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The Summer 2019 Anime Preview Guide

BEM reminds me of the more serious episodes of GeGeGe no Kitaro but it can be even darker since it is a late night anime.

Treecko Tempo wrote:

BodaciousSpacePirate wrote: Thanks for the quick reply. I see what you mean about her really not being much of a main protagonist anymore. Just from the anime material I've seen she looks like one of the main protagonist to me, but it interesting to learn that she loses that in the future.

Even in the first anime series I would hesitate to call Index a co-protagonist, as she was nearly always either the subject of/motivator for Touma's actions or else acting within the context of his actions. Also, any hope for her to be the franchise's #1 girl got dashed by Mikoto's (unexpected?) rise in popularity and prominence; IIRC, even from early on Mikoto was widely-regarded as the franchise's Best Girl, and she was definitely one of the standard-bearers for tsundere in general by the end of the '00s.

ThatGuyWhoLikesThings wrote:

The Mari Okada Sex show felt mean-spirited in ways that just made my skin crawl. "Haha, let's laugh at these confused, anxious teenagers." Blegh.

It's very interesting to me how, for everyone who interprets Mari Okada's treatment of this topic as wholesome, there's someone else who interprets her as being meanspirited. This seems to carry over to the way the title has been presented over the past few weeks, too: I've seen some sites refer to the manga as a cringe comedy, while others refer to it as a strict coming-of-age melodrama.

I find myself being reminded of all the stories I've heard about how Hollywood was notoriously bad at matching mid-00s films about awkward adolescent experiences with their "right" audiences. For instance, Diablo Cody and Karyn Kusama filled the quirky horror film Jennifer's Body with feminist commentary on how puberty changes girls' previously-close friendships with other girls... yet, the movie was almost entirely marketed towards people who wanted to see Megan Fox take her top off. Insufficiently-aroused teenage boys left theaters disappointed, while everyone the movie was actually written to appeal to ended up staying home. On the more successful side of things, the film Napoleon Dynamite was reportedly written and directed by a Mormon couple who wanted to make a heartwarming-yet-funny film based on their own experiences growing up in early 90s Idaho, but Fox's market researchers decided that the film would make more money if it was presented to potential audiences as something much more belittling and meanspirited towards socially-awkward teens.

Anyway, something to think about, I guess.

Talking about race, is anyone going to mention that the one named Iraqi character we meet in the first episode of Lord El-Melloi II’s Case Files is the bad guy? Because that made me even more uncomfortable than the pimp guy in Cop Craft. Waver’s just going to conflict ridden Middle Eastern countries, meeting evil locals (the only Iraqi student at British Magic School that we meet is a greedy, murderous kidnapper! JK Rowling deals with minority student characters better than that...) and blowing up priceless artifacts? WTF?!

The production team involved was some cause for concern, as the director's previous lead outing was the woeful Big Order

So... BEM hasn't even been reviewed yet but the survey is already closed. You're not even giving the poor show a chance. I wonder why - people keep complaining about the lack of unformulaic, interesting original anime, and yet when you have one (regardless of it not really being "original") it's like ANN is going out of its way to give it any coverage. So disappointed.

SHD wrote:

So... BEM hasn't even been reviewed yet but the survey is already closed. You're not even giving the poor show a chance. I wonder why - people keep complaining about the lack of unformulaic, interesting original anime, and yet when you have one (regardless of it not really being "original") it's like ANN is going out of its way to give it any coverage. So disappointed.

Would point out that BEM debuted less than 24 hours ago, while the poll has been open since, what, Friday? Zac and Jacob have said numerous times in the past that which titles are and aren't going to make the cut usually firms up early in the voting process, so it's unlikely that BEM's reviews not getting posted yesterday affected the voting much.

Besides, we have straggler titles like this one which debut after the poll goes up every season. This usually doesn't hurt their chances to get voted in.

EDIT: On an unrelated note, after watching the second episode of Cop Craft, I am being distinctly reminded of some other anime series I've seen which has a grizzled cop paired with an otherworld female partner, and I think she may have also been petite and had an attitude similar to Tirana's, but I can't place the title. Any ideas?

Key wrote:

EDIT: On an unrelated note, after watching the second episode of Cop Craft, I am being distinctly reminded of some other anime series I've seen which has a grizzled cop paired with an otherworld female partner, and I think she may have also been petite and had an attitude similar to Tirana's, but I can't place the title. Any ideas?

Gonzo's Solty Rei, most likely. That was a pretty meh show, too.

SHD wrote:

Key wrote: EDIT: On an unrelated note, after watching the second episode of Cop Craft, I am being distinctly reminded of some other anime series I've seen which has a grizzled cop paired with an otherworld female partner, and I think she may have also been petite and had an attitude similar to Tirana's, but I can't place the title. Any ideas? Gonzo's Solty Rei, most likely. That was a pretty meh show, too.

SoltyRei could be what 'he's thinking of but...Roy is a bounty hunter and Solty is more of a good daughter type.

She says that this is lacking in one very important thing that makes the other show work: something to say. Not that all stories need to have symbolism or some great overarching message, but that's what helps to set Kitaro above the pack, and BEM's first episode seems more like it's just interested in being dark and edgy.

Besides, we have straggler titles like this one which debut after the poll goes up every season. This usually doesn't hurt their chances to get voted in.

EDIT: On an unrelated note, after watching the second episode of Cop Craft, I am being distinctly reminded of some other anime series I've seen which has a grizzled cop paired with an otherworld female partner, and I think she may have also been petite and had an attitude similar to Tirana's, but I can't place the title. Any ideas?

magi are not exactly bad people ., they just have green-orange morals as opossed to the black-white morals or normal people.

SoltyRei could be what 'he's thinking of but...Roy is a bounty hunter and Solty is more of a good daughter type.

SoltyRei could be what 'he's thinking of but...Roy is a bounty hunter and Solty is more of a good daughter type.

Maybe Armitage III ?

I can see that for popular shows but I do wonder about the smaller shows that get released on the last day of the poll. BEM would have been a maybe even if the episode wasn't a week late but my guess is that it did lower the odds.

Key wrote:

EDIT: On an unrelated note, after watching the second episode of Cop Craft, I am being distinctly reminded of some other anime series I've seen which has a grizzled cop paired with an otherworld female partner, and I think she may have also been petite and had an attitude similar to Tirana's, but I can't place the title. Any ideas?

Solty Rei, Armitage, or Hyper Police.

But... the show stated its theme at least three times. It's about monsters who want to become humans, facing humans who are willingly giving up their humanity. It's not just the actual water monster, it's the corrupt police officer as well, and I guess this is where Sonia comes in with her strict adherence to her principles. It's not Tolstoy or anything, but I think as far as "something to say" it works pretty well, especially considering that it's only the first episode.