After looking at the first ten shows yesterday with what should be licensed and what should get a dub, we’re back with the final nine that we have. Of course, we have been watching a few more shows than this but to include the obvious series like Bleach, Naruto and One Piece feels kind of silly. Studios know where those titles stand, what needs to be done and what’s coming for them. And we can all take a collective glare at both Toei and FUNimation to get us more One Piece TV episodes and movies released over here. Unless, of course, they did so poorly because nobody bought them. So, with a new day, another nine series to look at, let’s get right into it.
C
Shows from the noitaminA block are hit or miss for me but they’re always shows that really demand checking out to see how they go. With one of the shortest series names out there, C is a show that could go in a really fascinating way by dealing with the financial world, but it introduces some battle formats into it that don’t exactly derail it, but feels like they’re a bit out of place at times. The use of an otherworldly Financial District in which the true power players play can definitely resonate with the state of the world today and the feeling of helplessness in the face of such things gives the show plenty of room to play in. With just eleven episodes, it packs in a lot of material and deals with characters out of a high school realm which helps a lot. The show has been a bit uneven at times, but it continually draws you back with a sense of scale that’s important in a show like this. It’s one of those shows that won’t move huge numbers, but is a good marquee title to add to a library.
License Worthy: Yes
Dub Worthy: Yes
Astarotte’s Toy
If there was a show this season that was going to turn off a lot of viewers, it’s Astarotte’s Toy. With the series dealing with a cast of young looking characters wherein the general idea is that the lead character is a succubi who is going to have to suck off the men of her harem some day, you can understand the ick factor. When you take into account that they’re not, well, human, and that it’s not exactly a sexual thing for them, it can be viewed through a better filter. What helps it even more is that the cast of characters is a lot of fun, the show moves in a fairly subdued way and it has beautiful animation and designs. It’s managed to charm me in a way I never expected because of the ick factor that it seems to promote but never actually capitalizes on for the most part in the show. With a lack of panty shots and poor camera angles designed just for fanservice, it plays it straight better and deals with the characters themselves. It’s been one of the biggest surprises of the season for me that not only that I enjoy it, that I really found it to be a show I look forward to each week.
License Worthy: Yes
Dub Worthy: No
Blue Exorcist
One of the big name titles to debut this season is the Blue Exorcist, which is getting a stateside manga push and simulcast on several distribution sites. It’s one of the shows getting a very active social media push as well, whereas most companies just announce they have it and let word of mouth go from there. Unfortunately, it’s been an uneven show so far with some awkward moments with its lead character being thrust into a difficult situation with everyone expecting him to know things without actually telling him anything. What it does have is some strong animation and designs and a lot of potential. With the concept of a son of satan running around that is being trained as an exorcist so he can deal with his heritage and what’s to come. Like a lot of manga adaptations, it has a good mix of action and humor, but it’s slow going in connecting with the characters and moves in unusual directions. But with companies behind it and the overall push it’s getting, it’s pretty much one of the few given’s this season that will see a home video release here.
License Worthy: Yes
Dub Worthy: Yes
Toriko
If there’s a show that went from fun to a chore in just a few episodes, Toriko is that show. With its manga origins, it started off fun with the whole concept of the Gourmet Era with Gourmet Hunters that travel the world to capture and gain interesting foods, spices and more. When it stuck to that, dealing with the amusing and interesting Toriko as well as the more annoying Komatsu, it worked well with a strange sense of wonder and grandeur to it all. When it started to introduce more back story and a villainous organization with its own goals out there, it was done in a very clunky manner with very unappealing characters populating that organization. The series is one that deals with outlandish characters and personalities and there’s fun to be had with it, but the execution is leaving a lot to be desired. Even worse is that it doesn’t handle multi episode stories well as it plays better as a standalone piece. But it’s focusing more on the multi episode stories. This is one of those great series if you’re new to anime but can be a real struggle otherwise. It’s ideal for a TV broadcast run though because of all of this.
