Doctorkev’s Spring 2024 Anime Postmortem: Part 2
Some of this season’s anime really left the conclusion of their runs right up to the wire, only ending today on the last day of June! Some of Summer 2024’s shows, like that Suicide Squad Isekai thing, and the Code Geass sequel Roze of the Recapture that Disney never told anyone about, have already started airing. As usual, I like to wrap up the previous season before embarking on the next, though this time there were a bunch of shows I never got around to starting that I’ll try to make room for in my watching schedule over the next three months.
Some of these shows were sequels — like Sound Euphonium Season 3. I keep hearing great things about this show, but Crunchyroll continues to refuse to stream the essential movies and OVA in the UK, so I will stubbornly refuse to watch anything until it’s all available (though I do have Liz and the Blue Bird on blu-ray from Anime Limited). Sometimes anime licensing can be so stupid. I’d also like to watch the new version of Spice and Wolf, which bizarrely comes from the same director as the original version from the 2000s. I’d like to watch the original first, so I’d need to factor that in. My Hero Academia season 7 is also running, and I usually watch the dub version with my youngest son, though he seems to have lost interest. Maybe we’ll catch up over summer?
As far as new things are concerned, I’ve heard great things about Yatagarasu: The Raven Does Not Choose Its Master and Tonari no Yokai-san, so they’re on my priority list to catch up with. The Fable runs for two cours, so I’ll maybe watch a couple of episodes per week in order to catch up by the end of its run. The Many Sides of Voice Actor Radio sounds fun, but is a low priority that will probably languish on my watchlist until I pick it up on a whim. Crunchyroll also belated picked up Megaton Musashi, a mecha show that looks cool, maybe I’ll get around to watching eventually. Finally, I live in hope that not-terrible-looking CG anime Girls Band Cry finally gets some kind of delayed official English release like Megaton Musashi did, because I hear it’s great. I don’t feel strongly enough about watching it to resort to piracy, though.
Undead Unluck — Hulu/Disney+: 24 episodes
Although this phenomenal, bonkers, action-filled extravaganza of an anime finished streaming in the US on Hulu in March 2024, internationally everyone else had to wait for Disney+ to stream the show in fits and starts, eventually lagging a full three months behind. It’s been clear for a long time now that Disney+/Hulu is where promising anime goes to die. It happened with Summertime Rendering and Heavenly Delusion (with the title kept inexplicably untranslated as Tengoku Daimakyo — what casual viewer is going to pick that up?), Tokyo Revengers seasons 2 and 3 sank without a trace, and their criminal lack of publicity for sadly-deceased Dragonball Z’s creator Akira Toriyama’s Sand Land anime was criminal. For better or for worse (mostly worse), Disney pick up a lot of decent anime, then leave it to wither on the vine. There is no strategy here, just pure indifferent neglect.
Baffling release strategies aside, Undead Unluck started a bit shakily, but soon morphed into a compelling, fun and deeply strange show. Original manga creator Yoshifumi Tozuka’s approach to worldbuilding and plotting could most accurately be described as “galaxy-brained”. I kind of struggle to follow what the hell is going on and why, but it all seems to stick to some kind of internally-consistent dream logic, so I mostly just shrug off the latest almost incoherent wierdness and go with it. Things usually become clear later.
Central duo Fuuko and Andy have a great, supportive relationship that only deepens over time, and the most recent concluding arc really cements them as the emotional heart of the show. I particularly like tragic new character Anno Un and the way his powers and backstory helped flesh out the more esoteric workings of this deeply strange world. I only hope there’s a second season, and that Disney’s international mismanagement hasn’t scuppered its chances of renewal. I guarantee if this had streamed on Crunchyroll it would have been massive, rather than merely a footnote in the history of anime in 2023/2024.
That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime Season 3 — Crunchyroll: 1 — 13 of 24 episodes
Oh dear. This previously fun show has become such a chore to watch, filled with endless meetings, a cast that’s too big, a dearth of action, and a loss of any narrative progression. I am hovering so close to dropping it now. I complained about this season at length in the below Anime News Network article, where it “won” my accolade of worst anime (that I watched) of the Spring 2024 season. I can’t be bothered wasting any more time on it today.
