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Tuesday, January 11, 2022

Winter 2022 Anime First Impressions: Part 2

Sabikui Bisco:  This is an interesting world with a lot of unexplained stuff going on.  Hopefully the setting, the plot, and the motives of the characters will slowly be revealed by the end of the season with a satisfying explanation for everything.  The one thing that really stands out is the quality of the art and animation.  White Fox is a great studio (they do Utawarerumono) so I'm not surprised.  I also like that the characters talk like real humans, as though they have real lives and aren't just props to move along some forced plot device.  We could use more of this.  Pass.

Gensou Sangokushi:  The number of problems with this series is unlimited.  The stupid talking bucket, the loud cowardly 'hero,' the introduction of tons of different people at once so no one comes off as feeling authentic, the terrible art and animation and character designs, the stupidly-half-undressed Goddesses warping in and out randomly, and the poor decisions made during their first demon extermination.  Nothing worked.  Every aspect of the show was bad.  Fail.

Tensai Ouji:  What a despicable main character.  He cares nothing for his responsibilities as a prince of a country that has only ever treated him well and given him boundless advantages and privileges in life, or even for his own imouto who he has no interest in protecting.  All he wants is to sell out his country and betray them for a cash payout, and meanwhile he lies and weasels his way through life in the hopes of never having to accomplish anything hard or necessary.  I suppose the gap between his outward reputation as a good leader and his inner thoughts is supposed to be comical, but from my viewpoint it's just despicable.  The only good thing about the anime is the art, which is completely wasted on such a scumbag.  Fail.

Kenja no Deshi:  This was looking to be a very boring, low-budget version of Bofuri.  Some overpowered dude playing a VRMMO.  Okay.  Why should I care?  What are the stakes in this story?  And he was so old and ugly and talked so slowly.  It was strictly inferior to Bofuri in every way.  I was all set to fail the story, but then there was an intriguing plot twist 80% in or so.  The old man was gone, and a silver-haired nude young girl had taken his place.  It was no longer a VRMMO but real life.  The voice actors were switched out and our heroine was now fun to listen to.  Now I have to see what happens next.  Starting from the second episode, this series is going to be totally different and much better.  Pass.

That finishes winter's first impressions.  There weren't many new series worth checking out this season, most of the good stuff was sequels.  I already knew about Shikkakumon so even it doesn't feel like a 'new' great series.  But 14 shows is a decent haul.

Here's the good anime that's currently airing this season and is worth at least a try, in the order of how exciting each episode is week to week (not in the order of how good the series is overall, which would favor older/longer series too much):


1.  Kimetsu no Yaiba S2
2.  Shikkakumon
3.  Tropical Rouge Precure
4.  Shingeki no Kyojin Final Part 2
5.  Cue!
6.  Shuumatsu no Harem
7.  Hanyou no Yashahime S2
8.  Dragon Quest: Dai no Daibouken Remake
9.  Arifureta S2
10.  Genjitsu Shugi Yuusha S2
11.  Sabikui Bisco
12.  Kenja no Deshi
13.  Slow Loop
14.  Akebi-chan no Sailor-fuku

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