Oh, and a lot of shows on Netflix just popped up in the last few weeks too; Juushinki Pandora (renamed Last Hope), Dragon Pilot: Hisone & Masotan, The Piano Forest (curiously renamed Forest of Piano…yeah, I’m lost too) and Lost Song. Some of them have been absolutely amazing, while others, well, not so much.

So what about elsewhere?

…I’ve seen enough Sword Art Online for one lifetime.

And the shows I’ve picked have all started off very well 🙂

Beginning with SSSS Gridman. Now not much came out about this, so I was very curious on why both Trigger and Tsuburaya were being so elusive…but at the same time, giving out tiny pieces of information. This opening episode has got me gripped already, and it’s not just because of the action.

Our main guy Yuta wakes up on a couch in a junk store with amnesia. He can’t remember his name, where he lives or who he was, but thanks to the girl who lives there, Rikka (who happens to go to his school), he’s able to make it home. The one thing that bugs him is the image of a mecha that appears in an old computer that tells him to “remember his calling”; the thing is, only he can see it. Others at school, including Rikka, his best friend Utsumi and other girl Shinjo, all attempt to piece his memory back, and so far, it looks like these two will play far more prominent roles.

Then suddenly, like something from J.J. Abrams, a giant kaiju appears out of nowhere and begins to wreck havoc on the entire city. Knowing that this kaiju and the ‘Gridman’ he keeps seeing is connected, Yuta returns to the ancient computer, transforms into the giant Gridman and is able to get rid of the pest.

That’s our first episode, and I really liked how they were able to cram so much stuff in a half-hour episode and yet make it not look rushed or overloaded. Tsuburaya nerds will love the tiny subtle references to past Gridman and Ultraman franchises and these ‘ordinary kid’ character designs aren’t boring at all. In addition to this, in so many shows (including mecha shows) the score has been introduced straight away, but one thing I really like in this opening episode is how silence has been used to set the mood…to develop a sense of ‘normalcy’ before the big mecha action begins. SSSS Gridman‘s score only really kicks in when the first kaiju arrives and Yuta changes into Gridman.

You can tell by just this opening episode that both Trigger and Tsuburaya have taken their sweet time to make this new show a lot of things: exciting, accessible, action-packed…a lot of things that Darling in the Franxx wasn’t. I’m going to be really looking forward to this, even if it ends up becoming a 2-cour show (which is very likely).

So enough about that; let’s move onto some lesbian spy ninja high-school girls. Release the Spyce is a very silly show, but entertaining at the same time. The thing that does bother me here is that there’s something about the main characters that I can’t quite put my finger on. Sure, watching moe high-school girls be a part of some secretive private intelligence company to rid their city of an organized crime syndicate away from the eyes of the police is fun to watch, and it’s also a great idea on paper, but I’m finding most of these main characters rather bland so far.

Our main protagonist, Momo, is the standout character for many reasons. She has the drive to be a force for good, with a deceased father being a high-ranking police officer who very likely died in the line of duty, and her heightened senses are her gimmick. Yet, the other girls, Mei, Goe, Hatsume, Fuu and even the second lead girl Yuki, all don’t really have that much that attracts me to them.

The other gimmick in the show is this spice. Viewers have already referenced Dune (“the spice must flow”) a million times, and having read the book (and watched the movie), I know that it is this whole “gaining-superpowers-via-eating-spice” that will end up being the other draw to this show…and as I love Dune (despite being the most complex sci-fi book I’ve ever read), expect me to bring up the planet Arrakis, the spice Melange, and Momo becoming the Kwisatz Haderach in future posts (*joking*). Seriously, I’m not 100% won over on Release the Spyce yet, despite liking this opening ep. I’m sure it’ll take a couple of episodes for me to warm to the characters and the plot completely, and even with me saying all this, this opening episode has still set the story on a good path.

