Unfortunately the third part of our preview guide features all three of my nominees for the potential worst shows of the season. On the bright side, we have the TV series debut of the popular Ancient Magus Bride, as well as two good returning shows in Blood Blockade Battlefront and March Come In Like a Lion. Check it out, and let us know what you’re watching.

You can check out Part 1 here and Part 2 here.

Two Car

Anime Original by Silver Link Air Date: 10/8/2017

Director: Masafumi Tamura Series Composition: Kastsuhiko Takayama

To celebrate their 10th anniversary, B-list studio Silver Link is making an anime about… competitive sidecar racing??? Sure, why not? That aside, this seems like yet another show about cute school girls riding bikes, be they motorized or not, and the trailer is the most boring, average thing I’ve ever seen. I also find it odd that Silver Link’s ace director, Shin Oonuma, is not working on their anniversary project but instead he will be on A Sister’s All You Need, one of my nominees for worst show of the season. More on that in a bit.

Blend S

Manga Adaptation by A-1 Pictures Air Date: 10/8/2017

Director: Ryouji Masuyama Series Composition: Gou Zappa

Maika is a sweet and shy girl who gets a job at a maid café and is forced to act like a sadist. You see, this cafe makes all it’s waitresses act as various anime stereotypes, like the tsundere or the imouto… *hurgh* sorry, excuse the dry heaving, I’m trying not to vomit. In the grand tradition of Eromanga Sensei, this is in the running for worst show of the season and yet it looks stunning animation wise because A-1 Pictures loves throwing their money at trash. I don’t think this show will be that bad, but that is also a very high (low?) bar to reach.

The Ancient Magus’ Bride

Mahoutsukai no Yome

Manga Adaptation by Wit Studio Air Date: 10/8/2017

Director: Norihiro Naganuma Series Composition: Norihiro Naganuma

Chise has had a hard life, leading up to her being sold as a slave to man with the head of a beast. That’s bad, but maybe not that bad? Rather than me trying to explain, you may want to go watch the OVA episodes that act as a prequel to the upcoming series. I haven’t seen them myself, but several other Glorio crew members liked them. Side note: the OP will be performed by JUNNA of Macross Delta fame so good for her for getting work on something that might actually be good.

Blood Blockade Battlefront & Beyond

Kekkai Sensen & Beyond, Bed Bath & Blood Blockade Battlefront

Manga Adaptation by Bones Air Date: 10/8/2017

Director: Shigehito Takayanagi Series Composition: Yasuko Kamo

If you missed BBB’s first go round, it’s about a super powered organization fighting crime in “Hellsalem’s Lot”, the end result of a magic portal opening over New York City and dumping a lot of weird paranomal people and creatures on it. We loved the first season up until the final half-baked, anime original plot arc, but given the episodic nature of the series that can all be overlooked. What does concern me is the change in director. Rie Matsumoto’s stylish auteur’s touch at times elevated the first season from anime action show to a work of art. Her directing not only enhanced the big set pieces, but more importantly the more mundane daily life bits in which we bonded with the lovable cast. I’m certain the show will not be as good without her, so it’s only a matter of seeing how “less good” it will be.

Anime-gataris

Anime Original by WAO World Air Date: 10/8/2016

Director: Kenshiro Morii Series Composition: Mitsutaka Hirota

A year or so ago, Toho Cinemas played a short anime about an anime club talking about anime in between showing other anime anime movies. For some reason, someone thought it would be a good idea to turn this short into a full TV series. The prospect of watching an entire anime series about people talking about anime sounds about as appealing as getting my remaining wisdom teeth pulled, but they do have a talking cartoon cat so maybe it won’t be all that bad. I’m going to say there’s a slight chance this ends up being one of those dumb comedies that sound terrible but I end up falling in love with a la last season’s GAMERS!. Slight chance. Really small.

