I have never been this conflicted about two anime premieres in a row.

Marginal Service

I’m so torn, you guys. On the one hand, this thing had some truly hilarious moments, and yes, even if you go no further, episode 1 is absolutely worth watching for those moments alone. This is basically Japan’s version of what American cop shows look like, with a dose of Men in Black thrown in, but by way of a ragtag group of super sentai-inspired characters. Like it’s all set in Japan but for some reason, nearly every character seems to be either a foreigner or at least spent a good portion of their lives overseas. I can’t tell you what joy it brings me to see this translated into anime format, purely for the comedic value of witnessing how Japanese people apparently think America operates, at least in terms of their law enforcement. The title cards at the end with an announcer literally booming out each of the characters’ names? BOLTS DEXTER! LYRA CANDEYHEART! PECK DESMONT! Brilliant.

On the other hand, this premiere needed a lot more of that. I wasn’t even sure I was watching a comedy until somewhere into maybe the final third of the episode, because prior to this, everything was played entirely straight and just wasn’t over-the-top enough for me to believe things were purposefully that cliché. Heck, I’m still not 100% sure, as all the sites I’ve seen list this series as being sci-fi action only, not also comedy. So yeah, I need this thing to go all the way, pedal to the metal, giving me that kind of intentionally dumbass balls-to-the-wall energy I got in the final 5 minutes of the premiere – without it, the show just doesn’t work. I’ll be tuning in next week with some high expectations on that front, and Marginal Service will definitely need to deliver.

Score: 6/10

Oshi no Ko

For an anime that saw so much pre-hype, I have stunningly little to say about Oshi no Ko (aside from the fact that yes, three back-to-back episodes for the premiere is too damn long, who the heck has time for that?). If you’ve somehow managed to avoid spoilers for this show so far, I envy you, but I also don’t want to rehash the synopsis here, because on paper it’s super weird, and to actually watch… yeah it’s still super weird. So, suffice to say here that this is a deeply cynical and purposefully (I have to assume) creepy look at Japan’s idol industry and the culture surrounding it, both from an otaku and production perspective. This is cool and all (and obviously acutely needed, even if it’s coming a couple of decades too late), but that doesn’t necessarily make Oshi no Ko any less creepy as a viewing experience. Even if you know ahead of time that everything is said and done for good reason, including/especially its more disturbing parts, I still wouldn’t exactly call this a fun time – or at least, it isn’t for me. I’m fairly conflicted and still have no idea whether I’ll be continuing to watch this come next week, so for now, I’m giving it a Confused out of 10.

Score: ?????/10

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