Netoge no Yome wa Onnanoko ja Nai to Omotta? or And you thought there is never a girl online? is new anime series based on a light novel with the same title written by Shibai Kineko. The light novel was published by ASCII Media Works and they have released 10 volumes so far since 2013.
As someone who played MMORPGs and spent countless hours on games such as Final Fantasy XI and Final Fantasy XIV, this anime series is something that I can relate it. For anyone who I met online, I always assume they were males / guys / men until proven otherwise . The notion of there are no girls online has become a well-known internet joke/meme for last few years. As social media (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram) rises its popularity, people tend to be more open about who they are on the Internet including their gender in comparison to 10 or so years ago.
This anime series made an attempt to tell a story about an MMORPG player who meet another player whom he believed was a girl online. Did it succeed ?
High School Fleet (ハイスクール・フリート Haisukūru Furīto?) or Haifuri (はいふり) is a new anime series airing this Spring Anime 2016 season; it’s produced by Production IMS which are well known to produce anime series such as Active Raid, The Testament of Sister New Devil, Hundred. Haifuri is based on an original story with manga adaptation serialising on Media Factory’s seinen manga magazine Monthly Comic Alive’s December 2015 issue released on October 27, 2015.
Macross Δ (マクロスΔ) is a sequel to Macross Frontier series which was released back on 2008. Macross Δ is being produced by the same studio as Macross Frontier, Satelight. While it’s not a requirement to watch previous Macross series, I found few references to previous Macross series and glad that I just finished original Macross series so I could relate to some of the references.
Will it live up to the success of previous series franchise?
With Winter 2016 anime series ended last week and some of them are this week, we’re getting ready for Spring 2016 anime season. Few series have already started this weekend such as Boku no Hero Academia and Gakuen Toshi Asterisk season 2
Here’s my watch list for this spring 2016 anime season.
Schwarzesmarken is a spin-off of Muv-Luv Alternative: Total Eclipse and it’s said to be a prequel of it. Muv-Luv itself is based on its visual novel franchise. A general story is a group of soldiers riding TSF (i.e. mecha) to fight BETA which stands for Beings of Extra Terrestrial origin which is Adversary of human race. Yes, I know I know, the acronym is kinda pushing it 🙂
Active Raid is based on original story and is directed by a well-known director named Goro Taniguchi. He’s a director for all Code Geass series. Interestingly, character design in Active Raid is done by Saeki Shun who was also responsible for art and character design in Shokugeki no Souma manga and anime series. You may see the resemblance between characters in Active Raid and Shokugeki no Souma.
Yet, it’s another MMORPG theme anime series. This MMORPG genre is getting more and more saturated each year. With another similar series, Hai to Gensou no Grimgar, on this same season, how much viewers can Phantasy Star Online 2: The Animation attract? Not to mention, it’s a general rule of thumb that any anime series based on games tend to not-so-great i.e. it sucks. After watching few episodes, will it change my opinion on anime series based on games?
Magic is a product of neither fairy tale nor legends but it becomes technology since age of unknown to many people. People dated first record as far as 1999 AD. Through the passage of time and many researches influenced by Eastern and Western countries, public has made well-known existence of magic. Even though it has becomes more well-known, not everyone can use magic and only talented ones or ones, blessed high aptitude, can use magic.
In year 2030, drastic climate cooling began which caused the food supply dwindled. Energy source were often fought over and in 2045, World War Three broke out and it lasted for 20 years. Because of the war, world population plummeted to 3 billions. The fact that this conflict didn’t escalate to a thermonuclear war, it was due to global solidarity of the world’s magic technicians.
At the end of 21st century, year 2095, magic is essential become part of your life and public considers magic as a technical skill. Under these circumstances, every nation is competing to develop magicians. There are nine magic high schools throughout Japan. First high school is one of the top magic high school and is affiliated with National University of Magic. It’s a top magic school which is known to send talented magicians to National University of Magic. At the same time, it’s also an élite magic school which is known to produce excellent magician. In term of magic education, there’s no official regulation about providing equal opportunity for everyone and it’s almost purely talented driven. It basically means that if you’re a talented magician, your future will be bright. On the other hand, if you’re just a so-so magician, you can only get so far using your so-so talent.
