More Spring 2016 Anime First Impressions

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I said in my last post that I hadn’t seen them all yet. At this point I think I’ve looked at everything that looks like I might possibly enjoy it. Here are a few more that look like they might be worth at least another episode or two. (At this point it’s too early to really endorse anything.)

Big OrderBig Order (Crunchyroll) is the most problematic: a shounen fantasy adventure that looks interesting, but rather dark and over-the-top.

An “Order” (English word) is a person who has been visited by a wish-granting fairy and given a super-power. As always you should be careful what you wish for. Ten years ago, when he was about 5, Eiji Hoshimiya made an ill-considered wish and as a result caused the “Great Distruction,” a catastrophe that killed much of humanity. (At least he thinks that’s what happened. He doesn’t remember the details and I’m suspicious of the whole story.)

But he thinks he was responsible and has spent the last 10 years wracked by guilt and afraid of being found out. Now he’s being pursued by a pretty girl who is actually a vengeful super-powered assassin.

Shounen MaidShounen Maid (Funimation) is…not nearly as bad as you might assume from the title.

Chihiro is a orphan boy who was brought up poor but proud. After his mother’s death a rich uncle he never knew about offers to take him in. But Chihiro doesn’t want to accept help from the family that disowned his mother. But being a compulsive neat freak he insists on cleaning up his uncle’s messy mansion before leaving.

The uncle promptly offers him a job as his “maid.” Free room, board and clothes, but you have to go to school. (And the clothes may be a bit strange because the uncle is a costume designer with a twisted sense of humor.)

Just don’t mix this up with the hentai OVA of the same name. I haven’t seen it but by all accounts it’s just as awful as you might assume from the title.

12-sai12-Sai Chicchana Mune no Tokimeki (Age 12: A Little Heart-Pounding) is a rather unusual anime. It’s not unusual to have an anime about a class of 6th graders, but it is unusual for it to be realistic and sensitive.

The likely problem for American viewers is that it deals with the character’s sexual feelings a bit too openly to be in the average American comfort zone. But it doesn’t do so in an icky or exploitative way (based on the first episode which was rather adorable.) However this is probably the reason it hasn’t been picked up for North American distribution by any of the major streaming services.