Last season's top 3

[Archangel]

So this thread is now stickied so it can provide an alternative to the recommendation thread

I hope everyone drops by as each season ends to let us know what they followed and how much they enjoyed, so that future members who pass by may have an idea of what shows to watch should they give that old season a chance

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Guidelines:

- Only post complete seasons, the objective of this thread is to help users find good anime and not anime that has been good so far. If it was that awesome, you can post about it in the next season.

- There's no need for lengthly descriptions ( that's what we have ann, anidb and wikipedia for ) but do try to concisely describe what made that particular show worthy of entering your top 3

- There isn't any need for a specific order between the three you choose but make sure to make visible distinctions should you feel like adding some "honorable mentions"

- Should you be the first to post about a new season, make sure to mark what particular season you're posting about with the title of your post (eg. Spring 2009)

Note:

- As not to make a mess of things the purpose of this thread is to simply post your top 3, NOT to comment on other member's choices or on any other subjects.
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Spring 2009

A new season is starting, an old season is ending ( i feel nostalgic all of a sudden )

What do you think were last season's top 3 animes?

Personally i didn't care for most of them but there were a couple who caught my attention

1- K-ON! - Extreme moeness, and everyone who's watched it knows exactly what i'm talking about. Hoping there will be a sequel with more Yui and Azu-nyan

2 - Full Metal Alchemist - The first episodes were very quick paced but that's understandable and they were still very enjoyable to watch.

3 - Eden of the East - Very slow at times but the mystery never ceased to keep me interested and the main character was pretty entertaining and original

Honorable mentions:

Dragon Ball Kai - It was nice to watch the classic once again, even if the groups subbing it are all crap

Basquash! - The main character is an idiot and completely annoying at times but there are some pretty entertaining episodes and even with all its flaws it still keeps me interested

[Marik]

For me it's..

1. Saki - My favorite show right now and it's still going. Touka x Nodoka please.

2. Hatsukoi Limited - Saki-nee & Kei-chan, nuff said.

3. Hayate the Combat Butler 2nd Season - I'm liking this season a lot more than the first one.

[Board of Command]

1. Cross Game - still going, but definitely the run-away winner last season for me

2. Hatsukoi Limited - refreshing

3. Basquash - still going, but it's one of the more entertaining series out there

[MFauli]

Very weak season, though number 1 is by far the best:

1. Hajime no Ippo

2. Eden of East

3. Crossing Game/Hatsukoi Limited

[Geddoe1]

1/ Hajime no Ippo

2/ Guin Saga

3/ Eden of East / FMA

[BioAlien]

1. K-ON / Too Short, need more.

2. Kemono no Souja Erin / Went above all my expectation, great anime. Faster subs would be appreciated though.

3. Hayate no Gotoku - 2nd Season / So much Hinagiku Goodness compared to the first season.

[DDBen]

1. Eden of the East: By far the most interesting series of the season though I wish it was more then 11 episodes as the movies are a ways off.

2. Cross Game: The Story of this one is quite interesting I'm amazed its going to run 51 episodes as that is way longer then I would have guessed but I'll be watching all of it.

3. Basquash: I expected to like this one a lot less then I have but they really have been developing the characters and its been keeping my interest.

Honorable mentions: K-On! It was decent and can be best described as Beck Light but overall there was just to much fluff to put it in my top 3. Plus they stopped doing those Music Video things as soon as they added a 5th member and the pacing seemed just to rushed with problems being presented and solved almost immediately.

Slight disclaimer: I've yet to actually get to Hatsukoi Limited, Guin Saga or Kemono no Souja Erin.

FMA Brotherhood: Don't get me wrong I loved the original series but 13 episodes in there has basically been nothing new presented and I liked the original pacing better so frankly I can't place it even close to the top 3.

[Buffalobiian]

3-way tie for me:

Cross Game, Hatsukoi Limited, Guin Saga.

K-ON! was totally heart-melting for the first 4 episodes or so, then it kind of fell from grace. The producers just couldn't do anymore after that, and it was mostly recycled stuff from then on.

[Inazuma]

Hajime no Ippo ( Yes, sport anime eats Moe for breakfast )

Eden of the East ( Thats how slow this season was )

Hetalia ( Just give ep one a chance, you'll understand why. )


____________

Yes it was a slow season, but you can't expect to get a heavenly combo of
Claymore - Code Geass - Soul Eater - Macross Fonter - Black Lagoon - Gurren Lagann -
in a six month bracket can ya ?

[Buffalobiian]

If it's only counting the ones that have ended, then:

1) Hatsukoi Limited

2) Natsu no Arashi (charming series in a SHAFTy way, belly buttons FTW)

3) K-ON!

I didn't find Eden of the East terribly engaging. The story was full enough, and production quality was nice, it just didn't score high enough in the Enjoyable Factor.

[shinta|hikari]

Mine would be:

Still ongoing included

1) Cross Game - this isn't even a matter of preference, it's just that good.
2) Koukaku no Regios - this is purely a matter of preference, with a lot of what I like about anime appearing in the show.
3) Guin Saga - I didn't expect much from this, but it turned out to be really good, and satisfying, for a change.

Only those that ended:

1) Koukaku no Regios
2) K-on - this was my favorite until the first half. I thought it would regain momentum with Azu-nyan, and was disappointed. It ceased to be funny and focused way too much on moe.
3) Hatsukoi Limited - Relatively enjoyable, but only included due to the limited choices.

I agree with Buff regarding Eden of the East and K-on. Eden had the depth, but lacked enjoyment. K-on had the enjoyment, but never had anything else.

[Idealistic]

Mine are, in no particular order, Chrome Shelled Regios, Hatsukoi Limited, and Eden of the East. Though I'd probably say Chrome was #1 for me because I'm just a lot more interested in the kind of stuff present in Chrome.

I haven't watched some of the shows listed here though. I should probably check some of them out.

[Pandadice]

i'm seeing a lot of Guin Sega.. is that really good? I didn't think it looked that good, but if you guys are liking it i'll give it a try.

as for my top 3?

I guess it'd have to be

Eden of the East (waiting for the movies sucks >.<)
K-ON
and Hatsukoi Limited.

in no real order. and I haven't watched the last Hatsukoi episode. and those three are my picks because them and Valkyria are the only one's I've bothered watching past the first few episodes on.

maybe I'll get back to all those other series and I'll adjust my 3 picks :\

[narutosharingan]

I really enjoyed this season. I ended up watching too many.

1- Cross Game- honestly, over a consistent period, this was the best. It just has a certain charm to it

2- FMA- So far, I like it better than the original

3- K-ON- this should have been 1, but it started falling

Eden of the East, Hatsukoi LImited, Basquash, Guin Saga were all interesting as well

[Yukimura]

Lol my top three that ended would be about the same as shinta's:

1) Regios - good and proper 5 man band action series with an interesting if somewhat confusing story to support the action, and plenty of interesting characters to really keep things engaging from start to finish.

2) Hatsukoi Limited: Had something of a love hate relationship with much of this show but I think Saki-nee would want me to forgive all wrongs.

3) K-on: It was fun. Certainly not the most fun thing I've ever seen but it made me smile most of the 13 weeks it ran and that counts for plenty with me.

Honorable Mentions:
Sora Kakeru Shoujo - Came for Lelouch, stayed for the absurdity, humor, and characters.
Natsu no Arashi - interesting but didn't have enough grab for me week to week.

Honorable mention to shows still airing:
Guin Saga - If you like badassness you should definitely check this out, and even if you don''t there seems to be plenty of intrigue, politics, and expansive fantasy world building going into this one. I'd liken it to Seirei no Moribito in tone however I think Guin might give Balsa a run for her money in terms of overall awesomeness due to his edge in political skills.

Phantom - Really loving this one, if they don't mess up the ending this may be in the running for my best of '09 despite fall being so far away.

Dishonorable mention:
Eden of the East - I still haven't figured out what everyone was so into about this show but I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who didn't find it the greatest thing since sliced bread (<3 shinta and Buff). I liked it at times for the mysterious elements but they didn't make me lose sleep or anything like that. The sexy visuals were definitely a plus as well but the main characters really soured it for me and in the end I was just glad it was over.

EDIT - At last 3000 posts for me as well.

[Kraco]

Probably

Hatsukoi
Guin
Phantom

Regios isn't last season's show but from the winter season, only ending last season (like any show of 24-26 eps would do), so it doesn't count. Otherwise it would have easily topped it. Maybe if Eden had actually finished, I'd have put it in instead of Hatsukoi, but since it didn't, it would be risky to judge it yet, even though I'm pretty confident it'll have a nice and innovative enough ending. But as it is, Hatsukoi managed to impress me even though I have hard times taking romance-comedy seriously.

[Dark Dragon]

1. Cross Games: pretty much what everyone else said, it's just that good. It's not even my favorite Adachi manga either.

2. Regios: I'm a big fan of overpowered main character that doesn't need a bunch of power ups to be able to beat random grunt #2.

3. FMA: I didn't like the original FMA, but i am a big fan of the manga. It's always a plus to see faithful anime adaptation since i'm still bitter about quite a few unfaithful ones.

Other good series: Guin Saga, Hayate 2, Ippo, K-On and Hatsukoi.

[Ryllharu]

I would only count shows that ended this past season. To me, it makes no sense to include series that are still ongoing (I have had several series sour very badly on me in the past), and even if it was 52 episodes, it still ended last season. So for consistency's sake, that's the way I am going to do it.
Note: OVAs and movie continuations don't count as "ongoing."

So in no particular order:

Regios. A pleasant surprise for me. I caught up from later on, but it was really enjoyable. Though there is a lot more story to tell, Felli alone would make the series awesome. The animation wasn't top notch, but the fights were entertaining, the love...hexagon(?) was interesting, and the story left me confused as hell but begging for more.
@MFauli: It is a refreshing change from the glut of moe show after moe show, bland (Valkyria) or otherwise disappointing (Soul Eater anime) shonen series. It wasn't a power-up series, Layfon was already absurdly powerful. He hides, locks down, or otherwise handicaps himself. The audience and the citizens of Znuellni get to slowly discover how powerful he is.

Eden of the East. Same more or less. A lot of depth, interesting characters, and plenty of mysteries to go around. Very pretty animation, clever humor, etc.

I'm going to hold off on a third for now, because I just started watching Sora o Kakeru Shoujo, and it is damn entertaining. (Itsuki <3). It'll be either this or Hatsukoi Limited for final spot.

[masamuneehs]

only two i've watched the full season of were Guin and FMA, both continuing to air...

i think both of them are quite good. i'll be checking out a few recommended from here that i hadn't heard of before.

[Ryllharu]

With a new season now started, it is time to revive this thread.

Again, I only list shows that have ended the past season, any other way would allow a series to be potentially listed twice.

In final episode, reverse-chronologically downloaded order:
Bakemonogatari - Who doesn't love a good shafty SHAFT series? Beautiful visuals (and unique visual style as usual), excellent characters, music, and plot with enough mysteries to let us guess. Not really much else to say besides I want more of it.

CANAAN - Great action, great villains, great heroines too, and a great mix of tension, humor, action, and conspiracies. Probably the best pacing out of any series that ended this season.

Shangri-La - A bit of a surprise, since Gonzo has a good reputation for screwing up series at the last minute, but this turned out to be a really well done cautionary tale and social commentary about burdening poor and developing nations with overzealous edicts. While it made an excellent horror scenario about Cap and Trade combined with a out of control, exploited Carbon market, it also managed to hit on dreams that go too far and are achieved by any means necessary, hubris, and what being a leader is all about. It also had a good mix of humor, and Range Murata (http://www.pseweb.com/page/english.html) character designs are always an absolute treat. For a long time in the beginning, it flailed around, not really sure where it really wanted to go, but at the end it all came together quite well.

[Pandadice]

^it's good to see Shangri-La there, because i stopped watching at episode 2 (not by choice though), and i've been waiting to pick it back up because 1. i wanted a complete batch torrent, and 2. to hear how the ending fairs.

as for my picks.. trying to remember everything i followed.. whoa, there really wasn't many shows this season... maybe it just seems that way because there's about twice as many airing in the fall?

Tokyo magnitude 8.0 - it was an original and creative series that i thought was done really well. the animation was awesome, and i thought the ending was great.

(i think Sora no Manimani would go here, but i'm still waiting for the last episode :x)

Bakemonogatari - though i was really torn between putting this or putting Canaan because i felt super similar between them the entire season. they both intially got me interested with the premiere ep, but i quickly lost interest, only to find the ending of both to be fantastic.

but enough comparing them. now about why i chose Bakemonogatari. Even though there was literally only 4 episodes that i found to be more than 15% interesting, those four episodes were awesome. it was really hit or miss with this one, but when it hit it was a grand-slam.

[Kraco]

Hmm, counting only shows that just ended...

Bakemonogatari. Unique, graphically and story wise, this past season. Very interesting characters for sure, including the easily number 1 anime girl of summer 2009.

Tokyo Magnitude. Every now and then realistic series are very nice. This managed to feel quite realistic yet still have an excellent twist. Pleasant characters as well.

Spice and Wolf II. I wasn't actually as satisfied with this I had been expecting beforehand but it wasn't bad either and had lots of jolly good scenes. I was pondering whether to enter this or Umi Monogatari, but I think in the end Spice and Wolf has a bigger impact factor in the long run.


Ryllharu's Shangri-La I dropped after the first episode because of too many annoying elements. Too bad about Range Murata's character designs (which are good).

[Buffalobiian]

Princess Lover
Tears to Tiara
Valkyria Chronicles





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No, really, it would be:

Bakemonogatari: Story integration was superb. The characters were all likable, so much that I can't think of a single one I didn't. SHAFT's one-of-a-kind sense of humour and animation style perfectly compliments a wacky story about ghosts and oddities. Highly recommended.

CANAAN: Another show with great visuals, this time in the form of fight choreography. The story throws a lot at you in the beginning, keeping you strapped in for a good part of the show with its mystery. The characters are excellent are well-thought out, though not as intoxicating as Bakemonogatari. It's a bit different from your conventional action series, so I'd recommend it for those looking for something a bit different regarding the story, but still want beautifully animated action scenes.

Phantom ~Requiem for the Phantom: A story about two brainwashed assassins and their lives in the American underworld. The female lead with a missing heart is by far the charm of the show, followed by the character interactions between her and the male lead. Thinking back, the twisted (yet brilliant) mind of a certain character plays a part in this show's enjoyment simply by making us anticipate his/her next move. It's a bit hard to place my finger on what exactly makes this show good, so I'll settle with "atmosphere".

[shinta|hikari]

I generally love shows that affect me emotionally and has a lot of impact, as opposed to shows that are simply very well done. Because of this, I will not include Canaan in the list. It was very well done, but did not really get me attached to any of the characters enough to actually care if they live or die.

Bakemonogatari - A story about supernatural beings brilliantly tied into a refreshing harem (yes I know that is usually an oxymoron, but not in this case). It has good witty dialog, and very interesting characters. Quite a lot of the jokes require a decent knowledge of anime or Japanese culture, so some people just may not get the appeal of the humor in most of the conversations. This is hands down the best show of 2009 as of now.

Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 - Realistic story that has a good twist that really grabs at the heartstrings.

Spice and Wolf II - Holo.

[Dark Dragon]

Bakemonogatari is the only anime from the summer season that kept me interested pass 3 episodes so it gets the vote. It's pretty much for the same reason as everyone else in this thread who put it as their favorite. .

[MFauli]

What, a whole season is over?!?
Eh, lets see....Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 was the only show I watched, so that one.

Shitty season, but got me the chance to watch some great older stuff, like:

Dennou Coil
Infinite Ryvius
Welcome to the NHK
Kodomo no Jikan (okay, not so great, lol)
Gintama (im at episode 17)

And just yesterday i started:

sCryed
Akane Iro ni Somaru Saka

[masamuneehs]

i only watched a few shows in their entirety, and have just glimpsed episodes here and there for most of the other shows. with my computer lagging to play mkvs, there isn't much available for me to watch, really.

1. Guin Saga
Guin is all that is badass. This is a show that doesn't try to overdo things, and I really appreciate that. They throw alot of characters at you, and it certainly isn't easy to like the two annoying ones, but the action is fantastic, and the good characters are excellent. Aldo Naris is fucking pimp nasty.

2. Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood
I love the manga, so this one would have had to have fucked up really bad to not get on this list.

3. There is no three. Everything else I watched was either forgetable, run-of-the-moe that couldn't keep me more than a few episodes in, or I just haven't watched it yet. I do want to get around to finishing Eden and watching Phantom, and Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 is on my hard drive somewhere, but I have a feeling I won't be able to fluidly watch that one until I get a new computer.

[oyabun]

1. Bakemonogatari (KEWL)
2. Saki (I love mahjong and I love Saki)
3. Guin Saga (Although I don't like Naris..)

[Marik]

Hrmm, for me it was.

1. Bakemonogatari - Words don't do it justice.
2. Hayate no Gotoku!: 2nd Season - Something I looked forward to every week.
3. Saki - Yuri Mahjong. Taco Power!

[Yukimura]

Phantom - Requiem for the Phantom - I loved the story, I loved the the characters, I loved the music, and I even liked the ending (apparently I'm the only one though).

Guin Saga - Guin is BOSS, however there are several other characters who shine in their own way. Even characters who are crappy but on some occasions actually manage to improve the show because of their crappiness. The only regret I have about this series is that I is going to end prematurely.

Needless - Completely underrepresented on this forum and in the community at large is the slapstick retarded action/comedy genre where Needless fits in perfectly. If you want to just turn your brain off and go for a roller coaster ride of absurdity and action and fanservice this is the show for you. It's in the vein of Kamen no Maid Guy but with a more coherent plot or in the vein of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagan with a less coherent plot.

Dishonorable Mentions
Bakemonogatari - I want to go on record as the only self-described anime fan I know who overall didn't like Bakemonogatari. This sentiment is largely based on my dislike of a particular character which grew in proportion to how much they were liked by the community at large. If not for that character's prominence in the show I think I would have enjoyed the show a lot more as it had several interesting characters and stories and offered plenty of food for thought NOT related to the character who fueled my disdain. This being said I recognize that the show probably would have been about 1/1000th as popular without the character in question since all anyone but me seemed to care about was this particular character.

[Pandadice]

Fall 2009

Blue Literature - A very fascinating series, with an anthology-esque presentation. The way they adapted 6 books, and each book got a different director/writer and were done in different styles, was cool. I enjoyed most all the adaptations, and they actually made me want to buy/read the original books they're adapted from.

Sora no Otoshimono - Great comedy, good characters, great ending. The series' humor was consistently funny, and i really enjoyed the series overall.

Seitokai no Ichizon - this one is the weakest entry.. it's more the "best of the worst" I guess. The humor was there sometimes and not other times. it tried to do a lot of serious parts, and again it was there sometimes, but most of the time I just didn't enjoy it. I also didn't like the animation. The ending was pretty good, and that's what gets it this slot, but if i was judging by any random ep, this probably wouldn't be on the list.

[shinta|hikari]

Hanasakeru Seishounen - This series has not ended yet, but it will end in the next few weeks, so I think this belongs to the fall season according to the rules of this thread. Really great josei series, with great characters even if it has tons of bishounens. The politics and plot really got me caught up in this show, and the minimal focus on romance is a really good aspect. It hasn't even ended, but they have to fuck up the last 2-3 episodes in epic proportions in order for me to remove this from my top 3.

Seitokai no Ichizon - This show is either hit or miss. Either the episode is fantastic, or boring. The boring parts are not nearly as bad as they may sound though, since it does push character development and back story to the forefront. The comedy is hilarious, and I have always liked shows that incorporate the 4th wall strategy for comedic effect. Also, Mokyu~ was so MOE (Marshmallow Over Evil). It is the contrast that clinches it.

Natsu no Arashi 2 and Sora no Otoshimono - I couldn't decide between the two, so I had to put them both up as a tie. Natsu no Arashi was a lot better this season, with more character development than the last, without sacrificing its own unique brand of gags and time trip shenanigans. Sora no Otoshimono, on the other hand, has awesome perverted jokes, and over the top episodes filled with utter nonsense, and that is what made it great. The nipple song and the flying flock of panties are things I will never forget. The fantastic action scene in the final episode, which rivals Railgun's episode 12, helps place it in my list.

[Ryllharu]

Nyan Koi - I might not be happy with the way the love triangles are going, but this series was one of the best this season. It had great animation that shifted nicely between detailed animation and super deformed shocked expressions. Also, a solid voice cast that could capture the range of emotions the series struck at. Even though I may have preferred one of the heroines over the others, I found it impossible to dislike any of them really. Each of them had hilarious quirks from being obsessed with gangsters to being a stalker that would put all others to shame. The cats also had personality, even if a lot of them were one-shot characters. The humor was always there, and the drama never spoiled the mood by being contrived or overbearing.

Kämpfer - This was a series I had one of lowest expectations I've ever had for a series. But it was damn funny. I laughed during every episode. This series kills brain cells, and it knew it. It played it up further by having the VAs often address each other directly or telling us to ignore the thin plot because it didn't really have any bearing. But where this series really excelled was at the art of the tease. It was charged with ecchi and sexual references, but they never showed anything, even for a moment. Everything was left up to the imagination, and it worked wonders. Perhaps the DVD versions will be a bit more overt, but it was very well executed. I'm sure it strays from the source material a great deal, but I found it to be very successful as the trash that it is.

Sora no Otoshimono - Rounding out the three is another comedy series. Otoshimono in some ways took the perverted jokes farther than Kampfer, but most were well below the depths that Kampfer took itself. The main character ended up completely naked a lot more often than I would have expected. The series also spent some time going for a serious angle, and while it was entertaining, the comedy was much better. This series also had great animation, and the voice cast was a great mix of rising talent, newcomers, and a few veterans. The characters and cute moments between them are what made this series successful.


I found most of the series that were trying to be serious to generally be letdowns. Some of them tried too hard, some of them just ended up being confusing, and others stumbled at the end when they appeared to be at their peak. These three were the most successful because most of them never really had a low point during their entire run (Kampfer's final episode was a side story and I'm giving it a pass).

[Buffalobiian]

Nyan Koi!

Kampfer

Seitokai no Ichizon / Natsu no Arashi S2

First two for reasons stated by Ryll, last two for reasons stated by shinta.

Half way through this season I was thinking that the top three would be hard to decide because of so many good shows. By the end of it, the Top 3 became hard to decide because so many of them ended up stumbling awkwardly over the finish line.

Had the endings not been lacking, I believe Needless and 11eyes would have made the list, but they lose out a bit on originality as well.

[masamuneehs]

Nyan Koi!
Ryl said it. For me, this was the biggest positive surprise of the season. I came for the comedy and silly premise, and I stayed for the love story and characters. And this is ME we're talking about. Great cast, ridiculous gags, fanservice, serious romance, believable characters, ample use of music and SFX.

Needless
It was good when it was mindless and it was hilarious when it was crack-head humor, but this show was just plain awful when it tried to get serious and give us an ending. The last five episodes of this show were boring, run-of-the-mill forgetable.

11eyes
I came late to this party, but I thought it was very entertaining, even with a bunch of flaws. This was one of the few series from this season that I thought could be longer, and I would have preferred the story to be less exposition, the bad guys a little more developed. Full of cliches and borrows just about everything from other shows/games, but what it lacks in originality, it makes up for in execution. Except for the ending, which is a rather big letdown.

Others
I really lost interest in Seitokai, and Sacred Blacksmith was a severe letdown. I still haven't watched the rest of Sora wo Oto, but it was quite funny from what I saw. This past season of Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood was pretty mediocre, although still way better than most of the shows that finished recently. Letter Bee gets an honorable mention for having me, still, in no way, shape, or form, have any definite feelings on whether it's good or bad. Could not get into Kampfer at all.

[Archangel]

Nyan Koi!
Ryl said it. For me, this was the biggest positive surprise of the season. I came for the comedy and silly premise, and I stayed for the love story and characters. And this is ME we're talking about. Great cast, ridiculous gags, fanservice, serious romance, believable characters, ample use of music and SFX.

Needless
It was good when it was mindless and it was hilarious when it was crack-head humor, but this show was just plain awful when it tried to get serious and give us an ending. The last five episodes of this show were boring, run-of-the-mill forgetable.

11eyes
I came late to this party, but I thought it was very entertaining, even with a bunch of flaws. This was one of the few series from this season that I thought could be longer, and I would have preferred the story to be less exposition, the bad guys a little more developed. Full of cliches and borrows just about everything from other shows/games, but what it lacks in originality, it makes up for in execution. Except for the ending, which is a rather big letdown.

Others
I really lost interest in Seitokai, and Sacred Blacksmith was a severe letdown. I still haven't watched the rest of Sora wo Oto, but it was quite funny from what I saw. This past season of Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood was pretty mediocre, although still way better than most of the shows that finished recently. Letter Bee gets an honorable mention for having me, still, in no way, shape, or form, have any definite feelings on whether it's good or bad. Could not get into Kampfer at all.

This, in every single word. I would like to thank masa for peeking into my mind and posting everything i was going to write before i did

I would simply like to add that Needless only got awful by the last 2 episodes and a few swear words when referring to Kampfer

[Yukimura]

My top there

11eyes - Relatively good subversion of the fairy tale story, interesting characters and good twists. The pseudo reset button ending was a let down but at least it wasn't a full reset.

Sora no Otoshimono - Plenty of laughs plus fanservice, plus sadistic class presidents, what more could I ask for?

Kampfer - Yuri,Yuri,Yuri,Yuri,Yuri,Yuri,Yuri,Yuri,Yuri,Yuri, Yuri,Yuri Delicious Yuri. Plus it was funny and seemed to be aware of how absurd its central premise was.

My Honorable Mention goes to Needless for being such a fun ride, it's too bad about the ending being underwhelming, but I had resigned myself to that early. Needless felt like it was geared towards being fun in the moment, it never seemed like it could pull off an effective epic ending to me.

[Kraco]

It's pretty tough this time. Not awfully lots of the kind of series I'd really prefer and some turning out to be disappointments. Nyan Koi might cut it because the main character actually knew which girl he wanted and worked for it. I'll also add here Kemono no Souja Erin even though I still have a few eps unwatched from the end, but I'm pretty sure it won't disappoint me. It started a year ago but ended in december so it belong here, technically. Let's add Darker Than Black 2 as the third one, even though it was a failure if compared to the first season.

[Pandadice]

Top 3 for the Winter 09-10 season.

Kimi ni Todoke - Easily my favorite series that aired. The characters were awesome, and the animation was stunning. Not much of an ending, But even without that it was still 25 solid enjoyable eps.

So.Ra.No.Wo.To - This one was interesting. Even if the stories or characters seemed boring to me, I was still consistently impressed and in awe at the animation. The backgrounds and landscapes were just fantastic. I really enjoyed the ending to this to

Ladies vs Butlers - This series was surprisingly really good. At first glance it was simply a heavily fanserviced uncensored "romantic comedy". That's what I thought I was at first though. However, once you get into it, the characters (the main 2 females at least) are really well developed and just awesome character. I think this could've been a lot better without the amount of nudity in it, but it was still a really great watch. Though the ending was questionable. The animation in this was surprisingly good too.

[MFauli]

My top 3 of the last season;

1.) Baka to Test to Shoukanju
Reeeally funny show. Should go on forever, felt to me like a japanese SouthPark at times.

2.) Cross Game
Didnt like it that much in the beginning, but the characters grew on me. Final episode was alright.

3.) Chubra
Because there wasnt anything else. I feel ashamed having watched this series :/

[Ryllharu]

Kimi ni Todoke - Great characters (Yano and her evilness) that put an interesting spin on a number of the shoujo romance genre archetypes and stereotypes. The very basic framework of the series isn't even original, but the direction they go with it sets it apart from the majority of its peers. The artwork matches the source material very nicely, and the casting was excellent. Funny, cute, a little sad, and leaves me looking forward to another season if they make one.

Letter Bee - Similarly, the series was funny when it meant to be, sad, endearing, and unintentionally hilarious with the lead's non-stop crying. The art style of this series was unique as its setting. The world within is a truly terrible place the more you think about, but the main characters do everything they can to make it brighter. The series ended in the best way possible, leaving me begging for a second season. A lot of questions answered, but some huge ones left and new ones introduced. Some of the episodes were a bit on the generic side (and possibly filler, but I would never have noticed) but the rest made up for it. Excellent cast too.

Sora no Woto and Hanamaru Kindergarten - I can't actually decide between the two of these, because they were both entertaining, both funny, and both completely pointless. Sora no Woto might have had the better art, soundtrack and a better imagined world, but Hanamaru was more enjoyable overall, and had better characters...and facehuggers (http://img94.imageshack.us/img94/9646/hanamarufacehugger.jpg).

[Kraco]

A new rule was added to the first post:


Note:

- As not to make a mess of things the purpose of this thread is to simply post your top 3, NOT to comment on other member's choices or on any other subjects.

So, should anybody wonder why so many posts seemed to disappear, that's because they did disappear. All posts but those containing valid contents according to the new rules were removed.

Anyway, my favorites of the previous season were, I'd say,

- Kimi ni Todoke
- Ookami Kakushi
- Letter Bee

It wasn't an overly good season. Kimi ni Todoke was really good but Ookami Kakushi fell somewhat flat towards the end. Letter Bee was a so-so series but it did have some atmosphere. I haven't yet finished Sora no Woto (slow sub choice) but I doubt it can get rid of the sluggish moe blob image it has gained in my mind. Nodame Finale didn't feel like a finale enough and was lacking much of the vitality and humour of the earlier seasons.

[shinta|hikari]

In order:

Cross Game - Obvious choice. Masterpiece in both anime and manga form.

Sora no woto - Solid show that unfortunately has gained a reputation of being moe blob because of the K-ON art. It is much more than that, with dark elements and serious developments later on in the show. There are also great comedy scenes which I will never forget. Art and music are top notch.

Kimi ni todoke - Good romance and light comedy. The usual shoujo done well, with the right amount of both twist and tradition.

[masamuneehs]

Winter surprised me because a few good shows started airing during it (Durararara!!, Katanagatari, Gundam Unicorn, Sora no Woto), but the only one that wrapped up in the winter season that I liked was Sora no Woto

[Buffalobiian]

Cross Game - Good humour, characterisations, and realistic depiction of moves used in sports.

Sora no Woto - Artwork at times were beautiful, score brought out emotions well. Interesting backstory that didn't need to be fully explained to be enjoyed.

Kobato / Letter Bee - Kobato's strengths were the same as Sora no Woto's, but slightly less pronounced. Recommended if you like CLAMP and/or romance stories. Letter Bee had an intriguing setting and likeable (it's hit or miss) characters. Both shows can bring out emotions in their own way.

[shinta|hikari]

While I liked Angel Beats, by the end of it I realized that it didn't live up to any of my expectations, and was far weaker compared to other key works. Even Kanade was quite shallow as a character. It was still a good show though, just not good enough to beat out the following series.

For this spring season, my top 3 in ascending order are:

3) Durarara!! - This would have been the top pick if the second half was as good as the first, but ever since Celty was no longer the focus, the story became quite boring. The e(mo)pisodes about Kida really brought this down. The climax and ending were also quite weak.

2) Working!! - I didn't really consider this to be such a good show at first, particularly because I hated Inami. This eventually changed though, and while this show is not hilarious or original, it delivered what it was supposed to perfectly. It always made me chuckle (even LOL at times) and feel good like a slice of life show should. Consistency probably made this my second pick.

1) Tatami Galaxy - This was something I discovered in the middle of the spring season, and I watched 6 episodes straight and was still craving for more. If I had to describe it, it is a mix of a worthwhile endless eight (yes, I know it is an oxymoron) and zetsubou sensei, with a bit of romance thrown in. Don't let the odd art deter you, because that in itself is a charm point of this show, and fits in perfectly with the theme. Don't worry about the repetition, because it has a point. It all comes together in one of the most creatively delivered endings I have seen in a really long time. In short, this is a masterpiece, so watch it.

[Buffalobiian]

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood - I never watched the first series, but this adaptation was top notch from start to finish in just about everything from production values, scale of events, to plenty of likable characters.

Working!! - Same reason as Shinta's.

Angel Beats - The story felt a bit flawed in the end, but it doesn't really matter since the characters made it fun.

[Archangel]

Ichiban Ushiro no Daimaou - Mindless fun and GAR in an explosion of fire and pew pew lasers that never stopped being both ridiculous and fun to watch from start to finish

Durarara!! - I felt the second part wasn't as good as the first but overall it was still a great series in all fronts that managed to deliver an healthy dose of entertainment with each episode

Angel Beats - I won't compliment the plot too much as it got somewhat clusterfucky towards the end but the characters were likable, the animation was great and the soundtrack was amazing Also there was tenshi, she alone takes the anime to the top

Honorable mentions:

B Gata H Kei - I expected nothing out of it and found the first episode quite boring but my persistence paid off in the end, the perversion of the main character won me over eventually

[Buffalobiian]

Kaichou wa Maid-sama - Romance/comedy pulled off by JC Staff. Highly enjoyable characters and art style. I look forward to my weekly match of Perverted Alien vs Demon President. Fans of Special A should check this one out.

K-ON!! S2 - Slice of life. Moe. Toned down compared to the first season, but the regular dosing works in its favour.

RAINBOW - Manly series feature the troubles of youth living in post-WW II Japan, featuring some pretty graphic (impossible??) wounds. Definitely check this one out of you're sick of school uniforms or fanservice.

[MFauli]

Uh, from what I remember I only watched 2 shows last season :P Maybe I forgot something, but so far:

1. Giant Killing

2. Highschool of the Dead

[shinta|hikari]

Here we go:

1) Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru - Quirky, original comedy and Kon-senpai <3
2) Shinryaku Ika-Musume - Ebi in a box and ika-loli? No brainer.
3) Shiki (even if it hasn't ended yet, there is simply no way this won't be on the top 3 list)

I looked forward to Legend of Legendary Heroes the most each week (Ferris T_T), but that one pretty much killed itself in the end, not to mention it looked very low budget.

Katanagatari doesn't count because that was too much of a masterpiece to mention with the others.

Just finished Zakuro now, and I'm really tempted to replace an entry in my top 3 with it. The ending was really well executed for its genre. The only reason I haven't done so is because it is pretty stereotypical for most of the episodes.

I really like the Zakuro and Agemaki pairing.

[Ryllharu]

Not many series I'm watching actually ended this season.

Sora no Otoshimono Forte: It was really fun, got a bit serious this time (but never too serious), and pulled off an anime-original ending that was actually very good. I hadn't heard Fukuhara Kaori in a prominent role since she played Tsukasa in Lucky Star, and she was really flawless as Astraea. The animation throughout the series was strong, and the gags consistently made me laugh or at the very least smile. I really looked forward to the episodes each week, and am greatly looking forward to the movie, which looks to be covering one of the longer arcs in the series.

Ore no Imouto: Yes, it technically isn't over, but this series will still make the list for having very strong animation, really fantastic characters (despite how much I despise Kirino), phenomenal cast, and a good plot. They make Kirino so easy to hate when you compare her to the other characters and her friends, and Kyousuke's devotion to his family at large personal sacrifice is commendable, because I certainly can't say I would have done the same given her behavior by the end. Any series that can get me to love certain characters and loathe others is a solid edition to the top three of a season.

Otome Youkai Zakuro: This was a sleeper hit for me, recommended to me halfway through the season. It quickly became one of my favorites. I'm not really sure what genre it even fits in, certainly romance is a part of it, but it is by no means just a shoujo series. What puts it solidly in my top three this season is the characters. All of the girls were great, each with well defined personalities that reflected their backstories, and while the guys weren't all defined as well as the male lead, they meshed well with their partners and pair (twins!). I loved the alternate Meiji era styling and the minor details (the elephant youkai trying to learn to drink tea with his 'hands' instead of his trunk). The cast was wonderful, and the OP/EDs were strong. Horie Yui and Toyosaki Aki get special mention for making their laughter sound exactly the same playing the twins.


Shinryaku Ika-Musume: It was the Mini Ika Dream and Sanae's Withdrawl episodes that gives this series special mention. Outside of the 7 minute story and only 12 episodes format, the series probably would have crashed and burned.

Like shinta, I'm excluding Katanagatari, but because its monthly format doesn't put it into any season. If this was a top 3 of the year, then things would be different.

[Buffalobiian]

Amagami SS - This one's a hard one. It's not brilliant at anything in particular, but it does have the advantage of showcasing various girls successfully. It's a harem, sure - but each girl gets their turn, gets a fruitful ending (mostly) and features a bunch of fetishes for all us fetish cravers. I can't go wrong calling this a crowd-pleaser, and it's a pretty good one at that.

Shinryaku Ika-Musume - Comedy show with pacing and execution done right. 7-minute arcs keep things fresh, and I'm either smiling sadly or laughing intensely at each. I would say this show did everything right that Working! didn't - by keeping new arcs coming and likeable characters taking the show. I can't think of a single character here where I thought "Argh, not him again..

Shiki - Thriller that's combines both realism and fantasy together. Recommended as a marathon series since the exposition is fairly flat, confusing and offputting if you're watching it on a weekly basis, and the climax episodes make each week pass so slowly.



Special mention: Katanagatari.

[Kraco]

Zakuro - A historical fantasy action romance with multiple solid pairings. Some action/story related details could have been a bit sharper but otherwise this was like written specifically for me. It's kind of funny that a show already a few have mentioned never even got a thread...

Ika Musume - This was scatterbrained comedy but unlikely very often, the airheaded comedic main character was actually quite a capable person. Very fitting comedy for me with jolly characters.

Soredemo - To be honest this isn't an astounding series but since Shinrei Tantei Yakumo didn't, after all, really leave me amazed so I ended up with it. This seemed to have more going on for it.

[Archangel]

Katanagatari - Like Shinta said, it was a year long masterpiece and it almost feels unfair for the other series to add it to the list.

Sora no Otoshimono - Forte - I expected what i got from the first season, a good time. Not only that we also got some serious plot, i can truly say i enjoyed watching it.

The World God Only Knows - I'm not the most objective person when it comes to TWGoK but the animation was great, the soundtrack as well ( especially the opening ) and they were extremely faithful to the manga so adding it here was a no brainer.

Honorable Mention: Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt - Good old Gainax and their trolling, never fail to amuse

[Inazuma]

Shiki

Katanagatari

The world god only knows

[Xelbair]

Katanagatari - because it was just great. Character development, concepts, fighting scenes and plot - everything was well planned.

Bakuman - it is not finished yet but i can't find better series to take this spot. It has tension, love stories, comedy and serious stuff mixed together in great proportions and pacing.

Tegami Batchi REVERSE - setting is so unusual and fresh, soundtrack is just pure greatness and it is pretty solid series.

[Buffalobiian]

Winter 2010/2011

This season had a handful of good series and more than its fair share of WTF endings.



Puella Magi Madoka Magica - Best anime this season. Great visuals and sound, engaging and twisted plot. Don't be put off by the fact it's a "magical girl" anime. You'll regret it.

Level E - Deadpan comedy about aliens. Older 1990s dress is a bit of a refresher and actually gives this series a "down to earth" visual which interestingly contrasts with the content. Story weakens a little in the middle compared to the opening, but still recommended for those looking for some non-slapstick laughs.

Tegami Bachi REVERSE - Also known as Letter Bee REVERSE, this is a direct continuation of the first Letter Bee series. This hardly needs recommending since if you liked the first one, you're bound to be watching. Suffers from an abrupt anime-original ending.



Honourable Mention:

Fractale - interesting world and themes. Ending lacks explanation.

Freezing - Ecchi with a plot...doesn't quite describe what this is, but I'll leave it at that. Starts out really intense for like 3 episodes. Mellow's out afterwards.

[Ryllharu]

Puella Magi Madoka Magica - Well done series that put forth an interesting variation of the magical girl genre. Featured well written characters and scenarios/questions/conflicts not normally seen in the magical girl genre. Soundtrack was good, visuals were memorable, and it tugged at your heartstrings, thanks to a very strong cast. We had to wait quite a bit for the finale, but it was worth it.

Infinite Stratos - The lead was awful and a complete moron, the mech designs were often strange (got tired of looking at guy midriff), the plot was...somewhere. Yet, I found myself looking forward to this series nearly as much as I did Madoka each week. I think that I loved to hate this show. While the lead was below idiot intelligence, the girls of the series were fantastic. Some shined a great deal more than others, but most of them ended up with surprisingly well developed personalities by the end of the series' short run. The animation itself was rather good, even if the CGI stood out of place from time to time. The cast was strong as well.

Kore wa Zombie Desuka? - I picked this one up later, but it stood out strongly as a great comedy series. A lot of the stuff going on was beyond "wtf," but any comedy series that gets an audible laugh out of me every episode is stronger than most. Strong cast with excellent cameos, good animation (censorship notwithstanding, though often creatively done), and good character designs. The occasional serious episodes were woven into the series very nicely and executed perfectly due to many of them still retaining a thin veneer of ridiculousness. I really had no complaints I could make about this series.

Honorable Mention: Kimi ni Todoke season 2. This series was more of a continuation, and while it was wonderful, it wasn't as stand-out as it's predecessor. Great cast again, excellent animation, but the plot was more of the same paired with a rather foregone conclusion.

[aadie01]

Cross Game
Saki
Guin Saga


-Apreciate the effort to spread the word about anime you enjoyed. Please know that this thread is designed to inform readers of current or recently finished shows, however. So in order to fulfil the purpose of the thread, I ask all future posts to adhere to this purpose.

Regards. Buff.

[Buffalobiian]

Spring 2011

1. Gosick - Detective anime (sort of). Great, entertaining interactions between the main lead characters. The show does (try) to blend the world's happening into the story to create something grander than just your 2-person classroom story. Not without its weaknesses, such as a rushed last arc. A word of caution to new watchers: The first case is probably the best case in the anime, and the rest of the story quickly focus more on the main characters more so than actual cases. Don't expect this to be a hardcore detective anime.

2. Moshidora - baseball/management anime. One of the rare sports anime out there that are told from the view of the manager rather than the player. Very slow start - something that may turn a lot of people off, but it's great if you can wear it out and be accustomed to it. Know that as a whole, the anime will develop to become much more of a story than the initial feeling that you're being taught a chapter of Peter Drucker's Management every episode. Bit of a hit or miss - but definitely worth checking out to see if it's your cup of tea.

3. Ano Hana - Drama. Also known as Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae o Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai. I'm not too sure how to put this show's appeal in words.. maybe the other guys can once this post kickstarts them. But two words: Watch This.

[shinta|hikari]

Spring 2011

1) GOSICK - Great relationship between the two leads. I particularly like how strongly they feel towards each other, but are not clingy and sappy. Victorique is amazingly cute, especially when she pouts. The VA also did a great job voicing her.

2) Ano Hana - The first episode really made this for me. The rest were either weaker, or a rehash of what the viewer already knows.

3) Sofutenni - Great fun show with comedy, some romance, and really nice fanservice. I really enjoyed watching every episode of this.

Honorable mention - Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko - This would have been great if it didn't abruptly end. This is only the first part of the story, and nothing is concluded. I hope this gets a second season though. I like the characters and dialog, probably because this was based on a light novel.

[Buffalobiian]

Summer 2011

1) Steins;Gate - Time-travel, Mystery, Thriller. It combines mindfuck (first 2 episodes or so), light comedy and seriousness all in one package. If I had to say this show did one thing right, it's pacing. The earlier episodes will grip you with humour and interest, while the latter episodes(with perhaps 2 exceptions max) will just grip you with... something else. I'll just say that the serious tone of the death in episode one does get addressed. The first 3 episodes or so can put you off, but trust me on this one, you'll get hooked. (being intentionally vague sin this IS a mystery genre).

It's by the people behind Chaos;Head, but I won't take too much note of that. A much better comparison would be Higurashi no Naku Koro ni. If you liked that show, I think you'll very likely like this one.

2) Usagi Drop - Man takes home an "abandoned" relative and raises her. Comedy, slice of life, coming of age. Out of the top three mentioned, I'd say this one's the most beautiful of them all, and not necessarily in visual artstyle. Usagi Drop covers the concepts of understanding your kid, the daily hardships of parents raising a child (it keeps it fresh, yet grounded in everyday routines), and the rewards a parent feels despite it all. Character dynamics are superb. Rin is such an adorable character that you can only hopelessly fall in love with her. Note that this is a light hearted show despite the slightly depressing/solemn first episode.

3) Kamisama Dolls - Mecha(?), Family feud, action. Right off the bat, great OP and ED. One big plus in Kamisama Dolls is its departure from the highschool setting. In fact, you don't see a single school* in this at all. Nearly all characters have some sort of backstory to them which drives their actions, again giving them depth not found in a great many contemporary shows out there. On the outside, the designs are also quite pleasing, with the older characters having smaller features where they should (head/body proportions, eyes), as well as larger features where they're nice (*wink wink*). Again, manages to mix comedy and seriousness in an excellent manner (seems to be a common trait between these top three shows). One strength of this show (which is also a weakness if you are too aware of this) is its successful use of the following formula pretty much ever episode: solving previously introduced problems, inserting humour/development, then finishing with a cliff-hanger right on the mark - just like any successfully written chapter that will keep you reading till 0400 in the morning.



Honourable mentions (more than I would like, but this season was rather good):

Hanasaku Iroha: If there was a 4th place, this would take it. Just didn't do everything quite as well as the above shows imo.
No. 6 and Ao no Exorcist may have made it to this list somewhere but were foiled by their endings.

* schools = high schools and elementary schools.

[Ryllharu]

Spring 2011

Denpa Onna to Seishun Otoko: Shaft has gotten increasingly good in making particularly strange girls very alluring...in very ordinary ways. This series, as with many of their others, uses subtlty in lieu of overt ecchi or brazen moe appeal. One of the other things that impressed me is that while two characters (mother and daughter) are very, very different in personality and disposition, the two of them share expressions and idiosyncrasies that leave no question the two are related. Other girls have their own distinct expressions. It's all done is a subtle way that never brings attention to itself. The animation style might be odd at first (crescent moon smiles, shiny skin), but it's clear that there is a huge attention to detail that went into making this series. Everything animated feels very deliberate, and it lets the characters be a bit more expressive. Not much to speak of in terms of story, but it is a character driven series, which it does very well. The only downside is that the male lead is a bit bland, but that might be largely due to how eccentric the primary girls around him are.

