Spring 2023 anime

Hell's Paradise has a pretty good first impression and atmosphere so far, as well as with our potential main cast.

I wonder if Kaguya-sama movie should count for Fall 2022 season as it was screened when or for this season as it came out on CR as a 4-eps mini-series?

You can talk about it now, I don't think it's kill anyone.

First Impressions

• Alice Gear Aegis Expansion: Felt like I was watching a gacha game adaptation with the way it was throwing random waifubait at me, so I looked it up and yep, it really was one. Which would have been fine if it focused on the space battles, but no, it's more about gacha girls doing cute things. And they're not that cute. Dropped.
• Smartphone Isekai: My background noise anime is back. I don't even know how it got greenlit for a second season. It's unapologetically generic isekai with an underused gimmick, but it's chill to watch. Especially useful when I'm running on the treadmill or something. Probably finishing to the end.
• I Got a Cheat Skill in Another World and Became Unrivaled in The Real World, Too: Turns out I was already reading the manga for this. This doubles up the power fantasy by letting MC flaunt his newfound abilities (and abs) in the real world. But honestly? It's not that bad. MC shows some mettle by showing self-sacrifical kindness even before he gets all the juicy powerups. However, itt's also not good enough for me to continue with the anime. I think the manga's enough. Sticking to the manga.
• Kizuna no Allele: So I don't watch Vtubers that often, but the virtual avatars used in this sure have boring designs. Honestly seemed more like an excuse to cash in on Kizuna Ai's popularity. The 3DCG is terrible too. Dropped.

I think the anime is probably gonna be worth it simply by merit of the fact that the manga travels at a glacial pace. Its my one knock against Cheat Skill.

I guess I’ll see, I don’t remember where I stopped in the manga.

Aegis: Terrible

IseLeve: Fantastic direction, acceptable animation, mediocre writing. So it's really good during the first half when it's trying to be moody, then the main character gets his super powers and it turns into a better-than-average but still fairly bland isekai power fantasy. Going to give a second episode, but I don't have the highest of hopes

Allele: It wants to be a female idol series, but it also has to shill for the Kizuna Ai brand, which leads it to some weird places. The basic premise is fundamentally nonsense, and there's a lot of focus on Ai, despite her not actually being a character in this show. It's a better cute girl series than Expansion, but that's a low bar to clear

I was going to check out Jigokuraku just for the visuals, but I going to wait until they actually hit the island. Didn't like the early manga

My only complaint for the Cheat Skill anime so far is I don't like the limited animation style its going for. I think it would work better with more motion but I understand they probably don't have a super lot of budget.

Ok. So Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai: First Kiss wa Owaranai just came out on CR a couple of days ago. A movie or 4 and a bit extra episodes for the series depending on how you want percive it.

I get, why some people hate this arc and some adore it. Miyuki was behaving quite dumb most of the arc. And "icy Kaguya" is also pretty polarizing. Still, it had a bunch of funny moments and good romantic development in the end.

Despite liking the whole franchise I am not sure if I need more anime (because I already spoiled myself that Ishigamis line will not go anywhere with eiter Tsubame or Miko and I am not that interested in Kaguyas family drama). But we'll see as it still maintains the great level of everything.

Edited by Nachtwandler on Apr 5th 2023 at 5:01:05 AM

Initial Reactions: Skip & Loafer
Mitsumi may be clutsy, but little does she know that she slays! The entrance ceremony thing was pretty awesome for something outside expectation. Sousuke is just the sweetest! Yeah, I definitely see the wholesome vibes radiating from this, but just from seeing the OP, I can already see where the shipping will go...

I love Mitsu and Shima my cute kids. This story is just balm for my weary heart

Still hesitant if I should watch Skip & Loafer. For now waiting till Friday for more series I want to check.

