Anime Column] Midterm Review of Spring 2016 Anime by Anime Writers

With the arrival of the new school year, the new spring anime series have begun and are now reaching their climax, making us want to drop everything and spend our days soaking in anime, rather than just blowing off the May blues!

We pick up "Macross Delta," the first TV series in eight years, "Tanaka-kun wa itsumo kedaruge," which has sold over 1.5 million copies, "Joker Game," a popular mystery that has also been made into a movie, "Kumamiko," the country life of a brown bear and a shrine maiden, and "Hakuouki: Otogi-zoshi," based on an otome game!

Macross Delta

The latest in the "Super Dimension Fortress Macross" series that started in 1982. Set in a world where the Var Syndrome, a strange disease that makes people go berserk, is raging, the film depicts the activities of the Valkyrie, a tactical music unit that uses the power of song to quell the symptoms, and the Δ Platoon, a variable fighter squadron that escorts them during their live performances. It is a sci-fi action film incorporating the "Macross" tradition of song, variable mechanisms, and love triangle relationships.

The OP animation begins with a famous scene from a past work, in which the characters "use their hands as airplanes," which is also a homage to the series. Then, what can't be overlooked is the posing of the divas in their live performance. Ranka Lee, the heroine of the previous "Macross F," took the world by storm with her "F" hand sign, which consists of a thumb, index finger, and pinky finger held up to form an "F." Valkyrie's Mikumo Ginumer performs the "W" hand sign with only one hand, crossing her middle finger and ring finger. The way she gracefully performed this pose, which would normally require a finger to be suspended, was truly ace vocalist. Can new member Freya Vion inherit this finger technique? We look forward to her growth.

Tanaka-kun is always languid

Based on a school comedy serialized in "Gungan ONLINE. It depicts the slow-paced protagonist Tanaka and his classmate Ota, who watches over him, in their leisurely adolescence. With a slow tempo of just over 200 cuts per episode, the story offers a relaxed atmosphere typical of late-night on-air productions on holidays.

The open design of the high school they attend also catches the eye. The school building, with its large skylights and atrium space, is always flooded with soft sunlight. It can only be assumed that Tanaka was attracted to this perfect lighting environment. The OP animation, interspersed with comfortable overexposed screens and white fades, depicts a peaceful everyday life.

The Joker Game

An animated adaptation of a short mystery novel in which members of the D Agency, a spy training division established within the Imperial Army, engage in dark deeds in various parts of the world. Because of their role as spies, the characters must remain inconspicuous and are difficult to identify. In the last scene of the opening animation, the frontal faces of the spies are depicted with the same light source, not to mention their hairstyles and clothing, and this shows the pride of the staff in their work.

The story takes place in Tokyo, Shanghai, and London in different episodes, sometimes on the super express of the South Manchurian Railway and sometimes on the deck of a luxury cruise ship. Even the background art and small objects are meticulously depicted, bringing the world of the Sino-Japanese war period to life. This work is the fruit of Production I.G's technological capabilities and the elaborate setting research, which is as detailed as a spy's face.

Kumamiko

An animated television series based on the comic of the same title serialized in Monthly Comic Flapper. It depicts the rural life of Machi, a junior high school student who works at a shrine as a shrine maiden, and Natsu, a brown bear who speaks human language, in Kumade village deep in the mountains of the Tohoku region. Machi, who suffers from a countryside complex, challenges Natsu's ordeals in order to fulfill her dream of attending a high school in the city! Standing in her way are Marui, Uniqlo, Village Vanguard, and other high-society urban stores. Can Machi, who can't even ride an escalator properly, overcome the famous stores with real names?

Natsu, on the other hand, is a bear, but he is so familiar with modern society that he is able to use the latest consumer electronics. While giving Natsu the knowledge he needs to survive in the city, Natsu's healthy desire to stay with Machi is also endearing. The ambivalent emotional paths of these two characters are also worth watching.

Hakuouki: Otogi-zoshi

A short anime work from the historical fantasy "Hakuouki" series. Familiar characters are transformed into two-headed deformed characters. The original cast continues, and talented voice actors, including Kuwashima Noriko as Yukimura Chizuru and Miki Shinichiro as Hijikata Toshizo, have reunited. For some reason, the story is full of food stories, with Chizuru mistaking her father for a watermelon, Hijikata throwing kompeito at her, Kazama obsessing over sponge cakes, and other such chaotic scenes in which food and sweets appear in almost every episode.

Animation production was handled by DLE. The PR animation "Oni-dai-sui suki," which promotes the deliciousness of domestic meat, and "Zeusi-kun! Zeusi-kun," a PR animation promoting the deliciousness of domestic meat, and "Glass Mask, but Z," in which the characters become oden in the final episode. Enjoy the three minutes of the show with its cute characters and surrealistic gags.

(Text by Katsunori Takahashi)