Hello, and welcome again to my usual segment as I talk about
the new Summer 2013 anime season. Now,
to start, I’m already not terribly impressed with this season at the
moment. Nothing has really grabbed me so
far, and the only shows I really look forward to every week are new seasons of
things I already like, like Symphogear G, High School DxD New, Genshiken
Nidaime, and The World God Only Knows – Goddesses (None of which I’m going to
talk about here because of my usual rule of not talking about second seasons,
but god there are a lot of second seasons this summer). After a couple of really strong seasons, this
one just feels a bit lacklustre. So,
without further ado, let’s get into the shows.
Servant x Service
From the same creator as Working, comes a new series about a
group of Civil Servants working at a government office. The series takes a slice of life/comedy look
at the people who work there and the people who come in. That’s really about all there is to say to
describe the series. It’s a simple
concept, and the jokes and sketches remind me a lot of Working in how they’re
executed. Now, I enjoyed Working, so
that’s a good thing in my opinion.
Characters are pretty simple though, with such memorable stereotypes as
the hard-working one, the pushover manager, and the overly talented yet
incredibly lazy one. Anyways, it seems
like it may be an enjoyable way to kill half an hour, so give it a look if
you’re just looking for a laugh, and especially if you enjoyed Working.
Danganronpa the Animation
A collection of promising youth are gathered together at a
prestigious high school, only to find that they have been trapped inside and
made to play a sick survival game by the psychotic principal. The only way to get out is to murder one of
their classmates and get away with it.
If they succeed, they will be let free, and the rest of the class will
be disposed of, if they fail to cover their tracks, they will be the one to
die. This show comes off like a weird
cross between Battle Royale and a Shin Megami Tensei game. It gets dark, really fast, despite the
plethora of cartoony imagery that usually fills the screen. Classmates start dropping like flies, and the
mystery begins almost immediately. The
only thing, I find, that throws me off a bit while watching is the fact that
the principal of the school is some sort of teddy bear, stuffed with
explosives. He may very well be the most
messed up thing in this show. If you like
mystery, and psychological thriller, this anime is right up your alley.
Inu to Hasami wa Tsukaiyou
This is a series about a man who liked books so much that
after being shot during an armed robbery, he refused to die until having read
the final book of his favourite series.
Reincarnated as a dog, he finds himself adopted by his favourite author,
also the person he had been protecting, unknowingly, when he was shot. She is capable of hearing his thoughts, and
so his new life begins. This show is…
interesting, to say the least. The
author’s personality seems to flop back and forth between caring and psychotic
on a dime, and the dog is just plain uninterested in anything going on around
him. There does not really seem to be
much of a plot either aside from him trying to convince her to get writing the
final book in that series he likes as she comes up with every single excuse to
do, literally, anything else. It’s a
weird show, but it does have its legitimately entertaining moments. So, give it a try if you’re at all inclined,
but otherwise this probably shouldn’t be very high on the list of things to
watch.
Love Lab
A series about the two most popular girls in an all girls
school, working together on the Student Council. However, they aren’t just doing Council work
in that office, they are also studying love, and ways to get a boyfriend. Yeah, the premise is just that strange. The bulk of the show is them messing around
in the Student Council office, talking about all sorts of methods to attract a
boy’s attention, and what to do once you have it. This is mostly innocent stuff, but
occasionally verging on the delusional and cliché. However, despite that as the premise, the
series is a legitimately endearing story about friendship and having people you
can talk to about anything. An oddly
good series to sit and watch despite the idea behind it. If you enjoy sappy drama and friendship
stuff, this is the series for you this season, so give it a shot.
Gin no Saji
Otherwise known as Silver Spoon, this series is about a high
school for people who want to work on or run a farm. It follows the main character, who entered
this school for… well, I’m not entirely sure why he entered that school. He’s not from a farming family, and he came
from an upper class middle school in the city.
Even he doesn’t seem to know why he’s there aside from the fact that he
wanted to get away from home. Anyways,
the series follows his daily routine at this farm school, as he learns all
about where his food comes from. At
first I was kind of weirded out by this series, but it grew on me after the first
episode. A strong story about the
rewards of hard work, and not being bound by your first impressions of things,
it is actually quite enjoyable to watch.
It helps that all the characters are very likable. If you like stories about developing character
and learning as you go, this is the show for you, and I suggest you pick it up.
Stella Jogakuin Koutou-ka C3-bu
An anime about a group of airsoft enthusiasts who attend a
prestigious all girls high school. It
follows Yura, the newest member of the club, as she learns all about the sport,
and grows to love it while surrounded by the odd characters in the club. The members of the club get played off as a
bunch of weirdos in the show, obsessed with combat, and their guns. However, the series is fairly endearing,
presenting itself as a story about changing oneself and striving to become a
better person. The action scenes are
also very well animated, and give off a sort of Hollywood
action movie vibe. All in all, it seems
like a pretty solid show, so give it a look if you like action, and girls with
guns.
