you see bland looking digital background art all the time in anime, especially in shows of this caliber.
So yeah, don't got that much else to say about this first episode, I'm sure I can come up with more after I've fully rewatched the show.


2007: Ikkitousen


This wasn't even an Arms production at first, so why is it in here? Well, it went on to become a big franchise for Arms, even though this started out as a J.C. Staff anime in 2003.
Arms produced three 12 episode seasons of this starting in 2007, also including five extra projects consisting of OVAs and specials.
The last anime they produced was actually a three episode OVA of this and that was last year, three years after they produced anything else of note. I wonder what happened in that big time gap. Their japanese website is down and wikipedia doesn't say anything about this, so we can only speculate.
But I'll be honest with you here, your humble birb servant only watched the first episode of the first J.C. Staff season and that was probably the worst experience on this list overall so spare me more of this utter high school chinese pendant delinquent goodness, please! (dropped)


2008: Kite Liberator

This Gundam reference was the only screenshot I made, oops

This was one big old disappointment, similar but different to the Mezzo DSA situation. Some elements of what made A Kite great are in here, including some good action sequences and the character designs.
But even those elements don't really shine. Yes, the character animation is above average of what you otherwise see from Arms in this time period but this is also a flipping OVA.
The CG space station looks alright but the composition is horrible. That one scene where the imagined camera swings around the main character in a train and you can literally see the pixels at the edge of the her design. Horrible!
The space setting in here doesn't feel fleshed out enough, doesn’t connect to the previous storyline and feel of A Kite at all and the main antagonist is a hideous bone monster born out of calcium rich astronaut food combined with space radiation.
This ain't cash money, Umetsu bro.
The real antagonist is the late stage capitalism food industry, actually. Based!


2009: Queen's Blade


Arms staff clearly put some work into this series. The first episode looks consistently good, even if the animation itself is hardly impressive.
I Think I owe it to myself to finish at least the first two seasons, since I greatly enjoyed a certain other piece of media based on Queen’s Blade for a long time now, humu humu don't @ me.
Anyways, this was a massive franchise for arms, all in all they produced three seasons, four OVA bundles and six special bundles for it. The Queen's Blade franchise is based on something rather unique, a series of game books. Maybe it's just me but I do feel that the show is different for it, it's more narrative driven, it feels like a fantasy adventure novel.
I'll be interested to see how much of this is as watchable as the first episode.
We'll see.


2010: Hyakka Ryouran: Samurai Girls


The last of Arms’ trifecta of multi-season ecchi battle tv anime. This one is based on a light novel (ah yes I love those, usually way too verbose for their own good).
Hyakka Ryouran is loosely based on japanese history and employs an art style that utilizes thick, fuzzy outlines, as well as lots of effects that seem to invoke calligraphy brush strokes.
This of course feeds into the shows historic samurai setting. They also used an ink blot filter on occasion, which resulted in the overall picture being a mess of black smudges, combining all those effects, especially in the intro segment. This anime’s visuals seems to rely a lot on digital tricks like these. In the very next scene you get to witness a first person view through a digital camera, zoom included (wait aren't we in feudal japan?!?).
At this point I remembered that there were war planes in the opening bit, must've been too distracted by the visual clutter to properly register and connect them to the setting before.
This anime is a complete mess.
Apart from these observations there is really nothing noteworthy about this show cause its NOT GOOD.
It was popular enough to receive a second season, 2 OVA episodes in 2015 and 3 matching special episode clusters but it's clearly nothing that I could enjoy.
Fat droppu!


2012: Hagure Yuusha no Aesthetica


This show deserves my raw bullet point coverage, here we go:
- grainy effect
- big tiddy
- looks & feels like a modern isekai, except the main character is quite handsome
- uses sexual harassment as combat trick, CANCELLED!
- big tiddy
- defeat the dark lord
- oh wait it really is an isekai lol
- why is green gal not an elf aaaaaargh
- feel like I need to cleanse my palate with slayers or lodoss war now
- based on over a quarter million list entries on mal combined with it being an isekai, I wonder why nobody ever talks about this show
- then again it's extremely bland and not good so go figure
- it also aired in the same season as SAO, LOL
- oh no now they went back to the real world and enroll in a high school, we riding the train to cliché town!
- of course that school is called BABEL, big reaching for the gods moment
- not good
- dropped


