Winter 2022 anime

Final Impressions

• Lupin VI: Lupin has always dabbled in the episodic format which can be hit or miss. You might get a dull melodrama about Jigen pining for his lost love, or a brilliant exercise in tension-building when assassins gather at a diner to compete for the same target. I would say that the creative episodes outnumber the boring ones. And while not everything will be a banger, the good thing about this season is that every episode always introduces some character or plot point that builds up to an overall arc. The first half about Sherlock Holmes and Moriarty didn't quite reach a satisfying conclusion, but the second half dealing with Lupin's backstory was excellent, consistently advancing the plot while exploring the lives of a variety of colorful characters. I hope future iterations of Lupin will continue being experimental.
• My Dress Up Darling: This was so good I immediately decided to start reading the manga after the anime ended (apparently I can continue the story from chapter 40?). What an absolutely delightful rom com. I previously stated how Marin seemed like she was engineered to become best girl, and while I still think it's true, it's hard not to get swept away with her infectious enthusiasm and her undying earnestness towards the things she loves. She also has occasional humbling moments like the one Tropay Xion mentioned, which really ground her as a person. Wakana Gojo is also a far cry from the typical milquetoast male lead; he is accommodating and good-natured, but he has his own aspirations. He has the freaking hilarious reactions to Marin's displayss of airheadedness and degeneracy. He's prime husbando material and no wonder Marin wuvs him very much. Also super cool that Marin’s love for otaku culture helps Wakana come to terms with his own love for hina dolls. Cloverworks also did an incredible job with selling Marin's energy, the girl simply cannot sit still! This is a masterpiece. It's a good time to be an anime fan.

Edited by fillerdude on Mar 26th 2022 at 9:17:56 AM

It seems like you can easily pick up the story from chapter 40-ish, but weirdly, it seems like the anime removed a few side characters from their class who were probably introduced either in the story arcs covered in the anime, or in chapters in-between. It's not too hard to pick up who they are and what their character deals are, but it might be a tiny bit jarring jumping into Wakana suddenly being decently social with his class.

Yeah I just caught up to date with the manga and it was a bit jarring, but it’s a very minor niggle. I think I’ll try reading from the start anyway! It’s really good.

Random thought I had when I finished watching a few shows I managed to stick with to the end this time. It's kinda obvious, but basically none of these having any kind of an ending is really hurting them. Sure, they're still ongoing shows in other media and it's just an inherent issue with the 12 episodes per cour model, but it does significantly harm the whole experience. To the point that I'm starting to think it might be better for them to not acknowledge at all that the show is ending and just basically stop mid sentence.

Because all these final episodes are the same. Nothing happens because the show doesn't have the time to develop it. The characters reflect a bit on their (very short, since it's only 11 episodes) journey and the (new?) status quo is (re)established. It just deflates the whole experience. Then maybe pan to the sky and "The End". It's like they have a handbook on how to do this, distributed to all the shows.

I enjoyed nearly every episode of Sono Bisque Doll wa Koi wo Suru, but I almost fell asleep during the last episode. It just redid the notes the show had already played. Granted, it did this a bit better than some of the other shows of this season, but it's a bit depressing one of the highlights of the season suffers from the same issue.

I thought it was fine when I watched it today.

That's from the perspective of a manga reader though. So it doesn't really bother me it didn't conclude strongly.

I also watched Vanitas today and boy was it great seeing a strong Vani Noe episode after that thing with the Yen Press tweet.

Final Reactions:

Futsal Boys!!!!!: Pretty enjoyable, especially when you're a shipper trying to see your duo finally have a happy end together!
Sasaki to Miyano: Dammit the ending was golden!! This was indeed the best BL I have ever seen so far! I got myself screaming in the middle of the night just watching everything unfold!! Sasaki and Miyano's relationship is honey for my exhausted-from-screaming throat! In hindsight, everything was within expectation, but damn was it all worth it!! Can't wait to see more of them again!!

I really appreciate CUE! as the only show I personally followed to review on my fanpage, the last episode felt like how V As put all their efforts to finish dubbing the last episode of in-universe show, complete with celebrations and tearful moments at the end of production. The show's only downside was too much idol stuffs that should've been sidelined when podcasting and stage play deserves more attention.

