Flowers of Evil: Tearing Down the Walls

Flowers of Evil is an ugly anime. Aesthetically, it is offputting, and thematically it is rotten to the core. In a way, it is a kind of anti-anime. A large part of the draw of anime to many of its fans is as a form of escapism – many, many series place their emphasis on creating a fantasy for the viewer, where ideals and characters are pure, insulated from the drudge and dirt of reality. It’s the source of the popular “2D vs 3D” debate, and readily apparent in a number of the medium’s favorite tropes, perhaps most presently visible in the stream of adaptations of seemingly identical light novels. Aku no Hana’s goal, meanwhile, is to identify and tear down fantasy, to tear away the walls of isolating idealism around it and expose the unsightly, ugly reality behind them.

Aiura: Steve Jobs, Crabs, and Slice of Life

I have absolutely no idea how Steve Jobs or crabs have anything to do with this show. To be quite honest, I’d almost prefer we never find out, leaving the opening sequence of Aiura a curious non-sequitur in an otherwise down-to-earth slice-of-life comedy – its existence a mystery that was never intended to be solved.

Attack on Titan and Gargantia On The Verduous Planet: Big Things

Titanic. Gargantuan. The two biggest shows of the spring 2013 season could hardly have more fitting titles. Both have easily succeeded at living up to their substantial hype thus far.

Yondemasu Yo, Azazel-san Z: A Comedy With Guts

Yondemasu Yo, Azazel-san is a comedy about the lovely little vulgarities in life – immature and depraved toilet humor, the contemptuous mockery of those deemed deserving of it, a gleeful glorification of all the worst parts of humanity, the unnecessarily graphic splattering of its characters across as many surfaces as possible, and – in the third episode of this new season – hemorrhoids with the eruptive and destructive power of a mighty volcano, all brought lovingly into your home by an adorably despicable cast of demonic cartoon animals. It’s got enough offensive material to bring a football team to the playoffs and takes a great pride in being as gross as it can possibly dream up. The end result, if you can stomach it, is quite funny.

OreImo S2: Here We Go Again

Ah, OreImo, how I’ve missed you. You’re still the best crappy light novel adaptation out there: a gleaming beacon of mediocrity in a sea of garbage, you’re still the same show you’ve always been.

Hataraku Maou-sama: I’m Lovin’ It

Hataraku Maou-sama caught me completely off-guard. I wasn’t expecting much from it, as the premise isn’t really all that grabby on paper and I recently got burned on Hero/Demon King shows with Maoyuu. The promo material struck me as being one of those dumb typical anime comedies. I was not prepared for these likable characters or this understated sense of humor.

The Severing Crime Edge: The Hairy Grail War

All right, finally caught up with all my spring season shows, so it’s first-impression/three-episode-test time. I’ve decided to try splitting these impressions up this time rather than lumping them all into one post. Hopefully that should make them easier for me to write and for you to read.

First up is Crime Edge.