rieshon

[rieshon]

Best of 2019

It wouldn't be a best of the year post if it wasn't hopelessly late.

10: Shinchou Yuusha ~Kono Yuusha ga Ore TUEEE Kuse ni Shinchou Sugiru~ ∥ White Fox ∥ Dir. Sakoi Masayuki: The title makes this sound like it could be terrible but this series has a Konosuba-like aplomb that makes it one of the best comedies of the year. Toyosaki Aki is absolutely brilliant as the shithead damegami Listarte and the animation consistently matches her over-the-top comedic masterclass. The show even has a real ending; opinion is split but I found it surprisingly satisfying.

9: Babylon ∥ Revoroot ∥ Dir. Suzuki Kiyotaka: This is the first Strand-type anime. Babylon is incredibly hard to describe and, having only seen it once, I'm not even fully confident in saying what it's about. It is a wild ride that meditates on some serious themes and seems to come to conclusions that won't be entirely comfortable for a lot of readers. This is one you really have to experience for yourself.

8: Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari ∥ Kinema Citrus ∥ Dir. Abo Takao: The most discoursed-about series of 2019 ends up being a surprisingly mature take on the isekai tensei genre. Like the best entries in the genre it features a protagonist who is deeply flawed and Naofumi's journey to learning to trust and love again is genuinely moving. It definitely does come off a bit like an incel fantasy at first but it is ultimately way more nuanced than that could ever suggest. Also, Raphtalia is best wife.

7: Kouya no Kotobuki Hikoutai ∥ Gemba ∥ Dir. Mizushima Tsutomu: Tsutomu, you son of a bitch, you did it again. While Kotobuki doesn't reach the rareified air of Garupan (pun not intended) it is very much in the same vein, and offers unending joy to any nerd who loves warplanes or just aviation in general. The script from the always-excellent Yokote Michiko is tight and compelling and gives a genuinely interesting backdrop to the frenetic plane action. Kotobuki is an excellent example of the power of showing rather than telling, something anime is woefully bad at: the fact that Kotobuki's isekai setting is never really expounded on makes it that much more interesting.

6: Hitori Bocchi no Marumaru Seikatsu ∥ C2C ∥ Dir. Anzai Takefumi: If Katsuwo's other work to be adapted into anime, Mitsuboshi Colors, is about being a child, then Bocchi is about the fraught transition from childhood into early adulthood. The titular Hitori Bocchi will be a frighteningly relatable character (my comment for the first episode on my blog was 'We Are All Bocchi') but unlike other series clearly aimed at alienated nerds, the show never feels sorry for Bocchi and most importantly, Bocchi doesn't feel sorry for herself. The show is explicitly about the importance of stepping outside of your comfort zone and although it's hard for Bocchi to do this, with the help of her friends she's able to work up the courage necessary to grow from a scared child into a functioning young adult. Also she's cute as fuck.

5: Machikado Mazoku ∥ J.C. Staff ∥ Dir. Sakurai Hiroaki: This is one of the best Kirara anime in ages. Kohara Konomi and Kitou Akari are a wonderful comedic combination, and Shamiko is probably the cutest girl of the whole year. She's pretty much the definition of the phrase "moe through helplessness" which makes her quest to be an evil demon truly hilarious. Like all the best Kirara anime, Machikado Mazoku slowly becomes a yuri anime as Momo's character develops and it becomes increasingly clear that she's just hard gay for Shamiko. I could watch these two be tsundere for each other forever.

4: Joshikousei no Mudazukai ∥ Passione ∥ Dir. Takahashi Takeo: There were a lot of excellent comedies this year and I always find them hard to review. Where Mudazukai particularly excels is the crassness of its characters: like the title suggests these aren't your typical cutesy anime JKs. They crack dirty jokes, take the piss out of each other, and feel more genuinely like friends than a lot of high school girls in anime. Akasaki Chinatsu in particular is pitch-perfect as 'Baka,'  its like she was born to be stupid. Probably the funniest show of the year, even though I have one comedy ranked above it.

3: Senkizesshou Symphogear XV ∥ Satelight ∥ Dir. Ono Katsumi: The fact that a Symphogear series could end up this high on the rankings is something like a miracle. After years of me shitting all over it for incomprehensible plotlines and disposable characters, they somehow not only fixed it in the last season, but even retroactively redeemed some of the elements from those shitty third and fourth seasons and created some of the most thrilling moments of the year in the process. It even goes as far as to reach back to the first season and address the latent themes of Japanese nationalism that have always hung over the show in resolving Tsubasa's character arc. XV delivers such a satisfying conclusion that it fully justifies the past six years spent on developing the Symphogear series in a way I never thought possible. It's a beautiful thing to behold.

2: Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai ~Tensai-tachi no Ren'ai Zunousen~ ∥ A-1 Pictures ∥ Dir. Hatakeyama Mamoru: The romantic comedy is probably the most prolific genre in late night anime, and Kaguya-sama stands shoulder to shoulder with the greats. Everything from the voice acting (Koga Aoi should be a superstar, and Kohara Konomi is already on her way to being a household name) to the animation to the direction to the writing is superb. Kaguya even delivers in spades in the "romantic" side of "romantic comedy" which isn't something every rabukome can say. The number of series that I can say have made me cry from laughing and from emotion is pretty small, but Kaguya is proudly among them.

1: Araburu Kisetsu no Otome-domo yo ∥ Lay-duce ∥ Dir. Andou Masahiro & Tsukada Takurou: After all these years, Okada Mari has finally delivered her magnum opus. There has perhaps never been a more frank discussion of female adolescent sexuality than Araoto, drawing heavily as it does from Okada's own lived experience as a confused and bullied teenager. These girls are fragile people who are walking a knife's edge between childhood and adulthood, and they don't always keep their balance. As someone who didn't grow up as a girl, it's not something I can intrinsically understand, but it's a testament to Okada's writing that Araoto MAKES you understand what it's like to be a teenage girl going through puberty. It's ugly, it's dangerous, it's scary, and... it's something every woman goes through. Araoto deftly tackles themes of discovering ones sexuality, homosexuality, and the pressure put on young women by a society that both sexualizes them against their will but also demands that they remain chaste and pure. It is unlike almost anything else that's ever been made in this medium, and that's why it's my anime of the year.

Honorable mentions... Like I said above, this was a strong year for comedy so some good series didn't make the cut. Ueno-san wa Bukiyou was a great showcase for Serizawa Yuu's comedic chops (which us Pripara fans have known about for years) and featured some of the most memorable gags of the year... Kemurikusa saw Tatsuki triumphantly return to television with his first full length work since Kemono Friends, and I frankly found it to be better than Kemofure; a truly enjoyable work of post-apocalyptic science fiction... Speaking of science fiction, I also feel compelled to mention Kanata no Astra, which seemed underappreciated but ended up being an extremely well-written SF series. Of course, we also have to mention Kono Yo no Hate de Koi wo Utau Shoujo YU-NO if we're talking about science fiction; I didn't particularly like YU-NO's second half that much, but it's worth watching if only to understand where so much of modern anime comes from in the first place.

The awards go to...

Best Actress: Koga Aoi as Shinomiya Kaguya, Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai. I mentioned above that this girl should be a superstar, and it's frankly absurd that she hasn't gotten more leading roles considering the considerable talent she shows off as Kaguya. She's a one-woman wrecking crew in this series, with her ability to effortlessly straddle the range between "cold and detached psychopath" and "petulant 8 year old throwing a tantrum" being the lynchpin of a lot of the series fundamental humor.

(Honorable mention: Akasaki Chinatsu as "Baka," Joshikousei no Mudazukai; Yukino Satsuki as Magase Ai, Babylon)

Newcomer Seiyuu of the Year: Kohara Konomi. It's a sweep for Kaguya-sama, and the voice acting is a big part of the reason that show was so exceptional. It kind of feels like cheating to give this to someone who's already played a Precure, but Toei were just really ahead of the curve on this one. 'Koko-chan' exploded onto the scene in 2019 between her roles as Fujiwara-shoki and Shamiko in Machikado Mazoku, with a distinctive vocal style and a knack for comedic delivery. Several of the most memetic lines of the year, like Fujiwara's "Don da yo!" and Shamiko's "Kore de katta to omou nayo!" come courtesy of her, and I feel like that ability to stick in people's minds is a testament to her level of talent. Though I gave Koga the nod overall for her performance as Kaguya, it's clear that Kohara is the one the industry has earmarked for future success with the level of prominence she's had over the past year or so, so she gets this award.

(Honorable mention: Fairouz Ai. "Fai-chan" made a splash thanks to her unusual background, but she's also proven to be a talented actress after appearing from seemingly out of nowhere to play Hibiki in the Onegai Muscle anime. It's out of the scope of this post, but she really made an impression in Oshibudo as Eripiyo, but her body of work is still too thin for her to win this award outright. She's shown she has a knack for the funny with her brusque and aggressive delivery, but I'd really like to hear her as a dramatic lead sometime soon.)

[rieshon]

Spring 2020 Power Rankings

Spring 2020 Power Rankings

Well this will be an easy post. Anything that had its conclusion delayed until Summer due to The Big Fuckle will just be ranked with the rest of that season.

1. Otome Game no Hametsu Flag shika nai Akuyaku Reijou ni Tensei Shiteshimatta...: Anyone who knows me knows ojousamas are one of my favorite things. They have been since before I even knew the word "ojousama." So obviously this series, featuring an excellent Uchida Maaya as an exceptionally gay ojou, is my jam. The premise is interesting enough, but really I'm just here for the yuri and the Taso noises (and Catarina's earrings) and they're all great. ★★★★☆

2. Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai? ~Tensai-tachi no Ren'ai Zunousen~: The question mark is the part that denotes this is a sequel, which also means it can't be AOTS by tradition, but Kaguya-sama is just as good as the first season in every way. This season introduces a new character to the main cast, adding Tomita Miyu to an ensemble that represents some of anime's brightest young stars, with Koga Aoi and Kohara Konomi reprising their virtuosic performances of some of the best comedic material you'll find in this medium. It's a good anime. ★★★★☆

3. Mewkledreamy: With the death of Aikatsu this could have been a very depressing year for little girls' anime, but Sanrio and J.C. Staff were there to save us with this mastapeece. This show's pedigree can be traced back through Milky Holmes, and it definitely shows in its manic, rapid-fire comedic delivery. The mahou shoujo elements of the show are weirdly treated as a bit of an afterthought (mahou shoujo Kotoko when) and the series excels more as a kind of romantic comedy with magical elements. Yuni-sama is the best character though. ★★★★☆

4. Namiyo Kiitekure: I only watch mature anime for mature adults such as myself. Even in a medium with an outsized number of female protagonists, Namiyo's Koda Minare is unique: an adult woman full of flaws who is really kind of just a piece of shit, working a dead-end job and trying to pick up the pieces of her life after a bad breakup. The show is ostensibly about the radio industry, but of course that's not what it's REALLY about. ★★★☆☆

5. Jashin-chan Dropkick': The sequel for Jashin-chan, everyone's favorite murderous half-snake moe shithead, is weird because it does the last thing I ever expected it to try: character development. Jashin-chan is still a jackass but after spending so much time living with Yurine against her will, she's started to become more apathetic about her situation and is settling into the role of being more a shitty roommate than an evil god. This is even explicitly addressed at the end of the series where Jashin-chan's friends make fun of her because it seems like she actually doesn't want to go back to Hell anymore. It's really cute to see Jashin-chan actually being a good friend to her friends or opening up to Yurine, but of course she also still does shit like blast Holst's Planets into Yurine's ears when she's sleeping. She's still an evil snek, just a cuter one. ★★★☆☆

6. Yesterday wo Utatte: Oh shit, did someone say SENTIMENTAL SEISHUN DRAMA? You know I was all over this. There's some stuff that makes this series stand out, like the gorgeous presentation and the fact that it's set in the 90's, but really it's just that good "relationships are hard" seishun shit that I never get tired of. It also features an actually believable love triangle where all the characters involved actually grow and change as a result of the events of the series, and that resolves itself in a way that is both logical and emotionally satisfying. It's like an actual writer wrote this. ★★★☆☆

7. Princess Connect Re:Dive: I don't know if an actual writer wrote this one, but it's got Kyaru. Adapting social games into anime is a thankless task. You got a gorillion characters, but you can't possibly work them all into the story so you need to cram as many of the popular ones in as you can while still trying to tell a coherent story. The most obvious way to do this is with an omnibus, heroines-of-the-week kind of story which is what you get with Priconne. It's not really anything special but Kyaru and Pecorinne are likable (and shippable) enough characters to draw just enough of a thread through these somewhat random stories to hold it together. Pudding ghost is best girl though, she can turn me into pudding anytime. ★★☆☆☆

8. Kakushigoto: This series really feels like two stories in one, a feeling that's maybe made more extreme by its use of a frame story that takes place in a different temporal setting. When Kakushigoto is good it's Kumeta's comedy doing what it does, complete with Kamiya Hiroshi doing everything short of yelling "Zetsubou shita!" at his turns of bad fortune. The premise is funny, the characters are good, and it's a good comedy anime. Then it backs out into the frame story where it's like... a drama about a dead mom and shit? Not only did it make you think "please go back to the funny part" it literally didn't make sense at the end. Still enjoyable though, and Rasuna was hot. ★★☆☆☆

Yep that's all the Spring anime, everything else got roni'd.

[rieshon]

Winter 2020 Power Rankings

Time to catch up on writing some good old Power Rankings.

1. Eizouken ni wa Te wo Dasu na!: It's hard not to fall for Eizouken's infectious love for all aspects of the art of animation. They even pay respect to the people who make sound effects. I respect Yuasa, but most of his works don't really appeal to me--but Eizouken can be appreciated by anyone who's ever loved a piece of animation. ★★★★☆

2. Oshi ga Budoukan Ittekuretara Shinu: The first law of idol anime is they're always better than you think they will be. I had high hopes for Oshibudo and it still managed to exceed them. Idols and yuri are not an uncommon combination (even if it's usually just subtext) but Oshibudo manages to mix lesbian themes with the purest and most genuine depiction of idol fandom possible to make a truly delicious gay idol smoothie. ★★★★☆

3. 22/7: Speaking of idol anime always overperforming... I thought this would be a 'so bad it's good' show based on its first episode but instead it's just so good its good. A compellingly weird frame story that plays with criticism of idols just enough to be interesting props up an impeccably well done anthology series about several girls and their disparate paths to the idol industry. Some of the eps are magical, some are relative duds, but the sum of it all is an incredibly endearing series. ★★★☆☆

4. SHOW BY ROCK!! Mashumairesshu!!: Speaking of gay idols... The original Show By Rock was an okay series with yuri subtext that I mostly liked because Ayaneru was in it, but this spinoff trims all the fat from that series and delivers pure gay band girls and it's brilliant. No weird sci-fi drama, no laser fights between CGI gerbils, just some extremely gay girls starting a band. ★★★☆☆

5. Itai no wa Iya nanode Bougyoryoku ni Kyokufuri Shitai to Omoimasu.: At the risk of sounding like a broken record, Oonuma Shin always fucking delivers. Boufuri comes off as a boring MMORPG anime at first, but as a truly admirable "commitment to the bit" sees our protagonist Maple grow to literally God-like strength, it starts to worm its way into your heart. There's some great moments like Maple turning into a mech or a fluffball or fucking around and breaking sidequests, but for the most part it's just an extremely competent anime made by, still, the most underrated director in the business. ★★★☆☆

6. Koisuru Asteroid: It's a shame for a Kirara anime to ever be described with the term "disappointing" but Asteroid just doesn't deliver enough astronomy or geology and has way too much melodrama. The girls are still cute as fuck and it definitely hits most of the good Kirara anime notes, but it's decidedly a second-tier Kirara series. Also I'm still mad at them for ruining Suzu's hair. ★★★☆☆

7. Rikei ga Koi ni Ochita no de Shoumei Shite Mita: This is definitely a funny premise, but it's also one of those comedy shows where they really only have one joke that they do over and over. Still, it's hard not to enjoy Amamiya Sora as a cool and standoffish science babe, and by the time the gag is getting old the show wraps up with a surprisingly strong resolution to the romantic tension in the series. ★★★☆☆

8. ID:INVADED: This is the kind of show I almost never actually watch, but every so often I stumble upon one of these male-led action-thrillers that really manages to tickle my fancy. ID takes a compelling premise--it's like Minority Report except the detectives have to solve weird metafictional puzzles in scenarios derived from the psyches of the killers--and spins it out into an enjoyable science fiction action-adventure romp. As a piece of sf it doesn't say much more than "me am play gods," but it manages to be genuinely cool in premise and execution and also has a cute loli BBA. ★★★☆☆