First Impressions for the last few days:

• MIX: Meisei Story Season 2: A nice reintroduction to all the characters after 3 years, plot likely kicks off next week. Still a Definite Watch
• My Home Hero: A good start. Animation can be iffy, but this is a story carried by plot and tension, not sakuga. Still watching to see how it develops. Still in 3 Ep rule territory.
• Loving Yamada at Lv 999: Well, Akane is a fun protagonist (and has a reaction-worthy face game), Yamada seems somewhere on the spectrum: not very emotive, but definitely caring in his own way - the bandaid, being her pretend boyfriend (even if she had to bribe him), bringing her to his place when she was blackout drunk to sleep it off (And I'm absolutely certain he didn't do anything). It definitely seems like it will be an interesting show Watching unless it compeletely screws up.
• Alice Gear Aegis Expansion: For a mecha show, there's not much mecha to it. This ep was not really set up; instead, it was a more meandering slice of life insanity. Giving it 1 more episode to shape up.
• Skip to Loafer: Delightful! This show has a lovable main character who manages to be both a smart overachiever and a total mess at the same time. She's a straight-A kind of student, but her rural background is running straight into one of the three largest cities in the 1st world. The slacker potential boyfriend seems like a decent guy as well. Hopefully, he's not just a Manic Pixie Dream Boy. Definite Watch.
• Kizuna no Allele: It's no surprise the main character has no followers. She's a dead fish dancing, is gushing (repeatedly?) over what should be very old (5 years in-universe) media, and has no personality. Dropped like a hot potato.
• The Aristocrat's Otherworldly Adventure: Serving Gods Who Go Too Far: Watched this because I had nothing better to do. It's a very bog standard isekai with everything bad that implies. Its only possible twist is how self-aware it is. giving it 1-2 episodes to see if that's sustainable, but likely a drop.
• I Got a Cheat Skill in Another World and Became Unrivaled in The Real World, Too: With the fat, ugly guy who is bullied and repeatedly beaten nigh to death, but becomes a ripped, athletic, handsome Chad as soon as he's isekai-ed, you can tell this is from the The Fruit Of Evolution guy. Darker than that show, better animated, but very quickly put into stupidly ridiculous overpowered-ness. Instead of that show, he has to deal with the real world. 1 more episode To see if there are any stakes, but a likely drop.
• Tokyo Mew Mew New ♡ 2nd Season: Picking up where the last one left off. Definite Watch.

Edited by ScrewySqrl on Apr 5th 2023 at 8:52:59 AM

Initial Reactions:
Megumin: Ah yes, time to see Megumin's journey to Explosion Magic and more of her and Yunyun for sure! This is gonna be fun! EXPLOSION!
Kamikatsu: What in the fuck did I just watch...? Well, whatever the fuck that was, the atheists are gonna have a field day with this for sure, not in a good way...

• Skip & Loafer: Well this seems cute. Mitsumi's a fun mess, Shima's alright, things look to be a fun, cosy time here.

• Kami Katsu: ...Something about this show's CG feels really off. Like, it's way worse than typical bad CGI. In fact, the whole episode felt really strange, like it was constantly fast-forwarding. Maybe it was just rushing to the goddess' introduction, but so many scenes felt like they were zipping right by before you could really acknowledge what was on screen. And even if you did perceive what was happening, it was probably just a re-used motion or still anyway. Also, the village that Protag ends up in is a place where banished people go to, due to not following the rules... but they can still come and go as they please to the capital, anyway? And despite fearing said rules of the Kingdom, they're clearly not exempt from the rules at all, making me wonder why this village even exists to begin with. This episode was such a strange experience that I'm compelled to at least check out the next episode, but I'm not expecting a whole lot from it.

• An Explosion on this Wonderful World: What if Konosuba, but more Megumin. Happy to see more of it, and focusing on the chuuni clan can only go amazingly well, so I'll be enjoying this one a lot.

Dr. Stone: New World begins! Usually I'd wait for the dub, but I won't mind watching this twice. On the science journey this week: Map making and farming! About the first 5 minutes of the episode were spent recapping the biggest story points of the first two seasons, but we still got through a decent amount of stuff. Also, warning for y'all, this episode at least has a post-credits scene, so don't skip out too early. Besides, The ending sequence music is fantastic anyway.

