Well, we have no doubt who one of the corporate sponsors of GJ-bu is…

GJ-bu – 01

GJ-bu comes across as a pretty generic but pleasant 4-koma comedy, with the wrinkle that it’s adapted from a “4-koma light novel” – whatever the heck that is.  It plays an awful lot like a Seitokai no Ichizon clone to me, to be honest, though it’s set in a school club rather the student council.  You have the guy at the center with four girls around him, filling out the necessary tropes and doing zany things, and it’s especially the character of the President, Amatsuka Mao (Uchida Maaya) who might put you in mind of SnI.

But there’s a certain magic to Sakurano that I don’t really feel with Mao, and the guy at the center of everything, Shinomiya Kyouya (Shimono Hiro) is far more of a traditional bland harem lead than the dynamic Sugisaki Ken, one of the best in the business.  In fact, interestingly enough, while there are some big names here the seiyuu I most noticed was newcomer Arakawa Chika, who plays the carnivorous cat-girl Kirara Bernstein.  She has some of the bigger laughs in the ep, of which there are a decent amount generally speaking.  This is pure gag comedy and it’s funny enough of the time to be modestly entertaining, though I certainly didn’t see anything exceptional in the premiere.

Mondai-Ji-tachi ga Isekai Kara Kuru Sō Desu yo ? – 01

From Diomedea comes this tale of problem children summoned to another world to square off against Gods, demons and other non-human races in “Gift Games” – a kind of high-stakes metaphysical gambling that I suspect has deeper universal implications than what we’re told in the premiere.

All told this came off as pretty generic stuff – none of the characters especially likeable, none of the humor all that funny, and the animation action sequences solidly average.  In Sakamaki Izayoi (Asanuma Shintarou) we at least have a male lead who doesn’t stammer nervously around girls and comes pre-fab ready to kick some ass, but apart from that his personality isn’t particularly distinctive.  The two main girls in the cast summoned to “The Little Garden” with him are formula ojou-sama Kudou Asuka  (Bridcut Sarah Emi, one of the most interesting seiyuu names I’ve heard at least) and animal whisperer Kasukabe You (Nakajima Megumi).  Like Izayaoi they’re apparently blessed with supernatural abilities that get them branded as problem children in the “Lower World” – and thus prime candidates to be drafted to the Little Garden.

It’s possible that this might get somewhat interesting as the story digs into the reasons shota Kami Jin (Igarashi Hiromi, playing her second such character of the season) dispatched bunny girl Kurousagi (Nomizu Iori) to bring the kids into his service.  But it seems like a long shot based on the premiere and the staff that Mondaiji will surpass that modest plateau.  With the weekends looking like they are, this one looks like a pretty early cut.