Welcome one and all to the first instalment of Otaku Digest of 2016! A new year can only mean one thing: a new season of fresh anime for us to have a nose through and pick out some stand-out series that may actually be worth sticking with. Looking back, 2015 was pretty dreary for anime, but we look on the positives here at The Arcade so we’ll see 2016 as not only a new year but a clean slate.
For anyone new to what we do here, Otaku Digest looks at all the new anime series released each season, sticking to only the newly released series (or at least I try to!) and take the first episodes from them to see whether the entire series is worth sticking with. First impressions are vital here but there is always hope, even for a terrible first episode, as it could be a piece of narrative, the animation or even a character that could sway a decision from being a hard no to a ‘it might get better’ yes.
With that, let’s kick off the winter season with our first batch of anime delights! We have Musaigen no Phantom World, Haruchika: Haruta to Chika wa Seishun Suru and Prince of Stride: Alternative.
Musaigen no Phantom World
First up this week is the action, supernatural and fantasy anime Musaigen no Phantom World or Myriad Colors Phantom World, an anime adapted from a manga of the same name that originally aired on January 7. This anime takes us to a near future that has been born from human imagination. What would usually be considered by a human to be a ghost or a monster have now been renamed as phantoms. We meet our protagonist, Haruhiko Ichijo, who is a first year at the Hosea Academy where he is joined by phantom fighting upperclassman Mai Kawakami who fights with the ability of Spirit of Five Elements and Izumi Reina possesses the Phantom Eater ability. Each go through their day to day high school life until they are involved in an event that will change all they know and show them the truth of the world they live in.
Alright series, you have my attention with your insanely colourful and catchy opening theme. Something I also enjoyed about the opening theme is the fact that it was only really a dance music introduction video and, although it had what seemed to be scenes from the series, there were no spoilers as some series tend to boast but simply a fun character show-off. Another aspect straight off the bat is I really enjoyed the stark yet weirdly equal scenarios that were happening at the same time; the boy rushing for school and the girl battling a phantom, clearly one prioritises another yet they had the same urgency within the series. This series is taking a used trope of academy-based characters with monsters but I actually enjoyed this episode and the concept that the anime is taking with it by using the imagination and phantoms aspect. There was an excellent balance of comedic fan service vs action in this anime which is something that has been missing from anime in recent seasons where there was no balance at all.
Will I Continue To Watch? Yes, I enjoyed the character development and the direction the narrative is going.
Haruchika: Haruta to Chika wa Seishun Suru
Next this week is Haruchika: Haruta to Chika wa Seishun Suru, which is a romance, slice of life, school and mystery series which has been adapted from the Haruchika novels by Sei Hatsuno and will also receive a manga adaptation in October after it first aired on January 7. Here we follow typical high school students and childhood friends Haruta and Chika who happen to also be members of the school wind instrument club which, to their dismay, is on the brink of being shut down for good. The two spend their days practicing hard at their instruments while working just as hard to enlist some new members to the club. It is not until a certain incident occurs in the school that they must all work together to resolve it.
Let me kick off by stating that, yes, I hate with an unruly passion the slice of life genre and, no, that never clouds my judgment of a series. In fact it is the exact opposite! I watch slice of life anime in the hope that one day I will find a worthwhile series to watch that is actually entertaining. There is something about these types of anime that just come off as dull to me; there is no draw and in there lies the problem. In this episode, despite their attempts to create an incident and tension, the execution is dull with no real life in the narrative. The saying ‘all talk and no action’ is very appropriate here. There doesn’t need to be actual action at all. Not to mention the characters are generic and bland with no real development besides our main character.
Will I Continue To Watch? No, boring with no big draw to watch more.
Prince of Stride: Alternative
Lastly this week is the sports anime Prince of Stride: Alternative which began airing on January 5. With the surge of sports based anime in recent years and the continued success of series such as Free! Iwatobi Swim Club, now we have a running series. The anime introduces us to the run down ‘Stride’ club at the Hounan Academy. Enter first year students Nana Sakurai and Takeru Fujiwara who are enthusiastic to get the club restarted and back up and running, but first they need to sign up six new members. They hit a major hurdle when trying to get Riku Yagami to join as it seem this is the one thing he doesn’t want to do. However, they continue nagging and dragging him to the club room to convince him to join, but has stride come to an end before it has even left the starting line?
I have already mentioned Free! above and I am fully aware there are more sports based anime out there and most are considered even better than Free! But let me be straight with you all, I really dislike sports anime. I just have never seen the point of them and would put them on the same level as a slice of life anime which technically some of them are. Saying that, I give every series a chance like with Free, which I ended up enjoying. They cram so much drama into these series it is particularly hilarious.
I can give this series its first thumbs up and that is for a seriously catchy opening theme with some of the best opening credits I have witnessed in a while. The song is super catchy and something you could genuinely listen to separate to the series. This anime has an interesting animation style compared to other sports anime, as it went with a more manga or video game feel, which is interesting considering there was no massive fan service push. Something like that is usually the major draw for most sports related series. I actually enjoyed the narrative in this episode and that is down to the very entertaining characters; their ongoing banter was worth any mishaps the episode had.
Will I Continue To Watch? Yes, I look forward to seeing where it goes.
