Quite a few new series have aired from the new spring season. There are still quite a few to come, but they can just be covered in a subsequent post. For now, let's concentrate on what's been laid before us.
I've already explained why Red Data Girl is no good, so we can move on to the remaining premieres with this post:
Date A Live: This series has good points and bad points. I like the main character and his little sister. I dislike the sci fi setting, the over the top tone of the series, and the endless resorting to ecchi in order to garner fans. Time will tell which of these two forces will prevail in the struggle for the soul of this series. The immouto in this case is played by Ayane Taketatsu, so it's a rare treat to get to listen to her voice again. She might be able to justify the entire series on her own.
Dansai Bunri: There are many things wrong with this series. The odds of meeting by chance the one girl on Earth that might appreciate your perverted and criminal tendencies, rather than be disgusted by them, are mathematically zero. And yet our hero just happens to have this level of luck. Then there's the over the top evilness of the villains, that are meaner than they need to be to achieve their goal, who even make the already awful hero look good in comparison. Then there's the awful 'setting' where murder gives you magic items and magic powers, and the ludicrous idea that this simple story of a girl needing a haircut could somehow lead into a bloody battle royale. . . Ugh. Enough said.
Karneval: I hate shoujo series. I've come to this conclusion after watching and dropping after the first episode every single one of them. In Karneval, we have yet another collection of ridiculously good looking faces and figures, all with narrow contemptuous eyes and cocky grins on their faces, all with super powers and endless composure, grace, and control of every situation. These soulless men who look like they were mass produced at a nearby factory are accompanied by a gay halfwit albino boy who doesn't even have a basic vocabulary and just stands around gaping like a fish while making various vulnerable sounds, the perfect target for boy-on-boy fantasizing. At the end of the story various boys standing in high places with narrow eyes and long hair blowing in the wind say vaguely pretentious and menacing things while smiling into the night. Utter trash.
Majestic Prince: I like this series. It has characters with actual character, people you'd actually like to get to know in life. This motley five man crew of heroes is given for some strange reason top of the line weapons in order to repulse an alien invasion that has been overwhelming Earth's space defense forces. They make short work of their opponents with their all powerful mechs and spectacular piloting skills, despite being a bunch of good for nothing clowns while in training. I suppose until the rubber hits the road you never know what people are really like. I'll be interested to see where the story goes next, but I don't have any high hopes or expectations for it being a true masterpiece or anything.
Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Come wa Machigatteiru: Wow, you can really tell this series was based off of a novel. Long, extremely long monologues talking about ridiculously abstract and complicated subjects that would never be said in the real world are passed off as the average conversation in this world. People are far ruder to each other than they would ever be, while remaining perfectly composed and rational despite all the insults being hurled back and forth so that the interesting debates can continue. It becomes almost surreal. Even so, it isn't a bad series. It has plenty of witty and incisive moments, a good dollop of humor (On that note, Karneval had no humor, everyone was deadly serious all the time, like proper badasses, another reason I detest shoujo series.), and likable characters. I just wish the author could rein in his impulse to make speeches and try to at least pretend the actual high school characters in the story are the ones talking.
Hataraku Maou-sama!: This is a fun story. For some strange reason, everything is drawn and animated extremely well despite it just being a gag comedy series. The characters are likeable and unique, and their situation (trying to get by as illegal immigrants in Japan with no marketable skills) is inherently interesting and challenging. The fact that they've met the hero who attempted to kill them in the other world living an ordinary life right alongside them on Earth is even more hilarious. I think the story has a lot of potential. Satan weighing whether or not he should use the last of his magic to fix a french fry fryer for his fast food store's customers is a classic scene. Perhaps not as good as a piece of bread ripping itself open and jelly spewing out in all directions while it begs to be eaten, but still a very memorable flash of genius. I doubt it will ever be a great anime, but it could stay a good one.
