Scout is back with another collection of anime mini-reviews. What’s hot, what’s not? We’ll soon find out.
In this episode of Irregular Reconnaissance, we look at a few new titles on Crunchyroll and catch-up with some not so new additions to Netflix.
There’s a bit of a school theme, but some very different schools and I’m not sure whether the gambling hellhole of Kakegurui xx is any worse than the demon school the human boy Suzuki Iruma has been kidnapped into. The games played by the youngsters of Kakegurui feel far more sinister and scary than the straight-forward evil of demon school.
As Ultramarine Magmell shows, though, sometimes the best lessons are learnt outside of school and by the hardships of coping with real life. It’s just that in the case of Magmell, real life has been forever altered by the dramatic return or arrival of a massive continent in the Pacific Ocean.
Assassins Pride
Episodes 1 to 3
Assassins Pride is a new arrival on Crunchyroll set in a dark world where humanity has been reduced to a single city. This city, surrounded by an evil darkness, is a lamp of light in a natural blend of steampunk and gothic horror.
My suspicion is we’ll focus almost exclusively on the characters and not get to see much of this fantastic world-building concept.
Only the nobles are born with much mana; the magic that enables the last of humanity to fight off the monsters from the darkness. Melida is a young girl born into a noble family who can’t manifest her mana. This casts doubts on her legitimacy but also makes it unlikely she’ll become the warrior she wants to be.
What Melida doesn’t know is that her new tutor is actually an assassin sent to investigate her, and he’s decided to help.
It’s a bit too early to tell where Assassins Pride is going, but there are hints of promise, so it’s an easy call to stick with it.
Status: Sticking with it
Where: Crunchyroll
How Not to Summon a Demon Lord
Episodes 1 to 9
So much promise and so little delivery.
Anime in which geeks are transported into the very games they know is red hot/done to death depending on where you stand. I thought How Not to Summon a Demon Lord has promise. The geek gets summoned into his very powerful demon lord character except the spell goes wrong, and the summoners are bound to him.
The actual fantasy world is different from the game because without the adventurers running wild in it, it’s far more peaceful and everyone is much lower level.
Except; How Not to Summon a Demon Lord drops into rubbish fan service all too often.
Like an engine struggling to kick into life, there’s been some splutters of activity, and I’ve kept watching. Now I find myself only a few episodes away from the end.
Status: Not recommended.
Where: Crunchyroll
Kakegurui xx
Episodes 1 to 8
Kakegurui xx is the impressive sequel to the equally impressive Kakegurui. It’s set in an elite school in which the pupils are obsessed with gambling. This is where the Illuminati, of sorts, decide their pecking order and people’s future.
Except Yumeko turns up, who isn’t part of the elite, equally obsessed with gambling and fantastically good at it.
In season two, the stakes are higher. The position for head of the school committee is being played for and so a powerful family, the current committee president’s own, ship in a half-dozen of their young prodigies to vie for the title.
Kakegurui xx gets an adult rating as the brutal school gambles with physical pain, torture and torment and experience a sexual thrill from the victories.
Status: Good!
Where: Netflix
Ultramarine Magmell
Episodes 1 to 4
I think I was tired when I decided to watch Ultramarine Magmell, but it’s turned out much better than it could have been. The Netflix trailer does not do it justice.
A new continent has appeared in the world; between Asia and the Americas; filling that vast space in the Pacific Ocean. It’s a dangerous place, with terribly ferocious animals and plants. So many people have died exploring Magmell or trying to mine the continent’s incredible resources, it has become off-limits to anyone without a license.
The show’s central character is one of the few rescue specialists who earn their living saving people from the terrible place. The catch? Inyo our rescue specialist, has some sort of magic power that allows him to create and manipulate matter using his imagination. Think Green Lantern.
So far, Ultramarine Magmell as been an exploration of human folly. People go to Magmell for stupid and greedy reasons, or to try and atone for previous stupid, cowardly or greedy purposes, and Inyo gets involved.
Don’t expect happy endings. Do expect some reason to include monsters.
Status: Average.
Where: Netflix
Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kin
Episodes 1 to 3
Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun is another new arrival at Crunchyroll, it’s reviewing well so far, and I will be sticking with it. However, we’re still in the meet-the-cast phase, and so it’s a bit too early to talk about with any real conviction.
The premises is interesting, though. A human gets dropped into demon school.
In fact, the chair-demon of the school kidnapped Suzuki Iruma and decided to give him to the school secretly. No one else knows that Iruma isn’t a demon.
Since Iruma isn’t a demon, the tests and challenges designed to turn demons into fierce human slaying warriors aren’t working on him as expected.
Status: Sticking with it.
Where: Crunchyroll
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