2013: Maoyuu Maou Yuusha


This is actually surprisingly good. It has this painterly art style which, albeit being obviously a digital effect, still looks quite good. The show has competent direction and proper comedic timing. It's just another generic fantasy show on the surface, but the demon king is a very charming and cute lady who proceeds to redpill the hero on war economics and stuff.
Really unexpected but I dig it. Of course demon king big tiddy!!!!
Hero and demon queen come together to REVOLUTIONIZE THE WORLD!
Unexpectedly enjoyable, for realsies.
This is an example of a light novel adaptation done well, the drawn out dialogues are rendered in a fairly varied and entertaining way. Of course the light novel’s written dialogue itself has to be not shit to achieve anything of note in the first place. I’ll be sure to give this at least a few more episodes before I come back to it in the update post.


2013: Sekai de Ichiban Tsuyoku Naritai


What we got here is a bad looking ecchi wrestling show that seems to revel in its female protagonists getting the shit beaten out of them and getting off on their pained screams.
Apparently it's loosely based on a famous japanese wrestling champion or something.
I'd really like to see a well made female wrestling anime one of these days but between this and Wanna-Be's, we can only dream.
Epic Batista drop.


2014: Wizard Barristers: Benmashi Cecil


A Kite and Mezzo Forte creator Yasuomi Umetsu came back to the studio for this show, which was the only thing that remotely interested me here before watching.
And my interest wasn't ill-advised, everything about this show screams Umetsu, for better and for worse. Really makes for a unique aesthetic though. It opens with some genuinely impressive looking exploding train action, Umetsus style clearly recognizable. The character designs are very distinctly his as well. Sadly we also have another staple of his in here, which is casual sexual harassment played for titillation and laughs.
Umetsu did an unbelievable amount of work on this production:
Director, Episode Director, Storyboard, Animation Director, Original Creator, Character Design, Chief Animation Director, Key Animation and Series Composition.
Phew dude, I truly commend the passion behind his works, especially here.

I just worry that this will turn out the same way as Mezzo DSA did 10 years prior, starting off with a great action set piece hook and then utterly falling apart shortly after.
Oh no, here we go! Stupid big ol' CG cyber dragon enters the picture.
Well, I won’t have any reservations about my skepticism here but let's see how this develops. I’ll report back on this in the update post.


2014: Gokukoku no Brynhildr


This is the other notable work by the Elfen Lied manga creator Lynn Okamoto.
The first episode wasn't nearly as splatter-filled or nude as Elfen Lied’s was.
It also feels very tired and it's no joy to look at either.
The only spark of life I felt during the whole first episode was at the end when he and I concurrently noticed how she didn't have those moles under her arm,
which was the last hope he clinged on to for her actually being his childhood friend.
I was looking for those moles during the whole duration of this episode. The creators were very aware of this tension and drew it out until the last minute.
That moment was well done.
Still dropped though.


2015: Isuca


Opens with a scene of a well endowed lady (duh) flashing her nudity to an unsuspecting pissy baby young man on a nightly park stroll or something. She then quickly turns into a giant centipede by shedding her skin and prepares to devour the boy before getting offed by an arrow through the skull which promptly makes her head and organs explode.
Oh and, of course, the charred remains of the creature get immediately blown off by the wind thanks to our good friend the digital particle effect.
This show is very generic and unappealing looking, the only thing that stood out to me here was a menacing piece of slow string music that played in a short tense scene.
This show is a mixture of tired tropes, of course its setting is a high school, of course the protagonist is a bland boy to project onto, his only distinguishable trait being that he likes cleaning. We also got a violent tsundere and supernatural bullshit. And of course we got all the typical ecchi shenanigans Arms is known for.
Another drop.


2015: Valkyrie Drive: Mermaid


Time for our last entry for today.
Alright here is a concept you have NEVER heard of before: What if we have girls who turn into weapons if they are getting pleasurebated? Revolutionary!
The classic random german word for added coolness makes an appearance, this time it's "Wärter". And oooh who would've thought, there's a magic high school, how wonderful.
We also got some epic slave play hours in this bitch, subarashii!
Is this where hand shakers got that idea from? Possibly.
At least the ending song is kinda cute.
Safu droppu.


