The Glorio anime preview continues as we thread ever closer to the upcoming summer season. In the likely event that part one featured nothing for you to be excited for, this half of the lineup provides more limitless potential with the unlikely resurrection of Working!! and the even more surprising return of Dragon Ball to your television screen. For fans of even more screaming, Key is unleashing Charlotte, their first original anime project since Angel Beats!, while God Eater takes up the mantle of this season’s obligatory video game adaptation. Also present are an obligatory shoujo romance, an obligatory light novel adaptation about being stuck in a video game and the obligatory results of frenetic lobbying by the International Association of Teratogynophiliacs. It all sounds so uninteresting, it’s almost as if anime itself is telling us to go outside. But hey, if you’re excited for something, be sure to let us know.
If you missed Part 1 you can check it out here.
Charlotte
| Anime Original by P.A. Works Air Date: 7/4/2015 |
Jun Maeda is basically the Marmite of anime, and given the fact that his visual novels have gotten so large even Leo Tolstoy might accuse the man’s writing of being a tad bit wooly, the Key head honcho has taken to writing original one-cour anime series, as if to spare us if having to watch another 50 episodes of whatever variation on Clannad he can come up with this time. Anyone familiar with the man’s work will know what to expect — random acts of slapstick violence, blatant tearjerking, nonspecific terminal diseases, soap opera melodrama, quirky eating habits, thinly veiled family values advocacy and a lot of music; because in true egomaniac fashion, Maeda isn’t satisfied with merely being an average writer. After breaking through with Angel Beats!, P.A. Works are obviously back to produce Charlotte, sadly enough not a show about the most memorable Witch from Puella Magi Madoka Magica, but about a super-powered student council helping out their fellow angsty teens. The only thing in here that even remotely interests me is the alleged presence of prime hipster bait on the soundtrack, as our main |
God Eater
| Game Adaptation by ufotable Air Date: 7/5/2015 |
At last ufotable have released themselves of the Nasuverse’s complicated clutches and now they can finally throw all of their talent and money at shows with actually comprehensible stories and realistic writing. So of course they’re making a video game adaptation! On the other hand, the last time we got an adaptation of a game with pretty much no plot or characters backed by infinite funds from an overzealous developer, the result was Rage of Bahamut: Genesis. That’s a plus. With its Very Serious And Gritty™ post-apocalyptic setting, however, God Eater already lacks the swashbuckling charm that made Bahamut a Glorio favourite, and judging from the trailer, ufotable’s production remains the animation equivalent of CGI: technically stunning, but awfully clinical. The lack of a writer credit in the press releases also has me worried the plot won’t exactly be what they are focussing on. God Eater may go either way, but at least they won’t take that kickass name from it. That’s something. |
Dragon Ball Super
Dragon Ball Chou
| Yes, THAT Dragon Ball Air Date: 7/5/2015 |
If you think Toei Animation can still deliver in the year of our Lord 2015, I’ve got some bad news for you, kiddo. Once you realize that a) Toei refuses to spend any money on animation, that b) even though he’s involved in the production of Super, Akira Toriyama’s writing is about as full as shit as your diaper was when Dragonball Z was first made, that c) those fights you thought were so radical 15 years ago suddenly look like shouting contests, that d) Battle of Gods was rubbish, and most importantly that e) Goku and his offspring sound like old ladies in Japanese, you might just come to your senses. I am totally the most qualified person to write this preview guide. Totally. |
Rokka: Braves of the Six Flowers
Rokka no Yuusha
| Light Novel Adaptation by Passione Air Date: 7/5/2015 |
As far as I know, none of the characters in this show are Native American, nor are we in the 1860s, so I think it’s fair to say that no, ‘brave’ is not a noun and yes, there is a totally valid English word for the thing you’re trying to describe. It’s ‘hero’. Bizarre old-timey racism aside, this sure looks like a light novel |
Working!!!