Photo Kano: So far this is the best new entry in the spring lineup. It has a great art style, suited to delivering a story about taking pictures of pretty girls, with a huge lineup of attractive character designs. The rhythmic gymnast with pigtails and beaded hair ties (like Sakura from Card Captor) is obviously the best, but the old childhood friend tennis player can look pretty good too, and the lonesome girl on roof taping the sky has her own appeal, and the little sister is also cute, and. . .
Hehehe, the point is it's fun seeing and interacting with all these attractive girls, and our male lead is lucky enough to be in that position and let us vicariously share in all his exploits. His character is so bland he's almost forgettable, which lets you insert yourself into his place and forget he's even there. But he's bland in a good, inoffensive way. He isn't an idiot or a jerk, which would have really torpedoed the series. I don't have a single complaint with this first episode, which pulled off a lot in a very short amount of time. If things go well I could even see this series entering my rankings. Also, this series features wonderful voice actors -- Hikaru Midorikawa, Mariya Ise, and Mai Nakahara from my Anime Voice List all have prominent roles. What's not to like?
Devil Survivor 2: This story is almost as bad as Karneval. A couple of stupid boys die because they don't heed a crystal clear warning to step away from the subway tracks. Then these idiots are revived (certainly not on any meritorious basis), become some sort of crazy demonic Pokemon trainers, and fight Martians from War of the Worlds who have decided to destroy the Earth. The utter nonsense of the setting combined with the utter worthlessness of the main characters, who themselves never do anything but have to rely entirely on their summoned beasts that fight without any input from their masters, becomes an exponentially awful whole. I even hate the art style, their hair looks ridiculous, as do their too-tall, too-slender figures. I spent the whole episode just wanting it to end already.
Aku no Hana: A very weird anime. I'm dubious of even calling this an 'anime.' It looks ultra-realistic, as though everything were just photography of live objects, but so low-detail that it all looks awful at the same time. I have no idea why this was made into an anime if they just wanted it to look like a live-action series. In any case, because it looks so realistic, everyone is fat, stupid, and ugly, and the series is impossible to watch as a result. In addition, they decided to make the characters and setting 'ultra-realistic,' which means everyone in the story are scumbags you would never put up with for five seconds in real life. Since I have no interest in scumbags, I have zero interest in the plot of this story either. Rather than watching humans at school, I felt like I was watching worms or roaches crawl around the streets and over the desks. The whole world was bereft of charity, kindness, or love in a single human soul. Everyone was just nagging each other, pecking at each other to improve their relative social status, engaging in mindless, pointless conversations or lusting after girls like primitive apes. As far as I can tell the entire production is earnestly trying to be bad, as some sort of 'challenging artistic statement.' I suppose it's still better than Karneval, which is bad despite trying not to be, but it's still unwatchable trash.
That's ten new spring shows covered so far, of which Photo Kano might be good and 4 others might be watchable. That's not a bad batting average for a new season, but it's certainly no match for the wonderful winter season that came before it.
Still to come: Joujuu Senjin!, Arata Kangatari, Yuyushiki, Aiura, Valvrave, Zettai Leviathan, Namiuchigiwa, Shingeki no Kyojin, Gargantia, and Hentai Ouji to Warawanai Neko.
Plus obviously the known good sequels --> Hayate Cuties , Oreimo 2, Higurashi Outbreak, Miyakawa-ke (Lucky Star spinoff), Railgun S, and Saki Achiga.
Plus the continuing series we know are good: Chihayafuru, One Piece, Pretty Cure, and Hunter x Hunter. Sometime during this spring Naruto will leave filler and rejoin the lineup too.
When everything is added up, we're likely to have 20+ viewable stories. Not bad, not bad at all.
In other good news, Dynasty Warriors 8 has an American release date -- July 16th. Meanwhile, Tales of Xillia has received an American release date of August 6th. Also, Ginga E Kickoff's final two episodes have been translated and released by the good people of Doremi and Oyatsu, so this long suffering series can finally be collected and watched in full. Much like Bakuman, it was a bumpy road, but the only thing that really matters is that it got done. Now if only the same could be said of Yes Pretty Cure 5 Go Go. . .
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