#like the stupid mahou ore one

[swanwinged-princess]

Completely unrelated to anything besides my own all-consuming love of magical girls but literally whatever happened to that magical couturier show(?)

it was called like piacere couture and the pink one’s transformation was floating around a while ago and it’s still on youtube and it has a website you can go to from the youtube video but a) I can’t read any of it because it’s in Japanese and I don’t have access to google translate rn and b) I haven’t heard anything else about it since… possibly last year. 

Please it looks so cute and the concept of magical girls literally MAKING their own outfits IN their own transformation sequences is so cool and fun and I need SOMETHING non-completely mainstream but nice and genuine and not a gritty/edgy or nasty mess like I was looking forward to 6hearts princess for the longest time but then the anime came out and it turned out it was NASTY and also the op and ed were straight up ripping off heartcatch precure

[natsthinkitythinkthinkthonk]

Anime Highlights of 2018 (SO FAR!)

I haven’t watched all of this year’s anime because I have a ton of other stuff on the “watch later” list, but I wanted to get my two cents in. I know it’s just the start of 2019 (when I started this post, it was 2018).

If you don’t see a show on here that could’ve been on the list, scroll to the bottom and click “Keep Reading” because it might be included in the shows I didn’t get around to watching!

For this list, I will be ranking the shows into categories:

Raisin Cookie: Low-Tier

Sugar Cookie: Mid-Tier

Chocolate Chip Cookie: Top-Tier

No sequels allowed! No shows that are continuing from the previous year.

Honestly, there were a lot of good shows this year. Even this summer (which was considered the weakest by many) still got a lot of good shows in. 

This video covers a lot of this year’s good anime.

Raisin Cookie:

Conception 

Read the synopsis. Do I really need to say why? I watched one episode, cried on the inside, then asked why I was even born. 

Goblin Slayer

The first episode was gruesome and horrifying. It was seeping with edge, but I couldn’t figure out why they would make that the first episode if the rest of the anime was just an ecchi harem. We knew this would be a disappointment, but we didn’t know it would be a disappointment because of that.

Bakumatsu

I watched the first episode and wondered why I even tried watching this. You can’t carry a show with just voice casting and arguable fujoshi-baiting. 

Mahou Shoujo Site

This rivals Goblin Slayer’s edge. Mahou Shoujo Ore takes the magical girl genre and makes fun of it through comedy. This makes fun of it through gore. Think of it as an extremely poorly done, awfully written, badly executed attempt of trying to recreate a show like Madoka Magica.

Kyoto Teramachi Sanjou no Holmes 

For a mystery show, this show was sure full of bullcrap and nonsense. I watched the first few episodes and found myself disliking this anime.

Kitsune no Koe 

I watched nine episodes before giving up. The music is subpar. The acting is subpar because the story and script are so poorly done. I would even argue the casting is all wrong.

Akkun to Kanojo

I just don’t like relationships where people are overly tsundere. I get the whole getting flustered thing, but resorting to violence and bullying over it is not my thing. This guy is so mean to his girlfriend, and sure, some people might enjoy it (which is why it’s the top of the trash pile), but I didn’t enjoy it at all.

Sugar Cookie:

Mahou Shoujo Ore

This show was supposed to be stupid. That’s the point. But the jokes get overused and stale after a while, and I found myself wanting it to be over near the end. It got me to laugh once every couple of episodes, but that’s about it.

Devils Line

This was a cringy vampire romance. That about sums it up in a nutshell. Miyuki Sawashiro deserved a more badass character, and so did Yui Ishikawa. Still better than Twilight.

Satsuriku no Tenshi

This was edgy like Mahou Shoujo Site and Goblin Slayer, but this show didn’t take itself as seriously. For the video game fans, they pretty much followed the story of the game. There were little to no discrepancies. But if you are only watching the anime, you’ll find this show so cringy and awful. Kudos to Nobuhiko Okamoto who took on this role knowing that it would strain his vocal cords.

Ani ni Tsukeru Kusuri wa Nai! 2

The charm of the first season was just lost. They had a lot of hit-and-miss episodes where I was either going to like it or think it was a waste of time. I want more sibling antics and fewer love triangles, but it was still a solid season.

3D Kanojo: Real Girl 

I watched three episodes of this, and as much as I wouldn’t mind watching more, I couldn’t build attachment to any of these characters. I felt nothing for the story either. Okay, so a pretty misunderstood girl gets into a relationship with an otaku... what else?

Tada-kun wa Koi wo Shinai

I watched this because the OP was so darn good, the art looked nice, and it gave off the same vibes as Gekkan Shoujo, but it ultimately disappointed me with the ending and the whirlwind of “Wait... what just happened?” The relationships were not developed enough and came out of nowhere like the truck in Zombieland Saga.

Phantom in the Twilight

Giving this the benefit of the doubt... this didn’t make it past this category because the art was so poorly done that I found myself wondering what the budget even was. The story wasn’t even as poorly done as other otome game adaptations (actually, this one is an original I think?) A Kana Hanazawa lead bumps this show up a notch though.

Nil Admirari no Tenbin

This is probably right beside the previous entry, but this one had better character designs. It was another otome game adaptations... why do I even try? It was okay. It’s more episodic than one would think because you have a “guy of the week” or something. It was just meh... but I’m saying this as someone who doesn’t like guys all that much.

Sugar Cookies With Icing:

Dame x Prince Anime Caravan 

This is separated from the other two otome anime because this one made fun of itself. It was openly wondering what the heck happened to itself, and it was a lot more fun to watch because of that. It was kind of like Konosuba in a way because none of these guys were all that desirable. Picking “best guy” would be tough with a cast like this. It was a lot more enjoyable than the others because I found this cast more likeable because they were so over-the-top.

Gakuen Babysitters

I don’t like kids. This show... tried to change my opinion. I still don’t like kids.

Pop Team Epic

Yeah, you’re probably wondering “WHAT THE--??” That’s normal. It's basically parodying with famous voice actors. You won’t like it as much if you have a normal sense of humour. This anime is really strange, and like a lot of comedy, it will be hit and miss.

Kishuku Gakkou no Juliet

This show was okay. It was well-animated, and I liked the cast a little. Okay, I liked Hasuki. Besides that, you are basically watching the whole “Romeo and Juliet” stuff again with anime cliches. 

Chocolate Chip Cookie:

Hakata Tonkotsu Ramens

This was a pleasant surprise. I wasn’t expecting this show to be good, and the art was subpar, but the cast (despite a huge lack of female characters) found itself being oddly good. It’s crafty and gives off the same vibes as Durarara but with hitmen. Who will hit the hitmen next?

Grand Blue

Let’s ignore the romance elements. This is a comedy, and while this is a bit ecchi, I found myself tolerating that part. This show had me laughing at least once per episode, but if you were looking for a diving anime, you have to look somewhere else.

Banana Fish 

I watched the first six episodes of this one, and I found myself liking the cast. It was pretty good. The animation is great, the voice acting is good too, and the story is riveting. I just jump around series a lot.

Asobi Asobase

Same with this one. Six episodes have been watched. It has a very odd sense of humour, and it gives off the vibe that “this is going to be a cutesy anime” with its opening then screws you over with their antics. I found this anime oddly charming despite me not being so excited about its art style and watercolour palette. 

Hataraku Saibou

I never thought that the least questionable ship out of the summer 2018 anime I watched would be between two fricking cells. This anime was great, it was cute, and it was educationally entertaining! It was a very solid series. Plus, a Kana Hanazawa lead is always a bonus!