Demon Slayer — Hashira Training Arc — Crunchyroll: 8 episodes
Coming in at a close second for Worst of the Season, behind Slime, I also covered this obscenely-padded season of Demon Slayer in the above ANN article. There is no good aesthetic or plot-related reason that this terminally dull training arc couldn’t have been compressed into two or three episodes at most. Instead, we get eight episodes, three of which are extended in length, filled with the most mind-numbingly banal irrelevances.
I know some fans argue this provides time for “character development”, but Demon Slayer’s concept of “character development” either involves people hitting or shouting at each other, or overlong, maudlin flashbacks packed full of sad things in order to try and belatedly drive empathy for characters we either know nothing or care little about. Apart from Ufotable’s incredible presentation (their skills are wasted here), this Demon Slayer arc has been a complete waste of my time.
Additionally, just prior to publishing this article, it was announced that the final Demon Slayer arc that follows this — Infinity Castle — will be split into three movies. While these will all no doubt look amazing and will earn uncountable megabucks for Aniplex, I wonder if my interest in this franchise will last the inevitable wait for them all to be released… No doubt they’ll all be split up into episode-sized chunks Mugen Train-style to stream on Crunchyroll at some point anyway.
Dead Dead Demons DeDeDeDe Destruction — Crunchyroll: episodes 0–5 of 18
A late starter, this adaptation of Inio Aasano’s renowned manga debuted halfway through the spring season, and is scheduled to run for 18 episodes, until the end of Summer 2024. This one has a weird release history, because it started as two 120-minute movies first released earlier this year in Japanese movie theatres. Internationally, it’s instead being streamed chopped up into individual episodes, with exclusive extra material, such as the prologue episode 0, which apparently adapts the first half of the manga’s final volume. That’s certainly one way to tell a story, I suppose.
I went into this show blind. I’ve always wanted to get around to reading Asano’s manga work, but I glad I waited for this anime adaptation, because it’s excellent. The animation is superb, the slow-ish slice of life pacing works well, as it focuses primarily on the relationship of two teenage friends as they live through a tumultuous period of history — a huge spaceship hovers in the sky above Tokyo, and no-one knows why. Most of the background story is told via TV news reports, newspapers, and secondary character conversations. Sometimes it seems the overhanging strangeness barely affects our main characters, who go about their lives focusing on typical teenage girl worries, only for random events to suddenly and drastically change the status quo.
Asano’s view of human nature does seem to be somewhat cynical, so we have a significant focus on bullying and kids being shitty to one another, plus there’s a teacher who seems up for having sex with one of his students (though the dub/sub script apparently tones this down quite significantly, which is… a concern.) The most recent episode seems to be a flashback which is incongruous with what we have learned about the present day, so I wonder if there are some creative narrative sleight-of-hands coming our way. This is a fascinating show with deliberately ugly character designs and upsetting situations. It does, however, look spectacular at times, and is a highlight of my week.
Mysterious Disappearances—Crunchyroll: 12 episodes
This relatively chill slice of life/supernatural horror show gradually grew on me over the course of the season. I wanted to like it as much as I did Dark Gathering, but it became clear they are very different shows. While Dark Gathering revelled in gore and unsettling horror, Mysterious Disappearances generally isn’t scary or disgusting. There’s a slow burn mystery focusing on the nature of apparent siblings Ren and Oto Adashino that resolves heartbreakingly in the season’s concluding, and apparently anime-original, episode. I’ve read that episode ten adapts up to manga volume four, then the following two episodes miss out a few arcs then end the story, though leaving the option open for a second season to adapt the missing arcs.
I was unaware of this while watching, and felt the ending was very strong on both an emotional and conceptual level. I did not expect it to directly reference scenes from Grave of the Fireflies, for example. Stories that feature urban legends and folklore are fascinating to me, and Mysterious Disappearances features several of the same concepts as explored in the Otherside Picnic novel series (that I absolutely adore). In particular, I loved the seemingly magic bookstore that protagonist Sumireko Ogawa finds herself in several times during the story. I think I’d like to see more of this.
