Winter 2022 anime

First Impressions

• Tribe Nine: Pretty much what you’d expect from the author of Danganronpa if you’d asked him to write a baseball anime. Love how over the top it is. They play baseball using the entire city as the field, the bats have rocket boosters, and it’s perfectly legal to use a railgun buster cannon for pitching. The animation perfectly delivers that insane energy throughout the episode. Definitely continuing.
• Sabikui Bisco: Some bits of clunky exposition here and there, but that’s probably because there’s a lot of stuff that needs explaining. The gist is that Japan is getting corroded by a form of rust that can affect people, and there are terrorists spreading the mushrooms that allegedly make this rust. The viewpoint character is a well-meaning doctor who wants to find a cure for that rust. A bit kooky but straightforward. It’s the grungy weird fantasy setting that shines the most here. Shops sell mantis shrimp and crocodile sandwiches, terrorists that can make mushrooms sprout from their arrows, giant crabs fight helicopters manned by mooks with rabbit masks… there is a lot of things to gawk at. Based on the PV the action is gonna be metal, so I’m looking forward to that. Definitely continuing.

Initial Reactions: Sabikui Bisco

So much to take in, but the main characters ended up meeting, so that's some development. This'll be one long ride!

Tribe Nine: It should be campy fun, but between the weak animation and poor direction it just doesn't work

Sabikui Bisco: Finally, something good. It's weird, it's well animated, it's well directed. Would be a stand-out in almost any season, but it's a goddamn oasis in this one. ...Probably should have had a double-length premiere, though

PriConne: Starting off with a filler episode to ease us back in. Enjoyable enough, but I really needed a refresher on the plot, not the character dynamics

Sabikui Bisco started a bit slow, but overall is just as I hoped it would be. Pretty interesting crazy setting and charas. I belive in ID: Invaded staff here.

First Impressions

• Tensai Ouji no Akaji Kokka Saiseijutsu: Would have preferred that the show explained the situation of the prince's country more instead of putting it all in an expodump. I guess they wanted to quickly get to a big battle sequence in order to reel in viewers. The joke is that the MC is a genius and his plans "fail successfully" because everyone around him is too stupid to catch on. Like how his skirmish with an enemy nation ends with his overwhelming victory because apparently the opposing army didn't know basic tactics. I guess you would be called a genius if you're surrounded by idiots. Anyway, his successes end up piling more work on him, which he hates. Huh, there's a lesson in there somewhere. Side note: Ninym is a cutie. Rie Takahashi is channeling Emilia energy into her. Trying until episode three.
• Fantasy Bishoujo Juniku Ojisan to: It declares itself a rom com between an old guy and a girl who used to be an old guy. And in my opinion, it's really funny! This first episode sets up the plot nicely; I particularly like how organic the flow of events is, down to the the type of curse being what it is because it was cast by a goddess of love. It's super fun seeing our two leads struggle with being attracted to one another, getting smitten then squicked in the span of milliseconds. The comedic timing is on point too, and the punchy voicework helps sell the bromantic banter. It's boisterous and chaotic, fitting for its oddball premise. Definitely continuing.

Edited by fillerdude on Feb 7th 2022 at 9:45:45 AM

so, I've watched in the new season:

Ousama & Lupin leftover from last season, Leadale, 24th ward, Police in a Pod, Cue!, World End Harem, Strongest sage, Bisque Doll, Akebi, Slow Loop, Girl's Frontline, Rose King, Miss Kuroitsu from the Monster Design Department, Kendeshi, and Bishoujo Fantasy

Of them, I think the best new shows are Bisque Doll, Akebi, Miss Kuroitsu, and Rose King.

Leadale and Bishoujo Fantasy looks to be the better pair of isekai stories, one is a secret BL story, the other a comfy Slice of Life.

Cue! looks like it will be a less cynical verson of Girlish Number. Its also an orphaned production, the gatcha game its based on having shut down in April of last year.

Police in a Pod feels liek a more darkly humorous version of You're Under Arrest!.