SSSS.Gridman

This is an amazingly animated series by Studio Trigger that can excite even non-mecha fans like me. I just started it, but it’s turning out great! This might even go all the way to triple cookie status by the time I reach the end.

Gaikotsu Shotenin Honda-san

I never thought a skull face bookseller could be so entertaining, but it is. This series is charming, and even though it didn’t have the greatest animation budget, it uses it in all the right ways. The relatability that retail workers will feel is astounding, and even non-retail workers like me can find this enjoyable.

Violet Evergarden

Kyoto Animation can make anything look good, and they made this look amazing. This story is oddly touching, and a lot of people got emotional. I wasn’t really one of them, and I found them reaching a bit too much sometimes. I feel like I was supposed to feel stuff, but I didn’t. That’s kind of my fault though. This series is stunning and beautiful visually. The soundtrack was well-written, but it was sometimes misused by the sound director. The stories are pretty solid, but I found the development a little rushed at times. I would recommend it still though.

Triple Chocolate Chip Cookies:

Wotaku ni Koi wa Muzukashii

The otaku jokes resonated a lot with me, and I found this story to be cheesy in the best of ways. The cast is so likeable and pure, and I found myself looking forward to a new episode every week.

Hinamatsuri

This anime had be laughing so hard to the point where I couldn’t watch it around other people, and I had to conceal my laughter as I watched it during the middle of the night. I never thought such a wholesome father-daughter relationship would occur between an OP esper and a yakuza. If you like Mob Psycho 100, you will like this one and vice-versa. This, to me, was the best comedy of the year.

Seishun Buta Yarou wa Bunny Girl Senpai no Yume wo Minai 

This anime was so darn misleading. I was about to skip this because I thought it was going to be some tasteless edgy show, but I found this to be a weirdly pleasant show to binge-watch, and it was a much more easy and arguably better take on the Monogatari series and whatever genre that is. The girls are likeable, there isn’t a lot of fanservice that is shoved in your face, and the writing got me attached to a lot of the characters.

Zombieland Saga

This anime sounded so stupid at first, but after watching a couple of episodes, I started really liking the cast. These are all relatively new seiyuu minus Mamoru and Risa Taneda. Honestly, words cannot describe this show besides surprisingly amazing. You thought this would be a stupid idol anime? Instead, we go an intriguing, touching, and oddly inspirational anime with great music, art, and everything.

Let’s announce the stuff that I’m excited to watch later! 

These are the amazing shows that I’ve heard about that I haven’t gotten around to watching.

Sora yori mo Tooi Basho (Winter)

Also called “A Place Beyond the Universe”, this anime is about this group of girls taking the journey across Antarctica. I heard it’s a lot of fun.

Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san (Winter)

Her forehead is as big as her face. I’ve heard this is funny, and I’ve watched clips of it. Rie Takahashi and Yuuki Kaji have the main roles in this anime, and they do a fantastic job playing the trickster and her victim.

Megalo Box (Spring)

This one is probably one of the biggest things I’m missing out on. If it weren’t for one of my anxiety triggers being sports, I would’ve jumped on this. Yoshimasa Hosoya does an amazing job as the protagonist in this well-animated boxing series.

Tensei shitara Slime Datta Ken (Autumn)

I’ve watched one episode, and yes, tsundere dragon is the best girl. Besides that, it just looks like a lot of fun for a show that sounds so weird.

Yuru Camp△ (Winter)

Cute girls doing cute things while camping. That’s pretty much what this is about. Whether you like that kind of show will determine whether it’s worth watching for you.

Golden Kamuy (Spring)

This another big thing I’m missing out on. It already got a second season, and it looks like a fun action series. Minus the bad CG, it looks good. I heard the lead sounds just like Hosoya, but Hosoya is in the show too! Along with a new score composer with a lot of new series under his name, I’m excited about this one too!

Kaze ga Tsuyoku Fuiteiru (Autumn)

I’d be more excited about this series, but I haven’t finished Haikyuu yet, and I have a really bad history with track and field.

Irozuku Sekai no Ashita kara (Autumn)

This series looks beautifully animated, and this is one of Kaori Ishihara’s big roles besides Aladdin from Magi which was years ago. 

[magicalgirlagency]

idk I’ve always liked the idea of magical boys being a thing, not because I want more males in cartoon media, but because I could never relate to the heroic males in other cartoons. They’re not fun at all and we don’t get males who are allowed to be emotionally vulnerable. I just want a boy to learn magic from a witch and enjoy pink and love nature and not be openly mocked for feeling.

It pretty much depends on how magical boys are handled, to be honest.

I can’t bring myself to genuinely enjoy magical boys because of the past trainwrecks we had.

Kore Wa Zombie Desu Ka? is about a boy who was murdered by a serial killer and then brought back to life by a necromancer, and is FORCED to wear a dress. And there’s load of fanservice shots of the girls (y'know, the usual; bouncing boobs and panty shots).

The Bouei-Bu/Earth Defense Club series is about stupid and bland bishounens who are constantly used for fanservice; they reunite on a bath house, get stark naked on their transformations, are used for yaoi undertones, and their magical selves are surrounded with sex slangs: their henshin speech is “Love Making” (it means sex) the wand is called “Love Stick” (it means penis), and the finishing move is called “Love Shower” (it means the act of ejaculating).

Mahou Shoujo Ore! is blalantly transmisogynistic. You have a girl who transforms into a muscular macho man in drag (because “male bodies are more suitable for fighting” and Pretty Cure doesn’t fucking exist), there’s zero percent magic (there’s guns, grenades and brute force, because the magic wand is nothing but a useless decorative piece), it’s a fucking fujoshi-bait (the protag’s crush is in love with her muscular macho self) and there’s a predatory lesbian (the protag’s friend is the crush’s younger sister, and she’s in love with the protag and wants to have her for herself), and a whole lot of other nasty stuff.

And lastly, as a (dis)honorable mention: Steven Universe. At first, it was meant to be this big important thing, but I can’t feel anything for it. Like, the titular character is meant to be this sensitive little boy who tried his best to solve issues in a peaceful manner��� but he became so mean-spirited and selfish as the series as the time went by. He left a scared earthling in hostile territory, ignored his friend’s feelings, and fucking redeemed literal space tyrants because he is related to them. Plus, he steals the spotlight all the time.

I mean, I wouldn’t mind magical boys if they were handled properly.

The only good magical boy I know is Sora from Square Enix’s Kingdom Hearts. Kind and determined, is powered by love and friendship, has the keyblades, has animal companions by his side (except that they aren’t pint-sized), can take in multiple forms (lion cub, monster, toy figure, merman, just to name a few)… he fits the bill quite nicely!

So yeah; if one wants to make a magical boy, they gotta be smart, do it decently, and NOT repeat the past mistakes.

[deltaengineering]

Spring Anime 2018: Lightning round

I didn’t get around to full writeups this season, but here’s the condensed version. It’s a weak season (the weakest in years) with very few surprises anyway.

3D Kanojo Real Girl

What: Otaku loser lucks into girlfriend.

+ Loser is actually a loser, and how

+ Heart seems to be in the right place

- Writing is clunky

- - some of the most amateurish production values this side of Clione no Akari and I don’t think this is made by one guy

Verdict: no

Akkun to Kanojo

What: Short. A guy is rude to his naively cute girlfriend and then stalks her.

