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It's that time of the season again. So many shows are ending later this week, but at this point my thoughts are pretty firm on most of them.
Possible spoilers, etc.
Looking at it, this season was pretty damn good. Most things fall in the 6-7 range, though there are a few outliers either way, which I suppose is about what you'd expect. It was pretty hectic keeping up with so many shows, though, so I'll be thankful if fall has a bit less.
Still need to watch at least Umaru-chan and God Eater, too. x.x I'll probably watch them in the downtime between seasons, assuming my reading/P4DAN don't eat all my time. (DAN totally will)
Continuations:
Rinne Rinne is still Rinne. It kind of amazes me how much mileage the show gets out of the same few gags. Most are variations on "lol Rinne is poor", "lol Tsubasa has a crush on Sakura", "lol Ageha has a crush on Rinne", "lol Rinne's dad is a douche", "lol Ageha's sister's disguise is terrible", amongst others, and it just doesn't get old.
I don't think it'll ever become more than it is. It's been twenty-five episodes. I'd be hard-pressed to say there's been any plot/character development, and also hard-pressed to name a favorite or least-favorite episode. Luckily, what it is is perfectably watchable. 6/10.
Durarara Stuff happened this cour, which by default makes it better than last cour. I watched last cour only like six months ago or something, and I don't think I can remember much that *happened* other than meeting Hollywood and the show then going on to talk about things that weren't Hollywood. We also got some character development, which has sorely been needed with a cast that's so fuckhuge it's almost impossible to remember more than ten names unless you watched recently or have read the light novels. Most characters still feel like they're just a name and maybe a character trait, but we've had some development this cour.
The things I like about Durarara are still intact, though they're also less tangible than things like plot and whatnot. I've always enjoyed how the series makes Ikebukuro feel like a relatively small town, though I'd bet that it has a population in the tens of thousands or even in the hundreds of thousands. Too lazy to look that up. The show has style in spades. I enjoy the artstyle and the music is almost always bitchin' (this OP/ED are weak though), and the action, when it occurs, generally looks good. Celty only gets more adorbs as the series continues. Surprising that a character who speaks via a phone and has no face to read emotes so well, which is a credit to her VA.
I'm at a point where I want them to stop introducing characters, start developing them, and for the love of god, make things happen. There's already too much going on, and adding even more will only make it worse. This cour was a good start, 5/10.
Food Wars It's still Food Wars? I don't really know what to say here; I feel like I said it all last season.
I guess developing Megumi a bit as a character was nice. Her struggle to learn how to butcher the monkfish was rather touching for a series that is focused on the lulz. This might also be my Megumi bias speaking too. The development of the Aldini brothers didn't hit the same note with me, probably because they don't feel like legitimate rivals for Soma despite the show's best efforts to make them such. I hope Soma finds *some* rival, if only to ensure things stay interesting.
But yeah, it's more Food Wars. This Elections arc has so far delivered with the usual humor, interesting recipes, teh dramaz, and of course the food porn. There's actually a bit of tension this week; it doesn't feel like Soma is going to be the clear-cut #1. (Though he and Hayama are going to be #1 and #2 in some order, it'll be interesting to find out what order.)
7/10 again, not much has changed for the better or worse. I hope we get another season, otherwise I might have to deign to read a manga. I need my fix.
Arslan Senki I feel kinda disappointed. This show hasn't gone down in quality or anything, but as it continues, I feel less reason to *care*. I think this comes down to Arslan not doing anything to make me feel like he should be the king. Hermes has the rightful claim, insofar as rightful claims ever go because they always got fucked up eons ago, but he's about as inspiring as a box of rocks, which is still more inspiring than Stannis Baratheon. Arslan is ahead when you take this into consideration, but it's not like he's done anything to convince me "yeah, this guy will make a great king". But who knows, maybe that'd be shown once he gets the throne? Or maybe I'm just hoping we get a third cour and that it is, because that's the only thing that would improve my estimation of the show at this point.
The battles have become more important towards the end of this cour. I don't know if they have all the gravity I would expect, mostly because the battles tend to focus on main characters pwning everyone's shit instead of skirmishes between battalions or companies or whatever. There's not much real tension in them, either: Narsus comes up with a strategy, everyone executes it, and the only things that might possibly interfere are other named characters. Even then, everyone survives somehow.
At least it's always there for me when I'm drunk on Saturday night. It's something that isn't super plot or character-intensive, so I can drink and watch it, then crash. That's worth something. Maybe not on a 1-10 scale, but it has its worth. 6/10.
Originals:
Dragon Ball Super I believe I've said my piece on the animation issues.
If you've watched Battle of Gods, you've seen this arc in the superior format. Don't bother with this. The production is far better, but that should be a given for a theatrical release. The pacing is better too; at least they don't waste like 10 minutes on a transformation sequence that looks like fucking garbage. Funimation/Crunchyroll subs would be preferable to fansubs because they read better, but thanks to Toei probably wanting eleventy bajillion dollars for this pile of dung, well, nobody got it. The way I see it, that was good money to save.
This could have been good, but it was a straight adaptation of the Battle of Gods movie. Not that I expect character development or great plots from Dragon Ball, but the least that could have been done was to give us something *different*. I don't have much hope for the Resurrection of F arc, either, though maybe they'll explain SSGSS? That shit was just dropped on us in RoF for no good reason. Doubtful that it gets explained though because Toei fucking sucks.
This is the new worst anime I've watched. At least P4GA was justifiably bad, in that it was a collection of episodes that showed the new stuff in Golden. 3/10, mostly because the source material is a watchable 90 minutes, and that might be generous.
I'll probably watch the next cour because I hate life, the universe, and everything. I hate myself most of all. I am a Vikings fan, after all.