Initial Reactions:
Dr. Stone S3: AND WE'RE BACK, and everything seems to be how the manga goes, so I guess all is fine. Liked the Minecraft parody!
Watayuri: I'm gonna be KYAAAAAAAAAA-ing a lot from the yuri interactions, but I think the fact that Hima was forced into this + her forcing Mitsuki into a Schwestern interaction in the cafe when she REALLY doesn't want to (for reasons undisclosed but I'm not sure) is a turn off...
Opus.COLORs: Ok, this was something... Though with the many charas to keep track of and the academy setting, it's clear that this is meant to be marketed like any idol series, and it shows: there are chara songs up for grabs too...
Iseleve: Yuuya's shitty life, him finding the door to the isekai, him growing there and gaining a hot bod, the shocks from the real world people that keep on dragging him to the dirt... Yeah, it really isn't that bad per se; it's jsut that it's too soon to tell...

(I swear, if I can find Yuusha ga Shinda legally and free online, I'm watching/binging that no matter the reactions...)
EDIT: Oh thank heavens; it'll be on ABEMA, but I'll be 5 days late... Eh, a better price to pay than to never see it at all I guess...

Edited by thuse on Apr 7th 2023 at 12:08:45 AM

First Impressions

• Tokyo Mew Mew New S2: Oh nice, I think this got a visual upgrade, which was most noticeable in the transformation sequence. The VAs still show hints of amateurishness, but they've improved a ton and they seem more comfortable in their roles. Looking forward to Ichigo beating the crap out of that persistent sexual harasser. Continuing.
• Skip to Loafer: Given what the show is called, it was paramount that we got to know Skip and Loafer, and they both have rather strong first impressions. Shouhei is a little lazy and laid-back, but he's also a nice and friendly guy. Mitsumi definitely steals the show though, with her amusing country bumpkin naivete, social awkwardness pingponging with unfounded confidence, and her ambition to solve Japan's depopulation crisis. And this early on, they're showing slight signs of attraction to each other, which might mean this love story will move faster than I thought. On the technical side, PA Works did a marvelous job at making the show feel as warm and comfy as lying in a field of sunflowers. And that dance in the OP? Amazing, I couldn't stop myself from dancing along. Definitely continuing.
• Opus Colors: If this is an advertisement for VR Painting, they're doing a terrible job. The "Perception Art" looks like trashy CG. Not only that but I have a niggling feeling that this artist stuff is an elaborate framing device for a male idol anime. It has all the typical signs: cast full of pretty boys engaging in gaybait behavior, random songs popping out of nowhere, As You Know narration in spades, lifeless dialogue. Trying until next episode.
• KamiKatsu: So I had an entire paragraph typed up but then I saw this post and it pretty much sums up all my thoughts, so yeah. Agreed that the setting is a bit confusing, and the frames felt like they flipped by too fast. Yukito managing to manifest a deity was definitely a cool idea though. Trying until episode three.
• Yuri Is My Job: Annoying to watch. I'm pretty sure the ribbon-bunny manager is exaggerating her injury to pretty much blackmail MC into working for her cafe. Then when MC messes up because she, understandably, wasn't properly oriented on what her job entails, she gets scolded for it. Like, no shit she doesn't understand what she did wrong. Did you expect a random schoolgirl you picked off the street to understand what the hell a Schwester is? Trying until next episode.
• KonoSuba: An Explosion on This Wonderful World: How could I not be excited for a Megumin-centered spinoff? Even as a little kid she was already thinking of world domination. It was great seeing how the crazy woman got started on her path of crippling overspecialization. Also really enjoying seeing more of the Crimson Demons, they all have a screw loose and it's all very funny. They had the audacity to mock Megumin for wanting to learn explosion magic "which has no practical application" but their gym class is centered around making pointlessly "cool" poses and speeches. These idiots. But back to Megumin, I'm excited to follow her journey in learning magic, finding friends, and scrounging anything edible in her vicinity. You already know that first "EXPLOSION!" will be glorious. Definitely continuing.

Woman? Isn't she only 14?

Ancient Magus Bride 2: I know the first season was beautiful, but the first minute of this new series is just showing off. Other than that, its still as interesting as ever with some interesting new characters (especially caterpillar nurse), the return of some old ones, and some foreshadowing. Looks like it will be just as good as season one.

And I still need to finish the first season. May do it if I do not take to many shows this time.