License Worthy: No
Dub Worthy: No
Sekai Ichi Hatsukoi
Boys-love shows are few and far between, for better or worse, so when one comes along it definitely gets a little extra attention. Many of these shows play to some bad stereotypes unfortunately and it does hit this one at times with some of the characters and how their relationships are handled. With three different couples explored over the course of it, you can run into characters you don’t care for but still find the series as a whole a lot of fun. With the primary focus on a young man, all of them far out of high school for the most part, that goes to work as a shoujo manga editor, it has some nice little injoke elements and story ideas dealing with that setting that’s nice. But the big part is that it deals with characters who have lived a little, still struggling to figure out what they really want, and doing their best to cope with difficult situations. This is a pretty niche show, but it’s one that will definitely get an audience here that will lap it up.
License Worthy: Yes
Dub Worthy: No
Tiger & Bunny
Tiger & Bunny is another of those shows that seems like its designed to appeal to Western audiences but doesn’t connect well with anime fans here. With its take on superheroes and sponsorships taking place in a completely fictionalized world, it’s one of the early breakouts for me that really worked well from the start and built up its story slowly but surely with teases along the way. Some of the CG animation is a bit awkward with the suits, but the series works a lot of fun with the whole corporate angle and the public relations aspect. Sunrise has put a lot into the show and it’s hit a surprisingly good audience in Japan that I don’t think they expected. It’s one of the shows that keeps me very entertained every Saturday and looking forward to more to see how it handles its take on superheroes. With Viz Media being named a licensing master for it in terms of products, it’s easy to see there’s going to be a stronger push to get this out there and I wouldn’t be surprised by a TV deal of some sort coming from it.
License Worthy: Yes
Dub Worthy: Yes
My Ordinary Life
This series has been really hard to get into at times because of its short form nature of storytelling, coming from a mixture of four panel comics and more, and it shows in how the story is structured. It shifts between various stories pretty easily but some characters are more enjoyable than others. This is a series that you could see doing pretty well several years ago, but the time has in some ways largely passed for this to be a bigger hit than it might have back then. It has cute characters, really appealing animation and some fun stories but as it nears the halfway mark, it hasn’t hit a really big moment to make it a must watch show. But it is a fun way to spend some time if you can get into its groove.
License Worthy: No
Dub Worthy: No
Beelzebub
The second half of this series is drawing to a close and it’s another one of those surprising shows that works far better than you’d expect considering what it’s about. The focus on the heavier storyline involving the separation of Oga and baby Beel hasn’t been the best part of it, but there’s so many fun things with both characters and the others that populate it that it really does work better than I’d ever imagined. Beelzebub still feels like it’s a throwback to 80’s style anime with its designs and the heavy male nature of the show but that difference is what makes it so much fun. It’s not like other series that have been coming around for the last few years and it manages to make itself fun and unpredictable. The nudity of the baby can be a problem for some, but it’s that kind of silly, brazen style that just makes it so appealing. It’s a show I’d love to see done out in full, but it’s not one that can support it.
License Worthy: Yes
Dub Worthy: No
Deadman Wonderland
If there’s a show that’s going to end in a hard disappointment, it’s Deadman Wonderland. The show is one that practically begs to be licensed because it’s pretty bloody and violent and there’s always a market for that out there. It’s a confusing series though with its pacing and how it teases out the information, taking awhile to actually get there, but it puts the cast in such an intriguing and unusual setting that you can’t help but to watch. The lead characters confusion as his life is thrown into turmoil is what the viewer feels like for a lot of it, but when it starts to make sense it’s still pretty out there and and has some bloody creative ideas. While the show started strongly, it’s gone in less than interesting directions for the last few episodes of its run and it’s going to leave a lot of people wanting since the manga is ongoing. It’s an interesting tease to be sure.
License Worthy: Yes
Dub Worthy: Yes
We Without Wings
This is the only show this season that I actively dropped, which is a real rarity in general. While the show has an interesting premise from the game that it’s based off of, the execution is so poor and the show has so many surprisingly raunchy and poor taste moments that it simply doesn’t work well at all. When it makes some of its revelations at the halfway mark, it’s pretty much a too little, too late point. Few shows feel like they’re done as badly as this one which is why I was all the more amused and saddened that it was one of the first ones of this season to actually get licensed. And with FUNimation getting it, it’ll get a dub as well. The show isn’t exactly offensive, but it straddles the line pretty close a lot of times for a lot of reasons.
License Worthy: No
Dub Worthy: No
C, Deadman Wonderland, Blue Exorcist, Beelzebub, and Tiger and Bunny all need license grabs as well as dubs cuz I want them! :).
C is great…you should do a post on that we without wings got a liscence and how crazy that is…