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myglitchscreen · 3 years ago

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Beginning Thoughts of the Fall Anime Season 2017 . . .

Welp, fall is here, and as usual, it is time for me to do my annual first impressions of the season’s anime titles. My gods if you thought the amount of shows I checked out last season was a lot, this season’s amount is insane. This season, so far, I have checked out 22 shows thus far and plan for at least 7 more to pick up. Insane, right? So how do they stack up so far? Let’s see. Also, please keep in mind, that these are solely based off of the first one or two episodes, and are purely my opinion, so if my opinion is different than yours, then I’d love to here it. Also, I will try to remain as spoiler free as possible.

Netojuu no Susume: Studio Signal.MD

Dropped. Alright, so I feel like I have to mention this. I’m a serious gamer. More specifically, I love me some MMOs. How much you ask? Well, so much so that I actually met my husband on World of Warcraft. Insane right? I mean my god you do not want to see our /played time on that game. So, needless to say, I am a bit critical on gaming anime because of this, because I know what it’s like. This anime was just… . cringey. I found myself sighing every chance I got and by the 20 minute mark, completely turning it off. Everything about the first episode was just … bad. There’s really just no redeeming qualities… well, one line said by the Guild Master which was something along the lines of “you have no idea what her irl gender is.” I laughed. It’s accurate. 85% of female toons you see on wow are actually guys. Anyways, moving on.

Evil or Live: Haoliners Animation

Dropped. Mmmm I had such high hopes. After reading the summary, I will admit, I was hyped for this show. On Paper, this show sounds wonderful. I thought it was going to be some horror psychological thriller that at the end of it left you questioning the very meaning of the world around you or something. Instead, what happened? I …don’t even know. The series starts off with massive amounts of Live Action, which, while being completely unexpected, I didn’t mind so much; the series became an instant drop for me when the MC and Co were clearly showing a break from reality and needed actual mental help, was beaten instead. It wasn’t “horror” or “edgy” it was just poor writing. Needless to say, I have dropped it.

Just Because!: Studio Pine Jam

Dropped. For no other reason that fuck it’s boring. I fell asleep watching it not once, but twice. It was that boring. This series proves that even the prettiest of shows can bore you to death.

Omiai Aite wa Oshiego Tsuyoki na, Mondaiji: Studio Seven

Porn. With Plot. Alright, so this is an actual hentai series. Not like Soft-Core either like Hajimete no Gal was last season. This is an actual hentai series, and if you could believe it, it’s actually more plot focused and semi-interesting than 95% of hentai out there.… Well, as interesting as a hentai series about a female teacher and a student banging and “engaged” can be. Don’t get me wrong here, it’s totally trash, but hey, each episode is only four minutes, so I’m going to keep watching this trash just a bit longer to see where it goes.

Sengoku Night Blood: Typhoon Graphics

Mmmm Still waiting for the day with they make a good anime based off of an Otome Game. Alright, so here’s the story. Girl gets sent back into another world and gains a harem. A vampire harem. That’s it. I’ve saved you the trouble of checking this series out. You’re welcome.

Urahara: Studios Emt^2 and Shirogumi

Dropped. Instant Drop. Jesus Christ that animation is fucking trash. You have two studios working on this series, and the animation still looks that garbagey?!?! How?!?!?! I can’t even with this… Ugh, nope, moving on.

Osake wa Fuufu ni Natte kara: Creators in Pack

Yet another series that will probably be dropped halfway through. Honestly, there’s just nothing that really happens in this series, and I know it’s really hard for anything to happen in a four minute long series, but literally nothing happens. Wife comes home. Husband makes her drink. Wife gets tipsy. Thank you husband. I mean the main reason why I’m going to be sticking it out just a bit longer is to keep getting cocktail recipes haha.

Imouto Sae Ireba Ii: Sliver Link Studios

Will probably be dropped. Is it just me or is this series like Silver Link’s answer to A-1′s EroManga Sensei? Honestly, this show is meh at best so far. The art is nothing too great, and the story screams EroManga, and since I wasn’t a fan, I really don’t see myself watching more than three episodes.

Boku no Kanojo ga Majimesugiru Sho-Bitch na Ken: Studio Diomedea

I started watching it with hopes of it doing two things. One, fill the hole in my heart that was left when Hajimete no Gal ended; and two, explain what the hell a Sho-Bitch is. In all honestly though, this show is probably going to be dropped. While the art is generic, the characters are bland and too common; I also the comedy too forced at time and repeatable. Yes, we understand main waifu really just wants to figure out what Haruka likes, and obviously misinterprets everything, but does that really have to be the joke every single time?