Gosick: A strong mystery series. Where it excels is the high quality animation, good voice acting, and realistic approach to solving the mysteries. While the heroine does in fact declare she's figured it all out before revealing the truth, she typically does so in a way that uses reasoning from the provided hints, rather than pulling information the audience has never seen. Very strong voice cast, nice continuous storyline, and good character design. The male lead is weak (as above), but he has his moments.

Ano Hana: It is kind of hard to throw this into a genre. It's a Coming of Age story where it feels like most of them have already come of age. It hits home for me in a lot of tough ways, because at its core it is a series about friends drifting apart. Where it really stands out, far above the other series the past few seasons, is in character development. The characters in Ano Hana have depth. They're not simple. They have a lot of conflicts going on internally. They're not simply a hair color and a particular quirk. They are afraid of what others might think of them, they have torn loyalties, they hate each other, they love each other, they can't let go, they let go too easily. Voice cast is very strong (tearing my heart out sometimes), the animation is crisp, the pacing good.


Summer 2011

Kamisama Dolls: Why does this series stand out? Strong male lead with character depth. Don't see that very often, and certainly not to this sophisticated level. He feels...human. There is the face he shows to others, and the one underneath it all that he sometimes can barely control. He's not the only character like that. Most of the cast has that kind of detail to their personality. There isn't a clear cut, "good vs. evil" dynamic in the all-too-short feeling season. Everyone has motives, and they're all trying to fulfill their respective goals. The great cast is a strong reason for the excellent character portrayals. While the animation isn't as stellar as some other series, it's the little touches that make all the difference. Characters do actions that don't really have any purpose, like fiddling with objects. It comes off in a casual way that never feels forced, and it really adds to the whole environment of the series. Good pacing, nice interjections of humor to shift the mood at the right time. Best of all? Most of the characters are university-age. It's not yet another middle/high school series.

Mayo Chiki: Excellent comedy series. Why? The two female leads and their respective VAs. The first of them manages to perform a very convincing male voice for her secret identity. That alone was impressive enough to stand out. But it also features a second "heroine" who teases constantly, but also displays quite a range of other emotions. It is often only brief flickers, but that it also a testament to the subtlety of the animation. It's not overly crisp nor highly detailed, but is is very expressive. A key component to a great comedy like this. It is simply fun to watch.

Hanasaku Iroha: A standard coming of age story that actually pulls it off very well. There isn't anything particularly revolutionary in terms of character development, but it is all extremely well done. The animation is very crisp with vibrant colors, the characters are fun, the cast good, but it is the atmosphere of the series that really stands out. There are a few episodes here and there that feel completely out of place, but overall, the series is like a warm spring breeze.

Disclaimer: I did not watch Usagi Drop. I had re-read half of the manga right before it was announced, and finished the completed series before the anime aired. Downloaded, but did not watch.

[Kraco]

Steins;Gate. The main character is my idol, seriously. A dude who calls himself a mad scientist and even pulls it off. Looking at Bill's rambling up there, I see he mentioned two shows I dropped in the middle, so I would compare to neither. This was clearly an intelligent show, but it had also jolly characters with well written personalities and quirks, not mention events evoking strong emotions. Just the way I like it.

Usagi Drop. This show made it to the list by not animating the latter portion of the manga. Perhaps it's because I have watched so much anime and read so much manga already that this show didn't have an impact as big as Aishiteru ze Baby all those years ago, but objectively speaking this was just as nice and warm. Only a hardcore shounen watcher or a child-hater wouldn't like this story.

Hanasaku Iroha. I can't really say it any better than Ryll. There was absolutely nothing revolutionary about this show, but neither did it boast any weaknesses. It was an altogether wholesome packet with good characters and lots of energetic and lively movement.

[Ryllharu]

Fall 2011

Note: Both Fate/Zero and Horizon were known to both be split series months before they first began airing. Since the general rule is to only do series that have ended in a particular season, the two series have been excluded for now.

Tamayura

(I also watched the OVA right before, so this addresses them both)

While other slice of life series excel at evoking a mood, Tamayura goes a different route, and focuses on capturing a particular mood. It really exemplifies the saying, "the best camera is the one you have with you." Fuu takes her father's tiny, ultra-portable Rollei 35S everywhere with her, and is able to get it all, even amid her countless failures. Each of the girls have their own particular quirks, and how they pull it off is by making those facets particularly unique.

Sight, smell, taste, and sound. Each of the four girls find their happiness in one of the five senses. In addition to Fuu, there's a girl obsessed with smells and enjoys making potpourri, a shy girl who loves music so much she whistles more than speaks (and amazingly, you start to understand it a little bit), a high school girl very clearly obsessed with young boys...and handcrafting gourmet desserts. What sets this apart from the average slice of life is that the girls, quirks and all, feel genuine. They're not sure what they want to do, or some always knew what they wanted to do. They feel ill at ease, they feel confident, they persevere, they lose their will. One can't seem to settle on what it is she wants do to, and it all feels familiar. It's a comforting slice of life series, rather than a relaxing one or one mired in melodramatics.


Mawaru Penguindrum

It made me laugh often, it made me smile, it disgusted me, it made me tear up, it confused the hell out of me, left me always wondering between one episode and the next. But where it truly stands out as unique is the way it left me. It wasn't bittersweet, no, it was more than that. It left me numb. Not the numb where you don't care, the numb that comes with nerve damage.

Sometimes the visual analogies got a little heavy toward the end, but for the most part they were cleverly done. The series has a style all to itself. It was like a mystery, coming of age, and a redemption story all in one. Excellent cast with a nice mix of rookies and veterans.


Boku Ha Tomodachi Ga Sukunai (Haganai)

While the characters can make a show, for this, it was really how the characters interact with each other. The two main girls are incredibly mean to one another, largely verbal abuse and pranks, though one of them isn't nearly as good at it as the other, and typically runs off in tears. Yet she keeps coming back, so there's this air of desperation for comradeship that gives her some charm. The male lead also stands out on his own. He's not whiny, he's not a pervert, he's not an alpha male, he lacks confidence in his own way, but he's mature, responsible, and sensible. It's strange. He doesn't really stand out aside from his appearance, but that pushes him past the usual clichés of the genre. He's the voice of reason in a cacophony of the ever-so-slightly insane. His sister gives off a similar refreshing air despite nearly being a cliché herself, yet is distinctly not one, it's all an act. A subtle difference that makes her a solid character.

The fun aside, some of the characters really do have some legitimate issues they need to get over. Feelings of betrayal, loneliness, isolation, hazing, being affected by the snap-judgments of others, etc. Unfortunately, they only barely got into covering and resolving them in this season. I wish the series would have gone further than it did, but I've got strong hopes for a second season.

It's amusing and a bit sad to see a group that gathered because they couldn't find any friends, and still not one of them realizes that they have all become friends already. It's a good comedy with excellent character design and animation, bolstered by a strong cast.

[Uchiha Barles]

Spring 2012:
Fate/Zero
Sakamichi no Apollon
Tasogare Otome x Amnesia



Summer 2012:
Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita
Kokoro Connect
Natsuyuki Rendezvous



In hindsight there are a few things I should've watched over the summer that I didn't give a shot to. SAO was just SO bad that it really turned me off to anything that was remotely like it.

[Buffalobiian]

Spring 2012
-Fate/Zero: needs no introduction. Prequel to F/SN
-Sakamichi no Apollon: Post WWII, musically themed, coming-of-age anime
-Moretsu Pirates: Space opera with an easy start, grand development

Summer 2012
-Binbougami ga!: slapstick comedy. Hilarious.
-Hyouka: mystery, moe.
-Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita: smarter comedy, social commentary.

[Ryllharu]

Well, I'll forgo a long writeup in order to do a quick catchup. As usual, series ending in the time period.

Fall 2012:
Girls und Panzer - Surprisingly entertaining tank warfare.
Jormungand: Perfect Order - Sequel to previous season, good tactical action.
Robotics;Notes - Subdued and mostly realistic "let's build a giant robot" anime
[ added here because Fall 2012's two-cour series were really strong and I ran out of room, see below. ]

Winter 2013:
Shin sekai yori - Strong fantasy series, Espers and monsters. One of the best series of 2013.
Zetsuen no Tempest: The Civilization Blaster - A legitimate adventure series. Contemporary fantasy, great characters.
Mondaiji-tachi ga Isekai kara Kuru Sou Desu yo? - Another entertaining fantasy series where ridiculously overpowered protagonists are transported to another world where they can wreak even more havoc.

Spring 2013:
Chihayafuru 2 - Sequel to the surprisingly tense antics of the karuta-playing high schoolers.
Suisei no Gargantia - Science fiction series where a space pilot and his AI mecha find themselves sent to a water-covered Earth.
Kakumeiki Valvrave - Surprisingly good mecha series with a unique different take on its pilots. Lots of politicking, not Gundam, but doesn't take itself that seriously either.

Honorable mention: Hataraku Maou-sama - Demon Overlord expelled from his world, gets a job at a burger place on Earth. Comedy.

Summer 2013:
Gin no Saji - Agricultural School series. Protagonist learns to find himself at an unconventional school. Created by the FMA mangaka, and the quality in the writing shows.
Servant x Service - Civil Service Office comedy.
Uchouten Kazoku - Fantasy series about the family life of tanuki in modern day, and their interaction with humans (who are fond of eating them at the end of the year), tengu (who theoretically run the area) and a particularly capricious demi-goddess.

Honorable Mention: Rozen Maiden (2013) - Reboot of the series to realign it with the manga. Very well done, but seeing the original series (despite their different take on the story) is a bit of a requirement to follow along.

Fall 2013:
Kakumeiki Valvrave (2013) - Sequel to the above.
Sekai de Ichiban Tsuyoku Naritai! - Excessively trashy girls wrestling series. I have to admit that it was pretty engaging, in the end.
Kyoukai no Kanata - Story about an immortal half-youma boy and the exorcist who is trying repeatedly to kill him.

Things you could be watching right now (ongoing and quite good):

Kill la Kill (http://anidb.net/perl-bin/animedb.pl?show=anime&aid=9875)
Golden Time (http://anidb.net/perl-bin/animedb.pl?show=anime&aid=9771)
Nagi no Asukara (http://anidb.net/perl-bin/animedb.pl?show=anime&aid=9387)
Log Horizon (http://anidb.net/perl-bin/animedb.pl?show=anime&aid=9677)

[Ryllharu]

Winter 2014

Noragami - Solid series from start to finish. Good Great cast, good fights, fun. It's nothing revolutionary in terms of plot, but the execution was flawless. Best OP of the season doesn't hurt either (tie with KLK's 2nd OP).

Mikakunin de Shinkoukei (Engaged to the Unidentified) - A nice show with really fluid animation and a warm, if slow, romance. That said, comedy is really the highlight here. It took me a while to recognize it, but it is very similar to in feel to Acchi Kocchi (another favorite). Really strong cast with entertaining characters and recurring gags.

Nagi no Asukara - It was a long, slow start, but worth the wait. The characters felt human, the plot familiar to anyone who's felt a little out of place or left behind. The animation is of course, flawless, though I have to admit it doesn't really stand out (it looks like most of the shows P.A. Works has done). Bonus points for being an original work. A coming of age drama done right...though that's starting to be what P.A. Works is known for.

Honorable Mention:
Pupipo! - Short episodes, but they crammed a lot in there anyway. Three characters get a well-developed character arc, and usually leaves you with a warm and fuzzy feeling. The art style is particularly interesting.

[shinta|hikari]

I agree with all 3.

[MFauli]

Spring 2014:

1.) Baby Steps - Really hitting all the right strings. That´s how a sports anime should be done, sympathetic hero, reasonable learning skills, good enough action and a good pacing, where training, matches and outside-stuff don´t interfere negatively. Maruo is a great lead. Bonus-Award for hottest girl, too. Brunette glasses-girl is best of the season :>

2.) No Game No Life - An anime made for otaku. Some of the weird stuff was a bit too weird for my liking, mainly the unnecessary siscon element, but the rest was superb. Many sentences and situations that should be considered classics from now on. I can´t get over the scene where he tries to remove some npc-girl´s pants and it doesn´t work, and not only him but the whole male portion of his kingdom are full of disappointment. Fantastic.

3.) Ping Pong - The Animation - This could easily have been my number one, but the super crappy animation and artstyle ruined it. Really sad, because I can´t see a lot of non-anime enthusiasts give it a fair chance due to the visuals alone. Absolutely masterful characterization of four completely different heroes. Best of all, it´s a complete package: The story covers what is initially promised to be covered, and ends it with full cosure. If you like table tennis, it´s a must-see, despite the visuals.

Excluding Hunter X Hunter, since it started in 2011, otherwise it´d be my obvious top spot.
Mushishi didn´t make it, despite me liking it a lot. But I always have to get in the mood for it first, whereas I´m actively looking forward to watch the other series as soon as possible.

Edit: I wont change the above ranking for various reasons. But it needs to be mentioned that, had I watched it before, Knights of Sidonia would have undoubtedly been my number #1 anime this season. Fantastic, just fantastic.

[Kraco]

No Game No Life - I was first dubious of this, but it really grew on me. The artistic style was brave, the humour was good enoug, the characters varied and amusing. I even liked the fanservice in this case because it felt more natural than in many more generic boobs and pantsu shows. Maybe because there was always so much stuff going on that it didn't feel like the show existed for service alone. The smartness and intelligence, which should have been very integral to the story, were a bit so-so but the series had its moment.

Soredemo Sekai wa Utsukushii - I don't watch enough shoujo to be tired of the tropes and cliches, and so this was perfect for me. Fantasy adventure shoujo could be said to be perfectly matched with my interests. I don't like stock shoujo because I'm not interested in pure drama. However, I really like it when other stuff like action and comedy is mixed with the real relationship progress that shoujo provides, as opposed to shounen, where the dudes are regularly denser than tungsten or impotent harem leads.

Knights of Sidonia - Actually I'm kind of divided between this and Hitsugi no Chaika. I'll go with Sidonia because it seems like a more solid packet, despite the graphics. Chaika's title character was a bit annoying and the story quite meandering, as good as it was otherwise. Sidonia gave a good, solid military story that was easily ruthless, deadly, and cold enough to be believable, which is not given in nearly all series that are supposed to tell about battles. It was also nice to not know where the story might be heading.

[KrayZ33]

No.1 Hitsugi no Chaika - the show was good overall, I liked every episode of it and the fights were pretty cool. MC isn't overpowered and its nice to see him struggle...the ending was really satisfying too. Can't wait for the next Season

No.2 No Game No Life - the games were fun to watch, thats all it needed to be and it succeeded doing it

Didn't really care much for the rest (unless I forgot something) but I'd say Ryuugajoi Nanana no Maizoukin was okay.

[MFauli]

1.) Barakamon

2.) Sword Art Online S2

3.) Aldnoah Zero

Really crappy season, and surpsringly so. Other than my number #1, I had to chose these top 3 due to a lack of better alternatives (Althought I just started watching Person 4 Golden, now that I finished the game. Could take a spot). This is the season of wasted potential and missed opportunities. Tokyo Ghoul, Tokyo ESP and Zankyou no Terror all had a promising premise and a captivating first episode. But neither managed to hold up to that promise. Ghoul had no character development. ESP couldn´t decide between a serious or younger audience-anime, and thus failed to leave any impact with all those people dying in almost every episode. And Terror just went nowhere and had not a single likable character - I kept watching, always expecting it to "start", but it never did.

As for my top 3, well, Barakamon was truly enjoyable. Was looking forward to every episode. It was fun, without devolving into the goofy, but still had lots of emotion. Only thing I´d have loved to see is the hero starting a romantic relationship with one of the two girls - come on. SAO 2, well, watching it for production values. WHEN there is action, it´s awesome to watch. Downside: The moment you start thinking while watching, it turns into laughable shit, revealing a most inept author/script writer. Truly embarrassing stuff. Aldnoah Zero had awesome Hiroyuki Sawano-music and somewhat okay animations. But the main character is a hate-inducing prodigy brat, and prodigy only because everybody around him is stupid, despite having way more experience.

As with last season, I only included new series (or such that had a clear break, like SAO). Otherwise, HXH would have been number one, Baby Steps number 2.

[shinta|hikari]

The shows aren't over, but my choices are pretty much set so here goes.

1) Barakamon - Very well written. The characters are all interesting, real, yet wacky enough to be engaging. I love the VA for the protagonist. I expected him to be the usual prude, but he turned out much nicer and open-minded than expected. I could relate to his struggles and felt emotional when he did. And no, Naru is too young a loli to influence my rating.

2) Sabagebu - I watched the first episode and felt that this was trash. Then I watched the golden 2nd episode, and this immediately became a favorite. Each episode had random gags and jokes that made my side split. Definitely the dark horse for this season. Momoka is the best comedy female protagonist ever.

3) Aldnoah Zero - Have not seen the conclusion yet, and this will continue in 2015, but the story and delivery has been really good so far. I love the art style. Inaho is Lelouch and Suzaku combined, which is a good thing for me who loves badass protagonists.

Special Mention: Nobunaga Concerto - One of the best Nobunaga story versions in anime. The art is pretty simplistic, but the story is really well done. All the characters are interesting, despite being realistic enough to fit the era. The reactions of the protagonist after being thrown to the Sengoku age were hilarious.

EDIT: @Mfauli - I think this top 3 thread was dedicated to shows that finished during that season, not started. Aldnoah should count because it is split into 2 seasons, like Log Horizon and Chaika were. And relax, it's just a comment from some random individual. Trying to find out his/her identity using mods is overkill.

[MFauli]

Due to a lack of quality NEW anime this past season, I´ll make an actual top 3. Otherwise, Assassination Classroom would be #1 by default victory, lol.

1.) Gundam Build Fighters Try

I wrote this repeatedly and I´ll do it again: This season absolutely blew the first one out of the water. Season 1 had some obvious advantages, the two biggest being the mystery characters (Reiji, Aila) and the 1 on 1-battles. The latter wouldn´t have been as much a problem if only our new heroes had used some real team-based strategy ... but every single battle starts with them flying next to each other, waiting to be attacked. I mean ... sigh. So much for team play. Anyway, the rest was amazing. Maybe the most surprising praise needs to go to this season´s soundtrack. Extremely captivating, heart rate-pumping, and sometimes simply beautiful. The visual presentation of most of the battles was so much better than in the first season, too. Even side-battles like when they first met Yuuma´s builder rival, turned out to be exciting. The direct continuation of the first season made this one more interesting, too. Now we just need a third season to have all this setup lead somewhere. Show us the world tournament, show us Sekai, Yori, Kawaguchi and Reiji fight it all out between each other!

Bonus point for continuously featuring the hottest girls. Seriously, for an anime that´s obviously targeted at a younger audience, the level of hotness/sex appeal in this show is ridiculous. I dont even want to think of a hypothetical return of Rinko in a hypothetical season 3. :>

2.) Parasyte

I´m not in the knowledge if that story is actually over. If it is, the ending is somewhat disappointing. Disappointing in that it just stops. Because, admittedly, it´s a good point in time to end it. The biggest threats have been neutralized, the hero has reached his own conclusion, and Migi said goodbye. If it was in my power, Id love to see how Shinichi reveals his situation to his girlfriend. Id like to see how the other parasytes further evolve within human society. THat´d be really interesting. But if that´s it, that´s okay, too.

3.) Ace of Diamond

It´s nothing special and I´m annoyed that Sawamura just seems to keep himself from ever becoming the hero ... that he should be, since the series clearly focused on him in the beginning and even now features him slightly more prominently than other characters. But right now it feels as if a single hit from an opponent batter could send him into deep depression again. Meh. Still, production value and animation is more than solid and I enjoy watching most of the players. Kuromochi is one of my favorites, really likable, dependable guy. Best of all, the next season is already confirmed. Yay!

[MasterOfMoogles]

So this is shows running/ending in Winter 2015?

This is probably the list of contenders, I would say:
Aldnoah Zero
Cross Ange
Death Parade
Parasyte
Shirobako
Seven Deadly Sins

I'd have to give the awards to:
#1 Shirobako
This show did everything right.
A great inside look at the anime industry with some funny meta-commentary.
Well-animated and with a fun cast of characters, Shirobako delivered right up to the end.

#2 Parasyte
A somewhat frustrating show to watch given the main character, but the world and situation is very compelling and there's a lot of edge-of-your-seat action where you just want to see how it turns out next.
Migi was fantastic (voiced by Aya Hirano aka. Haruhi) in her role and pulled off the super-intelligent/logical creature very well.
The show gets a little heavy-handed with the philosophical themes at the end, but can be forgiven due to the awesome, well-animated journey to get there.

#3 Cross Ange
Over the top and very self-aware, Cross Ange delivers exactly what it promises.
I haven't caught the last episode just yet, so hopefully it ends well, but at this point, it has been quite a ride.
The biggest problem with this show is that they perhaps spoil too much right off the bat with a flash forward and then the OP. It would have worked a lot better if they just told the story straight up.
If you like fabulous train wrecks in your mecha anime, then this is definitely for you.
Also, don't miss the hilarious next episode previews.

Honorable mentions this season go to:
JoJo - for being amazing
Yurikuma - for being ridiculous
Absolute Duo - for a pretty cool OP (gotta watch the real version that started in episode 3)
Death Parade - for another pretty good OP
Garo - for actually having cool battles, and for having a really neat OP 1
Gundam Reconguista - for being impossible to understand what is going on
Seven Deadly Sins - everyone's favorite giant girl
Aldnoah Zero - for being interesting but crapping out at the end
Saenai Kanojo - for the main character (voiced by Kirito) having figurines of the SAO cast in his room (and 2 for Asuna)
Dog Days season 3 - for delivering exactly what they promise, for the third time

[shinta|hikari]

You didn't watch Shigatsu?

1) Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso - Music, drama, and tears. And waki.
2) Shirobako - Must watch for real anime fans, especially those involved on the creative side.
3) Maria the Virgin Witch/Cross Ange (tie) - Haven't seen the ending for both.

Fafner would definitely be here, but it continues so it goes into the next season's top 3.

[MasterOfMoogles]

I thought Shigatsu was really bad.
The dialogue was so ridiculous/forced. I could never imagine anyone saying some of the lines in this show in real life.
The "lie" was dumb. Watari was pointless as a character.
A+ for music, though.

[Ryllharu]

Winter 2015

Death Parade - What sets this series apart from the rest of the season was its execution. It has a lot of ambiguity within it, and let's face it, that starts arguments. It is quite rare that the episodes leave you with only a single interpretation of the events, and that is frequently highlighted by the characters questioning what they're witnessing. It's rare these days for a series to not blatantly tell the viewers precisely how they're meant to interpret things, and this series succeeded with a phenomenal guest cast, a strong main cast, and excellent animation.

The Rolling Girls - I'd never think that a series about background characters could be so entertaining. TRG follows four girls who go on a journey to fill in for their injured leader and broker peace throughout the bizarre alternate Japan, segmented by city-states with rules and laws that are inspired by what they're best known for. What makes it special is that wherever the main characters went, they managed to stay background characters in other people's stories. Coupled with moronic (but entertaining) characters wherever they go, some great over-the-top fight animations, and watercolor backgrounds, this series turned out to be the surprise hit of the season for me. Should I also mention that it is an original work by the studio who worked on Attack on Titan, but with Gin no Saji's director? The under-appreciated gem of the season.

DRRR x2 (round 1) - While the middle was a bit dull, and it seemed as if the focus was on some of the most boring members of the enormous cast, DRRR's return after five years was still well worth it. The introduction episode manages to bring the viewers up to speed in a way that I've never seen another anime do as smoothly or comprehensively, and overall the series reaches new heights. New characters that bring the truly crazy, conspiracies and organizations viewers didn't know about gain some prominence, and the best part is the viewers are only left wanting more. It's hard to juggle a set of characters this large and still flow and make sense.
And that ending. Can't wait for the next cour.


Honorable Mention: Parasyte for being one the best adaptations in years. I'd probably rank it higher if I hadn't read it previously. It shouldn't be a strike against a series for matching the source material so well, but I feel like I can't list it in the top 3 for me this season because it felt so much the same as the manga.

[David75]

Cross Ange, cause you gotta love all the accidental face on clit scenes...
Gotta love some scenes, like that nobody being headshot properly and immediately forgotten 3 or 4 eps ago.

[neflight86]

1. Death Parade: Powerful. Gripping. Moving.

2. Shirobako: Best feel good show I've seen in years because of the developed cast. Highly recommended.

3. Nanatsu no taizai: Break neck paced shounen with DBZ power scaling and just enough character to be its own thing. Good fun all around.

[MFauli]

EDIT: REAL top3 in next posting :P


1.) GATE: Jietai Kanochi Nite - I mentioned a lot of disappointment about this anime in its topic, but the overlying concept is still so interesting that it was my most looked forward to anime of the whole week. There´s so much potential, but so much mishandling. I hope the story can manage to find drastically needed focus when this show returns. And ffs, have Itami bang Rory.

2.) Ore Monogatari - Another anime that´s story went nowhere. But its characters ensured an enjoyable time. For as much as I´d like to see how Sunagawa finds a gf, how the rest of Takeo´s friends get gfs, I don´t see any room left for the main pair to develop in an interesting way. Sure, sex, marriage, babies, etc., but that´s not exactly exciting. And I also don´t want to see silly drama like splitting up et al.

3.) Dragon Ball Super - Extremely shitty music, but damn, canon DB finally continues! We´re now at the end of the movie re-telling, so I´m excited to see the new stuff. Hope they can capture the feeling of danger and despair that the original DBZ had.

[MasterOfMoogles]

I'm going to give 4, because I think they all deserve a mention.

1.) Prison School - Outrageous cast of characters, outrageous situations. Easily competes for best comedy ever. Fantastic voice casting. When they talk about "serious comedy" in Bakuman, this is it.

2.) GATE - Interesting concept, fun characters with Rory and Lelei. I really enjoy watching the cross-culture exchange and extremely weird politics between Japan and the fantasy world.

3.) Symphogear GX - If you like battle heavy magical girls and are not watching Symphogear, you're missing out. This season started with a bang, perhaps the best episode 1 of any show this season. They continued to deliver up until a couple episodes ago where the writing took a bit of a nosedive. I'm hoping they can save it with the finale, but at least the singing and battles are still awesome.

4.) Rokka no Yuusha - While I can't say the mystery was completely satisfying, Rokka entertained throughout all of its episodes and kept a nice pace of action and mystery combined with mostly good animation. It definitely left me wanting to see more of Adlet and crew.

Honorable Mentions: Overlord, Shimoneta (OMG, craziest character ever in this show), Sore ga Seiyuu,

[Kraco]

Overlord - The main character is a bloody badass Skeletor leading a host of monsters. To be honest I can't immediately remember any other show with a setting quite like that. It's a nice and fresh approach to the stuck in a game world setting after the likes of SAO.

Akagami no Shirayukihime - The manga is one of my favourites and the anime adaptation was successful. A very slow and peaceful story, but I appreciate fantasy shoujo adventure genre wise, so it clicks well for me personally. Shirayuki is just so super cute as well.

Gate - I wondered if I should list this or Classroom Crisis. If Classroom had had a better ending, it might have been here instead. But to be honest I was looking more forward to Gate during the weeks. It's a hilarious show with its nationalism that simply can't be taken seriously. The cast was varied with some jolly personalities. Mixing modern times with a fantasy world happens every now and then in fiction, and it's challenging, but this show isn't half bad as far as that goes.

[Ryllharu]

In no particular order:

Rokka no Yuusha: While I certainly have problems with the overall plotline, being a Locked Room Mystery of the worst kind, and the series was a little bit dragged out at times, this was definitely a must watch for the season. Good animation, excellent character design (with one exception at the very end), entertaining battles, and just brainy enough to get a viewer really engaged with the series. The CG remarkably manages to not feel out of place by having it appear frequently and with the main cast, instead of cutting to some other view.

Non Non Biyori Repeat: It's like a store-bought cake. You know what to expect out of it, it's got a lot of stuff on it or in it, and while it won't disappoint you, it's not really going to surprise you either. But that's not a bad thing because it is so satisfying and well accomplished. The recurring gags are funny, the characters excellent, the backgrounds beautiful, and other moments make you feel warm and fuzzy inside. There are other "heartwarming" slice of life shows out there, which often get bogged down with "gentle" (read: incredibly slow) pacing, but not so with Non Non Biyori, it's wonderfully paced, with the slow moments coming it at exactly the right points but without going on too long. Non Non Biyori manages to make the seemingly very boring countryside very entertaining.

Monster Musume no Iru Nichijou: Is it an niche fetish harem ecchi show? Absolutely. Is it much better than you thought it would be? Very much so.
Why you should give this show a shot is about how well it is crafted underneath the veil of a niche fetish ecchi show. Ecchi shows are almost always full of bland stereotypes, clichés, and one-dimensional characters, all centered around a beta male who gets helplessly dragged from one scenario to the next. Monmusu seems like it is exactly that kind of show, and if you don't stop to think about it, it feels that way too. But what Monmusu manages to do is surpass the formula it deliberately went for. While the male lead does get dragged into things, it is at his own choosing and resolved with his own capabilities. Deceptively, he's really an alpha male character. The girls have a surprisingly depth to them. They play up the stereotypes, while consistently showing another side. The birdbrain harpy who is remarkably motherly. The jealous, predatory lamia who...wait the series didn't get that far yet.
Excellent voice cast, fun plots, surprising character depth, and a male harem lead that is never passive to the shit he gets dragged into and maintains his composure in scenarios that all but the most alpha male characters would falter. You might want to wait for the blurays though.

Honarable Mentions: Symphogear GX, Overlord, GATE, Shokugeki no Souma.

[shinta|hikari]

Classroom Crisis - Well-rounded story with a nice harem end.
Charlotte - If you come in expecting compressed drama, you'll be satisfied.
Overlord - As opposed to Gate, this just got better as it progressed.

Honorable Mentions:
Himouto. Moe~
Jitsu wa watashi wa - Cute shounen harem romance with a very nice BGM at the right moments.

[neflight86]

1. Baby Steps S2 2nd half: There are some anime I watch leaning forward. This is one of them. Excellent technical matches and perfect pacing cement this as one of my favorite sports anime.

2. Prison School: The hilarity was weapons-grade; theoretically.

3. Joukamachi no Dandelion: This beat out Overlord on the sole merit of being a complete story, but I enjoyed both roughly equally.

[MFauli]

Ok, lol, I have to make a re-done Top 3 now that I´ve watched some more :P I´ll also do away with my rule of only mentioning new anime franchises:

1.) Overlord - Only discovered that a few days ago, now all caught up. Season 2 gotta come! Best realized, most fun MMORPG-anime. It just keeps getting better, no filler episodes at all. Great characters, great setup of things, and good hero, albeit a little gay atm.

2.) Baby Steps - I´ll miss this one the most ... for now, as I hope. Always had me looking forward to Sunday. There´s just something about sports anime that´s really drawing me in, especially if they´re, ya know, good. The pace can be a bit slow at times, and the results of matches aren´t always what I d like to happen, but still, it´s super fun watching Maruo progress.

3.) Shokugeki no Soma - VERY bad first episodes, focusing on shitty ecchi stuff. But it turned itself around. I´m not sure it´s actually that great of a show, but it also had me looking forward to it each week, waiting to find out what dish Soma-kun cooks next. Sucks that he´s set on Erina-bitch, because Tadokoro is girl #1.

Honorable mentions: GATE: Jietei no Kanochi Nite (unrealized potential), Ace of Diamond (it´s still fun watching, but the series lacks highlights. Game after game keeps happening, but there´s no real tension any more), Dragon Ball Super (shitty music ruined the most epic moment, but I guess it´s only the start now)

[Munsu]

Summer 2015

1. Rokka no Yuusha - A bit up and down with the pacing and the mystery aspects, I really like the world, the animation, and action. I liked most of the characters in all honesty, and overall good production values. I hope we can get more in the future.

2. Overlord - The series I enjoyed the most this season. At time ultra violent, and it was extremely fun. Awesome characters all around. An arc there that got a bit too slow, but Nabe and Ainz made the journey worth watching... and all the buffing.

3. Classroom Crisis - Not a real standout, but had a lot more to offer than what it initially portrayed itself as. A good story from start to finish, and a very nice ending that is more satisfactory than 90% of what's found there... and certainly the most satisfactory ending of this season.

Honorable mentions:

Gangsta - abrupt ending (particularly I assume because of Manglobe bankruptcy) and messy story prevents it from being considered. I love Nic and the action, and that's usually good enough for me, but not this time.

Gate: Jieitai Kanochi nite, Kaku Tatakaeri- certainly would've made the list among the top ones, but since it's getting a continuation in January, I'll save reserve judgement until then.

God Eater - I think this anime is better than most would give it credit for, and I know the CG puts some people off it. Seems like ufotable has had some problems with keeping their schedules, so it hasn't finished yet. As it is, it seems like it's doomed to an incomplete and unsatisfactory ending. It's been an unbalanced series so far also, but I think it's been better than most reactions I've seen around for it.

[Munsu]

While we're at it, any lists for Spring 2015?

[MasterOfMoogles]

Spring 2015

1) Unlimited Blade Works part 2 - You know what you're in for if you got this far.
2) Hibike Euphonium - Very nicely animated band club, complete with drama and some fun characters.
3) Knights of Sidonia part 2 - You may have watched the awesome sci-fi mecha from part 1, but part 2 is the best because of Tsugumi.

Pretty slim pickings, really. The only other good shows were really Dungeon no Deai, Niseoki, Shokugeki, Yahari, and Yamada.
Arslan started this season too, which was good. I wouldn't recommend anything else from Spring.

[Ryllharu]

Spring 2015

Hibike Euphonium - Very nicely animated series, but the standout is the characters. From the rather nasty attitude of the lead character, the very focused and mature demeanor of the 'prodigies', to the saintly good natured club president...and everything in between. As far as character driven dramedies go, this one is rooted it a lot more natural personalities. Well written, well animated, and some really nice music pieces in there too.

Dungeon ni Deai o Motomeru no wa Machigatte Iru Darouka: Familia Myth (aka Danmachi) - Quality humor, serviceable plot, but why this stands out is that this definitely had the best action sequences the entire season, which is quite odd when you think about it because...

Honorable mention:
Unlimited Blade Works part 2 - This series really dropped the ball from its first half in terms of well animated action sequences. It also suffers from very bad pacing. I honestly wouldn't even put this as a third series on the list since the Spring season was exceptionally poor, but it makes up for some very nice voice acting and good dramatic scenes. No surprises here if you're familiar with the game.

Note: I don't officially list a third series because it was a bad season. Quite the step down from the season preceding it.

[MFauli]

Boku dake ga inai Machi
Pretty much the go-to anime last season. Started strong, succeeded in making me feel both anxious and happy at times, and ended okay-ish. The twist was rather lame and the lack of an explanation for the supernatural abilities are annoying. This could have been better as a 2 cour-anime, fleshing out the childhood parts, maybe featuring several more jumps back and forth, interacting with the adult versions of Satoru´s friends and seeing how they change with everything Satoru changes in the past. Still, a high quality, emotional drama.

Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans
I´m not yet done with it, but it has grabbed me so hard, it´s incredible. The show does an exceptional job at building up characters, even the smallest ones (quite literally). Instead of having a crew of faceless no-names, everybody is a unique person, as if truly existing. Thus, the feeling of danger is upped, because no matter who bites the dust, it´s tragic. The action is good, the fights so far a balanced, the hero isn´t an overwhelming force. Sure, he eventually prevails, but it´s never like "here´s the superior Gundam, now I shoot my special weapon and you´re dead". There´s always a real fight going on. Orga is a great character, and this show even has a competent fat guy. Special mention needs to go to the music. The opening is great, but what´s fantastic is how at the end of every episode, the ending music slowly fades in, akin to Hunter X Hunter 2011. Makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside every time.

Gintama
The last two arcs were great. Not only is Gintama the best comedy anime, it also excels when it decides to be serious. Unfortunately, due to a studio change, the animation quality wasn´t up to par with the amazing contents, which was a real bummer. Still, having a whole brigade of Yato attack at once is a breathtaking moment to behold ... even though they weren´t as strong as I expected them tobe. After well over 300 episodes, this is an anime that keeps deserving to be watched.

[Ryllharu]

Winter 2016

Boku dake ga inai Machi - A solid mystery series. Great characters you can get attached to, consistent continuity. The only downside is it never really gave me that "tug" feeling. It's a drama as much as it is a mystery, and there's never really a point that the series grabs you by the guts and twists and you feel a physical ache. At least for me.

Oshiete! Galko-chan - This is an 8-minute gag series, but damn does it do a flawless job. From the gentle-voiced narrator (http://anidb.net/perl-bin/animedb.pl?show=creator&creatorid=10) up through the main cast, perfectly done. There's episodes that will make you chuckle, there's episodes that will get you all misty-eyed. Its main conceit that there's a gyaru (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gyaru)-type girl who is utterly unlike the stereotype she exhibits holds up from start to finish. A series that never bothers to name a single character (all nicknames) while presenting the overall message that one should never judge another by their outward appearance. It's funny, it's sweet, it's endearing, and never failed to at least make me smile. Galko-chan might be the new Empress of gap moe.

Koukaku no Pandora: Ghost Urn - This is the happy and energetic version of Ghost in the Shell. It has plenty of references to its inspiration for the fans out there, but overall, it takes the same premise, but puts a more optimistic spin to full-body cyborgs and androids that develop their own ghosts (sentience for non-fans). It's silly, even stupid at times, relying on plenty of jokes. But there's some serious depth to this series when you take a step back. Its best feature is that it takes the same explorations as a lot of cyberpunk series, but either parodies them, or shows the positive outcome instead of the bleak one. There's plenty of hints throughout the series that the world outside isn't anywhere near as rosy as what is shown in the series (quite the contrary), but they push it aside to take a brighter look at things. The 'twist' in the final episode is also worth it. Pays off completely. Downside? The art certainly sucks.

[shinta|hikari]

1) Iron Blooded Orphans - By far my favorite. If I wrote a Gundam show, it'd turn out like this.
2) Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu - Seinen story about Rakugo. Very classy. Rich characters. Simple but engaging story that spans years.
3) Boku dake ga Inai Machi - Weak middle but strong start and finish. This is pretty weak as a mystery due to the obvious culprit and dumb protagonist, but it was a fairly good drama with lots of attention to detail.

Honorable Mention:
Konosuba - Would have beaten one of those on top if it had decent art. Instead, we got scribbles. Lalatina looks hideous 90% of the time.

EDIT: Ajin was a good contender too, but it hasn't finished yet and the 3D is crap. The story and characters are a cut above, though.

[neflight86]

3) Boku dake ga Inai Machi - Sidetracked from the mystery by a feel good sub-plot, but still delivered on a fun, light, complete story.

2) Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku Wo! - A serviceable comedy that... served comedy. Well done and fun.

1) Hai to Gensou no Grimgar - Slow or not, it would be she show I looked forward to the most each week this season.

Honorable mention to Schwarzesmarken for being the best muv-luv anime (clearing a very low bar) yet.

[neflight86]

3. Bakuon - Planted firmly in the 'cute girls doing xxx' category, I found the comedy hit more often than not for me. Enjoyable cast and art cuter than the modest seeming budget would have me believe.

2. Sansha Sanyou - I must have been in the mood for these shows this season, because this has even less substance than Bakuon, but I enjoyed it even more. Above average animation and excellent 'black hole' character brought this in at number 2.

1. Boku Hero Academia - Not much competition, as shounen is my overall favorite genre of anime, and this one delivered. Both an excellent cour and creation of a franchise.

*I do not include ongoing series like Jojo or Re: Zero in consideration until they end.

And now, my special awards for spring 2016.

"Best Op": Kiznaiver - Surprisingly, it did what most Ops never can. Every time I watched it, it actually got me in the mood to watch Kiznaiver. Catchy and well produced. Without it, I probably wouldn't have made it past episode 1.

The "Shame on me" award: Joker Game - Something about the story telling in this one was so dry, yet I feel ashamed for not finishing it. After all, one chief complaint about anime is its reliance on formulaic settings to pander to the widest otaku crowd for post air blu ray sales. One is made about espionage in an oft neglected time period (in anime), and I find it boring and dreary after 10 episodes. Shame on me.

The "Train Wreck" award: Mayoiga - For all of the suspense this one built, it did not cash any in for meaningful payoff. we are left with a generally un-fulfilling conclusion to what could have been a campy slasher-thon along the lines of "Another". Similar to "Charlotte", I was expecting something different from the tone the first episode set than what was delivered.

The "Bridge" award: Haifuri - Mostly enjoyed the naval tactics depicted in the sea battles, so this one inspired me to try out Girls und Panzer.

[MFauli]

1.) Re Zero

Tbh this past season was generally disappointing. Which is why I feel the need to say that Re Zero was good, but it had some stinkers, too. Moreover, the series is at a crossroad and we´ll see what happens from there.

2.) Neto Ge

It´s not a must-see, god beware. But I jolly enjoyed the story. My only wish is that Rusian makes his intentions clear regarding Ako. It still feels as if she see their relationship as something superficial, something tied to the MMORPG. I want Rusian to get her to acknowledge a real life-relationship and I want them to finally kiss (at least. Come on, she was offering her virginity, kneeling naked in front of him, already!!!)

3.) Jojo

I´m not a fan of the "monster of the week"-style that was introduced with Diamond Dust. But it´s now starting to get good.


Biggest disappointment of the season by far: Kabaneri no Koutetsujou. Great animation, great production value ... and a boring story, boring enemies and flat characters. Ugh. It´s sad all around.

[Ryllharu]

As usual, the intent of this thread is to discuss finished series.

Spring 2016

Bakuon - While it looks like a "cute girls involved in xxx activity," series, it is perhaps more accurately described as, "idiot girls doing funny things." This was really a surprise comedy hit for me. The gags are accessible despite the highly-specific subject area because they're set up so well and pay off so cleanly. This isn't generic slapstick comedy set to the backdrop of a school band, it's actual motorcycle otaku humor. It ends up being a bit more of a Genshiken than a K-ON, though I may be giving it a little bit too much credit. The character designs are pretty good (big fan of puffy hair's retro design, same with her father).

Flying Witch - Excellent slice of life. This series has a bluntness to it, where the fantastical world the witches live in is also surprisingly mundane. It's magic, but it's relaxed and understated most of the time. It's a very calming series to wind down to while watching. Love the voice cast, and the design captured the manga well.

Kuma Miko - It was a cute gag series with an absurd premise. A touching story of friendship and co-dependence between a young girl and a bear. Loved the watercolor backgrounds.

[Kraco]

It was such a lackluster season that I'm unable to enter more than two series. I don't want to put the rest in the same sentence with the word Top, not even in a relative manner.

Flying Witch - An all-around wholesome package with diverse and good characters. A splendid example of a successful slice of life series.

Tanaka-kun wa Itsumo Kedaruge - The most lethargic slice of life ever. A perfect thing to represent as lethargic a season as this spring season was.

[shinta|hikari]

Kuma Miko - Loli getting harassed for comedy. Perfect.

Flying Witch - The funniest, well-animated slice of life I've ever seen. It reminds me of ARIA, which I love, only without the super boring parts. The cooking parts are better executed than actual cooking shows (Souma, I'm looking at you).

Boku no Hero Academia - This counts because the upcoming cour is another season. Though it has the flaws of most shounen stories, this one is executed very well and has one of the best soundtracks for a hero show ever made.

Honorable Mention:
Sakamoto Desu Ga - Some parts were comedy gold, while some just made no sense whatsoever. If only the good parts were included, this would've made it to the top 3.

Kiznaiver - If it weren't for the ridiculous premise, this would've been a great romance drama love quadrangle that actually wraps up well.

Macross Waki - For obvious reasons.

[David75]

1) Tanaka kun is always listless
Very calm and nice anime. Watching ep 1 I thought I would discard it. But the mood grew on me and I liked the kind of humor and scenes shown. I can't say I understood all gags or liked them, but it did pretty well to entertain me. Pretty sure that one is under everyone's radar.

2) Nijiiro Days
Basic animation, 13 minutes eps... I usually never watch such a show. But I did nevertheless because the storytelling was much better than your average teenage love anime.

3) Haifuri
Mainly for the 5 first eps. Despite many flaws, for some reason I like the action and kept watching for more.

[neflight86]

Summer 2016:

3. Saiki Kusuo: Good gags are good to me. Machine gun punchlines got me laughing and wanting more, while the mini-episode compilation format kept it from focusing on any one thing for too long (looking at you, Sakamoto).

2. Re: Zero: I feel the middle was stronger than the end (if painful to watch), and there is no closure in sight, but I still eagerly awaited it every week. Hope for more but am satisfied with what we have.

1. Mob Psycho 100: More good One shounen. Just what I wanted it to be, and with great animation to offset the simplistic art.

This season's special awards:

The "I can't believe its not Anime" award goes to Thunderbolt Fantasy. Anticipation wise, this was on par with Mob Psycho, but is not technically anime so could not place, but it was very worth watching.

Best "Cute girls doing xxx" award goes to New Game!, for depicting a surprisingly strict workplace in a fluff show. No industry insider commentary here, but still a good watch if this genre's your thing.

"Most crummy animation": 91 Days. So sad this mob tale didn't get a little more TLC on its animation, because I cringed 1/3 of the running time past the first episode. Yeah, it's shallow, but Anime, as a visual medium, draws me in with the art. What was on display here was lacking.

"Favorite Voice of the season": goes to Kono Bijutsubu ni wa Mondai ga Aru! For some reason, Usami's voice had a surprisingly pleasant 'strain' to it as she talked and got excited. Not being a speaker of the language, it is special for me to notice a trait like that and think "thats cute".

