It’s been a few months since I’ve last written, and unfortunately, there hasn’t been much to watch, eastern or western. I’ve also been plagued by weeks of work spearheading a wireless infrastructure upgrade project that was some wild fucking shit to say the least. Finally emerging from that and some other corpo hell weeks, I can finally offer a few words on what is in store for October here on the blog.
Ranma 1/2
Airs: October 6th
Episodes: ?
Studio: MAPPA
Not really having an ear on the anime scene as I once did, I admit that I wasn’t aware of this project until Netflix announced it in early summer. I’m also surprised they secured the rights to air it on Netflix proper at the same time it begins airing in Japan. I am unsure if this means they’ll be releasing weekly, or dropping the entire season.
Veteran anime fans know Ranma, both by manga and original TV series. I still have never done a review for the original series, but it’s one I very much enjoyed getting into when I got into anime in the late 90s. I used to rent whatever tapes they had at the local Blockbuster to watch. Some might say a remake of this isn’t needed given how well the original stands up. I don’t mind, and that reason is it’s never a bad idea to reintroduce the classics to new audiences, and it often helps inspire remakes of other shows. Plus they got most of the OG talent back on this. The trailer looks fucking crisp, however there is no word on if they’re going to either get the original artists back for the OP/ED songs, or have someone new do a cover. All I know is if they do the GOAT OP from season two, you can just lock this on all Anime of the Year nominations. They still do that shit on /a/, right?
Watch if you like the original genderbending woke-as-fuck brotaginist from the 1980s trying his and or her best to live a normal life around a bunch of other fucking weird people.
Don’t watch if you don’t like childless cat ladies. There aren’t any in this show, but if you’re that kind of asshole, you probably don’t want to watch this show.
MF Ghost (Season Two)
Airs: October 7th
Episodes: ? (Probably 12)
Studio: Felix Film
I don’t believe I did a final review for the first season of MF Ghost, but you can gleam most of it from the mid-season post last year. The trailer just blasted right out of the gate with Pamsy and Ace’s “2 Love 4 Love” and I am like “Oh fuck, we’re so fucking back, boys!” If you have read the manga, and someday I’ll do a breakdown of all that, nothing radically different will jump out at you here with the characters or plot, they’re sticking with the source material well, and given the pacing of last season, I expect they’ll cover at least two races this season along with the quest to find dear old dad. We’ll see if we get any other neat surprised.
Watch if you are like me and also drive unreasonably fast to SUPER EUROBEAT everywhere, and have been for over twenty fucking years.
Don’t watch if you’re mad about how future auto-racing will probably be just like this after the EV revolution has fully transitioned us away from real racing.
Star Trek: Lower Decks (Season Five)
Airs: October 24th
Episodes: 10
Studio: Paramount, Titmouse
I am not particularly happy that this series is ending after this season, and it’s entirely the fault of Paramount Pictures, who consistently and constantly shoots their own beloved franchise in the face any time it’s starting to become good. Despite being animated, it was the first and frankly remains the only true-to-form Trek series made that actually captures the ethos of what Trek was before J.J Fucking Abrams ruined it.
Like previous faire, you can expect the usual shenanigans, however I am not sure how it will end. Mike McMahen has said that they are open to making more Lower Decks, or something else Trek in the future, and that it could very well be saved as Prodigy was by Netflix, but as Netflix has not formally announced bankrolling a third season of that show, it remains to be foreseen if someone will save Lower Decks. Given Paramount TV’s shutdown and Paramount+’s likely implosion soon, let’s hope Netflix steps in and saves this franchise and gives them its old home back. You know, before CBS stepped in.
Watch this if you are a Trekkie, Trekker, old Trek, new Trek, any Trek, and want to keep the post-Nemesis canon timeline going.
Don’t watch this is you are a polarized Star Wars fan gleeful at watching another good show bite the dust. You should know better consider what The Mouse has done to you.
Other Possible Shows to Watch
Tomb Raider: Animation style looks good, done by Powerhouse Animation Studios (Castlevania, Masters of the Universe). Unlikely to be PSX graphics-accurate or have big honking mommy milkers. My heart will go on. October 11th on Netflix
Arcane Season Two: I haven’t seen the first season of Arcane, nor am I a weird twelve-year-old LoL player, but I am told the animation is solid and it’s actually good. So if I am not just watching some UC Gundam series, I might give it a try. November 9th on Netflix.
Bluey “Minisodes”: Look man, as a father of a four-year-old kid, I have had to endure a lot of preschool-target cartoons. Some are outright garbage, others are watchable. Some day I might do a post on that here for funsies, but Bluey is one show I do not hate, and find myself actually watching even when my kid doesn’t, and he hasn’t in some time now. It’s one of those clever shows that is made for kids, but the creator and writers also put in stuff for parents to watch and pay attention to since they have to be there. It’s made me think a lot about how I parent, especially to a child who is non-verbal ASD. October 7th on Disney+
Rick and Morty: The Anime: This is actually airing weekly right now, but I haven’t watched any of it yet. I’d be curious to see how it stacks up with HARMON-SAMA’S GODLY VISION of the show, though.