Mushoku Tensei Season 2 part 2 — Crunchyroll: 12 episodes
MEGA SPOILERS — READ AT YOUR PERIL
Oh boy. It’s like one step forwards and fifteen back for our boy Rudeus, who for quite a long time now has been the singular anime protagonist I dislike the most. I kind of get where the author is coming from with him — he’s a broken person who suffered terrible indignities in his past life, more or less failed to function as a human being, and now in this second attempt at life he’s held back by previous baggage that prevents him from properly processing everything he’s experienced. However, Rudy keeps making terrible decisions, and he always relies on the others around him to either put him back on the straight and narrow, or to lift him up from the depths of despair. It often seems like he has little in the way of a moral compass, and that really frustrates me. Does he ever actually learn?
Take the most recent development between him and his “goddess” Roxy, for example. Roxy takes advantage of Rudy’s vulnerability — he’s far from home, has just lost his father in the most brutal, violent way, plus his rescued mother now appears to have regressed to an almost mind-wiped state (similar to Casca from Berserk). Roxy succumbs to her own desires, self-justifying her actions of seducing Rudy into making him feel better. In his moment of weakness Rudy then proceeds to cheat on his expectant wife Sylphy, something he promised he would never do. Afterwards, Elinalise (Sylphy’s grandmother!) suggests Rudy just marry Roxy too, because, I don’t know, Sylphy will just get over it? What? AAAARRRGGGHHHH!!!
I was just about ready to forgive Mushoku Tensei for its disastrous season 2 part 1, with its whole tying-up-beastgirls-until-they-piss-themselves debacle, but now we have whatever this storyline is. Yuk. I hate it. At least Roxy hangs back on accepting Rudy’s proposal, because quite rightly this requires Sylphy’s consent. Even if polygamy is culturally acceptable in this world, Rudy and Roxy have done this completely the wrong way around. Regardless of her almost unbelievable acceptance of this new status quo in the final episode, surely Sylphy must feel pressured into this arrangement?I have lost even more respect for Rudy (I was surprised I had any left for him, to be honest). At least his little sister Norn’s reaction to him was more realistic, berating him quite appropriately.
Hateful plot developments aside, this is still a phenomenal show, with a wonderful cast of characters, beautiful visuals, absolutely incredible action animation during the recent hydra fight, and a wonderfully detailed and well-realised world. Most of the characters react believably to tragedy, and sometimes I even feel my tear ducts welling up in response. However, Rudy’s repeated morally reprehensible actions keep me teetering over the decision to drop the show (even through the third season has just been confirmed), as it’s clear the author intends to keep doing whatever the hell it is he thinks he’s doing with Rudy’s characterisation.
Kaiju №8–Crunchyroll: 12 episodes
Now this is more like it. I was already a fan of this Shonen Jump manga from creator Naoya Matsumoto, but Production I.G’s excellent adaptation knocked my expectations out of the park. While the goofy humour can be a little forced and out of place, the simple yet empathetic characters interact in a fun way with one another both in the quieter slice-of-life scenes, and in the hi-octane action sequences. I also appreciate that Kafka Hibino, underdog protagonist, is an older guy (at least in anime terms) in his thirties, trying his best to keep up with the younger Kaiju Defense Force recruits. We get the impression that these guys really are all friends, who banter playfully but also support and encourage one another.
The plentiful action scenes look incredible, full of splattering viscera and dripping bodily fluids, as expected of the kaiju-battling genre. Kafka’s perpetual tension between fighting to protect his friends but risking exposure as a human/kaiju hybrid leads to many tense and effective moments of drama. I love that his younger male colleague Reno insists on continuing to call him “sir” (senpai in the sub), despite technically outranking him for half the show. Ultra-powerful female colleague Kikoru is cute and terrifyingly capable, and her friendship/possible crush on Kafka is adorable — even though, of course, he only has eyes for his former childhood sweetheart Mina Ashiro, now the stoic leader of the Defense Force’s third division.
Third division vice-captain Soshiro Hoshina is like a (slightly) less edgy version of Attack on Titan’s Levi Ackerman, with his incredible blade-wielding skills. His mentor/rival relationship with Kafka should hopefully prove to be interesting as it continues to develop. Kaiju №8 does a great job of emotionally investing the viewer in these central characters, which greatly helps to elevate the plentiful kaiju-smashing spectacle. I’m super-hyped for the second season, let’s hope it comes soon.
