Nearly finished starting the season (several weeks in).
Oblivion Battery ep 1: A legendary baseball-playing duo enrol in a school with a tiny, fledgling baseball club after one of the pair comes down with severe amnesia. Of course they soon end up playing baseball again - teamed up with a boy whose confidence they shattered back when they were both playing at the top of their game. There's an underlying mystery about the amnesiac guy's situation because he seems to have developed an aversion to baseball, but it's difficult to focus on it because he's a nightmare, charging around excitably and yelling. Meanwhile, the other characters have issues of their own which might be interesting to dig into if the amnesiac ever stops noisily deflecting, and the climax of the episode had a few moments which were genuinely exciting. The other problem is that I don't like the art which is entirely a 'me' issue. The animation is otherwise quite good and the direction is appealingly bouncy, though, so in a less busy season I might have given this one more time.
Unnamed Memory ep 1: Hm, another fantasy story where someone wants to undo a witchy curse placed upon them by visiting another witch. This series has the hero speedrunning through a legendary tower which serves as a gauntlet to test the attractive witch's visitors. Those who succeed are allowed to request a wish, but when the lead learns that his curse of infertility can't be cured conventionally he latches onto the witch's proposed alternative solution: finding a mate strong enough to bear his children in spite of the curse. And thus he chooses the witch herself, giving himself a deadline of one year to bring her around to the idea of bearing his child (even though she doesn't appear keen at all). There's potential here for a fun battle of wits but I'm not convinced that any of the characters depicted thus far possesses enough charisma or intellect to make that interesting, and while there are ways to make the 'you're the only hope I have to have a biological child!' formula work I find it hard to believe that it won't be uncomfortable. It's already annoying that the lead has spent his whole life researching and mastering his powers so that he can do all of these things, yet guilt-tripping an ancient witch into doing his bidding comes more easily to him than simply asking his dad why he was cursed in the first place!
Black Butler -Public School Arc- ep 1: Black Butler is the only manga I read chapter-by-chapter rather than waiting for volumes and so this is a very rare opportunity, these days, to come into an adaptation of something where I already know what will happen. So far, so good. The subtitles have opted for 'drudges' rather than preserving the contentious period terminology used in the manga translation but otherwise this looks like a faithful adaptation. While I also fancy that Sebastian's anime design has failed to preserve some of his beauty, which is unfortunate, I'm enjoying this love letter to our nonsensical, ritualistic history. Gratuitous spoiler for those up to date on the manga: it's nice to see Sebastian and Ciel again after all this time too!
Jellyfish Can’t Swim in the Night ep 1: Another in the category of 'this was fine, but it didn't stand out enough to compel me to continue'. A meek girl whimpers passively through her life until a chance encounter with a charismatic stranger, who turns out to have a few things in common with the lead in spite of their superficial differences. The main viewpoint character is a bit too sickly-cute for my tastes but the show is ok. It looks good and there are plenty of plot threads to pull on, so I can imagine that this slick, modern depiction of female friendship set against a backdrop of music, art and online fame will be a good watch.
Whisper Me a Love Song ep 1: A tale of romantic misunderstandings between a star-struck schoolgirl and an older girl with a talent for music. At first it felt a bit like K-On! mixed with Sasaki and Miyano. The series' charm is in its more irreverent depictions of female friendship, which are well done, and the older girl is realistically portrayed as a bit of a mess who accidentally comes across as cool, which I found sweet (and far healthier than the way most other shows write their heroines). The visuals are a mixed bag because while the character art is lovely throughout, there are a lot of scenes where the characters are framed by clunky CG people walking around them for extended periods and I found the clash quite distracting. I wouldn't be against seeing more of this but it's not a priority right now.
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