Aoharu x Machinegun I picked this one up because I thought Tachibana's gender would be a bigger factor than it is, but as of yet, it hasn't really mattered. The show could work just as well if she were male at this moment. Being a girl is a major source of tension for Tachibana because Toy Gun Gun doesn't allow female members, but the real tension in this show is between Matsuoka and Midori, neither of whom are very compelling characters in and of themselves. It's only their relationships to Tachibana that make them interesting at all. Nobody's character (well, other than Tachibana because obv) has been developed very much, and as such it's kinda hard to care about them. I'd like to know what drives Midori to be such a prick, but LOL WHAT'S CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT.
The plot is executed reasonably well, though. I thought for sure this would end in one cour, with Toy Gun Gun beating their nemeses. Nope! Instead, they lose handily and if there's a second cour, I suspect that will be devoted to training/maybe character development. Should make the payoff better. The show's pretty funny, too. Not Food Wars/Shimoneta funny or even Castle Town Dandelion funny, but funny enough to work. As it is, I feel the show has some promise, but it's been unfulfilled.
Still, the music is pretty coo'. I like the OP, the ED is one of the best of the season, and whenever shit gets real, there's an awesome piece of music to back it up.
5/10, hopefully a second cour changes that.
Gate This wasn't on my radar at all. The premise looked generic and the art didn't grab me. And then I watched an episode and it was better than I had anticipated, so I stuck with it.
I think what grabbed me first is that Itami isn't the typical protagonist. Sure, he's extremely competent, but unlike many protagonists, he doesn't act like it. He's more content to be the most lackadaisical/otaku motherfucker in the JSDF, which is amusing. So basically I wanted to see what happened to him and before I knew it, I was drawn into the series.
I like my stuff that delves more into politics than fighting (see: FFXII, Radiant Historia, the first half of The Last Story), and I'm surprised that Gate has gone this route because I would have expected more action than not. Outside of the initial "battles", the focus has by and large been on the politics of the two worlds and the interactions between citizens. This is the right route to go because the JSDF is seemingly all-powerful in this series and that'd make things boring fast. Maybe next cour gives them a challenge; the first Fire Dragon didn't keel over and die after getting hit with a missile or something.
The characters feel trope-y and most of them haven't been developed very much, but I still like most of them. Already mentioned Itami, Lelei is adorable, Rory is best girl and anyone who says otherwise is wrong, Pina Co Lada is best name (lol her fascination with yaoi), Yao is an intriguing newcomer, and who the fuck is Tuka again I don't think she does anything. It works because the characters interact reasonably well and many of the situations they're in lend themselves to some kind of humor.
I don't get the nationalistic vibe as much as others seem to. I mean, it's there, but I'm not watching because of the obvious glorification of the military; I'm watching for the characters and how they interact with each other/the other world.
But yeah, it's a fun show. 7/10, and I can't wait for the next cour.
Shimoneta This wasn't on my radar at a- How many more shows am I going to say this for? Castle Town Dandelion, at least. But yeah, this season has had plenty of pleasant surprises. I wouldn't have watched many of these things if it weren't for sheer boredom/having no other anime.
Everything about this show screams "PASS" to me. Stupid humor, comprised mostly of sexual innuendos/crazy sexually-charged situations? (Excessive?) Fanservice? A plot/premise that exists mostly to serve as a backdrop for all these jokes? Characters I'll probably forget outside of Anna/Kajo/Okuma? And yet it's easily the funniest show of the season. Food Wars comes close, but Shimoneta is the show that makes me laugh the most and the loudest. I think it works because it's aware that it's fucking stupid and never tries to take itself more serious than it is, which is "not at all".
It has the feel of being social commentary on Japan in some way, but none of us here understands Japanese culture well enough to know that. I kind of see it as an unintended critique of American "sex ed"/puritanical attitudes in general, though that is clearly not what they're going for. Whatever, you're watching for dirty jokes, so who cares.
I feel like putting a number to a comedy is tough. I value plot and character development quite highly, and these are things many comedies don't focus on, so they don't wind up as my best/most memorable shows. I'd say somewhere in the 6-7 range sounds right, though.
Also Kosuri's design is #worth just for the dick joke at the end of episode 11. My favorite joke of the show.
Charlotte The first half, if it stood alone/went in a not-shitty direction, would be my favorite show of the season. It all worked much better when it was a slice of life/most likely romance show because there was narrative cohesion. Events happened, and the characters' reactions/following events all made sense.
It's just, the second half exists. Even the eighth and ninth episodes weren't bad. If the show kept going down the path in those episodes, I could have seen it winding up as a show about finding love amidst loss, which would have been a decent if not original at all theme, but... It didn't. Instead it cribbed so heavily from Steins;Gate that I'm surprised I didn't hear "El Psy Congroo" and "tutturu~" at some point. And now there's an evil syndicate because reasons. I don't know why anything has happened beyond episode nine because it makes no narrative sense whatsoever. I don't know how you go from "date at a concert" to "lol actually we were all living in a secret facility but escaped via time leap", but Charlotte tried and failed to make me give a fuck. It's probably not a coincidence that Nao, aka best character of the season, is pushed off the stage in favor of Yu and his obvious deus ex machina power, either.
rly tho Charlotte is what happens when you try to introduce a supr srs plot in EPISODE TEN. Everything worth a shit builds its plot from the get-go. They do it because it fucking works. Maybe this BOLD NARRATIVE STRATEGY would have worked with a second cour, but who knows?
I also didn't care about Yusa fanboy Takajo (I forgot his name until they said it this week) and Yusa/her sister that much, either. They introduced the lead singer of Nao's favorite band, but it seems she doesn't factor into the show anymore. Unless she does. We got a ton of characters thrown at us in episode ten and holy fuck I care about none of them. This is the Nao, Yu, and Ayumi show, for better or worse. Which sucks; some of these characters had a lot of potential (Yusa/ZHIEND's lead singer come to mind) but it went nowhere because writing issues.
