Spring Season 2024

[MFauli]

Eh, still a couple weeks to go, but I was curious if the next season was gonna be better.

Here's what found my interest:

- KonoSuba new season (yeah, ofc)
- Mushoku Tensei new season (yeah, ofc)
- Tensei Shitara Slime Datta Ken new season (I'll watch it and I'll hate it)
- Kimetsu no Yaiba new season (ofc, although I hope it comes to an end soon)
- Boku no Hero Academia new season (I'll SO hate it and ofc I'll watch it nonetheless)
- Kaijuu 8 (while the animation looks great, I HATE the comedy that can be seen in the trailer, it totally ruins an otherwise very serious scenario. Hope I'll be able to bear with it)
- Ookami (kinda interesting, but surely it will suffer from "gay hero" syndrome, sigh)
- Hananoi-kun to Koi no Yamai (a "serious" love-story? Intriguing)
- Unnamed Memory (could be fun, could be generic)
- Karasu wa Aruji Erabanai (eh, it looks like it will be shit, but I love the premise of people who transform into crows)


Lots of sequels and no standout new series imo. Hm. Well, it will be a better season for the sequels alone.

[Ryllharu]

Will Watch:
Yuru Camp S3 (even though the design style changed to be droopier and more like the manga)
Spice and Wolf Reboot.

Modestly interested:
Euphonium S3 (though I don't remember MOST of it and didn't watch the movie(s).)
Mushoku Tensei, but I almost don't want to after that trash previous season
KonoSuba S3, but I'm not really that enthused about it either, the last season dragged a bit.

Will try:
I'll probably check out Blue Archive, if only because the fans of the game never shut up about the story, but there was no way in hell I'd ever play the game.

- Ookami (kinda interesting, but surely it will suffer from "gay hero" syndrome, sigh)

Did you seriously not recognize what this was?

[shinta|hikari]

Blue Archive has a story??

I played it and got a bunch of URs when it launched, but the story was crap.

[DarthEnderX]

Where muh chart?!

- KonoSuba
- Mushoku Tensei
- Tensei Shitara Slime Datta Ken
- Kimetsu no Yaiba
- Boku no Hero Academia

Holy shit, that's a lineup! The 3 isekai I actually care about(just missing Re:Zero). And 2 of the big shounens.

[MFauli]

Did you seriously not recognize what this was?

Guy with a cute fox girl that he's probably never gonna lay a finger on.

[Kraco]

Damn, there really are a lot of series I should be interested in, but I'll never be able to watch them with my limit of a few series.

At the very least I'll try to watch:

• Konosuba. I couldn't actually be bothered to watch the Megumin show, but the main series should be okay.
• Slime Datta Ken.
• Mushoku Tensei. Goes without saying. I didn't even dislike the previous season that much, apart from the depression arc.

I'll at least have a look at:

• Maou no Ore ga Dorei Elf. The manga is decent, but it's also the kind where the central idea quickly gets stretched.
• The New Gate. The manga is pretty good, so I'll have a look at it animated and voiced.
• Spice and Wolf. I have heard it said that this is a reboot, which would be a huge bummer.

The Fable is quite a legendary series, but rather than watching the anime, I should try to finish the manga. Blue Archive has a ridiculous amount of fanart, but none of it really makes me want to see the show. It feels similar to Arknights, which I ended up dropping after a few episodes. I guess these are meant for the fans of the games.

[DarthEnderX]

but I'll never be able to watch them with my limit of a few series.

Why the limit? Lack of free time? Or just trying to show moderation?

[Kraco]

Why the limit? Lack of free time? Or just trying to show moderation?

I can't really say. I just can't keep watching that many series anymore. If I try, I unwittingly start stalling some of them. Maybe I just have watched too much anime over the years and don't have the patience for most of it anymore.

[MFauli]

I can't really say. I just can't keep watching that many series anymore. If I try, I unwittingly start stalling some of them. Maybe I just have watched too much anime over the years and don't have the patience for most of it anymore.

Just means there too much bad anime. Same for me. When there's great shows, you'll watch them.

[Ryllharu]

Just means there too much bad anime. Same for me. When there's great shows, you'll watch them.

Nah. I'll drop well-rated shows too, if they are doing retread plots from the 1990s and early 2000s. It's why I can't watch generic fluffy wish-fulfillment romance series at all anymore. They don't bring anything new that their superior predecessors didn't already cover. But other people love them because they haven't seen that stuff before a dozen times. It's not bad, it just isn't treading new ground.

Or I'll drop series if their pacing is too drawn out. From my perspective these days, anime production companies have an obligation to manage the pacing better than the source material if it was lacking.

In the last few years, I struggle to watch anime of manga I've previously read if the adaptations don't elevate anything in particular (e.g. Spy x Family, Mahoutsukai no Yome both fell into this). I still really enjoy the material, but a faithful adaptation doesn't really add anything.

[DarthEnderX]

I can't really say. I just can't keep watching that many series anymore. If I try, I unwittingly start stalling some of them. Maybe I just have watched too much anime over the years and don't have the patience for most of it anymore.

My solution to that was I started watching slower series on a higher playback speed.

I like you, Ancient Magus's Bride, but I got shit to do!