- - Creepy, unfunny and dumb

Verdict: naw

Amanchu! Advance

What: Sequel. Ostentatious anime characters enjoy chilling on the beach.

+ Actually chill most of the time

+ looks and sounds good

+ somehow even more gay than before

- - @_@

- - 8D

Verdict: I watched the first season and enjoyed it more than not, so I might as well.

Alice or Alice

What: Short. Siscon 4koma comedy with a lot of fanservice.

- - Creepier, unfunnier and dumber

Verdict: hell naw

Butlers: Chitose Momotose Monogatari

What: Best I can say is that it’s an otome instaharem of shounen fightmen invading Marimite.

+ makes so little sense it’s sometimes funny

- makes so little sense it’s mostly just baffling

- little chance to become legit

Verdict: nope

Caligula

What: What indeed. Virtual idols overwrite reality, a Persona clone ensues.

+ Denpa stuff is actually disorientating and creepy

+ Makes somehow even less sense than Butlers and in a more funny way to boot.

- Still a bunch of nonsense that will probably not pay off in the long run

- - Protagonist spends the first episode being a Sagrada Reset-class blahmancer.

Verdict: 3 ep rule since it’s still a better Persona than the actual Persona and the dude has little time to do stoner philosophy once shit hits the fan

Comic Girls

What: Hidamari Sketch without the charm, a basic comedic Kiraralike where the joke is that the girls embody manga genres.

+ High production values, pleasant to look at

- Typical Kiraralike cast with little personality besides the blindingly obvious

- - Full of jokes that get old before the setup even starts

Verdict: Not worth it

Cutie Honey Universe

What: Ancient proto-mahou shoujo series by Go Nagai gets its fourth or so anime adaptation.

+ Some choice sakuga cuts

+ Generous helpings of Go Nagai sleaze at its finest

- Design is a weird mishmash of current and 70s

- Does not even attempt to explain anything about the show

Verdict: Mainly aimed at existing fans, of which I am not one. If it turns out to be a classic I’ll hear about it

Devils Line

What: Some Tokyo Ghoul-ish thing about the vampyr police. 

+ Probably not half a dumbass fighting shounen

+ nothing too offensive

- nothing particularly interesting either

- looks are completely bland

Verdict: I have already forgotten everything about this

Dorei-ku The Animation

What: Magical devices gives people mind control powers. Everyone’s an asshole.

+ Some actually good character writing

- Trying to be Kakegurui and failing, just too tame for its outrageous conceit

Verdict: Has potential but doesn’t appear to take advantage of it

Full Metal Panic! Invisible Victory

What: Sequel to FMP and it’s still FMP.

+ More serious than basic FMP

- FMP is inherently too silly to attempt seriousness

Verdict: Fumoffu is the only acceptable FMP

Fumikiri Jikan

What: Short about couples(?) at a railroad crossing

+ Reminds me of Tsuredure Children

+ Seems a bit more clever than the usual comedy short

Verdict: At 3m/week, why not

Gegege no Kitarou

What: Truly prehistoric spoopy manga for children about kids who fight youkai.

+ Actually a little spooky

+ Nekomusume

+ Unapologetically for children, but with oldschool charm

+ Does a good job of modernizing the subject matter

Verdict: Pretty good, I’m in

Golden Kamuy

What: Taciturn Ainu girl and tough guy hang around in frozen 1900s Hokkaido to nab some gold.

+ at least sounds like it could have potential

- Does a good job of making its unique setting seem not particularly interesting

- not as bad looking as incensed manga fans allege, but certainly not a feast for the eyes

- okay, that CG bear tho

- - I’m not feeling much character chemistry, which is an absolute killer for this specific setup

Verdict: Probably not

Gurazeni

What: Mediocre baseball pro plans his retirement money

+ not actually about baseball much

- - actually about baseball finances, which is even less interesting

Verdict: Weird but not in a good way

Hinamatsuri

What: Dadfeels show about a yakuza middle manager that gets a girl with superpowers dropped on his head.

+ Nitta being a yakuza thug makes for good comedy

+ Seems way less wish-fulfilmenty than most shows of this type

- Yeah speaking of which, could lose itself in Maidragon-style sameyness

Verdict: I’m feeling it for now

Hisone to Masotan

What: Air Force clerk becomes dragon pilot/emergency food supply. Yeah, the Japanese Air Force secretly has a dragon squad masquerading as F-15s.

++ Psychedelically unhinged dragon vore bonanza

++ Looks really great

+ Secretly a mecha show, but without mecha baggage; Kawamori is involved and it shows.

+ Mari Okada writing means strong characters

- Mari Okada writing means high chance of eventually going into the weeds

Verdict: Either way this is going to be a ride

Isekai Izakaya - Koto Aitheria no Izakaya Nobu

What: Another anime about a Japanese restaurant that connects to a fantasy world.

- Less interested in worldbuilding than Shokudou, and yes I actually enjoyed that aspect

- 100% about Japanese barfood instead

- Weak to nonexistant characters

- - styled like Japanese daytime television, hope you enjoy text plastered all over the screen

Verdict: Isekai Shokudou S2 where

Juushinki Pandora

What: Postapocalyptic robot vs. space monsters fights for the Chinese market.

- Just a bunch of anime characters doing anime things

- - truly hideous

Verdict: I’d rather watch MuvLuv and I’m not watching MuvLuv either

Kakuriyo no Yadomeshi

What: Bland girl gets transported to youkai world where she gets macked on by the boss and opens a restaurant.

- Barebones otome harem setup, though shockingly not based on a Vita game

- another fucking cooking show

- - Nothing’s romantic like possessive creepy assholes

Verdict: Nope.

Last Period - Owarinaki Rasen no Monogatari

What: Mobile RPG adaptation that advertises the game to you while making jokes how terrible gacha and grind is. Hey, Konosuba was popular right?

+ Certainly ballsy

- not really funny besides that

- - I already know mobile RPGs suck, but thanks for the heads up

Verdict: Fuck off and take your smug with you

Legend of the Galactic Heroes - Die Neue These

What: Spess men playing spess chess in spess.

+ Credible and respectable

+ Makes LoGH ultrafans mad because it’s not ugly enough

- space war seems like a video game, both visually and tonally

- if it adapts the whole thing, it will take forever

Verdict: Promising, but there’s always the old one which is at least complete. No reason to watch this particular version right now.

Lupin III Part V

What: Lupin is in ur cloud, stealin ur bitcoins.

++ Classic Lupin feel

++ Ruthless modernization of the bells and whistles keeps it from feeling overly familiar like Part 4

- Comes across as desperate occasionally

- Action is extra unexciting for some reason

- Looks nowhere near as good as Part 4

Verdict: It’s entertaining, so why not

Mahou Shoujo Ore

What: Comedy about a bad wannabe idol that works as a buff male mahou shoujo for the yakuza.

+ Core idea is amusing

- - spends most of the time on anything but the core idea, such as hilariously pointing out how it is indeed a cartoon

Verdict: I’ve tried and not picked up much better mahou shoujo parodies

Mahou Shoujo Site

What: Girl is bullied all day at school and beaten up all night at home, becomes a magical school shooter

+ Certainly effective at setting a, um, “particular” mood

- - relentlessly mean and nasty

- - simply no fun at all, with little reason to believe that that’s going to pay off

Verdict: Not looking for a bad time right now.

