Summer 2018 First Reactions

My original plan was to wait until Attack on Titan Season Three premiered before writing this, but I don’t think anything about that show would be a first reaction anymore. A lot like My Hero Academia, I think most people would know whether they are in with the franchise or not by now. I personally like the show a lot, despite it’s inherent flaws. People who didn’t like AOT in the first place probably won’t watch this one anyway. Attack on Tian aside, this season is very ok so far. Spring was a lot more Scott focused if you get me.

This is one of those seasons where I am trying out different shows that I usually wouldn’t watch because there isn’t that much out there. Yes, Planet With and Banana Fish were always on my personal to watch list and I saw a preview of Cells at Work at Sakuracon so that was on it too, but I wasn’t sure what I was going to watch other then that. I’ve ended up with a lot of comedy series and that’s ok because each one of them is very different from each other. I also have a couple sports show this season (cherish the thought) that I like on varying levels and am now looking forward to more then the obvious things I would go toward. Ok, let’s dig into this with a little more detail.

Hanebado!

I usually would think that a series dedicated to girls playing badminton would captured me as much as it did. Yes, there is that inherent thing that all sports anime do with locker room and sports fanservice, but the camera never leers on them in any sort of way which is the way I prefer it. That being said, the anime has been very scatter brained and has been playing things cheaply recently. For one thing, is there a main character the show is focused on? At the moment, I don’t think so. Also, why were we introduced to two rivals one week after another by having them pop out of nowhere and not organicly by any means? The novelty of some things wear off when things are repeated and I don’t think this show understands that right now. Still, it’s at the beginning of it’s run and can get itself out of this hole if it wants to. It’s still pretty to look at and it has a lot of good characters in it as well.

Harukana Receive

Hanebado! and Harukana Receive are like alternate reality relatives with each other except one isn’t wearing an evil moustache. Harukana is an anime centered around Beach Volley Ball but has a more cute girls doing cute things vibe to it so it’s not exactly speaking my native tongue. Still, I do have to admit there is some heart to it. There is also that inherent focus on fanservice that this show has compared to the other one which is partially because it’s focused on girls wearing bikinis, but the camera choices doesn’t help. Still, there is a lot of heart and feelings to this show. Our two main girls bounce off each other very well in terms of dialogue and I like how the show is introducing it’s character with care. Fanservice with heart. Maybe the sports action could go a little better, but I’m pretty satisfied with this one.

Asobi Asobase

Here I am comedy series centered around three idiotic girls just going out their school life. We have our athletic and insane one, our foreigner who isn’t foreign, and a smart student that is really bad at English. I think you might see how they work with each other just from that statement. Their chemistry just works and it’s very natural. Very Azumanga Daioh meets Nichijou and I like that fact.

Chio’s School Road

It’s another comedy series centered around a girl named Chio walking to school. How many ways could an anime series make a school girl going to school interesting? I’m sure there are tons of ways and I am going to see how this show pulls it off. Should be a lot of fun. I also think this show should be renamed “Chio ruins people’s lives.”

I am also waiting for the short spin off series where we see how the toast that school girls carry in their mouths when they are late is made. I am going to copyright that one because I’m sure it’ll happen now. I want to be rich.

Banana Fish

Naja got me interested in this one and I can see why. From what is out right now, this is a very well-done crime drama in a believable world centered around younger adults. Maybe there are some BL elements to it, but they just seem like undertones to me. Also, it does an easy job of updating what era everything is involved by having the backstory centered around Iraq instead of Vietnam and adding some smart phones here and there. I also love how retro everything feels. The underground world looks very Akira to me and I find all this just addictive to watch.

Cells at Work

This is a comedy show that is also centered humanizing parts of the human body. We follow around a very relatable character who is a blood cell new to her job and runs into a white blood cell that doesn’t emote very well and is quirky himself. I love how this show humanizes the human body by making it incredibly relatable. This isn’t the most original ever because the human body has been humanized many times, but this show is just a lot of fun. I can’t wait for more. Especially more Platelets.

Planet With

I’ve been kind of/sort reviewing this show episodically for a few weeks, so you can get my opinions on this show more in my Last Week in Space and Mechs stuff. The short answer is that II like it. It’s a very quirky and different approach to launching a typical mech series and it just adds so many special things to the series. The hero jumping into a cockpit is only the start of many mech series, so I feel like it’s going to go through many unique places from here.

Holmes of Kyoto

Pawn Stars the anime seems ok so far. I joke, but that’s kind of what it is. A high school girl named Aoi found a job in a curator shop that is currently being manned by an attractive, young college student who knows everything about all the things that come in. He good at finding out where people are from and so many other traits about people’s lives. It’s easy to say that Aoi is our Watson in this scenario and I think that’s ok.

Anagolmois: Record of Mongol Invasion

So far, it’s an interesting action historical action show centered around a small, Japanese island defending themselves against a Mongol invasion. The series opened with a bunch of exiled people from different walks of life were forcibly taken to this island and that scene had enough characterization to immediately hooked me to it and the rest of the ride has been great so far. Can’t wait to see more of this.

I’ve heard some people’s complaints about how this series might be too Japanese Nationalistic. I do sense that fear too, but the first episodes didn’t feel like the show was leaning toward that direction. Then again, what do I know? I can be a complete ditz sometimes

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I think many of you may have noticed that this list is just as long then my usual list and yes, you are right. This season does have some stand out things here and there, but overall, it’s average. That’s not a bad thing though. Last Season had some huge things appear out of nowhere and we were all spoiled with some greatness of likes we haven’t seen for a while. At least for me. As I said, Spring 2018 was a very Scott focused season.