I'm surprised that Season 2 was confirmed in the next episode either an April Fools or for real.

Final Reactions:

TRIBE NINE: From the over the top plot to the character interactions, this was a pretty fun yet pretty standard sports anime. There's actually going to be a game with new charas and new tribes coming, but I think this is where I'll stop until who knows when.
Sabikui Bisco: It was one hell of a show! Loved the characters and their interactions, the plot, and the rollercoaster of emotions this put me through. The one thing I can think of that kinda stained it a bit was that premature Smooch of Victory (or something) at the last episode, but that aside, I am left wondering what more adventures our duo will go through next!

Edited by thuse on Mar 29th 2022 at 12:25:10 AM

Final Impressions

• Sasaki to Miyano: The best BL anime that I've watched, purely because it's so, well, pure. The color palette is warm like morning sunlight, and the soundtrack is tender piano. Which perfectly underscores how Sasaki and Miyano are two puppies fumbling through their first love, and I am every glad that (season ending spoilers) they get together in the end! With a kiss and everything! It's a very by-the-books romance anime, but it'll put a smile on your face.
• Tribe Nine: Superpowered baseball should have been an easy sell, but Tribe Nine still managed to mess up its pitch (pun intended). The major problem is that the show doesn't go all in on the its gimmick. Haru should have been this universe's equivalent of Devil Bat Ghost, players should have had crazier physics-defying zigzag pitches, stuff like that. Instead the matches all devolve into fistfights, in which case, why even bother with the baseball? The lesson here is that if you have a ridiculous premise, run with it. It might not make your show better, but it sure can make it memorable.
• Sabikui Bisco: I always have a healthy appreciation for a show that's its own distinct slice of weirdness, and Sabikui Bisco is chock full of ideas that feel like they jumped out of a fever dream and somehow managed to stick. It's not a perfect show by any means, there's a fair number of headscratchers to point out, but what this show lacks in writing chops, it more than makes up for in spunk. Watching the titular Bisco fight a giant flying serpent with cannon-like arrow shots and mushrooms, while hard rock/metal is playing in the background, feels like distillation of the kind of 90s anime that hooked me to the medium in the first place. Bisco and Milo also develop a genuine, heartwarming relationship and while Pawoo got the kiss, I think Milo got the hand in marriage. Apparently Bisco is catnip to the Nekoyanagi bloodline. The rest of the cast aren't slouches either. Pawoo is an absolute badass, Jabi manages to hold his own despite being wracked with disease and getting taken hostage, and Tirol doesn't know what friendship is, but she thinks she likes it, even if she won't admit it. Sabikui Bisco is rougher around the edges than I would have liked, but, at least in my case, its pros sufficiently overwrite its flaws.

Edited by fillerdude on Mar 29th 2022 at 3:03:54 AM

Hard agree on Bisco. You really just have to roll with it for the ride, and what a ride it is. Definitely looks like Milo won the sibling contest, too.

I'm just saying, Bisco has two hands, there is an easy solution here

Fair. Pawoo is the new mayor too, she could easily legalize polygamy.

He's not Bisco for nothing.

Oh yeah, loved TsudaKen's portrayal of Kurokawa! It really sold him as a petty villain.

Final Reactions: Kenja no Deshi wo Nanoru Kenja

Of all the anime in this cour, this one was the least enjoyable. Hanging threads, CGI that was pretty cringe from the start, yup, probably would've dropped if I was the type to do so, but no... Honestly, the two things that held this one up for me are Solomon and thst cat mascot! Sorry Kendeshi...

Edited by thuse on Mar 30th 2022 at 12:37:49 AM

Bisco can get both siblings. Why not, it is original at least.

Final Reactions: Hakozume

It was an interesting police anime to say the least... I loved Kawai and her reactions to things around her and learned much about the (Japanese) police's everyday. Though pretty episodic, it did also drop a lot of anvils on normally touchy subjects. So yeah...

Still a couple things to finish this week, but might as well wrap up my list now.

