Upcoming Anime: Winter Season 2015

[shinta|hikari]

Chart. (http://anichart.net/winter)

A season of sequels. I am glad that they are doing a second season of both Durarara!!! and Tokyo Ghoul. Log Horizon also continues its run from fall, and Aldnoah Zero also gets its sequel.

[MasterOfMoogles]

I'm not as excited about Durarara, it just never felt as good as Baccano.

You left off the best sequel continuation, Jojo!

I would have been excited for Aldnoah if I wasn't super disappointed in the ending. I'm not sure how they're going to continue and still be good/interesting based on who it looks like the next season is going to be about.

There's also a Dog Days sequel. While nothing special, Dog Days is a very consistent show, delivering exactly what you should expect from it each week. Also, Miyano Mamoru.

I'm excited for Assassination Classroom and I'm curious how they'll make an anime about Kantai Collection.

[vejita613]

Wait, we're already talking about Winter?

Right now the only thing on there that piques my interest is Ansatsu Kyoushitsu/Assassination Classroom. I've always wanted to read the manga and this might be the push I need.

[shinta|hikari]

I forgot Jojo because of the lackluster latest season.

Durarara!! just gets better as it goes along. Depending on the length, they should cover some great stuff with this new season.

[shinta|hikari]

This season is pretty horrible. It is only made worse by the fact that UBW is taking a one season break. I'd take that over quality loss, but what is left is pretty terrible.

I guess it makes sense that the best anime season in years is followed by the worse in years. I was expecting more decent shows to pop out, but the four I mentioned in the first post are about the only ones worth watching. I've read the LNs of some of the upcoming shounen stuff, and they are generic as hell.

[Kraco]

I guess it makes sense that the best anime season in years is followed by the worse in years.

Yeah. It's very rarely that I'd say a season is bad because my standards aren't so high, but the winter one doesn't look too good. I guess I should finish the first season of Durara so that I'd have at least one other to look forward to, in addition to Dog Days. After this current super season, the desolation is even more prominent.

[Xelbair]

It indeed looks bleak. only 3-4 shows that i might be watching, and 2 that i'll watch for sure.. and my standards are pretty low.

[MasterOfMoogles]

At least there's JoJo?

Aside from JoJo, shows that could actually be good:
Aldnoah 2
Assassination Classroom
Death Parade - Death Billiards was really good, so here's hoping...
Durarara 2
Kuroko 3
Koufuku Grafitti - SHAFT
Tokyo Ghoul 2

Average Generi-anime:
Absolute Duo
Isuca
Junketsu no Maria
Juuou Mujin no Fafnir
Seiken Tsukai no World Break
Shinmai Maou

I feel like you would be hard-pressed to tell these shows apart from their art/premises.
Superpowers, girls, blah, blah, blah.
I expect these to be on the level of Trinity 7 or Ore no Twintail this season, or worse.
I have the most hope for Junketsu no Maria, with Production IG and a female lead character.

Other:
Saenai Heroine - I feel like I read a few chapters of this manga and it was okay, but I don't expect it to get beyond the typical harem/comedy routine.
Kancolle - with how popular Kancolle is, I feel like I need to watch this to see what it is about. I don't expect it to be good though.
Dog Days 3 - 1 and 2 were very consistent in delivering exactly what this show promised, slice-of-life, silly battles, and Miyano Mamoru saying stuff. I'm looking forward to 3, though I can't say I'd be surprised people skip this.
Idolmaster - Cinderella Girls - the original idolmaster wasn't horrible, though the recent movie was. I'll at least be watching to see if it is any good.
Rolling Girls - not sure what to expect here, as there isn't a ton of info on it.
Yatterman - Yatterman is more of a kids franchise, right? If that's all this is, definitely gonna skip it.
Yuri Kuma Arashi - probably boring yuri/slice-of-life


So yea, I think I agree with the sentiment that this season looks pretty horrible.
Thankfully, there are some good leftovers:
Cross Ange
Log Horizon
Parastye
7 Deadly Sins
Shirobako
Your lie in April

[Ryllharu]

All I can say about The Rolling Girls is...watch the PV (http://youtu.be/d9QDzWV2P14). I'm gonna watch it. Wit Studio is probably best known for Attack on Titan. They can do action, this is an action show, it will be over the top. The series writer does Sengoku Basara and Basilisk.