The "Golden Toilet" award is hereby presented to Taboo Tattoo. I dodged Big Order last season just to get stuck watching this as if I came out ahead... We cant win 'em all, but this had all of the hallmarks of a mediocre show: wierd animation, attitude to spare, 'fluid logic' in how the superpowers worked, introducing and killing off characters to no emotional effect, and of course a kaijuu battle at the end. Flush.

**Edit: 10/4 Apparently, Saiki isn't over yet. Sorry for the confusion.

[shinta|hikari]

1) Alderamin - Awesome show. Decently adapted. Loved all the characters and most of the tactics. Wolf teamwork was it's lowest.
2) Re Life - Solid overall. Consistent art, lovable characters. Emotionless female lead FTW.
3) Hitori no Shita - Just because Houhou. See 2.

Consolation: Kuromukuro. It lost steam for me because I stopped midway, but it had really great art and a solid story. Great battles too. Now if only the MC got together with the kuudere version of the heroine, or the kuudere loli. Tsunderes are boring.

[MFauli]

1. Re Zero kara hajimaru isekai seikatsu

I will have to say that this isn´t even that great of an anime overall. What it managed masterfully is to make me look forward to each new episode week after week. It was always fun discussing episodes and trying to predict what happens. Combined with fantastic animation and music, as well as one the best female characters ever (talking about Rem, dickheads!), I vastly enjoyed this. Ofc the wait for more sucks enormously.

2.) Mob Psycho-100

Beginning episodes were mah mah, but the series took a huge leap for the better once Mob fought the blonde guy. Became really interesting in the end, especially now that Reigen awoke to psychic powers. And fuck the haters, I LOVE it when they do the "but there´s an even more dangerous organization in the shadows"-thing :P

3. Handa-kun

Hilarious. And you don´t need to have watched Barakamon at all. It´s funny seeing that calligraphy master as a weird teenager. But I couldn´t tell you in which order it´s funnier, first watching this one or first watching Barakamon. Both should work. The ridiculous scenes created by Handa´s false image about himself is so funny. The opening alone is always cracking me up when all the girls fall in love with him at a glimpse and all the boys are embarrassed because they find him so cool.

Now I wish I could´ve put this in the top3, but ... I cannot. Berserk 2016 managed to be somewaht entertaining in the end BECAUSE IT´S BERSERK. Despite how shitty animation was, despite how shitty music was and despite how rushed the story was, it turned out somewhat okay. Because that´s how fucking great Berserk IS. But my conscience won´t let me put this mess higher up. Do I think Berserk-fans should watch it? Yes, absolutely, because it´ll be a very long time before we´ll get a better version. Do I think non-Berserk-fans should watch it? Nah, it´ll probably leave you confused and irritate, asking yourself "huh, THIS is getting so much hype? ok ..."

DAYS is okay, but I´d be too embarrassed to watch it with other people. Tsukushi is too whiny of a main character. Back then, the much younger kids in Ganbare Kickers or Captain Tsubasa were such badasses. Jojo finally got good again with the arrival of a real villain. Amaama to Inazuma was nice, but it went nowhere. As is, you could show it to young adults as an education style series, teaching about cooking and caretaking of children. Personally, I want more plot progression.

[shinta|hikari]

Completely forgot about RE:Zero. Definitely belongs in the top 3 because of Rem and a few select episodes that were masterfully executed.

[MFauli]

And I forgot about ReLIFE. SEE THATS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU BATCHRELEASE A SERIES!!!1

[shinta|hikari]

Redoing my list after marathoning Active Raid S2:

1) Alderamin - For reasons stated.
2) Active Raid S2 - What a surprise. Fun show with great characters that really grow on you.
3) Re:Zero - For reasons stated.

Sorry Houhou and Hishiro. You two are great, but you couldn't carry your shows.

[Ryllharu]

In no particular alphabetical order:

Alderamin
Amaama to Inazuma
Amanchu

I don't really feel like elaborating this season, you either like the type of series these are or you don't.

[Kraco]

Alderamin - Fantasy adventure military with an intelligent MC. Difficult to go wrong with that.
Saiki Kusuo - Excellent comedy where good writing conquered an obviously low budget
Amaama to Inazuma - This might not be my favourite of the single dude needing to take care of a little girl stories, but it's still jolly.

Saiki Kusuo isn't actually finished yet, but it's 95% episodic, so it hardly matters.

[neflight86]

It’s that time again. This season took a little extra time to get through my small backlog to all the shows I actually finished.

3. Jojo – While an excellent series overall, I didn’t find Kira to be quite as engaging a bad guy as the infamous Dio, and the sort of arc around him felt like a bit of a mis-step. Still good, but the villain of the week format felt kind of forced this time around and a few story lines seemed to patter of quietly. Looking forward to part 5!

2. Shakunetsu no Takkyuu Musume – Cute girls do shounen sports right. Good animation, just the right weight of technical jargon and larger than life table tennis for my palate.

1. Saiki Kusuo – To be able to overcome a level of animation roughly similar to powerpoint in its quality and hit my top spot is the sign of comedic greatness. Every episode had one or more things I was audibly bemused by.

Special awards:

“Binge or Bust” award: Girlish Number
About half way through this saccharinely cynical tale of a little voice actress who couldn’t, and an industry that didn’t care, I just sort of stopped watching. I don’t know why. It may have been due to the lack of a grabbing climax or cliffhanger endings, but I felt ‘content’ with what I’d seen. Fast forward to after the show is over, and I was able to complete it in short order. I feel a story like this becomes more watchable when I know I can already see the next episode now, as little actually happens or changes per episode in a character driven piece like this. I’m glad I did, because it was ‘grounded great’.

“Deja Who?” Award: Shuumatsu no Izetta
Same story as Girlish, but I never got back to this one. After about four episodes, I felt like I’d seen this before, in another permutation. I’m sure I haven’t, but so many story elements are familiar that I had that epiphany where you imagine the ending of the series, and it’s not one you find particularly interesting.

“Fate filler” Award: Mahou Shoujo Ikusei Keikaku
Not a great show by my count, but it did employ the narrative trick of not being predictable in the journey to the forgone conclusion. I like when anime storylines surprise, and the details of how this death game played out make it worth the memory of having watched, if not the time to watch it itself.

“Goodbye Friend” Award: www.Working
Not as enjoyable as the original series, but definitely cut from the same stuff. More amusing than funny, this feels like watching an old show again.

“No one reads these, right?” Award: Keijo!!!!!!!!
Trashy trash. You’ll love it unless you hate it. Raises the bar for just how seriously something dumb can be taken for comedic effect.

[MFauli]

Ah, almost forgot. Let´s see what my top3 are:

1.) Ajin S2
Admittedly, I struggled a bit with middle part of season 1. I was intrigued by the premise of this show, but then I lost interest a bit when the hero just wandered around, getting nowhere seemingly. It wasn´t until the masterful finale of S1 that I was convinced of this show´s quality. And S2 has been on top of its game for almost every single episode. This anime continues to have one of the best villains I´ve ever seen in anime (and it´s only because of my #2 that I can´t say THE best). Proof that old characters can be more than stereotypcial wisemen or helpless sidecharacters. I strongly recommend NOT letting yourself get distracted by the CG-animation. Yes, it kinda sucks, but it´s detriment to this anime´s quality that it still ended up my #1.

2.) Jojo´s Bizarre Adventure: Diamonds don´t Break
I´m glad that Jojo exists. It´s rare to find to quality long-running anime-series these days. I wasn´t that happy with the whole "let´s travel the world"-arc before this one, and the first half of the latest arc was rather silly, too, with it´s monster-of-the-week style. But damn, the second half turned out great beyond my best hopes. When you read the name "Kira" in anime boards now, you can no longer be sure if it´s that great guy from Death Note or this one.
I guess what elevated Kira Yoshikage above most villains is that the author didn´t write him as a villain, but as a hero. Don´t get me wrong, Kira is no hero at all, he´s a sick bastard who murders women, cuts off their hands and keeps them with him. He feels no guilt at all about killing those in his way. And he´s sneaky as fuck. BUT: The way he manages to escape dangerous situations is akin to a typical shounen hero. Ya know, when a hero ends up in a hopeless situation and you´re left wondering "omg, how will he survive that?!". It´s the same with Kira. Except that he´s the big bad villain and not the hero :D Animation and music are typical Jojo-quality, the stupidity of the heroes got a 1-up, but still, very enjoyable to watch. A villain doesn´t always need to try conquering the world. Murdering women and carrying their cut off hands around is just enough ;>

3.) Yuuri! on Ice
This one sold me from listening to the fantastic opening song and the great animation. In terms of plot, it´s very nice to have a sports anime where A LOT of actual sports is happening. During the tournaments, you´ll see several performances in a single episode. I´m used to anime dragging stuff like this out to no end, but Yuuri never stalled it´s progression. On the critical side, I must admit that I´m not sure if I had watched this anime had I known how deep into yaoi-territory this would eventually venture. In the first couple episodes it´s about what you´d expect from a series about young men ice skating. A little awkward sexual innuendo here and there. But it kinda takes over at around half-point; lots of hugging, almost-kissing, exchanging rings, openly declaring love, and so on. As a ice skater, I´d be kinda upset about thise anime reinforcing stereotypes about ice skating being "homo" and such. But I´m not, so I still got to enjoy the ice skating performances.

Runner-Up: Udon no Kuni no Kiniro Kemari
I´m a sucker for these happy-sad slice of life anime with little children. This one was really sweet. It´s good that Poco isn´t real, because if he was, I´d hug him until the end of time :P Not spoil anything, but the ending kinda went into the direction that I feared it would from the beginning. It´s still good and all, I had just hoped that it wouldn´t follow that path. Oh well.

Biggest disappointment: Occultic;Nine
As somebody who loves Steins;Gate (just finished Zero on PSVita 100%) and likes Chaos;Head and Robotics;Notes, I had high hopes for this new series from the same author (right?). After watching ep1, I was delighted by the high quality animation and the super modern presentation. After ep2 I started worrying about the speed every characters speaks with. After ep3 I was bored, because the plot went nowhere.
I have NO idea what happened here, if this was planned that way by the author or if they needed 24 episodes but only got 12. The way everybody speaks SO fast is really tiring and not fun to follow at all. It also makes all characters unlikeable. There was a lot of craziness, but it never went into a direction that would make sense. The finale then felt rushed, as if they had to force everything together and end it.
I don´t know what more to say about this one. Just disappointment all around. Even worse than Durararara.

[Buffalobiian]

All my picks for the season just gone goes to sequels:

-Hibike Euphonium S2
-Haikyuu S3
-Natsume S5

Haikyuu + Natsume continue more of the same thing. You'll know if you like the show from the previous runs.

I caught up on Eupho after it was done since I wasn't particularly motivated to watch it. It turns out to be the best show of the season. Those who call this K-ON v2 are Trump-level ignorant. It's a drama show first and foremost. If you want a show to go somewhere, talk about relationships and drop the superpowers, watch it.

Also, there is no alternate reality.

[neflight86]

Without further ado, here is my top three from this season:

3. Gabriel Dropout – Fun little comedy slice of life. Actually didn’t like Gabriel (dunno if that was intentional), but Satania, as a cute character and voice, made up for it. Nice art and good gags.

2. Konosuba s2 – Though the cult joke ran a little long at the end of the season, there was plenty here to enjoy. This is one of those shows that has become popular to like, and for good reason. Funny gags, animation production that doesn’t take itself too serious, and a good voice group who’s delivery seems to gel with the general irreverent tone of the series creates a very cohesive whole that makes watching a joy.

1. Youjo Senki – Loli fascist won this season as the show most regularly anticipated. Story moved but did not travel, as is the course for so many anime today. Nice animation and sound design. Maybe there is more to come. One odd point I would like to address is the concept of “god” as portrayed here. In the translations I watched, the ethereal being (X) demanded for the major to have faith in him; not necessarily reverence or worship, which was achieved, as far as I can tell, in the second episode’s flashback. Yes, the main character says he does not believe in the god, but he behaves as though it (being X) is a real entity by specifically rebelling against it and even cursing it. If I say I don’t believe in something, I can’t go around cursing it or talking to it to prove as much. Acknowledging the being by responding to it and not assuming he himself was crazy is a demonstration of faith in the perception of this being. It just felt very disjointed, from a plot point, as if it were all a convenient excuse to bring real world history into a similar but different conflict.

Special awards (I now officially look more forward to this part each season):

“Most girly thriller” Acca 13: Political intrigue, by its low key nature, has the clear to be a relatively subtle affair, but when characters spend the better part of 6 episodes speculating with the unifying theme of ‘isn’t fresh bread tasty?’, I grow itchy for just a bit more bite. It’s hard to take such a serious theme of upending a peaceful country’s government and reconcile it over a narrative where government agents don’t even carry guns, as far as I can tell. Rioters don’t go to jail? Touchy-feely espionage, if you will.

“Nicest animation” Kobayashi Chi no Maid Dragon: Kyoto ani strikes again with cute character designs, consistent production, and an inane plot that is simply a vehicle for characters to interact. No harm, no foul, but not much to remember, either.

“Most Saccharine subversion of theme award” Demi-chan: Say what you will about the degenerates watching it, but at least Monster Girls knew exactly what it wanted to be and do. Demi-chan’s premise is quickly marginalized by likening the girls to simply being disabled. Seriously, an ice woman who can sweat some ice, maybe, sometimes? A vampire who wants to drink blood, unless there is one of many suitable substitutes is available? The tension from the premise itself is drained, as people would never even know about their powers if they weren’t for their “special needs” treatment. Lacking natural tension, the show shoehorns some in via… bullying? Perhaps it is a homogenous Japanese thing that people who are even a little bit different might be treated or reasonably fear being treated differently, in a negative way, for it, but I just can’t buy the drama here. I have a friend who lives with an actual disability, and to see a fully functional character cry over ‘maybe’ having a superpower just fell flat for me. It also feels weird that all of the girls are friends because of their demi-status. None of their ‘powers’ are similar, so why should they have any special bond (to be fair, the show explains their parents kind of banded up to offer support to each other)? My whining aside, still worth a watch, even if thematic elements rubbed me the wrong way.

“Would have been better with a death award” Fuuka: This didn’t stand out, as we’ve all seen this show before, in some form or forms. Normal boy is aimless, enter wild-spirited girl who gives him passion for *blank* and he decides he loves her as they pursue the thing together. Fuuka had the chance to be memorable by not giving the formulaic ending we got (in the original manga, apparently, she was hit by a truck as the band began to grow and died). This jarring change induced some uncomfortable adapting of the story toward the end to inject drama and conflict that just felt transparent. The good news is I’m sure I’ll forget all about this by the end of next season.

“Most Infuriating to watch award” Masamune-kun no Revenge: Oh, Masamune… I wish you had been hit by the truck along with Fuuka. I cannot comprehend relating to your plight. My logic muscles cramped each and every episode of this otherwise unambitious show. Masamune wants to make a girl with no redeeming qualities, who he already had dirt on (she eats like a refugee camp), fall in love with him to dump her as revenge because she called him a fatty years ago. This Masamune is a character who was created to support this premise, as I cannot fathom how a functioning human being could hold a lifestyle changing grudge over someone they knew for such a short period of time, and then come up with and commit to the most improbable revenge scheme. He actively stacks the deck against himself via his means and target, and, as far as I can tell, is only motivated to continue this idiotic scheme by his pride that is constantly treaded upon by being around this girl (who he willingly approaches) anyway. It’s sort of similar, in a way, to the “Vash the Stampede”, or “Ruroni Kenshin” dynamics where those characters had the means to solve most of their problems easily (kill their enemies), but chose to take the harder road by avoiding violence to uphold their convictions, but Masamune has no such reason to not use the kill switch for his revenge (his goal is simply to emotionally harm her) except for his worthless pride. I grind my teeth just thinking about it.

“Cutest Animation” Schoolgirl Strikers: Also tied with Ao no Exorcist for most catchy theme song, oddly enough, SS hooked me with a by the numbers take on magical girls saving the world from generic bad guys that they can only fight with some cute costumes on, or something. No real reason to watch this unless me telling you that the generic characters and costumes were still really cute and ‘glossy’ would make a difference.

“Cold Iron award” Ao no Exorcist: Five years ago I had some inkling of what was going on, and then there was a crazy filler grandpa, and now this series tells me to forget everything that happened after part of episode 16 of the original series- you know what? That sounds like a reboot opportunity. Do that next time so I don’t have to spend the first three episodes remembering everyone’s relationships or how annoying I thought the main character is, or how nonexistent the power scaling is in this show.

“Most Impressively Mediocre award” elDLIVE: There are some shows you can just watch one episode of and know that this is gonna be the lowest common denominator show you could watch. Mediocre really is the perfect word for this production. Plain animation, plain shounen story about space police that tries to do action, comedy and drama without excelling in a single one, plain normal characters, plain ‘wacky’ characters (how do you even do that?!?), plain fan-service, plain animation (it’s worth saying twice) and phoned in voice acting. There is just no reason to watch this if even anything else airing actually interests you.

“Most generic show” Chain Chronicle: This is distinct from “mediocre”, because it was well enough executed that I could forgive the mad-libs approach to storyboarding employed here. Apparently most of this was cobbled together from a series of movies about a tower defense game, Chain Chronicle had a good first few episodes that got me on board enough to ride it to the finish, when the story became more derivative with each passing episode. A few nicely animated cg fights in the first couple episodes might be worth a watch, even if the rest of the show is largely irrelevant.

“Worst protagonist award” A toss-up between Chuuta (elDLIVE), Masamune (Masamune), and Rin (Ao no exorcist), the least inspiring MC is… Chuuta. While Masamune is an idiot, he continues to pursue his goal, and Rin also finds his redemption (drawing the sword) eventually. Chuuta simply spends too much (screen) time being depressed and feeling sorry for himself. So much so that it actually hurts the pacing of an otherwise unremarkable show. Chuuta commits the ultimate crime of anime: he bored me with his repetitive and predictable ‘moments of doubt’. For that, he is this season’s wort offender of an MC.

Character most deserving of a better show: Chuuta’s fat ginger friend (I’m not looking up his name). This is the role model that Chuuta should be aspiring towards. Facing all of the same social stigma as Chuuta (not popular with girls or dudes), Fat Friend has an impeccable mindset. Kind to everyone, including the mega-loser that is Chuuta with no ulterior motives, I question if Chuuta saved him in episode one, or if he in fact saved Chuuta long ago by reaching out to him in friendship when no one else would. Even though he has ‘no chance’, he talks to girls, sets up events and gatherings, and approaches even odd alienoids as equals; as friends. If anyone deserves a talking phallic monitalien’s help, it’s this man. Oh, Chuuta’s aunt also deserves a better show, for the record.

[MFauli]

My Winter season Top3:

1.) Youjo-Senki:
The premise is absolutely absurd and before I even began watching I told myself: "This is gonna be either REALLY bad or REALLY good." I´m glad to be able to say, the latter was true.The character of Tanya Degurecheff is so nicely overplayed, it really makes you want to see her through this, as she deals with both the real world issues of a world word, as well as her battle against god that she strongly defies. Animation is superb and I loved the magi-tech. Let´s hope this gets a second seasons, anything else would be criminal!

2.) Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans Season 2:
The beginning of this second season was rather rough and it stayed like that for more episodes than I would have liked. Had to power through those. However, it really got great once "brother" got active, and then the rest of the season remained at that top level. Because it deserves special props: The ending was one of the best, most exciting and most satisfying ends I´ve ever seen in an anime. It felt like one of these old school JRPGs that show you a 1 hour-cutscene after beating the final boss, wrapping up EVERYTHING.

3.) Masamune-kun no Revenge:
It wasn´t as good as I had hoped, but that´s the same when I read some of the manga. Sill, I liked Makabe-kun, his attitude and how he kept getting closer to Akitsuki-chan. If I could choose, I´d want this to be a more serious story, where the main character truly wants to take revenge on his former bullies. But that´d be an entirely different anime. Here, Makabe´s conviction to revenge is more an attention grabber, but it quickly becomes more of a regular romance anime with a slight twist. Still, every episode was easy und fun to watch.

Special praise goes to Gintama, which had some really great fights. But it was a transitional arc. Guess next up is the finale of the series, so I hope to get it into my top3 that time.

Girl of the Season: Fuuka from "Fuuka". The anime itself imploded, also due to a crass plot change compared to the manga-version. But that episode at the beach with Fuuka swimming ... perfect body, perfect ass, AND blue hair. Yeah, it doesn´t get any more perfect, unless you get into a fantasy-setting and make her a catgirl, too. My proposal: All girls in the world should be required to color their hair blue. It makes me happier. :P

[Munsu]

Doing a bit of catching up:

Fall 2015

1. One Punch Man

2. Owari no Seraph: Nagoya Kessen-hen - I think in general Owari no Seraph had quite a bit going for it despite having massive flaws here and there, but in the end I enjoyed the heck out of it. I think it's way underrated.

Still need to watch Utawarerumono and Subete ga F ni Naru: The Perfect Insider to finish up my interest this season and finish the list.


Winter 2016


1a. Boku Dake ga Inai Machi - Not much to complain about. Nice beautiful story with some very good execution and production.

1b. Ajin - Awesome series with an interesting main character with a very interesting villain. Too bad about the CGI animation that keeps many away from giving it a legit shot.

Still have quite a few series I need to watch from this season, but Hai to Gensou no Grimgar is good enough placeholder for that 3rd spot for now.


Spring 2016

I have a lot of this particular season to watch, so going to refrain of making a list right now. I'll just say that Boku no Hero Academia, Kiznaiver, and Re: Zero Kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu are three series that have potential to be on the top 3.


Summer 2016

This one is particularly difficult, so going to list more than 3.

1a. Mob Psycho 100 - Same mangaka as One Punch Man, and it delivered plenty for me... though not as globally appealing as OPM was.

1b. Nejimaki Seirei Senki: Tenkyou no Alderamin - The two main characters are just awesome with some cool action to go with it.

2. ReLife - One of those series that I normally don't watch and completely surprised me how good it was. Hopefully the continuation next year doesn't ruing it. I'm skeptic.

3. 91 Days - Mob series which didn't pull any punches. It had plenty of highs as well as plenty of lows, but in the end it was one series I wanted to watch every week.


That's all I have for now, until I do some more catching-up.

[neflight86]

It's that time again!

Top 3 of Summer 2017:

3. Boku no Hero Academia Season 2: While the beginning and middle portions were more overall exciting than the ending transitional arc, Boku came through again, managing to be both hot-blooded and thoughtful; an ideal combination for shounen that can appeal to both sides without really compromising the shounen core values. You already know where you stand on this show.

2. Made in Abyss: A close second only really coming down to number one being a relatively complete story, Made in Abyss managed to be both beautiful and somber most episodes. Showcasing a dangerous frontier that did not harbor any sanctity for human life, but not apparently belligerent toward it either. I enjoyed the scenery and the mystery of the general deviance of the White whistle class of Cave Raiders. Often sad, but not melancholy; highly recommended.

1. Princess Principal: The opposite of a certain “award” below, Princess principal does all of the ‘not based on a manga/LN/NV’ things right with competent writing, good intrigue, and self-styled storytelling that crafts a stronger narrative than you might expect. Yes, you could argue that our moe-spies are poor spies, but I think in the framework of the show, they work marvelously and are actually elevated by the steampunk aesthetic. This is the closest thing I’ve seen to Read or Die in tone and I greatly enjoyed every episode; there were no outright duds. Open for more, but what we have is plenty enough as well, I highly recommend unless espionage performed by young girls (that can fight and defeat grown men) is just too derpy a pill to swallow.

Special awards
I watched entirely more anime this season than I typically do, hence this bloated special awards section.

The envelopes, please…

The “Got Robbed” suspect sketch goes to New Game!! Season 2. Most seasons this would have easily made top 3, but the competition was extra fierce this time around, making this a pleasant footnote in an above average season to me. Unfairly, this show also sports multiple ‘best girl’ candidates that make it easy to wish for a dubious third season. Simple but effective light drama with moe-overload. What’s not to like?

The “Standards are Real” break-up text goes to… Katsugeki/Touken Ranbu. The most post-processed anime of the season, doubtless brought to us by ufotable, this one immediately began to wear on me after the visual climax of the first episode. An evil half-time, half-CG army is trying to muck up the future by doing unhistorical things, so the god guys recruit weapons turned into people who know how to wield… themselves? Why would weapons care about history? Isn’t time travel inherently paradoxic-… nevermind. I just entered into edgy nit-pick mode when my issues with the show stem actually from how uninteresting the entire thing became. (Non)people standing around sharing dry, philosophical dialogue with personality rivaling the slabs of iron and steel they represent in between the generically choreographed fight scenes. I’m glad to feel like I won’t just watch a show because it is gorgeous.

“Double Derp” award presented to “Aho Girl”: Short form, and even shorter on common sense, this one crossed the language barrier with largely situational comedy that takes itself seriously when fully committing to the dumbest jokes. It got to me a lot. Slightly enhanced by the Main VA also playing the lead in Symphogear (crossover derp is meta funny).

The un-prestigious “Waste of Everyone’s Time” award is split between “Battle Girl High School”, and “Action Heroine Cheer Fruits”. About as toothless an entertainment can get, both shows set up meager perils one after the other for its girls to overcome with the power of… plot convenience. No tension felt, no deep characters, no competent fanservice, nothing ventured and nothing gained. Quickly forgetting this would be the most favorable outcome for anyone that watched it hoping for more.

The “I hate everything” award was burned in honor of “Chronos Ruler”. When you get to be as jaded as we are, you tend to go from black to red to… grey when presented with trashy shows. Unambitious titles become more of an eye rolling exercise (see above) in our lament of the ‘state of the industry’, and so on… But this trash made me feel kinda mad in its lazy bad-ness. The entire package here is just rote to the point of being patronizing. Do they (the producers) think we haven’t seen anime adaptations of light novels like this but better for the last five years that we still complain about not being very good or innovative? Is anything about this show supposed to be endearing or likeable? Are we supposed to just accept the revisionist power system, copy-paste characters, and done-to-death premise with nothing craftsman-like to make it palatable? Respect the audience, and we might give a show more of a chance than it deserves.

The “You mean ‘Seinen’ as in Berserk ‘Seinen’, right?” award was won by Nanamaru Sanbatsu. You can tell me this was written for older teens/young men, but I ain’t buying it. One cross dresser and a single panty shot do not elevate this about WSJ’s content filter (or any other young boy’s magazine), so the publication classification is confusing to me. About the show itself, it plays out like a serviceable ‘boy learns to become passionate and great at a thing: prologue’ show. No idea if it will be popular enough to get another season but what we got is digestible enough. Oddly, the show cheated in being able to hold my attention via fairly diverse trivia getting my “Jeapordy Senses” bubbling to answer some trivia along with the characters. I’ll also admit that I felt the ‘scales fall from my eyes’ as they explained the tactic of cutting the question at strategic points to guess the rest of the question so they could formulate an answer. I like twists like that; it's part of anime’s way of making anything more interesting.

The “Bucket bottom-out” award made a wet flop for “Koi to Uso”. Not being a great romantic, I’ll admit the series had a bit of a hurdle to overcome with me from the outset, but my issue was when the entire lynchpin of the drama of the story, the assertion that you must marry your assigned partner, was casually relegated to a ‘black mark’ on your record partway through the show. What?!? You just spent five episodes building up the bittersweet conflict of emotion versus the system, and now you tell me it won’t be tangibly enforced? Even if it was the author’s intent all along, I wish it had never been brought to the audience’s attention. Every time afterword, whenever main character McNiceGuyThatsActuallyJustADecentGuy fretted about his firstiest of first world problems, I got mild cringe-strokes. Trust me pal, the world of professional burial mound excavation isn’t so competitive that the rejection of your first wife candidate will really hurt your chances of becoming one (what a loser). Character designs were cute, but the whole thing felt frivolous, and the non-committal ending actually gave me hope that there won’t be a second season.

The “My trash, get your own!” trophy has been mailed to Symphogear Season 4. Nothing here hasn’t been done already, by the Symphogear’s earlier seasons, no less. Still enjoyable in a ‘I was there before it was cool to hate Symphogear’s ability to get additional seasons’, way, the ever expanding cast of singing warrior-girls faces off against a new overwrought and ultimately slightly redeemable foe. My burning questions are twofold. Firstly, how did the interview process go, I wonder, to get into the separate production and animation team dedicated to Cagliostro’s boobs? They are in a class all their own, and I will not accept that the same studio making this show had the budget, manpower, and conviction to elevate just her jigglies above the mortal realm; it must have been crowd funded or something… Secondly, I feel it would be in humanity’s best interest to teach commander TuckTie to sing, as his battle ability easily surpasses all of the girls, and a Symphogear for him would be a wiser use of the resource. Also, I would have liked to see more of Hibiki’s dead-beat dad. He was an interesting character in… whatever season he was in…

The “Rabbit Hill” award gift-card has been credited to Isekai Shokudou. My favorite fiction book I’ve ever read has got to be Rabbit Hill. It was a jolly feel-good story about a bunch of critters in a rural area with little better to do than discuss new humans moving into a nearby homestead. The animals are ecstatic about all of the benefits that human co-habitation would bring, and, while not without some drama, generally displayed an optimistic hopefulness that I found and still find refreshing. Isekai Shokudou gave me those vibes. Essentially, the episodic format goes: problem, delicious food, problem solved. It is a little difficult to imagine that the fantasy world is so primitive in its culinary arts, as they should be the longest practiced art of any sentient beings capable of taste in my estimation, but I digress. It’s just fun to watch folks have a good time and there’s a nice little twist at the end. Enjoyed every week.

The “Diamond in a Dung heap” award is being hosed off for “Isekai wa Smartphone to Tomo ni”. Just narrowly avoiding the “Waste of Time” and “I hate Everything” awards by the miniscule merit of the main character being slightly sleazy. Just enough so, in fact, to confuse me into harboring the delusion, ever so briefly, that he had a discernable character (which he doesn’t). Tension or narrative stakes are luxuries Isekai wa Smartphone couldn’t afford while focusing on bringing us one of the most generic harems since the original Tenchi Muyo. Save yourself a few hours and don’t bother, unless you like to see a literal Deus ex Machina solve all of the problems this character faces in a generic fantasy world where things wait until it is convenient before going wrong. Flaccid and smelly- just take the award and go.

The “Foundation” award statuette is still curing for “Youkoso Jitsuryoku Shijou Shugi no Kyoushitsu”. A strong setup in the first episode carried what became a slow burning political classism (no pun intended) struggle that hasn’t really gone anywhere, in spite of having a few good ideas of its own. Really, this is the most tragic kind of series to be adapted as a single cour, because it never even gets to reach a decent zeitgeist to make use of the groundwork and players introduced. Watching this is a gamble, in that if you like it, you may be disappointed that there may be no continuation (in anime). Recommended if you like a ‘broken’ main character.

The “Broken Rudder” award would go to 18if, but there was no address provided. I like the idea of experimental media, but mixed media projects like 18if are prone to a few fundamental problems. Not being beholden to a script or story gives greater creative freedom to the creator, but also removes the safeguards preventing a show from feeling as generally aimless as this one did. After two episodes, I couldn’t tell where this was going, nor be expected to care, as characters shifted personalities on a dime, if they even stayed in the show long enough to develop them. Just a mess, but worthy of a mention for trying to be different if not succeeding at also being good.

The “I can’t believe all the main characters are grown-ups” plaque is hanging in Manoyama’s train station wall for “Sakura Quest”. An unassuming P.A. works slice of life/drama show about one young lady’s attempt to bring vitality back to an equally unassuming rural town. All of the main girls save one are of drinking age. Why is this unusual? Enjoyable enough, but without any great climaxes or hype due to the ‘realistic’ slow moving, generally apathetic world presented, this is a show of small victories and ambitious ideas that don’t go quite as planned. Easy come, easy go.

The “Patience is a Virtue… be Virtuous” award will eventually be given to “Gamers”. A very popular show this season, but all I saw were rom-com misunderstanding tropes with more complex set-ups. The show focused so much on its wacky misunderstandings that I forgot some of these characters were supposed to be gamers until the last episode or two that poked fun at DLC and consumer culture. Some (more interesting) characters were introduced in the first episode to never be used again, and the entertainment topped out for me at about episode 3. Sometimes, I can get behind and enjoy misunderstandings (see School Rumble), but here it just fell kinda flat after a while, and I don’t really get why. Some of the setups were downright ambitious, but I just didn’t enjoy the sequences like I thought I would. A pity, really.

And now for the (even more) miscellaneous awards:

Best Girl(s) in order of best girl-ness: Dorothy (Princess Principal; dat smug smile), Hajime (New Game!!; her ever bouncy PERSONALITY), Chris (Symphogear; Don’t sweat that kid’s leg – pro soccer isn’t a realistic dream for anyone, and now he gets to be alive instead when he grows up), Purple haired Senior (Battle Girl High School; NEET + chip clip twin tails + neko mouth = best girl in a show of wannabe best girls)

Best use of a previous season’s character: Symphogear Season 4: Surprisingly, the leftover loli from last season pulled overtime in plot relevance (and screen time for not having a transformation sequence) this season, arguably enabling the girls to fight and win at all. Not bad, little lady.

Best Single Character: White beard Wizard (Isekai Shokudou). Yes, it’s a feel good tale, but that doesn’t mean characters can’t have a little charm. In the scene where the black ‘death powered’ dragon first entered the restaurant in human form, Shiro Wizard happened to be finishing up his meal at a side booth. When he noticed the magnitude of the being entering, the danger it could pose and the ensuing chaos that could be wrought by a battle as communicated in a single wrinkly glance over his mug, he ponders for a moment, peers in the mug and joyfully orders another beer instead. That aged mindset, plus his stupid bickering with the samurai over what is the best diner food, made him a pleasure to watch.

Best Op (Nanamaru Sanbatsu / Princess Principal): Both were surprisingly catchy and never got old.

[neflight86]

A bit of a backlog slowed this season’s recap

3. Shoujo shuumatsu ryokou: Sleepy little post-apocalyptic slice of life series that followed two young women on their tread cycle through a dilapidated cityscape. Almost meditative, with some soothing musical score and child-like naiveté to compliment the honestly derpy looking character designs. Actually an average show with an above average production and a strangely satisfying ending squeezed this into third place.

2. Juuni Taisen: It is actually a feat into itself that something as hyped as this still managed to make the second spot after such a string of disappointments throughout its run. You want fights? You get talking. You want an unpredictable death game? You get a pattern in the second episode. You want a grandiose finale? You get a moody teen being angsty about making a wish for the last episode. I sound harsh, but the premise and execution of this overwrought killing game (aside from the dragon/snake being both 4chan surrogates and boring) was still generally very entertaining.

1. Shokugeki no Souma 3rd Plate: The old standby got a much needed shot in the arm this season. After the somewhat lackluster Autumn Election tournament continuation in the second season, I was brought back in by the mini stagiere ‘training’ ark that brought the focus back to the real star of shokugeki: the food and its enjoyment by regular people. Bafflingly, an important scene bridging the second and third seasons, the formal introduction of the elite 10, was relegated to an OVA that many didn’t know to watch, causing flashbacks to the scenes to seem woefully inadequate in explaining the current climate of competition. That aside, the first portion of the season, the showdown of the festival sales against the 8th seat was delicious, if you’ll excuse the pun. Bringing back the out of the box business thinking and returning characters with an impact really set up for a good climax. It is at the second half, the introduction of evil chefs, that opinions are divided. On one hand, I can sympathize with the author feeling pressured to raise the stakes by adding an organized oppositional element to our polar star heroes, and gourmet cooking, being an inherently noble task, is not so simple to vilify its participants in so doing. On the other hand, though; evil chefs cooking evil-like makes me chuckle, and could only be entertained in a show where tasty food is taken this seriously. I, personally, am willing to acquiesce this direction to provide the tension that will fuel future conflicts within the show. I looked forward to nothing more.

As I’m sure all (none) of you are waiting for, it is time for the special awards!!!

The ‘teeth grinding’ award (and dental bill) goes to Fate: Apocrypha: I’m still getting a handle on what kind of shows make me sorta angry while I’m watching them, because it happens not very often. Ask anyone who watches mediocre seasonal anime and they can tell you much of it is largely isekai (going to another world) or disposable niche pandering that is genuinely entertaining at best, and kinda boring at worst. So why did this production put me in a foul mood most episodes? I’m not a mega Fate fan, but I liked the Ufotable series from the past years, so what gives? In theory, this shouldn’t be that different, except I feel that modern (bad) anime tropes were in full effect here. I hated the main character, the circumstances around him, and all of his interactions with the other heroes. Blind idealism from a character with all of the world experience of 2 weeks in a European countryside should not decide the fate of the world in a story that postures to have depth and nuance. The battles, while animated with some panache, seldom actually felt dangerous as few actually died in them. The character motivations were fuzzy at best, and half of one team didn’t even get scenes with dialogue from its masters. The deus Shiro felt tacky, as did any reference to the old fate series, but I kind of liked the necromancer duo. At least the series lived up to the name “apocrypha”.

The ‘Where are the heroes?’ award went to Inuyashiki. It’s so seldom that I find a scene hard to watch, but the murder scenes in Inuyashiki had me silently hoping for a hero to save the innocent, which usually didn’t come. Some may dismiss this series as a showcase of misery for its own sake, but in that environment I found that the good deeds of the main character with his new powers were that much more impactful knowing that the powers themselves could easily be used for evil. The crux of the ideological conflict (warning: pretention alert!) seemed to be that one treated his powers as having been given to him by God, while the other saw his powers as making himself into a god. The latter became quite a contemporary power fantasy by the end, hunting down internet trolls, fighting the police, and being somewhat redeemed by the self-sacrifice for his few friends. The most powerful scene this season for me this season goes to the two CPR scenes (especially the second one) that really made me feel for Inuyashiki’s character. Not for everyone, but very entertaining for me.

The “I actually don’t even” award does not go to Animegataris (in spirit of the award itself): I’m told that plenty of older anime did this frequently- set up a series as being one thing, and then make a hard 90 in the final few episodes to shock the audience into watching just to see how it pans out. Recent examples include Samurai Flemenco and Mayoiga. That happens here in a sort of creepy, “you see signs but nothing goes off the rails until a few episodes later when we get a sudden save the world plot” kinda way. The twist plot is so inane in hindsight that I would recommend actually stopping after the school festival arc to preserve the best possible memory of this show. The early episodes do actually feel like they ‘get’ anime fandom, and are fun to watch as slice of life.

The “lightning won’t strike twice” award shocks Re:Creators: ‘High Concept’ is maybe a bit generous a descriptor, but I think it suits what this show tried to do. A somewhat nuanced take on an interesting idea: how would characters from fiction, if they were real, react to their world’s intelligent design that was steered by a desire to be interesting, even if that drive caused misery and mayhem for its inhabitants? A reverse Isekai, one could argue. Yes, hoops were jumped though (games and anime only, please- we have to make the meta-narrative commentary as approachable as possible to anime audiences) to restrict the scope, but the premise is strong enough to warrant the tradeoff. That’s where my ultimate problem with Re:Creators comes in. It stirred in me a desire to see this concept explored even better… possibly across more media genres. I can ignore the fluid logic of how the rules worked and the other plot contrivances during the final battle, again, due to the strength of the premise. I fear that, because the setup seemingly requires a certain amount of effort and writing chops to pull off satisfactorily, we may never get another series that explores these ideas, much less better, and that’s a shame. Another odd thing was that the writers seemed to deliberately avoid having the author characters ever deflecting the blame directed at them by their creations with the most obvious answer of ignorance. No one fathomed that the worlds they created could be real, and shouldn’t have been expected to, yet no one mentions this that I can remember; just justifications like ‘it made the story better’ that felt a bit forced in the absence of common sense in that respect. Also, I dislike whiny characters like the MC boy and was glad that his role was diminished as the story went on.

The “Train Wreck Twins” awards have been forcibly split between Evil Live and Ou Sama the Game: I usually don’t find myself watching a single anime that looks completely amateurish, much less two during the same season, but here we are… Imagine the smallest budget you could justify to put 24 frames on screen for ~22 minutes a week and then imagine that you were told to do it for half. I hope these were produced by some ‘fledgling animation industry workers’ program, because woof. The only thing that comes close to how sparsely these are animated is Saiki, but that has established gags as the central draw. Both shows share the premise of young people trying to overcome an unfair adversity, but one goes into gore/tragedy porn (that became comical in its absurdness), and the other… didn’t commit to a single idea for more than two episodes. Not recommended.

The “Shoulda finished that one” award should go to Kujira no Kora wa Sajou ni Utau: Everything here was ripe for the watching. Something just didn’t click in this curious show about the doomed nomads aboard a travelling island. The whole thing felt kind of Ghibli-ish in the loss of innocence and intrigue. The good news is that the power of the internet makes anime essentially eternal, so I can pick it back up at my leisure. Kekkai Sensen season 2 was also a contender, but that I have definite plans to binge watch.

The “This is how you make bad animation work” award was scribbled out to “Just Because”: Pine Jam is a newer studio who’s animation has yet to prove itself to me because both this and Gamers make Konosuba look high budget in comparison. In spite of this, the coming of age story here manages to not annoy me, which is about the highest praise I can heap on these kind of “Do you think she knows that I think I know that you like me too” teenybopper love shows. In, out, done. It worked and I was surprised.

“Best Character” has to go to the otaku erogame writer from Re:Creators. To immediately propose marriage to a fictional character of your own creation on first sight requires a kind of degeneracy I find infinitely amusing.

Overall, a weaker, but more consistent season, as I struggled to designate a top 3, but also questioned in any of the final picks would have made it in last season. Oh well. The never ending march of Anime continues…

**Edit: The 'snubbed by a nub' award goes to "Ballroom e Youkoso": I totally forgot about this show (because I'm an idiot), but it should have been number 1. I couldn't follow the technical aspects of the dancing at all, but the strength of the artwork, music and direction had me by the throat pretty much every single week. Thanks, future posters, for reminding me of it!

[David75]

1-) Mahoutsukaï no Yome
I had to forget about the underage relationship... but has some nice scenes that somehow soothes you and pleases the imagination.
As a manga reader, the adaptation feels nice and complements the original work greatly.
I'm waiting for the next arc and that has already been introduced. The dragonland delivered, but I actualy prefer the next one with the old nobody guy, even if it's a smaller and insignificant arc.

2-) Ballroom e Youkoso
Nice shounen, nuf said.

3-) Blend S
Silly comedy anime, kind of a seasonal thing. Much better than shokugeki no Soma that felt bland and does not really deserve all the praise.

[Ryllharu]

In no particular order:

Ballroom e Youkoso - Good characters, good arcs, dragged a bit at the end but this was the show I found myself waiting for every week and totally engaged in.

Net-juu no Susume - It was a really cute adult age romance series. They tackled a number of real-world issues like karōshi (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kar%C5%8Dshi), feeling abandoned or left out, late bloomers, and buying too much cosmetic crap in MMOs. The cast nailed their roles completely, and the OP is pretty amazing too.
And yes, oversized hoodies are great.

Imouto sae Ireba Ii - This series honestly surprised me the most. It is a very self-aware series about light novel authors going about their lives, including stupid shit like research trips, playing card or board games with each other, fleeing from their editors, and their individual quirks about their writing styles, motivations, or techniques. But it is also a series about respect for one another and the reasons why you gain affection for someone. Is it because their work moves you? Is it because you love their determination to find their place in the world while you don't know your own? Is it because their work helped you escape the emotional hellhole you found yourself in? Do you just want money and do your due diligence to ensure you get it? Is your work "art" or is it just a product that sells to your specialty market? Do adaptations of your work diminish or improve the value of your original?
The series also makes a great deal of progress with relationships while appearing to not make any. (In fact, the OP changes in the final episode to hint at a conclusion)
But ultimately, the entire series was apparently written as a bet or challenge between two LN authors. And it works surprisingly well.

Honorable mentions: Shoujo Shuumatsu Ryokou, Kino no Tabi, Osake wa Fuufu ni Natte Kara

Mahoutsukai is still airing so it is exempt by the standards of this thread. Otherwise I'd mention it this season AND the current season.

[neflight86]

A season I looked more fondly on in hindsight, as my actual viewing volume seems to have dropped, even counting the few continuous shows I can’t list on this season’s chart.

3. Sora Yori mo Tooi Basho: A good time, every time. Sora Yori managed to settle for only mildly cute girls doing only mildly cute things. A story about characters at its core, this one focused on one or more of the titular girls each episode where the journey was truly better than the destination. It could be silly, but never let itself be embarrassing to watch. Recommended.

2. Ryuuou no Oshigoto: Okay, I know I don’t display myself in the best light for admitting to enjoying the ‘loli’ show for this season, but I did. Similar to Welcome to the Ballroom from last year, I enjoy the spectacle of the culture that builds around a specialized competitive activity like shogi. MC has no notable qualities aside from Shogi prowess (and having tragically unfortunate phrasing when talking to and about young girls). So light novel you can taste the cynicism, Ryuuou managed to move fast enough and have enough simultaneous (and cute) character arcs to make me a believer and hankering for more. One look at the tin should tell you everything you need to know about this show. I will say though, that I was surprised at the last arc where the main character broke down at his own inadequacies in a way that readers would not project themselves onto (with requisite redemption); it kind of reminded me of the Re:Zero deconstruction. Hit rock bottom before coming back up.

1. Killing Bites: Har har har, make your jokes... Do I just have poor enough taste, or was this season just that bad? One word. “Entertainment”. Nothing else provided it more consistently and at any expense this season. Sort-of furries fighting half naked with all of the trash talk and trashy fanservice you’d expect from pro wrestling, except people died during Killing Bites. I don’t have to sell this to anyone, because it is so plainly and proudly what it is. That being said, it also took the time to craft an violent, turbulent, and ambitious ending that completely surpassed my expectations. Plain dude was straight up killed, the world order changed, and the story bothers to introduce the next generation of animal characters we will see if this ever somehow gets a sequel. Not bad… not bad. I looked forward to nothing more each week.

