So why do you watch them?
I found Kiniro Mosaic boring, so I dropped it. But as for NonNon and Gochiusa, what attracted me was the friendship and the relaxing atmosphere, specially NonNon (I love everything that relaxes me).
How many Takas are there? I just know two (didn’t know the other liked cuteness, though)
I don’t.
There are 100. They are all numbered to make it a bit easier to recognize which is which though. For example, number 77 is the lucky one. He’s golden, apparently… I’ve never seen him myself, but that’s what the rumours say.
Tomoyo’s brother, you, and more ten according to facebook: https://www.facebook.com/search.php?q=Takafumi%20Sakagami 12 in total, not 100.
Meanwhile I’m here, doing my thing, watching Katanagatari and Symphogear s2 in preparation for s3 in 2 weeks…
NNB has been on there since it started airing. Haven’t gotten around to actually starting it. I still plan to, because it had pretty visuals or something, but it’s low priority.
I’m not on there, so it’s wrong.
I’ve stalled that show sooo many times. Never managed to finish it before.
I’ve been rewatching Toradora! simply because its the anime that really catapulted me into this world. From there I watched a couple more, then Clannad, loved that, friend of mine told me it was a game, and the rest is history.
Also, same friend recommended D-Frag! so I was watching that too. Pretty good.
Same, but I think I can finally pull through this time^^
[quote=“Exenorate, post:232, topic:27”]
I’ve been rewatching Toradora!
[/quote]Top Tenori Taiga
[quote=“Exenorate, post:232, topic:27”]
D-Frag!
[/quote]I liked that show when it aired, but when I read the manga afterwards I noticed that they cut stuff involving best girl… at least they released one of the arcs as OVA later
Water ftw!
edit: finished Symphogear G, I still don’t know why I like this show so much…
edit 2: should do this here since it’d be off topic in the Introduction thread
I quite enjoyed Gatchaman Crowds, mostly for its interesting take on social networking in society and “what makes a hero?”, and I didn’t think Hajime was annoying, but I understand people who do complain about her 
Hyped for Insight as well, there was an Ep0 released the other day but I don’t think anyone subbed that yet 
It’s kinda watchable unsubbed? /Kinda/. Like most of what is conveyed in the episode is done visually. Not that I know what I’m missing from what I don’t understand. ^^;; Also half of it is a recap so yeaaahhh. (Insight 0 spoiler)Though you get to see Hajime booting Berg Katze outa her way so it’s all worth it.
Ok I just watched it, was more a reintroduction of most of the characters with a little teasing of the plot for Insight, Hajime telling Katze to shut up was nice^^
Now to count down the days til the season starts…
No need for discussion, not like anything will be better than the new Gatchaman Crowds
I’m finished with the season!
Fate was as generic and badly written as ever. Some pretty fights but nothing worth writing home about.
JoJo part 3 was as generic and badly written as ever, but it was at least way more fun than Fate which tries to hard to be deep.
Ninja Slayer is as fucking dumb as ever, I love it.
Punchline was fantastic, it had great comedy but seamlessly bolted down into more serious dramatic story without losing it’s charm and had a great finale.
Ore Monogatari is a bizarre specimen, I hate Shoujo shows and while Ore Monogatari embraces many Shoujo traits, it seems to shit on them with every other action, it is an extremely solid show is every single aspect and has managed to do so much while doing so little.
Plastic Memories was ‘yep that’s a show’, it was what I expected for the most part, completely inoffensive, clear flaws, yet never huge, the truest ‘average a show can get’. Until the last episode which was my favorite of the season. The directing was flawless, the writing was nothing new, special, or unexpected, it was the natural conclusion to the show, yet the execution was completely perfect and it significantly increased the investment in it.
Best show? Ore Monogatari.
Best show that actually ended? Punch Line
Best episode? Plastic Memories final
If I can come out of season with the low point being Fate/Stay Night I think I can call it a pretty good season. Onwards to the next.
GANGSTA is worth a look, it looks 15 years old already, it’ll be interesting to see if it takes a similar stance on writing as the shows it resembles.
Aqua Lion Logos I tend to watch robot shows with a friend, I’m not sure what to expect if if she’s even watching this, but as long as it’s a) stupid and b) has robot porn we tend to watch it.
Durarara season 2 was highly underwelming, but respect for the first season and the author gives me reason to watch this next iteration.
