Irregular Reconnaissance is where you’ll find a batch of anime mini-reviews.
It’s here we catch up on the shows that are currently streaming new episodes each week or where we dive into a back catalogue item and give it a watch.
The goal is simple, in just a few paragraphs get to a short recommendation as to whether the anime is worth your time or not. In this episode of Irregular Reconnaissance, we’ve two shows that manage a ‘Good’ rating, and they’re sandwiching a cluster of less successful candidates.
You can join Scout and her team by letting us know about your own recommendations and anime discoveries in the comments below. Have there been any recent titles you recommend or time-wasters you can help us avoid?
Kengan Ashura
Part 2, Episodes 1 to 10
Kengan Ashura picks ups in the middle of the life and death tournament that the first part so rudely failed to conclude for us. Kengan Ashura Part 2 dares to finish before the same competition.
I should be annoyed, but impressively they make the writing work. Each fight is a mini-story, and then there’s the progress of the overarching storyline.
Blood and violence also pick up a pace. I suspect you’ll not make it through part 1 if you have a strong dislike for anime blood, but part 2 is even more brutal.
I’m not sure I can believe it myself, but I’m giving a fighting anime a rating of ‘Good’.
Status: Good
Where: Netflix
Granblue Fantasy: The Animation
Episodes 8 to 13
It’s the art that Granblue Fantasy does best, with some excellent illustrations and animation. The plot is entirely average.
Our heroes travel around for a bit, making friends, growing the party – just like in a JRPG computer game. Some good characters join the group, but I think some of the better ones are left behind.
There’s dungeon crawls and trading, with only a little emotional drama. The anime forces itself to hurry up when the baddies fly in on magic ships and start attacking people. For reasons.
Hopefully, fans of the game will appreciate it more but for its a fairly unremarkable fantasy anime adventure.
Status: Average.
Where: Netflix
Ultramarine Magmell
Episodes 5 to 13
An adventure of the week anime that springs some sort of overriding arch on you in the final episodes. It’s only as the anime starts to wrap up that we begin to discover a little more about the characters and why we should care about them.
However, as an adventure of the week anime, it’s pretty good with the dangers and promises of the land of Magmell enough to whisk up a slightly unusual but often clearly signposted encounter.
I suspect I do care a little about the core characters and the growing supporting cast by the time the actual baddies show up. The villain is about as one-dimensional as they come, but at least that keeps things simple for the final showdown.
Ultramarine Magmell won’t engage your thinking brain, and I used it as a fun show to watch in bed, switch off too and then fall asleep.
Status: Average
Where: Netflix
Revisions
Episodes 6 to 12
The feeling I had watched this show already, a feeling that I had throughout episodes 1 to 5 diminished slightly but never wholly.
I can’t explain it.
It’s ironic too because Revisions is a time-travelling show in which monster-humans are messing with the timeline, and confused memories is a result of that.
It’s the characters, especially the (are they?) baddies that keep Revisions interesting. The main character isn’t particularly likeable, but that’s very much done on purpose by the writers, a bold choice that I think pays off in the end.
Status: Average.
Where: Netflix
Blood Blockade Battlefront
Episodes 4 to 12
Blood Blockade Battlefront could have been better. It’s good, but it could have been very good, and that’s disappointing.
New York is (kinda) trapped in a magic bubble, and now humanity shares the city with all sorts of creatures. It’s a madcap place with frantic action sparking all the time and where just going out for a bite to eat becomes a challenging task.
Our hero has magic eyes. He can see all sorts of things and powerful creatures rather fancy picking them out of his skull and claiming them as a prize.
There are vampires. There’s some sort of mini-apocalyptic plan that needs to be thwarted and society of secret heroes trying to stop it happening.
If you’re looking for different with a touch of whacky; Blood Blockade Battlefront is for you.
Status: Good, just.
Where: Crunchyroll
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