SEASONAL PRATTLE
It’s that time already? Yes, yes it is. We have a fresh new pile of airing anime to enjoy, and as usual, we’ll be reviewing a large chunk of them. If you’re new to these blogs, here’s a quick heads up on how this works: The first show covered (which directly follows this intro) is what we deem here as our “lead” – essentially a featured episode review for reasons that could be good or bad but deserve higher recognition either way. From there, the quality of the anime we’re covering typically decreases as you scroll down the page – thus the last anime listed tends to be what we consider “the worst” of that week.
Now with that out of the way, let’s dig into what we have!
Successfully launching, and leading us off Jujutsu Kaisen blesses the Fall – offering a silky blanket of agile directing and competent telling for its embroidery that’s fairly easy to wrap yourself into. Episode one is notably comfortable speaking through and operating its lead in Yuuji, nailing passive scenes and latter more bombastic, action-centric ones that he initiates with no real issue. Even better, and clearly the star reward of this premiere, is how electric Kaisen is when the episode wants to get propulsive: There’s plenty of positive uses of visual craft – whether its flat out the application of space or kinetics – that makes its curse battle a real treat. And while raw writing isn’t exactly its sharpest tool so far, in closing there’s still enough of an edge for this first episode to leave viewers with a good amount to anticipate how the story will be expanded. Jujutsu Kaisen’s immediate future looks bright, standing on top of Fall’s opening anime when considered in totality.
Majo no Tabitabi (1)
“Finding a good clump of scenes that illustrated eye-catching spells and backdrops”
Moving on, Majo no Tabitabi appears with a modest initial showing, delivering enough in its craft and early narrative to at least position itself as a fine fantasy adventure work. Effective worldbuilding is critical in a show like this, and thus, setting up a healthy complementary act between the natural beauty of Fran’s woodsy surroundings and the whimsy of both here Elaina’s magic was vital. And I’m happy to say episode one checked that box off – finding a good clump of scenes that illustrated eye-catching spells and backdrops that granted the needed curiosity to actually want to explore this world with Elaina down the road. Majo no Tabitabi seems to know exactly what tonal levers it needs to pull and how it wants to proceed with itself.
Tonikaku Kawaii (1)
“Feeling overly hasty in how it wants to progress and more importantly, lacking when it comes to the tones it would like to dabble in.”
Tonikaku Kawaii went live to mixed results, not exactly showing the kind of mechanics and traits that make works like this resonate, however, not flopping to the extent that it’s a total failure. This initial episode’s core problem rests with how fundamentally weak its set-up is built – feeling overly hasty in how it wants to progress and more importantly, lacking when it comes to the tones it would like to dabble in. Strings of recycled, light, hit and miss jokes spritzed with some childish blushing on Nasa’s end is what this series typically whips up in an effort “to be funny”. Even worse, when the episode isn’t in comedy mode, its attempts at romance are marginal to put it generously. Nasa and Tsukasa as a pair not only lack charm at the moment, with this first batch of content doing very little to showcase any chemistry between them, but they also don’t have enough substance either to be investable – a combination that’s an absolute anchor for any romance based title, and one that Tonikaku Kawaii will definitely need to work on if it wants to succeed.
Senyoku no Sigrdrifa (1)
“Unfortunately riding on a mix of Norse mythology, outdated warplanes, and a forgettable fantasy slant as the foundation of its plotting”
Coming in with nearly an hour-long premiere, Senyoku no Sigrdrifa had plenty of room to leave a favorable impression, yet the events that would transpire apparently had other plans in mind. This lengthy opening run is mediocre at best in most departments – notably missing the production chops to make its aerial combat truly enticing, and unfortunately riding on a mix of Norse mythology, outdated warplanes, and a forgettable fantasy slant as the foundation of its plotting – harmonizing just about as well as those ingredients sound on paper. This series’ biggest positive attribute thus far comes from the interactions of its cast: Claudia and company show enough life to be entertaining in their behavior and banter, however, they’re still very much framed as your typical group of moe girls which results in this show feeling more like a knock-off Azur Lane or Strike Witches than intended. All in all a relatively mild performance.
