New Series - April 2014

I know, I know.  We’re already 6 - 7 weeks into the new season.  I’ve been sorting them out.  A lot of series start in April every year and I’m always excited to try the new ones, always on the lookout for the next great series.  So these are my current picks of the new season. 

Mekaku City Actors – This one is hands down my favorite so far.  It’s bright, colorful, and pretty much all the way through the first two episodes, totally incomprehensible.  I was intrigued trying to figure out what in the world the series was about.   Then in episode 3 they tie it all together so seamlessly, it’s jaw-dropping awesome, and everything sorts itself out perfectly.   Sou ka!  It’s about a group of kids with super powers!    Okay, that one sentence totally sells this series short.  The series has the potential to be an awesome series about a group of kids with super powers.   Plus it's just fun to watch.  I look forward to each new episode.

Mushishi 2 – I really liked the first season of Mushishi and this is simply a continuation of that.  If you haven't watched the first season, briefly, mushi are supernatural creatures who interact with humans and sometimes cause harm.  Ginko is a mushishi, a traveler who knows about and deals with mushi when they become troublesome.  This season seems like it may be a little darker than the first season was, with the mushi being more threatening, but  I’ll have to wait and see if that holds true.  I’m also hoping for a little more plot than just the individual cases of Ginko dealing with mushi, but I’ll be happy without the extra plot.  It would just be nice if it were there. 

Soredemo Sekai wa Utsukushi – This is a feel-good series.   It’s  about an outgoing princess from a tiny country who happens to be able to control the weather, and who is stuck marrying the king of a large, Sun country.  This king turns out to be a small, arrogant, bratty kid several years younger than she is.  So far there’s all sorts of political intrigue as well as the mismatched personalities of the two main characters.  All in all though, it’s entertaining to watch, and it really is a feel-good series.   Both main characters are smart, brave and on top of things.  It’s also got some nice music and good animation style, so I’ll continue watching it for awhile.     

Sidonia no Kishi, or Knights of Sidonia – This is a mecha series.  I’m not sure exactly what attracts me to this series and keeps me coming back to watch it.   I do like the animation style and the music.  And certain elements of the plot are fairly unique, like: the main character is the only human who can’t photosynthesize – humans having developed the ability when most of their food supplies were destroyed by the race that destroyed the earth and that they’re fleeing from.   Other than those few unique details though, it looks like it’s going to be predictable: oddball main character flies older form mecha and is better at it than everyone in their new mechas, as everyone fights in a hopeless space war against vastly superior forces.    I’m not totally sure why, but I’ll keep watching it for awhile.  

Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei – This series has so much potential and at the same time is so annoying that I’m torn between continuing to watch it or not.   It’s about kids who can use magic attending a high school where there is a sharp dichotomy between really talented, strong magic-users (flowers) and those who can barely manage to use magic at all (weeds).  The focus of the story is a brother-sister pair, both in the same year in school, the sister a flower and the brother a weed.   That’s fine as far as it goes, but the brother-sister thing is annoying.  The two act like lovers and frequently embarrass everyone around them.  In addition, and really more annoying, the sister becomes insanely jealous if the brother even looks at another girl, and that gets old really fast.  The only reason I’m still watching is that they have thrown in some interesting twists.  We’ll have to see if the interest factor is enough to keep me watching despite the annoyance factor.

So those are some of the series I’m currently watching.  I hope for good things from several of them and will probably post on them individually when they’re over.