9. Kuutei Dragons: CG anime conspiracy continues with this well made adventure story about whaling but it's in the sky. Unfortunately its addressing of the ethics of whaling is too wishy-washy to be interesting and it has some weird tonal stuff like setting up a "dude saves girl from prostitution" plot arc and then just not doing it so we just have to assume she like... goes back to whoring herself I guess? But this is never even addressed? It's weird, but the show has some pretty beautiful visuals for a CGI show and the ending arc is pretty satisfying. It queerbaited me with that Za-san character though. ★★★☆☆

10. Magia Record Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica Gaiden: Madoka is probably in my top ten anime of all time, so just the existence of a shitty cash-in mobile game based on it pains me, much less seeing the entire franchise pivoting to selling it instead of more actual Madoka. Magia Record is bad in multiple dimensions; not only is it a poor imitation of the original masterpiece in both style and tone, the writing takes some truly disastrous turns with respect to the original series's canon. But I'mma be real with you... Yachiyo is the hottest anime girl of the year and she's hard gay for Iroha. So two stars. ★★☆☆☆

11. Murenase! Seton Gakuen: It feels like there's A LOT of "animal people" shows lately... This is another one. The girls in this are enjoyable thanks to great character designs from Sasaki Masakatsu who always manages to impart a very understated but tangible lewdness to all his characters. ★★☆☆☆

12. Kyokou Suiri: I really like 'talking anime' and I really loved listening to Kitou Akari talk for almost the entire runtime of this whole series. She's definitely a real one. It was also nice to see a romance with a cute disabled character whose disability is only really there in the background. Kotoko was just cute as fuck with an impeccable fashion sense. The story is kind of meh, especially once it gets into the meat of the Koujin Nanase arc, but it's worth it just to see Kotoko and Kurou's cute interactions. ★★☆☆☆

13. Nekopara: I wish Nekopara was better, and lewder, especially given that the franchise literally has its origins in porn doujinshi, but it still has lots of cute cat girls. Even if they do live in Saudi Catrabia. Maple is best cat. ★★☆☆☆

14. Ishuzoku Reviewers: The fact that this show became such a sensation is truly a testament to the power of anime tiddies. Unfortunately the character designs in this show do very little for me even when the characters are ones that aren't objectionably weird (which is infrequent) which is pretty much a fatal flaw for an anime that's supposed to be all about getting horny and nutting. Too thicc for me, man. I admire its gumption but in the end I didn't actually enjoy the show that much. I did learn the Japanese word for "cloaca" though. ★☆☆☆☆

[rieshon]

Fall 2019 Power Rankings

1. Shinchou Yuusha ~Kono Yuusha ga Ore TUEEE Kuse ni Shinchou Sugiru~: I thought this show had no chance based on the concept but thanks to a masterclass comedic performance from Toyosaki Aki it ended up being the best show of the season. It even had a real ending and everything. ★★★★☆

2. Bokutachi wa Benkyou ga Dekinai!: I didn't expect Bokuben to actually end, but all the heroines got some nice wrap-up arcs and Furuhashi was the best girl as ever. One of the great rabukomes of recent years. ★★★★☆

3. Babylon: Boy did I never expect us to be here. The first strand-type anime must truly be seen to be believed. ★★★☆☆

4. Houkago Saikoro Club: Cute girls playing board games cutely is already an amazing concept, but Midori is waifu tier and puts this show over the top. Tomita Miyu is rapidly becoming too powerful. ★★★☆☆

5. Watashi, Nouryoku wa Heikinchi de tte Itta yo ne!: This is probably my least favorite Oota Masahiko anime, but it's still in fifth because the comedy god always delivers. ★★★☆☆

6. Sword Art Online Alicization War of Underworld: Alicization went abruptly in another direction with its second half and it was dearly needed; the sidelining of Kirito and elevation of Asuna into the main action finally made SAO hype again. ★★★☆☆

7. Hataage! Kemono Michi: This was such a weird show, but it had lots of cute girls with and without kemomimi. ★★★☆☆

8. Fate/Grand Order -Zettai Majutsu Sensen Babylonia-: If we were rating just on animation quality F/GO would win everything, but unfortunately the story is just stupid and bad. If you like sakuga (and tsundere Ueda Kana characters), though, this one is can't-miss. ★★★☆☆

9. Nurupeta: Speaking of weird... This cute short about a beeg beeg oneechan went in directions I never expected. ★★★☆☆

10. Azur Lane: Could be higher if not for the production spaghetti that hit it late, but despite it Azur Lane still manages to nail the cute girls doing cool things genre. ★★☆☆☆

11. Mairimashita! Iruma-kun: When this show hits, it really hits thanks to the blessed Pripara combi of Moriwaki Makoto and Fudeyasu Kazuyuki, but the source material is not very good and it shows at times. Just give me more Clara and kaichou. ★★☆☆☆

12. Rifle is Beautiful: This show was a real underdog but somehow came back to make wiimote rifle actually compelling. ★★☆☆☆

13. Val x Love: This rabukome is hampered by an unappealing male protagonist but the girls are pretty stronk. ★★☆☆☆

14. Assassin's Pride: I really wanted to love this show because it has a wonderful aesthetic and a great Ayaneru character, but the story is not really there. Lots of good flat chested girls though. ★★☆☆☆

15. Choujin Koukousei-tachi wa Isekai demo Yoyuu de Ikinuku you desu!: If you read the title you can probably tell this show has an incredibly dumb premise, but the author of one of my favorite shows of the last decade (Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry) somehow salvages it into something at least moderately worth watching. ★★☆☆☆

16. Ore wo Suki na no wa Omae dake kayo: Cute girls, dumb story, it is a tale as old as time. How come my favorite heroines always get tunred into the comic relief? Cosmos-senpai didn't deserve this. ★☆☆☆☆

[rieshon]

Summer 2019 Power Rankings

1. Araburu Kisetsu no Otomedomo yo.: The best anime about horny teenagers and Okada Mari's best work this side of mom movie. Have gone back and forth on giving it a five, it's four for now but a truly memorable series. ★★★★☆

2. Joshikousei no Mudazukai: High school girls are shitheads in one of the funniest anime I've seen in a long time. Akasaki Chinatsu was born to play giant dumbasses, fitting that her character here is literally called Baka. ★★★★☆

3. Senkizesshou Symphogear XV: This series somehow redeemed itself and delivered a final season with a hype level higher than it's ever achieved before. Really made suffering through the last couple bad seasons worth it. ★★★★☆

4. Machikado Mazoku: Yet another great Kirara anime, one of the best in recent years in fact. Shamiko is the definition of moe through helplessness and Momo is a big gay cutie. Could almost be upgraded to a four in the future. ★★★☆☆

5. Dumbbell Nan Kilo Moteru?: This anime is supposed to make you want to work out but it just makes me want to JO. That's why it's good though. Immaculately good animation and Tachibana-sensei is the best girl, but listening to Fairouz Ai yell is a special experience. ★★★☆☆

6. Vinland Saga: The rare dude anime that I actually like thanks to its interesting historical setting and great production values. ★★★☆☆

7. Tejina Senpai: The cutest Hondo Kaede senpai is probably the lewdest girl of the season. The comedy doesn't always land but who cares when there's a big tiddied senpai around. ★★★☆☆

8. Kanata no Astra: This show was the surprise of the season, with a surprisingly well-woven plot, actual character development and a satisfying ending in a nice sci-fi package. ★★☆☆☆

9. Sounan Desu ka?: Still more proof that you can make a show about JKs doing literally anything and it will be good. ★★☆☆☆

10. Granbelm: It's a typical Hanada Jukki anime, which can be good or bad depending on your perspective. This one definitely has his typical melodramatic flair but it's pretty effective at times. Also, Hikasa Youko turns in one of the best single performances of the year as the redheadm, and Yuuki Aoi knocks her role out of the park too. ★★☆☆☆

11. Lord El-Melloi Nisei no Jikenbo: It has lots of good channees, but I didn't find the mystery stuff very interesting throughout. There's also some Fate stuff I guess. If you liked Waver/Rider in Fate/Zero there's some fanservice for that in here too. ★★☆☆☆

12. Tsuujou Kougeki ga Zentai Kougeki de Nikai Kougeki no Okaasan wa Suki desuka?: I love moms and I love Kayano Ai and I LOVE Kayano Ai as a mom, but unfortunately Mamako is not actually a good mom character and it drags this entire enterprise down. Nice animation though. ★★☆☆☆

13. Cop Craft: This started off as one of the best shows of the season, and I still think the writing is great, but then the budget evaporated. ★☆☆☆☆

14. Nakanohito Genome [Jikkyouchuu]: My main man Oonuma Shin comes through again, turning a show that I should have rightly hated into a fun and unique romp. Still not a great show, but with the concept it had, it was way more entertaining than I ever expected. And Roromori was good. ★☆☆☆☆

15. Dungeon ni Deai wo Motomeru no wa Machigatteiru Darou ka II: They didn't even go in the dungeon the whole time. Lovely JC Staff production values but the entire story feels like a pointless exercise. I liked the brown girls. ★☆☆☆☆

[rieshon]

Fall 2019 Preview

Hard to believe it's the last season of the year already, this year has been a pretty wild one for me.

Bokutachi wa Benkyou ga Dekinai 2nd season: More of a highly competent rabukome with adorable heroines is always welcome. Furuhashi best girl.

Azur Lane: As far as shitty gacha phone games go, Azur Lane is about as good as an actual game as you can hope to get. Of course, that won't have any bearing on whether the anime is good. Like most of these games, Azur Lane is full of godlike characters rotting away uselessly in a shitty game, so I hope they can free them into something worthwhile. Yandere Akagi gives me life. It's being directed by Tenshou so let's just hope he doesn't put it in 21:9 aspect ratio.

Sword Art Online Alicization War of Underworld: As much as the first half of SAOA tried to be as boring as possible, I'm still excited for this for some reason. It will probably just make me want to rewatch the first season though.

Watashi, Nouryoku wa Heikinchi de tte Itta yo ne!: This is that isekai show that fucked up by making the main character way cuter before she gets isekai'd. But it is an all-girl cast which means it's probably going to be right up my alley. project No.9 carrying two projects this season makes me nervous, though...

Ore ga Suki Nanowa Omae Dake Kayo: I always get my hopes up for LN anime and this is one I've seen decently well-reviewed for a while. It has those stronk Buriki character designs and a stellar cast so my boner, at least, is ready.

Aikatsu On Parade!: I'm devastated that Friends, my favorite joji anime since Pripara, is ending, but at least Aine and Mio will still be sticking around for this new series I guess... Unfortunately, the nostalgia act doesn't have a lot in it for me because I still haven't watched all of the old Aikatsus.

Kandagawa JET GIRLS: They made Wave Racer into a real thing. I wasn't overly interested in this but then I looked at the character tab and saw the ojousama character and gah DAMN. GAH DAMN. And then I saw the rest of the characters. BRUH.

Houkago Saikoro Club: Cute girls play board games? Hell yeah. The glasses girl looks especially good.

Kataage! Kemonomichi: Holy shit, an isekai written by the author of Konosuba about a pro wrestler going to the isekai and suplexing everything? And the original character designs are by based Mo-suke? If this is even half as funny as Konosuba it'll be godlike.

Val x Love: A sci-fi anime where the only way to save the world is ichaicha with a bunch of cute sisters? Yep this is my jam. Some of the girls look extremely good and there's a nice diversity among the heroines. You got your lolis, your JKs, your channees, your anime moms. It's got something for everyone. 9/10 from IGN.

Assassin's Pride: It's cute girls with swords. The girls look good and it's got a sadistic-looking Ayaneru girl with drill hair, so what more could I possibly ask for?

Rifle Is Beautiful: Isn't it though? Unfortunately this show isn't about real guns but some kind of dumb laser rifle sport. But I'm all for shows about cute girls doing weird random hobbies, of course.

Choujin Koukousei-tachi wa Isekai demo Yoyuu de Ikinuku you desu!: It's all right there in the title. There is a blonde channee looking character voiced by Hiichan who looks absolutely yabai so I'm excited for this one. It looks like project No.9 have gotten their shit back together after Pasmemo and the animation is back up to par.

Fate/Grand Order -Zettai Majuu Sensen Babylonia-: First thing's first: fuck FGO, fuck gacha, and fuck everyone who supports this game financially for being the literal cancer killing everything I love. That said, we all know the animation is going to go absolutely HAM with all that Sony money, and I have lots of Ishtar doujins, so I'm still gonna download and watch it. Goddamnit.

Shinchou Yuusha ~Kono Yuusha ga Ore TUEEEE Kuse ni Shinchou Sugiru~: It's never good when the title of the show makes it sound like it has exactly one (1) joke that it's going to beat to death, but it's got Toyosaki Aki as a cute blonde princess so maybe it will be good.

Z/X Code reunion: The title of this show is so generic I can't remember if this is a sequel to something or not. At any rate, I see lots of cute girls, so I'll give it a try.

Phantasy Star Online 2 Episode Oracle: Gonzo is still around and now they're making this. I can't imagine a universe where this show is good, but I do see a channee with glasses...

Nurupeta: Would be better if it was tsurupeta, but it's still cute robot anime. Probably will be a short.

Babylon: What a good show to put on right when the FGO Babylon anime is airing. Anyway, why do all these streaming shows feel the same? Like they're trying way too hard to be 'for adults.' This has no girls, but I do like a good mystery, so MAYBE I'll check it out if there's a severe lack of things to watch this season.

No Guns Life: Wow they made an anime about me. I don't actually want to watch this I just wanted to make that joke. The trailer is boring. How do you make a man who is a gun boring?

[rieshon]

Spring 2019 Power Rankings

I almost forgot to do this. Unfortunately I barely finished anything due to being gone for five weeks but here they are.

1 Hitori Bocchi no Marumaru Seikatsu: Based Katsuwo does it again, the bocchi gang is as cute as any gang could be and Bocchi herself is the best role model. Aru is the best girl though. ★★★★☆

2 Bokutachi wa Benkyou ga Dekinai: It's got cute girls, it's got good jokes, it's got surprisingly good rabukome elements. Furuhashi as wannabe matchmaker is adorable. ★★★☆☆

3 Kono Yo no Hate de Koi wo Utau Shoujo YU-NO: The best channees not just of the season but in a long time, plus a fun science fiction plot. I'm trying to not rate this based on what I know about the second half since this is Spring power rankings. ★★★☆☆

4 Sewayaki Kitsune no Senko-san: I feel like I didn't get to appreciate this properly since I had to watch the second half all at once, but that feel when no kitsune housewife. ★★★☆☆

5 Midara na Ao-chan wa Benkyou ga Dekinai: Ao-chan is cute and horny and this was one of the most surprisingly funny shows of the season. ★★★☆☆

6 Yatogame-chan Kansatsu Nikki: This might have only been a 4 minute anime but it had some of the best animation of the season and Nagoya joeks. ★★★☆☆

7 Choukadou Girl 1/6 Amazing Stranger: Far from being the second coming of Busou Senki, this was a surprisingly touching story about uh, a guy and his action figure wives. You gotta love anime. ★★☆☆☆

8 Senryuu Shoujo: Unfortunately I never really liked the main girl in this outside of the last episode, but it's got a strong supporting cast. Especially Koto-nee who needed more deban. ★★☆☆☆

9 Kenja no Mago: I really expected to drop this, but between some unreasonably dank animation and the sheer ridiculousness of the writing, it was pretty enjoyable. Kenja no Mago is self-aware, but never winks at the camera too hard. ★★☆☆☆

10 One Punch Man (2nd season): It didn't have enough Tatsumaki. Garou is a cool character though. Animation not as hype as the Madhouse version, sadly. ★☆☆☆☆

[rieshon]

Winter 2019 Power Rankings

Abbreviated post because I was in Japan when I should have been finishing this post. Also no Summer preview post for obvious reasons.

