Mike Ferreira: Good evening everyone, and welcome back to the Herald Anime Club. I’m Mike Ferreira, some sort of weird benevolent overlord or something, and I’m joined by Lydia Rivers, Anthony Simpson, and L.B. Bryant.
Lydia Rivers: Hiii everyone!
Anthony Simpson: evening.
L.B. Bryant: Hey all
Mike Ferreira: Tonight, we’re starting off a new season with two new shows. We’ll be discussing, for the first and last time, Akiba’s Trip The Animation, as well as the first episode of Seiren.
Mike Ferreira: Starting next week, Akiba will be replaced by Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid.
Lydia Rivers: I tapped out against Akiba’s Trip when we were told that the Bugged Ones have to get disrobed because they’re sensitive to air.
Mike Ferreira: That’s super early.
Lydia Rivers: I raised my arms and proclaimed “DONE!”
Mike Ferreira: But yeah… god. Akiba’s Trip. Akiba’s fucking Trip.
Anthony Simpson: I had a feeling that I was going to be the only one enjoyed Akiba’s Trip.
L.B. Bryant: I made it all the way through the first episode and honestly I wasn’t really bothered by the fan service and flimsy plot… it was more the fact that it was just an UGLY series.
Anthony Simpson: It is stupid as hell but I did enjoy it.
Mike Ferreira: I’m torn.
Mike Ferreira: The thing is: I liked the Akiba’s Trip games. They were this delightful blend of stupid and blatantly self-aware of said stupid. See, I like the stupid. But when they try to play it as straight as they did…
Mike Ferreira: Holy shit.
Anthony Simpson: Sometimes I need a show to watch that it is dumb. This fits the bill for me this season.
Mike Ferreira: How the hell do you play the birth of Joseph and his Technicolor Dream Hair so straight?!
Lydia Rivers: Look I have nothing against fan service as long as it’s clever. But…sensitive to air? I’d rather they break the fourth wall and just shrug and say “we did it cuz you like it, ya pervs.”
Mike Ferreira: I mean… I fully expected stupid – I was hoping for unmitigated stupid. The games are super dumb. I mean SUPER dumb. Like “I’m going to beat the shit out of AKB48 with a toy light saber because anime” dumb
Mike Ferreira: I like dumb.
Lydia Rivers: I did laugh at some of the bits, but yeaaaah. Yeah, I was hoping for bad anime night stupid level of quality, which I enjoy.
Mike Ferreira: Exactly.
Mike Ferreira: The part near the start with the art gallery lady had me laughing.
Lydia Rivers: I liked the whole sequence in the store and the whole comrade monologue
Anthony Simpson: I know we are done talking about the show this week, but I wanna talk about the dub quickly. Damn is it good.
L.B. Bryant: They have the dub out already? Wow, that’s fast.
Mike Ferreira: Was it?
Mike Ferreira: Yep
Mike Ferreira: 30 minutes after premiere
Mike Ferreira: It’s Funimation’s fastest dub ever
L.B. Bryant: Wow, that’s hardcore.
Mike Ferreira: Tell me about it.
Mike Ferreira: Huge props to the team for pulling it together
Anthony Simpson: Well, fastest Simuldub. Space Dandy has that record for “fastest ever” by being out before the Japanese airing.
Mike Ferreira: Well yeah.
L.B. Bryant: Sorry Anthony, didn’t mean to pull the conversation into an unrelated direction lol
Anthony Simpson: No biggie.
Mike Ferreira: I didn’t get a chance to check the dub. I really should.
L.B. Bryant: I might have to do that as well.
Anthony Simpson: I’m watching the dub from here on out for this show.
Lydia Rivers: I’m glad you liked the dub! And congrats to Funi for having the talent to get that done.
Lydia Rivers: Well, for having access to the talent to get it done :)
Mike Ferreira: Agreed.
Mike Ferreira: For me, though I didn’t care for the pilot, I’ll give it a second chance. There’s seeds of a fun, if incredibly stupid show there. It just needs to really ramp up that dumb.
Lydia Rivers: And to stop any pretenses concerning that dumb.
Mike Ferreira: Exactly!
Mike Ferreira: I think that’s why I was just groaning half the time.
Lydia Rivers: I know that’s the case for me!
Mike Ferreira: It was afraid to just sit there and say “Yep, we’re stupid as fuck. Let’s run with it”
Anthony Simpson: I do want to mention that I did like they made some references to Seiyu’s Life when the MC was in the store that sold figurines.
Mike Ferreira: I did see that.
Mike Ferreira: I do have to admit – the backgrounds were nice. The exteriors were surprisingly nice. Was great to see Club Sega, Sofmap, and Toranoana drawn well.
