In addition to all our first impressions of the full length shows, a new anime season means more ANIME SHORTS. I’m still pretty new to the shorts game and I must say I was not very enthusiastic about last season’s entries. For this season I set aside the combined 19 minutes necessary to watch Aiura, Sparrow’s Hotel and Muromi-san and I’m not sure my opinion of the format has changed… OR HAS IT??? I guess you’ll just have to read on to find out!

Aiura

4koma adaptation by Liden Films
Simulcast on Crunchyroll

Premise: Three high school girls… exist. That’s all I got.

Jel’s Verdict: Aiura bills itself as “what happens when there is nothing happening” and delivers on that promise. In the less than three minutes of content one of the girls pours a cup of tea, gets her ice cream knocked over, and wonders about the size of her school uniform. Still, I was really impressed with the gentle animation, watercolor-esque backgrounds and subtle, nuanced directing. Also of note, the OP is INSANE with a bunch of images of Steve Jobs holding crabs with Andy Warhol paintings in the background. Aiura might actually be worth the four minutes of your time just to appreciate the craftsmanship, but ultimately I’m glad it wasn’t any longer than that.

Lifesong’s Verdict: Still better than Yuyushiki or Aku no Hana. Why was Steve Jobs dancing around with crabs? Then it ended with a cute girl eating something? Okay…

Sparrow’s Hotel

4koma adaptation by Hotline
Simulcast on Crunchyroll

Premise: Satou Sayuri is a beautiful and deadly (???) employee of a hotel in a bad downtown neighborhood. She uses her special skills (super strength and large breasts) to keep the customers in line.

Jel’s Verdict: This was incredibly dumb and really ugly but for some reason I kind of enjoyed it. It almost felt like a borderline offensive 90’s anime parody with art ripped from a bad “HOW TO DRAW MANGA” book and Sayuri’s accidentally suggestive way of saying things. For some reason, I think that’s a good thing. I also found Sayuri’s casual use of her completely unexplained super strength for mundane tasks like moving mattresses and making fresh squeezed juice pretty amusing. Again, not sure I would want to watch this in more than three minute doses but it was fun for what it is.

Lifesong’s Verdict: This is the kind of thing I hate. Sparrows Hotel is pointlessly short and it’s gags kind of made me die a little inside.

Muromi-san

Namiuchigiwa no Muromi-san
Manga adaptation by Tatsunoko Productions
Simulcast on Crunchyroll

Premise: Takurou is out fishing and accidentally catches a mermaid Muromi-san. Madness ensues as the two try to understand each other better.

Jel’s Verdict: Clocking in at around twelve minutes, Muromi-san is a bit heftier than the usual anime short and as you might expect it’s also the one most worth watching. Regular GLORIO readers may know I love insane, dumb comedies with heart, and this seems like it may fit the bill. The surprisingly well animated crazy moments like Muromi exploding with blood when she gets her fish hook ripped out are tempered by more subdued moments as we learn about the underwater world Muromi hails from. Considering the OP features Muromi and her mermaid friends leaping out of the water into space to stop a giant asteroid, I’m expecting plenty of crazy and over the top moments in future episodes. Add that to the potentially sweet friendship between our main characters and Muromi-san might be the first anime short I’ve seen that I wish was a full length series.

Lifesong’s Verdict: I like the way this protagonist fishes up a mermaid and just keeps on fishing while she harasses him. Honestly, everything about this anime seems like something I should hate, but I don’t… Muromi is well animated for a short and I laughed at most of the gags. There is something charming here that I am not entirely sure how to describe. I think this 12 minute form fits over the top comedy like this well for my taste. I can’t handle too much of this kind of thing at one time, but I like what I’ve seen here. This is one short I plan to keep up with.