Winter 2022 anime

Orient: It's so ugly. And not great besides that, but still. So ugly

Leadale: ...It feels like an amateur production

Hakozume: Actually not bad., just feels like something that should have been made 15 years ago. Not really my style, though. Least of all when it's about cops

24th ward: Yeah, this is definitely the work of a VN writer. Beyond some character tropes you don't really see elsewhere anymore, the writing feels like it would flow much better with narration to pad things out. Some interesting ideas here, but I don't actually enjoy watching it

Initial Reactions:

Orient: We start the story with Musashi and Kojirou's start on the path to being Bushi! It was a good hook; let's see how this goes from here...
Leadale: A pretty chill isekai! It's nice to see after some Orient action.
Hakozume: Another chill anime! Loved Sgt. Fuji's bleeps below the radar. Can't wait to see more of those two (whom I will gladly ship).
Tokyo 24-ku: So much going on here! Political backdrop, introduction of the main RGB trio, some JoJo-esque animation here and there, a classic ethical dilemma, and some good-old SAVE. THE. DAY. I got really hooked. I hope this one ends up doing well because I have heard that there have been some troubling things behind the scenes.

Edited by thuse on Jan 6th 2022 at 2:45:54 AM

First Impressions

• Leadale: One of those isekai where the focus is on the MC enjoying their new lease on life. Kinda felt like they should have shown the MC in her bedridden state to garner more sympathy from the viewers, but it clearly wanted to be a lighthearted slice of life peppered with gags. It’s alright, but it’s unremarkable. Dropping.
• Police in a Pod: Actually Pretty Funny. I can heavily relate to 1) getting a job only because it pays well enough, 2) working said job even though you’re sick of it because it’s what puts food on the table, 3) dealing with idiots who call you a waste of money and 4) relatives swarming to you for help because of your profession, among other things. The work-sucks and cop jokes are great but there were also some surprisingly poignant moments as well, which helps characterize our leads as more than bitter adults. Oh, and those two leads also have sizzling chemistry already. Definitely continuing.
• Tokyo 24-ku: Interesting idea of having a dead girl predict the future, and somehow let three boys unlock superhuman potential to stop accidents and crimes before they happen. So kinda like Minority Report with superheroes. Overall there’s a lot of cool ideas here, though the writing isn’t quite meshing them well together (like how forced the trolley dilemma was). The animation is great; I noticed the creative transitions in particular. Unfortunately, this is Cloverworks, and we’ve already heard about production troubles. That’s one trainwreck our heroes can’t prevent. Continuing... but expecting it to crash.

• ORIENT: So first off, the hell is with that edgelord pickaxe? A slave can get an overdesigned tool like that? And to identify a Bushi, they're forced to... carry an actual weapon? Also, these oni seem strangely easy to kill despite having taken over the world or whatever. I guess I won't be continuing this one.

Haven't started the season yet (watched Irodorimidori but it is just a short and noone subbed it yet).

The only definite picks for me are Sono Bisque as I read the manga and Sabikui Bisco as it looks origninal and cool.

I may pick a couple more shows but will wait for reviews.

Edited by Nachtwandler on Jan 6th 2022 at 12:52:41 PM

Initial Reactions:

Ousama Ranking 2nd cour: The fire from the first cour is still burning, this time brighter than ever especially with the new OP! I can't stop listening to it!
Platinum End 2nd cour: Still reeling from Kanade's blatantly fucked up plans to be God, but otherwise, I'm still on the edge of my seat.
Slow Loop: Pretty cute for the start of the story! I bet it'll become the calm to the Vanitas storm once Vanitas 2nd cour starts airing!

@Tropay Xion: Yeah, there's a lot of stuff in the first bit of the manga that doesn't make sense from a worldbuilding perspective. But prior to the big reveal, the village mining cadets weren't supposed to know they're slaves. For reasons.

I didn't think there was anything that I was going to watch this season, but I took a look at the list yesterday and it surprised me with a few things.

