Written by Shiggins
When it comes to first impression articles, I rarely get a chance to actually publish them because I'm needing to earn some money and work and deal with the crippling issues inside my head that I'm too scared to properly confront and manage... Anyway, I finally got to sit down and watch the first episode of a few new anime of 2020 that appealed to me for whatever reason, and here are my immediate thoughts on them. Let's see if I can do this for every season of the year! And if there's any I missed that you'd recommend, don't hesitate to let me know!
Science Fell in Love so I Tried to Prove it/Rikei ga Koi ni Ochita no de ShÅmei Shite Mita
Every now and again, there comes a series that starts off immediately fun to enjoy and take in, but you eventually grow concerned that it won't be able to survive off the one joke it's making. It happened to me with One-Punch Man (I didn't care about season 2, despite owning season 1 on blu-ray. Did you?) and I'm worried it will happen with Science Fell in Love. Does that mean I disliked this episode? Exactly the opposite!
The story focuses on two scientists who work in a laboratory constantly, and things change for them when the girl, Himuro Ayame, confesses she's in love with the boy, Yukimura Shinya. The two of them decide to figure out if this love is true, and if he feels the same way, through science! That means pie charts, experiments, and lots and lots of numbers. And by god, it takes some clever writing to balance out this much sciencing!
I'm not 100% sure on this, but I think Science Fell in Love might be quite a satire on the cliches of the romance genre, taking what are seen as natural moments in other stories and pointing out how planned and perfect they seem. This is an anime that managed to spend a solid bunch of it's runtime on the "Wall Slam" and not be boring with it. The two characters are very adorkable (yes, that word is intentional) as they're both super-smart and super-dumb at the same time, and the writing is strong enough that they're both very endearing, Himuro especially. I have no idea if or how the series can keep this joke running for an entire season, but it's certainly got me curious enough to keep watching for now. Could the science become nonsense? Could Yukimura's denseness become too much for viewers? Absolutely, but I'll be checking it out for now with hopes somewhat high.
ID: Invaded/Ido: Inveidedd
This one is tougher to talk about because, well, it's a murder mystery. That means the more you talk about it, the bigger the spoilers you give are, and all that will do is make people want to see it less. I hate being spoiled, I won't do it to you, so my input on this one will be brief. If you aren't convinced by the end of this entry, just remember that Josh Grelle (William Vengeance from Black Clover, Yuri Katsuki from Yuri on Ice) plays the main character. We all like him, right?
For what it's worth, ID: Invaded is about a detective named Sakaido who wakes up with no memory except a few names, in a strange digital world where the city is torn apart in blocks and even he himself becomes broken. Still able to move his limbs, he makes his way through the strangeness until he encounters a murdered victim.
So essentially, imagine Buggy the Clown but he looks like a sexy Natsu and he's in the Digital World, and you'll have the basic look of the show. I like the anime's use of 3D, creating this otherworldly and bizarre scenario that Sakaido is in, although I think I prefer AI: The Somnium Files when it comes to sci-fi amnesia-detective murder mysteries. That being said, the situation is unique enough for me to keep watching, and I can't deny at just how cool it is to witness the detective use his dismembered limbs to bring pieces of the world back together. Again, I hate spoilers though so just give it a watch yourself and see if you get sucked in to what is surely going to be a very big tapestry of plotting and deception. I don't want to say anymore than that.
Dorohedoro
This is the reason I waited so long to publish this article, because there was no way I was mentioning the new anime of Winter 2020 that appealed to me the most without the lizardman and the blondie. It's just not happening. Was it worth the wait? Honestly, it might be my favourite of the season so far.
In a dark city known as Hole, a lizard-headed Caiman and his friend Nikaido search for a chance to enter the other dimension inhabited by sorcerers, so Caiman can figure out which of them gave him a reptile head and why he has a man inside his mouth. So already we're in what makes anime so fun; It's flippin' weird!
The city of Hole is slowly introduced so as to avoid massive exposition, but we get a firm grasp on how the world is from what we're given and shown. The main villain En is one of the most significant and interesting antagonists to come out this winter, and both Caiman and Nikaido are delightful, providing some wonderful dark humour and casualness to the proceedings as they chop off fingers or inspect mutated corpses. My only nitpick is that I think Nikaido's facial features have been shrunk down, since her manga face seems different from what I've noticed. In the wrong hands, an anime like this would be grim and super-cereal the entire time, but Dorehedoro's writer clearly knew what they were doing, and I really hope this is the start of something special.
