Sunday, August 30, 2015

Summer season 2015 anime short reviews

Last summer I complained about the season not being a very good one. Maybe I was wrong about that - this summer is worse. Or maybe my standards are just getting higher.


Aoharu x Kikanjuu

The first episode feels like watching some re-make of  Ouran High School Host Club - actually it starts out in a real host club. A girl is mistaken for a guy, breaks some stuff and to repay the damage she gets caught up in a blonde hosts team. Only this guy likes to play "survival games": it's like paint ball but the bullets don't contain paint for some reason.

I liked the setting and the dynamics between the characters are interesting. There's these two guys, the host and the hentai manga artist who think they've found a new member for their team, not realizing it's a girl (they vowed not to let girls into their team). It's interesting to see the three different characters work together.

What's annoying me is the obsession about guns and how it's often overly dramatic. I get the feeling that actually the writer wanted to do real war scenes but for some reason (maybe because the characters shouldn't die or maybe to appeal to a broader audience) changed it all to "war games".

I planned to drop this several times but somehow I'm still watching it. It's only twelve episodes, so at this point I might as well finish it.


Rokka no Yuusha

This is one I really dropped.

Again the setting was promising: a fantasy world, threatened by demons, and a group of six fated heroes setting out to defeat the demon king.
The first character we meet, Adlet Mayer, seems promising, too. He proclaims himself "strongest man in the world" and has a cunning fighting style, using many tools. Unfortunately it goes downwards from then on. The next warrior is a young woman, renown for winning lots of duels - wearing some kind of push up bra and a bunny ears "helmet". Yes: bunny ears. The third warrior we meet is a tsundere girl wearing nothing but a black strip of cloth for a top. You could argue that there's fan service for female viewers, too, as the next warrior is a dark broody knight, protector of the bunny ear princess, whose armour for some reason leaves out most of his torso.

By this time most of the characters are nothing more than clichés and not even the plot twist of there being seven instead of six chosen warriors could keep my interest.



Junjou Romantica 3

Junjou Romantica is probably one of the most famous yaoi series out there. I watched the first two seasons, so of course I started to watch the third one. I vaguely remember that I liked some couples and at least there'd be no jelly-melon tits in this one.

That doesn't mean there's no clichés though. I don't know whether I really got higher standards or whether I got more mature or whether I've just been single for too long - but all the relationships in this series seem warped to me, abusive and one-sided. Usami, one of the main characters is insanely jealous. Misaki, his love interest, apparently likes to be pushed around and hardly ever stands up for his own interests (but complains a lot). Actually this series would be lots better without its main characters. All the guys look extremely similar anyway.
I've been thinking of dropping it and I'm lacking a few episodes behind, but as of now, I'm still watching. I might still drop it, or just take some time, I don't know.

One last note: there's actually no yaoi in this anime series, nothing adult rated so far.



Akagami no Shirayuki-hime

This anime seems to be another one in the tradition of Akatsuki no Yona and Saiunkoku Monogatari. Actually the similarities to the former are pretty strong: a young girl with red hair flees her own country after the local prince takes an unhealthy interest in her. The personalities of Yona and Shirayuki are quite similar, too. But Akagami no Shirayuki-hime focuses a lot more on romance and tends to be a little over-dramatic sometimes.

I like how the series shows Shirayuki trying to get a job and working as a court herbalist (the castle really looks like a nice place to work) but it's not as good as the other two animes I named, not by a long shot. It might suffer a bit from having only 12 episodes, there are a few characters I'd like to see more about.
I find it a bit confusing how everyone makes a big deal out of her red hair. She also seems too perfect, that's a bit annoying; her only fault seems to be that she works too hard (sounds like from a bad job application, doesn't it?). The romantic feelings between her and the prince are quite obvious and it feels like their beating around the bush.

While as I said this isn't in the same league as the anime I named, for me it's the best this season and the only one that'd deserve more than 12 episodes.


Wakako-zake

This is an ultra-short anime with only two minutes per episode (with the intro taking up 30 seconds).
Murasaki Wakako is a young office lady who likes to go out alone for dinner after work. That's really about it: she eats different dishes each time and drinks different drinks at different places.
For some reason it's kind of peaceful to watch this. Maybe I should do this more often: go out for dinner on my own...

Warning: don't watch while hungry.


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