Whisper Me a Love Song—HIDIVE: episodes 1–10 of 12
This sweet as saccharine yuri romance was really hamstrung by terrible production issues, to the point where it’s not clear if or when the concluding episodes will be streamed. It’s a shame, as despite its less than stellar production values, I really liked this one, with its focus on music and the weird relationships between various female musicians. The viewer must suspend significant disbelief because it seems that every female character in this show is lesbian. I know it’s a known yuri trope, and is probably a way to handwave past the whole stereotypical “but we’re both girls” thing, and to pretend that the wider social consequences of two girls dating don’t exist for them, but… it does make me roll my eyes a little.
Himari, our 15-year-old protagonist is very peppy but naive, while her eventual girlfriend Yori, who is a couple of years older, is more reserved but very cool. While the first half of the show is a slow build up to them getting together, the rest of the story broadens out to encompass the inter-band conflict driven by spiky guitarist/vocalist Shiho. Shiho’s introduction jams a rocket up Whisper Me a Love Song’s slightly languid plot, with her manipulative and mercurial nature. I particularly like her signature song, the full YouTube version of which is linked above.
Manga readers have been less accepting than me, however, as apparently the show skipped over the summer festival, which apparently features the all-important first kiss between the two main characters. Quite what possessed the anime staff to miss that out, I’ve no idea. It seems to have been so that they could rush through the current Shiho-driven arc. As of writing, it’s been confirmed that the final two episodes have been delayed indefinitely, so that sucks. Maybe one day we’ll get the conclusion of this story, but it won’t be happening any time soon.
Go! Go! Loser Ranger! — Hulu/Disney+:12 episodes
Would you believe this super sentai-flavoured anime take on The Boys is based on a manga by the Quintessential Quintuplets guy? I had no idea of this fact when I started watching this, but I suppose it should have been no surprise. Quints was full of characters pretending to be other characters too. Our protagonist Fighter D spends most of the show disguised as someone else, as he attempts to infiltrate the “Dragon Keepers” organisation to destroy the “superheroes” who keep his “Villainous Army” comrades oppressed and humiliated.
The show starts very strong but slows to a crawl in the mid section due to an interminably long training exam arc taking place entirely within a multi-storey car park. Yeah, that’s about as riveting as its sounds. Thankfully the show picks up once the plot veers off the rails, as insane boss monster “Peltrola” starts chopping people up and things detonate everywhere. I hear the exam arc is the weakest part of the manga, so things can only look up from here. I hope so, because Go! Go! Loser Ranger! is compelling and deliciously morally twisted when it wants to be. I’m still not completely sure who I’m meant to be rooting for, and that’s fine, as long as the corrupt Dragon Keepers get what’s coming to them at some point. With a very welcome second season just announced, we can live in hope!
Mission: Yozakura Family — Crunchyroll: 13 of 27 episodes
This daft spy comedy continues to be a lot of fun, with a large cast of brightly-coloured characters with big personalities. It’s not the most subtle of shows, and the humour is very broad, but I still enjoy it quite a bit. There’s an underlying mystery about protagonist Taiyo’s deceased parents that keeps me interested, and a recent episode introduced the Yozakura spy family’s mischievous, womanising grandad. He’s pretty funny. I think I like little white-haired big sister Futaba the best, though. The episode where she’s terrified of “ghosts” is hilarious. The facial expressions in this aren’t quite at Konosuba levels, but close enough.
Bartender: Glass of God—Crunchyroll: 12 episodes
I recently watched the original 2006 anime adaptation of this manga, simply called Bartender. I liked it a lot — it was a very chilled, relaxing show constructed almost like a stage play, with odd lighting and character placement. The story structure was extremely episodic, though with a few returning characters who acted something like a Greek chorus, while an omniscient narrator provided a soothing voice-over. The show reminded me a lot of Laid Back Camp, if not in content, then at least in tone and general vibes.
This more modern version of Bartender is not that show, and it doesn’t even try. By itself, it’s ok, but it’s painfully generic and uninspired in both character designs and general direction. Whoever made this did not appreciate the work put into perfecting the tone and ambience of the previous version, instead producing a cookie-cutter, flat-looking and workmanlike anime lacking the charm and sparkle of the original. I’m writing a more full review for Anime News Network, so you can keep an eye out for that when it’s eventually published, and I’ll link to it here on Medium.
That’s the Spring 2024 onslaught over, now on to the Summer season (plus backlog)! The hamster wheel never stops… See you again halfway through the season when I’ll be back to give my impressions of whatever I’m watching. Thanks for reading!