1 Kouya no Kotobuki Hikoutai: Airplanes are my fetish and Mizushima Tsutomu continues to prove he is an anime god made flesh. Yuria is the best girl but it’s the planes I really want to fug. ★★★★☆

2 Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai: Ojousama moe is a high tier moe and Kaguya-sama is a high tier ojousama, kind of like the comedy in this show. Best comedic narration since Sabagebu. ★★★★☆

3 Watashi ni Tenshi ga Maiorita!: It’s a loli show but the best character is the oneechan, go figure. Ueda Reina continues to be godlike as the lovably pathetic Mya-nee. ★★★★☆

4 Ueno-san wa Bukiyou: Would have been the funniest show of the season if not for Kaguya-sama, thanks in no small part to Serizawa Yuu flashing her considerable comedic chops again. Ueno-san is very cute and very lewd. ★★★★☆

5 Manaria Friends: It’s big gay love between a Hikasa Youko-voiced dork and a dragon, what’s not to love? The most atmospheric and arguably iyashi-kei show of the season (in most episodes anyway) and definitely the best thing to come out of Shingeki no Bahamut. ★★★★☆

6 Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari: It starts off kind of weird but Shield Bro (which is definitely its real title) ends up being the cute story of Naofumi and his cute wife Raphtalia and their cute kids Fat Birb and Deko Loli, and there’s a pretty compelling isekai story wedged in there somewhere too. ★★★☆☆

7 Gotoubun no Hanayome: Five wives burgers and fries is the best pure harem anime I’ve watched in a while; the girls all have competing motivations and interesting characters, but Ichika is the best one sorry it’s just a fact. ★★★☆☆

8 Kemurikusa: I actually like this better than Kemono Friends, come at me. Atmospheric and mysterious af and it has a moe Roomba. ★★★☆☆

9 revisions: Never expected to like this as much as I did but these 3DCG shows have a weird habit of over-performing. A fun mecha romp with some satisfying plot twists along the way. ★★★☆☆

10 Girly Air Force: I wish I could put this higher because I love the novels, but it’s a mediocre anime. At least I got to see Phantom animated and voiced by Izawa Shiori. ★★☆☆☆

11 Domestic na Kanojo: I was here to see a guy bang his hot Hiyocchi-voiced teacher and I got to see that. Good forbidden love dragged down a little bit by a lame ending. ★★☆☆☆

12 Kakegurui XX: I still like this show and its lewd lips but the second season was definitely not as hype as the first. The gambles keep getting more abstract and the plot less focused. I just wanna see Akagi but with boobs. ★★☆☆☆

13 Date A Live III: It’s a shame Kadokawa refuses to open up their checkbook for DAL because it’s a series that deserves better. Season 3 manages to be a fun enough watch even on the shoestring budget it was given, but it mostly makes me wish I had read the books instead. ★★☆☆☆

14 Endoro~!: I really wanted this to be a slow-paced honwaka fantasy life show, but it ended up being a fairly stock-standard fantasy comedy. Cute girls but the jokes didn’t always land. ★☆☆☆☆

15 Boogiepop wa Warawanai: As much as I wanted to like Boogiepop, the story left me confused more often than not. The soundtrack is the absolute star of the show, maybe put that on while you read the books. ★☆☆☆☆

16 Circlet Princess: Extremely dumb fantasy sport anime that I’m surprised I finished. The girl with the lab coat was cute. ☆☆☆☆☆

17 Egao no Daika: Bad show that had an inkling of a good idea but then turned out to unironically be about anarcho-primitivism. ☆☆☆☆☆

[rieshon]

Spring 2019 Preview

How the hell is there another season already. I was hoping for a light load this time around, but it looks like the anime gods will not be so kind. Bonus feature this season is all the titles are links to the shows’ official websites so you can click and look at the cute girls I mention.

Hitoribocchi no Marumaru Seikatsu: This is an adaptation of a Katsuwo manga, who is the guy who wrote the original for the brilliant Mitsuboshi Colors which ended up on my top ten of the year list last year. An all-female cast of adorable looking girls, a proven mangaka, and the usually-capable Hanada writing the scripts makes this one look like a pretty sure bet. Oh yeah it's also got a good looking deko blondenblu gaijin.

Joshikausei: I think this is a short, but all you need to really know about this show is the tagline on the website: おバカかわいい、この日常がたぶん青春. They got all my favorite words in there. Too bad it's a short, but I think it will be fifteen minutes at least.

Sewayaki Kitsune no Senko-san: This is one of those shows where you can probably guess exactly what it's going to be like from the title. It's cute kitsune wife (actual age: 800) and other girls in a rabukome animated by Douga Koubou... which is endorsement enough but it's also got Ayaneru as a meganekko joji anime otaku JD?? Hell yeah. The cast is actually fantastic: Waki Azumi, Mareitaso, Ayaneru and Kitaeri, and Suwabe Jun'ichi holds down the male protag fort so that should be good too. No reason to think this won't be great.

Kono Yo no Hate de Koi wo Utau Shoujo Yu-No: You wanna talk about some aesthetic, this is some aesthetic. It's an adaptation of the hugely influential PC-98 eroge of the same name, which was a work that in large part helped bring us the sort of complex science fiction and fantasy stories that would shape the golden age of that medium. With how much I've been lamenting the lack of 'that eroge aesthetic' in anime as of late, it should be obvious that I'm hype for this, and it's getting two cours from based feel. at that.

Fairy gone: Not gonna lie, I was kinda mad that this new P.A. Works original looks nothing like what they typically produce, but having seen the PV, it looks pretty good. Then I learned that the scripts are being written by the author of Grimgar, and I got hype. Fantasy plus WW2-ish shit is a good aesthetic (think Youjo Senki) and it's got the considerable might of a P.A. Works production behind it. The director of Suzuki Keiichi, who doesn't have a lot of credits but worked on the first season of the Jojo anime, which was great, so this one definitely seems like it could have all the ingredients to really pop off. The girls also look hot which is very important.

Nande Koko ni Sensei ga!?: With Hina-sensei of Domekano about to leave my life this show promises a much more concentrated injection of teacher moe into my veins... In fact it is all about lewd and cute senseis and they all look good. My only worry is that, as sometimes seems to happen with shows where the lewdness is put front and center, the animation doesn't really look like it's the best. I am grateful to this show for allowing Ishigami Shizuka to play a cute girl at least, even if she is still slightly typecast as the tomboy gym teacher.

Bokutachi wa Benkyou ga Dekinai: One of two shows about being a dumbass this season; in this one, everyone is a dumbass. It definitely looks like a standard harem anime, and I always need at least one of those a season to keep myself alive. The girls all look fantastic, but I'm especially excited for the pink-haired teacher character and the purple-haired loli BBA. There's also a delicious brown genki girl, a meganekko who wears kuropansuto... Yeah it's got all the good good ingredients. Oh yeah, it's also being directed by the guy who directed the extremely good Last Period anime last year, so it's got that going for it too.

Kenja no Mago: It's isekai tensei anime, and yes, it literally starts with the protagonist getting hit by truck-kun... But the PV ended up really winning me over, and I'm cautiously looking forward to this one. The premise is recycled, but there's nothing new under the sun anyway. It looks like it's got a decent sense of humor about it and the heroines look cute as hell, but it also looks like it's got some major production values being pumped into it. This show could definitely be a pleasant surprise.

Midara na Ao-chan wa Benkyou ga Dekinai: One of two shows about being a dumbass this season. This one has some good-looking character art courtesy of Silver Link, and one of a couple major leading roles for up-and-coming seiyuu Waki Azumi. The main girl looks extremely adorable and is apparently a pervert so I got hopes for this one to be good.

Senryuu Girl: We actually traditional Japanese arts now (a senryuu is a kind of poem similar to a haiku) but more importantly, cute girls. Za-san takes the leading role but there's also Sumipe as a chuuni looking girl, Kuno-chan, and Paisen, among others. The direction doesn't inspire confidence (this guy was behind the shittier latter seasons of Prisma Illya) but it still looks like a cute rabukome.

One Punch Man 2nd season: How can there be a second season when he already punched last time? He's all outta punches! In all seriousness, One Punch Man was a surprisingly enjoyable romp the first time around, thanks in no small part to the spectacular (especially for TV) animation on display. There is concern over it having moved from Madhouse to J.C. Staff for this season, but if J.C. are being given enough money to rustle up the same level of talent as last time it should hopefully still be a spectacle.

Yatogame-chan Kansatsu Nikki: Hougen marudashi no joshikousei! It's cute dialects anime!! That fishing anime had good dialects but it was actually a bad show; this looks like it will have a good dialect and be a good show. It should be cute if nothing else. The main heroine's thing is that she speaks Nagoya-ben, but given that the other heroines are listed as being from Gifu and Mie, maybe we will even get many dialects. Unfortunately, though, it's probably a short, since Creators in Pack are involved.

Nobunaga-sensei no Osanazuma: This is also a short (ten minutes) which is too bad because these girls look cute as heck. A show with a premise like this is really gonna depend on how likable the male protagonist is, though.

Hachigatsu no Cinderella Nine: Toukyou no chuusuu wa marunouchi, hibiya kouen ryougiin... Wait, wrong anime. But yes, like the venerable Taisho Yakyuu Musume of old, girls are playing baseball in anime again. This one is set in the modern day, and I have no idea if it's a fictional setting where girls all play baseball or if they're gonna do the Taisho thing and try to take down the baseball boys because the website still has no plot section. The character designs look good as hell though, coming courtesy of Noguchi Takayuki, who also did designs for Tenshi no 3P! (they were like the only good thing about that anime) and Shoujo-tachi wa Kouya wo Mezasu (similar). Hopefully this show has more than just good girls to ogle.

Shoumetsu Toshi: Only thing I really know about this is Ayaneru is in it because I've seen her doing promo work for it. The key visual definitely doesn't do it any favors, nor does the fact that it's apparently based on a mobile game, but man some of these character designs look great. Ayaneru plays some kind of moe gumshoe detective, Mingosu is a sexy lab coat channee, actually there's multiple sexy lab coat channees... Really that's all you have to tell me, I'm fucking in there. The show will probably be crap.

Carole & Tuesday: This looks very pretentious and vaguely like they're fishing for overseas viewers (actually they definitely are because the website even defaults to English when I load the site, which offends my sensibilities), but the PV does make it looks fairly interesting. It's another music focused series from Watanabe Shinichiro, who also tried to steal the hearts of the west with Sakamichi no Apollon in 2012, which was terrible. It might be neat though I guess. It does seem to have a black girl as one of the protagonists which is cool.

Isekai Quartet: I have no idea who asked for this, but if it gives me the opportunity to hear more of Amamiya Sora as Aqua while I wait for a third season of Konosuba, it can't be all bad. I ain't never seen no Overlord though, so a quarter of this is gonna be lost on me.

Strike Witches 501 Butai Hasshin Shimasu!: The title is appropriate because this short is basically an appetizer for the coming next wave of Strike Witches content. It's a cute honobono comedy starring the Strike Witches girls, so it'll probably be good. Hopefully this can remove from my mouth some of the bad tastes Brave Witches left. It won't be until next year that we get the return of Takamura-kantoku and true Strike Witches anime, though.

Araiya-san! ~Ore to Aitsu ga Onnayu de!?~: What the hell is this? Do they really have these in Japan? It's about a dude who washes girls in the bath?? Whatever the fuck is going on here, the girls look cute and it definitely promises to be lewd, at least on ComicFesta's own streaming service. MX version will probably have nazo no hikari, so hopefully the uncensored one pops up somewhere I can watch it.

Choukadou Girl 1/6: It's definitely impossible to not think of Frame Arms Girl when looking at this series, which will probably end up being an unfair comparison. For one, it looks like we got a shitty ass male protagonist instead of a cute girl. I remember how Busou Shinki turned out... Not having high hopes for this one.

Fruits Basket: Honestly, there's no way I'd be watching this if it didnt have such a famous name on the tin. Two ikemen danshi on the key visual is too many! Fruits Basket is a legend of shoujo manga, though, and there should be a lot of resources going into this new, full adaptation of the series, so I feel vaguely obligated to check it out. People are mad about the new character designs but the girls look pretty good, especially that blonde delinquent looking girl.

Sarazanmai: Uh-oh. It's Ikuhara anime. My consternation with Ikuhara is well documented, and although I've never seen his opus of Utena, I find his works, though visually compelling, to be frustratingly obscurantist, or to put it another way, "trying too hard." Still, you gotta give the guy credit for being unique I guess, so I'll still end up watching at least an episode, whatever the fuck it turns out to be about. Unfortunately there seems to be a major lack of girls to hold my interest, not to mention none to be lesbians, so it might not last very long.

Kono Oto Tomare!: It's koto anime. You can have an anime about anything and this is one about people who play the koto. Lots of traditional Japanese arts this season for some reason. Unlike the senryuu anime though, this one only has ONE measly female character, and it doesn't even look like she's the protagonist, so I probably won't watch it. The koto is cool though.

Kimetsu no Yaiba: This show looks like a big deal just from the number of stations it's airing on and the fact that it's a rare TV anime from Ufotable... Unfortunately I have little interest in actually watching it. It's a Shounen Jump series, the art makes it look edgy, it uses the word "zetsubou" in the tagline and I already hate the Hanae Natsuki-voiced boy protagonist just after seeing his face in the key visual. There is a cute looking oni girl though.

Gonna put these down here since it feels weird to rank what are essentially ongoing shows:

Aikatsu Friends! ~Kagayaki no Jewel~: Friends is the Aikatsu series that finally really got its claws in me, so I'm chuffed that we're getting a second season, with some sexy looking space idols voiced by Hiyocchi and Oonishi at that. The fact that there will apparently be a time skip has me a little worried, but also, two years older Mio and Maika are gonna be good. I'm sure it will still be great.

Kiratto! PriChan 2nd season: Unlike Aikatsu, Prichan doesn't seem like it's getting any major changes going into its second year, but I hope they shake it up with some new idols or something. Prichan's definitely not on the level of its predecessor (though little is) and its formula is getting a little stale, so hopefully they take this as a chance to rejuvenate it. Oshamatrix full idols now goddamnit.

[rieshon]

Best of 2018

Holy shit was this a hard year to write this. There were a few standouts that were always going to be at the top of this list, but that second tier of "really good" shows was really dense this year, and some series I absolutely loved weren't able to make the cut. Here are the ones that did.

10: Mitsuboshi Colors ∥ Silver Link. ∥ Dir. Kawamura Tomoyuki: Even as someone who watches children's anime, I have to say Mitsuboshi Colors was the purest celebration of childhood this year. Not only does this series let you see some of the most adorable girls this side of Ichigo Mashimaro, it really invites you to see their world through their eyes, creating a nostalgic and genuinely wholesome experience not common for anime series featuring little girls. Of course, there is still plenty on offer for the lolicons in the audience: Yui is too pure angel, and Sacchan is one of the best bokes of the year. Just remember: in the end, we're all poop.

9: Zombie Land Saga ∥ MAPPA ∥ Dir. Sakai Munehisa: If you told me a year ago one of the best shows of the year would be about moe zombies, even an anime veteran like myself would have been surprised. Yet here we are, where a show about moe zombie idols is not only one of the best shows of the year, but one of the best idol anime I can remember seeing. For what seems like it is going to be a one trick pony of a gag anime, the character development in Zombie Land Saga is shockingly good, from Junko's discovery of her own aidoru-do to Lily's whole thing with being transgender... This show really throws its weight behind its characters and that's what makes the completely-in-earnest idol anime aspects of it work so well. Moe zombies made me cry real tears, and I love anime.

8: Darling in the Franxx ∥ A-1 Pictures & Trigger ∥ Dir. Nishigori Atsushi: This is probably the biggest 'event anime' of the year on this list and it certainly was an adventure. Darling in the Franxx is an epic robot anime very much in the vein of its great predecessors: genuine sci-fi, attempts to be deep, and of course the always relevant themes of "parents just don't understand" and "puberty is hard." The heroines are wonderful, of course, and the characters' rather significant growth over the course of the series is compelling. It's the kind of show you'd expect from someone who had their hands deep in Gurren Lagann. It also features some great hand-drawn(!) robot action--visually, it's overall one of the best shows of the year. But sorry 57th prime minister of Japan Shinzo Abe, this will not increase Japan's birth rate.

7: SSSS.GRIDMAN ∥ Trigger ∥ Dir. Amemiya Akira: I'm honestly not sure which of the Trigger robot shows I enjoyed more; Gridman might just be higher because it's more recent, but it's probably fair to say it's the more "fun" show, what with it being an Ultra series spinoff and everything. Even though it gets pretty dark and deep towards the end, the series is definitely imbued with the playful spirit of tokusatsu. Hiding behind that, though, is a thematically solid series boasting a couple of fantastic female leads in Akane and Rikka. You're never going to be able to get me to stop shipping it.

6: Shoujo Kageki Revue Starlight ∥ Kinema Citrus ∥ Dir. Furukawa Tomohiro: If I was rating series on style alone, Revue Starlight would probably be my anime of the year on the basis of the digital stage lighting effects alone. This show is both a sharp-edged satire of the cut-throat world of Japanese womens' theater and a love letter to the spectacle of the stage. It seems fitting that it would be a protege of Ikuhara Kunihiko's who would take on this project; the show's style is certainly evocative of Ikuhara, and that sort of ostentatious presentation is also perfectly evocative of theater, which is itself an inherently larger-than-life endeavor. Yeah, it's pretentious as hell, but that just makes me like it more. Style aside, there is also a good yuri anime lurking in the background (Japanese womens' theater is gay as fuck so there had to be) and Hikari definitely earns the right to be called "this show's Homura." Lots of good lesbians in this show.