Anthony Simpson: I do like the background art.
Mike Ferreira: That character art was just ugly, though. Wowza.
L.B. Bryant: I’m not really an expert on animation quality but even I was sitting there looking at the character art and going WTF
Mike Ferreira: Yeah.
Lydia Rivers: In stark contrast to Seiren, IMO
Mike Ferreira: Seiren was like night and day.
Lydia Rivers: I loved it. It was simple but attractive
Anthony Simpson: I didn’t think it was terrible.
Mike Ferreira: Yeah.
Mike Ferreira: Honestly, I enjoyed Seiren a lot more than I expected.
Lydia Rivers: So did I, Mike! I didn’t even roll my eyes once, and I laughed exactly four more times than I expected.
Mike Ferreira: To make me feel old, and force younger readers to rush to Wikipedia, I got some real Sentimental Graffiti vibes from it.
Anthony Simpson: I found Seiren to a slog to watch.
Anthony Simpson: It was slow as molasses in Winter for me.
Anthony Simpson: That said it did look nice.
Lydia Rivers: The music was good enough for me to actually notice it being there, too.
Mike Ferreira: There was music?
Lydia Rivers: It’s only the first episode so it’s got a chance to get monotonous, but I felt like it was a good musical start. Hahah! Yes, background music.
Anthony Simpson: I don’t remember the music.
Mike Ferreira: Wow. I didn’t notice.
Anthony Simpson: I do remember liking the character designs for the characters.
Mike Ferreira: Likewise. The characters were really well-done overall.
Lydia Rivers: Yeah. They didn’t rely on any gimicks to make them stand out, which I’m hoping means I can count on the story for that.
Anthony Simpson: Well this is the same character designer as Kimikiss.
Mike Ferreira: So far that seems to be the case. “Dorky guy gets fucked with, exposed as a pervert, cute girl likes guy. Guy runs away like a sucka when she clearly likes him.”
Lydia Rivers: I laughed a few times because I actually identified with the male lead. HOW OFTEN DOES THAT HAPPEN?!
Lydia Rivers: I was like “I would totally nonchalantly ask “isn’t our friend a furry? too.”
Anthony Simpson: That came out of left field when I heard that.
Anthony Simpson: I was like WTF?
Lydia Rivers: Hahahaha!
Mike Ferreira: Before we get too far into Seiren, any final words on Akiba’s Trip this week?
L.B. Bryant: It’s not you, it’s me… no wait I have that wrong. It’s totally you.
Mike Ferreira: Ouch. Just ouch.
Lydia Rivers: Yeah. So if you’re going to pretend that there’s an actual reason for your fan service, be clever about it, or I’ll hate it. Otherwise, just roll with the dumb.
Anthony Simpson: I knew once I got done watching the first episode that it wouldn’t last with our discussion.
Mike Ferreira: Honestly, I’ll give it another shot. If it sheds the pretenses, this could become a fun, super dumb show.
Mike Ferreira: Christ – I liked Kill Me Baby, and that was stupidity embodied
Lydia Rivers: Agreed, Mike! I’ll let you test it for me.
Mike Ferreira: So, sorry Akiba’s Trip… while I’m glad I met ya, I would probably gouge my eyes out trying to talk about you every week.
Lydia Rivers: I would devolve into ranting about every other anime and game that actually tried to give a pretense for their fanservice without being clever, and it would get ugly.
Mike Ferreira: Hahaha. Yep.
Mike Ferreira: Moving back to Seiren, I’m in agreement. Still amazed that they just nonchalantly said “Hey, isn’t he a furry?” And they had the guy follow up later in the episode.
Lydia Rivers: It was so good. I knew right then I was in for a great time, because the characters instantly felt organic. I mean, my friend group could be really diverse I guess, but it seems like we all have at least one friend who’s nonchalantly strange.
Mike Ferreira: Fully agreed.
Lydia Rivers: My friends don’t ostracize people for that, so I knew I could like these guys too.
Mike Ferreira: They just felt like real, relatable people.
Mike Ferreira: Also: CockBlock-chan was amazing.
Mike Ferreira: That death glare was just perfect every time.
Lydia Rivers: Are you talking about the girl who gave him the “you’re the scum of the earth” look?
Mike Ferreira: Yep.
Lydia Rivers: Yesss!
Lydia Rivers: I laughed so hard.
Mike Ferreira: Same. Especially when she turned out to be working in the restaurant across the street from her friend.
Lydia Rivers: Then it went from “scum” to “confirmed: scum.”
Mike Ferreira: Indeed.