• Yugioh Sevens: Definitely the most consistently good season in a long time. The setting was pretty whacky, to the point that it makes GX look pretty grounded and mundane half the time, the characters were all a lot of fun to watch, and female characters in this show actually got to be competent characters for the whole runtime, pretty nuts. It's a shame the format seems mostly OCG-exclusive though, Rush duels were pretty fun when I gave it a try. Also, a weird complaint I noticed was that people didn't seem to like Yuuga losing. Even though everyone also hates it when the MC is invincible. Pretty sure his win count was still far higher than his losses, too. It's not like he got his shit kicked in by scrubs and then proceeded to FTK the universe's greatest duelist.

• Princess Connect S2: Great animation as always, though decidedly less fun overall than S1. Definitely not a bad show, but the heavier plot focus does mean you get less silly adventures to show off, and the huge cast makes it a bit harder to appreciate the story when there's six dozen girls contributing to a small piece of the plot somehow. That said, it's still better presented than the game, which... hoo boy does that game commit to the idea that you are Yuuki, and all those cute ladies exist purely for you and fuck their own plotlines. I certainly did enjoy the Peco x Karyl moments though.

• Total Fantasy Knockout: I don't remember if I commented on it before, but I love how hard the OP goes from the first note, it's just catchy as hell. And the show itself was pretty entertaining too. Tachibana and Jinguuji bounce really well off each other, you really get the impression they're childhood friends. The setting was also... how to put this, deceptively silly? It's pretty much your typical generic isekai setting, but then you get moments like the world map, or how the goddess's religious sect operates. Hope to see more of this at some point.

• Arifureta S2: One more episode to go, but the arc this season covered is basically done anyway. So on the one hand, it's a massive improvement from the atrocity that was S1, as far as production values go. There was actual animation going on this time, the CGI wasn't eye-searingly ugly, and it even had one of my favourite OP's of the season. On the other hand, the source material is still incredibly trashy, even though the anime adapted out some of the skeevier stuff (such as bandits conveniently capturing only female adventurers from a merchant convoy they attacked, stringing them up naked just because, and the book never again mentioning this because the author had to write about Hajime quelling his murder boner), it's still difficult to really care about the story. After all, a lot of the best story moments were completely butchered to begin with in S1, and we barely spent time with the rest of Hajime's classmates as-is. We just needed to make sure everyone was aware that every girl Hajime interacts with is hungry for his dick, after all.

• Miss Kuroitsu: Another one with one more episode. I've been enjoying this a lot, too. I do enjoy shows about evil corporations run by ethical and caring supervillains, and apparently I enjoy sentai-adjacent anime despite never really watching sentai, outside of my childhood fondness for Power Rangers. It's hard to say you'll find a unique hook strong enough to make this a must-watch, but Kuroitsu and the monsters are a lot of fun to watch. Also that B-plot about some girl filling as a generic mook for the evil groups is a thing.

And that's more or less all the seasonals. There's still Shenmue, which has that awkward start/end time, I guess, can't see myself having a whole lot to say it on it beyond "yeah it seems fine". Dragon Quest and Ghost Game are still great long-runners, shame about the hiatus situation. Can't wait to start the new season... in a few days... good god why is it so stacked.

Going on the wiki page to check character names its wild that almost every character has tropes about them loving Yuuki.

I much prefer the anime approach where, for the most part, its just Kokoro.

That's why I'll never pick up the game, even though I liked the anime well enough. I can't stand romantic black hole silent protagonists.

