Hitoribocchi no Marumaru Seikatsu
Short Synopsis: A socially anxious girl must befriend all of her new classmates to win back the love of her former best friend.
Mario’s review:
UNBEARABLE PROTAGONIST, ACT II
Hitoribocchi is dull, Hitoribocchi is boring. Unlike Lenlo below I have a good relationship with SoL genre, and even then I wouldn’t recommend this show. The main girl makes up the biggest issue for me as her social anxieties makes her act and behave like a 5-year-old kid. This one reminds me a bit of Slow Start last year with the same level of stupidity and dumb her down for the sake of making her cute. Her making friend feels way too easy, her anxiety plays mostly for laugh and I’m pretty sure I have seen all these familiar beats before. Look, if you’re a middle school girl, how about you act like one and not drawing plans to get rid of the society? This isn’t kawaii, this is just plain dumb.
Potential: THERE’S A CINNAMON ROLL WE ALL HAVE TO PROTECT
Lenlo’s review:
Hitoribocchi’s biggest problem, for me, is that it’s a Slice of Life. It’s simply not a genre I enjoy. By about 8 minutes in, I felt like I should be at the end, such is how it drags. That is most likely just my aversion to the genre though. As far as content, Hitoribocchi is basically a more wholesome version of Watamote. Both are school Slice of Lifes about an anti-social girl fitting in. The issue is though, just like Watamote, I was bored out of my mind. Maybe it’s the setting, maybe I just can’t enjoy a school-life centered drama anymore. I am not sure. Either way, from what I watched if you enjoy Slice of Life, you will enjoy Hitoribocchi, if only because your enjoyment will be inverse to my dislike of it. That’s typically how the trend on Slice of Life goes for me.
Potential: 10% if you’re me, 80% if you like Slice of Life.
Mix: Meisei Story
Short Synopsis: A pair of talented baseball-playing brothers rejoin their middle school team for another mediocre season.
Wooper’s review:
I mentioned it in our season preview, but Cross Game is my favorite anime, so it’s impossible for me to judge Mix (which is from the same author) without any bias creeping in. Just looking at the simple designs of these characters makes me want to smile, reminiscent as they are of Adachi’s other works. And it’s not just audiences that might be attached to other series of his – Mix itself makes its connection to Touch very clear, using an extended flashback at the start to link Meisei High’s past glory to its present mediocrity. Even Mix’s narrator is a character from Touch, and there’s a bit of fourth wall-breaking when the two main characters acknowledge her presence from within the story. This level of narration, the character introduction cards, and the VCR-mimicking scene transitions are all potential stumbling blocks for new viewers, I suspect. Mix is playing with its format a bit, rather than going for 100% naturalism as might benefit such a slow-moving anime. Despite these modern flourishes, though, Mix’s character work is old-fashioned in the best way, making the establishment of their personalities its number one priority. The male siblings at the heart of the story share an easy-going demeanor, but one is a tad rougher around the edges, which will likely be brought to the forefront when their coach’s favoritism starts hurting the team. There’s a bit of a mystery at play in their relationship, as well, which I won’t address for the sake of any newcomers. I’m quite eager to watch the next episode (if only to see the series’ glorious OP again), but I’ll bump my score down a bit to account for its uneventful first episode and odd scene transitions.
Potential: 70%
Lenlo’s review:
As Wooper correctly anticipates, there are a few issues for a new viewer who doesn’t know the original story to get over. Personally, I am not a huge fan of the extreme amount of narration. Yet at the same time it gives the series a very… old feeling, while still having the modern production. Take the character designs for instance, though it has a modern coat of paint, it’s all very late 80’s early 90’s, really making it stand out from other series. As Wooper said, Mix also goes out of its way to establish its characters clearly and early just like the oldies. I quite liked these two leads because of this, I think they will be able to play off of each other well. The whole sibling bond/rivalry going along with their differing personalities. I am also always one for a good sports anime, and the time period of the original story made a lot of good ones. Basically, I think Mix has a promising start and I look forward to seeing where it goes. As someone who has no idea about the original work, it pulled me in.
Potential: 60%
Kimetsu no Yaiba
Short Synopsis: a kid comes back home to find out that the entire family has been killed and his little sister has turn into a Demon.
Lenlo’s review:
Well, I suppose we know where Ufotable’s fraudulent taxes went, because Yaiba looks great. A treat to watch. This is the only aspect of Yaiba that wowed me in this first episode though. While the world was interesting, the premise itself a classic shounen, we didn’t get much more than that. The protagonist is a bit of a wet blanket and there really aren’t any rules yet established. However if Yaiba can take this first episode and run with it? Expand on the world, and grow the lead? Then I think it can be a great shounen series. All the pieces are there after all. An end goal, a mysterious final boss/demon, a weak character growing strong and plenty of room for good fights. Yaiba just needs to take this framework and start filling it in, and I am willing to give them the benefit of the doubt on this one.
Potential: 75%
Mario’s review:
I’ll be honest that prior to watching this episode I don’t have that high of an expectation towards Yaiba. Shonen Jump golden egg and ufotable aren’t something that attract me personally, but the premiere proves to be a worthwhile watch all around. If I have one small nitpick over the presentation, it’s the large amount of narration that nearly threaten to overwhelm the story. It does add a sense of novelty that other action shows usually lack, though. Right at the first episode, Yaiba successfully tells an engaging premise where Demon element fuses naturally to the world. Then it nails it on giving us 3 compelling characters, each stand out in their own ways and set up very well the journey ahead. The visual, in addition, is gorgeous. This episode doesn’t have much of bombastic action sequences, but based on how crips the characters move and how pretty everything looks, be it the background or the character designs, there’s a lot to like here. This could prove to be one of the highlights of this Spring season.
Potential: 70%
The post Some Quick First Impressions: Hitoribocchi no Marumaru Seikatsu, Mix: Meisei Story and Kimetsu no Yaiba appeared first on Star Crossed Anime Blog.