Anime Spring Guide

Spring Anime Preview

Spring has finally begun, and with it comes a torrent of new anime to sink your teeth into. I had a peek at the first episodes of some of this spring’s most promising new series. You can find the full Spring 2014 Anime Chart here.

Soredemo Sekai wa Utsukushii

Genre: Adventure, comedy, fantasy, romance

Release Date: April 5

Source: seventhstyle.com

Nike Lemercier, a princess with the power to summon the rain has been sent to the Sun Kingdom to marry their king, Livius, in return for the granted autonomy of her own Principality of Rain. Rumour has it that the Sun King is a tyrant, a merciless warlord and worse – a baldy! Nike arrives, prepared to face her destiny, when upon finally meeting the king, he turns out to be… a handsome young man?

I’ve high hopes for this one, being as though it ticks all the required boxes: magic, a fantasy world and a fiery heroine. It’s too soon yet to assert if it will succeed in being exceptional or not, and although the first episode’s plot was nothing short of a shoujo cliché I could spot from a mile away wearing backwards binoculars, I’ve experience enough to know the execution of a plot’s set-up isn’t all that important. What it does next is. Nike seems a formidable female, one to give King Livius a run for his money, and it’s always pleasant seeing the birth of strong and independent heroines. The occasional piece of fan service slips in uninvited, but it’s nowhere near the shameless displays in High School of the Dead, which just tend to hinder any chance of taking a plot seriously. Having said that, TWisB was unexpectedly witty, and judging from its typical anime-style comedy in the pilot, it will probably do its best to include good old Japanese slapstick at some point. About time, too – I haven’t felt this familiar vibe since Special A.

Isshuukan Friends

Genre: Romance

Release Date: April 6

Each anime season has that one feel-good show and this spring it’s Isshuukan Friends. Kaori Fujimiya avoids making friends at all costs because harbours a secret – she cannot keep them. Every Monday her good memories of people are erased and she will forget everything that happened. But when Yuki Hase approaches her and asks to be friends, the two begin a one-week relationship confined to sitting on the school’s rooftop, eating lunch. Yuki begins to see that there’s more to Kaori than meets the eye, that she isn’t the cold-hearted girl the class supposes, just in time for Kaori’s memory to be up. This doesn’t stop Yuki, and he vows to befriend Kaori all over again, as many times as he has to in order to grant her wish.

From the offset this Japanese version of 50 First Dates for young girls looks to be a promising shoujo series. The pilot has a relaxed pace to rival that of Kimi ni Todoke, but that’s no complaint. A slow shoujo has all the makings of a great one, really getting the time to focus on developing characters and a realistic, complex relationship between the protagonists. What made the love story of Sawako and Kazehaya endearing will surely do the same for Isshuukan Friends. If this cute series is going the way I expect, it will challenge our views of the boundaries between stranger and friend and weigh up the task of developing relationships within a constraint. The characters are drawn simply but in keeping with the anime’s light feel, and both opening and ending songs receive a big thumbs up for catchiness.

Gokukoku no Brynhildr

Genre: Science-fiction, horror, romance

Release Date: April 6

Source: http://moe-alternative.net/

As children, Murakami and a girl he knew only as ‘Kuroneko,’ who believed in aliens, used to play together. One day, they both become involved in an accident, and though Murakami survived, he was told that she had died immediately, and years later, as president of the astronomy club, he watches stars in the observatory hoping to find proof that Kuroneko’s aliens do exist. But when a transfer student called Kuroha Neko arrives at his school, Murakami is convinced she is Kuroneko.

For want of avoiding pilot episode spoilers, I’ll leave the description there. Gokukoku no Brynhildr may not be in the mystery genre, but on first impressions its direction from here is an enigma. The episode finishes on a cliff-hanger of a thousand questions, though the execution of the show reeks of sci-fi so surely the alien theme wasn’t included for no reason and we’ll encounter a minor collection of the extra-terrestrial community eventually. The animation isn’t wholly impressive – it isn’t lazy, just generic, but if the mystery element turns up trumps the animation won’t be a significant downside. Two major negatives are the lack of character personality and series style, although these may be built upon later. For now, both Murakami and Kuroha, and the show itself feel a little soulless. It does, however, boast a pretty unique instrumental techno track as its opening song. Was this one of the best things I could think to say about GnB’s pilot? Yes, yes it was. Let that sum up my first impressions.