Fall 2021 anime

First Impressions

• Tesla Note: Huh. I’ve already the manga for this. Part of it, anyway. The gist of it is that Tesla made some crystals that are warping things all over the place, and a ninja girl has to join an organization that will collect those crystals and thereby save the world. The CG is a bit jarring when juxtaposed with traditional 2D art, but it works more than fine for the action scenes. This will be a middling action series, with laughable writing, nothing more than that. Continuing at least maybe until my schedule gets overwhelmed.
• Sankaku Mado no Sotogawa wa Yoru: This isn’t a horror mystery at all. The two dudes just show up at haunted places and clobber the ghosts, which is apparently an erotic experience for both of them. Yes, they explicitly use the word “erotic” to describe their exorcism gigs. Erm… I’m not too sure about this one, chief. Trying until next episode.
• Mieruko-chan: Is this gonna be about Mieruko learning how to deal with the ghosts invading her personal privacy, or is it just gonna be a different kind of creepy show where viewers can enjoy watching a girl get scared over and over again, sprinkled with some fanservice shots here and there? Just from this first episode I was already a bit bored of the “ghost appears, then Mieruko pretends she’s not freaking out”schtick. Trying until episode three.
• Tsuki to Laika to Nosferatu: Imagine the space race era. All the countries are raring to be the first to send a human into the last frontier. Soviet Russia decides to test out their spaceflight program with the perfect guinea pig— a vampire. Yeeaah. Truthfully this story seems like an excuse to have a wee lad blush over a cute monster girl. The guy put in charge of her isn’t even properly briefed on what vampires are. And the space science is a bit spotty. But hey, the girl, Irina, sure is cute. A huge chunk of her introduction is more about what she’s not than what she is, and the focus is more on her quirky little mannerisms. Gonna need more meat on the bone, so to speak, because there’s not much to chew on here. Next episode seems like it will involve more actual training for going into outer space, which is a good sign. Trying until episode three.
• Mushoku Tensei Season 2: Oof. We start with Rudeus perving on Eris again, then God drops in again to progress the plot, then we meet the horrendous loli design that is the Demon Queen, who grants Rudeus a magic eye. Good thing the episode’s capped off with a heart-to-heart conversation and what might be the beginnings of a seafaring journey back home. And dammit, Roxy, you were so close! So close. Continuing.

Initial Reactions: Kyuuketsuki Sugu Shinu

A very comedic vampire anime. Ronaldo getting his jammies ruffled got me sold! This'll be one hell of a laughing trip with a seiyuu known for voicing aces and a seiyuu known for voicing manipulative bastards on main!

Edited by thuse on Oct 5th 2021 at 12:24:03 AM

SuguShinu:It's not really bad, but it's not the sort of comedy I like. Very shouty

Kyoukai Senki: Not feeling the quasi-nationalistic victim complex. Good action, though. Another one for the "if there's nothing better" pile

First Impressions

• The Vampire Dies In No Time: The show does overuse the gag of Draluc dying to the most trivial things, but there’s a decent number of other jokes thrown in there. Aside from the loud boke-and-tsukkomi routines (with Fukuyama Jun doing stellar work in this regard), there’s also a bunch of slapstick violence and more subtle background jokes. The scene where the part-timer being taken hostage is casually using her phone and eating onigiri was Actually Pretty Funny, to say nothing of the merciless murder she commits later in the episode. Continuing.
• Shinka no Mi: Wow, that was crappier than I expected. The MC is also unlikable. This is the mold you scrape off from the bottom of the isekai barrel. Dropped.
• Kyoukai Senki: Feels like it was assembled from parts of other Sunrise mecha anime. Poor Japan gets bullied by jerkass foreigners, now it’s up to a random teen to fly his country’s flag, viva la revolution. That said, it’s still a Sunrise mecha anime. I dig the designs of the mecha (and animated traditionally rather than with 3D CG) and overall production values are high. And the fight in this episode already had some semblance of tactics, I’d love more of that going forward. Definitely continuing.

How unlikable is the Shinka No Mi MC?

He’s dumb and mostly stumbles into success by complete accident.

I mean, that also describes The Irresponsible Captain Tylor, but that show pretty good. I take it the execution is left wanting.

Kyoukai Senki is by the writer of Gundam Build Divers, so you should probably expect it to be similarly bland and sloppily-written.

One example: he eats shrooms off the ground despite him explicitly saying they might be poisonous. Lucky him that he ate a super special fruit beforehand that made him get stronger from the poison instead.

You mean OG Divers and not Re: Rise, I presume. That might explain why the autonomous AI is like a mahou shoujo mascot creature.

Edited by fillerdude on Oct 5th 2021 at 7:47:38 AM

Yeah, the biggest secret to the success of RR was that it switched writers.

• Cardfight Vanguard overDress: Continues to be the best card game anime that does not feature the titular card game. I imagine my opinion of this is going to stay the same - it's fun and enjoyable enough, I just don't get why it's a Cardfight anime.