Dem production values are top-notch, though. Nothing this season looks as good as Charlotte does. The music is great, but I feel Rokka and Gakkou Gurashi have better soundtracks on the whole. Even so, great aesthetics can't make up for a show that is getting worse each week.
Right now I'm feeling a 6, unless they write themselves out of this hole somehow. Most of that 6 is in recognition of the first seven/nine episodes. Probably a 5 or so if the ending is some deus ex machina bullshit or just bad. (I expect both.)
Rokka When one favorite falls, a new favorite must rise.
I was going to watch Rokka to start with, but I expected something more cliche than this. A presumably action anime that focuses a lot on... Talking? Using logic/tactics to find out who the traitor is instead of brute force? What is this, maybe something that isn't super-cliche?
But yeah, this show definitely gets by on the strength of character interactions. I can't say I particularly *like* half the cast. I like Adlet, Flamie, and maybe Nachetanya idk. I don't outright hate any of the cast, but the rest are a hard bunch to like IMO. The action is decent too, though there wasn't all that much of it this cour. Hopefully that changes next cour (if we get it), because I really want to see the Braves fuck shit up now that they're in the demons' home base.
The show's only big flaw is that many of the explanations just seem conjured out of thin air. Whenever something needs explaining, the explanation is, without fail, something you could have never guessed in a million years. How did the fog cover the forest so fast? Lol there are devices buried all over the forest. Where is Riura's body? Lol in that giant corpse you would have never thought existed because you probably forgot all about the skirmish from like episode three and haven't seen demons since. Everything *makes sense*, but the explanations just serve as a reminder that you know fuck all about this show's universe, and thus it doesn't really feel natural.
Not particularly sure about the twist at the end of the finale. On one hand, maybe it could mean there really were supposed to be seven and the myth has been changed over time, or maybe they didn't get it entirely right when they found the first seventh Brave. On the other, this shit again?
The Mayan/Aztec-inspired artstyle must be mentioned. Man I love it. I get that Japanese things are going to look Japanese, but outside of the character designs, this looks a lot different from most things out there, in no small part due to using artstyles that are criminally under-used. More things should draw inspiration from indigneous cultures. The music is awesome too. Each of the various OPs (I lost count somewhere around three) is wonderful, and the ED is no slouch either.
Sounds like an 8/10 idk what a conclusion is.
Gangsta Episode 1 made me consider dropping it, because it seemed pretty generic and because I have a ton of shows this season, as you can see. The misogynistic undertones didn't help either. (At least those have gone away as the show has went on, though the OP video still exists.)
The only thing this show does really well is the relationship between Nic and Worick. They seem like typical buddies at first, but as the show goes on, you're treated to flashbacks that show their relationship is far more complex than "two friends working together". Beyond that, Nina is cute and there really should be more of her, the Cristiano boss is interesting, and now that they're doing something with Alex/her brother, she's a more compelling character than she was at the start of the show. Also, dat music.
I don't care all that much about the Twilights or the four Mafia families or whatever else. The setting is just by and large uninteresting, though the show seems to go to a lot of trouble to try and make us care, even though the most interesting aspects are the relatively undeveloped Twilights and the aforementioned Nic/Worick relationship.
It's alright, but it seems like this show is extremely overrated by the people who think "grittiness" and blood make something supr dupr mature. 5/10.
Actually, I Am Apparently it's missing a certain je ne sais quoi that the manga has. I wouldn't know because I haven't read it, as usual.
This is probably the most awkward romantic comedy I've ever watched. The genre is awkward by definition (awkward situations make for the funniest situations, after all), but this show takes everything about the genre, adds some supernatural stuff, throws it in a blender, turns it up to 11, and then laces it with crystal meth. It feels like every character and every situation was written for maximum craziness. I think what makes it all work is that this universe and everyone in it is established as being crazy as fuck, and things work out in accordance to that.
My biggest worry was that I wouldn't enjoy the artstyle. The concept art was kind of ass, but everything looked much better in motion. It's not mind-blowing by any means, but it works and the animation quality is reasonable, so I don't mind. The ED is... interesting, musically, but still really good, and the variation on it in episode 12 is wonderful.
This might be one of those times where I'm thankful I never read the source material, though. 6/10.
Castle Town Dandelion Wasn't really on my ra- Okay, I'm done with that.
I didn't have high hopes in the first place, and the first episode was pretty blah. It tried to introduce every member of the royal family at once, and it was a pretty big clusterfuck. I would have probably dropped it if the next episode or two were bad and/or stuck to this chaotic format, but it then switched to mini-episodes that focused on one sibling. This worked out much better. We were able to see what exactly makes, well, most of these siblings tick. There are also some surprisingly poignant moments on a show that is by and large focused on the lulz. (Kanade/Shu at the construction zone, damn)
Even so, the younger a sibling was than Akane, the less likely it was they had a chance to win and the less important they were. We could have done without Shiori and Teru easily and given their vignettes to Haruka and/or Misaki because I felt those two needed more. The Hikari arc doesn't contribute much either; she's just doing her own idol thing. Aoi/Shu/Kanade/Akane all got more than enough time, and it's why I feel they're the best characters. Aoi/Kanade/Akane are all also solid waifu material btdubs (though Akane is obv best girl).
The ending didn't work out that well. It tried to remind us, "HEY LOOK POWERS AND ELECTION STUFF LOLZ", but that was never the focus of the show. You weren't watching this because you wanted to see everyone use their powers/the outcome of the election. You were watching this because you liked the cast and wanted to get to know them/see their interactions more. That said, Shu won? What the fuck? The show was setting up for Aoi or Akane, and Aoi dropped out because her power is literally "I win." I expected Akane to win, given that she was the POV character, but nope.
