Hello, and welcome again to a brand new season of anime. The Spring season has come, and with it come what is usually the most highly anticipated content of the year! Except not so much this year. Seriously, mostly sequels, which I don’t usually talk about, and absolutely everything ended last season. Even Fairy Tail. That’s like saying that Bleach came to a… Oh, right. Anyways, as I fill the blanks in my watching schedule with some older material, I bring you my usual first impressions of the new Spring 2013 anime season. Let’s get started.Shingeki no Kyojin
Quite possibly the most highly anticipated anime of the
season, despite being the least easily available somehow (as I write this
anyways. Seriously, some legal,
streaming service get on that. *ding*
Thank you Funimation. *ding* Thank you
Crunchyroll). A story of revenge, and
mankind rising up against their oppressors, this story involves men fighting
against giants that eat people. For over
a hundred years, mankind has lived safely out of harms way behind massive
walls, safe from the giants that would prey upon them. Then, one day, the appearance of a giant much
larger than the others brings the wall crumbling down and they are forced to
fight for their lives. The series is
based of a highly acclaimed manga, and seems to have a good balance between
fast-paced action and drama. I’m
definitely looking forward to this one, and I think pretty much everyone should
give it a shot. Well, as long as you can
stomach the sight of people getting eaten anyways.
Mushibugyou
Set in what appears to be mid-1700s Japan, a boy travels to Edo
in order to take the place of his injured father, and after a bit of
convincing, manages to join a government organization dedicated to protecting
the people from giant insects that attack the city. This series seems like a pretty typical
shounen anime, but I don’t see too many issues with it just yet. The action is pretty solid, and the characters
are likable if nothing overly original or interesting. If you enjoy shounen anime, and fights with
giant monsters, this is the show for you this season.
Dansai Bunri no Crime Edge
Well, isn’t this anime just an… interesting subject. So, this anime is about a girl who can’t cut
her hair because of a curse on her, and a boy with a fetish for cutting hair
that possesses a pair of cursed scissors that are actually capable of cutting
it. Their encounter sets off some sort
of murder game amongst others possessing similar cursed items to take both the
girl’s, and his life. So, this show is
just all kinds of creepy. Seriously, the
main character got off the bus at the wrong stop, walked onto her property,
spied on her through the window, and shouted “You have beautiful hair”. Police were not called, the hell if I know
why. His entire state of mind is like
something you’d see from the criminals in Criminal Minds, though apparently the
reason is a plot point. There appears to
be some sort of mysterious organization at work, and a mystery to be solved as
well, but still. If you like your
mystery anime, and can stomach a completely creepy main character, this one’s
up your alley.
Red Data Girl
A supernatural drama, this show follows a young girl who
lives at a shrine and apparently has some form of special ability. Due to her power though, she is unable to use
technology. Seriously, it breaks when
she tries to use it. She tried to use
the school computer lab and blacked out the entire building. Anyways, it seems like she is the vessel for
some sort of god, and there are many out there who would use her, and make use
of that power. The plot is simple
enough, but always seems to leave enough of a mystery to keep things
interesting. The characters are a little
flat at times, but I feel, in this case, that’s just because there’s a lot of
character development on the way. Good
series if you like interpersonal drama with supernatural elements to it. Give it a watch, I predict this one will be
good.
Sparrow’s Hotel
A set of shorts using a slightly dated, nostalgic animation style,
about a group of people who run a downtown hotel. It’s a comedy, and a serious throwback to the
90s. The first episode was enjoyable,
nothing special, but enjoyable none-the-less.
I’m going to keep this as short as the episodes, so give it a watch. It’s only three minutes after all.
Photokano
This series follows the misadventures of a young man in high
school who receives a digital camera from his father and then joins the
somewhat seedy Photography Club at his school.
He strives to take pictures of… things.
Honestly, it hasn’t been made terribly clear what he actually wants to
take pictures of, but it seems like he’s taking hints from the president of the
club and aiming for shots of female schoolmates. Considering this is based on a game that was
all about taking candid shots in secret… I’m assuming that’s where this is
going. Anyways, the main character is a
little too well liked for walking around taking random shots of everything it
seems. No one finds this creepy at all…
though frankly there are creepier people in that school, for sure. Anyways, I don’t imagine this one is going to
be anything better than a fanservice fest, but then again, I’ve been proven
wrong on that before. Give it a look if
you are so inclined, but I wouldn’t blame you for skipping it.
Aku no Hana
Oh, wow, did this series get a lot of hate right after it
aired. A series about what appears to be
school life and growing up, with some sort of twist that has yet to be
revealed. The background music is way
too creepy to just have nothing happen.
Anyways, the big source of rage is the animation used in the
series. They took a completely different
path from the art style of the manga, and instead used some very… very shoddy
rotoscoping. In other words, it looks
like a live action series that an 8-year-old had fun with in MS Paint. The animation aside though, the series
actually seems pretty solid storytelling-wise.
The acting is a bit more dull than usual, but that also makes it a bit
more realistic than your usual anime voice-work. All in all, it looks like it’s going
somewhere good, so if you can stomach the terrible animation job, by all means
give it a shot.
