Somehow, some way, a new season has already begun. Though the new shows are more of a trickle than a flood at this point, we’ve already got some strong contenders for the fall, including highly anticipated returning favorites and a welcome number of total surprises. There’s also been some crap, but hey, there’s always crap, and part of the fun of preview week is getting to briefly wade through the swamp that is the full spectrum of modern anime (at least, that’s what I tell myself). As usual, you can check out the full list of previews over at ANN, or check below for my own scores and links to individual show pages. We’ve got a lot of cartoons to get through, so let’s get started!
Double Decker – 4/5
The Girl in Twilight – 3.5/5
Thunderbolt Fantasy 2 – 3.5/5
That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime – 2/5
Xuan Yuan Sword Luminary – 2/5
Ah, I see that you’re the only one that kept up with Thunderbolt Fantasy. Keep up the good work!
I’ll always be grateful to Nick for his list of top 30 anime, which gave me towards gems like Hyouka, Oregairu, and Shinsekai Yori (all of which scored an easy 10/10 for me, and Shinsekai Yori is the best-written story I’ve ever encountered, putting Shakespeare and Dostoevsky to shame), but MAN this guy hates Isekai with a hot hot hatred. And that’s a shame, since isekai contains probably the greatest romantic speech in all of art (Re:Zero Episode 18), and some of the greatest, fleshed-out male protagonists (Re:Zero again – Subaru this time), unlike the majority of the soulless, self-insert MCs (Monogatari’s Araragi is a perfect example of callous awfulness) out there.
This slime isekai for example. There’s a simple, easy pleasure found in quietly exploring a new world for the first time – like the experience of playing Breath of the Wild – and Slime knows this. It knows the joyous delight of new discovery, which is why the exposition isn’t tedious at all – it revels in the happiness of encountering something entirely new and unexpected.
One of my artistic tenets is to never shove what you like down other people’s throats, or take ruthless dumps on what they like, but if you tried approaching decent isekai on its own terms (Re:Zero, Grimgar, Konosuba, and Isekai Restaurant all come to mind), you might find a form of viewing pleasure outside your normal expectations. Or you might still hate it – I dunno.