Fall 2016 Anime Series Guide

Hibike! Euphonium 2

Kitauji High School has advanced to the Kansai Competition. That means more training to face fiercer competitions from other regions. But aside from more intensive training, the ghosts of past conflicts also remain haunting the Kitauji band’s advance.

Entering its second season, Euphonium continues the tune of the first season well. The double length first episode builds the drama by having the band’s enthusiastic advance to the next level competition be entangled with new conflicts arising from problems in the past. Again, showing how intrapersonal conflict can draw the surroundings into interpersonal conflicts (and not necessarily conflicts about love), Euphonium’s narration feels so grounded to real life, accentuated with vivid depictions of daily life. Not only having school drama, Euphonium also still offers musical delights through bits of selected works such as Tadao Inoue’s Gakuen Tengoku, the last movement of Pyotr Illych Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony, and most importantly, the Polovtsian Dances from Alexander Borodin’s opera Prince Igor, which in the context of this story, carried a painful memory of the past with it. (Shofa Pranata – KAORI Newsline & Halimun Muhammad – GM The Indonesian Anime Times)

Keijo!!!!!!!!

Keijo!!!!!!!! is a gambling sport for women where the aim is pushing off your opponent from the arena by using your breast or butt. Nozomi Kaminashi, a gifted gymnast who just graduated from high school, refused many gymnastic scholarships in order to chase fame and money for her family in Keijo!!!!!!!!

As far as my experience allows, XEBEC is famous for its fanservice anime. Before i watch the show, i was thinking that Keijo!!!!!!!! is just and obligatory fanservice anime by XEBEC. Turns out, I was wrong!!!!!!!! Halfway through the first episode is enough to tell me that i was so wrong. Keijo!!!!!!!! is a legit sport anime, even though it emphasizes on the breast and butt part. Keijo!!!!!!!! tells us about passion to pursue achievements in sports. Putting aside the fanservice part, Keijo!!!!!!!! is a serious sport anime!!!!!!!! (Naufalbepe – KAORI Newsline)

Long Riders!

Ami Kurata is a timid and clumsy girl who just got enrolled in college. Still undecided on extracurricular activity, she fell in love with a folding bike. With the help of her close friend Aoi, Ami tried to get herself into the world of cycling.

The critical moment in the first episode of Long Riders! is when Ami got her first ever ride on her bike, and felt the sensation of movement into depth with CG-rendered bicycle and simulated camera movements. The speed of the bicycle affects her perception of her surrounding views, transforming her view of familiar surroundings, taking her to new views she never visited before, and introduced her to new people. Though the production quality is sub-par compared to some other anime that are airing in this season, it still manage effectively to weave the narrative of Ami’s small steps for change and self-growth, driven by her introduction to bicycles. (Shofa Pranata – KAORI Newsline & Halimun Muhammad – GM The Indonesian Anime Times)

Lostorage Incited Wixoss

During the childhood, Homura Suzuko had a bestfriend named Chinatsu who liked to play together with her. Years passed and Homura parted way with Chinatsu because she had to move to other city due to her father’s work. But then Homura returns to the city where Chinatsu was once more, again it was due to her father’s work. Arrived in that town the first thing that she did is to look for her best friend, Chinatsu. While looked for Chinatsu, Homura interested in Wixoss card game because it was happening in her school, where her classmates were playing it. After bought a starter deck, she was shocked to see the LRIG card was moving and speaking on its own. Homura then being chosen by that LRIG as a Selector. Now the battles between Selector rises up once more, this time Homura has to fight all her best to protect her precious memories, and her existence in this world.

Success with two season of anime series and a movie, the battles of LRIG and their Selector returns in Lostorage Incited Wixoss. The first episode of this series clearly presents to the audience about “The dark side of playing card game called Wixoss” about the dark fact behind the Selector battle. In this anime, there are a lot of changes regarding the Selector battle. In previous series only a girl can be qualified as a Selector (because being a Selector means you’re a candidate for “Eternal Girl” in previous series), but in this new series, there are some boy who also turns out to be a Selector. And in this series, Selectors are no longer risking their wish, instead they risk their memories in this brand new Selector battle. Each Selector is given 5 coins, when he/she wins, a coin will turns gold, and when he/she loses, the coin will turns black. A Selector who have all his/her coins turn black, they will lose their memories and also their existence. For those who have gathered all 5 gold coins, they’ll be freed from this nightmare battle. And still the same as the previous series, although this anime is adapted from a card game, but there won’t be any card game related tutorial or explanation on how you play the game, all the duel scene is not so detailed as when you watch other cardgame anime such as Yu-Gi-Oh! or Cardfight!! Vanguard. For those who have watched the previous series or play the card game, you can’t miss this one. And good news for those who don’t play the game, this anime (or the entire Wixoss anime series) is really non-card-gamer-friendly because you don’t need to know the card game to watch it, well actually because this anime doesn’t really emphasize the card game. Instead you will be amused with the deep dark story and some love story between girls. (Rafly Nugroho – KAORI Newsline)

Mahou Shoujo Ikusei Keikaku

What happens when a smartphone game can make you into a real magical girl? That experienced by Koyuki, an ordinary junior high school student who always fantasized became magical girl since childhood. She finally became 15th magical girl in the city with the name Snow White because she played one popular smartphone game, Magical Girl Raising Project. Not only become stronger, Koyuki also has the special ability to listen to the problems of others. However, Koyuki and another magical girls in the city getting an “important announcement” of the mascot, Fav.

In the premiere episode, Mahou Shoujo Ikusei Keikaku introduced its main characters, several others magical girls, as well as background elements with slightly slow pacing. The concept of the story itself, became magical girls because playing mobile games, feels quite “contemporary” in the middle ofvarious Japanese smartphone game “craze” by some Indonesian anime fans. Unlike another dark-themed magical girl series, this anime slightly showed its ‘true colours” in this episode. With a premise that feels combining Puella Magi Madoka Magica and Battle Royale, the upcoming episode of Mahou Shoujo Ikusei Keikaku is worth to wait. (Tanto Dhaneswara – KAORI Newsline)

Fall 2016 Anime Series Guide continues on the next page.