Gonna be a short one today I suspect. There were only a handful of shows I watched and only a handful of those were actually worth watching.
There was an obvious trend this season of shows having interesting premises and good opening episodes but then falling off a cliff towards the end. Hardly a new thing but for whatever reason there was a higher than normal amount of it amongst the things that I watched.
Good
Hitoribocchi no Marumau Seikatsu– this show seemed to be based on trolling western audiences based on the names of all the characters. But it was a pretty funny slice of life gag show that had good character development as the show progressed. Some of the jokes wore a bit thin but overall the comedy stayed pretty good as new characters shook up the dynamics of the jokes. Probably not worth a rewatch but a great one to check out once.
Bokutachi wa Benkyou ga Dekinai– a reasonably funny harem with the odd twist that there is clearly a best girl (Fumino) who is also the only one not head over heals for MC-kun almost immediately. Was basically a better execution of 5-toubun no Hanayome from one season earlier. The loli girl was a bit on the nose in my opinion but I’m pleasantly shocked that a second series has already been announced. Now I just want a second season of Devil is a Part Timer.
Senryuu Shoujo– probably the stand out of the season, a classic high school romance where one of the characters only communicates via written senryuu poems. My only knock is that at the very end of the season, despite a heap of build up and action in the final few episodes, the characters didn’t really end up in a different position compared to where they started. At best they’d moved maybe half a step forward but I would have liked it to be a bit more conclusive.
Dissappointing
One Punch Man S2– despite what all the angry weebs are saying about this, I don’t actually care about the drop in animation quality compared to S1. Yes it’s not as good but honestly it’s still fine. As evidenced by the story of how One Punch Man became popular enough to get an anime, top quality art isn’t it’s strength. It’s the peculiar insanity of the premise and story. And my biggest issue is with that- in particular the huge absence of the titular One Punch Man for the majority of the show. There was more time spend teasing him fighting in the martial arts tournament than he was actually fighting in it. Such that a one episode amount of story content was spread over most of the season. And then one of his fights was off screen (to comic effect which I liked) and the other was like the last two minutes of the final episode. Speaking to people who have read the manga/webcomic, apparently Saitama features less and less as the story progresses so I suspect my issue is more with the source material than the anime. But the fights with Saitama were by far the highlight of S1 and the lack of them in this season combined with the constant teasing of them being around the corner was irritating.
Kenja no Mago– I went into this expecting a fairly bland isekai and what i got was a very bland isekai that kept referencing some incredibly interesting shit happening of screen. The disconnect between how much everyone in this fantasy world panicked at a single demon threatening their city and how blasé they were about an entire army of demons overrunning a neighbouring country was non-sensical. The idea of an uber powered and smart protagonist who had zero real world experience was interesting enough, but the ever increasing number of side characters really slowed down the story. My favourite being the young princess who had the voice of a 40 year old chain smoking dude. There were enough gags throughout most episodes to be amusing and they at least locked in a main girl as the MC’s girlfriend. But the animation and art were pretty horrid at times, even for someone like me who doesn’t notice that shit.
Sewayaki Kitsune no Senko-san– this was a pretty bland show. There was a plot point about how there was no character progression being made which was either a genius excuse for terrible writing/planning or a horrid excuse for terrible writing/planning. Was uncomfortable the whole time I watched this that I was going to be arrested for some underage child thing, which was not helped by the post-credit stuff which got a hard pass from me. If you like definitely-legal-aged-girls-who-look-very-young who also have animal ears and have the singular character trait of wanting to be your servant/slave, then I guess this one is for you. Also the main guy needs to tell his work colleagues to fuck of and solve their problems themselves.
Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari– it’s hard to pin point exactly where this went to shit. It started off pretty fantastic for the first arc (if a bit rocky in the very first few episodes due to the level of naive idiocy required by some antagonistic characters) but there was definitely a really good period. But by the end it was pretty bad. One big part would be the climatic fight happening in ep 18 or 19 and having three competing forces (well, four by the end) rather than two. I think the church being introduced as a villain or that fight and then immediately beaten, while simultaneously undermining the villainy of Malty was a big mistake. In addition having the four heroes still not get along after that point was simply not believable. Even if I buy that the other three heroes were naive idiots at the beginning, the events leading up that battle should have 100% corrected that for the Sword and Bow heroes while that battle itself should have brought the Spear on board. Then the weird mini-arc at the end which was basically to rush in the revelation about the nature of the Waves was… well.. rushed. And also kind of obvious with the introduction of two new mysterious and strong characters several eps earlier. I’d be interested in seeing a second season just to see the end of the story. I tried reading the web novel of this and god it was awful. So maybe the staff did the best they could with what they were given.
Isekai Quartet– this was a strange one. It was kind of funny in parts but the jokes ran thin with the 12 minute episode run times. The characters of Tanya the Evil also really didn’t fit in- which was lampooned in story a few times but even so I couldn’t get over it. Even the staff couldn’t seem to figure it out- the ED credits feature a performance of the “main” girl who is the deuteragonist of Re:Zero, KonoSuba and Overlord… plus Tanya who is the main character of her series instead of the deuteragonist female character from that series. The chibi art was fine I guess but the weird sort-of-progressing-but-not-really story was disappointing.
