All of the anime below are currently works in process, and have yet to complete so their endings could sink the entire enterprise. This remains to be seen. As of March 1, 2023 the following comments apply.
The Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess and the Genius Young Lady
MAL 7.82 Mar 1 EP 9 of 12
Anisphia
Euphyllia
Magical is currently Pywackett Productions current number 1 favorite for the season. While it has strong yuri vibes (Anisphia is a self-declared lesbian), romance and bedroom antics are not central. This is a story of political power in an iseki kingdom with the main struggle between Anisphia and her brother Algard. Anisphia who cannot use magic gives up the throne to her brother who can, but is unqualified to rule.
While Magical has its beautiful relationships, this is an action anime. The relationship between Anisphia and Euphyllia is quite wonderful and sweet, and reminds somewhat of the Chisato-Takina relationship from Lycoris Recoil. Anisphia and Chisato are very similar in personality, but Euphyllia is unlike Takina except in one respect. Both have been driven from their worlds and do not know what direction to follow. So Takina follows Chisato, and Euphyllia follows Anisphia.
The question is very open: can the artists complete this story in 12 episodes?
MAL 7.61 Mar 2 EP 9 of 13
Tomo-chan
Jun
Misuzu
Carol
Tomo is one of the funniest anime’s in a long, long time. And this is laugh-out-loud funny, roll-on-the-floor funny, belly-popping funny. It is most definitely humorous.
Tomo-chan is a Tom-boy, but still wants to be seen as a girl, especially by her neighbor friend Jun who sees her as his best buddy friend. Tomo’s support group of Misuzu and Carol is outstanding, and they play the mischievous pixie friends who enjoy the sport of train-spotting the Tomo-Jun romance.
If you like funny, Tomo is FUNNY in all caps.
The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten
MAL 7.95 Mar 4 EP 9 of 12
Amane
Mahiru
Angel is a very slow moving, gentle romance.
Mahiru is the most beautiful and popular girl in the school and Amane basically ignores her until they find out that they are neighbors. Amane is something of a slob, and Mahiru begins to take care of him, cleaning his apt and making him meals.
Many complain about this as being unbelievable, but the horrific backstory of Mahiru, explains her actions towards Amane. Angel ends up being something of a hurtful romance, and the path to true love is rocky at best.
As of EP 8, Mahiru is clearly in love with Amane and wants to move the relationship to romance, but Amane, early on in the relationship, agreed to certain rules set by Mahiru, and being a very honorable man, will not break any of those rules!
Mahiru clearly recognizes that this boy is a man of integrity, and she grows to fully trust him, but she is becoming frustrated in trying to change the relationship. She has yet to realize that she must release Amane from the rules she established in the beginning, because his honor will not allow him to break any of those rules on his own. It almost is like the girl who wants her boyfriend to become a scumbag and force himself on her.
How this conflict is eventually settled is very interesting.
The Ice Guy and His Cool Female Colleague
MAL 7.40 Mar1 EP 9 of 12
Fuyutsuki-san
Himuro-kun
The Ice Guy Humuro is a nice guy and very quiet as is the girl Fuyutsuki whom he is in love with.
This is a very quirky, slow, subtle romance with very strange personalities, like Fox girls with Fox tails, managers who look like Buddha, and ice people like Humuro who causes ice storms whenever he is emotional.
This is a young adult romance in a modern office building very much like the anime, Wotakoi:_Love_Is_Hard_for_Otaku
We at Pywackett Productions are very much enjoying this slow, relaxing, nothing-is-happening, almost-an-SoL-anime!
MAL 7.36 Mar 9 EP 10 of 12
Mahiro Oyama
Mihari Oyama
Mahiro Oyama is a stay-at-home hikikomori neet, who does nothing, and goes nowhere, and knows nobody! He is the elder brother of brilliant scientist Mihari Oyama, his sister, who decides to take action to change his life. She experiments on him, and changes him into a little girl. And of course, much of the humor in Onimai is from this gender swap, as Mahiro must adjust to an all girl social group and girly etiquette.
The Gender Swap is a major plot element in Anime from its earliest days such as Rose of Versailles , Ranma or Revolutionary Girl Utena . One of the most famous live theater groups in the world is Takarazuka Revue founded in 1914 where all roles are played by women, much like in Kabuki where all roles are played by men. In the recent Shinkai movie, Your Name. the entire story is about a gender swap between the boy Taki in Tokyo, and the girl Mitsuha in Itomori. This trope is played for comedy initially, but soon becomes much deeper as the story unfolds.
There is much criticism of Onimai as being a perverted, lolicon work. This is too simplistic an argument which fails to understand the dynamics of the story. Mahiro is coming to an awareness of girls and their social relationships in a fundamental sense (as he is one). His sister’s scheme is working in that the personality of Mahiro undergoes a change. He gets out of the house, and socializes with the girls in his group. This is quite cute and lovely as Mahiro begins to feel affection for the girls in his social group.
Boys learning to appreciate what girls must live with on a daily basis can only be a good thing. We at Pywackett Productions were initially skeptical of Onimai but in the course of this series, we have been won over, and now very much enjoy this anime.
MAL 6.73 Mar 6 EP 9 OF 13
Aoba West High School Girls Judo Club
Michi Sonoda (園田 未知, Sonoda Michi)
Sanae Takigawa (滝川 早苗, Takigawa Sanae)
Towa Hiura (氷浦 永遠, Hiura Towa)
Anna Nagumo (南雲 安奈, Nagumo Anna)
Tsumugi Himeno (姫野 紬, Himeno Tsumugi)
Shino Natsume (夏目 紫乃, Natsume Shino) Teacher and Aoba West Judo Club Sponsor
Ippon is unlike most High School sports anime because here, we follow a girl’s High School Judo Club. The characters are all wonderfully drawn, and the Judo competition is very exciting.
But this is an all girl group, and we enter the very complex set of relationships which take place in this group much like an SoL. In many ways, Ippon is very like Akebi’s_Sailor_Uniform set in the world of High School Judo
Very enjoyable and we hope they stick the landing.
MAL 7.48 Unknown Budget
YoRHa No.2 Type B (2B)
YoRHa No.9 Type S (9S)
Nier is derived from a computer game of the same name. Visually it is an excellent creation, but for those who do not know the world of this game, the anime by itself does not help very much.
But it is interesting, and we are watching it when it comes out, but the budget is unknown, and we have no hint as to where this story will land for its ending.
MAL 6.70 Unknown Budget EP 7 FEB 25
Touko
Kinata
Fire is also an unknown budget like Nier, and even for an anime is very strange in its art and in its story.
A young girl, Touko, is saved by a Fire Hunter who is killed, and his fire hunter dog, Kinata, attaches to Touko who then begins a journey to return the Fire Hunter’s dog and belongings to the family in the Capitol.
The art and story is somewhat like Madoka Magica, in the intense creation of a very different world. Fire is something like High Art and might not appeal to most, but we find it very interesting.
It may not even have an ending so it may in the end be unsatisfying. This remains to be seen. But the art on display is stunning if nothing else.
© 2023 Folwine P. Pywackett mox031