This is the Year of Our Discount Boat Lights

Well the new season has begun, and it has begun in earnest with the premiere of the new Rozen Maiden reboot from Studio DEEN. I had my reservations, admittingly, because DEEN has done some average work in the past, but they seem to be treating this one, at least from the beginning, pretty damn close to the original and more. Also premiering earlier in the week was Inu to Hasami wa Tsukaiyou, and I also nabbed and watched Kitakubu Katsudou Kiroku, Servant x Service, and Stella Jogakuin Koutouka C3-bu, so let’s get some fun started.

 
 

Rozen Maiden (2013)
“TAKE MY BREATH AWAYYYYY~” –twitter.com/tldranimu
What confused me was if this was going to be a reboot of the original series, or if it was going to pick up after the last season’s events. What we’re getting is in fact something much closer to the manga and less of the first two anime seasons, as Träumend had only a brief glimpse of Kirakishou, the real seventh doll unlike Barasuishou who was anime-only and the creation of Enju. So while the fate of Souseiseki remains the same, Hina Ichigo’s fate follows that of the manga, which means we should be in for something interesting this year.

All DESU jokes aside and whatnot, Rozen Maiden is one of my top titles of all time, so I am pretty psyched to get a new season airing, and one closer to the manga that I never completely finished. I was a bit skeptical of DEEN picking this one up, because I was afraid they might put a goofy spin on it rather than giving it the treatment is deserves. True, the original seasons blended fun moments with serious moments, and I hope they continue to do that, but if the first episode was any indication, they’re looking to keep this tight-knit, and I hope it stays that way.

TLDR Watch This: Boat lights and ball joints
TLDR Don’t Watch This: You don’t like the Ali Project. I mean, seriously now?
Sub Group: Asenshi
First Rating: 9

Stella Jogakuin Koutouka C3-bu
“K-ON! meets the NRA.” –twitter.com/x_fausto
GAINAX decided this season that they wanted to do a slice-of-life show with cute girls doing MILITARY GAMES things. With airsoft guns.

Okay.

In what might be described as any school club show plus Upotte minus the anthropomorphism, C3-bu chronicles Yura Yamato’s arrival at Stella Women’s Academy, where her plans to live a new, normal, high school life, are turned upside down when her roommate has drawers and closets full of weapons and war movies, which in her moment of playing with them, has her whisked away and plucked in the C3 club, a group of girls who stage war games on the campus grounds using Airsoft weapons. She tries to get away, to find normal girls to be friends with, but has trouble communicating with people and winds up back at the club room thanks to cake.

When GAINAX does normal shows, I am always unnecessarily on-guard. They like to fuck with people, or maybe that’s just the folks who work on Eva and Panty and Stocking, their other stuff seems to flow like a normal show does. I’m expecting a K-ON x Upotte x Girls und Panzer sort of show here, and if it can meet that, I am okay with this. Keep it simple.

TLDR Watch This: If you live, breathe, and are made of, guns. Even Airsoft guns.
TLDR Don’t Watch This: You live in the state of Connecticut, or some other liberal sissy hole that bans guns because they think criminals obey laws.
Sub Group: Commie
First Rating: 7

Servant x Service
“Is Japan mocking me now?”
Lucy Yamagami, Saya Miyoshi, and Yutaka Hasebe are new employees for the Health and Welfare section of the ward in their local town. As new government employees, they must learn to deal with the general public each day, while learning to deal with their own challenges associated with their job and their co-workers.

Funny how this show premieres towards the end of my second week of unemployment, as if it was mocking me by showing what the people on the other side of that phone think as I beg for money to pay my rent as I try to find new work. Irony is not without hilarity I suppose. It’s a pretty good opening episode, and you can’t help but laugh at Lucy, cause, Lucy? Lawls. Hasebe of course exemplifies what most people view government workers as actually doing with their day, and I don’t blame them. Every office I go in always looks like they ain’t got much going on, except for the DMV. That place is nuts.

TLDR Watch This: If you liked Working! and want to know what people do when pushing paper and typing things.
TLDR Don’t Watch This: You also have a grudge against lazy government officials.
Sub Group: Horrible
First Rating: 7

Inu to Hasami wa Tsukaiyou
“K-ON! meets the NRA.” –twitter.com/tldranimu
I’m sure the keen-eyed of most of you can already nail down the tropes on this one. Tsukaiyou is the story of Harumi Kazuhito, a bookworm who adores the writings of Akiyama Shinobu. Unfortunately for him, he happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time and was shot and killed by a crazy man in a shop trying to defend a girl writing nearby. He then wakes up in the body of a Dachshund at a pet shop. Unable to communicate in anything but barking, he sits and goes over everything in his head, from his death, to becoming a dog, to not being able to read the new Akiyama Shinobu book whenever it comes out. Suddenly a girl in black with scissors holstered to her hip comes in and buys the dog, taking it back home with her to her studio apartment. Kirihime Natsuno not only can understand his thoughts and communicate, but also turns out to be Akiyama Shinobu, and the girl he died for. Now her pet, he must endure her torture and insanity.

Yeah, if this isn’t Bakemonogatari again I’m not sure what is, with probably ten other molds for Natsuno to fit in. In didn’t strike me as anything over-the-top or really worthy of MUST WATCH TV, but it still held my attention, and I guess that’s all it needs to do really. It seems silly, but I’ve found I just ignore shows that fail to grab my attention with something interesting. I have a feeling this is going to fall into dangerously cheap romcom territory, or the fact he is a dog will no doubt be used as a vehicle for unintended fan service throughout the show. I also get the impression we got a Korean Zombie Deskcar vibe going here, where the quest will be to get him reincarnated into a coma patient or something Professor X style. Or not. I dunno. I need more episodes to make a better judgement. BECAUSE REASONS.

TLDR Watch This: You own a Dachshund and he is kinda dumb often, girls with scissors
TLDR Don’t Watch This: You’re an alpha male and don’t like being dominated by the other sex.
Sub Group: Horrible
First Rating: 7

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That’s a taste of the new season, and there is still a lot more to come, to stick around.