What happens when you mess up really really bad at your job? You get endless meetings with your boss and HR? You get a very stern talking to by your supervisor? Worst case: You get fired.

What happens when you do that and you’re a Yakuza? It’s bad. Usually a finger suffices, but for our three main characters, it’s much more dire than that. So, they get two choices, commit seppuku and spill their guts on the floor, or go to Thailand, get gender reassignment surgery, and become cute idols. Which would you do? Spend a lifetime trapped in another gender that isn’t yours–sounds like a living hell–or die right then and there?

The three men choose the latter choice and become female idols. Three rough looking men are now changed into cute, adorable idols. The funny thing though, is that they still are the same person which means that they maintain all of their bad habits and quirks. We get to laugh hysterically as they snap into their old yakuza ways while trying to keep up a cute persona. They are popular too which is funny because they’re singing about yazuka rules and methods with a cute idol spin on them. It’s not going to end well for anyone though if they are caught, so they are forced to work under the boss while hiding their true identities and reflecting on where they are now.

Originally I thought this was going to be super problematic, but it takes the idea of gender and throws it out the window in a comical manner. I can’t wait to watch this show weekly. If I had to say that the series has a downfall, it would be that this is clearly a ~budget~ anime as the characters do not move much and the voice acting is just superimposed over still scenes. I guess we can’t get everything that we want. But sure hope there is a dating episode!

Well, Island has started and when it comes to first impressions, it falls in the same category as anime like Hundred, and by that we mean, it just starts off so cliche. Let’s just go over the first episode which features an amnesic main character who is drawn to a single thing: the island. Does this sound at all special yet? Then he claims he’s a time traveler, but can’t remember anything else but his name, however he does get brief glimpses of what we are to assume is the future. Oh, and let’s end the episode with Rinne saying if she goes out in the sunlight, she’ll die.

Oh yeah, those are the makings for a generic anime that tries too hard to be suspenseful. Oh, and did we mention that apparently Rinne sings and we have to go full on autotune and edit the voice? What does it have to do with anything, I will never know. All the same, this is not a great way to start off Island. I suspect many people are dropping this anime and fast, which is such a shame because the writers are trying so hard on this anime.

Hataraku Saibou’s first episode was something I was looking forward since I’ve read the synopsis. Basically, it’s a weird and funny show that puts our insides like a world full of “people” working to function at perfection while avoiding unwanted agents, like germs or bacteria. Our main characters are a red blood cell called AE3803 and a white blood cell called U-1146. So yeah, now there’s more anime cells than the villain in Dragon Ball Z...

If you hate biology classes and always underestimate your own body functions, Hataraku Saibou is a great way to learn about some basic and advanced stuff. Who would say a soon-to-be love story could teach you about body parts with complex names or diseases? At least with it’s first episode this anime can teach you about pneumococcus and some of the reasons why this bacteria is bad, or that red blood cells transport oxygen to your lungs, among other things they do. Haemoglobin for the win!

But, let’s not forget the important things: is there a love story between the hero white cell and the naive red cell? And there are cute “kids” as platelets reconstructing the body! At least for me, Hataraku Saibou is one of the nice surprises this season. I wish this had existed back when I hated biology at school...