Autumn 2015 – First Impressions (Part 1)

This post reviews: Hacka Doll The Animation, Kagewani, Heavy Object, and Shingeki! Kyojin Chuugakkou.

So far, most of the anime that has aired this season are sequels that I am planning on watching, including Noragami Aragoto, Soukyuu no Fafner: Dead Aggressor – Exodus 2nd Season, K: Return of Kings, Owarimonogatari, and Utawarerumono: Itsuwari no Kamen. I probably should put the new Utawarerumono in one of these posts since it is not a direct sequel to the original series, but I’ll have more to say on that later. For now, here are my thoughts and decisions for the first batch of new anime this season.

Watching:

Hacka Doll The Animation

Thankfully, Hacka Doll is a short anime, meaning it should be easy to sit through given the hit-or-miss nature of the show. The focus of the show is on its three reckless and dimwitted Hacka Dolls, who will be sent to harass some poor human once an episode. The humor will really depend on the human they interact with, which will ultimately dictate the focus and comedy of that episode. The characters themselves are just a grab-bag of standard character archetypes, a cookie-cutter selection that mirrors Robot Girls Z just a bit too much. Still, there’s quite a bit of energy, personality, and flair that makes this anime enjoyable and easy to watch. I’m not going to expect much of Hacka Doll, but it should be worth a few laughs or smiles each week, and that’s why I’m planning on keeping it this season.

Shingeki! Kyojin Chuugakkou (Attack on Titan: Junior High)

This chibi, comedy spinoff is exactly what I want from a parody anime. Shingeki! Kyojin Chuugakkou certainly pays tribute to the original Shingeki no Kyojin anime by retaining much of the character personalities and context that made the series so enjoyable. Furthermore, it understand the humor and absurdity of the situation and exaggerates the setting just enough that it has the right balance of hilarity without going too far. Additionally, the anime appears to have a story, which is something I wasn’t expecting, though I shouldn’t be too surprised since this is based off a manga that began in 2012 and is still being published. There’s quite a bit of care and attention that was put into this anime, and I’m confident it’ll be a decent product at worst. The first episode of Shingeki! Kyojin Chuugakkou exceeded my expectations, and I’m looking forward to seeing where this parody goes.

Undecided:

Nothing here, which means…

Dropped:

Kagewani

If you’ve seen Yami Shibai, then you’ve seen all Kagewani has to offer. Not only do both anime feature the same production team, but also the same style of animation, storytelling, and unsatisfying horror themes. What’s worse is that Kagewani is twice the length of Yami Shibai, meaning there’s a longer build-up each episode, meaning more time to sit around being bored with this anime. The only difference between this and Yami Shibai is that there appears to be a story and recurring characters now, but the first episode pretty much forgot about that until the final 30 seconds. I don’t see any value in keeping this around.

Heavy Object

Heavy Object? More like… heavy objectification of women!

Yeah, Heavy Object was all kinds of terrible. You could tell the anime was going to be abysmal when the episode begins with four and a half minutes of monotonous exposition over a lifeless battle. Then, Heavy Object cuts to the present for more exposition between two male characters. Look, two minutes of describing the setting will bore almost everyone, so who’s bright idea was it to start the anime with over 8 minutes of exposition? Well, I think the creators of Heavy Object knew it was a bad idea because during the conversation we had several spliced in shots of a naked girl showering. That’ll keep the audience around for more, right? No, throwing in unnecessary and random ecchi scenes to spice up a dull conversation is never a smart move, especially since the character was never introduced up to that point. And what’s worse is the fanservice continued through, from the guys gawking over breasts (I know, breasts in an anime! What the hell?) to potentially killing a girl because the guy couldn’t hand the thought of his hand near a girl’s bosoms. Oh, and about that scene, everyone should go back and look at her breasts to start and during the suffocation sequence. They grow about 40 inches. Heavy Object is absolutely atrocious.