Apologies for the delay, guys – some stuff in my life kinda just happened absolutely at once. Here is my much belated FI post, hope you still enjoy it!
Blue Lock
Yoichi Isagi is one of 300 strikers chosen for the controversial “Blue Lock” program. The strikers are ranked via an “arbitrary and biased decision-making process,” and subjected to a series of training exercise and challenges. The winners will be selected as members of Japan’s national soccer team – but the losers will be forbidden from every playing soccer for Japan again.
So, it turns out that what you need to do to make Junko care about a sports anime is give it the stakes and tension of a death game. Sure, nobody in Blue Lock actually DIES, but, for these dedicated guys, the threat of never being able to play soccer for Japan is basically similarly high stakes. The first episode of the show had me on the edge of my seat watching eagerly, rather than constantly checking the time and fidgeting like sports anime usually do.
While Yoichi is definitely a compelling protagonist – his bitter, jaded attitude and realization that he can be quite a selfish person made his narration in the first episode really interesting – the character who held my attention the most was definitely Jinpachi Ego, the mysterious “coach” in charge of the Blue Lock program. Jinpachi has a lanky, wide-eyed design that makes him look like something out of a Junji Ito manga, an odd way of speaking, and a sadistic sense of humor. He’s the kind of character who a small percentage of people will inevitably find inexplicably sexy, and there will be a weirdly high amount of fanfiction and fanart about him. But I digress. Coach Ego is a super fun character and I’d love to see more of him.
The other Blue Lock competitors were pretty rad too. I’m most interested in Meguru Bachira, who starts the episode faking a shy and sleepy personality only to turn out to have quite the sadistic, competitive streak himself. Without spoiling anything, I’m also curious to see what will happen to the character selected to be eliminated from the Blue Lock program at the end of the first episode. If the high stakes and character focus continue in future episodes, I think Blue Lock could be quite the compelling show and capable of making even something dull like soccer feel genuinely exciting to watch.
Would I watch more? I will be watching at least one more episode to see how the Episode 1 cliffhanger is resolved.
Out of 5 Dios:
Cool Doji Danshi / Play it Cool, Guys
Because they are cool and handsome, they are hard to approach. Because they are clumsy, they are relatable and adorable. These are the stories of four guys who keep it cool despite being clumsy!
On the complete opposite end of the spectrum from Blue Lock, we have the most boring first episode I watched this season. Fortunately, Cool Doji Danshi is only an 11-minute short – I don’t think I would have been able to make it through an entire 22-ish minutes of it. Basically, all that happens is this: Boy looks cool. Then, he does something to make people around him realize he’s actually clumsy. But, he plays it cool. It was a joke that got repetitive quickly, and was used pretty much without variation throughout the episode.
I’m guessing that future episodes will have a little bit more variation – there are four guys in the opening sequence, and only one, Hayate Ichikura, was featured prominently in Episode 1. It will probably be a slow-paced slice of life that you might enjoy if you are looking for something totally mindless. It didn’t really catch my attention, but part of that just might be that the humor isn’t quite my style, and I felt “secondhand embarrassment” at a few of the clumsy things Hayate did, such as going to pay for food at a convenience store and then realizing he forgot his wallet. I’m really susceptible to secondhand embarrassment, which definitely may have hindered my enjoyment of the show.
At least Cool Doji Danshi is pretty cute to look at – the animation and coloration is fairly pleasant, and the opening theme is surprisingly catchy (although I did not expect an 11-minute short to have such a lengthy OP sequence). It’s apparently based on a web manga, so that might be worth checking out if you want to see more of the adventures of these cool but clumsy boys.
Would I watch more? Nah
Out of 5 Dios:
Renai Flops
(WARNING for mentions of sexual assault, including involving animals)
One day, Asahi Kashiwagi’s fortune says that he will be very lucky. On the way to school, his paths cross with five different girls (actually four girls and a boy) in various sexual situations. Later, he finds out that all five will be new students and teachers at his school – and they may be falling in love with him. Asahi must find the perfect love for himself, or else his love life could end in an epic flop!
So, I don’t know whether Renai Flops is parodying the “harem/ecchi” genre, or trying to make some sort of commentary about the genre’s cliches. It might even have some big twist coming up, as many fans are predicting based on some surreal imagery and the mysterious appearance of a friend who Asahi does not remember. However, while any or all of these points may be true…it is also still an ecchi show, and a very uncomfortable one to watch at that.
Most of the episode consisted entirely of a string of “meet cute” events in which Asahi was thrust into uncomfortable sexual situations with the girls (and Ilya). These pretty much covered every trope of the genre – accidental panty shots! Accidental boob grabs! and then some even more exaggerated and awful ones. In particular, Amelia, the American girl, was attacked by a cleaning robot that mistakenly thought she was trash, and this resulted in Asahi holding her bra and – of course – getting blamed for it. Even worse was the scene with Ilya, who was….repeatedly humped by a large dog. Who then later returned, still with the same goal, and Asahi defended Ilya by….yeah. Suffice to say it was one of the most uncomfortable things I’ve had to see in recent years, and I had to avert my eyes.
It’s even more frustrating because, beneath all the ecchi shenanigans, there are seeds of a truly interesting story here. The characters live in a really cool futuristic settings, with holographic screens and cute robot assistants everywhere. There are hints at something supernatural or some kind of conspiracy going on under the surface, especially regarding the character Yoichi who appears claiming to have been Asahi’s friend for ages even though Asahi cannot remember him. I would gladly watch a show about a guy trapped in a harem simulation, or a guy cursed to have multiple people fall for him at once…but I’m just not willing to wade through an endless morass of panties to do so.
Would I watch more? Absolutely not
Out of 5 Dios:
NONE
Moeronpan 