In any case, this (or Shimoneta) is probably the show that most exceeded expectations for me. 7/10.
Snow White With the Red Hair Shirayuki da best. She takes nobody's shit, can get herself out of various situations without the help of HER MAN, is adorable when she's drunk, and is in general just a great character. If not for Nao from Charlotte, she'd easily be my favorite of the season.
However, this show wouldn't be as good if not for Zen. I find him a breath of fresh air when most of the male shoujo leads I've seen are depressing, brooding fucks who don't deserve any of the girls that are pining over them. I want to scream, "WHAT THE FUCK DRAWS YOU TO GUYS LIKE THIS?!?!" and just headdesk for hours. I digress, though. Zen obviously likes Shirayuki, but he respects everything about Shirayuki. He's not overprotective, he doesn't want to change everything about her, he trusts her... In short, he deserves her love.
Props must be given for not dragging out the awkward stage of the romance for fifty years. I guess they're still kind of awkward when they're expressing their feelings, but that makes sense? It's not like we pop out of the womb with full knowledge of how to act when in love. What I mean is they aren't acting all awkward about their feelings for each other; they're finally owning them and the romance is progressing. Miracles. Also dat confession scene was probably one of my favorites of the season.
If there's any flaw, it could be with the pacing. It's obvious early on that Shirayuki and Zen like each other, but nearly every episode until 10 deals with affairs of the kingdom, and Zen/Shirayuki are doing their part to help out. Idk if it would have been better to focus more on the romance, but as it is, it kinda feels like slice of life more than shoujo in some places. I don't mind this, but if you want the romance to progress faster/earlier, you might.
This is one of the more beautiful shows of the season. I love the artstyle, even though it's fairly simplistic. I think it's the color palette that really does it for me. Everything just looks like it pops off the screen or something, idk how to describe it.
I really look forward to next cour, assuming we get it. 8/10.
Rampo Kitan: Game of Laplace It's... Done? I didn't know it only had an 11 episode run. It doesn't help the ending felt inconclusive to me. I thought there'd be a wrap-up episode or something, but all the fallout from the Twenty Faces stuff was solved in the last couple minutes and blah. I just don't think it works very well as an ending. The rest of the episode was pretty good, but it kinda dropped the ball with the resolution. What happens to Namikoshi/Kobayashi?
Episode 9 is one of the worst episodes of the season. Okay, so we have our joke-y Medical Examiner, right? Her only role in the show up to this point was to tell us how victims died, in an exaggerated manner. Annnnnnnnnd then they make her one of the various Twenty Faces because reasons that I don't give a shit about. If you want me to care about a character, you should probably try and make me feel invested in them from the get-go, not pull some sob story out of your asses five minutes before she kills someone and gets arrested. Episode 6 is a slice of life-esque episode that isn't bad in and of itself, but it's narratively out of place. That's 24 minutes that could have went towards another mystery or developed the Akechi/Namikoshi arc a bit more. Instead we're treated to a hilarious episode that focuses on defusing a supposed "bomb" that is in reality an acknowledgement of a birthday. Funny, but wasted time nonetheless. Really, that's the show's biggest flaw. It's serious most of the time, which makes some of the humor feel awkwardly placed. It also works in reverse, making the srsness in episode 9 feel like it came out of left field.
This feels a lot like anime Hannibal in some ways. The most obvious link is in the sorts of crimes. A lot of murders in the books/movies/the TV series look very artistic, as do many of this show's murders. Turning people into chairs? Having a giant mannequin collapse onto two victims? Kidnapping little girls and then burying them in concrete when they disappoint? These crimes wouldn't be out of place in that series. The relationship between Akechi/little miss BDSM is also Hannibal-esque: He seems to be the know-it-all, but even the know-it-all needs help from the master criminal from time to time. Her cell even looks like it was inspired by Silence of the Lambs.
I think the element that makes this show work is Kobayashi. He's truly the only interesting character on this show. Everyone else works well enough, but Kobayashi is far and away the most interesting. His kawaii as fuck appearance helps (omg he's so cute in a dress), but he's the only one that gets real development. He goes from being a normal, everyday student with no cares outside of that to a detective who comes to believe in Twenty Faces' scheme to reform the world, and was even willing to die for it.
I feel like I ragged on this show a lot more than some, but it's still one of my favorites this season and I intend to read the work that inspired this series. 7/10.
Gakkou Gurashi I forgot to read the synopsis, so it escaped my mind. This was for the best, because holy hell dat plot twist at the end of episode 1. I didn't catch it, but in retrospect the signs were there for it. ("The Standard" is what should have clued me in, given what The Stand is about.)
This is a bit more than cute girls doing cute things. A lot of the show can be described as precisely that, but then you're hit with moments like the trip to the mall, or oh god all of episode 11 what the fuck is happening I can't hold all of these feels. ;_; Basically, the cuteness serves to make the depressing moments more depressing. It works like a charm. Episode 11 is easily the saddest (and best) episode of anything this season. The music also helps; it's often haunting and serves to create a foreboding/sad feeling.
Yuuri is best girl and all other opinions are wrong. Speaking of girls, I wish we knew more about the girls trapped in the school. We know a fair bit about Miki because she had most of an episode devoted to her, and we know that Kurumi had to kill someone she cared about, but we know very little about Yuki and Yuuri. Yuki is obviously the "main character", as it were, and Yuuri feels like their leader, so knowing more about these characters would be nice.
Normally I'm all bout dat "fuck zombies" life, but this is one zombie-related thing you must experience. 8/10.