5: Hanebado! ∥ Lidenfilms ∥ Dir. Ezaki Shinpei: Sports anime are not really my thing--I have no interest in watching Slam Dunk, Tennis no Oujisama, or 'the basketball which Kuroko plays,' but even so, is Hanebado! one of the best sports anime ever made? It's hard for me to imagine a better-executed tale of self-discovery through athletic competition. This is certainly the only sports anime I've seen where the audience is made to root against the protagonist in the sport because we're rooting for her outside of it. It also features stellar animation for the badminton parts that really sells the idea of badminton being 'the world's fastest racquet sport." Erena was the best girl though, and she doesn't even play badminton.

4: Sora Yori mo Tooi Basho ∥ Madhouse ∥ Dir. Ishizuka Atsuko: When the end credits finally rolled on Yorimoi, the first words that came to mind were "what a journey." I don't know if I've watched another show that made me feel so much like I had truly gone 'there and back again' with the heroes. The treasure really is the friends we found along the way, and you accompany these friends from the very beginning to the very end of their journey to and from Antarctica, watching them mature and learn things about each other and themselves... The result is a series that is immensely satisfying in a way few others are. Hanada Jukki's usual brand of sentimental melodrama is pitch perfect for a show like this, and I'd be lying if I said this show didn't make me cry on like four or five completely seperate occasions. Please let Ishizuka Atsuko direct more anime.

3: Yagate Kimi ni Naru ∥ Troyca ∥ Dir. Katou Makoto: I went into detail about what makes Yagakimi so great just a couple months ago, but suffice it to say this show is my favorite yuri anime of all time. The characters' relationships are just so genuinely fascinating, especially in a genre where 'will they or won't they' is often as far as the dramatic tension goes. It is really a show about two girls discovering themselves through each other, and it's just so beautifully done, especially when accompanied by Ooshima Michiru's soundtrack. I liked this story so much that I downloaded the manga to read through, and I don't even read manga.

2: Violet Evergarden ∥ Kyoto Animation ∥ Dir. Ishidate Taichi: Figures that a show I was so certain would suck would end up here. Violet is the only show this year that made me cry even more than Yorimoi, and although it's a little hamfisted about it at times, I love the earnestness with which it pursues its themes about loss and love. Violet is not just the interloper who allows us to experience the various stories happening around this world, but also a fascinating character to watch in her own right as she tries to learn what exactly it means to love someone. It's sappy and sentimental as hell, which is why I love it. It also has probably my favorite soundtrack of the year, courtesy of Evan Call, which I've probably listened to over a dozen times.

1: Yurucamp ∥ C-Station ∥ Dir. Kyougoku Yoshiaki: Cute girls taking it easy? Hell yeah. There's nothing on this Earth more comfy than watching these girls go camping in the gorgeous Japanese countryside and just being the best of friends. Shimarin is the best loner who absolutely knows how to live life, and all I want is to ride scooters and eat instant noodles with her. It's a cute girl anime of the utmost quality, and the only reason I still have a will to live is because a second season has already been confirmed.

1. Yurucamp 2. Violet Evergarden 3. Yagate Kimi ni Naru 4. Sora Yori mo Tooi Basho 5. Hanebado! 6. Shoujo Kageki Revue Starlight 7. SSSS.GRIDMAN 8. Darling in the Franxx 9. Zombie Land Saga 10. Mitsuboshi Colors

Honorable mentions... Hinamatsuri is probably the show I feel worst about not including, given its hilarity and its surprisingly well-done themes on poverty and homelessness, but someone had to be 11th. Asobi Asobase was another comedy I wanted to include, another one which was riotously hilarious at times and also included one of the cutest girls of the year, Olivia. As far as joji anime this year go, Aikatsu Friends exceeded all my expectations to finally be the Aikatsu series I stuck with, and Aine and Mio are the ultimate lesbian idols. I also have to give a shoutout to the Seishun Butayarou show, which is exactly the kind of 'snappy dialogue and adolescence problems' show that makes me love series like Oregairu and ef.

The awards go to...

Best Actress: Ueda Reina as Shinjou Akane, SSSS.GRIDMAN. I've been a big fan of Ueshama's since she turned up as the ridiculous Ajimi-sensei in Pripara. She can do some vocal gymnastics and has a great comedic delivery, but it was fantastic to hear her dramatic chops really leveraged to their full potential in Gridman. I think Ueda has one of the sexiest voices going in the business today, and some of the segments in Gridman where her character tries to seduce the male lead were truly yabai... And of course the more emotional segments with Rikka were also immensely impactful. (Credit to Miyamoto Yume for also doing some great work as Rikka in that series.)

(Honorable mention: Touyama Nao as Shima Rin in Yurucamp. Naobou has been one of my favorites for a long time now but her work as Rin is probably my top role of her's. Her aloof delivery is just so perfect for the character and her voice makes the show even more comfy than it already was. It's like a voice you want to hug.)

Best Actor: Miyano Mamoru as the manager from the moe zombie show I guess. I give up on doing the men every year. Kono baka zombi.

Newcomer Seiyuu of the Year: Shiraishi Haruka. Behind pure acting ability, versatility must be the most desirous trait in a voice actor, and it really feels like Shiraishi can do it all. She's had a couple major roles before this year: Motoba Kirie in the Umaru series, and Ruri in Anhapi, but her three main roles this past year really highlight the breadth of her abilities. She was the cool and collected Asirpa in Golden Kamuy, the impudent loli Misha in Uchi no Meido ga Uzasugiru, and the sexy tsundere Kana in Animayell... Yeah, that's some diversity in performances. It seems like I'm seeing this girl's name pop up everywhere recently and it's easy to see why: she seems to be able to excel in almost any role. She has two more major parts lined up for later this year, and I'm excited to see what she can do yet.

(Honorable mention: Hondo Kaede. Man, it felt like this girl was everywhere this year. Wikipedia counts her as having had no less than eight major roles, and that's following on from a 2017 where she had three leading roles. She certainly has a flair for the dramatic: probably my favorite role of hers was as Kanami in Toji no Miko; in a show where the animation didn't often keep up with the demands of the story, strong voice acting from Hondo and her leading partner Oonishi Saori really helped carry the show. I also really enjoyed her as Kohaku in Irozuku Sekai no Ashita Kara... She doesn't get the award, though, because most of her major roles so far have tended to sound the same. I'd really like to hear her branch out beyond her standard voice.)

[rieshon]

Fall 2018 Power Rankings

Wow, I actually finished this shit sort of on time this season.

1 Yagate Kimi ni Naru: You know a show is good when you put off finishing it just because you don't want it to end. I did that with Yagakimi this season, and not only is it my favorite show of the season, I'm pretty sure it's my favorite yuri anime of all time. It's not just that Touko and Yuu are such an adorable couple, but that the story and relationship dynamics are genuinely original for a yuri anime. You've got two heroines who are de facto dating from the outset, so no will-they won't-they bullshit like most yuri stories (lookin' at you citrus)... But only sort of, because it's complicated. You've got one heroine who doesn't want her girlfriend to fall in love with her because she has a weird identity crisis because of past trauma and is afraid to embrace her own individuality which having someone fall in love with her would validate because she's "only herself" around said girlfriend... And then you've got the other heroine who thinks she's asexual/aromantic but slowly starts to realize she's actually just gay, but only after she's promised her girlfriend she won't fall in love with her because she "can't." To say this is a weird relationship is putting it mildly. There's also some stuff you usually don't see in anime at all, like another character who actually IS aro/ace, and a live-in adult lesbian couple (one of whom is actually revealed to be bi later on) who are the Big Gay Mentors to the younger characters. There is still the requisite amount of Yuri Melodrama, of course (elevated by a beautiful soundtrack from the venerable Haketa Takefumi) but it's so much more interesting than usual here. Oh, and of course, as I mentioned above, Touko and Yuu are the most darling couple ever, perfect cinnamon rolls who must be protected. Well, okay, maybe not perfect: they got issues. But I love this story and characters so much I actually picked up the manga to read what happens next, and I basically never do that. Maybe it's not technically the "best" anime of the season, but it's the one I love the most. ★★★★☆

2 SSSS.GRIDMAN: Somehow, based Trig just keep doing it. You'd be forgiven for thinking Darling in the Franxx, the show that has "SMART ANIME FOR ADULTS" practically engraved on everything about it, would be the 'cerebral' robot anime Trigger made this year, and Gridman, a spinoff of a cheesy tokusatsu show that was itself a spinoff of Ultraman, would be little more than a fun but forgettable robot romp. You'd be totally wrong, of course: Gridman is every bit the heavyweight that previous Trigger/Gainax robot anime are, with its own flair of course. It takes a while for it to fully develop and present its themes about social anxiety and isolation, but once it does it really pops off. The dual heroines of Akane and Rikka are brilliant, not just for their lewd character designs but also for how well their stories are written. Rikka is the real hero of the show--Yuuta might be the one jumping around in a robot, but ultimately Rikka is the most important. Stellar performances from both Ueda Reina and Miyamoto Yume as Akane and Rikka, respectively, really carry the thematic weight of the show. There is, of course, some great art and animation on display, as you might expect from Trigger, who always make the most (and then some) of whatever resources they're given. Episode 9, which takes place for the most part inside of a dream, was especially visually striking. An all around great production and one that won't soon be forgotten. ★★★★☆

3 Zombie Land Saga: With all that out of the way, here's a show about some moe zombies. Ah, anime, even after all these years it still finds ways to surprise me, like a show about moe zombie idols being as genuinely moving as it is hilarious. Probably the weirdest thing about Zombie Land Saga, even as a show that features the undead filming commercials for a Saga-based fried chicken restaurant and competing in a Takeshi's Castle-style mud Olympics, is that it unironically works as an idol anime, too. All the characters (well, except for Yuugiri, who is woefully underutilized) really do grow throughout the show and it gives the idol anime aspect a really solid backbone to build off of. Of course, Zombie Land Saga is more than just another idol anime, and calling it a zombie idol anime is somehow still selling it short. From the aforementioned chicken commercials, to the unforgettably epic zombie rap battle, to the middle schooler biker gangs, to basically everything Yamada Tae does, this show was not just surprisingly moving but shockingly hilarious at times. Also, it must be noted that these zombies are fricking adorable: definitely way cuter than the undead should ever be. Especially Junko who is the best girl, once again proving the superiority of Showa idols. ★★★★☆

4 Seishun Buta Yarou wa Bunny Girl Senpai no Yume wo Minai: Since this is a light novel anime through and through, it seems fair to describe it in terms of light novel anime: it's basically the Monogatari series meets Oregairu. Our sardonic protagonist with a heart of gold (and impossibly hot girlfriend) meets a bunch of high school girls with weird supernatural problems and helps them solve them. That might make it sound boring or derivative, but as I always harp on, it's really all in the execution and Aobuta sticks the landing. It reminds me of those above shows not just in narrative content but also in terms of how sharp the dialogue is: it is one of those delightful shows where you could have two characters just have a conversation for 24 minutes and it would still be endlessly absorbing. The reliable Ishikawa Kaito is great as our male lead, bringing not just snappy wit to the table but also a surprising amount of emotional depth in later story arcs. The aloof, sarcastic protagonist is of course done to death in this genre (hi, Kyon!) but Sakuta is certainly an example of it done well. It helps that he's such a loving oniichan and cute boyfriend, which really endears him to the viewer. The gallery of heroines is of course stocked with plenty of cute and sexy girls--the art and animation is top notch--but what really carries the show is Sakuta's relationship with his girlfriend (and best girl) Mai, which is a continuing story throughout the series even as the focus moves to other heroines. They're just so adorable together. Ironically, the element of the show that probably matters the least is the weird sort-of-sci-fi plot hooks: you're really just here to watch these characters talk through their emotions and stumble through adolescence, and the sci-fi plot devices are basically incidental to all of it. ★★★★☆

5 Himote House: Talk about a dark horse of an anime... Himote House is the latest... thing... from the man, the myth, the legend who brought us Minarai Diva, Ishidate Koutarou, and it's great. It's half nichijou-kei anime, half just a seiyuu radio show that's animated, and it's all superb. In the scripted bits, the show can get wonderfully weird, from the episode that used the Game of Life to teach us about the lack of gay rights in Japan, to the episode that took place entirely inside of a copy machine, and I haven't even mentioned the Bitcoin episode yet, which is too bizarre to even give away in this review no one will read. The unscripted bits are also great thanks to a collection of some of the seiyuu industry's top personalities, including the always great combination of Suzakinishi, comedic genius Mimorin, and the criminally underrated Mizuhara Kaoru whose performance as Tokiyo really must be experienced: it starts over the top and just keeps going from there. Even the cheap 3DCG animation is surprisingly charming, and it's at least good enough that these girls look genuinely cute, although the show is also helped along by regularly inserting some nice hand-drawn stills in the most important moments. Almost everyone probably overlooked this show this season, but I'd give it a hearty recommendation. ★★★★☆

6 Tonari no Kyuuketsuki-san: I hope Comic Cune anime are here to stay, because this was certainly the best pure nichijou-kei offering this season. It's "cute girl vampires" but, as you might expect from the source, this is the most laid-back depiction of vampires you're ever going to find in fiction. None of the human characters even seem to be remotely bothered that vampires are in their midst, the sun is an inconvenience that mostly makes it harder to go buy manga in the middle of the day, and they order their blood from Amazon. Even when a vampire hunter shows up, she's just won over by the vampire girls' cuteness. It does use vampire lore to tell some amusing jokes at times, like Sophie getting trapped outside because she had to count all the seeds in a sunflower, or Akari getting a plank put on her in bed because the vampires felt bad that her bed didn't have a lid, but mostly you're just here for the cute girls cuting, and cute they do. There's the requisite amount of soft yuri, and the character designs and animation are fantastic. Very little to complain about here--the show's only real weakness is that the jokes are occasionally kind of meh. Ellie is best girl. ★★★☆☆

7 Uchi no Meido ga Uzasugiru!: Shocking no one, the Comedy God delivered again. This show is frequently laugh out loud funny, and it's helped along by animation from Douga Koubou that is right up there with some of the best they've ever produced. The sole factor that makes this show somewhat weaker than Oota Masahiko's previous works is that with its completely absurd comedic premise it is ultimately trying to tell a very serious story--about a little girl who is terrified of having her late mother replaced by having any other adult woman enter her life--with a premise that definitely should not be telling a serious story. The show is at its best when Tsubame (voiced by Numakura Manami in some of her best-ever work) is being an irredeemable lolicon shithead, not a role model. Still, the show is pretty great most of the time, and it only gets better when ドM best girl Midorin turns up about halfway through. The Russian loli is pretty cute too I guess, but as seems to always be the case in these shows (I can't help but remember another Douga Koubou production, Mikakunin de Shinkoukei) the silliest and most perverted girls always steal the show. ★★★☆☆

8 Irozuku Sekai no Ashita Kara: It's a P.A. Works original, so that means it's time to complain about how it's not as good as other P.A. Works originals! Seriously though, although it's not the second coming of TARI TARI, this show is easy to recommend, being beautiful both artistically and narratively, with a simple and heartfelt story to tell about a girl going to a new place (well, a new time) to discover herself. Yep, you guessed it, this is one of my favorites: sentimentality anime! Girl literally learns to see the beauty in the world that she had been blind to by leaving her comfort zone and falling in love. Good shit, good shit. My main complaint is that the best girl, Kurumi, gets short shrift as best girls often do, although she at least does get one little story arc to develop her character. Ishihara Kaori is solid as the female lead, but I just loved Naobou as the snarky Kurumi so much. It's also worth noting that although the cast actually has a fairly even gender split, all the male characters are pretty much inoffensive to likable, which is all I really ask in a show like this. There's no one on the level of Wien, but Chigusa and Kurumi's relationship was pretty cute. Overall, though, this show is just about drinking in the atmosphere and the feels, and trying to avoid thinking about time paradoxes. ★★★☆☆

9 Akanesasu Shoujo: I had cautiously high expectations for this show going into the season, and although it didn't blow me away with a masterpiece, I was satisfied with what I got. The show doesn't have the best production values, but it has a solid premise that is executed well. A group of misfit high school girls in the incredibly lame Radio Club find a way to slip between alternate dimensions, have misadventures where they learn that The Real Power Was Inside Us All Along, and end up saving the universe from being consumed by some vague evilness. The story comes courtesy KID's Uchikoshi Koutarou, and definitely feels like something you might find in a science fiction visual novel. It's not afraid to be at least a little adventurous, with the various dimensions we visit being varying degrees and kinds of social commentary, and it even goes as far as killing off major characters and actually letting them stay dead! Plus, it had Kurosawa Tomoyo basically playing like three or four characters at once, which has to be worth something. If nothing else, I respected this series. ★★☆☆☆

