Home Anime/Cartoons Otaku Digest: Cross Ange: Tenshi to Ryuu no Rondo/Nanatsu no Taizai/SHIROBAKO

Otaku Digest: Cross Ange: Tenshi to Ryuu no Rondo/Nanatsu no Taizai/SHIROBAKO

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Hello one and all and welcome back to another instalment of Otaku Digest where I take the first episode of all this season’s new releases and pick them apart from their anime bones. Just to clarify again I am mainly focusing on new anime titles so second seasons are exempt from my list – another list for another digest. So much anime not enough time – Let’s get our Otaku on!

CrossCross Ange: Tenshi to Ryuu no Rondo

First up this week is Mecha anime Cross Ange: Tenshi to Ryuu no Rondo that began on the 5th October – The first mecha on my list of anime this season which has seen a major decline is heavily genred mecha anime. Set on a planet Earth that has managed to create a Utopia of no wants and peace through the utilizing of data technology known as “Mana”. Now the human race can overcome any war, illness, starvation or man-made disaster using this “Mana”. However no world is perfect – within this utopia there are beings known as “Norma” or people who cannot use Mana, Princess of the Misurugi Empire Angelize soon realizes she is a Norma and isolates herself from the rest of mankind – doing so she meets more Norma who spend their days wielding humanoid robots knows as “Barameiru” who hunt dragons. Having had her very existence ripped away from her, Ange must face life alone and make new beliefs. This anime is a look into a single young woman’s endurance.
First off that opening was glorious, the flashback with the gorgeous vocals in the background transitioning into a battle of mecha vs dragons. It was fantastic to watch and it definitely started the anime on a high note and I am happy to report it did not disappoint! It was truly engaging throughout. The characters, although we mainly only witnessed the fall of princess Angelize are diverse and you really get involved in their stories. The animation is impeccable in its characters and background designs. Although why is it when it is a female driven anime where there is a needless amount of fan service? As if it is the only way you could keep a male viewer interested in the series. Saying that this anime where it has outright undeniable fan service to the point where the age restriction for the anime would need to be high (here is looking at you slightly lesbian near rape scene at the end) but it did it in a nearly “tasteful” way. Where it is blatantly full on fan service it makes it work for the animes benefit – the ripping of the prisoners clothes was actually an apt way of describing the humiliation that “lesser” being suffer in that sort of scenario.
Will I Continue to Watch: Yes, yes a million times yes! This is what I consider to be a good anime. It has drama and an actually believable story in terms of continuation. I will have to avoid the fan service and the incestual slurs but other than that I am all good here.

NanatsuNanatsu no Taizai (or Seven Deadly Sins)

Next up this week is supernatural, fantasy, action and adventure anime Nanatsu no Taizai or Seven Deadly Sins which also originally began on the 5th of October. The anime is based around the aftermath of the exile of the Seven Deadly Sins for treason against the King and after an supposed attempt to overthrow the monarchy. Princess Elizabeth discovers the truth that they were in fact framed by the castle guard known as the Holy Knights – after the assassination of her father and them taking the thrown she must flee. She goes in search of the Sins to help her regain the Kingdom from the Knights. She is stunned when the first Sin she meets is a little innkeeper named Meliodas who keeps company with a talking pig. Could the tales of the Sins have all been tall? Or widely overstated?
Slow starting anime, it kind of took a while for the story to kick in but damn did that talking pig make up for it. More talking piggy! The protagonist princess character is particularly bland in the sense it is obvious she is only there to kick off the story and be the resident fan service girl (breast squeezing in the first episode, classy anime). An aspect of this anime I did appreciate was the way they incorporated the seven deadly sins aspect into the anime – not going down the cliché route of literally having the seven deadly sins be just that but they nicely incorporated the animal aspect – Meloidas being the “Wrath of the Dragon”. I feel this anime suffers from slow running first episode syndrome – it took FAR too long to get to the point and tell us what and why. Luckily when it finally did get to point it was very enjoyable to watch.
Will I Continue to Watch: Yes, although it was slow there were many good aspects to it. Also MORE PIGGIES!

ShirobakoSHIROBAKO

Last up this week is SHIROBAKO which drops in on the slice of life and comedy side of the anime genre spectrum that was released on the 9th of October. The story of this anime mainly revolves around taking a look into the day to day life that can occur in the anime industry, all the everyday troubles and hardships. It mainly follows a group of girls as they try to make it within the industry from Writing, voice acting and production. Traditionally a “shirobako” is the white box in which a finalized tape is kept in – a fitting title for an anime based solely in the anime industry.
Terminally adorable is an understatement for this anime. It is a true staple for the slice of life anime genre. I can see why a lot of fans find this genre of anime which are always usually comedies more on the boring side of life since it can be repetitive. There was nothing particularly fantastic about this anime but on the other hand there was nothing hugely wrong with it either. It is one of those shows you can watch without really focusing on it. It did tend to drag on a bit after a while although it was only 24 minutes long it felt so much longer. There are so many characters it is hard to keep up with them all but for the most part the characters we could keep up with were okay for the most part, there was no real stand outs bar maybe the main protagonist producer girl.
Will I Continue to Watch: Unlikely, it is a nice anime to have on in the background but not my cup of tea.

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