Blood Lad
The story of an otaku vampire that lives in the demon world,
who also happens to be the boss of his own territory. He and his gang are embroiled in a huge turf
war spanning the entire demon world, when one day a human girl stumbles into
their territory. The vampire is all
excited to meet someone from the country that makes all his favourite things,
but after an unfortunate accident, she dies and becomes a ghost. The vampire, upset by this, promises that he
will find a way to resurrect her in between shopping trips to the human world
and fights over his territory. All in
all, this show is not at all what I was expecting when I read about it. There was a bit of cool action at the
beginning, but the whole thing is more or less just played up for comedy. It’s not necessarily bad, but it hasn’t
especially managed to wow me yet either.
Another decent time-waster anime this season, so give it a look if
you’re at all inclined.
Makai Ouji – Devils and Realist
The story of a rich, brilliant boy named William, attending
a prestigious boarding school for the high class. When his uncle accidentally ruins the
family’s fortune, William discovers that he is the descendant of Solomon, and
the human chosen to choose the interim ruler of hell, because apparently
Lucifer is going to take a century long nap.
Demons surround him and attempt to bribe him into choosing them, and so
his life is turned upside down. There’s
nothing really wrong with the show itself, or its premise for that matter, I
just have one problem with it. William
is such an unlikable character that it kind of ruins the whole thing for
me. Despite being in a position of power
at the school, he does nothing but whine about everything going on around
him. Demons are fighting each other
right in front of his face, but he whines about how it is scientifically
impossible for demons to exist. I want
to reach through the screen and smack the guy, repeatedly. Also, for some reason, his theme music seems
to be “London Bridge is Falling Down”. Anyways, aside from him, the show seems
decent, so don’t avoid it just because of my opinion. Give it a watch if you like science vs. magic
type anime, because this definitely delivers on that.
Gifuu Doudou!!
Kanetsugu to Keiji
A series following the exploits of Sengoku era samurai Naoe
Kanetsugu and Maeda Keiji. That’s about
it for the premise, two famous historical figures and their terribly, terribly
exaggerated adventures. These two are
being shown as incredibly badass guys capable of just about anything. Then again, I am totally okay with this,
because the entire show is the two of them drinking and talking about past
exploits. Of course it’s going to be
exaggerated as hell, that’s the point.
It’s like, “And then I swung my guitar pick at the guy and a tiger made
of energy came out and mauled him to death”.
It’s awesome, but obviously just a drunk guy talking himself up. Anyways, the series has good action scenes,
and it’s always fun to see what the two of them get up to. If you like historical fiction, and
especially anime about samurai, this is the one for you this season.
Kamisama no Inai Nichiyoubi
With one final message to humanity, God left the world for
good, calling the entire thing a failure.
Without him, heaven and hell are both full up, no more children are
born, and the dead walk the earth. At
first, there’s no noticeable difference between the living and the dead, but
eventually they devolve into creatures of instinct. The only way to put someone to rest, is for
them to be buried by a special type of person called a Gravekeeper, who have a
God-given ability to do so. Basically,
this is a zombie apocalypse series, without ever once actually using the word
‘zombie’. It follows a little girl who
also happens to be a Gravekeeper, who ends up tagging along on a journey with
the man who killed everyone she had ever known and loved. The plotline seems fairly interesting, and
I’m interested to see where this goes from here. If you like mystery and zombie stories, this
is the series for you, and quite possibly one of the better written of the
season.
Free!
Now, this one got a lot of attention. From Kyoto Animation, creators of Haruhi,
Lucky Star, and K-On, as well as the guys who more or less defined the Moe art
style, comes a show about a bunch of male swimmers. A number of boys who used to swim
competitively in elementary school form a swimming club in high school, and
start to get back into things. There
really isn’t much plot here aside from swimming competitions between
rivals. What really gets me about this
show, is it really feels no different from any other series this studio has
ever done. It’s like K-On, except
instead of a band, they swim. It’s the
same thing, the same character types, the same directing, and the same
animation, except they’re all guys. They
took the very concept of a moe series and flipped it over on its head and
targeted it for a female audience.
Personally, I find this absolutely hilarious. I may not be part of the intended
demographic, but I am definitely enjoying to series myself. Then again, I enjoyed Sekaiichi
Hatsukoi. If you’re into such things,
give it a shot, but if you’re not comfortable with heavily eroticized male
swimmers, you should probably stay clear.
Gatchaman Crowds
Once again on the ‘not at all what I was expecting’
bandwagon, comes Gatchaman Crowds. The
story of a girl who one day, suddenly becomes a Gatchaman and is told she is
now part of a team that fights aliens without being seen by the general
public. I’m not actually sure whether or
not this is supposed to be a sequel to the original Gatchaman series, but if it
is, then it definitely took an unexpected turn.