24th Ward feels to me like it is setting up a premise it cannot deliver upon, even before you take into account the production issues. That flash of stills op is telling.

World's end Harem is yet another "I can't believe its not Hentai" show, with teh broadcast censorship hilariously ridiculous, like someone hastily covered it over with a think black magic marker. Take the one thing people will want to watch about it, and cover it up.

Akebi is beautifully animated. Very lush. My only qualm is it sems to be a bit gaze-y at its 13 year old characters, with a heavy foot fetish. If it can keep that in check, it'll be one of the better Slice Of Life shows in a while.

Slow Loop: eh, its a Manga Time Kirara Moe hobby show. I expect some yuribaiting and chill exporation of the hobby. Its exactly that so far.

Bisque Doll has one of the stronger premieres of the season, with the Manic Pixie Dream Girl as the nerd in this one. Marin is probly going to be 'best girl' of Winter 2022.

The Strongest Sage is okay at best, feeling like a discount version of Misfit of Demon King Academy, even if this Loight Novel preceeded that one. Crammed through the entire first novel in the first episode was an interesting choice

Girls Frontline is an ada[taion of the manga adaptation of the game. Not much to it so far, other than decent action sequences. Although I like how they incorporated the game's UI into the anime. Will wait for a few more eps to make judgement.

Requiem For a Rose King: Its really good, but when you steal from the best (Shakespeare in this case), you usually get something good.

Miss Kuroitsu: workplace omedy and Toku parody in one. The satire just hits right with me and I'm enjoying it.

One thing I have noticed is there are a surprising amount of Gender Issues in this season: You've got cops who deal with sexism on the job, a guy with a typically 'girly' passion: dolls, an intersex king, a wolfman with dysphoria, and not one but two isekai where the male protagonist magically becomes a girl.

I know one is Reincarnated as a Fantasy Knockout, but what's the other one?

So neither Tensai Ouji nor Koroshi Ai clicked for me and I don't have anything interesting to say about them. I guess this leaves me with a watch list of Akebi-chan, Girls' Frontline, PriConne, Bisco, and Slow Loop. Maybe KenDeshi if I can even be assed to try the second episode. Not much, but still more than I was afraid I'd end up with for a bit there

The other one is Kenja no Deshi wo Nanoru Kenja (or Kendeshi), Tranlated by Funimation as She Professed Herself Pupil of the Wise Man

I have a type of fondness for Koroshi Ai, and That's primarily because I'll read just about anything with morally questionable yanderes. I will say that the manga is mostly just okay, the main cast get protected by the plot in a way that borders on unbelievable at times (except one character where is ability to dodge death flags is just weirdly hilarious) and Chateau ends up being much weaker than one would expect when the story starts but if you liked the Jeanne/Vanitas relationship in Vanitas no Carte, you'll probably love this.

Edit: I just realized that Song is Shimono a.k.a my darling son Zenitsu and I dead-ass didn't recognize his voice I-

Edited by Mami on Jan 13th 2022 at 12:14:26 PM

Gave "My Dress-Up Darling" a try and I liked the first episode. I'm an easy sell for cozy slice-of-life anime.

It’s pretty cute.

First Impressions

• Koroshi Ai: This is a love story that shouldn’t be a love story. Song is a shifty stalker on too of being a dangerous killer and he’s got poor Chateau dancing to his tune. Of course, there must be something more to his creepy courtship. Probably gonna have some tearjerking backstory probably involving Chateau’s pops. There’s a reason Chateau is working as a bounty hunter. I might stick around for that, even if I’m not sold on the main pairing. Trying until episode three.

Edited by fillerdude on Jan 12th 2022 at 7:17:01 AM

• Princess Connect S2: I was surprised by how much I liked the first season, then disappointed at the calibre of writing for the gacha game when that finally got translated, hopefully this'll continue to keep the anime as the superior version. I don't know why, but the wolves dragging Yuuki away never gets old for me, they should totally do that more often. Also, that animation is wonderfully vibrant as usual.

