Much like the previous season, I initially found that there was little to tempt me in this new season's bag of tricks. Unlike the Spring season however, I'm still feeling that way after giving everything a try. There's nothing in this season that feels half as exciting as Space Brothers or Polar Bear Cafe (so I'm very glad that both are still airing!) and that's unfortunate. It's a mixed bag certainly, and there are several shows that I am at least mildly interested in after giving them a shot, but this season is lacking any real big hitters so far. Of course, in much the same way as a show can start off strong and ultimately disappoint (*cough*Mouretsu Pirates*cough*), there's always a chance that these series could end up becoming really special, and certainly some of the ideas floating around this season have the potential to do so. It's just unfortunate then that a lot of this season's efforts seem to have gotten off on the wrong foot.
Moyashimon Returns
Episodes Watched - 1
Listen closely and you'll hear the sound of a million new bacteria-based phone charms just waiting to be unleashed upon the unsuspecting people of Japan, as everyone's favourite microbiological anime, and merchandising behemoth, makes it's long-awaited return. The original series has always been a favourite of mine, so this was the series I was most looking forward to this season by a considerable margin. For the most part it's a glorious return to the slightly deranged Tokyo Agriculture University, that is as long as you've already visited before, and even then you might struggle occasionally. The opening episode picks up exactly where the first series left off, and stubbornly refuses to acknowledge that almost five years have passed between the two series airing, apart from briefly showing character's names when they first show up. There were, as a result, several moments throughout the first episode when, even with my love of the original series, I became slightly confused as to who characters were talking about. As such, this is definitely not a place for new fans to start, as there are several key points that may well fly straight over the head of anyone unfamiliar with the first series, and even the more familiar fans may want to take a quick refresher course before starting this second series.
Once you're all caught up though the show is just as much fun as it was five years ago. Admittedly there is not a lot of story in this opening episode, we mostly just learn about rice polishing, and ponder what could be going on in the mysterious disappearing basement under Professor Itsuki's new fermentation laboratory. When it comes to adorable bacteria however, the show returns on top form, and let's be honest, it's the adorable bacteria we're all here for. Who doesn't love the constant threat of being brewed! Visually the show has been brought bang up to date, with everything feeling much brighter and more detailed, while still maintaining the style established in the first series, for the most part at least. The exception to this is Tadayasu, who has been altered quite a lot in terms of design, having been made to look a little too cute, almost transforming into a different character altogether. The original series fantastic OP and ED have been replaced with far less catchy offerings, though the sheer fact that I can still hum those songs five years later means that by comparison anything would seem less catchy. At any rate, the new songs aren't awful, even if they're not as out there as Polysics' Rocket was way back when. The animation over the ED will bring a smile to the face of any microbe fan at least, while the educational AND adorable Microbe Theatre segments at the very end of each episode also return, just to make absolutely sure everyone has overdosed on cuteness before the episode ends. So, for fans of the first series everything seems to be in place for another excellent season of wacky fermenting fun, the very successful recipe is left largely untouched and that's great news.
Utakoi
Episodes Watched - 2
Utakoi seemed to be at the top of a lot of people's lists before the season started, largely due to the popularity of Chihayafuru it would seem. Utakoi is based on the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu, 100 poems by 100 poets, selected by Fujiwara no Teika, who fills the role of comedic narrator in the anime, originally for the purpose of decorating the screens at his son's father-in-law's residence. The poems have since taken on great significance in Japan, becoming 'the' Hyakunin Isshu by virtue of their fame, and forming the basis of the card game known as karuta, which has recently seen a large surge in popularity thanks to Chihayafuru. Whether Utakoi would exist had it not been for Chihayafuru' success is debatable, but the series certainly feels rushed enough for one to assume that that's the case. The show focuses on the 43 love poems from the Hyakunin Isshu, and much like last season's Folktales From Japan, it's already suffering from a lack of variety as a result. Perhaps in Japan the show has a much wider appeal, but for western fans there's really nothing of interest here.
