The second part of our Winter 2016 Preview has a whole lot of game adaptations with Not Puzzles & Dragons Divine Gate, Phantasy Star Online 2: The Animation, and Dogakobo attempting action again with Luck & Logic. There are a few unique looking shows though, with Shouwa Era Rakugo (someone please come up with a better title) looking like something for the grown-ups to watch and Dimension W attempting to appeal to us unworthy foreigners. Anything looking good to you readers out there?
You can check out Part 1 of our Preview Guide here.
Divine Gate
| Mobile Game Adaptation by Studio Pierrot Air Date: 1/8/2016 |
This is basically a commercial for a mobile game so prepare your expectations accordingly. “But Jel” you might say, “Rage of Bahamut was really great and that was based on a mobile game!” This is true but that is the exception to the rule. This seems to be sticking more close to the game in which a group of kids with elemental super powers travel to the mythical Gate to… fight monsters or something? I kind of dig the art style and maybe they can turn this into a fun action show or something, but that’s probably as good as it could possibly get. |
Pandora in the Crimson Shell: Ghost Urn
Koukaku no Pandora, Masamune Shirow Mad Libs
| Manga Adaptation by Studio Gokumi Air Date: 1/8/2016 |
I’ve seen Masamune Shirow’s (Ghost in the Shell, Appleseed) name thrown around this and it’s important to point out it is “based on a concept by” him and he didn’t actually write it or anything. That said, the influence is pretty clear. The story is about a girl who is now basically a robot who is forced into a situation where she must fight terrorists or something like that. Sounds rad until you watch the teaser trailer and see the girls look like their 12 and at least one of them has cat ears. I’d like to at least see a full trailer before passing judgement as the concept is solid, but not off to a good start. |
Phantasy Star Online 2: The Animation
| Game Adaptation by Telecome Animation Films Air Date: 1/8/2016 |
Adapting a game with hardly any story can actually be good sometimes since it gives the creators a blank slate to work with. I’m not sure that’s going to help in the case of the popular PSO2. The trailer gives us some incredibly looking generic high school dressing on some decent but uninspired 3D fight scenes. At least I like the punchy girl, but aside from that my expectations are pretty low. |
Shouwa Era Rakugo
Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu
| Manga Adaptation by Studio Deen Air Date: 1/8/2016 |
Hey, something different! Set in the Shouwa era (60s-70s), a man is released from prison and starts a new life performing Rakugo, a very Japanese form of comedy that devout anime fans will remember from deep cut Joshiraku. It’s OK, I didn’t watch it either. I’m really digging the mature vibe of the trailer with actual adults in a very different setting than usual. That said, I’m also always wary of anime that could have just as well been done live action (for example, Kids on the Slope), so hopefully it make enough use of the medium to stay interesting. |
Bubuki Buranki
| Anime Original by Sanzigen Air Date: 1/9/2016 |
A young kid returns to Japan and is nearly kidnapped when he is saved by his childhood friend who now has some kind of super weapon on her arm. Turns out he has one of these weapons too, as do a bunch of other kids and they probably fight bad guys or something, that’s about we all know so far. The trailer is colorful and tries to be intense but I was having a little trouble taking it seriously with some of the CG work going on there. I’m also not a fan of the precocious super powered pre-teen thing, which seems to be in full effect. Probably going to pass on this. |
Luck & Logic
| Anime Original/Card Game Adaptation by Dogakobo Air Date: 1/9/2016 |
It’s worth pointing out that even though this is an anime original project it is being made to promote the launch of a new Bushiroad card game. So before you start thinking this is Dogakobo’s second shot at something like ambitious failure Mikagura School Suite, join me in my disappointment at finding out this is probably just another long commercial. The story is some convoluted idea about the world being completely guided by “logic” but not like, literal dictionary definition logic, and fighting against angels attacking humanity. The trailer makes me think of none this going to be taken seriously but will instead be a lot of cute girls hanging out and occasionally fighting, so make of that what you will. I’m always pulling for the incredibly talented people at Dogakobo to rebound, so I’m hoping this will at least be a fun spectacle to look at. |
Dimension W
| Manga Adaptation by Studio 3Hz Air Date: 1/10/2016 |
In the not too distant future the world’s energy problems are solved by tapping into “coils” that extract energy from another dimension. When illegal coils start popping up, it’s our main man’s job to shut them down. A lot has been made about Funimation being on the production committee for this show, so you can bet they would not be involved unless they thought they could sell it in the good ol’ USA. Watching the trailer I can see where their head is it at. It looks a lot like something that would have been made in the peak years of the American anime boom of the early 2000’s, and that could be a good thing depending on your point of view. I’ll take anything that isn’t about high school kids at this point, so that alone is enough for me to check it out. |
The Glorio Blog 
This is neither printing the facts nor printing the legend: it’s printing the flop sweat.
Y’know, I know this is a spam comment, but this actually sounds like a real opinion someone would make about anime. I don’t get what it means, but I’d believe someone would say it.