Year 2021, outskirts of Tokyo, mankind was under attack by an epidemic parasitical virus called Gastrea which spreads like an explosion; mankind was almost exterminated. ON the brink of extinction, mankind is forced to live within Monoliths made from Varanium and has managed to survive by staying within Monoliths barriers. Varanium is only metal that can subdue Gastrea and stop infection from spreading further.
The Cursed ChildrenTen years have passed, after much trial and error, mankind is gradually improving itself with ways to fight Gastrea. Normally, the Gastrea virus is only spread among humans through bodily fluids but there are very rare cases in which the Gastrea virus enters the mouth of a pregnant woman infecting her unborn child. Gastrea infected children can only be female and they are more well-known as the Cursed Children. Their eyes are red and the Gastrea virus is rooted deep within their bodies and as a a result, the Cursed Children inherited Gastrea’s regenerative and physical abilities, in other words, the Cursed Children have superhuman strength and abilities. Even though the virus infection on the Cursed Children is very slow, discrimination cannot be avoid and normal humans refuse to accept or view those Cursed Children as human. As a result, all Cursed Children live in area or a slum to be exact.
Black Bullet – Rentaro Satomi
Story
Rentaro Satomi was just a kid when he witnessed the attack and infection by Gastrea back on year 2021. Fast forward to ten years after, he works as a Promoter in his childhood friend Kisara Tendo’s Tendo Civil Security Agency. Promoter’s job is to control and lead Initiator who is essentially the Cursed Children. Promoter and Initiator always work together as a pair. Rentaro’s initiator is a lively Cursed Children named Enju Aihara who happens to believe that it’s a fate that they meet together and she believes that she is Rentaro’s long live partner. Civil Security Agency’s main purpose is to exterminate Gastrea and Tendo Civil Security Agency is certainly not the only in Tokyo; there are many other agencies along with promoters and initiators.
Chu~
First Impression
Black Bullet is based on a light novel by Shiden Kanzaki and it’s published by ASCII Media Works. The light novel is currently still ongoing and have 7 volumes out so far in Japan. Our main protagonist, Rentaro Satomi, is voice by Yuki Kaji. He’s well known as a seiyuu in anime such as Attack on Titan (Eren Jaeger), Magi: The Kingdom of Magic (Alibaba), Accel World (Haruyuki Arita) and Guilty Crown (Shu Ouma). Our main heroine, Enju Aihara, is voiced by Rina Hadaka. She has not done many works as main heroine in comparison to Yuki Kaiji and she did a lot of smaller roles back on 2013 along with one main role as Hozuki Ferrari in Galilei Donna. Ugh…… too many bad memories watching Galilei Donna President of Tendo Civil Security agency, Kisara Tendo, is voiced by Yui Horie who is a very well-know seiyuu and singer.
fripSide – Black Bullet Opening Theme
Black Bullet opening theme is sung by fripSide and it’s titled with the same name as the anime. We all are very familiar with fripSide, especially those who religiously watch To aru Kagaku no Railgun. The OP theme has a very familiar with beat and tempo and one could say that it’s very fripSide-ish or even Railgun-ish. It’s a very catchy and enjoyable song which I can find myself listening to it on repeat for hours.
This anime has a lot of potentials to tell a great story and explores its main characters background past. In addition, not to mention that Rentaro and Anju seem to have that very personal relationship which other promoter and initiator don’t have. Anju goes to school just like a normal child even though she needs to hide the fact that she’s one of the Cursed Children. Rentaro wants Enju to experience life as a normal kid and he clearly cares a lot for Enju’s well beings. Another side I would like to see from this anime is how discrimination against the Cursed Children will affect Rentaro and Enju’s relationship. Despite what he believes and views of the Cursed Children, his environment and society tells him otherwise; I think it would be great if story expands on this aspect and the discrimination of the Cursed Children. On the other hand, Rentaro’s parents were believe to be killed during Gastrea attack 10 years ago and he still didn’t like when people bring up this topic of conversation. Possible plot twist here? Rentaro’s parents are found alive later on as as Gastrea.
So what does everyone think about this anime ? Is this still in your watch list for this Spring Anime 2014 season ?
Saku's Thoughts 
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