10 Kishuku Gakkou no Juliet: Romeo and Juliet may well be the Bard's most widely popular play, so it's not surprising that now we have an anime version of it... sort of. In true anime fashion, this is not a tragedy of star-crossed lovers, but a comedy of errors about two goofball kids who fall in love at a ridiculous boarding school. Set against a backdrop of, uh, race war. Kayano Ai's blondenblu Juliet is pretty cute but as is typical in these shows the best girls never win, namely Ayaneru's Hasuki and the actual best girl, Shimamura Yuu's Chartreux. As always, the gay girls are the best. The show does have an unusually likable protagonist for one in this genre: Romio is a big dork who is singlemindedly dedicated to his cute girlfriend, and even if she's not the best girl, you definitely want to root for them. A pretty good show. ★★☆☆☆

11 Animayell!: Kirara anime are playing second fiddle to other cute girl shows again this season, but like Harukana Receive last season, this show is still decent. What it lacks in a compelling premise (sorry, not only do I come in thinking cheerleading is lame, but the show's animation isn't good enough to get it over as a cool thing) it makes up for in the most important ingredient for an anime, homosexuality. Not only is there the immaculately gay Hanawa-chan and the extremely homo Ukki, for some reason at one point theres also a completely random, out lesbian side character who asks our heroines for advice confessing to her female home tutor. But yeah, it's definitely worth it for Hanawa and Ukki at least; your mileage may vary on the rest of the actual show. ★★☆☆☆

12 Sword Art Online Alicization: I've repeatedly gone on record saying I love a slow burn, and I don't necessarily mind when nothing happens in a show if its at least giving me some good atmosphere and characters to gnaw on in the meantime... But man, is the new SAO one slow-ass show. Though I've never read the books, this really feels like a case of following the Original Way too closely. That's not to say that what is here is bad by any means; there's some truly interesting concepts, a good SAO story, and of course some stellar animation, but they probably could have cut this first cours down to like, six episodes and still accomplished the same things. I still have confidence that it will get more hype as we progress, though. There's a long way to go in this one yet, so this rating is anything but final. ★★☆☆☆

13 Debidoru!: This show is an ugly looking 3DCG abomination that was probably made in MikuMikuDance, but thankfully we now live in a post-Kemono Friends world, and so Debidoru! was still pretty great. You couldn't ask for a better trio of voices for an ad-lib stuffed comedy than Hanazawa Kana, Mimori Suzuko and Iguchi Yuka and they fill their roles with aplomb, especially Iguchi, who at one point tsukkomis so hard she clips the microphone. Like the best no-money shorts it also had some moments of true ART, like Sugahara Souta (the director) singing the moe opening song (in one uncut take) for no reason, or one of the greatest things I saw all season, episode 11, which was done (also in one take) entirely with paper cutouts of the characters in front of a camcorder. It's not really a mastapeece in the way Himote House was, but it was certainly a memorable little show. ★★☆☆☆

14 Beelzebub-jou no Okinimesu Mama: I'm as surprised as anyone that this show ended up as low as it did, but by the end of the season I had a hard time convincing myself to even load up the latest episode of this one, and it's hard for me to really even say why. On the face of it it should be my jam: it's full of cute girls and pastel colors, and it's even occasionally lewd. Really, it's probably just because there's so many male characters who get a decent amount of attention in the narrative. It also doesn't help that Beelzebub (despite being a cute blondenblu voiced by Oonishi Saori) is not really a very appealing character, which makes the protagonist, who is constantly fawning over her like she's the best thing since sliced bread, come off as less likable as well. It had some good stuff too, like Sargatanas's shyness and Gocchin's needing to pee constantly, but I guess it wasn't quite enough to hold my interest. It also doesn't help that my favorite girl, Eurynome, was barely even in the show after she was introduced. We ankle fetishists gotta stick together, man! ★☆☆☆☆

15 Tensei Shitara Slime Datta Ken: I had exactly zero expectations for this show to begin with, so I was pleasantly surprised with it at first. Those great typographic effects, especially, really sucked me into the first episode and I was excited to see where it went for the first few weeks, especially with the promise of cute girls on the horizon. The girls have been underwhelming, though (mainly by virtue of their having nothing to do in the story) and what actually is going on in the story, I find incredibly dull. Rimuru is just such a booooring protagonist, and his very existence tends to sap the tension out of scenes since you know he's ridiculously OP and will probably just absorb whatever bad thing shows up next like he's absorbed every other bad thing up to that point. 俺TUEEEEEE isn’t even necessarily something I hate, and it can be made to work, but Rimuru isn’t cool enough of a guy or really interesting in any way that I can self-insert and live vicariously through his TUEEEEE-ness. Just give me more Shion, she is the best purple oni secretary. ★☆☆☆☆

16 Hashiritsuzukete Yokattatte: I guess I should put this down since it's technically a show I finished from this season. It's kinda boring and lame, do not recommend. The girl with the glasses never even puts them on, she just wears them on top of her head like a doofus the whole time. Might have been able to deliver some feels if it was in a longer format, but just falls flat due to the <60 minute total runtime. ☆☆☆☆☆

[rieshon]

Winter 2019 Season Preview

I can't believe it's another goddamn year. 2019 marks my fifteenth year of watching anime, which fucks me up to even write. The about 540 anime I've seen in the intervening years doesn't even feel like that many when I think about how I've literally spent half my life watching these Chinese girl cartoons. Onwards and upwards, I guess.

1 Girly Air Force: Oh fuck yes. Sukasuka is still the best LN I've read, but Girly Air Force is far and away my favorite and it should be obvious why: it's got cute girls, it's got airplanes, it's got cute girls who ARE airplanes! The story is surprisingly well-done and if Satelight's adaptation is on point this could be a pretty good show. Phantom is best girl and Izawa Shiori sounds perfect as her, so we've already got that going for us.

2 Endoro~!: Okay, so Release the Spyce was bad. That's not Namori's fault, though, 'cause the characters were still adorable. This is Namori's next try at being an anime character designer, and it definitely looks better than Spyce ever did. Cute girl lighthearted fantasy is definitely a good genre (it's why I played Priconne for as long as I did despite the game being terrible) and the pastel colors all over this show tell me I'm home. Kaori, director of one of the best cute girl anime of the last decade, Yuyushiki, helms the project and venerable Studio Gokumi animates. Yeah, this is AOTS.

3 Kouya no Kotobuki Hikoutai: Based Tsutomu is BACK, babey! Somehow, this is his first TV project in three years (after the lackluster Mayoiga) though he's obviously been hard at work making more of Garupan as slowly as possible and probably also working on that Shirobako movie that's in the oven. I'm sure it's hard being an anime god. It's definitely disappointing that this is a full CG anime, but the fact that it's about planes and being made by Tsutomu is enough for me to overlook that fact. It's not quite the Daisan Hikou Shoujotai anime we've all been waiting for, but it's close enough.

4 Ueno-san wa Bukiyou: I have a hard time believing this will be anything but comedy of the season in three months' time. The excerpts from the manga I have seen are amazing, and the trailers have been brilliant as well. Plus, Serizawa Yuu in the lead role, and it also has one of the surest signs of a comic hit (at least in my book) which is the male lead also being played by a girl―Tanaka Aimi in this case. The character designs definitely capture tugeneko's unique style. This should be great.

5 Watashi ni Tenshi ga Maiorita!: Clearly this is the spiritual successor to Uzamaid. Perverted channee hnnngs over some cute lolis? That's almost always good. Said lolis look incredibly adorable, and the protagonist will be played by the always-brilliant Ueda Reina, who should shine in a role like this. It's definitely hard to imagine this one missing.

6 Kakegurui XX: I never expected this show to get a sequel, but I'm sure not complaining about it. Everyone's favorite hot Akagi expy is back, babey. I can't wait to see some more sexy gambles. Hearing Hayamin's lewd voice is worth the price of admission by itself, and it looks like there are new hot channees coming by the truckload in this second season. Sign me the fuck up.

7 Gotoubun no Hanayome: I'm mad at this show because I thought Ayaneru was supposed to play all five heroines, but apparently that was just for a commercial for the manga and they cast five different people for the actual anime. I wanted to hear quintuple Ayaneru! This show still looks like a good harem, though, and of course does still provide one Ayaneru. The rest of the cast are no slouches either, and despite the Ayaneru presence I think Ayachi's character looks like the best girl.

8 Domestic na Kanojo: Schoolteacher romance anime!?! FUUUCK YES. This is exactly what the doctor's been ordering. The Hiyocchi-voiced sensei looks adorable (as all anime teachers should be) and I am just 100% here for what is happening. There's also another cute girl, but, just give me Hina-sensei and I'll be happy.

9 Date A Live III: Hard to believe the original DAL anime was almost six years ago. I stopped following the series closely when DAL2 was bad, but I'm still excited for this new sequel. The girls are still great and so is the premise, they just need to actually have money to make a good anime this time around. Happily, J.C. Staff have been pegged to animate this time instead of the perenially inconsistent Production IMS, with the principal creative staff (including director Motonaga Keitarou) still intact. So it should be pretty good!

10 Kemurikusa: Yes Tatsuki, yes tanoshi! I still haven't seen Kemono Friends so I can't speak personally to Tatsuki's alleged genius but I have seen some of his short anime he posts online and they're always brimming with atmosphere, so I'm excited to check this out.

11 Mahou Shoujo Tokushusen Asuka: The latest in a seemingly endless line of anime that ask, 'How can we take the concept of magical girls but make it edgy?' Okay, I admit, the idea of magical girls who wield Kalashnikov rifles is actually pretty great... It just depends on how seriously the show takes itself, because this is not a concept that should be played straight. Strike The Blood's Yamamoto Hideo is set to direct, and STB was a show that definitely knew how to toe the line between serious action and lighthearted antics, so hopefully it will be good.

12 Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai ~Tensai-tachi no Ren'ai Zunousen~: Though I'm a long-established devotee of the Church of Blondenblu, black hair and red eyes is pretty close behind as far as I'm concerned, so this show's titular Kaguya-sama definitely looks good. Plus that forehead! There's also a nice blondenblu girl voiced by Hanabee. Looks like a cute romantic comedy.

13 Manaria Friends: Yeah, this is finally happening after years of development hell, apparently being produced entirely in-house by Cygames and their animation studio CygamesPictures. From what I hear, this is supposed to be a lot different from the mainline Bahamut anime: kind of nichijou-kei, and apparently gay as hell. Cute girl and her demon girlfriend? Yep, sign me the fuck up.

14 Circlet Princess: It's always good when the "story" tab on your show's website is under construction when your show starts in like two weeks. This is apparently based on a DMM web game, but the writer and designer is Kio Nachi, who was responsible for the game and anime of the way-better-than-it-should-have-been Ao no Kanata no Fourhythm, so it might be good. The voice cast is a star-studded assemblage of veterans like Gotou Mai, Nabatame Hitomi, and Mizuhashi Kaori... With the turnover in the seiyuu industry as of late it's nice to see that vets like this can still get main-cast roles and aren't just relegated to playing the moms of the latest 18 year old darling. But I digress.

15 Boogiepop wa Warawanai: Otherwise known as Boogiepop Phantom in the West, this is the latest classic property to get the remake treatment. I've always meant to watch the original, but never did. Boogiepop was one of the original series to start the modern "light novel" movement, and I've always heard great things about it, but other than that I really know nothing about the story so I'll be going in blind. I'm sure Ao-chan and Oonishi will be great in it at least.

16 Rinshi!! Ekoda-chan: I have no idea what Ekoda-chan is about (other than it's a 4koma manga) but this adaptation looks like it's some art. Apparently every episode will have both a different director and a different actress playing the titular Ekoda-chan. Presumably, we are about to See Some Shit. Names set to direct episodes include some names like Sugii Gisaburou (Touch, Ginga Tetsudou no Yoru) and Mochizuki Tomomi (Ranma 1/2) and Kitani Yoshitomo (GaoGaiGar) so we're definitely in for something.

17 Egao no Daika: It's time for your seasonal dose of robot anime with hot girls in it. It's going to be awhile until I can see a show like this again and think "Gridman was better," but hey, this one's got some hot girls in it too. This is brought to us by longtime mecha anime guy Suzuki Toshimasa, who was responsible for a recent sentimental favorite of mine, Rinne no Lagrange. The character designs are the work of Nakamura Naoto, who also did the job on High School Fleet. That show was notable more than anything for having an incredibly large and diverse cast of incredibly cute girls, so that's a good sign.

18 Pastel Memories: This show has nothing to do with Plastic Memories, but that doesn't stop be from thinking of that every time I see the title. If you immediately suspect it to be a social game adaptation after seeing the art and logo, you would be extremely correct. The key visual on the show's homepage does not inspire confidence, but the animation looks fine in the PV at least. As a genre, "cute girls from social games fighting monsters" generally produces rubbish, but I appreciate that the action at least looks to be hand-drawn in this one. The show does have Rieshon in it, who I feel like I haven't heard in ages, so that's nice.

19 Bermuda Triangle ~Colorful Pastrale~: I've always been on record as saying mermaid girls suck because they don't have legs, and I still stand by that. Why should I get excited about a cute girl anime if there's no ftmm to ogle??? I'll still watch it cause it promises to be a nichijou-kei cute girl anime (and there's a channee mermaid who wears hoop earrings which almost makes up for the lack of legs) but I'm not going to be happy about it damnit.

20 Minitoji: It's some kind of SD Toji no Miko spinoff. I'm sure I'm in the minority just like, in general, but I really enjoyed Tojimiko so I'm happy enough to see this being made. It looks like the protagonist from the (truly dreadful) mobile game adaptation is making an appearance, so I guess that thing is making enough money to have this produced... Hey, if I get to see more of Hiyori-chan being gay, I'm down.

21 Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari: It's light novel anime. When the show's "characters" page is half dudes it's never a good sign, especially for a show in this genre. Probably the most interesting thing about it is that Kevin Penkin, who did the fantastic music for 2017's Made in Abyss returns to anime work here... But it will probably be in service of a lame, too self-serious fantasy plot with lots of dudes grimacing.

22 Grimms Notes The Animation: Grimms Notes is a shitty social game so you can already see where this is going. It feels like a waste of my time to even write a preview for it since I know I'll be dropping this before the first episode is even over. At least it has a blondenblu girl, I guess.

23 Yakusoku no Neverland: Did you guys know noitaminA is still a thing? Remember when it was relevant? This is this season's noitaminA show and it looks like exactly the kind of thing I watch out of obligation because it looks like "art" and then drop even after saying I'll give the second episode a chance. The protagonist's face gives me bad juju. At least most of the male characters are voiced by girls since they're kids.

24 revisions: Enver Hoxha's least-favorite anime is brought to us by Netflix. It looks like, honestly, exactly what I expect from Netflix at this point. The CG animation doesn't look great (Shirogumi doing it this time, instead of Netflix stalwart Polygon Pictures) and it has the same kind of serious sci-fi feel as shows like A.I.C.O. Incarnation. Probably won't be that good, but these shows that strive to feel like Western cable thrillers have a bad habit of being pretty easy watches.

25 Virtual-san wa Miteiru: I don't think I actually want to watch this. I like to watch some virtuals sometimes but... No.

[rieshon]

Summer 2018 Power Rankings

It’s only three months since the season ended but here this is. I had a surprisingly hard time sorting out the order of this list. It was a fairly light season in terms of the number of shows I finished, but there was a lot of quality in there.

