Other than the late announced Brave Bang Bravern!, all the premiers have aired… So it’s time to run down last week’s batch and then take a look at my watch list for the season.
Hit the jump and let’s run ’em down.
Metallic Rouge
Rouge is an extremely self confident show, and unfortunately that confidence is entirely unwarranted. At the end we’re left with a great of sizzle and almost no steak.
Now there’s nothing particularly wrong with dropping the viewer into things mid-stream… But it helps to give a sense of what’s going on, something of a framework to cling to. Rouge just keeps tossing twigs rather than building that structure. To paraphrase a discussion Scott and I had Twitter: Too many characters, too many Proper Nouns, not enough run time. It really needed more time for the characters and story to breathe, or more concentration on fewer elements.
And of the Netflixesque animation style, well, I don’t care for it, and it didn’t really feel like they brought their “A” game. That’s a bad sign for a premiere episode.
Status: Edging dangerously close to the edge of the drop zone. Needs to bring a lot more to the table than unanchored violence.
Delusional Monthly Magazine
So do I… So do I… Instead, the show just kept screaming incoherently at us. And when we got to the all too generic infodump, I checked out.
Status: Dropped before the eyecatch.
The Witch and the Beast
Overall, Witch does a much better job of dropping us into the middle of the action than Rouge does. It only follows two main characters and actually manages to minimize exposition.
On the other hand, it feels like it’s going to have a monster-of-the-weak structure with minimum of overarching plot. Too many key plot points seems to be just a tad too pat and convenient. Our lead pair shade towards the generic good cop – bad cop (Jekyll and Hyde?) dynamic.
Still, there’s potential there if it fills in a few of blanks and finds it’s feet.
Status: Let’s wait and see.
The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick Up Trash
When one character takes of 99% of the screen time, you need two or more key elements… A fantastic voice actor, a compelling character, and a coherent script and plotline. Slime datta Ken managed a workmanlike job on all three elements. So I’m a Spider famously knocked it out of the park on the first two and managed a base hit on the third.
Tamer… Well, to continue the baseball metaphor, struck out on three pitches.
And when that interminable (and repetitive and boring!) scene with the slime just kept rambling on…
Status: Dropped mid episode. Which is shame, because it’s the best animated show I watched this season. Seriously, it was gorgeous.
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So, where does that leave us schedule wise?
Monday
- Hokkaido Gals Are Super Adorable! (on probation)
Wednesday
- Metallic Rouge (on probation)
Thursday
- The Witch and the Beast (on probation)
- Brave Bang Bravern! (premieres on the 18th)
Friday
- Frieren
Saturday
- A Sign of Affection
- The Dangers in My Heart Season 2
Hmm… Man, even assuming that all the probationary shows end up being keepers, that’s a light season. I haven’t posted this chart in a few years, but it does show this season is one of my lowest ever. (I did come across the chart in my files a few weeks back… Should post a 2023 version soon to stay on pace.)
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So, that’s all the premiers for me… I’ll be back in a couple of weeks with a look from the third episode point of view.
What are your thoughts on this season’s openers? Drop a comment and let’s chat about them or anything else that crosses your mind.
Apprentice Mages Lounge. 
Like you, I’ve got The Witch and the Beast on probation. I decided to drop Ishura, as it was just doing more of the same action with nothing else I can see worth watching. Also, and I probably should be ashamed to be saying this but I suppose I have no shame, I am giving Gushing a three-episode chance, though it isn’t doing very well as the second episode was only a very slight improvement over the first, mostly only because it started to get into the motivations and differences between the Magia trio. And also had less of the softcore porn, though it wasn’t absent by any means. It’s the difference between “one star, and you’d better get your head in the game” and “two stars… out of ten”. That third episode better be a home run, is what I’m saying.
That leaves me at, currently, PreCure, Frieren, Sasaki and Peeps, A Sign of Affection, Banished from the Hero’s Party, I Decided to Live a Quiet Life in the Countryside, Urusei Yatsura, and The Fire Hunter, with Gushing Over Magical Girls on notice, and The Witch and the Beast on probation. Probably just seven or possibly eight shows a week, which is pretty light, yeah, though having five shows carrying over from previous seasons helps keep it from being a total bust. Maybe I’ll catch up on Sengoku Yōko and add it to the list, or maybe I’ll just keep it light.
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Interestingly, episode 2 of Ishura increased my interest a little. I was worried we’d get yet another edgy shounen, but there’s a good variety of character and I’d watch the show just for the ninja-mage wyvern. At least the show looks good.
As for Gushing, I dropped it after the opening scene – I hear the manga isn’t that explicit? Honestly, if you’re going to focus on porn in a scene, you need better art. I probably still wouldn’t watch it, but I’d leave with a slightly better impression. Pity, because I see the potential.