There some show about a dwarf planet called Charlotte I think?
Gatchaman Crowds was fun and had an amazing OST. Can another season of it remain fresh? Ehhhhhh…
Rokka no Yuusha has some mild amount of thought put into it’s premise and I feel its worth a glance on that alone, if it’s clearly weak, I can drop it without a care.
Dragonball Super is going to be fucking garbage, I wonder if I’ll last its entire duration.
God Eater ok so the only thing I’ve known about God Eater for years now is underboob-chan I don’t think I actually need to know more.
Monster Musume no Iru Nichijou is probably not something I should watch alone, but not something I feel justified in missing, I should find a buddy to watch it with.
Prison School is probably something I should pass this list is getting pretty huge shit the main character is voiced by Kamiya I’m in.
Prism Illya JESUS CHRIST THIS SEASON WON’T END
There is, uh a lot, some things are certain to get dropped, maybe if I’m lucky one of the lewd ones will be light beams and I can skip it based on that.
Well, uh, Ore Monogatari is still gonna be airing so…nah.
I’m just waiting for a few shows to end, and then I’ll be doing my wrap up thingy~ It’s going to be a bit annoying discussing Kekkai Sensen since we don’t know when it’s going to end. Might have to leave the last episode out.
There’s still Shokugeki and stuff to finish up, and they all end pretty soon.
Oh, did they figure out how to make a good show between the new season and the last?
I will fight you for this. I thought the finale was pretty disappointing as there were still loose ends, and they reverted back to crazy (unfunny) comedy.
I will hug you for this. Ore Monogatari AOTS, hands-down.
not sure if you meant the other stuff but Shokugeki no Souma is 2 cour and episode 14/24 airs today so that’s not ending soon.
Hibike Euphonium was probably a standout for me, loved it the whole way through the ending was probably the best way it could have ended.
I stated my opinions on Nisekoi: in the currently airing thread but I hated it as an adaptation, it was rushed, chose stupid chapters to adapt, skipped important ones, but as an anime I still got some enjoyment.
Shokugeki no Souma is on-going but I’m enjoying it so far. Pretty good adaptation and I can’t think of anything that’s been skipped or majorly changed in someway.
DanMachi was good at the start but I got bored of it half-way through and never dropped it for some reason, kinda regret picking that instead of Plastic Memories or something.
JoJo’s was JoJo’s and I Can’t Understand What my Husband is saying S2 was I Can’t Understand What my Husband is Saying S2. Both were just as I expected.
Grisaia was more enjoyable for me than the first season but we’ll see how I still feel about it once I read the two VNs.
The finale did this thing where it made every character relevant and have a role and that was super neat. Feels more like they made that first and then made a series to build up to it.
Ah, I just realized. I’ve only just got to episode 13.
The other stuff are the other shows I need to catch up with. Kekkai Sensen, Denpa Kyoshi, Jewelpet, Kyoukai, Ore Monogatari, Nisekoi, Re-Kan, Show by Rock, and Sidonia.
Probably. They made it to sell the VN for sure.
You’re right about that, and I guess it helped character development. I’m more in it for the plot, so I was disappointed that it didn’t tie that one up neatly =/
I was talking with a friend and he felt the same. He said he feels the anime is just “another ending”
The season of amazing OPs is over, and what a season it was! There were a lot of memorable shows this season, and it looks to have brought some nice manga to attention, which is always a good bonus~
My earlier thoughts on the season can be found here.
Now, let’s get right into it! First up…
Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works 2 was pretty cool. I think I preferred the first season, but this was still very good. I always have a problem with F/SN in that it feels very… matter-of-fact. I’m never really impressed by it, but I like it. It’s definitely worth watching of course, but unfortunately it’s nowhere near as good as F/Z was, as an anime or an adaptation.
Ufotable did create a really nice piece of work, and even added in some new stuff. The latter episodes were overly heavy on the dialogue, a problem with the transition from VN to anime, which really ruined the build up for me, but up until the final few fights, and during the epilogue, I really liked the series. I do recommend it, but if you are looking for another Fate/Zero, this isn’t it.
Oh, but props to the guys for getting Aimer to do hype songs. It’s not the style of song she is normally heard singing, but it’s amazing.