Ginga Kikoutai Majestic Prince
A series about a group of five students who are suddenly
called upon to pilot mechs in order to save mankind from an alien threat. Mind you, not normal students, they were in a
school for mech pilots in the first place, so not so weird. Anyways, they pilot their organization’s top
of the line machines, with a top secret new system installed and use them to
drive off an entire fleet in the first episode.
Anyways, the character personalities are varied and fun, and the serious
plot is delivered with a fresh dose of humour because of it. The series also features character designs
from the same guy who did Gundam Seed, Fafner in the Azure, and Heroic
Age. Finally, despite being a pretty
standard mecha series in its setup, the series has a healthy dose of Sentai
influence. The mechs are all
colour-coded, each has its own individual role in battle, and teamwork is the
key to victory. It’s a fun series so
far, so if you like mech, Sentai, or both, give this one a shot.
Kakumeiki Valvrave
A new mecha series from Sunrise, the studio responsible for Gundam,
this series follows a student who is suddenly thrown into the middle of a war
after an attack on his home. He climbs
into the prototype mecha named Valvrave, and becomes something inhuman as he
uses it to fight his enemies. This
series has all the hallmarks of a Sunrise
mecha series. You know, enemy army
attacks a neutral colony to steal prototype mechs, young, inexperienced,
pacifist kid ends up in the cockpit due to events and winds up using it to take
down enemies. It’s a bit campy, but it’s
still a visually awesome series with an interesting plotline. If you like mech, definitely give this one a
shot.
Hataraku Maou-sama
Man, the Japanese sure do like messing around with the whole
Demon King stereotype, don’t they? In
this series, after a failed conquest of his own world, defeated at the hands of
the hero, the Demon King and his right-hand man escape through a portal to
another world. Finding themselves in
modern day Tokyo,
they quickly discover that they are drained of their magic with no way to
recover it, and have been reduced to human forms as a result. Stuck in this strange world, they are forced
to get by just like anyone else, by renting an apartment and getting low-paying
part-time jobs. So yes, the Demon King
works at McDonalds, flipping burgers as he works his way to the top of the food
chain on his way to conquering Japan.
Yeah, so this is a less than serious anime that takes a lot of shots at
the working world, and getting by day to day.
The series is pure fun though, and very well written. I’m actually looking forward to this one
quite a bit. So, if you like your comedy
anime, this is probably the one for you, give it a shot.
Devil Survivor 2: The Animation
The latest Atlus game to be animated, Devil Survivor
chronicles a major disaster in Japan,
involving Demons appearing and attacking people. Three teenagers who all narrowly escaped
death find themselves with the strange ability to summon forth demons and
deities to protect themselves and others.
Together with a mysterious government organization that seemed to have
foreseen all this, they fight to save the world from certain annihilation. All in all, this seems to be a pretty solid
series, with a storyline and good characters that I’ve come to expect from Atlus
games. There’s some serious potential
here, I just hope they don’t screw around with unnecessary things like they did
with the Persona 4 anime. Here’s hoping,
so give it a shot and check it out.
Karneval
An anime about a fairly useless teenager named Nai, who gets
dragged around by a number of strange individuals as he runs from an unknown
enemy that seems interested in hunting him down. He ends up taken under the protection of a
government organization called Circus, a public security force comprised of
superhumans that also double as circus performers. The show is weird. Very weird.
I’m not sure what to make of it, even after two episodes. Nai is kind of a boring, pathetic character,
though the thief he initially runs off with is a rather cool guy. The imagery is rather surreal, but hey, if
that’s your thing, by all means give it a try.
Yahari
Ore no Seishun Love Comedy
wa Machigatteiru
A series about a Volunteers Club filled with characters who
have alliterations for names that help people achieve their goals. The club is filled with a generally
misanthropic lot that were essentially forced into the club as a way to get
used to dealing with social situations.
This show is actually kind of funny.
The main character is a completely lost cause, and the female lead is
fairly straight to the point with everything.
They play well off each other, and make for entertaining dialogue, which
helps considering there isn’t much plot aside from them doing little episodic
jobs. There’s also another character who
I swear to god is Kota
from High School of the Dead with white hair, who’s decently entertaining, if
not a bit awkward. Anyways, this would
be the good high school comedy of the season it seems, so if you like those,
give this a try.
Date a Live
So, this show is about… I’m really not sure actually. There are these things called Spacequakes,
that are essentially small black holes opening up on earth and destroying
everything around them, but they really don’t matter. The main character is a normal high school
student with no parents, and a little sister that’s his only real family,
except she’s not what she seems at all because she’s in charge of some
super-secret organization that fights spirits from another dimension. Oh yeah, those spirits make the spacequakes
when they appear on earth, except sometimes they don’t. It’s weird.
Anyways, so the main character’s sister’s personality does a complete
one-eighty all of a sudden and she explains that the only way to stop the
spacequakes without killing the spirit (which is damn near impossible. Seriously, why are you even trying?), is for
him to ask her out on a date. Yep. Confused yet?