[MFauli]

Nah. I'll drop well-rated shows too, if they are doing retread plots from the 1990s and early 2000s. It's why I can't watch generic fluffy wish-fulfillment romance series at all anymore. They don't bring anything new that their superior predecessors didn't already cover. But other people love them because they haven't seen that stuff before a dozen times. It's not bad, it just isn't treading new ground.

Or I'll drop series if their pacing is too drawn out. From my perspective these days, anime production companies have an obligation to manage the pacing better than the source material if it was lacking.

In the last few years, I struggle to watch anime of manga I've previously read if the adaptations don't elevate anything in particular (e.g. Spy x Family, Mahoutsukai no Yome both fell into this). I still really enjoy the material, but a faithful adaptation doesn't really add anything.

I didn't say "well-reated", Ryll. I said "great shows" as in "shows you find great". When those air, you'll watch them. Simple as that.

[neflight86]

I just noticed that the top 12 series (by audience vote on MAL) for spring were all sequels. I made a discussion thread a few years back, but I'm still not over just how many anime are getting continuations nowadays when there was a time no so long ago that it was pretty much one and done. On the one hand, It's great to get more of what you love, but on the other, I can't get excited about long running series I'm not already invested in... but given the volume of shows coming out each season, I should probably be thankful for another easy way to shave off a few more shows from the watch list.

That said, looking through the list, it would be shorter to list the few series I don't intend to sample.

[DarthEnderX]

I just noticed that the top 12 series (by audience vote on MAL) for spring were all sequels. I made a discussion thread a few years back, but I'm still not over just how many anime are getting continuations nowadays when there was a time no so long ago that it was pretty much one and done.

That's because most anime used to just be elaborate ads for manga.

But now that anime is so successful in NA, studios are adopting the methods of NA studios. i.e. "people want more of the shit they already like".

[neflight86]

I wonder how it's monetized? I recall back in the day that studios would reach out to manga magazines for the rights to popular series and it was the manga's owning company that was paid for the green light; not the other way around. I recall/heard that post air dvd/bluray sales were the money maker anime studios pinned their hopes on for profitability. That market doesn't exist (physical media) in NA much anymore...

[MFauli]

That's because most anime used to just be elaborate ads for manga.

But now that anime is so successful in NA, studios are adopting the methods of NA studios. i.e. "people want more of the shit they already like".

Makes me wonder if that also caused the decline in animation quality. When anime used to be elaborate advertisements for the manga, there was more incentive to make the ONE season of the anime as great as possible. Now that the focus shifted to the anime entirely and a longterm needs to be maintained, that possible brought us the shitty, generic animation we now see in the majority of currently airing anime.

[Ryllharu]

Makes me wonder if that also caused the decline in animation quality. When anime used to be elaborate advertisements for the manga, there was more incentive to make the ONE season of the anime as great as possible. Now that the focus shifted to the anime entirely and a longterm needs to be maintained, that possible brought us the shitty, generic animation we now see in the majority of currently airing anime.

The decline in quality is from the sheer volume of series being aired every season, no other reason.

For the Winter Season (Jan - March) and which is usually the sparse season compared to Spring/Fall:

2024 - 47 series started

2014 - 43 series started

2004 - 19 series started

1994 - 4 series started (for reference: Spring 1994 - 18 series started)


Saying the quality declined is also subjective, because the average animation quality has absolutely improved with notable individual exceptions being a big deal. A lot of TV anime used reused key frames, reused backgrounds, just as many still sequences that people bitch about today.

But everyone remembers the standouts, or actually remembers OVAs as "TV series"

[shinta|hikari]

With the increase in volume was also the increase in outsourcing of animation and other aspects of production. Those have varying quality with no real minimum standard. When you see clearly anatomically incorrect frames and just trash art in general, it is usually outsourced parts.

[MFauli]

The decline in quality is from the sheer volume of series being aired every season, no other reason.

For the Winter Season (Jan - March) and which is usually the sparse season compared to Spring/Fall:

2024 - 47 series started

2014 - 43 series started

2004 - 19 series started

1994 - 4 series started (for reference: Spring 1994 - 18 series started)


Saying the quality declined is also subjective, because the average animation quality has absolutely improved with notable individual exceptions being a big deal. A lot of TV anime used reused key frames, reused backgrounds, just as many still sequences that people bitch about today.

But everyone remembers the standouts, or actually remembers OVAs as "TV series"

Eh. Not sure whether I agree with the "average animation has improved". At the very least, the standouts have become rarer. And, I mean, even stuff that didn't look good back then like "Clannad" or ""Ranma 1/2" would be considered great-looking by current standards of animation.

The increase in anime volume that you display is crass, though. Feels like 20 would have been a reasonable number to stay at. Over 40 is just madness.

[Ryllharu]

Eh. Not sure whether I agree with the "average animation has improved". At the very least, the standouts have become rarer. And, I mean, even stuff that didn't look good back then like "Clannad" or ""Ranma 1/2" would be considered great-looking by current standards of animation.

Objectively false.



You know who worked on this? MADHOUSE. Yeah, the studio flexing with Frieren this past season.

This was 2002 and it has the quality of 1997. Stills, pans, zooms to cut costs and shave production time. Trigun and Galaxy Angel this is not.