I'll be watching Sono Bisque, Vanitas S2 & Princess Connect S2.

Although given two of them are manga adaptions I've already read, I'll likely just watch them at the end of the season all at once.

Slow Loop: It's fine for what it is. What it is being a cute girls series. Humour is a bit weak, but it does well on the dramatic and educational aspects

Dolls Frontline: Best action series so far, for as little as that says. Animation is okay, and it smooths out the jerky pacing of the manga a bit. Not sure I can really call it good, but it's not awful. Probably give at least another episode

KenDeshi: Desperately wants to be a great anime, but is stuck with mediocre source material, a low budget, and, frankly, not particularly talented staff. I might give it a second episode now that the story's actually started, but I can't say I have high hopes

Cue: ...I'd have really preferred a full series of that Nadia/Laputa anime at the start. It was derivative and not really good, but it did have the best action of the season so far. Or even the weird tsun yuri take on Hamlet. That was bad, but at least interesting. The most the main show has to offer is watching seiyuu play amateur seiyuu, which is impressive but not really entertaining

Might be from French "foot en salle", which is how I would colloquially call indoors foot(ball).

Futsal comes from Spanish, fútbol sala, which does mean indoors football. Guess French has a similar root word.

First Impressions

• Slow Loop: Introvert meets chipper girl who then turns out to be her future stepsister. There’s interesting hints of the awkwardness of new family dynamics after two people remarry, but for the most part it’s cute girls doing cute things. Those things happen to be fishing for the introvert, and cooking for the chipper girl. So yeah, expect more sashimi and other fish dishes. I also felt like Hiyori’s voicework was a bit lacking. Looking like a decent catch, even if it also looks like merely another fish in the moeblob sea. Trying until episode three.
• Girls Frontline: The OP was way better than the rest of the show haha. The shootbang is more or less in line with my expectations— decent rendering of the guns, okay running, jumping and shooting animations, and questionable tactics and choreo. I like the designs of the girls too, but I don’t care about any of them yet. The story so far seems to be more or less a vague framework for why robot girls are killing one another. It’s on the better end of gacha adaptations, but that’s not saying much. Trying until episode three.
• Akebi-chan no Sailor Fuku: So uh… I guess girls with weird interests flock together? I couldn’t get invested in the MC’s drive to wear a sailor uniform. The animation is pretty though. I guess it’s going to be CGDCT, but even though I consider it better than Slow Loop, I’m less inclined to watch it? Giving it another episode nonetheless.
• Kenja no Denshi wo Nanoru Kenja: Had a good laugh when the MC summoned his army of crappy CGI monsters. Paired with the tacky J-pop track they used for that scene, the money shot of this pilot couldn’t be taken seriously. The robotic narration and dialogue don’t help either. Dropping.
• The Strongest Sage with the Weakest Crest: The first episode was a speedrun of half a season’s worth of hackneyed isekai tropes. Seriously not worth bothering with. Dropping.
• Sono Bisque Doll wa Koi wo Suru: Knew it was going to be fantastic going in, and it is! In a refreshing flip of things the introverted dude isn’t the otaku, the Manic Pixie Dream Girl is, and she’s proud of it. Gojo and Kitagawa already have a nice dynamic going, and I look forward to Kitagawa to leading Gojo down the path of degeneracy anime culture. My slight nitpick is that Kitagawa feels a bit too much like she was engineered to win best-girl polls everywhere. Maybe I’m just jaded. Definitely continuing.

Edited by fillerdude on Jan 8th 2022 at 10:42:11 AM

Initial Reactions: Akebi-chan no Sailor Fuku

They really outdone themselves with the art of the first episode! It looked really nice! Plot-wise, it works as the start of a nice calming slice-of-life school anime. Can't wait to see the rest!

Edited by thuse on Jan 9th 2022 at 2:32:48 AM

About Kenja no Deshi, has anybody only seen a blank white page when going to the official site?

