Winter 2013 Anime Season Preview

Quick and dirty.

Here are the shows I’ll be giving a go:

• Tamako Market
• AKB0048 Second Stage
• AMNESIA
• Maoyuu Maou Yuusha
• Hakkenden: Touhou Hakken Ibun

I expect most of these to be crap; the only one I expect to be good is AKB0048 Second Stage. Tamako Market will at least look good, even if its ultimately a waste of time otherwise. The remainder all likely will be terrible to dull, but I’m willing to give them a go because they have an interesting premise or because I am hoping for some whiff of homoeroticism. This is what BL and yuri fans are like, by the way – when there isn’t anything obvious, we sadly sniff around for hints (hell, there’s even a phrase for this in BL fandom – nioi-kei, a piece that has whiffs of but no actual BL). And that is what I’ll be doing with Hakkenden, which hails from a shoujo mag and has “pretty” mens who spend all their time together. Woohoo.

If I sound unenthused, well, yeah, that’s ’cause I am.

Tamako Market is one of those very few times where I wish the characters were younger than they are; I could definitely get into a story about elementary kids living in a shopping district, but I’m not really feeling moe-looking high school students. I’m just not that crazy about high schoolers in general, and a show really has to do a bang-up job for me to get past that (Hyouka did, in large part because there wasn’t much in the way of melodrama). I’ll admit I’d also thought originally that the Tamako Market kids were younger, which may be part of my bias here. I’ll try it anyway, but I’m not as interested as I was a few weeks ago when I was operating under misconceptions.

AMNESIA will probably be pretty bad, since we have yet to see an otome adaptation that is truly worthwhile. A few of the Angelique adaptations have been decent, Arcana Famiglia was oddly decent (but disappointing since it never got around to the tournament), and Prince-sama was incredibly entertaining for about half the show, but otome adaptations have yet to get anything that has crossover appeal or, well, staying power. Of course, this stems largely from how few of them there are even now. I’m going to try out AMNESIA, though, even with low expectations, because I am ever-curious about if/when otome games will get a decent anime.

I also just want to sidetrack slightly and toss in LOL at the fanboys who’re pissing themselves over Da Capo III but then make sour faces and state that, well, AMNESIA is obviously total garbage because, well, those otome shows, what low-brow junk! I don’t care if eroge adaptation fans won’t watch AMNESIA because its material doesn’t interest them, but its so stupid and sexist when they start tipping their noses into the air and pontificating about how otome anime are by their very otome game-ness pure shit when they will then get really mad and try to insist that Shitty Harem Eroge Anime #20,000 should be respected and given a chance, and, man, why can’t you get past your prejudices and try it? But, yeah, man, that AMNESIA, ugh, its OBVIOUSLY pandering, people who like it are so dumb.

(For the record, having at least watched a few episodes of shitty eroge anime almost every season for the past seven years, I feel pretty safe in not trying these ones out anymore unless someone can present a convincing argument for why I should try it. Life is too damn short to waste, bros.)

Maoyuu Maou Yuusha has an interesting-looking premise, and the Spice and Wolf comparisons do make me a wee hopeful… but, well, it came from 2ch. This probably sounds cruel and unfair of me, but, come on, folks, how many times have we been told about this totally awesome show that originated in a dubious place but is totally great I swear… only for it to be complete shit? Many times! But you can’t get too fussy, since I will be watching at least the first few episodes when it airs, and I honestly hope it is every bit as good as legend would have that it will be. I would certainly welcome a strong dose of adult-oriented anime.

I’ve already said all I can about Hakkenden, a show I keep confusing with that anime that adapted Moby Dick (Hakugei). Why do I? Who knows. I vote yes for homoeroticism and lots of blood, and if I get that, I’ll probably be ok with using this to sop up half an hour each week while I, hmm, fold my laundry. Or something like that.

Anyway! A Day’s gotta eat, bros. Good luck with whatever the hell you end up watching.