The show unfortunately seems unsure of what it actually wants to be, and as a result ends up being nothing but a mess. It's obvious throughout that the show would like to present itself as a beautiful and romantic representation of these classic pieces of Japanese poetry, but the silly 'humour' that's peppered throughout is always just around the corner waiting to completely ruin the tone of the show. Likewise, the show makes a half-hearted attempt at looking visually appealing, through the use of thick black around the characters. This unfortunately does little to disguise the fact that this is actually a very average looking series, with some, at times, ropey animation. For the most part it's just very disheartening to see a subject matter of such depth get given such shoddy treatment in the transition to anime. This could have been an incredibly beautiful and subdued series if it had, for instance, taken a leaf from the books of Mushishi, Natsume Yuujincho and the like. What we have instead is pretty boys left, right and centre and unnecessary comedy that makes the whole thing feel silly. I won' t go into too much detail on the horrifying ED, but suffice to say that when you reach the end of an episode at least the song will make the show look good by comparison. This might sound like an awful lot of judging considering that only two episodes have aired so far, but it's pretty apparent that no great change in direction will be occurring with this show, and what little direction it has is deeply flawed. Unless you're really desperate to learn more about the Hyakunin Isshu through dodgy anime stereotypes, I'd recommend avoiding this one.
PES: Peace Eco Smile
Episodes Watched - 3
Car adverts have been getting mind-bogglingly weird for a while now, and thanks to Studio 4ºC and, judging by the visuals, a very healthy budget supplied by Toyota, they've reached a new high. Yes, this web series would like you to think that it's more than just a bunch of adverts for Toyota, and the first episode might even trick you into thinking that's true. With it's single mention of a character owning a car and enough weirdness going on for one to assume there must be some plot here somewhere, it almost managed to get my hopes up. In the second and third episodes however, praise for Toyota cars is shoehorned in at any possible opportunity, making the whole thing feel very awkward. The story revolves around PES, an alien who crashes his ship on Earth when he saves Kurumi, a girl who runs a local flower shop. Then PES drives Toyotas a lot, proclaiming that they are the greatest thing ever. That's pretty much it for now, and while I'm sure there will at least be some development to the plot, it's clear that it's not really the top priority. It's a shame in a way, since the show looks really great, and with just a hint more in the way of story that alone would've been enough for me to recommend it. As it stands though, even with the short episode length, this is little more than a time-waster. If you've got the time to waste and fancy some pretty visuals, and you don't mind them being spoiled by the way too realistic CG models of the cars, there are worse things out there to watch, but there's no real reason to actively seek this one out.
Chitose Get You!!
Episodes Watched - 2
As I've mentioned before I am a great fan of the shorter three-minute shows that are littered throughout most seasons. Or rather, I used to be, before they simply became a dumping ground for all the terrible ideas that weren't good enough to sustain a 20 minute running time. With only one stand-out example in recent memory (the still very enjoyable Poyopoyo), and PES already proving to be just another terrible show, I pinned the tattered remains of my hopes on Chitose Get You!!. Unfortunately, Chitose Get You!! makes PES look like a work of art, and the six minutes of it I've seen so far is already six minutes too many. The 'story' revolves around Chitose, a very young schoolgirl who falls in love with an adult male, who she refers to as Onii-san, when he supposedly saves her from a dog. Chitose also faces competition from her teacher, who has her eyes on the very same gentleman, causing much flailing. That's all there is to it, and as such it's already painfully clear that this is yet another one joke show. Not helping matters is the fact that the show is genuinely hideous to look at. Character design is shockingly bland, and the animation is for the most part very lazy, so much so in fact that I initially had to check it was actually a series from the current season, thinking it could easily pass for a show from 10 years ago. Even at 3 minutes per episode there is absolutely nothing to redeem this show. Your 3 minutes would be much better spent staring into empty space feeling glad that you're not watching terrible anime.