7/10
Plastic Memories was actually really good. Early on it was clear that it wanted to be Kaiba-esque. Start off with an episodic format to build up the characters and set up events, and then switch out to focusing on the overarching story. I know some people don’t like this style, but I think it can work well. Unlike Kaiba however, I believe that the story part was better than the episodic parts. The early episodes were all very simple and formulaic, and the characters were still undeveloped. Some people cried to these episodes, but hey, some people cried to Kimi Uso; not everyone has good taste.
Now, what makes this show good? The protagonist is such an understandable person. There are comments that he isn’t very impactful or stand-out, but as the series progressed, I started to like the guy more and more. He’s a kid entering the working world, and he’s met with some things that are sensitive or confusing. He asks questions, even if he knows the answers, and even if it may hurt people, because he wants answers. He’s not insensitive or stupid, he’s a passionate guy who puts in a lot of work and effort. When bad things happen, he doesn’t accept them immediately, but he figures out what’s best in the end. I don’t know if I can really praise the character as much as I want to, but… watch the show. You’ll see this guy’s actions throughout the course of the series and think “wow, this guy isn’t an angsty teen who acts before he thinks.” Anime. shrug
The supporting cast is nice. There’s a girl who gets a bit annoying when she goes Tsun, but she’s a nice person. There’s a boss with less screen presence than the main character of Yuru Yuri, but he’s a nice person. There’s a cute girl who looks a bit like a stricter version of the protag of the upcoming Chaos Dragon anime, and she’s best girl. There’s the old pimp guy who is kind of a bro, but awful at giving advice. You get to spend time with the reliable glasses guy, and the blonde who loves cute girls. They are all so generic… but nice. They sum up the show pretty well I think. Nothing special, but very very nice.
That might sound a bit rude, but really, there is nothing big about this anime. It’s predictable. There’s no moment I can call a hook. There’s no story equivalent bass drop. There are a couple moments that are memorable, but they are more reminders that an overall story exists than anything else. I think that this is a good thing though, because the series feels like it belongs at the start of a KH game - simple and clean. That’s probably why, and I’m sure many out there did the same thing, I cried at a point in this show.
The pacing and the atmosphere was managed well.
7/10
Punchline was… promising…
There were good episodes, and glimmers of what could be. There were episodes that really had “woah” moments. Despite how predictable everything was about the show, there were characters interactions that were just really good watches.
But in the end, Punchline was very mediocre. I don’t even have that much to say about it. Narugino was cute I guess. She’s like a mix of Kanon Otosaki and Star Guardian Lux.
This show was made to sell an upcoming VN. Don’t expect this to be a complete or a satisfying show. It has good bits, and the potential for the Punchline VN is higher than the potential of CLG at the start of Spring, but the anime just wasn’t good enough.
5/10
Yamada-kun to 7-nin no Majo was so sooo entertaining… until about halfway through. The anime quickly started to run out of time. The pacing issues got worse and worse every episode, and it’s so annoying, because I loved what bits we actually got to see. The characters are all pretty and interesting and pretty. The OP is my OP of the season, and the voice actors for this show are so good, that you could bodyswap any of the characters off-screen and you’d know who is who from the way they speak. There are some pretty visuals are times, and the story has a lot of good drama moments and reveals… but the pacing kinda ruins it. I think for someone less experienced with anime, this would be easy to overlook, but bad adaptations stick out like a sore thumb if you see enough of them.
I’ll be reading the manga, and if you are okay with doing the same, I suggest you do. Still, this show has it’s positives, voice actors in particular.
6/10
Arslan Senki is a classic story by a classic writer. It is what you’d expect really. It’s a very nice replacement for last year’s Yona, and it feels very similar at times. Mix Yona with Magi, sprinkle some UVERworld goodness over it, and Arslan is what you get. While the show doesn’t focus on individual characters as much as Yona or Magi did, I feel like Arslan tells a better story overall. It still has the problems that comes with this type of show - constant drama and battle with no reprieve. I’ve dropped the show a couple times just to take a break from it all. Luckily the show is easy for me to get enthusiastic about again, something Yona and Magi didn’t achieve.
There are some really nice character designs. The animation is pretty bad, but the character designs still shine through. The updates to characters like Daryun are really nice. At first I didn’t like the thin-eye thing that they had going on with some stricter characters, but Farangis won me over. Even the sleazy womanizer is cool. It’s always nice to have some kind people in a show of deceit.
