Fall approaches… The titans have fallen silent, the goddesses have been conquered, but now approaches a fresh wave of anime, in numbers greater and far more powerful than we ever could have prepared for. They come bearing mechanical monstrosities larger than the eye can believe, swords that pierce the heavens themselves, and hair that could rend the universe asunder. Are you ready to face … The Autumn Anime Season! … Because I know I’m not! Hi, everyone it’s James here and for my first time at Capsule Computers let me run you through my top 5 picks for the fall season.
Weirdly enough, the season hasn’t even started and this seems to have already fallen under a lot of people’s radars which I was not expecting. Granted, I am a sucker for a good romcom, especially when it seems like it will prioritise jokes and plot over simple fanservice. However, what everyone seems to be forgetting is that Golden Time is written by the same person that brought us Toradora, one of the best anime series ever made in my opinion. But aside from the female protagonist looking almost exactly like a more mature Aisaka Taiga (which was reason enough for me to watch) the actual plot itself seems to have a bit more depth to it than your average romcom. Being of the seinen demographic and set in a university/college, should mean that the characters demonstrate more ‘real-life’ feelings and the relationships should hopefully have more to them than the ‘girl sees boy, boy EVENTUALLY sees girl’ approach that has become exceedingly stale over the years. There are rumours that Golden Time will be a 2 season long affair in which case I will be keeping a box of tissues by my side for the next 6 months to soak up tears of sorrow, tears of joy, and hopefully not tears of disappointment.
For me, this series will determine whether I continue believing that KyoAni are the golden gods of the anime world or whether they will fall into the sea of humdrum that lies below that pedestal. Hyouka was the last masterpiece series that came out of Kyoto Animation before they decided it would be a good idea to retreat into their shell, only producing anime that received an honourable mention in their self-run light novel competition. Since then we have seen Tamako Market which was moe-blob garbage that couldn’t hold a candle to K-ON!; Chuu2koi which was good, but fell short in the end; and Free which despite handling its plot well, rehashed the same sport manga story we’ve seen a million times before. Not only that, but they recently confirmed a second season for Tamako Market, and teased one for Free which makes my blood boil thinking that their beautiful animation style is being wasted on these severely below average anime.
It is time for some plot! Luckily for us that is exactly what Kyoukai no Kanata is bringing to the table. Falling under the rare, dark fantasy genre, this anime follows a girl with the power to manipulate blood called Kuriyama Mirai. Ostracised from her fellow students, she readies herself to jump from her school rooftop when she is saved by a second-year boy called Kanbara Akihito. This triggers a chain of strange and disturbing events and that leads me to believe that this might be the series that I have been waiting for KyoAni to make for so long. Plot, feelings, beautiful animation, and that signature touch that only they can put on a project. Let’s hope it lives up to its title and goes beyond the boundaries.
Autumn seems to be the season of awesome female protagonists and girl power is exactly what you’re going to see in this hot-blooded action thriller. All you should need to know about this anime is that it is being made by the same people that made Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann so it is guaranteed to be pure unadulterated insanity. Trigger are an animation company renowned for their extremely stylised animation techniques, their no holds barred approach to action, and the ever unique and beautiful worlds that they create. Kill la Kill seems to tick all of those boxes judging by the trailers, but what is interesting about Kill la Kill is how little of its plot has been divulged. Remember, Gurren Lagann was simply described as an anime about a digger and his big bro who wanted to see the world above them and look where that ended… Kill la Kill’s plot goes as follows:
On a quest to unravel the secrets surrounding the death of her father and to locate the, “woman with the scissor-blade”, Ryuko Matoi found herself at a school called Honnouji Academy. There the school is under the command of an elite group of students granted superpowers by their “goku uniforms”. At the top of the chain of command is the school council president, Satuki Kiryuin, who it emerges knows the secret behind the scissor-blade. After being granted powers by a rogue, sentient goku uniform, Ryuko is ready to fight. What will she discover? Who or what lies at the end of the mystery? Make sure you watch and find out!
Noucome – Ore no Nounai Sentakushi ga Gakuen Love Comedy wo Zenryoku de Jama Shiteiru
As I mentioned earlier, I am a sucker for a good romcom, but then again I always end up watching every gimmicky romcom that is released and nothing is more gimmicky than Noucome. One thing that always remains constant with fanservice-y, silly romcoms other than being hilarious is that they always try to differentiate themselves in weird and wonderful ways which never cease to amaze me. In this particular case the protagonist is cursed with “absolute multiple choice” which means that quiz-style questions will fall before him at random intervals and he has to pick one of the options given to him. This could mean he’d be walking through school and be asked whether he wanted to take off his uniform or jump out of a window and have to pick one or the other. One day though he is given an obvious choice, does he want a) A beautiful girl to fall before him, or b) To fall from the roof in girl’s clothes. Of course, he picks a) and all of a sudden a radiant, blonde girl called Chocolat literally falls before him, thus triggering the most silly harem/comedy that I have had the pleasure of hearing of in a long time.
My faith in this show, while slim, comes mainly from the studio, Diomedea. Any studio that can produce both Shinryaku! Ika Musume, and Mondaiji-tachi ga Isekai Kara Kuru Sō Desu yo? has earned their stripes in comedy as far as I’m concerned, so I hope that Noucome will follow in their recent trend of excellent anime.
Last on my top 5 list comes the darkest anime of the season by a country mile, Pupa. I decided to check this one out after hearing from a close friend that it is the best manga they have ever read, and from another that it is the worst. Upon finding out what it was about, I was instantly intrigued. Ever since I read the visual novel Saya no Uta, I have been fascinated with anime that can exhibit that same depth of darkness and Pupa can certainly do that. The synopsis is this:
The story follows a boy and his little sister called Utsutsu and Yume Hasagawa. Utsutsu loves his little sister dearly as any good big brother should. When Yume sees a strange red butterfly though she begins to change. All of a sudden Utsutsu is plunged into hell when his dearest sister is turned into a man-eating monster. He tries to do everything he can for her, letting her devour his flesh while searching for a way to save her. But when he is infected with Pupa, his normally friendly attitude is shattered and he develops an unusual, violent side.
Strange and violent, this dark horror will entice anyone that wants something a little different as the cold autumn settles in. Enjoy…
Make sure to check out our Autumn reviews week by week as the episodes are released. I will be reviewing Golden Time and Noucome so if you’re a fan of drama, comedy, and romance, then make sure to keep an eye on the Anime Impressions section, only at Capsule Computers.
