Spring 2016 Anime: First Impressions Part 2

As promised, here’s a second post dedicated to sharing my first impressions of the anime shows I’ll be watching this season. Between the previous post and this one, I’ve actually added a couple more shows to my watchlist… Anyway, here’s some first impressions.

Crane Game Girls
Brought to us by the same people responsible for JK-MESHI!, and it definitely shows. If you’re not a fan of simplistic animation, then this one isn’t for you. I’d say this one is all right; just a series of shorts that kill some time, nothing more.

Onigiri
Onigiri is also a series of shorts, though this one has a meta sense of humour. It’s based on a game, and it uses many game elements – HP bars decreasing, fall damage, so on and so forth. There’s a single male character in an otherwise female-dominated cast, but he isn’t voiced and thus only communicates through text boxes. Basically, this is silly video game humour, sort of along the same lines as Bikini Warriors (with girls who expose less skin, for the most part).

Anne-Happy
Ever feel like you have constantly bad luck? I suspect watching this will make you feel a little bit better – or that you belong with the cast of characters, who knows? Anyway, it got me laughing and that’s all I really need from a schoolgirl anime such as this. Definitely up there with BAKUON!! in terms of humour, at least in my opinion.

Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress
This one has many similar elements to Attack on Titan, even being produced by the same people – Wit Studio. Still, I loved the first episode, possibly because it’s the darkest anime I’m watching this season. It’s all about trains and Kabane (their name for what you would probably incorrectly refer to as ‘zombies’). The Kabane aren’t your typically shambling undead types, either – they managed to hijack a train. Oh, and it also has a soundtrack by Hiroyuki Sawano.

Haifuri
One part Girls und Panzer, one part Kantai Collection and pretty enjoyable. Took quite an interesting turn at the end of the episode. Also, features a cat as a mascot, which is certainly fine by me.

Flying Witch
Some nice, simple slice-of-life stuff, that happens to be about a witch. Had a few moments that made me laugh out loud, too, so that’s always good. Going from the first episode alone, I’d say that the soundtrack is the perfect accompaniment for its genre. Not something I’d personally go out of my way to listen to, but it helps to set the mood.

Three Leaves, Three Colors
Or Sansha Sanyou, I’ll be using the same English title as Funimation – even though the word ‘colour’ should be spelt with a U…
Anyway, a pretty fun first episode with plenty of funny moments. I’d say that Hayama is my favourite character of the main trio. She’s a cat lover, and also has a surprisingly mean streak. I do wonder what she did to make that other girl cry…

…and that’s everything I’ve decided to pick up this season. Here, I’ll put them all together in to a single list, in the order they aired:

• Ace Attorney
• Pan de Peace!
• My Hero Academia
• Kumamiko -Girl Meets Bear
• Sailor Moon Crystal Season III
• BAKUON!!
• Cerberus
• Crane Game Girls
• Onigiri
• Anne-Happy
• Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress
• Haifuri
• Flying Witch
• Three Leaves, Three Colors

I have to say, I think that there’s a pretty strong showing for this season. We’ve got plenty of schoolgirl series to make up for the lack of them during winter, and a few action-packed shows as well. I’m looking forward to seeing what the rest of this season has in store for us.
Oh, and I’m still continuing to watch the following long-running shows: Dragon Ball Super, One Piece and Maho Girls PreCure.