Well, it’s that time of year again. New anime is here. Last season (Fall 2013) was pretty decent, but this coming season looks promising as well. What shows will you be watching this winter, all cozy with your blanket and hot chocolate? We know which ones we’ll be watching. Koichi and Cristina helped me out with the roundup this time, each of them with their favorites from the season. Let’s see what we got here, shall we?
Witch Craft Works (John)
Well, the show seems to have something to do with witches and the supernatural. The main characters are a high school boy who is super average and even picked on occasionally by the other students. The other main character is a girl from the same high school who is basically treated like royalty by the rest of the students. She also happens to be a witch. Antics ensue.
The art and colors are very nice in this one, so that’s what first drew me to the show. The animation and action sequences ain’t too shabby either. As for the story and characters, they didn’t really grab me or hold my interest much. I feel like the show might have some potential as it does a lot of things right, but in the end it just doesn’t feel all that satisfying. Plus the school’s unhealthy attachment to the main girl is really annoying.
Watch if you like: Busty high school witches and unpopular boy leads combined with lots of magic.
Chances I’ll watch another: Very low. The show didn’t really grab me.
Rating: 2/5
Space Dandy (John)
This was actually the only one I’d heard of before the season started because apparently it is also coming to American TV. Whether that’s a good or bad thing, I don’t yet know. Anyway, the show is about a dandy in space (surprising, right?) who is super interested in treasure, lady parts, and alien hunting. Everything takes place in a galactic future with robots, spaceships, and aliens.
I really like the opening to this show. It’s groovy. Everything else is really well done too. The colors and animation are great. So is the music. The robots and aliens are original and entertaining. The show has action and it’s also funny. Enough happens in the first episode to keep it interesting but enough to make you want to see more to discover what’s going to happen and where the story is going. I can definitely see why this is already coming to America.
**Note: I only watched the first episode, so reading Koichi’s review below made me really sad :( Damn you, Space Dandyyyy!!
Watch if you like: Funny roguish leads in an interesting galactic setting.
Chances I’ll watch another: Very high. This show is really entertaining.
Rating: 5/5
Second Opinion (Koichi):
This is one of those shows with great art style, great music, and very little depth. Not only is the story itself a cheap way to allow the author to write multiple non-connected episodes with hardly any story at all (spoiler alert: each episode is a separate dimensional thread where anything can happen!), but almost every character decision has no weight to it, and things “just happen” (as you may be able to tell, I’m more of a cause and effect kind of guy).
Even if you judge the show on an episode-to-episode basis it lacks a lot in the way of good cause and effect story telling. The characters are shallow and uninteresting after a couple of episodes and if you were hoping for another Cowboy Bebop… well, keep looking space cowboy.
I will say that I enjoy the art-style and music, though. It’s just about the only thing keeping me moderately interested. We’ll see how long that lasts, though.
Watch if you like: Good art, good music, bad storytelling.
Chances I’ll watch another: Diminishing with each passing episode.
Rating: 2/5
Tonari no Seki-kun (John)
This is another one of those short shows. This first episode clocks in at just under 8 minutes. The show is about two kids in a class. A girl and the guy who sits next to her. The guy doesn’t really pay attention in class and just plays with things the whole time and the girl can’t help but be distracted and often tries to stop his antics.
I actually really like this show. I’ve never liked these short ones before, but this one is really funny. The guy never even talks – it’s just the girl reacting to everything he does. The show feels really smart and well done. Perfect for this sort of small dose short episode style. It’s definitely a pleasant surprise in this season. The ending song is pretty cool too.
Watch if you like: Short and sweet shows that are laugh out loud funny.
Chances I’ll watch another: High. This show is good. It’s funny and doesn’t overstay its welcome.
Rating: 4/5
Hamatora (John)
The show is about a poor private investigator who rents out a table at a bar to use at his office. The characters all have goofy names like “Nice”, “Birthday”, “Ratio”, and “Kitten”. They look for PI jobs to make ends meet and help out the community. The show seems to be mostly about solving mysteries and cases. But there’s some humor thrown in there too. Also some people in this world have special powers, so that mixes things up a bit too.
