It felt like I watched very few shows this season, so looking back at what I had apparently watched was quite a surprise. Here’s some thoughts:
Finished/Watched Shows
Grand Blue: Probably the closest thing to a stand out anime this season, a slice-of-life based at a university rather than a high school was refreshing. Sure the jokes were repetitive and there was a weird semi-plot line about kind-of-romance between cousins; but it was a fun show to chuck on and laugh at without thinking too much. Also seeing sexual themes outside of hentai and reasonably realistic alcohol consumption was cool.
Overlord S3: A better ratio of “boring-exposition-filler-with-stupid-characters” to “actually-interesting-story-and-world-development” episodes compared to S2. Perhaps not as good as S1 but still overall some really solid development of characters and story and even some world building. Credit where credit is due- some of the pay off in this season does depend on characters and story that were in “bad episodes” in S2. Have yet to watch the finale so it could shit the best but was overall an enjoyable series overall this season. I particularly liked the stuff actually dealing with the Tomb of Nazarick and it’s interactions with the surrounding nations.
Hanebado: This was a solidly fine series. As with all sports series, it will never be as amazing as Haikyuu!! so it has to find an interesting take on the sports genre since it can’t have the best. In Hanebado, that ‘interesting take’ is that the MC is a psychologically fucked girl who has no feelings for other humans and once they are forced to play badminton, they break and become a maniac who brutally toys with and crushes everyone they play. The timing of the reveal is good because at about episode 6 the show is a super generic sports anime… and then this girl goes fucking insane. Which carries through enough interest as everyone else fails to understand the monster they have unleashed.
Boku no Hero Academia S3: I am officially over this show. There was a really great part in the middle where the plot actually progressed and characters/world had to deal with the fall out of what was happening. But the start and end were boring tied-to-the-progression-of-a-school-year bits. Plus a few very clumsy attempts to shoe horn in plugs for the new movie. But seriously- the whole world/society is grappling with the concept that their previous system/symbol of justice and law and order (All Might) is gone and the Villains are coordinating… and we’re seeing shit about the kids going on Summer Camp (which is shockingly attacked by Villains) and going for the equivalent of a Drivers License so they can do work experience. Also the incredibly patronising way the show reminds the viewer of every fucking heroes’ fucking name and fucking superpower whenever their face is on screen. This is fucking season 3. I know who the characters are and what they do. All you are doing is annoying me and reminding me how fucking unbalanced these bloody super powers are. I was offered free tickets to go see the movie in cinemas and I turned them down because fuck that.
Happy Sugar Life: This was a mixed bag anime. It had a heap of interesting potential based on the first episode of this clearly crackpot girl trying live her crazed fantasy and murder anyone who got in her way without breaking the illusion of her being an normal high school girl. But from episode 2 onwards every new character introduced turned out to be equally fucked up which made all the characters overall less interesting. that being said, the way the story panned out in the last couple episodes wasn’t what i was expecting which was pleasant. A surprisingly gory and dark show even given the premise, would recommend people check it out but not a high priority
Hyakuren no Haou to Seiyaku no Valkyria: My god this was a horrifically bad show. Offensively so. The idea of a normal guy being taken into a battle world and using his phone’s internet search ability to climb to power and gather a harem is super original. The only original part of this show was the fact it somehow thought it would get a sequel and spent the last episode doing stupid filler rather than actually resolving the big cliff hanger battle. With it ending as the MC rode off to the final big battle. At least it had a diverse cast in the harem including an occasionally funny comedic duo of sisters.
Isekai Maou to Shoukan Shoujo no Dorei Majutsu: This show started interesting… if you could get over the obsene fan service. It provided an interesting fill in whiel Overlord S3 had a shaky start. And then when Ovelrod 3 got really good, this got even dumber. I found the ebst way to watch it was to skip the 2/3 of each episode that was exposition/plot or “plot” and just watch the fairly interesting battles.
One Room S2: I loved the first four episodes which featured the same heroine as part of S1. Because she was the best heroine in S1. Then the other two heroines were uninteresting and boring.
Shichisei no Subaru: I have no clue how I watched this the whole thing. It was so generic and lame. The only thing of note here is that the conceit of the show is that the main girl literally died five years ago while playing an VR-MMORPG and her mind was somehow trapped in the game. So the heroes need to find out how to free here. And then at the end of the series…. that hasn’t changed. Despite the big celebration vibe and how everyone is now super happy because they beat the villain and the hero group is reunited and ready to play the game more.
Steins;Gate 0: I’m a bit torn on this one. There was an amazing stretch of episodes in the early-mid section with big reveals and twists and fall out and emotions. But overall the shows not been anywhere near as good as the original. Which is admittedly a fucking hard act to follow. I’m still about 5 or 6 episodes short of finishing it so will see how it pans out. The original smashed the home run out of the park so hopefully this version will too.
Shingeki no Kyojin S3: I don’t enjoy this show. I know that the manga/story is insane and bad and does not live up to the hype/set up of the beginning of the series. But this is so ingrained int the anime discourse that I’m obliged to at least half watch it while playing games on my Switch. It’s vaguely interesting I suppose.
