The Winter 2012 Anime Preview Guide

Carlo Santos

A veteran of Anime News Network for over 7 years, Carlo (spelled without an "s", thank you very much) is best known for RIGHT TURN ONLY!!, his manga review column. He also writes full-length reviews and convention reports for ANN, sometimes specializing in J-pop music and other weird messes that no one else really understands. His favorite series from the past year include Madoka Magica, Steins;Gate, Hanasaku Iroha, Nichijou/My Ordinary Life, Sket Dance, and Chihayafuru.

---

Nisemonogatari

Rating: 3.5 (of 5)

Review:
There may be no greater barometer of acquired taste this season than Nisemonogatari, the follow-up to the equally idiosyncratic Bakemonogatari. The new show reunites two of anime's most polarizing, love-'em-or-hate-'em creative minds: "drown everyone in dialogue" author NisiOisiN and "look at these quick scene cuts, they make up for stiff animation" director Akiyuki Shinbo. While their combined style can easily be dismissed as obtuse, pseudo-intellectual slop, fans in the right frame of mind will find it to be incredibly well-produced slop.

The story re-introduces us to teenage boy Koyomi Araragi, whose ostensible harem of girls is the biggest bunch of weirdos you're likely to meet. In the opening scene he finds himself imprisoned and taunted by schoolmate Senjougahara, all the while having another one of those captivating-yet-pointless conversations. Later on it's class president and tutor Hanekawa playing verbal volleyball with Araragi, but the ultimate highlight of Episode 1 is when the boy crosses paths elementary-schooler Mayoi Hachikuji. Their conversation comes peppered with sly anime references, pointed linguistic observations (adding the phrase "the courage to" makes any reprehensible act sound okay, and she's right), and musings on the nature of Hachikuji's panties. All right, so maybe the series dips into the lowbrow from time to time.

Where this episode falters is that it basically offers a character recap with no specific story yet. But that doesn't stop it from being fascinating to those who are drawn in by NisiOisiN's style of dialogue; the banter between Araragi and company creates sufficient momentum where the plot falls short. The stylish animation should also hold the attention of viewers, with unusual color schemes and quirky character designs (witness Araragi's amazing morphing cowlick) providing eye candy on a higher artistic level. Odd camera angles and a rapid-fire rhythm, all trademarks of the Shinbo style, also add visual distinctiveness. A sparse, sometimes ambiguous music score is the final touch to the show's cryptic aura—an aura that some will find irresistible, even if others squirm away in confusion.

Nisemonogatari is available streaming on Crunchyroll.

---

High School DxD

Rating: 1 (of 5)

Review:
There's stuff that's bad because it's lazy and unoriginal, and then there's stuff that's bad because it's downright offensive. High School DxD falls into the latter category, taking the worst of the harem genre and the "schoolkid discovers supernatural powers" formula, then tossing on an extra jiggly layer of fanservice just to make sure anyone with actual standards has been scared off.

The story centers on horny high-schooler Issei, who attends a co-ed academy that was recently converted from an all-girls school (Better odds for the boys! Pathetically contrived plot device!) and dreams of someday interacting with the opposite sex. His wish seems to have come true when, one day, a mysterious schoolgirl named Yuuma asks him out. Unfortunately, Issei's first date takes a disastrous turn when, at the end of the day, Yuuma transforms into a demon and "kills" him. Cue the head-shaking and eye-rolling as everyone realizes this has gone from dumb, derivative shonen romance to dumb, derivative supernatural action.

Luckily, Issei is saved by Rias, the school's foreign-born beauty who is also equipped with supernatural powers. (Guessing by her ridiculous chest size, she's probably equipped with a back brace too.) So now Issei finds himself contracted to Rias, occasionally performing superhuman feats, and involved in a secret intradimensional war ... just like every teenage action-anime protagonist these days, it seems.