Arslan isn’t finished, but so far it’s told an interesting story. I look forward to how it turns out, and I’m looking forward to seeing the main cast get more screen time.
Owari no Seraph was incredibly generic and boring. The animation was awful, the pacing was messy, and the whole thing was a set-up for season 2. These do mainly seem to be anime problems though. The manga might be better, but don’t watch the anime. It’s bad.
I’m gonna give it some points though, because Shinoa is cute, and the show has my favorite ED of the season.
3/10
Kekkai Sensen is having some issues and the final episode has been stalled, so this isn’t complete (although the final episode was foreshadowed at the start, so I kinda know what’s gonna happen.) The show is good. Not amazing, but good. There have been a couple shows that were bad adaptions, but from what I’ve heard of the source material, I think this anime might be better than the source in my opinion. There are hints of the manga that show up in this adaption, the random episodes that follow a typical episodic “conflict, help, conflict, solution” pattern, but there is a story in the anime. A story of a ghost and a boy who sees all. I’ll avoid spoilers, but it’s a good story. It’s really entertaining, one of my favorite shows right now. It’s very Hamatora-esque in it’s character designs, and it shares the superpower trait. The world building in this show is pretty good, and the creativity in the alien designs in really fun to observe. The animation is sooo good and stylistic too, again, kinda reminiscent of Hamatora (the second season at least.)
The show isn’t finished, so I won’t make a final judgement, but from what has aired so far, I really enjoy this show, and I recommend it.
Chain needs more screentime though.
hibike
Hibike! Euphonium (and Knuckles) is a show I have mixed opinions about. At first, I wasn’t too into it, but after the series was half-way done, I loved it. It seemed like KyoAni got their good staff together for the first time in forever. There were some moments that make you remember these guys did the Disappearance movie. The animation is so cleverly managed, and the camera work… Oooooh the camera work. There was one bit, I think it was near the start of episode 5 or something, that was amazing. Episode 5 was one of the best episodes of anime I’ve seen in years. I rambled about it on Twitter. Speaking of episode 5, those costumes were so cute! The characters are cute anyway, but those costumes! Ah, the song was great too.
The evolution of the MC was really interesting to see. I think that was supposed to be the focus of the show. Kumiko really changed as the episodes progressed. At the start, Reina was more down-to-earth than Kumiko ever was, and at the end…
Now, the things that make Hibike great have always been glimmers in KyoAni’s work, but it’s always used minimally. The god-like directing doesn’t show up enough. The beautiful animation isn’t consistant. Eventually the show just becomes another typical overhyped KyoAni show that had promise, but fell straight back into the trash can.
Hibike set out to change this… and… I’m not sure if it did - At least, to the degree I wanted it to. It didn’t plummet in quality. The animation was always very good. The amazing director (whoever it was) continued to direct great scenes. But… after episode 5… it never really got any better. Some episodes were a drop in quality; they lacked focus or just didn’t have much interesting to stay.
I still loved the show, I really did… but it could have been mindblowingly good, like the early episodes were. Instead, the show came to an end, and all my thoughts on the show lumped together to create the word "good."
Just… good.
8/10
Reina best girl. Sleepy-senpai comes close. Anyone who disagrees is wrong.
Shokugeki no Soma. I’m gonna bring up what is turning out to be a running discussion in my posts… The use of the typical Shounen formula. This is the type of story that brings in a character or a challenge, creates a conflict, starts an action sequence, and comes out with the protag or a main character learning something new. This can be seen in shows like DBZ, and in shows like Yugioh where the action part is a card game, or Bakuman where the action is doodling or writing. In the past, there have been two shows that made me bring up this formula. Tribe Cool Crew was a good example. It’s action scenes were dance sequences… ugly cg dance sequences. But the build-up, the soundtrack, the characters, the pacing, was all so good that, even though it’s action scenes weren’t great, I got hyped whenever the dance began. I was interested in dancing, even though whenever I wasn’t watching it, I had little interest in dancing.
The other show was KimiUso, an example of a bad Shounen. Sometimes the leadup was good, sometimes it wasn’t, but generally it built up an interesting conflict or character… then they would follow up with a bad action scene featuring some boring mechanical classical music, and the voice of someone repeating the messages spoken during the leadup. Sometimes a character would learn something from the experience, but for the most part, a character was going to be kicked out of the spotlight for a long time.
