Kai to Otome to Kamikakushi is certainly one of those shows  squarely in the crowded bubble zone this season. It has a lot going for it – interesting visuals and an intriguing premise, a distinct sense of style. I just struggle with this intensely mannered sort of dialogue and tone most of the time. There are exceptions – Zetsuen no Tempest comes to mind at once, though the author’s other series did nothing for me. And the series Mysterious Disappearances most reminds me of, Dansai Bunri no Crime Edge. But that one wasn’t mannered so much as flamboyantly theatrical – it actually had a ..read more

A week full of cute mini=arcs is never a bad thing with Shinigami Bocchan. To be honest though I’d rather have seen something like this cut than see the sorcery school arc trimmed to two episodes when it should have been about five. Probably about five minutes of this episode was really essential material.  It’s all good, and in a perfect world we wouldn’t have to lose any of it. But we’re about three eps short of a perfect world with this series, and choices had to be made. In effect then we got a slice of life interlude as a kind of breather episode before the final arc kicks in. Fir ..read more

The upside here is at least I don’t have another bubble series to worry about. The premiere of Kaiju No. 8 was so-so but I’m already completely over this series. It’s as conventional a treatment of the battle shounen genre as you could ever want. Honestly it’s a snooze, which for me only makes the series’ massive popularity that much more puzzling. Believe me, I would love to be able to cover more commercial hits here than I do. Ties go to the runner with these big shows – if I can see a way to make it work I give it a punt at least. I don’t see a way here. If the series had followed the fa ..read more

I’ll say this for The Fable – I’ve liked every episode better than the one before it. And since I liked the premiere just fine, that’s a good trend. I’ve seen a lot of commentary along the lines of “well, the anime is nothing special so I’ll just read the manga”. Which is fine, personal choice and all. But you know, if you love anime, I really don’t get it. We watch anime for different things than we get from manga. Acting, and music, and dynamism among others. It reminds me of the non-anime film friend of mine who, whenever he watched an animated film that wasn’t fantasy or SF would say “t ..read more

Was Jirobo’s body in good shape? I’m afraid not. This schedule has so many bubble series right now that I’ve started to layer them in my mind. Tonari no Youkai-san is what I would call an “upper bubble” show. I’m definitely leaning towards sticking with it (unlike, say, Hananoi-kun to Koi no Yamai). It hasn’t quite closed the deal yet, mainly because there are still moments where things feel forced for dramatic purposes rather than authentic. On the whole it’s certainly doing more right than wrong. and it certainly sits squarely in my strike zone, which never hurts. This week’s nue business ..read more

Looking at the whole picture, Karasu wa Aruji o Erabanai is probably the best series of the season to this point. It’s still a bit too explain-y at times (FFS show, don’t tell – trust us, we’ll figure it out). But apart from that, this show pretty much covers all the fantasy bases. Great soundtrack (including OP and ED), compelling characters, fascinating premise and elite world-building. One could sense something about this series, a grandness and literary ambition that anime doesn’t display all that often. Yatagarasu has a long way to go yet and many pitfalls to avoid on the way, but earl ..read more

While there are many words one could use to describe Kuroshitsuji, “shameless” is certainly one which springs to mind for me. Toboso-sensei clearly knows exactly what the appeal of this series is, and to do anything less than indulge relentlessly would be disingenuous. That’s why a Victorian public school setting is so letter-perfect for her. One can hardly imagine a more deranged and perverse environment, more steeped in pomposity and depravity. It fits, as I noted last week, like a bespoke suit from the finest tailor on Saville Row. The essence of this match made in Heaven (or Hell) is on ..read more

It would be hard to find an anime more ignored in the English-speaking word than Ooi Tonbo. So many strikes… It’s a sports anime, which is trouble to begin with. It’s golf (hell, the manga is published in a golf magazine). It has no superpowers or “Hunger Games” ripoffs. It has no bishounen and while the heroine is a cute girl, she’s not sexualized. It’s not that surprising that none of the major streamers picked it up, as it probably would have been almost as ignored if they had. Yet here we are, in a season full of bubble series, and Ooi Tonbo is the first non-sequel I’m confirming. If th ..read more

What else is new? Seems like at least half the schedule is effectively on the bubble this season, and Astro Note is certainly no exception. The first ep didn’t click for me, the second was much better, and the third somewhere in-between. There’s much to like here, as this series is doing a credible job channeling Rumiko and her signature style of 90’s romcom. But at this point it still can’t shake the air of imitation (and to be honest, I’m only modestly keen on the sort of series it’s imitating). Shoin Ginger shakes up the routine here more than anything else this week. That said, he’s Mir ..read more

If I were to assign a descriptor to this episode of Hananoi-kun, it’d be “conventional”. Certainly compared to the first two eps, this was very straightforward shoujo romance with all that implies. The tropes were present and accounted for and any signs of the dark side of this story were pretty hard to spot (though if one squinted, they might still see them). One of those tropes is the anime cold of course. That whole scene with Hananoi passing out on top of Hotaru was a bit weird, but if was played off as pretty innocent. The element of this that bothered me was Hotaru believing afterward ..read more