Spring 2016 Anime Guide

12-sai: Chiccha na Mune no Tokimeki

A Sweet romance story about 12 years old children which just arrived at their adolescent stage . This show depicts 12-years old girl innocent worries, love and other adolescent problems. How will they overcome phsyology and psychology problems in their adolescent life?

My editor told me “can you watch this show?”, I was “sure, why not?”. After watching the first episode, my conclussion is : this show is for adolescent children so they will understand about being an adolescense. for us, which already entered adulthood, our reaction while watching this series might be : Laughing my ass off, “This is so Cheesy!” or salty because 12 years old has a better romance story than us. Definitely recommend this show for both us adults and children alike. (Naufalbepe – KAORI Newsline)

Anne-Happy

Have you ever imagine 40 students are joined in a class for those who are “unlucky”? This is the story of Hibarigaoka Ruri, a girl who will start her highschool life. On her way to school, she met with her schoolmate, Hanakoizumi Anne who is hung on the bridge then fall to the river below. After saving her, Ruri then goes to school to welcome her first day as a highschool girl. When she arrived at class, she’s shocked when her teacher tell that her class is the class for those who are having some bad luck, and this class will make every unlucky student to lead a happy life.

If you look at it, in the first glance Anne-Happy might looked just like another anime with daily-routine-of-highschool-girl theme. But there was “unlucky & unfortunate” theme in this anime which made it had another point of view, behind those highschool girl smiles, there lied some sadness about their miss-fortune. The dramatic and comedy scene had been showed in this first episode. Maybe this anime might gave another view from the series which showed the daily routine of highschool girl. (Rafy N/KAORI Newsline)

Bakuon!

Sakura Hana is a new student of girls only high school. While cycling on her way to school, she met with Onsa Amano, her schoolmate who goes with riding a motorcycle. Since then, Hane became interested in motorcycles. Seeing this, Onsa invite Hane to join the motorcycle club in his school which was only filled by one person, namely Raimu Kawasaki, a  silent-type schoolgirl who always wear Simpson helmet (her trait brings to mind an infamous character from certain motoring  show, The Stig) and riding Kawasaki Ninja.

Bakuon! comes with automotive themes, a theme that is quite rarely presented in today’s anime, combined with typical “cute girls doing cute things” shade. As an automotive-themed anime, Bakuon presenting various types of motors with additional detail to satisfy the motorcycle enthusiast. In the premiere episode, this anime series introduces the main characters and the story around the daily live between the girls and her ride, accompanied with light comedy which making fun of certain manufacturers (and also a little sensual). Looking for moe anime with unusual themes or automotive anime with light and fun story? Bakuon! could be an option for you. (Tanto D/KAORI Newsline)

Boku no Hero Academia

In a world where most of the population has super powers called “Quirks,” Izuku Midoriya is young boy who was born without a Quirk. Yet he still dreams to be a hero and aims to get enrolled in a school that trains young heroes. Izuku’s then caught the attention of the greatest hero, All Might.

Airing at 5 p.m. (JST) and having the lyrics of the theme songs displayed on the opening and ending sequences, My Hero Academia is very much a children’s show. But it works beautifully. The first episode has only introduced the main character and the setting. But so far, it manages to present the lovable aspects of the superhero genre with much passion and earnestness, complete with shouting attack names, and even comic book style sound effects. The emotional moment between Izuku and his mother is also presented powerfully, firmly putting Izuku as the underdog protagonist that can be rooted for. It’s interesting to see if Heroaca can make the kid hero story feels fresh again. (Halimun Muhammad/GM The Indonesian Anime Times)

Bungo Stray Dogs

Atsushi Nakajima is a boy who had been kicked out from his orphanage. While starving and having no place to go, he saved a man who attempted to drown himself in a river. The man is Osamu Dazai, a member of a detective agency whose members possess supernatural powers. Dazai and his partner Doppo Kunikida were looking for a tiger reportedly roaming in the city.

Bungo Stray Dogs presents a bold idea of having characters named after famous early 20th century Japanese literary figures possess superpowers based in some ways on the authors’ most famous works. The manga, which is serialized in seinen magazine Young Ace is actually quite popular among female readers. But with eccentric characters and playing their comedic contrasts in character interactions (such as between Atsushi and Dazai or Dazai and Kunikida), this series can still be enjoyable for both male and female viewers. As for the action, the first episode has just shown Atsushi’s introduction with Dazai and the detective agency. Need to wait for future episodes to see more superpowered fights. Other things of interest are the use of cartoony expressions and animation and comic book effects to enhance the comedy of the character interactions, as well as the anachronistic aesthetic that combines a modern day Yokohama-esque setting with early 20th century fashion and visual elements. (Halimun Muhammad/The Indonesian Anime Times)

This seasonal guide continues on next page.