I’ve been careful to pick all these shows but I know it’s possible that there will be some hiccups along the way (filler episodes, character designs I don’t like so much, etc.). I still wanted to start this new anime year completely fresh. From what I’ve seen in what might come in the rest of 2023, I think I will like what is to come. The upcoming Love Live! Sunshine!! spin-off show with Yohane as the main lead is something I will definitely be covering though, regardless of how cringeworthy it might end up becoming. Also, I’m very interested in the mystery idol show that Dogakobo have coming in the Spring. This year will also see some changes in my personal life too, which I’ll keep close to my chest. So watching some interesting looking shows while trying to be a responsible adult? Sure. So let’s begin…
Tomo-chan is a Girl! Episode 1
Why did I pick this show? Boy knows girl, girl knows boy, girl is in love with boy, but boy dismisses it out of obliviousness and sees her as ‘one of the bros’. What could have been done in Tomo-chan is a Girl! is a subtle play on what the term ‘girl’ means, and whether all love needs to be so binary. After watching this debut episode, I’m slightly worried that it is instead going to rely on a lot of ‘misunderstanding’ jokes.
It looks like the one thing that is going to keep the show going is: Tomo trying to change herself to be what other faceless girls in her class are like, and do the girly things that they do. Perhaps as the story develops, she will learn to see that any sudden changes in personality could be something that might drive her and Jun further away. The two supporting characters we’ve seen so far seem solid enough though. While I get that Misuzu can rub people the wrong way with her cold behavior, she is actually trying to be the love doctor here. She takes jabs at both Tomo and Jun, but it doesn’t come out of malice, but of consideration and understanding. She knows both of them inside out, and knows what makes them tick.
Secondary character number two is Misaki, in the school boy’s karate club, which Tomo joins as she is far too strong for the girls’ one. He appears to have a tiny crush on her, but it seems like he is smart enough to know when it’s time to step back. In the school dojo scene, Tomo makes an interesting point about how she has so much more fun in the boy’s club than in the girl’s one because she feels like she doesn’t belong there. She has the most fun doing activities that are typically ‘masculine’. I think this is what her biggest task is: understanding that girls can be into these activities too and not be considered tomboys.
The characters in the show are decent enough to watch, and the story is simple enough for anyone to follow (that’s meant to be a compliment, by the way). What I guess I’m looking for in future episodes is for Tomo to build up her self-confidence and self-worth. Tomo is feeling down because she isn’t being seen the way she wants to by the person closest to her. I still think the show is going to rely on a lot of ‘misunderstanding’ and ‘it’s-not-what-you-think!’ jokes though. Despite this, I’m hoping that by the show’s story end, Tomo will feel comfortable enough with the idea of being her own definition of a girl, as opposed to being a stereotype. And by doing that, she should be able to win Jun’s heart.
In/Spectre Season 2 Episode 1
Remember this show? It’s definitely been a while since I’ve written about In/Spectre. I remember thinking to myself back then that I’d never pick this kind of show, but here I am happy to check out its second season. It pretty much picks up where we left off…sort of. It’s been 3 years since Kotoko was able to fend off Kuro’s cousin Rikka after she dealt with the gravure idol demon she manifested to haunt the streets. Back then I was concerned about how that particular story dominated the show, as I had initially thought that it would end up doing smaller episode-length cases instead. I don’t anticipate it doing the same thing here, despite what this opener gave us, and we’ll be seeing Rikka once again very soon.
This opener served more as a reminder of the show as a whole. This was a good decision to make, I think; instead of diving straight into a large new case with Rikka, we are eased back in with a small-scale story. The end result means that we get to remember who Kotoko and Kuro are, why they work together, how she is seen as the Goddess of Wisdom to yokai in the city, and Kuro gets to move into a better apartment now they’ve dealt with the sumo wrestler demon. Our first episode’s story details a demon who has moved into the empty apartment above a ghost’s (who haunts its human tenant, by the way). An ancient sumo wrestler doll is found on the floor, and is something that is a danger to other yokai in the city, meaning Kotoko and Kuro are forced to take the doll into the forests and let Kuro battle it to death, because he is immortal and can take the punches.
I think that a bunch of people who did watch season 1 may have forgotten some things about what goes on in this show, and so easing us back in with a story like this is great. The dynamic between Kotoko and Kuro hasn’t changed from the last season; she’s still that much of a dork and sees him as her boyfriend. Saki the police officer from the last season is no longer in the show, but that is just how the story is written. We’ll be getting a whole bunch of new secondary characters, and since I’m unfamiliar with the original light novels, I don’t know who to expect. But I cannot wait for Rikka to come back. Only then will the story in this sequel season get going properly.