• She Professed Herself Pupil of the Wise Man: Feels very bog-standard, but I'll stick with it for now. It was a very odd first episode though; the first half is backstory stuff establishing the setting and how "good" any action scenes will be, then most of the second half is just... following the now-genderbent player while some song plays. Not even any sound effects, just a lot of wandering around, a bathroom break we really did not need to see, and generally feeling like it's playing up some mystical, fairy tail-esque atmosphere that is simply not there. do agree she's cute tho

• Life With An Ordinary Guy...: Another cute genderbend! This time involving a friend that is most definitely gay for the MC pre-cutifying. This was pretty amusing, certainly a lot more interesting than Wise Man up there. I guess my only concern is if this show acts like changing one's gender magically changes one's sexuality as well. I guess that very vague curse exists purely to try and circumvent that. So provided the show doesn't shit the bed about that whole part, should be a good laugh!

• Arifureta S2: I still cannot comprehend how this of all things got a second season. If nothing else, the episode itself looked fine? Funny how not sabotaging a studio leads to a better-looking show. Still, most of Arifureta's best content was already mangled or skipped outright in season 1, and unless the anime somehow got to completely rewrite the plot, none of the upcoming battles will have anything resembling stakes. Oh, and I have a super infuriating ass pull of a scene to look forward to, so that'll be fun.

And with that... huh, I actually don't have a lot of new shows to check out this time around. Still have tons of leftovers, but it's nice to only have one loaded day for new episodes.

Initial Reactions: Vanitas no Carte 2nd Cour

Now that I caught up with the manga, most of my comments for this will be restricted to the ones concerning adaptation. Nice to see that they were able to keep the feel of the 1st cour! Kudos to Ayumu Murase for making Astolfo sound pretty scary. The one criticism I have though is that it all felt really quick, but I guess that's to be expected.

First Impressions

Vanitas: Part two kicks off with a bang, but I still cannot muster any real enthusiasm for it. I’ve never been a fan of vampires and this episode seems to throw timey wimey shenanigans into the mix, another thing I’m iffyon. Vanitas continues to be intolerable. Sorry, adorable dorky Noe can’t salvage it. Dropped.

Ryman's Club delayed to January 29th.
Oh dear... This isn't looking well...

It's supposed to go in World Trigger's timeslot, and World Trigger got a delay

Edited by Hylarn on Jan 17th 2022 at 6:05:31 AM

Ahh no wonder! Then I guess I have nothing to worry about then!

Yup. World Trigger S3 final got delayed for a week because of tsunami news report. So they just pushed Rymans club also.

Week 2 check-in:

• I can't do Akebi-chan. It's pretty, but the writing...
• Girls' Frontline and KenDeshi are both just barely watchable
• Bisco doesn't quite have the budget to go as buck wild as it clearly wants to, but the direction is good enough that it doesn't hurt it too much. Combined with the story, it gives it a very 80s OVA feel
• PriConne is jumping back into the plot and I must admit to being slightly lost
• Slow Loop is fine

Gonna be a small season for me...

Most people are overhyping Akebi-chan to the point they've mistook the whole show as an idol genre just because of a supporting character.

Now I'm personally following Cue! to popularize it on my idol page.

I feel your pain on Akebi-chan. The animation is ace but it has got to have some of the most inane writing I’ve ever seen.

Edited by fillerdude on Jan 18th 2022 at 5:30:58 AM

Akebi has been described by fans of its manga as basically being a glorified artbook, it's charm is in it's beautiful art more so than anything else.

Oh yeah, and it's author's very barely disguised fetish for teenage girls. The thing has very strong "Hmmmm, yeah, this guy probably drew lolicon hentai in the past didn't he?" vibes.

And from what I've heard, some backgrounds were actually photos instead of handdrawn or altering photos. It got potential, but the show was overhyped.

Overhyped in what circles exactly? I barely heard of the thing outside a tweet or two from sakuga twitter about how pretty it is, which it lived up to.