1 Shoujo Kageki Revue Starlight: In the industry full of half-finished adaptations and half-assed stories, it's rare to encounter an anime that feels like such a complete work of art, but Revue Starlight is exactly that. This show is not just an adorable story of friendship (the best kind of story), it's also an aggressive critique of Japanese womens' theater itself. It's beautiful, it's thematically solid, it's stylish, it's got a cast full of cute gay girls. What more could you want out of an anime? Here we have all the flourish of an Ikuhara anime with none of the obscurantism, and the result is a series that's pleasant for both the eyes and the mind. The use of music and choreography is spectacular (in the literal sense of the word) and, although I would have liked more storytelling to be directly through song, it is still a treat. Worth watching for the digital stage lighting effects alone. ★★★★☆

2 Hanebado!: This show is one of those "half-finished adaptations" but it's so masterfully executed you would hardly guess it. Hanebado! sets a new high water mark for sports anime, not just in terms of the fluidity and impact of its depiction of badminton but in the emotional impact of its narrative. The whole idea of "finding who you are through competition" is a common thread in sports anime but I've never seen it as well-done as it is here, even if it did require our protagonist to become comically evil in the first place. Oh yeah: this show has hella character development, and though Hanesaki's character arc hits some ridiculous notes it is also extremely satisfying to watch her character change over the course of the series. Full credit to the staff here―who took heavy liberties with the original work to accomplish it―in making an anime for an incomplete manga that ends so strongly. I don't even have to ask for a sequel! ★★★★☆

3 Asobi Asobase: Okay, time for comedy anime. You would think from the opening sequence that this show would be cute girls doing cute things, but it's actually shithead girls doing stupid things. Which is way better. Gorgeous art and animation is joined by some truly brilliant acting, especially from relative newbie Kino Hina, whose shrill screaming as Hana is transcendent. Some of the jokes are in poor taste, but overall the show is hilarious, and certainly gives Hinamatsuri a run for its money as the best comedy of 2018 so far. ★★★★☆

4 Jashin-chan Dropkick: This is an anime comedy in the oldest vein of the tradition: irreverent, full of slapstick, and vaguely boundary-pushing. If you ever wanted to see a snake girl get disembowled for laughs, here's your show. Although the over-the-top violence is vaguely reminiscent of Bokusatsu Tenshi Dokuro-chan, most of it is censored so it's not quite in the range of 'gross-out humor.' The titular Jashin-chan is a wonderful moe shithead, probably the most obnoxiously self-centered asshole (and I mean that in the best way) since Sonokawa Momoka. A-T-M! A-T-M! ★★★★☆

5 Back Street Girls: Who would have thought that a show about yakuza who are forced to have sex changes in order to become underground idols would end up being the most honest depiction of the idol industry in anime history? Unlike other idol anime, which typically end up reifying some aspect of the idol myth, Back Street Girls goes all in on depicting it as a dirty, cutthroat business that forces the women in it to put themselves through hell for the benefit of some rich asshole and for the titillation of gross otaku. This is an idol show that shows the idols drinking and cussing about how much their jobs suck backstage after being forced to gladhand with creepy fans for hours with a smile on their faces. This is Japanese Idol! Thank you Kon Chiaki, you glorious genius. Oh, there's also some good dick jokes. ★★★☆☆

6 Yama no Susume Third Season: As much as I love Yama no Susume, and as good as this season still was, it was a bit of a letdown. Sure, it was well-written with both protagonists having neatly constructed arcs throughout the show, plus some typically amazing animation as Yamasusu usually has... But there wasn't enough Kaede-san! Goddamnit! Kaede-san is the best girl!! At least Aoi and Hinata finally got married. ★★★☆☆

7 Chio-chan no Tsuugakuro: A pretty good comedy that makes up for slightly lackluster production values at times with a solid sense of humor and Chio-chan being cute. I want to play PUBG with her. There's not a whole lot to say about it other than that, besides the fact that it occasionally gets surprisingly lewd for what is not ostensibly meant to be a lewd anime. Not that I'm listing that as a complaint. ★★★☆☆

8 Sunohara-sou no Kanrinin-san: I'm as surprised as you are that this show ended up this low on the rankings. On the face of it it has all the makings of a godlike show: sexy chan-nees, lots of fanservice, cute girls doing cute things, straight shota action, and even a tan gyaru played by Ayaneru... And all those things are really good, but I think the show falters in the comedy department. It's just not really often that funny―not to say that it's unfunny to the point that it's bad, just that the jokes are more smirkers than laughers. It's still a great show that I wouldn't hesitate to recommend, though. ★★★☆☆

9 Isekai Maou to Shoukan Shoujo no Dorei Majutsu: Ah, shinshi anime. Isekai Maou is a fairly stock standard isekai tensei light novel thing, but the animation courtesy of Ajiado is stellar and the show does not shy away from being lewd as hell. It has Serizawa Yuu as a blondeblu elf and a sexy tsundere cat girl, what else do you want from anime? The plot itself is extremely bland, although it takes a turn for the better when the evil lord of the universe turns into a loli who wants to eat biscuits more than she wants to take over the world. Surprisingly, despite the title, there is very little in the way of "slave fetish" here since the protagonist is a secret hetare and the girls remain with him consensually anyway. This is still one you watch for the anime tiddies, though. ★★☆☆☆

10 Harukana Receive: In the battle of this season's net sport anime, this was definitely the loser, but most shows lose out to Hanebado anyway. The actual sports part of the plot is pretty boring, not helped by the fact that the action animation is nowhere near on the level of... you know... Hanebado... but it does have some cute girls who sport some great character designs, including not one, not two, but THREE hot blondes. A pretty standard "the real prize was the friends we made along the way" plot is just enough for me to stick around for these girls. ★★☆☆☆

11 Chuukan Kanriroku Tonegawa: The Kaiji series is some of my favorite anime of all time, the only show which makes a guy sitting at a pachinko machine for 12 episodes edge of your seat television. So I was definitely interested in these comedy spinoffs if only for the nostalgia value, and I think the nostalgia value is mostly what it delivers. I find the jokes to be pretty hit-or-miss but you can always count on it to have Kaiji references, at least. Also, the narrator is terrible. It would easily be worth a whole extra star if Tachiki was narrating it. ★★☆☆☆

12 Yuragi-sou no Yuuna-san: On paper this looks like a hype show. It's got lewd girls out the wazoo and even a ghost girl, which is my favorite. I was so excited for this ghost girl that I even read the first two volumes of the manga before the anime was announced. Unfortunately that may have contributed to me finding the show to be kind of... boring. The biggest problem is that the protagonist is aggressively uninteresting and is only really good for the recurring gag about being possessed by an extremely specific and convenient spirit in order to accomplish something. When your avatar for interacting with all these cute girls is someone you don't give a damn about, it really detracts from the overall experience. Also, I didn't really like Yuuna's voice. I know Shimabukuro Miyuri is talented because she was also Aragaki in Hanebado! this season, but the way they had her play this role didn't do it for me. ★☆☆☆☆

13 Hataraku Saibou: This is also a show that falls into the category of "looks great on paper but is in practice just kind of boring." Obviously, the concept for Hataraku Saibou―anthropomorphized moe cells acting out bodily functions in a manner both entertaining and educational―is gold. But the show quickly becomes repetitive since the show is really more like "Hataraku Men'eki Saibou" because almost every episode revolves around the body contracting a disease, Sekkekkyuu freaking out, and then immune cells killing whatever it is. The last couple episodes were pretty good, but I had mostly checked out by then. At least Za-san is great as the lead character as you would expect. ★☆☆☆☆

14 ISLAND: I don't even know what to write about ISLAND, especially since it's now been almost three months since it ended as of writing and I've forgotten a lot of the specifics of the plot. That's important because the plot here is bonkers, which I might have been more receptive to if the show hadn't spent half its runtime obligatorily running through every side heroine's story from the game before diving headlong into the crazy time travel science fiction shit. I actually rather enjoyed the final twist, even if it required the show to go completely off the rails, but it's hard to recommend this one. I just wanted a cute, eroge-aesthetic magical-realism-imbued romance anime... Basically I've been chasing the specter of "another ef - a tale of memories" for eleven years and still nothing has been able to deliver. At least this show had that good feel art. ★☆☆☆☆

[rieshon]

Fall 2018 Season Preview

Hard to believe another year is winding down again. Time stahp. This looks like a pretty thin season so I’m hoping to get some backlogs in for once.

1 Uchi no Meido ga Uzasugiru!: It's a new Oota Masahiko/Douga Koubou anime, the combination that’s brought us more hit comedy series than you can count on your hands. Enough said. Easy contender for anime of the season.

2 Sword Art Online Alicization: It's finally here, and it's four cours. I don't need to explain at this point how SAO was secretly good this whole time; needless to say I'm hype. For what it's worth, I've heard from SAO fans that Alicization is considered one of the weaker parts of the series (and it's ten volumes, so that's kind of worrying) but hopefully the capable hands at A-1, who are no doubt being given absolute mountains of money to make this series, can polish it up and deliver more like the first two series that made me doubt everything I ever thought I knew about anime.

3 Tonari no Kyuuketsuki-san: It's Comic Cune anime! It doesn't quite yet have the ring to it that Kirara Anime does, but the first full-length Cune series, Hinako Note, was great, and managed to hang in there with the Kirara giants. This looks equally if not more adorable. Tomita Miyu (my rising star of 2017) makes another Cune anime appearance as the lead in this. The director is the guy who brought us the criminally underrated Joukamachi no Dandelion in 2015. It's gonna be great.

4 Animayell!: It's this season's Kirara anime. It doesn't look particularly exceptional by Kirara anime standards but I'm sure it will be great, especially with nichijou-kei masters Douga Koubou producing. I'm especially excited for that cute sensei voiced by Matsukyun... Kirara anime really have been delivering the cute teachers lately.

5 Akanesasu Shoujo: I have high expectations for this one. It looks kind of silly in the trailers, but the story is not only being penned by one of the writers of the "infinity" VN series, he's the guy responsible for the overall plot of Ever17, everyone's favorite mindfuck science fiction VN. It also stars everyone's favorite seiyuu, Kurosawa Tomoyo, who hasn't gotten to do a whole lot since she blew us all away as Phosphophyllite last year. Hopefully this will be another performance I'll be mentioning in my year-end awards.

6 RELEASE THE SPYCE: I don't know if or when we'll get a fourth season of Yuruyuri, but in the meantime Namori is dishing out adorable-looking character designs for series like this, a new show from Minato Soft's Takahiro, aka the guy responsible in recent years for Yuyuyu. It's Yuruyuri meets Princess Principal, I guess. Hopefully it will be more the former than the latter.

7 Kishuku Gakkou no Juliet: Did someone say ojousamas? I love me some ojousamas, so this is hype. It's full of blondes, and it has Ayaneru and Kayanon as the main girls to boot. The ultimate combi. Looks like it has some of the most solid-looking art of the season. The director, Takuno Seiki, has some full length shows under his belt, but I'm just gonna point out this guy made Sekkou Boys, the underrated marble bust mastapeece.

8 Seishun Butayarou wa Bunny Girl Senpai no Yume wo Minai: I don't like that they're already advertising a movie and the TV series hasn't even started yet, but the Seishun Butayarou series is a highly praised LN of recent years so I'm very interested in this adaptation. I get a very "Oregairu" vibe from it but I honestly don't know anything about what the books are like. What I do know is that all these girls look amazing, especially the blonde aidoru voiced by Mareitaso. Should be able to siko to this series if nothing else.

9 Golden Kamuy 2nd season: This show is back. Hopefully it continues to be great. My biggest wish for the second season is that we get a real ending, but that probably won't happen because the manga is still running... That's the real problem with "serious" anime like this that are adapted from something.

10 Irozuku Sekai no Ashita kara: New P.A. Works original with girls in it! The director is Shinohara Toshiya, veteran of Nagi no Asukara, which I never watched but it was highly praised by a lot of people. The promo material for this show definitely gives off the same kind of fantasy-melancholy vibe as that show. The characters, as you might expect from a P.A. Works show, look fantastic, and the lead girl is voiced by Kyari. Naobou plays a glasses girl. The writer is the very capable Kakihara Yuuko, who was behind Tsuki ga Kirei, which was brilliant aside from its lousy final episode, so I'm excited for this one.

11 Yagate Kimi ni Naru: It's a yuri anime... written by Hanada Jukki!? OH GOD. Yuri anime is already overly melodramatic at the best of times, and now we have the king of melodrama taking a crack at it... Judging by how Hanada series usually go, this will either be an absolute disaster or surprise the hell out of me with how good it gets me. It's a yuri anime so you know I'm going to be watching it either way. Also the girls literally just look like Yukinon and the other one from Oregairu, who really should have hooked up in that show, so it's already good. Just hopefully that boy on the character page doesn't fuck everything up.

12 SSSS.GRIDMAN: It's robot anime. I wasn't going to watch this, but then I looked at the characters page on the website and saw those amazing-looking JKs. Then I realized it's being produced by Trigger, and I got hype. I hope Trig make something other than robot anime again soon but hopefully this one can deliver like Darling in the Franxx did in the meantime.

13 Ore ga Suki Nanowa Imouto Dakedo Imouto Janai: This has imouto in the title so you know it's gonna be good. Gotta love a good brocon imouto. It's also got Chanyui, and Akasaki Chinatsu playing someone called "Ahegao Double-Peace Sensei" so it's got that going for it. Probably will be dumb as hell but in a good way.

14 Sora to Umi no Aida: All I know about this going in is that the social game it's based on looks truly atrocious... It's going to come down to how much the staff can do with what they're given. For what its worth, the concept is from the guy who wrote the Sakura Taisen series, which is supposed to be pretty good, so maybe it's a gem just waiting to be removed from its terrible phone game mounting. Definitely has some good looking girls at any rate.

15 Merc Storia -Mukiryoku Shounen to Bin no Naka no Shoujo-: It's another Happy Elements adaptation, I guess they're going to do one of their games every season until they run out. I skipped the last one due to grimdark but this has Inosuke as a very tiny and smol girl who lives inside a bottle, and that's great.

16 Tensei Shitara Slime Datta Ken: The slime book is anime now. This is one of the bigger isekai LNs out there right now and you can probably guess what it's about from the title... What I didn't know about it is the slime can also turn into a cute girl (or at least a boy who looks and sounds like a cute girl) in addition to being a blob!? Now this show has my attention. Hopefully the plot is at least servicable.

17 RErideD: Initially I was turned off by the look of this but the PV makes it look like a decent thriller, and more importantly, it has more cute girls in it than it seems at first, including a loli with a Battle Ladle. It also has the car from Knight Rider. Satou Takuya directs for the first time since the decidedly underwhelming Shoujo-tachi wa Kouya wo Mezasu (2016) but he's had his hands in some good stuff too so maybe it will be worth watching. This is definitely the kind of series that can go south in a hurry, though.

18 Zombie Land Saga: I can already tell this is going to be a shitty death game anime where all the characters die and then come back at the end of the last episode for no reason, but you can't just show me that many cute girls and expect me not to watch it. Some great character designs, and we even get Tane-chan back in her first new major role since her return to acting! I know it will probably be trash but I can't resist.

19 CONCEPTION: The concept (heh) of CONCEPTION, a Spike Chunsoft game originally, is kinda like Record of Agarest War Lite. You don't actually fug the girls to make kids to play as, but you kind of still do. It's weird. I'm just excited for Fujii Yukiyo's character, which is a blue-haired albino demon looking girl with amazing hair horns. Thank you anime.

20 Ulysses Jeanne d'Arc to Renkin no Kishi: I'm gonna be real with you fam, if I never see another anime Joan of Arc again it'll be too soon. As Joan knows, though, our God is a cruel one who wants us to suffer for him, so here we are with another one. I thought this looked cute from the PV I saw but the new key visual looks edgy and grimdark so it might be an early drop. It's got lots of girls though. Itagaki is directing... hopefully he can whip up something good to wash the taste out of Wake Up Girls 3 out of all of our mouths.

21 Kairisei Million Arthur: Let's be honest, nothing is ever going to be as good as Chobo-sensei's ridiculous Million Arthur 4koma short anime. I don't even know why they're bothering to make this.

22 Goblin Slayer: From what I remember hearing about it, Goblin Slayer is really grimdark and violent, which is not really my thing, but it's got some girls who look nice so why not. Elf archer voiced by Naobou already earmarked as best girl. No elf ear pun intended.