• Slow Loop: It's cute, but it's also about fishing, so chances are I'll drop off on this at some point, unless Friday ends up super barren for shows. Can't really say much else about it.
• Akebi's Sailor Uniform: ...That is... an impressive level of animation dedicated to showing off schoolgirl's feet. Also the sailor uniform exists I guess. I'll give this one or two more episodes, just to see if it'll edge away from... that and focus on silly So L stuff. Or at least focus on the thing mentioned in the title, somehow that would be more preferable.
• My Dress-Up Darling: Yeah, I definitely like this. A few out of place fanservicey moments here and there, but I like the dynamic between Gojo and Kitagawa. Though I do agree that a kind, pretty gyaru that's also a cosplaying weeb feels a bit too on-the-nose for those Reddit Best Girl polls. Still, if the rest of the cast are as enjoyable, this'll be a fun one.
• Miss Kuroitsu from the Monster Development Department: This was pretty great, too. I guess I just have a weakness for sentai/toku parody works despite not really watching that stuff otherwise, but I like the cast so far. Kuroitsu's cute, Megistus is cool, the leader is clearly a reprehensible and evil creature with zero redeeming qualities...... between this, Darling and Dai, Saturday's already a strong contender for the coveted Best Anime Day of the Season title.

Sono Bisque Doll wa Koi wo Suru started as I hoped it would. The production level is good, the story is adaopted properly and V As do a good job despite Marins seiyuu being pretty new. I just hope they won't lose it later down the track. Maybe I should continue the manga sometime later but I have a hinch they'll end thr seson just arounfd where I stopped, though, who knows.

Initial Reactions: Kuroitsu-san

A lot to process... The overly long title of the episodes, the tokusatsu groups that turned out to be actual real-life groups, the comedy ensuing from half-assed presentations, Megistus actually being more benevolent than how he appears, the genderbend resulting from a complaint from Akashic, the head honcho, a typical odd job boy that's actually a hidden sentai hero that not only coincidentally met Kuroitsu-san, but also shares the same last name as one of her colleagues...
I basically went through a field day wih this... Kudos for bringing in some comedy while also getting me invested in some tokusatsu.

Akebi-chan: Yep, that's Akebi-chan—High quality art, good understanding of the medium, utterly inane story. Well, it's a lot less fetishy than the manga, but otherwise. ...Probably still going to end up watching it

Kuroitsu-san: I think I'd like it more if they were adapting three stories per episode. The gags are too drawn out to land properly like this

Edited by Hylarn on Jan 9th 2022 at 4:38:45 AM

I didn't really see it when I read the manga but watching it in motion, am I the only one that thinks Akebi Sailor Uniform has a very 90s look with the character designs? Something about the face shape and chins is really reminding me of Outlaw Star or Slayers or something like that.

Overall Impressions

• Miss Kuroitsu from the Monster Development Department: I don't find it that funny because it's doing the usual workplace comedy jokes, but it's entertaining enough. It's definitely being carried hard by the premise; it heavily appeals to someone like me who grew up drawing up monsters for the Power Rangers to fight. So I hope we delve even more into the monster-design side of things, but I wouldn't hate it if it continues the workplace and sentai gags. My one complaint is that Megistus is too unrealistic. He's too understanding. Definitely continuing.
• Realist Hero: I'm actually already reading the manga for this, but I'll be watching the anime because I'm fairly certain it will overtake the manga. I quite enjoyed the first season as lite Government 101, and season 2 is heating things up with Souma having to negotiate with a powerful empire. I think Souma systematically tearing down Julius and outright telling him that he's unnecessary for negotiations counts as a power fantasy. That was great. Also curious about the former queen's dark magic, because it seems like she has some form of prescience. Definitely continuing.