Natsuyuki Rendezvous
Episodes Watched - 2
I really wanted to like Natsuyuki Rendezvous coming into the new season. Having read up on all the new series this was the only one that managed to raise even the slightest amount of excitement with it's concept alone. The show follows Hazuki, a young man who falls in love with his local florist, eventually taking a job at her shop just to be close to her. Upon taking the job he discovers that he has competition in the form of her husband's ghost, who only Hazuki can see. This sounded like the set-up for a more adult-oriented, thoughtful show, in a similar vein to Usagi Drop, so I approached the first episode with cautious optimism. Having now watched the first 2 episodes I'm only left confused so far. The gentle, romantic show that I was expecting has not materialised yet, and it's actually quite dark and unpleasant in places.To start with, Hazuki is really not a nice character, not even a little bit. His motivations for taking the job at the florist to begin with are entirely selfish, and in the first 2 episodes he has done nothing to endear himself, and plenty to sway the audience in the opposite direction. This essentially throws the entire formula of the show off balance, since the protagonist, who I assume is the guy we're supposed to be rooting for in this odd love triangle, is just horrible, while the ghost who is meant to seem possessive and overbearing is actually rather sweet.
Rokka, the girl haunted by her deceased husband and chased by Hazuki, is also on occasion characterised strangely. She's put across as thinking very little of herself, and it's often rather upsetting. During the second episode, at the end of her first date with Hazuki, she wonders whether if she just continues with the evening in a daze Hazuki might have sex with her, which I actually found quite distressing. It's said with such lack of emotion, as if having sex with anyone who'll take her is the best she can hope for, it's really unpleasant. Essentially, Rokka is taking what she can get with Hazuki because she fears never getting anything else. while Hazuki is selfishly forcing himself into Rokka's life. There's little romance here, and it actually makes me hope that there never is a romantic relationship between Rokka and Hazuki, though I think we can safely assume that that's where the show is going, even if it has got off to a very strange start. I'd like to hope that the characters will eventually sort themselves out, indeed I went into the second episode hoping that it was just some strange fluke that had made Hazuki appear to be a complete jerk in the first episode, but it's hard to imagine some of the strange character choices made so far getting undone so easily. The show itself is actually very well put together, it looks great and feels like it's generally had a lot of effort put into it, so it's odd to see the whole thing being spoiled by it's own characters. This is certainly one of the series with the most potential in the season, but it's nowhere close to making good use of it yet. Maybe a few more episodes and a bit more back-story will help flesh things out a bit better, but for the moment the show is definitely lacking something.
Jinrui Wa Suitai Shimashita
Episodes watched - 3
This show has come out of nowhere to become my favourite series of the season, though as you may have noticed it hasn't had a whole lot of competition on that front. It's set in the distant future, and tells the very strange story of a UN mediator working in a small village. Her job is to liaise between the humans, no longer Earth's dominant species, and the fairies in the area. Yes, the show has fairies, and they're really, really cute. You'd be forgiven for not quite knowing what to make of this series given it's ambiguous title, translated as Humanity Has Declined, and it's very bizarre synopsis, but this has turned out to be the most fun I've had this season by a long stretch. There's a lot of very random humour in the first 3 episodes alone, and I knew as soon as I saw the fairies pondering whether death by starvation could become a popular new trend in the first episode that the show was on to a winner, and by the time the bread robot appeared I was in stitches. So, the show certainly has humour on it's side, but it's setting is also really interesting, though the show does it's best to barely acknowledge it, presumably to maintain an air of mystery. This strange future is very intriguing, and I'm looking forward to finding out more about the events that led to the titular decline of humanity. The only complaint I can really think of at this early stage is that the commentary is occasionally laid on a little too think. A group of well-to-do girls (I can't help but feel these people should look a little less well off given humanity's plight!) fruitlessly chasing around an already plucked and beheaded chicken isn't exactly an example of subtle imagery, but it's still funny enough that it doesn't intrude too much.
