Total Eclipse
Review: In this alternate Earth, mankind first made contact with alien life in 1967, and it was far from peaceful. The BETAs (Beings of Extra Terrestrial Origin that are Adversaries of humanity) seem out to destroy humanity for unknown reasons, which led to initial combat on the surface of the Moon. Mankind was unable to hold them there, though, and in 1973 the BETAs successfully made their way to Earth, landing first in the approximate area of Afghanistan and spreading outward from there. Flash-forward to 1997, and the final defense lines protecting the BETAs from completely taking over Asia (and thus threatening Japan) are in shaky shape. Yui, scion of a prominent samurai clan, and numerous other high school-aged girls are in training to be the next wave of pilots of Zuikaku, the mecha that have become a key weapon in the struggle against the BETAs. There lives remain normal for a few months as they gradually acclimate to their machines, but in 1998 the final defense lines in Asia fall and the BETAs are now threatening Japan directly. Though placed on reserve duty to protect a supply depot during an attempt to maintain a defense line befor Kyoto, Yui and her classmates, all neophytes, are pressed into emergency duty when the BETAs break through the line.
The first mecha series of the season begins with a total focus on building and establishing its setting. Rather than just throw the girls into battle immediately (and why they are all girls has yet to be explained), they are shown going through their training and are treated like the rookies that they are, with the girls finally flying off to battle being the dramatic climax; showing them in an actual fight will have to wait for episode 2. That already sets the tone as more of a hard-core mecha, rather than super-heroic mecha, series, and some implications are dropped that this one is going to take a gritty approach. The amount of establishing footage needed here forces character development to remain at a minimum; in fact, we never even learn the names of any of the girls other than the two who will apparently be the lead protagonists, and even the rivalry they seem to start with gets only the briefest treatment.
Stylistically and thematically in both the writing and the artistry, the content owes homage to numerous prominent mecha titles which have come before, including Neon Genesis Evangelion, Gunparade March, and Gunbuster. The high-quality artistry and CG mecha animation makes for a good-looking episode which does find some space for fan service (the mecha combat suits themselves are practically indecent) and the musical score delivers well on intensity. Overall, the series shows promise as a darker-edged mecha series but has yet to properly capitalize on it.
Tari Tari
Review: High school senior Konatsu Miyamoto desperately wants to participate in an upcoming choral recital, but a bad screw-up on her part in the previous year's recital (the details of which are not yet clear) has resulted in her being relegated to support status only by the choral coach. Discontent with that, she decides to start her own choral group club. Though she can count on her archery friend Sawa and blackmailing her brother to get involved, her efforts to invite Sakai, a girl taking supplementary classes to get caught up, fall miserably flat even though Sakai seems to be a former singer. Meanwhile, chronically late badminton enthusiast Tanaka finds himself showing around the campus one “Ween,” a new transfer student who is returning to Japan after a dozen years in Austria and has yet to get the language and customs completely straight.
Ultimately this series, which has a near-simultaneous manga version, seems intended to gather the three girls and two guys together as a choral ensemble, but the first episode already shows signs that this will be a troubled process, as Sakai clearly has something that weighs on her heavily and others show signs of having their own stress factors. Nearly the entire first episode is involved in firmly establishing the core cast, so it leaves little room for actual storytelling, but it does the introductions in a far smoother and more natural fashion than La storia della Arcana Famiglia did, with personality shown more through subtle touches than what the characters outright explain. That this is the first lead directing and scripting effort for Masakazu Hashimoto (who directed Professor Layton and the Eternal Diva but has otherwise done only storyboarding and episode directing) is rather shocking, but if the rest of the series works on the same writing level that this one does then his name is one to remember going forward.
Of course, the other good reason to watch is that this is a P.A. Works production, which means top-quality background art, a great job of making characters look distinctive without being outlandish, and upper-tier animation. This is a good-looking and richly-written first episode for a series which shows a lot of promise.
Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita
Review: In an apparent future world where humankind has long been in decline and food sources are dwindling, fairies (here also referred to as “present-humans”) exist who have command of supernatural “technology.” A young woman has the unenviable job of being the U.N. Mediator between humans and fairies, who seem like simple-minded, sweet-obsessed creatures but are capable of things like animating a headless, skinned chicken, producing a hair tonic which allows one to regrow hair that has been cut short virtually overnight, or merrily discussing how starving to death could be a new and interesting experience that could catch on as a fad. When strange, processed foods start showing up that bear the logo of a company called FairyCo, the young woman and her scientist grandfather go to investigate and discover some very weird things going on there.
Based on a series of short novels, this has to be one of the season's most bizarre entries - and yes, I'm saying that despite being only two series into the new season so far. The basic premise of a new supernatural race arising as humankind declines is a staple of fantasy and sci fi stories, but some of what happens in this episode is so mind-bogglingly strange (there's a bit with a loaf of bread-shaped robot towards the episode's end that will leave many viewers staring at the screen aghast) that the actual intended tone of the series is very hard to pin down. Some elements definitely seem grim, but the fairies are cutesy when not being disturbingly darkly ironic. It can shift from being light-hearted to serious to outright weird and back again in a matter of seconds while showing visuals that are typically very simply-drawn but occasionally show impressive sparks of imagination. The elflike fairy designs are also somewhat freaky in that they perpetually have wide-open mouths that don't move when they talk.
Whether this one can truly be called good or bad is unclear at this point, hence the middle-of-the-road grade, but its first episode certainly will not bore viewers no matter what your normal tastes are.
La storia della Arcana Famiglia
Review: The trade island of Regalo has a long-standing, long-welcomed tradition of being patrolled and protected by La Arcana Famiglia, a vigilante group who derive special powers from each having an affinity to a certain card of the Tarot deck. For instance, Felicita, the teenage daughter of the current “Papa” of the group, can see into a person's heart because of her affinity with The Lover, and she has no qualms about kicking the crap out of any of the many bishonen Famiglia members around her who approach her with frisky thoughts. She also gets righteously pissed when the reigning Papa, who's thinking about retiring, announces that he will conduct a tournament amongst the Famiglia members to determine who his successor will be, and that the winner will also marry Felicita, thus making her the new Mama. (And apparently he has reasons for doing this but doesn't want to tell anyone.) She is unable to convince him by force, but at least some of the young men around her have already decided to wish for Felicita's freedom should they win. Others, however, relish the idea of having her as a wife.
3
This is one of the rare anime series to be based on a computer game aimed at female audiences, and that shows almost immediately; before the action-oriented prologue is over, a distinct reverse-harem feel has already been established. Many of the usual-suspect personality archetypes seen in the genre get introduced quickly, but the tournament-for-the-lady's-hand aspect is, at least, a fresher approach. The amount of spunk that Felicita shows at first is also promising, but by the end of the episode that has largely disappeared, leaving one questioning whether or not she is actually going to be proactive in seeking a way out of the situation. (The premise of the series has her participating in the tournament, too, but that has not happened yet by the end of the first episode.) Inserting a traditional Japanese lady (the Mama) into a setting otherwise styled heavily off of Sicily is also more than a bit incongruous, though perhaps this will be explained later.
The artistry and animation, while respectable, are not going to blow anyone away and the musical score is nothing special, so this one is going to have to rely heavily on its writing. So far it's rather stiff, with explanations coming in a stilted fashion. This is far from being one of the worst reverse-harem concepts to come along recently, but it has yet to show much potential for being good.
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