A high school setting, a main character who’s a little… not quite all
there, and enemies that may or may not actually be a threat. Not sure where this show is going with this,
but with the staff from Tiger & Bunny, and Karas on board, the combat
animations sure do look nice if a little over-CG’d for my tastes. All I can say is I hope that member of their
team named Jo, who hasn’t fought at all yet, turns out to be Joe the Condor
from the original series. Anyways, if
you like Men in Black and K-On (Watch the series if you’re confused about what
those two have to do with each other), then this may be up your alley.
Watamote
A slice of life series about an incredibly unpopular,
somewhat delusional high school girl who desperately needs to get more
sleep. That’s really all that can be
said about this show’s premise. She’s
unpopular, but wants to be a bit more social and popular with people, but goes
about it in all the wrong ways, and all the while refusing to admit that
there’s anything wrong with her. It’s a
bit hard to watch, but oddly enough it seems to have gained some level of
popularity this season. We may be seeing
a lot of memes come out of this series.
Anyways, if you like slice of life shows, this one may be for you, so give
it a look.
Choujigen Game Neptune:
The Animation
Based on the series of video games, this anime is an
anthropomorphized version of the console wars (Feel like I’ve said that a few
times lately). This time though, instead
of Nintendo vs. Sega, there are four countries representing PlayStation, Xbox,
Nintendo, and what I can only assume is supposed to be PC. Also, instead of depicting an actual war, the
show starts with a peace treaty and it turns into a magical girl sort of series
from there. The series seems pretty
light on plot at first, but there does seem to be something going on in the
background, so I can’t say anything solid just yet. Characters are very stereotypical, nothing
terribly original, and the only real action seems kind of bland with some less
than interesting costume designs. This
one seems to be kind of a write-off this season, so I wouldn’t pay it much
mind. If you like video game and RPG
jokes all over the place and not much beyond that, give it a try, but otherwise
I wouldn’t really recommend it.
Fate/Kaleid Liner Prisma Illya
And speaking of magical girl anime I’m not quite sure what
to make of, yet another series based on the Fate/Stay Night franchise, this
time featuring Illya as a magical girl.
Basically, Tohsaka Rin is given magical girl powers and sent to Japan to deal
with some sort of monsters, but while there her wand decides it’s tired of her
and flies off to find someone else.
Finally choosing Illya and forcing her into a contract with it, Illya
finds herself forced into a fight she wants nothing to do with. This comes off as more of a parody of the
magical girl genre, and less of a serious plot line. The characters are exaggerated versions of
the familiar Fate characters, so that’s a draw for some people. If you like the Fate series, and enjoy those
characters, this may be something to look into, but if you’ve never seen
Fate/Stay Night, you will not get any of the jokes.
Anyways, that’s it for me. I may pick up a few more shows over the
course of the season, but that’s still up in the air. Anyways, see you guys again in October when I
post my first impressions of the Fall season.
Alright so today's interviewee is also from the great province of New Brunswick. He is a cool family man, and will stand up to injustice in the cosplay community. He goes by the name of Kevin, and is Moncton's very own Wolverine.
Since I made you wait all week, I'm putting out all three parts of our new video today - listen to Litrid, OVerkill, Cell Saga, Chuck, and myself plow through the entirety of the arcade iteration of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV - Turtles in Time. Enjoy!
It's technically Friday so you can have Part 2 now. :D
Happy Halloween! Today's upload is part 1 of a 2-part jaunt into another Nintendo Land game, Zelda Battle Quest! Part 2 will be out tomorrow! Enjoy!
Our copy right strike is gone, so finally we can put up CONBRAVO 2013!! 
The Captain Falcon episode of Maelstrom for Smash Bros. Brawl is out. Enjoy. :P
Sorry for the inactivity, we've just been setting up our new compound, studio, furniture, appliances, etc. To make it up to you, here's what we have today:
I would also like to notify everyone about our upcoming ConHop videos. We were recently at ConBravo 2013 and Fan Expo 2013. Those videos, along with the re-upload of Anime North 2013, will be uploaded beginning on September 26th, when the strike on our account lifts. Look for a video update soon.
This week has a nice fruitbowl of videos for you. On Tuesday we uploaded the 8th and final part of our Kamen Rider Battride War Test Drive. This weekend we uploaded the first part of another Japanese game's Test Drive - Gundam Extreme VS. Also up today is TheReccher's opinion on the recent internet fiasco caused by the departure of JonTron from the Game Grumps.
Thanks to the efforts of a certain new member of the IXI! crew, we have a new #1 video, finally dethroning our Fancy Pants Adventures after so goddamn long - 
