Senran Kagura saves us from an otherwise bland Fall 2018 season.
Goblin Slayer
Source material eroticism: Occasional nipple sightings (in manga adaptation)
Service level expectation: Killing Bites
The good news about Goblin Slayer is that the manga adaptation of the source light novel does deliver nipple sightings from time to time, but the bad news is that such scenes all seem to occur in instances of violence or rape, with the intention being to add to the shock value.
This isn’t exactly what you might consider happy fanservice to begin with, and typically this kind of shocking material is watered down in the anime to make it more palatable with general audiences. Based on what we saw in the first episode today, it looks like that watering down process is indeed occurring.
It wouldn’t surprise me if the novel and/or manga became super sexy down the road, but through the early volumes the nudity is fairly sparse and easy to remove for the anime.
Goblin Slayer aired its first episode on October 7th.
Toaru Majutsu no Index III
Source material eroticism: Lots of sexy outfits
Service level expectation: UQ Holder
This is yet another long awaited anime sequel happening in 2018. It’s likely that the service level here will remain as it was in previous seasons, with a lot of sexy outfits, suggestive situations, and maybe even some promising censorship that ultimately doesn’t pan out on BD.
At least stylistically, this series was likely the inspiration for the excellent Strike the Blood ecchi-action series. But I wouldn’t expect anything remotely close to that here, service wise.
Toaru Majutsu no Index III aired its first episode on October 5th.
Ulysses: Jeanne d’Arc to Renkin no Kishi
Source material eroticism: Some sexy character designs, censored nudity
Service level expectation: Hyakuren no Haou to Seiyaku no Valkyria
While expectations are definitely not high here, if there was one anime that has the best chance to pleasantly surprise this season, it’s this one. The light novel has some censored bathing scenes, and the general setup seems to be harem-centric.
It’s probably not going to amount to anything, but is just interesting enough to be worth keeping an eye on.
Ulysses: Jeanne d’Arc to Renkin no Kishi aired its first episode on October 7th.
Senran Kagura: Shinovi Master – Tokyo Youma-hen
Source material eroticism: Nipples confirmed.
Service level expectation: Senran Kagura: Estival Versus
Based on a popular ecchi gaming franchise, this is the second TV anime season for Senran Kagura, with the previous season airing nearly six years ago.
For me personally, a nude version of Senran Kagura has been a kind of Holy Grail. The first season was super sexy, but also a blue-balling tease. And at least based on disc sales, the first season was not a major commercial success either. So hoping for any kind of sequel season, much less one that breaks the nipple barrier, was all but a pipe dream.
Then a few years back, the Senran Kagura: Estival Versus OVA showed nipples in the series for the first time. Given how long the brand had existed as a non-nude ecchi series at that point, it really was quite a shock.
Later that same year, the series creator for Senran Kagura (Kenichiro Takaki) partnered with Hiraku Kaneko to create the Valkyrie Drive franchise. Takaki’s involvement suggested that he too wanted to work on an ecchi-action game franchise that took service further than Senran Kagura initially had. While there are certainly fans of Valkyrie Drive, one couldn’t help but wonder how much better the series would have been if it had the character design quality found in Senran Kagura.
And the fact that a project like Valkyrie Drive even happened at all, suggested that a sequel season to Senran Kagura, with proper levels of fanservice, might actually be possible.
And now this week, that long held wish will finally become a reality. With an uncensored weekly broadcast, to boot. Hopefully we get a nude scene for every girl, especially Mirai.
There’s definitely some imperfections, the PV’s seem to suggest that a lot of the nudity will be in action sequences and thus harder to see, and the overall art quality is not even close to as nice as the first season.
But all the same, I’m just glad this anime is actually happening. With all the disappointments in the ecchi genre in recent years, it’s nice to finally have something unexpectedly good happen.
Senran Kagura: Shinovi Master – Tokyo Youma-hen begins airing on October 13th.
Seishun Buta Yarou wa Bunny Girl Senpai no Yume wo Minai
Source material eroticism: Sexy outfits
Service level expectation: Dusk Maiden of Amnesia
The titular character is a girl in a bunny suit, so you know there is going to be at least some service. Nothing earth shattering, but if you like non-nude cheesecake, this anime is a solid bet, at least in the early episodes before the story kicks in later.
Seishun Buta Yarou wa Bunny Girl Senpai no Yume wo Minai aired its first episode on October 4th.
Uchi no Maid ga Uzasugiru!
Source material eroticism: Lots of naked scenes with nipples censored
Service level expectation: Shomin Sample, minus the nipples
This is an odd little manga about a loli and a muscular maid. It’s kind of a slice of life / ecchi hybrid. There are several scenes where the girls are in a state of undress in the manga, but always in a way that is covered up. I’d expect the anime to be the same, and the first episode appears to confirm it.
Uchi no Maid ga Uzasugiru! aired its first episode on October 5th.
Shuudengo, Capsule Hotel de, Joushi ni Binetsu Utawaru Yoru.
Source material eroticism: Basically Hentai
Service level expectation: Joshi Ochi!!: 2-kai kara Ero Musume ga Futte kite, Ore no Areni!?
This season’s R-18 anime. Nuff said.
Shuudengo, Capsule Hotel de, Joushi ni Binetsu Utawaru Yoru. begins airing on October 8th.
Notable OVA
Yuragi-sou no Yuuna-san OVA III — December 4th
This is, at least for now, the final known episode of the series.
Overall Thoughts:
Last season had a lot of shows with “potential;” this season does not. Though of course, these days “potential” usually just means disappointment anyway.
Of all the non-Senran Kagura shows, hopefully at least one delivers a nude scene. Preferably Uchi no Maid ga Uzasugiru! Loli fans could use a little bit of luck these days.