Plunderer
It should be said that I only watched this one because I heard it was bad, and I was ready to watch some good trash. The anime known as Plunderer might appeal to you if, like me, you've only heard of the USP, but it quickly fades away as the episode is nothing but a constantly blabbering lecture about the world, that does it's best to leave a bad taste in my mouth.
You see, Plunderer is about people with numbers on their bodies that represents a certain act in their lives, and when you run out of these numbers, you get taken away by monsters into the Abyss. Think of it like Logan's Run, In Time or even that episode of Community with the MeowMeowBeenz, but with less sense and more boredom. Anyway, the protagonist Hina is searching for the "Legendary Ace" because those were her mother's last words, she comes across a villain, and is saved by the Ace who she's shocked is actually someone she met earlier in the episode...
So yeah, it's just a rip-off of Nanatsu no Taizai, but without the charm, likeability or clever world-building. A generic village, a generic laughing handsome pretty boy baddie, a generic girl who is sexually harassed but we're meant to find it charming because... she does nothing except get genuinely scared of men spreading her legs open to see the number that's conveniently on her thigh for maximum perviness? The episode blathers on and on and on about the rules of these stupid numbers, the action is minuscule and boring, and the characters are just plain annoying, one of which is hopefully the worst of the year. Oh and the "Ace" looks like Ragna from Blazblue. One Piece's Ace, he ain't.
Toilet-Bound Hanako-Kun/Jibaku Shounen Hanako-Kun
Oh this one is pretty! Not so much the detail in the animation, although that's nice too of course, but the lighting and colours are lovely, which should come as no surprise because this anime was produced by Lerche (Assassination Classroom, Danganronpa, Radiant)! Gentle rays of twilight throughout the episode help to create a perfect use of shadow over their faces, heavier outlines over every important character... I'm already loving it! And thankfully, the story and cast are charming enough that I'll probably be able to enjoy this style for a bunch of more episodes.
In a highschool, there's "Seven Wonders", (Something that I feel is common in many anime/manga/visual novels/Kingdom Hearts 2), and one of them is about a ghost that can be summoned in the bathroom. Main protagonist Nene Yashiro goes to summon the ghost in the hopes of finding the boyfriend she wants, but is shocked to discover the spirit is a boy named Hanako, and the two of them try desperately to make her wish come true.
The characters are few so far, although the opening hints at many more to come, but feel quite sincere. Hanako is a lot of fun, and his Japanese VA, Megumi Ogata (Yugi Motou from Yu-Gi-Oh, Komaeda from Danganronpa) has a damn soothing voice that makes his lines that more interesting to hear. Nene is cutesy but determined, making her immediately fun to watch, and the two of them together have a great back-and-forth. Honestly, the only part that felt off to me was an amazingly brief action scene involving a monster, which came out of nowhere and ended just as quickly. I'll definetly find out if the action continues to feel unnecessary or grows into a central part of the story, because I'm absolutely continuing this one.
Pet
Do you remember those awesome moments in video games where things change whenever you look away from it for a second, and it causes the entire area to feel like a complete drug trip? And you're almost scared to turn around because you might end up seeing a monster or chests being licked? Well, that happens in this episode and thank god because the rest is... not very enjoyable.
From as little as the episode tells me, Pet is all about the mind and how it can pick up on emotions or be altered by those who know how to use it. The first half of this episode is set in the past, although we're never told that, as we see a young boy struggle to cope with being able to feel his mother's wise for suicide. After that, we skip ahead to someone taking on some sketchy tasks until he becomes a target himself of his own boss.
Pet is weird, but not the fun kind of weird I like in my anime. Very little of what is happening is explained, which I would usually praise, but it's told in a way that seems like it would only make sense if you already knew what was going on beforehand. Basically, it's an episode that demands to be rewatched. And frankly, I'd rather not because all the characters are depressing and the brief weirdness we did get doesn't make up for the other 20 minutes of boredom. Truth be told, I'd rather it was just a romance between the two guys renting a room together, but it's probably not that. If Pet improves later on, I might check it out again, but I'll leave it alone for now.
Shiggins:[Admin]
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Born under the stars of the Dark Gods, Shiggins owns the power of the Great Eye and is utterly magnificent in his omniscience. If you dare to discover more about someone as great as him, then go ahead. And to all my friends and family members, YOU are wrong and I should be disappointed! Not the other way round!,. You can find out about him or ask him stuff on ask.fm/shigginsishere or go to his tumblr page http://otakugajeel.tumblr.com/
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