NieR: Automata Ver 1.1a Episode 1
This is a show that is either going to get viewers (and gamers) jumping for joy or laughing out of embarrassment. This first episode is a straight adaptation of the prologue of the game, where 2B lands in an abandoned weapons factory, rendezvouses with 9S, locates a Goliath-class weapon, destroys themselves via their black boxes, with their mission data reinserted into identical YoRHa units in the orbiting bunker. Sorry if that felt like a spoiler, but this is all something that is kind of ‘need to know’ information before the real story gets going properly.
2B is the one who feels like she is in a constant spiral of life and death. This machine war has taken its toll on hers and she feels like she is being cursed or punished somehow. The YoRHa units are forbidden from feeling emotions, and yet even with her cold aura, she feels it all. One little thing I noticed is that opening monologues from the game and this show differ. The game’s one is more cynical and existential, with 2B wondering who is the god who cursed her with this never-ending cycle and when she will get the chance to kill it. Here in this show, the monologue is way different and more somber, with 2B asking herself how long will she keep on fighting before everything is gone.
I also wondered whether this ‘1.1a’ show would be the first in a group of many to come, that would adapt the whole of the game. It feels wrong to cram as much of the game story into one cour, but at the same time padding it out into multiple seasons feels just as wrong. Here in this episode, the focus shifts characters, instead of being solely on one of them. The game itself tells the story from different perspectives and has different endings depending on gameplay. For those of us who have played the game (like myself), we know what to look for and what to criticize. I haven’t picked it up in a while, so while I cover this adaptation on Otaku Theater, there’s going to be a lot of things I will have just forgotten about completely. But this prologue is something all of us players remember, as it sets the tone for the whole story.
So far I’m liking a lot of what I see. If there is one thing I am concerned about though, it is the combination of 2D and 3D animation. The 2D animation really works better than I hoped it would; the world looks as bleak as it does in the game, and 2B isn’t as overtly sexualized as I was expecting her to be. It is only when it’s combined heavily with the 3D mecha action where I thought things looked a little off. But these are very minor criticisms though, considering how damn gorgeous the animation looks as a whole. A lot of people thought that way back when it was released, the game ought to have been an anime. Well they have their wish now, and even though I’m more than certain they’ll be smack talking it to high heaven (because that’s what we fans do best), they’ll all be following this show religiously over this Winter season.
What I would like to see in this show is some slight deviances from the main story. For them to be creative with it, and not have it as just one frame-by-frame animation. Judging from what we see at the end of this first episode though, it looks like they might be actually rolling up their sleeves and making this adaptation something of its own.
Dorohedoro Episode 1
Alright so time for the show I wasn’t sure what to make of. One of my good friends has called this one of their all-time favorites already, so I think I needed to see for myself what the appeal was. Well what I will begin with is that the show aesthetic is just amazing and I love it. I don’t think our main characters have been given so much room yet to breathe, but I’m more than certain that’ll happen in the next episodes to come.
We aren’t even a huge backstory for main lead Caiman, who was cursed by an unknown Sorcerer with a lizard head. He becomes acquainted with restaurant owner Nikaido, who helps him find who is responsible. On their journey, they hunt down and kill Sorcerers who are currently kidnapping and experimenting on residents of the favela-style Hole. But why are they doing that exactly? We’re not told why yet, but that’s something we’ll be knowing for sure in later episodes, I think. But Caiman and Nikaido aren’t exactly angelic savior types either. In this first episode alone, they cut up two sorcerers, with Caiman biting someone’s face off. It seems like our main antagonist is going to be head Sorcerer (maybe?) En, who is angry now that he’s found out that some residents in the Hole are fighting back, and decides to recruit some ‘enforcers’ to find Caiman and bring him to the Sorcerer’s realm alive.
A lot of information was crammed into this first episode; too much perhaps for some people. But at the same time, I’m itching to know more, and so I hope that in the later episodes, the pace of the story will slow down a little so I can get absorbed into this beautiful mess. I use the word ‘mess’ lightly, and in a positive manner. The show looks gritty, dark and crazy all at once. Instead of glamorizing bad neighborhoods like some other shows do, the Hole actually looks like a terrible place. Nothing is clean, many things are broken, and you ask yourself why people live here. There’s a reason for it all, I’m sure; another thing to add to the list of ‘things-to-find-out-about’ in Dorohedoro.
The show’s aesthetic is the biggest draw for me right now, as right now I wish I saw more information about the characters I saw. Could one call this a solid debut episode? Hard to answer. It sets the tone for what later episodes will bring, but at the same time we are purposely kept in the dark. My opinion will change in the next few weeks though, I’m sure.
Four shows that I am really enjoying so far, and want to know more about; this is something that hasn’t happened to me in a while. There’s typically one or more that I end up picking that’ll end up going sideways and/or rub me the wrong way, but that hasn’t happened so far. These may just be first episode feelings though; for all I know, Tomo-chan might become something incredibly corny, and NieR: Automata might end up being the frame-by-frame adaptation we are hoping it isn’t. Hey, it’s the first week of a new season of a new year; let’s enjoy it, at least.