Autumn 2016 Anime: First Impressions

It’s been a bit delayed due to circumstances beyond on my control, but I have no got around to starting the autumn season of anime for this year. That means it’s time for me to share my first impressions of the shows I’ve chosen to watch.

Izetta: The Last Witch
A rather strong start here – featuring some action on a train, a tomboyish princess and a reunion between said princess and a witch. The tomboyish princess, Finé, strives to do what is best for home nation, and is fully aware that is thanks to them that she came as far as she did. Things go south rather quickly, but this does lead to the aforementioned reunion.
I very much look forward to seeing what the relationship between Finé and Izetta is like, as well as seeing Izetta in action.

Magical Girl Raising Project
I’ll be covering this one weekly, but I’ll include my first impressions here as well. Koyuki Himekawa (or Snow White, if you want her magical girl name) wouldn’t look out of place in PreCure, which is quite funny as all of the other magical girls who appeared here are pretty far from the norm. We haven’t heard much from ninja magical girl Ripple yet, but I suspect she’ll have more to say later on.
As for the identity of La Pucelle – well, safe to say I wasn’t expecting that. Though we started with quite a grim scene, things are more on the lighthearted side… at the moment.

Show By Rock!!#
That ‘#’ at the end of the title signifies it as the second season. Anyway, it’s great to see the bands of Banded Rocking Records back – Plasmagica and SHINGANCRIMSONZ. BRR has also made a new acquisition in the form of CritiCrista, and those aren’t the only familiar faces returning. Dagger Morse is back, and he has allied himself with the Queen of Darkness, who wants to take over Sound Galaxy. Naturally the only way to put a halt to that is to use the power of music – oh, and bring Cyan back to Midi City.
I’m very much looking forward to the Plasmagica reunion, and I already know I’ll definitely enjoy the soundtrack for this show.

ViVid Strike!
Whilst it may not be Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha ViVid‘s continuation, it does feature the return of Vivio, Einhard and other familiar faces. New character Fuka Reventon is pretty tough herself, and it seems like her childhood friend Rinne is in need of befriending.
The soundtrack is also definitely right up my street. I definitely would love to see more from Vivio in the future, though Fuka is very much the protagonist of this spin-off.

Magic of Stella
If only there was something that could fill the void left in my heart after NEW GAME! ended last season. I’ll even take cute girls making video games in a non-professional environment – like doujin games.
That’s exactly what Magic of Stella is, and it’s very much something I enjoy. From the first episode alone, I’d have to say Shiina is my favourite character, but Tamaki’s cuteness cannot be denied.

Scorching Ping Pong Girls
Another girls’ club anime, this time focusing on table tennis. I’m definitely getting the feeling that table tennis is serious business here, and the first episode was fairly enjoyable. I very much look forward to seeing the table tennis skills of Koyori, Agari and the other girls in future episodes.

Matoi the Sacred Slayer
This was an all right beginning. I thought I might cover it, but I honestly don’t really have much to say so I guess I’ll just leave it. Matoi and Yuma are decent characters I suppose, but the males they know aren’t exactly what I would call role models… Matoi’s father, Shingo, seemed all right – particularly as he is a policeman. He was all right, at least he ended up accidentally groping his own daughter… hopefully there’ll be less of that kind of thing in the future as Matoi adjusts to her life as an exorcist magical girl.

Brave Witches
This is a spin-off of Strike Witches, focusing on the 502nd Joint Fighter Wing – known as the ‘Brave Witches’, funnily enough. Whilst there aren’t too many similarities between the characters from this and the characters from Strike Witches, I feel that this show is exactly what one who is familiar with the franchise would expect. To me, that’s a good thing, but I can see how some people might think otherwise.
Though at this point, we’ve only had 2 characters of any importance introduced – gotta wait to meet the rest of the Brave Witches.

Mahou Shoujo Nante Mouiidesukara Second Season
Still about a reluctant magical girl, and the episodes are still over before you know it. Not much changed here, but Chiya continues to be the best character.

Sound! Euphonium 2
The first episode is about 48 minutes, but I have to say that it was worth experiencing them all. There’s more drama, a few funny moments and the relationship between Kumiko and Reina continues to be pretty great. The scene at the end of Kumiko and Reina watching fireworks together at a festival was arguably the best. I’m watching for the brass band drama, but I’ll happily take any KumiRei moments that happen to crop up. Whether KumiRei will still be a thing by the end of the season I don’t know, but Sound! Euphonium 2 is certainly enjoyable enough.

FLIP FLAPPERS
The first episode is a lot of fun. I love the visuals, and Papika’s enthusiasm about everything is really quite entertaining. I also have to say that the end credits were somewhat cute. I’ll definitely be covering this show weekly.

Keijo!!!!!!!!
A show heavy on the fanservice, which is actually quite good if you give it a chance. The first episode was pretty great, with the sport of Keijo being quite fun to watch. It’s a pretty ridiculous premise, but it works very well.

Drifters
All I really knew about this one was that it is an adaptation of a manga written by Kouta Hirano of Hellsing fame. I’m definitely glad I picked it up, as it has a very similar feel to Hellsing Ultimate, and it looks like we’ll be in for some rather bloody battles if the first episode is any indication.

Lostorage incited WIXOSS
Still have no idea how to play WIXOSS, but that’s not knowledge really needed to enjoy the show. I am curious to see how the inevitable reunion between childhood friends play out, and what the consequences for losing all five coins is. I know they’ll disappear, but it’s entirely possible there’s more to it than that taking into account the of events of previous shows in this franchise.

Long Riders!
A pretty decent start. I did like Ami’s passion for cycling, and the characters we’ve been introduced to so far seem to be likeable enough. A fairly gentle start, and I get the feeling that it will continue to have that same feel throughout. Only time will tell, though.

It’s been delayed, but now I have finally started the autumn season of anime and the shows listed here are the ones I’ll be sticking with. There are a few others that have piqued my interest, and I may pick them up sooner or later. For now, though, the stuff that I’m watching for this season has been off to a fairly impressive start.