First Impressions: Spring 2016 – Part 1

Right-oh then, lets get stuck right into the new Spring season then shall we?  Actually off to a manageable start (ie: I’m not snowed under already), but I doubt that will continue once I’m back to work on Monday.

Anyway, first up we have:

• Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable
• Kagewani Shou
• Space Patrol Luluco
• Ushio & Tora S2
• Ace Attorney
• Mayoiga (The Lost Village)
• Endride

Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable

Well this was a decent opening episode – although Araki continues his hate campaign against animals by having a turtle injured within the first 5 minutes!  I kinda love how Jotaro continues to be cool as hell while rocking that bizarre hat that merges with his hair somehow – the fella has a style that works for him & he’s not changing it.  Josuke seems pretty interesting, being quite sweet until you insult his precious hair and his Mother seems awesome, but I could do without the midget sidekick who feels the need to narrate over everything.

The art direction continues to be the best thing about these Jojo’s anime – the bright colours are really eyecatching and make the show stand out even when the animation quality is a bit lacking.  Looking forward to watching more of this to see what direction the story takes this time.

 

Kagewani Shou

And Kagewani comes back with a suitably creepy episode!  Just imagine the horror of a plane arriving at an airport with all its passengers missing.  I’m always impressed by Kagewani’s creature designs and this was no exception.  The series is pretty great at nailing atmosphere with very limited animation – definitely going to enjoy watching this, it will be interesting to see what they do with Bamba’s character this season.

 

Space Patrol Luluco

Well here’s Trigger doing what they do best – pure distilled insanity.  I loved it.  Think I was right in thinking Imaishi & the folks who gave us Inferno Cop just wanted to mess about with a weird comedy show, rather than get stuck into a full TV series, because Luluco is just about as nonsensical and weird as you’d expect from this team!

If you enjoy the Trigger team when they’re indulging their inner children and messing about with slapstick and dumb jokes, then Luluco is the show for you this season – definitely worth checking out.

 

Ushio & Tora S2

No messing about in the second season of Ushio & Tora, we’re right back into the fight against Hakumen no Mono.  This episode looked very impressive, so I’m definitely looking forward to watching more this season.

 

Ace Attorney

Well this was pretty derpy.  Having never played the games I have no idea if this is a faithful adaptation, but I can say it feels like an extremely lazy one.  The anime doesn’t really try to make itself feel fresh or different from the game – employing annoying on-screen description screens, odd sound effects and ridiculous over-reactions.  The story wasn’t even interesting, which is really the main failing for an opening episode, and it all adds up to a rather ridiculous looking anime that I don’t think anyone will like!

It is a bit endearing in its dorkiness though, like a mildly concussed puppy.  I still have no desire to watch any more of it though.

 

Mayoiga (The Lost Village)

Coach trip from hell.  Seriously, can you imagine being stuck on a bus with these eejits for hours on end – homicide is definitely on the horizon, you don’t even need the creepy set-up of a mysterious village!  I think my initial misgivings about this pairing of Mari Okada and Tsutomu Mizushima on a horror themed show was bang on given this odd opening episode.  Okada’s writing wants to hint at this being gathering of deeply troubled individuals, but Mizushima’s bouncy, slightly OTT direction makes the whole thing feel a bit goofy – which certainly very entertaining, but doesn’t bode well for this being a genuinely unnerving horror series.

I’m definitely watching more – can not resist the lure of another round of the Hippopotamus song or seeing what weird and wonderful ways people get killed off in.  I think Mayoiga will be a pretty entertaining series, but definitely for its trainwreck potential rather than the existential horror.

 

Endride

Endride really does feel like it should have aired 10-15 years ago – the odd dated vibe I got from the promo materials carries into this premiere episode.  So this episode introduces our genki, spiky-haired protagonist, who is super into crystals and has daddy-issues, falling into a portal and ending up in an alternate world filled with angsty, midriff baring princes, magical weapons and chibi-dragons.  It is ridiculously predictable stuff, but is presented with such dogged determination that I couldn’t help but enjoy the ride.

Endride doesn’t really do anything particularly special, it doesn’t even give us much of an insight into the main character’s personalities, but it is watchable and fairly entertaining.  However I won’t be watching any more, I can’t see it proving to be a must see.