Inuyashiki: Studio MAPPA

Ah, the latest from Studio MAPPA. I have one question: MAPPA, what the fuck? Let me clarify. The opening few minutes of the first episode made me feel. Fuck, I almost started crying. It was depressing and yet the story was just relatable and beautiful all at the same time. I was feeling feels I didn’t want to feel. It really kept true to the Drama tag, which I love. I’m a sucker for some hardcore drama filled series. Then… .it got weird. Some weird like mecha space alien thing weird. So, again, MAPPA, what the fuck? Don’t get me wrong here. I will be continuing to watch this solely because despite the series taking that weird turn, in no way did that make the actual tone any less enjoyable. Plus, the art style is so unique to the show, I’m curious as to where it can go from here.

Mahoutsukai no Yome: Wit Studio

Alright, I’m a fan. This has to be a contender for Anime of the Season, and we aren’t even three episodes into it yet. It’s wonderful, and not only one of my favorites from this season so far, but my favorite thing Wit Studio has ever done, (and yes, that just brought me a ton of hate from SnK fans haha). I can see and agree with the hype this series has had. Honestly, check it out. It’s good and I can’t wait to see where it goes from here.

Blend S: A-1 Pictures

I found my Moe-Blob for the season, and I’m so happy. I actually really like this series so far. It was adorable, and literally just what I want in my seasonal moe-blob. It’s nothing too driven plot wise, and definitely won’t be anime of the season or anything like that; it’s literally just Cute Girls waitressing in this cute cafe. Regardless, I’m definitely going to continue to watch it for a bit longer at least.

Shoujo Shuumatsu Ryokou: Studio White Fox

Keep your eye on this one this season. It’s probably going to be the Dark Horse of this season. In all honestly, I became instantly hooked watching the first episode. The tone at the start was so eerie and grim that I found myself getting literal goosebumps. Maybe it’s the high I’m on after the Made in Abyss ending, or just wanting to find something to fill the void that series has left me with, but I’m getting serious MiA vibes. I’m hoping this series is even half as good as MiA was. Also, I’m a major fan already of how unique the art is for this show.

Ousama Game The Animation: Studio Seven

I’m biased. Period. I will be watching this show no matter how terrible it could ever get solely because my favorite Seiyuu is the lead. Mamoru is a God, and I will watch it religiously every week. That being said, I can tell you that this show is edgy as fuck, and with it being one of two survival game anime out right now this season, this one is definitely the weaker, edgier of the two. It is a pretty cool concept though, and I’m already a fan of the survival game concept, that I don’t mind watching this one until the end. I would also like to warn that this one is definitely gory so if you don’t like that than this isn’t for you.

Konohana Kitan: Studio Lerche

CUTE LITTLE FOX GIRLS. I REPEAT, CUTE LITTLE FOX GIRLS. Having read the summary for the series prior,and seeing both the Seinen and Shoujo Ai tag on it and that it would be done by Lerche, it became an instant check out at least, and I’m glad I did. This series is the calming pallet cleanser. It’s the show where you can turn off your mind and just watch the cuteness. Plus, did I mention cute little fox girls? What more do you need?

Black Clover: Studio Pierrot

Alright, I’m split in two for this. Part of me wants me to look at this show for what it is: a stereotypical shounen series, with decent animation, predictable plot and bad voice acting, if you saw the first episode you’d know what I’m talking about. This show screams Naruto, Fairy Tail and Bleach rip off; and hell, since I hate Naruto, never got into Bleach, and am still VERY pissed at Fairy Tail, combining the three into one really just makes me both cringe and glare at the screen. Evil Glare. A glare that if I could, would totally shoot lasers out and everything. I mean hell, it’s even done by the same studio as Naruto. Regardless, the tons and tons of shounen I’ve seen makes me just feel like this is repeating it all. That’s one part of me. The other part of me enjoys this show, solely for the fact that my husband LOVES the Black Clover manga, so watching it with him makes me at least want to give it a chance. I do however doubt it will be as big as people hype it up to be, and if it does get big it will be nowhere near as good quality wise as a lot of other shounens, and will take a lot for me to become a fan.

Juuni Taisen: Graphinica

Without a doubt, my favorite from this season. I’m hooked. This series has it all: unique character designs, well executed art, and a killer story line, (pun intended). Mmmmm this story is wonderful. It hooks you from the start, which is to be expected since the original source is written by the same original writer for the Monogatari Series. There’s plot twists and betrayals and just epicness. It also has one of the best openings and closings of the season. Side Note: THE PSYCHOTIC LITTLE USAGI BOY IS BEST BOY AND I WILL FIGHT ANYONE WHO SAYS OTHERWISE, AND IF HE DOESN’T WIN I WILL RIOT.