The colors are really pretty in this show and I like the style. The story and the characters however – they don’t really interest me. I feel like the show is trying to be edgy and cool and interesting, but it just wasn’t appealing to me. I want to like this show, and I feel like it could be really cool, but this first episode just wasn’t all that great in my opinion. Maybe it’ll get better eventually.
Watch if you like: Pretty colors and a potentially interesting concept.
Chances I’ll watch another: Low. While not necessarily a bad show, it just didn’t grab my interest.
Rating: 2.5/5
Noragami (John)
The show is about a high school aged phantom hunting god. He’s poor and his weaponized companion just left him. Since he’s a god, it seems like most humans are unable to see him. However, he runs into a girl who can actually see him, and she becomes the other focus of the story. He has big dreams of becoming the most powerful god in the land, but currently he’s pretty down on his luck. And once the girl sees the god, stuff starts getting weird for her.
This show intrigues me but I’m not sure how I feel about it just yet. I really like the main character and a lot happens in the show that I feel is really cool and interesting. The artwork and colors and music are all really well done too. I’m not totally sold on the show yet, but I have hopes for it. I think this show could turn into something really good.
Watch if you like: Interesting supernatural activity and funny and likable main characters.
Chances I’ll watch another: Pretty high. I’ll give this a few more episodes at least. I feel like it could be pretty decent.
Rating: 3.5/5
Super Sonico the Animation (John)
This show is about a spirited and ditzy college girl and her many cats. She’s really smart and good in school, but she’s always late and absent. She’s also a model. She’s also in a band. The show is all about her and her ordinary daily life. SOUNDS PRETTY INTERSTING, HUH?
This show is not very exciting. It’s very plain and boring and average. It’s a little gratuitous at times, especially during the model shoot. Also the main girl always wears these headphone things that I just don’t understand. They’re never explained. She also has a goofy manager who isn’t really funny – he’s just strange.
Watch if you like: Ditzy models with curvy curves and their daily lives.
Chances I’ll watch another: Non-existent. This show is not good.
Rating: 1/5
Strange+ (John)
This is another short-style episode. The main characters are trying to catch a thief who stole a golden statue from a rich man’s mansion. The episode is short but the ridiculousness is in high supply. The characters are all goofy and silly.
A bit too silly for me, actually. This isn’t really my kind of humor. Plus, at three and a half minutes, I feel like this belongs on YouTube or something more than an actual television show. Pass.
Watch if you like: Incredibly short and silly anime episodes.
Chances I’ll watch another: Next to zero. Since they’re so short, maybe I’d watch another, but not if I can help it.
Rating 0.5/5
Hozuki no Reitetsu (John)
The underworld is overrun and understaffed. It is up to Hozuki to get it all together. Most all of the characters are demons or spirits of some sort. It’s not that usual of a setting, so the characters feel very fresh and unique. The show is mainly humor based, so I’m not really sure where the story is going, but I imagine it will mostly be Hozuki cleaning up the underworld one episode at a time.
This show is hilarious. Probably the funniest of the season. I really like the animal characters in the show. The story doesn’t really interest me all that much, but I don’t think the story is really the focus of the show. It’s all about the unique characters and silly situations. I was really surprised with how much I liked this one. The colors are also really pretty. I really like the backgrounds.
Watch if you like: Funny shows with unique otherworldly characters.
Chances I’ll watch another: High. This show is really funny. I like it.
Rating: 4/5
Toaru Hikuushi e no Koiuta (John)
This story is all about airplanes. Siblings have joined some sort of air force division who have set upon a mission to discover the end of the sky. They all hope aboard a floating island and start their search. The main guy meets a girl on his first day and she’s kinda weird, but he seems to like her. There’s also a white haired dude hanging around who seems very shady.