Shokugeki is a good example. It sets the scenario, introduces a conflict and 1+ characters, explores them, kicks off the action sequence, and comes to a resolution where something new unravelled. The soundtrack builds up the hype so well, and when a character decides on their goal, or realizes their mistake, or reveals what they cooked… it’s just so invigorating. I hate cooking. Eating is an annoying time sink you need to get through to not die… But god this show makes cooking so exciting. The show always keeps the threat of loss around. It never feels like victory is a shoe-in for the main character, heck, a lot of the time the cooking scenes don’t end in victory, they end with a satisfying resolution. The characters are all good too. The main character is a treat to watch, and there are so many good female characters that it’s hard to pick a favorite… Though I’m gonna say countryside girl is best right now. The animation is great. The detail to the food is really good, and the chibi art is the best I’ve seen in anime since back when Sora no Otoshimono aired.
Plus, this show does what every show should… It leads-in to the ED by keeping a scene running when the music starts. If you want to end an episode in excitement, that’s how you do it.
I don’t want to keep rambling, but it’s safe to say that this show is my AOTS, and possibly the only anime of this year so far in contention for the AOTY title.
Jewelpet: Magical Change unfortunately isn’t getting English subs, at least, not that I’ve seen. I wanted to pick it up, but oh well. From the first episode, it looks like they are taking the Digimon Adventure “tags” system. When a Jewelpet comes in contact with the tag, it transforms into a human. They have some cute designs, and it’s a nice break from the previous iterations of the Jewelpet world, but it could’ve been more inventive. I’m really not a fan of the human characters, but maybe they just need time. Still, they have some cute interactions going on between the Jewelpets, and that’s all you really need in a Jewelpet anime.
If you have a little girl, who knows Japanese, and you are reading this… for some reason… uh, look out for this…?
Mikagura School Suite was fun. It had a bunch of really nice characters, and an interesting concept to go by. Unfortunately, this is a VOCALOID anime… So eventually it must lead to disappointment. I feel like this show fell short, and I can’t even put that as a negative, because the method it uses to disappoint me is exactly what I’d expect out of the show. It’s silly.
Take episode 1, and keep it in mind. The show will always be that. Don’t expect… stuff.
5/10
Ore Monogatari!! is another unfinished show, so no final opinions yet. This show is kind of weird… I like each episode, and it’s fun, and the girl is so cute that it’s unfair… but no big drama really happens. It’s nice to not have a big drama, I don’t really want there to be, but when I’m not watching an episode my opinions on the show suddenly plummet. Basically, I like the show when I’m watching it, but have nothing to really say about it when I’m not watching it.
I love the OP singer’s voice, but the actual song doesn’t do it for me.The animation in the ED is masterful. It seems like such an 80’s TV show thing.
Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Comedy wa Machigatteiru: Zoku is a sequel to an anime from 2 years ago, that I remember as nothing more than an average Oreimo-esque show. I mentally compared it to Nakaimo a lot.
Apparently I forgot stuff though, because it has a big following. Okay, well let’s go into season 2 and see what we missed!
Nah. A problem immediately arises in this show, and it’s frustrating as hell. It’s a sequel to a 2 year old anime… and it has no flashbacks or info checks (apart from a flashback to the episode with the young Yukino clone, which is now the only episode of s1 I remember.) It hints to things but never tells you what those things are. The first story with the bullies is hard to understand because they drop character names without actually showing who is who. You can at least show an image of the character when you say their name…
Buuut, that’s enough of that. The story is pretty nice. It’s a bit weird that a group of bullies would go over to the kid they looked down on and cry in front of him while asking for help… but anime isn’t realistic, so whatever.
Aside from not knowing who is who, the dramas about keeping the group of friends together was pretty fun. There was some stuff going on with the main cast, but I dunno what that was. Yui was cute though.
The next drama was about the student council. They introduced a girl who was almost as good as Yui, and she became sort of a 4th member of the group. They had this annoying drama with another school that I think was dragged out a bit too long, but parts of it were very enjoyable. The drama came to a close, the characters did their overviews of the drama, and the show came to a grand end! … I wish.