Special awards? Who, me? Well, if you insist…

The “Who needs this?" award is being fabricated in 70% post-consumer product for Slow Start: At this point, do we really need more ‘healing’ shows? Are our lives so vapid and empty that borrowing a ‘slice of life’ from an anime could truly hope to fill such a gap? Who knows, but I struggle to even call this “cute girls doing anything”. You got your shy one, the deadpan loli, the otaku, and the yuri-bait comprising our team of friends being friendly, while talking about how they are friends… and what good friends they have… and how they are glad that they’re friends. You know… I’m beginning to question if I’m doing this whole ‘friendship’ thing right. I mean, do my friends even know they we are friends? I don’t tell them that we’re friends very often, so what if they forget? All we have are some shared interests and we enjoy spending time together! Good thing I have the almighty wisdom of anime on my side to explain in no uncertain terms that friends have in common that they are, in fact, friends!

“Catchiest tunes” award is being pirated by Ramen Daisuki Koizumi-san: When watching an anime about a certain thing- the thing in this case being some girls’ sexual awakening to Ramen- you are going to be told alot about that thing. It’s just how things are going to go. When said thing isn’t particularly interesting, it is easy to drift off and... just kind of take in the lights and sounds from the screen; no chemical assistance required. During many such moments of Koizumi, I noticed the upbeat twangy soundtrack queueing me that some sort of important thing was happening (usually eating or preparing to eat ramen), snapping me back into the show. Impressive, so it gets a note here. We can’t all be Shokugeki.

Best first episode award goes to Kokkoku: This is up there with Parasyte, Psycho Pass, Death Parade, and HSotD as having the one of the greatest, most effective opening episodes in recent memory. Even if the rest of the series didn’t hold up as well, this episode alone would likely be enough to sell someone on watching at least a few more to find out what happens next.

The "Eyes rolling" award goes to Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san: It’s cute. No denying that. Bright little girl teases dense little boy cuz’ she likes him, and he’s learning he likes her, too. The setups are varied, but the actual format is never really shaken up over these twelve episodes. I could identify the beats in this odd courtship far too early and reliably to not begin feeling just a little annoyed at Nishikata for not wising up a bit more comprehensively given how often he is teased. Still, they were cute. No denying that.

The “I can’t believe it’s a TV anime” award went to Violet Evergarden: Kyoani has raised the bar again by illustrating a realistic turn of the century european-ish country so fantastically that I can still vividly remember some of the landscapes. This is TV animation, and I’m having trouble finding where the corners were cut! Enjoyable and episodic. This is clearly a series designed to make the audience feel things, and it often succeeded, so for that, Recommended.

The “pitchforks and smoke” award is smouldering next to Death March kara Hajimaru Isekai Kyousoukyoku: An isekai anime adapted from a light novel? That’s just crazy talk. What’s next? Magical fighting in high school? Snide jokes aside, I had some slight hopes for this one when the main character spent the beginning of his journey in mortal peril… and then he became the overpowered protagonist within minutes of the first episode. The fact that the MC was satisfied being a corporate drone sleeping at his desk during crunch time in the first place is a bit depressing in hindsight; it suggests a lack of character outside of ‘nice guy’. After a few episodes, the internet at large began to take issue with Death march apparently sliding into the standard harem, no tension escapism route. I lost what little interest I had (already being about 5 episodes behind), and cut my losses.

The"‘true to form" award is rattling around in a vending machine besides Dagashi Kashi 2: The first season was nice enough, though it didn’t need a sequel by any stretch, and here we are. The show, like the products it is centered around, is kind of a poor-man / kids mini-anime that resembles the real thing, when I go by the ½ episode length and slightly worse animation quality. It had some heart, but the jokes/setups weren’t that much different from the first season, and Kokonatsu’s arc at the end didn’t really resonate with me. I also felt that each episode ended a bit too soon, right when I was beginning to settle in with the characters.

Now, the prestigious “fool me twice” trophy is being inversely colored by Shaft for Fate/EXTRA Last Encore, so it doesn’t even look like a trophy: I’m not angry at this for being boring, but I’m not hopeful that anything produced with the name ‘fate’ attached to it will interest me now, after this and Apocrypha. ‘Pretentious’ and ‘Ambitious’ share part of the same second half of their words, and by Shaft logic that allows them to be compared to make my point that the writing and directing of this show just muddled together into something akin to 18if from a few seasons back with a higher budget. It feels aimless and overinspred at the same time. I can enjoy shaft’s work, but this story left me fearing for the ...wait for it… FATE of the franchise!

The ‘like an ugly baby’ award goes to Black Clover: I’m including this on this season’s list because watching another 26 episodes would be an unjustifiable waste of time. Let me be clear: Black Clover is the most soulless, cookie-cutter, produced by committee, half hearted, uninspired, bland, uninteresting, low concept, cynical embarrassment of a show I’ve seen in a while, as a fan of shounen. If Black Clover were just a bit better, it would be a parody of itself. Every shortcut imaginable is employed here from bland characters, tropes that mirror their appearance in other, better shounen, lazy and rushed ‘character development’ segments, filler beginning in episode 2, and of course animation that wouldn’t pass as decent ten years ago. I would encourage you to watch an episode or two just as a sort of litmus test for how much quality you demand in your shounen. Dropped.

[MFauli]

I dropped Black Clover last season already, didn't need to see more. It's the most obvious 'designed for marketing/profit' shounen-anime ever. No surprise it's already getting a PS4-game, dat sweet deals, huh. Meanwhile, no HXH-game. Lol

My top 3:

1.) Gakuen Babysitters
2.) Kokkoku
3.) IDOLISH7

[Ryllharu]

Sora yori mo Tooi Basho - This series surprised me. It's a "cute girls doing [something] cutely" series, but somehow it managed to be something substantially more. The series is both a coming of age and redemption story at the same time. There's four girls looking for meaning in their life, while one of them is looking for closure. And it really, really works.

Mahoutsukai no Yome - As bleak as this series can get, ultimately, it is a healing-type series. Chise acts like far more of an adult than you'd expect (though not in the context of the series itself). There's an "unknown" feel to the entire series that simply draws you in.

Overlord II - Flaws aside, I looked forward to it each week.

[Buffalobiian]

Sora yori mo Tooi Basho - As per Ryll
Mahoutsukai no Yome - As per Ryll
Kokkoku - This last one's hard, it's really a close tie between Kokkoku and Koi wa Ameagari. Kokkoku wins by being rather unique in its setting and actually finishing the story. Stylistically I really liked Koi wa Ameagari, but its less-than-conclusive way of ending just doesn't sit well. Art was amazing however.

Violet Evergarden as a case of being more pretty than substance, despite being a rather good watch. Letter Bee still did it better IMO.

[neflight86]

Another season, another list:

3. Megalo Box. Quite a throwback to the attitude and grit of old 80s-90s anime that was cool by nature, not because it was trying hard to be so. A classic underdog story that surprisingly puts fights into the back seat focusing on the drama of these characters. Certainly recommended.

2. Shokugeki no Souma S3 part 2. An unsatisfying conclusion (in contention for another award below) to the winning ‘recipe’ of Shokugeki’s bombastic food conflicts. Training, eating, and explaining why one dish is ever so little bit better still hasn’t gotten old, somehow. This had the gall to stop (mid arc!) less than two dozen or so chapters from the manga at the time of airing. We may not be getting any more of this for a while, but it was sure worth watching.

1. Hinamatsuri. I love it when a show comes out of no-where and blows me away. This show did just that. Hence, I love this show. I like a straight-man take on supernatural things, because I always find the juxtaposition of those serious elements with a more deadpan reaction hilarious. This comes off as a cousin of One’s writing style (Mob Psycho & One Punch man) where the psychic powers are almost ignored in favor of commenting on the kind of characters that can be created with such a background. Back and forth between silly, stern, and heartwarming, I looked forward to nothing more each week. Highly recommended.

A brief special awards for this season:

The “inappropriate outburst” award goes to “Pretty Derby”. A serviceable show full of cute character designs and rivalries, I was taken over by a desire to make a turrets-like screech of “HORSE GIRLS!” obnoxiously at the beginning of every episode, much to the chagrin of my anime watching buddy (who by the end threatened to drop the show if I didn’t stop; a hollow bluff it turned out). The way I see it, when watching something as Japanese as a show about cute horse girls racing each other, to not make a jest or running joke about even watching it actually makes me uncomfortable, like a dirty middle-aged man watching something so easily mistakeable for fetish fluff.

The “Twin dumpster fire” award is split between Dorei-ku and Mahou Shoujo Site. You could easily draw parallels between these two low budget and somewhat trashy takes on misery with utter rubbish like Evil Live and King’s game from a few seasons back but make no mistake… I found both of these shows largely worth watching by remaining interesting and applying logic to their stories. Mahou goes from misery exhibition to a more meaningful save-the-world story, and Dorei-ku keeps the scope manageable enough to buy into the characters and just enjoy the ride.

The “Overreaching” award is on the high shelf at Grancrest Senki’s place. Seldom do I see a show so obviously, earnestly, and sincerely try to be more than it can be. The realities of anime production can be cruel, and that they were to the many pivotal battle scenes that played out in Grancrest. Prepare to use your imagination while watching, or you might think the playback got corrupted due to the washed out coloring, arthritis laden animation, and student film level ‘direction’ that just makes everyone glad when important bits are over. The dialogue and premise are better served here than any of the lofty battle scenes and their frankly contemptuous
CG might have you believe. There exist many worse fantasy anime out there, if you have an opportunity to watch Grancrest Senki.

The “running out the clock” award, on loan from the funeral home, is awarded to “Toji no Miko”. A wise man once said that the shortest patch to success in modern Anime is cute girls + swords, and apparently, he was not far off with that statement, because I cannot fathom the actual “why” I would finish such an insipid series… It defies logic, much like Toji no Miko, ba-dum-cha. I can’t really look down on anyone’s taste now that this is on my resume of anime watched, but at least I only wasted time and not brain cells like the next entry.

The “Emperor’s new clothes” award is squarely given to B: The Beginning. Netflix funding Anime… some really interesting stuff could be on the horizon, if Devilman Crybaby is any indicator, but perhaps not this. The first episode was crafted well enough to hook me on the setting and characters, and there was an effort to tell a thrilling story… but it had to go all anime and have a sad orphanage flashback halfway into the series with characters I didn’t care about dying slowly when dying faster would have been more considerate to the audience and reminding me that without government programs leading to genocide, most Sci-fi anime wouldn’t even know where to begin constructing a plot. Some of this was worth watching, but the experience was certainly muddied by the moody revenge teen with superpowers trope you’ve seen dozens of times by now.

“Moe-blob #45” tin has been stamped for Comic Girls. You can take one look at the promotional art for this series and tell not only how slice of life it is, but also how all of the character dynamics play out; that is how systemic moe-blob throw away shows are now. Are the girls cute? Is this dialoge fluffy enough to be both voice acted by a popular seiyuu and completely forgotten or ignored to no narrative consequence? These are the questions asked and answered by the studios producing this crap and us morons watching it. A delicate dance I am ashamed to be a part of.

“Strangely Compelling” award somehow found its way to Gurazeni. When it comes to sports anime, I’m more inclined to get into a shounen story about a struggling kid’s team with a heart of gold that…. Yada yada yada. I’m always complaining about school settings, so I forced myself to watch this on principle. While I wouldn’t say I was blown away watching Bonda (the main character) factor his potential contract earnings for his performance during games, and factoring that into how prepared for his retirement at the ripe age of 25, it did certainly put a smirk on my face. I was never in ‘the mood’ to watch this, but I never regretted pulling up an episode, either.

The “Not an Ending” award goes to Golden Kamui. A well put together adventure story set just after the turn of the century makes for some fine entertainment. You might be surprised, then, to find that the last episode completely closes out like any other, and if you don’t stick around after the credits for the fall season announcement, you would be forgiven for expecting another episode to exist or be airing. Very odd. Somewhat related, Golden Kamui also wins the award for the “best outro lead-up”. Each episode, you the ED song could be heard building up for during the final scene, but here it just works so well for whatever reason that it warranted mention, especially if you plan to marathon- keeps the hype high.

The “Cynicism” award goes to Last Period. This bland ‘by-committee’ production loosely aping on gatcha mobile games confuses me. On the one hand, the structure of the series is a by-the-numbers “quest gang” story who’s characters and setting are unambitious- but on the other, the actual scenarios that play out and character designs feel like they have at least the dying vestiges of the sparks of creativity within them. I don’t know who this is for, but I hope they liked it.

The “Time capsule” award goes to Hisone to Masotan. I’ve no grounds for this, but I somehow expect this series to remain somewhat relevant after this season ends, almost like a ‘classic’. I feel like there’s enough here to unpack and a strong enough characters, delivery, and symbolism to feed into the snooty anime analysis machine for a little while. You could also call this the “critical darling” award.

The “Diet Trigger” award goes to Darling and the Franxx. While some of the actions scenes are undoubtedly ‘Trigger-esque’, on the whole, the influence of A-1 pictures coats the majority of DatF. Some have criticized A-1 shows for looking homogenous due to the constant shuffling of their contract staff to multiple and various projects (as far as I can tell, no other studio puts out more weeb-fuel each season), and that could be made a case for here as well. Not to mention the derivative nature of the plot: kids pilot mechs to fight monsters and save humanity... ring any bells? Gurren Lagann it is not, but sometimes you gotta put something out that keeps the lights on.

The “Too Cute to Scoot” trophy goes to Aggretsuko. This is a more promising indicator of what could be possible with Netflix sponsoring Anime. Take the company that makes My Little Kitty, and have those style character designs participate in a workplace… dramedy about working adults with some actual teeth in the writing and scenarios. I’d buy a Tone plushie if it shouted out misogynistic one-liners when squeezed.

[Buffalobiian]

Saiki Kusuo no Ψ Nan and Hinamatsuri both get spots for comedy this season. Coincidentally, both are slice of life involving superpowers and quite a bit of deadpan humour.

The third spot I'll actually give to Megalo Box, mainly because it kept me fairly engaged from week to week with some nice fights. The art was kind of garbage though.

Any of Shokugeki no Souma, Hero Academia or Darling in the Franxxx would have been strong contenders though. The first two were strong showings. I have no qualms about the finale of Souma since it's a continuation anyway. It's just more of the same.

Hero Academia could have fleshed the final boss out a bit before the series concluded. His appearance and subsequent fight then resolution didn't feel as satisfying as it could have if his story and origin was done in depth. Like... in a flashback.

I almost dropped Darling due to it being a Trigger show. I was actually very happy it was toned down. Some abstract scenes reminded me of SHAFT. The generic finale was crap, but the beginning and middle parts were somewhat thought provoking and interesting.

[MFauli]

Tbh that season was so bad, I can't list a top 3.

[neflight86]

It’s that time again! Mediocre summer season. Not the quality I would like, but I haven’t changed my consumption habits enough for that to really carry any weight, now have I?

Top 3:

3. My Hero Academia: Another stellar season, let down only by concurrent events with relatively low stakes in the second half (training followed by prov. hero license exam followed by some drama). I feel like MhA is best when interfacing with the anti-forces of villains, which was sort of front loaded this season. Still great and highly looked forward to. Here’s looking to season 4!

2. Asobi Asobase: This is how you pitch me a “lolrandom” comedy. Make it actually lol-random in a good way. I seldom saw the punchline coming, and the pastel art, along with the troll OP always gave the impression of a nicer show; or a show about nicer people. The girls were horrible to each other, but in the funniest ways sometimes. Even when jokes didn’t hit their mark, I was constantly bemused by the vocal performances of the three mains. Actually, about ½ the jokes fell flat in a given episode, but the other half… I smile just thinking about them.

1. High Score Girl: The sky is falling! I've given the number one recommendation to my sworn enemy: CG anime!! The Horror! I hate how much I enjoyed this. Nostalgia, I suppose, played a small bit into the visual aesthetic of the show whose animation came off as more than a little stiff (how did they get sign-off from all those game companies to have their titles displayed side by side?). The show really worked for me once I let myself get into it. I typically can’t identify with otaku main characters because I just don’t fall into that pattern of worship that they do of their given medium. When it comes to old games, Haruo, the main character both reveres and enjoys the budding industry of video games without the self-destructive obsession so common in these character archetypes. While constantly thinking about them, as a child might, he’s not condescending to outsiders or bewitched enough to break my suspension of disbelief; he earns his love triangle through virtue of being more than a blank slate during some very cute interactions. Very sweet. Looked forward to nothing more this season.

At this point, no special awards would be worrying, so I’ll include just a few.

The “too gay to stay” phallic censor bar goes to Banana Fish: I could overlook the BL roots of this one for all of about two episodes until it made clear, in no uncertain terms, that this was a going to be/get very gay. No hate, but that just ain’t my jam, so I had to drop it after the episode with the prison rape banana joke.

The “participation award” is presented to Sirius the Jager: Look, the story here was about as boring as something with vampires who don’t sparkle could be. That being said, the overall good artwork, character designs, and an oddly conscientious effort to ensure the story make sense kept it all watchable. Some nice action scenes didn’t hurt, either. I’m already forgetting about Sirius, but thank you for airing this season.

“Bipolar Comedy” was forwarded to Chio-chan no Tsuugakuro’s next of kin: Unlike Asobase, there was no cubist artwork or masterful seiyuu work to save gags here. When they hit, all was good, but when they didn’t; well, that was half an episode wasted. Still entertaining, though. Special consideration to how laborious most of the setups were. Chio wouldn’t blink at regularly spending almost a minute just setting the scene in exposition, for better or worse.

The “everyone is OK with a pervy isekai?” award is hereby presented to Isekai Maou to Shoukan Shoujo no Dorei Majutsu: Just your typical power fantasy isekai story with the raunchiness turned up to… about a 9 for Japanese broadcast television. Many folks on the nebulous “interwebz” forgave this show for existing by having plenty of serviceable… fanservice. Maybe I outgrew fanservice for its own sake, and isekai itself has kind of a stigma for me. Not awful, just not any different (or better) than what you expect.

The “very small sweater” wall scroll was ceremoniously presented to Kyoto Teramachi Sanjou no Holmes: Light mystery plus some college age characters (positives) held back by some downright homely animation. I enjoyed the concept of art appraisal, but without a background or innate interest in Japanese period artists, the sloppy character animation and forced romantic ‘tension’ gave cause for pause. Even bald monk Moriarty didn’t kindle my interest for very long. I just couldn’t get into it.

The “Most Depressing Animation Direction” spear was run through a named character in Angolmois: Genkou Kassenki: War has incalculable cost… property, sovereignty, human lives, and most importantly, animation budget. Nobody told Angolmois. Aside from one fight scene at the beginning of the series, we were treated to imagination powered still slides for major battle scenes and not much better for the in-between bits. This sparse production coupled with an obnoxious parchment filter over the entire series kept me at arms length…

The “contrarian because it’s fun” award goes to Planet With: A lot of folks (anitubers, specifically) were calling this out like the second coming of shounen because it ‘has good characterization’, ‘subverted tropes’, and was written/storyboarded by the Lucilfer and the Biscuit Hammer author. Not to be that guy (maybe a little), but I didn’t see anything really special about Planet With. Boiler plate conflict of the week with some techno jargon and competent drama. Watchable, for sure, but I like to think the bar has been set a little higher than this.

The “you know what? let’s give that ‘tell don’t show’ thing another try” honors are abstractly associated with Shoujo ☆ Kageki Revue Starlight: I’ll admit that liking this probably speaks to a base character flaw in mine own being. Pithy Alert: If I were being uncharitable, I would argue that pretention itself is a currency by which true artistic expression can only be sold; after all, no one will want your dream unless you can market it. Revue takes the most heavy-handed approach possible to tell the least comprehensible, abstruce, metaphoracle tale of… I’ll have to get back you on that. Stage girls, I think. Maybe a play? I loved it enough to make me question my own taste. Wakarimashta, said the giraffe to my delight.

The “Diet Thriller” award is presented to Happy Sugar Life: As is typical in anime, an unusual premise, in this case ‘exploring the sociopathic mind of a kidnapper’, while novel and interesting, is handled in a way I couldn’t get behind; much to my dismay. Setting aside the apparent 7/8 ratio of mental instability that Japan’s populace must be struggling with, the complete and utter absence of any and all meaningful law enforcement intervention struck me as particularly odd- as if the author him/herself wanted to create an ideal playground of misery and debauchery in a contemporary setting but such that the characters themselves had to carry all of the burden of their actions and consequences by themselves. Nothing much happened in Happy Sugar Life unless a person with mental issues took inappropriate action. Still entertaining, but it will stretch your suspension of disbelief.

This season’s “waste of everyone’s time” award was Xeroxed for Island. So again shows my jaded sense of “Da ja vu”. Nothing memorable or particularly worth watching, unless you have seen fewer than 30 anime, which might make this seem like a smarter story than it is. You can do better.

The “180 degree backspin” trophy was polished up for Hanebado: Boy, was this to my taste… at first. Attractive, athletic girls cast? Check. Shounen style sports drama? Oh yes, check. Good animation with flashes of stunning motion? Gimme some more, daddy! Abandonment redemption plot reveal? Wait, what? Hanebado no doubt worked best on the court, and if it had stayed that way would have likely ended up as number 1 or 2, but a fairly incomprehensible ‘drama’ plot that stemmed from a main character’s mother halfway through the season put a big question mark above my head. Still, in the final match, it captured the hot-headed passion (one of the few things I haven’t found my practical limit of consumption for yet) well and almost redeemed itself. For a single cour, I can recommend it.

The “Drug dealer” citation was made out for Harukana Receive: I haven’t seen so much unabashed full framed crack outside of a Costa Rican plantation’s security feed. More slice of life moe-blob than sporting focus, but not a bad watch. If anything, it makes me anxious for another season of Haikyuu.

The “old school harem hijinks” award is hereby presented to Yuragi-sou no Yuuna-sa. Aaah, the kind of show I love to hate, except that there haven’t been as many to hate lately, so my Stockholm Syndrome kicks in and I miss it instead. Pervy, but classically reserved about nudity and the display of affection; just like ma used ta’ make ‘em. Air headed and interchangeable, every episode is just another vehicle for fanservice, but I thought the scenarios were at least a little more creative than I’ve grown accustomed to… but do not take that as a recommendation. Herein lies only misunderstandings and fetishes; enter if you dare (to have run your backlog dry).

The “just as relevant as Friends” award goes to Grand Blue. Anime has finally ‘caught up’ to trashy 90’s American situational comedies with Grand Blue. Something odd struck me about this one shortly after the first episode (not the college age; they still function as high schoolers with nothing else going on, but don’t think I didn’t notice). It was that I eventually realized this show reminded me of the comedic timing of sit-coms like the aforementioned. Episodes later cemented my suspicions when derpy drinking hijinks, the after effects of getting plastered, and “relationship problems” became the punchlines for the show. Almost nostalgic, but I moved on from that stuff 10 years ago. Now if only we can get some 90’s courtroom procedural clones, then we’d be cooking!

The “edutainment is a thing” award goes to Hataraku Saibou: Hey kids, would you like it if all of your cells functioned like the Japanese workforce while sustaining your bodily functions and fighting foreign bodies like bacteria with sentai battles? Put your hand down, Timmy- you would die. I always thought biology was the most boring of subjects taught in school, and, while Cells at Work presented them in the most tastefully ‘anime’ way possible, the same sort of holds true here. I retained almost none of the info dumps the show regularly paused to share. I told a friend in jest that, somewhere out there exists the actual demographic for this show: med students with both enough free time and low enough self-esteem to watch seasonal anime. Lo and behold, there is at least one ‘react’ series on youtube where you can watch along with an actual medical professional commentating on the show’s biological accuracy, if that’s how you want to get your kicks.

Another season, another blur in the mind. I don’t know how they are making even more shows each season, when as soon as 2011 we had approximately 10 to choose from a year. Happy watching, and here’s to not burning out just yet!

[Buffalobiian]

Irozuku Sekai no Ashita kara

-PA Works.
-Interesting use of colours/monochrome.
-Strange, magical powers.
-A story about a girl and a boy + their strange bond together related to said magical powers + colours.
-Highschool setting.
-Story actually has a decent conclusion.

-So in other words, the better version of Glasslip.

-The show has quite likeable characters, decent development along the way (though the male love interest could have gotten more development). Quite a solid watch.


Seishun Buta Yarou wa Bunny Girl Senpai no Yume wo Minai

-Funny
-Great characters.
-Interesting takes on quantum physics + 8th Grade Syndrome.

-This is Bakemonogatari without being too wordy, cryptic or SHAFTy, or before it got too pervy.
-It feels less stylistic, but more coherent.

-I'd have loved if Mai-senpai looked slightly older to get more of that Senpai/Kouhai feel, but what they've doing now works well enough.


Goblin Slayer

-Brutal
-The first few episodes were the best.
-Goblin Slaying become somewhat less innovative as time went by, but that's fine.

[MFauli]

Kazega Tsuyoku fuiteru:
Slow start, became my favorite. And now it's pausing until October? Wtf

Tensei shitara Slime datta Ken: Simcity in an isekai setting. Pleasant watch all around. Would love a video game like that.


Golden Kamui:
Promising start, dreadful middle portion, but spectacular final episodes. Didn't like some of the 'so gruesome - funny!' behavior, but the story was unpredictable and the characters had strong agenda.

[shinta|hikari]

Golden Kamui because of hilarious comedy and bad ass action scenes.

Seishun Buta because it has great dialogue with a nice cast of characters.

Goblin Slayer because I hate goblins. And GS is one of the most relatable protagonists to me in a long time.

[neflight86]

Here we are to usher in an optimistic 2019 by complaining about the dregs of the final 2018 season!

3. Goblin Slayer: Cut me a slice of that edge off, because I like my fantasy a bit darker than the typical isekai style RPG homage show. It evoked enough ‘Berserk’ to bring make the romp very fun. Due to the silent nature of the main character, I could never tell what he was thinking, and therefore all of the plans were unexpected yet plausible enough to maintain my suspension of disbelief. A good effort and entertaining show.

2. Release the Spyce: Rated here simply by its ability to keep my attention over weekly viewings.

1. Seishun Buta Yarou wa Bunny Girl Senpai no Yume o Minai: I’ve heard some curmudgeons complain about the derivative nature of this one, but I was almost immediately enamored. A hint of Rom-com snafu vibes really helped there. The supernatural plot device felt well utilized, if not particularly necessary; it worked as a gimmick. I really enjoyed each girl’s arc, and the “blank slate” protagonist actually felt pretty life-like to me. I looked forward to nothing more each week.

Wouldn’t feel the same without just a couple special awards, now would it?

Best OP/ED combo: Akanesasu Shoujo: Take or leave the show itself, but the OP and ED did their jobs of getting me hyped for each episode, and regretting its absence until the next episode.

2nd best gaslight award goes to Double Decker: The entire run time of this one I awaited for the link to Tiger and Bunny, a personal favorite of yesteryear, as this supposedly takes place in the same universe. Never happened, as I sat in disbelief that not one connection was made, even though a few hopeful opportunities arose and were sadly ignored. As for the show itself, I believe that comparing itself to T&B, even fictitiously, did this no favors. Too much low effort CG, and some ‘progressive’ posturing that I rolled my eyes at. Still entertaining for most of the run, though.

“Will the real gaslight please stand up?” award goes to Release the Spyce: The suggestion of a traitor character is handled possibly the best I can remember seeing in anime. The idea itself had me questioning and scrutinizing every girl each episode, bloating my paranoia until the very satisfying reveal/betrayal of the girl in question. That alone, though, wouldn’t warrant special mention, but rather that the entire series-long ploy of setting up a traitor character was a sacrifice to get my guard down for one final twist is… glorious.

The “most forgettable series” award goes to… who again? Oh, Tonari no Kyuuketsuki-san: Look, I know it’s kind of mean to dump on creative works that, though uninspired, are greater than anything I could come up with. That irony isn’t lost on me… But hot dog these shows are have more bland filler than… hot dogs, actually… topical! Vampire girl and her yuri bait sidekick/friends. You’ve already watched this or never will, so there you go.

The “overpromise” trophy is actually a paper voucher and hereby presented to “RErideD: Tokigoe no Derrida”: A true mixer bowl of science fiction gobbledy-gook, Derrida is quite willing to attrition your better tastes by simply throwing every science fiction idea it can at you relentlessly, constantly, and stupidly- until you forget which half-baked idea got you to try it out in the first place. We have terminator robot uprising, time travel, dissociative identity disorder, blade runner cyberpunk, fallout post apocalyptic, corporate conspiracies, and the power of believing in the good of mankind, maybe? All handled with the nuance and care you’d expect of a low budget independent anime production in twelve episodes. You’ve had better written and directed fever dreams, I’m sure. By episode 3, I was too embarrassed to stop watching.

The “I’m getting too old for (some) anime” award is being chased off of my lawn for “Ulysses - Jeanne d'Arc to Renkin no Kishi”: Take an interpretation of the 100 years’ war’s European political climate as filtered through adolescent kids and enough Japanese pop-worldview that your resulting stroke has a stroke and you can approximate the experience of consuming media of such dubious quality. I see what’s to like here: edgy revisionism, gun and sword fighting, alchemy, smart sounding words to explain ‘how the world works’, and ‘hot chix who wanna mouth-to-mouth with the insert character’… but are youth so willing to accept such a base characterization of their desires? I feel like there was a time when I could have been drawn to these elements, but I don’t know if I could have overlooked what the marketing said about the consumer. Couldn’t make it through episode 4 (I tried twice!).

“Charming Fluff” goes to Zombieland Saga. If the plucky girls in Zombieland saga were any more plucky, my eyes very well could have been plucked clean out… Still an idol series, but with enough crossover into what I would actually watch to keep me in.

The “World isn’t fair enough” award goes to Thunderbolt Fantasy Season 2. Super entertaining, but not anime, so it can’t tie for 1st/2nd like it should. A travesty for sure, and highly recommended.

The “This would have gone over better 15 years ago” award is presented to “Kishuku Gakkou no Juliet”: the latest appropriation of a tale (idea, really) from western literature, one look at the art and first episode synopsis will give you all you need to know about it. Watchable and passable in equal measure.

The “Perpetual Search for identity” award is for “SSSS.Gridman”. I don’t care for robot fighting, and the ‘trauma’ of innocents dying in kaiju battles feels kind of limp in a ‘it’s been done’ sort of way. The villain alone carried this one for me. Anime villany has an abundance of edgelords, misguided anti-heroes, and psychopaths, but this girl had a chillingly… bad personality and attitude. That made her chaos more fun to watch, in a more ‘chaotic neutral’ sort of way.

The obligatory “Cute girls being cute friends” award goes to “Anima Yell!”: Cheer leader routines/dancing itself especially lends itself to jabs about this show ‘going through the motions,’ but that doesn’t change the validity of the claim. More empty viewing calories with a side of moe.

The “dying ember” award was extinguished for “Sora to Umi no Aida”: Space fishing… As I looked around the anisphere for the season, my tired gaze often returned here, beaten down by the utter tripe that constantly burned my retinas… I kid, I kid, but this one actually does a little bit, creatively, with the premise, which is more than can be said for many anime. Feel good ‘girl power’ empowerment story/drama with an ending that pulls the foundations laid in previous episodes together into a satisfying conclusion. It helped that half of the girls didn’t get along anyway; friction makes a story have more bite.

Here’s to dusting off the burn out with the next season!

[neflight86]

Knees deep in 2019:

3. Go-Toubon no Hanayome: I liked this much more than I’d expected from yet another harem anime, but the “courting one of the siblings” backdrop makes things just that little bit more enjoyable, as you try to piece together non-existent clues as to the bride actually is. The story beats are also interesting, by sidestepping the usual ‘girl of the episode’ standalone stories that are so common. All of the characters are active at all times and that adds some good variety.

2. Kakegurui Season 2: New season, same old insanity. The best thing I can say is that this is exactly more of what the first season provided. Haven’t had your fill? Come on in!

1. Yakusoku no Neverland: I have some problems with the story being somewhat simplified from the manga, but Neverland did deliver on some gorgeous art, moody scenes, and appreciable tension. Recommended; even for ‘normies’.


Some special awards to keep things spicy:

“Most pleasant surprise” award for Tensei Shitara Slime Datta Ken: Get out of here. Isekai has no place on this side of ridicule! Especially not one comically devoid of tension or adversity with… mild harem hijinks? Have some self-respect and go full-on Perv, man! Truly, a checklist of this show’s most base components more inspire eyerolls than elation, but there were some surprisingly thoughtful… muted story elements that lent a small something… a spark of creative intent that allowed some more interesting stories to be told even within this most vile of frameworks.

“Filling the Void” award to Hinomaru Sumo: Sumo? You mean, like E.Honda sumo? Nah; I’m good… Shounen battle style Sumo anime? I must escape this body. Of course it isn’t special or unique other than the sport maybe, but that doesn’t mean I can’t love the formula its built on. Really, there is almost nothing here; I can’t remember names, techniques, or most motivations, but the motions of shounen, supporting characters, training, and tournaments alone can carry me through. I’m embarrassed I watched this to completion, but not regretful.

“xXxScarEmoxXx” award was cut off for Mahou Shoujo Tokushusen Asuka: I’m going to go ahead and lump this one into the “tryhard edgelord teenager fiction” category along with recent classics like Taboo Tatoo (flush), Big Order, and Killing Bites (Yay). Just watching this makes me feel like the (insert thing) nuts who freeze frame movies and complain about inaccuracies to an uninterested crowd. It is so easy to pick apart the story, but nothing is serviced by doing so, so I simply ignored what I could to enjoy my show about magical girls shooting and cutting bad guys… some of which were teddy bears. On the plus side, it had some contemporary military(ish) action, and the edgy scenes were constant enough that I can clearly see the audience for this.

“The Feels” digital certificate was uploaded to Kouya no Kotobuki Hikoutai: Stupid CG anime; I still don’t accept you, but this was pretty good. It is rare that enough conversations happen at such a speed that I strain to keep up with reading subtitles, but that was a regular part of watching Kotobuki. What kept me watching (though the dialogue was pretty snappy and entertaining) were the frequent dogfights. I love the dead-pan cinematography used where it looks like the camera was bolted to a wing or such, and it is used to great effect here. Recommended for aerial combat fans with the same caveat as Girlz und Panzer.

“At least it completed the story” obligatory chocolate given to Egao no Daika: So the conventional wisdom is that Mecha shows can pretty much do whatever they want because no one cares what is going on so long as the mecha fight regularly. If that is true, it explains a lot of Daika’s story. A largely defeatist tale of a fallen kingdom that regularly killed off characters to heighten the impact of its episodic plot points. Awful 2d animation with some garish designs made watching sometimes difficult, but the viewer is rewarded with at least a passable sci-fi story and actual resolution by episode 12.

“Head scratcher” de-lice trophy-comb presented to Mob Psycho 100 S2: This should easily be in the running for best show this season, so what happened? I guess I just expected better (different) storytelling than an actual ‘fight the evil organization’ plot, or at least some more deconstruction. The entire first season was sort of built on the premise that psychic powers don’t really make you special, from a societal point of view, yet here we wound up with a small group of espers demolishing a city. No armed response, no emergency services mentions, nothing at all except for the ‘main players’ of psychic soldiers and Mob’s gang duking it out. Don’t get me wrong; the fights were fantastic, but the series never built up to this kind of conflict… never earned the sympathies of the audience by putting in the time with these characters in a conflict-oriented setting to nail the penultimate feat of the feeling of the shounen struggle. The greatest battles of the end of the season weren’t much different than some anonymous Sakuga animation uploads when the context for the battles doesn’t hold my heart. The first half of the season was stellar, though.

“Sacherrine cute” strawberry-shaped award presented to Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai: Almost a lovey-dovey Deathnote with the amount of scheming these two put in to get the other to confess. Cute, absurd, but nothing really special.

“Aesthetic is everything” Boogiepop wa Warawanai: It makes me look silly to say, but I can’t really recall most of the eight episodes of this I watched. The narrative was all over the place, but I was mostly fixated on the atmosphere. The character designs, color palate, and the moody synth soundtrack… just made me feel a unique… ‘chill’ while watching this, and that alone was enjoyable, but I soon fell off after missing an episode, and realizing I couldn’t recount the story thus far.

“A bit too classic” Dororo: I know it’s the second adaptation, and I never saw the first, but my issue watching this was that Anime has been exploring most of these same story beats/legend references for years, and I feel no love for a potential pioneer of it. I don’t exclusively put on Citizen Kane when I want to see clever cinematography, because I can see it elsewhere, in more modern packaging. Ideas from this show and ones like it being aped on have sort of dulled me to many of the episodic stories Dororo told, though the premise was interesting in and of itself. I wanted to like it more than I did.

I’d say this was an ‘average’ season, but good in the sense that were was a variety of things to watch. Now I have to start Date A Live so I can watch this latest season (don’t judge me).

[neflight86]

Seasonal report, incoming:

3. One Punch Man 2nd Season- The first season was admittedly a tough act to follow, but the “other” studio made a solid go at it. Shortcuts and simple animation were employed in full force, but the pleasantly meandering story and a few actually good cuts of motion made this easier to swallow.


2. Aggretsuko 2nd season- This was way better than a flash cartoon has any right to be, and was easily twice as entertaining as the first season (which was already pretty good). For how little screen time characters get, they develop nicely into more complex individuals than their super simplistic character designs would have you believe. Bonus points for the Eeyore Musk character.


1. Shingeki no Kyojin Season 3- Continued to do the impossible in meeting my unrealistic expectations for how gripping an anime story can be. I suppose some didn’t like the change in scope/direction the story took ¾ through this season, but I’m all for expanding the scale of events to a global confrontation. One of the most satisfying conclusions to a season of anime I’ve ever seen. It left me wanting more yet willing to wait for the next year’s installment.


Some special awards, as obligated:

Hitoribocchi no Marumaru Seikatsu wins the “yesh; very cute” award. As designed, everything about this show aspires to draw out one’s paternal sheltering instincts to root on the Bocchi girl who is weak, but not annoying somehow… must be a side effect of Moe. Well animated and pleasant to take in; you know what kind of show this is by now.

The “Cotton Candy” award is presented to Bokutachi wa Benkyou ga Dekinai - Weather you intake this WSJ harem concoction in Mange or Anime form the side effects remain the same: may lead to vague fuzzy feelings of affection followed by massive short term memory loss. Watch and enjoy it, please… just know it is as vapid and fleeting as a certain fairground confection.

Kono Oto Tomare! Wins the “excused contrivance(s)” writ. To inject conflict into a subject matter as non confrontational as playing a stationary stringed instrument in a club setting, some serious bending backwards is required. Imagine tying gang violence and a troubled past to a character’s motivation to keep a club going to justify kids caring about playing this instrument and you begin to get a picture of how damaged I am to enjoy this. Kids improving at things is my sick vice… get your own!

Fairy Gone just barely qualifies for the “we accidentally ordered one too many trophies” participation award. Congratulations; you aired on television, somehow. P.A. works must be gearing up for something big to follow the tolerable mainstream “Sirius the Jager” with their own white-label imitation of it. I would recommend watching the first episode and counting the number of off-putting aspects that managed to be captured in a single 20 minutes. Super soldiers fighting each other after a war with… stands? Oh no. Well at least it doesn’t feature wounded kids running away from a burning village in a flashbac- I’ll see myself out.

The “this shouldn’t have aired in a kid’s time slot” VHS sleeve goes to Nande Koko ni Sensei ga!?- Its perv fuel. Or at least it was trying to be. Comparing this… production... to the manga is kind of sobering. If the dirty is being held for blu ray releases, then this broadcast was truly worthless, as the art is a notch below the manga (and constantly off model), and the raunchiest scenes are all completely obscured by a blackboard (in theme I admit; its teachers after all) chiding you for watching this in the first place. Animators have to eat too, I guess...

The “shounen impostor” award is awarded to Hachigatsu no Cinderella Nine- You almost had me with your one note characters bringing different passions to this all girls baseball team, but you’re not a shounen at all! You’re a cute girls doing ‘baseball’ in disguise! Fool me once (for about 4 episodes), shame on me. Fool me twice, and this must be a wretched season indeed.

RobiHachi gets the “credit where credit is due” postcard. Three episodes in, I felt lost and oddly familiar at the same time. Original series should get a view on merit alone, but this one’s setups and payoffs were episodic in a boring sort of way. Wish I enjoyed it better.

The “mileage may vary” disclaimer has been approximated for Sewayaki Kitsune no Senko-san- I’ve heard this show described as an ‘advertisement appealing for an otaku to get a wife’, and that seems humorously plausible. I mean, who doesn’t want to be pampered by a cute little fox girl because you’re not as happy as you should be? Apparently I’m due a fox girl in the near future. I hope mine can also cook.

The “overpowered isekai” trophy somehow already belongs to Shin from Kenja no Majo!- If they are going to keep making these series and trodding these tropes, I would figure that there has to be variance by coincidence alone eventually! Reincarnated pubecent wizard superman makes the good girls go “ooooh” and the bad guys go “aaaah”. Contrivances upon fortunes upon BS conspire to elevate Shin to godhood in the most eye-rolling of ways. Isekai drains my morale sometimes.

The “packmule” award is lumbering over to Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari- Seldom is a mediocre show weighed down by its initial premise this much. Most anime with interesting premises simply abandon them shortly into their run and devolve into their niche genre (how many mid 00’s harem shows have had outlandish gimmicks that could have changed the world if handled like Death Note?), but Shield Hero carried on into a perfectly serviceable, generic fantasy romp. I can get behind about one of these at a time. Like Grancrest Senki, these encapsulated fantasy adventures can work if they stay ‘within their means’, so to speak and address issues the audience wants to see. In this case, Shield Hero made good on its premise for ‘revenge’ with mixed reactions. Solid, just not memorable outside of its revenge gimmik.

I would classify this as a below average season, if not for AoT pulling out my bias. Didn’t finish most shows, but added a few to the backlog. See you next season.

[neflight86]

…Better late than never, right?

3. Kimetsu no Yaiba: one of the current ‘condensed milk’ shounen adaptations, I like where this trend is heading. Seasonal adaptations allow much more breathing room and better pacing of even tired stories like the one in KnY. Honestly, this might have been the weakest opening episode to a shounen I’ve seen since Black Clover made me question if anime really was a mistake… A few episodes later it managed to warm up to me, and Zenitsu sealed the deal as making this something I really enjoyed by the end. UFOTable animation didn’t hurt, either.

2. Cop Craft: If Grand Blue was anime imitating “Friends”, Cop Craft is anime taking a swing at “Lethal Weapon”. I could do with more of this, in spite of the Crayola grade animation, I feel like the buddy-cop genre is criminally underserved in anime (pun so intended it hurts). Seedy street-wise half crooked law enforcement protecting society in the only way it can with plenty of collateral damage is a delight to experience, if not watch (again, the animation was awful). I will be seeking out more where I can find it (looking at you, Active Raid).

1. Carole and Tuesday: I’m so relieved I didn’t have to compare this to last season’s Attack on Titan season 3 part 2, because it would have been very close at the time. While the second cour didn’t play out as smoothly as the first (I must have watched the first 12 episodes 5 times), there was still plenty here to enjoy, even if the story put on more allusions to grandeur than actual substance by the end of it. Some loose plot threads and weaker story beats didn’t diminish my hype for an episode each week, and of course the music was always a treat. Recommended.

Special awards incoming

“Heaven or Hell” tension bar was charged up for “Kawaikereba Hentai demo Suki ni Natte Kuremasu ka?”: Watching this was not unlike entering into a catatonic coma. I was there, the anime was playing, and I could only find myself gazing into the abyss. Nothingburger of a main character has essentially his pick of a harem ofcute girls who all happen to be perverts in the most paint-by-numbers ways. Masochist cancels into sadist cancels into stalker into smell fetish, like a retarted fighting game combo finishing with, of course, bro-con. One I was no doubt caught in to the full KO of my self respect.

The “Old habits die hard” rehab brochure is presented to “Senki Zesshou Symphogear”: Five seasons in and this trash has the audacity to treat its audience by calling back previous season’s villains and plot points into a big’ol Symphogear jamboree that raises the stakes and gives the extended character roster enough to do that feels relevant. The animation and fight choreography has stepped up as well. Seldom am I rewarded so thoroughly for mistakes like watching original anime from Statelight. Remember, kids, the show actually began with a flash forward of Hibiki’s grave, so we should be able to spot the last season when it happens.

The “Macho” bust is going to “Dumbbell Nan Kilo Moteru?”: I read some of the manga, so I wasn’t surprised by the good mix of edutainment and cute girls doing “getting ripped”. The comedic chops were put to good use here and the character designs survived the transition to animation nicely. I always yelled out a Randy Savage style “MACHO” every time trainer-kun’s clothes exploded, as it mirrored my experience with the Manga. The tragedy here is that the audience who might most benefit from seeing this likely never will…

The ‘it’s so teen fiction’ award or, whatever, like, goes to “Kanata no Astra” or something; I don’t care…: Beginning as a somewhat suspenseful mystery science fiction story only loses strength as the increasingly preposterous revelations are regularly shared with the audience. I endured main dude espousing the virtues of friendship only to hear that world peace was established by outlawing spirituality, governance, and other bedrocks of the human experience? Smells too much like the something awful forums for me to take at face value without a migraine inducing head-roll…

The ‘non-starter’ broken transmission trophy is awarded to both “Tejina Senpai” and” Sounan Desuka”: I could have watched either or both of these series to completion if their production teams or sponsors had the faith to produce full length episodes. Similar to Dagashi Kaishi season 2, I like a little bit of time to acclimate and get comfortable with characters in dialogue driven comedy anime, or I feel unsatisfied by the end of each episode.

The “that was a thing” finger string goes to “Katsute Kami Datta Kemono-tachi”: I enjoyed the three or so episodes I watched of this: fantasy post civil-war style adventure hunting down disbanded beast soldiers to make it a more ‘anime’ story… But then I just sort of forgot about it, so hopefully I will correct missing out after the 200 other shows I’ve been meaning to watch or finish.