Welcome to my world. So yeah,
this series is incredibly stupid, occasionally breaking into “So stupid, it’s
funny” territory. The plot makes absolutely
no sense, and each episode is a confused mess of attempts at plot points that
make little to no sense. It did,
however, give rise to one of the most unintentionally hilarious confessions of
love ever though, so there’s that.
Anyways, if you enjoy stupid, confusing things, give it a try, otherwise
steer clear of this mess.
Suisei no Gargantia
In the future, Earth has frozen over and mankind escaped
into space, settling in a travelling space colony as they search for habitable
planets. However, they encountered an
alien race that seeks to exterminate them, and began a war using advanced AI
and mechs. In the middle of a major
battle, Lieutenant Ledo, the protagonist is dislodged from his ship as it
passes through a wormhole, finding himself in a completely different star
system, his mech captured by a strange group of humans nowhere near as advanced
as his own people. Having rediscovered
Earth, long since unfrozen and turned into a planet of nothing but sea, he
seeks to coexist with the people who found him until he can find a way to get
home. This show is excellently written
so far, and though the character of Ledo is your stereotypical overly serious
mech pilot, his personality does lead to some entertaining moments as it
clashes with some of the other characters.
A lot of the first few episodes involve things lost in translation
between his language and the one the people of Earth speak, giving it a bit of
intellectual humour as well. On top of
all that, the cherry on the cake, it is written by Urobuchi Gen, writer for
Fate/Zero, Madoka, and Psycho-Pass. This
tells me that this is going to get really dark, really fast. I expect great things from his writing as
always. This is definitely one to watch,
so give it a try.
Arata Kangatari
Arata is a high school boy who has been bullied
consistently, and has decided never to trust anyone ever again. Meanwhile, in an alternate dimension, another
boy with the same name is forced to cross-dress as a woman in order to trick a
lot of people and to become the new ruler of the kingdom, because of some
incredibly short-sighted rule that would result in his entire clan being
slaughtered otherwise. Through a twist
of fate, the Queen is killed by her most trusted advisors before she could pass
on the crown and he is blamed for it as the only witness present aside from
those involved in the conspiracy. Making
his escape, he makes his way through an enchanted forest, which results in the
two Aratas swapping places, though no one else can tell the difference. Both boys have to now deal with each other’s
problems while trying to find a way to get back to their own world. This anime seems pretty generic at first
glance, but the writing is fairly solid, and the characters are decent as
well. I’d give this one a try, it looks
like it could end up being a good one.
Aiura
A slice of life series following a set of high school girls
as absolutely nothing important happens to them. Normal life at it’s best. Also, this series seems to have some sort of
fixation with crabs if the opening theme is to be believed. Anyways, nothing special here. Cute character designs, solid artwork, not
much in the way of anything happening, but then again, it’s only 4 minutes per
episode, so you’re not exactly wasting too much time on it. If you’re looking for something short to fill
some time, give it a shot.
Hentai Ouji to Warawanai Neko
Otherwise known as The Hentai Prince and the Stony cat, the
premise for this series is essentially a Jim Carrey movie. It’s the basic plot from Liar Liar, except
they’re all in high school, and instead of just not being able to lie, he has
to voice any sort of perverted thought going through his head. He made a wish on a statue to be able to
express himself more honestly, and this is what happened. He made the wish alongside a girl who wished
to be able to mask her emotions better, and she ended up being unable to make
facial expressions or talk in anything but a monotone voice. The two of them make a pact to help each
other out until they can find a way to reverse their wishes. Anyways, this is a series that’s heavy on
fanservice. The protagonist will find
his way into a lot of different, embarrassing situations and be unable to stop
himself, and he’ll get pummelled because of it.
It does seem kind of fun though, so I won’t write it off completely just
yet. Anyways, if you like your slightly
perverted slapstick comedy, this is the pick for you this season.
Namiuchigiwa no Muromi-san
A set of 12 minute episodes about a boy who loves to fish,
and a mermaid he accidentally fished up one day who ended up falling in love
with him. It’s a quick, funny little
series that focuses completely into the humour of the situation. The mermaid and her friends are just totally
out there, to the point where the boy has no idea whether they’re joking or
not. Not a bad way to kill 12 minutes,
if lacking in substance. Give it a try
if you have the time.
Zettai Bouei Leviathan
A story about a world full of magic that has come under
attack by insect-like creatures from another world. A team of inexperienced, but powerful
magicians and warriors named Leviathan, Bahamut, and Jormungand band together to
save their world. If you saw the pattern
in those names, I should probably add that all three of the above are young
girls and probably not what you were imagining.
The series seems to be fairly tongue and cheek about the whole world in
danger thing so far, hasn’t really started mattering. The characters don’t seem like anything
special, and the plot hasn’t arrived yet as of the first episode. The art is good though, and the effects for
the magic is fairly well done, so I’m going to give it a bit longer before
making any real judgment. If you like
cute girls with magical powers, this is right up your alley, so give it a look.
