Happy Halloween. Everybody I work with and hang out with, and most of the people I work with, have already been given the imperative “Pumpkin Scissors.” Some have understood. Others haven’t, but have gone to where I keep fansubs and taken a look anyway. Others, I’m sure, think I was referencing some inside joke they didn’t get. That’s ok.

Pumpkin Scissors is a tale of an idealistic young Lieutenant tasked with heading a small unit tasked with alleviating the devastation of war. The empire has been through a long and costly conflict, and is now three years into a fragile cease-fire with the Frost Republic. Blah blah blah. The people are desperate. Blah blah blah. Many soldiers have resorted to brigandry. Blah blah blah. The young Lieutenant runs into a Corporal that used to be attached to the 901st Anti-Tank Trooper unit.

Pumpkin Scissors has a number of things going for it. First, the ludicrous name. How could I resist walking up to a co-worker, pointing my finger authoritatively, and saying “Pumpkin Scissors!” as though it were some kind of order? I had to. It’s in my blood. Second, it’s produced by Gonzo. Gonzo has a bit of a reputation for wildly-varying degrees of quality. You just never know what you’re going to get next. Somehow this appeals to me. Third, the story revolves around a military unit. This means there will be lots of snappy saluting, people barking orders, and stuff exploding. Who doesn’t like exploding stuff? Fourth, there’s a big lovable oaf as one of the main characters. As a big lovable oaf myself, that’s a big plus.

It can’t be all candy and flowers forever, unfortunately. It turns out that Pumpkin Scissors appears to be a fairly faithful representation of a reputable manga title (at least it was faithful up to four episodes in). The backstory is well-developed. The mysterious past isn’t so mysterious as to appear impenetrable. The intrigues can be expected to have just enough edge to not be totally stupendous. The characters interact with each other and complement each other well. Four episodes in, we already have one episode that breaks from the “new tank of the week” formula that could have easily defined the series.

I don’t know what to say. A+ so far. I find no serious weakness here. That’s disturbing, because I’m pretty nit-picky about such things. I suppose the CG for the tanks were a little trite.