Instead, the show continues by running through some drama with Yukino, although it never tells you what this drama is. Maybe I’m missing something from season 1, but the final few episodes are a “drama” that has nothing behind it. It was just confusing. The characters are all making a big deal out of something that I don’t even know exists. It kept trying to push an idea or a moral to the story, but it never did. It wanted to have meaning, but it forgot to actually say what that meaning was.
It really is a shame. The show had me coming back every week for most of the show, and then it just dropped in quality heavily towards the end.
The show had some cute girls, but the writing was dreadfully annoying. I think there was an issue with the transfer to the anime platform, and maybe the director didn’t take everything into account. I heard this would be good, and instead, it was a mess.
Oh, and that was an ending? It didn’t feel like the end of a season.
5/10
Next season I’ll be watching the greats - Charlotte, Million Doll, Gakkou Gurashi, and Overlord. I’ll also check out some of the shows that don’t shine as brightly, but may be good anyway. Classroom Crisis, Gangsta, Joukamachi no Dandelion, Aoharu x Kikanjuu, Chaos Dragon, Gate, Miss Monochrome 2, Ranpo Kitan, Rokka no Yuusha, and Venus Project, are all on my radar. There are some good movies coming out too.
I can’t believe I actually prepared a part of this post beforehand, just to make sure I can post my spring season impressions without too big a delay in case I get busy.
Ansatsu Kyoushitsu is a solid adaption, I guess. I don’t really have much to say about it except that I’m liking it. No surprises here, since I’ve started reading the manga way before the anime started. (If it was a failed adaption, I could at least talk about why it failed…)
For a typical otaku-pampering anime, Dungeon ni Deai wo Motomeru no wa Machigatteiru Darou ka is among the better ones. The characters are entertaining to watch and the protagonist’s voice actor (Kirito/Sora/Sorata/etc. is doing a stellar job as always. It’s a bit refreshing to have a harem protagonist who scores by appealing to the girl’s motherly instincts. And while they aren’t as grave as in other similar anime, this one also has some balancing issues. The protagonist practically gets amazing power-ups for free. On the other hand, it explains his unnaturally fast growth in a better way than “he was born amazing”. Maybe it’s for the better that he grows so fast. A slow growth would be harder to present in an interesting way.
Unpopular opinion: I don’t like the character design of Hestia in the anime.
I didn’t like the second season of Fate/Stay Night: UBW as much as I did the first one. I’m not entirely sure why, but one of the reasons might be my dislike for the liberties the studio took this time around. For example, Ilya’s nannies really didn’t need that much screen time. The relationship between Ilya and Berserker wasn’t explained and portrayed as well as it could’ve been. At least when it comes to visuals, ufotable never disappoints, which is nice. That epilogue was so pointless, though.
Gintama is funny as always, not much to add there.
Not sure why I even watched Grisaia no Rakuen. Probably in order to have an excuse for not reading the rest of the trilogy.
Kekkai Sensen is even more crazy, chaotic and turbulent than Durarara. And there’s even crazy superpowers. Gotta love those wacky characters, too. Definitely entertaining. It always delivers in terms of comedy and action, and when there’s feels, there’s a LOT of feels. But I wonder if the series would be even better if it wasn’t as disconnected and episodic and the main storyline was more solid and overall more present in the episodes. Cut down on the number of characters to keep it more manageable. But if that happened… would this still be the same series? Oh, but I definitely love the amazing VA cast! Definitely!
And it’s not over yet. The last episode(s) has(have) yet to air.
Kyoukai no Rinne is halfway through. I didn’t expect much of it and everything went as expected. Pretty underwhelming overall. I watched it for the Ranma 1/2 nostalgia. (I know that Rumiko Takahashi also created Inuyasha, but the Ranma 1/2 vibes are way stronger in this one). Deadpan heroine was kind of a bore. To be fair, I don’t know what type of heroine would’ve been more fitting, but this one definitely didn’t contribute enough.
Speaking of characters, some of them were really predictable. Like, you see one of them for the first time, but you already know “ah, this one’s gonna fall head over heels.” Not sure if they’re actually this predictable, or just too similar to certain Ranma 1/2 characters.
Though, for some reason, ep12 struck me as exceptionally funny compared to the rest. Maybe there’s still hope, for the comedy part at least?
