Flying Witch (Ep. 1)
I just had noticed that I lacked some not that ambitious slice of life show that would just be here for some half funny laughs and maybe some moe-ness, so I decided to give Flying Witch a go. Oh boy, that probably was the best decision in the whole season. I’m maybe too excited but really none of the other first episodes resonated with me so well. To be frank, it’s just that – some laughs and pretty laid-back characters of whom the heroine happens to be a witch. Yet, the soundtrack grabbed me straight on and I just couldn’t resist grinning like an idiot for the whole time. The show is nothing but atmospheric and that is precisely what a slice of life show must be. And when everything looked as calm as a still water, the mandrake scene appeared. I guess it’s an achievement to be able to make something look disturbing but not off-putting at the same time. Sure, there is much left to be desired like the whole explanation about the witches but I have confidence in J.S.Staff.
Koutetsujou no Kabaneri (Ep. 2)
It’s quite weird – I thought the episode finished way too early but now I can’t really say much about it as it turns out not much happened. I guess its purpose was just to show how kick-ass character Mumei is and to reveal that there exists something like intermediary species between ordinary people and Kabane, or in other words, zombies. I can’t say it’s cheap, but a girl that does physics-bending stuff and complains afterwards that she could certainly have done better is a trope material as well as having some form of creatures in- between normal people and monsters so that they fight to protect the people but are shunned because of their abnormality. I don’t say these things are bad per se because it’s only up to this story to take its own path and deal with the world it creates, but sadly when tropes are established, they tend to stay away from more original ideas and just do things that have been done before, and better. Still, my curiosity about this world remains as well as the wish to know more about the characters and their stories.