Cannon Busters is a bit of an odd series (which I suppose should be expected since it’s an adaptation of a western comic); there’s a notable contrast between the cartoonish animation and often dark/violent event developments that doesn’t always work. The comedic interplay between the protagonist’s mercenary exasperation and the two robots’ more innocent personalities on the other hand remains consistently entertaining throughout. The action scenes are so-so.
Its greatest flaw in the end is that it’s unfinished, much like the source material, and the point where it ends does not engender much enthusiasm for a continuation.
The Arifureta adaptation had a troubled production history, to the point that my expectations going in were rock bottom… which is a good place to be if you want to be pleasantly surprised. Which I was… to an extent. The setup and development here resembles Tate no Yuusha‘s, but the beginning is much too drawn out, the protagonist’s abilities don’t feel in any way natural, and the action scenes heavily feature some pretty awful CGI.
The reaction and harem-related comedy is intermittently amusing, but the action is so bad and drama so generic that it’s barely worth bothering with even if you don’t mind skipping through large swathes of runtime to seek out the good bits.
Also a quick note about two series I had a viscerally negative reaction to: Everything about Okaasan Online just screamed ‘turn it off!’ while the 2018 production of GeGeGe no Kitarou gave the impression it was made for elementary/middle schoolers.
Arifureta Shokugyou de Sekaisaikyou:
