The Fall Season continues, and this time it’s my turn to sound off. So how were the premieres of the shows on my own list?

Eight anime is a pretty daunting task, but I’m totally up for it… especially since we’re going to be culling things with our little tournament. I’ll be posting a more thorough update on that at a later date. But here are the contenders from my side of the pond! Well… with one exception. As we all know, I’ll be covering Toaru Majutsu no Index III. But before I do that, I want to properly cover the first two seasons. So that show isn’t on this list and won’t be appearing in the reviews until at least two weeks in. But the rest of the season’s taking off, so let’s have a look!

Seishun Buta Yarou wa Bunny Girl Senpai no Yume wo Minai

So, aside from competing for “Longest title of the season,” this show actually had a pretty solid premiere. Based on the title and premise, I kind of expected this to be a lot sillier. Which I would’ve been fine with. But it seems to be angled a lot more at being sort of a pensive dramedy. I think it has the potential to be really interesting, but it also has the same potential to be extremely pretentious. If nothing else, I love the animation and character designs. It’s really fluid and overall just aesthetically pleasing. The one question I have, at this point, is how exactly they intend to keep the Bunny Girl gimmick alive, now that there’s virtually no need for it anymore. Still, the episode was interesting and held my attention.

Tensei shitara Slime Datta Ken

…So this is a thing. At some point I’m going to do an article on reincarnation as a storytelling device. In the meantime, Karandi did a neat breakdown of the whole concept and some of the problems it tends to bring. But I digress. Despite me questioning the point of this even being a device they used here, the episode was fine. The Slime stuff was… not exactly funny, but I guess… endearing? Then we got a Tsundere dragon… so that was fun. I think this show could turn out to be a lot of fun, if a bit head-scratching.

Yagate Kimi ni Naru

Well, this show’s just sweet. Also incredibly pretty. I like the color palette. Especially the use of warm colors, since they tend to be indicative of the kinds of emotions the show is emphasizing. I also really like the themes the show is playing with, like the concept of love and how society tends to depict it. And the sense of emptiness it can leave someone with when they’re left chasing that feeling. I also really liked the scene revolving around the lead’s response to her friend’s confession. I thought it was really sweet of her senpai to sit there and hold her hand through that, since she was having trouble with it. I think storytelling-wise, even her seeming to be so different in their little flashback was understandable. Not that it completely warped her personality, but all this has been on her mind and consuming her entirely for something like a month. So it’s just become heavily distracting and caused her to behave differently, making her less sharp. In all, I like what I see.

Radiant

I’ve seen this show picking up a lot of flack for being… well… a generic Shounen. And I can certainly understand that… to a point. I’ll probably talk about this in depth soon, but I just don’t think one episode is enough time to gauge the quality of most Shounen. Most of them start out in very same-y ways and distinguish themselves over time. And while I definitely think that’s problematic and they shouldn’t, that’s just how it is. As things stand, this rather generic first episode still managed to be enjoyable enough in enough places that I’m interested in checking out more. Plus I like its visual style and the lead isn’t annoying, loud, or annoyingly loud. I also like that he… you know… needs help. Because, in this case, raw determination isn’t going to win him anything.

Release the Spyce

This was fun! A bit odd, but fun! I, however, have absolutely zero expectations that it’ll stay as cute as it currently appears. Because Takahiro is involved. I mean, there’s already the promise of a traitor among the group. The lead was charming, her motivation understandable (though the cynical part of my brain told me that everyone in that town that we were meeting was some kind of spy), and the character designs cute. I actually really dig their school uniforms. The typical school girl vibe, but the purple and red color palette was a nice choice. And I like the little eastern flare with how the jackets fasten. The action was slick and I can’t wait to see more.

Irozuku Sekai no Ashita kara

Well… I was going to say EvilBob was gonna easily walk away with the prettiest anime of the season because he got SSSS.Gridman and… c’mon, it’s Trigger. But NOPE. This show is gorgeous. Unfortunately, that’s about all I really have. It’s really pretty to look at. And that’s not to say it’s without anything else of merit. But the substance in any drama comes from the interactions between characters. Our lead hasn’t really interacted with anyone yet in any great capacity. Not leads, anyway. So we’ll see what happens. I do like the world they’re establishing. How magic seems to work, and all that. But that’s all I got, really.

Kishuku Gakkou no Juliet

Well. This show’s a blast. Though there’s no way it ends well. Yes, it’s a fairly standard Shounen, on its face. But it does have those shades of Shakespearian comedy, going on. The show’s genuinely funny at times, and I like Juliet, in particular. Her character is set up surprisingly well for the first episode in this kind of show. Romeo is gonna be a bit slower, far as I can tell. But at least he’s entertaining. I’m not sure what possessed me to take this one, not that it’s bad. I just have a very minimal experience with Shakespear. Or, rather, I got very little out of my extensive time with it in school. It just never clicked with me. But we’ll just chalk that up to me being young and uncultured or whatever. Or hey. Maybe all it took was being adapted into Romantic Shounen Action/Comedy anime. So we’ll see if this winds up being something I can say a lot about.

On The Side

I’ve also been keeping my eye on Akanesasu Shoujo and SSSS.Gridman on EvilBob’s list. I’ll probably be keeping those updated on Twitter or something because they have me extremely interested, in case that wasn’t obvious. In general, I’m starting to do quick impressions on Twitter of whatever I happen to watch, so keep an eye out for those!

Conclusion

And that’s all, folks! Check back later for the last few shows on EvilBob’s list that aired later. Also, just as a reminder, there’s still a little over a week left to vote in our polls for what completed series to add to the Weekly Anime Redux review list, as well as what series will be up for a full-series review after my current slate is done. Check those out here:

What Completed Series Would You Like To See Among The New Ones In Weekly Anime Redux? [Poll]

After A Certain Magical Index I & II, What Anime Would You Like To See Get A Full Series Review In Flash Anime-tion? [Poll]

As always, Keep up the Awesome!

-Voyager