Fall Season 1st Impressions Part 2

Most of the new shows have aired.  Here’s part 2:

What I Watched:  Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai

What I Expected:  Adventures at the Asperger’s Club

What I Got:  Hot, unpleasant girls sniping at each other

I don’t know what to make of this.  You’ve got a club for loners to help them make friends, then you discover why they don’t have any friends – they are mostly unpleasant people to be around.  Yozora is sort of a lower key Haruhi, possessing all of her arrogance and eccentricities --  with none of her boundless energy.  Sena is arrogance personified.  As the hot daughter of the principal, she has boys crawling all over her, but no friends.  Why would any girl befriend someone who will instantly steal away all the boys attention?  Even the male lead, Kodaka, is an annoying beta who made a bad impression from the start and doesn’t seem to be able to make amends.  On the good side, it shares the character designer from Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko--  which I liked.  We also haven’t met all the members of the club.  If you can take the catty sniping, you might be rewarded with a pretty decent show.

Chances I’ll Keep Watching:  Fair.  I’m not completely sold, but I’ll wait for the other members before deciding.

What I Watched:  Un-Go

What I Expected:  Another detective show a la Gosick

What I Got:  A stylish mess that downplays it’s weaknesses

I wasn’t going into this one with a lot of expectations.  Detective shows are tough, since the genre is so well defined.  If the mystery is too obtuse, it’s frustrating to watch.  If it’s too easy, you get to watch 20 minutes of fill before you get the reveal which you’ve already figured out.  Un-Go covers up it’s bad writing with oodles of style, and it kind of works.  It’s got the style of Utena, mixed with strong characters and a scene-chewing performance by Aki Toyosaki as the mysterious Inga.  I was expecting a grown up Detective Conan.  But this is more like Demonic Detective Nougami Nero, as that also had a demon teaming up with a human to solve mysteries.  It also has a Kafkaesque bend, as the detective’s solutions are covered up by a corrupt plutocracy.

Chances I’ll Keep Watching:  Good.  This one’s intriguing me.

What I Watched:  Ben-To

What I Expected:  Dragonball-Z during a food fight

What I Got:  A great performance in a dud of a show

The Japanese will make a fighting show out of anything.  This time, it's a battle for half-price lunches at a grocery store.  Several Jojo-like warriors lay in wait, then beat each other senseless for the right to buy discounted lunches.  Are you kidding me?  Of course, there’s a wimp of a hero who wants to jump in the middle of all this, instead of, you know, GOING TO ANOTHER STORE.  At least Hiro Shimono is doing his usual “better than Jun Fukuyama when he wasn’t imitating Norio Wakamoto all the time” performance as the lead.  Seriously, wouldn’t the cops be interested in the fact that every night a BATTLE ROYALE breaks out in a local grocery?  I’ve a veteran of a number of Black Friday shopping wars.  I’ve never seen anyone shoot an energy ball into another shopper who was going for the half-price jewelry.

Chances I’ll Keep Watching:  Nope.  Pass.  This one makes my brain eat itself.

What I Watched:  Working!!

What I Expected:  More of the same

What I Got:  Even more boredom than the first season

Working!! is one of those shows that got great hype on the Interbutts, then turned out to be a snoozer.  A slice-of-life with unpleasant people who try and pass their unpleasantness off as “quirkiness”.  At least they’ve put Inami in the background a bit this time.  She made the show insufferable.  She’s another girl “afraid of men” who works in A FAMILY DINER.  Did she not know that 50% of her customers would be dudes?  If she were just scared, that would be enough.  But she manifests her fear by punching the innocent guy in question.  Why isn’t she in the hospital?  Guys don’t generally like being punched in the face.  Lucky for her, Souta is such a doormat that he takes her “love taps” and doesn’t have her arrested for assault.  The other characters have their quirks.  It’s not a bad series, it just doesn’t go anywhere.

Chances I’ll Keep Watching:  Fair.  I watched the first season and it didn’t kill me.

There are other shows I haven’t gotten to, but that should do.  There’s a lot to watch this season.  Enjoy!