Joshikausei– an interesting art piece of an anime where the character don’t speak at all. Kind of wore thing even though the episodes run for less than 3 minutes each.
Mob Psycho 100 S2– technically last season but I finished it this season. I guess it’s fine but I seriously don’t get why people are so fucking hyped about it. Someone tried to argue with me that this will be as reputable and popular in 20+ years as Cowboy Bebop and Evangelion are nowadays. They are clearly an idiot.
Nobunaga-sensei no Osanazuma– this was flat out hentai. And not even good hentai. How did this get broadcast on TV?
Continuing
Fruits Basket 2019– I was super nervous about watching this given how much I enjoyed the original series (and I’m scared to rewatch that in case i learn it’s actually garbage). But fuck me this show is wonderful. The characters are so good, it looks pretty fantastic and the story is interesting even if I already know the general gist of it. Highly recommend.
Mix: Meisei Story– I’m not a big fan of baseball but did play it a bit when I was younger. I’m also a sucker for a good sports movie/anime. And given this is like the third or fifth or 300th time the author has written this exact same story with the same characters, they’ve made both pretty good. Only caveat on a high recommendation is don’t watch it at the same time as any of the other work by the author (e.g. Touch) coz it will blend in.
Kimetsu no Yaiba– I didn’t really like the first couple of eps and I wish I’d stuck to my guns and dropped it. Given how much hype it was getting by the pseduo-main stream media, it was always going to be pretty average and dissappointing. I guess the animation scenes are good and the art style is unique/interesting, but the story and characters are pretty cliche.
Legend of the Galactic Heroes– have decided to slowly work my way through the 1980s/90s classic. And it’s fucking amazing. The art/animation is obviously dated but the sheer array of characters and complex storyline it weaves overwhelms any sort of critiscm along such comparatively petty lines. But given how fucking long this thing is, I reckon I’ll be at it for a few years.
BONUS
Code Geass S1+S2– was watching this piecemeal while on holiday and after watching the new movie in cinemas, had a real itch to finish it out. It’s still so fucking good. I seriously recommend it. The only thing of note is that the official continuity of the new movie, and thus everything new that’s apparently to come, has a big key difference. Shirley isn’t dead. It super confused me when I saw the episode where Shirley died because she was still alive and kicking. And it really tears me as to whether or not I like the change. I fucking love Shirley and (I have to be in the minority here) think she was best girl for Lelouch. She was the normal, grounded person unlike CC and Kallen and more so than Nunally really kept Lelouch in touch with humble reality. Her death is an incredibly sad and poignant moment that shifts Lelouch’s character direction massively. It’s such a key moment and getting rid of it for… some unclear reason… I’m not a fan of. Even if it does keep the best girl alive which I am a fan of. Ugh. Makes the new movie go from fun/fine to annoying/bad.
Kizumonogatari– I can’t recall if I watched the first two movies previously but I watched all three after getting my hands on a copy of the final part of the trilogy. It’s classic Monogatari. It’s good, it’s beautiful with its cinema quality art and animation. Its got some good gags. its got some awkward panty stuff. It has excessively long monologues with insane camera work. Everything you love and/or hate about the franchise.
DanMachi Movie: Orion no Ya– this movie had only one session on the day I saw it, in the first week of it being released and I was the only one in the cinema. On a weekend. Everyone else made the right decision. I guess it was a fine, self-contained story but it really leant on the worst bit of DanMachi (the characters) and actively ignored the best bit (the premise). Was hoping Zeus might pop in but no such luck.
Gym Rewatch
I’ve discovered I can access anime streaming services on the treadmills at my gym so rather than watch youtube speedruns I’m working through various shows on my rewatch list. Also I should note a “Fuck you Crunchyroll” for a) the sheer amount of stuff on their service I can’t watch in Australia and b) the incessant, highly repetitive adverts. If I haven’t started watching One Piece yet, showing me the same ad 6-8 times during an episode of a TV show isn’t going to change my mind.
(A feature where I could mark off what shows I’ve already watched and/or have no interest in would be really good- I legit would like them to advertise shows to me that I don’t know about in case they strike my fancy. There’s been a couple things I’ve given a try because of it in between the ads for One Piece and RWBY.)
Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun– fuck this show is so good. Even five years on (which horrifies me), the humour, characters and story really holds up. As does the art and animation (at least on my iPad). But the lack of a conclusion to the story and/or a second season fucking kills me.
Tanaka-kun wa Itsumo Kedaruge– I really enjoyed this show when it first aired but ran out of steam on the rewatch at episode six. There were a few key scenes I remembered fondly and I’d hit them all by episode four. I may go back and finish it off but… well… I dunno. The jokes in this one just didn’t hold up as well.
Ixion Saga DT– speaking of something that doesn’t hold up, despite me loving this when it first came out I barely managed to struggle my way through two episodes of this. It’s dated horribly. Had to apologise to a mate of mine who tried to watch it a year or two ago and I gave them shit for not liking it. It’s bad.
Log Horizon– I’m still unsure of this one. I watched the first two eps and it didn’t grab my like I thought it would. But it didn’t actively turn me off like Ixion Saga DT did. I recall it was a slow burner (and that season 2 was garbage) so I’m probably going to give it another crack in the near-ish future to see if it’s worth it.