The “tie your shoelaces” award trips over the finish line of “Tsuujou Kougeki ga Zentai Kougeki de Nikai Kougeki no Okaasan wa Suki Desuka?”: I’m always one to try to squeeze an ounce of enjoyment from the latest ‘deconstruction’ or ‘parody’ of anime’s most derivative fad: the isekai story. Okaasan’s twist is that the main character isn’t in another world at all, but just a VR game that he can’t leave and behaves, for all functional intents and purposes, like another world. I’m beginning to think Japan’s understanding of ‘satire’ is different than mine, but I soldiered on. Another twist is that main character’s mom has imba base abilities and steals the spotlight from her son who is a little bit put off by how clingy she is. Did I mention that mommie also refers to herself in the third person so I get to read the word “mommie” in my subtitles enough time per episode to simply assume she is autistic? It really give the story an additional dimension… Well, at some point in the next to last episode (which was surprisingly themed around a person who didn’t appreciate ‘moms’ enough) I had a moment of clarity in that there was really no good reason to watch the last episode… so I didn’t. I won. I think.

Fair season; here’s looking forward to the next.

[Ryllharu]

Summer 2019 In no particular order:

Cop Craft - I truly expected this to be awful. There are so, so many bad fantasy-cop animes out there, and just as many bad scifi cop series. But when you see Murata Renji character designs (Last Exile and thousands of one-off designs), two things should happen. You try it anyway, and it's probably hot garbage. Wizard Barristers comes to mind. Tony Taka comes to mind.
But Cop Craft is actually pretty great. There's solid and sensible worldbuilding, the dynamic between Tilarna and Matoba is always enjoyable, the stakes are occasionally quite high, and there's even a really great supporting cast who are given some depth instead of just being placeholder tropes (though they exist as those too). Sometimes the animation is shit, and other times it's surprisingly detailed and well framed. This is the first fantasy cop-type anime I think I've really enjoyed since Hyper Police.

Kimetsu no Yaiba - I thought this had a great first episode before it spiraled into generic shonen cliché. It certainly felt like the author realized he needed to retcon quite a few things after writing himself into an early corner. But this is one of the few generic shonen series that really elevates itself as it goes, correcting its flaws, weaknesses, and ends as a dramatically stronger series than it started as, leaving me looking for more, and how it will improve further.
It's a lot like Zenitsu's character within it. It's at first disappointing, sometimes annoying, but really grows on you over time, and eventually surprises the hell out of you.

Granbelm - With a bonus award of "consistently mistyped title." I started watching this 3/4 of the way through the season because I'd heard it was a sleeper hit. And man is it ever. A rather generic magical girl series, executed in a unique way (mechs!), and featuring really interesting sound design. This isn't the magic-knight type of clanky mecha, these are truly alien constructs controlled by their mages as puppeteers. Not quite Kamisama Dolls, but no less brutal. A character development driven series with very worthwhile story lines explored. The overall plot isn't that original, it's a magic tournament where there can only be one ultimate victor. But it is the characters' stories that make this series a winner.

[Buffalobiian]

Cop Craft : Reminds me of Blood Blockade Battlefront (alien/human worlds intersect to form a city, peace enforcers go about their shit).
CC focuses on the core 2 characters more which I feel worked well for a 12 episode run. BBB fleshed out more characters, but in turn took longer to make the entire cast feel whole.
Sometimes CC looked like ass, no kidding. I think some scenes were even cut wrong. That is, not badly-but-intentionally, but by mistake.

Anyway, it was good enough to get a spot here.

Kimetsu no Yaiba - Good Shounen. Ufotable animation + Kajiura Yuki soundtrack = Easy Win.

Araburu Kisetsu no Otome-domo yo - A coming of age anime about some highschool literacy club girls coming to terms with sexual desires. Non-ecchi in nature, beautifully drawn.

[neflight86]

Late as per usual, but I just got around to finishing what I could:

3. High Score Girl II: Awkward to pick up if you didn’t watch the ovas bridging the gaps in seasons 1 and 2 (she had a big sister?), but still so worth it to watch as old games and clichéd rom com trappings make my favorite CG anime. More of the same (in a good way).

2. Psycho Pass season 3: I never understood the venomous contempt people by and large had for season two of Psycho Pass compared to the original. I guess I get something different out of these ‘adult’ procedural shows, because I loved that and this and the jump to double length hour drama format was a big win for me. The cases explored in the Cibyl framework this season actually had less and less to do with subverting big brother than any before, but as a result, the cases felt more varied and gave the viewer more time to acclimate to the new broken cast of enforcers. I like the direction the show took with the old characters, like the new section chief (victim season one, bootlicker season two, and jaded tenured bootlicker with a pez addiction now), Akane finally getting a hue (or just thoughts in general) ‘clouded’ enough for detainment, and even a case of re-integration. Oddly, another trend this season is a noticeable abundance of hand to hand fight scenes; at least two per episode on average. I’m not complaining, but enforcers used to let their dominators do most of the work. Anime be anime, after all…

1. Ore wo Suki na no wa Omae Dake ka yo: The premise built in episodes 1-3 alone carried this one, as it wasn’t nearly as well delivered in hindsight, but at the time, the first three episode arc done got my hopes up in a bad way. Following mini arcs and side characters fell into more pedestrian hijinks until settling into a typical “someone is so nice they actually hurt people” confrontation season ender that I’ve only ever seen in the most feminine of anime. Still, while it was airing, I had high, high hopes for this one and looked forward to nothing more each week.

______________________________________
Special awards; you’re welcome:

The “you had one job” award is shamefully swept under the rug of “Houkago Saikoro Club”: the show I was most interested in going into the season. I had planned to dive into boardgames and the history of each one showcased on the program – nerding out proper, but it just never happened, and I don’t expect to ever get another chance to do that… truly a big regret… the show itself, though was almost vapid in its thin-ness outside of gaming content. Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: shy, socially awkward person is pulled into an activity and discovers its merits in facilitating human interaction they’d been craving all along… you can put your hands down, everyone… Nothing really new here- cute girls do boardgames… but seriously, check those (real) games out; they’re pretty fun with friends and family /PSA.

The “tripped on the starting line” award is… well… on the starting line, while “Rifle is Beautiful” took off: I’m an NRA kind of guy, so when my animus want to fetishize firearms for my entertainment, I don’t have to be told twice. That being said; I couldn’t even get through one episode of this dreck. Firstly, all of the guns were repurposed as laser weapons… strike one. Then there was unholy obvious CG during the shooting scenes that count for double strikes on their own, but add to that uninteresting banter and the entire thing just made me wish I was watching Upotte again- at least that knew how to pander a stupid idea like ‘cute girls shooting guns’.

The “Case for CG” trophy goes to “Beastars”: I loved the Zootopia move a few years back as a look at society and racial tensions, even if it was a bit preachy, which is what I can most closely compare Beastars to. Anthropomorphized animal people living sharing society together in spite of their innate incompatibilities (carnivore and predator). I got over the CG pretty fast, and it probably made things like this (fur) easier to animate, but I still missed animation. Anyway, the story and characters had a distinct “live action drama” feeling to them that is a bit jarring in an Anime setting, but it worked well. They even managed to conclude an arc in such a way as to have a climax at the end of the first season, and that there is going to be another season alone is a good sign for its popularity. Recommended if you’re looking for something different.

The “Mud trophy” goes to “Watashi, Nourykou wa Heikinchi de tte Itta yo ne!”: I spent more time typing out that (obnoxious) name than I did thinking about the meaning, themes, and characters of this show. Generic wish fulfillment isekai with obligatory single twist (that pragmatically isn’t even a twist) about some cute girls… adventurer school… tournament… strongest… zzzz

The “sophomore effort” award goes to “Hataage! Kemono Michi”: Coming down from Konosuba gives one unrealistic expectations about how entertaining a show is going to be. This is roughly average or just above average anime. It was watchable and some jokes got me to laugh; but it is not Konosuba good… and that leaves me a little cold coming from the same author.

The “MRE” award has been pouched up for “Shinchou Yuusha: Kono Yuusha ga Ore Tueee Kuse ni Shinchou Sugiru”: A quality production, if it offers what you are looking for. Another self-referential isekai with nice animation, a brisk story and an actual conclusion with plenty of serviceable humor mixed in. It hit all of the right beats in one place and I can’t complain (though it was a bit on the raunchy side), but I won’t remember it in a year, either.

The “So old it feels new again” certificate has been vacuum sealed (to protect its freshness) for “Bokutachi wa Benkyou ga Dekinai! 2: Blank protagonist thrust into close contact with an assortment of cute girls with different primary colored hair, all in various states of love with him as he obliviously embarrasses them and makes then blush like maidens over the course of the wacky situations they find themselves in, often born of misunderstanding… why are everyone’s hands up? …Anyway, at this point you probably know how this plays out even if you don’t watch anime, its so ingrained into otaku zeitgeist that the memes have spilled into the mainstream cringe that is the harem anime/waifu culture. Still, it is an enjoyable watch and the girls remain cute, so I could cruise control though it.

The “Typecast is real” award is presented to Tsuda Kenjirou of “Keishichou Tokumu Bu Tokushu Kyouakuhan Taisaku Shitsu Dai Nana Ka: Tokunana”: This guy has played at least three flippant, “loose cannon cop who doesn’t play by the rules” characters in the last two seasons alone (cop craft, this, Manji, and you could argue Overhaul) and his roles are starting to blend together for me. I’ll always remember him as the Giraffe from Revue Starlight. This show? Forgettable.

The “Wanted it to be better” wish was given to “No Guns Life”: Some shows can make a case for style over substance. Boogiepop Phantom had me watching for the ambience alone when the plot was over my head. This had the cyber noir trappings down alright, but never fully resonated with me as a detective show with cool fights. Juzo had the tough guy thing down alright, but the kid was kind of annoying, and the cases and side characters never amounted to anything of consequence. The episodic nature felt like it was taking time to establish a larger story that we never got around to, and the abrupt ending had me scratching my head. Not bad, just not great, either.

The “overachieving juvenile storytelling” award goes to “Choujin Koukousei-tachi wa Isekai demo Yoyuu de Ikinuku you desu!”: More of a concept than a solid story idea, the viewer needs to set many… more adult presumptions aside to get anything out of this story of a bunch of teenagers so imba that they can turn an entire world upside down by being transported to it. Each one specialized in some skill that allows them to provide so much more worth to their cause of righting the wrongs of this isekai world- I GET IT… PUT YOUR HANDS DOWN!!! In short, if you like the idea of kid- young people slowly saving a world by making it more like ours, you might get some enjoyment out of this… and there’s a fair bit of fanservice to sweeten the deal if you’re on the fence…

The “Much better than I thought it was going to be” award goes to “Honzuki no Gekokujou: Shisho ni Naru Tame ni wa Shudan o Erande Iraremasen”: This is really number four best of the season to me. This show takes the problem, meet idea, meet execution formula and apply it in a wholly satisfying way (for an isekai). Set aside the reincarnation aspect and look at it as a handicap for having forbidden knowledge of… handy crafts… and this is just another crafting adventure ala Dr. Stone. The attention to detail, like how other people catch on that she isn’t clearly really a little girl but are willing to overlook that because her presence is beneficial to everyone is amusing. The worldbuilding is solid as well. Apparently, a part two is in the making, and I will be first in line to partake.

The “speaking of” award was hastily slapped together for “Dr. Stone”: A solid adaptation of a non-battle shounen manga gets the blood boiling without even (hardly) any fights. The secret? Other conflict! Whether disease, power, materials, or any other manner of challenge, the show always presents the next ‘goal’ the characters are moving towards in an easily digestible way (the flow charts actually help in this regard). Combined with strong art, powerful music, and a genuinely smart story, and you have a recipe for success.

The “favorite animation award” went to “Enen no Shouboutai”: Note “favorite” versus “best”. The style of this one did resonate with me. The show itself is your typical shounen fight monsters tripe, until it expands into a conspiracy storyline where the fireforce members themselves are under scrutiny (who to trust = instant intrigue), which sparked my interest all over again (pun very much intended). One of the better shounen series lately.

The “not as good re-heated” award was microwaved for “Vinland Saga”: I remember loving the manga back when I read it years ago, but found myself on reflection feeling that there wasn’t actually very much happening in the story, and assumed I must have simply forgotten the “other good parts”. What is billed as an action series is, make no mistake, really not. There are very few fights (though what’s there are good), and the series as a whole is reflection on the meaning of violence, revenge, and ultimately life… Things I’ve never seen anime handle with a level of comprehensiveness that satisfied me, and this is no different. Pretty, at times exciting, but mostly grim pondering, if Vikings are your thing, give it a try.

Lastly, the “backup plan” award goes to “Kabukicho Sherlock”: The latest adaptation of the Sherlock Holmes character with the twist that he is a private eye who dabbles in rakugo to exposition his case deductions. It works and the mysteries aren’t too obtuse, but nothing about the show gripped me 7 episodes in. Give it a watch if you have time (and aren’t too off-put by the butchest of gay men).

All in all, a strong season leading into what is looking like a weaker one… Here’s to a new decade of Animu!!

[neflight86]

3. Ishuzoku Reviewers: Raunchy soft-core premise aside, the art of review and the context brought with it is adequately explored in this piece. While dialogue had to pull double duty expositing the criteria that the various… girls met or did not to grant the advertised experiences kept the proceedings interesting. The world building and context (for the ‘adventures’) established outside of the sex implicit scenes also kept what could have quickly become boring from ever really approaching it.

2. Boku no Hero S4: The sometimes unfortunate tempo of a MHA season (alternate a villain arc and end with a low stakes training/certification/world build arc) was thankfully ended in stride by a fiery (pun of course intended) confrontation at the by the new number 1 hero. Still going strong, as far as shounen series are concerned.

1. Eizouken ni wa Te wo Das una!: This was actually difficult to finish, as it lacked a strong unifying narrative aside from the girls striving to make animation a viable pursuit. That being said, nothing felt more satisfying to watch and did actually showcase some good creative animation and Miyazaki-style hijinks. World building seems to be a theme this season, and Eizouken was at the top of its game in that regard. Highly recommended for wannabe animation aficionados.

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I’m told that special awards are a part of my being now, so I don’t want to rock the boat too much…

The “mood casualty” urn is presented to Runway de Waratte: If my mindset were turned just a little bit, I can imagine this could have bene a contender for anime of the season. Most similar in recent memory to Welcome to the Ballroom, this is an example of the new age ‘drama shounen’ that I can certainly get used to. Half plucky challenger, and half reality check, the characters struggling against a world seemingly designed to keep them from their dreams was very interesting, when the subject (high fashion) was decidedly not so.

The ‘edgy death game’ trophy is non-conforming for Darwin’s Game: There is always room for a series like this, because the audience who might find it fresh isn’t old enough to have seen any of the better efforts of previous years, while those who watch this in spite of knowing what it is by the nature of its audience are clearly damaged anyway. Various characters kill each other via games with super powers managed on their smart phones. Topical. At least the shedding of innocence was handled well enough here to give me hope if another season comes out.

The “is this funny to anyone else” chuckle stick went to ID: Invaded: Part Inception, and part butt-pull mysteries, the real takeaway here is how often characters referred to themselves as ‘brilliant detective’. I guess everyone needs to psyche themselves up every now and again. Unfortunately, mysteries weren’t ‘properly’ structured, meaning the audience could only wait for characters to piece together clues and logic not presented to the viewers to advance the story. Not really satisfying, but somewhat different.

The (un)prestigious ‘clean conscience’ award is split between Pet, Hatena Illusion, and Plunderer: Three shows sharing nothing but boredom and a nagging suspicion that someone out there who is just getting into anime could like them. Pet was the most high concept (and potential to be good) with memory manipulation, and if you don’t mind a lot of exposition- I actually recommend it. Hatena Illusion is another boring slog through nonsensical contemporary fantasy that felt too pedestrian to grip. Plunderer is only notable in that it sprung to mind when I wondered what the worst anime I saw so far this year was. Generic fantasy setting made to serve as a groundwork for arbitrary rules that ensure fighting, fanservice, and a cool dude main character shaking up the established order… I’m pretty sure I copy-pasted that from some other clumsy wish fulfillment piece years ago. All three shows gave no discomfort to simply cease watching…

“Number one derp” helmet is presented to Murenase! Seton Gakuen’s Lanka. Great voicework by Hina Kino, this character actually sounds really stupid, as I hope was the intent.

“Grinding” timed event trophy goes to Itai no wa Iya nano de Bougyoryoku ni Kyokufuri Shitai to Omoimasu: While perfectly adequate as yet another fictional videogame story, two episodes in it felt like a titular grind to progress, as the main character was rewarded for simply continuing to spend stat points on defensive ability, and there were no signs of that strategy being challenged. Low tension, low interest.

Somali to Mori no Kamisama gets on the ‘watch list’: While time doesn’t permit completing it now, the first episode did show enough promise to add it to the ever growing backlog. I like the dangerous undertones that the other races aren’t perhaps being fully honest/informed about the reasons for the delicious humans’ disappearance.

The “lunchtime” show award goes to Rikei ga Koi ni Ochita no de Shoumei Shite Mita: Cute rom-com about two scientists exploring and (failing to) quantify their mutual affection makes for good episodic eat-while-you-watch anime.

The ‘neglect’ award goes to Haikyuu!! To the Top: Years I waited for a follow up to the spectacular season three, but alas, I had read the manga since and that drains my desire to watch by at least half, though what I saw looked as good as ever.

The ‘sweaty tryhard’ soaked towel goes to Mairimashita! Iruma-kun: I gave it my all. At least 11 episodes I think- they blur together- given in hopes that this would be/get better. No such luck. Watchable with some gags you’ve seen before in other shows- tripe.

The “Capstone” award goes to Psycho Pass 3 First Inspector ovas: If you loved Phycho Pass season 3 (like me), these ovas, essentially three extra episodes, conclude its story arc properly AND set up the next potential one. Highly recommended.

Lastly, the “two thirds” rule goes to Drifting Dragons: In a silly sort of way, I see that anime can excel for me in three major areas: plot, character, and production. Being as I am essentially racist against CG anime, this fell short of the last one. I still can’t get over the sometimes awkwardly animated 3d models, but the rest of the show is a pleasure to watch. I like the setting, episodic story, and characters, but the act of visually perceiving CG anime always offends me just a bit. A nice enough show, but I wouldn’t want my daughter dating a CG character. Recommended if that doesn’t bother you.

A weaker season, but some goodies buried in there if you wade through enough.

[MFauli]

Regarding Eizouken: I actually dropped it after episode 5 or so. As you say, it lacked a prober narrative and that just didn't feel right for me. There was a lack of characters, always just seeing the three girls do whatever they want felt almost like, dunno, South Park.

[Ryllharu]

Normally I don't, but this time I will rank them.

1. Nami yo Kiitekure - This was the clear winner for AOTS. Earlier in the season it was a tossup between this and my number two, but by episode 5, there's really no question. A series, starring all adults, mostly the working poor, trying to find a different direction in their life. And it is funny. It's firmly rooted in reality, except for the radio broadcast scripts themselves. A real-life series with all adult characters alone is rare. But it is entertaining the entire time, without even a single dull episode. There's a fair number of archetypical characters for sure. The pining potential love interest, the cool mature woman, the sweet and polite younger employee, the quiet and gruff older guy, the mustached producer gambling on success. But Minare, the female lead, is the standout shining star of this series, and a breakout performance from her VA, Sugiyama Riho.

Just like, holy shit. Dialogue that's fired out a million miles a minute, all-encompassing dramatic range, but what really stands out between the writing and her performance is charm. Plenty of series tell their audience that so-and-so is supposed to be charming, some even show it through other characters reacting. But it falls short because it is fake. Minare is played charming. Her character is naturally charming without it being forced in any capacity. She feels very real because we see the majority of the series from her POV, and not all of it is flattering. She draws people into her pace. I laughed at least every episode, and smiled pretty much throughout each one.

And if all of that isn't enough, this is a slice of life series from the Blade of the Immortal author, and it really, really works. Great OP and ED too.

Downside? Funimation's subtitle format and timing sucks ass, particularly for series like this.

2. Otome Game no Hametsu Flag shika Nai Akuyaku Reijou ni Tensei Shiteshimatta... (aka Bakarina or Hamefura) - I will admit that I've become a fan of the higher quality "villainess" sub-genre of isekai. There's hundreds of these series now, and we're just starting to get anime versions of them. Bakarina was always one of the better ones. It's a pure, low-stakes comedy series that is simply enjoyable. Catarina is stupid to a degree that crushes the densest of male leads, the side characters are all funny, and the good nature of her trying to save her own life while accidentally triggering every love flag along the way is endearing. The art is detailed, but not extraordinary, and it doesn't have to be. The characters are the usual tropes. Nothing about this series should work as well as it does. But it is really, really good.

If I had to give it a downside, a few of the side characters have somewhat weak voice acting.

3. Gleipnir - So, downsides first. The story is a mess, the supporting cast is inconsistently used and not brought back enough for the audience to be given a proper impression of them so subsequent actions make sense when they return. Certain events simply aren't closed correctly. Almost all of this is a worse problem in the monthly serialization of the manga. So I was hoping the anime would streamline it, clean it up, and produce something more clearly impactful.

And it does, mostly.

This series shines the most about proper subversion of expectations. Not twists for the sake of having a twist, not poorly foreshadowed garbage turns. What you as a viewer or reader know is based solely on the POV's of the main character, who isn't the male lead we see most of the series through. It's the female lead who is the audience surrogate.
This series really plays to the strengths of series with unreliable narrators, without being cheap, without lying to its own audience. You simply don't know what you don't know, but in retrospect, a lot of things become obvious when you actually look for them or pay attention to them.

A lot of people are turned off by Clair, the female lead, because she's annoying or comes off as slutty. But the important part to remember is that she's a liar, mostly to herself, and almost everything she does is an act.

There's a slow boil on the truth as the series progresses, and it is good stuff. I just wish the structure of the series was tighter, and the editing had been a little stronger.

[neflight86]

It took me a bit longer to finish give up on the stragglers this season…

3. Honzuki no Gekokujou: Shisho ni Naru Tame ni wa Shudan wo Erandeiraremasen 2nd Season- Finally, we get to the subject of books and then… more obstacles- servants, class disparity, and other complications that were certainly more interesting than welcome in this “Dr. Stone for girls” show. It pulled some heart whenever it counted, and the off-model art sometimes actually made Mein look more sympathetic, in a weird way.

2. Tower of God- I’ll take shounen when I can get it, and while the storytelling is certainly of a different style than I’m used to, I will say that it evoked some of the better mental battle shounen memories of times past. Hopefully it gets a continuation.

1. Otome Game no Hametsu Flag shika Nai Akuyaku Reijou ni Tensei shiteshimatta…- This really shouldn’t be here, but the main character was actually cute enough in her wholesomeness to win me over. I like how she expected everyone to turn on her always, not as a manifestation of distrust, but because she felt it fated to be so… so her decency itself actually spared her passively from the fate of the evil game character (though that didn’t stop her from studying horticulture). She really was “#humblepopular” and a joy to watch, as were her less fleshed out companions.

___________________
Turns out there’s a clause in my forum contract to give out some special awards…

Kakushigoto – “Standards have risen award”: Ten… fifteen years ago, I’m convinced this would have been a classic due to its watch-ability and a real lack of competition. The loli is cute, and the dad’s gag didn’t really get old, and I imagine there was plenty of creative space for jokes around the concept. But in 2020, however, I couldn’t find the drive to complete it… Truly an embarrassment of riches.

Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai? Tensai-tachi no Renai Zunousen gets both the “Voice Work Matters” and “Catchy OP” awards: I really do take special notice of the V actors in Kaguya; especially Prez and vice prez. You really gotta pull double duty to make monologues engaging when they are supporting jokes the audience sees coming a mile away, and they pull it off.

Gleipnir teases, in the most trashy way possible, the “glorious mess” award. As a euphemism on teenage relationships, this grimdark battle series is about as subtle as a train wreck… But its production (in the early episodes) makes it worth wading through teen non-drama as a vehicle for another death game with supernatural powers. Worth it for fans of the genre.

Nami yo Kiitekure gets the ‘adulting’ award: I suppose this is how it feels to recognize the act of growing up is more than just worrying about paying your bills- in developed countries, that isn’t the hard part, it is finding purpose and joy in the life you lead. That is what made Nami yo Kiitekure engaging to watch. Minare is fun to watch narrate herself through all of her existence because she really seems to be commentating from a place of emotional insecurity, and it works well off of the rest of the cast. Different, and worth a watch.

Yesterday wo Utatte picks up the “lowest stakes possible” award up off of the floor (5 second rule!): Pure romance series, aside form being relatively rare in anime, also face the challenge of engaging the audience with character interaction and growth alone. Both of those things take time or really strong, punchy writing. Thankfully, Yesterday invested a bit of both to keep a good balance of progression and character- this is the first series I thought I would drop, and yet it completed it.

Shachou, Battle no Jikan Desu! Gets the “backlog bait” award. This disposable story of destitute adventure guild revitalization in yet another fantasy world will be perfect to archive for watching when the world ends.

Princess Connect! Re:Dive gets the reversed colored can of “Diet Konosuba” honors: It tastes kind of like Konosuba, but it isn’t… but I really like Konosuba, so I’ll try it anyway, and it was good enough, but I can taste the aspartame.

[neflight86]

Another season, another shift in life; time for the top 3!


3. Appare Ranman: P.A. Works doing what it does best with a little jank on the side. Pretty good characters prop up just about the least race-oriented racing series I’ve ever seen. A few ham-fisted plot elements intrude on the fun for a bit to force some arbitrary tension to prod Appare’s autism into new heights of emotional intelligence. Above average animation and a theme that resonates with me (American western) brought this into the top three of the season.


2. Houkago Teibou Nisshi: Cute girls doing what- fishing, you say? Can’t complain about much, really. As far as a breezy slice of life goes, this checks all of the boxes: cute girls explaining to my idiot self the appeal of a niche activity through the vicarious surrogate main character who just happens to be a girl. A few notable aspects include the sleazy president (unusual archetype in ‘cute’ anime), and the ‘failure’ of a drunken teacher/advisor. I’m surprised, but this being here isn’t surprising.


1. Yahari Ore: Really, I wasn’t sure if I would ever get to see the end of my favorite rom-com series, as I couldn’t gauge how popular it was in the large picture. I love 8-man as a character and feel like he’s done more to earn his harem than anyone else in anime. I loved the interaction, the banter, the developments, the talking in circles, and the vague metaphorical dialogue for all of the characters. I was truly ‘into’ this and looked forward to nothing more each week.


I was about to skip special awards, but the collar on my neck started beeping,so..

______________________

“Most wasted effort” award goes to Lapis: Re:lights: There are some genuinely good parts of another show that couldn’t get green-lit without stapling about fifteen idol girl character designs with it on display here. The stories are fun, the animation goes beyond what is needed to impress at (though I can still spot the CGI in dance sections, for the record), and even the character designs are almost memorable.


The “Quickest to Nope” award went to Maou Gakuen…: Overpowered story about some ‘random’ dude that is too cool for school and disrupts an established societal power structure while being above it all? And the girls all fall for him and wanna do… lewd things? I wish I could laugh or copy and paste my dismissal of this show from the last three seasons, but I’m just blank on these types of shows by now. It does not bode well for anime when what passes for excitement is what twist on a known trope might differentiate a new series.


The “backhanded apology” letter is sent to The God of High School: I called this a poor story due to the source format (Online Manhua), when I have since discovered that this may, in possibility, merely be a poor adaptation. 100+ chapters in 12 episodes, I’ve heard. Some things getting lost were inevitable, but I cannot say the gains were worth the sacrifice, as the second half of the show is just… a mess of nonsensical beatles, powerups, and more battles… I felt nothing for all of the flashy (but not noticeably good) animation on display. The storytelling felt a bit more shounen compared to ToG, which is a bit disappointing. I’m sure this won’t be the last webtoon adapted to anime, and I look forward to the next if only to see the formulas shaken up further.


The ‘kinda over it’ award it tossed to Re:Zero season 2: Re:Zero was a big deal in the Aniverse back in 2016, when subverting isekai hadn’t become its own trope quite yet. While I did largely like the first season, what we got in these 13 episodes simply didn’t advance the story enough to be satisfying on any level. Not even the witches. Watching Subaru screech every other episode when he is surprised that, yet again, bad things happen to him and the people he cares about which he has little control over except for his groundhog day powers is getting old fast. He is rapidly transitioning from tragic character to meme, and that’s a shame. The (vague) story itself is shaping up in such a way that I would like to visit it again when it is complete, as the weekly format does nothing to enhance my enjoyment for such a patently incomplete story.


The ‘coal or diamond’ award goes to Gibiate: A time travel tale of a legendary samurai (and ninja buddy) helping humanity fend off monster bugs in the post apocalyptic future is slightly less worn-out than most of what is on offer this season. Three episodes in, it looked like it could go either way in quality, but my gut decided to drop it due to no strong hook. Could be worth a watch?


“Wrong headspace” award goes to Deca-Dence: Something about this just rubbed me the wrong way and I interpreted it as pretentious, when it probably was not. The early twist didn’t excite, and that, possibly unfairly, soured me on continuing.


The “awakening” award was forced upon Uzaki-chan wa Asobitai: Upon the horizon, I see the dawn of a new type of rom-com; the ‘bully’ series, where a boy is endlessly tormented by an affectionate female cohort. Think “Takagi-kun” and ”Please don’t bully me, Nagatoro”... I’m starting to enjoy it more as a reversal of the power dynamic where the girl both sets the tone of the relationship and isn’t necessarily a tsundere. This was a bit more dynamic than Takagi-kun in that Uzaki doesn’t always get the last laugh- just like a one sided game is boring, one sided romance can be the same. I also have a special place in my heart for the weird voyeuristic interests of the coffee shop father/daughter.


The “missing link” jigsaw piece is for Monster Musume no Oisha-san: A pleasant in-between; not super lewd as monster girls (or interspecies reviewers, if you were in a certain kind of circle), nor innocuous “Interviews with Monster Girls”, Monster Musume explores fantasy races through the lens of medicine, and a bit of ecchi on the side. Complete fantasy, but interesting enough if you like semi-procedural medical mystery, as light as it could be...


Given recent events, anime output is certainly in a bit of a slump right now, but that’s good breathing room to look at some older series and backlog.

[neflight86]

Oh, goody! It’s time for the top three (and friends):

3. Sonyoku no Sigrdrifa: The latest entry in the long venerated ‘cute girls are the only ones who can fight monsters’ genre, Sigrdrifa owes its niche appeal by being somewhat authored/connected to the Re:Zero author. I can’t say it particularly felt like it, but the slice of life turning to trauma and tragedy with all of the naive bravado that could only hope to reach a fairly pubescent audience was familiar. Spice in some old timey planes with enough military dressing to act serious, and you have a passable story of struggle and hope that doesn’t overstay its welcome.


2. Akudama Drive: A story of super criminals being coerced into performing a heist against a nebulous government. I like that the story was willing to go in unpredictable directions for almost its entire duration. Flashy fights and above average production with attitude to spare. Recommended.


1. Munou no Nana: It’s about as close to Death Note in structure as we’ve come in the past ten or so years, and really benefits from a lack of competition in the ‘cat and mouse death game’ genre. Cliff hangers and clever developments marred slightly by animation that didn’t really heighten the experience, nonetheless I awaited nothing more each week.


I had a dream that... warned of cataclysm if I didn’t scrape together some… special awards for this season... Don’t blame me!


________________

Haikyuu!! To the Top is hereby awarded the ‘anti-hype’ award. I love this series; a solid 9 in my book… but I didn’t watch beyond four episodes this season. Why? Simply because I read the manga already and knew all of the major story beats coming up. Seeing where it (this season) ended, I was actually kind of surprised that they only got as far as they did. The manga (this story) emphasizes the concept of the journey being more important than the end goal itself, but that doesn’t hold true for me, it seems. Without the allure of the unknown, I simply couldn’t bring myself to devote time each week to shounen pacing… If I hadn’t read ahead, I’m sure I would have been glued to my seat, so take caution!


Assault Lily: Bouquet gets the spare ‘blank’ award: I really can’t remember much about Assault Lilly other than it was frilly…. Very, very, frilly. Another cute girl ensemble battle high school slightly elevated by some high energy battle animation, Assault Lily is about as disposable as modern anime can get. Oh, and the little brunette reporter girl’s novocaine addled voice grated me to no end.


Majo no Tabitabi gets the ‘modern Kino’ award: And that is not in a necessarily good way. Back in a time long past, when studios adapted thoughtful works that presented interesting ideas like Kino’s Travels, allowing the viewer to be exposed to assorted philosophical and moral dilemmas and situations, nostalgia had not yet set in and it probably wasn’t as good as I remember it being (didn’t even watch the recent remake)… It’s fine, and has some unique stories, but the overall aesthetic and lack of a central narrative wasn’t gripping enough to compel me to complete it.


The golden (unopened) tissue box goes to “Kamisama ni Natta hi” - There is a distinct art to the manufacture of sorrow or grief, and only a handful of ways to do it: You can create a tragedy, a strong sentiment, or, in KamiSama’s case, put in the effort to endear characters before ripping them apart. A little uneven, this is probably this author’s most down to earth story yet with actually low stakes that prevent audacious concepts from detracting the audience’s attention from the drama at hand.


100-man no Inochi no Ue ni Ore wa Tatte Iru wins the “woah- is this a dream?” award: Not compelling enough to actually demand my attention, but just weird enough to keep me watching, 100-man is a curious story of brute forcing unfair quests in a fairly mundane isekai way, but becomes more interesting once the cracks start appearing in the characters. None of the participant ‘heroes’ is a full, complete person in surprisingly a good way (for entertainment’s sake, at least). As we spend more time with them on their mundane quests that slowly spiral into larger things, a general uneasiness about what is going on that I won’t spoil (and frankly isn’t a twist per-say). Similar to watching someone try to keep their balance on a floating log, a queer spectacle, indeed.


Hypnosis Mic: Division Rap Battle gets the “one and done” single use award: Hypnosis mic is entirely worth watching… a single episode of; no more and no less. To say the premise can support approximately 20 minutes of worthwhile content is an exacting, but true, statement. A new world order has rendered rap battling the only meaningful way to settle disputes, and rhythmic wars are breaking out in a way that only anime can do with a straight face. Not a native speaker, of course the lyrics are largely lost on me, but the beats and outlandish scenario gave me a smile for the pilot. I actually pity the production staff tasked with trying to keep this formula alive for another 11 episodes after having an entire 4 rap battles in the first episode… where no follow up could hope to match.


Iwa Kakeru! Sport Climbing Girls is hereby awarded the “going through the motions” award: I thought I hit rock bottom of the shounen sports genre simping with that sumo anime from a couple years back- but no… I also wasted four hours watching Sport Climbing Girls. Completely pedestrian, this tale of a nerd(gamer) turned pro athlete simply checked all of the boxes in the basic order: Introduction, rival, acclimation, growth, setback, and triumph… all in twelve episodes. Sprinkle some friendship and commentary in there somewhere and you’ve got a winner, for better or worse. I believe I’ve isolated the most compelling story beat that these shows offer, and it is the contemplation of talent versus hard work (obvious, I know), but how each of these shows handles it is a bit different. Some suggest all people with the drive to achieve can reach a level of mastery, where some say talent must be mixed with discipline and proper instruction, and other permutations, most of which include friendship somehow. Sport Climbing Girls largely sidesteps the issue by not focusing on the character’s interactions, as it is a non-contact sport- you versus the wall, and has a slightly different dynamic due to it, and really stretches to find tension as a result.


Maesetsu! gets the “silver pillow” award - Aggressively boring. Story about girls who want to be comedians, but aren’t particularly funny (canonicaly?). The jokes didn’t land and I didn’t care enough for the art to stick around.


Kami-tachi ni Hirowareta Otoko is awarded ‘bland toast’ slice: Fantasy isekai where the protagonist is granted broken level proficiency from local deities as repayment for their untimely death in another world. If I had copy pasted that from another (boring) series entry and linked it here, I could have saved us both some time.


Maou-jou de Oyasumi gets the “trivial pursuit” award: You’ve seen “crafting adventures” for boys (Dr. Stone), and for girls, (Ascendance of a Bookworm), but have you seen it for… the unemployed? A cozy romp featuring a ‘captured’ princess, having nothing better to do in the demon king’s castle, decides to up her sleeping accommodations by essentially having the run of the place arts and crafts style. Pretty light from a fantasy perspective, bordering on parody, the demon king’s army is treated more like put out relatives the princess is visiting than actual captors to very cute effect (I love the hedgehog demon). The princess’ single mindedness of enhancing her sleep and constant misunderstandings- based humor that threw more than a few twists in their punchlines were supremely entertaining for me.


Magatsu Wahrheit: Zuerst gets the “fair effort” award: Based on a mobile game, an anime being unbound by existing narrative is actually kind of exciting. After all, if any schmuck could have written the story, perhaps it will avoid the most well worn tropes of the ‘magical warring states’ genre (see below). Magatsu manages to half subvert what I expected from it, which is a miracle in and of itself. An unlikely kick off to an intertwined story caused by an act of kindness (none shall go unpunished) sees the reverse Immanuel (Innamuel) swept up in a rebellion/smugglers movement that is involved in an entire empire’s worth of intrigue with world rending consequences to follow. Too bad the production quality slipped on the toilet and fell in. This is one gnarly looking show at times; especially toward the latter half. The story and characters sort of make up for it, though, but top shelf entertainment this is not.


“Super Generic Army Fantasy” store brand award goes to Kimi to Boku no Saigo no Senjou: Two countries- one likes magic, one likes science, and they both like warring with each other except for the Romeo and Juliet main couple who just happen to be in affectation for each other (secretly, of course). There is even a neutral city called Neutral City where they can quasi-flirt in case the audience was afraid the scenario writer(s) were going to have to expend effort in constructing other contrivances to get them shared screen time. To its credit, it does try to start a few plot threads, but none of them have even remotely enough time to pan out and are simply a platform for hollow battles just in time to be both unresolved and uninteresting by season’s end. Does this story need another season or two? Certainly. Does it deserve another minute of your time? Of course not.


Not a bad season, all things considered. Sadly, I still haven’t watched the latest “Is it wrong to pick up girls in a dungeon” or “Golden Kamuy”, or I’m sure I would have had some things to say. Added to the backlog as Anime seasons wait for no man...

[MFauli]

I have entirely forgotten last season :/

That's also a statement, I guess.

[Ryllharu]

Winter 2021, in no particular order:

Mushoku Tensei - An isekai that actually focuses on personal character growth rather than being overpowered right from the start? The animation was really on point the entire season as well. It's a good balance between creating an actually compelling setting that our transplanted protagonist actually engages with (shocked dismay at the bloody deaths that everyone else casually dismisses as day to day occurrences for one...), individual growth of both the lead and the supporting cast, and treats them all as very human. It is probably a harem, but it sure doesn't feel like one. Everyone seems to have a specific level of drive and individuality.

Non Non Biyori Nonstop - Placing itself firmly at the peak of everyday slice of life comedy, the rural-centric series objectively may have the best comic timing of any anime in the last 20 years. Every joke and gag has a solid set up, every one of them given a chance to breathe. This is comedy directing and storyboarding at the peak of damn near every comedy genre and medium. The introspective and heartwarming moments are a bonus. It's relatable, the cast kills every episode and every scene.

Tatoeba Last Dungeon Mae no Mura no Shounen ga Joban no Machi de Kurasu Youna Monogatari - It shouldn't work, the premise is stupid, the plot over every episode predictable, but somehow, each one manages to be entertaining. It really sells on also handling comedy correctly, though the timing isn't quite perfect. Every gag is set up with a promise and a payoff, so they work really well. The characters sit right on the very edge of being annoying, but they never really cross that line.


Honorable mentions:
Horimiya - (Episodes 1 - 7 only) Some of the most natural romance you can find. The franchise unfortunately suffers from being drawn out far beyond when it should have been ended as a tightly written story. A trait it shares with other 'legendary' anime romance series, sadly.
Slime Tensei - While I did like this season quite a bit, the pacing really sucked. They frequently missed the mark on where the episodes were cut to land more powerful impacts on the story beats. The series deflated its own tension more often than not.

[Buffalobiian]

So eager Ryll, Non Non Biyori hadn't even finished airing when you posted that xD

Top 3:

Non Non Biyori.

Mushoku Tensei.

Attack on Titan Final Season (1st part).


It was actually kind of hard not mentioning Jujutsu Kaisen in the top 3, but while Jujutsu Kaisen is a well made Shonen with a good budget and soundtrack, AoT's twists placed it on top. Season stuff aside, if there's going to be a "Shows you missed that you should watch from the last decade", AoT would beat out JJK, so I guess that solves my ranking issue.

[KrayZ33]

So eager Ryll, Non Non Biyori hadn't even finished airing when you posted that xD

Top 3:

Non Non Biyori.

Mushoku Tensei.

Attack on Titan Final Season (1st part).


It was actually kind of hard not mentioning Jujutsu Kaisen in the top 3, but while Jujutsu Kaisen is a well made Shonen with a good budget and soundtrack, AoT's twists placed it on top. Season stuff aside, if there's going to be a "Shows you missed that you should watch from the last decade", AoT would beat out JJK, so I guess that solves my ranking issue.

technically, JJK is from 2020 anyway :)

With that in mind, I can't even name 3 series tbh.

Mushoku for sure.

but then... with a wide gap.

Kumoko and maybe Jaku-Chara.



ReZero was pretty horrible this season overall imho, it had some moments, but I'm starting to "hate" Subaru more and more each season (his character just doesn't fit with the theme of this show and his inability starts to annoy me now)
Slime isn't much more than a time-waster to me and I'm starting to put it in the same category as "smartphone"-isekai or that "I ate monsters to survive"-isekai.

[Buffalobiian]

technically, JJK is from 2020 anyway

Ryll and I, amongst others, have been counting shows when they end. Thus we're not including Kumoko since it's still going, and thus should not rate it until it's finished airing.

But to each their own.

[MFauli]

My Top3 based on what I was looking forward to the most each week:


1. Kumo desu-ga, nani ka (watching a cute spider grow stronger is the best. Could watch this for hours, just her grinding and shit)
2. Re: Zero Season 2 (spending an entire season in location was a bitch move, but the anime still knows how to go for the heart. Season 3 ASAP pls and let's get back Rem!)
3.Shingeki no Kyoujin (oh well, that would have been a lot more relaxed season had we known that there's gonna be a part 2, lol. As mentiioned in the main thread, some developments felt rushed, but it was still exciting to watch. Fuck that cliffhanger ,though)


Honorable mention: Beastars Season 2 (unfortunately, the season kinda lost me after it became apparent how stupid Legosi's decision not to tell anyone about Riz became. For a long time I thought that maybe there is no police in this world, but nah, there is. Dumbest move ever. And it lead to a questionable showdown).

[Ryllharu]

Guidelines:

- Only post complete seasons, the objective of this thread is to help users find good anime and not anime that has been good so far. If it was that awesome, you can post about it in the next season.

- There's no need for lengthly descriptions ( that's what we have ann, anidb and wikipedia for ) but do try to concisely describe what made that particular show worthy of entering your top 3

- There isn't any need for a specific order between the three you choose but make sure to make visible distinctions should you feel like adding some "honorable mentions"

- Should you be the first to post about a new season, make sure to mark what particular season you're posting about with the title of your post (eg. Spring 2009)

Note:

- As not to make a mess of things the purpose of this thread is to simply post your top 3, NOT to comment on other member's choices or on any other subjects.

For a reminder for what have always been the guidelines of this thread...

[neflight86]

Well, what did we have this season? A much harder time narrowing it down to three finalists, for one...

3. Mushoku Tensei: Isekai Ittara Honki Dasu: An above average production for a series I’ve enjoyed in manga format years ago. Some call it the daddy of the modern isekai, but to me it is just a more thoughtful isekai focusing on growth and the application of lessons learned. Much of Rudeus’ journey is steeped in actively avoiding squandering his new chance at life with all of his past regrets ingrained in him. Very entertaining, and more than a little pervy.

2. Jaku-Chara Tomozaki-kun: Get this- a highschool gamer, just like you or me (plus or minus 15 years), is socially awkward and gets training on talking to people by another gamer who happens to be a beautiful girl he goes to school with. Small world, huh? Setting aside the asinine premise as us anime viewers are oft expected to do, I really enjoyed seeing Tomozaki’s growth each week and his navigation of increasingly complex social interactions for the benefit of others. Not quite rom-com, and not quite coming of age story, Tomozaki should appeal to you if you enjoyed ‘less passionate’ couple dramedies like Rascal and Teen Rom Com Snafu.

1. Shingeki no Kyojin: The only thing more painful than this not actually being the final season of AoT is that it could have been. The gripping story shifted, once again, to territory unknown in the most intriguing way possible. My investment in the narrative and lore has been thoroughly paid off and I could want for nothing more each week.

______________________
A fortune cookie told me to do some special awards or I would suffer from mild lower back pain...

The Wunderkind award is shared by Wonderegg Priority and Beastars (s2): Both of these barely missed top three status... the competition was that fierce. Showcasing two opposite strengths of Anime: high concept gorgeous animation in WeP, and societal commentary with the least egregious use of CG yet in Beastars. Both shows were delights to watch and only faltered in minor ways. Beastars continued to explore character development in interesting ways, but became a bit too mystical and sentimental for my liking during serious business, and Wonder Egg didn’t actually deliver much of a conclusion for how hard it seemed like it was trying to wrap up. Excellent shows, though, both.

The ‘knee scraper’ band-aid is presented to ‘Highrise Invasion’ Netflix strikes again by (under)funding another anime. This edgy take on the death game genre pits assorted folks against each other, mysterious ‘masks’, and their own suicidal tendencies to create/select a new ‘god’. I finished it, but the quality bar was so low that clearing it drew blood. The setting is somewhat unique in that all of the participants are trapped in skyscrapers connected by rope bridges and the supernatural is replaced by super-science-fiction-natural. It’s schlocky, but the fights and characters din’t behave like I was expecting, so the intrigue worked well enough to carry twelve episodes, and the ED is pretty catchy, too.