EDIT:

More First Impressions

• Requiem of the Rose King: Poor premiere, owing to its penchant for flitting from scene to scene without connecting the dots, to say nothing of the poor production values. The Shakespearean vibe was intact, admittedly. I decided to check out the manga and the first chapter was much better because it actually took the time to sell us on Richard’s backstory. Yeah, I would rather read this. Dropped.
• Futsal Boys: As basic as a sports anime can get. They kind of rushed through character introductions, probably because the bishonen are half the appeal. Also they dive right into the first couple of matches for dumb reasons. Mosshead shouldn’t qualify for Under-18 if he’s willing to let him and his team get roughed up. Maybe he wants to make a point but he shouldn’t be risking physical injury. The ball handling itself looks alright, but otherwise… sigh. I guess it’s gonna have to do until Blue Lock rolls out. Continuing but with low expectations.
• Sabiiro no Armor: Reimei: It’s another anime where half the appeal is the parade of pretty boys, except instead of kicking balls around, they’re slashing and shooting. I appreciate that they stuffed the premiere with action, but the CG ranged from serviceable to terrible. The guns whimper, and their bullets don’t have impact. The bishies are all cliche too. Big, muscular, meathead loudmouth. Soft-spoken ninja dude. Gay guy who doesn’t stop talking about how gay he is. Dropped.
• Sasaki to Miyano: Miyano is the typical closet otaku (in his case, BL) while Sasaki is the outgoing, laid-back type. So yeah, they have pretty vanilla characterization, but you know what? That is what BL anime needed, a cute and funny and fluffy romance, no need to be spiced up by rape-y undertones. Their chemistry is pretty good too. Definitely shippable. Continuing.

Edited by fillerdude on Jan 9th 2022 at 6:04:23 AM

Initial Reactions:

Baraou no Souretsu: Started pretty well, coinciding with the start of the Wars of the Roses. Since I heard this sorta goes downhill from here, I'm keeping my expectations low for this one.
Futsal Boys!!!!!: The start of a pretty lively sports anime! Haru is pretty likeable!
Sasaki to Miyano: My highlight for this cour! The first episode really did not hold back the cuteness and the wholesomeness of the main duo. They especially did not hold back at the lens flares! This will probably keep me satisfied for the whole cour!

Heads up, the mediocre animation and drab colour palette aside, the Requiem of a rose king anime speedran through one volume of the manga in an episode. So I'd advice reading the manga over it, or at least reading from the start if you choose to finish the anime

Edited by Mami on Jan 9th 2022 at 11:16:36 AM

Alright instant failed adaption there.

Figures. The first manga chapter was gripping, like a sordid fairy tale. The anime whizzed past all that.

Girls' Frontline - Can't really say much about this one. Character design for protagonist faction is decent, though I heavily question the weapon placement used by antagonists' "elites". Tactics used are questionable and - as is standard for anime and visual media in general - explosives are heavily underpowered. Still not as bad as that tank from Coppelion, though.

How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom - this was mostly just a quick recap of how season 1 ended plus a setup for the actual meat of the next arc. Though it was nice to see Souma remove Julius from negotiations in animation.

Shikkaku Mon no Saikyou Kenja - felt way too rushed. Like people above said, this show managed to speed through what might be three whole arcs in one episode. Plus, the premise gives me the vibes of the The Misfit Of Demon King Academy, except this one doesn't have as much over-the-top powers and takes itself way too seriously. Which, in this case, is a big fat minus. Don't think I will continue watching this one even for the three episode rule.

Kaijin Kaihatsubu No Kuroitsusan - I was, for whatever reason, expecting it to be more like an "evil organization" version of the Heaven's Design Team, so seeing just a workplace comedy kinda killed the show for me. Still, might be decent show.

She Professed Herself Pupil Of The Wise Man - (yes, apparently, ep0/1 is already out) - not much to say about this one yet. Will give it one more episode, but the chances are, I will be dropping it.

Initial Reactions: TRIBE NINE

Another sports anime with another protagonist named Haru, but unlike Futsal Boys!!!!!, this one takes baseball to both the extremes and to the future. For an introduction, it seems to be as typical as any sports anime, but the scenes were just over-the-top enough to get me hooked. Of all the charas so far, Taiga's the one that's growing on me!