A Sister’s All You Need

Imouto sae Ireba Ii

Light Novel Adaptation by Silver Link Air Date: 10/8/2017

Director: Shin Oonuma Series Composition: Yomi Hirasaka

Remember when I mentioned Silver Link’s ace director Shin Oonuma would be handling one of my nominees for worst show of the season? Well, here it is! This abomination is about an author trying to create the perfect imouto. Of course he already has a younger step-sister who will undoubtedly be in love with him along with the rest of the female cast. Pardon me for sounding cynical, but I feel i have the right to be until proven wrong. I suppose it’s worth pointing out the author of the original novel series (he’s also doing series composition) also wrote Haganai, a series that took more of a satirical look at anime nerd culture but often ended up doing exactly what it was supposed to be condemning. That’s probably the best we can hope for here, we’ll see how it goes.

Children of the Whales

Kujira no Kora wa Sajou ni Utau

Manga Adaptation by J.C. Staff Air Date: 10/8/2017

Director: Kyohei Ishiguro Series Composition: Michiko Yokote

Children of the Whales is set aboard the “Mud Whale”, an island floating through the desert full of people with special ablities that shorten their life span. Our hero encounters a girl in a ruined ship and so the story begins. The premise and setting are nice backdrop for a good, large scale adventure. I also like the art style in the trailer, particularly the backgrounds which almost look like watercolor paintings. So the parts are there, now we just need to see if they can put it all together with some good writing. Certainly worth a look.

Recovery of an MMO Junkie

Net-juu no Susume

Manga Adaptation by Signal.MD Air Date: 10/10/2017

Director: Kazuyoshi Yaginuma Series Composition: Kazuyuki Fudeyasu

So our main character is a NEET addicted to a particular online game and yet somehow everyone still falls in love with them anyway. The twist? She’s a 30 year old woman. I have no idea if that will be a good or a bad thing, but consider my interest piqued. It seems we’ll be spending time in both the real world and the game world, in which the character she plays is a hot guy. So there is a lot of directions I could see this series go, I’ll definitely be watching to see how it pans out.

My Girlfriend Is a Shobitch

Boku no kanojo ga Majime Sugiru Shojo Bitch na Ken

Manga Adaptation by Diomedea Air Date: 10/12/2017

Director: Nobuyoshi Nagayama Series Composition: Hideki Shirane

And for my final nominee for “Worst Show of the Season”… early translations for the title were something like “My Girlfriend is a Faithful Virgin Bitch” so this is clearly a respectful examination of how a woman can be empowered in a relationship. Sarcasm aside, this is about a guy who decides to shoot his shot and ask out the beautiful class rep, expecting to get turned down. Surprisingly she says “yes” and having only an academic knowledge of how relationships work, she suggests all kinds of sexually charged activities. It’s similar to this past season’s My First Girlfriend Is a Gal except it replaces the confident female lead with the type of quiet, monotone, subservient character that always seems to have silver hair. While that Gal show was basically porn, I find this kind of thing much more disgusting. We’ll let you know how bad it is, don’t bother watching.

Inuyashiki

Manga Adaptation by MAPPA Air Date: 10/13/2017

Director: Keiichi Satou, Shuhei Yabuta Series Composition: Hiroshi Seko

Our hero is a 58 year old man who looks like he’s in his 70s, everyone hates him, and he just found out he has cancer. Life sucks for Ichiro Inuyashiki, until he sees a mysterious explosion in the sky and wakes up with a new, powerful body. He’s not the only one who was changed though, and thus starts a very different kind of super hero story. That’s certainly something different, and I wouldn’t mind seeing an old man putting some punk kids in their place. Throw some MAPPA quality animation on this and you can color me interested.

March Comes In Like a Lion Season 2

Sangatsu no Lion 2

Manga Adaptation by Shaft Air Date: 10/14/2017

Director: Akiyuki Shinbo Series Composition: Yukito Kizawa

Ending on a high note, this was one of our favorite shows from earlier this year. The story is about a prodigy shogi player with a tragic past. He meets three sisters who have gone through difficulties of their own, and together they heal and grow. The series finds a great balance between being gentle and uplifting while not pulling its punches when it needs to be serious. Rei has his struggles, but he has people who care about him that help him pull through. My only concern from the first season is getting away from his personal development and his relationship with the sisters and more into the world of competitive shogi, which I couldn’t care less about. The new trailers seem to be focused back on the good stuff though, so I’m really excited for more.