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Is it time? I think it's time. Fall season thoughts.
Everything outside of the top 5-6 shows is just... kinda there. It's watchable but none of it is really what I'd call great, and even "good" feels like a stretch some weeks. However, the top shows make up for the lack of depth this season. I guess in a way, it's a strong season, just more top-heavy than others I've watched.
Continuations:
Dragon Ball Super It's... More Dragon Ball Super, really.
There hasn't been anything as awful-looking as episodes 5/9 from last cour, so for that alone it's a better cour. However, it's another faithful retelling of the source material, which looked better in theaters and had less filler. Related, I find it amazing that a 90 minute movie still managed to have a bit of filler. We could have done without the Krillin side plot, and what the fuck was with leaving Android 18 at home? If there really were "1,000 warriors", you need every Z Warrior you can get, and 18 is stronger than all the humans/probably Jaco, and by a large margin. It's just dumb. That said, even Gohan, who hasn't trained in years but still has the Mystic powerup afaik, should have been able to breathe on the 1,000 warriors and end them. Weakasses like Tien and *Master Roshi* were beating up Frieza's dudes. That's even dumber than the 18 stuff. I get that it's fanservice, but it should at least make sense in the show's universe. Full humans have been irrelevant since Trunks Saga, really.
But yeah, just watch Resurrection of F and skip this. Get back to this when we reach Universe 6 stuff. Assuming you care, and I don't blame you if you don't.
Prolly 4/5-ish. Mostly watching because I hate myself/it's more Dragon Ball. I don't care enough to be precise, much like I don't care when I catch up.
Seraph of the End The season started out pretty meh. It all just felt like setup for the inevitable clash between vampires and humans. Despite that, the episode with Mika and the human girl who got killed was pretty good. I dunno, I can't be assed to look up who she was. I think it would have had a bigger impact if it were a character we knew for more than one episode, but it was still a good episode nonetheless.
I made a mistake in not watching this the last couple of weeks, but how was I supposed to know it'd get good when I stopped watching? The action has picked up and Yu/Mika have reunited, which is really all I can ask of this show. Well, that and more Shinoa, but that's always a given. These last few episodes have probably been the best of the series. The action's been pretty good and the Yu/Mika reunion was more touching than I'd have expected. I'm not sure the show can end on a great note since the plot feels kind of rushed (Guren's superior has thing that's killing everyone because reasons), but I'll take it I guess? Maybe there will be a season three, who the hell knows.
Shinoa's gotten pushed to the side, but it's been the season of politics in the army and Yu/Mika's reunion. I guess I'm okay with it; she still has her moments.
I mean, it's more Seraph. Hard to say more than I did last cour, because not much has changed except for the plot moving forward. It's a bit better IMO, but still a 6/10-ish show.
Utawarerumono: The False Faces Forgot one major aspect I really like about this universe when I posted about Utawarerumono (the prequel series, obv), but that's alright. It gives me something for this writeup, and the one on the first series was long enough.
That aspect would be the female characters. Yes, they're all designed to be adorable as fuck, and in this series, they manage to be kawaii *and* sexy. I don't know how you pull that off, but I like it a lot and the character designer is the GOAT. Might just be my catgirl bias speaking though. But that's not what I'm getting at, awesome as catgirls are. Rather, it's that the women are given roles beyond just being there to support the men/being their romantic interests. More often than not, Kuon feels like the actual lead character of the series, and she's easily the best character in this show/season. I could type a list of superlatives and be here for a while, but I'll make it easy and say her only flaw is that she's not always there. We see a LOT of Haku, but he doesn't really *do* as much as his predecessor Hakuoro did, and he isn't as compelling a character as Kuon is, at least not yet. If anything, a lot of his episodes serve to flesh out other female characters, like Rurutie and Atui, to say nothing of Kuon. But yeah, they're all funny characters and their interactions are the best. Even the animal sideplot in episode 9 was hilarious because they interacted so well, and they didn't have the benefit of words.
...And then the emperor literally gives Haku two girls as a "reward". Thought we played that whole trope out in Mario, kthx. They're weak characters so far, but I get the feeling they're going to factor into wherever the plot goes. I just hope they're established as good characters like the rest of the cast has been.
The first series had terribad pacing. Events that could have been 8-12 episodes were done in 4, and as such it was hard to give a shit about most of the other people/places involved. It feels like this series has gone to the other extreme, barely even introducing any potential plot elements until episode 8. It's mostly consisted of various hijinks by the cast. I don't mind this because we know this is 25 episodes, but a common complaint seems to be "nothing is happening". Sure, something is happening; it's just called "world building" and "character development". Even so, this is a bit slow-paced, to the extent that I wonder if this is planned to be two seasons. It'd make sense with the third VN coming out next year. I enjoy slower-paced things, so it's whatever to me, and the cast's shenanigans are consistently hilarious.
It's such a waste that the new VN has no h-scenes. Fuck consoles. I'm sure it's still suggestive because this series is supr dupr suggestive and that rule 34 exists, so that's something.
Artstyle is amazing. I love the constant closeups on the faces; they all just look so damn good. This art is leaps and bounds ahead of the first series (it *was* a 2006 show, after all), which looked alright when it focused on characters, but it didn't have the same sense of style or scale that this show has. Freaking *capital cities* felt tiny in the first series, but Yamato's capital is huge and sprawling, and it just feels more immersive. Music is... alright I guess? I enjoy the OP and ED, but I think they're missing a certain something the first series' had.
