Yuri's Spring 2011 Season Preview, Part 2

What, you thought I was only watching 4 shows this spring?  Don't be silly.  I'm watching around 8 shows this spring.  I've already detailed 4 in my last post, so I'll tell you about the rest in this post.

Seriously.

First up is a show with an absurd enough premise to work: Toriko.  Put simply, this show is shonen grocery shopping.  Here's MAL's summary of the show:

In the world where the taste and texture of food are very important there is Toriko, a hunter of precious foods regularly hired by restaurants and the rich. A man with inhuman skills to capture the ferocious, evasive and rare animals to complete his ultimate dinner course and then the chef Komatsu, his current accomplice: a weak timid person who was inspired by Toriko's greatness and accompanies him on all his journeys on his quest for the course of his life.

 Yeah. Just silly enough to work.  I'm hoping that Toriko will border on parodying shonen tropes.  After all, grocery shopping is the perfect setup to do just that.

Toriko
Watching?: Yes. I demand my absurd anime.
Reviewing?: To start out, yes.

Only my railgu- oh, wait. Wrong anime.

Every season has a stinker.  Looking at the past couple seasons, this season's stinker will likely be X-Men.  The 3rd in a series of 4 anime adaptations of Marvel superheroes, X-Men doesn't have a lot going for it, and the poor quality of its predecessors, Iron Man and Wolverine, aren't helping any.  In a nutshell, the X-Men are on a rescue mission to save Armor.  They come across the U-Men (yeah, real original), and the battle begins.  If Escap3st's reviews of Wolverine are any indication, this looks to be bad. Really bad.

X-Men
Watching?: Yes, unless I bleed from the head
Reviewing?: I'm not but Escap3st will be.

The hell...

I've made it no secret that I enjoy slice-of-life shows.  Nichijou is one of 2 competitors in this season's "4koma wars".  The setting is a strange school where deer attend and robots arms fly out of the window.  Huh.  Sounds like a copy of Pani Poni Dash to me.  I'm probably just hallucinating, though.  Crunchyroll will be simulcasting this show, so at least my premium membership will be of use.  I hope this show won't try to BE Pani Poni Dash.  That's the one thing that can bring it down.  It needs to do its own thing.

Nichijou
Watching?: Yup.
Reviewing?: Review a slice-of-life series? You're kidding, right?

From left to right: Tsukasa, Konata, Kagami, Miyuki. Oh. Wrong anime again.

The OTHER 4koma adaptation airing this season is A Channel.  This one looks a bit more plain than Nichijou.  Think closer to the first 4 episodes of Lucky Star.  I'm not sure what to expect, though.  After all, Pani Poni really changed how I look at school life anime.  In any case, slice-of-life fans should be very happy with this and Nichijou.  As long as this doesn't become TOO plain, it should hold its own just fine.

A Channel
Watching?: Yeah.
Reviewing?: No.

I approve of nekomimi.

An OVA that looked rather amusing is Honto ni Atta! Reibai Sensei, or, in English, Spelunker Sensei.  Basically, a man is capable of summoning youkai.  One day he accidentally summons a spirit into a calm girl, turning her into a spunky girl.  Consequently, he becomes a P.E. teacher.  Oh, and he dies rather frequently.  Now, I'm aware that this is an OVA.  If the main character dies TOO much, it'll just get annoying.  If the gag deaths and actual story are balanced, though, this can be a VERY good OVA.


Spelunker Sensei
Watching?: I'll give it a shot.
Reviewing?: No.



Needless to say, my schedule is varied, to say the least.  Everything from school to grocery shopping to youkai is represented here.  Leave a comment with a few shows YOU'RE watching! Also, stay tuned for previews from the other writers!