This Week in Anime

Overlooked or Deservedly Forgotten?

Lucas
You're absolutely right, Chris! And that's not even getting into just how foundational Fist of the North Star is to much of the anime landscape today! It is nothing short of a professional obligation for us to watch this new take on the series so we can understand just why this franchise is so formative and so highly regarded. Anime was a mistake. A plastic-looking, poorly blocked, and amateurishly animated and voice-acted mistake.

My exact thought as I was midway through the first episode was "how the hell are we getting another Berserk 2016? How did this industry not learn its lesson the last time???" I almost struggle to articulate just how overtly inadvisable this Hokuto no Ken -Fist of the North Star- from the moment it starts.

Just look at how these extremely 1980s character designs do not work when rendered with CG animation! This project should have been shut down the moment anyone in a leadership role on this project saw renders of these characters, and the fact that it's the number two anime on the "prestigious" Amazon Prime streaming platform is as depressing as it is upsetting.

Yup, this is another Transperfect Media dub, which is a very affordable South African studio that largely works in voice over rather than voice acting, which is likely why so many of their anime (including other Prime exclusives like Ninja vs. Gokudo and The Dinner Table Detective) sound like the performers are phonetically reciting the script rather than actually conveying the meaning express on the page.

I just...what's going on over at Amazon Prime? How does a company that has the awareness to pick up medium-defining works like CITY The Animation, SANDA, and the upcoming Ghost in the Shell anime not know that this project isn't just a dud, but borderline offensive to people who care about this art form? I think Amazon's model of picking up one or two of what are set to be the most critically acclaimed anime of a given year can work as a business model, but also licensing so many stinkers entirely undercuts the reputation they're trying to build!

It's baffling! I am left baffled by every part of Hokuto no Ken -Fist of the North Star- release!

Well, considering everything Fist of the North Star inspired, I guess the franchise can still hold its head high. But man...if only there were a bunch of hidden gems from this season that weren't lucky enough to pick up weekly reviews that we could talk about to wash the taste of this anime out of my mouth.

While we sang Kirio Fan Club's praises in our seasonal romcom column a few weeks back, I'm thrilled to share with our readers that it's far and away the best anime of the season that they probably aren't watching!

Such is the fate of many a HIDIVE exclusive release. If any anime is worth shelling out seven bucks a month for, it's this equal parts hilarious and gut-wrenching (kind of) romcom!

I care far less about spoilers than the average person, but I'll keep things vague, as folks should really experience the reveal around the titular character for themselves. I will share, though, that my appreciation for this work shot through the roof when it made clear that Kirio being a "faceless cis-het male viewer stand-in" was less of a romcom trope and instead a means to reinforce the core themes of this story.

Kirio Fan Club also becomes so much more impressive when it starts juggling these overtly heavy themes with some of the most unhinged and consistently funny jokes I've seen from an anime in a minute.

A complaint I have about a lot of media that focuses on young people is that they tend to skew too wholesome or too dark. Like, most anime about teenagers either depict them as plucky cinnamon buns like the kids in My Hero Academia or desensitized edgelords like the energy-drink-for-breakfast kids in Gantz. Kirio, though, manages to capture the fullness of this part of adolescence. Some characters are horny, some naive, some mature, while others have lived far more than anyone else should have to at their age. Even if this is an overtly exaggerated piece of media, it feels so much more true to my own experiences with being a teenager than just about anything else out there.

Also, whoever did the localization and subtitling for this anime deserves a raise!!!

And yet, somehow, it's not the most surprising and over-the-top anime airing this season! I'd say that honor goes to My Ribdiculious Reincarnation, simply because I have absolutely zero idea what this anime is going to look like from one episode to the next!

I can't even call this show a subversion of the isekai genre. Every episode feels like a deliberate middle finger to the many cynically produced and sociopolitically malfeasant works that fall under that genre umbrella, and I can't help but appreciate it thanks to that.

It feels like nothing short of a breath of fresh air (and I'm not just saying that because it seems to have as much contempt for The Rising of the Shield Hero as I do).

The localization in Rib Reincarnation is also rock solid, and its pathetically horny, inexplicably furry tail-wearing protagonist both feels like a good-natured roast of isekai protagonists and is energetic enough to keep each episode moving at a brisk pace.

Dude, I am still thinking about Hellshake Yano!

But alas, this is where my affection for Rib Reincarnation begins to wane. Even a parody of isekai is still an isekai, and the format began to lose its novelty as the show went on for me. Even if I never knew exactly what to expect, the broad strokes of how an episode would unfold are cemented by episode three. Though my affinity for Pop Team Epic and its masterclass madcap antics are probably coloring my opinion here.

Also, there are some fairly credible accusations of AI tech being used in the production of this anime. This is not great for a work that's otherwise a celebration of creativity and various niche artistic disciplines.

Quite frankly, it's inexcusable and makes me skeptical of what Rib Reincarnation has in store for us in the back half of its production. I won't blame anyone who chooses to skip out on this show entirely for its use of AI, but fingers crossed, some real artists can get back behind the wheel and stick the landing after this unforced error.

In the spirit of holding people accountable, I'm fully with you. How did people not vote for the cozy alcoholism yuri anime to get weekly reviews!!?

And before people start sounding off in the comments saying, "Uh, there are other vices in Botan like smoking too," I'm aware of that, and that only proves my point further!

If anyone else gets nostalgic for the highs and lows of their college years at the end of spring as I do, Botan has you covered in spades!

Though if we could dial things back just a little further and focus on one last high school anime in this column, I'm here to admit that I have been keeping up with Mistress Kanan is Devilishly Easy week to week, and it's still managing to punch above its weight class! Don't get me wrong, this is 100% trashy smut anime; but it's GOOD trashy smut anime, damn it!

Ami is such a good shit starter in this, dude. The main appeal of this anime to me is that every character in it is a weird lil freak, and she has the very fun role of being the person who exacerbates everyone's weirdest impulses. Though with budding masochists and a comically ignorant angel rounding out the cast so far, she doesn't have to do much to get the other characters riled up.

If we're about to enter into a global society where exaggerated anime titties and extended gags where characters try and fail to avoid pissing themselves aren't permissible anymore, then I'm gonna disappear into the woods until we can all agree again on some of the basics of what makes life worth living!

If today's anime community is anything like the one I grew up in, Ami is going to be making the rounds for a while, but Ghost Concert: missing Songs is actually a blind spot for me! Gimme the pitch!!!

That sounds like something I would respect, never have the time to watch properly, but would come to learn a surprising amount about it through doujins and other kinds of fan works! What are the chances this hits a fandom critical mass and it's all over Bluesky and the forums I frequent in a few months?

Hey, I'm always down for a chat about some of the less popular and undiscovered releases of a given season! Would love to make a Ghost Concert chat happen so long as schedules allow! Hopefully, our readers can get in on that convo too, after taking to heart from this column how the less discussed releases of a season often contain some of the most affecting, interesting, and weirdest works that this medium can offer.