Not to be confused with the horror novel, House of Leaves, House of Five Leaves sports a visually distinctive aesthetic that mixes painterly backgrounds with spindly, dark eyed characters. More effective in motion than in stills, the opening trio of episodes are methodically paced, carefully balancing the meandering story with character development - a cast of rogues that revels in the offbeat and avoids archetypes. Dealing with a variety of social and moral grey areas, the question of who the real villains are underpins a lot of narrative but it is the well crafted protagonist which keeps this series fresh and engaging.
an idea perhaps foreign in anime that frequently features blue haired and buxom protagonists
Masanosuke Akitsu is a ronin down on his luck - unable to hold a steady job due to his perceived unreliability yet too proud to take on manual labour. His luck changes however when by chance he meets Yaichi, a mysterious and carefree man coincidentally on the lookout for a softly spoken but capable samurai to become his bodyguard. Masa's first encounter on the job however reveals an unsavoury side to Yaichi who it transpires is the head of the Five Leaves, a group which kidnaps members of rich families and demands a ransom for their return. Masa is conflicted about this turn of events and although Yaichi has a strange fascination towards him, he cannot in good conscience continue to work for them, even if they do feed him and he keeps company with their members. His unwitting hand in the kidnap of a young boy however may be enough to divorce him from the group for good.
Capturing the spirit of football and not simply throwing angry young men together is a tough ask, whether Giant Killing achieves it is a question best left for an audience more familiar with the enthusiasm the sport engenders. The first three episodes certainly capture the fury and, one presumes, the passion it stems from but whether the series can transcend its relegation to the sports genre is another matter. With only a single match and a lot of shouting in the opening episodes it has a long way to go to individuate itself from others in its league but converting an audience ambivalent or indifferent to football is perhaps too much to ask.
an uninspired and predictable series with bland characters and a penchant for mistaking enthusiasm and devotion for shouting and confrontation
East Tokyo United (ETU) isn't doing well: after years of poor performance after their star player Takeshi Tatsumi departed, they've had to turn to their last resort. A renowned manager is hired to drag the team out of their slump; the manager however is the same player who abandoned the team and caused their rapid descent down the leagues. His style is unorthodox and destructive, riling up the experienced players by claiming that the group of younger players is in the best position to make the first team. After an abrasive and revelatory training session, the team heads out to their training camp in the frigid north where the whimsical Takeshi is doing everything he can to fracture the team. Whether the techniques his time in England fostered will transfer over to ETU will define whether they'll beat their rival, Tokyo Victory, and prove they are in fact capable of giant killing.
Joining the list of shows that consider a single exclamation point inadequate to convey their delirious enthusiasm, Working!! is an unlikely comedy set in a restaurant staffed by an eclectic and offbeat selection of characters. Favouring wry humour over slapstick, the first three episodes of the series have a wide stable of jokes and though it wears its four-panel comic strip heritage on its sleeve, the pacing is solid and it stays away from wildly exaggerated scenarios, instead sticking with the ongoing tribulations of the cast's idiosyncrasies. All of the enthusiasm may come from the diminutive pixie Poplar, but the series has all the hallmarks of a supremely competent comedy ready to fill its entirety rather than expend its energy all at once.
a self-assured and capable comedy that may not aim high or burn fast, but sticks to its strengths
Poplar works at the Wagnaria family restaurant in Hokkaido and has been tasked by her surly manager to find a new employee to help with the increasing work load. After exhausting her options, she begins soliciting strangers on the street, finally asking Souta who mistakes her for a wayward middle school student. Beguiled by her size and demeanour, he accepts the job offer and is introduced to the menagerie of characters that make up Wagnaria's staff. There is the manager, Kyouko, who does little work and subsists on a diet of parfaits, most of them served by Yachiyo who, as well as carrying a sword around, has a long history with the manager. Poplar is small but sprightly and quite the opposite of Mahiru who has a ferocious phobia of men, much to the dismay of Souta who ends up on the receiving end more often than not. Souta himself isn't bereft of his quirks and despite his initial qualms, quickly settles in to the staff's continuing misadventures.
In the first three episodes of Hakuouki - Shinsengumi Kitan, activities are split evenly between: smouldering with masculinity while lounging around in a den of exposed chests, or looking doe eyed and getting saved by gentlemen heroically cutting up other gentlemen. Building on the romance game source, its target audience is plain to see, however the female protagonist at the centre of this bevy of testosterone is so bland that it's tricky not to see her as an empty husk of a character, aimed to cover a myriad of Mary Sue paradigms. To its credit, the swords and scheming is interesting if not entirely unoriginal and the supernatural undertones of the opening scenes are left mostly unexplored. The most telling aspect however is Studio Deen's involvement which despite a solid if lacklustre start, bodes ill for the remainder of the series.
an aesthetically muted, vocally competent but generally uninspiring tale of a young girl with a missing father caught up in a bloody battle for stability in feudal Japan
Chizuru Yukimura is a long way from home, after her father came to Kyoto for his work he disappeared; she followed only to be caught up in a common street scuffle. Members of the Shinsengumi, a local vigilante group, defeat her pursuers and take her into their custody claiming she may need to be killed if she is found to have witnessed their fight. It transpires however that her search for her father, a doctor, coincides with the mission they have been tasked with after his disappearance. As Chizuru begins to ingratiate herself with the group, she becomes involved with the Shinsengumi's battle against a group rebelling against the ruling class; an successful attack is launched on their headquarters in which she plays a pivotal role. Her time with the group may have only just begun but they may be the best way for her to find out what has happened to her father.
K-On!! is not the harbinger of doom that so many make it out to be. For a show about the twee shenanigans of five high school girls and their band, it certainly is divisive. The first three episodes of the second series however do not highlight why; sure the opening sounds like it was dragged from the circle of hell reserved for naughty bagpipes and a lot of the animation work is demonstrative of a company with enough cash to be extravagant, but it's the fervour of the audience on both sides that likely bifurcates one's opinion more than anything. Despite the nagging question of its purpose, the series' the opening episodes prove an entertaining, sporadically cringe inducing saunter through a world without raunchiness, without violence but with plenty of sunshine and smiles.
the series is diverting attention to other members before the cash cow is unceremoniously milked
Picking up where the first season left off, the majority of the girls in the Light Music Club have now entered their final year of high-school and are dealing with the trials of schoolwork and attempting the get their band, Afternoon Tea Time, off the ground. The first piece of trouble comes from the realisation that after the end of the year, only Azusa will be left - a mad and ultimately fruitless scramble for new members ensues. The cleaning out of the music room cupboard reveals a hidden treasure in the form of their homeroom teacher's guitar. Lastly, peppy drummer Ritsu has a rare crisis regarding her instrument choice, saying that her position at the back of the band keeps her from the spotlight. Her trial run of different instruments ends much as Mio predicted, but does lead to a new song from keyboardist Tsumugi.
