Days with My Stepsister ep1: 90s anime has a lot to answer for as the title of this show, coupled with its cute bishoujo lead, immediately made me worry that it was another horny romantic comedy. So far it isn't, though, and I have mixed feelings about how well it's achieving what it's actually trying to do. The series is (at the moment, at least) a deep dive into the actual feelings experienced by a pair of new step-siblings thrust together suddenly in their teens, which should be really interesting, except that it's loaded with so much overwrought, one-sided internal drama set to intrusive piano melodies that I couldn't help but tune out. The male lead seems completely disinterested and while I see what they were trying to do with the awkward, stilted attempts to communicate, it isn't all that enjoyable to watch it all play out. Perhaps it will find its stride later on?
MONOGATARI: OFF & MONSTER Season ep1: It's been a while! This first episode kicked off with Yotsugi telling the story and even though it was a little longer than normal, the dense monologues laced with wordplay and whimsy kept me engaged throughout. The series' moment has largely passed by now so I'm not sure how many newer fans would still find its commentaries on genre conventions especially relevant, but I still enjoy it just as much as when I first started Bakemonogatari. The great thing about Monogatari is that it's largely spoiler-proof too, since so much of the entertainment comes from how the story is told rather than the actual events. I have no idea what this season has in store, so I guess this is another addition to my weekly schedule.
My Deer Friend Nokotan ep1: A reformed thug (who desperately wants to hide her dark past from her teachers and classmates) crosses paths with a bizarre humanoid deer girl one day on the way to school, and her life is (probably) forever transformed. This is a high energy gag show with uncanny CG deer (who actually, weirdly, don't look that bad compared to that wretched horse from Spice and Wolf), endless floods of deer crackers, goofy wordplay and stupid physical humour; if you like those things it will be exactly what you want and if you hate them, it will be a nightmare from start to finish. I quite liked it, though I'm not convinced that the energy is going to hold up for a full series of full length episodes. Probably not one I'm going to watch each week but if I'm ever at a loose end it's a decent diversion.
Dahlia in Bloom: Crafting a Fresh Start With Magical Tools ep1: I feel a little cheated by the Crunchyroll summary as it promised a bunch of melodramatic events, none of which happened in the first episode! Instead, we get to see a slow-paced story from the lead's childhood living with her magic-tool-inventor father, which is normal in every way except for the memories of modern day Japan that she's unwittingly inherited from her past life (which otherwise has no bearing on anything). She gets into scrapes but her knowledge of advanced futuristic technology gives her an edge in her chosen career path of magical toolmaking. It's relaxed and quite dull, and it also looks weirdly crummy because while Dahlia's own design is lovely, the world she inhabits is made up of clunky CG rendered stills with a blurry filter over them, and the supporting cast hasn't been given the same pretty aesthetic. It feels as though this show could have been quite good with a better budget and some rearranging of the plot to introduce the promised drama early enough to hold my interest, but as-is it's an easy skip.
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