Final Impressions

• Police in a Pod: We've had quite a few anime about grumpy adults complaining about their jobs, but they usually parrot the same old stuff and they get dull in a jiffy. Police in a Pod earns a distinction for maintaining its brand of cynical humor without relying on incessant grumbling. The series maintains a balanced and grounded perspective on police work, showcasing that in the end, police are people too. They have to give up lunch for work, their bosses can give them a lot of crap, and they have to make time to chat with bored housewives even with the looming deadlines of their reports, because it's all part of the job. The show also doesn't shy away from heavier topics, culminating in a three-part case about sex criminals, which was a pleasant surprise. You can definitely see that the author was an actual police officer with years of experience.
• Fantasy Bishoujo Juniku Ojisan to : Given the premise you'd expect a throwaway comedy full of lowbrow homophobic humor, so imagine my surprise that this turned out to be one of the better written shows in the past few cours. It's genuinely, rip-roaringly funny without resorting to gay panic. Tachibana getting genderbent into a girl isn't treated like the butt of a juvenile joke, but it does drive much of the comedy with his best friend Jinguuji. Here's the thing: the gag isn't that they've become gay, it's that they already were, and simply haven't realized it. In addition, the characters are allowed to be both bokke and tsukkomi; even the blatant Kirito knockoff gets to be awesome and scold our protagonists for their bumbling! It's awesome that the side characters get to be actual people and not just disposable fodder. The dialogue and delivery of the jokes are also consistently snappy, and Tachibana and Jinguuji's best-friend banter never loses energy. The writing isn't only good at making people laugh, though. Because the genderbending upends their relationship, Jinguuji and Tachibana reexamine what they mean to each other, which results in character development as they become more honest about their feelings about each other. There's even some actual introspection about gender identity and sexuality like when Tachibana wonders if "gender was tied to the body or spirit". Another thing worth mentioning is the surprising amount of care put into the worldbuilding, moreso than ostensibly more "serious" fantasy adventures. You can see the impact of the goddesses on this world, in particular how differnet cultures have different interpretations of their deity's wishes. Fantasy Bishoujo Juniku Ojisan to was a surprise hit, and it totally knocked it out of the park.

Final Reactions:

Vanitas no Carte 2nd cour: The Beast of Gévaudan arc was as expected, but them adapting up until the second-to-the-most-recent chapter was unexpected, and boy they were able to deliver! At this point, anime watchers and manga readers are now on level playing field. Can't wait to see more of this!
Kaijin Kaihatsu-bu no Kuroitsu-san: Loved the gags and the Up To Eleven sentai + magical girl hijinx. I had a laugh while also having fun!

Edited by thuse on Apr 3rd 2022 at 3:23:58 AM

Final Impressions

• Realist Hero: Souma continues his tenure as king, delving into things like annexing conquered territory, correcting the slavery system, dealing with refugees and producing an heir. His wives-to-be have been prepared for that. Anyway, this anime is a decent enough “For Dummies” approach to politics and socioeconomics. If you’re allergic to lots and lots of talking, probably best to stay away. The budget seems to have taken a noticeable hit, but overall I’d say my enjoyment of this season was about the same as the first one. I especially liked the last episode, which answers some of the biggest questions in this series, chiefly: why did Albert immediately name Souma as King in the first place?
• Miss Kuroitsu from the Monster Development Department: I’m personally a bit disappointed about the amount of actual monster designing and development that transpired, since most of the focus of the process was on the red tape and paperwork, and I don’t think the somewhat bland corporate comedy made up for that. It’s a good thing there was some sentai/mahou shoujo parody on the side to spice things up. And Kuroitsu herself is the sort of go-getter you can’t help but root for. This was pretty alright.

Having just finished Bisco today, and I’m interested in the changes the anime apparently made to it and from the summary of the next book sounds like it gets even weirder.

Apparently Kurokawa being the main threat wasn’t the case and the novel put emphasis on the rust being the villain. Which I assume means we didn’t have a rust mecha controlled by Kurokawa.

Edited by OmegaRadiance on Apr 3rd 2022 at 5:12:34 AM

Final Reactions: Tokyo 24-ku

From trolley problems to issues on technology to false dichotomies, this show was a showcase of ethics with copious amounts of Take a Third Option. For me, this is something probably not for casual viewing and more for studies on applications of ethics. Everything seemed to connect well, the style stayed pretty consistent, and everything was resolved to a happy end. The caution from the beginning doesn't seem necessary anymore!

Edited by thuse on Apr 7th 2022 at 2:03:28 AM

Turns out the CUE! is on the second cour with the current episode "Season 2 Confirmed?". The new OP and especially ED were good to hear. Can't wait for more scenes that their 2nd PV showed.