Blue Mermaids Love to Slay – Otaku Digest
Here we are another Sunday, another week over and we all what that means, a new instalment of Otaku Digest.
Can somebody please tell me where the time is going? It feels as if we were just kicking off the winter anime season and now here we are near enough mid-way through the spring season. We are very interested however in what you guys are watching, what running series are you keeping up to date with and would like to recommend? Or have you gone rogue and vintage in your anime tastes watching older series that you may have missed along the years? Let us know!
This week we are focusing on the present spring season and are jumping right into the action with the next two titles of High School Fleet and Hundred.
High School Fleet
First up this week we have the slice of life and school anime High School Fleet or Haifuri which began airing on April 10. Set in Japan 100 years following plate subductions which caused many countries to become submerged under the sea. In order to protect those countries that were left above water, coastal cities were built up and propelled into the seas and the seaborne routes that connected them were expanded and with that came the need to protect these seas arose.
Many women chose to seek employment within this newfound industry and thus the term Blue Mermaids was created to describe those who protected the seas. Here we meet childhood friends Moeka China and Akeno Misaki who look to become one of these Blue Mermaids along with other young women who share their dream which is why they have enrolled in the Yokosuka Marine High School.
Another slice of life for the spring season, why has there been so many this season? Has it always been this way and I just never noticed, were they so uninteresting that I blended them into one or was giving out so much I never noticed? Either way here we have another school based slice of life which for the longest time now have been growing on me but straight off the bat this one gave me mixed feelings. I enjoyed the whole women having a special place and the oceanic aspect but from the get go there was far too much use of CGI based animation for my liking giving the anime a far too computerised feel. The entire premise of the anime itself is interesting and there is so much room for development as it continues but I could not help but get the feeling I was watching the exact same slice of life school anime except this one’s niche was that it was taking place on a ship, the same kind of narrative with the same kinds of characters even where they attempted some kind of action or suspense there was no real draw to the narrative.
https://youtu.be/uPUyqOKymXc
Will I Continue to Watch: No, not my kind of anime but there is a chance for development
Hundred
Next we have Hundred an ecchi, action, mecha, harem, school and sci-fi anime adapted from the manga of the same name and originally aired on April 5.
This anime brings us to an Earth which is being attacked by a savage being and the only weapon that can go up against is the weapon known as the Hundred. Only those known as Slayers have the ability to wield the Hundred. Hayato Kisaragi wants to become a slayer and successfully manages to register in the marine academy city ship Little Garden but his time there is not set to run smoothly. Not only has he already had an awkward run in with his roommate Emil Crossford who he doesn’t really get but the moment he arrived at the school he was challenged by the “Queen” Claire Harvey, the schools most powerful slayer to a dual!
I live to find a new mecha anime that truly knocks my socks off with its action and suspense but also something with some story to it, a nice balance of both, I do not ask for much do I? From the get go this anime seemed promising since it not only appears to be a mecha and action series but also has other aspects to it but why was there need to make it a harem type anime I have no idea.
Thankfully it did kick off with a very action and suspence built opening scene followed up by a random but enjoyable opening theme with a good jpop theme in there. My hopes were slightly dashed with this anime since I found it impossible to get into the story or the many characters it randomly introduced us to. I can imagine the story will probably develop better as the series goes on but I just can’t see the point in dedicating time to a show with an interesting but repetitive story and characters that are not really getting proper development.
The mecha side of the anime was interesting in how it was used but even that cannot save this complicated and slightly fan service reliant series.
Will I Continue to Watch: No, a whole lot going but not no much of anything to it!