Alright, let's see... what should you take away from this post...hmmm.
Watch the early Umetsu works for sure, ah and also try Maoyu Maou Yusha maybe, its looking quite promising.
Let's not fool ourselves here, you gotta give Queen's Blade a try too, you know you want to.
I do realize it's slim pickings with Arms, but sometimes that very lack of consistent quality has a charm in itself. If you already read this far you will understand the feeling that compelled me to do this, we are into a highly autistic medium here after all. Cheers.

Okay so Yakuza 0 has finally finished downloading and I really wanna be done with this post now so
SAYONARA!
bugger off
GET OFF MY GODDAMN PROPERTY GODDAMNIT!
see you next time,
ovo


thanks to Nyard, Sinful and Ignika for helping me out editing this post <3

Anime Relations: Shinseiki Evangelion, Kill la Kill, Darling in the FranXX

well they are more supposed similarities i spotted between franxx and earlier works from those guys.

the kyoryuu queen
i think she was the first kyoryuu/human hybrid created by ape
so 001
possibly


zero two was the eva unit 01 (test type) to the queens eva unit 00 (the prototype)

therefore the group of the 9s are the production model evas
they clearly show kyoryuu/human hybrid signs as early as they where introducted in the series


also the ape emissarys being only clothing...
strikes me as eerily familiar to the plot of kill la kill
they are a final form of "only clothing, no human" so to speak

Anime Relations: Steins;Gate 0, Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu: Die Neue These - Kaikou, Uma Musume: Pretty Derby, Comic Girls, Lupin III: Part 5, Wotaku ni Koi wa Muzukashii, Golden Kamuy, Mahou Shoujo Site, Hinamatsuri, Shiyan Pin Jiating, Boku no Hero Academia 3rd Season, Tada-kun wa Koi wo Shinai, Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online, Megalo Box, Piano no Mori (TV), 3D Kanojo: Real Girl, Caligula, Mahou Shoujo Ore, Cutie Honey Universe, Gegege no Kitarou (2018)

Here are some of my thoughts on all the shows i’ve sampled this spring season. I actually put some effort into it for once, yay. Mild to medium spoilers for the given shows can’t be avoided so tread with care.

3D Kanojo: Real Girl (one episode seen): Lately I had somewhat of a fatigue when it comes to romance anime, especially when otaku tropes are involved to pander to a specific audience. It also doesn’t help that the production for this is rather abysmal. I appreciate the honesty presented in this show with the characters being slightly more believable highschool students than usually but that's not enough to redeem this show for me. First impression verdict: 4/10, dropped

Boku no Hero Academia 3rd Season (two episodes seen): It’s kind of unfortunate how second and third season of BnHA have to start things off with a lackluster recap episode and while it's understandable and I'm sure things will only get better from here, it doesn't lend itself well to my first impression format. The second episode fared slightly better being the starting point for what seems like a training arc, unfortunately it still felt somewhat formulaic and bland. I’m not the biggest BnHA fan but I always enjoyed the show, especially the Stain arc, but this is probably the least interested I've been in the show since it started airing. First impression rating: 6/10

Caligula (one episode seen): It's been over a week since I've watched this and I swear I was fully conscious while doing so but I barely remember anything that happened. It probably was just THAT forgettable. Though I do remember the production being garbage. Also some idol turning everyone into bloodthirsty monsters aka. gladiators or something? I don't know man, lets move on. First impression verdict: 2/10, dropped

Comic Girls (two episodes seen): This show is nothing special. It's a rather formulaic cute girls doing cute things show, this time as mangaka. Still though, the character designs are very recognizable and frankly cute as fuck, the comedy is convincing and the character interactions imaginative, at least for this type of show. Nexus is a fairly new and untested studio with the co-production for Chivalry of a failed Knight from a few years back being their most notable output yet, so this could be an interesting show to keep your eyes on during the season. First impression rating: 6/10

Cutie Honey Universe (two episodes seen): With its “old meets new” aesthetic this show kind of blew me away at first after sampling such seasonal garbage like Caligula. I promptly tried out Re: Cutey Honey by good old Gainax, which was even more of an insanely wild ride. Unfortunately the second episode left me a bit disenchanted as it could not live up to the hype the first episode generated for me. I’m still glad Go Nagai’s work gets some well-deserved attention lately. First impression rating: 6/10

