Listen to the Rain

Last Saturday, online. As usually, ordered in my likelihood of watching more. Or at this point, I should say "perceived likelihood," because there are definitely some shows I rated as number one in previous samplers that I've never even touched. Anyway:

• 富豪刑事 BALANCE: UNLIMITED, "The Millionaire Detective Balance: Unlimited": The detective is really rich. Like, unbelievably rich. You can't understand how rich he is. His balance is unlimited. His superpower is "money." This is the OP, if you're curious what vibe they're going for.
  
  Anyway, there's an attempt to bomb the prince of the "Abura" (Jp: "Oil") Emirates, and due to a misunderstanding some small-time jewel thieves steal the bomb car. The Tokyo Police Department, along with the Millionaire Detective, go after them and cause a ton of damage but it's okay because the superpower is money. The detective is a dick who thinks all problems can be solved by splashing cash, his new partner in the Tokyo police thinks that procedure has to be followed. They fight crime. With money.
  
  The music for this show is amazing, and every time the detective shows up, it plays. There's a nice dynamic between the jerk detective and the by-the-book cop, I'm looking forward to seeing what shenanigans they get up to and the pull between screw the rules, I have money and "to serve and protect." And I repeat myself, but the way that the detective gets his smooth musical sting every time he shows up made me laugh out loud. Everyone needs a good theme song.


• グレートプリテンダー, "Great Pretender": The main character is a con artist and works with another con artist scamming people. But when he gets conned by a French con artist visiting Japan, he follows the Frenchman to America and offers to join him. They scam a mafia-connected Hollywood producer out of a bunch of money with fake drugs, but it's actually mostly the main character getting used as part of the scheme. It ends with him hanging from the Hollywood sign as the other con artist and his female partner look up at him.
  
  Cons within cons within cons! It's always amazing when a con artist gets conned, and if this show is a twisting series of interlocking plans with flashbacks and flash-forwards to show the characters setting up their amazing plans, that sounds amazing. Being set in sun-drenched L.A. is also nice--this episode was, at least, though if they travel the world and get into trouble that'd be great too. A lot of this comes down to the execution of the cons. If it's competence porn, the way Ocean's Eleven is, that sounds great even if the main character gets dunked on. If it turns into the main character and the Frenchman bickering or one of them always getting one over on the other, then I'll be less interested. But the aesthetic still pulls me in.


• デカダンス, "Decadence," Eng: "Deca-Dence": A ruined world and giant monsters called "gadol" who killed most of the world, and the mobile fortress called "Deca-Dence," that contains the remnants of humanity. The main character was injured in an attack as a child and has a prosthetic arm, so she can't join the anti-gadol corps, so instead she becomes an "armor repair technician" which involves a five-year apprenticeship cleaning the outside of the fortress. She tries to get close to her boss and learns that he has a small gadoll as a pet. Then gadoll attack, her boss is in the corps, she swallows some gadoll blood that might give her superpowers, the fortress transforms, maybe it's in the Matrix?
  
  Someone else described this as Mortal Engines plus Attack on Titan, and while I remember the response to Mortal Engines was pretty tepid, there's a reason everyone loves Attack on Titan. There's already room for weird conspiracies since some gadoll aren't hostile, and there's a scene of her boss attacking someone inside the Deca-Dence and extracting their "bug"? It also has a playful attitude which Gibiate (see below) definitely didn't have, but it was the fortress transformation sequence and ROCKET PUNCH at the end that made me want to continue.


• 魔王学院の不適合者 ～史上最強の魔王の始祖、転生して子孫たちの学校へ通う～, "The Misfit of Demon King Academy: History's Strongest Demon King Reincarnates and Goes to School with His Descendants," Eng: "The Misfit of Demon King Academy": Long ago, there was a Demon King who did a bunch of Demon King stuff, and now there's a school dedicated to training his dsescendants to find the one who will reincarnate into the Demon King. The Demon King is extremely obvious right away, though, because he's incredibly arrogant and overpowered, wins all the tests immediately, and this is good because nothing else is explained at all. Also there's a girl named Misha Necron, and the Demon King gets jumped by members of the royal family. He kills a guy with his heartbeat.
  
