Luck & Logic

Once upon a time in a future, a concept that form the basis of all matter was found, that is Logic. Logic once said as a concept that transcends beyond atom in an object. This Logic concept controls every single thing such as emotion, ability, memories, and other intangible things. Logic is also the power source of all godly beings in the world. Among all humans, there are those who could use their Logic power to “trance” with some godly beings, lent those godly power to fight the evil gods that come to human world. These people are called Logicalists. All these Logicalists are registered in a special forces unit called as ALCA (Another Logic Counter Agency) which fights the disturbance caused by evil monster. Yoshichika Tsurugi, a n ordinary teenager boy who lives with his little sister and their father, once went with his sister to bought a birthday present for his father. Everything changes when they arrived at the shopping center. A monster destroying their city comes to threaten earth. Although he could take his sister to the safe zone, Yoshichika Tsurugi decides to stay in that place. In the midst of battle between Logicalists from ALCA and that huge monster, there he encountered with Athena, a goddess which offered herself as a power for Yoshichika to be a Logicalists.

This anime is introduced as a part of new Trading Card Game project, Luck & Logic by Bushiroad and some other companies such as Lantis and Nitroplus. But the first episode of Luck & Logic doesn’t appear to be like any other Trading Card Game anime which showed How the card game is played. This anime appears just as a fantasy-futuristic themed action anime. No single decks played, and nor the rules of playing the card game are explained. Even the slight appearance of the cards in this anime is just as a glimpse of decoration. There really is one card that gets some attention, yet it is just a minor detail that was used by the Logicalists. The way this anime opens its story with  exposition narration about the concept of Logic definitely strengthens its’ position as an anime that that takes care of a serious plot and doesn’t appear to commercially exploited like any TCG anime usually does. Visual-wise, this anime is astonishing with its’ appealing character design, special effects, and the mixture of 3D with 2D animation. In most cases, Trading Card Game anime get only little attention because of its market is directed towards to those who understand, know, and play the card game. Then Luck & Logic, which appears with pure action theme in a fantasy futuristic setting could be some alternative show for those who are looking for some action anime in this season. (Rafly N/KAORI Newsline)

Mahou Shoujo Mou Nante Ii Desu Kara

Yuzuka Hanami is just an ordinary school girl who spend the days as other student, doing homework, goes to school with her friends, and studying in her classroom. But one day during her way home from school, she meets with a strange life form in a garbage. That creature, which is called Miton, suddenly gives power to Yuzuka as a magical girl because of her potential. But, instead of being happy because she can be a magical girl, Yuzuka actually doesn’t want to be a magical girl due to the swimsuit-like costume that she has to wear when she transforms.

In this winter season, there are many anime with many genres, including the magical girl (mahou shoujo) show. This show considered as an unique one because despite being a magical girl show, the story in this anime is filled with some comedy gag. In this anime, the protagonist didn’t want to be a magical girl, and what’s weirder than that? Her magical girl power was obtained unintentionally. This anime could fit your free time as a mild and entertaining anime with its comedy and it is less than 5 minute long. (Rafly.N/KAORI Newsline)

Musaigen no Phantom World

In this world, a biohazard incident has made every person became able to see supernatural creatures called “phantom”, and caused children born after it to possess superpowers.. Haruhiko and his senior, Mai, are school students who possess such powers. They use their powers to hunt phantoms that are disturbing human activities as extracurricular activity to obtain rewards. Their track record in hunting phantoms is poor, though, which prompts Haruhiko to recruit another member to the team.

Opened with a demonstration of optical illusions, Phantom World sets it narrative structure with a multiplication of frames of reference. It incorporates together school setting, extracurricular club activity, monster hunting, beautiful fighting girl, theory of human perception, ancient mythologies and folklore, wu xing, and some other stuff. The combination is fairly coherent and consistent, despite some awkwardly placed exposition moments. Given that it’s still an introduction episode, viewing the second episode might give a better feel of the flow of subsequent episodes. It doesn’t appear to be too serious or outstandingly unique, but it’s actually quite interesting to think about if you know how to read into it. To read into how an environment of information saturation can produce a work that organizes together a field of information and references into a narrative structure that multiplies its frames of reference in the medium of light novels and animated adaptations. Though, not everyone would consider thinking about it to be a worthwhile endeavour; not everyone would be interested in every narrative element that it brought into it; and some viewers would only think about Mai-senpai’s breasts anyway (and that is also one of the consequences of the condition of multiple frames of reference). (Halimun Muhammad / The Indonesian Anime Times)

Norn 9

Once in a future world, a world where crime and super strength are common, there is a nameless girl who appears in front of 9 men and 2 girls who lived in a plane that used to go around the world and eradicate crime. The girl’s name is Koharu, a plain girl who lost her memory which is believed to have powers that can be useful to reconcile the world.

Nowadays, reverse harem story was not something new, this story was taken from the otome game with the same title. One interesting thing here is that aside from singing the opening song, Nagi Yanagi is also casted as one of the characters in this anime. All male character here are voiced by veteran voice actord who have a lot of fans. By the first episode, you could feel the visual novel game style in this anime, the characters’ dialogues seemed not so different at all. The transition from one scene to another really felt like the transition of scenes in the game. (Johann/KAORI Newsline)

Nijiiro Days

Natsuki Hashiba is desperate and sad after breaking up in Christmas eve. In such a sad state, he met a nice girl who wears santa outfit, giving him a pocket of tissue (that is actually free to give tissue from a Karaoke Bar). Finding out that the girl attends the same school as himself, Natsuki is joyous and causing ruckus to his friends.

Nijiiro Days (or Rainbow Days) actually has a cliched concept; it is your usual school romance. Natsuki’s previous relationship makes the difference here. The image of Ann that is hardworking, cold, and deadpan, must be faced by Natsuki; who is childish, weak, and and not a courageous person. To know who is  Ann is also an interesting thing, especially Ann’s relationship with Keiichi’s brother who is the teacher in the school. Interesting fact: All characters have surname that’s similar (or the same) as some Sengoku-era general’s. (Shofa / KAORI Newsline)