Well, the art looks stylish. That’s a good enough reason to check out a show, right?

Episode 1

0:24 – Aaand… whaddayaknow, the art looks stylish in motion too. Only actual expectation = confirmed

1:21 – “Target is on the move.” On the one hand, I love it when shows just drop you into their world with no explanation, expecting you to pick up the pieces. On the other hand, “it is as stated in the prophecy” is probably the single line most likely to make me drop a show

2:19 – The hair, eyes, and lush color palette all remind me of Katanagatari, which I just finished and is probably the best thing a show could hope to remind me of at the moment

3:55 – “Gatcha gatcha gatcha…” So our protagonist is Osaka? 

5:56 – “So I guess you just pulled a notebook out of my chest. Hey, can I keep this?” I very much appreciate how few fucks this protagonist gives. If we’ve gotta get through this rote genre setup stuff, it’s nice to not be slowed down by “That’s impossible!” and “How is this happening?!?”

7:07 – “Gatchamaaaaaan!” This song is awesome. As is that bad guy design

8:07 – “I think I somehow became a Gatchaman today. Nice to meet you!” Still loving this protagonist’s attitude. Kinda reminds me of Saki, except this show might actually be good 

8:22 – And now she’s actually singing the theme song that apparently she also heard. Actually kind of already in love

9:43 – Goddamn does that OP have style. Style seems to be the name of the game here; style, confidence, and a refreshing lack of self-seriousness

9:53 – I like that he just carries his sword around even at school

10:27 – She really is making a strong argument for best MC 

10:47 – Again, we know how this work, the show knows how this works, it’s not gonna bother taking itself all that seriously. “Time to visit our secret base.” “Seriously? Sweet!” Normally I use self-insert as a negative term, but this MC’s unflappability and glee over being dropped into a superhero genre piece clearly puts her on the audience’s side in a good way

11:12 – “That’s the last we’ll see of your antics.” I seriously, deeply doubt that. I also like that he’s chastising her for not being more of a cliche – the fun these creators are having with this derpy mythos is both apparent and infectious

11:58 – I like the guy just posing melodramatically  in the background

13:39 – “The note is our soul? SWEET! SUPER COOL!” Seriously, Sayaka, it’s not a big fuckin’ deal

15:24 – It’s nice that they’re getting all this silly exposition out of the way so efficiently (which, again, is helped by our MC being so perfect). It makes me wonder where they’re actually going with this series, since the pacing here is so snappy

18:03 – #1 at silly poses 

20:40 – These songs are all great

And Done

Oh man, that was so much fun! The MC had about as much respect for this genre nonsense as I do, and they just totally rolled with it, barreling forward on energy and style and utter lack of respect for the proclaimed seriousness of this made-up situation. Tons of energy, great visual flair, and I couldn’t ask for a more fun character to build such a series around. This show was entirely a wildcard, but it could very well be my third tentpole series of the season