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I feel you on the ninja-mage wyvern which is a super-cool idea, but it wasn’t enough to keep my interest. In part, it might just be a victim of my slowly building distaste for EPIC ACTION which probably got its start in the interpretation of Smaug in the Peter Jackson Hobbit movies, or maybe as far back as his King Kong. Which probably seems weird given that I watch anime, right? But there’s a difference between, say, Frieren eliminating the demon who invented attack spells and a grizzled, blustering general summoning up a giant ballista that just bounces off the dragon’s cheek. One is doing it right, the other is a try-hard, at least to my eyes.
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Honestly, I’m not that into action either. The first episode of Ishura was stylish, but convential. I didn’t like the way that that bot dismembered that girl; are these bots programmed to inflict maximum terror and pain? Maybe. That said, the surviving girl’s reaction was more nuanced than I had expected (more nuanced, in fact, than anything I’ve seen in either Witch/Beast or Rouge), so I was mildly curious. But I expected the story to follow these folks around. Instead they just switched to another set of characters, all of which ooze style and are thus more “interesting” (not intellectually; they just catch my eye more). The wyvern was really just the highlight. This is never going to be anywhere near show-of-the-season for me. I initially expected low middlefield, and now I think it might be mid-to-high middle field. That’s all.
I’ve gotten out of Hollywood action for a different reason: Hollywood cam movement isn’t good for my motion sickness: I didn’t watch much after Spiderman 3 (or 2; I can’t remember what I’ve seen).
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That was a big turnoff for me, too. It reminded me of a scene from BLOOD-C that has really bothered me for years. Probably my least favorite CLAMP-related series.
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Well, if they’re got one trick – might as well lean into it hard, right? But I supposed they’d really annoy people if they let up too much.
Or join me in rewatching Yorimoi! :) As it’s the anniversary season, I’ve been posting a little over on the Yorimoi subreddit. And despite this being my umpteenth rewatch, I’m still catching new stuff.
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Mettallic Rouge and Witch and Beast seem pretty on par to me with story telling. Neither immediately grab me nor immediately put me off with the story. I agree about the art in Metallic Rouge: it’s just not a style a like. The animation is weird 3D at times: CGI with a paint job? I don’t really care how they do it, but it’s something I don’t much like. That said, the characters work better for me here than in Witch and Beast. There’s at least a sense of ambiguity to what’s going on that vibes with life for me. Witch and Beast on the other hand…
I could tell the witch was the villain the moment we saw her (that smirk), and she turned out to be such a pulp villain. The mutilated apprentice didn’t seem to suffer too many ill effects from, say, pain or blood loss… Around the time I found myself thinking, “Un-Go this is not,” and I’m not really sure why I thought this, except maybe similar maincharacter dynamics if you squint and don’t think too much. That said, I liked the art and animation – especially the ballistic crows.
Delusional Magazine Monthly: I’m not sure what to say; this was weird, but sadly not the good kind of weird which I’m on the lookout for. That said, I do like the dog.
Tamer: was… okay. Nothing special – we’ll see what happens when the rest of the cast comes in.
Not the best season when it comes to new shows, though I still have to say:
Sengoku Youko is a great adaption so far. It’s not often I’ve read the manga (I don’t remember the story, actually, but it’s all familiar), and this is animated well. What I didn’t know: series composition: Jukki Hanada. The opening episode flows well, the pace is brisk, they don’t waste a scene on a rather common flashback, instead summarise it manga-panel style. This is a show that knows what matters. I believe this way they can get the entire story done in three cours. I’ve heard it was initially slotted for two-cours, starting at the second arc with flashbacks to the first where necessary. That would have been a good decision, too, given two-cours. This way is better. I’m loving it.
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It’s not the story in Rouge that annoyed me, it was the execution. I can see the potential, they just need to slow down and speak clearer if that makes sense.
No, even if the probationary shows stay on my list, it won’t be because they’re great or anything. Nothing really shows much potential for greatness. (The closest is Rouge, and that ship will take a lot of work to right.)
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Sorry for being unclear. I got that. I just don’t feel that much of a difference; both shows have stuff that’s clear to me, and both shows leave important questions open. I don’t need more clarity.
I wager that’s a recurring difference between how we watch shows; from your post (the twitterquote):
That’s something I’d almost never say. I thought they set up everything fairly well; sure some important framing is missing, but that’s no different (for me) for Witch/Beast.
For example, I’m not sure why Rouge is hunting those special androids, and in the same way I’m not sure why our duo is hunting witches (though the personal motivation of Guideau is clear at least, the wider social context isn’t). There may be more going on in Rouge, and thus more to learn, but that makes it actually more interesting for me (or would; the story doesn’t promise to be anything particularly out of the ordinary).
The more I think about it, the more I tend to actually prefer the narrative technique in Rouge… Heh. I didn’t expect that.
Neither show is likely to be a favourite among the new shows this season, anyway. For what it’s worth, here’s my favourite candidates:
Sengoku Youko (I bet you’re surprised.)
*The Wrong Way to Use Healing Magic
Dungeon Meshi
*Fluffy Paradise
Mr. Villain’s Day Off
*I already see a potential for these shows to drop in estimation as the show goes on.
Other than Sengoku Youko neither are going to make the top 5; some might make the top 10, but probably not all.
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