  This show is trash, but that's exactly what it aspires to be. And I think it could be good if it explores some of its themes. During one battle the Demon King mocks his opponent's obsession with descent, with purebloods and mongrels, and says a real Demon King is someone who reaches out and takes what he wants with his own hands. Play that up, throw in more jokes that were great two thousand years ago and which no one nowadays gets, and actually think I'd like it. Play up the exploration of social dynamics and don't focus on constant unbalanced Demon King vs. everyone battles. We'll see.


• THE GOD OF HIGH SCHOOL ゴッド・オブ・ハイスクール: Initially it seems to be a show about corruption and politics...and then a storm sweeps in and smashes the island flat, leaving a handprint-shaped crater! Switch to a high school student excited that the "God of High School" martial arts tournament is coming to Seoul! He chases after a purse thief in a high-speed bike vs. motocycle chase! A martial-arts-loving girl joins in, and a bystander punches the thief off his motorcycle! Then...everyone has nanomachines injected to show their physical stamina which displays as "HP"? It starts as a battle royale? Some super-powerful convict gets put into the battle?
  
  The animation on this is amazing, but I'm not sure about the story. If it's just an endless tournament, then pass. If there's more of that political intrigue and weird supernatural...whatever, then maybe it'll be good. I've heard the animation quality holds up, but I'm not sure about the plot.


• 恋とプロデューサー Eng: "Mr Love: Queen's Choice": A producer on the TV Show 奇跡発見 (kiseki hakken, "Miracle Discovery") is worried about getting cancelled and decised to start investigating a series of "warping" incidents that her now-dead father was once also investigating. She meets a pop star at the conbini and he agrees to be on her show, if she can increase her ratings, and then someone shoves her in front of a car! But, time stops, and she's carried across the street by someone who calls her an "Evolver." Mysterious men watch from the streets! A professor tells her that there's a rumor about life scientists that "Evolvers" are people who seem to be developing superpowers! Her show's single sponsor pulls out and she challenges the CEO to a battle of corporate influence! Every character is an unbelievably attractive 20-something!
  
  I have no idea what is happening. Is this about superpowers? Is it about corporate espionage? Is about the media ecosystem? The real answer is that it's based on a Chinese visual novel phone game where you can call the characters as part of the game, so that's why it's Like That. I'm very suspicious that this will be good at all.


• ラピスリライツ ～この世界のアイドルは魔法が使える～, "Lapis Re:Lights: the Idols of This World Can Use Magic," Eng: "Lapis Re:LiGHTs": A pink-haired girl goes to the Flora Girls Academy, the "legendary academy" of magic. An old friend shows her around. The school uniforms have underbust corsets. Everyone on her team is in danger of being expelled! Everyone has a different hair color because otherwise how would you tell them apart? The OP has obvious idol groups in it. I don't care at all about idols, in 2D or 3D, and the magical witch academy premise isn't enough to sell me on this especially when there are so many other shows with a magical academy but without the idols.


• ジビエート, "Gibiate": A high school student talks about the end of the world on video--a disease called "Gibiate" that turns people into bad CGI. Then suddenly the Tokugawa Shogunate! Two exiles get transported to modern-day Japan and have to fight the monsters. They're saved by the high school girl using a taser, and then everyone just accepts that these are time-traveling samurai. Something something Gibia venom. This show is just bad all around. The monsters look awful, why are there time-travelers, and then one of the club members said that this show has Amano Yoshitaka, Serizawa Naoki, Koshiro Yūzō, and Yoshida Brothers all involved?!? If the monsters weren't garbage free Unity store assets then this would have potential, but the time travel would still be out of place. Why does this exist?