I’m not sure how I feel about this show. I thought the premise was kind of interesting and the bickering between the siblings was entertaining, but once the main guy meets that girl it got kind of weird. It was a bit too awkward and over the top for me. I’m not sure what direction the story is going to continue in though. If this turns into a goofy romance with the air mission as a backdrop, I’m betting I won’t like this very much as it continues. But if it expands on the air missions and all that neat stuff, then maybe it’ll be worth watching more of. Time will tell.
Watch if you like: Planes and floating islands and awkward juvenile relationships.
Chances I’ll watch another: Low. I probably won’t watch any more of this one unless I hear people raving about it.
Rating: 3/5
Nisekoi (John)
The show is about a yakuza clan and the son of its current master. Everyone calls him young master and hopes he will one day take over the gang, but all he wants to do is go to a good school and find a nice steady job and live a normal life. This guy has a childhood friend he promised to marry, but hasn’t seen her since then for some reason. And then, a half American girl transfers to his school and starts causing trouble for him.
The show is a good mix of humor and the mystery of who the guy’s childhood friend might be and what all’s going on there. The main character is entertaining and his interactions with the half-American girl are amusing as well. I like the colors in this show too. A lot of the scenes are very pretty. It kind of reminds me of Love Hina in a way with the long ago promise and all that, but I like it.
Watch if you like: Funny high school romances with the occasional Yakuza diversion.
Chances I’ll watch another: Decent. I like this show, but not as much as some of the others. I might check out another episode or two, but no guarantees.
Rating: 3.5/5
Nobunaga The Fool (Koichi)
In this world there are two planets (no Jim Sturgess or Kirsten Dunst, though), which at one point were connected by the Ama-no-hashidate. That bridge was destroyed, though, so the two planets went on to live separate histories. One planet has united. The other is at war. The story follows Jeanne Kaguya D’Arc of the Western Planet, who was prophesied to be the “savior of the world” and also seems to “see things.” With Leonardo Da Vinci (who makes mechs now, apparently), she travels to the Eastern planet and meets up with Nobunaga “The Fool.” Oh, and did I mention that there are mechs along with all the samurai and medieval age stuff?
First of all, the combination of future tech with the people and history of the 1400s is a… surprisingly good fit. While samurai are battling it out on the battlefield mechs stand along side them, looking like ultra-armored versions of their companions. All of the characters are unique (and there are a lot of them), have their own motivations, and you can tell that each character’s arc is going to conflict / come together in some way as the story progresses (I hope it will, at least!).
The main problem I have is that the storyline seems to be taking the “destiny” approach, at least with Jeanne Kaguya D’Arc. It just takes away a lot of character decision which is what should be driving the story. So far so good, but I’ll need to watch more before coming to a conclusion. The potential for screwing things up with all that “destiny” crap is high and don’t even get me started on all the deus ex machina going on… at least most of it has been character driven… so far.
Watch if you like: Samurai, mechs, good storytelling
Chances I’ll watch another: Okay, fine, I’ll watch another. But I’m watching you carefully, “destiny.”
Rating: 4/5
Wizard Barristers (Cristina)
Yasuomi Umetsu has produced some pretty awesome cult action series in the past and this time he decided to add magical lawyers into the mix. In the year 2018 humans and wizards live side by side in Tokyo. Wizards are tried by magical laws in special courts. Wizard Barristers defend those who are tried in the Court of Magic. At age 17 Cecile Sudou becomes the youngest barrister ever and begins working at the Butterfly Law Offices.
I am a huge Yasuomi Umetsu fan; films like KITE and Mezzoforte are some of my favorites. Most of his notable works have more of a cult following because of the immense amount violence and other inappropriate subjects thrown in. I think that Umetsu produces phenomenal fight scenes and so far Wizard Barristers has not disappointed me. Cecil is also a fantastic character and I love that Umetsu includes so many strong, action packed female characters in his work. The regular masses of anime fans will probably overlook this series but a niche group will surely be saying this is the best show of the winter season.
