Asobi Asobase comes to us from the legendary director Seiji Kishi, who recently got buff and started posting about it online, and tells the story of classmates Hanako and Olivia. Olivia is a born Japanese, but since her parents aren’t ethnically Japanese, she looks like a westerner. This causes people to assume she cannot speak Japanese, and she uses this to her advantage. Hanako is a rich young girl who is quite smart and athletic, but is about as slow as molasses in a blizzard. The two meet Kasumi, a brilliant young student who is so bad at English, it hurts. Olivia wants to play games with Kasumi, and Kasumi agrees that if she can beat her, Olivia must teach her English. Wanting to mess with her, Olivia agrees. When she finally loses though, the three girls come together to create a club where they can play games and become better friends.

First off, let us say that this comes from Seiji Kishi. The man has directed hits like Angel Beats!, Persona 4: The Animation, Tsuki ga Kirei, Seto no Hanayome, Danganronpa and more. Asobi Asobase has really just smashed that record by becoming so incredibly popular so quickly. The comedy is manic and always unexpected, and honestly feels a lot like Nichijou, but about twice as funny. Anything and everything that you would think would be normal, like say, going to the bathroom, is compounded by the twist of butt lazers. Something, you would never expect. Bangs are very important as is how babies are made, fashion, and voodoo. The series touches on so many topics and moves at breakneck speed that we are left in tears because of how it works itself up. You are doing yourself a disservice by not watching at least through episode four of this series.

Ash Lynx is a pretty boy in the 1980s in New York City. He runs a popular gang and fights against Dino, a man who kept Ash around as a sex toy when he was just a child. However, with Ash taking care of his brother who was destroyed by war, he’s torn… till Dino gets something that could be the key to understanding his brother. Ash is out for revenge and answers. At the same time, young, passionate Eiji Okumura steps off a plane as an assistant cameraman here to work. When their paths cross, nothing will be the same.

At first, admittedly, I was scared of Banana Fish. The first word to describe it was “Josei” which means that normally, the series would be a thin plot with tons of BL to fuel fujoshi into dumping money into it. However, that is not the case for Banana Fish. The art is good, the story is interesting, and honestly, even though there are the BL/gay tones, they do not detract from the story as most do, but rather, they lend to it showing more dimension and hurt to the characters. They are fleshed out excellently and the story is at times, a bit shocking for how gritty it is. One expects Josei to be more mild and soft, not with people getting shot up, raped, drugs, violence and more. The series may have been originally from the 80s, but it holds value well and is a clear frontrunner for the season.

Those who are around us that are overtly proficient at something actually hide a secret. They are not skilled on their own, but rather, they are so good at what they do because of their predecessors. It is not that these modern day geniuses studied under the greats, but rather, they have help from little dolls named Aguu. Aguu are dolls, or rather living people, who were shrunk down akin to a process like voodoo where their bones and organs are all removed, but are kept alive through black magic. Aguu can only be made by tailors and are inserted into the bodies of regular people giving them unnatural amounts of talent. When Ai learns that her classmate and best friend Machi is a genius when it comes to ballet, Ai is depressed. A chance encounter though, helps Ai see the light and she learns that Machi has Aguu sewn inside of her body. Machi offers to give Ai one to help her become a genius herself. However, when Ai gets cold feet and a fight breaks out, she flees with some help, but Machi is irreversibly damaged. Ai must now fight against a revived Machi imbued with the power of Aguu and stop her.

Honestly, it sounds weird, but the story and pacing of Aguu is quite good and caught me off guard. I was expecting a poor story, but decided to try it out anyway. The first episode is okay, but while most anime take 3-6 episodes just to set up a story, Aguu started sprinting at episode 2. I hope it doesn’t stop either, because I love this show in a weird way. I will say that a negative the show faces is that it’s sadly Studio Deen in charge of it. Studio Deen has a very bad habit of animating shows poorly that aren’t natively Japanese–and even when they are, it’s dodgy at best–so there are moments where things don’t flow right or you are not sure how something is going to proceed. Still though, the story, voice acting and more is enjoyable, so we recommend this for sure.