Otaku Digest: Beats For Your Comet Super Powers
The weary traveler is back from the lustrous city that never sleeps, New York city which I have now dubbed the City of Geek as it was jam packed with all the stores an anime fan would need and believe me Otaku Digest will be taking a glimpse at some of those in the coming weeks. However, the autumn season is well and truly upon us and Otaku Digest is back with a bang and has set its sights on the new anime of this season. Following what can only be called one of the most disappointing anime seasons in my opinion the autumn season does not need to really try that hard to outshine the dull light of the summer season. For anyone just joining the party that is Otaku Digest we take the recent anime season and more specifically the newest releases of anime and from a first impression of the first episode to see whether the entire season is worth sticking with. Usual disclaimer applies here, these are my opinions but if yours differs I would love to hear it in the comments.
Brave Beats
Why not kick off this new season with a bang but in this case a beat with the music anime Brave Beats which originally aired on October 11. In this anime we meet Hibiki Kazaguruma, a regular sixth grade student who one day while walking home from school meets a little robot called Bureikin. Bureikin is not only robot but a dancer from another dimension, a dance world dimension, following challenging the dance king for the throne and losing he was stripped and deprived of dance stones which hold the dance power and banished to the human world. In order to restore his power Bureikin must collect all the dance stones that have been scattered around the Earth, to do this he fuses with young Hibiki to become a Dance Hero. While he searches the dance stones begin to cause chaos among the human world.
Well at least for once I did not manage to pick out the slice of life anime to kick off the new season, things are looking good for me in that case. However, I did manage to pick the next genre I am not hugely fond of which is music. The reason I say that is these types of anime in my opinion can go one of two ways, good where the music is enjoyable and there is an actual story or the exact opposite where the music is bland and the anime itself is not entertaining in any way. First off, a fantastic start to an anime which is the opening theme, it could be a standalone song it was so upbeat and entertaining. It is one of those song that genuinely makes you want to get up and dance which can only be a positive for an anime based on dancing. The anime itself is fairly innocent in its storyline but I actually found it really entertaining as an anime. The characters although completely undeveloped are at their core interesting and much like other young age anime like this you can tell that although there will be no major developments for the characters this will be just a good enjoyable fun anime about dancing and throw some robots in there for good measure.
Will I Continue to Watch: Weirdly Yes, I found it entertaining and light-hearted
Comet Lucifer
Next up this week is Comet Lucifer – a mecha, adventure and fantasy anime that began airing on October 4. We are brought to the planet Gift in this anime, on this planet there are precious crystals known as Giftjium are buried all around the planet. In a flourishing mining town called Garden Indigo lives a young man named Sōgo whose hobby is to collect rare crystals. One day he gets caught up in a riot which has been caused by his fellow classmates and he loses track of where he is and comes across a lake which is deep beneath the mining ruins. In this place he meets a secretive blue haired and red eyed girl, the anime shows the adventure of what comes after this happen chance meeting.
Needless to say this anime probably has one of the most confusing and foreshadowed opening scenes that I have seen in a while, it is explaining things but you have no idea what exactly the old man narrating is actually explaining for us. Followed by a high pitch and slightly annoying opening theme which is reminiscent of old school anime these which has female vocals but this took the pitch to a whole new level, what saves it is the beautifully animated opening theme sequence. Saying that even the first few scenes of this anime you just know that it is going to be a majestic anime to watch, character designs are borderline flawless while the backgrounds are done beautifully. I have never been the biggest mecha fan but sometimes those odd anime slip into the mix and just blow the genre away from the generic stereotypes it has become, this for me the combination of the two genres of fantasy and mecha which take both genres to a whole new level. The only thing I will say about this episode is that you do not get much story bar little inklings to what could happen which actually worked here because you will want the next episode as soon as possible.
Will I Continue to Watch: Yes, interesting characters and could be an interesting story in there
Concrete Revolutio: Choujin Gensou
Last to the chopping block this week is the super power and action anime Concrete Revolutio: Choujin Gensou that first aired on October 4. Imagine a world where every mythical creature known to humankind was suddenly very real and suddenly in existence at the same time lifeforms from mythical worlds, titans from space, cyborgs created in a lab or even ancient relics that rise from ancient civilisations, in what is being called “another japan” and set in the imaginary “age of gods” set 20 years after the war. Now Japan has grown and developed hugely. Most of these superhumans keep primarly to themselves with secret identities but some make no secret of who or what they are and have gained major popularity to the public. The superhumans have both protectors and enemies with group established by the Ministry of Health and Welfare to protect the superhumans and enemies against who mainly operate from the shadows. The group who protect the superhuman known as the Superhuman Bureau have the single mission to oversee and protect the superhumans, among the bureau is Jiro Hitoyoshi.
Before even starting this anime I had a preconceived headache for the entire superhuman genre as it has been done to death with no real stand outs in the bunch which I have to say is becoming my pet peeve within the different anime seasons. You can see the trend building in pop culture and that will filter into popular anime genres pretty soon after. I do try and go into each anime with an open mind however and this one will be no different. Something that did stand out to me is the very vibrant animation which was actually quite refreshing in an anime that comes off as being dark in tone but with that vibrancy came a level of immaturity within the character designs but thankfully what overshadowed this was the little hits of comic relief in there. Obviously I did appreciate the magical girl elements that were incorporated into the whole story unfortunately for whatever reason for me it did not save the anime for me, I found the story not only confusing but really mashed around the place trying to incorporate too many elements at once.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00TQbEj3Hqk
Will I Continue to Watch: No, characters are bland and the story too sporadic.
We’re into the autumn season now – what anime are you watching? Let us know!
