Spring 2016 Anime Guide

Concrete Revolutio: Chōjin Gensō ~The Last Song~

Continuing from the first season, Jirō has left the Superhuman Bureau, which is now tasked to control the activities of superhumans deemed disturbing the public order. Having learned the truth about government exploitation of superhumans in secret experiments, Jirō now moves with his own group to continue protect superhumans.

Concrete Revolutio was actually one of the most interesting anime that came out last year. Unlike initial expectations and impressions, the series turns out to delve deeper into the relations between the politics of student movements in late 60s Japan and the science fiction and fantasy narratives in popular culture that were forming and growing at the time. It is as if Conrevo intends to remind us that the narrative tropes and conventions in Japanese popular fictions that have been codified since then have their roots in the aspirations of past social movements, and asks to ponder their relevance in the current era. (Halimun Muhammad/The Indonesian Anime Times)

Crane Game Girls

Earth is in the danger of giant meteorite crash. In order to save the earth from the deadly crash, three young girls are chosen to be the savior. But, instead of discussing about how to prevent the meteorite crash, those girls are being recruited to idol agency and have to go idol training by playing Crane Game.

Another short anime arrived in this season. This time, Crane Game Girls presented an anime with only 4 minutes 30 seconds durration with some touch of digital animation. With its’ colorful scene and some comical act of the character, it gave a mild tone in this short anime. Watched at this first episode maybe would make you think about what was the relation between meteorite crash with some idols who had to gone a training by playing Crane Game? (Rafly N/KAORI Newsline)

Endride

This anime tell the story about Shun Asanaga, a teenage boy who has interests on gemstone. He really like gemstones because he believe that he can see another world from those stones. One day when he and his mother are preparing for his father’s birthday party, his father hasn’t come home although it’s been too late. Shun then decides to bring his father home from his office. But when Shun arrives at his office, he don’t find his father, instead he find a mysterious crystal which soon bring him to another world called Endora.

Adapted from a smartphone game, Endride brought a fantasy-themed story. Many fantasy-related stuffs showed in this anime from magics, mysterious creature, and also a huge kingdom. This anime also presented a story about throne taking from a kingdom. If you like some fantasy anime or maybe only to watch a pair of handsome boy fight together, maybe Endride would fits you best. (Rafly N/KAORI Newsline)

Gyakuten Saiban

Naruhodo Ryuichi is a rookie defense lawyer who just received his lawyer’s badge as a license for his job. Together with Ayasato Mayoi, the younger sibling of Ayasato Chihiro, Naruhodo’s mentor, they are ready to solve different cases and helping defendants achieve “not guilty” verdict from the judge in the courtroom.

As an adaptation from Capcom’s text-heavy point-and-click video game, Gyakuten Saiban gives viewers an experience identical to the game itself, especially with the gimmicks adapted from the original source, making both new and old Gyakuten Saiban fans feel familiar with the anime. Despite Gyakuten Saiban’s approach to make the anime as close to the video game as possible, this direction has gathered many mixed opinions. While some people assume this show is already on the right track, there are also people who complained about it, under the impression that Gyakuten Saiban lacks creativity (Videtra Reynaldi / The Indonesian Anime Times)

Haifuri

Because of a shift in tectonic plates around 100 years ago, Japan lost much of its area to submergence. To preserve Japan’s territories, coastal cities sprung up, one after the other. Eventually, they became major marine cities, while some of the old cities are submerged. Furthermore, they need a sizable staff to protect the seas. Hence, the Blue Mermaids, tasked with keeping the seas safe, had become every female student’s dream job. This is when childhood friends Akeno Misaki and Moeka China enroll in a marine high school in Yokosuka, along with other girls who share their goal of becoming a Blue Mermaid.

After seeing the key visuals and promotional videos, many thought that Haifuri is a typical Cute girls doing cute things anime with yuri vibe, but the first episode shows the viewer more than that. The second half of the episode shows a pretty exiting naval battle between two ships, while the first half gives more relaxed and comedic tone. First episode also ends with an interesting cliffhanger, which shows this anime has potential to delivers more serious story in the future. Will it become more serious? Only the later episodes will tell. For now, this anime probably suitable for you who looking for an anime that mixed military theme with cute characters like Girls und Panzers.

This seasonal guide continues on next page.