Watch if you like: Action and violence along with cute girls. If you have ever enjoyed series like KITE or Mezzoforte then this is a must watch
Chances I’ll watch another: Very high. In fact I always want it to be Sunday now because I am so excited for new episodes.
Rating: 5/5
Second Opinion (Koichi)
While I haven’t seen any episodes of this series, I just wanted to say that I’d recommend never hiring a 17-year old lawyer. You will probably end up in jail.
Pupa (Cristina)
Older brother Utsutsu is highly protective of his younger sister Yume. One day Yume becomes infected with a virus called Pupa that mutates organisms into flesh eating monsters. Yume turns into a grotesque creature and starts attacking humans and animals. Utsutsu works to find a way to properly restore his sister to human form.
I love horror anime that is done well and I’m excited to see where this will go. The only downside of this anime is that the episodes are only around five minutes long and released once a week. You don’t get a lot from every episode and I am always dying to know what is going to happen next. Luckily this series is based off of a manga so I may end up reading ahead.
Watch if you like: Gore and horror. Some of the scenes remind of of Higurashi (When They Cry) or Umineko.
Chances I’ll watch another: The episodes are so short so why not?
Rating: 3/5
Wake Up Girls (Cristina)
The story revolves around the recently formed idol group managed by Green Leaves, a small production agency in Sendai. The agency is currently in crisis after the president ran away from the company along with all the money. With the debts left in the hands of the producer, they work together to keep the group and agency alive.
I tend to not watch a lot of “Idol Group” series so I was surprised how much I was drawn in when I watched the first episode. It has a little bit less comedy than most “slice-of-life series” and a more serious storyline.
Watch if you like: Idolm@ster or other cute idol group series. The animation and music for series like this are fantastic.
Chances I’ll watch another: Fairly high. If I don’t get bored I will keep watching it.
Rating: 4/5
Shows that Weren’t Up to Snuff (John)
Nobunagun: This show is about a high school girl who is a bit of a weirdo. She always has dreams about Oda Nobunaga and that’s how the show begins. I don’t like this show. I stopped watching after 7 minutes. I did not like any of the characters and even though it seemed to try very hard to be funny, it was not. The show also had a penchant for showing subtitles explaining what was happening on screen. These were unnecessary and silly.
Rating: 0.5/5
Sakura Trick: This show is about some girls just starting high school. The two main girls are best friends and the one girl is pretty bummed out she didn’t get to sit behind her friend in class, but at least they are in the same class. I don’t really like this show. It has a lot awkward girl on girl moments and is a bit over the top for my tastes. You can also tell when the show is trying to be funny, but I just found myself groaning at the show rather than laughing at it. I stopped watching after about 10 minutes. No thanks.
Rating: 1/5
Recaps From Last Season
My two favorite shows from last season were Meganebu and Kill La Kill. I watched a few more episodes of both, but while each had a very strong first episode, I felt like they started to pitter out a bit. Meganebu didn’t really have a strong story to keep it together so I found myself losing interest in that one. I kinda felt the same way about KLK, but I’m guessing I’m not alone in that. Oh well.
Summary of this Season
All in all, this season looks pretty great. Space Dandy is definitely my standout favorite as it has an interesting story, great characters, and tons of laughs. After that, I’d say Tonari no Seki-Kun and Hozuki no Reitetsu are close seconds. They’re both really funny in their own way, but I’m not really sure what to expect from them as far as story goes, so that’s what holds them back from being as exciting as Space Dandy in my opinion.
However, since Koichi watched more episodes of Space Dandy than I did, I’ve kind of lost hope for that show since it sounds like the story won’t be a constant. That really bums me out. That being said, I’ve watched the first three episodes of Hozuki no Reitetsu and they were all great. So Hozuki is probably my top pick, actually.
So tell me, how do you think this season compares to the last one? Any of these new shows look good to you? What’s your favorite one so far? Any good ones we missed? Share your thoughts in the comments please!