Recommendations from Iwamoto-Senpai – Episode 1

Content Warning: turn of the century Japanese imperial military aesthetics

What’s it about? Military middle schooler Kodo Iwamoto travels to a remote village to investigate paranormal reports of “black snow.” Once there he finds a pharmacist, his mysterious grandson and a field of flowers in the snow. Seeing the boy’s potential, he invites the boy to join him at his special school for gifted children like him.

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Could we excuse a little Japanese imperialist imagery when it’s in service to fighting a supernatural foe, like evil monsters? Their uniforms, after all, are so smexy. 

That’s right, we’ve got another turn of the 20th century adventure celebrating the Japanese military uniform aesthetic that, if it weren’t for the decades of military history that has bought the nation intergenerational ire from its neighboring countries to this day, would look kinda cool. Sadly it remains irreconcilable to some, as modern day geopolitics continue to take issue with Japan’s denialism of its role as a military aggressor a century ago. 

Usually, however, uniform fetishists and historical fantasy nerds will allow these transgressions so long as the aesthetics hold up with the aforementioned “smexy” quality lifting them just enough to stay out of reach from the Hague. 

That said, the production value for Iwamoto is nothing to really write home about either, in contrast to something like last season’s Nippon Sangoku. It’s about exactly what you’d expect from Studio Deen, for better or worse, and the show is a serviceable start to a historical fantasy battle series with hot boys.

One element I’d like to caution over, however, is that these fully grown-looking protagonists are all apparently in middle school, giving Ramba Ral a good run for his money for looking ancient for his age.

Aside from Iwamoto-Senpai being the spitting image of a hot and composed military officer despite probably being only just old enough to start shaving, we are also presented with the other side of that coin with Shizuma Aonuma, the young man Iwamoto recruits to come to his school who is the spitting image of a typical shonen anime heroine.

The bond between them feels intimate in a way, as Iwamoto reveals he is similar to Shizuma, making you wonder, is this show gonna actually deliver a measure of romance, or will it just fan the airs to make us only hallucinate the vibes with a sausage fest cast of cute boys?

The introductory episode does not give much to signal what’s to come, but it’s perhaps going to be a serviceable show for what it is.

The biggest issue we encounter with this first story is trying to get a feel for what this show is supposed to be. It feels like there’s going to be more action and battle involved, especially going by what’s presented in the opening credits, however, the actual show itself feels more like a lukewarm period suspense thriller. 

Compounding to that is the fact Shizuma is named after an infamous character from Seishi Yokomizo’s novel The Inugami Curse. The mystery, a generally well known and particularly famous case among the Kindaichi mystery series, having been adapted and readapted by Kon Ichikawa, would indicate this naming likely wasn’t by chance, especially as its spelling in kanji is also identical to the character from the book. It begs the question: what is his role here? Especially so, when his portrayal and setting seems so far flung from the 1951 murder mystery (although the Kindaichi mystery and Iwamoto anime do share some interesting rhymes).

As of now, this show could be anything to anyone, and all we really know is that it’s full of strapping young boys with supernatural powers. We suppose that’s good enough a reason to watch for some, but it will need some kind of spark to keep people engaged.