Yuuki Yuuna wa Yuusha de Aru: Washio Sumi no Shou: Studio Gokumi

When I first saw that Yuki Yuno was getting another season, I was fucking thrilled. Yuki Yuno was a magical girl series that I fell in love with not only because of the Madoka Magica vibes it had, but because of the beautiful art and animation and vibrant colors it used. It’s visually stunning. So, how is the prequel turning out? Still just as stunning. In all honestly, I’m going to love this series provided it stays true to the themes and tones of the first season, and if the opening episodes are anything to say about the rest of the series, then I know it will. Plus, who isn’t up for Magical Girls this season?

Osomatsu-san 2nd Season: Studio Pierrot

I actually genuinely missed this show. My gods this show is a gift. This has to be one of the underapprieciated comedy gems to come out in the recent years, and it fills me with joy knowing that it still shines just like the first season did. I enjoy watching the episodic skits of everyone’s favorite sextuplets. Seriously, why have you not started this show?

Shokugeki no Soma: J.C.Staff

DO YOU KNOW HOW LONG I’VE WAITED TO SEE MY SON KUGA ANIMATED?!!??! TOO LONG. This is hands down the best season of Food Wars yet, and we are barely a couple episodes into it. I love the pacing of this season, and having being a manga reader, I can confirm for you that it’s completely accurate with the manga thus far. J.C Staff is clearly showing that they still care about Food Wars and aren’t rushing with the season. Also, thank the gods for the 24 episode season. THAT’S MORE EPISODES OF MY PRECIOUS KUGA.

3-Gatsu no Lion 2nd Season: Studio Shaft

I cried. I fucking cried. Hard. My god I missed this series. Everything about the first episode was fantastic. The music and animation were spot on, but of course nothing out of the ordinary for the phenomenal Studio Shaft, but what did I love most you ask? Character Development. MY FUCKING GOD. Compare Rei to the start of Season one, and you’d never think it’s the same person. I can’t stress that enough. If this first episode is a sign on how amazing the rest of this season is going to be then I’m beyond fucking happy. This is the series I’ve been waiting for since the start of the year.

Gintama. Porori-hen: Bandai Namco Pictures

Has there ever been like a bad season of Gintama? Like Ever? All this season has proved to me is: one, life is boring and dull without Gintama. Two, Gintama is the king of comedy series. Three, Gintama is without a doubt one of the greatest series of all time. This season is hilarious and easily makes me burst out laughing from start to finish. Thank you Gintama, I’ve truly missed you.

Ballroom e Youkoso: Production I.G.

How is the second half of the season you ask? *Insert Pouting Face Here* Fuck you, Chi-chan. Worst Girl 2017. THERE I SAID IT. YEAH, I SAID IT. WHAT YOU GONNA DO ABOUT IT? #BRINGBACKBESTGIRL2017 Like, don’t get me wrong, I’m glad Tartara has a partner now, but like seriously why her? -.- Why couldn’t Mako just be his partner forever and they could live happily ever after?

So, yeah, those are my thoughts so far on the Fall Anime 2017 season. Let me know yours, and if there is anything I’m not watching, and should be, then please tell me! I love recommendations, and I already know of a few that I need to pick up… .

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myglitchscreen · 3 years ago

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Spring Anime 2017 Part 1: woke up late

This time I prepared so I could get to the procrastinating right with the first post! Yay! Let’s get this show on the road.

See also:

• spring anime 2017 part 2: girlfriendship is magic

• spring anime 2017 part 3: comfy and easy to wear

• spring anime 2017 bonus round: things you already knew were good

Alice to Zouroku

So get this, a pretty girl with psychic superweapon powers escapes from a lab she’s been in her whole life and now has to adapt to the real world with the help of a guy she stumbles upon, all while being chased by her superweapon former friends. But in a shocking twist, this is actually better than Elfen Lied! Not being written by someone as brutally incompetent as Lynn Okamoto is a start, but the real change here is that our heroine is less murder machine and more genuinely cute, and more importantly the guy she ends up with is not a harem ringleader dorklord, but a grumpy elderly florist. Yeah, we’re skipping the recent trend of dadfeel anime and diving headfirst into granddad feels (I don’t know if aging otaku are quite old enough to fully self-insert yet, but the same principle applies). It’s a low hanging fruit, but that’s what makes it work; a deliberate, contemplative pace and delightfully whimsical music by TO-MAS also help. So far, so good, were it not for the fact that this is only one aspect of the show. Of course a show like this would have an action half as well, and that one’s pretty garbage. Not only is it directed with zero impact or excitement, it also relies on horrible CG a lot - I really don’t want to be reminded of Hand Shakers this quickly again, thank you very much. Plus, it runs with a Alice in Wonderland metaphor, which is baby’s first literary reference and doesn’t bode well about the intellectual ambitions of the project. So we have one half that’s admittedly effective, but also very predictable and which desperately needs to go somewhere to pay off. The other half just plain sucks and has little chance to improve. I think I’ll give this one a few more chances to sort out its priorities, but it’s definitely not a sure thing.