Megalo Box

What: Classic underdog sports story about a boxing jobber looking for the big break, now with more cyborgs.

++ looks amazing

++ cinematic-level direction and storyboarding

+ doesn’t reinvent the wheel as far as story goes, but it’s classic for a reason

- Overreliance on dog metaphors is already getting out of hand

Verdict: Would be stupid not to watch this

Nil Admirari no Tenbin - Teito Genwaku Kitan

What: Actual PS Vita otome harem about a bland girl with the power to see evil books, which impresses a bunch of handsome combat librarians.

- takes itself far too seriously

- not a looker

- I can’t remember a single character

- - pacing is criminally turgid

Verdict: I know better otome harems.

Omae wa Mada Gunma wo Shiranai

What: 4koma short about how Gunma is weird and Gunma people are even weirder.

+ It’s like a bizarre perversion of a tourism anime

- 4koma jokes

Verdict: Mmmmmmmaybe?

Persona 5 the Animation

What: High school kid finds himself in a weird woke fever dream. It’s P5, you know what it be.

+ Kawakami

- P5 is too known and too long to make a good anime

- serious issues don’t work with the residual Persona silliness

- Not very well made

Verdict: I’d rather watch a LP (or Caligula)

Rokuhoudou Yotsuiro Biyori

What: Chill boys run a chill cafe

+ very chill indeed, totally works as iyashikei

+ characters are all likeable, even brings the moe in an ikemen show

+ Suwabe! With glasses!

- Iyashikei always has potential to drift into boring sludge

Verdict: I’ll take that chance

Saredo Tsumibito wa Ryuu to Odoru

What: JRPG dudes fight monsters and argue about payment

+ Opening narration is so stupid it made me laugh

+ No seriously, “we changed the Planck constant and now there’s fucking dragons everywhere”

+ a few decent buddy cop moments

- - Rest of the show is just as stupid, but the laughter went away

Verdict: Durr hurr

Souten no Ken Re-Genesis

What: CG men with no neck make frowny faces at each other

- story is vague and hard to follow while at the same time just being an excuse for poses and fights

- - looks like an absolute butt

Verdict: stay far away

Steins Gate 0

What: Sequel. Okabe is sad that Chris is dead.

+ Epic twists will be coming... eventually.

+ Punished Okabe is a better character than he ever was before

- - Rest of the cast is still a bunch of hateable wankers, and even Okabe will be going back to his catchphrase eventually

- - nothing happens in the first two episodes besides establishing that Chris is a Tamagotchi now

Verdict: Possibly a hatewatch but seems to be too dull for even that.

Sword Art Online Alternative - Gun Gale Online

What: Catgirl with pink P90 totally puts serious operators in the PWN ZONE.

+ Main character’s IRL identity seems funny

+ evades most of the memetic SAO failings

- adds a lot of failings of its own

- egregious gun- & tacticool wank

- - boring as shit

Verdict: yeah, guess

Tachibanakan To Lie Angle

What: Unimaginative fanservice 4koma short, but this time it’s yuri so that makes it okay.

- - no, it doesn’t

Verdict: *snore*

Tada-kun wa Koi wo Shinai

What: Regular Anime Dude™ chances upon a weeaboo princess from Europe and her weeaboo bodyguard.

+ Looks real nice, Doga Kobo delivers

+ anime original, so there’s a chance of it ever going anywhere

- Just about the least interesting setup ever

- - comic relief guy friend is tremendously annoying

Verdict: Nozaki-kun was better.

Uchuu Senkan Tiramisu

What: Short. Some sort of mecha parody.

+ Gundamian masterpiece names like “Vulgar Hummer” and “Pubic Hair”

- not actually funny beyond that

- - at all

Verdict: Seems totally pointless, but what do I know about anime comedy

Uma Musume - Pretty Derby

What: School sports show about horse girls that are also idols

+ Premium production by PA Works

+ Lively and colorful

- awful, overwrought gacha game character designs

- characters are as generic as they come

- the setup is just Kancolle again, but without the “escort” pun

- something this wacky shouldn’t be so predictable and boring

Verdict: 3 ep rule, but 3 eps have passed and it didn’t grab me. So no.

Wotaku ni Koi wa Muzukashii

What: Adult otaku meet at work, fail powerlevel stealth check, fall in love.

+ Well written characters once you look past their gimmick

+ Much more respectable than most shows with this exact idea

+ Doesn’t lean on references

- Will have to put in some hard work to make it last

Verdict: I don’t want to like it, but I do. At least so far.

[courage-a-word-of-justice]

Idolish7 17 | Hinamatsuri 8 | Boueibu HK 8 | BnHA 46 | MSO 9 | Rokuhoudou 8 | Code:Realise 13

Idolish7 17 (FINAL)

The culture clash here is hilarious! It’s pretty obvious this unknown guy is Douglas, though.

I can’t believe they’re doing these songs! I’ve known about these songs for a while, since they made waves a few years back – I think Memories Melodies’s music video was animated by Studio Bones and Leopard Eyes by NAZ.

Come to think of it, they never really show idol shows from the fans’ perspective, so this girl’s shots (Aya’s?) are a new thing for the entire genre…

Huh? Wait…this is the real Aya! Oh my gosh!

Well, that’s the end of another show. See you around.

Hinamatsuri 8

Where is “home” for Hina, though?

Geesh, the continuity on this show…what they’re saying right now means the opening of the episode was in medias res, dangit. Stop being so confusing.

I don’t really care about Ikaruga, I care about the “Standing Sushi Bar” in the back more…sorry, Ikaruga.

A few episodes, Hina really was homeless…hmm, continuity’s back in action here.

“Hurray for Psychic Powers” – I was reminded of a book that once appeared in Kado. Unfortunately, that book’s name is Ningen Manzai with all kanji, so it’s not a very close reference if it’s intended to be one…

“Ma Monthly” – Well, wouldn’t you know it? Boueibu collabs mean something here! See, this magazine is a parody of Monthly Mu, which (for some arbitrary reason) decided to team up with Boueibu back in 2016. Hinamatsuri even parodies the magazine’s logo properly! Amazing!

More namahage gags. C’mon, they wouldn’t escape me. They’ve been appearing for a while now, those.

Last time an anime character had a master the same age…*thinks back* That would be Ore Monogatari, with Saijou! Man, that was a while ago. If you don’t count the “same age” bit though, you have OPM and BnHA, which are a lot more fresh.

Jojothan’s (sic)? Is that a Jojo reference, a Johnath…aww, it doesn’t seem to exist. Dangit.

Hitomi’s going to take the dog in, isn’t she?

Even Hina’s shirt says “byebye”…geez, this is kinda saddening already.

Now Hina’s shirt says “sayonara”…why did they poke a hose through her nose, anyway? It made me laugh, sure, but…it’s stupid anyway.

What does Hinamatsuri do without “Hina”, anyway?

Oh, so that’s the significance of that part (post-credits sequence, ep 1)! I didn’t like that part, so I wished to never see it again, but now that it has some significance…it can stay.

I don’t think I’ve seen that image of Nitta with the hand to his head, with the vases on the side before…it must be new.

