ACCA: 13-Territory Inspection Department (ACCA: 13-ku Kansatsu-ka) pushes forward this week by thickening its plot and introducing new characters. And despite some less focussed plot lines that close the episode, its great directing maintains the distinct mystery tone its already established.
The week in Demi-chan wa Kataritai (Interviews with Monster Girls), the focus moves to Satou, the succubus who has crab-walked away from Takahashi — and the narrative spotlight — two weeks in a row.
With a pleasantly humorous commentary on human culture, Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid (Kobayashi-san Chi no Maid Dragon) surprisingly steps up it’s animation this week while also introducing us to another lovable dragon friend.
Demi-chan wa Kataritai’s (Interviews with Monster Girls) second episode brings to the fore one of the few lingering doubts I had about the premiere last week. While the warm character interactions are still there and hints for future character episodes are sown, a sketchy scenario raises some small alarms.
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.
Demi-chan wa Kataritai (Interviews With Monster Girls) strikes an excellent balance between portraying normalcy with its snappy dialogue and letting the unique aspects of its world shine.
With an adversarial approach to its leads, Masamune-kun’s Revenge looks to cook enough original meat on sturdy production bones to entertain romcom anime fans this Winter, and with a strong premiere, it seems likely to succeed.
Tokyo ESP drops rights into the late stages of a tense plot with terrorist espers rebelling against the Japanese government, and its unorthodox introduction works in its favour to set up what should be an interesting cour of anime.
Zankyou no Terror is probably going to ask you to think — and lead by the direction of Shinichiro Watanabe, that shouldn’t surprise anyone.
Picking up right where it left off last winter, Space Dandy is back with another round of hit-and-miss episodic humour.
Kevin Pennyfeather 