Mike Ferreira: Then there was the big sister who just gave no fucks.
Lydia Rivers: She was adorable.
Lydia Rivers: His friend didn’t seem to give many either.
Mike Ferreira: Yeah. He just kinda went with the flow.
Lydia Rivers: His friend actually seemed cooler than him, which is always fun to see because it gives me hope for some good story.
Mike Ferreira: Indeed.
Mike Ferreira: I mean, don’t get me wrong, there was some creeping there.
Anthony Simpson: I will be honest, if it wasn’t for us talking about the show week to week I would probably be on the verge on putting the show on the chopping block.
Mike Ferreira: I can respect that. It’s a super show series.
Mike Ferreira: slow, rather
Anthony Simpson: That is what I struggled with the fact that it is moving so slow.
Lydia Rivers: Definitely. On both counts.
Mike Ferreira: I’m hoping the end of the episode promises a bit of a speed-up.
Mike Ferreira: The Ring parody was pretty great
Anthony Simpson: I did like that.
Mike Ferreira: There is a lot of build-up and establishment, though – I do admit that.
Anthony Simpson: Well we are getting arcs for each the girls like Yosuga no Sora sans the awfulness that was YnS and no twincest.
Anthony Simpson: So hopefully the next episode moves a bit faster.
Lydia Rivers: The fact that they’re taking care with that is one of the reasons I’m so hopeful for the series.
Mike Ferreira: Indeed.
Lydia Rivers: So, I normally am not into school dramas, but I’m encouraged by the first episode of Seiren because I found all of the characters likable and their interactions entertaining. Also it’s pretty. If they don’t keep that effort, despite a little slowness here and there, I’m going to be so bored.
Mike Ferreira: My thoughts exactly. I’m positive with a BUT
Mike Ferreira: It has to ramp up in the next episode or I’ll change my tune fast. The stage is set, let the drama go now
Lydia Rivers: Well, he did just get Ring’d and is looking like a complete fool as he cowers. I think we’ll have a little bit. (laughs)
Mike Ferreira: Exactly! (laughs)
Anthony Simpson: well we are probably going to be doing build up each time we start a new arc.
Mike Ferreira: That’s my fear
Anthony Simpson: I could be wrong and that won’t happen.
Anthony Simpson: I guess we will find out once we start a new arc.
Mike Ferreira: Indeed. Only three episodes to go.
Lydia Rivers: It’ll be ok as long as they don’t retcon any of his progression. Is this based on a game or?
Anthony Simpson: Do we know each girls arc is going to be four episodes long?
Mike Ferreira: No clue. We just know three arcs.
Mike Ferreira: It’s an original show, though
Lydia Rivers: Oh thank god. He might really actually HAVE progression. When they mash games into anime, it’s difficult to give any.
Mike Ferreira: Indeed.
Lydia Rivers: So yeah I can handle build up for each arc as long as they don’t make him retrace any of his steps, but since it’s an original show, I’m sure it’ll at least flow better than that.
Mike Ferreira: Yeah. I’m hopeful, but again – it has to keep up or I’ll be losing interest fast.
Mike Ferreira: I lived through enough high school drama – I need convincing to go back there
Lydia Rivers: And then we can send them to Akiba where they can risk being infected by a condition that makes them sensitive to air.
Mike Ferreira: You know, in the games, they were basically just fucked up vampires who had to keep clothes on because reasons.
Lydia Rivers: The games already sound way better than the anime. (laughs)
Mike Ferreira: Oh god yes.
Mike Ferreira: They were dumb… like SUPER DUMB
Mike Ferreira: but I love them
Anthony Simpson: I was lucky and avoid all the drama in HS.
Lydia Rivers: For me, the problem is…um, quite frankly, I’m not titillated by children, high school aged or otherwise. Soooo if there’s not a story that I want to view through the eyes of a protagonist I like, then NOPE.
Mike Ferreira: That too.
Mike Ferreira: Plus the whole “gym teachers peeping” thing was just uggghhhhgh.
Mike Ferreira: Hrm… we’re getting close to time. Any final thoughts on either show?
Anthony Simpson: Seiren better pick up the pace or I am going to be upset.
Anthony Simpson: I’ve made my views on Akiba’s Trip already so I have nothing else to add.
Lydia Rivers: I’m looking forward to seeing whether we’ll like development with Seiren, and also to trying out Dragon Maid! Give me a dumb I can love, Dragon Maid!
Mike Ferreira: Hehe… I hear ya both.
Mike Ferreira: Aniwho, we’ve reached our time for the week. As always, thanks for joining!
Lydia Rivers: Stay shiny everyone!
Anthony Simpson: Later.