One of the shows greatest virtues so far is it's cast, specifically the fact that it doesn't rely on it's extremely cute fairies very much at all, but rather fleshes out the humans much more than I'd originally expected. Unlike Moyashimon's practically ever present bacteria there's an element of mystery to the fairies, which benefits the show greatly, and a sighting in the series actually becomes really interesting for the viewer. Thankfully, the human cast are equally interesting, and occasionally a little bit mysterious themselves. For example, the so far nameless UN mediator, our protagonist, has a dark side that often comes out during her interactions with the villagers. Conversations become peppered with her internal dialogue, which is generally pretty scathing stuff, while she maintains a high-spirited and bubbly outward appearance. Her assistant, also nameless it seems, is a young boy who is completely mute for as yet unknown reasons, but if his very dark storybook from the second episode is anything to go by then it seems Assistant may have seen some terrible things. So, while the show is undeniably very funny so far, it's these strange character quirks that really make the show worth watching. There's definitely something a lot deeper than random humour at play here, and I'm looking forward to seeing this show's mysteries unfold. Visually the show looks a lot like Tsuritama's pastel-shaded, slightly less detailed little sister, with a lot of flat blocks of colour. It's a very pretty show, and stands out from the crowd of largely standard anime fare that seems to be populating this new season. One very minor animation decision that I found to be slightly strange is that the fairies mouths are stuck in a constant wide grin, even when they're talking. This means that when there's more than one on screen, which has admittedly only happened once so far, it's quite difficult to tell which fairy is talking. This is a very, very minor annoyance though, and it doesn't really detract from the charm of the show's bright visuals. All in all, this is easily the most interesting new show of the season, and I can't wait to see where it's mysteries will lead.
Sword Art Online
Episodes Watched - 2
Sword Art Online has also turned out to be a pleasant surprise so far, though that is admittedly because I was expecting very little from it, and given the show's synopsis it's not hard to see why. Set in the year 2022, Sword Art Online is a brand new virtual reality MMORPG that has just sold out it's first wave of 10,000 copies instantly. Kirito, a beta tester for the game logs on, along with a lot of other very excited people, but things take a completely unpredictable turn for the worse as their first in-game day draws to a close and they discover that they are unable to log out. The game's creator then appears to let them all know that they are now trapped in the game in a slightly plot-hole riddled fashion, and that should anyone in the real world try to remove the hardware keeping them in the game they will be killed instantly. Likewise, death in the game now means that the player's real world body will also die. The only option for those trapped in the game world is to attempt to clear the game's 100 floors and beat the final boss, thus freeing themselves from the game. As you can see, this doesn't initially sound like ground-breaking stuff, and the first episode doesn't do much to alter that assumption, with everything feeling strangely familiar. The log-on sequence at the start of the episode, along with the in-game menus and warning signs that fill the sky, for example, are straight out of Summer Wars, while the game world's vast fantasy landscapes evoke the recent Xenoblade Chronicles. While the show is undeniably appealing visually, you'd be forgiven for watching the first episode and thinking that there's nothing new to see here, except maybe the slightly random and presumably just poorly translated hint of BL at the end that had me wondering whether this might turn out to be a different kind of show entirely.
Then the second episode came along, and actually got me a little excited for this show. It's still not brilliant by any means, but the episode brought along some interesting ideas that I hope will be developed further, as well as an entertaining action set-piece that the show desperately needed after the opening episodes slightly pathetic boar fighting scene. This episode takes place one month after the events of the first episode, and wastes no time in telling us that 2000 players have since died trying to clear the first floor. We then rejoin Kirito as he attends a meeting to discuss the 1st floor boss. It's at this meeting that the new player/beta tester divide rears it's head, a topic that runs throughout the episode and provides some interesting tension. The new players are not best pleased that the beta testers left them for dead a month ago, and feel they should be compensated by the beta testers, but seeing as they don't actually know who was a beta tester distrust quickly spreads throughout the group. When the leader of the group is killed during the fight with the boss that follows, and Kirito goes on to defeat the boss with the help of a new female friend (who judging by the OP will be fairly prominent in the series from now on), accusations fly that he was a beta tester and that he let their leader die on purpose. Rather than deny the claims Kirito actively tries to make himself appear villainous, claiming that he is in fact much better than any other beta tester, before leaving alone. His actions were not at all what I expected and actually ended up making me care about the character for the first time in two episodes. His motivation isn't entirely clear yet, but presumably he's sacrificing himself in order to help any other beta testers who may have otherwise been caught up in the conflict. The episode certainly left me keen to see what will happen next week, and I'm now hopeful that this show might have an interesting story of it's own to tell.
And that's about it for the season, nothing else appealed enough for me to consider watching, and what I have picked up is very much a mixed bag, with more bad than good. The quality of this year's Spring season can't help but cast a long shadow over the new Summer season, but even taking that out of the equation this is a sub-par selection so far. Maybe things will improve once they've had a few more episodes to get into the swing a bit more, but this isn't looking like a season to remember at the moment.
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