Normally Hina’s in the seat next to Nitta, right? Oh dear. Also, Utako’s missing and you can see Nitta’s sister in the bar shot as well. The rock singers who wanted to go to the Budokan with Hina are in the back, too, although there may be some people I don’t recognise in the bar shot as well…

Jinsei wa Survival = Life is Survival, not Life is About Survival…

Boueibu HK 8

Summer episode! At least it doesn’t sound as bad a fanservice episode than episode 7 did…(for Astral’s sake)

Karurusu brought back En’s old “What did you say?!”, but now there’s a rakugo background! (small LOL)

I can’t believe Manza tried to push his glasses up in the bath (LOL). Is this what glasses-wearers have to go through?

These seem a little too specific…and to Wakura’s sadistic taste for that last one…to be anything Kyoutarou thought up on his own. (i.e. They probably actually happened.)

Huhhhhhh…I think we finally had an actual woman appear on this show…amazing! (The Osomatsus’ mother, she has a name but I forgot what her name is.) Must be Osomatsu-kun from the ‘60s or ‘80s though, because that sure as heck ain’t the “gets episode 1 pulled from Crunchyroll” Osomatsu-san. I watched the entire season one of that thing, remember?

That dot point looks like a shell for some reason. It’s just two circles put together though. My brain must be in a summer mood from the episode, eh?

I know there’s one jellyfish where you have to cure the sting by peeing on it…oh sorry. I’m falling into Mahou Shoujo Ore’s “crass jokes” trap…

Dougo…likes natto? Weird. Plain weird.

I almost thought they were going to go camping just to fulfil the gap left by YuruCamp, but I guess the audience for YuruCamp and Boueibu doesn’t really cross over. I’m such an anomaly in that case, huh? I still want to know Pinecone-chan’s VA, come to think of it…

Like, c’mon! I can’t even break down that joke (Rashio Taison), it’s too obvious from looking at his name in furigana!

So Rashio is like the snowman from season 2…and the volleyball guy from season 2…maybe Kurotori? I don’t remember his school circumstances anymore…

They used CGI on the plane…? If they did, I barely noticed it until I played the scene again.

Oh wait, that’s a Studio Comet plane…ahaha…(look at Studio Comet’s logo for the joke explanation)

*crashes head on wall* Martha Shirahone…*eyes blank*…Martha Shirahone…Martha’s a girl’s name!!! Does that mean Astral wins?! My pride and the Boueibu status quo have both been wrecked if Martha (sic) really is on the non-binary spectrum…and it’s not some weird Engrish typo…Poor boy though, he spent 4 years depriving himself of one of his favourite things to prevent himself from being teased. (Okay, this “Martha” spelling’s going to annoy me for a while, so I’m going to revert back to “Maasa”…)

Interestingly, Maasa seems to be using a standard vinyl umbrella and not a “student-council-worthy” one. Update: Nope, this one’s sanctioned by the British Royal Family.

Eh? What’s with this monster’s face? He doesn’t have one, does he? I know what the kanji on his face is, but…I think this might be a first. A monster without a face whatsoever.

Is it just me, or did they get CGI for those clouds as well…?

Wait, so even Karurusu is against the idea of fighting this monster? Mr Enthusiastic’s kinda selfish, eh?

Kyoutarou’s still wearing his school swimsuit. But this definitely reminds me of Dark Aurite with the lip coloration...

Wakura so obviously followed Ryoma’s voice instead. It’s pretty much what Astral termed a “nutshot” for MSO ep 8, only it’s…meant to be kinky (I’m not feeling it, y’know?). I’m just vaguely miffed right here that they could be trying to put a cheap joke in Boueibu.

Ooh, nagashi somen with its bamboo…thingy…looks cool. Oh, but Ibusuki…no wonder Ata likes this kind of noodles.

Karurusu’s flag says “summer” on it.

It’s a bit blurry, but the bus says “campground” as its destination.

I wonder if that “spirit of fear” thing was a joke? I’ll come back and find it later. Update: There’s no joke there in Japanese…the word for “spirit of fun” sounds like kyuuki and then “spirit of fear” is just dokidokishiteru (which is just a word for the heart pounding, suggesting nervousness in this case).

Hey, someone (Ryoma) noticed Taishi’s angry outbursts for once!

What, the monster has a mouth, so he does kind of have a face…? (I’m confused…what constitutes “face” with this guy anyway?)

Karurusu…he dab! (…Kind of.)

Full transformation sequence again…*sigh*

Noticeably, you can only see Ryoma nodding when the Rajio Taiso monster asks if you can do rajio taiso outside of summer. I’d assume this is because Ryoma’s the one with the grandpa who does it all year round, but it might just be a space constraint. You never know with these things.

There’s another pun I need to go back to – “I feel radio calis-cleansed”. That can’t have worked in Japanese…Update: Uh, there was actually one here. It seems to be a pun on taiso.

Aw, Rashio’s so happy. Even if I think the staff have reached a new low with the “petty” on the monsters this time around, just seeing that smile lights up my face too.

Why do I feel a Madoka moment coming on right here with Karurusu’s promise?

It’s a Kagerou Project-style time loop, but for August 31st! Yikes! This is going to get confusing…

Yeah, it’s better not to think about time loops, Kyoutarou. You’re right.

Is “firework” a verb? Or is that wasei-eigo? Or slang? Or both? More things to not think about there…methinks. Update: Dougo says “hanabi taikai shimashou!” (literally “let’s do a fireworks tournament!”), so it’s not wasei-eigo, nor is it a verb. It’s just an unconventional subber’s choice.

They censored a big sign in the preview! But Crunchyroll doesn’t have episode 9 yet because of the French Open! Dangit!

I love how the blue bars randomly go “La la la laaaaa!”…LOL. But it also says “they find party dice in the clubroom…” (because it’s bushitsu kara dete kita no wa party saikoro).

BnHA 46

“Those acts are the same as those of villains.” – Actually, that would be the acts of vigilantes…*thinks about the Vigilantes manga*

Because Kouta’s letter was in hiragana, I could understand most of it…eh, my skills are pretty shabby after all. I couldn’t even understand the last line much.

“like a pair of tight jeans” – LOL, Best Jeanist seems to love a good jeans pun, eh?

Come to think of it, Gran Torino doesn’t have a number to his hero status, right? He’s just an ol’ fart after all, even if he’s mighty skilled.

We haven’t seen Mt. Lady or Shinrin Kamui (“Forest Kamui” would probably be his English name, but it’s in katakana…and it sounds stupid, to boot) in a while, come to think of it.

I didn’t think Iida was going to go with them! Wow, what a twist!

I always thought having two Kirishimas in the same season was funny enough (Ryoma from Boueibu and Eijirou).

Kamino? Because the subbers spelt it with a C, that seems like it should be a reference for some reason…Update: Yep, it is!

What’s up with the roses around Todoroki? Are you trying to make the fangirls squeal like this is some shoujo manga? Yeah, right! (laughs in the background anyway)

Aizawa looks really different in a suit…hmm, I normally like men in suits but I’m kinda iffy on suit!Aizawa. *ponders for a second* I prefer his old style more, actually.

MSO 9

Noticeably, Michiru uses koitsu (“this guy”) to refer to Ore. It does tell you something about how Michiru views her enemies.

What’s up with Mohiro in a dress? Princess Peach parody?

Even Saki’s ahoge goes “Oh!”, LOL!

A heart shake for the yuri fans…and stupid glasses for my entertainment. (Thank goodness you’re still catering towards me, show…)

That joke about murdering Hyoue completely went over my head…I get what it was trying to do, but…not funny, man. Not funny.

Michiru uses the –ssu ending that Dougo and Yumoto use, too…

Oh…dear. I think we have more than enough of the word “Happy” with Happy Kiss…now this mascot, too???