I'd say you can enjoy this on its own merits (it's SUCH a fun, lighthearted show, episode 2 aside), but watching the first series will only make it better. You'll understand more about why Aruru/Kamyuu are the way they are, and you'll understand where the ending of episode 8 takes place. It's a pretty easy 9/10 for me and my favorite show of the season now that The Perfect Insider decided to have a shit ending.
any episode with little to no Kuon is 2/10 never watching again doe
Originals:
I was going to write something for Concrete Revolutio but realized I don't care enough. The tl;dr would be that it's meh outside of Kikko and the aesthetics anyway, the former of which isn't there enough, the latter can't carry a meh show, and a non-standard calendar/non-linear storytelling do not help. If I finish it, it'll be because I say "fuck it, only 3-4 eps left". Might be with the aid of vodka too, who knows.
I just didn't have the energy to continue this. Tuning in felt like more of a chore than it was worth, especially given all that's going on. Utawarerumono and Osomatsu amuse me for 24 minutes a week, which helps me push all that shit to the background for a little bit. Young Black Jack/Beautiful Bones are just compelling enough to make me tune in, as was The Perfect Insider. Chivalry and Seraph aren't all that great and I wound up not watching those for a couple weeks, but I wanted to see where those went regardless because they had not-shitty elements. Concrete Revolutio just didn't have anything that made me feel "yeah, I need to motivate myself and watch this".
The Asterisk War/Chivalry of a Failed Knight Because they're functionally the same damn show.
Chivalry does it better, and a large part of that is because the cast is better. Everyone is more interesting than their counterpart (if that's even a good word to use) in The Asterisk War, and they have stronger personalities to boot. I feel this gives Chivalry's writers more possibilities for its characters, and it certainly serves to make them more compelling to watch. I'd rather watch Chivalry's cast with its outlandish personalities than Asterisk's cast with its meek personalities every time. It probably helps that Chivalry dropped any pretense of being a harem right quick and made Stella the "winner". Everyone's still trying to win Ayato's love on Asterisk, never mind that Julis is going to wind up with him in the end. Pretending that anyone but obvious love interest has a chance holds plenty of better shows than this back.
Wish they did more with Alice in Chivalry. It's so rare in anything to have a trans character who isn't played for laughs or whatever, but so far she's been shunted off to the background. I imagine she'll have her own fights/story arc, so perhaps we just haven't gotten that far yet. Course, her powers seem to lend themselves to more defensive strategies, which would be a change of pace at least. The relationship between Shizuku/Alice is decent though, when they bother to show scenes to develop it.
As far as action goes, episode 8 of Chivalry puts all of The Asterisk War to shame, to say nothing of the other fights. It's just more tense and has better animation/choreography. Even though we *know* Ikki will win, the show does a decent job at making you feel like he might lose. I think a big reason why Chivalry's action is better is that the fights often get nearly a whole episode dedicated to them, which allows the writers to build tension, show off more techniques, etc. In The Asterisk War, a lot of fights seem to end in 3-5 minutes, and it's boring. The only decent fights thus far in Asterisk have been between Ayato and Kirin, and even those were meh when compared to Chivalry's fights. They were meh fights in general rly.
Artstyle of both is kind of whatever. I mean, it's acceptable but it's not consistently wowing me or anything. Chivalry's character designs are better though, and Stella's design is god tier. I prefer Asterisk's music to Chivalry's, but this is such a minor aspect when compared to stuff like plot/characters. Not like either show wows in this department doe.
The thing that should say it all is I watch Asterisk as far away from Chivalry as I can. Why watch these shows on the same day? It'd be like watching the same thing twice and fuck that. Better to watch the superior one on its air date and save the inferior one for downtime in the middle of the week. Also haven't caught up on Asterisk either, and I might not. Again, don't care and I'm already watching the better version.
Chivalry: 6/10 Asterisk: 4/10
Comet Lucifer The cast won't be winning any awards for originality, but the interactions are hilarious and the slice of life aspects of the first half are better than the plot elements that take over the second half. The plot is something about wanting to harness the female lead, Felia, to use her as an endless source of energy for the planet. This might work if I came to care about the planet or the antagonists one way or the other, but they're just kind of there. As it is, the plot feels tacked on because reasons. Giant mecha fights, I guess? They don't feel like a natural element; it's like they're only there to look cool. They succeed here, but ultimately the fights don't matter. Most fights end with someone retreating for some reason or another, and it all feels like a giant cocktease. They probably spent a big portion of the show's budget on that crap too.
The Do Mon/Gus stuff had potential to be interesting because it was the only real character development in the show, but they went and killed Do Mon for Gus's face turn in episode 11. Blah. It was a pretty cheap attempt to make the audience have feels, and I think the story would have been better if Do Mon/Gus fought so there could be some resolution to that plotline.
At least the music has been bitchin' though. The battle theme in the last three episodes is all kinds of incredible. It's my favorite piece of music from anything this season, but you know that sort of "epic" music is my thing. The artstyle is quite good too. I love colorful locales and this show has them in abundance. Character designs are passable, though Felia is quite cute. She takes on a more grown-up appearance when she expends power, yet the cast is going on a journey to replenish her power and restore her loli appearance? Why? Her grown-up appearance is far superior. Also her VA kept cashing dem checks; there are some episodes where like half of her dialogue was "SOGO!"
The ending makes absolutely no fucking sense. The last five minutes are some of the most obvious deus ex machina you'll ever see. Everything turns out happy in the end because LOVE or some such, I don't fucking know. It wasn't explained, much like anything else related to plot in this series. At least it wasn't total wankery, so it was only the second worst finale of the season.
Probably another show that would have been better with a second cour, or at the least more of a focus on what matters. The plot stuff feels incredibly rushed/irrelevant. It's not godawful, but there's quite a bit of wasted potential here. There was *definitely* no need for mecha. 5/10.