Now if only HIDIVE weren’t being so HIDIVE…

Subtitling shows and making them look good should not have to be this hard for a company like HIDIVE. Dubs take time to plan, and cost money, that we all know, but I really don’t understand why they are constantly struggling with putting together subtitles that not only are translated well, but look decent on-screen. This is something that is already evident in Release the Spyce. I already don’t like subtitles in big fonts, and seeing a lot of them on-screen will draw some people off from continuing with this. One example is how Momo checks her phone, and every single message on there is translated for us, regardless of how long each sentence is. I would have thought that, since it has Sentai’s backing, it would invest more money and care into delivering a good-looking sub for their viewers/customers, and so why they don’t do this is beyond me totally.

Their acquisition of Bloom Into You was a bit of a surprise too – saying that, though, this adaptation has been sought after by the yuri fans for a long time, and HIDIVE clearly saw this opportunity coming a mile off. Now if only they got their act together and make their subs better.

Bloom Into You has started off well so far too. I like how loyal this adaptation has started, plus I also like how it is sticking to a first-person perspective: Yuu’s perspective. We get first-person shots, we sometimes get to hear what she’s thinking whilst in conversations, and we get these trippy scenes of her being so distant from her first-year friends and the idea of romance. This is refreshing to see considering a lot of other yuri shows are told from the third-person perspective; ie. us as the viewer looking in on the relationship from a distance. Here we get to see how confused and flustered Nanami gets when the two of them are alone in the student council building from Yuu’s own eyes.

This show will be a slow-burner though, and will likely take its time in developing stories and characters further. I’m sure the third wheel in Bloom Into You, Sayaka, will get more screen-time in episodes to come, but for now, our eyes are on Yuu, and how she is supposed to react by this sort-of confession by her senpai.

When I returned the multi-region player I used to watch Serial Experiments Lain to my brother-in-law, I told him via casual conversation what my next classic/out-of-season show would be (yes, my family are aware I’ve been writing about anime for this long now), and he told me jokingly that The Tatami Galaxy looked like “a hipster show”…no comment…

The first thing that got me straight away in this show is how quickly the narrator, our nameless protagonist, speaks…and I thought Koyomi Araragi in the Monogatari series spoke fast but the simple story has gripped me already, and makes me want our protagonist become a changed man and be with the girl, Akashi.

Our hero began college with not much to do, and ended up joining the college’s tennis circle because he had hoped to find some pretty girls…only the cunning and malicious Ozu ended up finding him, and making him join his train of thought of how love is merciless and cruel, and that everyone who has a boyfriend/girlfriend at college ought to be punished for their happiness. Pranks that the two of them pull leave them thrown out of the circle and bring about the ire of the entire campus. Freshman Akashi knows that our hero is smart enough to know that all of this is stupid, and so a kinship begins between the two of them.

Then a matchmaking deity in the form of a ramen-eating student tells our hero that he intends to pair Akashi with either him or Ozu, and it is our hero’s future actions that determine who it’ll ultimately be.

The opening episode of The Tatami Galaxy starts off in a good but rather unconventional way, and I can tell that it is this unconventional storytelling that will be a key part of the show. I am not new to abstract storytelling in anime and this, compared to the unusual and surreal animation direction, has really drawn my attention, and made me eager to watch some more. So far I love Akashi to pieces. She is the kind of student I wish I was friends with when I was in college myself, and our hero is someone I can warm to as well…I think we just need some more time for his character to develop. Since I don’t know the story, I have no idea on what our boy will end up having to do to win Akashi’s heart, to be rid of Ozu for good, and to make the rest of the campus know that he’s no longer the bitter prankster of old.

So I chose some cool shows this season…go me. As we have a whole year of new Sword Art Online episodes to look forward to, how are you SAO fans preparing for the upcoming 12 months? Will it be a case of tearing your hair out by the time the second cour ends? And we have a My Hero Academia movie too that everyone will no doubt go nuts about…oh, goodie…Oh well, I’m sure you have other shows to watch this season too, so how has the season been for you in this opening week? What should I be watching as well, and what should I avoid like the plague? Feel free to hit that like button and air your opinions in the comments below.

Just don’t recommend Sword Art Online to me…please…