I thought Hyoue’s surname was “Kuroda”? Or is that just my imagination? Update: It seems I made it up…

U-Uh, hey…so this was their real intention with those eyecatches, huh? Another “draw me like one of your French girls” memes is in order! Wait, but Ruka’s magical girl form isn’t doing the right pose…aww.

It seems Ruka isn’t into the Magical Girls (it’s implied she’s into Michiru instead), but Michiru’s into Ore…just as Astral guessed.

If that sentence didn’t make sense, it wasn’t meant to! It was just a bunch of long English words thrown together…although “jihad” certainly isn’t English. I wonder if any religious people will get angry at that word being used so casually, though? (I didn’t expect to laugh so hard at these guys. Konami’s my favourite character – of course he is, considering the karaoke episode - but I think I have an appreciation for these guys now.)

LOL, me and Astral like to complain about how thinking up new attack names takes an hour or so…so we totally know your feel, Michiru.

If you look at the scene where PRISMA are shown to attack, it says bokasuka, which apparently means “lots of hits and punches in succession”. It’s basically like subbing it “fistfight!”, “kapow!” or something.

Happy-chan doesn’t even have a body in tiny form!!! What??? (LOL)

Can we please stop with the montages?! A show is better when people bother to animate stuff, alright?!

Happy-chan went “doukashira?” (-kashira is a female sentence ending) which made me laugh because it’s a contrast to that head of his.

Happy-chan doesn’t even have hands…I’m not sure how he’s meant to live like that, y’know?

That catchphrase has less impact the second time around, it seems.

Hmm…so it was actually foreshadowing for Michiru’s love, huh? I thought it was pandering to tsundere stereotypes…

As much as I laughed at the ol’ kick to the face, are Happy and Kokoro really brothers? Or is this just filler after all?

Oh, this new ED is “We’re Not Magical Girls” by the Mahou Shoujo unit (Saki/Sakuyo)!

You can spot a tiny magical girl figurine with pigtails on Yamo’s desk if you watch at the right time.

PRISMA’s song is called “Love/Attack!”

They actually got a next episode preview narrated by demons?! (LOL) This is a new level of weirdness, and I’m actually glad to have heard it with my own ears (because I’m trembling with laughter right now because of it). But…they talk at the end! They can speak?! Whatttttttt?!

Rokuhoudou 8

Gure’s got stud earrings. Don’t think I’ve noticed them before…

It appears to be a florentine and not a “florentin” like the subs say. It is just missing an “e” though…

Happy, happy! I think Karurusu got me into the spirit of being happy all the time…or at least happier than I used to be, anyway.

Seriously, this middle school kid acts like a Boueibu monster, it’s hard not to make a comparison.

Gure’s so goofy, I’m laughing as much as I normally do for Boueibu or MSO…Rokuhoudou isn’t normally like this, that’s all.

“good way to sober up” – It sure doesn’t seem that way for Tsubaki, though…poor soul.

That style with the lips…it’s so un-Rokuhoudou, and yet it still works! I can’t think of what it reminds me of, though, because it seems to remind me of another anime or manga and I can’t put my finger on it. Update: Maybe MSO? That’s the closest thing I can think of that matches right now.

Hey, come to think of it, doesn’t this guy look like Shishigami from Inuyashiki? Their outlook on life is mostly the same, too! (from what little I know about Shishigami in passing)

Uh…Gure? Didn’t anyone teach You about stranger danger?!

The delinquents…are in the duck boating club?! Well, that was a surprise…

This pretty much became my favourite episode, even though Tokitaka’s still my fave Rokuhoudou boy, LOL.

Code:Realise 13

Since I don’t know whether to denote this as the final episode or not, I won’t note it as anything…

Isn’t Cardia Lupin’s girl? Hands off, Impey!

The newspaper Herlock’s holding has an ad for animators…wuh? In the Code:Realise Victorian era? No way, Jose!

[akamarulover]

Finally got my anime watchlist together for Spring 2018 season

I’m following A LOT of shows this time ahaha. I may have to end up dropping a few just so I can still keep track of everything. I gotta say, this is a pretty big improvement from last season. There are quite a few really good looking shows this season!

Golden Kamui

Setting seems pretty interesting. I like the girl. The animation on the bear looks absolutely terrible lmao.

Souten no Ken Regenesis

All about that OG manime life now 

Mahou Shoujo Ore 

Really really fuckin stupid as hell, but funny

Tokyo Ghoul RE: 

I like the new characters! Where’s my boy Hide

Lupin III Part 5 

No I have not watched part 1-4 lmao. Really fun so far!

Wotaku ni Koi wa Muzukashi

Romance anime, seems pretty decent. I like the characters

Comic Girls

I’m watching a lot of trash this season. Might as well add moeblob to that list. I’m also a sucker for art/manga theme anime ;9

Megalo Box

REALLY GOOD ANIMATION!! The art style looks fantastic! Soundtrack is really great so far! Really interesting and charming main character! I highly recommend this one!

My Hero Academia

Love this shit to death

Amanchu! Advance

Pretty gay. Super cute. If you like yuri, please try this!

Persona 5

I liked P4 so why not try this too haha

Food Wars

Love this garbage yum

Cutie Honey Universe

I am now a ho for Go Nagai what can I say. Lots of girls! Pretty dang gay. Magical girl type shit goin on, but also demons and shit. I really can see the Devilman style showing through

And then the shows I’m still watching from previous season~

Boruto

Same old same old

Darling in the Franxx

Trigger animation back at it again. Really liking where this show is going! Love all the kids. Pretty interesting story

Cardcaptor Sakura

Cute magical girl stuff. I never really watched the original all the way through. I feel like I’m missing something a lot of the time lol

Idolish 7

Idk man the girl is hella cute. The boys are like pretty interesting I guess. Last season was DRY and this is mostly a leftover

Black Clover

I’ve really come to like this a lot! Great up and coming series if you enjoy the shounen genre.

[chaotic-tendenci]

Mahou Shojo Ore Episode 3

I love this stupid show.

First off the show makes sure you know exactly where they stand about queer baiting.

Say it clearly or don’t bother at all.

I appreciate the casual fourth wall breaks. They don’t make a huge thing out of it. lol

Here we learn about the moment they both fell in love. Also that Mohiro is a gay disney princess.

As he sings to summon forest creatures to show them the way home. 

I appreciate this for no good reason.

Does she mean as a man or just... openly in love with Saki? So is this a relationship between a trans guy and a cis girl who are both guys but one wants to be... 

I laughed. I can’t help it. Shout out to Pluto.

So... a relationship between a trans guy in a mans body and a cis girl in a mans body but the trans girl looks enough like the theoretically cis guy she likes to work kind of?

Typical.

You tell him, Saki!

For some reason an underpass is the best place to ambush your crush.

I swear if this gets to trans guy in guys body x cis girl in body of male dog... I will be hooked forever and watch the train wreck let’s be serious.

This is a terrible idea.

Becoming a man just turns you into a horrible sexual pervert evidently.

Afterward we are treated to this lovely theory.

Evidently big boobs means she has a big dick when she transforms. Why doesn’t she just... look??

Seriously I love this train wreck.

