Spring 2016 Season Overview part 1 A mystery wrapped inside an enigma inside Crunchy roll

I am hopefully casting off the doldrums of blog hiatus and starting up regular posts with this posts today. As usual one of my regular deals is to review the first episode of every show I watch. I don't know how long I will walk this proverbial minefield for your hopeful benefit. With this particular post I tell you about the first three shows that I have seen this season, all of them on Crunchy roll.

Jojo's Bizarre Adventure Diamond is Unbreakable

One day in the town of Morioh Jotaro arrives to inform Josuke that he is a member of the Joestar clan and entitled to part of his father's fortune as well as to avoid some mysterious threat. However Josuke possesses a supernatural power known as a stand. I rarely review season four of a given franchise in these overviews but I find this show to be a special case. I have found this show to be a bit slower than your usual Jojo fare but I have heard good things about this section of the show and it still felt good enough that I will continue watching.

Mayogiga (aka The lost village)

A bus with 30 people who wish to do their lives over again heads for the mysterious town of Nanaki. However there subtle hints that not all is going to end well. I found the first episode to be mostly setup since so many characters are difficult to remember and although I don't feel it is a modern classic it looks like it could be at least a decent show if you like mystery and possibly horror shows.

Ace Attorney

Naruhodo is a brand new attorney ready to taken on his first case. To start out he is tasked with proving his friends innocence in a murder trial. This show is based off of a series of games known in America as Phoenix Wright. I found the first episode to be merely passable but from most mystery shows (and any work about the legal process counts) tend to use the first episode as a mere proof of concept and are never among the best episodes.

Review Un Go

Seductive stuffed animals

It has been a while since the war but Japan is still feeling the aftereffects. Shinjurou Yuuki is known as either the last great detective or the defeated detective depending on who you ask. Even though he does have a formidable wit he also has a secret weapon, his partner, Inga who can force anybody to answer just one question.

 

sorry but no real yuri in this show

Un Go is a eleven episode mystery show with a science fiction twist. As with most shows of the genre it is quite episodic although it does have some lingering plot threads. There is also the theme of how society is affected by terror threats and how a government can subtly undermine people's freedom and thoughts through fear.

 

The main character and his deus ex machina

As interesting as a show like this seems there is also some serious problems with Un Go which keeps it from being a great show. First and foremost is Inga who often derails mystery plots by using her power in a deus ex machina fashion. There is also the deal that Inga (as well as one other character which appears later) is rather out of place in a science fiction setting, and this incongruity isn't even really central to the show's themes.

Overall Un Go is a show that really tries to be thought provoking but feels like it trips over it’s own feet half the time in doing so.

Rating the bronze Hayate (Hayate the combat butler) for having way too many supernatural elements in a genre that needs or even suggessts (if you go by knoxs rules) none.