Nagato Yuki-chan no Shoushitsu is a return ticket to the world of the Haruhi Suzumiya series. Though it’s an alternate universe with slightly altered characters and a different protagonist, seeing and listening to all those wonderful characters again was a huge treat. I love these characters! As a standalone, the series doesn’t offer anything out of the ordinary, though. It’s not trying to be overly dramatic and the comedy is good. What do you guys think? Would the series be better if the romance (and drama) aspect was stronger? Or would that be an unfitting environment for a girl like Nagato Yuki-chan?
Nisekoi: I read the manga for the comedy. Yes, it’s taking way too long to end.
Owari no Seraph: Lt. Guren was great. Shinoa was awesome. Mika was a tool. Yuu was one heck of an inconsistent protagonist. The other characters were kinda insignificant. No, seriously, Shinoa is ‘best girl’ material. She made a really strong impression with her first appearance. She was really ‘annoying’ in a cute and funny way, but she also knew when to switch into serious mode. That ‘romance’ at the end felt forced, though. Well, the entire finale was weird. I heard that’s where the anime took a separate route from the source material. I really didn’t care about the story, btw.
I had high expectations for Plastic Memories, but they weren’t fulfilled. The story had an inherently huge drama potential, but it wasn’t properly made use of. Sometimes, drama was generated from plot holes. I’m not sure what exactly went wrong, though. Maybe the balance of comedy, drama and romance was off? The finale was executed properly, though. No complaints in that department.
The beginning of Punch Line was so terrible, I would’ve dropped it for good if it wasn’t for certain Kaza members singing it praises. Once I got through those misleading first two episodes, though, I was rewarded with a thrilling and emotional series full of plot twists . It’s definitely among this season’s top anime. But I think they overdid it a bit with the plot twists around the end. Shoulda given the viewers more time to ‘feel’ the situation. Incidentally, I watched it in two sessions. Ep01-06 and 07-12.
Not sure if Yamada-kun to 7-nin no Majo is an ok adaption or a weak adaption. I like the VA cast, but the overall impression of the anime is weaker than that of the Manga. For example, I had high expectations for the Noa arc, since it was pretty much my favorite part of the story. But it seriously lacked impact compared to how it was presented in the manga.
You know what’s next. You know exactly what I would save for last.
Yes, it’s Yahari Ore no Seishun Love Comedy wa Machigatteiru. Zoku (or Oregairu for short). A masterpiece and the most likely best anime of this year.
The second season was totally worth the 2 years of waiting. While the first season was overall more entertaining, since it was more focused on comedy and self-irony, season 2 was where the really serious stuff went down. It was much more “valuable” in terms of story progression and character development.
For why this series in total is so good, refer to this introduction, written by yours truly:
https://forum.kazamatsuri.org/t/kazamatsuri-orgs-10-non-key-anime-recommendations/1017/51?u=naoki_saten
Yes, a lot of characters have been fleshed out. And I’m not talking about just the main cast (that, admittedly, has been developed the most ). Even most side characters, like the popular kids group around Hayama has been taken a closer look at. And then there’s even the newcomer Isshiki Iroha, who has successfully established her position and got popular with the fans quite quickly. Back to the main cast: We have been shown the “other side” of every service club member this season. We have seen that Hachiman’s solutions were far from perfect and that him going full batman causes some trouble. Faced with his shortcomings and situations where his usual way of doing things won’t work, he reveals his most precious and ugly desire. Yukino has probably suffered the most, since this season has made a point to expose her weak side. Yes, the supposedly perfect and strong Yukinoshita Yukino has some serious, albeit well-hidden, weaknesses. But the one who stepped up their game the most is got to be Yuigahama Yui. She has proven over and over again that she’s not just the big-breasted nice girl. For when both Hachiman and Yukino display weakness, Yui shows strength. She is indispensable for the club. And sometimes… sometimes, she plays dirty. This season, the bonds of the service club members have been put to a harsh test.
Not saying, though, that this second season was perfect. A lot of material has been skipped and if I were to point out the biggest flaw, it would be the lack of a conclusion. The anime has caught up with the light novel now, but the story is still ongoing. We have been left with something like a cliffhanger, where problems were adressed, but not solved just yet. Thus, we are hoping, and waiting for a third season.
I just LOVE this show and the characters. I love discussing this series, therefore, if you ever feel like it, do let me know via post, pm or skype. I’M WAITING! If you want to ask anything about Oregairu, I’ll gladly answer your questions.