Munou na Nana (1)
“Leaning firmly enough in the psych/thriller basket to give it some needed separation”
Bargain brand My Hero Academia debuts, formally going by the name “Munou na Nana” as it establishes an opening performance that floats around the serviceable mark. While its informal name is largely in jest here, there are reasonable grounds for the connection as it doesn’t take much for one to see how the MHA comparison could come about. From the hero school itself to its classes full of kids with special “talents” (quirks) and even some of the core characters’ interplay – the MHA tint is fairly obvious. Be that as it may, there’s also a loud enough element that differentiates it, with Munou na Nana’s “Enemy of Humanity” gimmick leaning firmly enough in the psych/thriller basket to give it some needed separation. It’s not the most unpredictable or graceful when writing from that standpoint so far, but it’s enough to put up a decent cliffhanger and get by for now.
Yuukoku no Moriarty (1)
“Decent conflicts and fine enough storytelling fundamentals to not choke”
Yuukoku no Moriarty’s premiere was steady with no true fumbles but it also felt like a pilot that’s very stereotypical for works that spin-off of Sherlock Holmes. As it stands, this start had some decent conflicts and fine enough storytelling fundamentals to not choke. Part of me wishes it would present a bit deeper of a hook or more engrossing conversation with Moriarty, but I’ll just have to settle for what we got. On a whole, this was a fair genre piece.
Assault Lily: Bouquet (1)
“The sideshow that is its character introductions is so lazily executed”
Starting off as one the first shows to actually air this Fall, although not much to its benefit, Assault Lily: Bouquet arrives – apparently determined to bring shame to itself publicly with a heavy heap of worn plotting and character dynamics that you’ve likely seen elsewhere. This premiere blandly runs through the motions of its fantasy gimmick, having our lead Riri shallowly rambling off exposition about “HUGE”, “CHARMS” and “Lillies” as episode one flails around to put that in any compelling context. Making matters worse, during the brief time it stops convulsing on the floor and gets in position to make good on that, the sideshow that is its character introductions is so lazily executed – essentially just dumping a pile of archetypical girls of various hair colors on the audience with no real reason to care – that it overshadows the intrigue that could be anyway. The only concrete upside of this start appears to come in the form of the two-ish minutes of action we receive, in which SHAFT does a nice job of constructing. Outside of that though, it’s hard to argue that this was anything close to “good” with the way it carried itself here – be it textually or visually.
Hypnosis Mic: Division Rap Battle – Rhyme Anima (1)
“Equally trivial and unintentionally comical”
Hypnosis Mic: Division Rap Battle debuts, dazzling audiences with storytelling so inherently silly and thin that it almost makes you forget about the crusty CG used for the rap performances. Beyond the broadest framework of its plot, it’s difficult to determine what’s of actual significance within this start as every action seems equally trivial and unintentionally comical – ultimately spending viewer time running through a crockpot of characters all while never really getting a good grasp on any one individual or group. By credit roll the show hardly went anywhere, moving about an inch forward from its default synopsis and with that, expectations for episodes to come about a foot closer to the dirt.
Kami-tachi ni Hirowareta Otoko (1)
“Quick to fade and not too substantial to begin with”
Kami-tachi ni Hirowareta Otoko’s start is a bland one – flat isekai writing joins a copy and pasted fantasy setting to slowly whittle away at your patience until it reaches a fruitless conclusion. There’s a small spark of intrigue generated early on through an otherwise dull twenty minutes when episode one is being elusive about Ryouma’s true identity, but that’s both quick to fade and not too substantial to begin with. By the time the ED song comes on it’s tough to consider Kami-tachi ni Hirowareta Otoko as anything more than just another sub-par isekai show with little real upside.
I’m Standing on a Million Lives (1)
“It’s the type of cliché that’s so on the nose you just want to laugh at it”
Lastly, if this first episode is any indication, I’m Standing on a Million Lives is a trashcan waiting to be taken out whose only value is to remind viewers how low the bar really is to get an Isekai adapted. The story so far is not only very beaten conceptually but also bankrupt in execution with prominent production choices and directional cues that range anywhere from sloppy to just plain awkward. The cast is lead by an edgy MC that did nothing to make himself distinct from the stack of edgy Isekai MCs that have come before him, and the way the events ensue is completely cliché. It’s the type of cliché that’s so on the nose you just want to laugh at it, but at the same time, you feel like you’re slowly losing IQ having watched it.
