Even MORE anime. So many in fact, that I lost count of how many parts I’ve done.
Girlfriend Beta…do you need a waifu? Here’s a collection of a ridiculous amount of them in the guise of a slice-of-life anime. This one killed D.M. at about ten minutes, even though he likes slice of life. Cute girls with cute accents do cute things together. I don’t mind cute girls, though I have a tolerance; something like Is the Order A Rabbit or Kirino Mosaic is too sugary for me. But this anime based on a ridiculously popular smartphone dating sim is just about introducing its cast of waifu material and not much more. Well, unless you want to play “identify the famous voice actress.”
Bonjour Sweet Love Patisserie is five minutes of the opposite extreme. Very fluffy shoujo with reverse harem potential surrounding a girl attending a famous confectionary school on a scholarship. Of course, it’s in a frickin castle, and all the instructors are bishonen boys. The brief running time only lets the cast be introduced in the first episode and little else. I actually think that the five minute length helps this series, because it’s so stereotypical that I doubt it would have made any use of a full 22 minutes.
Rage of Bahamut: Genesis is a lot better than you’d expect an anime based on a CCG to be. After a breathtaking introductory sequence straight out of Final Fantasy where summons battle, we are sped to the present day of a fantasy kingdom. Surprisingly there’s a heavy western influence, with kingdom names like Wyaterp (Wyatt Earp,) western clothes despite using swords instead of sixguns, and an absolutely silly opening chase set to spaghetti western music.
The roguish bounty hunter Favaro is on the run from the ex-knight Kaisar as he does his day-to-day life of collecting bounties. When his tall tale of a secret route to the icy kingdom of Helheim attracts a mysterious woman seeking a guide, he’s about to find his life is going to get a lot more difficult.
This one feels a lot more high-concept than the usual anime, and might be one of the better ones of the season. Shoutout to MedeivalOtaku, this one has your name written on it.
In Search of the Lost Future has the members of an astronomy club help out their school with crisis intervention, as they try to build a planetarium for the school festival and deal with the budding love both open and unrequited between their members. However, tragedy strikes, and the visit of a mysterious girl from an unknown time and place may be the only key to fix things.
It’s unusual because it starts off slice-of-life, and ends of dramatically. Seems to be a fair amount of anime following for better or worse a P.A. Works format; slice of life with group dynamics and science ficton elements. This one might be time travel, might not be.
Laughing Under The Clouds takes us back to the Meiji era, the age of rapid westernization and the end of the samurai. Three brothers living as heirs to a shrine and sons to a famous swordsman eke out a living ferrying criminals to the massive prison in the middle of lake Biwa. However, the skies are clouding over, foretelling a great cataclysm over the land. But more mundane things vex the middle brother Sora-can he ever be as strong as his eldest brother?
It’s got an interesting opening and a hint of troubles down the road. It also has a comic focus to go along with its more serious moments.
Lord Marksman and Vanadis involves a young nobleman, Tigre, who is captured during a blood battle between his nation and the nation of a beautiful War Maiden. Said maiden takes a fancy to him, and makes him her prisoner. Now Tigre must deal with her rather blunt enchantment with him, as well as the reality of being a prisoner and a bit of a performing animal.
Plenty of warfare and intrigue are slightly marred by the fanservice aspects of the War Maidens.
***
Ratings.
Bounjour is probably G. Typical Shoujo. Laughing Under the Clouds PG, but may hint to more violence later. In Search is PG-13, and Bahamut is probably a hard PG-13 maybe R. Vanadis is R due to anime nudity, and fanservice. Not sure what Girlfriend Beta is, but it’s probably PG/PG-13 at tops; waifu shows tend to be more platonic than anything.
I have to say this batch has the most percentage of hits out of all the anime I’ve seen so far. All of them save Girlfriend and Bonjour have intriguing plots, and this group has a lot more traditional fantasy in it. There’s a fair bit of violence and mature situations to make up for it, though.