Started and Dropped (typically dropped after 3 eps):
Island: Fuck this show was a mess. I was hoping for another Star Driver given episode 1 was a fucking beat for beat rip off of the concept… minus the cool robots. Perhaps the most interesting thing that happened was there was a semi on camera sex scene at the end of ep 9 or 10 (I dropped it before this point so i’m not sure) which, I think, meant the MC had been hooking up with his daughter in earlier episodes. Because it turned out there was time travel involved. Ugh.
Harukana Receive: Haikyuu!! is about volleyball and is a fucking amazing show? take that concept and put it on a beach with a bunch of pretty girls of a variety of shapes (well, most of them have big tits) in skimpy bikinis. What can go wrong? Everything. So boring. not great animation. Really flat characters (as in, flat personality wise). Repetitive “jokes”.
Kyoto Teramachi Sanjou no Holmes: A vaguely interesting concept- anime Antiques Roadshow with some not-subtle-Sherlock-Holmes-ripoff elements. But man it wore thing very quickly.
Aguu Tensai Ningyou: what started as an interesting art style and story/world very quickly become not that. Some of the visuals were uncomfortable to watch but not in a good way. What could have been an interesting psychological thriller became a generic action battle thing. Yawn.
Angolmois – Genkou Kassenk: An odd art/animation style and a weird mismatch of ‘realism’ and ‘clearly not realism’ made this interesting concept for a show (Japan’s historical fighting off the Mongol invasion) a wasted opportunity. At least it wasn’t set in the Sengoku period like every other historical anime.
Hataraku Saibou: it’s a kids show that is kind of meant to be educational (maybe) but loses a lot of it’s accuracy for “story” convenience. Which is fine. But the eccentric yet flat and non-developing characters ran it’s course in a few episodes. Also trying to pass off cancer as a misunderstood emo is fucked up Japan. Cancer is a horrific disease and does not deserve sympathy.
Satsuriku no Tenshi: yawn
Planet With: Eh I dunno with this one. I watched maybe 6 eps and then just stopped. Story was a bit weird but not in a good way. Animation was flashy but not in a god way. Go watch Gurren Lagann instead.
Back Street Girls – Gokudolls: Wow. What a mess of a concept and a mess of a show. Watched three episodes and then was saved from having to question myself about possibly enjoying it because the sub group dropped it on account if it being a crime against humanity.
Banana Fish: Was fine. I guess. Meh. Pretty child sex victim takes on the Mafia coz they have a drug that fucked up his brother in The War. And there’s a cute Japanese boy there at the same time for reasons for romantic plot.
High Score Girl: Meh. Yawn. Whatever. Terrible art style.
Tenrou Sirius the Jaeger: The Vampire Bandwagon collapsed like a decade ago. Move on.
Iya na Kao Sare Nagara Opantsu Misete Moraitai: I deny watching this. you can’t prove anything.
Anything else this season was so shit it didn’t even make it to three episodes and thus is not worth rating/talking about. And given fucking Goku Dolls DID make it, that should tell you how bad they were.
Bonus!
Marchen Madchen: realised I’d watched 8 episodes and the series only went 10 so thought I’d finish it. Only to find it didn’t finish. And in fact had some of the worst animation I;d ever seen. After some brief digging, I found this amazing dissection of the fucked production that was this series. And boy is it fucked.
Masamune-kun no Revenge: This had been sitting partially watched on my computer for ages. but I finally acknowledged that FanSubs are dead, DDY are never going to finish this and I might as well watch official subs to finish it. It was a solid 7/10 show with a bunch of dumb twists to pad out the back end to prevent any actual resolution occurring.
Saredo Tsumibito wa Ryuu to Odoru: A left over form last season that i thought was ok based on the first 3 eps but didn’t get around to watching. After watching two more eps and I firmly disagree with myself from three month ago. Anime about politics are great when done well. And shit when done like this.
Aru Zombie Shoujo no Sainan: I don’t know what the fuck this was or why it happened. There was apparently a 45 second promo in 2012 and then nothing until this appeared in July 2018. And it was weirdly promoted by a lot of family friendly anime distributors despite it content. A b grade horror movie given anime form- unnecessary nudity, terrible action, lots of blood and gore, “characters”, “story” etc. Months later I still don’t know what to think. Maybe it’s actually a comedy.
Seitokai Yakuindomo Movie: I forgot how much i loved this show. In fact i was worried that given how long it has been since this show started a) my tastes would have changed and b) the jokes wouldn’t really hold up. i was pleasantly wrong. Very funny. Very good. But is less a “movie’ and more a long OVA.
Code Geass: Hangyaku no Lelouch I – Koudou: I’ve been itching to rewatch Code Geass for… well… years and the recap movies seemed a good way to do that without the same time investment as watching 50 episodes of a TV series. I was pleasantly surprised at how good the movie was at condensing the plot down and not feeling rushed… aside for a 10 minute towards the very end where it seemed super erratic and confusing. But it scratched that itch and I’m keen to see the rest of the recap movies and then jump into the new movie/season when it comes out.