The ‘you really shouldn’t have’ award goes to Tensei Shitara Slime Datta Ken (s2): The jolly vibes of season one returned off the bat with more politicking and fun interactions at the onset of this season, though the animation took a slight dive. When this season’s full on battle/invasion arc took place, some tonal incongruities that bothered me, detailed in our very own discussion thread, cooled me on the finale. Still fun to watch, and still recommended.

The ‘better than the sum of its parts’ award is for ‘Tatoeba Last Dungeon Mae no Mura no Shounen ga Joban no Machi de Kurasu Youna Monogatari’: Mouthful title aside, this had every reason to be not good. Generic fantasy ‘adventure/power fantasy/harem’ series with low tension and an even lower animation budget meant that essentially all of the load bearing weight was put onto the writing… and it actually worked. Decent and above jokes littered the show with appropriate setup and pay off each episode. Your predilection to these kinds of disposable shows isn’t going to be challenged, but you may find it entertaining indeed.

The ‘over easy pre-beaten carton priority’ award is tossed by way of ‘Ura Sekai Picnic’ and ‘2.43 Seiin Koukou Danshi Volley Bu’. More victims of existing in the same world as national brands, these generic imitations didn’t have the chance to properly shine. Wonder Egg and Haikyuu are both tall hurdles to top (taller than 4.23 meters, anyway) and these just couldn’t keep my interest beyond two episodes, as the story beats felt familiar-yet-stale.

‘Most wasted talent’ goes to ‘Idolly Pride’: Not a particularly ambitious show, the main reason I watched each week was the spry and energetic performance scenes. A mixture of CG, fast pans, and cell art, there were some choice cuts here and I was thoroughly entertained by them enough to weather the bare-bones story that threaded them all together.

The ‘tuning fork’ award goes to ‘Soukou Musume Senki’: Mecha and other series designed to be merchandised are no strangers to out-there concepts and nonsensical stories cobbled together by unpassionate staff to meet a deadline. That’s par for the course, but the episodes here went from otaku isekai to muv-luv style attrition of war to hot springs to symbols of peace and noble sacrifice. I felt ‘Fate’ vibes somewhere in there, too... and it just couldn’t nail down a solid tone before I lost interest.

Curiosity killed the cat, but ‘Ore dake Haireru Kakushi Dungeon’ brought him back, and was thus awarded the ‘satisfaction’ prize: Sometimes, you know what you are getting into by the first boob-jiggle, and that is exactly what happened here. Characters and premise exist solely to facilitate lewd happenings, but the side characters and thoughtful mini stories, some of which don’t even involve the harem, gave it more of a soul than you should assume it has. The kicker though, is that the story is really and functionally complete by the end of episode 12. That’s all, folks! Nothing more to see here. All of the loose ends were tied up and it offers a clean break. I couldn’t ask for more.

The ‘buffet restraint’ award is in a to-go box for ‘Horimiya’: Cute feelsy romance with a distinctly forward couple that is a joy to watch, but somewhere after they start dating, the tension of the show drains and I don’t feel compelled to consume more, even though it is on offer. Like a transient from rom-com to sit-com?

The ‘effective advertising’ flyer goes to ‘Kemono Jihen’: The show wasn’t really anything special as it played out, but something about the finale, and the momentum it promised of the story moving forward got me strangely hyped to see/read what happens next. Most anime is made to promote its derived material, and few worked at that so well for me. Inugami being the smoothest Tanuki didn’t hurt, either.


The ‘wasted effort’ award goes to ‘EX-ARM’: I considered bringing the Golden Toilet out of retirement for this one, but EX-ARM commits the cardinal sin of being too boring to bring forth the effort to passionately dissect. You’ve seen the memes, you know that fans aren’t happy (rightfully so), and that this has confirmed my bias against CG anime in a way that makes me insufferably smug. Don’t waste your time. The most humanitarian thing we can do is limit the damage caused by exposure to the poor people who got this on their resumes. May they rest in peace...

The ‘don’t ask don’t tell’ papers go to ‘Kaifuku Jutsushi no Yarinaoshi’: What can I say about the rapey-est show I’ve ever seen? I couldn’t get past a few episodes in this revenge tale, but there was a lot of hate (and awkward titillation) in what I saw. I don’t know what or who this kind of cathartic outlet this is supposed to be for, but I don’t need it in my life and would caution you against it as well.

‘Loose ends’ frayed rope goes to ‘Dr.STONE STONE WARS’ The opposite of Boku no Hero, Dr. Stone got a full length first season, and a shortened second. In my eyes, this was really the conclusion that the first season needed, but would not fit the running of a two cour; three cour would have been perfect, but anime is planned years in advance, so that kind of pivoting isn’t really in the cards. The storytelling took a bit of a hit from the mid-arc start, but reached its conclusion appropriately. This should set up the next season in a much better place.

A good season. An embarrassment of riches.

[Ryllharu]

Spring 2021

Vivy: Fluorite Eye`s Song - A pretty clear candidate for anime of the season. One part Eve no Jikan, one part Violet Evergarden, a tablespoon of Your Name, and season with GitS:SAC to taste. Android idol premise with the action director of Attack on Titan, and damn do they pull it off. It has some really incredible action sequences, stellar music, and animation that knows when to conserve itself so it blends together nicely. The plot isn't anything particularly mindblowing, kind of a standard time-travel changing plot, it just happens to move linearly because Vivy is an android. But what it does do, it does very competently and executes flawlessly.
It is somewhat marred by peaking too soon. The best episodes by far are 3 & 4, with a trio later on being the second best arc. The ending, unfortunately falls below both of those arcs and just glides to the finale. Overall, I do strongly recommend it.

Ijiranaide, Nagatoro-san - What starts as a rather controversial "bullying" anime slowly reveals itself to be, as a prominent anime youtuber says, "actually wholesome as fuck." There's a depth to Nagatoro, both the anime and the character herself, that a lot of the other "teasing" genres never come close to hitting. It's superficial, or one of the infuriating "will they won't they" gravitate endlessly around each other until an abrupt ending series that often get mentioned alongside it. No, Nagatoro goes the next level: Steady character progression. The expressions are really varied and substantially detailed given the art style, going from 'tormenting mischief' to 'slyly unable to admit their own feelings even to themselves, but absolutely obvious to everyone in the vicinity'. Get past the first two episodes, and keep an eye out for the at first subtle, and then rather blatant character growth of Nagatoro and her senpai from segment to segment. There's a good natured desire for improvement across every episode. The series appears to start rather sour, but swiftly shifts to sweet.

86 - Eighty Six (side note: this series' stupid title makes it annoying hard to search for just about anywhere)
While their were other strong contenders, I feel that 86 deserves my third pick because it successfully turned itself around from mediocrity in its middle segments. I will also admit there was a fair amount of my personal bias towards that sentiment, until I learned that the author does absolutely nothing to hide her inspirations for the series: Muv-Luv, Screamers, and Code Geass Akito. It isn't derivative, it is intentional.
It manages to hit a lot of topics all at once, racism, hubris, self-destruction, the futility of war, the savagery of humankind, detachment, guilt, and all sorts of other great character development drama fodder. And it does all of them some degree of justice. There's definitely some cringey stuff here (the female lead's military uniform for one...) but I found myself very interested in more of the universe this series has to offer, and many more questions that came up and didn't get answered by the end of the first cour. The second resumes in Oct 2021.
The music is definitely weird. But that's Sawano Hiroyuki. You can immediately tell it is him, like Yuki Kajira, he has a very particular style. Some people like it. I used to, but don't anymore.

[David75]

Vivy, fully agree with Ryll. I needed a better closure episode. But I'm glad I watched that show.

Shadows House- Started a late thread for that one, I do not have much to add.

Seijo no Maryoku wa Bannou Desu- Probably from a soft josei dating game. Very relaxed atmosphere where our main character slowly wakes up to her feelings that happen to also be her main source of almost infinite magical power. Watching this feels like a nice walk in a parc, sunny but not too warm spring day.

[neflight86]

Another strong season filled with delights. It was… difficult to narrow it down to a top three.

3. Cestvs: The Roman Fighter: While there can be little doubt that Megalo Box is the superior show in most ways, the shounen tropes of Cestvs won me over in the end. Even with the jarring CG animation, I could not look away from the ever so slightly technical fisticuffs and slave-passions that drove the fighters. Much better than expected.

2. Mashiro no Oto: Something about tortured artists/artisans somehow hasn’t turned me off yet. I think it started with “March comes in like a Lion”... I enjoyed MC’s sluggish journey to ‘find his sound’, and the tournament arc at the end was much to my liking. Enjoying the music, too, didn’t hurt.

1. Odd Taxi: A sort of queer fascination gripped me for most of the run time of Odd Taxi. Seeing (and expecting) the various plot threads to slowly come together was satisfying, and Odokawa always felt just the right amount of ‘off’ to keep him squarely in the realm of ‘suspicious’ until the very end. The fun dialogue and cute twist at the end were really sold by the characters and each one seemed more memorable than they should be given the amount of screen time given. Highly recommended.

____________________

I’ll just toss these awards I found laying around over… here…

The “weird duality” award goes to “Mars Red” & “Jouran: The Princess of Snow and Blood”: Two early pre war era japanese vampire stories about covert kill squads airing in the same season? What is this, the new isekai? Both had their charms- Mars leaning on its plodding theatrical qualities, while Jouran was content with more bombastic spectacle, neither proved quite interesting enough to finish, but I was never a great fan of vampire fiction, anyway.

The ‘remission’ award goes to Megalo Box: Unlike the coach character, Megalo Box managed to survive its grim diagnosis- ‘sequel to original anime-itis’. The first, and presumably only season pretty much concluded all of the interesting plot elements, so what could this season hope to do? My modest expectations were blown away with more of what I forgot Megalow Box has going for it: heart. Picking up after the titular fight, the story follows Joe scraping by with bad decisions and the harm it has perpetuated on those he cares about. The entire season is about getting back up. Fitting for a boxing anime.

The “better than I thought” award goes to Kyuukyoku Shinka shita Full Dive RPG ga Genjitsu yori mo Kusoge Dattara: The running gags of the game being realistic in only the most annoying ways and the subsequent pariah status of the main character were more entertaining than I would have given credit for. The plot became more interesting as it went on, and I daresay the ending was somewhat satisfying.

The “Sacchrine Sweet” pink packet goes to “Seijo no Maryoku wa Bannou Desu”:
As far as isekai power fanatasy goes, this was pretty standard, with a strong side of ‘girly’. The interactions were fine, and the reverse harem not at all overbearing, so this was more of an easy watch in a ‘rabbit hill’ sort of ‘everyone gets along generally’ way. Like a nice tea; goes down easy and generally quenches the thirst.

The “robbed again” statement is being taken for “Thunderbolt Fantasy: Touri-ken Yuuki 3”: Probably should have been 1 or 2, this is not technically anime, so has been arbitrarily disqualified. Don’t let that stop you from watching. Wushu puppetry at its finest. The story and dialogue are both detailed and well considered. Largely a continuation of season two, the events of this season are not stand alone, and do seem to lead into future happenings. The hype is real, and so is the quality of Thunderbolt as an entertainment piece.

The “What am I doing here” blank stare is hereby granted to “Hige wo Soru. Soshite Joshikousei wo Hirou”: It must have been the discussions here on the forums, because, in hindsight, I’m not sure why I watched this… Niceguy McNothingburger randomly picks up a runaway highschool girl who has done lewd things for a place to stay, and is determined to set her straight… Que the most awkward of sexual advances and scorned flirting from the ‘other two’ options (same age and older) until the plot decides it’s time to wrap up this weak drama.

“License to Cruise” given to “Super Cub”: Ya know, for an advertisement, this was well put together. The main appeal of this to me was the kindred spirit of the girls (yes, this is of course a ‘cute girls do Super Cubs’ show) appreciating the open road, and the independence of self-travel. The chill, classical soundtrack, muted color tones, and mundanity of the quests kept the vibes juuuuuust right for me.

The “overbearing shadow” looms atop “Sentouin, Hakenshimasu!”: Yeah; Konosuba- I really liked that one. No so much since, though, but keep trying, Sensei!

The “mini capstone” goes to “Osananajimi ga Zettai ni Makenai Love Comedy”: It’s been this way for a short while, but I will choose to recognize this show as the point when I have noticed that romantic comedies are beginning to, as a standard, incorporate open affection as the default dynamic. No more spending all season sweating/blushing over ‘will they like me or won’t they?’ The characters love each other, and aren’t shy about it, and the story has to bend over backwards to keep them apart regardless, and stretch it does… The initial ‘hook’ of pretending to be lovers to get some nebulous revenge is quickly swept aside and Osananajimi flounders and flops around for the remainder of its runtime with the usual gamut of Harem Hijinks, beach episode and all…

The “both better and worse” award goes to “86–EIGHTY_SIX”: Designed to tug at heartstrings with all of the tricks that work best on viewers who haven’t watched much like this before- soft focus, sweeping vocalist tracks playing over credits… a competition to see who can die most tragically. It didn’t quite work on me, but the underlying premise is strong enough to carry my interest. Sci-fi horror of self aware AI taking on a humanity presumably too embattled with its own petty politics to effectively fend them off- good stuff, and I’m looking forward to season 2.

The ‘stroke check’ award is presented to “Seven Knights Revolution: Eiyuu no Keishousha”: I had to check if the heat got to me- I liked a mobile game adaptation. There’s about as much substance to this as a placebo medication, but it worked. Lively fight animation and a brisk pace that had a story to both tell and finish telling in one cour gave me my painfully generic fantasy action fix. Would I recommend it? About as much as a stroke.

The ‘eager to finish’ award is split between “Shakunetsu Kabaddi” and “Sayonara Watashi no Cramer”: I just assume I’ll like most sports stories nowadays. They are shounen adjacent enough even when they are not by the spirit of competition, that I tend to enjoy them. Cramer was very gentle, and I lost interest, but word has it that there is some real fun to be had with this girl’s soccer team, and I’m keen to binge it. Same goes for Kabbadi, though the thin-ness of Kabbadi (as a sport) makes it a real stretch to depict something that will retain my interest. I have to try though, because I watched that stupid sumo anime a couple years back, and this is easily better than that just a few episodes in…

My award for the ‘most unnecessary show’, while close this season, goes to “Slime Taoshite 300-nen, Shiranai Uchi ni Level Max ni Nattemashita”: Fluff, fluffy, fluff. Isekai wish fulfillment slice-of-life crap. Absolutely derivative with nary a single original idea, some bare minimum animation and a threadbare narrative that serves simply as a vehicle for yuri-adjacent pandering and low stakes battles. 7/10; would roll my eyes again.

The ‘gross’ award goes to “Ijiranaide, Nagatoro-san”: This season’s bullying fetish show has the titular character slapping sempai near-continuously both physically and verbally (grossgrossgross!) to break down the defenses set up to preserve his loner attitude. It’s cute and effective, and her delinquent friends round out the cast and dynamics well. Recommended.

The ‘grinding’ award goes to “Kumo Desu ga, Nani ka?“: Some people really liked the idea of a game player grinding their way to the top of the food chain, but I just saw more isekai and a slightly more interesting take on non-linear storytelling. The human conditions and politics were much better for me than the cave saga and subsequent demon lond ‘is-she-or-is-she-not’ faffing about. The animation also took a bit of a nose dive as it went on. Watchable, but not inspiring.

[neflight86]

Summer 2021

3. Boku no Hero S5: While this season undoubtedly felt the pressures of both being produced in a pandemic and having to shift between three contrasting story arcs (where the show begins to visibly crack a bit), this is still a net positive, and no doubt more of what its fans were wanting from another season of HeroAca. I am personally sanddened a bit by how the Redestro arc was ‘trimmed’ in service of time, I suppose, but that material would have much better served the story than, say, some of the slower team battles between class A and B at the beginning of the season. Still a fine watch, but some of the energy has been lost, which I expect to come back next season.

2. Kobayashi-san Chi no Maidragon S: KyotoAni does it again, with an incredibly, unnecessarily, over-animated slice of life iyashikei diddy. The cute character designs, expressions, and little movements were just joyous to watch through and through. Definitely a highlight of this (or really any) season. Only downside is a lack of core narrative, in place of the insipid will-they-wont-they faffing about romance conceit.

1. Heion Sedai no Idaten-tachi: Surprising, but this was much better than the thumbnail led me to expect. An genuinely interesting game of cat-and-mouse where deities, born of human desire, are charged with protecting humanity from demons that are recently infiltrating human society, but aren’t particularly good at it. They are actually kind of ambivalent about the whole thing, really, while the demons, certainly not paragons of virtue (fusing human babies in a surrogate womb to propagate their numbers) are actually largely inferior to the god’s power and take the role of ‘underdogs’ against a force that would see them wiped out. In a weird way, it kind of reminds me of the old show Basilisk, in that the two warring factions aren’t sympathetic, but their tactics and interaction really drive the show. That the animation is well done only helps. The non-ending is trash, so I can’t recommend it, but until then, it was a wild ride, and I looked forward to nothing more each week.

_________________________________
Some Special Awards can’t hurt at this point, right?

The ‘shelf of shame’ award goes to RE-MAIN: I have a problem. I love sport-shounen anime more than I should. I watch absolute garbo so long as it has plucky young atheletes competing against other high schools… So why couldn’t I get around to finishing this? Just like Watashi no Cramer last season, I just have it sitting there, waiting to be watched when I find the time.

The ‘old timer’ antique watch is presented to Tantei wa Mou, Shindeiru: Ten years ago, I probably would have finished this without a second thought: Spunky boy-girl duo, banter, and some action to boot… But now, the whole setup of ‘highschool kids taking on global evil organizations’ thing just feels so played out that it takes me out of the experience. I’m glad there are more anime than ever not about being in high school.

The ‘short bus season pass’ is given to Tokyo Revengers: Oh, Revengers… where to begin with you? Your first episode’s premise, the time travel to save a friend was truly strong enough to carry me though the thick and thin (mostly thin) of your run time. What you could have been… I blame the adaptation for sticking to closely to ‘moving manga’- playing it too safe with material that just didn’t translate well to animation. I said it in its thread, the pacing of dialogue and concurrent events (also known as ‘anime time’) can be painful in a 1:1 translation of manga. Setting aside how ridiculously large the gang population is in Tokyo (300+ for gangs we didn’t know about?), setting aside how worthless the main character was, setting aside just how eye-rolling the posturing became (“I’ll kill you” was said about 200 times per one actual death), setting aside just how annoying hearing Takemitchi imputently plead “Mikey-kun” over and over and OVER… makes my arms tired. Save yourself some frustration and read the manga instead if you like time travel stories navigated by very slow kids. I don’t know if I can ever forgive ‘gang referees’- I go cross eyed just thinking about it.

The ‘fridge back-wall throw-away’ Tupperware goes to Otome Game no Hametsu Flag shika Nai Akuyaku Reijou ni Tensei Shiteshimatta… X: The first season of this was pretty delightful, but it made the mistake of not being over when the tension and central conceit of the show was completed. MC avoided the flags and made friends in the silliest dense harem protag way possible. Fine. But why is there a second season? Like re-heated leftovers, sometimes it just isn’t as good the second time, and my patience ran out pretty early on when I realized this show was spinning its wheels to force drama and conflict via shoehorned in extra actors. I chose to quit while I could still remember that flavor from the first season.

The ‘mental gymnastics Gold Medal’ unquestionably goes to Kanojo mo Kanojo: Who’da thunk that because Japan hosted the Olympics this year, that they would pull out the stops like this? Polygamy is an unlikely proposition, and there was an acute salesmanship present in each of these characters that makes it possible. The level of misinterpretations mixed with mind-bending earnestness to enable the two girls to co-date the same guy would typically be handwaved in your dad’s harem anime. No so here. An inordinate amount of time was spent carefully building justifications and emotional/mental connections to justify the utterly bizarre relationship dynamics at play. The biggest credit I can give to Kanojo mo Kanojo is that it actually managed to keep the official girlfriend count at two, even when doubling that amount, practically speaking. What a Chad.

The ‘Maxis (Sim City)’ DLC goes to Genjitsu Shugi Yuusha no Oukoku Saikenki: Not a stand out by any stretch during the season, but this would probably be #4. So much fun and levity were present in the re-building of sustainability, and it kept the geopolitical complexity at just the right amount for my taste. The harem wasn’t even aped on enough to make other elements suffer. This is more of how I was hoping for a ‘modern person in an isekai’ to play out. That he was already planning to become a civil planner was a nice detail that justifies some of the ‘wisdom’ he effortlessly employed. Recommended.

The ‘inadvertent comedy goldmine’ pickaxe was pawned for Bokutachi no Remake: Some people have a very public distain for the essence of how Kyouya, as a character, was portrayed and found success via his time travel shenanigans, and reading those salty tears in its thread was a tongue-in-cheek delight. But for me, the real entertainment value of this greatest waste of time travel ever, was the ridiculous amounts of praise Kyouya got for breathing consistently and never giving up when it would be easier to… give up! There was talk about author insertion wish fulfillment, and if that is the case, the author should gain some self-awareness if for no other reason than so that they can be properly ashamed. The dialogue in this show… one part milk toast platitudes about not giving up when making art, one part saying things are difficult except when they’re not, and a sprinkling of having life altering conversations with people who are about to lose their future when you go back in time… Shakespeare this ain’t, and if/when you see that, it becomes a funny sort of self-parody.

The ‘classiest girls’ masquerade mask was mailed to Kageki Shoujo!!: Pure and straightforward is how I can best describe Kageki. Everything it wanted to say, it said, and the characters and stories were so much better for it. The stories were varied, tragic, and above all, interesting pieces of character building that just heightened the theatrical competition and time simply flew by. A quality product.

The ‘dead inside’ award goes to Uramichi Onii-san: I probably would have liked this a bit more back when I hated my job, but now I can relate in relative terms to making the best of being in an unappreciative workplace, especially a pseudo-creative one that involves answering children’s awkward questions in real time. There aren’t many parallels to this in anime, so I was certainly interested with just how they would play the ‘kill me now’ angle, but this show was surprisingly positive and hopeful at times, choosing to focus on the character dynamics of the children’s TV show cast as opposed to the outright misery of singing kids in costume songs on local television for a living. That was a wise choice, as the characters bounced off of each other well enough to carry the show and even managed to pull off some tender moments.

A ‘Moral implication’ questionnaire has been filled out for Seirei Gensouki: Unlike most isekai, Seirei choose to have an existing character be dually inhabited by the deceased spirit of a Japanese man; a fortune blessed enough to give anybody the easy life, right? Well, not quite. Though he does eventually become Mr. Gary Stu himself via the influence of the mighty Nisei man, the consciousness is never fully absorbed, leading to interesting questions of shared stewardship responsibilities, unreliable memories and narrator, the relationship between spirit and magic… Oh… he just goes to magic high school… and is discovered to be a prince of notJapan later on… nevermind. Checked out.

The ‘well it had to go somewhere’ shrug is awarded to Tensei Shitara Slime Datta Ken 2nd Season Part 2: I’m not sure what I’m getting out of watching this anymore. The dynamics aren’t interesting now that Rimuru is both OP and basically friends with all of the ½ dozen or so characters that could harm him. The development of Tempest is simply assumed to be progressing now instead of shown, and all we get to see are geographically fuzzy battles between characters we have seen off-and-on for the last season. Diplomacy has become black and white, and characters in the extending cast are seemingly given screen time to remind the audience they exist and what their relationships are to the main cast. There isn’t much left to explore, and the closest thing to an antagonist, Cromwell, shows no signs of expediting his eventual clash with Rimuru. Can you believe I even got tired of hearing 3-6 back to back ‘Rimuru-sama!’s an episode from his loyal retinue/cheer squad?

This season’s ‘down but not out’ award goes to Jahy-sama wa Kujikenai!: These come out once in a while: “What would happen if an overlord type villain had to adjust to powerless wage-slave modern Japan?” Well, pretty much the same thing that they’ve been doing since ‘The devil is a part timer’ aired many years ago, it turns out. Make friends and learn that there’s more to life than conquering the world. Like friendship and paying the rent (or not). That isn’t to say these can’t be entertaining, and this one certainly is, even if the animation is pretty sparse and the character design is pretty pedestrian.

A certain ‘Hairy Sausage’ has been taxidermized for Cheat Kusushi no Slow Life: Isekai ni Tsukurou Drugstore: Fluff. Pure isekai fluff with no transient substance except… that one visual gag of Noel’s tail going bald and the cutaway of that sad looking hairless appendage- a slap in the face to Moe that still makes me smile every time I picture it. At least I could take something away.

A season pass to the ‘Roller Coaster’ award goes to Meikyuu Black Company: This one was ups and downs, and difficult to determine how much I ultimately enjoyed it until after the finale. I’m still torn in that some weeks felt like a waste of time, spinning wheels in the mud, while other episodes were borderline brilliant as Ninomya pursued his goals in the most roundabout, lazy ways. Still undecided.

A whoopee cushion’s ‘slow flaccid fart’ is hereby wafted toward to Deatte 5 Byou de Battle: Three episodes in, I would have pegged this as a contender for #1 of the season, but as the story went on, the clever application of powers gave way to what felt like a convolution of arbitrary alliances and too many characters with not enough screen time to make any particularly vested, coupled with enough duplicated powers to feel lazy and the third trial’s battle being both less interesting and about ½ of the season, and my interest was largely drained by the end. Don’t get me started on the CG… what awful CG staring down off model cells… It’s a shame, because Whoopee cushions are usually more fun when they drag out a little…

Best OP and ED went to Idaten and Black Company, respectively. Super catchy and had the toe-a-tappin'

A pretty good season by my metrics. Here’s to the next!

[MFauli]

Very bad season, I don't have a top 3. Nefligh's posting above me was more entertaining than this entire season.

[Ryllharu]

Kobayashi-san Chi no Maid Dragon S2 - While certainly not quite as good as its first season overall in terms of gags and tone, this could very well be the best animated series all year. KyoAni throwing down the gauntlet to their peers in the industry that they will not let up a centimeter in exceling at what they do. Despite its relatively simple art, everything about this season is fantastically animated to a mind-blowing degree. There's films that have worse animation than this season. There are big budget series from top tier studios that don't quite hit this mark in terms of care and detail in movement. What it is is just inspiring.
The tone is much more somber, and more touching than the pervious. I assume some of this is based on the source material, but also suspect a large amount of it is tied to KyoAni's tragedy, which took many lives involved in the first season. This is a love letter to animation, a heartfelt expression of grief, and a desire to honor those legacies by pushing themselves harder.

Kageki Shoujo!! - A super strong entry for a number or reasons. The series is a expression of love for a staple of Japanese theater culture, the Takarazuka Grand Theater (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Takarazuka_Grand_Theater). They have Takarazuka veterans working the music, several acting as VAs in supporting roles (possibly some main ones too). They hired VAs with huge ranges and most of them can all sing at a professional level (quite a few do). The OP is fun, but the EDs (https://youtu.be/bC6d7AyKHeE)were phenomenal with multiple variants. I couldn't pick a favorite. There's reasonable drama across the ensemble cast, heavy at times, but never dipping into melodrama. The directors made a smart decision with a cost-saver episode in the late middle of the series which, while disappointing, allowed the series to go out on a truly fantastic final episode that did the entire series justice. There's progression and growth and all interspersed with great timed comedy relief at strategic points. The whole thing feels like a stage performance.

Kanojo mo Kanojo - If Kageki Shoujo was how to do ensemble drama, and Maid Dragon was how to do a poignant message wrapped in slice of life comedy...Kanojo mo Kanojo was how to perfect farce (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farce). You'll know pretty much from the first half of the first episode if you'll like the entire season, or hate it and drop it. I loved it, in no part to how insanely serious it takes itself. The main trio are so honest, so earnest, so trusting, so stupid, and so hopelessly lacking in any self-awareness that you can't help but like them.
They're busy screaming confessions and pronouncing their mistakes to the whole world out in public while they're supposed to be keeping their situation a secret...and all the background characters are staring right at them, because of course you would if someone was acting like they do throughout the series. The series works in every way that it shouldn't because of a outstanding performance by the main cast, but the heaviest lifting is done by Sakura Ayane. She's the core to making this series work when it really shouldn't. I doubt I would have liked the manga, or at the least I would have dismissed it. The voice cast sells this series completely.
The art is simple, but crisp in character design. The animation team knew exactly what they were doing with its dual-style to emphasize and elevate the comedy at all the exact moments.
Plot wise, well, it's one of those premises where the setup should devolve into angst and melodrama, pain and heartbreak. Instead, they play it the exact opposite direction for laughs and it ends up being endearing. As the series progresses, you can recognize all the developments and moments where a drama series would go ugly, but instead it just works out rather nicely because none of them lie to each other. There's also gags that stretch across episodes and numerous callbacks that are honestly rare in most comedies.
Give it a shot. You'll know if you hate it or love it right away.

[Ryllharu]

Fall 2021

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Mieruko-chan - This was the series I looked forward to the most each week, and it has by far one of the best OPs all year (Kageki Shoujo still holds best ED for the year). A horror-comedy that is fundamentally about not judging things immediately from the way they look, or how you are interpreting their actions. Led by a top-tier performance from Amamiya Sora, take a very normal, but perhaps extraordinarily composed, high school girl and expose her the worst kind of supernatural horrors with absolutely no explanations on how to deal with it. It's sweet, it's touching, and it's funny. A number of people were thrown off by the ecchiness of the first few episodes, but that dies down rather quickly (and was faithfully representing the source material which started the same way before the author realized it was selling just fine without that).

Isekai Shokudou S2 - For what's essentially a foodgasm show, the fantasy world here is more fleshed out than the majority of fantasy isekai series out there. We know about all sorts of continents, cultures, politics, and a substantial amount of history of a world when we really only see minimal exposure to their daily lives outside of the restaurant. While you do have to mentally piece together all the tidbits we get of the Other World's layout and lore across the two seasons, the small inclusions that explain the other world is one of the things I love about the series. There are many "mainstay" isekai and fantasy series out that don't even have a 1/10th of the consistent worldbuilding that Isekai Shokudou has. It isn't a static one either, the geopolitics of the other world move in real time. The huge cast grows and changes along with every visit to the restaurant. But Aletta (demongirl part-time waitress) will always be my favorite.

Mushoku Tensei S2 - One that does come close to Isekai Shokudou's worldbuilding is this one! This season seemed more like a set up season for bigger events to come, and though it didn't quite have the depth of character development that the prior season had, the secondary and tertiary characters got their time to shine this season. The animation was top-tier and the performances were all stellar. The direction and pacing was a bit worse than the previous season, but that still puts it significantly higher in that regard than the majority of anime out there. It left me wanting more.

[MFauli]

1.) Ousama Ranking

Great adventure with lots of mystery and surprisingly good action scenes

2.) Mushoku Tensei

Just interesting to watch. Would be better with less ecchi shit.

3.) Kyoukai Senki

Babby's first mecha-anime, but it was a nice watch regardless

[neflight86]

Rounding out 2021:


3. Isekai Shokudou 2: I’m surprised this placed so high, but it maintained a steady pleasantness that kept me entertained every episode- a steady ‘hum’ of problem, food, problem solved. The world building, while very unnecessary, is appreciated and brought this above Assassin to make top three.


2. Mieruko-chan: The intrigue of ‘how the apparitions worked’ was never paid off, but the wait for it made this a must watch each week. Fan-service gave way to more complex ghost interactions, while the horror element remained relatively constant. I’m a bit cooled on this now in hindsight, but during the week-to-week this season this was a must watch.


1. Mushoku Tensei: Isekai Ittara Honki Dasu: Just all around good isekai that only stumbles for me by being a little too amrous for little narrative payoff. I always appreciated the ‘messy’ humanity of the character interactions, where no one knew the right answers always, and they clumsily navigated each other’s feelings and positions together. Animation was great and filtered to look like a long lost VHS tape, and I always enjoyed the meandering quest of the characters, even though the varied story beats were up and down in quality.


_______________________

My horoscope warned that, if I was going to do special awards, today was the day to do it:


The ‘P.A.(public announcement)’ award goes to “Shiroi Suna no Aquatope”: P.A Works follows the beat of their own drum since their inception, typically telling stories set in contemporary Japan with fleshed out characters and one or two shoehorned in conservation causes(shrug). That is what this wound up being. The first half, building to the inevitable fate of Gama-Gama housed the majority of tension that loomed over the happy go lucky life at the aquarium as Kokoro tried desperately to save it, only to fail. The second cour started to falter after a brief timeskip settled on petty office politics at the new aquarium driving conflict, and even that had to go by the wayside. Look, I’m all for people getting along, but then they need something else to do, and ‘chasing their dreams’ is about as boring a substitute as I can imagine. By the end, I was regretting investing the time; consider yourself warned.


“Kaizoku Oujo” gets this season’s ‘one and done’ award: Say, what do pirates and rap battles have in common? Don’t bother guessing, I’ll tell you. Like I said about Hypnosis Mic a few seasons back, this is worth exactly one episode. That first episode felt like it was a real piece of a quality anime- storyboarded by adults and everything. After that, the direction of the story, mystery, and characters slowly but surely take a steady decline. Mercifully sparing you the details, what should be a globe trotting romp for treasure and adventure winds up with burning ghosts, the British navy fighting ninjas, and an albino fairy girl hybrid raiding Noah’s ark. It sounds much more meme than it winds up being. I may never forgive Bones for (fake) killing off those gorgeous fem pirates halfway through the show…


The ‘edge’ award teeters off and smashes into the floor for “Selection Project”: Cute girls singing and competing on American/Japanese Idol, and the bonds that they foster along the way. Why are you still reading this? It was nearly just almost not boring enough to keep watching. The CG dancing didn’t help.


The lovey-dovey his and hers fine china goes to “Shin no Nakama ja Nai to Yuusha no Party o Oidasareta node, Henkyou de Slow Life Suru Koto ni Shimashita”: The blushing and courtship was ever present in this fantasy side story of two consenting adults shaking up while the world burns down… or doesn’t? The central premise of how the ‘hero’s party’ related to the fate of the world didn’t make much sense to me during the end segments when the infallibility of Red became clear, and he was begged to return to the party presumably to help save the world, but instead chose… the booty beside him. Some lazy world building only serves to distract from what should be a sweet romance story and undermines the decency of the main pair, who just want to pretend they’re married.


“Yuuki Yuuna wa Yuusha de Aru: Dai Mankai no Shou” gets the accidental stumble award: Perspective really can color your first impression of media. I watched the first episode of this and was honestly a little impressed because it seemed like some real machiavellian storytelling was on order with PTSD recovering magical girls (it’s anime, I’ll take what I can get) who were ‘drafted’ back into service once the evil thought defeated resurfaced, and they were just getting used to civilian life again! Good premise, and the storytelling referencing past battles and events really enriches my experience by forcing me to put together the pieces of the history- like piecing together a puzzle. I was pretty much on board, but then I learned that this was just the third season of an existing series… A series whose two previous seasons could be summarized succinctly before the first commercial break of the second episode, suggesting a dearth of content. My interest immediately deflated and I will always wonder if I would have enjoyed this series from the beginning.

The ‘one step behind’ footprint is awarded to “86” season 2: If not for production issues pushing the last two episodes back an entire season from now, this likely would have made top three. As is, it was a fun sci-fi diversion about battle hardened teenagers trying to sacrifice themselves to save the world. It is comical how often the characters are reminding each other that they shouldn’t seek out death- like a suicide support group driving spider tanks. The new enemies and their dynamics were fun and I like, overall, the scope of where the story is heading. This is a marathon, not a sprint.


“Senpai ga Uzai Kouhai no Hanashi” gets the ‘best op’ award: Really, this OP is full of life and made me excited for each episode. The series itself, while just mundane enough to prevent me from frothing at the mouth to see it, never made me regret sitting down for an episode. Sweet, fun character dynamics, two different couples with unique challenges, and a tsun-loli that was not annoying to me at all (that itself deserves an award)! Really good stuff for romance junkies.

“Tesla Note” is awarded the ‘omega bad’ jar of formaldehyde: In case you didn’t know, scholars have long debated the exact distinctions between the ‘golden toilet’, ‘waste of time’, and ‘omega bad’ anime awards. Fair enough, it can be nebulous, but let me assure you that this CG abomination most squarely fits into the ‘omega bad’ criterion, trademarked, of course. Look at one scene and embrace the cataracts your eyes hyper develop as a defense mechanism against the off model ‘2002 Newgrounds’ animation so bad that it could only have been birthed amidst a veritable storm of ameture planning, talent mismanagement, and a vacuum of funding/time. Ninjas. Tesla. CG. Trash.


“To Tsuki to Laika to Nosferatu” goes the ‘cactus’ plant; water sold separately- Vampire going to the moon- last time I watched a movie about that (VhD:Bloodlust), there was a bit less moe and a lot more blood… I got through about four episodes before I decided the cold shell of the vampire girl was cracking too slowly to put up with her prickly personality any further, especially when Niceguy Mc’MyOnlySinIsBeingTooPure is bending over backwards to give her the chance he lost by being too admirable or something. It’s a shame because I usually enjoy the non-American take on racism I get from anime as a more realist perspective that feels less preachy, but boring is boring, I’m afraid.


“Best unintentional comedy” plaque is slid across the ice to “Puraore! Pride of Orange”: Two things stuck out to me here in the few episodes I was able to get through: 1: The female ring manager and her male assistant have some strangely good chemistry and were fun to watch, and 2: Hear me out- the CG girls playing hockey can be hilarious when you see it in action. I’m talking meme-worthy moe faces superimposed on CG real life proportioned hockey suits. The jarring proportionality is the stuff of legend and cracked me up every time I saw it; I couldn't believe my eyes. Look it up yourself.


The ‘better than I remembered it’ certificate is for “Sekai Saikou no Ansatsusha, Isekai Kizoku ni Tensei Suru”: Edgy ‘seinen’ manga are usualy code for ‘shounen with boobies’, and I figured this was about the same when I read a couple chapters and dropped it a while back. The anime was far more entertaining, enough such that I wonder if the adaptation was actually masterful compared to its source? While I’m not about to pick the manga back up any time soon, I would welcome another season of this, as the premise and main character are both interesting. Magic guns don’t hurt, either.


“Megaton-kyuu Musashi” gets the ‘Toy commercial’ TV spot: The first few episodes of this were throwback fun with a troublemaker delinquent being harnessed to pilot a special mecha for humankind, and the moves and battles were imaginative, but the ‘sunrise’ art style and fairly thin story didn’t hook me long enough to start caring about the characters, and, like an advertisement, I had fun with the concept until it was replaced by the next glowing light on my screen.


This season’s ‘normie friendly’ award is presented to “Komi-san wa, Komyushou Desu”: As inoffensive as it gets, Komi is the latest exaggerated social anxiety disorder anime served up for our consumption. While labeled as ‘being unable to communicate’, Komi-san seems actually to simply be shy and not want attention, or is embarrassed by the sound of her own voice, as she communicates quite readily throughout the series- as far as I can tell- by physical ques, non-linguistic mouth sounds, and writing. I’ve lost the plot on what appeal there is supposed to be in watching someone struggle with something most people can do easily… I think it is simply a plot device to allow clover head MC to be relevant. It was cute, but not so cute to be a favorite in this genre.


“Takt Op. Destiny” gets a ‘stars and stripes’ T-Shirt: I really wanted to like this, as the premise of road trips harken back to Cowboy Bebop style episodic meandering, doubly so in the American midwest, but nope- not even the flashy action scenes (which got less visually polished as the episodes went on) could keep my interest in the flat main duo of Takt and his manic-pixie-dream-girl-cum-musical-battle-droid. It’s a shame too, as I even liked the ‘conductor’ theme and the other sassy sister girl, but simply felt myself dozing off after a while. So far, the best bet for decent anime set in America seems to be mob stories.


“Muv-Luv Alternative” invoked the ‘ptsd’ award for… me?: Muv-Luv Alternative, when I read the VNs all those years ago, were quite affecting, to put it mildly. Stories that swam around in my head for days, I may never forget the major beats… This adaptation still somehow managed to fail to get my attention- maybe because I already know what was happening, or maybe the pacing, or budget animation, I don’t know, but the fact of the matter is that this, by pedigree, should have been my #1 this season, and I didn’t even finish three episodes. Maybe trauma kept me at bay?


The ‘long road to nowhere’ sign goes to “Sakugan”: A lot to like here: father daughter journey, fun world setting, and some optimistic adventures tucked under a vague ‘where is it’ promised-land type premonition. It even had a great ED, but after about 9 episodes, I tired of the formula, maybe also of Gagumba being too dim for someone his age, and just forgot to finish it. I don’t feel like I missed much, and reports suggest the story didn’t conclude anyhow; sorry for the folks who toughed it out for that…(nomatterwhatyousaaaaaay♪)


“Orange is the new Jojo” goes to you-know-who: While not the most interesting thing that aired this season, it remained a constantly entertaining spectacle, though the viewer is mostly just along for the ride as the powers and fights use such fluid logic as to be rightly unpredictable by the audience. It’s the most Jojo thing since the last season of Jojo, and the female Jojo has roughly zero impact on how things play out, if anyone was wondering.


While probably not all bad shows, I cannot cobble together multiple sentences of interesting things to say about these dregs: Gyakuten Sekai no Denchi Shoujo (too much otaku but alt history was a fair concept), Saihate no Paladin (too much exposition without enough plot momentum), Shinka no Mi: Shiranai Uchi ni Kachigumi Jinsei (too much Zoo and not enough BO jokes), Muteking the Dancing Hero (too much boring; not enough dancing), and Shikizakura (too much CG).


Overall a weaker season with the top three not matching most in the last year if compared side-by-side, and over half the shows dropped. They can’t all be winners. See you in April.

[neflight86]

Another season comes and goes…


3. Sono Bisque Doll wa Koi o Suru: I wanted to give this position to police girls, but my anticipation to watch this each week pushed me over the edge. Well crafted rom-com that leans maybe too much on some wish fulfillment tropes to avoid eye rolls, but the core is very solid, and the couple have (or rather develop) a great chemistry that had me rooting for them by mid season and kept a smile on my face. The great animation and inventive fan service also didn’t hurt.


2. Kimetsu no Yaiba: Yuukaku Hen: Tricky timing, but this did finish airing this quarter. While the majority of this season felt like one big battle, the eggs in that basket made quite an omelet! The hype was real, and UFOTable got to go full ham with its outrageously stylish post processing heavy fight choreography and every episode had some heft. This is typical shounen storytelling elevated by a huge budget and excellent production. If more anime- shounen or otherwise- got this treatment, anime wouldn’t be niche.


1. Shingeki no Kyojin: The Final Season (2022): Not even a question, really. I’ve gushed ad nauseum about the merits of SnK’s storytelling and excellent, thoughtful handling of difficult themes in the past. The divisive arguments in our own dedicated thread is testament to the effectiveness of the moral quandaries. It elevates what I expect out of anime in a good way.

_________________
Quick, some special awards before anyone notices how thin this season was!


The “I regret nothing” award goes to “Hakozume: Kouban Joshi no Gyakushuu”: Almost squeaked into the third place spot, but got usurped by a certain boob bag in the last second. This is the type of show I’m seldom in the mood to watch, but never regret after starting. Two police women giving us a tour (vicariously) of modern, mundane police work. Classic ‘more interesting than entertaining’. What was striking, in hindsight, is that there is some true darkness and a wide shift of tone from case to case. One episode, you get a humorous chase scene with Kawai lamenting that she can’t stop chasing someone when she’s out of breach because people are watching, and a few episodes later, she is dealing with the trauma of responding to an infant fatality in a car wreck. Some of these scenes really stuck in my mind (as did the needlessly attractive female character designs).


The “could have been a contender” marble mouth is presented to “Tokyo 24-ku”: There is probably a great show in here somewhere, but I couldn’t remain interested long enough to find it. Super powers, conspiracy, plucky kids in near-future tech tokyo- in another season, I might have stuck it out, but as-is, I just couldn’t muster the drive, which is too bad as the energy and direction felt spot-on in the few episodes I watched…


The “Unequal Yolk” trophy\cardboard box goes to Dolls’ Frontline: Girls (robots) named after the contemporary and historic firearms they wield against nebulous enemy forces… This outlasted much better shows simply by having disproportionately good OP and ED sequences that kept tricking me into hoping- nay expecting- a good military action show that I never got.


The “no excuse” award is presented to “Cue!”: No reason why I couldn’t finish this. Cute girls doing voice acting. I’m pretty sure I’ve watched at least two other shows with the same premise that were no better than this, so why the drop? I’ll blame it on ‘cute girls’ burn out. Sometimes it’s better to take a break than to keep going and get broken. I should write fortune cookies.


The “morning tea” cup goes to “Genjitsu Shugi Yuusha no Oukoku Saikenki S2”: While not glamorous, it is reassuring when an anime gently, calmly settles unnoticed into your weekly routine as a sort of ‘given’, where you may not be excitedly awaiting or anticipating the next episode, but in the back of your mind you just know you’ll watch it when you get a chance. This is such an unassuming show. Low stakes, just enough plot progression without asking any truly difficult questions to the viewer (at least not framed as such) isekai pseudo-harem. Forgotten as quickly as it was watched, but I’ll probably watch another season in a year or so.


The “Edgelord Commander” Spencer’s gift card is, of course, awarded to “Platinum End”: The dynamic duo behind masterpieces like Death Note and Bakuman have seen better days. I don’t know how they decided that what their death game needed was mega-edgy-energy, but that’s what we got. Almost no levity, and a bunch of sad, suicidal people fighting (and refusing to fight) over the right to steer humanity into salvation, oblivion, or worse. From the beginning, I eagerly kept waiting for the complex storytelling to become captivating, but it never did. The confrontations are messy and unintelligible as the relationships between the angel abilities, physics and the rules that govern them are never organized in a way that is satisfying to the viewer, making each angel power stand off unsatisfying and arbitrary feeling. Then you have the flat philosophical debates about happiness and the rights of suicide that were handled better or at least less cynically) in Babylon (and that wasn’t great, either). I couldn’t finish it and I wanted to like nothing more (except SnK) this season. Ya hate to see it.


