Besides my final review of Symphogear yesterday, the first four up for review from this season is Gakkou Gurashi, Shimoneta, Okusama ga Seitokaichou, and Working!!!. Getting to the others soon. Assault Android Cactus has been chewing up the last day or so of my time. Mechanical waifus~
“Left 4 Dead 3: GabeN’s DAUGHTERU Edition”
I admit that I got fooled with others unfamiliar with the manga coming into this show based on the preview premise and being presented with something totally different. But even after the curtain was drawn and we knew we were watching a zombie survival show, they kept Yuki’s delusion strong until the very end. I read an /a/ thread earlier while doing my weekly Symphogear trawl that talked about the manga and anime differences, how Miki never got her eyepatch, and a number of other differences. Anime adaptations are a fickle beast, because your audience isn’t really those who read the manga, it’s those who have not. Those who have read it know what happens, and are just going to sit around pointing out the differences. But even not knowing the source, I found the show passable, but not really that exciting. I wanted to see more grit, more survival, more bashing zombies with shovels. It ended up being more SCHOOL DAYZ in a small space. But even worse, it seemed from the end that there was a conspiracy, that people knew the outbreak would happen, which is why the school was so well-equipped. This did not get explored enough. Another season maybe? Doubtful.
Title: Gakkou Gurashi
Sub Group I Watched: Horrible
Episodes: 12
Rating (1-10): 6
“IT’S ABOUT FUCKING TIME, SATOU”
There is not much to write about this season of Working!, it remains the original and best occupational comedy show in anime. It was good to finally see Satou get out of the friend zone, and TakanashixInami seems almost completely confirmed, save for the very end of the episode. Apparently they have some kind of holiday special planned for December 26th that is billed as the conclusion to the Wagnaria series. I’d be sad to see it go, but dongers raised.
Title: Working!!!
Sub Group I Watched: Horrible
Episodes: 13
Rating (1-10): 8
“COCK-A-DOODLE-PUSSY-WORDS”
Seitokai Yakuindomo sort of benchmarked the use of bleeped-out lewdness we came to expect from a show that was pushing the envelope for morality in Japan’s youth. Shimoneta stepped up to the plate and suggested “Well what if the government succeeded in removing ALL LEWDNESS from society?” It’s a puritanical religious or radical social justice person’s wet dream, but much like Prison School, the premise is only set up to then be subverted and torn down as the series progresses. Shimoneta instead spends twelve episodes suggesting that any and all attempts to remove lewdness from society just results in more lewdness being introduced into society. After all, repression almost always never works in anything, especially Anna.
The ultimate point of every sub-plot was that people like Anna just repress their sexual feelings and just talk a big game to maintain appearances. Gee.
However, pushing aside all the undertones, the show actually was pretty trainwreck-y to watch, and you can’t beat a Arai Satomi voiced artist who draws with her mouth. I couldn’t look away, it was just so fascinating to watch. I am horrible. So points for at least making it wildly entertaining.
Title: Shimoneta
Sub Group I Watched: Horrible
Episodes: 12
Rating (1-10): 7
“Generic Harem B”
Eight minutes was a good fit for this show, because any more would have probably ruined it further. It’s not a bad show so much as it lacks anything other than the basic plot of the busty student council president living with the bi-speckled male protag, who proceeds to fold a few more girls into his harem as he hides her away in his apartment after she came to live with him on one of those cliche WE PROMISED TO MARRY WHEN WE WERE KIDS. I mean, do people actually do that? I wanted nothing to do with girls when I was six. Even my sister was annoying. The UNCENSORED tag really just meant they could animate some nipples in some of the scenes, but most episodes didn’t go that far, just some suggestive poses or scenes, like the de-facto LOVE HOTEL. All-in-all, it was good for its small-bite episodes and any more would have made me drop it faster.
Title: Okusama ga Seitokaichou
Sub Group I Watched: Horrible
Episodes: 12
Rating (1-10): 7
I’ll have Monster Musume finished up soon, along with Charlotte, Classroom Crisis, Akagami no Shirayukihime, and Joukamachi no Dandelion. I am pretty far back on Shokugeki no Soma, but I will try to finish that up too for review. Everything else, maybe. Prison School really didn’t do much for me, so I am not sure if I will bother finishing it.
