Spring 2016 Anime Guide

 Shounen Maid

Chihiro Komiya is a grade schooler who lives only with her mother in a very modest yet comfy place, and he also good at doing houseworks. But one day, her mother passed away due to her illness and left Chihiro behind. After her mother passed, he doesn’t know where or how he will live by himself alone. At that moment, his uncle (little brother of Chihiro’s mother), Madoka Taketori comes to him and ask him to live together at his mansion. But because of Chihiro’s mother who asks him to live independently, he refuse his uncle’s offer. Soon as he arrives at Madoka’s mansion, he still refuse to accept help from Madoka. But then because he see that Madoka’s mansion is full of mess, he decided to clean it up. Then Madoka decides to offer Chihiro a job to do the housework in his mansion, so Chihiro can live with him without any feeling of being helped by his uncle. But then at his work, Chihiro has to wear some maid uniform.

By reading at the title and some synopsis of this anime, maybe you’d thought that this anime will just presented a trap character,a young boy who wore maid uniform. Well you’re not totally wrong about it, but actually there’s more beyond that in this anime. The fact is Shonen Maid didn’t really exaggerated on its’ fanservice that supposed to be enjoyed by fujoshi only. There also some conflict of value about what was a proper life for Chihiro, how close his relation with his mother, and also how could he struggle to life by himself althought he life in a huge mansion with his uncle’s help. All those things together made some heartwarming narration. Instead of some “fujobait” anime, the first episode of Shonen Maid showed really touching , and it’s also packed with some message about what is the meaning of life. (Rafly N/KAORI Newsline)

Sousei no Onmyouji

Although being born in the exorcist family, Rokuro aspire to be anything but an exorcist. But it all change when he meet with girl named Benio who asks him to use all his strength in exorcism. Soon they both aims for the title of “Twin Star Exorcist”. That title requires two people to get married and give birth to the strongest spiritual warrior.

One more action anime with  exorcism theme or in the Japanese language called Onmyouji. At first glance this anime would remind us to the some anime such as Kekkaishi and also Ao no Exorcist. Unlike Ao no Exorcist which seem very dark with complicated story, Sousei no Onmyouji came with a lightweight story interspersed with comedy. One thing that is interesting and should be anticipated is the action scene when the exorcist quell againts Kegare using their unique enchantment. (Johan Septian F /KAORI Newsline)

Space Patrol Luluco

Space Patrol Luluco is about a girl named Luluco who lives together with her father in the only one abnormal town in the world, Ogikubo. Her father, who is a part of the Space Patrol in Ogibuko accidentally eat a capsule that make his body frozen. Luluco then sacrifice her super normal life to join the Space Patrol for the sake of helping her father.

Luluco featued fresh comedy that brought laughter from beginning to end of the episode. Studio Trigger retained some aspect of the previous series that they produce before, simple yet dynamic animation, very over-the-top character design, and the tickling comedy. Some scenes would be very familiar for they who enjoyed the original series from Studio Trigger before. The comedy and colorful patterns with simple animation but does not seem cheap, Space Patrol Luluco could be an alternative show for this season. (Dirman Sugito/KAORI Newsline)

Super Lovers

Adapted from the manga with the same title, Super Lovers tells a story about Haru Kaidou that have just recently had a new family member. His mother adopted Ren from a certain orphanage after she sensed that Ren might be tortured in that orphanage. Because of his perfect traits, his mother entrust the delinquent Ren to be taken care by Haru. Each days, he has to deal with his newly-adopted and antisocial brother, while in the same time learning each other’s self better.

I know some of you would put your hands up saying, “this is some genre (shounen-ai) I was never born for”. It is, in my opinion, a normal reaction. I actually had the same idea, too. Watching a shounen-ai story that I’ve never heard of would be like tasting new fruit from another planet. You just don’t know whether it tastes good or whether it is a rotten one. Despite that, Super Lovers (as long as I can see in the pilot) tends to keep the romantic love not raging up, instead, it tries to emphasize more on the brotherly bond that Haru and Ren have. While I think I will be continuing to watch this in the future (because of the potential plot they teased at the end of first episode), this anime is a candy for people who are into this kind, and I will not try to lure anyone to watch this. Just do what you think is right. (Daniel Ageng Satrio / Indonesia Anime Times)

Tanaka-kun wa Itsumo Kedaruge

Always sigh, lean on his hand, drowsy eyes, yawning, and looks tired after waking up. Tanaka seems to be a lazy person, but he is not hated by his friends. This is a comedy-school life story about Tanaka and his quiet friend, Oota who always worry to leave Tanaka alone.

The laziness atmosphere has been seen since this first episode starts, and it goes the same pace for the next 24 minutes. Comedy in this anime are centered on how Oota reacts to all Tanaka’s laziness acts without any emotion seen on his faces, but it still seems laughable. Unfortunately, not all people like this kind of comedy, so it is possible that some people become ‘lazy’ enough to watch this. Well, at least for those who want to become an expert listless, perhaps this anime is a good reference. (M Razif Dwi Kurniawan / The Indonesian Anime Times)

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