• takt op.Destiny: So the visuals are pretty and the trio seem a lot of fun. Awful light on details for what's going on though. I guess Earth was invaded by aliens that despise music, thus no one makes music any more except for people with special music powers. Except this episode had a piano sitting out in the open that a random kid was just about to play and doom everyone, had the MC's not been there already? That seems awfully negligent, given their current situation.

Initial Reactions: takt op. Destiny

I got sold here once I heard Takt play the start of the Moonlight Sonata. I do agree that the visuals are beautiful, espeically with Madhouse and MAPPA at the helm. Can't wait to hear more classical music as I see how this world unfolds.

It's the same staff behind GARO: Vanishing Line, so if you liked that, it's an easy pickup.

First Impressions

• takt.op Destiny: It’s got some utterly entrancing fight scenes that would look right at home in the Fate universe. Even outside the battles the show is a visual delight, with even background characters doing little things that make the world feel more alive. The big problem is the story doesn’t build on its premise well. Presumably these D2 monsters have been harassing humanity for a while, but Takt is so blase about causing collateral damage, and the people whose property he wrecks don’t seem too concerned even though rebuilding should be a herculean effort. Plus people just left a piano unattended even though that piano was the equivalent of a powder keg. So yeah, flimsy writing but the action is good enough to persuade me to keep tuning in. Continuing.

Takt Op. very clearly has two modes: A dramatic mode that features minimal dialogue and great action, and a comedy mode that has a lot of words and is rather middling. It's... not terribly cohesive. I'll be giving it another episode, but I'm not yet convinced that the action is worth putting up with the rest of it

Puraore starts with pretty decent sports action and then immediately spends the rest of the episode being aggressively bland. Easy pass

Edited by Hylarn on Oct 6th 2021 at 9:24:44 AM

• Banished From the Hero's Party: This could be pretty fun. The premise sounds like typical isekai fodder, but the massive twist here is... it's not isekai! And I'm not seeing a harem tag, so that gives me hope for future episodes. Red himself seems like a decent MC, so that's also a plus. I'll be following this for now.

• Pride of Orange: So this latest Love Live series has a bit of an odd start where the newest Honoka face makes everyone play hockey before they do idol stuff, they're really getting out there with gimmicks. But yes, it's another Girls Discover A Sport thing, and the first episode isn't an immediate turn-off, probably going to stick with this one, too.

• World's Finest Assassin: Old assassin dude gets reincarnated so he can be an assassin in another world, except this time with magic that you cast by speaking backwards. And I guess he gets a harem of cute assassin girls to help or something. I mean, it can't be any worse than Assassin's Pride- wait, this is the other thing made by the Redo of Healer guy? That... bodes ill.

Thats the only extreme thing the Redo of Healer guy actually made.

All of their other series are actually really light and fluffy, even by comparison.

Edited by Demongodofchaos2 on Oct 6th 2021 at 4:36:04 AM

Well that's odd. So than why is redo so extreme if everything else he's created so light?

Eh, I have heard of creators making one or two stories that are extremely different in tone or subject matter in comparison to their many other works. It could be like a form of release from doing the same thing over and over again.

Edited by Ohmknight on Oct 6th 2021 at 5:14:05 PM

Also apparently Redo the Healer was only written for cash, and apparently the dude actually like writing Assassin Isekai, so maybe there's hope?

I mean, by most accounts World's Finest Assassin is kinda bad, just not appalling like KaiYari. Though I hear the anime is less boring than the LN, at the cost of dialing up the trashiness?

Edited by Hylarn on Oct 7th 2021 at 1:36:31 AM

It did manage to fit in two panty shots for the maid with the really long skirt, so certainly leaning closer to the 'trash' side.

First Impressions

• Pride of Orange: Odd pilot. Starts off with a brief flash forward showing the would-bo protagonists winning the World Hockey Tournament, which was a pretty cool sequence. Then it goes back to when the girls started ice hockey. By which I mean they spend a little over half the episode on inane conversations. They decide to try out hockey pretty much on a whim, so all the boring crap before that was pointless. Again, odd pilot. Probably would have worked better if we just spent more of the episode learning hockey 101. Still, continuing.
• Muv Luv: You can’t deny the gnarly goodness of giant robots eviscerating giant fleshy monstrosities. No frills, no gimmicks, just humanity fighting for its survival against killer aliens. No complaints on that front. Also I need to play through the VN at least once. Continuing.

Edited by fillerdude on Oct 7th 2021 at 7:46:15 AM

Yeah, Pride of Orange had quite the odd first episode. Japan's women beating Canada, celebrating with a dance, half the episode getting to know characters with colored hair yet are otherwise forgettable, then just a little bit of hockey, which they enjoyed for no discernible reason. Still, if they focus on the hockey part more and give the characters a little depth, this could work. C 2 C gave 110 % with Hitori Bochi, so I will give them a chance.

Initial Reactions: Platinum End

It's only the first episode, and they gave us attempted suicide, child abuse, and plotted murder in one of the most fucked up backstories I've seen to date along with the standard exposition. What did I just sign myself up for...?

Edited by thuse on Oct 7th 2021 at 8:47:43 PM