[letsplaystarrysky]

Starry★Sky in Autumn -Refresher-

OH HI PROBLEMATIC GAME :D

THANKS FOR HAVING MY SECOND FAVOURITE ROUTE. :D :D :D

No really though, I love Hoshizuki-sensei and his stupid route you have no idea. (yet)

But before all that, let’s refresh our memories on our romantic leads in Hot for Teacher: the game™...

Hoshizuki, Haruki, Mizushima

Starting in the middle we have Haruki Naoshi, who is the Leo. (seiyuu: Kishio Daisuke)

Leo characteristics that suit Naoshi are “warm”, “generous”, and “encouraging”, but also “stubborn”, “melodramatic”, and “easily bored by routine”. Leos are also sometimes given the negative trait of “pretentious”, and in-story a more cynical person might see Naoshi as this but he’s too pure-hearted to actually be so. Naoshi is one of those people who never feels emotion in moderation, everything is in all-caps. When he’s happy he’s HAPPY! When he’s sad, he’s SAD! He wants nothing but for his students to have the best school life ever, and the students all love him in return.

Kishio Daisuke does an excellent job as Naoshi, playing up the melodrama in all the right ways. Other recent roles of his you may be familiar with are Machita Yamato in Sanrio Danshi, Furuta Nimura in Tokyo Ghoul:re, and Teshima Junta in Yowamushi Pedal.

On the left we have Hoshizuki Kotarou, the Libra. (seiyuu: Ishida Akira)

When he’s awake long enough, Libra traits that suit Hoshizuki-sensei are “diplomatic”, “graceful”, and “peaceful” in the sense that despite being full of snark, he kind of draws people to him. Also “indecisive”, “unreliable”, “dislikes hard work”, and “mistrusts their own intuition” suit Hoshizuki perfectly. Hoshizuki is good at his job when he applies himself, but his office is a complete mess, and he’d much rather sleep than deal with your scraped knee.

Ishida Akira has been around forever. Some of his more recent well-known roles are Gaara in the Naruto franchise, Natori Shuuichi in Natsume Yuujinchou, and Will ‘o The Whisp in The Ancient Magus’ Bride, among many, many others.

And finally on the right we have Mizushima Iku, who is the Gemini. (seiyuu: Yusa Kouji)

Mizushima Iku is best suited to the Gemini traits “clever”, “adaptable”, and “witty”, but also “superficial”, “restless”, and “devious”. Mizushima arguably has the most ~angsty~ backstory in the entire franchise, so while as far as I can see cynical is not a Gemini trait exactly, the character has it in spades.

Yusa Kouji has an excellent voice and is very good at making characters with questionable morales likeable. I adore him. Notable roles he’s been in recently are Hyoue in Mahou Shoujo Ore, Kamuro Shinji in Mob Psycho 100, and Karna in Fate/Apocrypha.

Now, all that said, Hoshizuki’s route is the least problematic of the three. I mean, they’re all problematic, and like I said it is my second favorite route for various reasons, not the least of it being Ishida freaking Akira in a romantic lead, so I might be a bit biased, but whereas Mizushima’s route sets off all kinds of alarms and Haruki’s route is just kind of uncomfortable in a ‘how are you this dumb, I mean really’ kind of way, Hoshizuki’s is the type of late-90s angsty shoujo manga dynamic that I love, plus it’s a little better written, and Tsukiko has more agency, and you know what, I’m going to have a hard time containing myself like I did through Miyaji’s so let’s just get into it...

[rieshon]

Spring 2018 Preview

I can’t believe a new season starts in a week already... heres the shows.

1. Comic Girls: KIRARA ANIME BOIS. Do I even need to say more than that? The girls look absolutely adorable, the animation looks on point, and although the director is a debutante he's being backed up by an impressive quartet of writers including Takahashi Natsuko, Yokote Michiko, Hanada Jukki and Machida Touko. Oh yeah, it's also got a bunch of hot channees in addition to the cute schoolgirls. You can't go wrong with this one.

2. Amanchu! ~Advance~: Satojun is back at it again with the silly hiragana subtitles for sequels. The masters of healing are back again for a sequel to what was one of my favorite shows of 2016. More Teko, more of that sexy Itou Shizuka-voiced teacher, and more relaxing feels. This is exactly what we need to fill the Yurucamp-shaped holes in our hearts.

3. Alice or Alice: There are a lot of things that make me excited about this show. Obviously the cast is one: Ayaneru plays the main character, and we got Natsunee and Oonishi in there too. The director is Kobayashi Kousuke, an alumnus of the Pretty Rhythm series who was very heavily involved in Pripara, which you may know is the best anime ever made. And then there's the aesthetic: everything from the character designs to the title logo make this look and feel like a harem anime from 15 or so years ago, which is absolutely my jam. Pretty hyped for this one.

4. Sword Art Online Alternative Gungale Online: One of the weirder things to happen over the past year-ish is that I've become an unabashed SAO fanboy. The shows are just good, y'all. So you can imagine how I feel about a new show set in the SAO universe written by the author of Kino no Tabi, a show I just put in my top five of the last year, and with characters by Kuroboshi Kouhaku (also of Kino) who is the utmost hotness right now. Hopefully this will be more than enough to tide us over while we wait for SAO3 to arrive.

5. Waka-Okami wa Shougakusei: This looks like a kids anime at first glance, and, well, it is. It's based on a series of popular children's books, but they've really gone all out with the production values based on the PVs (Madhouse producing) and it looks immensely charming. Some of the best anime are childrens' stories, so I'm quietly excited about this one.

6. Hinamatsuri: This is shaping up to be one of the weirder shows of the coming season, and it looks great. From the look of the PVs, feel. are going even more all-out than they usually do with the visuals, and it also looks genuinely funny. Plus it's got a cute loli. Should be good.

7. Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu Die Neue These: It's finally here. Obviously I've heard nothing but good things about the original series, but I'm never going to have the motivation to go back and watch something so old, long and difficult, so hopefully this new anime has got me covered. I'm sure there will be plenty of discourse about it; I just hope it's decent.

8. Tada-kun wa Koi wo Shinai: Somehow, we've still never gotten a sequel to the wonderful Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun, but this show brings together the chief staff of that show for a new romantic comedy anime at Douga Koubou. With that pedigree (they even got the same guy who did the OP song for Nozaki) there's definitely reason to be optimistic about this one. Not to mention it's got cute gaijin girls and an imouto voiced by Inosuke.

9. PERSONA5 the Animation: I think I'm going to give up any ridiculous illusions I have of actually playing the game any time soon and just watch this. It's the only realistic way I'll get to see dat Kawakami-sensei and Takemi-sensei. You know I'm all about the channees right now, and man, does P5 have some good ass channees. The anime is actually being directed by Ishihama Masashi, the man who did Shinsekai Yori and literally hasn't done another TV anime since, so that's pretty exciting. Obviously, a lot Shinsekai Yori's success is because of the material adapted, but if you can make a masterpiece like that you've got to have some kind of talent.

10. Wotaku ni Koi wa Muzukashii: CUTE CHANNEE ALERT WEEWOO WEEWOO WEEWOO. I'm all up ons this. Is there anything better than cute OLs? ...Man, things sure have changed around here. Also, that title is just mean when it's literally an anime about otaku having romances. SOME OF US OUT HERE ARE LONELY

11. Last Period -Owarinaki Rasen no Monogatari-: Has there been a good social game anime yet? I guess Schoolgirl Strikers was alright, in that I actually managed to finish that one, but most of these turn out to be bad. I hope Last Period can be the one to buck the trend and be truly good, because I love the silly light-fantasy tone that it looks like it's going for. Wisemen for best girls. There's tons of cute girls with great designs (the one thing you can always count on social games for) and it'd be a shame for them to go to waste like so many before them.