Wagnaria!!!, No One Actually Calls It Wagnaria
| Manga Adaptation by A-1 Pictures Air Date: 7/5/2015 |
Was someone (wan wan) still waiting for another season of Working!!? I mean, it sure is nice to see enough support for an anime five years after its premiere to warrant a third exclamation mark after that excited present participle; or is it just because of the success of a certain other workplace comedy that A-1 Pictures are necromancing this one? Anyway, Working!! did, errm, work pretty well throughout its initial run, with endearing characters, funny jokes, and a even healthy serving of character development. The largely forgettable second season, on the other hand, revealed that the source material had little else up its sleeve, with ever repeating gags about Inami’s fear of men, Popura’s height, or |
My Monster Secret
Jitsu wa Watashi Wa…, Sorry That’s the English Manga Title
| Manga Adaptation by TMS Entertainment Air Date: 7/6/2015 |
Going up against that other show about monster girls this season is My Monster Secret, though while Monster Musume — see the bottom of this page, where it belongs — is about a guy who can’t keep his libido in check being forbidden from bedding any monster girls, My Monster Secret is, predictably, about a guy who can’t keep a secret being forbidden from revealing their identities. Pretty much any source I can find on the original manga tells me My Monster Secret is a comedy of the big, loud and chaotic variety, which could make it a perfect sop to fans of Love Live! and Nozaki-kun, as Dogakobo are sitting next season out. On the other hand, director Yasutaka Yamamoto’s experience with comedy is limited to Servant x Service and the insufferably banal second season of Squid Girl, so it’s gonna be up to the source material to carry this one on its own. Professional franchise-milkers TMS are animating this, so don’t expect it to look particularly good either. Then again, if you’re into monster girls, you don’t get to complain about this season. |
Non Non Biyori Repeat
| Manga Adaptation by Silver Link Air Date: 7/6/2015 |
I dunno, ask someone who watched Non Non Biyori. |
Snow White with Red Hair
Akagami no Shirayukihime, Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman: The Animation
| Manga Adaptation by Bones Air Date: 7/7/2015 |
Snow White with Red Hair, not to be confused with the plain old Snow White with Black Hair, is a very loose adaptation of the beloved fairy tale, only without all the dwarves, evil stepmothers, huntsmen and vague implications of necrophilia. In this version of the story, the prince wants Snow White, or Shirayuki for the weeaboos, to be his concubine because apparently he has a thing for redheads — granted, not a considerably less shallow motive than the original prince’s. Wanting none of that 1930s happy ending, however, Snow flees her homeland, only to end up serving another prince as his court physician. What the hell does this have to do with Snow White? Hell if I know. Bones have the potential to turn this cosy romance into something worldwhile, what with the director of Hanasaku Iroha and Sword of the Stranger on the job, but I couldn’t for the life of me tell how Snow White with Red Hair will try to set itself apart. It’s not exactly the shoujo manga adaptation about a girl with red hair being taken in by a mysterious noble to practice potion brewing I was hoping for. |
Over Lord
| Light Novel/Manga Adaptation by Madhouse Air Date: 7/7/2015 |
Because they just couldn’t find enough lazy wish fulfilment light novels about people being trapped in video games, the anime industry has now taken to adapting web novels — a fancy word for fan fiction. Rejoice, fellow otaku! Now your entitled power fantasies in which you are a handsome overpowered skeleton, get to take over the world and have women grovel at your feet because you are so good at staying in your room all day playing video games can be made into an anime too! Thank God for the anime industry! |
Monster Musume: Everyday Life with Monster Girls
Monster Musume no Iru Nichijou
| Manga Adaptation by Lerche Air Date: 7/7/2015 |
Good thing to see Japanese TV channels still willingly give screen time to 25-minute long commercials for soft-core porn blu-rays. But hey, if you’d really like to have sex with a snake, who am I to judge you? Go fight society’s preconceived notions of sexuality, you handsome rebel you! |
The Glorio Blog 
Haters gonna hate, but I like Monster Musume, where the entire premise is MC Darling-kun keeping his libido in check. It’s stupid and not particularly noteworthy beyond the monster girl novelty, but I find it funny and charming. The anime will probably suck, but I can at least give it a try.
I’d much prefer an adaptation of Centaur’s Worries, though. Infinitely more adorable, and with surprising depth.
Fun fact: one of our first big hit spikes when we started up was when I ended up with Centaur’s Worries for Random Manga Theatre and did Monster Musume the next week (funnily enough, both were licensed not long after those posts). I find both kind of distasteful, but if I was forced to pick I’d also rather go for Centaur’s Worries, since it’s not such blatant masturbation material.