[rieshon]

Spring 2018 Power Ranking

There's no rule saying you can't post your Spring power rankings in September. 1 Comic Girls: I sure hope no one is surprised about this one. Comic Girls is another worthy entry into the pantheon of cute Kirara anime about cute girls, sporting some wonderful art and animation design from Nexus, the same studio responsible for the equally great Wakaba Girl (whose cast even make a cameo in this show!) and possibly my favorite girl of the year so far in Ruki, who is genuine waifu material. ★★★★☆ 2 Hinamatsuri: One of the most genuinely hilarious anime to come along in a while, Hinamatsuri has comedic execution a cut above that of most series. Surprisingly, behind all the goofy antics of a superpowered esper girl living with a rich yakuza asshole, the show also develops some surprisingly effective themes about class, wealth and family that give the ridiculous antics a solid foundation on which to rest. Hitomi is the ultimate proletarian, and Anzu is homeless angel. Plus, it features stellar animation from the truly based bros at feel. ★★★★☆ 3 Amanchu! ~Advance~: Amano Kozue and Satou Jun'ichi are anime gods and they only further cement that status with the second season of Amanchu, which is at least in my estimation an improvement over a top notch first season. Amano's previous work, Aria, was always at its best when it was fully embracing the author's love for magical realism, and that stuff is here to a degree it never was in the original Amanchu. The result is a show that feels a lot different, but in a good way―indeed, the fact that these characters' stories were previously so grounded in reality only makes the emergence of the themes in the sequel that much more effective. Sure, there wasn't nearly as much diving going on as in the original series, but these stories were more than worth the diversion. ★★★★☆ 4 Golden Kamuy: I only watched Golden Kamuy on a lark because I happened to be studying the Ainu in school this past semester, but I'm glad I didn't pass up on the most engaging thriller of the season. As a period piece set on the Japanese frontier in the early 20th century, the show is already unique, and the depiction of "kaitaku" period Hokkaido and its various inhabitants is fascinating like the best historical fiction should be. The Ainu culture, not well-trodden territory in anime, gets to shine in particular. What I really appreciate about Golden Kamuy, though, is despite being a thriller about hidden treasure where human beings get skinned, it never loses its sense of humor: it's actually one of the funnier shows of the season despite its subject matter. I can't believe Sugimoto puts osoma in his food. ★★★★☆ 5 Kiratto! Prichan: The reports of Pripara's death have been greatly exaggerated. Even without the comedic stylings of Moriwaki Makoto, Prichan is a worthy successor to one of my favorite anime of all time. It's not yet quite as goofy as Pripara sometimes was at its height of heights, but it's goofy in the way joji anime should be nonetheless, and definitely retains much of the feel of Pripara even if the characters and settting are now different. The two main characters voiced by Pripara alums―Anna and Emo―are especially great, and it's nice to still be able to hear Serizawa Yuu on a weekly basis even if I don't get to see Mirei-iinchou anymore. I think this show has great things in its future and hopefully it'll be able to have even half as good of a run as Pripara had. ★★★☆☆ 6 Last Period -Owarinaki Rasen no Monogatari-: Speaking of unexpected, Last Period became the anime to finally buck the trend of terrible to mediocre social game adaptations. All it took was a script that's actively hostile towards social games: no aspect of the 'genre' is safe, and the show lampoons predatory marketing techniques, the destructive behavior reinforced by gacha gambling, whales who ruin the experience for everyone else, and even weird crossover promotions that stick out in the game's setting like a sore thumb. Satire is not something anime typically does well but Last Period is a fantastic example. Oh, and it also has some of the most thicc girls of the season. ★★★☆☆ 7 Aikatsu Friends: Somehow I've never really been able to stick with an Aikatsu show. I watched about 40 eps of the original as a backlog, but eventually stopped watching, and Aikatsu Stars was alright, but I dropped it after about a cours and a half. It seems like Friends might finally be the one that gets me to stick around, though. I originally only watched it because of Kido-chan as one of the main characters, but all the characters are so adorable and charming, and the writing just the right balance of "joji anime goofy" and "idol anime earnest" that the show has definitely won me over. It's also got to be one of the gayest anime I've ever seen (yuri anime included) so that's something. Another not insignificant point is that they finally rectified one of my biggest complaints about the Aikatsu franchise until this point: the fact that the seiyuu of the characters didn't actually perform the songs. Thankfully they do here, so we get to hear Kido-chan as a cute lesbian idol both on and off the stage. ★★★☆☆ 8 Uma Musume Pretty Derby: Speaking of lesbian idols... Uma Musume seems like one of the weirder series of the season at first blush, but it's honestly a pretty straightforward sports anime. Even the weird stuff about the horse girls also being idols is mostly swept to the wayside in favor of just focusing on the races, and I think the series is better off for it. It's a solid sports anime with an ensemble cast of adorable horse girls; if there is one major complaint it's that my favorite girls don't get enough screen time, but that is part and parcel with this kind of show. Hopefully Cygames can throw some of their financial weight around and get us a second season, because I need more McQueen and Gold Ship in my life. ★★★☆☆ 9 Sword Art Online Alternative Gun Gale Online: This show is weird because although it's "SAO written by the guy who did Kino no Tabi" it really ends up being neither of those things. It lacks the self-serious melodrama of SAO (and goes as far as lampooning that show's obsession with 'death games') but neither does it have the philosophical introspection of your Kino. This is just Sigsawa Keiichi being given free rein to go hog wild with his love of firearms and it definitely shows. The narrative is far from compelling, really: girls are competing in an online shooter tournament. But the gun action is truly wild, especially the one-on-one fight in episode five (or thereabouts) between Llenn and the big girl, which had some moments so joyously ridiculous I was literally yelling at my television screen. It's no Kino or SAO, but it's definitely an enjoyable action series. ★★★☆☆ 10 Megalo Box: I definitely didn't expect this show to end up so high. Megalo Box is definitely not the kind of show that I would consider to be "my jam" but there's something about boxing and underdog stories that go together like two things that go together really well. Sometimes you just want a gritty, manly tale of dudes punching each other in the face. It's just a shame that the show is marred by the truly bizarre decision to downscale the animation to standard defintion in a misguided attempt to look "vintage." The show would have sported some of the most gorgeous art of the season in addition to a great story, but instead it just looks like butt. ★★★☆☆ 11 Lostorage conflated WIXOSS: The most accurate way to describe the latest (and possibly last?) entry in the WIXOSS anime series is that it's like really good fanfiction. Although it can't ever hope to best its source material, it takes all the parts of the original you know and love and remixes them into a story that is half new drama, half wish-fulfillment. "Conflated" is half a sequel to the underwhelming first Lostorage series and also a coda to the original Selector anime that is entirely unnecessary, but at least delivers us fanservice like Tama punching fools in the face, getting to hear Akira say "Aki-lucky" again, and exploring Piruruku's backstory for some reason. Surprisingly, our new protagonist Kiyoi (Piruruku outside of the card) ends up being one of my new favorite characters in the franchise in no small part because of the performance by Oonishi Saori, who is rapidly becoming one of my favorite voices. ★★☆☆☆ 12 Wotaku ni Koi wa Muzukashii: I'm kind of surprised this series ended up so low on the list but that's what happens when you let men into anime. Though Date Arisa's Narumi is hands-down my favorite anime fujoshi ever and one of the best girls of the season, and Koyanagi is pretty good too, the two dudes paired off with the female leads are just so utterly dreadful that they sapped most of the life out of the show for me. I just wanted to see Naru being cute, but instead I had to deal with Hirotaka being """cute""" or Kabakura being a dickhead which is also supposed to be "cute." I guess this is ultimately a show for women which is why it focuses on the guys so much, but it had such an uncharacteristically good depiction of female nerds that it's kind of a shame that it gets dragged down by ironically trying to appeal to those very same female nerds. Still, Naru is angel and I wish she was my gf. ★★☆☆☆ 13 A.I.C.O. Incarnation: This show is only sort of from last season, being a Netflix anime that actually started airing in February, but I waited until this past season to watch it so here it is. It's definitely anime in the way that you would expect a Western Netflix exec to think anime looks like: it's got a schoolgirl (whose panties are frequently on display) shooting giant guns, it's got big robots, it's got a fancy sci-fi plot with big ol' thinkin' going on about what it means to be human and all. I think I'm probably stretching it by suggesting that this show's cliches are all in there just because of Netflix's involvement, but it is indeed cliche regardless of reason. Still, it's a pretty well-executed series, with some really great production values (we can thank Netflix for that at least) and decent writing for what it is. I enjoyed the show, but I don't know that I'd tell anyone to go out of their way to watch it. ★★☆☆☆ 14 Ginga Eiyuu Densetsu Die Neue These: I know Gin'ei is supposed to be... well, Gin'ei, but this new adaptation struggled to keep my attention when it wasn't about The Cool Space Battles. It just has a few too many of those head-scratcher moments, like the much-discussed Yang making a scene or the entire Alliance invasion not making sense logistically, or "we just pumped some sleeping gas in." It's a shame they felt the need to stick to the source material even for the stupid parts, because the animation is gorgeous and the space battles are amazing looking. The Original Way fucks everyone over again. ★★☆☆☆ 15 Tada-kun wa Koi wo Shinai: Okay, maybe I'm kind of putting this show this low out of spite for having the worst ending of any show this season―I did probably enjoy it more than Gin'ei, but fuck it, it deserves to be towards the bottom. It queerbaits me with Alexandra, doesn't give me even remotely close to enough time with best girl Hinako, and then delivers a ridiculously stupid ending vis-a-vis Tada-kun and Teresa that completely undermines itself. Classic anime. It's a shame, because the character designs and animation were great... Just don't think about how we got this instead of a second season of Nozaki-kun. ★☆☆☆☆ 16 Hisone to Masotan: The fact that a show that could have been one of my dream anime went so spectacularly bad is honestly impressive. If you know me you know I'm a huge aviation nerd, so I was already disappointed that my show about girls in the JASDF ended up being some weird fantasy thing with cartoon dragons instead of fighter planes, but it just kept getting worse and worse and worse... In the end it kind of lives up to my expectations in that it's some truly gruesome propaganda for the Japanese military, where our heroine learns that sometimes you just gotta die for no reason because the state told you to, and for some reason this is virtuous. World War 2 never ended in Japan. ★☆☆☆☆ 17 Steins;Gate 0: I don't even know if Steins;Gate 0 is necessarily the worst show on this list, but it's definitely the one I'm least enthusiastic about. That shouldn't be a surprise given how much I genuinely came to despise the original series, but the thing about Steins;Gate is that the first half of that show was actually really good, and this sequel recaptures at least some of that feel, and repackages things I remember actually liking about the show into some nice nostalgic bits. But that being said, the story isn't actually like... good, because the story in Steins;Gate was never good, and to make matters worse Christina isn't even in this timeline, although there is a computer that sounds like her. I'm still watching, but more out of a morbid curiosity than anything else. ★☆☆☆☆ Updates I don't normally do this, but there were a lot of shows that ran into this season. Darling in the Franxx: If Franxx didn't feel adequately like a Trigger anime in its first cours it definitely came around to it when things suddenly explode into a cosmic scope in the late going. Franxx is at once a lot like Gurren Lagann and nothing like Gurren Lagann―where as TTGL offered an uproariously upbeat view of the future, where mankind can do anything it sets its mind to as long as they believe in themselves enough, Franxx paints a future where humanity has fucked up so much that we have to tear the whole thing down and literally start building out of the naked dirt. But I think despite that you can say that both shows are celebrations of humanity: Gurren Lagann obviously with its "spiral energy" is very explicitly about the infinite potential of life, but Franxx also celebrates the potential of humanity to recover from a doomed and dead world and create new life from the ashes―it's certainly not a coincidence that one of the big plot points of its ending is one of the characters getting pregnant. Plus Zero-Two turns into a giant space wife, so that's cool. ★★★★☆ BEATLESS: Speaking of shows with solid themes, I can't believe Beatless has managed to make such a turnaround. I took this show to task last season for being shallow and uninteresting in its worldbuilding early on, and it certainly was, but it's gotten to be fascinating in the second half. Beatless is actually the best kind of science fiction: it takes fantastical elements and uses it to expose a truth about our own society. In Beatless, the world is incredibly concerned about automation―AI seems to be taking control of everything, and actual human workers are increasinly being marginalized. Sound familiar? The show's main heroine, Lacia (and to some extent Kouka, another AI) assert that it's not automation that we should fear, but those in power who stand to benefit from it. Our main characters seek to "redistribute social resources" to make the hierarchy of society more equitable. When an antagonistic AI confronts Lacia about her plan being unrealistic because of the innate destructive nature of humanity, Lacia shoots back that human nature changes according to man's environment and the tools in it, and that with the development of AI humanity has reached a point where it can advance to a new stage of social organization. If you haven't guessed already, Beatless has somehow become communist as fuck, and I love it. The only problem is that because of production spaghetti the last four episodes are delayed until September, so I can't really tell you how this all turns out, but I hope they nail the ending. ★★☆☆☆ Toji no Miko: The reason this post is so late is because I was putting off doing this bit on TojiMiko, but honestly there's not a lot to talk about that wasn't covered in my review of it last season. The second cours of the show really did feel like a second season, with new characters, a new big bad, redeemed villains from the previous cours as allies... It really could have worked as a standalone sequel. The mediocre production values dogged it throughout but the script remains tight and competent throughout, and the conclusion was pretty satisfying. It's also worth noting that the show is extremely gay. There were plenty of hints at that in the first cours but it really came out in the second half (no pun intended). Kaoru is the best girl. ★★☆☆☆

[rieshon]

Summer 2018 Preview

I haven't been keeping up on anime news too well lately so I have almost no idea about anything that's airing next season. This might not be a very good preview.

1 Yama no Susume Third Season: Fuck yes. One of the best cute girls doing cute things series of the past decade is back and it's going to be amazing. I just hope the pattern holds and we get four cours worth.

2 Sunoharasou no Kanrininsan: Cute girl 4koma anime from Oonuma Shin? It's a masterpiece. Girls all look adorable and there's definitely something here for everyone, but holy shit Ayaneru as a lewd brown gyaru? Anime of the year right here.

3 Asobi Asobase: I read some of the manga of this when it was free on eBookJapan and let me tell you, you have no idea what you're getting into here. It's supposed to be about "cute girls playing cute games" but it's actually insane. This anime is going to be great.

4 Jashin-chan Dropkick: I've been hype for this one for a while. Cute monster girls get into shenanigans. The PV gives nothing away, but I've seen some of the original manga and it's pretty funny.

5 Chuukan Kanri Roku Tonegawa: Everyone's favorite middle manager is back! We may well never get a third season of Kaiji proper, but man, just seeing that Madhouse FKMT art style again is getting me misty-eyed. Don't know a whole lot about the manga but I'm sure it will be godlike.

6 Harukana Receive: I swear guys I only watch it for the volleyball... Another all girls sports anime, but this one looks like it's going all in on the lewd beach bods. It doesn't look it, but this is actually a Kirara anime (albeit one from Forward) so I'm definitely optimistic about it.

7 Yuragisou no Yuuna-san: If you know me you know how much I love cute ghost girls, so you should be able to guess how excited I am for this anime. I've actually read some of the manga (cause cute ghost girls) and it's a pretty good if standard lewd romantic comedy, with the added bonus of CUTE GHOST GIRL WOO WOO. She even has the head triangle which is the most important part.

8 Chio-chan no Tsuugakuro: Why do I get Hinamatsuri vibes from this? It's not just cause that one guy looks like Nitta either. I think I remember seeing the trailer for this a while back and it looks bonkers. This'll also be the first time in a long while I've heard Omigawa Chiaki in a major role... interested to see if she's improved in the intervening years.

9 Shoujo Kageki Revue Starlight: It's like an idol anime but they're doing musicals instead. At least it's something different. If it's anything like all-female theater in real life it'll be gay as hell, and some of the girls look great.

10 Isekai Maou to Shoukan Shoujo no Dorei Majutsu: The title is... what it is, but this actually looks like a pretty decent shinshi anime. Character designs are lewd, animation looks great... sign me the fuck up. Finally some good fucking Blade Dance anime.

11 ISLAND: This is animated by based feel so I'll definitely still watch it, but I'm super bitter about them removing Rieshon from the leading role because the director didn't get along with her. This would have been a great Rieshon girl goddamnit. Eroge adaptations are sadly vanishing from the Earth but this is coming out of Front Wing so hopefully it'll still have that same aesthetic.

12 Hataraku Saibou: So I can't watch the trailer for this because Youtube, but holy shit it's Japanese Osmosis Jones. Definitely a concept for an anime I haven't seen before (besides, you know, Osmosis Jones) so I'm looking forward to it for the novelty if nothing else. Red blood cell looks cute!! I bet this is going to be full of all kind of blood type bullshit though, because Japan.

13 HaneBad!: Badminton club with sometimes badminton? The girl with the glasses looks super cute. Not a whole lot else to say about a sports anime, I think we all know what we're getting into here.

14 Back Street Girls: Back street's back alright! Come on guys you can't just make an idol anime and call it this. Apparently this is about yakuza idols, which sounds like it could be amazing, but I guess it's more of a goofy thing than a scathing indictment of the corruption of the idol industry.

15 High Score Girl: It's funny to think that a couple years ago this series was on the verge of death because of unlicensed use of Sega trademarks in the manga, and now it's getting an anime full of actual game footage and shit. They even lampshade this in the trailer for it. The CG looks pretty garbo, but a lot of people like the manga so hopefully it'll be amusing.

16 Ongaku Shoujo: For a second I thought this was that light novel series where famous composers are cute little girls, but nope, just another generic-ass looking idol anime. If the character designs weren't so fucking amazing I would already have checked out, but damn, these grils.

17 Planet With: I can't tell if this is supposed to be a kid's anime of if it's just meant to look like one. Regardless, a kiddy robot anime might be fun, and it's got J.C. production values.

18 Aru Zombie Shoujo no Sainan: Can't believe they're making Zombiko into an anime. This honestly looks kind of terrible but Hayamin and Chanyui is a powerful combo so I guess. Just really not digging the character designs, and it looks like one of those anime that's too dark (tonally) for its own good.

19 Satsuriku no Tenshi: Be careful not to cut yourself on all the sharp edges on this one. It's got bloody lolis, maniacally laughing men who love murder, death games... This looks like one of those "drop halfway through the first episode" shows. The loli does look real cute though! Real good blondenblu.

20 Happy Sugar Life: With a title like this you would expect the cutest anime ever, so of course it's actually some edgy bullshit with girls with butcher's knives and tasers. Why you gotta do this to me anime? Is it so wrong to just want some cute girls cuting? I just wanna see cute Za-san girl adopt a cute loli damnit.