With most of the animation effort going into properly rendered breast-jiggle, that leaves little room for any other visual flair. Fight scenes are executed with a predictable repertoire of computer-generated magic circles, mystical glowing auras, and—because this is a "mature" show—unrealistic puddles of blood. The colors are vivid, but not combined in any imaginative way; aside from day-to-day scenes, it's all black, grey, red and occasionally purple because that's supposed to symbolize dark evil forces. Naturally, character designs will be best ed for the distorted cheesecake proportions among the girls and totally forgettable boys. Meanwhile, the overly dramatic music smacks of trying too hard, a last-ditch effort to make this show seem serious. But all it is, is seriously bad.

---

The Knight in the Area

Rating: 3 (of 5)

Review:
If The Knight in the Area should be faulted for anything, it's the unapologetic attempt to appeal to mainstream audiences. Episode 1 introduces all the usual shonen-genre stereotypes, heads out in a predictable direction, and hedges its bets on the most popular sport in the world—soccer.

This is the story of Kakeru Aizawa, younger brother of teen phenom Suguru Aizawa. While the elder Aizawa performs extraordinary feats, like scoring against Brazil in an international youth tournament, Kakeru is content to be an equipment manager for the local squad captained by Suguru. The wheels of plot start to turn when a tomboyish-but-now-gorgeous childhood friend, Nana, returns to town (and now you see where the predictability starts to show up). Nana is surprised to see that Kakeru no longer plays actively, considering he was so ionate about soccer as a boy—a ion that only shows itself when Kakeru goes out to practice alone at night. Tensions start to mount when a  "mystery player" shows up to challenge Kakeru at one of his practice sessions, and the next day Suguru (who has never been happy with Kakeru's reluctance) forces him to play in a scrimmage match. Perhaps Kakeru's desire is about to be re-ignited ...

Clearly, this isn't the most mind-bending, innovative concept—the characters are built on standard personality tropes, the story events aren't terribly surprising, and the whole rah-rah sports theme is almost embarrassingly optimistic. But there's enough conflict being stirred up to keep things interesting, along with slickly animated soccer scenes (the Japan-Brazil match is the big draw here) and a well-orchestrated soundtrack that manages quite a few other moods besides simply "peppy sporting music." The main character designs are instantly appealing, in a clean-cut friends-next-door kind of way; unfortunately, it looks like the job of animating the ing characters was handed off to the third-string staff. Still, the overall outlook for this series is positive, with enough polish and substance to hold the interest of shonen fans and sports enthusiasts.

The Knight in the Area is available streaming on Crunchyroll.

---

Baby, Please Kill Me

Rating: 2 (of 5)

Review:
The only interesting thing about Baby, Please Kill Me is the unusual title. Everything after that goes rapidly downhill: Episode 1 reveals the show to be yet another hodgepodge of lowbrow gags based on the "wacky schoolgirls messing around" formula. The predictably dopey lead character is Yasuna, a high-schooler (drawn to look about eight years old, for whatever reason) whose best friend Sonya is decidedly un-dopey. It turns out Sonya works a side job as a hired killer, which means she overreacts to just about everything with her elite assassin reflexes. Don't hug Sonya from behind, she'll throw you; put a hand on her shoulder and you can look forward to a broken wrist. Unfortunately these jokes lack proper wit and focus to capitalize on the hired-killer concept—everything just boils down to dumb slapstick overreactions.
 
The episode's second half is slightly more clever, with self-proclaimed ninja Agiri showing up and displaying her "techniques" in the ancient art. The joke is that most of these techniques are just low-rent substitutes: Agiri "clones" herself by drugging Yasuna so that she sees double, and sells several ninjutsu scrolls that claim to have elemental powers (fire and water) but are really just household gadgets. Having a handful of silly characters like these is hardly a concept to build a series upon, and the lack of actual chemistry between Yasuna, Sonya and Agiri suggests trouble from Day 1.

The cute but bland character designs make the show's 4- origins clear to see; they might reproduce easily on a small manga page but look like basic grade-school scribbles on a full-color screen. Even worse are the backgrounds, which try to go for a "sketchy" look with light watercolor and crayon but give off an aura of little or no effort. Of course, subjecting one's self to these visuals would first require getting past the theme song, a raucous mess that is intentionally sung out of tune. There's just too much junk here to enjoy the comedy—if there was any comedy in the first place.