Kamikatsu: Poor execution. It's not able to successfully navigate the wildly shifting tones, leaving the whole thing underwhelming. It's also in some weird uncanny valley of 3DCG quality; technically better than much of what we see, but somehow more fake looking

Watayuri: ...I like it more than the source material? The jokes land much better here, making Hime actually likable. Pity about the rest of the cast, though. And I have some issues with the art direction: The compositing is awful, obviously, but why did they go for an ugly but easy to animate style? It's a dramedy, they don't need to move much!. Anyway, not coming back for a second episode

Hero is Dead: Decent comedic timing, but the jokes are all pretty basic. Art's ugly, story isn't anything to write home about. Presumably enjoyable if this is the sort of humour you like, but it's not working great for me

...Stuff I'm actually excited for starts tomorrow, at least

Edited by Hylarn on Apr 6th 2023 at 7:13:57 AM

First Impressions

• Mahoutsukai no Yome S2: Getting the same feeling that I did from S1: it's like talking to a kid from a prep school. They're impeccable in dress and conduct, but they're a little boring. Which is a little weird since I should be a lot more excited about a lady getting perpetually munched on by a giant caterpillar. The pilot does spend some time getting some recap in, which might be contributing to that impression. I do appreciate it since some of those memories needed rekindling, the first season was so long ago. I'm also not sure about the school setting, but I'll support the change in the environment if it'll help Chise develop as a person. And hopefully that mean that by the end of this season I will be more than merely whelmed. Continuing.
• Yuusha ga Shinda: Did better with the comedic timing than I expected. Barring a couple of unimportant scenes, this adaptation was pretty faithful. More curious as to what extent they'll adapt the degeneracy more than anything else. Continuing for now.

Edited by fillerdude on Apr 7th 2023 at 2:16:52 AM

Further First Impressions:

• KamiKatsu: Working for God in a Godless World: Weird and bizarre opening with very offputting CGI. But weird enough to keep watching for now. I enjoyed its subversion of the usual isekai tropes. IMHO the goddess is going to make or break the show. What little we saw was a cross between 'Really 700 years old loli' and Cthulhu. Which way she falls will be decisive. 3 ep rule.
• Opus.COLORS: A story about AR Art that is probably secretly a male idol show. Its VR Blue Period. Except that the "art" is rather ugly CG. It has some incest-y yaoi-bait going on that will go nowhere, but is very filled with handsome boys (ikemen) at every turn. I was bored with it/ dropped.
• Yuri is My Job: Hime is cute, and projects a fake aura of being sweet and cute in hopes of catching a wealthy husband one day. She's roped into working at a cosplay cafe where the staff act out improvised "Class-S" relationships, clearly channeling Maria Watches Over Us. Our heroine steps into it on her first day and at every offer to cool down the drama, escalates instead. It's going to be an interesting study on the masks we show the world and possibly Class-S versus actual relationships, and the OP suggests there might be a Love Dodecahedron where All Love Is Unrequited. Since it's made by Passione, it might get spicy. Watching unless it screws up.
• The Legendary Hero is Dead!: The kind, sweet, powerful Legendary Hero dies and is replaced by a perverted farmer with no real ability. Im sure he'll grow into the role, but bleah. I hate him already. It's trying to be funny, but not hitting. dropped

Edited by ScrewySqrl on Apr 7th 2023 at 9:03:46 AM

Initial Reactions:
Kawaisugi Crisis: Ok, I gotta admit, that scene where Liza delivers fiery hell to the people who abandoned that cat was pretty badass! I think that sold me! Now if only I didn't miss the broadcast...
Mashle: The OP is a headbanger, and the episode itself was a pretty interesting introduction to this Potter-esque-set story. I'm definitely gonna have fun watching this!
Birdie Wing S2: Alright, golf lesbians is back!! But wait, that epilogue... I fear the worst for the ship, but for the match, WOOOOOOOOOOOOO-
Mahou Shoujo Magical Destroyers: Yet another loveletter to otaku culture, but somehow much broader than Denchi Shoujo... I'm rocking the OP, and I'm vibing with the resistance this late into the night babyyyyyyy!!
Yuusha ga Shinda: (Huh, found a place to watch it online...) Well this is gonna be an interesting one, though the hero dying from a simple meat trap is pretty idiotic of him...