Deadman Wonderland ep3-4
Have now realised that the series is on Funimation as well as Netflix (the clue was probably the massive Funi ident at the start), so I don't have to force myself through it quickly. It's starting to feel a little more ordinary now, as some standard shonen-fighting tropes are creeping in, but it's still something I'd happily watch a couple of episodes of a week. Would probably play well in an anime club setting.
Hero Mask ep1-3
Part of my interest in this was just down to how remarkably few people actually seem to have watched it, at least in the circles I move in. An oddball mix of detective drama and sci-fi elements with an unusually accurate UK setting (does Japan have British cop-drama otaku?), I really wanted to like this, but it's just strangely lifeless. The plot feels predictable and the dialogue is so on the nose, it might as well have been written by a machine. The closest thing I could liken it to in anime terms though is Babylon, and I would still rather watch this than that. If only because one of Hero Mask's characters is clearly modelled on Simon Pegg.
High Rise Invasion ep1-2
The last series I managed to look at before my subscription ran out, this is one I had very low expectations for, but was still vaguely curious about. Perhaps on some level, a tiny part of me hoped it would reference JG Ballard's dystopian satire High Rise. It does not, but it's not quite as bad as I expected. It's thunderingly dumb and the uninspiring art design has all the tense atmosphere of a level from Super Mario, but it's still a passable enough survival game show, if you're into that kind of thing. With its tacky fanservice and (relatively) graphic violence, it feels a bit like a low-rent Highschool of the Dead, but that one never did much for me.