Gegege no Kitarou (one episode seen): A kids show about yokai (japanese spirit entities) with impressive production values and fairly fun animation. The monster of the week formula is apparent right from the beginning and the themes are understandably basic. I’m sure this will be a worthy watching experience for the little ones but I'm not really interested. First impression verdict: 4/10, dropped

Legend of the Galactic Heroes: Die Neue These (three episodes seen): As with Lupin III, my knowledge of this franchise is limited at best as I haven't seen the original OVA epic as of yet. What I got here was very impressive and a bounce back from sport shonen series for Production I.G. which dominated their turnout in the last few years. The CGI in this show is very well integrated, probably the best job I’ve seen on a tv series, excluding the full CG show Land of the Lustrous from two seasons ago. The story is immediately gripping and the overall aesthetic is self-assured. First impression rating: 8/10

Golden Kamuy (two episodes seen): Despite the appearance of the worst bear in the first episode of Golden Kamuy and a very spotty and disappointing production, the core of the show still holds up very well, which would be the script. The protagonists have a lot of character to them, are fun to watch while they interact with each other or just casually skin the living (or in this case dead) shit out of ex-prisoners left and right. Yep this is a very bloody show, not for the eyes of squeamish watchers. The story so far (and especially the reception the manga got) promises a very entertaining ride through the cold landscape of Hokkaido and I’m glad to be along for it. First impression rating: 7/10

Hinamatsuri (two episodes seen): I have seen my fair share of comedically focussed anime but few got me to laugh as consistently as Hinamatsuri did within the span of two episodes. Only Konosuba and Non Non Biyori would come to mind here. Therefore this is probably the most unexpected hit for me this season and I won't go into further details since it’s best to experience this whackfest without preconceptions. First impression rating: 8/10

Hisone to Masotan (one episode seen): A very charming tale about a young woman in the japanese self-defense forces who practically stumbles upon a military secret and promptly gets drafted to “pilot” it. It also has my favorite VA Tomoyo Kurosawa voicing a main character which makes this an auto must-watch for me. The character designs are round and simplistic which lends itself well for detailed character and facial animations. I just hope this won't devolve into melodramatic shenanigans by the end, looking at you Okada. First impression rating: 8/10

Lupin III Part V (two episodes seen): This is my first exposure to the Lupin franchise and I was immediately blown away by the stylistic command and directing of this show. The backgrounds are beautiful and feel lived-in and the color palate is vibrant and assured. The modern technology aspects in this iteration feel well implemented and are a driving force of the story. It really feels like a bond movie with more emphasis on the comedic aspects and I absolutely love it. First impression rating: 9/10

Mahou Shoujo Ore (one episode seen): Similar to Caligula, I don’t remember that much about this one episode. The jokes don’t really land, the production and directing are uninspired and the gimmick is lame. I honestly couldn’t care less. First impression verdict: 3/10, dropped

Mahou Shoujo Site (two episodes seen): Oh look! Two anime who share two thirds of the same name this season. One is not like the other though. This one is probably the edgiest stuff you’re going to see all year and I kinda love it. Cute girls doing suffering is not a subgenre I specifically pick out but when it’s this spicy I’ll be along for the ride. I don’t know if they show a trigger warning before airing this anime in japan but they should. First impression rating: 6/10

Megalo Box (two episodes seen): I’ve become somewhat of a boxing fan over the last few months, following the current fights and athletes as well as catching up on some of the history of the sport. I even started to watch Ashita no Joe, a legendary boxing anime from the 70s. Of course most of you know about AnJ already because Megalo Box is somewhat of a spiritual successor to the old joe, airing as the 50th anniversary show. The similarities and nods to the grandfather of boxing anime are numerous but not distracting. The grainy early 2000s DVD aesthetic is a welcome change from the usual seasonal fare and gives off a very nostalgic vibe. Of course the show doesn't just rely on its predecessors and delivers two cohesive and exciting episodes which establish the main character and his partner in crime as well as the looming almost larger than life antagonist. First impression rating: 8/10

