Studio feel.’s latest foray into the teenage romantic drama genre with TsukigaKirei (As The Moon, So Beautiful.) strikes a pretty, but frustratingly boring premiere. The slower change of pace might have been its selling point if much of the debut didn’t feel like an ad for messaging service LINE.
In a double-length premiere that manages to be both action-packed and subversive, J.C. Staff’s Alice & Zoroku (Alice to Zouroku) teases a magical realism story with plenty of narrative hooks.
For an animation with so many CG elements regularly moving around the screen, Hand Shakers has a distinct lack of flow to marvel at. When coupled with its offensive treatment of a woman in a discordant attempt at titilation, I wanted to shut off the premiere within the first two minutes.
ēlDLIVE is fairly standard, supernatural action meets middle school fare, but with a compelling enough conceit to to be worth a watch.
Spiritpact, like many Haoliners Animation League anime productions before it, has some of the foundations of a show that could be interesting, but skips the important parts that would make its viewers care.
Kevin Pennyfeather 