Busou Shoujo Machiavellianism

A cocky guy walks into a school full of pretty girls with weapons who have managed to sissify all the dudes by forcing them to crossdress. He then proceeds to troll them with his rugged charm. You know, it’s really not that easy to offend me but damn this show is trying. Apart from bottom-tier harem crap setup, this show also looks like ass and is tremendously boring; a few well done action cuts do not in fact excuse “fights” that mostly consist of exposition about special attacks, or terminally uninspired direction. Macchiavellism is the worst of shounen fightmens crossed with the worst of harem LNs, plus some of the worst jokes bad anime comedy can come up with. It’s not even audacious enough in its badness to boggle the mind; I could watch this if I was interested in adding another 1/10 to my MAL, but that’s about all I can appreciate about it.

Frame Arms Girl

Speaking of unholy combinations, here’s Gundam Build Fighters x Rozen Maiden x Strike Witches: A girl stumbles into a sentient mecha musume model kit that spends its time explaining the technical details of model building to her and attracts other model kits that want to fight. It’s an ad for model kits, what do you expect. There’s no characters, the plot is utterly uninteresting, the action’s bad, it looks subpar to bad, and the only high point is how brazenly it reads to you from the manual.

Gin no Guardian

Here’s your latest Chinese webcomic adaptation from your friends at Haoliners Animation League (Shanghai) Inc., whose output has been asymptotically approaching the quality level of a bad Japanese cartoon for years now: Closer than ever, but still not quite there. Maybe they should stop picking bad webcomics with incomprehensible nonsense plots as source material, just sayin’. So this is about a dude who beats up CG zombies in the spirit world but the actual story is how he got there? Or something? It manages to look barely alright and even has some visually striking design work, but its half-length run time prevents it from forming any semblance of coherence and I’m not about to ask for further clarification.

Oushitsu Kyoushi Haine

In a vaguely 18th century Germanic kingdom, a grown ass man with the body of a ten year old and a snarky disposition is hired to become the tutor of an instaharem of fabulous princes. I really don’t get who this is for; obviously the harem is straight out of a PSP otome dating sim, but it’s lacking the obvious self-insert dimwitted main girl, and no, it isn’t gay romance either. Even though it’s a comedy, that aspect does not seem to be played for outright parody. The source material is running in GFantasy, a shounen title (but not one as specifically elementary schooler-focused as Jump, it also carries fujo favorites such as Black Butler). Dubious provenance aside, Haine is moderately funny if nothing else, mainly due to the deadpan reactions of the main character to these ridiculous dreamboats. It just also drags more than a little, with long conversations that aren’t very entertaining all the time. It’s watchable compared to a lot of the stuff out this season, but I remain unconvinced.

Rokudenashi Majutsu Koushi to Akashic Records

After Macchiavellism already obliterated the battle harem bingo, here’s our next winner. The setup’s more or less the same and in some respects it’s even more formulaic (the school is actually a magic school for magic people, princesses, duels, &c), but Akashic Record is not quite as odious simply by focusing on being a comedy first and foremost and pulling that off at least on a technical level - it has good visual execution and comedic timing. The question is just how much credit you want to give it for that when the jokes themselves still suck, and that’s of course ignoring the entire setup being Light Novel as all fuck. Kinda seems familiar actually, because this is not entirely unlike to what KonoSuba did to the isekai genre, and people keep trying to tell me that that was totally great. Well, go watch this one then, motherfuckers.