Osomatsu-San I was worried that the artstyle would put me off. I didn't like the promotional art *at all*. It just looked old and I didn't realize it was an homage to/update/sequel/whatever of the original series. It was like "why is there stuff that looks like this in 2015?" And then episode 1 (press f to pay respects, rip, fuck studios, etc) had a more modern look that wasn't representative of the show as a whole. Even so, it interested me enough to stick with the show despite a slow start and after a couple episodes, I got over the old school artstyle. It still looks good, just in a different way, and it's obviously a change of pace.
I don't feel like I have much to say about the show itself. For a show about identical sextuplets, surprisingly little of the humor is "LOL WRONG ONE". When they do use that trope, it works flawlessly, like in the Saw-esque skit, whatever that was called. It's mostly slapstick comedy, but it also has tinges of social commentary and can get pretty damn cynical at times. Anything concerning the Black Factory seems like obvious commentary on Japan's workaholic society, though it definitely applies to Murikans too. It also has unexpected feels, like during the ESP Kitty skit. Basically it does a lot of things and still manages to make them all funny.
Got me to watch a recap episode, which was impressive. Granted, Osomatsu and Totoko added commentary so it was a little more than "here's the shit you watched again" and the gimmick was "who is the biggest loser", but even so, it was a fun watch. I think recaps might work better for comedies because you get another chance to see the most humorous stuff. There's no plot to beat you over the head with, so it doesn't feel condescending to get a recap after 12 episodes. The biggest loser IMO was Ichimatsu, but yeah they're all losers. Even Totoko; you have to be a loser to associate with these damn NEETs. That's why we love 'em though.
I dunno. Comedies can be hard to put words to, probably because they're such a hit or miss thing. 8/10, shit was hilarious throughout and it's one of the funniest comedies I've seen.
Beautiful Bones Well, it certainly lives up to the Beautiful part of its name. If you want scenery porn, this is the show you need to watch. The backgrounds are stunning and intricately detailed, easily some of the best I've seen in anime. The character designs are all good too, including the males. Most males look generic in most shows (wonder if it's done on purpose to make them feel relatable to male audiences), but I like the designs of Shoutarou and the science teacher a fair bit.
I didn't know it was legal for male and female leads over the age of thirteen *not* to have a romance. Sakurako doesn't seem interested in that sort of thing, so it's not surprising on her part. What is surprising is that Shoutarou hasn't tried to initiate some sort of romantic relationship. I don't think that would fit this series regardless of how Shoutarou feels about her (I'm convinced he loves her, after the finale.), but still. Speaking of Sakurako, she's my second-favorite character this season, only behind the goddess Kuon. There aren't very many female characters like her. You can find plenty of asocial, obsessive male leads who have no interest in romance, but females? Might as well be looking for unicorns. But I also like the little things: The way she cuts through the bullshit to get to the heart of issues, the way she calls Shoutarou "boy" and her reasons for doing so, her taste in music, her love for a long-dead pet, etc.
We never talked about DAT ASS, so I think we all need to take a moment and appreciate it/Shoutarou's reaction. I'm sure someone has gif'd this.
There have been plot elements sprinkled throughout the entire show: Sakurako visiting her professor (I believe) at the end of episodes, the shadowy figure we saw in episode 5, episode 2's killer talking about butterflies, and maybe others I'm forgetting. It's been subtle but it hasn't detracted from the episodic format in any significant way, so the introduction of what has to be the "overarching" plot feels more natural than it does in many other shows. In many things, it's like "oh hey plot time" and the tone/pacing shifts rather drastically. It just feels weird. Shoutout to episode 2 for being one of the best episodes of anything this season. It was the moment I knew I loved this show. It's just so tense with the crazed/drugged killer trying to murder them and it establishes the Sakurako/Shoutarou relationship as more complex than you'd initially think. Episode 11 is almost as good, too.
I was only really worried they'd try to end the plot in the last two episodes. That would have been far too fast and probably relied on some bullshit ending/a totally obvious clue, and it would have made the further development of the Sakurako/Shoutarou relationship wasted time. They didn't. The downside to that is a cliffhanger and not knowing if we'll get season two. I think it beats the alternative, though. Just announce it for the spring season damnit.
I don't understand the ED. It's probably supposed to be SYMBOLIC!!!1, but it takes a character who isn't treated as eye candy/a romantic interest/in any other objectifying way that a lot of entertainment treats its female characters and... shows her naked underwater because reasons. I like the music, but they probably could have done something better with the animation itself and not lost whatever it was they were going for. OP song/animation is great though; it's one of my favorites of the season. It probably helps that TRUE did the OP, since they(?) did Sound! Euphonium's OP (Dream Solister) and that's easily my favorite OP this year.
A solid 8/10 imo.
The Perfect Insider I was hooked from episode 1. It felt like the writers understood me. Episode 2 ended on a wham moment with what we thought was Magata's corpse on an automatic cart, episode 3 establishes this as a locked room mystery, and episode 4 drops a huge clue/motivation/whatever you want to call it with "everything becomes F". This is all to say, I liked where the show was going. And then it turns out to be Charlotte 2.0.
They didn't do much with Magata's character. Multiple personalities? I'm supposed to believe that when we ever really see what I presume is her most dominant personality? The entire story could have worked without that bit of characterization, and it'd have allowed them to fully focus on the very obvious "freedom" themes instead of wasting time on multiple personalities that don't contribute to the story. While those themes would be nothing original, it'd be far more fitting of the story than the other crap they shoved in. Her entire motivation is suspect. She wants her daughter to murder her because she murdered her own parents at a young age. I still don't get that, probably because it's one of the WOAT motivations. She's just not a compelling person either. The show makes her out to be some sort of super genius, but we never see that, so we're just being told and not shown, and outside of that character trait there's nothing to care about.