Piano no Mori (one episode seen): I was a little bit excited getting into this show since it's being produced by the Fukushima offshoot of Gainax but it turned out my excitement was only partially justified. Of course you can’t really expect much from the chewed out skeleton that is Gainax these days but this is something rather different regardless. As far as I can tell it’s laser focussed on the topic of playing the piano (who would've thought) and it also has some magical elements to it. As someone who spend about ten years of my life learning and playing the piano, this could’ve been the show for me but that time is long gone and this show isn’t inspiring enough to make me feel anything. Sadly they also couldn’t get around animating the elaborate performance scenes in CG, which was ultimately the biggest shortcoming for me. First impression verdict: 4/10, dropped

Shiyan Pin Jiating (one episode seen): It’s a monster girls show. First impression verdict: 3/10, dropped Oh you want me to write more? Alright then. The animation style and art are both somewhat awkward and all the monsters are siblings who have to deal with the human world after getting genetically engineered by their parents. One of them is a spider girl, and not even the good kind like Rachnee. Asshole parents, right? Oh and the episodes are only around 15 minutes long. Let’s move on.

Steins;Gate 0 (one episode seen): Oh boy, here comes the big one. I’m not the greatest Steins;Gate fan, in fact I kinda dislike it. Even more so since it’s being heralded as one of the best anime of all time by a lot of people since its release in 2011. The first 12 episodes where good shit, the second half is where it lost me almost completely. But enough about the original show, this is Steins;Gate 0, this is supposed to be even darker and even more depressing than its predecessor. And so far it looks like it’s going to be exactly that, the mad scientists girl is dead and he killed her and has to live with it now. Let’s just see what this will bring to the table but I’m still not gonna sharpen my cutlery for this course. First impression rating: 5/10

SAO Alternative: Gun Gale Online (two episodes seen): Not too long ago I attempted to binge both seasons and movies of Sword Art Online. It went fairly smoothly, I've certainly had harder times binging other shows. It still took me about two weeks for all of it and as much as I saw some merits in SAO and even loved the Mother’s Rosario arc, the flaws still outshined everything else. Not a huge surprise then that that Alternative is the best thing to happen to the franchise up until this point. And how could it not since Alternative isn’t written by some hack but by Keiichi Sigsawa, the creator of Kino’s Journey. The production is also handled by a studio (3Hz) that I lately became a fan of with their previous project Princess Principal being one of the best anime of last year. It’s not like the production design of Alternative is that distinct from A-1s usual fare but it’s still different enough to feel a lot more charming than the original series, especially the cute design of main character LLENN. The combat so far has been satisfyingly tactical and comprehensible. Also discussions around LLENNs camouflage need to stop, she wanted to look cute ingame and it just so happens that they have a pink desert camo available, which was originally used by the british navy in WWII. First impression rating: 7/10

Tada-kun wa Koi wo Shinai (one episode seen): A fairly charming romcom about a highschool student who meets a beautiful foreign girl visiting japan. The show has a clean but forgettable aesthetic and every technical aspect is handled with care. To bad that the comedy aspect of it doesn’t work with me at all. I already had the same problem with Nozaki-kun previously. This at least seems to have a decent amount of plot progression since its not adapted from a 4koma, rather its an original product which is always cool to see. The tiredness about romance anime I mentioned earlier still applies here unfortunately. First impression verdict: 5/10, dropped

Uma Musume: Pretty Derby (one episode seen): This one hurt. I’ve been a fan of studio P.A.Works since last years Sakura Quest and they always struck me as a studio with integrity and a wholly unique flair. You can still see glimpses of that in Uma Musume but it's mostly a fetish pandering cute animal girls doing sports show and a fairly average one at that. At least that’s what it looks like from the outset. As much as it saddens me, since I already got 12+ seasonal shows to watch now, I’m gonna pass on this one. First impression verdict: 4/10, dropped

Wotaku ni Koi wa Muzukashii (one episode seen): Hey look, another romcom about otaku, this time with adult protagonists and from A-1 Pictures. Hooray. It’s actually not that bad. The characters are charming and the production staff is competent. It’s even slightly funny. Still a romcom with otaku though. I’m sure Geoff Thew will eat this up like it's the best thing ever and I can’t even really blame him for it. Just not my kinda fare right now. First impression verdict: 5/10, dropped

And that concludes this overambitious post, which took this german boi about half a day to finish. Have a nice evening, folks.