Sagrada Reset

But there’s always the other kind of light novel, the one where high schoolers talk about life, people and the world. Think Bakemonogatari or OreGairu. Sagrada Reset wants a slice of that pie and starts by stealing the magical realism conceit from classic™ visual novel Wind ~A Breath of Heart~: There’s a remote town in Japan where everyone has superpowers, but if they leave the town they instantly forget about it. Oops, i guess I just spoiled Wind’s midgame, but I have to since Sagrada Reset puts this stuff right upfront because it has to discuss technicalities (at length) to make its plot work. Yeah, that’s how I like my magical realism, thoroughly explained and conceived by people who should write wikis, not fiction. There’s a girl who can reset time, but only once per arbitrary period of time and also including herself, which means she only finds out she already did it once it doesn’t work again. So that’s pretty useless, except there’s a guy whose superpower is having his memory unaffected by this. They have to work together to solve… some problems, I suppose. This whole idea seems to have potential in a JoJo subplot sort of way, but it’s completely sunk by the way the thing is written, since apparently the writer has never met a human being in his life. It’s entirely made of these pseudo-deep highschool stoner philosophy conversations presented in a lifeless inflection by people who stand around like robots on battery saver mode. This seems to be intentional (at least the term “robot” is thrown around a couple of times, which is certainly ominous), but it also makes for an excruciating and interminable watching experience.

Sakura Quest

Since Sakura Quest was announced, I have been gleefully throwing water on the hype of people who expected this to be the next Shirobako. After all, how likely is it for lightning to strike twice, especially considering Mizushima is not in the director’s seat? Surely it was all just wishful thinking, I want a S2 of Shirobako as much as everyone but I just don’t trust anime. Well consider me fucking told, since apparently among the parties wishing for more Shirobako is P.A. Works, and unlike the anitwitterati they can make it happen. The actual brand name seems to be reserved for a Mizushima project, but I would have no trouble believing that Sakura Quest is a spinoff about Aoi’s sister in the boonies; Shirobako Sunshine, if you will. The initial setup is mirrored here; Yoshino is not a young professional starting her dream job, but a young professional unable to score a dream job (or any job) so she settles for a random one she’s very skeptical of, but will undoubtedly learn to love. Apart from that, well, it’s Shirobako: The positive tone, the large cast of likeable oddballs, the relatable writing about post-highschool problems, and it even looks completely identical. I’ll still be realistic about it: Shirobako isn’t great for what its ideas were, but for how thoroughly it delivered in the long run, and this is by no means guaranteed to also happen with Sakura Reset Quest. For an episode 1 though, it’s like a dream come true, and P.A. are setting themselves up for seasonal double domination with this and Uchouten Kazoku S2.

Souryo to Majiwaru Shikiyoku no Yoru ni

Enough gushing, here’s 5 minutes of porn. Okay, it’s josei porn so there may still be gushing involved if you know what I mean, nyuk nyuk. Er, sorry about that. Sooooo there’s a sexually frustrated woman who meets her school crush who’s now a priest, and then they fuck. With a staff made up mostly of (non-josei, but hey) hentai OVA veterans, there is really only one way this could go. I appreciate the brazenness as usual, but I really don’t know how much steamy harlequin romance tailored to TV broadcast standards I want to watch.

Tsugumomo

I’ve seen some warnings about Tsugumomo based on its source material which is a manga with 1. a very high level of art quality and 2. content that has been described as “makes To-Love Ru Darkness look family friendly”. This may explain why it has not been licensed. It doesn’t explain why this first episode is fairly tame though; sure, it’s very much an ecchi comedy, but you get those from time to time and Tsugumomo is not any more raunchy than what I’m used to seeing (and it accomplishes this even without obvious BD-advert censoring). That incidentally also removes any reason to watch it: The plot is as basic “guy gets magical girlfriend for purposes of fights and/or walking in on her naked in the bath” from 15 years ago as they come, and it’s suspiciously well animated, but not well enough for that to be a selling point. Maybe it will get real skeevy eventually, I won’t be around to find out.

Warau Salesman NEW

Warau Salesman starts strong with ultra cool, Saul Bass-inspired opening credits, but that’s about all it has to offer. It’s based on a “black comedy” manga from the 60s by one of the Doraemon authors, and oh boy can you tell. Not only are the character designs 60s-tastic (so at least the Osomatsu-san fujos can schlick to something while they wait for the S2 of that), but so are the sensibilities: The titular salesman goes around tempting frustrated office workers with doing something moderately irresponsible, such as drinking in your lunch break or spending above your means, and then ruins their life when they actually do it. It’s like Twilight Zone written by your HR department. In the 60s. This stuff would have been outdated even in 1989, when it was animated for the first time – hence the “NEW”. I don’t know, it just seems mean-spirited, obvious and pointless, and most importantly I put the “black comedy” in quotes because in addition to not being very black, it’s not funny in any way, and unlike regular anime comedy I can’t even see what’s supposed to be funny.

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