Nishinosono was the best character in the show and episode 10 is basically 24 minutes of Magata/Saikawa shitting all over her thoughts, despite being established as well above average intelligence herself. She's basically our stand-in, saying the things we're thinking, but getting dismissed as "emotional"/getting talked down to while they explain simple concepts like base 16/hexadecimals and treat each other like supr dupr geniuses, despite the obvious insanity of Magata. Never mind that Magata says she wants someone who loves her to kill her in the finale, which is the epitome of "emotional". It's a maddening episode for many reasons. Its only real saving grace is that it's visually striking, but that doesn't make it less of a wreck.
I love the understated character designs. Most women are impossibly beautiful in most anime (and video games, but this is an anime post). I get it in fantasy settings. It might not be as believable as it could be, but it's your world after all. However, in a realistic setting, it slightly breaks immersion. Not every woman in the real world is impossibly beautiful, and not every ugly woman in reality is a joke of a person/a terrible human being. Nishinosono is still cute, but she's not jaw-dropping gorgeous like a lot of women in entertainment. This can be said of the other women too, but outside of Magata I forget most of their names because they don't fucking matter. Of course, if I say this elsewhere, I'd get called an ESS JAY DUBYA, as if it's an insult, and be accused of wanting to take the beautiful wimmenz away. What can I say, the worst elements of vidya and anime fandom have fairly significant overlap. *eye roll*
People aren't giving enough props to the English conversation in episode 7. Was the voice acting fluent? No, but that's to be expected. I doubt the VAs speak English fluently, if at all, and yet they got much of the pronunciation right/acted out the scene well, all things considered. The writing was good though; it read like a plausible conversation, if not a bit formal, and didn't contain the Engrish that plagues other anime. English is a difficult fucking language, one of the hardest in the world to learn with its rules, exceptions to the rules, exceptions to the exceptions... People sleep on the difficulty because they grew up speaking it. All this said, it was ultimately a scene that went nowhere (I guess it explains Magata's mind hasn't changed since childhood?), so it wasted half an episode. I'm speaking solely of the technical aspects of the scene.
I really don't know how to feel. On the one hand, I enjoyed it a lot up until episode 10 and it doesn't sabotage itself as badly as Charlotte did. Not saying much though, because it came damn close. On the other, it had so many interesting things going for it and ultimately did little to nothing with them. The ending is even *less* interesting than I could have conceived. It's just a bunch of philosophical wank and nothing is resolved. If that's "the point", it's a bad fucking point. You can show off your intelligence and tell a good story; more talented writers do it in every medium all the time.
After that terrible finale, I'd have to go with a something in the 5-low 6 range. I don't know. There's a lot to like about the show through episode 9, but the ending did less than nothing for me.
Young Black Jack If you can ignore that medicine was never this far along in the late 1960s/late 1970s, it's a fun watch. The prosthetics that Hyakki got are just crazy even by modern standards. We're still working to improve prosthetics in 2015 but this 60s/70s motherfucker got a set that allowed him to perform surgeries again. That kind of kills immersion, but the show is just so damn enthralling regardless. The rest of the operations are kind of out there but not *that* much or in that way. It's just hard to believe (though possible, I guess) that a medical student could be that good. There's no real tension because Hazama is so damn good, but I think the music during operations plays a large part in at least creating the illusion there's tension.
I'm glad the show didn't try to make commentary about the non-Japanese settings it used to tell stories. I mean, the USA during the Civil Rights Movement? The Vietnam War? I don't expect *American* media to treat these subjects with nuance because our writers fucking suck, and those were our fuckups. I certainly don't expect a Japanese studio to do so. I'd rather get no message than some hamfisted one the writers felt needed to be in. Not that such moralizing would fit this show anyway; the entire point was that Hazama slowly lost his idealism towards the medical profession (and thus became Black Jack) over the course of the series.
Would have liked Maiko to matter more/get more development, even if only as a romantic interest. It just feels like she's there to help Hazama with operations, which sucks because I enjoyed what little we got to know of her character. Even Yabu got development, and he didn't appear after the Vietnam arc ffs. (Maybe he matters more in Black Jack though?)
Just remake the Black Jack series already. I want more of this in my life, but I'm not sure I can watch something that looks like... That. Anyway, 8/10.
Also, my top ten anime of the year. I believe I've said my piece on most of these anyway.
1) Yuri Kuma Arashi 2) My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU TOO! 3) Utawarerumono: The False Faces 4) Sound! Euphonium 5) Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders 6) Beautiful Bones 7) Rokka 8) Gakkou Gurashi 9) Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works 10) Parasyte
Anime I want to mention but didn't make the list: Young Black Jack, Osomatsu-San, Snow White With the Red Hair
Young Black Jack is enjoyable and all, but rather ridiculous at points for a mostly "realistic" medical show. Osomatsu-San probably falls a bit because of my preference for srs stories, but it's one of the funniest shows of the year and is only beat by Utawarerumono in the lulz department. You should def watch it. Snow White is just a refreshing change from the usual shoujo stories with the usual shoujo leads. Hype for the next cour of that. The Perfect Insider/Charlotte should have easily made this list but didn't after they crashed and burned.
Just mentioning winter anime as a whole because only Yuri Kuma made my list and I never posted about them. There aren't many, so that's probably why. I wasn't watching 10-15 shows a season. The tl;dr is you should watch Maria the Virgin Witch and The Rolling Girls, if you haven't. Neither is a top tier anime obv, but they're still very enjoyable watches. Still need to watch Koufuku Graffiti from that season.
Still missed some things this year. Your Lie In April would have probably made it if I watched it. Shit sounds relevant to my interests. And of course there's the whole Monogatari series, which I'm sure Lightning will harass me about next year too. And the year after that, and the year after that, which is to say I'm never watching it. (trolololol)
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