Aside from that, Aldnoah 2, DRRR 2, Dog Days 3.

[vejita613]

Random Curiosity (http://randomc.net/2014/12/23/winter-2015-preview/) put up their winter preview if anyone is curious.

Watching:

Tsukimonogatari
Shinmai Maou no Testament - Enjoyed the manga, but mostly watching for Nakamura and his damn imouto complex (joking of course).
Ansatsu Kyoushitsu/Assassination Classroom - As stated, I've always been curious about this story, but never could get around to reading the manga. And having Fukuyama as a lead should be interesting.

I'll give it a chance:

Kantai Collection - It seems like I see the characters everywhere I look, so I'm curious to see what all the hubbub is about.
Saenai Heroine no Sodatekata

[shinta|hikari]

Okay, I was complaining a lot about the winter season, but after checking the shows that will be continuing from fall, it is not such a dismal period after all.

In order of personal preference:
Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso
Parasyte
Nanatsu no Taizai
Cross Ange (yes, this is actually more than a boobs and yuri show)
Log Horizon
Garo
World Trigger
Shirobako

For those of you who haven't started on any of these, give it a try. It should fill up the spots the sparsely populated winter season has.

[Archangel]

Can anyone comment on the first Aldnoah.Zero?

[Ryllharu]

In general, non-spoiler terms?

Thematics and Value:
The first season of Aldnoah Zero does some interesting things in terms of mecha plots and fights, though it does squander a few of those. It was frustrating to watch week to week, but was ultimately enjoyable and very worthy of discussion.

Technical:
The art was good, character design above average, character development was 50/50. It has a main character with a fairly unique disposition and is interesting to watch, but some other parts of the main cast are paint-by-numbers. Our userbase is split on the music.

Quality:
Despite what I said above, it does not sour significantly as it progresses. If it passes the three-episode test for you, you'll generally enjoy it to the end of the season.

[David75]

Yuri Kuma ep 1 was a little bizzare with the revisited "oldschool like" characters art style contrasting with the xxx-monogatari like school building.
Yuri vibes are strong.
I'll keep watching, might be something worth my time.

Koufuku Grafiti
Slice of life high-school girls food-gasm oriented show?
Felt a tad strange, with all that kira-kira stars/light and orgasmic food bites.

Unlimited fafnir
Yet another all girl fighting school with a unique guy with powers that normally are only female compatible.
we've had our share of those over the last 4 years.

Assassination Classroom
The manga seems to be quite praised. It was an introduction ep at best. I guess I have to wait a little to check if I'm compatible
with the setting.

Soukyuu no Fafner Dead Aggressor - Exodus
Decent setting, art style and animation. But I do not feel like watching something headed to a bad end.

Saekano 00
Harem heavy fanservice highschool galge creation club?
That's what I remember from that first ep. Well why not, easy to watch, I need those shows too :D

[MasterOfMoogles]

Little slow catching up on last season and this season after the break.

My friend and I decided to watch most of the crappy looking shows first.

Absolute Duo, World Break, Unlimited Fafnir, Sister Devil
These are all basically the same show.
Matsuoka Yoshitsugu (Kirito) is hilariously in both Duo and Fafnir.
Tomatsu Haruka (Asuna) is with him in Duo, and not the main girl, for even more lulz.
Duo/Fafnir/Trinity Seven from last season appear to be almost exactly the same show with Kirito doing his harem thing in all of them.

Animation-wise, Duo is probably the best of these so far.
World Break is probably the dumbest, but has decent female VAs (OreImo imouto, Madoka).
Sister Devil had an okay first episode, and as a good male lead VA (the Irregular, OreImo bro).