The “Creeper” award (no, not the song or minecraft character… unless you mean mining out of a federal penitentiary) is for “Akebi-chan no Sailor Fuku”: Do you appreciate the female body? How about the female body in puberty? Actually, don’t answer that- nothing good can come of it. Joking aside, while this could be an entertaining watch as a strange coming of age story, it’s not one that I would be comfortable admitting to watching after the fact. Enough times I noticed its direction was recognizably fixated on a few potentially sensual angles of the girls… the kind that give anime fans a bad rap… so much so that I just couldn’t go on. I think I prefer my fanservice to be more blatant and crass so it is easier to brush off as a joke.


The “Fall from grace” parachute goes to “Ousama Ranking”: Seldom has an anime maintained a high level of quality for as long as Ousama did (about 10 episodes) before turning heel and devolving into… not what I thought it was. I’ll attribute this to the double edged sword of world building. While, on the one hand, sharing the condition of your universe is fun and exciting; if- after an extended period nothing is done with this information, it becomes capricious and unwelcome. A series that did this well, as an example, was Hunter x Hunter. When details about the world were given, it was always in service to the story and gave richer context to the current events. In Ousama, while it made attempts at this at first, after a while it just felt like the author was trying to justify another sad story in a flashback with characters and entire peoples we would likely never see or hear from again. Perhaps in a future season, if made, some of these things will be cashed in on, but I largely tuned out by the end as we waded through some of the bizarre final battles of the season that led up to some genuinely confusing story directions that did little to satisfy the promise of adventure set by the first few episodes. Unfortunate, but what is there is still worth watching.


The “week old fish” baking soda was sprinkled around for “Slow Loop”: After the initial tension of ‘will the main girl be able to bond with her new sister over fishing and move on from her deceased father?” was defused three episodes in, so too was my desire to keep watching the beating of a dead fish- I wasn't in need of healing enough for this healing show to find appeal.


The “Too cool for school” skateboard is awarded to “Tribe Nine”: If nothing else, this perversion of baseball has more attitude than a Sonic the Hedgehog AMV. ‘Nuff said (but not ‘nuff to remain interesting).


The “paper tissue” of regret is split between Sabikui Bisco and Kaijin Kaihatsubu no Kuroitsu-san: Not bad shows from what I saw, but nothing special, no hook to keep me watching, so for them I shed a small tear of indifference.


“Tensai Ouji no Akaji Kokka Saiseijutsu” gets the store brand coupon: Do I really have room for two fantasy anime about unwilling princes/young kings elevating their respective kingdoms from obscurity to world prominence? Apparently not, because I couldn’t even be bothered to finish this one, which I will say is better produced than the realist hero, but somehow even more prone to ‘perfect MC’ syndrome. If only it had aired in a different season…


The “catfish” profile picture was swiped on “Koroshi Ai”: I should really consider starting to skip first episodes- they tend to give me the wrong impression of shows. Best foot forward and all of that… The John Wick rom-com had a lot going for it, as serviced by the premise, but quickly became less interesting after the mental instability and toxicity of the one sided relationship dynamic was essentially abandoned about three episodes in. Another gripe is that I have an increasing disconnect with how anime/media treat death. When depicting human beings getting killed en masse by singular actors, it kind of reflects sociopathy on the characters more than the battle-hardened characterization I think they were going for unless an actual effort is made to dispel that… Shoot em in da head and move on…


A weaker season for me (I dropped way more than usual due to preference and a work project eating up my evening time), but here’s to the next season!

[Ryllharu]

With fewer words, Winter 2022:

No particular order.

Slow Loop - I usually pass on the scores of "Cute Girls Doing Things Cutely" series because so many of them are very samey and bland. Predominantly (or entirely) cute girls cast does things that are non-stereotypical activities for girls. Woo. -_- Honestly, most of them come off as re-skinned K-ON or Non Non Biyori. Stella C3-bu (Airsoft club) is a good example of how bland and dreadful these are when done poorly.
Not so with Slow Loop. It's a fly fishing anime cute girls on the surface, but a remarkably deep introspective series on a lot of subjects. Exploration of grief, loss, and the corresponding recovery. Acceptance of yourself and your hobbies that seem strange to others (like another series on this list!). Fear of rejection. Forging a new family. How empowering and emotionally stabilizing having a close friend for a long time can be. Conservationist behavior. It's not the cute comedy of the main trio that sells this series. It's the more somber moments. There's male characters in this one too, and they're not just window dressing, they're integral to many of the series' better moments. Yes, the girls are cute and entertaining without ever getting too annoying. But when they quietly contemplate a particular subject, this series really shines. If Yuru Camp held an undertone about appreciating solitude, Slow Loop's instead has the central focus of family, friends, and acceptance of self.

Sono Bisque Doll wa Koi o Suru - Best girl of the season who intensely seems like Manic Pixie Dream Girl but definitely isn't? Touching romance where the driver of the burgeoning romance isn't the beta male lead? An otaku romance where the female lead is anything but shy (there's actually quite a few of these...)? Another coming of age series where a focus is on rejected the reactions of others and readily accepting yourself and your hobbies? Yes Please. The animation (and even mocap) is exceptional, the characters have depth and presence and agency and charm and skill and passion and did I mention the two leads both have agency in an otaku-centric hobby?! I knew there was a lot of hype around this series but it delivers. In full.

Fantasy Bishoujo Juniku Ojisan to - My second sleeper hit on this list. It's isekai. It's a gender bender. It's a parody. It has edgelords. It has obnoxious goddesses. This is, at its heart, a series on co-dependence. Between two men. One of whom has been transformed by a narcissistic arrogant goddess of love into the most simultaneously helpless and enthralling beauty on the entire fantasy world. And they're cursed to fall in love with the other. It's all been done before. But not all in one place and so well done.
On top of some really stellar voice acting, this series firmly plants itself among the titans of comedy-isekai with the likes of Those Who Hunt Elves. It does not take itself seriously. It is full of degenerates, like KonoSuba, but instead of toxic personalities, it is insidious levels of narcissism. The corresponding slow changes in personality is a progression throughout the series. The ending falls a little flat, but that's what happens to series that go for abrupt ends when they catch up to the source material.
Most importantly, it lets its jokes breathe.

[MFauli]

Ousama Ranking
An almost perfect adventure story that, while uplifting overall, doesn't shy away from topicizing and showing the sad and gruesome parts, too. Continues the tradition of "the best anime feature a childish artstyle".

Kimetsu no Yaiba S3
I had my issues with some of its deus-ex-machina moments, but you can't really hate this season. Gorgeous fights, gorgeous animations, and it just makes you want to see more.

Shingeki no Kyojin The (not) Final Season
Do I hate that we have to wait another year or so for another season? Sure. But other than that, this has been an amazing season that really got people talking and is almost impossible to predict. I won't start the discussion again here, but this really is a story without good guys at this point and that makes it so interesting. And better even: There's also no more clear victory for either side in the cards, damage has already been done, it now remains to be seen whether ultimate destruction can be stopped or not. I'm #TeamEren.

Overall another weak season, but I've come to accept that a season with 3 shows I really like is a good season, so that's okay. And I use the additional time to watch older anime I haven't seen.

[neflight86]

That was quick; it felt like I watched much more this season than I honestly did.

A tough season to parse, there were at least six shows in contention for top three, but sometimes you have to go with your gut and arbitrarily make distinctions…


3. Spy x Family: A great show and an exciting prospect as a seasonal delight. The premise is cute, clever, and sweet with a hint of edge to congeal it all together into approachable entertainment. Not every episode slapped as hard as the others, but there were many great moments and the situational jokes usually hit some. Probably the most long term appeal of the season; this is going places.


2. Healer Girl: Even though the music didn’t always work for me, it often did, and the emotional resonance here was the strongest this season. This is the rare instance of a fantastical theme in anime that is actually explored and developed instead of used as a prop and abandoned for more genre pandering schlock three episodes in. I was really able to bond with these girls, and come to care about what befell them on their journey to… professional certification. The ending also was above expectations, and this came off as a quality product that satisfied like no other this season.


1. Kunoichi Tsubaki no Mune no Uchi: I struggled more justifying, in words, why this was my favorite of the season, given some of the other excellent shows on display. Even after mulling it over longer than I really should have, I have settled on the conclusion that this was simply the cutest, most fun thing I looked forward to the most each week. The character designs are adorable, the scenarios always highlighted the girl’s dynamics and were unpredictable and there were even some choreographed fights icing the cake. I can’t give any higher praise.

__________________

Special awards saturation? Take it up with my agent…


Birdie Wing: Golf Girls’ Story gets the “Honorary 4th place” bronze award: To keep it on the level, I’ll still limit the main listings to top three, but turns out the special awards aren’t nearly as regulated, evidence suggests. Another excellent show with all the shounen spirit and bombast that could put a smile on just about any anime watcher’s face. The only things that held this back, after much deliberation, was the central character, Eve, losing much or if not all of her charm as the season went on, and the somewhat rote storytelling. The tough guy/devil-may-care act is cute at first, but if she never develops beyond it, it gets a little stale and may have me rooting for her adversaries at some point. Shounen tropes make up the skeleton of the story, and it’s executed well as could be in one cour, but few risks were taken. Do or die golf spectacle each episode. I was just about ready for a break.


Koi wa Sekai Seifuku no Ato de is awarded the “Honorary 6th place” paper mache trophy: For scenario, characters, and creative story beats, this should have been top 3, but the production just couldn’t keep up and this ended up looking a little rough. Still a high recommendation if you’re in the mood for post-confession romance. Super cute main couple and some great comedic timing and jokes. The supporting cast are really entertaining as well. Aside from the animation (which isn’t that bad), this is a complete package in an unlikely place.


Yuusha, Yamemasu gets the “mascot of the season” furry tail accessory: Taking place after the hero routes the demon lord’s army, the first few episodes are spent garnering sympathy for the opfor and demons/monsters as a whole. It works well enough, but the real highlight that makes this palatable are the generals who come off as earnest and flawed people out of their element. None more so than the beast general Lili being, essentially, a furry loli with a mental age of six. Adorable character design and the most memorable thing about this show for me before it quickly devolves into clumsy lore exposition about the ages long past and ‘human weapons’ teenage angst giving way to eye-rolling platitudes on “living for yourself” I’ve seen in approximately two thousand anime…


Kono Healer, Mendokusai gets the ‘dead horse’ beating stick: The first episode suffered from a gag that went on two scenes too long, but other than that, there was some promise here in a sorta-foul mouthed healer who spits venom and is generally extremely obnoxious to those around her in the most passive aggressive of ways. That's a good setup, but the humor never really evolves from making the same jokes about her partner’s incompetence. Definitely give it an episode or two, but don’t expect to hang around once the corpse begins to stink.


Shokei Shoujo no Virgin Road / Gunjou no Fanfare / Shijou Saikyou no Daimaou, Murabito A ni Tensei Suru All share the “amnesia” award, if I'm remembering correctly. Nothing stood out as particularly bad about these (among their genres), but I would be hard pressed to recall any details about the few episodes I watched of these fantasy action shows aimed at a demographic I’ve long since lost touch with.


Tomodachi Game recycles the “waste of time” award: It’s been a couple years since I had to pull out this one, but this was worth it. Shameless manga advertising that doesn’t even adapt the interesting early parts of the manga. What happens when you take the edginess out of edgy teen fiction? Kidnapped students playing games about maybe not trusting their friends while the main character grapples with the moral quandary of valuing money or friends more. It's more on the nose than my glasses. Truly a tale as old as time… going by the animation alone. Some of the setups and ‘gotcha’ moments are clever, but there are literal episodes of mostly uninteresting dialogue before those payoffs. A few parallel storylines or useful hints could save the audience from perceiving the ‘solutions’ themselves as contrived- but no. This could have been really good, and maybe future seasons could be, but stay away for now.


RPG Fudousan is likened to an unsalted potato chip: Airy and has that crunch you expect, but no flavor. Cute girls tackle clients’ real estate requests and become better friends episode by episode. Bog standard healing show. I might have finished it in a weaker season.


The ‘faded memories’ black & white photograph is awarded to Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari Season 2: Never have I fallen out with a show so hard for simply being more of the same. What did I expect? Thinking back, this wasn’t much different from the first season, but I just could not bring myself to enjoy it in its thoroughly mediocre glory.


Heroine Taru Mono! Kiraware Heroine to Naisho no Oshigoto gets the ‘I can’t believe it's not a reverse harem’ shortening substitute: Surprisingly unromantic and simply a well crafted story. It appears to be from an ongoing work, but the story arc(s) are satisfying and leave the show off on a strong note. It took a few episodes for me to warm up to, but once I did it was easy to stick around. No complaints aside from my general reservations about ‘idol culture/worship’; recommended.


Paripi Koumei suberts the ‘expectations’ award to instead get the ‘shoulda seen that coming’ plaque. P.A. Works has made another insultingly inoffensive ensemble story about some good people coming together to do something ultimately mundane. Girl wants to sing, reincarnated Chinese strategist makes it his mission to have her succeed by means of some trickery and exposure tactics. There is a rapper in there and a rock idol group to fill out the poster, I guess. The series ended as she effectively made the halfway point for no discernable reason. Parts were memorable, but none inspiring in the way they wanted to be. For a show where the main girl tried to jump in front of a train, there weren’t many deep character introspection or growth moments, just ‘trust Kongming!’, as if any other plans were on the table, so the story lacked punch. The usual snappy character writing did the job, but essentially no risks were taken and no commentary made. It felt like anime trying to be more like western media. Enjoy the ride or get off.


Gaikotsu Kishi-sama, Tadaima Isekai e Odekake-chuu got the “remember fun” party hat: One of two isekais I finished this season, and the only one-off, Skeleton made an effort to try and keep things simple and fun. Good guys over here, bad guys over there; capice? Do a dance and shoot some spells. All of the basic fantasy trappings were there but took a back seat to Arc’s enthusiasm, and it was almost infectious. The harem was smaller than I figured it would be as well (that’s a good thing, for the record).


Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai: Ultra Romantic has the “honorary 5th place” award: It looks like the ending… it feels like the ending… but it’s not? Okaaaay, I’ll gladly keep watching, but the story has been written into a corner by now, so how can the central concept be upheld going forward? Still love the humor taking longer setups for appropriate payoff and the cast is still given plenty to do and bounce off of each other well. Never bored watching this.


Kawaii Dake ja Nai Shikimori-san: This fantasy just isn’t for me. The character dynamic was off putting enough to drain any enjoyment I might have gotten out of this. A shame, really.


Honzuki no Gekokujou (S3) gets a pair of reins: A true workhorse, faithfully continuing the story with no frills and no surprises, either from a production or story perspective. The kind of show that I’ll watch if another season comes out, but I’m not clamoring for.

[Buffalobiian]

Honzuki no Gekokujou - Good stuff, a continuation from the previous seasons. Though I have to say, I probably liked this better when it was closer to Spice&Wolf than currently where it's closer to Harry Potter. As such, I really wanted to put Machikado Mazoku S2 in here instead since S2 of that show improved vastly on S1, probably because of more budget. But alas, I did look forward to Honzuki more each week, so that wins.

Deaimon - Healing anime of the season for me. The OP was one of only two OPs that I consistently watched from season to season (the other one being Skeleton Knight / Gaikotsu Kishi-sama, Tadaima Isekai e Odekake-chū). The content was soothing, and overall just good old slife-of-life and people-relationships stuff.

Spy X Family - Funny mashup of weird folks and circumstances. It still feels like an introduction thus far, and I look forward to more.

[Ryllharu]

Spring 2022 (since no one else labeled it yet) - No particular order.

I will put Machikado Mazoku 2-Choume on my list. The first season was fun, but this one is the perfect way to take a 4-koma series and extend it out to a season 2. It avoids the common pitfall of many 4-koma gag series by having an ongoing plot across both seasons, the recurring gags never get stale, and the animation has significantly improved (another rarity!). What it does well is maintain the nice balance between its cute cast and creepy/obnoxious cast in a way that never ends up being grating, the cast narrating all the sound effects amplifies everything about a 4-koma series that often ends up untranslated from Japanese, and of course the antics of the cast are cute and entertaining most of the time, heartwarming when they're not. Lastly, the OST has always been strong, with the best of all being Yuuko's transformation music (https://youtu.be/c0bObo-hh0U) (also used as the preview song). The humor is primarily in how pathetic the demons are, while still managing their goal of domination and slow freedom from the 400-Yen Per Month curse somehow. Shamiko's undeniable charisma and her fearsome supporting cast.

Birdie Wing - Golf Girls' Story - It's dumb. It's a shonen sports series. It's awesome. It feels like anime from decades ago. And it should. The man behind the series composition worked on Trigun, Mugen no Ryvius, Hachimitsu to Clover II, Gundam 00, Jormungand, and Madlax. It knows how to handle tension and rivalries without getting bogged down in details. It can do drama. It can do humor. It even transitions well into its second arc by resetting the lead to a normal level (mafia golf vs professional golf...that's not a typo). It has good character design. It has a great cast (many Gundam vets like Char's and Amuro's) too. It was ultimately the series I looked forward to the most each week.

Spy x Family - Phenomenal cast (and I mean that very seriously, Anya's VA in particular is doing incredible stuff on this), well animated (two studios both working it to keep up the quality). If you keep in mind that this is primarily a comedy with action, you'll be very pleased. I love the style of this series more than anything. It's a very rare Cold War aesthetic.

[MFauli]

Dance Dance Danseur
At least ONE truly great anime this past season that made me watch it like I was grasping for air while underwater. Really exciting, great animation, the best romance ever ... until it becomes the most fucked up romance ever, LOL. Hoping immensely for a season 2, because this story needs animation. But if I remember this in 2 years or so and still nothing about a continuation, I'll go for the manga. Can't wait to find out how this proceeds.

Kaguya Final Season
Honestly boring start and had to force myself to keep watching, only to find the most amazing couple final episodes. I wish the whole season would have been on that level. It's a true ending and one that I can accept, which is not something most anime manage to achieve. Still, I wouldn't be opposed to a movie that COMPLETELY wraps it up. Coincidentially, I happened to read an h-doujin today featuring their "first time together", and it was pretty much how you'd expect that to happen, lol.

Honzuki Season 3
Honestly, not thaaaaat exciting, bad animation still stifling an otherwise very interesting story, and frustration from how slow the overall story proceeds. Despite the letdowns, I just want know what happens next and I can't wait for season 4. I need moooooore!

The one series I haven't finished watching is Spy X Family, only seen 3 episodes or so, so it might have a shot at kicking out on the others shows. My first impression was positive, although a lot depends on how it develops and ends.

[MFauli]

I will preface my posting with: This was the season of anime where I was glad when I got done with the final episode. Oof. Very mediocre to bad season. If anyone can truly recommend some MUST-SEE, I'm open to hear about those. Anyway, here's my not-so-top Top3:

1.) Summer Time Render
Finale still unaired, but whatever. I had to force myself to watch each episode, because this anime really danced the line of "this is good" and "I'll drop it". Ultimately, curiosity won and it's an okay fantasy-mystery story. Many things I disliked, especially design-wise, but at least this was a show that kept you thinking.

2.) Isekai Meikyuu de Harem o
Ecchi trash, blablah. Despite a shallow premise, this was probably the easiest to watch anime this season. Start an episode, lean back, have fun. That makes it all the more tragic that it had glacial pacing and too much focus on ecchi scenes. If this anime just removed the constant sex scenes (not entirely, but, ya know, it's enough that we know what they're doing, no need to spend 5-10 minutes each week on it) and focused more on the world we're introduced to, this could have been one of the better isekai anime. The way it is, meh. At least I can say the sex scenes were really good, most hentai anime look much worse. Unfortunately I saw one uncensored episode and the studio cannot draw nipples, they looked bad/dumb. Redo of Healer is still nipple master.

3.) Isekai Ojisan
Half of each episode is lost on me because I don't get the repeated joke about the uncle's supposed ugliness. But the other half is fun to watch. Unfortunately, two mishaps: One, the anime got delayed mid-season. Two, no actual story development in the real world, only flashbacks. I really would have liked more present timeline action, especially elf coming to the real world and such. Missed potential.

All in all a bad season. Aoi Ashito is one of the most boring football anime ever. Isekai Yakkyoku is the kind of isekai that gives the genre its bad reputation. And Overlord is so creatively dead, its author must be writing that shit intentionally to get out of a contract or something.

[Ryllharu]

Summer 2022

Ranking them this time so you know that I mean it.

1. Cyberpunk: Edgerunners - If you've watched it, you know why. No need to play the game it is a tie-in to, they're independent. This is brilliance in character study. It is mastery in self-restraint by TRIGGER. It has hands-down, some of the best Japanese performances of the casts' careers. The dub isn't bad either! It's fun when it needs to be, it's not when it shouldn't be. It's everything it needed to be. If I had any criticism for it, it is my own fault because I listened to the game music too much that I'm sick of some of the songs when they're reused in the anime, and some goofy shit toward the end when TRIGGER couldn't resist being themselves. I'm not going to say anything else about it that I haven't detailed in full-spoilers over in the thread.

2. Yofukashi no Uta - The atmosphere and vibe of this series is what sells it. I think it perfectly captures that extremely late-night calm that you only get where there's really nobody around but you and your companions. The entire city (or park, or field) is yours, and yours alone. That brings in that little euphoria of catching a moment/place that is up for grabs, and you got there first...and then it goes for a deep-dive on aromantics, narcissism, connections between people. What behavior is and isn't toxic? Is there a difference between lust, love, affection, companionship, platonic connection, longing, the desire to possess someone as yours, hate? It's very intentionally the lofi beats version of all those things.

3. Lycoris Recoil - It's genki gun-kata. This series, like the other two, are also a great exploration of character. A positive outlook one, where living your own life to the fullest extent you can, satisfying every urge your mind can think of, while also facilitating the same in others. Time is limited, don't waste it on things that don't really satisfy you, don't let anyone else tell you what you have to be, and make sure no one takes away that lust for life from others. All that...while being a really well-crafted action series. It also has some of the best paced setting and character development I've seen in a long time. At least right up until the end when it gets a little squirrely, but in a forgivable way. Details are given without slipping into exposition. They're naturally doled out in conversations where it makes sense. The protagonists and antagonists both act in a manner that subverts casual expectation in the genre, but not in a particularly forced way. There's no 'Gotcha!' type twists, nothing major that wasn't telegraphed episodes earlier. It's meticulously developed narrative and character development.
Does lose a few points from being perfect due to some questionable physics and ability continuity issues. But again, forgivable for most viewers.
It's just really enjoyable, well animated, and good-to-great voice casting.

Notes: Prima Doll was a very slow burn, and ended up pretty good, but as a mixed-media project, doesn't quite get to a satisfying epilogue within the anime. Isekai Ojisan isn't over, so it isn't eligible for this season per the rules.

[neflight86]

As per usual:

3.Youkoso Jitsuryoku Shijou Shugi no Kyoushitsu e 2nd Season: This is how you do garbage. Throw our broken characters into edgy silly confrontations with fluid logic and the limpest social commentary for twelve or so episodes, but make it somehow entertaining, and you’ve got a winner. Never bored even when it was boring, and that’s a feat.

2. Lycoris Recoil: A truly well made piece of media that nailed all of the various ranges of ‘fun’ during its runtime. It easily teetered between serious but not so serious with exciting action set pieces and genuinely clever plot elements and twists, to speak nothing of its great delivery of witty dialogue and self referential humor that didn’t lean too heavily on the otaku pandering tropes so common in anime. Some shoehorned cultural elements and an unexciting ending climax dampened my excitement a little, but still an easy recommendation.

1. Shine Post: Even though Covid delays prevented this from finishing as of this writing, I already looked more forward to this than any other show this season by a considerable margin, and cannot imagine the finale flopping hard enough to affect my rankings. Sometimes I just want a happy story, and the unbridled positivity of this idol story won me over, in no small part thanks to its stellar animation. I was strangely captivated throughout the entire run about things I wouldn’t care about if the character animation, voice performances, and overall cuteness hadn’t sold me from the offset. Maybe it just hit at the right time, but Shine Post is the whole package for me this season.

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Some (dis)honorable mentions are in order!

Shadows House 2nd Season has the “most within expectations” barometer: Exactly what I thought it would be, Shadow’s House plays out consistently, if nothing else. Some light mystery with more moving parts than I can track, this season ends in roughly the same place it began, with a few more ominous stakes introduced. Comfortable, if not compelling.

Cyberpunk Edgerunner gets the ‘superior commercial’ award: While a fine show in its own right, narrowly missing the top three, the real accomplishment of Edgerunner is that it stirred a desire to dive back into the Cyberpunk universe, namely the video game. Even if that isn’t your jam, I’d still recommend this as a great story with the main character being the rich universe itself.

Instead of the golden toilet, Engage Kiss is instead awarded the “silver plunger” in recognition of its efforts to be simply trash. Also home of the worst protagonist this season if not decade, Engage Kiss is so teenage and angsty you can almost smell the Axe body spray. Cool kid throws it all away (his memories) to fight demons and avenge his family no matter what society tells him. The adults around him are useless and corrupt in roughly equal measure and he can only count on his cute waifu trio of catty, possessive girlfriends to aid him in his quest. I’d say I was moved, but that would only be half true, because bowel movements don’t really count. Funny I call Shuu a teenager/kid when he is actually old enough to smoke and drink, but Shuu’s mindset couldn’t be more immature and conforming to the image of what hormonal youths think of themselves as. I can’t connect with that, but it still provided some measure of entertainment wrapped up in the thickest of pretension; a magical concoction worthy of staining the bowl on the way down.

Both Prima Doll/Warau Arsnotoria Sun! failed the ‘filter’ test: After about two episodes each of these strangely parallel ‘cute girls doing post war time reconstruction faffing about with more sinister undertones’ shows, I ran a test on the next few episodes to see if there was anything visually interesting to see, as that resonates with me most. Skipping through a couple episodes each, I found nothing but stills of (cute) talking heads and almost no hints at motion or body expressiveness. Sadly, I just couldn’t muster the interest to press on, but wanted to give them mention as they may be worth seeing for those not put off by endless conversations over cookies and tea.

Made in Abyss: Retsujitsu no Ougonkyou gets the ‘strange stasis’ amber: An anisphere darling for sure, MiA s2 was hotly anticipated by many, myself included. While the introductory episode detailing the precursor expedition team was fascinating, the story quickly swelled into one that struggled to present a core I could latch onto. They were in a city made of people who turned into value in exchange for their humanity, with an angry princess outside, and the village was its mother and wanted it destroyed… It just lost me somewhere along the way and I was taking in what was happening more than following along, really. What is strange is that I don’t begrudge the show for this approach (though the creepy exploitation bits still bother me) and fully expect the next arc, whenever we get that, to be of high quality. I just missed out on the heady themes, I suppose, but my enthusiasm somehow isn’t diminished; an accomplishment in its own right!

Kinsou no Vermeil: Gakeppuchi Majutsushi wa Saikyou no Yakusai to Mahou Sekai o Tsukisusumu gets a blank piece or paper: Not much to say other than this was one of the most boring ecchi series I’ve seen in years before I dropped it; I struggle to even remember anything about the few episodes I watched.

Jojo’s Bizarre Adventures: Stone Ocean part 2 gets the ‘two towers’ award: Like I detailed in its thread, Jojo has, as of this season, transitioned from an dynamic action adventure to a static institution. Specifically a meme factory. There is no tension as there are no indications that the characters are in any real narrative danger despite the show going out of its way to craft specific horror styled scenarios for the cast to overcome while yelling at each other. Not enough plot progression to satisfy, and leaving off on a transition in setting is the only thing it's got going for it right now. Many shows decline over time, so I shouldn’t be surprised, but it's unfortunate to see Jojo do likewise; hopefully this is just a slump.

Awarding the ‘calories burned’ scale for Mamahaha no Tsurego ga Motokano Datta: An interesting journey, this goes from a Kaguya style ‘make them confess' schemes framework of two youths in love, and quickly transitions focus to other contrived complications in their non relationship (namely their friends with overlapping affections), and finally settles on a character study about love and loss that kept me watching to the very end. Maybe it's that the characters were all pretty cute and likable, but by the end I could root for them all and was glad to be a part of the ride. They put in the effort.

Isekai Meikyuu de Harem o gets no award: A decent enough power fantasy isekai that had me until the awkward and prolonged first sex scene. At that point, I fully realized what audience this was geared for and excused myself. At least there was an attempt at world building, but it is impossible to ignore what this softcore isekai is.

Yofukashi no Uta is awarded the ‘night light’ lamp post: Good vibes and a laid back program that really benefits from its mood and production more than almost any other show this season (MiA also excelled in this). Bored vampires and a dumb kid who wants to be one and end up getting in over his head while still enjoying the night life of a city with apparently a curfew given how few people walk the streets at night. Some more interesting story beats are introduced with some of the characters to shake things up and lead to an ultimately satisfying non-ending.

Teppen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Gets the ‘sad face’ drama award: Humor is obviously a personal taste thing, but this just didn’t hit almost at all for the episodes I gave it. The only noteworthy item about this is that the second episode was not aired until later in the season because it featured a politician assassination plot and was pulled after Shinso Abe (previous prime minister) was killed at a rally by a disgruntled assassin within days of its planned air date. ‘Cute girls doing stand up’ (that isn’t rakugo) isn’t a bad idea, but the laughs need to be much more dense than the sit-com line/straight man delivery found here.

Bucchigire! Got the ‘plowed under’ shovel: Nothing wrong here (except the naivete of the main character at times), Bucchigire was a fun, traditional show that simply fell to the wayside as I tired of its rote, simplistic storytelling, but don’t let that dissuade you if you’re jonesing for some shinsengumi action and a rogue’s gallery!

RWBY: Hyousetsu Teikoku can borrow the nostalgia goggles (I need those back!): I made it through the first introductory ‘arc’ of the series as condensed into the first three episodes, but I couldn’t abide by some of the legendary choreographed fights being outright omitted, events being re-organized and quickly lost interest. Sure I’m biased, but those were some great scenes and honestly, take those away and RWBY gets kind of pale for me…

Isekai Yakkyoku/Tensei Kenja no Isekai Life: Daini no Shokugyou o Ete, Sekai Saikyou ni Narimashita get some cherry-scented vape smoke: Similar to the ‘blank sheet earlier’, but without even the advantage of cute girls doing whatever, I couldn’t find much entertainment in these isekais, either. The discussion of Yakkyoku survived on these forums, so maybe there was something here, after all!

Soredemo Ayumu wa Yosetekuru gets detention for excessive teasing: Looks like I had reached critical mass for the teasing works of Yamamoto Souichirou, or at least low effort adaptations of them. The same framework didn’t capture my attention for more than a few episodes, but what I saw wasn’t bad, per say, just flavorless without the fresh premise of Takagi or the great production of Kunoichi.

A pretty solid season, all said and done with some good looking shows I didn’t even give time of day to! On to the next!

*Edit: Summertime Render gets a quick shout out as a very solid show that has a fun and well utilized hook and keeps the twists coming, only barely creaking under its own weight by the final confrontation. An anime I feel would go over well with 'normies' looking for quality entertainment. I wish every season has a show of this caliber.

[neflight86]

Fall 2022

3. Spy x Family: A little weaker than the first season with more meandering episodes and setups that didn’t always land, but we’re talking a drop from 95 to 80% hits, so this was still a big winner. The character dynamics and misunderstandings continue to make me grin each episode. Soon, SxF will need to begin exploring larger arcs or start making some more headway with the main plot to avoid feeling like a full on sit-com.

1/18/2023 edit: Oops, it is now obvious that Blue Lock is not over yet, so shuffle Spy x Family to #2, and Do it Yourself to #3.

2. Blue Lock: So now that I have convinced myself I have some standards when it comes to hot blooded shounen sports anime, I am comfortable saying this was really a treat. Even though the intro-hook went with a death-game vibe and was a bit misleading, it did successfully set the stakes and introduce the spirit of competition we would be marinating in for the rest of the season. The matches were fun and dysfunctional, not focusing on traditional Soccer strategy too much, but on the fantastical and flashy techniques (weapons) each character polished to compete. The twists kept coming and never broke tone, and this adaptation had the cajones to full stop mid-arc, possibly in service to the manga, but I still like that there was no compromise or anime original ending. It’s a good sign when one of the most boring-to me-sports is one of the most entertaining shows this season.

1. Chainsaw Man: Well, looking back at my prediction:

Chainsaw Man: Trailers looked like the animation is going to be top shelf, but aside from that, having read the manga... yes. Everyone will have a unique take, and the shounen story structure is adequate, but what sets CsM apart is that the scenarios and dialogue are uniquely a singular person's twisted vision. It's hard to explain without spoiling anything, but the phrase that comes to mind is "effortless creativity for the sake of it". You won't be sticking around for the flashy choreographed fights; if those are good, its because the studio overhauled them. It will be for the characters and interactions; this is actually seinen. Sex, violence, and cynicism that somehow doesn't come off as edgy is how I remember it. I fully expect people will be talking about this years from now.
I can safely say that broadly covers the appeal; this was effortlessly entertaining to watch each week with some stellar production, and the thing I looked forward to most.

__________________________________
But that's not all that's worth mentioning... Perhaps special awards are in order?


Both Noumin Kanren no Skill Bakka Agetetara Naze ka Tsuyoku Natta/ Yuusha Party o Tsuihou Sareta Beast Tamer, Saikyoushu no Nekomimi Shoujo to Deau get the ‘pubescent acne swab’ in their bathrooms. Low effort escapism isekai/fantasy is difficult to like. Not only because the stories are vapid and formulaic to anyone with a functioning frontal lobe, but because, with a little self awareness, you begin to realize what it means… what it says about you… to enjoy this sort of story unironically. It could mean you crave an escape from a world you cannot control into one where magic is an incantation away, where girls are easily impressed, and where the bad guys stand on their side of the line, presenting you with something to fight. It suggests a gaping hole in your life where true fulfillment has never (yet) rested. It casts light upon a childlike desire to keep things as they were- straightforward, detached from society, and fiscally carefree. I’m just too old (and fat) to sustain myself on a meager happy meal… I need tension, character flaws, actual drama… protein!


Kidou Senshi Gundam: Suisei no Majo gets the ‘yuri-bait’ hook placard: I was hoping for some modern Gundam to get into ever sice Thunderbolt (even if I had to settle for the high school setting), but three episodes in, we have some thinly veiled yuri shenanigans and a tropey cast of supporting characters looking lined up to inject their respective arcs into the story as time passes. Good animation, but the lackluster fight choreography and ‘pew-pew’ lasers glazed my eyes over pretty quickly, not to mention the main character has the kind of social awkwardness that can be hard to watch for long periods. Impressive, but unimpressed. I couldn’t make it through Iron Blooded Orphans, and it’s story was much better than this had been when I dropped it.


Shinmai Renkinjutsushi no Tenpo Keiei gets the ‘first dollar of profit’ award to hang on her wall: While I didn’t finish this one out, what I did watch was fun and interestingly never veered too far off of exploring business concepts like the obligation of professionals to charge for services rendered, supply chains, and other introductory economic elements that gave me just the slightest Spice and Wolf tingles. This might be one to go back to.


Do It Yourself!! Made its own award out of reclaimed isekai light novel charcoal: Pine Jam may never be a top tier studio, if the rough look of their fourth main work (this) is anything to go by, but I would argue most of their stuff is worth checking out. This quirky HGTV animated spin off barely missed top 3 for me and always captured the frilly mood just right as if it were plucking clouds from its water-colored sky and resting its episodes upon them. Nothing deep or personal is explored here, but the feelings of companionship, pride in a job well (self) done, and even longing (with a side of spicy tsun) are captured expertly by our group of cute girls doing this particular niche hobby-thing. Recommended. Also wins the best OP of the season, setting its own tone before each episode.


The latest veiled ‘shame’ award is regretfully given to Mob Psycho 100 S3: While the tension in the ‘Dimple as a god arc’ was interesting, the following episodes spent time with some characters who got some nice development, but I never formed any kind of bond with… It was awkward to be plunged into more feel-good stick figure sakuga, and I lost interest. To be clear, this kind of restful, uneventful post climax content to wrap the series up is exactly in concert with the tone of the show…. It just didn’t hit me like I hoped it would. I’ll surely circle back around sometime.


I must present Akiba Maid Sensou with both the “Best Ending” buttress and the “paper bag of disguise”; you’re not fooling anyone: Seriously, swap ‘maid’ for ‘yakuza’ and this is a serious drama, but because it never drops the silly maid culture tropes like lovey-dovey cafe names and plays the entire story pretty much serious, you get to experience a weird shift where you go from laughing at the murder dancing to being somewhat invested in the crime drama about a little girl out of her element in a big way. Coarse, sometimes funny, and always entertaining, Maid Wars brought it hard… hard boiled! Another solid series from PA works.


Akuyaku Reijou nano de Last Boss o Katte Mimashita gets a simple plushy: I kept watching this for more episodes than I had any right to due to how well it was written and how cute to ingest. Shoujo fantasy isekai where the emphasis is on winning the male lead’s heart is really not my genre, but the arcs I watched managed to keep my interest until the mid-season fatigue had me drifting away.


JoJo Stone Ocean Part 3 gets the ‘DMV’ trophy immortalizing what a massive waste of time it was. Jojo has certainly been stretched thin over the last part or two in that the stand powers are just getting more and more ridiculous and esoteric in their premises. Being supernatural is the only justification there is for how nonsensical these things have wound up being. Out of the prison, the cast finally tries to settle the score with the big bad at Cape Canaveral while battling more goons of the week. I’ve said it before and it has finally become true here: you can be weird, crass, juvenile, and disjointed, but you can’t be boring. The confrontations themselves had been passable on spectacle alone until now, but the powers were mostly meta conceptual in nature and I can’t even follow what is going on anymore because the story is so strained to escalate. Why is a spoon in a hole transporting Joylene into the memory of an airplane? What does gravity have to do with reaching heaven? Cap it off with a eons heat-death time loop joke from Futurama? Thanks, but I’m good.


Bocchi the Rock! Gets a cute little pudding jar for being so cute: What a well produced little show! ‘Cute girls doing a band’ is familiar enough to write this off at a glance, but there is actual craftsmanship all over here that’s worth a watch, especially in the little animation flourishes that pepper each episode. Crippling social awkwardness is getting harder to relate to- even theoretically- as I get older and more comfortable around people, but Bocchi stops just shy of being grating in her fear. The rest of the cast bounces off of her great as well, and the music is enjoyable enough. Not my genre as of late, but I don’t regret a single second of what I watched of this.


The ‘just add water’ packet is for Shinobi no Ittoki: This show will rock nobody’s world, but credit where it is due, Ittoki manages to tell a competent, full, self contained story in twelve episodes without being a spinoff, teasing another season, and maintaining a core narrative and definitive ending (plus a post time skip epilogue). Is that even legal in modern anime? It's a grey area... Ittoki is squarely a self contained mini series of adequate quality. Story of a non-ninja being forced to suddenly become the hokag… er chief of his hidden ninja village and navigate some twisty intrigue with rival ninja factions. We have world building, meaningful character deaths and an overall positive tone (and some character designs that grew on me) all in one bowl of twelve episodes. I also like that Ittoki never actually gained any amazing ninja powers from his superior bloodline/talent or whatever, and had to solve the majority of his issues with the strength of his character. Yeah, the broth’s a little thin, but dig in!


Fuufu Ijou, Koibito Miman gets prescription psychotropic drugs: Essentially a fanservice and innuendo vehicle that may as well been adapted from the source manga by an AI, as it has a very noticeable level of clumsiness when switching between tones and moods. You’ll get uber jarring, schizophrenic transitions to and from salacious and everything else often enough that it becomes funny if you start to track it intentionally. The colors were pretty, and the manga was a nice read, but as anime, it didn’t provide enough entertainment to justify the time.


Renai Flops may well have gotten a (passive aggressive) award for the few episodes I perused if I could remember a single flippin’ thing about it!


Yama no Susume: Next Summit tests out the ‘too big an appetizer’ mix plate for being too fulfilling in its first arc. I felt I had the entire breadth of its experience by the time it was over. A mere two episodes in, the first mountain had been ‘climbed’ and the experience bitterly flavored by the main character’s failure and resolution to do better next time after grappling with the futility of this sport/hobby. It was great… so great I didn’t fathom it becoming any more entertaining from there and dropped off watching. I was full before the meal arrived!


4-nin wa Sorezore Uso o Tsuku gets the ‘marco! polo!’ award for being so… blindingly… close: As a comedy series, the setup is standard as Anime gets: 4 Girls, one is an alien militant with no common sense, one a girly ninja, one a psychic, and the last actually a dude. The work done with this setup itself is good… some of the time, great rarely, and poor a fair amount of time as well. Probably the show I hoped to like the most this season, “The lies we tell” is good enough most of the time. It is funny enough most of the time, but treading water like that means a single poor scene can sink the whole thing. Sadly, as early as episode 2, segments with little humor payoff drag on and kill the little momentum this show has. Give it a try, but be prepared for peaks and valleys.

Another fine season to end the year with.

[MFauli]

Fall 2022 Top 3:

1. Fumetsu no Anata e S2

2. Chainsaw Man

3. Mob Psycho 100 Final Season

I'll make it short this time; boring season without anything too hype. Chainsaw Man has me interested for more, Mob got a decent ending. Fumetsu keeps me alive.

[Ryllharu]

Took me a while to finally finish everything.

Fall 2022

Bocchi the Rock! - Hands down my favorite of the season, but also my anime of the year. It's finally getting a lot of the attention it deserved with relentless memes as everyone else started to catch up, but I also picked it up as a mid-season trial myself. Bocchi the Rock is music anime done right. It's also a slice of life/coming of age type of story, while focusing on a very realistic representation of severe social anxiety in its lead. It's incredibly funny, extraordinarily acted and animated, and a perfect example of an adaptation exceeding the source material. This is what anime can be when the medium is at its best. It's touching, it's funny, and in my complete astonishment, managed to get better with every single episode, each topping the last.

Akuyaku Reijou nanode Last Boss wo Kattemimashita - A beautifully and self-contained three-arc Villainess series. The lead has charisma bursting out of every action and line, the story understands moderation and most-importantly, knows when to end (very rare in what series get adapted these days). The animation is a little plain, but it does what it needs to. The action is surprisingly above-average as villainess series go, and I just really enjoyed this from start to finish.

(tie)
Yes, tie. I couldn't pick.
Koukyuu no Karasu
A series that I honestly didn't know I needed. Chinese Court-era supernatural mystery was like a breath of fresh air in a sea of isekai and overblown edgelord series. The leads are both intelligent and terrifying in their own ways, the mysteries are grounded, painful, and tragic. The female lead is simultaneously prickly and charming, hiding why she keeps everyone at arms-length even though she deeply desires human connections. The male lead is cunning, strategic, but also has doubts he is reluctant to share with only his most trusted companions. In the overall mystery, you never really know what's going on or who can be trusted. It also handles true supernatural power nicely and balanced.
The flaws on this one is that the anime apparently only gets through 2 of 7 volumes of the novel, so it leaves a fair amount hanging. Also has the worst OP in the last decade. The character designs are wonderful and used well, even if the animation isn't that crisp.
On the positive side, this had my favorite ED of the season (https://youtu.be/FsmwCc5vAeQ) (full version of the song (https://youtu.be/91XqZ159QCA)), possibly the year.

Mobile Suit Gundam - The Witch from Mercury - Contrary to the usual opinions, this is a good Gundam series. We don't get to know everything going on and we're very obviously not intended to. The first cour of this is a very intimate and inexorable run-up into a massive corporate hot-war. Our perspective is limited, the focus on key persons in the political strata the series set up, but they don't get to know everything going on. They get hit with events cold, but they are remarkably not passive players like so many other recent mecha. Yes, some feel like chess-pieces being moved from the true actors in the shadows, but they have their own individual goals and we get the slow-motion tragedy as they are pulled into the inevitable despite their best efforts to evade the political bullshit getting thrown their way.

It's a more emotional and sympathetic viewpoint on a ramp-up to war because it is meant to be one. No, it isn't PMC war-war-war right from the start. It was never meant to be. Gundam is an anti-war franchise, always has been.

The animation is top-tier. The mecha designs are great, they move and feel massive like mecha should when shown at the correct perspective, the character animation has subtle wonderful details, and the voice acting is phenomenal.

[neflight86]

Winter 2023

Here we go again!


3. Mou Ippon! The highest compliment I can give is that this is also the ugliest show I finished this season, and I was frothing for more. Shounen sports (even when performed by JKs) are a comfort food for me, requiring only the barest of storytelling competency to keep me engaged, but I would argue the writing here goes above that admittedly low barrier with fun group dynamics, technical fights, and good pacing. Ending after a resounding defeat, and I don’t hear any murmurings of another season, I’ll probably pick up the manga.


2. Blue Lock: Pure uncut black-tar Japanese hype. Nothing demanded my attention more each week than the constantly evolving shenanigans of Blue Lock. Soccer is aggressively boring to me, but as a skeleton for shounen sports, give me more, please. Crazy powers bouncing off of each other in creative ways never fails to entertain.


1. Attack on Titan S4 part 3a: Ignoring the tiresome naming at this point, while Blue Lock had me the most hyped each week, this sole episode of AoT stayed with me for days. Such beautiful storytelling; I lost sleep thinking about the events transpiring as well as Hanji’s death. I need Attack on Titan to be over so I can get over Attack on Titan.