21 Tenrou Sirius the Jaeger: It looks like they're going really hard on trying to capture the Western audience with this one (the PV even has hilariously bad English subtitles) which immediately gives me pause, but the production values do look pretty high and there's a couple pretty hot girls in it. Not expecting to actually watch this one through though.

22 Lord of Vermillion Guren no Ou: I thought the title of this sounded familiar, and I guess it's based on a card game. I really like the look of that Ao-chan girl but that's pretty much the only thing here I like the look of. WIXOSS will always have the best cute girl card game anime.

23 Hyakuren no Haou to Seiyaku no Valkyrja: Boy that is a title. While our other LN adaptation with an embarassing title this season looks pretty good, this one definitely looks like a bottom-of-the-barrel reject. When the art in your key visual doesn't even really look good, you know you're gonna have problems.

24 Shichisei no Subaru: This looks extremely generic even by generic fantasy light novel standards... Not a single thing about it stands out, other than the fact that a couple of my favorite up-and-coming seiyuu are in it. I guess I'll watch an episode, maybe it'll surprise me.

25 Phantom in the Twilight: This is based on a game from Happy Elements, the same company behind Last Period, which immediately gives me expectations that are way too high, even if it's unfair. This one's not even a comedy and looks like some kind of edgy otome game. Actually I'm not even going to watch this, I just wanted to say how fucking good Last Period was.

[rieshon]

Winter 2018 Power Rankings

Oh god this too way too long to write. I don't know why all the entries ended up being so wordy. I think having to write so many bullshit online posts for school is fucking with my ability to be succinct.

1 Yurucamp△: I've been agonizing over how to arrange my top five for this season but this one was a foregone conclusion as of basically three months ago. It's the season's best Kirara anime and I could leave it at that. The soothing atmosphere of cute girls going on camping trips makes for the most blissful experience of the season. Touyama Nao as dango angel Rin might be my favorite performance she's ever turned in; her aloof, laid-back personality is perfectly conveyed and is a big part of the reason why I want nothing more in life than to go on a cross-country camping trip with Shimarin. She really know's what's good in life. Also, my newcomer-of-the-year in 2016, Hanamori Yumiri, leads the cast as one of the most lovable protagonists of the season. Just saying. ★★★★☆

2 Violet Evergarden: If you remember my preview post for this season you'll know I was the biggest skeptic of this show, but man did it win me over. The story is beautifully told and presented in what might be Kyoto Animation's prettiest production yet. It's tempting to say that Violet Evergarden is a show about love, but really it's about letting go, whether that's a father letting go of his dead daughter, a young girl letting go of a crush who rejected her, or a mother letting go of her family as she dies of a terminal disease. Through her work as a dictation taker, Violet experiences all these losses in trying to come to terms with her own loss of the Major, and it’s a really effectively developed theme. Ishikawa Yui is someone I've never been a big fan of―I always thought she was rough around the edges―but that roughness lends Violet a certain believability since she's only just learning to express herself. I also have to give special mention to Morohoshi Sumire, whose stellar performance as the little girl in episode 10 was one of the most arresting of any scope this season. The show also features one of the most bombastically beautiful soundtracks you'll hear courtesy of the American Evan Call, which uses typewriter sounds as percussion in some tracks, like, come on, it's perfect. This is a good show and people should watch it. ★★★★☆

3 Mitsuboshi Colors: It's good to be a kid, isn't it? That's basically the message of this, the purest anime ever. Mitsuboshi Colors draws favorable comparisons to Ichigo Mashimaro that aren't unfounded or unearned, but that manga was drawn by notorious lolicon Barasui. In Ichimashi the audience is Nobue, and is expected to view the girls through her cynical eyes. In Mitsuboshi the camera is firmly planted at a child's-eye level and that's what makes it so great. There's nothing about this show that's cynical―it's bright-eyed, positive, and full of love, just like childhood should be. It also helps that the girls are themselves angels. My initial attention was on Kouno Marika as Sacchan (and she really helps Sacchan earn her comparisons to Ichimashi's Miu) but stealing the show ended up being Takada Yuuki, probably best known for playing Aoba in New Game!, as the too-pure-for-this-multiverse Yui. I want to protect that smile. ★★★★☆

4 Darling in the Franxx: The latest offering from Based Trig (and their friends at Aniplex) certainly lives up to the hype befitting the the Trigger name. Nishigori Atsushi finally has his own big mecha project and it's definitely something you might expect from someone who had their hands deep in Gurren Lagann: stylish but surprisingly thoughtful, and crazy polished. Thematically, of course, it's nothing like Gurren Lagann (what is?); like many great forebears in the robot anime space Franxx laments that man, parents just don't understand... but takes that to its logical extreme with a world where every adult is called "Papa" and grown-ups are almost literally deified, whereas children aren't just expendable (get in the robot Shinji), they aren't even given names, and "growing up" itself seems to have been abolished. The show's only halfway through, so it's hard to make a conclusion, but it's shaping up to be fascinating. The cast is a mix of old standbys and some surprises, from the always-stellar Tomatsu Haruka in a demanding role as Zerotwo, to Ichinose Kana as Ichigo (the best girl) who makes it hard to believe she's doing her first named role ever. ★★★★☆

5 Sora Yori mo Tooi Basho: Hanada Jukki has got to be the most hit-or-miss screenwriter to ever put pen to page. He's either gonna make the show a masterpiece, or turn it into an absolute disaster, and you can bet that either way it goes it's gonna be filled with melodrama. Thankfully, as I think you can guess from its place on this list, Hanada's style was a perfect fit for the sentimental story they wanted to tell in Yorimoi. This was possibly the most satisfying show of the season―we accompany the girls from the very beginning of their adventure to the very end, watching them grow closer and grow as people, and by the end of it all you feel like you've gone on a journey yourself. The star-studded cast certainly helps things, and the perpetually overworked Hanazawa Kana turns in one of my favorite roles of hers in a long time in Shirase. I thought this was going to be one of those shows where you just watch cute girls do a weird hobby, but this series didn't even necessarily need to be about Antarctica―to borrow a cliche, the real treasure was the friends we made along the way. ★★★★☆

6 Slow Start: Okay, now we're getting into shows that are easier to write about... Slow Start is only the second-best Kirara anime this season but even second-best is pretty damn good when we're talking about that category. This show was unfortunately lost under the Yurucamp avalanche that swept up all the moebuta, but its pedigree―directed by Hashimoto Hiroyuki, who brought us Gochiusa―is readily apparent in its quality. There was definitely a lot of love put into this show, and the characters are vibrantly animated and characterized. Perhaps unfortunately, a lot of the more dramatic elements of the series, relating to Hana's anxiety over having skipped a year of school, were apparently excised from the manga for fear mentally feeble moebuta wouldn't be able to handle it, but the 'cute girls doing cute things' that we did get ended up being more than fine. The real stars of the show ended up being Enami-sensei (played by the now seasoned Numakura Manami) and this season's best anime lesbian, Eiko (portrayed by new face Mineuchi Tomomi in just her second ever role!) who are just... the best. You can't even put it into words. I want to watch a show that's just them getting married. ★★★☆☆

7 Hakumei to Mikochi: I feel kinda bad about putting Hakumiko this low, because by all rights this is a show I should be hailing as an absolute masterpiece, but for some reason I just liked it a normal amount. It's got the slow pace, it's got the amazing worldbuilding, it's got the atmosphere, the almost entirely female cast... I dunno. Is my ability to masturbate to the characters really that important in evaluating an anime? Mikochi was the best smol wife and Konju was cute, but I can't exactly say these blobs were sexy. It's a disservice to this show to even talk about that kind of thing, though, because it really is a lovely and relaxing experience that transports you into this tiny little life in the woods. You know what it really needed, was more of that moe beetle. ★★★☆☆

8 Poputepipikku: What do you even say about a show like this? It's like nothing that's ever been put on TV under the pretense of being anime before. It has stop motion felt dolls dancing to parodies of 70s pop music, live action segments with the show's seiyuu stealing their boss's glasses, a segment told entirely through sketchbooks being waved around by middle-aged men... It's got a cast that doesn't just change every episode, but changes multiple times every episode. It fucking ends with Aoi Shouta showing up and doing a dance. In the corporate dystopia that is the anime industry, it's hard to say that any particular project is "brave," but I'd put that label on Pop Team Epic in a heartbeat. And I don't even know if it's a good anime? Some of the segments aren't really funny, some are revelatory masterpieces. It's so completely removed from any normal frame of reference that I don't even know how to evaluate it. I give it three out of five stars. ★★★☆☆

9 Ramen Daisuki Koizumi-san: This show is about ramen, but ramen isn't why we're here. Koizumi-san isn't the reason either. The reason is daisuki: specifically, Yuu daisuki. This show begins and ends with Ayaneru as the second-best anime lesbian of this season, the gay noodle girl Yuu. I like ramen a lot and this show regularly made me hungry, but honestly I couldn't care less about the noodles. Week in and week out the reason I showed up was to see Yuu stalk Koizumi-san and gradually board a nice boat. Ayaneru's power is truly not to be underestimated. ★★★☆☆

10 Card Captor Sakura Clear Card Hen: Sakura is, for me, one of those classic shows that you know you should watch but you never quite get around to actually doing it. When I was in high school, one of my friends would watch the movies on VHS in the Japanese room, but we just made fun of him for it. So I'd never seen any Sakura, although I obviously have a vague idea of what its about, before watching this new one. It's pretty good! It's got budget out the wazoo, for a mahou shoujo anime especially, and all the characters are adorable and sometimes lewd. Tange Sakura is still adorable as the heroine who shares her name, and I'm glad to finally be able to hear the legendary HOEEEE~. The story is a little dull (I like my mahou shoujo anime to have more goofy shit happening, but I'm a Pripara ojisan so) but it makes up for what it lacks in that department with polish and putting Sakura in cute outfits. Shaolin Soccer please go. ★★★☆☆

11 Takunomi.: It's impossible to ignore the fact that this show is just a beer commercial. Well, it's sometimes a whiskey commercial too, but yeah. It turns out being blatantly advertised to isn't so bad when 1) anime girls are doing it and 2) it's for something you like in the first place. There's no way those Japanese macrobrews are as good as the characters in this show make them look, but Michiru is just so cute when she drinks them I'm sure they must be amazing. ★★☆☆☆

12 Dagashikashi 2: The main reason I liked the original Dagashikashi at all was because the based bros at feel., masters of lewd animation and girls with nice legs, were the ones who made it. I couldn't care less about cheap Japanese snacks, but Hotaru and Saya-shi were two of the hottest girls of Winter 2016. Well, based feel. didn't make this new one. I almost didn't even watch it, but somehow making it into a 12 minute anime was a stroke of genius: with half the commitment necessary, sure, I can watch an anime that's half as good. And I'm glad I watched it, cause I ended up being blindsided by the greatness of Owari Hajime (Akasaki Chinatsu) who delivered on just the right onee-san moe for me to fall in love, not to mention throwing a MUCH needed wrench into the formula of the series. Plus, she knows Javascript! ★★☆☆☆

13 citrus: This show is just about as cliche as you can get in a yuri story. It's got the angst, it's got the characters not even realizing they're gay, it's got the casual sexual assault, it's got the show ending right as the girls finally get together. But you know what? Sometimes things that are cliche are good. It's not possible to take this story nearly as seriously as the author wants you to because of it, but it's still a fun romp, carried well by Taketatsu Ayana as the lovable gyaru dork Yuzu, who is truly a model for big sisters everywhere. That's right, you heard it here first, big sisters should all make out with their little sisters. This is the model. ★★☆☆☆

14 Ryuuou no Oshigoto!: I don't know shit about shogi. Not knowing shit about things seems to be a recurring theme this season... Regardless, you don't need to know shit about shogi to enjoy this show, which is definitely a lewd harem LN adaptation through-and-through. You don't even actually need to be a lolicon to enjoy it, despite what you might think, because it turns out the two oldest heroines (Kanemoto Hisako's Ginko and Kayano Ai's Keika) end up being the two best characters in the show anyway. I actually kind of wish the whole show had been about Keika, because her character arc is much more interesting than Ai's child genius story, which is something that's been done to death. Probably the most remarkable thing about Ryuuou is that it has Ayaneru in it, and her character looks the way she does, and she's somehow not my favorite character. Kayanon is powerful of course, maybe second only to Ayaneru in the grand scheme, but that must speak to how boring the lolis' stories are. ★★☆☆☆

15 Koi wa Ameagari no You ni: This show had everyone on guard for a trip to Problematic City but then it ended up dropping us all off at Sentimentality Town instead. Ultimately, the teased relationship between 17 year old Akira and her 40 year old boss not only doesn't go anywhere, but turns out to be almost totally irrelevant except for being the inciting incident for Tenchou's mid-life crisis. The show is beautiful to look at and all, but what's truly remarkable is that in a show with a sexy JK that looks like Akira, it's Hirata Hiroaki's Tenchou who ends up being the most likable character in the series, and just me singling out a male actor for playing a 40 year old should tell you how out of the ordinary this is. Nostalgia is a commonly grasped at theme in anime, but the pathos of Tenchou's pining for his lost youth is believable and relatable; by the end I wanted to share a smoke with the guy and I don't even smoke. Akira on the other hand is... kind of irritating, and seems like an immense pain in the ass to be friends with. Actually I lied though, Nishida and Yoshizawa are the best characters. ★★☆☆☆

16 Karakai Jouzu no Takagi-san: I said this on hinatabocco but this show thinks it's way cuter than it is. That's not to say that it isn't cute, or that Takagi isn't cute (I still like her forehead) or that even Takagi and Nishikata's relationship isn't cute, it's just that after 12 episodes of basically the same thing of Takagi owning Nishikata over and over, I don't feel anything anymore. Probably what I'll most remember from this show are the three bonkuras, who are actually from an entirely different manga―whoever had the idea to adapt Ashita wa Doyoubi as part of this was a genius because I can't even imagine I would have finished out the show if it was just Nishikata getting owned over and over. ★☆☆☆☆

17 Toji no Miko: I really wanted this show to be great. It had all the ingredients, with the ensemble cast designed by Shizuma Yoshinori, the swords, and everything, but it just doesn't quite come together. The show even puts an interesting spin on what is nowadays a stock standard "nazo no teki" plot, where rather than fighting against unexplained monsters that show up every week, the big monster is actually government bureaucracy. The setting is one where the "nazo no teki" has already won and secretly taken over behind the scenes, and the heroines have to work in secret to defeat it. It's a neat twist! Unfortunately lackluster production values really hamstring the show. There are few things cooler than swordfights, and they were clearly prepared to go all-out with them: multiple people are credited as consultants for the sword combat, and the characters' styles are apparently all based on real-life schools of sword fighting. But then when they actually fight it just kind of looks like ass, whether they're using the poor 3DCG or trying to do it by hand, and that's just a damn shame. The show isn't even badly written or anything (I actually think it's well written), it just consistently fails to become hype because of the bad action. I'm really interested to see where the second half goes, though, since it's apparently two cours and they've taken the very unusual tack of having the big bad defeated halfway through the show. ★☆☆☆☆

18 BEATLESS: This show really wants to be Blade Runner, but I probably don't have to tell you it's not even close to being Blade Runner. The worldbuilding is embarassingly lazy at times (dae robots aren't people but are tools?) the protagonist is an utter doofus, and sometimes things happen that don't make sense at all (I'm still WTFing at Lacia becoming a fashion model for some reason) but hey, cute robots. Robot love is real good, and Lacia (with that sultry Naobou voice to boot) is a good robot to love, not to mention the blonde Methode sporting the Tenchan voice. For some reason this is two cours too, so I guess we'll see if it ever does anything interesting or not. ★☆☆☆☆

19 Death March kara Hajimaru Isekai Kyousoukyoku: I guess I ended up finishing this one out. It's not even especially good by isekai tensei standards, the central conceit of it being a 'video game world' is underutilized (either go whole hog with that, like Log Horizon, or don't even bother, in my opinion) and the plot is stupid a lot of the time. So why did I finish it? Cute lolis my friends, cute lolis. Tama and Pochi, a cute little catgirl and doggirl respectively who are picked up by the protagonist early on, were pretty much the whole reason I kept watching. He also adds a bunch of other lolis to his harem as the show goes on, but Tama and Pochi are the best of the bunch. Bless. ★☆☆☆☆

20 Itou Junji Collection: I really like our guy Junji when he's drawing manga, but his anime just didn't do it for me. Poor production values ended up ruining any horror value that the stories might have had, even though some of them were fairly interesting. They also had way too many episodes with that weirdo kid, and they never did The Enigma of Amigara Fault. This anime wasn't made for me. At least it had a good Tane-chan performance in that one episode. ★☆☆☆☆