12. Hisone to Masotan: I got really excited when I saw this because it looked like a cute anime about fighter planes. Instead it looks like it's a cute anime about fighter... dragons. What a ripoff. I wanted the planes. My aviation-nerd pouting aside I'm sure it will still be adorable JSDF propaganda. I just really wanted the planes.

13. Golden Kamuy: It's some kind of weird serendipity that I'm studying the Ainu for school this semester and now we get an anime explicitly about the Ainu. Period anime are pretty cool (the Russo-Japanese War isn't a setting explored in much visual media at all), the premise sounds cool, and I really like the look of the Ainu girl. Plus, how often do we get Ainu culture actually presented in anime? Remains to be seen how well it's done, but it's pretty neat.

14. Uma Musume Pretty Derby: Aw yeah. If only Jug was around to see the horse girls. I have no reason to doubt that this will be great fun, especially since it has the financial backing of Cygames, who have more money than God. Just hopefully we don’t have to see any of the cute girls get put down after breaking a leg.

15. Lostorage conflated WIXOSS: Somehow the WIXOSS anime series is still going. selector is still one of my favorite shows in recent memory, but Lostorage was complete spaghetti compared to it, so there's nowhere to go from here but up, right? This new series promises to bring back the characters from selector, which gives me mixed feelings. I don't want them to just play off nostalgia for the old show, but I'm also kinda excited to see Yuzuki and Tama again. I guess we'll see what happens. Maybe a new director will shake things up for the better.

16. 3D Kanojo Real Girl: Man, who wants a 3D girlfriend? Can your real life girlfriend be considered 3D if you're living in a 2D world? This stuff always leaves me conflicted. I'm down for some Serizawa Yuu-voiced heroine, and the always-capable Akao Deko is writing the screen adaptation, so it might be good.

17. Mahou Shoujo Ore: Oh god. I'm pretty sure I saw clippings from the manga of this a while back. It's a mahou shoujo where the girls transform into buff dudes in magical girl outfits for some reason. It can't be a coincidence that the protagonist is named "Uno" and is voiced by Oohashi Ayaka. If this show is even half as amazing as Fantasista Doll it'll be a great success.

18. A.I.C.O. Incarnation: There are a few Netflix-funded series this season but most of them don't look especially interesting. This one looks alright, but it's using the stupid Netflix bulk release model so I guess I'm waiting until April to start it despite all the episodes being out already. It looks like it could be a cool science fiction show, and I like the Naruko Hanaharu character designs.

19. LOST SONG: So this is that Suzuki Konomi promotional vehicle... From the PV, it doesn't look great, but I am a big fan of Konomin's singing so I guess I'll have to check out at least an episode. I just doubt her ability to act as well as she can sing.

20. Caligula: Strangely, this show does not seem to be about the son of Germanicus and Agrippina the Elder who ruled as Roman emperor from 37 to 41. I actually have no idea what it's about. Something about idols. But some of the character designs look pretty good, especially that blonde channee, so it's a maybe from me.

21. High School DxD HERO: It's baaaack. The show I watched three seasons of for Ayaneru that gave me almost no Ayaneru is back to continue to refuse to give me Ayaneru, probably. But hey, I like channees now anyway, so I may as well keep watching out of tradition if nothing else. I just hope Gaspar is like, actually in it this time...

22. Omae wa Mada Gunma wo Shiranai: This is an anime to promote Gunma... I guess? It definitely doesn't look like your typical local promotion anime... Apparently Gunma is a totalitarian state in this world. The green-haired girl played by Ucchii looks pretty good so I'll check it out.

23. Akkun to Kanojo: SUPER tsundere love comedy? Even regular tsundere is good. Unfortunately it's the dude who is tsundere in this one which isn't the thing I want. But the girls still look pretty cute so I'll definitely be giving it a look.

24. Mahou Shoujo Site: Uh oh, it's dark magical girls. There's nothing wrong with the concept per se but works like this often end up being grimdark for grimdark's sake (see: Mahou Shoujo Ikusei Keikaku) so it makes me worried. This one looks like someone tried to mix Madoka and Jigoku Shoujo. It should be good for a laugh if nothing else.

25. Kiratto Puri Chan: Well, here we are. This is what they killed Pripara for. So who did they get to succeed the comedic savant Moriwaki Makoto? Well, it's a guy without a whole lot of directorial experience: Hiroshi Ikehata. What he has directed have been some incredibly charming shows, including the underrated Akiba's Trip anime and Sore ga Seiyuu. The main writing credit goes to Hyoudou Kazuho, who has worked with Hiroshi on all of his directorial projects but doesn't have any especially interesting work to his name. The biggest chance this has to be even marginally worthy as a successor to Pripara is if they continue to draw on the extended family of Pretty series creators, like Pripara did to a large extent. With Moriwaki's steady hand removed, I don't have high hopes, but if they killed Pripara for a show that's not even decent I am going to be upset.

26. Aikatsu Friends!: So Stars is ending and a new generation of Aikatsu is here as well. I can't let this pass unnoticed because Kido-chan is pegged to be one of the new Aikatsu leads and I'm always thirsty for new Kido-chan anime. I didn't really like Stars, so I hope this new one is more on the silly side, like joji anime really should be.

27. Cutie Honey Universe: Rember Cutie Honey? I mean, I don't, but a lot of people do. Apparently it's the 50th anniversary of Nagai Gou's venerable battle girl series, so they're doing a revival of it. I really dig the neo-retro art style going on here, and the cast is absolutely star-studded (our current darling, Kurosawa Tomoyo, is included among the likes of Hanazawa Kana, Tamura Yukari, Horie Yui and Kugimiya Rie) so I just might check it out.

28. Steins;Gate Zero: I really don't know if I want to watch this. Steins;Gate wasn't the worst of the semicolon anime; in fact, the first half of the series was greatly enjoyable, but I don't think I need to retread the infamous "shooting of the moeblob" that led to the godawful second half. It's got Christina, I guess. I just really don't know if I can subject myself to Okabe again.

29. Megalobox: This looks technically amazing, I just don't know if I'm interested in it. Will probably wait to hear other people's opinions before I check it out, if I ever do.

30. Gegege no Kitarou: I don't think I'll actually watch this, but the latest version of the classic children's anime has been getting some attention because the character designs for the female characters are, how you say, Extremely Good. They're definitely good enough that I'm tempted to check it out. Dat Nekomusume...

31. Full Metal Panic! Invisible Victory: It really happened. I'm including this as the highest-profile show I definitely won't be watching. I haven't seen any of the other FMP anime, so it would be stupid to try and jump in here. The subtitle being abbreviated "IV" (for season 4) is very cute though.

I don’t know how to rank shorts so heres those:

Tachibanakan To Lie Anguru: It's time for another Yuri Hime anime! All you need to know about how hype I am for this show is the tagline: 'The harem manga protagonist is a girl!?' Tsuda Minami is once again going to have to be hard gay, this time with five different girls apparently. I'm especially looking forward to the Mikakoshi-voiced blonde. Unfortunately, being a Creators in Pack anime, it's a short...

Fumikiri Jikan: This is a five minute anime but I absolutely love the premise: girls wait at a train crossing. That's it. You gotta love manga and anime sometimes.