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Pre-Paid Special Awards? Well, might as well not waste ‘em…


Revenger wins the ‘dumbest action element’ dunce cap: Anime asks a lot of us with some of its action set pieces, and usually I can suspend my disbelief (or perhaps logical reasoning) for the lulz, but Revenger has pushed the insult too far. One character ‘fights’ by sticking literal gold foil paper onto people’s faces covering their nose and mouth, resulting in suffocation. This happens multiple times throughout the series, but not once does anyone ever attempt to remove said obstruction, opting to instead flail their blade wielding hands around in desperation until suffocating seconds later when it is shown multiple times that a light touch dissipates the foil into dust. Absolutely touched.


Trigun Stampede implores me to re-bury the ‘90’s time capsule’: A formative anime, for sure, being one of the first I ever watched and still one of the better examples of a western in anime, I had pretty high hopes for this reboot/remake from studio Orange. While Stampede got off to a fair start aping some of the early arcs of Trigun, around the Land Crawler arc, and two episodes deep of doing nothing with Wolfwood I got too bored of the anime cliches and uninspired writing to continue. This one shoulda stayed in the 90’s.


The ‘roller coaster of quality’ got its picture taken with Spy Kyoushitsu: This anime did a rare thing. It had a strong first arc, began to fumble in its middle section, and actually pulled itself back up to a favorable conclusion for the last trimester. Most anime that falter do so hard, but Spy Classroom skillfully treaded water long enough for help to arrive, so to speak. Fluffy, soggy, and recommended.


Benriya Saitou-san, Isekai ni Iku Has broken physics by being, effectively, more than the sum of its parts. What starts out as a gag-driven isekai about the utility of modern know-how applied to a d&d fantasy world becomes, by the end, a mostly successful mixture of character drama, action spectacle, and some phallic jokes to round it out. The typically throwaway supporting cast is actually put to good use over some action arcs and Morlock specifically gets a well fleshed out character arc- the wizard almost never gets a character arc- making the world feel alive and in motion well before Saitou graces it with his presence. Recommended if you like your isekai without a side helping of self insert power fantasy.


Hyouken no Majutsushi ga Sekai o Suberu gets the ‘best impression of a dyed in the wool racist’ sheet set. Boring wish fulfillment fantasy about the best swordsman evaaar getting reincarnated as a prodigy student so he can clown on his peers with both mental and physical prowess, if you didn’t know. Absolute trash, but the obligatory omega prejudiced foil kid in the class got a smirk out of me by just how much incel rage was channeled into his under breath screeches of “ORDINARRRY!!!”, an insult to non-nobles in the show, as he grit his teeth and clenched his fists in response to Ray’s… existence? Whatever, it was funny and more memorable than anything else that happened in this show. Point is, that angry kid scooped this, ever so briefly, out of the golden toilet bowl, where it belongs.


The ‘seediest anime’ packet goes to Isekai Nonbiri Nouka: More isekai crap about farming and the ambitiously comprehensive harem that comes with such a noble task, though the anime goes to strange lengths to sidestep just how much thirst resides in this hidden valley... While enjoyable enough during the opening episodes, there isn’t enough tension to offset the ever bloating cast of smiling girls and endless narration of playing Harvest Moon with cheats on. I died on the vine.


Ningen Fushin and Tensei Oujo to Tensai Reijou no Mahou Kakumei both got in a competition for ‘saddest, most aggressively mean spirited betrayal’ award, and… both of them lost. Shield Hero ruined it for everybody. Both spend their first episode detailing how unjustly the people around themselves scheme to undermine the characters and it works because the Japanese cultural mindset is ‘don’t make a fuss or trouble anyone else; accept slander with grace’. Neither held my attention beyond that due to the fantasy tropes draining my interest after the hook of betrayal is spent and there were no developed characters to keep my peepers on, but the format was striking in its similarity, so I thought it worth a mention.


Buddy Daddies will be getting a bill from my doctor for its tonal whiplash: What screams ‘adorable family bonding’ quite like ‘contracted murder’? As a joke it could work, but Buddy Daddies takes its premise completely seriously while trying to maintain a light tone and banter of killers adopting a child (who’s parents they unknowingly kill in the first episode during an action set piece). Imagine John Wick with a laugh track and it’ll save me a few words. Pass.


Dwayne Johnson will be providing the ‘giant eyebrow raise’ for Inu ni Nattara Suki na Hito ni Hirowareta: This show is a bad look in just about every way that matters: It is a fetish tour de force animated in powerpoint, awkwardly censored, poorly adapted from the gorgeous, if equally repulsive manga, and no one who watched it should admit to doing so. That said, I’ve seen worse. Boy is transformed into a little dog who is adopted by his crush, and his crush likes him as a dog… a little aggressively. Need I say more? I can’t complain too much when it never forgot to put entertainment first, remained perversely creative, and clocked in episodes that, for how vapid they were, always felt short.


Ars no Kyojuu is awarded the ‘I can’t believe it’s not a video game adaptation’ joystick: More so than the two actual shows based on video games this season (Nier and The Legend of Heroes: Sen no Kiseki – Northern War), Ars no Kyojuu had the opening story beats of a JRPG down pat, in my opinion. The varied cast cobbled together felt rag-tag in that good old way. While I didn’t get very far in, those hankering for a RGP style story without the time commitment might want to give it a look.


Dabi from Boku no Hero S6 gets the ‘Spencers tshirt’ of shame for being… just so cringe…: Boku no Hero has had its ups and downs, but this season was probably, for being the most action packed, the most boring as well. The first 10 or so episodes covered a giant two front war between heroes and their organized opposition with a huge villain power up and lasting repercussions, but I think this storytelling is done no favors by the weekly format as the themes and ideas it dives into don’t translate well episode to episode, and dilute their impact a lot without a strong emotional core to tie it all together, and that role was served by a dying villain- It’s not a good sign when the villains’ motivations and speeches are more interesting than the conflicts of your heroes during a war arc. Except for Dabi. What a trash character. His ‘reveal’ was so hamfisted it’s no longer kosher and the baggage it brought to Endeavour’s family/redemption arc only muddies the entire side story and makes it waste more valuable screen time watching Endeavour’s rebooting face. It doesn’t help that his edginess is given top billing and waaaay too much focus for such an embarrassing character; the production staff must really think kids like to see him… The only good thing about Dabi is that he makes Vigilante Deku seem slightly less forced and superfluous by comparison alone. I will say that the Bakugo apology was a highlight of this season, though. Maybe I’m just burnt out on superheroes? This is still a pretty good show.


Ooyuki Umi no Kaina gets the ‘dreamcast demo disk’ sleeve: Kaina might be a great little show, but I’ll never find out because it looks too much like how I remember CG anime looking back when it was a running joke: plainly textured, poorly rigged and stiffly animated. Some good world building and the potential for an ‘end of the world’ type story might be worth a look if you’re blind. Kind of slow but also ponderative, it was just too ugly for me to trek on. Maybe I’ll wait for the not-game-of-the-year edition to go on sale and try it again.


Rougo ni Sonaete Isekai de 8-manmai no Kinka o Tamemasu gets the ‘remission’ diagnosis: My favorite part of watching most seasonal isekais are coming up with new ways to insult their creatively bankrupt premises and cynical, posturing lead characters that are, by extension, an insult to the audience. Barking at the machine, if you will. Decent isekai is a rare treat for me. Rougo almost fooled me for a minute by having some solid world building details and a gun safety PSA detailed along side the fluffy isekai trimmings of uplifting a medieval fantasy world, suggesting this story might just beat its own quirky path, buuut… old habits die hard, and the smart writing soon gave way to protagonist power creep and nonsensical expansion without any appropriate opposition or tension, landing this squarely back into the ‘been there, seen that’ camp of disposable isekai we get each season, notifying next of kin. Isekai truly is terminal.


High Card gets the ‘Lime Slurpee cup’ on discount: With an above average first episode, High Card starts off strong, setting itself up as another superpower death game. It’s a polished first episode, but as the ice begins to melt it gets watered down in the following episodes to focus more on some character drama between the two leads (who the show’s marketing would have you believe are only some of the leading cast; but it’s mostly about them) on episodic escapades. While never downright boring, the spark of energy is lost in favor of some origin stories and factional politics that aren’t nearly as engaging as the few battles we got (boilerplate as they were). They may have sacrificed some momentum to foundation for a future season, and we’ll see if it pays off.


Tondemo Skill de Isekai Hourou Meshi gets a 3 star amazon review summarized as ‘laziest isekai power yet’: Food porn can be done really well, as past seasons have shown, but something about MC mostly cooking for a pompous wolf familiar gets old fast. I was much more invested during the early episodes when he had an entire party reveling in his sugar and preservative laden dishes, but the excitement died down shortly before the killing blow of 'training magic by fighting in a fantasy dungeon with half baked combat scenarios' (see what I did there?) killed what remained of the pacing built so far. Probably the most well animated show I dropped this season.


Tomo-chan wa Onnanoko! wears the ‘4th place’ medal: Narrowly missing the top three, Tomo-chan was a delight to watch, if not super gripping, and elevated the source material into something special. Light as it is, I expect this will be a good comedy for novice romance/love-junkies as it tells a complete story of Tomo escaping the literal bro-zone and is paced really well with jokes that don’t over focus on Tomo’s masculinity to the point of getting tired. It may not set the world on fire, but it left an ember I'll carry on.


This season’s theme, to put it into a word, was ‘thoughtfulness’. Many scripts had more detail and care than I expected put into them and felt like the story structure, as a whole, was considered (more often) before writing as opposed to flying by the seat of our pants. See you next season!

[neflight86]

Three months goes by in a flash… a better season than I expected with some good surprises.


3. Jigokuraku: Although its steam let out as the run continued, the action and teasing of lore carried me though, hoping for a genre defining adventure series until about the halfway point where I gave up on that notion. Still fun, and my favorite OP this season.


2. My Home Hero: A sad reminder that very few anime are the complete package of writing and production. MHH was ugly. Sound, acting and story structure were fine, gripping even, but it may have been better suited to be an audio drama, because the severe corner cutting on screen was distracting to watch after a while. Still though, a great cat and mouse, and worth a watch if you want some decent thriller in your anime.


1. Oshi no Ko: Okay, so some can have it all. While I was put off by my foray into the manga, the feature length prologue episode brought all of the strong storytelling to bear and had me absorbed from the outset. What could easily feel like filler or side arcs in lesser shows deftly kept my full attention and kept working toward expanding the meaningful cast and never forgot to remain entertaining among the sea of cynicism. I looked forward to nothing more each week.

___________________________

I know someone out there likes special awards!


Yuusha ga Shinda! Gets the ‘dollar store Konosuba brand’ label: Ever since the venerable Konosuba aired, pretenders have cropped up periodically to make light of fantasy and isekai tropes irreverently. Few have succeeded, and this is the latest dropout to add to the pile. While the opening episode(s) had some sparks of (comedic) life, Yuusha quickly ran out of good ideas and began to wallow in some inept story lines devoid of fun or intrigue. The search continues.


Tengoku Daimakyou explores the ‘chilli’n in the apocalypse’ award: A dark horse where the sky’s the limit, and arguably the best positioned show going into its next season, whenever that is. Really good animation lifted the frankly retro character designs to a joy to watch, even if the characters depicted were unpleasant half the time. The two parallel stories worked well, though each one had slower points and the two rarely lined up to create a boring episode, which kept it engaging while wading through the earlier, episodic parts. I easily have the highest hopes for this going forward, and hope that it can continue to be effortlessly interesting… and maybe a little less horny?


Isekai de Cheat Skill o Te ni Shita Ore wa, Genjitsu Sekai o mo Musou Suru: Level Up wa Jinsei o Kaeta gets a C&D letter from Kirito for taking his Gary Stu thunder: Seldom does a story so transparently bend over so far to worship its own main character and shower them with blessings eternal as this does. Fat kid is miserable and bullied because everyone else is attractive, apparently, and isekais to another world to get ripped and invited to an academy of beautiful young people… I can’t. No offense, but this show burns entirely too many calories on its wish fulfillment to even begin to take it seriously. The meta commentary on how broken and miserable the author must be is leaps and bounds more interesting than anything happening in this show.


The Spencer’s gift card is awarded to “Dead Mount Death Play”: While I couldn't bring myself to finish this season, what was there tread familiar feeling ground as an edgy action series. A reverse isekai where the ‘demon lord’ is a fish out of water with the modern japanese criminal underbelly and its superheroes. The story feels forced and its compenents cobbled together, but more importantly, answers were teased without any accompanying satisfaction to tide me over. Maybe I’ll give it another go if another season is announced.


X&Y gets a novelty nod: Escape rooms can be fun to play, but how about as a spectator? That question’s answer may well directly correlate with how much one can enjoy X&Y. There is an underlying mystery going on, but the escape rooms themselves have been dumbed down to fit along with their solutions in short form episodes that didn’t quite satisfy. Still, a worthy experiment from some non-Japanese anime that I hope we continue getting.


Kaminaki Sekai no Kamisama Katsudou gets a stick of laffy taffy: Isekai into a world without spirituality of any form goes against my basic perceptions of reality (I believe man is inherently spiritual and will find something to worship even without formal guidance) and some fanservice jokes. I did enjoy the first episode, but again lacked any hook, and the buzz around this is anything but positive.


Dr. Stone: New World / Mashle / Rokudou no Onna-tachi: Manga all have the “manga shame” tokoban: Three really entertaining shows… that I barely watched because I had already read the source mangas. Feels bad, man. Don’t let that stop me from recommending them to you (Rokudou is ugly as sin, though)!


Kimetsu no Yaiba: Katanakaji no Sato Hen gets the pre-scraped barrel bottom: For Kimetsu to not even place speaks to how weak this arc was. It was so underwhelming, that I kept expecting some late twist to undo the mediocre fights and boring characterization that preceded it, as a course correction if nothing else. Nope. Just more sword cutt-y and trash talk-y with characters I don’t care about. You’ve seen it, so I don’t need to expand on what felt off about this season. Hopefully all of the bad in Demon Slayer is concentrated here so the rest of the series can flourish.


Isekai One Turn Kill Nee-san: Ane Douhan no Isekai Seikatsu Hajimemashita brought its own label, and it’s no liar: Bro-con isekai. Nothing more, and nothing less. Entertaining until the novelty of the degeneracy wears off.


Birdie Wing: Golf Girls’ Story (2nd half) gets a safety helmet for its own good: Nothing else this season has managed to be so effortlessly stupid and earnestly insulting to the sport it both apes and fetishizes in equal measure. Trash, but somehow does not reach the heights of trash that the first season did due to some fumbling of an appropriately bad soap opera drama and rushed ending where they obviously ran out of room for ability scaling an arc too early.


Boku no Kokoro no Yabai Yatsu gets the handkerchief of cuteness: Narrowly missing top billing, this was way more entertaining than I gave it initial credit for. Forget the synopsys; it lies. This is a feel good rom-com about a boy who is the object of affection for a girl who is out of his league physically, but mentally, she is a bit of a dope. Nothing new, buy very cute stuff and a little pervy at times, if that is your thing.


Mahou Shoujo Magical Destroyers was unplugged from the matrix early: I suspect this was eventually revealed to be a simulation, but not having finished it I may never know. A strange fusion of Pro-otaku energy and Studio Trigger style animation without a Studio Trigger budget. Curious, but forgettable.


Megami no Cafe Terrace gets the MSG shaker: Something must have been added to artificially make this much more agreeable than it should have been. Maybe I was in the mood for a traditional harem, but Megami just got off on the right foot somehow and stayed there. It’s not great, but I was never bored or annoyed, and that plus cute girls carried me through the entire season. Strange enough, a character design choice of note is that all of the girls seem to have the exact same body (demonstrated aptly by the OP) which should have been a bigger detraction, but the constant friction and melodrama somehow kept me from giving it too much thought during each episode.


The Marginal Service gets the “Hypnosis Rap Battle” disclaimer: One episode. No more, no less, else the dosage is off resulting in a headache. Trash talking (non)buddy cops with attitude, ugly action, aliens, and a surprising disregard for its own story. Just a bit for laughs, then stop.


Yamada-kun to Lv999 no Koi o Suru / Skip to Loafer / Otonari ni Ginga / Kanojo ga Koushaku-tei ni Itta Riyuu / Kimi wa Houkago Insomnia / Alice Gear Aegis Expansion all share the “wanted to like” participation trophy: All fair shows lacking a hook to keep me interested. None of these made it past three episodes. Squarely watchable if not at all compelling.


Onward, to the stacked summer lineup!

[Ryllharu]

Spring 2023

No particular order.

Skip to Loafer - Cozy vibe is the king here. The main character looks derpy compared to the rest of the cast, but once you get past that, you get a detailed, earnest, and natural feeling coming of age story about high schoolers who are far more than just character archetypes and personality quirks. Motivations change, personal goals are interrupted, derailed, challenged. At its heart, it is a series about a naturally developed friend circle and multifaceted people who end up feeling very real. Pleasant and with an overall theme of rolling with life's hiccups, having an open mind about others you associate with and not letting your expectations make demands of their personalities, and stressing out that tiny bit less about things you can't control to move foward in your life.
Stellar voice performances too, outside the actors normal anime ranges in many cases.
A series I really needed at this point with all the shit I had going on in real life.

Oshi no Ko - Flawless execution of a theatrical length first episode. But beyond the essentially perfect first episode, an anime adaptation that really builds on the source material. Does it live up to its hype? Yes.

Kanojo ga Koushaku-tei ni Itta Riyuu (Why Raeliana Ended Up at the Duke's Mansion) - I let this one stew for a while because I was watching so many series this season, but I'm very glad I didn't drop it. The animation isn't good, but the series more than makes up for it with the voice cast and the character interactions. A josei isekai where the transmigrator isn't the heroine or villainess, she's the murder victim of the narrative she is pushed into. While thematically similar to the tragically slain villainess series, it ends up being structurally different because she is immediately breaking the narrative to ensure her survival, and moreover, her character is not helpless or overpowered, simply pretty normal for a swords, magic, and guns type of setting.
What sets the series apart and lands it in my top three is the voice acting and the character banter. Raeliana and the Duke are both charismatic personalities trying to one-up each other in their business relationship budding into affection. They both have a good range of emotion and very deftly play against each other. The light verbal gags land, the snappy dialogue plays well, and the repercussions of what Raeliana did to the narrative in the interest of self-preservation slowly tease themselves out. More of a drama than a comedy to contrast it to Akuyaku Reijou Last Boss.


Honorable mention for two split-cours that left their narratives wide open so I don't want to count them. But at least one highlight about them:
Mahoutsukai no Yome S2 - Incredibly unnerving musical score really set the atmosphere.
Dead Mount Death Play - Honestly just really fun and had my favorite ED.

[neflight86]

Summer 2023

I really fell off the wagon this season. I barely finished anything this season outside of the top 3, and that is due to a combination of busyness and… apathy; this wasn't a great season for my tastes.


3. Ao no Orchestra: As to my point above, my number three I didn’t even finish. Orchestra is the latest in the ‘tortured genius artist’ genre I’m so fond of in anime. The struggle is real when someone who has great talent/skill is separated from that thing (violin) by trauma, in this case a philandering dad, and swears to never get involved with it again which invariably serves as the springboard conflict when a scrappy novice demands that they return to the fold. It was as formulaic as you expect, but had a strong start, and remains entertaining. The issue lies with the author introducing an entire subset of ‘on the way out’ 3rd year characters who each got screen time like main cast and multiple arcs in between major performances (the big events that create shared tension) that couldn’t keep up the momentum of the main story. It stalled out and I lost interest. Still recommended, though the CG portions can be pretty rough.

**edit: Nanatsu no Maken ga Shihai suru should have been the number 3 if I'd realized it ended this season. It had ambitious world building, characters were given great development and the stories tying them together worked well. Clumsy at times, I could feel the heart in this one.

2. Undead Girl Murder Farce: Essentially a toss up between the top 2, Farce was a delightful mystery series when it could bring itself to focus on the detective work. As others have said, the main trio has a great chemistry, and there were some good deductions but the process itself didn’t lend well to weekly viewing. When a complex series of events is investigated and pieced together over 3-4 weeks, details are going to be lost on the audience, which is a shame as they seemed logically airtight. Having a goal of retrieving main girl’s body and an opposing organization headed by another smarty is fine, but the action conflict itself left much to be desired. While not bad, the animation strained to keep up in later episodes, the choreography was more stylized than elegant or readable, and their length actually unwelcome as they could begin to feel like padding. Moreso when the superhuman ‘insurance agents’ began showing up for one-off fights to shore up the numbers disparity- it felt forced and I would have preferred more brisk mysteries and less fighting. Still recommended.


1. Spy Kyoushitsu 2nd Season: While edging out the top spot this season, I can’t say this set of episodes was as strong as the first on the whole(though it came close more than a few times). Klaus is still a gary Stu, but an enjoyable one who bounces off the girls well and cannot perform the duties of this magnitude solo any longer. The first arc this season was definitely a stand out exploring some more of the girl’s motivations and aptitudes. The following ‘purple ant’ arc was stretched enough and had some outlandish contrivances resulting in a disappointment to end on, but the heart of cute girls doing spy stuff is still as alluring as ever, and the twists, while really straining feasibility this time, still got a pass.

________________________

Special awards are the outcry of the weeb soul, don’t you know?

Genjitsu no Yohane -SUNSHINE in the MIRROR- was the best show I dropped this season. It’s a pity since I liked the premise that is shared among an alarming number of PA works shows: girl loses her way when following her dreams doesn’t work out so she goes to a little town in the boonies to reconnect with a community and find fulfillment in this peaceful life instead. Add magic to taste and mix thoroughly. The production quality was on point. The characters were well designed and had some depth. There were some good character moments and the banter was welcome. Even the silly sentai segments were cute, but… something was off. I spent most of each episode bored and waiting for it to give me a reason to press on. The closest approximation I can give to my dissatisfaction are those shows where cute girls spend entire episodes making small talk over pastries and tea. There was nothing going on in my wheelhouse of interest, meaning I’m not the target audience for this show. Too bad, indeed.


Okashi na Tensei was the worst show I finished: On the flip side, dying on Cake Boss is a decent isekai hook, even when I know where this is going (hint: the septic tank). What saved this utterly tripe production, I think, was the focus on politics and noble conflicts above the main character’s markedly stupid desire to create a real (2nd) life Candy Land. Taking a page from Ascendance of a Bookworm, Pastry has his work cut out for him in reshaping a generic fantasy land into a world that could support his unexplained lust for sweets distribution; staving off some local bandits is just the first step. Also welcome was that his ‘cheat skill’ or magic in this case has absolutely nothing to do with making sweets at face value, so becoming a passiter again will have to be done the hard way. A decent ride, but by the end, I was about done with it.


The darwin evolution of taste mutation is awarded to Masamune-kun no Revenge R: I was in hate/love with the first season (see my Winter 2017 entry), but I quickly found myself struggling to get through the second half of the world’s dumbest revenge story. Much to my surprise, the main conflict was more or less concluded within four episodes of this season start. To no one’s surprise, it was accompanied by a ‘twist’ that made the main girl and guy ‘no fault’ and simply a misunderstanding… presumably to prevent any interesting dynamics entering into their relationship going forward. That drained what little desire I had left to continue whatever inane obstacles the show would throw at them before the conclusion.


Uchi no Kaisha no Chiisai Senpai no Hanashi peered in from the outside: I really wanted to like this more, but the repetitive ecchi focus and fairly timid character dynamics left me cold after a few episodes, even with two office ‘couples’ in rotation. Give it a try if you are starved for office-age romance that is somehow more reserved than the high school flavor.

Lv1 Maou to One Room Yuusha gets a pat on the back for telling a complete and satisfying story: Better than I expected, I always am at least cursorily interested in post maou stories with a side of deconstruction, and I was not disappointed here. 10 years after the war against the demon lord has ended, human kind returns to its infighting ways without a common enemy to unite it and the washed up hero pretends he doesn’t care, but the resurrected demon lord thinks he should. The setup works well and Maou generally provided solid entertainment. The story continues past what we get here, but this conclusion was wholly satisfying for my taste. Not every story needs to force a cliffhanger.


Seija Musou: Salaryman, Isekai de Ikinokoru Tame ni Ayumu Michi is wandering in a dungeon of our own making: I don’t know what I expected from this isekai tale, but what I got I wouldn’t recommend to casual viewers…there’s almost nothing here! The author didn’t appear to have any particular story they wanted to tell, so we got a ‘healer’ training in a basement for 2 years and then wandering around a dungeon for another year+ with almost no intrigue, twists, or appreciable tension. Seija Musou thinks some cute character designs and a recurring joke about a smelly drink would subsidize the lack of payoff or episode to episode entertainment value. It did not. My own refusal to accept that some anime are just boring fooled me into finishing some truly tasteless muck.


Helck (ongoing) snipped the wrong wire on the time bomb: A fair start and somewhat unique premise just couldn’t keep my interest when the demon king competition veered into distraction after distraction without ever offering any substantial answers to the admittedly interesting questions posed at the beginning until… boom. I got bored and quit. It’s a precarious balance teasing out suspense…


Suki na Ko ga Megane wo Wasureta wins out the ‘most anime eyes’ award in a season literally filled with anime eyeballs: Many lament at the ambition of GoHands’ animation philosophy of ‘go big or go home’, and the often pseudo-psychedelic imagery it can produce. I, too, was grinning the troll’s grin when the first episode splayed out needless 3-d panning shots and rotations with cell art only barely able to maintain its place within this perverted fusion, and I was rewarded with a much… cuter show than I expected. Set aside your scrutiny for the fact that the legally blind girl not realizing she is forgetting her glasses may bother you, but the conceit is worth the following doki-doki. Her strained expression of squinting is endearing and her otherwise empty head showing no signs of malice serve to highlight the eyes in question. The main couple is cute and make you root for them. Worth a look.


Jidou Hanbaiki ni Umarekawatta Ore wa Meikyuu wo Samayou unwrapped a lukewarm nothingburger out of a vending machine. More typical isekai trash, but the pull here is the frankly absurd amount of Japanese vending machine variety was fun as edutainment (or perhaps advertisement?). Much more so than the flaccid adventures and quests the new friends/customers around him got involved with. Given the stories we’ve heard about the variety of esoteric Japanese vending machines, I suppose this was only a matter of time. It didn’t resonate with me too greatly, but the half dozen or so episodes went down easy, so it’s probably worth a check out for fans of the subject matter. Unrelated, but think I can count on one hand the number of anime with menstrual pads; anime girls don't work like that.


Liar, Liar gets a safety vest for being easily the dumbest show this season: and this is intentionally next to the vending machine isekai. High school. Games. Rankings. Heads up displays floating in the air. Mind atrophy. This is the kind of lowbrow show where the entirety of characters, events, and even sociopolitical relations exist to enable a very specific environment for our main character to… do what he does. It is plainly written for viewers who do not possess an attention for detail. What these shows so often forget is that, by pretzeling everything over backwards to make the central conceit not look strange, everything else becomes a warped parody of reality under any scrutiny. This is Asterisk War stupid. Main character comes to games-ranking-driven high school and accidentally clowns on top player, takes her spot, and has to defend himself in future games with the help of an elite maid squad of maid cheaters. And there’s gatcha, because of course there is…


Dekiru Neko wa Kyou mo Yuuutsu ‘gets the cozy blanket’: There exists a specific mood where watching this would be an absolute delight (if the GoHands animation doesn’t make you motion sick), but I just wasn’t there. A feel-good at its core, Dekiru focuses on a man-sized bipedal cat doing house chores/cooking for his office lady owner who is ‘worthless’ by his own admission. “Worthless” meaning an adult at work, and a mental child at home. Without being too cynical, this also falls under the ‘marriage advertisement’ subgenre of anime that aim to showcase how great a special someone can be for your life, practically speaking, when the doki-doki ceases to play into the fantasy of romance.


Temple is awarded the 00’s ecchi panty plaque: Not bad or offensive by anime standards, but nothing stood out, either. Harem’s, as a formula, haven’t changed much in the last 20 years, so this should have had more staying power, but the trope characters and wheel spinning of the story lost me a few episodes in.


Yumemiru Danshi wa Genjitsushugisha gets a memorial for being yet another casualty of expectation: One episode in, this had me hooked more than anything else this season. The premise is simply… unheard of in anime: A guy is repeatedly rejected by his tsundere crush and eventually realizes… ‘maybe I should stop pursuing her’? Cut. Print. Ship it. ...Unfortunately, this is Japanese youth media, and the concept of moving on from a failed relationship doesn’t exist because teenagers apparently are ducklings and, once imprinted upon by love, can never meaningfully seek out another relationship. My catharsis in the tsun’s distress at being suddenly friend-zoned was also backstabbed by the show insisting she actually had no idea why she was missing his attention. For real, for real? Icing on the crap-cake was that Mr. main dude became roughly useless after being removed from his one sided courtship, the show insisting that his best life thus far was fueled by his barking up the wrong tree. ‘No fault’ to a T followed by awkward will-they won’t-they escapades and some other red-herring girls cemented this as just another naïve youth rom-com when the opening act had me expecting so much more. The first couple episodes featured some interesting conflict resolution and the show was strongest before it dove back into trying to fit a square moron into a round jerk.


Eiyuu Kyoushitsu: Gets the ‘bait and switch’ lawsuit. Eiyuu had, arguably, the single strongest opening episode this season, and what followed, a boilerplate fantasy highschool was so bland and uninspired by comparison, that I have to roll my eyes in memorial. Ya got me.

[neflight86]

Fall 2023

While a pretty stacked season, I didn’t watch quite as much as usual, gaming and other interests taking front and center these last couple months…


3. SPY x FAMILY Season 2: Aside from a minor tonal bump part way through in the Cruise Ship arc, SxF continues to deliver creative misunderstandings based fun and humor that hits the mark much more often than not.


2. Kamonohashi Ron no Kindan Suiri: I like a good mystery… and this was that. Without trying to get too clever about the various cases, logically working through the tricks was fun and never boring. I’m also a fan of the psycho-pass character designs and eventual corny reveal of the evil organization through which all crime is run through to raise the stakes and set up for future season(s) (lol so anime). The only thing missing was Isshiki getting any significant growth as a detective as the season went on; it really was just Ron solving them all the time.


1. Bullbuster: A surprise for sure, workplace dramas don’t usually have legs after the introductory arc, but Bullbuster wisely established a strong core narrative for the characters and dramatic reveals to bounce off of that carried the series. This feels like a P.A works show that doesn’t star a young disillusioned girl finding a new dream, but rather a starry eyed engineer trying his best to contribute (his mech designs) to a workplace while constantly rubbing against the friction of reality; operations cost money and budgets really limit the scope of activities. While that is roughly covered in the intro, what kept me coming back was the unraveling of the mystery, the clashing character motivations, and the underlying hopeful tone of Bullbuster. A good watch for me.


_______________________

Hey, buddy, I got some… special awards… at a great price…


Boushoku no Berserk gets a bronze participation trophy for being not so bad: For an edgy series about a ‘low-key OP’ protagonist in a fantasy world, Berserk forgot most of the the embarrassing edge and instead focused on the stories of the decent people around the protagonist and didn’t wallow in the ‘darkness’ of his circumstances. That kept the power fantasy from becoming boring. I also liked the cocky attitude of the sword. Not great, but I liked it just fine.


Boukensha ni Naritai to Miyako ni Deteitta Musume ga S-Rank ni Natteta gets a ‘punkin’ for being daddy’s little girl: A meager production for sure, the warm core of S-Rank Musume still won me over. Belgrieve and his daughter are fun to watch, and how they care for others around themselves is really… wholesome. As in, no one is this consistently nice but I don’t care wholesome… Especially since they do so partially for each other’s sake. The comfy vibe established early on is maybe a little too cozy as the show struggles to present any meaningful tension when the need arises during some of the fights, but what story we get through is obviously part of a bigger whole we may never get to see. Still, fun and recommended.


JUJUTSU KAISEN Season 2 gets some remedial classes: It’s hard to view this divorced from this arc’s massive hype, but I would give this a ‘solid’ season for what JJK has come to mean for me: mean-spirited (see what I did there?) one sided fights between disposable characters with one defining quirk in their personality to set them apart, maybe. Take it or leave it, the power system is unsatisfying in how it interacts, and the fights lack much tension, and most of the emotional moments fell flat due to how transparent the author’s torture tactics are at this point. On the other hand, the animation is still a cut above and the pacing is pretty snappy. Tojo deserves a better show.


Dekoboko Majo no Oyako Jijou gets the wet charcoal- a total non starter: One episode in, I felt like I saw all of the jokes this one could muster (she’s the young one?) along with the nearly fetishistic back and forth dialogue about how these two didn’t need any others (especially any men) in their lives… Yawn; not for me.


Keikenzumi na Kimi to, Keiken Zero na Ore ga, Otsukiai suru Hanashi gets the ‘salesman of the quarter paid half day off’ by making me actually want to read the manga it’s based on. As I’ve harped on to the point of comic effect, it is the supporting cast and side stories that ultimately separate the mediocre rom comics from the slightly less mediocre rom coms. This is that. Nothing new within the borderline ecchi shenanigans, and the drama was artificially conjured, but the side character stories were much more fun (unpredictable, really) to ride along with and many plot threads are begging for some closure. Good job.


SHY gets the cracked pathfinder award for trying something new:... and failing. Who’d have thought a superhero show could focus too much on feelings and social anxiety? Everyone? Oh, well that explains why this was so boring… moving on.


Kage no Jitsuryokusha ni Naritakute! 2nd Season gets the resurrection necromancer staff: Jolly fun, and off a binge of the second half of the first season, it surprisingly didn’t get stale. Cid’s chunniness and everyone else’s misconceptions of his intellect still carried the show to as good a conclusion as that messy arc could have hoped for.


The ‘most disappointing villain fight’ whoopie cushion goes to Blue Eye Samurai (s1): Netflix anime, so the violence and genital count was a good order higher than your typical seasonal fare, but the core story was very entertaining and events led into each other naturally. The real star of the show to me was the great season villain Fowler; he had a presence worthy of a 'final boss' and lit up each scene he was in.. except the final confrontation where some hyping up beforehand backfired into a slog of a fight that wasn’t interesting beyond its plot implications. Deduct a few more points for some awkward shoehorned feminism, truly stylistically ugly CG animation, and you still have a still above average show worth a watch. Just make sure you handwave the ‘Mulan’ twist or the show doesn’t work.


Under Ninja gets the deodorant stick: Weird is good. Weird is fun. But sometimes, weird is… funky and gross. Under Ninja is one of those shows that reflects its author’s specific fetishes maybe a little too well… Quirky modern day ninjas who are slovenly and mundane just like us, right? That’s all fine and well, but it forgot to be interesting as well.


Hikikomari Kyuuketsuki no Monmon gets an ankle brace for breaking on the pivot: Weakling vampire must conceal their weakness and appear strong to keep her troops in line. In a world where death is automatically reversed anyway, so the wars are more like reality television; for the drama? After the first episode, I didn't see where the story could go or escalate to satisfyingly, and apparently neither could the author. One mega boring bully battle arc was obstacle enough to kill my interest.


The public service recognition award goes to Megumi no Daigo: Kyuukoku no Orange: The show I wanted to like the most this season, Daigo goes hard narratively during its intro bootcamp arc and the foreshadowing is solid, but it cuts both ways, teasing that the firefighters efforts will ‘save all of Japan from a terrorist attack’... Huh? I feared finding out just how badly that would be handled enough to scare me off from continuing. It may be good, but I'm afraid to find out.


Kimi no Koto ga Daidaidaidaidaisuki na 100-nin no Kanojo witnesses me adjust my thick glasses as I insufferably posit in my most nasally voice ‘the manga was superior’: But it was. I reeeealy like "100 girlfriends" the manga, and the anime adaptation isn’t much less, but some of the pacing and jokes suffer slightly by the pacing and sound design, but that falls easily within nitpick range. Keep an eye on it and check it out if you at all enjoy rom-coms that don’t take themselves too seriously.


Pluto gets the Keith Davis bust: Major disappointment to me as a good adaptation of an ultimately bland story that relied too much on audience buy in and limp shock twists without consistent compelling storytelling to get us invested, but hearing the dub of Dr. Tenma was a hoot, as was hearing the Nolan North voice a german KKK member named Adolf. The stuff of Ambien dreams.

Sadly, a few sequels fell on the floor that I would have watched if I could find the time (Dr. Stone, Kanojo, Alchemist) more at all, but there’s always more to consume. To next season!

[neflight86]

Winter 2024

3. Apothecary Diaries: A wonderful little dark horse. Who knew medical mysteries within the framework of an imperial court could be so interesting? Maomao was cute and deadpan, but not without any charm and humanity, and Jenshi made a good counter to her character. The only downside is that the show is somehow a bit too mundane sometimes such that the events can come off as inconsequential, and glossing over important plot elements can lead to confusion episodes later. The animation also began to strain in the 2nd cour, but that’s nitpicky. A very good watch and highly recommended.


2. Classroom of the Elite S3: Carried solely by the sociopath main lead, this remained more interesting than it had any right to be given how low stakes and how pedestrian the games were this season. That said, things did change (Class D expulsion) and waves are being made along with some good character development (also mostly class D), but most of it felt like setup for another season we may or may not get anytime soon.


1. Tomozaki S2: With how they handled the Fuuka arc, this has now cemented itself among my top ‘cynical romance’ anime that tend to focus more on the tangible foibles of romance, rather than the emotional side, along with SNAFU and Rascal does not blah blah. The reflection of Tomozaki’s own character, how it fits into the world around himself, and at what capacity he can realistically pursue a relationship is pure ASMR for me. Great arc, and really touching development… not even counting the first half of the season and its bullying/Tama remake arc. Great stuff all around, and I looked forward to this the most each week.


__________________________________

Apparently, the IRS is offering a little tax break for some special awards this year. Don’t remember where I heard it, but that’s what we’re going with.


Undead Unluck wins the gently used towel for sweating so hard: On the one hand, it would be easy to write Undead off for simply trying too hard to be confusing and revelatory; it’s clumsy and brash and kind of trite some times. On the other hand, I respect it for sparing no effort in its “attrition by a thousand hooks.” Surely something will catch your interest, and it did mine, at least a few times. The concept is passable, and the characters are fun enough, but the powers are too vague and conceptual and the fights lack interesting choreography from a tactical standpoint… Not to say the climax moments aren’t hype or the world building isn’t potentially fascinating, so I’m torn, but I’m not tired yet and I would gladly give another season a shot.


Sasaki to Pii-chan gets the invisible mop to go along with the surprisingly clean floor: They threw so much at that poor wall, but almost all of it stuck. Isekai x psychics x magic girls x demons x whateverelsecomesnextseason. Conceptual crossover is some pretty fertile soil to be tilling, and I’m in for it. Sasaki and his Piercarlos’ adventures look like they are going places, and mixing these different story archetypes together has an almost grail war mystique to it in that we have no way to gauge just how they will mix and interact until it hits the fan, which has me invested big time.


Mato Seihei no Slave: My most anticipated show this season, and while it didn’t make the top billing I’d hoped for, the adaptation itself is more than adequate, and more importantly, sustainable! I’m super hyped seeing the second season greenlit, as the coming arcs will be great fun and I expect the fandom to grow steadily as the harem expands.


I’m giving a raised eyebrow to Sokushi Cheat ga Saikyou Sugite, Isekai no Yatsura ga Marude Aite ni Naranaindesu ga: This is not what I expected; like at all. From the premise, this comes off as a standard power fantasy isekai- maybe two meta layers deep in subversion, but what I got was an eerie adventure centering around a killer sociopath. I expected to have to do all of the heavy lifting, creatively, in being repulsed by the ease with which the protagonist takes life, but the show comes through and plays it both for shock and laughs. A semi-god with such powers, the inhabitants of both worlds want nothing to do with him due to his dangerous nature and flaunt that to their peril. Add to that the concurrent events and conflicts happening and a world that is rotten in its own ways, and feels more alive with other actors having motivations and even utilizing instant kill countermeasures, for all the good they did. As much as I wanted to hate this for the lazy premise alone, it never ceased to be interesting.


Hime-sama “Goumon” no Jikan desu is on the back of the cereal box representing this complete breakfast: What a comfy, wholesome show. Half comedy and half fluffy slice of life, the constant joke of the princess caving to the most mundane of tortures slowly peels away to reveal more fun characters and… the power of friendship?! Seriously, this was cute in ways I forgot anime could be. A lot of good subtle humor here with background and visual gags like the princess whipping out her cell phone in the prison cell only to get contact info, the princess taking off and putting on the ball and chain as needed, going on torture field trips in plainclothes, and the demon realm altogether resembling modern Japan enough to be absurdly funny. The demon lord lives in a mid-sized apartment with his family and ‘prefers to watch his anime live, as it airs’... Also props to the old knight in the flashbacks who got more character development teasing/raising the princess than most entire casts of modern trash fantasy get. Recommended if you like the heart warmed and the funny bone stroked.


The dank, dimly lit underbelly of the bridge is offered to the troll subs of Pon no Michi: No, the show didn’t win squat- it was not funny or informative enough to elicit more than a few minutes of interest from me, and I don't care about Mahjong, but like flies to fertilizer, the troll community did us a real solid (fiber joke) with some truly heinous subs aping the general motions of a generic ‘learning about a thing in anime’ with some extra spice. If you’re not the type to offend easily and enjoy juvenile humor, check ‘em out.


Kekkon Yubiwa Monogatari gets the buttless chaps for exposing the general shape, but none of the allure of the female form: Contrived. Little better describes every idea and scenario in Kekkon that just made me weep that my rock bottom expectations were further disappointed by this gnarly production. Of the three boobie shows this season, this is easily the most tame, boring, and crudely animated glorious Nippon could muster. Have some self respect.


Boku no Kokoro no Yabai Yatsu 2nd Season is awarded the emo haircut with depth perception issues: I’ve heard some praise this for being some revolutionary new standard in ‘serious’ romance anime, but my praise is for the workmanlike diligence to the production. It never looks ugly, even when it looks cheap, and the ecchi elements took a step back as their relationship took many steps forward to a satisfying season end, if not series end. Solid recommendation and an easy watch.


The ‘peaked in highschool’ football trophy is hereby presented to Chiyu Mahou no Machigatta Tsukaikata: Senjou wo Kakeru Kaifuku Youin: Getting off on the right foot means a lot. This did that, everything wes pretty strong for the premiere, and then… it partied and dropped out of college with 60+k debt, two different baby mommas and a mound of food stamps. One limp ‘battle’ arc later, and prospects are looking shaky as Usato and Rose are constantly in a will they/won’t they with the rest of the pseudo harem. Wasted potential, but not unwatchable; just un-recommendable.


Shin no Nakama ja Nai to Yuusha no Party wo Oidasareta node, Henkyou de Slow Life suru Koto ni Shimashita 2nd and Ishura all receive participation trophies: If this season were a good deal worse, I might have been able to hang on to some of these, but as is, these are the slow runners who simply fell off… but at least their parents got some good pictures.


Nozomanu Fushi no Boukensha gets its own pokedex entry: For how bog standard it is, at least MC evolved to vampire in the single season we got. The story appears effectively over unless there are higher forms of vampire yet unrevealed. As for the journey itself, the most interesting portion of these zero to hero stories is the vulnerable beginning portion and that kept true here… for about an episode. Aside from that is just the typical pseudo harem and leveling up at the guild- nothing new here, but a decent watch.


Akuyaku Reijou Level 99: Watashi wa Ura-Boss desu ga Maou dewa Arimasen is awarded the ‘autistic otome game’ side story dlc: A novel premise with a isekaied girl grinding to be OP (as if otome visual novels have RPG mechanics) and entering hero academy as the side villain character with no desire to be a villain, but everyone keeps putting it on her. The cutest part was main girl slowly realizing she was in love with the one boy who wasn’t afraid of her. With a generic fantasy plot about defeating the demon king and a foil cast dumb enough to come straight out of Shield Hero, Level 99 is as cookie cutter as it gets in girls' power fantasy.


Yuuki Bakuhatsu Bang Bravern and BUCCHIGIRI?! get the (american football) slap on the butt for being the gayest not-gay shows I’ve seen in a long while. Robots, school delinquents, fighting… and bromance? Neither overtly queer or exploring roMANce with any depth, but heavily coded in humor stylings with masculine innuendoes, big heart eyes from getting punched, and silly hijinks. Neither held my interest, though.


Mahou Shoujo ni Akogarete goes into the paper bag: Strange, strange how this show got so popular- it’s just fetish bait and sexual posturing of magical girls via the lens of BDSM. I’m certain there are actual adult titles that serve the same purpose and themes without the limitations of broadcasting standards, so why this? It didn’t resonate with me, but I did want to see if they made something worthwhile of the crumbs of story it had… they did not. Best not discussed in public.


A pretty strong season by my count, lets see if this next one (12+ sequels!) can top it!

[Ryllharu]

Winter 2024

Kusuriya no Hitorigoto - A perfect mystery historical romance comedy-drama series. It's funny, it's cute, it's intriguing, and there is a LOT more to go.

Mahou Shoujo ni Akogarete - Yeah...this series is the one that makes you really feel like you shouldn't be watching it. But I enjoyed it probably the most each week because I had read the manga of the other two series. The cast were all great, but the animation was all over the place, but did I say that the primarily rookie VA cast were phenomenal? I did. The jokes were funny, and as deeply degenerate as it was, the overall message of the series was a wholesome one. The protagonist doesn't want to win, she actively choses to lose, and the only thing she won't accept is the heroines giving up.

Sousou no Frieren - Vibe series. I hate the ill-fitting, loosely written, and uncharacteristic final arc of the series (which was the entire 2nd half), but on the whole, the series is very good. Highly recommended, but at the same time, it is not the greatest series of all time, the decade, the year, or even the season, so don't get over-hyped.

Honorable Mention: Hime-sama “Goumon” no Jikan desu. This series is singularly sold by the efforts of a single VA: Shiraishi Haruka as the lead. Without her, I think the series wouldn't have been nearly as engaging.

[Y]

I watched three shows in total recently.

They are Mashle, Frieren and Dungeon Meshi.

Three good shows, wow. No shit.