Don't expect much from any of these.

Cinderella Girls
Producer is very interesting in this. The girls aren't as crazy/unique, so we'll see how it goes. I like the first two well enough so far.

KanColle
Too many cameos in episode 1 of characters I don't know. Hopefully this focuses more on the warfare aspect and we get a Strike Witches X Arpeggio of Blue Steel.
I'm not super hopeful so far.

Binan Koukou - Magical High school Earth defense something something
Male magical girls. I was expecting something funny. It was just dumb. Insta-dropped.


Now with the crap out of the way, I'm looking forward to checking out the good shows.

[Kraco]

Duo/Fafnir/Trinity Seven from last season appear to be almost exactly the same show with Kirito doing his harem thing in all of them.

At least last season's Trinity Seven had a better MC, who actually enjoyed his harem and actively tried to expand it. Bad things still occasionally happened to him when he saw too much, but at the same time some of the girls where pushing themselves on him. Compared to that, these shows this season have the traditional totally ballless MC type, who just happens to acquire a harem against his will and then is always the first to apologise when he happens to see some skin.

Otherwise these shows surely came from the same mold. It's almost impressive.

[shinta|hikari]

I'm watching Unlimited Fafnir just because of their battle uniforms. Peeking waki ftw.

[Ryllharu]

Absolute Duo, World Break, Unlimited Fafnir, Sister Devil
These are all basically the same show.
Matsuoka Yoshitsugu (Kirito) is hilariously in both Duo and Fafnir.
Tomatsu Haruka (Asuna) is with him in Duo, and not the main girl, for even more lulz.
Duo/Fafnir/Trinity Seven from last season appear to be almost exactly the same show with Kirito doing his harem thing in all of them.

Animation-wise, Duo is probably the best of these so far.
World Break is probably the dumbest, but has decent female VAs (OreImo imouto, Madoka).
Sister Devil had an okay first episode, and as a good male lead VA (the Irregular, OreImo bro).

Don't expect much from any of these.
While I definitely agree with the assessment that these are basically all the same show, the succubus is what makes Shinmai Maou no Testament (Sister New Devil) stand out far above the rest. The second episode makes it stunningly clear.

Played amazingly by Fukuhara Kaori (Kudou from Inou Battle, Tsukasa from Lucky Star). She's rotten to the core, and very much the highlight of the series so far.

[Kraco]

She's rotten to the core, and very much the highlight of the series so far.

Yeah. I was positively surprised she indeed did display some demonic personality characteristics with her stunts. All the better they were fitting for a succubus. I don't know if it really makes the show better than the rest of the cookie-cutter bunch, but it's something, yeah.

[MFauli]

I hate it so much how the main hero from Assassination Classroom is supposed to be a boy. Looks like a girl every way you look at it. Goddamn Japan. Has to be a troll design, intentional.

[MFauli]

Dont know where else to ask:

With the spring season incoming, what have been the best winter season anime? Or rather, what has turned out to be a must-watch? Im currently following Parasyte, Saekano, World Trigger, Log Horizon, Jojo, Ace of Diamonds, Shounen Hollywood, Aldnoah Zero and Kuroko no Baske. Is there any anime I *need* to see? I remember how I absolutely forgot to watch Knights of Sidonia before, so maybe it happened again :>

thx!

[MasterOfMoogles]

Seven Deadly Sins has been pretty good. Shounen-action with super OP characters.
Cross Ange has delivered in the trainwreck/lulz department, as expected.
Of the "magical school battle" shows this season, Absolute Duo has probably been the most interesting.
Death Parade is pretty interesting and well-animated.

That's probably all I would really recommend, I guess.

Maybe Yurikuma so you understand when people bring up crazy lesbian bears.

[shinta|hikari]

Yurikuma if you are willing to spend a few episodes trying to understand it.

I'll second Seven Deadly Sins for fun factor.

Cross Ange is actually much better than it lets on with superfluous fanservice. It knows when to not take itself seriously, but still delivers plot and characters at the same time.